*NO* Mega Man 3 (GB) 'Shadow at the Falls'

[Liontamer]

Shadow at the Falls

http://burns212.googlepages.com/Mega_Man_III_Shadow_at_the_Falls_OC_ReMix.mp3

(It's GooglePages... no need to remove the link)

This is a house/breakbeat (what else?) rendition of Shadow Man's stage from Mega Man III for the GameBoy (The GameBoy version included 4 levels from MM3 for the NES and 4 levels from MM4 for the NES). This has been a long time coming, and I am glad it is finished because I am sick of it

Here is the gbs file:

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/megaman3.zip

Tracks covered:

3: Shadow Man's stage

24: password theme (short)

23: title theme (short)

I know everybody knows this song from the NES version, but I've only played the GB version. The songs are virtually the same, but there are a few minor differences. Also, I modeled one of the synths to sound like the GB lead. You guys decide which game to put it under (if you pass it, that is).

remixer info:

real name / remixer name: Patrick Burns

email:

userid: 21406 (I just copied that # at the end of my profile url)

website: burns212.googlepages.com

^ Check out my Revisiting the Ruins WIP (my resub of sorts for Raindance in the Ruins). I'll be sending it in about 3 weeks from now I guess.

-Patrick Burns

PS I'd be more than willing to adjust any of the levels if it be desired.

----------------------------------------------------

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/megaman3.zip - Tracks 3 ("Shadow Man Stage"), 24 ("Pass Word") & 23 ("Title")

As far as I'm concerned, you were inspired by the Game Boy version, thereby the GB version would be the credited game.

Opening is rather flat, but the bubbly synth at :08 has some spice. Nice effect fading in at :14 and :22 before the arrangement kicked in. I'm rather skeptical on using the Game Boy-style lead; makes the melody seem rip-ish, but it's alright. Good bassline though and nice supporting instrumentation, though a lot of the rhythms on everything seem completely cribbed from the original (like the more belltone-ish part from :39-:55).

Chorus at :59 was pretty lame for a few seconds with just those weak claps proving the background. That thin/flimsy stuff won't do. Even trying to layer them from 1:07-1:15 didn't prove to be enough; gotta beef it up.

New iteration of the melody with some different synths to change up the flavor at 1:28; FL, eh? Reminds me of DarkeSword's "The Father of All". Percussion was a little on the thin side, though reasonably well-produced.

IMO, poor segue into the "Pass Word" theme from 2:19-2:35; the theme somehow manages to sound completely out of place within the rest of the composition. It's also a little disappointing on the arrangement side to hear you basically 1-for-1 that source tune, except now with a bassline added. Percussion also lacks energy, particularly the snare tone.

"Title" theme was woven much more seamlessly and creatively into the arrangement at 2:35. Nice job gradually fading out the supporting instrumentation from to 2:54 to 3:07. "Title" theme was referenced again at 3:08, but the lead synth seemed to be carrying too much of the sonic space without enough support in the background, leaving 3:08-3:47 feeling very vacant.

Pause at 3:38 probably didn't have to drop all the way out. Lead synths for the last section sounded a bit flat, and the percussion needed to be stronger than those claps. Ending at 4:13 was too simple (and dry; at least use some light delay during the fade for a bit better resolution to the piece).

The attempt to personalize the arrangement approach was clearly there, but the execution could have been stronger. Ultimately, I think you played the arrangement too straight for this genre adaptation. With the melody and countermelodic source elements used conservatively, the expansionist writing here generally wasn't filling out the space sonically enough or creatively enough to compensate; gotta flesh the sounds out more and realize the potential energy here. Everything on the arrangement and production side could be developed a bit more, but this was a good start bro.

NO (resubmit)

[zykO]

fairly bland in presentation and execution. great idea to mold the bitty synth lead with the groovy jazz backdrop, gives it a sort of joshua morse feel to it. unfortunately, the arrangement is still fairly conservative (the transitions are the major compositional pitfall for the track) and the rhythm in the back in uninspired and the lead simply is not dynamic enough to work.

i do like this but it basically doesn't groove when it ought to.

this is something i want to see resubmitted with more edge and more movement. it is good on a lot of levels (arrangement is fresh, the ambient moments are great) but fails on a couple key ones (rhythm is weak, percussion too thin, not enough creativity in presentation)

NO (resubmit)

[big giant circles]

This is a fun little diddy, all-in-all. Nice gating at :14, :22, and so on. I'm not a huge fan of the choice of lead synth--kind of gimmickey going for the GB/NES-ish tone. Sure, it sounds fun, but not for as much of the remix as you chose to integrate it. I dug the phasing at :55--cool use of the effect.

We seem to have a fairly simplistic approach all across the board for the most part. Fairly conservative arrangement as far as the 3 individual source tunes go. I personally think they all fit together fairly nicely--got no quirks as far as that's concerned. Granted this particular genre doesn't really call for much crazy fantastic drumwork, but I did feel like the percussion was a little dry/thing and/or empty for a majority of the piece. In light of the dance/house shuffle vibe, I think you could/should have brought the kick out just a tad. (It's my goal to use the forward slash as/much/as/possible/in/this/review/kthx). Anyway.

As I stated, this is a pretty fun piece to listen to. To summarize what I think should be addressed to get this one up on the front page, I suggest rethinking your primary saw synth--either mixing it up a substantial degree or adding some filtering, then sprucing up the drumwork (and mixing thereof) at least a bit, and getting just a little more free-form in terms of your arrangement.

NO

rework/refine/resubmit