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OCR01066 - Castlevania "Belmont Lounge"


djpretzel
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A real Baranowsky favorite of mine. This, like many of his pieces, I hear through its entire developement.

At first, the sound quality wasn't all that sharp as his samples were pretty bland, but what hit me the most was that even with crappy samples the song still rocked. He broke right through that barrier with the right application of skill and technique. It was a nice advocate for the promotion of skill over sample quality, which is what I'm all about.

And now... its the same song with much better samples, so a bonus :)

Very nice.

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around 1:16 the tempo changes with the introduction of a bass and later what sounds like a distorted guitar. it's almost too soft but it lends a nice background as the pianos come back. I really like the bass here, seems like you've spent some time on it. it does its own thing while following the other instruments at the same time (especially around 2:19).

At 2:23 you add some more percussion elements which again keep the song interesting without taking over. Around 3:23 is an organ and 3:32 a sax while the drums switch to hi-hats while...lots of instruments keep entering and exiting and returning. No complaints with the ending.

This whole song is just a school in variation, melodically and instrumentally. Top notch work, especially with the drums.

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Yes...long have I waited for a Castlevania ReMix such as this one. It has a nice blend of minor chords as well as great variations on themes. The transitions between the songs are absolutley flawless and well worked out. The use of the saxophone is just marvelous. Also the use of vibes and organ are wonderful. Great job. Really.

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I will never, ever understand the video game remixing community's collective fixation with lounge music. Correct me if I'm wrong, but said fixation does in fact exist... Well, at least it's better than Mariachi or something...

That being said, this is f**king amazing. There's really nothing I can say that djp didn't already, but this is an instant classic.

One small gripe -- I thought the EQing on the mix as a whole was a little treble-heavy. Still, that's largely a matter of taste, and if you're like me and you're picky about that sort of thing, you can fix it to your heart's content with the Winamp EQ :)

Great, great stuff.

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Well, this is very "loungy", so it suites the title quite well. I love the sounds. Very good. Ang good piano work also. Great job with the Castlevania 2 song in the beginning. The power the tune has is well transformed into piano version. Great choice, instead of going Digimatics way and making it super bombastic.(God I love that mix though. The best) Well anyway back to this mix.

The idea of using many songs in one is excellent and serves the purpose perfectly. The bouncing from one song to another really brings to it more lounge-feeling, and the feeling that it´s performed and played for real. I can imagine a big-band playing.

All in all a splendid remix. Very well made and everything is used well. You got some tight drumfills here and there! This songs power comes from somewhere else than throbbing bassdrums or hard squeeky synths. The power lies in the balance and good playing.(I don´t know, sounds kinda played, but is it sequenced? If it is, great sequencing!)

No complaints. I like the fresh idea and the great wai it´s put together. And the sounds are good too. This is not maybe my every-day music that I tend to listen, but it will stay on my hard-drive, and I´m sure I´ll get back to it many times. This is the kinda song that needs a certain athmosphere and feeling... Thanks for a great remix!

5/5

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It's cool to hear all the various songs from the game, but as one piece, I don't feel that they work. I did like the additions from SOTN a lot though. It should almost have been listed as multi-game, but I don't know if the database is capable of that.

And it's probably just my opinion, but I don't know if Castlevania was really meant for laid-back jazz music. Obviously though, this is just an interpretation that totally focused on the music rather than the theme of the game. But when I think Castlevania, I think evil or dark music. Like symphonic, rock, metal, industrial, etc. But it's ok to think outside the box, and this surprisingly works with some of the songs, especially the SOTN ones.

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Aggh the cheeese!!! Well, since it's intentional I won't take any points off for it. :wink: This is just superbly arranged. I mean, I wouldn't have thought it possible to pull off a Castlevania lounge music medley at all, but voila! Not only is this one, but it's also very fun to listen to. The drumwork, despite sample quality, is excellent, and the transitions are fantastic. Just all around nice work, Mr. baranowsky. And that's why you get this: :nicework:

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Is it wrong that when I first listened to this I broke into a fit of giggles? This is hilarious! But, it's great! Very interesting interpretation of a classic.

Great piano work. Glad you went with the organ instead of the guitar.

Around 2:20 and 5:10 I found myself almost forgetting that this was a "lounge" arrangement. Almost felt like it was getting ready to take on a different form. (My brain kept wanting to put in critiques for a trance feel.)

Anyways, very clever. Very nice sound. Something you have to be in the mood for though as it's kind of unique. :)

PS. You weren't playing "The Sims" when you got your inspiration for this, were ya? Scary similarities to this and some BGM for that game.

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This isn't cheesy at all, it's amazing. In some places it's like a cross between Castlevania and Persona. That's unbeatable.

The way this thing flows, you'd think it was orginally written as one piece. The author (Dan what's-his-face) gives these cool little Castlevania tracks a worthy second coming without resorting to doing a boring heavy metal mix or butchering the original work with a shithead techno mix.

This is basically one of the few ReMixes worth keeping on my hard drive.

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A long song, but it keeps me smiling the whole way through. I don't have much to say here, since I don't think I've ever sat down and beliberately listened to lounge music before. Shades of SimCity and the Sims jumped out at me at first, but that passed pretty quickly. It's something different, that's for certain. 8 out of 10 for being original and keeping it interesting.

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