*NO* Rockman & Forte 'Far from Home'

[DragonAvenger]

AkumajoBelmont (Robbie Sabo)

http://www.facebook.com/AkumajoBelmont

User ID 4660

ReMixer - AkumajoBelmont

ReMix Title - Far From Home

Games remixed: Cold Man from Mega Man & Bass SNES & Dr Wily Castle Stage 1 Mega Man 2 NES.

Heyah. This was the first track I created for the The Wily ReMix Gauntlet 2011 as part of 'The Concrete Men'. I was a little irritated at first, as in my first mixing round, I had to incorporate the oh-so-popular Wily 1 from MM2 in with the Robot Master theme I had chosen, which was Cold Man from MM&B. Having already covered the source track 'For You', I was kinda shitty - I did not want to remix Wily 1 AGAIN. But I bit my tounge, got over the disappointment, became just a tad excited, and this is what I came up with.

Being my first track in any remix compo EVER, I didn't exactly blend the two themes seamlessly... the first half of the track is basically Cold Man; the second half, Wily 1. But it was a start.

I was going to go back to this and work on it a little more, but with so many other project tracks, competitions, work, real life, and of course VROOM on my plate, it's hard to find the time for anything these days, so I'm really hoping you guys and gals think this a worthy enough edition to OCR as is. I'm thrilled with the track, and a little proud. 'Far From Home' marks the first mix that I completed in a week, which was a big thing for me. I tend to drag things out, and working on this proved that I can work under stress and a time limit, and come up with something completely worthwhile.

This is some pretty goddamned 80's sounding shit right here - probably one of the most authentic sounding retro tracks I've done. From the sampled Linn Linndrum percussion, Juno strings, various Bell & Synth samples and all that stuff. It isn't overly complicated (partially due to the time limit), it's straight to the point, and it's all about the hook. I love a good hook.

So, it's cheesy as per usual, but you guys wouldn't expect any less. I like writing these kinds of vocal pop tracks, retro or not, and I'm not ever, ever going to stop. Ever. NOT EVER...

...and hey, it got me through the second round of the comp in first place, so yay!

The lyrics are not game related, though I took the cue from Cold Man and incorporated some harsh weather into the lyrics. They pretty much speak for themselves. They're not overly deep, but they're not cruddy either, and I think they flow pretty well.

Also, gotta send out a big, fat thanks to Jason Covenant/Prophecy/LOUDNESS GOD for adding the final mastering touches in regards to volume and such... awesome dude who taught/is teaching me a lot.

So, that's about it guys, I hope this is enough to get through the panel, and you see fit to add this to my growing list of songs on OCR. Like I said, I'm really proud of this track. It's pretty close to my heart. It was awesome that I actually got this track into shape and done in a week, got it lyrically to where I felt it needed to be, and achieved the actual results that I wanted in the end.

Thanks dude and dudettes - Hope this flies!

-Robbie

LYRICS:

INTRO

These eyes of mine take off the shine surrounding everything.

There's nothing out there but bitter, frozen snow.

We mend and then we fall again, like so many times before.

I know my place, I'm quite home in the cold.

VERSE

I never said that it was gonna be easy

I never thought this angry colour would suit me so well

I can tell that you're done.

The snow falls upon the icy freeze

and this autumn paradise begins to shed it's leaves for the last time,

as I tell you that I'm done.

(Look how I've made you come undone.)

CHORUS

(Oh Oh Oh)

I know you've taken me a million miles from home

(Oh Oh Oh)

But I really think that I am stronger here on own

(Oh Oh Oh)

I swear I never meant to end it this way, oh no

Oooooooooohh

--------------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jdTmmnii94 - Cold Man

- Wily

[OceansAndrew]

The only part of this that feels weak to me is the transitions between themes, but I think even that is decent enough, and if Wily 1 wasn't so recognizable, it's be even less of an issue. The lyrics are fitting, and the overall sound is really nice. A strong 80's vibe, but with a lot of modern production values. One pitfall of authentic 80's production is that they had so much space all their synthpop tracks, and this sidesteps that nicely while retaining the feel and charm.

The arrangement adds a lot of seemingly original melodic writing, which feels natural, but I do feel the Wily 1 theme was altered almost to the breaking point. It's still close enough to make me feel that it's the theme, but dang is it close, and i'm not sure all the judges will feel the same.

