Gario Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 So, I had a great time arranging this remix of the World 1-1, or Overworld Theme, from Super Mario Bros.! An iconic theme through and through, I decided to give this theme a 70's style funk remix. I'm excited for this to be evaluated (if it does get evaluated)! I feel like this remix has been a great step for me in learning about production. ReMixer Name: Ridiculously Garrett Name of game(s) arranged: "Super Mario Bros." Name of arrangement: "Without a Care in the World 1-1" Name of individual songs arranged: Overworld Theme Source Material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT3NA5Q08mk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Interesting. It's a pretty liberal interpretation, but well over half of it is clearly a transformation of the source. It helps that the source is so iconic, it's easy to recognize even when changed so much. Many of the synths aren't quite what I'd call 70's funk, but I can definitely hear the inspiration in the style and from the Hammond organ. It's unfortunate that the main synth lead (that comes in at 0:09) is a pretty bland saw that sounds like it desperately wants to be brass. The guitar is also clearly synthetic, and I'm not sure why you'd use a low-fi electric piano as a lead when you also have perfectly good actual piano as accompaniment. While I do really like this arrangement, I don't think the instrumentation is enough to do it justice. If you can find the musicians, this would be absolutely fantastic with the use of live brass, guitar, and piano. If not, well, then you get to really practice those production skills with samples/soundfonts. In a pinch, I think just a different selection of synths could get you by, but right now you're squarely in the uncanny valley of trying to be real instruments, and not. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 The track was 4:29-long, so I needed to make out at least 124.5 seconds of source usage for the source material to be considered dominant. To me, I was finding a lot of gaps where I couldn't ID the source. :35.5-40.5, 44.5-1:34.25, 1:36.5-1:42.25, 1:45.25-1:51, 1:53.75-1:59.75, 2:02.5-2:11.5, 2:15.75-2:27.5, 2:33-2:37.5, 3:12.5-3:18.5, 3:21.5-3:27, 3:56-4:02.5 = 115.5 seconds or 46.38% overt source usage As far as I could tell, this was coming up a little source light, but if MindWanderer or anyone else can point out some connections I missed, I'd appreciate it. I didn't mind that there weren't live performers, and I'm against specifically urging people in that direction only because some people aren't that inclined to collaborate. That said, I see what MW's means about the instrumentation being in an uncanny valley. The blockyness of practically all of the lead work -- particularly the guitar leads and organ from 2:37 all the way through 3:47 -- just doesn't sound good, and that ends up being a dealbreaker for me. Also, the lead synth at :09 still seems pretty generic, and the faux-guitar funk synth at :00 was also a pretty default-sounding line; maybe you can effect these in some way to give their sounds more uniqueness/character. If you find a way to smooth this out and get the piece sounding more expressive, and also get your leads to sound more sophisticated, this would be on solid ground. The arrangement itself is already strong, so now it's just about getting your production to rise to the occasion. If there are more "Overworld BGM" references that I'm overlooking, let me know; otherwise find a few other ways to subtly keep referencing the Mario theme during some of the extended original sections, and that would put the source usage over 50% to dominate the arrangement. Good base here, Garrett! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Pretty fun concept here, but there's some work yet to be done for this to get there. I don't have a ton to add that the gents above haven't already mentioned, but I will point out that there are a few sections in the mix that sound pretty empty in the soundscape. It would be great if there was just a little more going on in those sections to fill things out a bit more. I'd say it wouldn't be a dealbreaker on it's own, and shouldn't be the main focus of what to fix up, just an extra note if you've got time/energy to go for it. Keep working on this one, it's got promise! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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