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OCR03364 - *YES* Xenon (ST) 'Hajonta'


Chimpazilla
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ReMixer & real name: Eino Keskitalo
e-mail: 
forum id: 20708

Name of game arranged: Xenon (Atari ST)
Name of Arrangement: Hajonta
Name of song arranged: Level 1 (?)

MP3: 
FLAC: 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoFM66LW-SU

This is a slightly tweaked version of my entry to the Meat and Potatoes compo round 37. Let's see if I can pass the panel with two days worth of work.

It was cool to see Binster getting a ReMix of the tune posted just around the compo. The compo source was the Atari ST version. It's the same composition as the Amiga version, but has a different feel to it. I guess the power chord guitar sample in the Amiga version makes it some difference compositionally too. I have actually played the Atari ST version a bit, too!
 
Ingredients: live bass, live guitar, a couple of breaks from the Renoise sample library, a short sample from the very beginning of the source tune (used as the instrument for the riff at 1:26-1:51) and a simple synth sound for background arp & melody (also from the Renoise library). I worked the bass/guitar riffs into  arbitrary time signatures, which is something I kind of seem to fall into as a way of personalizing the source. I worked the oddly-syncopated hits into the rhythm guitar, not exactly like it's in the source I suppose, but painful enough to play on time, ha.
 

The economy of the source is interesting. You can tell it's put together from blocks of musical elements/riffs, especially the melody/arp. Then the tune changes key a couple of times, with the blocks staying the same, but shuffled around a bit, which is a nice touch. I just recently read Game Sound by Suzanne Collins, where she explains this sort of thing was often done on 8/16 bit platforms to conserve the limited space/memory resources. Pretty cool! I followed the key changes at 0:42 and 1:08 but without repeating the whole structure.

 
This isn't super polished, but I like the overall raw aesthetic that came together. It reminds me of a cassette recording of a garage band jamming. Used to play in bands quite a bit you see, takes me back, all nostalgic, so it's in a good place for me. Hope you enjoy too!

cheers!
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I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.  The remix appears to be in 7/8, and occasionally in 15/16, or am I crazy?  I like odd time signatures.  The source is well represented, as I would expect from a M&P entry.  The track sounds somewhat lo-fi, but I see that this was a stylistic choice.  I'm going to let this one percolate for awhile.

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  • Chimpazilla changed the title to 2015/09/16 - (1?) Xenon 'Hajonta'

This initially felt somewhat texturally empty, but once I paid closer attention, things are adequately filled out. I wish the lead guitar work were more upfront, and wanted the bass to sound sharper as well, but it's all more of a personal taste thing. Nice work changing the time signature (don't ask me what that is :-D), and the excellence of the drum writing was an understated plus here.

It definitely is a meat-and-potatoes arrangement as far as retaining the structure of the source tune, but it personalized the adaptation enough IMO, with a solid rock adaptation that later brought in the chip leads for a nice change of pace, and featured lots of strong original writing addition like the energetic percussion and bass writing. Nice work, Eino!

YES

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  • Liontamer changed the title to 2015/09/16 - (1Y/1?) Xenon 'Hajonta'
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  • 3 weeks later...

Pretty fun take on the source, I could tell how much you enjoyed rocking this one out. The odd time signatures add some flavor to a source that already does some weird rhythmic stuff to begin with. 

I can see what Larry is talking about for the lead guitar, but I didn't feel it was really a issue. The dirty feel of the song definitely adds that garage band feel.

There's a ton of character in this somewhat short mix. I'm digging it!

YES

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  • 1 month later...

Nice use of 7/8 and alternating 8/8-7/8, it gives this a whole lot of character. Yeah, the source is followed pretty closely, but as has been mentioned above, the style and shifting meter give it more than enough personality to pass on that front. The bass sounds a little bit too loose for me, but otherwise I think you've got a good, lo-fi classic rock feel to this that I can get behind. That drum playing is freakin' sweet as hell, too.

As an artifact to sticking as close to the source as possible, structure-wise, it does sound like it's dragging on a little bit, even at only 2:45. On top of that, you rely on that phased guitar for a solid majority of the song, and it really starts to wear at you over time. You break it up at 1:25, though, which helps a great deal. It's not a minor issue, but it's not a dealbreaker for me, either.

This is a pretty sweet track, regardless of my issues with it. It certainly is clever, and it represents the source very well. Sat on this for a while, but listening to it again there's so much going on behind the relatively static arrangement (drums, fading the guitar, etc.) that I couldn't possible say no. Great work!

YES

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  • Liontamer changed the title to 2015/09/16 - (3Y/1?) Xenon (ST) 'Hajonta'

Time sig messes up me head, I feel like such a simpleton :P. Some really nice guitar work mixed with the usual obligatory blips and beeps - selection of sounds are nice and complementary to each other. Mixing is relatively clear. A bit of a Lo-fi nature to this track which adds to the retro feel, but it's kept within acceptable boundaries and works in the tracks favour.

For me, I feel some of the playing - such as the bass, could have been a bit tighter. I'm not saying it should've been quantised to death, but I feel the rhythms and overall grove would be stronger with stuff closer to the beat than what's here (the last third felt a lot better in this regard than the beginning portions of the track). I would love if this was tightened up a bit, but I wont hold it back for this if the others wont.

YES

 

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  • Liontamer changed the title to OCR03364 - *YES* Xenon (ST) 'Hajonta'
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