ReMix:Ultra Street Fighter IV "Girl from Another World" 3:51

By Nabeel Ansari

Arranging the music of one song...

"Theme of Decapre"

Primary Game: Ultra Street Fighter IV (Capcom , 2014, XB360), music by Hideyuki Fukasawa

Posted 2015-04-22, evaluated by djpretzel


Nothing says "Earth Day 2015!!" like posting our FIRST ReMix of Ultra Street Fighter IV!! Because... well, you see, they're "world" warriors... and they're fighting against bad guys who probably want to do bad things, like, environmentally, and... okay, I got nothing. Nada, zero, zilch - today's mixpost is thematically untethered to honoring & respecting our planet, and I think that's ultimately okay, because Neblix cooked up a rock-solid EDM arrangement of USF4 newcomer Decapre's theme, and it's hot & heavy, and I'm pretty sure if the Earth could talk it would agree with me. Yup:

"I did this remix in about 12 hours total of work. It's sort of a synthetic cinematic take (for those who remember my Impulse remix, this is my personal favorite kind of texture) on Decapre's theme. I haven't played this specific version of SFIV, and I know nothing about Decapre, but to me, she looked like some alternate universe version of Cammy, so I rolled with some kind of sci-fi fantasy vibe, even if it's not very accurate. :-P

It's grounded in a basic dance rhythm, and has some syncopated elements on top of it. I tried to keep a very spacious, cool temperature sound design and I think the inclusion of strings and piano were enhanced by the bluer and blacker colors. The arrangement is pretty simple, a far leap from my more maximalist take on Guile's theme, but I don't think that's to any detriment. I do feel at times the arrangement doesn't ever reach a specific climaxing point and seems to kind of go on, but I think I managed to provide enough dynamic contrast to have it be interesting to listen to.

I was also taking a course on arrangement at school, so I learned all about techniques of voicing and line-writing which helped me use my sounds, especially the string sections, to my advantage without any fear of busying the soundscape or writing some lousy parts. I think the result, as opposed to my other mixes, shows a lot more attention to part independence and clarity, and it's much easier to pick out the layers of instruments I'm using. I chose strings because at the time I was also watching a lot of Gundam Build Fighters, and the cool sound of the electronic elements like pads and filtered arps mixed with orchestration really struck me as a great texture for sort of emotional high-tech fantasy.

I actually bought Studio One 2 Pro and u-He Diva right before making this remix as well. S1 is a really nice DAW and has a similar piano roll to FL, but its linear fashion and lane-based writing has some advantages to me that I just can't tap through FL (the automation and MIDI capabilities are superior to FL, no question, but I still ReWired FL in for the drum programming and access to some of my favored plug-ins). Those guys did a really good job designing a ground-up DAW, and this is basically the first thing I did in it. As far as Diva, I'm giving a shoutout to my boy Jordan "bLiNd" Aguirre for giving me some delicious presets that he personally cooked up. This really is a stellar synthesizer, with a good library of *musically useful* presets and an intuitive interface."

I'm looking forward to Studio One 3.0 - I'm already using S1 for some stuff, and I'm ready to make it my primary DAW if the new version delivers. Production on this mix is impressive regardless of how quickly it was put together; Neblix keeps improving, and while the arrangement here is on point & on par with his work to date, there's a nice shimmer & shine to the production side of things that feels like a step forward. Fellow Ansari DarkeSword writes:

"Nabeel always comes through with the Street Fighter remixes for the Apex albums, and this year was no different. This is a really great take on Decapre's theme, featuring two of my favorite things: a dancey piano lead and crescendoing tremolo strings. The arrangement is pretty straightforward but there's a nice texture developed here, especially with the glassy, wobbly synth and shuffley hi-hats. Solid."

Liontamer adds:

"Decapre's theme already has that dark EDM mood to it, but I love Neblix's more ethereal, club-appropriate spin on it. Excellent shimmering string accents, bass kicks, and ambient padding to fill things out. IMO, this is mixed in a way that makes it murky in places and sometime downplays the source usage, but it's definitely strong work overall, and an excellent arrangement concept. Not sure why you felt it was too "barebones" - it's a good transformative concept. Nice and chill, Nabeel! Good stuff for the club. :-) "

Ditto all that, and I'll reiterate how the Apex album have been refreshing not just in getting more fighting game mixes on the site, but also more modern games in general. I'm excited that USF4 is coming to PS4 & I'll be playing this ReMix in anticipation!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 5 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Trism
on 2015-12-31 11:07:37

A nice driving beat right from the start with eerie, ethereal pads creating a nice atmosphere while the main melody creeps in from the background. Strings add another layer of atmosphere before an excellent semi-breakdown in which the atmosphere continues to grow. The leads fit this track perfectly and the bass sits nicely in the back without being too OTT. Definitely a late-night club track.

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nitrozsz
on 2015-12-14 00:53:49

This track is eerie, dark, kind of mysterious, and ambient. Like you’re going into a night club with the “wrong crowd” and you still wind up having a great time. Maybe you’re hooking up with a sexy dancer while you’re clubbing. This is the kind of vibe that I get from this track.

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Black_Doom
on 2015-05-17 15:01:33

Very cool mix! I've always loved such tunes as this one, so it's definitely a keeper for me.

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Crulex
on 2015-04-23 12:10:46

Piano lead in with ambient trance beats is an awesome way to lead-in with a mix like this. Funny how you still were able to keep in some of the mysterious vibe from the original source even though you weren't sure of Decapre's character, which is a testament to the source itself and your choice for the genre of ReMixing it. This is an awesome take on her theme and a sweet addition to another great Apex album. Keep it up, Neblix, you're really ripping it up, man.

avatar
Liontamer
on 2015-04-22 14:56:54

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Ultra Street Fighter IV (Capcom , 2014, XB360)
Music by Hideyuki Fukasawa
Songs:
"Theme of Decapre"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Dance
Mood:
Energetic
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Piano,Strings,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Ultra_Street_Fighter_4_Girl_from_Another_World_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,621,991 bytes
MD5:
986a18148a4650b85d0f01cfb4c7a3e2
Bitrate:
225Kbps
Duration:
3:51

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