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*NO* Darwinia 'Parental Advisory'


djpretzel
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How are you gentlemen !!

If you can't find the soundtrack (good luck), here's my working file from the game:

I had been wanting to mock the "Video game violence are bad lol!" Jack Thompson crowd for some time when this track presented me with the opportunity. The game deals with artificial life forms which are fighting to save their artificial world from viruses--hence the exact opposite of what most people consider a violent game even though the storyline is very immersive and takes place in a violent wartime atmosphere.

-steve

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Darwinia - Main Theme

I really like how the source sounds like a SIDtune. Reading up a little bit on the game, one of the selling points of the soundtrack is that it encompasses a lot of the dissimilar styles/genres, so that's pretty cool. Thanks a lot for providing the source, Steve, as I couldn't find anyone who'd ripped the soundtrack yet on my usual VGM FTPs.

Not a bad atmosphere for the start. Lead at :14 is rather plain. Stuff picks up at :27, and I still think it lacks some edge to it. The percussion as well is alright but comes across as pretty flat, along with the synths. Lead returns at :57; it honestly feels a bit out of place to me. 1:11 with the more synthy stuff in the forefront was pretty good, but there was this gated synth playing alongside it that should have stood out more. Right now the synths are blending together too much. Good (and much needed) changeup in the percussion at 1:43, though again it comes across as flat.

All of the various sampled SFX involved sounds pretty naked and pasted on top. Using some effects on the various phrases to have them sit better in the track would help things sound more cohesive. Especially since you're using the "Get in touch..." clip more than once, do something different with it with each use.

In any case, this was a pretty straightforward, recognizable arrangement and definitely has the potential here, but the "performance" could stand to be more expressive-sounding. The arrangement was short, and I wouldn't disagree with anyone saying it was underdeveloped, as it doesn't sound finished. Production could have been stronger, tied into the whole expressiveness factor and having some sounds stand out more than others, but the track was otherwise nice and clean. Hope you keep working on this one, bro.

NO (resubmit)

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  • 1 month later...

Some nice ideas presented here, but I'm not quite as into the mix as Liontamer seems to be. I dig your stuff Steve, but this mix comes of rather vanilla to me.

Straight forward arrangement in general. I think this needs to be expanded on quite a bit. The synths and synth designs are pretty basic with very little processing going on. I feel the drums are too reverbed for this genre as well. There's a very strong boxy nature in them, lacking the space that reverb creates, but at the same time it doesn't have any punch or quality either. It just sounds rather dead and flat. Beyond that, I think the drum line needs some spicing up also. It tends to go on and on, with the same pattern with little evolution or humanization. The hats need a little more sparkle too in my opinion, it sounds very drab, just like the drums in general (from an aural perspective).

I have to say, and it may be just be me, but the vocals don't really fit at all. They sound cheesy and out of place. But that's your personal choice I guess.

The ending needs work as well, it's pretty abrupt and unfulfilled.

It's been a while, so I hope you continue to submit. It would be nice to see something of yours posted again. Again some nice ideas, but this needs a lot of polish and reworking in my opinion.

NO

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