*NO* Flashback 'Deja Vu'

[Liontamer]

Remixer Name: Raimondo

Real Name: Joe Thompson

E-mail: jct4@geneseo.edu

website: none

Number: 21983

Game Remixed: Flashback

Song Remixed: Memory

Flashback for the Macintosh was one of the first games where I ever really noticed the music. The game had a very cinematic feel to it, and the riff playing over the sequence where Conrad's memory is restored to him in particular stuck in my earliest memories of video game music. Flashback has a quite 80's B-movie feel to it all through the story, so I tried to get a sound out of the synthesizers that would be reminiscent of the era.

EDIT (5/2): The artist actually sent in an updated version shortly after this made it to the panel. The link up top is now the newer version. The first version is still hosted on the FTP. His comments below:

(I fine-tuned the mixing a little bit and got rid of some of the distortion that was in the earlier track, smoothing down a lot of the hairier parts, and played with the fade-out so it doesn't seem so abrupt. This is the first song I've submitted before and the form letter said that I could tweak the song a bit after I had submitted it, but I still want to make sure that it's okay).

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I had to add .mod to the end of the Amiga version to get Winamp to recognize it. I'd recommend using the Amiga version as the reference point, since we don't have the Mac one.

http://project2612.org/download.php?id=333 - 06 "Conrad's Memories"

http://www.exotica.org.uk/download.php?file=media/audio/UnExoticA/Game/Gesqua_Raphael/Flashback.lha - mod.flashback-memoire

This was OK for slowing down the tempo of the original and taking it in a more ambient direction, but the arrangement otherwise played it pretty straight. There were some notable expansionist ideas as well, but the structure was fairly similar overall. The sequencing being so rigidly timed had its old-school charm, but lacked flow as a result.

There was some good escalation of the energy as the track progressed due to additions to the support instrumentation (e.g. :49, 1:35). I also liked how the melody was doubled as a bassline with the original rhythm under the lead from 2:14-2:52.

If the lead melody itself took some other creative liberties throughout the course of the track to vary things up on that level, I feel like the dynamics would be much more effective. Vary up the melody more and take the interpretation of it into one or two other directions, and this would be on a lot more solid ground as a fully developed idea, IMO. Good base, Joe.

NO

EDIT (5/2): Listening the new version, the sequencing and overall production is much more solid. Just keep the last paragraph of the decision in mind in terms of creating more variation, and this would be easier to YES.

[Palpable]

I was definitely a fan of the arrangement. Great textures here, and I didn't think it was played that straight either, with the complementary original sections and the new melody over the source's chords at 1:16. Dynamics built up well, and the bassline was a clever idea. It has a little too much repetition though, in the melody and the drums. Some minor changes in the melody, including volume ones to match the energy level of that section, would go a long way. I kept expecting the drums to break into something a little fuller and I think the way you kept them so constant detracted a little. Still, I'd like to stress that I thought the general arrangement idea was strong and it wouldn't need much more writing effort.

Production though... the leads were too loud in comparison to the rest of the instruments (especially the one starting at 2:33) and this piece really could have used some EQ, as it gets muddy. Drums were sort of buried. I'd recommend listening to more music in your genre to really get the shape of the instruments. There's a lot of frequency ranges you can cut to get a cleaner sound.

This is a good candidate for resubmission. Work on those problem areas and make this one really shine.

NO (resubmit)

[DarkeSword]

Swimming in reverb, which I guess makes sense stylistically, but when your piano stuff comes in, it's a little too much residual stuff mixing together. I love the bass in this though.

I think you need to expand the arrangement a lot though; you could really nail that 80's B-movie feel if you brought in some percussive ideas (think the drum fill and subsequent pattern from Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight). Evolution in a piece like this is key, and I don't think you have enough yet. Keep at it.

NO