*NO* EarthBound 'Pokey Plays the Pipes'

[OceansAndrew]

ReMixed song title: Pokey Plays the Pipes

ReMixer name: Impulse_Aural

Real Name: Nathan McWilliams

Email Address: nmcwilli@gmail.com

Website: http://www.purevolume.com/nathanmcwilliams

Forum UserID: Looked all over, couldnt find it (Forum ID: Impulse_Aural)

Name of Game: Earthbound

Name of Song: Pokey Means Business

Chiptune: http://ocremix.org/song/810

Comments:

I have, for a while, had a great reverence for the sound design in Earthbound. Something about that sound track has a mind-bending quality. It is fantastic how the composer's use of sound affects your perception of what is going on, and that it makes this game a truly scary game. After spending a few (unsettling) weeks listening to the sound track (and getting freaked out) I settled on about 12 tracks that I liked that I thought would be remix-able. Because the game's sound design so often relied on effects and pretty modern arrangements, I was often left without a really great musical line to work with. One day I was listening to Pokey Means Business and it occurred to me that the lead line could sound really cool as a huge pipe organ arrangement. Without any real thought about how complicated the piece was or how much work would need to go into this, I started re-creating the original song in a DAW. Now, nearly half a year later, although I could have picked an easier song to remix, I am happy I chose this one.

I have done many original compositions before, but never an arrangement. I certainly learned a lot working on this piece, and with the great community behind OCR, I feel like I have cut my teeth on this one. I made a lot of mistakes on this one, but I am ready to leave this behind for other remixes that lie ahead. Acceptance or no, I am happy with the result.

One comment on a technical aspect of this song. Because of the more pure sounds that I chose to use, I opted for a less compressed sound than your average submission. I was faced with a trade off: clip/distort instruments that sound bad distorted or settle for a quieter overall level. I noted your desire in OCR standards to keep a "normal level compared to the average recording" when I was mixing, but at a point it started sounding quite poor. I hope you will judge this music compared to your average classical sounding music rather than your average metal song. I think if you do that, you will find that I have gone to great lengths to keep the energy and overall loudness of this track very high. I figured blatant permanent damage to the quality of the recording was overall a poorer choice than something that can be fixed with the simple tweak of a volume knob.

Thanks,

Nathan

[DragonAvenger]

The arrangement on this is pretty good. It's definitely taking the original up a step, and the changes and additions to the source are nicely done.

There are some production issues. The balance feels a little too organ-heavy at times, and it is overpowering a lot of the other elements. The levels all around need a little tweaking. My biggest issue with the track is the drum sounds overall. Most of them overall aren't cutting through enough for the track. With a little more oomph I think they would really help bring this track alive and make it even creepier.

I think this is really close, but those changes will push it over the edge.

NO (please resubmit)

[OceansAndrew]

The intro is excellent, the piano and added strings and pads are really nice, but things go downhill once the organ comes in, sadly. I think the drums in that section need more punch, and the organ is a bit loud and dry sounding. I think adding a larger room reverb to it would fix both issues, actually.

Arrangement was exciting and sophisticated, no complaints there. Nice dynamic curve, and some very intelligent choices.

It just needs some production fixes, and if you have any questions about drums, or would like some assistance on samples, Nathan, hit me up, and I can assist you. I definitely want to see this one on the front page.

No, please resubmit

[DarkeSword]

Basically in agreement. The drums actually sound a bit anemic when the organ shows up. I'm not a fan of the piano and organ sharing the soundscape; there's a dry/wet dichotomy happening that's sort of making the soundscape a bit crowded when they play together, and even then like OA said, you could probably put the organ in a bigger room reverb-wise.

Those drums need some more punch to them. REALLY.

Love that pizzicato string stuff.

NO, resub

[Liontamer]

Doesn't sound bad. The piano articulations that sounded somewhat mechanical, but were pretty solid to me. The rim hits and light drum worm really didn't work with the piano and choir elements. No synergy with the textures. The structure seemed pretty similar about a minute in. Damn, the same exact issues at :58 with the changeup, i.e. the drumwork doesn't fit the gothy textures of the rest of the instrumentation, so there was a lot of empty space in the soundscape and the textures didn't click. You definitely added some personalization to the source with the instrumentation and additional part-writing, but the structure was still fairly close.

Another changeup at 2:04, but this time doing its own thing unrelated to the source for the most part. Everything up to 2:04 really needed more creative interpretation if the last section was basically going to be original material unrelated to the source tune. The organ was too dry/clean and could have used some effects to make it sound deeper. I agreed with the others about the balance issues, but was more concerned about the really bare textures that never fully clicked, no matter what section it was.

NO

[Palpable]

Closing this out.