*NO* Donkey Kong Country 'Funky's Aquatic Symphony'

[DragonAvenger]

Contact Information

ReMixer name: Dr D0WNEY

Real name: Clint Downey

Email address:

Website: https://soundcloud.com/dr-downey

Userid: 51350

Submission Information

Name of game(s) arranged: Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

Name of arrangement Funky's Aquatic Symphony

This song features elements from:

Funky's Fugue (DKC), Aquatic Ambience (DKC), and a few effects from

Stickerbrush Symphony (DKC2:DKQ)

Thanks!

-Dr D0WNEY

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Edited November 13, 2013 by Liontamer
closed decision

[DragonAvenger]

Definitely curious to see what others think of this one. I think the arrangement is very nice, but the synths are all pretty chippy. That being said, I personally feel it is strong enough as-is and still has a variety of good sounds. If it comes down to a NO, I would like to see some of the balance shifted, as there are some areas that it's harder to hear the lead instruments.

Good luck on the rest of the vote.

YES

[OceansAndrew]

This is a pretty sweet mix, with a lot of great arrangement work and some great drum programming. The sources are meshed pretty well together, and the arrangement is expansive and personalized.

Downsides to this that the choir sample is weak and lo-fi with a slow attack, and that some of the sections get pretty muddy. Mixing could be improved in some sections where the leads are way buried under other elements of the song. The ending also cuts off strangely and isn't really working for me.

It's close for me, but I think some additional polish is doable for this. I'd love to hear a revision.

No, please resubmit

[Vig]

Having remixed both Aquatic Ambience and Funky's Fuge separately with popular and catastrophic results, respectively, I'm extremely interested to hear how you mixed the two together, and befuddled as to why you would even attempt such a thing.

Okay. The groove is awesome. I would like to hear some higher voices, cause all the fundamentals are pretty low. Nothing really in the higher register.

The famous AA arpeggio andl melody come in like turds in a punchbowl. The choir holds a major chord where the arp and melody are very minor. This sounds like a very obvious and terrible mistake. These melodies sound pretty shoehorned in anyway...the track would be more enjoyable without the AA elements.

Call me crazy but I didn't hear the Funky song at all. In fact I didn't hear any source until I was halfway through.

Dude this isn't a remix at all. Just get rid of the awful clashing Aquatic Ambience elements in the second half and you've got yourself a nice solo track. Take it. The publishing is yours.

NO

[Liontamer]

Hahaha, I see how you were attempting to call this a "Funky's Fugue" arrangement, but the melody's VERY distinct on that and you've changed it to the point where it's not actually a VGM arrangement but an original piece with rhythmic similarities. Yeah, I grew up on DKC and love it, but I agree with Vig that the change to the melodic progression of "Funky's Fugue" rendered this attempt at interpretation as too original to count ANY of it, IMO. However, though I didn't stopwatch this, the "Aquatic Ambiance" usage was recognizable enough that I wouldn't necessarily call this too liberal of an arrangement; there was certainly some substantial, overt VGM usage in the second half.

The mixing was off; definitely VERY muddy like OA & Vig pointed out. It was pretty bad/poor the whole way through; the mixing was even worse from 1:49-on. Let me be very clear though, the writing and instrumentation was cool, it was only the mixing that was a problem.

Oof, the choir brought in at 2:17 definitely had slow attacks and otherwise sound super fake with the note transitions.

AH, there's "Aquatic Ambiance" at 2:44 to finally bring in an overt usage of DKC music. The use of the sax at 3:13 was good in principle, although the sequencing clearly exposed how fake the sample was despite the effects in place. I hate to say it, but the fakeness of the sax sequencing was kind of brutal; it's just way too exposed. Also, the tick-tick-tick-tick of the beats was too loud and upfront; pull that back some.

The writing wasn't bad at all, but the muddiness and imbalance among the parts was a large mess; 4:07-5:01 was a glaring example of the imbalance with how the sax "lead" was swallowed up by the bassline, beats and chiptune-ish pattern. Rough stuff with the choir returning at 5:01, again with the super laggy attacks and overall unrealistic sound.

There were a lot of cool writing ideas in place, Clint, so the arrangement side wasn't the weak point. But the (really) poor mixing killed this dead, and the weaker aspects of the sequencing added to the issues preventing this from having a chance as passing. I hate to pile on, but I don't think I've heard something this poorly mixed and disparate compared to the arrangement potential in a long time, which was a shame. It's a decent premise with potential that's nowhere near being realized.

You've really got to compare the mixing and production of this song to other music in the same vein that you like, Clint, and really focus on achieving a cleaner, more polished & balanced sound.

NO

[Nutritious]

Yeah, it's pretty apparent that this has some big mixing issues early on, which only get worse as the track develops. That said, I love the concept of the track and the style you're going for here.

The drop at 1:50 was hot. Love that. 4:08 too.

I'd argue that the AA connection really starts at 1:50 with the brass lead playing a simplified version of the OST melody. Beyond that, it's still pretty liberal for the first half.

As mentioned, the fakiness of the sequencing on elements like the sax lead bring this one down as well. Personally, I'd just like to hear a good nuanced synth lead instead, but that's just me .

I really want to hear a cleaned-up, tuned-up version of this, because it's got some great ideas.

NO resubmit, please