*NO* Seiken Densetsu 3 'Malevolent Intent'

[Liontamer]

Remixer alias: HoboKa

name: Alex Shtokalko

Game: Seiken Densetu 3

Source: Political Pressure

Remix:

Midi: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/SD3Dark.mid

Description:

So, Rozovian recruited me for the project - albeit I've never played the game before. So I decided to remix a rather sparse yet foreboding track...yeah my usual style.

I implemented orchestral, percussion and DnB elements, as well as some ambient stuff. It begins as orchestral and it slowly

transitions into a distorted DnB/ambient style. Had some veterans check this track out and they told me to submit it, so

hopefully you guys think the same thing lol. And thanks for being patient with my slow learning curve and so forth, regardless of the outcome.

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[OceansAndrew]

Production and arrangement-wise this is easily some of your best work, but damn is that source song bad. It works really well with your style though, and I think you've really improved upon the source.

Something like this is really hard to judge, however, since the source is more like a single motif repeat with a lot of droning, and a brief B section.

The progression builds up, but it retains the menacing overtones, even when it shifts to a busier it's foreboding. The ending is subtle too, but seems to be a bit more than just getting bored with working on things.

Production is pretty clean, though the snare sounds overcompressed, and the samples you've used gel well together, and the sfx used help complete the mood. The arrangement ambles all over the place, but it's a pretty natural extension of the source in that regard. Nothing strikes me as being glaringly out-of-place.

I don't especially care for the remix, but that's probably mostly due to the source. I think the remix itself is pretty well done, but this may be an uphill battle on the panel. Good luck!

Yes (borderline)

[DragonAvenger]

I can easily agree and say this is your best work yet. There is a lot of nuance in the track, and those details are what really bring out some life in it. OA's totally right; the source itself is nothing pleasant, and there isn't much to work with. I'm going to give you some credit though that you've made a malicious ambient track. The source is there in many different aspects, although at times it can be a little hard to pick up on. I like the hand-drums throughout.

The sounds used work pretty well together (with the exception of the snare), and production is pretty good overall. There are a couple of times that I wish the source was a little more predominant either volume or balance-wise, but that's a small detail. The snare that comes in about halfway through the track unfortunately sticks out. It's not matching the rest of the soundscape here, and with everything else meshing well together it sticks out even more. It's not enough to kill the vote, but it would be a nice thing to have changed.

I'm glad you kept with mixing, because you continue to improve, and it's showing in this track, despite the not-so-fun source to listen to.

YES

[Palpable]

I will say that DA and OA (or DOA, for short) got my hopes up. The intro was promising, a textured take on the source. This is one of your best pieces so far, but it still has IMO sizable problems from a writing perspective. There was only one section where I thought the writing sounded weird timing-wise, which is a problem I usually find with your subs (that section is 2:07 btw), so that's a step up. But this really noodled around, and even for arranging an unmelodic source, should have had a more clear direction. The fadeout before the beat came back and the abrupt ending were good examples of an unclear direction, I felt like there was little-to-no continuity from section to section. I also didn't hear any source from 0:30-2:36 which is a very large span to not reference the source, though maybe I missed something there.

Some production issues as well. The snare didn't sound like a good sample or it was treated in a way that made it ill-suited for the track. The choir sample was exposed too.

Sorry Alex, this isn't gonna be the one that does it for me.

NO

[DarkeSword]

Not a bad ambient track. A good way to adapt such an odd source tune. Nice atmosphere, nice texture, nice evolution.

YES

[Vig]

Not bad, but for an ambient track in particular it's awfully mechanical. The piano sticks out for this reason. It also seems like there are lots of parts looping rather than evolving. In my opinion one of the main differences between good ambient and bad ambient is sonic evolution over the course of a song. I think the sonics of the second half of this song are a lot more interesting than the first, but I think the vocal pad is really boring and should be ditched. The piano could work if it were further back in the mix and less mechanically sequenced.

Those are my thoughts..

NO

[CHz]

A lot of arrangement ideas here used to flesh out the original, which is good because the source has a whole lot of nothing happening in it. Nice work.

The piece as a whole really wanders around a whole lot with no clear direction, though. There's evolution, and there's new things just kind of happening whenever, and this falls into the latter category as much as the former. After about the three minute mark or so things get on track for a while, building up and then winding down into the noise, but then all of a sudden at 4:59 there's piano, which messes around for twenty seconds before abruptly ending as quickly as it came in. There are a few moments like that earlier in the track too.

The production is on the rough side, too. The sequencing is pretty mechanical all around. The piano is especially noticeable, but the clarinet in the beginning and the choir suffer too. And that snare sample, I don't really want to beat a dead horse here, but it doesn't fit well with anything else in the track.

NO

[Liontamer]

The shaker was too loud and mechanical, the tambourine performance sounded too rigid and fake, the piano also sounded too rigid. The timing just sounded sloppy when the beats coincided with the melody. The way the vox came in at 4:09, it doesn't get more n00b than that with the timing, it's just embarrasing.

The atmosphere's not the worst thing I've ever heard, but that was the only thing that wasn't a complete mess. This was not polished or cohesive at all. NONE of the textures formed sounded entirely purposeful, they all just sounded careless and sloppy.

Besides the issues with the samples, sequencing & textures, :36-2:36 & 3:38-4:09 had nothing to do with the source, as far as I could tell. That would be more than half the track with no direct connection to the source material, which is too much.

OA/DA/DS, what were y'all smoking? I don't want whatever you guys had, because it's clearly bad shit. Sorry Alex, but I'm hearing nothing positive that didn't seem a result of dumb luck, and what little DID click didn't click for long. There's a way to effectively pull off a haphazard structure, and this is not it. Take the advice of the NOs to polish this up so that this actually locks together and half the sounds don't sound cheap, mechanical, mistimed and out of place.

NO (resubmit)

[Jillian Aversa]

I'm a sucker for ambience, so the howling wind in the intro got me excited. Then the shaker came in at 0:38, and it was mixed really loudly compared to the tabla stuff, which should have been the more predominant instrument. Groove was pretty cool, though.

Snare: need I repeat?

The choir at 1:41 sounded very MIDI... so much so that it doesn't even feel like an upgrade from the limited samples Kikuta had to work with. DnB section starting at 2:36 with the whispers was cool in terms of atmosphere, but the percussion sounded crunchy and mildly distorted - I guess you could justify it as a stylistic choice, but it seemed off to me. And then we had the real distortion at 4:25, which was just kind of annoying.

Then it ended, and I was like, "...wha?"

I know you picked a challenging source to tackle given how minimal it is to begin with, but as CHz said, there's evolving ambience and then there's random stuff, and I think this fell too much into the latter category. I wish I had some concrete advice on how you could solidify the arrangement, but it's tough with this source... Maybe take a closer look at the DnB idea, and flesh that out more so it's less literal ambience?

NO (resub)