Emunator

Preview it: http://youtu.be/6Kvk3jGCyzI Download it: http://dkc3.ocremix.org Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Donkey_Kong_Country_3_-_Double_the_Trouble.torrent The Donkey Kong Country series has always held a special place in my heart. Ever since I first picked up the controller at the age of 3, I found myself in love with everything about the games… the innovative level design, the gorgeous graphics, and especially the music. I would find myself pausing the game mid-level and listening to my favorite songs for hours on end. So, as you can imagine, when I first discovered OverClocked ReMix back in 2004, when Kong in Concert was first released, I was hooked. Fast forward 6 years… as the release of Serious Monkey Business drew closer, I knew that a DKC3 album was inevitable, and I felt like I could make it happen. At the time, I was merely a lurker on the site, and had no musical talent of my own. Nevertheless, I had the vision and a limitless amount of free time at my disposal, so I took the plunge and started recruiting. After 3 years of tireless work, I couldn't be happier with that choice. Given the stellar reputation of the previous two albums, I knew that this album had to be something special. This 5-disc album contains remixes of every source from both the GBA and SNES versions of the DKC3 soundtrack. Clocking in at 77 songs and nearly 5 and a half hours of music, this is OCR's largest album to date, featuring arrangements and collaborations by the legendary David Wise himself. Words can't properly capture the scope of this album and the efforts of the artists that made it happen, so I'll let the music speak for itself. I would like to thank Cody Wedel for being the most dedicated co-director I could have ever hoped for. When I began looking for a co-director for the album, I was essentially a no-name on the forums, so it might have made sense to choose a well-established member of the site with more clout in the community. However, after meeting Cody and seeing just how enthusiastic he was about the music of DKC3, I knew there could be no choice. Your motivation and passion for this project from day one has helped push me to make the album as good as it can be. I like to think that our work here proves that, if you have dedication and the right mindset, you don't need to be an OCR veteran to pull off a successful album project. My sincerest thanks to David Wise and Eveline Novakovic for creating such an amazing set of soundtracks that have inspired us all, and for supporting this project and the video game arrangement community in general. I'd also like to thank Mike "Flexstyle" Birch and Jason "Theophany" Gallaty for going so far above and beyond the call of duty with their contributions to the project, and for their constant encouragement along the way. Thanks to Adam Aubin and José Felix for putting together such a killer visual component for the project, and to Stevo Bortz and the rest of OCR staff for putting up with my neurotic demands and making this release possible. And lastly, to every artist who contributed to the project, I'm so proud of what you've created, and I'm honored to have had the opportunity to get to know each and every one of you. Thank you for helping make this the biggest and (hopefully) the best OC ReMix project to date! Enjoy! - Wes McDonald (Emunator) I somehow stumbled upon the DKC3 project thread on the OC ReMix forums the night it was revealed. I read the intro post and saw that the album was tackling both the SNES *and* GBA soundtracks! I loved the SNES soundtrack, and DKC3 GBA was definitely my favorite game soundtrack ever, so you could only imagine how happy I was. Little did I know the album would have a predominant influence throughout the next 3 years of my life. I emailed Wes on a whim about remixing one of the SNES tracks. Having provided a 30-second WIP as well as some insight on how I intended to develop the track stylistically, I ended up getting the claim (which made me very happy)! He contacted me on AIM a short while later just to say hi & to share some of the project WIPs/finished tracks. We got to talking -- not just about DKC3, but about everything and anything. Our conversations escalated from once a week, to a few times a week, to pretty much every day. After I got a bit more involved in the project (in terms of its developmental direction), Wes asked if I wanted to co-direct the album. Needless to say, I accepted that offer with open arms. As co-director, I didn't directly talk to many of the remixers involved with the project. I instead focused mainly on the backend: that is, the tracklist, promotional media, and directional feedback. Wes would oftentimes integrate my feedback into his regarding the development of a particular track. In any case, I certainly got valuable insight on how the whole album process works, and seeing/helping the album come together over such a long length of time was simply a magical experience. My deepest gratitude goes to Wes for not only starting the project, but allowing me to be such a huge part of its success. When I first discovered OC ReMix in 2003, I never would've imagined I'd be part of it at all and here I am 9 years later co-directing the biggest project in the organization's entire history. It goes to show how little we really know, how we can't possibly know what is out there beyond the tomorrows and beyond the stars. I can only hope you enjoy Double the Trouble! as much as I enjoyed seeing the album blossom from a little seed into a huge, beautiful, colorful flower which is (in my honest opinion) larger than life! - Cody Wedel This all started so innocently -- Emunator asked me if I'd take on a single track for the project, since he'd heard a previous ReMix of mine and thought I'd fit in well. Little did either of us realize just how involved I'd get. We discovered that we lived decently close together, so we got to meet each other in person over Fuddruckers burgers. Turns out, we'd spend a lot of time eating at Fuddruckers together. Burgers are tasty, man. Wes was already a good six months into the project by the time we met, but the next couple years would see me take on another five songs on the project, plus two extra bonus songs, and also tackle the task of mastering and gapless-playback-ing the entire album. Not only that, but I ended up being one of the main quality control voices as well. Talk about a cool responsibility! By the time we finished, we'd consumed loads of burgers, stayed up all night working on the project at my house several times, and spent countless hours tweaking the songs, the mastering, and the playback to perfection. I'd say the moment I knew this album was solid gold was when I got to listen to the entire thing through, with no interruptions, during a six-hour drive from Mission Viejo, CA, to Glendale, AZ, where I live. Didn't skip a single song. That's how good this thing is, and I'm picky. This album is Wes's baby, and it really is a labor of love. However, I'd like to think that I could call myself the doctor who helped deliver it. I hope that you, the listener, can enjoy hearing this album at least half as much as we've enjoyed putting it together. Every artist, every person behind the scenes, and the OverClocked ReMix staff have poured their heart and soul into this amazingly huge mass of quality, and I hope that shines through. - Mike Birch (Flexstyle)

