OCR02660 - *YES* Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES) 'Permafrost'

[DragonAvenger]

Your ReMixer names: Draconiator, Flexstyle

* Your real names: Justin Landry, Mike Birch

* Your websites: http://www.youtube.com/draconiator, http://www.flexstylemusic.com

* Your userids: 20634 (Flexstyle: 22246)

(He said I could submit for us.)

Submission Information

* ReMix Name: Permafrost

* Name of game(s) arranged: Donkey Kong Country 3

* Name of individual song(s) arranged: Frosty Frolics ( Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS_Z6zO5xqM )

* Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. :

(This is going on the DKC3 Double The Trouble album, so if this is YES'd, don't post it until the album is out.)

Flexstyle: When Draconiator first handed his mix to Wes, who then handed it to me, I knew there was a lot of work to be done on it--but it definitely had promise. I asked if Drac would be okay with a collab, just to throw a couple coats of polish on his track and possibly get him in as an actual mixer, instead of just a bonus mixer. He agreed, and we got to work. To be honest, most of the arrangement is his work. I did some editing, such as adding the reversed piano bits and chopping up the arrangement to make it more listener-friendly, and I did some serious tweaking of synth patches and tempo and whatnot, but a lot more of this is Draconiator than me, musically. Where he fell short in mixing and general "remix sense," if that makes sense, I was able to step up. The result is this deep trance track, which both of us are very happy with.

Draconiator: Before I even sent this to Wes, it was an original (which I lost the FLP file for). I sent said original to Wes, and he suggested that I redo it into a remix for the album, which seemed like a good idea to me, so that is what I did. However, the first finished version of it, according to Wes, was still bonus mix quality, so sometime later he proposed that I work with Mike to get it up to album quality. I couldn't be happier with my decision.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS_Z6zO5xqM

[DragonAvenger]

So, while this is a somewhat standard technoz™, I do have to say that this is well produced. It's a fun listen, and it's taking a repetitive track in the first place and mixing it up. The source fits very nicely in this style, so smart move there. I enjoyed listening, and while it's not breaking new grounds, not every track has to.

YES

[OceansAndrew]

You did a pretty admirable job of taking a really ambient (aka boring) track and turning it into something technofied, though some of the inherent repetitiveness remains. A good job was done in making it exciting though, so props there. I do think it sticks to the genre pretty closely, but there is interpretation of the melody, even if it doesn't blaze a new trail or anything.

Overall it sounds very similar to a lot of other trance tracks, but it's well done.

Production overall is solid, nice sidechain, bros, and the sounds meshed well together.

Yes

[Fishy]

Jesus that kick is slammin'. I like the way you've included the more ambient section that ebbs and builds properly. Not quite as cookie cut as Deia implied to me, I think this has it's own touch f'sho.

Not without it's fault mind; the snare sound is super dry with a couple of not quite there snare rolls, and there's a bit of a weird high frequency thing going on in the first little lull section there. These are minor faults though, and don't really detract for my enjoyment.

Also, I heard you like sidechain.

YES

[Palpable]

Nice dance mix, this definitely goes beyond your run-of-the-mill adaptation. Lots of little layers and effects, and the source was used a couple different ways. The ambient section with the reverse piano was completely gorgeous. If this has a fault it's with the balance: there was a washed out sound to the synths and bass that made this sound a little hollow. But with such good flow and production otherwise, it's not gonna stop this.

YES