Gario Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Link to track: Variations on a Lost Soul ReMixer name: sschafi1 Real name: Sean Schafianski E-mail: Submission information Name of game arranged: Bioshock Name of Arrangement: Variations on a Lost Soul Name of Individual Song(s): Lost Soul Comments: This is a theme and variations based on "Lost Soul" from the first Bioshock, as featured on the album ENRAPTURED: Bioshock Remixed, published by Materia Collective. I've always loved this track from the OST. It is indeed short, though amazingly evocative and lends itself very well to arrangement. This arrangement uses minimalist techniques and quotes the style of Philip Glass. It was experimental at first, but it definitely grew on me, and I think it suits the track quite well! This is your classic theme and variations form with a minimalist twist! Played by the wonderful Ruby Toung (aka purpleschala), who learned this piece in under a day. I hope you all enjoy it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 I've seen a few pieces utilize the 'Variations' form on the panel, but there's a common issue that crops up - too often, it sounds like multiple pieces stringed together, and not like a single coherent track. This is a variations form piece done well - the transition from part to part sound like they're building off of one another, and rarely does the pacing get broken from iteration to iteration (save for the break at 2:09 - that was held a bit too long, there, and broke the sense of flow it had). The recording is solid, and the performance is acceptable. When it picks up speed I can hear a few errors in the arpeggios; there's a mistake at 1:32, the arpeggios are uneven (slight variations in the timing), and the pedal sometimes misses the first note which makes the arpeggio sound inconsistently hollow. I'm being a touch harsh since none of these things break what is otherwise a solid performance, but it's something to pay attention to in the future. It's a great idea, and the execution is very well done. Nitpicking the performance and the break of flow at 2:09 aside, I'm all for giving this a spot on the front page. Great work! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 It's tough to evaluate a "variations" piece, as it's deliberately broken up into distinct sections, which runs afoul of our "multiple songs stuck together" rule. I think in this case it is mostly effective at coming across as a stream of evolutionary changes. I think the first break (0:29-0:33) is also a smidgen long, with that 2:10 -2:16 one being quite a bit too long--again, nothing wrong with that for a traditional "variations" piece, but it's an issue vis-a-vis our standards. Since it's just the one transition out of five that's really problematic, and three that are perfectly fine, I'm OK with it as a whole. Production is fine, could be about 1dB louder without clipping, but it's not egregious, and the performance is excellent by any but the most stringent criteria. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Not much to add here; performance is fun, and while there are some errors, they are minor in the long run. Agreed that the 2:09 pause is a bit too much, but aside from that I'd say this is a nice interpretation of a pretty short piece and a good way to flesh it out. Nice work! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Pretty solid overall. I feel I don't have much to add as the other js have exposed some of the issues present on this track, such as some small mistakes in the performance, as well as the 2:09 break being too long and not flowing well into the next section. Even though this is a variations piece, up until that point it really didn't feel much like so, which is good from our standards' POV. I don't think these issues take away much from what is otherwise a solid remix which explores such a short track in plenty different ways, successfully.YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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