OCR01842 - *YES* Doom 2 'Icon of Sinwave'

[big giant circles]

So Flik had actually bugged me a while back to submit this, and here I'm only now getting around to it. I subbed it back in the day, but the mailbox thing didn't ever receive it. I meant to get it up in time to possibly come out for Halloween, but meh, my procrastination got the better of it.

Anyway, let's see. Pretty ugly source tune, not much to work with. I ran the WIP by Ziwtra back in the day, and his reply was something like "Wow, now I know what it's like to be in a car crash in hell".

That's basically the idea. It's not meant to be pretty. It's basically two movements, the first one is my part, the 2nd is Fliks. Some hospital FX thrown in there, meant to represent a nightmare, and then I guess the dude dies or something and gets pulled back into hell. Blah blah blah blah.

Source - www.biggiantcircles.com/misc/DOOM_2_-_PC-30_-_Ico_ o_ sin_-_Opening_to_Hell.mid

Also, Flik is a pretty cool/funny dude. It was fun working on this with him. Not sure if he'd say the same, but if not, then screw him.

[big giant circles]

This is quite possibly the most enchanting and emotional piece evar. Why is this not a direct post?

YES!!!!! (roflcopter/lollerskates)

[anosou]

God the source is so horrible it makes me sad. I'm glad there are drums after HALF the song though. :/

Intro scared the living crap outta me, in a good way! The theremin-style motif entered and was pretty much verbatim but the backing and additional FX was wicked and enough to outweigh that. Drums were especially well done and mangled. Bass and some synths handled the bass motif from the original, mostly unaltered. Source seems to take the back seat most of the time, understandable with this kind of source but I would've liked some more focus on the four note pattern, maybe evolve it a bit or put it in another instrument. The altered version of the theme at 3:52 was a VERY welcome addition and a good example of what I was talking about.

I actually made a serious source breakdown just to check stuff out and you guys pushed a LOT of source in there. Most of the time it was the bass or the sine-wav being verbatim but the backing writing made up for this by a long shot.

Production is slick. Nothing bothering me except that the drums during the second movement sounded very vanilla and kinda grating. They were also a too strong on the high-end imo. The "synth-guitar" during the second movement was also a weak link because it was much quieter than the backing beat and quite flat and uninteresting. No dealbreakers though.

This is good. I didn't expect otherwise but still! Arrangement is quirky and interpretive enough and production is ace. Good jorb.

YES

[anosou]

if anyone's interested:

0:00-0:46 - original intro

0:47-1:08 - sinewave-driven, source pattern

1:09-1:14 - original transition

1:14-1:53 - Tons of source, all elements from the source (sine, bass, brass) present

1:54-2:09 - source rides the backseat, bass is arranging source

2:09-2:16 - original transition

2:16-2:31 - Liberal arrangement of source brass

2:32-2:48 - original transition

2:49-2:58 - uses sine from original

2:59-3:09 - original transition

3:10-4:35 - source usage including arranged version of main sine-riff, bass present all the time

4:36-4:59 - original or very VERY liberal

5:00-END - obvious source

I might've missed something but this is what I got out of it. Not that it matters but still!

[Palpable]

Very creepy, effective take on the theme. Some of the effects in here, like the crushing blast at 0:25, are really haunting. A lot of good mood setting plus good usage of a pretty minimal source - I think you covered basically every part of the source.

I thought it was pretty clear which parts you guys did individually, because the two halves of this are produced quite differently. The melodic writing of Flik's half contrasted well with BGC's more atonal take, but it still sounded like you guys glued two separate songs together. I think it would have been more cohesive to have one person handle most of the production. (Unless you did do that, in which case ignore my massive stupidity. But it sounds like two different people produced.) It's certainly not a dealbreaker cause this has plenty to recommend it, but it's something that nags at me.

YES

[Liontamer]

What's the holdup?

[anosou]

What's the holdup?

You, you're the hold-up. :'(

Seriously though, it needs two more votes. No holdup. Just no votes.

[Liontamer]

It figures that even though I vote on 100% of the mixes, I let one slide. For a colleague no less. What kind of nepotism is THIS?!?

http://doomdepot.doom2.net/music/doom%201%20&%202%20midis.zip - Doom II: Map 30 ("Opening to Hell")

[20:16] <Liontamer> rofl; listening to Icon of Sin from Doom II

[20:16] <Liontamer> this is awesome

Seriously, the source tune is awesome for its barebonedednesses [sic], and this one retained the integral sine wave and bassline for the most-part, while building all sorts of unspeakable horrors to interact with it. Loved the change in the lead for the arranged melody from 3:52-4:14, BTW.

With a source like "Opening to Hell", you're really left with a lot of room to build upward, and Jimmy & Chris did a great job with it. It bobs and weaves with dynamic energy that you'd never expect given the source. Nice work, and a great contribution to Delta-Q-Delta!

YES

[CHz]

Fantastic arrangement; the expansive approach was obviously the way to go with this one, and this is packed with unspeakable horrors (in a good way). The second half is pretty different from the first, but I thought the transition was fine and the contrast is great. The percussion in the second half does bother me a little bit, but it's not a major impediment. Job well done.

YES