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OCR01171 - Metroid "Kraid's Hideout"


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Hey, does this sound out of tune? (waits for chair to be thrown)

Seriously though - I had some issues with this piece. I enjoyed the simplicity and REALness of it. There is definitely something about a live performance (metronome included) that is captivating.

The tuning, whether intentional or not, was a bad taste in my mouth. It sounded okay until the part at 0:52. As haunting as the dissonance (or rather, tonal inconsistency?) was, it certainly did remind me of cringing at a grade-school violin recital. In my opinion, the violin (when played well) is an expressive enough instrument that renders "scary tuning" unnecessary.

With that said, although 0:52 sticks in my mind like a thorn ... it seems to be a thorn that I can't remove. I can't decide whether I want to run away and hide or relieve my soul of all hope in despair at the emotions it evokes. I think with proper tuning, I would have had a much more touching experience. It makes the difference between a scratch on the face and a caress on the cheek.

I enjoyed the expression and panning of the instruments. A slight turn at 1:27 caught me off guard, but was interesting. At 2:02, the violins sounded good together. The cello was exceptionally well placed with the guitar at 2:19. 3:11 seemed unusually bright to me (in comparison with 2:02), and at 3:29 there was an unnatural silencing of the instruments that made it seems as though that part of the song was cut-and-pasted.

As for the ending... the harsh mis-tuned string at 3:39 really grated at me ... but at 3:47, I was impressed by two decent sounding delayed violins, and a magnificent unresolved measure, gracefully slowing to a stop.

So do I like this remix? I'm not sure. But I can't bring myself to delete it, and I'll give it a listen every once in a while...

I'd like to listen to more of Select Start's material to see if it's less ghastly, whether it's inappropriate ghastliness or not.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think this is really a great arrangement for this piece. I'd love to hear this exact arrangement with the tuning issues fixed and the mix reworked a bit (the actual "mix"). Perhaps just a bit less repetition of the main theme would be nice too. All the parts are very intricate and well thought out though - particularly the cello part on the second half - very creative.

Let's hear someone remix the Tourian theme!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Ugh, this track is wretched. Yep, I'm one of those cent-sensitive assholes.

I love the idea of playing this loop - one of my favorites of all time - on live instruments, but it just doesn't work this time. Sorry. There's really no excuse for having something that's this out of tune when you've got Sound Forge cracks floating around on KaZaA.

2/10 overall.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

I can't think. Thats how awesome this is. I've been playing in an orchestra for 4 years now and we have a great solo violinist so I'm used to hearing solo pieces. This was really neat though. Also very creepy, which is just the way I like Metroid.

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  • 4 weeks later...

By default, the sound sin the beginning drew my attention. It was the familiar sound of metronome, I believe. And then some one shifted in their seat. I was thinking that I was about to hear some sweet instrumentals. I must admit the sounds of the starting melody strings made me start a happy smirk. This was sounding good, already. And then that solo violin overpowered the white noise of my room. From then on, it was all downhill. Every twist and turn of the original tune made me grin with ideas of how to portray characters in verse and prose, each one more depressing than the next. The variations were a lovely desert. Regardless of a few tuning problems, this is among my top tracks to listen to late into the night.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I know this is a bit late to say, but for those of you who had issues with the dissonance/tuning:

A composer friend of mine told me that, were this tuned perfectly, it would be way too sweet. In her words:

"It wouldn't be Kraid's Hideout, it'd be...'Kraid's Cottage'"

Interesting point, I must say.

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I'll second all of the positive comments that others have made about this track. This is one of the first pieces of music that I found on this site that really impressed me and showed me that the quality of music here goes way beyond "novelty" techno remixes of old Nintendo music. Someone really needs to hire Select Start to write the score for a horror movie.

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  • 2 months later...

I happen to agree with the need for tuning on this one, fellas. When you use real strings and they aren't tuned, there's a faint essence of cat that tends to raise the hair on the back of the next. I like the arrangement and the original song, but the tuning ruins it for me.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have to agree with the tuning issues, sometimes it was worse than at others, but by the end it was giving me a bit of a headache. Which is a real, real shame as I think that the strings are a really nice change from the rest of the metroid remixes. I would certainly listen to this over and over if the tuning issues were fixed. :)

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  • 1 month later...

I agree; I could clearly hear the bad tuning and it was even off-key at some points. However, I really like this song. The bad tuning gives it an exquisitely depressing tone. It's really creepy. In my opinion, listening to this song is like listening to a rock song played backwards; it sounds inhumanely creepy, but is very interesting to listen to. Then again, I wonder what THIS song would sound like played backwards. Woah, gave me chills just thinking of it! 8O

Red Katana out :wink:

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I have to say that I absolutely love this take on kraid's theme, it sounds like it was all played live, but I could definitely be wrong. I really like the off tune nature of this mix too. Especially around 00:52 when the "chorus" comes in, I think someone else here described it as "nails on a chalkboard" but in a good way, and I couldn't have said it better. It's everything that I've ever wanted to do with mixing but couldn't (due to lack of skills/money). With this all being said, i think this mix deserves a 5 out of 5 rating.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 9 months later...

Honestly, you need to get good players before attempting anything like this. I could hear the good intentions, but this piece falls flat on its face.

Forget the out of tune strings, where's the bass when I needed it? Left the lone guitar out to dry. Perhaps you made the last runs easier on the violin? It really sucks when people can't get the melody right...

Sorry, this is one of my favorite Metroid tunes, and it was ruined. Absolutely ruined.

Don't do a Metroid piece ever again.

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  • 2 months later...

I just started listening to it, and I definitely think the off tune is intentional, as it is off-tune the same way every time, and no one who plays an instrument has that bad hearing to know that it's off (let alone 6 people who make up the band), I play violin and this is seriously EXTREMELY off the beaten path, but I can't stop listening to it, morbid fascination is an excellent way to describe it.

Paladin777-out

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  • 1 year later...

I think the off-pitch adds a certain eclecticity (I'm going to pretend that's a word) to the piece that takes it beyond what could have just been a simple cover; Kraid is a creepy guy, he's not going to have a spick-and-span tidy little string arrangement, it's going to be out of wack, it's going to be demented, it's going to sound like this. It's unusual and I like it.

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  • 7 months later...

This piece really presents a spooky, things-aren't-quite-right atmosphere that, frankly, is embellished by the tuning 'errors'. Intentional or not, they do indeed accentuate the uneasiness of the track -- of the titular situation, namely approaching the hideout of a gargantuan beast (which calls into question the logistics of his having a 'hideout') who longs to kill/eat you.

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There's some harsh opinions on this one, evidentally.

Look, I think this is pretty simple, no matter how you look at it. It's biggest creative stamp is the fact that it is out of tune, so it doesn't win me over on the arrangement side. It's a song that is suited for piano being played by a live string quartet. That's cool, and I think it works extremely well.

If this mix does something wrong, it's the fact that it doesn't do anything except whine out the Kraid theme. The different combinations of instruments working together in different sections of the mix are definately interesting and do evoke a dreadful, moody atmosphere, but I don't think this has much to say. I do wish that there was an off-center arrangement to go with the off-center musicality.

Regardless, this is nowhere near as bad as all the pro in-tune picketers would have had me believe. Or rather, the tuning is far from the mix's biggest setback.

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