Overall though, besides the ending being weak, this is a great track that I really enjoyed, and hearing you handle the Wily 1 theme again, and in such a different way, gives people an idea of your overall skill with arranging. I dig it.

Yes

[DragonAvenger]

I am pretty much in agreement with Andrew here. The treatment of the Wily theme is really stretching it in terms of recognizability, but for a theme that's been mixed so much on so many levels, I don't really think it goes too far. There's enough there that clues you into the theme in general and the listener is on the lookout after that. Turning Cold Man into an 80's feel was pretty creative, and I like the little background 'Oh' vocals. The little details add up.

Production is pretty good overall, and the sounds used (even your vocals) really are nostalgic for an 80's rock song. Nice work there.

YES

[Liontamer]

I wrote Robbie. We'll see what I get back, but the initial sweep didn't sound promising.

Hey Robbie, I've got no idea how Dr. Wily 1 fits into the second half of this besides some obvious areas. Here's what I have timestamped as far as hearing Cold Man to start, then Wily later:

:01.5-:16, :17.75-:36, :38.5-1:02, 1:03.5-1:12, 2:05.5-2:07, 2:40.5-3:04, 3:07.75-3:09.75 - 91.75 seconds or 35.56%

If you have more of a breakdown you can provide and some A-to-B examples of how you took a section of a source and adapted it to this arrangement, it'd be appreciated. I love this in a vacuum, but so far this is coming up pretty skimpy on source as far as what's easily recognizable. Help a brother out. - Larry

OA/Deia, can you help with some details on the arrangement?

[Emunator]

I'm pretty much going to co-sign with Larry's breakdown here. I don't hear any source in any of the vocal parts of the track, which is contributing to the liberal feel of the track overall.

I'd be willing to re-vote if anyone can point out source usage outside of what Larry counted, but until then I'm gonna have to pass on this otherwise-awesome mix

NO

[WillRock]

This was my favorite track from the WCRG, so it saddens me to see people NOing it. However, people are putting up excellent points with the source usuage. I've listened to this track countless times now, so i'm going to try and delve into the arrangement somewhat.

Production is perfect. Moving on.

Source usuage isn't perfect sadly. Its difficult to figure out exactly whats source and what isn't as far as Wily goes but i think i've managed to come up with a good enough breakdown:

Verse - 0:00-1:12 - cold man, vocal melody takes some risks but nothing unrecognisable

Verse 2 - 1:12-1:46 - Clearly Cold man chords, but vocal melody takes some MASSIVE risks, and half of it seems original, if not "inspired" by the cold man theme at 1:22-1:25 and the the same at the next run through of that part of the chord sequence. Its as liberal as it gets while being traceable to the source imo.

Link - 1:46-2:05 Again, cold man chords, but no source melodies from what I can tell. Lots of "ohhs" instead.

Chorus - 2:07-2:40 - This bit is actually awesomely clever source usage imo. MM2 Wily Stage 1, Chords from "chorus section" of source (at 1:03 in source link). The vocal part "taken me a million miles from home" and other similar bits are the wily melody after the main riff section (at 0:22 in source link) Thats enough to allow me to count that part.

Link 2 - 2:40-2:50 simplified melody from the chorus section of Wily.

LInk 3 - 2:50-3:09 obvious wily riff is obvious

Chorus - 3:09-end - same as before

Now, if i'm kind, I get over 3 minutes of source thanks to the wily chorus section and cold man intro.

Yes its liberal, and my source breakdown was very rough (larry can go through and sharpen up my breakdown if he likes) but it all adds up, and I still feel like the wily sections are in fact wily sections, liberal as they might be. I'd say the arrangement barely squeaks by and if the production wasn't absolutely sublime i'd probably vote no. However, thats not the case, and as a result, I'm cool passing this. Great job bro!

YES (borderline)

[Palpable]

Robbie knows how to do 80's. What a badass homage, especially the "oh"s. Catchy as hell.

I would count all the way up to 1:55 because of the way the chords are used, especially the weird bridge section of Cold Man, which is unmistakable for the first four chords. That alone puts this at a number I'm comfortable with, but I also thought the "taken me a million miles from home" part was a mod of the main Wily melody (0:14 of source) and Will is correct that the chords for that section are straight out of Wily (though somewhat simple chords). In all, I'm feelin' this one. Certainly not the easiest call but enough there that I feel comfortable passing it.

