Liontamer Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 Hi, Here's my submission for the OCR judges! Remixer name: Mutherpluckin' B Real name: Henrik Lidbjörk E-mail: lie.b@runtimerecords.net Website: http://lidbjork.homelinux.org/nintendo OCR user ID: 10308 Game: Mega Man 4 (by Capcom for NES), Dive Man's level Song title: Sky Diver, Inside Her Comments: This one's a sort of '70s rock boogie version of Dive Man's theme from Mega Man 4, inspired by things like "Easy Livin'" by Uriah Heep and stuff from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. The synthesiser is a Tweakbench Pressure through a distorted tube amp; guitars are all through my homemade tube amps. ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/14305 - Track 6 ("Dive Man Stage") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yCXPVASxg - "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" Some of the drums (and the one vocal clip) are sampled/covered from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band's version of "Giddy Up a Ding Dong". Pattern's basically 1-for-1 and prevalent throughout the mix, which to me violates part 3 of Acceptable Source Material: 3. Any incorporation or arrangement of source material not from games (mainstream, classical, etc.) should be extremely limited. So already, I'm gonna call that a no-go. Altering the pattern while retaining the feel of the Alex Harvey version is more than fine, but using it verbatim throughout most of the track is above the amount of non-game song usage I'm comfortable with. That's going to be a sticking point on Henrik's subs, because he loves sampling drums from mainstream songs. Onto the rest of the track, I'm liking the arrangement direction. The soundscape's noticeably missing high-end, and the mixing left the background feeling too empty IMO. The bass writing sounded good but could have been a little louder in places. Not feeling the mallet percussion; the timing sounded stiff and awkward. Going into a third iteration of the verse & chorus at 1:40, the arrangement ideas were sounding too samey and limited. I'd like to see more variation throughout the verses. There was a little at 2:27. The key change at 2:39 also went in the right direction, but felt bland given what else could have been done. I saw someone in the WIP thread for this complain about some sour notes, but I didn't think anything sounded bad. Altering the drum pattern to be original yet in the style of "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" would be needed for me to think about passing this. Beyond that, the drums need more variation and the verses could use a little more interpretation beyond the first time to keep the arrangement fresh. I know you're going for a vintage sound, but I think the mixing could also use some tweaks without sacrificing that old-school sound; hopefully other Js can give some solid crits on that. I'm always a fan of yours, Henrik, so hopefully you're willing to take another look at this and see what you can do with it to push it over the cliff. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Uppsala Universitet? Då går ju du på ett riktigt universitet jämfört med mina Musikvetenskap-studier på Stockholms Alltid trevligt med fler svenskar på OCR. Putting that Swedish jibberish aside (BIAS!!!), on to the mix. Like Larry said it's already a NO because it incorporates too much of a non-game source. However I'll judge it like we always do anyway. Overall the arrangement has some great interpretive ideas. The rock'n'roll feel is definitely present. I feel, like Larry, that some minor alterations could've been done when repeating the verse/chorus formula for this long. The playing is overall really good, might not be very advanced but the groove is here and it works. The mallets sound a bit odd but I think that's more of a production thing, more on that later. The production needs a little bit more work in my opinion. The old-school feeling is there but that doesn't mean a track has to sound distant and thin. The guitar sounds you're using are cool with a beautiful amp-like reverb. You should however make sure all the guitars aren't in the same frequencies. The drums are a weak part (probably because they're sampled) because they sound very flat. Even if sampling was allowed to this extent I would've wanted them fixed up to sound fuller. The mallets like I mentioned sound a bit odd. I think it's a combination of the sample and how you're processing them. Make them sound a bit more up-front to keep it from getting flimsy. Overall really good stuff that falls short on some points and a big one (sampling). Recreating a similar pattern with more variation is ok, keep that in mind. I'm looking forward to a resub or your next submission because you obviously have the chops for this. Fortsätt såhär! NO(resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Feel like most everything's been said. The sampled drums make this a NO. It's too much of the track. Arrangement was still cool, certainly not a style we get often, though could have used more variation. The synth and mallets threw me for a bit of a loop, they weren't typically used in 70's boogie songs (at least synth patches like that weren't). But by the end, I was getting used to them. Production was a little off. The synth and mallets didn't sound like they were in the same space as the guitars and drums - needed some different shaping, and adjustment of volume levels. It would take some work to replace those drums, but if you feel you're up to it... NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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