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OCR00896 - Super Mario World "Ghosts of the Marble Hall"


djpretzel
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A fleet hangs silently in space. On the bridge of one of the ships you see the captain and all the lieutenants scrambling around to get ready for battle. Suddenly the captain notices something on the vid screen and everyone goes silent, staring in awe. Very very slowly, a starship of incredible size uncloaks in the middle of the fleet and begins to open fire. Ships are launched and a large space battle begins. We follow all the main characters in the vision until the control ship explodes. Suddenly the mood gets dark, and in slow motion you see many of the pilots crash, or watch a fire start in their cockpit and overcome them. One by one, they are all eliminated.

At least that's what I see. This song started off really strong, with a beautiful, subtle eerie feeling a la Voodoo Dance. The percussion before the brass kicks in sounded very out of place, but I was blown away by the brass and didn't pay as much attention when I first heard it. The chords following were perfect, and the strings provided a great fast effect that made you envision all sorts of action. I thought the brass could have been a bit louder when they re-entered, and once again I thought the percussion seemed wrong when they finished off. The break was long; not that long, but a little over how long I felt it should be, but the re-entry was amazing. The strings sounded beautiful, and displays a lot of emotion for the piece. Although it was a bit short, and could have been elaborated on, I love this piece. I'd love to see more orchestral work from Psychrophyte.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as everyone else. Sure the samples are great, but that doesn't make the song by itself. The utterly massive pauses are obviously there for affect, but there simply too long, especially considering that they happen 18 times. When the melody comes back the first time it's neat enough and the remix would have been short and sweet had it ended right there. But it doesn't. It basically repeats the first two parts again with the same instruments again, which just gets annoying. When you're listening carefully to this song you might be able to enjoy it as is, but I guarentee you it will be lucky to stay on your playlist for that long. 4/8.

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry yall, but I really don't see what the big deal is about these samples. Some of them are certainly good, but by no means great. The attacks on the string ensembles are still too drawn out inbetween notes, and the timpani, i'm sorry, is just horrible. Some timpani samples work fine, like at :21, but each other one is simply too harsh and mechanical. And i'm pretty sure a different method of arranging them would have helped tremendously, such as softer dynamics or usage of roll samples.

:49-:51 absolutely made me cringe; it was incredibly mechanical and lifeless. Once again at 1:48. Ouch. The crash cymbal sample is also thin and papery, and sounds much more like a techno/trance cymbal than a set of orchestral plates. Maybe i'm being a little harsh on the percussion, but playing these instruments for 9 years gets you somewhat used to how they should sound and be utilized, and this is pretty off. I don't mean to sound cocky, i'm just trying to establish where i'm coming from on this.

If the arrangement had also strayed more from the original in terms of chord structure or melody usage, all would be forgiven. But, aside from a few minor tweaks to the harmony, and a simple (albeit effective) marcato violin lead over the more active points in the song, it sounds nearly identical in composition and instrumentation. While the horns are actually quite impressive, they are shoved into the back of the arrangement and forgotten. This, among the other issues, causes the whole song to feel unbalanced.

I also agree with DarfaceX about the constant stopping/starting. It really breaks up the momentum, and doesn't really lend much suspenseful appeal.

I understand it was made in a week, but there is still obviously a lot of work that could have been done prior to submission. As of now, like Disco Dan said, it sounds very incomplete. Good ideas and attention to atmosphere (reverb is done very well), but as it stands now, this doesn't last in my playlist.

-SM

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There was a time when I considered making an orchestral version of Super Mario World's Castle theme. What I started would not have in any way come close to this piece. Good stuff by Psychrophyte. The only thing that rubs me the wrong way is that extended pause at 2:34. Other that that, I am a real big fan of this mix.

-DCT

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  • 2 months later...

I liked this track when I first downloaded it, and I still appreciate the beauty of this track. Impressive that it was made in a week too, but it does show. It seems rather muted compared to other remixes, but that is a minor problem. However, from 1.15 to 1.30, I feel that the lack of sound is not good. Sure, a fade into the main part of the piece would of been effective, but I feel that it started up from a VERY low volume, and takes too long to complete the fade in phase. I'm also not sure about the samples (but what would I know, I don't remix).

Goodness wise, the main structure is fantastic, and very powerful, especially the middle section, and it was a brilliant idea to make an orchestral version.

It's still worth downloading definitely, especially for SMW fans, but do take into mind that it was constructed in a week.

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I want to think that the timpani samples are muddy due to the "concert hall" reverb. But I actually like that sample here... it just seems to fit. The strings are beautiful, from the violins to the bass (and being a bassist, I'm a fiend for 'em). I agree, that 5- second pause at the end is irksome, especially when you're sitting there looking at the counter with so much silence passing. Extra points for doing this -ism in a week.

8.5/10 is "What you get".

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  • 8 months later...

This song made me scared... I don't mean it like "Oh yeah it was creepy." or, "Yeah it sounded scary-esque"....

No, this song actually made me too scared to walk around my room when it was dark after hearing it. This is the first song that I wouldn't listen to after a certain time for I knew it would leave me with insomnia. Though by now, after hearing it several times, it's much less scary and much more awesome.

The note hitting near the end about 2:58 has the perfectforeboding sound to it (I know there is a musical term for it, but at this point in time I know not what it is known as).

Truly great material. Would make excellent cinematic music.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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  • 2 months later...

I love love love the castle theme. I like this remix a lot, but I wish it were much longer, like at least 8 minutes long, but even then the ending must not be handled the same way it was handled in this one, perhaps a better ending would have been to let the castle theme slowly die out.

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  • 5 months later...

I am a french horn player, so I am automatically a fan of this grand work, not simply because the centerfold of the piece is the horn part, but also because this piece brought out what I had envisioned the piece should have been. I always believed that a great theme like this had such potential but Psychrophyte brought out every element in the theme. The only major downside to all this is the fact that it's WAY too short to trully live up to expectations. Regardless, it's still masterfully done and major props to the ReMixer.

9.5/10 - Still in my Top Five! :D

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  • 9 months later...
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  • 1 year later...

I've always really enjoyed this mix with the wonderfully creepy feel it has. It stands out as one of my favorite SMB mixes on this site. I do wish that it was expanded, both in length and instrumentation, but even as it is I think it is a solid piece of work that I can listen to and enjoy. Even after the time since release the samples are still pretty good, it's defiantely withstood the test of time. Nice work.

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  • 5 months later...

The SMW ghost house theme is one of my favourite Mario tunes ever, because it has that classic Kondo hook, but it also injected that really dark ominous sound that was an extreme contrast to anything heard in the series previous. The strength of the tune is proven on OCR from the amount of really quality mixes made out of, this one included.

I really like that this one shies away from the wall-of-sound approach others take with the source material. Instead of blasting each section of the melody, this one leave a lot of open space, exposing the skeleton of the piece. I really love the strings that come in at 1:25 and continue on for most of the track; they really keep the mix moving while sounding great at the same time. And while there's nothing very new brought to the original, it is still a very successful exaggeration on the mood created by the game level and its soundtrack. If there is one mix that represents the source material most faithfully, it is this one.

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