The Vodoú Queen

@APZX Congrats getting yours in.

Meanwhile I'm still trying to figure out what to do for 2 different songs due basically back to back, this and one for a songwriter contest.
Feels so intimidating, again, lol. (In a good way--gotta step up the game.)

Meanwhile I'm still trying to figure out what to do for 2 different songs due basically back to back, this and one for a songwriter contest.
Feels so intimidating, again, lol. (In a good way--gotta step up the game.)

Meanwhile I'm still trying to figure out what to do for 2 different songs due basically back to back, this and one for a songwriter contest.
Feels so intimidating, again, lol. (In a good way--gotta step up the game.)

A classic, lovely Secret of Mana song. What could I possibly do to something so beloved and covered by so many OCR artists??

Cutting vote period short so we still hit X-Mas day, but end a day after PRC, so time's *do not* overlap exactly.   Wow dat typo..

It is definitely pretty. Good choice!

Man, I really need to learn how to slow down...

Hmm, never played Secret of Mana too much but I wanna get my fox in the fray for the first time! Maybe I'll see what I can do >_<

Congrats Souperion! Great remix.
TVQ, yes, the guitars in my remix were live. Thanks for asking. I am not very good yet, but I am starting to feel myself getting better with practice.

Well, here's three hearts: ♥♥♥, to along with those cookies, for VG, Soup and Hobo.
Anyone else can have some hearts too, IDM.
@HoboKaIt's all cool. :3
@SouperionDon't worry about it. But thank you for understanding the sentiment. Nothing like a good paradigm shattering to get one's butt into gear, though. Look where it's got you now! It's not at all conceited. Like I said before, everyone deserves what they got and everyone deserves a big round of applause for some excellent stuff.
...Now I am just itching to start on the new MnP. >.> You picked a good one, even if sadly I never finished Secret of Mana, haha.

That's the spirit! It was a hard call between the ice fields and the ice palace. And the snow fields from Seiken Densetsu 3/Trials of Mana/ Secret of Mana 2. Looking forward to hearing takes on the song.

@The Vodoú QueenI approached it from a slightly different point of view than the others (at least I kind of think I did). Anyway, I did not have a problem with the length at all. What really irked me had nothing to do with the composition itself, but more in the way the track was presented. My compositional skills are at best, meh. However, I can gauge where you were trying to go from a perspective in terms of sound. Take that saxophone for instance. It is just BEGGING for a long reverb tail on it, with a gentle reduction in the highs of the instrument. But what you have instead is a sound that is completely separated from the rest of the track at that point. The drums fit fantastically with the general vibe, they're prominent enough to be heard, but do not themselves take center stage. It is like the rest of the instrumentation sitting below that saxophone. This is just touching the surface of what I mean when I say space.
If you go listen to pretty much any kind of commercially released music and pay close attention you should start to notice that there is a certain feeling or sense cohesion or depth to the tracks. This is the rather abstract concept of space in terms of music. At least to me. Your track just juxtaposes instruments in an attempt to try and capture or relate the uneasy feeling of Metroid's soundtracks when in reality the vast majority of Metroid's off putting sound really comes from the fact that it is not music in a traditional sense, but more atmospheric. More about the suspension of what is the game's sound effects and environment sounds and what is the soundtrack itself. In of itself it is not about the individual notes nor the instruments, but the way that everything is blended together to create the atmosphere that we recognize as the sound of Metroid. It is one of the reasons why I do not like remixing Metroid tracks in general, and why I did a pretty conservative re-interpretation of a track rather than try a proper remix.
Really, after doing some re-listening to the tracks that were in this round, I noticed that a lot of work was spent on actually making the originals more musical sounding rather than trying to really emulate the nuances that make Metroid's soundtrack sound so much like Metroid.

