ReMix: Donkey Kong Country 'Depth of the Deep'
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- Game: Donkey Kong Country (Nintendo, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): nintendude794
- Composer(s): David Wise, Eveline Novakovic, Robin Beanland
- Song(s): 'Aquatic Ambiance'
- Posted: 2012-04-30, evaluated by the judges
Alright then, brief hiatus as we've been tending to internal tasks, but on with the show... from newcomer Hunter "Rubix" Short, a.k.a. nintendude794, comes this solo piano rendition of the ever-popular (and deservedly so) 'Aquatic Ambiance' from DKC. His mix description featured a coder-friendly zero-based list:
"About the remix:
0) Once again endured a similar/same-as-always Arrange, Experiment, Organize, Improv {A.E.O.I.-- almost had all the vowels, darned U!} sorta process leading up to this here remix
1) Got a Yamaha DGX640 for Christmas
2) Recorded and edited this--my first project with the fancy new keyboard--together in only approximately 3 hours.
3) A year ago, I realized Aquatic Ambience is my favorite videogame theme of all time, largely thanks to Vigilante's mix from Kong In Concert, "Beneath The Surface". My iTunes play-count on that track? Uhhhhh......... Anyway, DK Country is the first videogame I ever played.
4) Folks in the Workshop forum seem to dig it
5) Hopefully y'all do too! Enjoy!"
Nice; we actually got an updated version w/ a volume bump, based on panel feedback. This is a little unusual for a solo piano mix; first of all, the delay employed creates a pretty distinct feel and strikes me as an unusual but generally functional decision. The arrangement is a mix of ideas that range from the more expected, straightforwardly mellow approach to the source to some odd modulations (2'29" for example) and changeups/counter-patterns that play with the rhythm & structure of the melody in interesting ways. The dropout/truncations at 3'53" surprised me, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that particular bit, but the net effect of all these peculiar little aspects is that the arrangement avoids the very relevant trap of being an auto-pilot "mellow piano-based" approach to the source. Based on the artist's own comments, it's clear that there was experimentation and improvisation; I think more organization might help in the future, and a subtractive approach to editing for flow could help, but I dig a lot of the ideas themselves, and that's huge. halc writes:
"this is a pleasure to just relax to. it's really conservative in how it handles the source (for some reason, most AA mixes are), but the little flourishes and harmonies added are wonderful, and the rhythmic shifts in the second half are fun. arrangement runs a little long imo, and there were a couple noticible flubs in the performance early on but overall I thought this was pretty well-realized."
I'd say the second two-thirds of the arrangement aren't too awful conservative, or at least fluctuate in their fidelity. Vinnie adds:
"Yeah, I think this is great as far as arrangement goes. It started off pretty conservative, but had some great ideas as it went on. I fell in love with the minimal section in the middle, where it felt like you were just playing enough notes to keep the song moving. That was a great dynamic. The piano sound is not bad, though the higher notes tend to stand out more."
Judges summed it up well; interesting debut from Hunter, who takes a familiar source and an approach you would think would lend more predictable results, but definitely personalizes it in ways I wouldn't have anticipated - good stuff.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the Pander;858475 wrote: Love this mix. George Winston vibe from it.
(1) Guy wants more songs from certain games
(x) Guy writes songs for other games to meet this need.
(2) Guy complains when songs from games he isn't interested in are posted.
Hmm...
GREAT reference! That was the FIRST thing I thought literally like 5 seconds into this song! Props for knowing who George Winston is! :)
- Sarad_Thamia on August 2, 2012
With that being said, this is SO beautiful! I could relax to this all day long! Aquatic Ambience is probably the most remixed song so I would like to see the other remixed more but the remixes that I have heard have all been awesome. 8-)
- Sarad_Thamia on August 2, 2012
- meccaneer on May 16, 2012
- ZArsenalZ on May 9, 2012
WillRock;858422 wrote: You mad bro? There's only... 7 remixes of aquatic ambience? SOOOOO MANY! I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN NOW! We must stop remixing this song! IT HAS HAD TOO MUCH EXPOSURE! Lock up your daughters, cut off your ears,OR AQUATIC AMBIANCE WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLDDDDD
(1) Guy wants more songs from certain games
(x) Guy writes songs for other games to meet this need.
(2) Guy complains when songs from games he isn't interested in are posted.
Hmm...
- Pander on May 2, 2012
- MessagesFromEarth on May 1, 2012
I like it, but can't we please add a new rule? "No more Aquatic Ambience please"? I'd like to see other games now.
You mad bro? There's only... 7 remixes of aquatic ambience? SOOOOO MANY! I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN NOW! We must stop remixing this song! IT HAS HAD TOO MUCH EXPOSURE! Lock up your daughters, cut off your ears,OR AQUATIC AMBIANCE WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLDDDDD
- WillRock on May 1, 2012
This was a gentle, relaxing and contemplative piece.
- WesternZypher on May 1, 2012
Krakozhia;858342 wrote: I like it, but can't we please add a new rule? "No more Aquatic Ambience please"? I'd like to see other games now.
Or, you know, no. :lol:
- Liontamer on May 1, 2012
- codebeard on May 1, 2012
- Krakozhia on May 1, 2012
Nice piano solo. Felt like you put your emotions in it. Plus dkc is an awesome soundtrack.
Keep it up. :D
- Rockos on April 30, 2012
