ReMix: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 'Cross-Examination (Sudden Interjection)'

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Game: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Capcom, 2005, NDS)
ReMixer(s): PrototypeRaptor
Composer(s): Masakazu Sugimori, Naoto Tanaka
Song(s): 'Phoenix Wright ~ Objection! 2001'
Posted: 2009-05-21, evaluated by the judges

PrototypeRaptor, aka Jonathan Paulsen, joined us in 2008 with two pretty awesome mixes from FFX and Star Fox, and now he's back with some Phoenix Wright action. OA was the first to mix this game with his own arrangement of 'Victory! ~ The First Victory' back in 2007, and now Jonathan joins the prosecution with a trip-hop cut of the 'Objection' theme. On first submission, his 'objection' was actually overruled, but the judges had some specific counsel that the artist implemented to ensure his appeal would be entertained:

"I'll admit it, it was a pain to clean. BUT PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY, and now I have a shiny new mix of phoenix wright that I hope does the source justice (haha). List o' changes:

Piano changed to a rhodes and humanized

Vinyl effect added to spots

mixing in general made less bass heavy

drum loops changed, more driving in verses

the awful string attacks are fixed and actually go in tempo with the music"

Very punny, but a good rundown of what was altered. His original submission email gave more background on the overall approach:

"This is downtempo Trip Hop ala Massive Attack. It's dirty. It's low fi. It has a harpsichord AND a rhodes...and string stabs. The drums don't even try to be real. In fact, they mean not to. Did I mention the fuzz and noise? It's ridiculous. Unbearable....and I love it. :)"

I think the "they mean not to" syntax there is a fairly subtle reference to Bilbo's vacation plans as articulated in the first Lord of the Rings film... but I could just be geeking out. Gotta love Massive Attack, and for that matter DJ Shadow as well, as I can hear a mix of both sounds/approaches here. There's a lot of grit, scratch, ambience, darkness, and texture, conjuring that "dusty attic" vibe, mixed with some gothic harpsichord. Bass and full drums drop at 1'08", adding some meat to the potatoes, but the string runs at 1'31" are the single most badass element and pull the whole piece together. 2'14" gives the flute some time to breath over a rhodes line and tremolo strings... rather gorgeous moment, there. Then the Shaft hats build us back into a funky little synth solo:

Isaac: Who's the super-effective prosecutor that's a litigation machine to all the chicks?
Ladies: Phoenix!
Isaac: Ya damn Wright.

... Except the pun wouldn't be conveyed through audio alone - a shame. Vinnie lays it out simple & direct:

"I knew you would come through, dude. This is excellent. Mixing is much improved and the new changes you added improved the song. I LOVE the background strings that come in at 1:31. Like last time, the arrangement is liberal but well-connected with the nine-note riff, which goes through a couple neat modifications to match the chord. Great work!"

There you go. When I think of this genre on OCR, I mostly think of Skrypnyk, largely due to his SMRPG masterpiece, but it's great to see others working with trip-hop/"downbeat", and I personally think Jonathan's done an awesome job, both conceptually in the first place and also with his revisions. Great, gritty stuff that's hard to object to.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.

I really like this mix and the direction you took it. Also that background mixing and the fuzz and retro going on in there make my spine tingle.
I would love more Phoenix Wright music from you! Or any game really :)

- Unstable Hamster on April 28, 2012

Once the song kicked in I was like
WOW THIS IS FANTASTIC AND CAPTURES THE AWESOMENESS OF THE THEME SO WILL
Seriously though I've started to take a real liking to hip hop elements and this is a fantastic blend of hip hop with many other amazing genres.
You sir have me downloadin' :razz:

- Infenro on April 23, 2012

I can totally hear the Massive Attack inspiration in this ReMix, which makes it even better, but the ReMix itself has a great arrangement to it and the beginning is a bit unsettling before building to something grander. I'm not of a fan of some of the scratchy sounds in parts of the mix, but it's not biting enough to turn me away. Not a knock on the entire mix, as I love the ReMix, just some parts of it aren't my cup of tea as it were. Still, pretty cool and nice work.

- Crulex on September 6, 2011

Really nice arrangement; you took the original in an interesting and unexpected direction. Loving the strings coming in at 1:30 and 3:20.

- Martin Penwald on June 14, 2009

So cool!! I hear a little Teardrop by massive attack hopefully it was intended

NICE creepy sounds at the intro. . Kinda sounded like a subway. Kinda . Maybe I'm crazy

- Mtlbro on June 9, 2009

I love Phoenix Wright music... Seeing that there's actually more than one remix now made me happy. Although there are so many more songs from the games begging to be remixed. Nice work.

- Impossible on June 8, 2009

PassivePretentiousness;549765 wrote: Some of the instrumentation is very reminiscent of Teardrop specifically. Is that what was intended?

Yes, most definitely. Teardrop is one of my favorite songs by Massive Attack and was very much the inspiration for this mix.
And I'm glad you all like it - thanks for all the kind comments!

- PrototypeRaptor on June 1, 2009

Finally a Phoenix Wright comrade-in-arms!
Nice strut-worthy beats, and I am super loving the counterpoint strings. the lead harpsichord in the more exposed sections might be a little dry, but it's a very attention-getting sound. I love me some harpsichord. :-)
Nice and fresh take on this track, and one of the coolest mixes of the theme i've heard. Nice work dude. :-)

- OA on June 1, 2009

I have to say that this mix makes my want to check out the game. Very well done in production.... good job

- yosefu on May 27, 2009

Awesome work. This really is my favorite remix this week.

- metalsnakejuice on May 24, 2009

Great mix. I haven't checked out many remixes recently, but definitely glad I dled this one.

- ambient on May 23, 2009

Some of the instrumentation is very reminiscent of Teardrop specifically. Is that what was intended?

- PassivePretentiousness on May 22, 2009

"Who's the super-effective prosecutor that's a litigation machine to all the chicks?"
(But Phoenix is a Defense Attorney... XD;)
Anyway, this is a kickass remix. It's going on my iPod fo' sho' 8D

- rhapsodos on May 22, 2009

I was really surprised at how well this style fit the source, although it might also be that the original tune is just versatile in general. Either way, cool concept, great results. Really liked the ambient textures in the background too. Keep it up!

- Dhsu on May 22, 2009

A really great, solid mix. For some reason, it had a really relaxing effect on me; I attribute this to either:
a) my brain having a really weird psychological reaction to trip-hop
or
b) the harpsichord sounding just enough like a sitar to kick in my hippie funk vibes
Either way, loved it and will continue to love it as it does its time on my iPod.

- Lucentas on May 22, 2009