*NO* Ghost House 'Party in the Ghost House' *FALLTHROUGH*

[Emunator]

ReMixer Name: Tonal Bliss
Real Name: Christopher Schmenk
Email Address:  or 
Website: http://www.tonalbliss.com/
Forum User ID: 5661

Name of Game Arranged: Ghost House (1986; Sega; Sega Master System; Unknown Composer)
Name of Arrangement: Party in the Ghost House
Name of Individual Songs Arranged: Title Screen and Level BGM
Link to the Original Soundtrack (in PSG format): http://www.smspower.org/Music/GhostHouse-SMS?sid=60304d6a5a69e1cb7d06c9c85e1be926
Link to the Song: 

Comments: I have been a listener of remixes that get published on OCRemix.org since 1999. I have long desired to submit a remix but I never had the means to make something of any real production value. Near the beginning of this year, I bought a Yamaha MM8 synth, FL Studio 11, USB2 audio interface, and microphone. I don't often have much time to write music and I am still learning a lot. I am still quite the beginner even though I have long been a clarinetist and lover of music.

This song is an ode to my childhood. I played the Sega Master System to death. It was the music from these games that got me addicted to music and, more specifically, video game music. There are no recorded music, but there are Kontakt 5 instruments, MM8 instruments, a few added sound effects, and did what I could to mix it properly. The intro, first part, and last parts are all melodically based from the music of the game. There is a small middle section that is influenced from the game but is a little bit more free form. I had trouble matching the overall sound level of the music to other songs on OCRemix, but I did a lot of experimenting with the individual tracks and added a compressor to the main track which did help the overall mix.

In future work I am planning on utilizing my clarinet. Even if this song does not get accepted, I am really looking forward to the advice that the judges can give me; after all, they have much more experience than I do. I have and will continue to enjoy the great remixes featured on OCRemix.org. Thank you so very much.

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2016 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Chimpazilla]

Very cool source tune, bold remix idea!  The mix is conservative enough to hear source material all the way through.  I really like the intro idea, very creative how you segued into the source material.  Overall I think this arrangement is repetitive as it is now, but it has a lot of promise.

The production needs some work.  The soundscape never changes once it is established.  The bass and drums are on autopilot all the way through.  That phasey synth is cool, but it gets old quickly.  At 1:46 there is some kind of syncopation being attempted but it doesn't work and just sounds hectic.  The total silence at 2:19 bothers me, I feel like total silences need some kind of sound in them to bridge the sections, even if it's just a sound effect.

Do some changeups to the rhythms, write some melodic variations, introduce some other instruments, improve the groove.  Lots to do here, but I do like this so far, would love to hear it again.

NO (resubmit)

[Sir_NutS]

The sound palette is very simple and dry sounding.  The drums lack definition, and the kick gets lost in the bass and the filtered chord. The bass is taking up a lot of space in the soundscape, which also feels barren because of the lack of details.  You can make an arrangement work with few elements as you have here, but your sounds need to cover more ground to make up for the lack of backing harmonies.   The drums do feel on autopilot but I don't have much of a problem with this because the lo-fi nature of the drums and the textures used around them evoke a feeling of old school electro, in which not having too much drum variety is acceptable.

The arrangement feels more on autopilot to me, and it's very static with few changes in energy levels.  There are no dynamics between the instruments, very predictable and static.  There were some interesting changeups here and there but I think more could've been done to make the song flow more naturally and have distinct sections instead of everything feeling constant.

There are some positive points to mention, like I said the sound design reminds me of old school electro, and some changeups were interesting, like the change to chiptune at 2:59, but the production needs work and the arrangement needs more depth.

NO

[DaMonz]

Nice source choice! I like it, reminds me a lot of the Super Mario Bros. 3 Koopling Boss theme.

I really like the intro. Lots of cool arrangement ideas in there. It starts to feel a bit stretched at about 0:49 until the theme comes in soon after that. I agree that the section around 1:46 currently doesn't work well, but I think it could be great if it was explored further with the rest of the instruments and not just the drums. For example, I'd suggest using that part to write some cool/funky rhythmic interplay between the drums and the bass, which would break the repeated bass pattern for much more impact in the arrangement. I also agree that the total silence at 2:19 is off-putting. I'd suggest using an SFX as Chimpazilla said, or holding even just a single note to keep the tension up before the riff comes back in. I really, really liked the chiptune at 2:59, it's a neat idea. Other than that, the theme does get a bit old rather quickly, I think you should explore more variations in the melody and the harmonies, add more instrumentation here and there, etc. Maybe you could use the similarity with the Koopling Boss theme to get more content to explore, if you're lacking ideas? Just a thought. Also, drum writing didn't bother me as much. Some reworking couldn't do any harm, but I think mechanical drums are appropriate here.

For the production side of things, the soundscape is definitely unbalanced for most of the track. The focus is pretty much on the bass the whole time, the highs barely get any attention, except in the intro and the chiptune part. The lead synth is cool, but is very undefined with all those spacy effects, which I think contributes to how things feel so unbalanced.

All that being said, I like the concept, and I'd love to hear it reworked.

NO (resubmit)