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OCR01359 - *YES* Dark Cloud 'Moon Dust'


djpretzel
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DS Edit: because of the odd chromatics, lets get some other judges to weigh in. 6Y/N please within the week please, otherwise we convert to YES.

Whats up fellas,

Contact Info

Remixer Name- Blue Magic

Real Name- Damon Campbell

E-mail address- Randy550@msn.com

I don't know my User ID

The song can be found on my page here: http://www.angelfire.com/blues2/bluemagic/

ReMix Info

Game Remixed- Dark Cloud

Individual song remixed- Moon Sea

Original Composer- Tomohito Nishiura

Copyright- Sony, 2001

System- PS2

Comments

This is a little something I've been working on for the past week or so. It is a relaxing remix of the "Moon Sea" theme from Dark Cloud.

I noticed that Dark Cloud doesn't get much attention from remixers from OC nor VG Mix, so I thought I would give it a try. The original song didn't really have much of a melody so I did my best to make up for it.

Hope you like it.

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Ahhh I see. Now straight off the bat I would have dismissed this as being off-key if I hadn't listened to the original first. The question is, should the questionable notes have been changed? It's a stylistic issue more than anything else, and I'm unsure at this point in time how I feel about it.

I'll, um, come back to this one later.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I'll tell ya what, I don't mind the "off-key" string being that it's taken from the source, but the performance on it sounds really inhuman. In "Ocean and Moon" the movements from note to note at least flow a bit smoother. Here though, they're pretty jarring.

The overall feel is very chill, but at the same time, those quick strings you used (:33-:48, 1:18-1:32) are pretty important for a source tune with so little for a melody, so I've gotta ask that you get the notes sounding a bit smoother. They're only used briefly, but are a glaring weak point to me. I can ask Blue to see what he can do to fix it if anyone else agrees. I figure since this was only put together in a week or so, it wouldn't take much more to fix this up.

The rest of the sounds are excellent, the arrangement is icy hot and I liked the production on it. Played the VGMix version of it back on VGF52 and I genuinely like it. It's a huge improvement over the original cut. Very nice layering and panning going on, and you really did a nice job expanding what little was there into a viable arrangement.

One thing I really liked was how you introed in even more of a lush soundscape with that fade-in of sounds at :09. The bassline was also a subtle but notable presence I caught onto; nice job there as well. Aside from that inhuman sounding string jumping out at me and the fade cutting out abruptly, everything else sounded well put together. Needs that slight bit of touching up, but a nice & relaxing track to be sure.

YES (fix dat wonky string)

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this is pretty good, and i don't have an issue if it gets passed.

but the chromatic motifs going on against material that is by and large consonant... is fairly challenging on one's ears.

it's effective in the original because the dissonant melodies work against each other, instead of against consonances.

also, the style of the original lends itself to such.

with this kind of chill rock sound, it just sounds out of place.

i'd like to hear what others have to say, though.

no

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I'm with analoq on this one. What a shame, there's a lot here that I like.

The synth bells/short synths just sound ify for me. Such as :35-:38, around 2:47, 2:58 etc. and repeated later on. Also some of the quick strings, like at 1:18 sound quite odd. It works in the original, but in this context, it just doesn't work for me. Certainly a very divisive issue - I'd like to hear what the others think.

Additionally, there is use extreme panning that sounds a bit strange on headphones. The short note synths/synth bells are always bouncing from extreme left to extreme right and vice versa. The weight of your mix seems shifted to the extreme left or right with the synths or strings. I would move things closer to center. The way the mix sounds on my monitoring equipment, it's like there's no actual content near the center, except the drums.

I like the concept and the chill factor, but the gripes I mentioned above, along with analoq's slants me towards a borderline NO. Please consider resubmitting.

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i agree it's slightly akward at times, but i also thiink the chromatic lines are mixed with enough subtlety that they dont really grate or clash. i actually think they give the mix some character. i think it's a positive aspect, and i think the mix perhaps wouldnt be quite as interesting without those wierd lines.

keep in mind that i'm being completely subjective and if someone else tried this type of thing i very well may hate it.

aside from that, this mix is pretty beautiful, it doest take any big risks aside from the chromatic wierdness, but there is adequate dynamic play going on to keep my interest.

YES

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I have to admit, I'm a bit confused by the chromaticism, mostly because it only prominently appears for about 20 seconds (:38-:58 ), and then it largely (although, not entirely) goes away. You can pretty much do whatever you want in music provided you're at least consistent, but getting all atonal for a few seconds in an otherwise fairly conservative mix just isn't very effective.

But otherwise I have no real problems with this; the chromaticism is iffy, but not enough for me to give a no.

YES

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I'm in agreement with Jesse and Israfel; the chromatic stuff is a bit odd, but I think that it isn't a major detractor to the overall piece. Some will like it, some will not; it's definitely weird, but I think that it's adds some uniqueness to the mix.

As far as the rest of the mix goes, I really like the texture created; very chill sound. It's got a good pulse too, with nice variation. I like! YES

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Very cool adaptation of the source, clean production, great ending.

I really wish the short strings that Larry mentioned weren't there. They stick out like a jacked-up thumb and I think the chromatic elements that play the same theme (0:41,0:47,...) are much more fitting for the vibe here. I see analoq's point that the chromatic melodies don't work as well in this mix's musical context, but the results aren’t overwhelmingly offensive.

YES

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