YES

[Liontamer]

I wrote Robbie. We'll see what I get back, but the initial sweep didn't sound promising.

Heard back and will vote on this later:

Hey man - basically I knew there would be an issue with the Wily Part haha - it's mainly just using the chord structure of the main WILY refrain - other than that, yeah the links are tenuous to say the least, lol. First half is Cold Man, second is Wily... if this doesn't fit in with the guidelines, then it's all good, you can pull it from the queue, save you guys having to do a write up for it and all, I know how busy you guys must be. I think whilst I was creating the track, I kinda buried the Wily part because I have covered the track before and I felt like I was stepping on the toes of my last mix using the source - subconsciously anyways

EDIT (10/29):

Verse 2 - 1:12-1:46 - Clearly Cold man chords, but vocal melody takes some MASSIVE risks, and half of it seems original, if not "inspired" by the cold man theme at 1:22-1:25 and the the same at the next run through of that part of the chord sequence. Its as liberal as it gets while being traceable to the source imo.

Don't agree there. These connections, IMO, aren't overt enough, and the chord connection is a very loose one.

Link - 1:46-2:05 Again, cold man chords, but no source melodies from what I can tell. Lots of "ohhs" instead.

You shouldn't only be looking for the melody, and I don't agree with how you gave it credit there. That said, the pads from 1:46-1:58.5 use backing writing ideas from sustained lines from :30-:35 and :03-:16 of the source. 2:00.5-2:05 refers to 4 notes from the bassline at :28-:30 of Cold Man, only slowed down. At least that's something.

Chorus - 2:07-2:40 - This bit is actually awesomely clever source usage imo. MM2 Wily Stage 1, Chords from "chorus section" of source (at 1:03 in source link). The vocal part "taken me a million miles from home" and other similar bits are the wily melody after the main riff section (at 0:22 in source link) Thats enough to allow me to count that part.

Chorus - 3:09-end - same as before

In the chorus, you could argue for the 2-note chords taken from 1:04-1:06 of the source's YouTube, but that's about it and anything else there sounds like a total reach. None of the vocals beyond the verses sounded like they had any overt connection to either source.

So you could conceiveably credit 2:07-2:10.5, 2:15-2:18.5, 2:23.25-2:26.75, 2:32-2:35.5 for 14 seconds of a super tenuous connection. There are two more instances of that repeating from 3:09 until the end for a total of 52 seconds. IMO, that's just too tangential of a connection to actually give credit for, so I don't.

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I think the explanations for the "liberal" parts of the track are vague and only account for unspecific portions of the sections that were timestamped. Much of those explanations seems too liberal to credit, IMO.

So I needed more than 129 seconds of a 4:18-long track to overtly use the sources so that the source material is dominant:

:01.5-:16, :17.75-:36, :38.5-1:02, 1:03.5-1:12, 1:46-1:58.5, 2:00.5-2:07, 2:40.5-3:04, 3:07.75-3:09.75 - 109.25 seconds or 42.34%

I love the piece, but I can't co-sign on these YESs. I'm not saying you have to treat Robbie's explanation as a "gotcha" on the arrangement, as I've seen plenty of artists undersell how connected their own arrangements are to the source tunes. But when he says the Wily links are tenuous and reliant on the chord structure, he isn't kidding.

While the track sounds awesome in a vacuum, I think it got a little too indulgent with some very, very scant connections that are for all intents and purposes original writing, making the arrangement a little too heavy with original writing vs. overt source tune usage. I think it could be easy enough for Robbie to use some portions of the Wily theme in the background in a more straightforward, more overtly identifiable way to easily and unambiguously put this over the top on source usage.

NO (resubmit)

[Emunator]

Just chiming in real quick to reiterate that, after seeing the breakdowns provided and taking into consideration the 4 YES votes, I still stand by my NO on this track.

[OceansAndrew]

alright, i'm convinced. Let's hear some more source in the resub, please!

No

[DarkeSword]

Loved this track in the WCRG, but I gotta agree that the vocal melodies take a major departure from the source tunes.

NO, resub

[Palpable]

Closing this.