DragonAvenger Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 (edited) Hey OCRemix, My name is Jeffrey Brice, otherwise known online as Pumodi. I recently created a an arrangement of "Did You See the Ocean" from the Secret of Mana soundtrack. I am submitting this track for review and possible inclusion on OCRemix. Please find attached an mp3 as well as a link to the file hosted on my website along with all the required information. I hope you enjoy the track! Here is a link to the track: Contact Information Pumodi Jeffrey Bricejeffbricemusic.com Userid: 33041 Submission Information Secret of Mana Did You See the Ocean Did You See the Ocean Link to Original Version on Youtube: https://youtu.be/xrMDbcIxmXE Edited April 29, 2016 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 So this is one of the weirder tracks I've had to judge this year. The reason being because of the source. Essentially the source is "Into the Thick of It" but without any of the melody. Because of that the source and, by extension the remix, sounds like it's empty. It's really hard to try to separate the two. That being said, the mix itself has a pretty nice soundscape overall. I think the drums are a little quiet in the mix and could have more presence overall. On a similar note the drums (and a lot of the mix as a whole) sounds pretty repetitive. Having a lead melody would definitely help, which brings us back to the weird part. There's really not much direction to the track, which is another issue that not having a lead brings. The track is pretty much the same backing chords at the same tempo until the end where it abruptly stops. The other issue is that this sounds so close to the original. I'm not sure where you can go to improve the arrangement and personalize this more without drastically changing the structure and style. There's little to work with and that makes it that much more difficult. There's a weird note at 1:37 by the way. I think the repetitive nature of the chords, drums, and other backing parts combined with some balance issues and the overall closeness to the source makes this an NO for me, but I'm not sure what options you have to bring this up to our standards. Hopefully another judge has done advice. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 Well contrary to Deia I can appreciate the mix for what it is because I'm not familiar with the original soundtrack as I never played SoM beyond the first 5 minutes (Gasp! heresy!). I don't think the mix lacks melody, as the bell-ish instrument at 0:26 and on serves as the "lead" melody for me. Anyways, the production here is so-so. Nothing sticks out as particularly bad or annoying at the mix level, but the performances of the main instruments feel stiff. The strings, piano and lead instrument lack articulation and emotion. The textures mesh very well and create a pleasant soundscape but they lack soul and have that robotic feel to them in the performances. The drums feel on autopilot. Regarding the arrangement, It's very conservative and I feel much more should've been done to set it apart from the original. It has the same feel and selection of instruments, although what we hear here is an improved version over the snes samples, there's still very little difference in the sound design department besides there not being a trumpet sound for one of the leads. Overall nice setting but needs more work with the humanization and arrangement.NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 I don't think the source lacking an upfront melodic line hurt this at all, as there's more than enough melodic content to work with here. The main issues were that the arrangement simply wasn't structurally interpretive enough with the treatment of the theme, AND it became repetitive and lacking in any dynamic contrast. Once you get to 2:00, there's nothing meaningfully new in the piece at all. Everything's just on auto-pilot and totally underdeveloped, and Sir_NutS is correct that the instrumentation, while not unpleasant at all, still feels stiff and lacking humanization. Agreed on that sour note at 1:37; that would need to be fixed. I also agreed with the snare drum sounding relatively flimsy, but for me it's mainly because there needed to be some additional padding of some sort to fill out the soundscape, not because the snare itself had a bad sound. I agreed with DragonAvenger that there's not a way for this mix to be approved without a drastic overhaul; there's just not enough interpretation of the theme. Even forgoing that main melodic line from "Into the Thick of It," you'd have to do much more creatively with it to have it meet the arrangement standards here. Cool cover, Jefferey, but there's not enough substance to make this take substantial and original.NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts