Palpable Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Greetings to everyone on the judges' panel. I am Karth from the forums (also known by dmGuillotine) and I'd like to offer my very first submission to the site. Offline I go by the monicker Dave Guillot. Email: Website: http://soundcloud.com/dmguillotine/tracks?page=1 User ID: http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=5854 The game I've chosen to arrange in my fledgling effort is the classic SNES title, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. I call the arrangement, "To Reach the Unreachable Star" which is not only an homage to Man of La Mancha but also appropriate to the source material. Here is the remix itself: I employed three tracks in the creation of this piano piece: 1. Most importantly, "Fight Against Monsters" is the normal battle theme and the meat of the arrangement. 2. Also crucial is "Victory" which is a close relative of the battle theme. 3. Finally, the glue that holds the song together is "Got a Star Piece," providing important motivic material as well as the premise for the title. Here is a link to the full soundtrack for reference purposes: I'd like to provide a breakdown of where each theme occurs. 0:00 to 1:23 is all interpretation of Fight Against Monsters. 1:23 to 1:32 is the first appearance of Got a Star Piece. 1:32 to 1:48 is the another variation on Fight Against Monsters. 1:48 to 2:24 employs Victory. 2:24 to 2:43 is Fight Against Monsters again. 2:43 to 2:50 intertwines Fight Against Monster and Victory. 2:50 to 3:11 uses Got a Star Piece. 3:11 to 3:24 is a brief original motive leading into the closing. 3:24 to 3:49 ends with Got a Star Piece, interpreted in a different context. The story behind this piece is not complex. I think it must've been two years ago when I thought to myself, "Hey, this battle theme could really sound epic if handled differently!" and then banged something out on the keyboard. So the inspiration for it was essentially me thinking I could do better than Yoko Shimomura. I leave it to you as to whether I succeeded. I'd like to clarify that not a single piano key was touched in the making of this mix; it was all programmed in a sequencer. Sometimes you can tell, I think, and perhaps it's because my piano sound is less than ideal. In any case, this is my first submission so if it doesn't work out I'll gladly polish the arrangement until it sings. Thanks for your consideration. I curiously await to see how this pans out. Warm regards, -Dave Guillot / Karth / dmGuillotine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 I love your approach and playing here, it's quite creative. You turn these songs inside out and dictate a steady direction for the piece. Unfortunately, the piano sound was on the weak side and I think you may need something a little less thin for a solo piano piece. I also think some of the transitions are awkward and you may want to consider smoothing that out somehow, possibly by changing the keys of the songs in order to not be as jarring. There's promise here, but not a YES yet. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Vinnie's right that for a solo piano piece, the sample tone isn't really strong enough to carry an entire piece. Since you aren't performing this live, though, it should be easier to replace this with a better tone. I also concur that the transitions were pretty weak in places or basically non-existant. However, there is some great arrangement work here. I'm a big fan of the OST and really appreicated the variations you threw in here. You're on your way there, keep at it! No, resubmit please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I'm wondering if you're the same Karth who was considering doing a Chrono Trigger musical. If so, hey, how are ya? There's pretty much nothing to add here. The tone of the piano is indeed not where it needs to be, but I think your work with sequencing this really does show, as it sounds very humanized. Improving the sound will really help the emotion. I can also agree with some of the transitions not being super smooth. Hope you polish this one up! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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