I don't think the album will realistically be out anytime before Q2 2013.

Most of my thoughts were covered in my vote, but I just wanted to say that this is by far my favorite mix you've put out so far Exceptional job Jamison!

Everybody is drugs.

I've been noticing this trend getting a little more popular and I really like what I've heard so far... I'd love to share all of the songs in this style that I've been able to find and see if there's anything else out there that I'm missing. Any fusions of chiptunes and live instruments would be cool. http://shnabubula.bandcamp.com/album/nes-jams - NES Jams by Shnabubula (full album) - Various pieces by Aivi Tran & Surasshu - Animal Crossing theme by Posu YanThis is all I have at the moment, anyone know of anything else?

Nope! You'll know it when you see it.

Fun fact: my "DKC3" folder on my hard drive is over 48 GB large.

Haha, I won't hold you to it, but... I will offer this: To anyone who takes the time out to do individual track reviews for the album, I will personally email you a ZIP file containing as many unreleased, unfinished, and preliminary works in-progress for the album as I can track down. There was some REALLY promising material from artists like Joshua Morse, AkumajoBelmont, DJ-AKX, Flexstyle, Jason Covenant, AeroZ, and many others that never ended up getting finished (some of those songs are even full-length arrangements) so there's some very worthwhile stuff to be heard! For a project as large as this, I really want every artist that contributed to get feedback. Everybody here put a great deal of effort into their track and nobody wants their efforts to be overshadowed, so even if it's just a few words for each track, I want to know what you have to think. I'm sure all of the artists involved would appreciate that, too. For those of you who listen to the entire project and go above and beyond with your feedback, I'll make sure you get a little something extra to enjoy, as a token of gratitude! Hope you're all enjoying the trailer! And no... fortunately for everybody here, Donkey Kong has not, and will not be coming to my house to go ape-shit on me anytime soon!

You guys like album art, right? Of course you do. Here's some album art.

Gotta co-sign with the mixing critiques from above, but I'd also like to add that there's some sloppiness in the sequencing where not everything seems to be lining up. I think you would be well-off doing another take of your guitar solos, they just don't sound quite as confident and polished as they need to be. In addition, that Gameboy-style chip synth just doesn't sound very good to me. I'm not sure how else to put it, I think a chiptune synth could work but that particular sample you're using just does not work for me. The sequencing on some of the synth solos could use a bit of personality too - pitch bends, portamento, vibrato... anything so that it's not just notes being played completely staccato on every note. Lots of work that you could do to bring this one up to par. Not a bad track, reminds me of something Level 99 would do... just needs another coat of polish and some more lively synth lines and more polished performances. NO (resub!)

Soooo gooooood.

If you haven't already checked it out in its entirety, I urge you guys to all listen to the GBA soundtrack while you wait for the album to release. Really familiarize yourself with these arrangements because it will make a huge difference when you listen to some of the GBA remixes, it's hard to fully appreciate a remix until you know where it was derived from. This is some of Dave Wise's best work to date, I can't think of a better way to wait out the weeks/months/years ( ) before this album drops!

It takes quite a bit of time to throw together a release package for this many songs! You guys probably aren't aware of just how much quality control and clerical work needs to be done to prepare a release of this magnitude...

How has nobody commented on this yet? The processing in this track is nuts! Great to see you putting more stuff out again man!

I'll share a small selection of remixes I use to put myself to sleep, so hopefully they'll work in your case too! Congrats on the little one http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01208/ - Eutopia Pegasi by The Wingless and Destiny http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02058/ - Magic Fountain by Nixdorux http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01404/ - Dragon Song by Harmony http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02225/ - To Far Away Inspirations by Squint (or any of his other remixes) http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01859/ - The Rose General by katethegreat19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFkK7ZScjF0 - Sleepless Nights... by me (Shameless plug, but I performed this song with the intent of it being used as a lullaby so it fits here!) http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01839/ - City Corner Lullaby by Jennerstein http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01357/ - Under a New Moon by Sephfire and Fatty Acid http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01748/ - While San d'Oria Sleeps by Kabukibear Anything by Pot Hocket - http://ocremix.org/artist/4721/pot-hocket http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01428/ - A Rose for Zelda by Tepid http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01318/ - Symphonic Ballade by GrayLightning and Bladiator I'm getting tired listening to all this... I may drop in and leave some more links later, but this is a good sampling of some of my favorites! Hope this is what you were looking for!

