5 in 1 Deal

[Rom Tom]

This is a megamix I randomly made as soon as I got back from a boring 3 day vacation. It incorporates 5 different video game tunes. I dunno if its even allowed to be submitted or if it is even worthy of being submitted, but at least it's here for y'all to hear. Yes, they do flow together rather well, I'd say. It is 6:35.

The order of songs go like this:

Maple Story: Clocktower

mp3 source: http://www.thejasoneffect.net/music/MapleStory/MemoriesofOssyria/TheClocktower.mp3

The other four tunes shouldn't need a source 'cause we all know and love 'em.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Stone Tower

Super Mario World: Overworld

Final Fantasy VII: JENOVA

Chrono Trigger: Corridor of Time

Anyways, I am in need of feedback. Or at least some sleep. it's 2:30 in the morning

Criticize and Enjoy!

Cheers,

Rom Tom

[DrumUltimA]

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

[x] Too conservative - sticks too close to the source

[x] Other: Medly-itis

PRODUCTION

[x] Other: Imbalanced Levels

STRUCTURE

[x] Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough)

[x] Too repetitive

[x] Abrupt ending

PERSONAL COMMENTS (positive feedback, specifics on checklist criticisms, any other thoughts)

First off, your production in general is pretty solid. I would've liked to hear a more expansive soundset--the entire mix is drums, bass, synth pad, panning synth pad arppeggios, piano, and flute. This also made it far too repetitive--especially with the panning synth pad. There were points where I thought the flute was too soft too, specifically in the beginning--I also thought it could use a bit more reverb. Also, the ending was sort of abrupt, as if you hadn't actually written an ending yet. Your production skills are definitely good though, I like the way you work with the equalizer in this, as well as panning. It's just 6 minutes of the same techniques which is holding you back here.

As for the arrangement itself, unfortunately I believe you've come down with a bad case of medly-itis--as in, when an arrangement sustains itself on simply being a medly, rather than developing the material within it. There are medlys out there that do adequately develop their material, and to produce one of those is truely a triumph--but unfortunately, your remix simply cycles through the melodies of these five tracks, all in the same static soundset.

I'm listening to this maple story track.. honestly, I would love it if you turned this medly into a maple story remix. Listening to the source mp3, there's a lot of content in here that could be worked with, and it would be really sweet to see a MS remix on the site. Despite the kiddie nature of the game, I actually did think it had a nice soundtrack--good for killing mushrooms to

You really didn't use much of the maple story track, actually. Let me break it down: :30-1:16 of the source is your melodic content. You referenced the bell-like arpeggios with the panning synth arpeggios, and you got the chord progressions basically lined up to the melody. But there's a lot more going on in this track that you could work with. First of all, a direct transcription of the ascending arpeggios from the beginning of the source track would be really cool-there's some cool harmonic stuff going on. You have more melodic material from :15-:30 in the piano noodling that you could work with, even give that stuff a new instrument to vary your texture up a bit. Also, hear how the source track splits up the melody between a bunch of different instruments? That's something you could reference, but with your own soundset. There's some melodic noodling from 1:16-1:30, and at 1:30 the chord progression changes up--this new chord progression is a fairly substantial change to me, and you didn't reference that at all in your remix. There's also a drum break that you could reference at 1:51 too. At 2:09 we're basically back to the opening melody, but with some different instruments playing--but that's basically it.

All of this is to say that there is lots more you could've arranged within the maple story track. You can also play with changing the chord progression, the tempo, the time signature, the groove, etc. Using more than one source tune is fine--but they both need to be arranged and interpreted with the same level of interpretation you would invest in a remix of a single source. A particularly well done example of this is AeroZ's "Dark Butz" (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01581/ )--a remix in which Sebastian was able to not only arrange the two tracks ("Ahead on Our Way" from FFV, and "Dark World" from LoZ:3), but also able to arrange them together--eliminating any elements of medly-itis. But your arrangement relied on changing source tracks for variation instead--which coupled with the static texture, left you with not one large remix, but five very conservatively arranged remixes, all with the same arrangement.

So in conclusion, I guess my advice is this: Pick only one or two of those source tunes, flesh out all of the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic motifs you can, and use those to arrange the mix as creatively as you can. You'll find that with more interpretation, you will get a longer mix. You can even try referencing the other source tunes that you used if you want, just as long as one or two of those tracks gets the spotlight. One thing I like to do in my remixes (as well as AeroZ, from my observation) is use a melody from a previous remix I've done as an accompanying line. That being said, you may be able to fit, say, corridors of time back there as a brief accompaniment.

So yeah. Cure your medly-itis, get a more expansive soundset. Your production values are totally solid, so concentrate on making an interesting arrangement. Good luck!

[Rozovian]

Bass sounds a bit too staggering, and for some reason, it sounds more sequenced that stuff that's sequenced, all same velocity and length, but not as staggering. See if you can improve there. Drums work well, tho.

Once the track gets started with the piano, you seem to have a hard time deciding which key you're in. Happens. Not bad, but it should sound more deliberate. Bass is also too soft and the rhythmic pad thing is too loud. Piano could use some more (or louder/lower) left-hand writing to sound more real.

There seems to be some instrument with a slight swing to it, not meshing with the rest of the track's rhythm. Flute also sounds kind'a mechanical. Some levels need some redoing (especially rhythmic pad vs bass), but I do have to say the production is pretty decent.

I'm with Doug on both the repetitive nature of the track and soundscape and the medley-itis the track suffers from. Save this version, and start working on one or two more entwined sources.

It's not submittable, the J's are gonna cry MEDLEY! and NO! it. However, it has some great stuff in it, so make sure to scavenge this track for parts for your future Maple Story, CT, SMW, ZMM, and FFVII remixes... whenever you do any of those.