OCR03606 - *YES* Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version "Alpha, the Defect"

[Gario]

Contact Information

• Rus Gordon
•  
• rusgordon.tumblr.com
• 34236

 

Submission Information

• Mega Man Battle Network 3
• Alpha, the Defect
• Vs. Alpha (Final Battle)
• Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-APlyE-HbQ
• I was surprised how funky, fast-paced, and weird (for a final boss theme) this song was when I first heard it. As a challenge, I wanted to pick a song that I wouldn't be able to turn into a typical "metal cover" verbatim, so to speak, so I had to stretch out what was there, since the original theme is just under 1 minute long.

 

[MindWanderer]

Nice!  Lots of creative original guitar work.  The "stretching" was perfectly appropriate and was done without making this feel repetitive.  The intro being panned hard right was a little off-putting, but that was short lived, and otherwise I felt the stereo was pretty well balanced despite some extreme panning of individual elements.  Ending is a little abrupt but not overly so.  Overall very nice job.

YES

[Gario]

Ditto to the props, and ditto to the exposed hard panned right channel in the beginning being annoying. The production values seem to be on point, and the various guitar licks put throughout to keep it interesting works on every level.

I think it's great, to be honest - not much to critique.

YES

[Jivemaster]

Lots of busy panning, guitar layers and changes of rhythm in this one. Transition between sections is rapid and a bit rough at times, but mostly works, with no section overstaying its welcome for too long, and parts are rarely repeated. Guitar tone is mostly on point, and doesn't get piercing, however they feel a bit dry overall. Parts complement each other well but some sections get a little too busy with riffing. Bass feels strangely absent. Drums are quite stiff and to the grid. Break at 2:20 provides a good (short) change of pace to give us a break from the earlier chaos. Momentum builds up again in the final third before ending quite abruptly.

Two minds about this one - great guitar playing which drives the track forward, showcasing all kinds of techniques and articulations, some more conventional than others, which create an added charm to the performance. At the same time, there are a lot of niggling issues - guitar sounds a bit dry, the quite rapid transitions, the stiff drums, the bass (or lack thereof) and the abrupt ending. I feel this is a great track just missing a hint of polish, it may likely pass, but I personally suggest a short revisit to think about these issues.

NO

[Sir_NutS]

There are some really awesome guitar performances here, but there's a feeling of dryness and emptiness that permeates this mix.  I'm not sure if it's the lack of bass or just dry instruments overall, but up until around 2:49 it felt like the song was always missing something.  I don't think the production is quite there for OCR.

The arrangement and performances are fantastic though.  The mix felt a bit straightforward at the start but it evolves over time with signature and pace changes, not to mention the rich tones and articulations provided by the guitar performances.

I'm definitely torn on this one, and I come back later to it, but it doesn't seem like a clear-cut decision to me.

[DragonAvenger]

I can hear some of the issues the guys are mentioning, but I don't think they are working out to be a dealbreaker here. The arrangement is awesome, the performances are pretty solid. I'd say take these critiques into consideration for the next one, and get this one posted

YES

[Liontamer]

The panning's too wide to start; you really don't need to have parts in just one channel. Once the left channel picked up at :13 and the track wasn't essentially JUST in the right ear, the wide panning was no longer flat out disorienting.

Sir_NutS had a very good point about the mixing being dry that I wouldn't have noticed without his critique. IMO, the track was filled out and mixed well enough where the dryness didn't kill it, but I definitely believe if this had a little more wetness to the sound, the end result would be a lot stronger. Not going to make the imperfection of the lesser production issues the enemy of the good, but something to note for future works.

Wow, LOVED the changeup at 2:18 to the more resonant strums, and then changing up the rhythm of the source melody at 2:42; I was smiling and nodding my head in time with the music and really enjoying the proggy turn with the soloing from 3:07-3:30.

The ending did cut out too fast and could have used just a little more time for that last note to quickly fade, but the song went to silence maybe a half-second or second too early.

So yeah, this shouldn't have been so dry, but the creativity of the arrangement and the fullness & energy of the performance were all very strong. Really impressive musicianship, Rus; let's work on improving your production there, but you're already putting together great work! Welcome!

YES