ReMix: Castlevania 'Who's That Child?'
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- Game: Castlevania (Konami, 1986, NES)
- ReMixer(s): Fishy, Scaredsim
- Composer(s): Kinuyo Yamashita
- Song(s): 'Wicked Child'
- Posted: 2009-03-01, evaluated by djpretzel
Whew. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but February 2009 essentially sucked for me, and I'm glad it's over. Every last relevant force of nature seemed to conspire against my finding free time for OCR, I was sick the whole time up until the last few days, and we just didn't post as many mixes as we should have. The six we did get up were great, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't our finest hour in terms of posting. Maybe *everyone's* busy in February, because I talked to more than a few folks that seemed pretty taxed, too. Maybe we've all just been playing a bit too much SF4 for our own good.
At any rate, what's done is done, it's in the past, and March should not only kick signifcantly more ass, but also see an album release. I did want to note some things that explain why February sucked in terms of mixes being posted, not as an excuse but as an explanation:
- We merged composers and remixers into a single "artist" table (more or less successfully - thanks to all troubleshooters!)
- We solicited & received numerous profile updates for ReMixers, that we either already applied or will be. I think it's cool to put faces with names and make the entire site more personable, so thanks to those who provided info.
- We upgraded to vBulletin 3.8. We haven't turned on most of the new features yet, so it's sort of a "meh" update from an end-user perspective, but when we get things more integrated it should be groovy, and this was a big step toward that.
- We coordinated & announced guest status at not one but TWO conventions in Texas this summer.
... Along with other, miscellaneous behind-the-scenes stuff. In retrospect, we did get a lot done, it just didn't feel like it. Oh well, on with the music. Simon (Scaredsim) was the ringleader on this one - he writes:
"Hi, here is my re-production with extra beginning & end of my Wicked Child submitted as an alternate for Dwelling of Duels : Castlevania Month. A very classic one but I thought I had some good original ideas here, so I made my version. Fishy played the bass. Also thanks to OA for his killer synth sound in the solo. Enjoy it!"
Yessir! It's actually kinda hard NOT to enjoy 'Wicked Child', as it's one of those fun, recognizable, classic themes, but it always helps when it's in the right hands. These are the right hands; a nice timpani rolls us into a short but well executed orchestral intro, with a quick accelerando on a rock acoustic kit that gets things pumpin'. Just the idea there is straightforward enough - transition from orchestral to rock - but I think the tempo change really adds something, and in general am diggin' what this arrangement does with tempo. Guitar is doubled up most of the time, matching the source, but there's variations here and there & a couple intervals that deviate meaningfully. Production's crisp and meaty, with what I would call J-pop/J-rock mixing sensibilities - cleanish, separated sound and no fear of integrating 80's synths. In this case there's an unexpected but sweet little bell/ep solo at 1'38". The timing on the triplet fall from 1'46" to 1'48" feels a little off to me - unevenly quantized, played, or edited - but I only point out this most trivial detail 'cause everything else is firing on all cylinders. I especially like the modulations from 2'01" to 2'05" - could have just stayed safe & pedestrian, but it's far more interesting this way, it's the type of thing I'm bad at myself and usually don't attempt, and it ends the solo passage in a way that piques the interest and segues naturally. Yes, I'm critiquing/complementing 4-5 second snippets of a much larger piece of music, but sometimes getting down and dirty with the details can be illuminating. Simon's not done, though, as the afforementioned synth solo (w/ patch by Mr. Luers) comes in with mucho gusto and rocks for a good bit, with the arrangement opting for the power chord, major resolution ending instead of the continuing fadeout - another good call. All in all, an excellent refinement of the original track, integrating rock, pop, and orchestral adeptly, possessing both good ideas AND the energy to execute them.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - pu_freak on April 23, 2009
- Mtlbro on April 13, 2009
Anywho, great job, I love the overlapping guitars, the background synth, piano/orchestrated interludes, overall just a fantastic package. Also, the whole song never seemed to lose sight of the original inspiration. That's always my biggest gripe with some OCR songs--5mins of random sounds accompanied by a 30sec chorus from the game. On the other hand, this could easily take the place of the original music. In fact, I semi-fear playing the level without this music.
- Aoi84 on March 31, 2009
Nice breakdown at ~1:40, and the synth has an awesomely cheesy 80's vibe to it. Awesome guitar playing between 3:08 and 3:10.
Nice work.
- Martin Penwald on March 21, 2009
It has good guitar tone and a powerful snare, so I can't ask for much more. It has a nice flow and some good additional parts.
Nice work Simon!
- OA on March 13, 2009
The bell part at 1:38 is excellently done and a nice break in the mix. Of course there's also the synth solo... I am a sucker for some awesome synth and this mix delivers!
To summarize my remarks: Great job!
- jintoreedwine on March 6, 2009
- Palpable on March 3, 2009
I loved the overwhelming energy of this piece, you've managed to do some awesome guitar work without making it eardrum-blow-outingly or headache-inducingly loud or intense. Arrangement is wonderfully done as well.
- Lucentas on March 2, 2009
My only problem is that it feels like it's over so fast. It's not really a short remix, but it flies by so fast that I find myself dying for more as soon as it's finished.
- Emunator on March 1, 2009
- Brome on March 1, 2009
- Victor1283 on March 1, 2009
Powerful and full of energy.
Definitely Rockin' out. :-)
- 42 on March 1, 2009
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