Liontamer Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Salutations, djpretzel and the Judges! Contact Info: Your ReMixer name: Splunkle Your email address: Splunkle@gmail.com Your userid (number, not name) on our forums: 33072.... I think. The name is Splunkle, anyways, and I don't change names ReMix Info: Name of game(s) ReMixed: Star Control 2 Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: uhhhh... as far as I'm aware, the original was called "UR-QUAN.MOD". Its the Ur-Quan theme, the one that plays when you are talking to them. The original can be found at the precursors website, http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/music/modules/UR-QUAN.MOD. Linky to ReMix: Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: Well, Mark Vera's most excellent Hyperspace remix got me onto star control 2, which is still immensly playable regardless of its age. While playing, I was blown away by the imperialistic domination of the Ur-Quan theme - so I knew I had to see what would happen if it was all organy. One thing lead to another, and soon enough I had this little track, which I hope catches not just the rage of the Ur-Quan, but also their immense anguish. It is a little soft, so you may have to turn up your speakers a bit. I don't want to compresses it too much more, because I think organs sound best with room to move, but if its a big major issue I'll run it hotter. This was all put together in FLstudio - the synths are Sytrus and 3xOsc, the drums are FPC, and the organs, bells and strings are all soundfonts. I hope you guys enjoy it! Oh, you might also want to check out the precursor's remix of the same track - http://www.medievalfuture.com/precursors/remix.php?remix=23 -Splunkle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 The original is pretty short and simple. It'll be interesting to hear what you do with it. The intro is decidedly low-key compared to the souce tune; it's kind of ambient up until :57 where the melody starts to really come in. Even though you were introducing new elements after that point, like the distorted synth and the chuch bell, things still seemed overly empty. It wasn't until 1:57 that a more constant drum pattern was introduced to sort of 'ground' the remix in a rhythm. However, the pattern used is weak and doesn't really offer any extra energy. 2:33 is where the mix begins to pick up in all areas. I'm just wishing it came sooner and lasted longer. By 2:59 it almost sounds like you're ready to end things because of how you cut away all the parts. The following part to the end of the song is more ambient, just like the intro, though I don't know why you have that very basic bass drum pattern going on. It doesn't add anything. Looking at the big picture, this is a pretty interpretive take on the original, but I don't think you've quite got your ideas together yet. The whole mix suffers from pacing problems. If you're going to do a primarily ambient/new age style track, stick to that; no need to introduce the booming percussive parts. Conversely, if you wanted to do something more dramatic, you spent too much time on the intro and outtro, using only an extremely short climax section. Try to hone in more on the focus for the mix and then build on that when you have a more clear picture in your mind. There's no one thing that really strikes me as "wrong" here (though I do think the production is overly soft and muddy), but the different parts just aren't coming together for me. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 http://s87139486.onlinehome.us/sc2mods/Ur-quan.mod - "Ur-quan" Hahaha! Not the most musical chorus to a source tune that I've ever heard. I had to pull the MOD up in DeliPlayer just to make sure the file wasn't corrupt. Cool intro though the organ-like lead was pretty flat. Good spacey effects to set up a minimal atmosphere that would eventually fill up, as evidenced by the fade in of your starting at :34. :59 seemed like you were trying to really amp up the energy level, but none of the sounds had any meat on 'em besides the ambient sounds/effects padding things out. You need more substance in terms of the lead, countermelodic and harmony parts, as there's really not much going on here. I agreed with zirc that the drums were patently out of place here. They did nothing to ground the track and focus it in any direction. It's not necessary to make good music, but the jist of the site is to take game melodies and work with though, so having some sort of direction with your own song structure is key no matter what. Hate to merely echo, but I also agreed with zirc's comments regarding the shortcomings of the overall structure. There's too much intro/outro material, and barely enough focus on arranging the source in the middle. Decent potential, but I'd scrap this one and see what other ideas are brewing as you look to gain more experience. Right now, the foundation here doesn't seem strong enough to rework without a huge chunk of time. It may be better spent experimenting new ideas and techniques. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zykO Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 like whats been said before, the intro is strangely flat despite the atmosphere being badass. the track creeping in is a good touch. i thought those drums were going to pick up and drive you into something with energy and instead, it sorta loses its momentum and cruises. still nothing that grabs my attention although the atmosphere is soothing. the drums are hardly in the soundfield and really don't give the piece anything substantially significant truthfully, though, the major issue is the structure. like zircon has already mentioned, there is almost no need for the middle section... it hardly serves as a climax. the outtro feels awkwardly abrupt and even more anticlimactic. while the atmosphere of the track is fantastic, almost all other areas leave a lot to be desired. this feels sparse and empty. this lacks a bit of texture... something to sharpen some of the foggy instrumentation. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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