OCR03006 - *YES* Tenchu: Shadow Assassins & Street Fighter X Tekken 'It's Raining Zen' *RESUB*

[Palpable]

previous decision

Original Submission letter:

Username: timaeus222

Name: Truong-Son Nguyen

http://mpcr.site88.net/

http://soundcloud.com/timaeus222

ID: 39971

Username: AngelCityOutlaw

Name: Chris Schmidt

http://soundcloud.com/angelcityoutlaw

ID: 45057

Submission Information

Game 1: Street Fighter X Tekken

Game 2: Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

Remix Title: It's Raining Zen

Console/Platform of Game 1: PS3, PS Vita, XBox 360, PC, OSX

Console/Platform of Game 2: Nintendo Wii, PSP

Sources: Rain (Tenchu), Credits (Street Fighter X Tekken)

Composed in FL Studio.

Comments:

I've wanted to do a serious collaboration with Timaeus for quite awhile. Initially, I had suggested remixing Nina Williams' theme from Tekken 3, but that never went through. One day, I started jamming along to "Rain" from Tenchu: Shadow Assassins and the Street Fighter X Tekken end credits. I noticed some similarities in melody from the songs and realized I could do something of my own with it. After working on some rough MIDI composition and arrangement, I just had to show Timaeus. We kept sending the file back and forth for several weeks, expanding and improving upon the song. I always love collaboration because it's just too much fun to see what the other person is going to add to your ideas and what you can add to theirs!

"ACO took the reins on the source interweaving here, and he did the majority of the arrangement and some of the mixing. I fleshed out the soundscape and did the sound design, mixing, and mastering. First time I satisfactorily finished a mix under a hard knee limiter, as I normally opt for the other kind.

- Timaeus, AngelCityOutlaw"

Resub Letter:

We're back. This time Timaeus fixed up some production issues, added some more percussion etc. See what you think this go around. I've attached the revised version to the email.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Palpable

[Palpable]

Oddly, I hear the problems with overcompression more in this version than the last, which might ultimately be a problem with the other judges. Me, I'm sticking with my original vote, because what's here still sounds great.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

This version is SO much better!!! It's not sounding nearly as repetitive to me due to some new writing and textures. The track is mastered quite loudly, but I'm not hearing any dealbreaking overcompression issues so I'm not worrying about that. Those rogue hats have been tamed, and now the percussion fits and is nicely supportive. I love it!

YES

[Liontamer]

I didn't hear the first version, but it's funny that hats and overcompression came up, because here I be with complaints about those 2 things. Yeebs, dat volume, why?

Nitpick: the hats used from :08-:42 & 1:58-2:09 should be pulled back a bit more.

Nitpick that turned into an issue over the long run: whatever that "thwippy" SFX-style stuff from 1:06-1:56 & 2:09-2:21 was was getting undermined due to the compression. It's a cool part to add texture, but especially from 2:09-3:05, that part was mixed in a way where it sounded like artifacting rather than a purposeful element; it's just could sound much better.

Otherwise, it's a solid arrangement. SFxT plays a lot more of a supplementary, background role here, but augments Tenchu's "Rain" theme nicely. The lead synth for the melody was a bit tightly timed, and I thought the compression was more than necessary, but the overall package clicks together well enough. If there could be some further production tweaks before we posted this, that could fix a few minor things, but this is a solid piece! Good job, bros.

YES

[Flexstyle]

I'm cool with signing off on this one. The overcrowded mids that were bugging me so much last time seem to be smoothed out. Still not a fan of the uber-mechanical drums, but it's a nitpick at this point.

Get this sucker on the front page!

YES