Bubble Bobble End Theme Remix

[Jennerstein]

Hello,

I originally submitted a version of this mix to the judges panel in 2009. Here is the original version that I submitted 2009 Version MP3.

The original was rejected for a few reasons. The piano sounded too muddy and far away, the strings didn't sound realistic enough, and the cymbal crashes were out of place. In general though, the judges liked the track.

Five years later (hey, family life gets in the way ), I'm posting a new version for review. In addition to fixing the problems cited by the judges, I re wrote a lot of parts (adding a few new counter melodies), remixed, and remastered. Wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the new version before I submit it again.

The new version to be reviewed can be found as an MP3 at soundcloud.

Below is some of the text from my 2009 submission, to give you an idea of my thought process:

After what seemed like months of trying to beat Bubble Bobble with my siblings, we finally defeated the humongous boss and watched the credits roll. I remember hearing music play over the credit and thinking that the prettiness of the melody was masked by the limitations of the NES' sound capabilities.

Many years later, that thought surfaced again and I decided to see if I couldn't come up with a remix to do the music justice. I truly believe that video games should have a good payoff with memorable end game music.

This piece has ambient, new age, and dance influences. One of the major changes I’ve introduced is an extended “chorus section.” The original piece of music had a chorus section that seemed to end a bit abruptly. To remedy that, I use a deceptive cadence (i.e. V -> VI) in order to extend the passage for a few more measures. I think this makes the melody flow better. I also organized the music in a pop-friendly format: intro, verse, verse, chorus, interlude, verse, chorus, outro.

I really enjoyed playing with different patches within my soft synths (Omnisphere and Stylus) to recreate that Bubble Bobble experience. There’s crystal like sounds as well a waterdrop arpeggio during the interlude. The end product is a little bit of cheer-you-up new age/dance, my very own take on what a happy ending should be. I hope you enjoy.

Looking forward to everyone's feedback.

Relevant Submission Information:

Name of Mp3 submission: Bubble Bobble Waterfall Ending

Name of Game Arranged: Bubble Bobble (NES Version)

Name of Individual Song Arranged from Game: Happy Ending

(Note. The song is not specifically named on the OC Remix Bubble Bobble page, but can be found in the chiptunes as track 11. VGM Music identifies track 11 as "Happy Ending". More specifically, I'm arranging the music that plays over the credits. See

. ) Edited June 25, 2014 by Jennerstein

[Jennerstein]

Bump for change in status to Mod Review.

[Rozovian]

Already at the start there's a bright and annoying, ear-murdering synth thingy. It's not the only offender; a lot of parts have highly resonant sounds or effects that you should probably fiddle with some more. If you've mixed on a particular setup at a particular volume, change it up and see if you can spot the stuff trying to murder my ears on a different listening setup. If you're using fm-based sounds, you can easily have some particularly loud, particularly shrill overtones. FM is great, but it can come with some overtone baggage you should clean up before using.

A lot of the instrumentation seems high-passed way too high. I get that it might be a stylistic choice, but it comes off as lacking body. It's good to give the bass and kick room to work in, but this is a little extreme.

It flows well, and I don't think you'd have to do anything about the writing anymore. Source is there, and I find it arranged well.

Pretty good. I'm just not sure about the extent of the hp filtering, and I'd rather not listen to this again if it's got those shrill, resonant highs there. Other than that, I can see this getting posted on ocr.

[Jennerstein]

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to move this back to Work in Progress and try to eliminate some of the annoying high end frequencies.