Eino Keskitalo

Love this question. Anybody have a list at hand of demoscene musicians who also made game music? That would get us close. Also I imagine if you arrange some Amiga music, you might accidentally be in that zone!

Ahh, this theme is so much fun on the guitar. I really like the approach taken here. Maybe I'm nostalgic for listening to jam session tapes back from my band-playing days ... I can see the thing about the abrupt ending. My brain is working hard to interpret what the ending means musically ... the love this piece describes wasn't built on a solid ground, sways and then it was abandoned soon with a final bittersweet note? 😅 At least it kinda loops nicely if you have it on the loop!

I ran the crawler script for artists and remixes as well. Got a couple of false negatives for each but manually checking both seemed fixed.

Was this fixed? I ran a crawling script through https://ocremix.org/games/ and it didn't come up with any empty pages.

Thanks a lot @Dj Mokram I really appreciated that 😸It's a blast from the past isn't it? Great analysis and very generous and kind. I guess I should pay attention to the mastering/clipping. I'll give that a look. I have a new WIP but it's not quite finished towards the end: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/lms8dwgym9g5rguuzhcz6/eino_keskitalo_-_ninjan_graali-20240621-wip.mp3?rlkey=gzbxdzf4uneebvnhtp9boh3fd&st=94xm9v53&dl=0 After the judge feedback I think I've fixed the bass level and reduced mix clutter & brought leads to the front better. I extended the end to the point where I think it doesn't feel like it ends prematurely. I'm intending to work on the last 8 or 16 bars (of 7/4) so it's less copy-paste and has more variety, and I was thinking of adding a coda of the intro arpeggio.

Such an unexpected approach... but fits super well! Really well done!

Quite lovely I thought! I love this scruffy kind of chippy style. It sounds slightly broken and melancholic, but pretty!

Hehe, the detuning is pretty intense. I'm pretty close to falling offboard with it! But I didn't. I'm pretty delighted to hear an OCReMix in this style, and I also think it rearranges the source tune in a very interesting way.

It is chill and smooth.

I only now realized I got another wooden spoon to my proud collection in the final round ?

Smooth and enjoyable!

Got some great feedback from the panel: https://ocremix.org/community/topic/52388-no-ninja-gaiden-xbox-knight-n-grail-ninjan-graali/#comment-861883 Here's the new WIP where I've tired to: mix it a bit better, adjust pitch of some parts an octave down, etc. Didn't touch the structure at least yet. It still needs more unbusyfying, but it's getting there. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pwaofg1s3gc0hb5196p1m/eino_keskitalo_-_ninjan_graali-20240410-wip.mp3?rlkey=a23jfsugqs7i58r3nzqykyyx4&dl=0

Awesome to see this Sage business! This is important stuff. Just yesterday I was talking about OC ReMix's rare feedback culture to a musician friend of mine. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Nice and crunchy metal CT boss mix with a seasoning of orchestral elements. Worked quite nice for me!

Great fun!

Very chill, lovely to be "back in XG" with this tune.. tasteful personalization in the arrangement, very nice build-up / swell ... particular plus points for taking a looping VGM tune and making a _very_ nice conclusion to the arrangement!

Ahhh, this is such a great theme, and this is a super effective treatment! I could use some more variation to the lead sound throughout, but in the end it's not like I mind that! Super-pumping robot-crushing music!

I finally finished playing through through the whole game to the end yesterday. Listening to this now as a celebration. ?

Cool blend of prog metal -style power trio with voices and acoustic instruments! It gives the original some nice kick, and the same theme that is in the boss music too (at least, don't shoot me, I'm not a Secret of Mana OST scholar) is interesting to pick out in this arrangement! I'm most familiar with the boss theme for this melody, so it's just cool to hear it here so differently. It might be just a matter of personal taste, but I think I'd prefer the arrangement with a different bass arrangement with more sustain. It would tie the arrangement together better, the instrumentation sounds kind of "scattered" now. (But to me this bass style reminds me of certain prog metal type of music and fans of it might call me just crazy ?) The final movement 1.5 minutes actually do sound really good and it comes together the best.

Great fun and a super enjoyable! That's Elizabeth Fraser, isn't it? ?

Very cool mashing together of sound materials ... builds a great atmosphere, very successful! I do enjoy how the boy soprano at the beginning reminds me of Castlevania.. and the atmosphere is haunting at first, but then at somepoint this "man gurgling" sound comes along, and makes it really unnerving! I also enjoy how the sampled bass guitar sound sounds kind of crappy! It's like the tune is not overpolished, but it still all works together really, really well! I think that sensation adds to the creepiness of the track. If the production was "shinier", it would make it more detached. But this feels more "real" and even "home made" and it's more effective that way. But still everything feels balanced, EQ'd and everything quite perfectly!!

This is brilliant! Sounds so good, and the two tracks are very cleverly combined. I also enjoy the way the bass note is first held in place for "Beginner Race" at first ... I love when that is done well, such a great tension builder. I think it's enhanced because of the familiarity with the melody. But the unusual chord/bass progression of the source also works really well when you finally release the bass to move around. So good!

This fun arrangement wonderfully untangles the original to the 4/4 beat. Somehow I particularly liked putting the "fast arp" up front in the intro! I think it helps to give a feeling of uneasiness that the "straightening out" of the source material to 4/4 may sometimes miss. Fun stuff! edit: Ohhh and have to add a mention for the polyrythm at 2:10 - so tasty! I've mentioned "4/4" several times already, but this arrangement really is just full of rhythms!

This arrangement is conceptually great. It's so much fun that it's a ReMix of a ReMix (that stands on its own!) Great intro. A couple of things bothered me a bit; the bass drum pumps a lot for my sensitivities on the headphones, it's a bit uncomfortable and distracting for me. Also, something about the guitar competes with the vocals when they play together. Otherwise, I like everything! The soundscape is good, the guitar sounds good, I like the saxamaphone! Great vocals, but I think surprisingly the element that clicks with me the most, is the spoken voice. It sits so well in the mix and feels just a natural part of the music! I think it's worth paying attention to, as I think it's not that easy to make spoken voice fit well with the music. Here it's a great performance that is timed and mixed to the music as a natural instrument!

Massive respect to everyone who reviewed every track from this huge round! Wow! Thanks for all the nice comments. I sure intend to finish my track. It would be nice to get posted in 2025, come to think of it ? I'm proud of every wooden spoon I've received from PRC! (And I'll be honest, my ego is inflated seeing myself so high up in the hall of fame ?) Such good times! Once again a big thanks to Bundeslang for running the compo for so long. Congrats to coloradoweeks! That's some saccharine Shimomura right there ?