OceansAndrew Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Remixer name: Rexy (real name: Bev Wooff) OCRemix user ID: 7528 Remix info:- Remix title: "All for Wumpa" Game covered: Crash Bandicoot Song(s) covered: The Great Hall (main track), Main Theme (several minor appearances), Dr. Neo Cortex (single cameo) (Please be careful with this link as it's on a delicate file sharing host; if the download turns out to be faulty, let me know and I'll send another copy your way.) Additional info about the game:- Game publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Composer(s): Mutato Muzika Original system: Sony PlayStation Year of release: 1996 Source links: (Great Hall) (Main Theme) (Dr. Cortex)--- "It's 2010, and we still don't have any Samurai Showdown or Crash Bandicoot or Donkey Kong 64 mixes, or anything from the PSP, or Neo-Geo Pocket, or Atari Lynx or Jaguar. Doesn't anyone out there want the grand honor of being first, in any of those arenas? That's just the tip of the iceberg, and I'm sure each of us has our own personal list of "Why the hell hasn't anyone mixed this?!" games or songs. I love the classics, I can respect every mixer's wanting to touch on them... but... inasmuch as anyone listens to me & cares what I have to say, I'd love to see all of you branch out, start covering some undiscovered country, and shine a spotlight on corners of VGM that are less tread, or completely unexplored." (djpretzel in his blurb for ABG's "Third Eye") --- Those words above have been ringing in my mind for the past few months. I guess it can be fair to say that it was one of those things that got me motivated to try and get past the panel again, even though I keep convincing myself that I'm going to be consistently bubbling under. So yes, the Crash Bandicoot series. The original platformers were amongst my all-time favorites, the second one in particular clocking up more hours in my youth than any other game, and the sheer attachment I felt for it was something that I felt to be something so dear to me. So you can probably tell my initial disappointment from when I discovered OCRemix back in its "purple days" that there was nothing there from that series, and in some shape or form over the years I've been trying to do what I can to give the series some awareness within the community. I've witnessed some contributions through VGMix, Remix:ThaSauce, the Dwelling of Duels, Larry's old radio show VG Frequency... even OverLooked ReMiX! But in spite of this, nearly 8 years since I joined, no one else has done anything to rectify the issue over here. It pains me a lot since it's going back to my OWN youth, and even now I still have cold feet in regards to sending stuff towards the site these days. But in spite of this, I plucked up the courage lately to go back and give it another go. Story of my life over I picked "The Great Hall" from the original Crash title because of all source tunes provided by Mutato Muzika during the PS1 era, it to me managed to fit more of the nature of a piano arrangement to me. Its usage in the game was in 2 places - the final "lobby" level before the final battle with game antagonist Dr. Neo Cortex, and during the end credits. The feel I went with it was to make the game's conclusion feel so much more graceful, and to some extent a little bittersweet. Once the final battle was over, Castle Cortex was left in flames and you have managed to rescue Tawna, the game's damsel-in-distress. As you both ride into the sunset in triumph, you can't help but think what happened to the cronies you fought along the way, fearing that one of these days you may have to go through that same struggle all over again. But pushing it to the back of your mind, life goes on and you still need to be thankful for your own success. Since I'm probably the only known Crash nut on the entire site (!!), I'll provide a source breakdown: 0:00-0:10 - Main theme 0:21-0:32 - Dr. Cortex 0:43-1:59 - Great Hall 2:08-2:11 - Main theme 2:19 -2:23 - Great Hall 2:51-3:00 - Main theme 3:04-3:10 - Main theme 3:26-3:57 - Great Hall 4:08-4:12 - Great Hall Total source time: 2:34 (roughly a 5:4 ratio between source and original content) Big thanks also go to the people in the WIP forums for helping out with the production advice, Stevo in particular ^^ Again, this is my youth we're talking about here and I'd desire to finally see some light spread upon it. In November it would've been 15 years since the release of the original game, so surely the time would be now? Either way, thanks for your consideration, and I'm keen to see what you all think Peace out, -Rexy- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halc Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I don't have a lot to say about this one; I liked it on the workshop, and I like it now. good performance, good recording quality, and a solid arrangement. keep reppin' that bandicoot, girl. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Pretty seamless melding of several themes, I think the arrangement is really nice. I do think the volume could be normalized and brought up slightly, and I would prefer a little less reverb, but overall this felt pretty cohesive. Solo piano tracks seem to be under extra scrutiny, but along with the arrangement ideas, decent dynamic curve, and some pretty pleasant piano playing, I can get behind this one. Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Going to agree with the gentlemen. Love how you incorporated three different themes together, all of which flow nicely and really mesh well. Arrangement overall is solid. Andrew's got it right on the details; would have liked a little less reverb and a little more normalization, but overall I'm down. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Argh. I'm gonna be that guy and say that the piano sound just wasn't strong enough for me. It was pretty thin and the volume was low too which didn't help. Everything else seemed above board; the playing and arranging were quite nice. Tempted to just let Dave hear this one and see what he thinks. If he is comfortable with it, I would be too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I'm actually with Vinnie on this - the performance is right on the mark and the arrangement is, too. However, when you compare the piano tone with something like WillRock's "Above the Sky" you can hear a significant difference in how rich and thick the piano tone is. This sounds more like something you'd hear from an old ragtime jam, which I suppose works well enough for the style. It sounds best in the last quarter of the track, personally. I'm also torn here. I do have a pretty high standard for piano tones but I do feel like the strength of the arrangement and performance compensates for the just-barely-under-the-bar sample quality. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if the sample was refined just a little bit, but I'm inclined to say this is passable as-is. I'm gonna tentatively go with it but it might be good to get in touch with Rexy anyway if there's other judges who have an issue with it. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 She recently got some new samples and will re-render with them. i'll post the new link when i receive it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Holy shit. Pardon my french, but that sounds GORGEOUS. So glad we decided to track her down and get this fixed, I'm much more comfortable with the song now. YESSSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Definitely an improvement but the volume is still low. Think we might want to get a more normalized version with some light compression. But piano sounds quite good now. EDIT: Actually relistening, the volume may be ok as is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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