Really great vote by Deia that hits just about everything I needed to say. I pretty much cosign with everything she said, I just want to add that your piano sample is noticeably weak and the sequencing/performance is coming off as sloppy at times. Lots of stuff to work on with this mix, there's some great melodic alterations and creative arrangement of the theme, but there needs to be a much higher level of polish in order for this to pass, if you choose to resubmit. NO

The above two pretty much nailed it. Really cool concept of taking 3 over-remixed themes and fusing them together, but the execution feels lacking overall on most fronts. The intro, like Palp said, fused the themes pretty well, but for the body of the mix the writing sounds awkward at times and not always very melodic. The sound choices overall are not very inspiring, I feel like the writing and sequencing particularly needs to be a lot stronger in order to pull off an arrangement solely using these chiptune sounds. Cool concept that would be neat to revisit, but right now I feel like this would need an overhaul to pass, personally. NO

Word-up to a fellow piano-improviser! Really promising material here, your arrangement is really nice and after reading about the process you used to make the track, it makes a lot of sense how you came to this. Your harmonies and countermelodies are absolutely gorgeous, and the production on the track isn't bad either! Reminds me of reaaally early stuff from the likes of Blue Magic, The Wingless, or Sephfire, which is just about the highest order of compliment that I can offer. Your sequencing could still use some work though, though. The flute/oboe lead parts utilize some pretty weak samples, and the attack/decay sounds awkward the way the melody is sequenced. I think the instrument choice is great, but you need to be using a higher-quality sample with more expressive, humanized sequencing. The leads are definitely the weakest link in the track, and replacing them is definitely critical to this track passing, in my opinion. Production-wise, sometimes all of the instruments aren't syncing up right. About 2/3rds through the track, there's a section with a lot of off-beat patterns that, while ambitious, doesn't seem to click exactly right. I think a lot of it might have to do with your delay, which sometimes trails on for too long on the off-beats and creates some awkwardness. Maybe look at adjusting the decay/release on your delay plugin and see if that helps. Lastly, I'm hearing a lot of imbalance in the mixing when I listen on headphones. I think there are some hard-panned percussion instruments that are pushed too far to one side, particularly the white noise filter you've got pushed to the left ear, which is pretty distracting Lots of great material here, and for a first-submitter you demonstrate a lot of potential and style. I think this needs some refinement before it hits the front page though. Hit me up if you need any additional help, I'm particularly fond of this arrangement and I want to see it passed eventually if this ends up getting rejected this time around. NO (resubmit!)

I have to agree with the gentlemen above, the levels and panning were definitely off-putting. It's very rare that I'm bothered by panning issues on a track when listening on speakers, but even without headphones I found it distracting. This has kind of the same issue I commented on your Star Fox sub about with the dynamic range of the track being too great. I understand what you're doing by trying to make the intense sections louder than the others, but I think the effect is overdone here. The bigger problem with this track, I think, is that it's thin overall. There's not a lot of big, beefy instruments keeping the track grounded, so it comes off as underwhelming. I think you could either fix this by EQing your sounds better and achieving a more full-bodied mastering, or by experimenting with adding other melodies/sounds to help pad the arrangement more. I think you could probably pull it off just by working some production magic, but adding in another instrument/synth, just for texture and body. Just some food for thought. I have to agree that this one still isn't there yet. NO (resub!)

Wow, this is really solid, inspired stuff. I appreciate how you kept most of the arrangement within the Gameboy-style chiptune realm but managed to be completely different (and sound a LOT better) than the source at the same time. The non-chiptune elements definitely help define the track as a ReMix by OCR's standards, but they fit well and don't feel shoehorned in. Arrangement-wise, it's a bit plodding, but it fits in the context of cave music, and it didn't bother me enough from an objective standpoint to really take issue with it. I'm on board with what you've done here, good job man YES

Just chiming in real quick to reiterate that, after seeing the breakdowns provided and taking into consideration the 4 YES votes, I still stand by my NO on this track.

I've gotta say, I like what you've done here. This is a very restrained, additive mix that doesn't grab you right away and evolves at a very slow pace. However, I find it engaging all the same because of how your melodies morph and change up along with the dynamic curve of the song... it's the little change-ups that count here. Overall I'm really feeling the tact that you put into arranging this theme into an unexpected and unconventional style. It doesn't really need to have any flashy transitions or massive breakdowns, it just works. YES

No, lol. 10char

My god, I've been following your recent orchestrations pretty religiously but this might be my new favorite. Your additional orchestration on top of the minimalist original fits so perfectly. This is a keeper!