Flurry of Flames

PRC 361 vote

1. Starphoenix

2. Bundeslang

3. Kat

Man this was hard as all of these remixes were good, and had features that differentiated themselves from their competitors. The main aspects that I was judging was how much a track really surprised me with its creative style and introducing new musical elements not only instrumentally, but also new melodic and harmonic flowing effortlessly within the source tune.

   With Starphoenix's remix, I was blown away by how well put together the remix in terms of how all the different parts accentuated each other, and the atmospheric vibe it was giving off throughout the remix. The dynamic contrast of the remix was another aspect as at times it was subdued and other times it was a rolling groove. The only nitpick I have is the ending didn't really feel satisfying of the journey that came before it, and didn't sound like a conclusion but that's my opinion. 

  Bundeslang's remix is somewhat similar to what I said about Starphoenix's as there was a lot of creativity that I really enjoyed. My favorite part was the beginning with all the chromatic shifts before we go to the main melody. I wasn't expecting it and was really happy that I wasn't. Contrast was also on point with changes in instrumentation at the end while adding only made the piece stronger instead of getting crowded. The ending was nice and sort floated of wherever the place it was in which was a nice touch. The aspect that wasn't really keen with was the instrument that I think was a saw wave or something to that extent did not agree with me as I felt it soured the soundscape that was happening outside of it, but that could be my own taste or something else. Otherwise great job!

 I love Kat's remix as I'm a sucker for orchestral remixes. I love the instrumentation and thought it really came into its own is when the melody was being passed around to the different sections which is my absolute favorite of the remix. Also as a side note if this is shown, Kat what plugins did you use for this? The reason that it isn't higher up as I didn't get the sense of being blown away like I did to the others to some degree. It's good and has great ideas and with more time and are willing to work on it, I can't wait what becomes of it.

  RonaldPoe's remix reminded me that I was wondering if I had jumped into a mario party game hahaha. It was happy, infectious, and I thought personified his explanation of everybody scrambling to get into position for curtain call. The reason why it didn't place was I thought it was too close to the source in terms of timbre, and that is merely my opinion and It still had a lot of aspects that I really loved.

  Shido's bonus track was an enjoyable listen and I really liked the guitar and the intent behind it,  and can't wait for the change of hardware. Also, I liked the improvisation at the tailend of the remix. It was a nice remix and I enjoyed it.

Thanks for the remixes, and allowing me to have an opinion even though I'm learning everything on the go.

PRC 358 Vote

1. Kat

2. Shid0

This is the hardest vote I ever had to do for PRC. Both of these remixer did one crucial key factor of jazz incredibly well, and that is improvising.  Kat was more bombastic in her arrangement with more instrumentation, more contrast in dynamics and going for a fuller and wider soundscape with emphasis on reverb. The voice was a nice touch, and although sometimes I thought the voice didn't know what vowel which made the tone somewhat fuzzy and not focused such as at the start of the second playthrough. I thought the voice really came into its own was when she was on a pure oo vowel and the high notes when it was on a "ah" vowel especially at the end as it really made it sound so effortless and really fit in well to what was going on with the rest of the instrumentation. The celeste (what I think it is?) also was a great addition at the end emphasizing the melody and getting more high range to better fill out the end as the source track in particular can be bottom heavy if not careful. Overall, Kat did an amazing job with the remix with a full sound and ingenuity in the soundscape or atmosphere.

Now with Shid0's, where Kat went with a big amount of instrumentation and a wide atmospheric sound, I feel what what Shid0 did well was everything in the remix played well and accentuated with each other. In the second half when improvising takes place, the bass, piano, and percussion work and fill out each other so well with piano taking the lead, and the bass and percussion filling in the rest of the ensemble. The piano improv was my favorite part of this track, and I would've liked if the saxophone got a bit more love on the second half on the track, or some more time to provide countermelody as the piano improv was my favorite, I feel like there is more that can be done in that area. One other aspect that I feel like that could have more use in this remix is a sense of direction in terms of contrast of dynamics or resolution at the end ot the track. At the end, I think having the sax or another instrument come back in and give a greater sense of resolution and contrast from what happened before with the piano improv, and slowly fade to the snaps would be something to look into for future remixes.

Again this is merely my opinion and I'm still trying to figure out a lot of stuff in my remixes so my advice could be wrong or not well versed. I had a lovely time listening to your remixes on repeat, and can't wait to meet you in future competitions.  

The source tune is "Requiem" from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. A piece that I feel is elegant in it's simplicity. Very little to go on, but imagination can really make this piece into something unexpected. I can't wait to hear what you guys bring in your own way.

MIDI: http://www.ninsheetmusic.org/download/mus/2907

Youtube: 

PRC 357 vote 

1. Silverpool

Even though he/she is the only person I could vote for, I'd like to give my two cents on the remix anyway. I loved his instrument switch with synths for being the main aspects of the remix and was a nice touch. The changes in percussion really stabilizes the remix with a strong foundation of rhythm especially with the kick. Something that might needs improvement that I also need to improve on putting a sort of spin on the remix. It seems with this remix that the instrument changes are really good, but it seems it was like it was a coloring a firetruck blue, It looks cool, but the fire truck is still a firetruck.  

Hey wanted to post it here also as a precaution just in case.

Also for my choice for the next PRC is the Pyrite Town theme from Pokemon Colosseum. There isn't a lot to this song I feel like people can put their own personality on it that others might not expect.

I'm having trouble inputting any midi of this in this message so the link to get this is on http://www.ninsheetmusic.org/browse/series/Pokemon

just Ctrl+F and type in Pokemon Colosseum and its one the themes below. I'm sorry for burdening you with this.

Flurry of Flames PRC 356 vote

1. Arcana

2. Silverpool

The reasoning behind this because of how much of a person style and their ingenuity melded into the source tune. With Arcana's remix, Having live instruments really brought the music to life in the genre that he/she was working with especially his/her improvised spots starting 1:22 which was a good effort into putting their own spin on this track. The other big factor was that there was a sense of contrast with the remix itself without help of the source tune. The example is when the transition goes from the 1st verse to the chorus at 0:55 which the live drums really drive that contrast as giving it a more rock feeling than what was being played previously. There were spotty notes here and there, but the effort into trying and making something new within the track within the confines of the genre they're playing deserves some credit.

With Silverpool's remix, I really like the change of instrumentation of the main melody and call back or also known as the voices from the original tune. It gives a mellow tone at first, but still has a slight edge giving momentum even with a mellow tone. I loved some addictions such a light electric piano rhythm when only percussion and bass were playing (0:13), and I think its called a fill at 1:21, and in my opinion I felt there could be even more variation as I felt it was still close to what we had in the general midi sample we got. It's most apparent in the percussion, but they did differentiate it the end to give them credit for that. Also I did feel like the timbres were just a touch too similar occasionally as I would mistake the original source midi we had to this remix. My ear is still training so there could be stuff I missed and went over my head, but in the end I liked the remix and I think there is much more room to grow out of it.