Chimpazilla Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 (edited) Dj Exias Shawn Badolian https://exias.bandcamp.com/ 25296 Game: Tombs and Treasures Remix Name: Akbal Resonance Original Songs: Ball Court, World Map Composer: Takahito Abe Platform: NES A friend of mine was really fond of this game growing up, and though I've never played it, I agreed to remix it for him. He was especially interested in a mix involving the ball court and world map themes, which is the focus of this song. At first I didn't know where to start, or how I was going to link the two completely different songs, but as time wore on ideas kept coming until this was made. One particular challenge was the fact that the originals were very, very short in length, so I knew I had to really do some work to make reach the 2:40 mark. That being said, it's a short song, but overall it carries itself well. --------------------------------------- Ball Court: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgd8jfHdueE World Map:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmztYf_s5Z4 Edited July 16, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Some generic synths to open things up, followed by a generic groove at :15, but we'll see where it goes. Not sure the synths starting at :14 are in the same key as the melody or groove; pretty sloppy. String part at :45 is rigidly-timed, plus it's buried in the soundscape. "Ball Court" melody at :59 with a solid interpretation, followed by another iteration vis synth at 1:28. Shifted to the ending section at 1:57 with "World Map" on piano, but this doesn't flow well. The overall writing wasn't cohesive or melodious, and the parts aren't balanced. I like the concept of somehow transforming Tombs and Treasure's music into a club piece, but it's not clicking yet here. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 I think Larry nailed his vote here. The synths and beats do sound generic. The track opens really abruptly too, it would probably be better to start with the background and sfx for a bar or two first, or something, than to just dive into the first note. I hear what Larry is saying about that arp pattern, it contains some notes that are not in the key signature of this track, and that does come off as sloppy unfortunately. The strings at 0:44 don't sound that bad to me, but they seem really random and they aren't doing much for the soundscape and they never reappear, and they are competing with the leadwork there. I agree with Larry overall, it's a great concept but it isn't realized here, the writing is not cohesive, the sounds and beat don't compliment each other, it feels really disjointed. It feels like you weren't quite decided on the genre you were going for so you just threw some stuff together, you need to have a bit more vision on where you want to take your track. I'm not saying you can't do a hybrid, but it has to make sense melodically and the sounds have to compliment each other. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpretzel Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Some generic synths to open things up, followed by a generic groove at :15, but we'll see where it goes. Not sure the synths starting at :14 are in the same key as the melody or groove; pretty sloppy. String part at :45 is rigidly-timed, plus it's buried in the soundscape. "Ball Court" melody at :59 with a solid interpretation, followed by another iteration vis synth at 1:28. Shifted to the ending section at 1:57 with "World Map" on piano, but this doesn't flow well. The overall writing wasn't cohesive or melodious, and the parts aren't balanced. I like the concept of somehow transforming Tombs and Treasure's music into a club piece, but it's not clicking yet here. NO There are some VERY nice individual components here, especially some of the pads & winds used... very cool. Unfortunately, good ingredients still need to be cooked well, and while things click at times, for the most part this has a meandering structure. There are three basic issues that Larry's citing: Generic synth/drum patterns (more the drums, in my opinion... with the synths, I think the issue is that sometimes the synth bass sits on a given note too long, doing nothing, so it ends up sound vanilla. with the drums... that snare roll build is used like 4 times in a row without variation, and the overall groove is pretty static.) Intonation issues (there ARE some weird intonation things going on... but they are fleeting. They bubble up in some of the percolating arpeggio parts at times, but before it REALLY becomes an issue, they disappear... so it doesn't end up being a major problem, but could still stand being addressed. General cohesion (I actually think if the above issues are addressed, this will probably be fixed in some sense, as well, but some of the drops/builds just need a bit more focus and strategic placement) Definitely using an interesting blend of sounds (aside from the drums), and I like the arrangement idea, so I hope the above three issues will be considered for a resub! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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