*NO* Metroid Prime 'Drifts Aflame'

[DragonAvenger]

Link to submission:

Contact Information

ReMixer name: Vyper

Real name: Joshua McLean

E-mail:

Website: http://vypermusic.com

Userid: 27583

Submission Information

Name of game arranged: Metroid Prime

Name of arrangement: Drifts Aflame

Name of song arranged: Ice Valley - Phendrana Drifts

What is it about ice levels that demands high quality, catchy music? I honestly don't know, but I always enjoy a new ice track. Phendrana Drifts was, for me, the moment when Metroid Prime evolved. Most of the earlier environments were rehashed from Super Metroid, but the desolate, frozen wasteland littered with ice creatures and snow drifts was something new. And the music is awesome.

So, this remix poses a simple question, what would happen if Magmoor bubbled up and overtook Phendrana? Or possibly, what if Ridley were locked in combat with Samus in the icy region? The answer to both, of course, is serenity boiling over into chaos.

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Edited October 19, 2013 by Liontamer
closed decision

[DragonAvenger]

The only reason I didn't want to mark this as a direct post was because some of the source connections felt a bit tenuous at times. That being said, i felt this was way above the bar in source personally. The production is solid, and the arrangement is really engaging. Parts of it remind me of some of the Wingless' Metroid mixes. I really dig it!

YES

[Liontamer]

I thought the soundscape sounded pretty murky to start. I thought it was a purposeful effect just for the buildup until the track basically kicked off at :29. The piano lead was very muddy and semi-buried.

Weird transition (or lackthereof) at 2:08; no big deal, but it shouldn't have been this jarring, include the change to a much cleaner soundscape. Wow, I really disliked how muffled/cluttered 2:27's section sounded. The lead and countermelody are well written but very obscured; all you prominently hear are the beats and not much else. The piano at 3:13 was mechanical sounding, but otherwise well-written and well-executed.

I think the overly low-fi sound has to go; it just sounds like an unintentional low-quality encoding and a lot of the details in the composition ended up lost in the shuffle and mudding together, including a decent portion of the lead work.

The arrangement was 5:25-long, so I needed more than 162.5 of overt source usage for the source material to be dominant in the arrangement:

:31-:33, :34-:36, :38-:40, :42.25-:43, :58.75-1:12.5, 1:13.75-1:27, 1:32-1:37.5, 1:39.5-1:45.5, 1:46.75-1:52, 1:54-2:00, 2:01.75-2:08, 2:11-2:14, 2:16.5-2:18.5, 2:22-2:25, 2:27.5-2:30.5, 2:32.75-2:36, 2:38.5-2:41.5, 2:43.5-2:51.5, 2:54.5-2:57.5, 3:00-3:03, 3:05.5-3:08, 3:16.5-3:20, 3:39-3:40.5, 3:41.5-3:43, 3:44.5-3:45.5, 3:59.5-4:02.5, 4:04.75-4:07.5, 4:32-4:55 = 132.75 seconds or 40.8%

The arrangement was cool, and super creative with a lot of excellent variations, embellishment and original writing ideas. Everything pieced together well, BUT I felt the source tune needed to be used in more places given what I could make out. I never count rests in a melody because there's always something else to draw from in the source that can be in play. I listened to a lot of the supporting writing in "Phendrana Drifts" to see if any other part writing from the original was applied, but I couldn't ID anything. That said, I'm not familiar with other Metroid Prime songs, so maybe there are some cameos I'm missing, or other parts from "Phendrana Drifts" referenced that need to be pointed out to me.

IMO, besides adding some more source tune usage, it's also a matter of cleaning up the mixing some, Josh. I love the track, but even if the amount of source usage wasn't a question for me, the mixing as it stands now was too messy to let go without needing some cleaning up.

NO (resubmit)

[DarkeSword]

Definitely not enough overt source usage, IMO. I generally don't like Larry's stop-watching but he's actually being really generous here. I'm a big Prime fan and I remixed this song too; I listened to it a TON when I was making my remix and I'm having a really difficult time picking out the source in most of this.

Aside from that the lo-fi muffled sound is really killing this. Needs some EQ for clarity's sake.

Original writing is creative but for me that's mostly what this piece is; an original piece that's quoting Phendrana every once in a while.

Needs major arrangement attention and mixing work.

NO

Edited October 3, 2013 by DarkeSword

[Liontamer]

I generally don't like Larry's stop-watching but he's being really generous here.

I'm always right too, so let's not forget that very important, salient point.

[OceansAndrew]

I think the song as a whole is really good, with some excellent writing, but there are a few things keeping it back from OCR, and the main one is the lack of dominant source use.

I do think the production and mixing aspect could be improve as well, as the high end seems muffled throughout, and some elements aren't clear enough to be heard well.

This has a lot of promise, and the other judges have provided you with a lot of great feedback, so get at it!

No, please resubmit

[Vig]

Larry's first thought is my first thought. Way muddy and washy. The filter does open a bit, but it's still a pretty dark soundscape.

The first section never really develops. It's very sparse, and without the drums it would be next to empty. There's building, but then there's just not having enough going on.

The second section is more busy, but again, the harmonic elements are all dark, and most of upper mids and highs are from distortion, noise, and drums. so the harmonic content is still washy.

NO