Chimpazilla Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Contact: Luke Chiwalker Luke Barden https://www.facebook.com/LukeChiwalkerMusic userid: 23642 (additional contact) Mastered by: Timaeus222 userid: 39971 Submission: Super Mario World Fortress of Wreckage: Sub Castle BGM Comments: I was in a pretty dark mood. Something about the sound design creation process for neurofunk basses and the fast tempo of drum and bass is somewhat of a cure for said mood. Now, what melody and progression would be better to fit than the Super Mario World castle theme? With the augmented 4th jump in the first chord change and secondary diminished 7ths and dominants leading to an almost classical resolution to the minor, it is a terrifying and fitting melodic structure for such a dark style of music. I imagine this song narrates a new fortress atop the northern waterfall of the vanilla secret area: It's been a hard journey for Mario (and Luigi...maybe) scaling that mountain that was cut off by the game developers. With no map, and as it begins to get dark and start to rain, he comes upon a large fortress and reluctantly decides to enter. What he finds inside is too disturbing to describe. But I will say there are hideously distorted versions of the monsters he has often encountered, along with some new faceless creatures. With a cap full of anxiety, he manages to make his way through the fortress as he always does. There are no Reznor; the finale of the fortress is a convoluted and warped pathway that leads outside, where it is still raining with a ray of sunshine coming through the clouds over the donut plains. Thank you for considering my submission! -------------------------------------- Edited February 12, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Quick thoughts... this mix sounds great. I'm loving the details and the super low growly bass. It is mixed very well. My big issue with the track is that it sounds quite samey throughout. The source motif is super short, and it is played here each time the same way using the same lead instrument. The chippy arp plays in a similar way throughout the track. The drum variations don't quite make up for how samey the rest of it sounds. If I jump around throughout the track, other than the intro and the dubstep breakdowns, I can't really tell where I am. I'm not sure how much this bothers me yet. edit 2/11/15: So Jivey and Emu agree with me about the arrangement and overuse of the same motif. Gotta have just a bit more variation. I do hope you will resubmit this because the concept is great! NO (resubmit) Edited February 11, 2015 by Chimpazilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 All of the secondary/percussive elements in this arrangement are fantastic. Really excellent bass and drum writing, some of the best I've heard in a submission recently, to be honest. Melodically, though, this is underdeveloped and pretty liberal. I can hear where you derived the chip arp from in the source, but it's modified and difficult to recognize unless you're really listening for it. The chord progression is also used throughout the track. The only truly dominant source usage I'm hearing is the plucked riff that shows up at 1:08. If it came down to it, I'd be inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt on source usage, but it took me a couple of listens before it really clicked. The bigger issue I'm having is the fact that the only direct melody usage from the original is played verbatim each time it comes up. This makes your arrangement feel extremely plodding and, for all the changeups and variations in your bass/drums, there isn't enough melodic exploration to justify the length of your arrangement. There's a ton of other content in the original that could be explored, so it's disappointing to me that this mainly relies on one single riff repeated ad nauseum. I'd suggest trimming down the length here and doing something to vary your lead melody so it's not so repetitive. This is a super-strong foundation for a remix but that's a major component that's not clicking for me. NO (please resubmit!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I'm liking the growling textures in your mix - some really nice sound exploration happening here. It's really easy for a mix like this to get muddy and things to become inaudible. I think you've done a fairly decent job here in mixing things into their own space. I thought the snare was a little weak and could do with some more body, but nothing else major stuck out to me. Arrangement wise I think more needs to be done with your track. As has already been highlighted, this really relies on the main riff of the source and uses it continuously without many/any changes to it. I think this contributes to things sounding fairly similar all the way through. I think this is a great concept, but needs more exploration of the source, particularly for this track length. NO (please resub) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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