Well, here's three hearts: ♥♥♥, to along with those cookies, for VG, Soup and Hobo.
Anyone else can have some hearts too, IDM.
@HoboKaIt's all cool. :3
@SouperionDon't worry about it. But thank you for understanding the sentiment. Nothing like a good paradigm shattering to get one's butt into gear, though. Look where it's got you now! It's not at all conceited. Like I said before, everyone deserves what they got and everyone deserves a big round of applause for some excellent stuff.
...Now I am just itching to start on the new MnP. >.> You picked a good one, even if sadly I never finished Secret of Mana, haha.

Well, here's three hearts: ♥♥♥, to along with those cookies, for VG, Soup and Hobo.
Anyone else can have some hearts too, IDM.
@HoboKaIt's all cool. :3
@SouperionDon't worry about it. But thank you for understanding the sentiment. Nothing like a good paradigm shattering to get one's butt into gear, though. Look where it's got you now! It's not at all conceited. Like I said before, everyone deserves what they got and everyone deserves a big round of applause for some excellent stuff.
...Now I am just itching to start on the new MnP. >.> You picked a good one, even if sadly I never finished Secret of Mana, haha.

I'm glad too 

BTW I didn't rip the midi. I literally had to input each note and adjust its length manually, with a mouse, and no keyboard. I looked at a piano reel on YT to get the 3-4 track basis of the song, and doubled it for more instrumentation. I struggled like hell to get the midi to function with everyone else but people heard the slight drag (with the sax especially), regardless. I tried to take that weakness and turn it into a strength to make it feel like an almost realistic jazzy sax playing over the rest of the song but...I guess not.
Oh well I tried. xD
Also I am unsure what was meant by the percussion / beat overshadowing anything. I did not get that sense of it, but it might just be me.

Hm... Maybe it's a good time to ask the question, since part of my perplexity since yesterday followed some of the comments I received on my work.
...Where exactly did I go wrong? Sorry, I am not trying to offend in saying this, but I see most peeps praising Nick's work for near the exact reason why mine was downplayed and frowned on some. The "it's way out there and wack", "non-conservative" approach, but mine fell short by comparison and I am at odds in trying to rake my brain and track to see why. I agree with Hobo's assessment about the discordant sound from 5:00, but am unsure how or why mine was somehow so out there that people did not even recognize the song until much later than expected (the opening bass for Red Soil Brinstar starts about 1:00-1:30). Like no offense to Nick's work, I found it muddy coming out of my speakers too, and I almost did not recognize his source either.
Perhaps it's a difference in tastes at this point. ^^;
And to answer someone who asked the question, no, the song wasn't a full medley. Yes, it was a full (albeit, I suppose, sorry), lengthy song, and the only bit of it that people seemed to deem it as something different entirely is the mid-section, where I took a dive into the Green Brinstar chords in trying to add a bit of spice to the track. ...Seemed that failed, however, seeing as half the people hated the vocal chops and there's an air that somehow I did and didn't go full-monty with the lo-fi sound (which also confuses me).
...I'd just like a bit of clarification as to how what Nick and I essentially did panned out for one but not the other, so I know where I went wrong and how to improve. ...Where people returned to his and enjoyed it more but seemingly, frankly, just got tired / exhausted with mine.
I hope this didn't come off and sound offensive or angry. I'm disappointed, but neither of those, lol.

This is fantastic and love the remixed SNES-style songs (wish there were a few for Zoda's Revenge as well)!
Really wish the game had more love than it had gotten and went on to have successful sequels from there on out. (Would've been fun to maybe control Micha or to be able to switch characters in a Secret of Mana / Illusion of Gaia-style, or something in later installments!) Brings back great childhood memories.
Thanks for the share! I'll keep it in mind next time I peruse BandCamp for sure.

