Chimpazilla Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 (edited) Contact Information: ReMixer Name: Arsenial Website: www.soundcloud.com/arsenial Submission Information: Name of game(s) arranged: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest Name of arrangement: Lost In Memories Name of individual song(s) arranged: Stickerbrush Symphony (Bramble Blast) Original Soundtrack Link: Mix Comments: I grew up during the Genesis/SNES era and was fortunate enough to have access to both systems and a decent sized library. One thing that I never forgot was how amazing the Donkey Kong Country 2 soundtrack was and how the 'forest' tracks were always mystifying. My remix is a drum and bass version but I tried to capture the same feeling that I get when listening to the original; mystifying, thought-provoking music. The composition and sound design of my remix is fairly simplistic, but I think that's what made the original Stickerbrush Symphony so great. ------------------------------------------------ Edited February 9, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 (edited) This is a very good sounding DnB cover of this source, I dig it! Plenty of source, nice breakdown, good builds and drops, I love the arps at 1:48! The drums sound good and the mixing works. The arrangement is repeaty, 2:09-2:31 is identical to 0:32-0:54 except there's a sweep added. This is forgivable because it works with the genre, but I wish there were just a few more original sections and instrument changeups, and that square synth pattern wears out its welcome after awhile. Still, what's here is super sweet. edit 2/8/15: I'm listening to this again while reading the other votes, I have to agree the arrangement is less developed than would be optimal for OCR. I really like this, but yeah it needs a bit more variation and interpretation. It's super close for me. I hope to hear this one again and soon! NO (please resubmit!) Edited February 8, 2015 by Chimpazilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 This is a tough call, because your production is really spot-on here and I feel that there's a lot of potential with the adaptation here (despite the fact that Stickerbush Symphony in D&B style has been done a couple of times before.) However, I'm finding this to be remarkably underdeveloped from an arrangement perspective. Production-wise, you're on point, but aside from the addition of a D&B beat and the synth arpeggios that enter at 1:48, there is no original writing or personalization to be found here. The direct repetition in the second half of the song is also disappointing, since this is only 3 minutes long so it feels like I'm listening to a 1 minute concept on loop with only the slightest of variations introduced. I think this has a lot of room for growth and could be very successful with some original elements and more creative sound design introduced, but as it is this still feels like a proof-of-concept rather than a fully-realized remix. Not cutting it for me NO (resubmit!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 It's Diddy's Kong Quest!!!! Ahhhh! Now that we've established that... Love the D'n'B treatment here. Seems so natural for the source to be used this way. Production is really well handled. Nice balance of bass, beats, lead, & pads. Arrangement-wise, this does stick pretty close to the melodic writing of the original. However, beyond the genre conversion to drum in bass, the bassline/chord structure has been altered, nuances have been added in the lead writing, the flow & builds are altered, and additional parts (like the arp) are also added. While I do agree there's room for originality and expansion, I think this level of arrangement takes it over the bar in that respect. Either that or DNB bias. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 This song is exactly what I would expect from a D&B take on Stickerbrush. Almost no surprises, and the few personalizations that are there are pretty predictable. The arpeggios runs that come up near the middle are the only substantial change or addition I'm hearing, but there are a lot of subtle changes and additions made that were necessary to keep the flow. It's really hard for me to judge this. On one hand, I don't hear anything wrong here in terms of writing, production, etc. but it doesn't excite me at all. There's no risks. It also doesn't help that we already have a similar D&B mix of this source tune, one that I think is a lot more interesting than this one. Can a mix be rejected if it's unexciting, but otherwise meets the criteria needed to be posted? I'm trying not to let my bias get in the way of my vote, and there are people out there that would dig this mix, but I also felt like so much more could have been done here. I'm putting a NO down on this, but I'm open to other opinions. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I like the track in a vacuum, but that's not what the standards are. The DnB beatwork plodded after a while and never did ANYTHING different once it started at :32. Melodically, there's not much going on with the familiar countermelodic synth pattern from the source; it's just the same thing from :00 to 1:45 with no variation, then a brief drop and the same repeating lines from 2:09 to the end. It's not that there's 0 interpretation, but this just doesn't have ENOUGH variation and development of the interpretation beyond the genre adaptation. It's produced well, sounds clean, definitely a good listen, but neither the substance nor variation was enough compared to what we normally pass. This is an easy call for a resubmission; it's not developed enough. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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