DragonAvenger Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Contact Information ReMixer Names: TenchuX & HoboKa Real Names: Christoph Vand* & Alex Shtokalko Email: TenchuXmusic@gmail.com Website: youtube.com/tenchuxmusic – N/A for HoboKa TenchuX: http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=5751 User ID: 5751 HoboKa: http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=16277 User ID: 16277 * Christoph Vand is based on my real name. I keep my true one private online for personal reasons. Submission Information Game: Donkey Kong Country Song Arranged: Life in the Mines Source Material Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZwrx4eMLr8 Remix Name: Mine Shaft Escapades IMPORTANT: If you hear a weird click/static at the start of or during the song – it’s not really there – please download manually and listen in a player such as Winamp if you have this issue. Song Background and Description Work on this song began in December of 2008. HoboKa was the composer of the initial draft and then I took over from there. The best way to describe the collaboration would be that HoboKa built a house on his own and then I came in and remodeled/added/subtracted onto the house on my own. This worked out really well for us and we hope it shows. I'm not sure about HoboKa, but it's been over 6 1/2 years since I last submitted a song to OCRemix. Hopefully the time and patience has paid off. This song was almost submitted at the beginning of April. Some changes since then include lowering the rising string fx volumes during the intro buildup. Some synths were faded to lower volumes to help bring out other sounds as well. Velocities were fluctuated further with the intro flute heard in the left ear in an effort to humanize the sound. The low freq/bass/drums have been beefed up a bit (though this isn't intended be a bass heavy song overall). Added a string section towards the left ear at 3:06-3:35 that hits a segment of source that was originally missed, thus making all major source hit throughout the song. It also makes that section more unique. Double tracked the lead electric guitar at the end of the climax (intentionally and coincidentally increasing the volume) which lets it stand out more, plus some other small things here and there. As stated, practically every bit of source from the original song has been utilized in the creation of this song. No “thematic” section repeats exactly the same. There's also lots of neat stuff going on; so if you listen to the song a few times over you may hear something in the background that you didn't notice before. The song is constantly morphing to reflect what’s “going on.” Going on you may wonder? That would be a tumultuous journey through a mine shaft by our two primate pals. The goal was to make the song a visually imaginative experience just as much as a musical one. Below the song is chronicled into what each part represents “visually” and musically. In fact when you hear the song I highly recommend thinking of what each passage is trying to depict. As such, I’d suggest listening to the song once before reading the following because perhaps your own journey through the mine shaft may be different. 0:00 – 1:05 It starts off quite ambient with a sense of ambiguity and discovery. There are water drops and some squeaks to give you the sense that you’re in a dark and damp mine shaft. I want you to picture DK and Diddy walking inside of the mine. It’s just them right now, tip-toeing about (emphasized by the pizzicato strings). 1:06 – 1:35 The song then goes into suspenseful buildup. The droplet splashes, clicks, thuds, and monkey calls during this part of the song pay homage to David Wise's unique use of these said sounds in the original song. There are four string “fx” rises in a row. During the beginning of the original song there are also four strait string/pad rises. The string “fx” play more of a background role until the fourth one for blending reasons. As it reaches the end it seems like something isn’t quite right. They’ve been spotted! Loud primate scream! 1:36 – 2:08 A triumphant gallop starts going into full swing. The descending left strings and center horn try to depict the tragedy of this dire situation as DK and Diddy try their best to get out of the mine and away from danger. 2:09 – 2:13 Uh oh! DK and Diddy ran down the dark tunnel… and right into a group of Kremlings! This is highlighted by the volume change. 2:14 – 2:47 This heavily synth based segment of the song was done in a way reflect the industrial and environmentally befouling nature of the Kremlings. Metallic, dark, and dirty seemed to speak well to that. 2:48 – 3:05 DK and Diddy have managed to get past the group of Kremlings... they see sunlight! The end is in sight! The choir is used here to represent the sunlight. Kind of an “awe” moment. 3:06 – 3:35 DK and Diddy are running as fast as they can while jumping on every baddie that’s getting in their way as they run towards the light. The melody with the slow rising strings (shifted towards the left ear) is based on the strings used in the original song. 3:36 – 4:05 DK and Diddy are still running and the light is getting even brighter. The electric guitar and backing piano are used to help make this climax have an epic feel. *CRASH* 4:06 – 4:52 The guitar stretches into the ending to symbolize our two primates leaping out of the mine shaft. The choir, woodwinds, and strings help to create a bittersweet tone. The choir is again symbolizing “life” through sunlight. However, what’s this? You hear birds chirping happily! I leave it to the listener to decide if what DK and Diddy found outside the mine shaft was good or bad. I think the final note gives the answer though. Anyhow, we’re hoping to finally give OCRemix its first posted Life in the Mines remix (as there are none at the time of this mail). Thanks for reading this and we hope you enjoyed the song and the journey! TenchuX & HoboKa --------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Pretty interesting concept, and decent execution. Some samples were bleh, specifically the drums and the tone on the guitar was pretty rough, but overall things worked pretty well together. I did feel that the low end was muddy and lacking bass presence, especially during the guitar solo. Arrangement ideas were cool, but it seemed like it strayed a lot from the source being the dominant element pretty frequently. There are definitely appearances of the source, but since a lot of the original is so ambient, it's very easy for it to be covered up by new ideas and expansion. A lot of the middle seemed at first to be wholly original, and after repeated listens I heard the background references to the source Overall very creative and I like the concept, but it needs more dominant source and a slight production tune up. I'd take another look, guys, i'd love for this to be on the site. No, please resubmit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 Very little I can add to what OA said here. The arrangement is very creative, and you can tell there was a lot of work put into this, but it's connection to the source is just a little too tenuous. It doesn't help that the original is fairly ambient on it's own, so sometimes it's tough to really keep the source in there. I do like the little elements you added into the mix from the source, like the rising synth near the beginning. Those little touches are nice, and fun when you actually hear and recognize them. The sounds are a weakspot of the mix, especially the drums. The guitar bothered me, but not as much as it did OA though I can see what he's getting it. This would really sound better if those sounds could be upgraded. I will say that this had some good moments, and as I said, it's very obvious the amount of work that went into this. I think you can revisit the trouble sections and bring this up to speed! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Surprised DOA felt the source was lacking in this. I realize the melody isn't there that often, but because the 8-note melody and variation used at 0:51 in the source is used practically throughout this whole arrangement, and somewhat prominently, I didn't have an issue feeling connection to the source. I guess there are submissions where I am the one feeling like the source is being marginalized, but not in this case. This arrangement was pretty cool. Nothing too out there, but solid expansion of some of the elements of the original. I liked the ideas though the execution was off at times. Some elements were too loud and sometimes the articulations were too stiff (the lead at 2:14). The strings didn't sound very realistic, drums and guitar could have been improved though the weaknesses were masked. I also think the arrangement was on the too-busy side; there are parts where you get hit with too much stuff (2:14 and later on). Transitions were also abrupt. Overall, abrupt transition + uneven mixing and articulations = needed to sound smoother. A lot of those issues are easy fixes, and I think this is close to a pass. I guess since you have two judges telling you to make the source more prominent, you may want to see if you can use more source as well. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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