Compo: MnP (Meat 'n Potatoes)
Feels kinda funny to be doing this again. My choice for the next source is Secret of Mana's track "A Wish" (also known as the frosty forest or ice-crystal fields), a dreamily simple track that plays while fighting wolves and spear-wielding turtles through a lovely ice-crystal field. A bit minimalistic, but enchanting. -Souperion
Deadline: Dec 23rd @ 1PM
Vote Ends: Dec 27th (sun) @ 1 PM
MnP ARCHIVE  - made by Trism
submit: https://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/MnP120

MISSION STATEMENT
The goal of Compo:MnP is to promote that "meat and potatoes" conservative approach to remixing: this includes the mood and composition of source tunes. It is up to the remixer to create their own personalization, or to simply give it a sound upgrade. Moreover, the compo is a great opportunity to hone your remixing skills and give video game music the respect that is due. SOME reinterpretation is recommended, but not required.
MnP Instructions/Guidelines
Source-Picks are limited to the era of gaming 1984-2006.  In other words, Nes/Sega Master to PS2/GC/XBox 1.  Going to relax this rule with certain Indie Titles like Shovel Knight, Undertale and possibly Crypt of the Necrodancer.  Update me upon further titles that have that 'Retro Fidelity'.  Thanks! Modifying the Source is fine, so long as it doesn't sound completely separate from its original intent.  Small tempo changes are OK.  But not 140 to 80 etc.  Submissions must be at a maximum of 20mb (keeping in step with ThaSauce's file size max). Only 1 entry per participant. Previous winner cannot participate but can submit a BONUS entry. Try to avoid making quality-based comments on submissions until after the Round is concluded.  It is to avoid a Bias in Votes. MISC/TIPS
- When picking a source tune, make sure it has a MIDI to make people's lives easier.
- In-game sound FX are permitted, so long as they don't comprise the whole track (i.e. replacing entire MIDI tracks with just sfx)

Well, @The Vodoú QueenI hope you're feeling a bit better.  I didn't feel I was able to back the underdog's horse (publicly) this time around.  Last year, I did that and it didn't end so well.  More sensibilities were hurt than mended, I'll tell you that much.  Glad to see you guys are very positive and constructive. 

Whoa, OK, I think one of us got off on the wrong foot.
I am unsure what you're trying to say here. I had nothing against his stylistic choice, and--for that matter--love Mick Gordon's work with Doom (which is obviously where the inspiration came from). We all came from some stylistic choice that requries some form of discipline or know-how to achieve, so trying to say "only real musicians and music aficionados will probably understand" is a bit of an umbrella misnomer that is sounding, sorry...a bit borderline pretentious? As someone coming from art and writing, that's almost equivalent of trying to defend, let's say, a piece of abstract art and saying "only we of [insert field here] would truly understand," and that's a bit much when all I said was it came out muddy. And I am unsure how you're trying to direct that towards me or anyone else coming into this.
I am not taking this as a personal attack, I was seeking guidance and further clarification to some of the comments. That's all. I don't know you either, but it's a bit much to come at that angle. I asked what was the difference, I neither said Nick did not deserve it nor did I categorise it as "unwanted background noise." And I don't know who you're referring to as the 'random general consumer' in this, on a thread, in a forum, dedicated, as you said, for "video game nerds and music nerds to come together," but now it is sounding like something it probably shouldn't. :/ I hope I am not misreading you.
OK I misread you a little bit, and for that I apologize.

I understand. I figured it was mainly about the length, and I agree. I had some reservation about its length in making it, but figured I'd try and see where it went. But thank you for your kind words. I'll see what I can do next time to curb the enthusiasm on the length, (so far a lot of what I've made is too long, for what it's worth.)
But understandable. Thanks for clarifying.

And I sure appreciate the feedback, finally found where it was.

Hey. No, you didn't insult me. I took a step back and re-analyzed what you said. I am soaking in everything, trust me. It just sounds like I'm a bit hot and annoyed, but am seeking to learn and listen, and sometimes I sound rough and angry at that person giving the commentary due to it. If anything, I'm being tough and annoyed at myself, not you.
*Big hugs* It's cool, we're all awkward af. It's why we be here congregating and all.
I understand where you're coming from and listening. I take all of this in good faith. Thanks again taking the time out to clarify to the max like you did. ♥
I very much appreciate your 2 cents. It's more like a dollar-fifty for me. xD