OCR02167 - *YES* Mega Man 9 'Blown Mind Bolero'

[DragonAvenger]

Hello,

Title of remix: Blown Mind Bolero

ReMixer name: AlteredBeats

Real name: Anders Holmdahl

Website: none

Userid: 32345

Game arranged: Mega Man 9

Song arranged: Thunder Tornado (Tornado Man Stage)

Composer: Ippo Yamada (?)

System: Xbox (XBLA), Playstation Network, WiiWare

Original song:

Comments:

This is my first remix submitted to you guys. I've been wanting to do something for a while now and this song seemed like a good choice for several reasons. First and foremost, I just love the original; it's probably the best song from MM9, which by the way has awesome music overall. Second, it seemed to fit the style I wanted to achieve, and lastly MM9 has, to my knowledged, never been remixed on the site.

My interpretation is basically a progressive metal-type mix, the instrumentation is inspired by Dream Theater and others. I used an old 6-string Jackson in baritone tuning for the rhythm guitars and regular tuned Fender and Jackson for lead parts/embellishments. Drums are Superior Drummer and bass is recorded on a Line 6 bass. Various synths and sampled sounds. I even fooled around with my iPhone and the improvised lead in the middle is recorded using the ThumbJam app straight into Logic with a few effects.

I hope you enjoy my humble contribution.

Anders

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I really like how you treated the source for this. It makes a nice transition to rock, and there is definitely a lot of energy in this arrangement. There are a few times when I wish you'd taken a little more liberty with the source melody itself (an example being when you pretty much repeat through the source again the second time at 1:17 through before the solo), or had overall more arrangement and variation. I think the big thing holding this track back is the repetition. The very brief piano breakdown was a nice touch, and I wish it had stayed a little longer before going back to the rock. The fade-out isn't the strongest ending, but I do think it works for what you are doing here.

There is some nice use of panning at the beginning of the song, and throughout a lot of subtle use that really works well. I will say that on speakers especially the main parts are getting a little overpowered since the panning isn't as effective, so consider that in the future when you are mixing. The brass samples aren't the greatest, but they work for what you are doing. Aside from that I like the synth choices, and the rest of the instruments work well.

I think that the arrangement needs more work, but right now it is skimming its way over the bar. In the future I hope you can really add in more in terms of variation to really bring the songs to life. YES

[OceansAndrew]

I agree that the arrangement is a little on the conservative side, but the track was really clicking for me on a number of levels. Production was solid and clean, and though there was a bit of repetition, the parts were well done and interesting enough to keep my attention. Playing was solid, and the drum programming was well done and interesting.

I think the source is really well adapted to the style, and the execution is strong. There's a lot of solid energy, and enough rocking for all. The solo section was really cool, and even the ending was sweet.

Yes

[Palpable]

The mix mostly follows the structure and melody of the original, but the attention to dynamics and playing techniques put your stamp on it, and the solo section adds some original spice. Put another way, this mix sings. Sure there could be more instrument separation, more reverb to glue it together, and maybe better balance (the backing guitars sometimes overpower the lead) but these were all minor issues - otherwise, this is hard to knock. Sounds like a pass, let's hear more!

YES

[Liontamer]

A little rough in terms of the mixing. The sound was definitely very clean, don't get me wrong, but some supporting instrumentation that used the source definitely got buried during the verses. That said, this was a great example of rocking out a source in a pretty conservative way structurally but completely personalizing the arrangement and making it yours with new part writing and expressive performances, and cool bends and grace notes with the main melody to add some flavor. Strong stuff. The piano at 2:58 will throw some people off, but it was an interesting touch just to make sure you're still paying attention. Awesome first sub, Anders! Keep 'em coming!

YES