Paper Doopliss (Paper Mario Thousand Year Door)

[Shade Levora]

A Haunting Orchestrated remix of the Doopliss Theme from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I believe this is my best upbeat and psycho unbalanced song yet.

I remixed it with some random yet comparable pieces and wanted to give it a "In your face" sort of haunting feel.

Original Composer: Yoshito Hirano

Enjoy ;}

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/378095

[Tyler Gill]

Ah, Doopliss... good memories. What game other than Mario would have people turning into pigs as a normal part of the plot? In fact, why would even Mario have that? Anway, I like what you've got here so far. Here are some of the things I noticed though, after listening through a few times.

0:10 - I like the bells - very reminiscent of PM:TTYD . You might want to bring them back at some other point too, to remind the listener that time is running out....

0:32 - the choir that comes in here seems to be very slightly behind - almost like the instrument takes a few extra milliseconds after the note transitions before it really changes. Try sliding the transitions back a tiny bit (fractions of a second), to see if that helps them change more on the beat.

1:04-1:24 - the strings in the back seem a little off beat too, and might be going to fast for one string instrument alone to do - you could possibly try alternating between two different instruments for each note, so they have a chance to start their sound fully. And at about 1:20, when you have the little happy tune pop in, the background rhythm just doesn't seem to fit very well to me.

Overall, a few of the transitions seem a little abrupt, namely right before and after the happy melody comes in. I really LOVE little cameos of other songs, and blending two different melodies together really can be awesome, but that part needs a bit more arrangement work to not sound forced. I like the concept though, as it reminds me of SM64 and the haunted merry-go-round, (which I suppose I could suggest as another possible semi-happy tune there). But I'm sure you can figure something out to make that part fit in perfectly. But keep it up! You've done good so far, so keep working out those kinks. You've done a pretty good job so far on dynamics (something forgotten far too often), so keep going on this.

PS: Here's a link to the source, as I'd kinda forgotten how it went:

[Shade Levora]

Thanks,

(UPDATE)

Bells are slightly more continued.

Fixed it. 0:32 The Chorus I re-wrote completely to fit my version better. (Sounds pretty amazing now.) ;}

The transition is replaced slighty more better (yet still creepy) that goes into the music box at 1:08. The second transition at 1:30 remains unchanged because it is supposed to literally jump at you in a scary way. So the transition would not be to altered.

[Tyler Gill]

I like the changes a lot - nice work. And yes, the happy part sounds like it fits a lot better now. I also like the brass (tuba? trombone?) that I don't remember about at 0:50. But it's getting late here, so I'll take another look at this tomorrow. The overall production does seem much better to me though, so way to go! (Hopefully its not just sleep deprivation...)

[Shade Levora]

I shall hope so. ;}

[Tyler Gill]

OK, here's that promised (but somewhat delayed repeat review. Thanksgiving happened, along with major snow storms at home.)

First off, the dynamics for the first part sound kinda flat. The initial buildup is good, but then once its started, it stays mostly the same volume even as other instruments are layered in. I think a little more dynamic variation there wouldn't hurt, mainly through that first 0:06-0:35 part. There is a little variation, but its not very strongly marked.

From 1:01-1:08ish, the bass string still sounds a little off the beat of the rest of the melodies layered on top of it. It throws it a little off to me, not sure what others think.

I just noticed it now, so it doesn't stand up that much to me, but the percusion track sounds a little MIDI-ish. Personally, I don't mind that much, as I don't hardly pay attention to the percusion specifically, and its a part I have almost no experience with. But it might be something to have in mind. But in my opinion it's use and the rhythms and places the percusion is used bring out the song well, so maybe just try to find some other samples.

As for other stuff, I stand by what I said earlier - the transitions feel more natural to me now, and the choir sounds on beat. The production overall feels better to me, though I'd say a moderator review would still be a good idea, as my knowledge of production quality is pretty lacking. But very good work even still.