ReMix: Mega Man 'Drag Me Up (to Heaven)'
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- Game: Mega Man (Capcom, 1987, NES)
- ReMixer(s): Gario
- Composer(s): Manami Matsumae
- Song(s): 'Dr. Wily Stage 1', 'Magnet Man Stage'
- Posted: 2012-12-06, evaluated by the judges
What type of heaven requires being dragged up to? Inquiring minds want to know... not to be confused with the more intuitively-titled horror film, Gario explains his latest ReMix, a breezy, refreshing electronica arrangement from Mega Man:
"Darkesword's Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2011 has been producing some of my best work of the year, and this particular piece is the cream of that crop. I worked a lot with the sound design on this one, using few of my normal synths or premade Reason synths, instead building my synths them from the ground up. Oddly enough, I actually didn't know what I was going to do with all these synths after I made them, so I just started putting chords together and really liked the atmosphere it created. From there I forced the Magnet Man theme into it (Strange compositional process - make up chords first and add the source later... worked for me, I guess), and added Wily 1-1 for texture.
I'm very happy with the resulting track - it's happy, it's soothing, it's exotic. It just doesn't sound like most of what I do, and I like that. I hope everyone enjoys the resulting track as much as I've enjoyed working with it."
When you create something different from your usual work, AND you're happy with it, that's a pretty great moment for an artist, working in ANY medium. When other people dig it too, that's all the better, and I'm liking what Greg did here - the melodies are certainly familiar to most of us, but I've certainly never heard them quite like this, it wouldn't have occurred to me, AND it happens to work quite nicely, I think. When it comes right down to it, along with reasonably solid production, that's what I'm looking for in a mix, so I'm happy and don't need to be dragged up, down, perpendicular, or anywhere else - let's see how OA employs scene-meme in his decision:
"This sounds great; excellent synths and a great flow. Very nice arrangement, great modulations and well chosen expansion points. It's clear that you have some killer studio chops."
Emunator, who's popped up in the last FIFTEEN writeups, enjoys continued quotage:
"The much-needed low end presence helps balance your overall mix so that the chiptune sounds don't come off so grating on the ears. Instead, you were able to utilize those sharp chiptune sounds in a much more relaxed, mellow context and I'm extremely happy with the results. Glad you took some feedback to heart, this really does sound like some of your best work to date."
I like much-needed low end presence, and I cannot lie... Greg debuted with a sweet Chrono Trigger ReMix back in January, and I'm glad we've been able to sneak a follow-up in before 2012 expires; excellent stuff that's agreeable & direct but has some nifty arrangement ideas to complement the clean production!
Discussion: Latest 6 comments/reviews; view the - SuperiorX on December 7, 2012
All in all, a great track which I really enjoyed. Nice work!
- Adge on December 7, 2012
- SirLouie on December 7, 2012
- Anti/elytS on December 6, 2012
