Liontamer Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Always gotta bust out the stopwatch for Kunal. Throw us a softball some time! - LT Not sure if this will pass, but I'm willing to give it a shot. It's a remix of "Dance of Pales" for the Bad Dudes and Friends release: http://oneupstudios.com/ep_06.php -k LT Edit (1/22): Source video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3zIJ5wgaA8 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Akumajo Dracula X ~Nocturne in the Moonlight~ Original Game Soundtrack - (21) "Waltz of the Pearls" Obviously, the execution is excellent and the original writing ideas fit like a glove with the source arrangement. Still, this went into pretty liberal territory outside of the sections explicitly using the melody. Stopwatch time. The song's 4:39.5 long, so this needed more than 139.75 seconds of source usage (>50%) for me to pass it. Again, I'm liking the way everything's woven together, but I'm looking for some assurance that the A-to-B connections are legit and dominant. Here's what I got so far: :55-1:08, 1:12-1:26, 1:31-1:43, 2:06-2:23, 2:24-2:28, 2:41-2:42, 3:17-3:24, 3:26.5-3:33, 3:35-3:39, 4:31-4:38 You could also argue for the strings derived from 3-note pattern at :25-:27/:43-:45 in the original - :18-:37, 1:49-2:05, 4:11-4:26 Beyond that, it gets dicier, at least as far as I can tell. Gonna need more info from Kunal and/or you others as far as direct A-to-B connections. As long as that's there, I'm obviously cool with this, but I'm not down with YESs "because it sounds good." EDIT (1/8): I stopwatch to be fair. You other Js can count silence all you want, but I don't count omission. Listening once again, I'm a little more OK with the liberal string pattern. But what actually and finally put this over the top for me was the additional simplified usage of Castlevania 1's "Vampire Killer" theme used regularly from the beginning, which no one else picked out. Kunal, this mix wears some liberal clothes for significant portions, but it wears them well. You mentioned to me at MAGFest that you were wary of submitting more stuff to OCR because of some NOs you got for going too liberal with the source material. But your musical skill always shines through, so I'd say go ahead and submit without fear. If something's self-admittedly too liberal, like your Silent Hill tribute track from "Zombies Ate My Neighbors", then so be it, but definitely keep an open mind to sending your material in and seeing how it fares. YES (borderline) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I'm pretty comfortable passing this. The arrangement is very well put-together. It's sparse but the performances are excellent and fill it out well, and there's a very clean, crisp sound to it. Definitely dug it, awesome work. The intro (0:00-0:54) and the outro (3:40-4:38 ) are the major parts I'm hearing as being totally original, with a pair of ten-second sections harking back to it in the middle. I think it's a minority of the song, and even then the strings in 0:25-0:27 of the source gave some parts of those sections a similar feel. I don't think it makes sense to "stop the stopwatch" at parts like 1:08-1:12 and 1:26-1:31, because Kunal is just finishing out the measure, keeping the chords of the source. 2:41-3:08 soloed over a unique progression of the original, so I'd count that too. In all, it seems connected enough for me. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHz Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Yeah, I think stopwatching the rests in the melody is a bit excessive. 0:55-1:48, 2:06-2:28, and 3:17-3:39 are all straightforward blocks of source melody. Adding the three blocks with the string pattern would put the count over 50%, even without solo section Vinnie mentioned. Source usage is fine, arrangement and production are sexy, it's all good. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 I'm with 'Ili and Vinnie, stopping the stopwatch in the middle of a measure or phrase seems a bit excessive. I know I've taken this stance before (Tony's Sonic 3 remix comes to mind) and I still stand by it. I don't think it's "counting silence" since it's a complete musical phrase that is connected to the source, no one's going to think "hey where did the source go at 1:08?" because it's still connected enough imo. Also, since the progression during the solo is quite unique and such a defining part of the source I think that definitely makes the arrangement less liberal. Obviously I wouldn't mind some more overt source usage from Kunal next time but this particular arrangement is safe to pass in my opinion. Production is clean and crisp, arrangement is hot and everything is well put together. I especially dig the attention given to the ghost notes in the drum patterns. Guitar sounds excellent too, very smooth to combine soft sounds like that and the electric piano with the busy drums. Great performance too, very nice dynamic playing. I see no problem in busting out the yes vote. Good work Kunal! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Larry I poop on your stopwatch!!! This his very chill, very groovy. I love those vibrato strings. And then acoustic guitar! 8D Yeah, this is my jam right here. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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