*NO* Shovel Knight & Mega Man 10 'For Hope and Shovelry'

[Gario]

Heya,

Remixer name: Jorito
Real name: Jorrith Schaap
Email: 
Userid: 3899

ReMixer name: HeavyViper

Real name: Hal Binderman
e-mail: : 

forum id: 32639

Submission information:

Name of Game(s) Remixed: Shovel Knight, Megaman 10

Name of Arrangement: For Hope and Shovelry
Names of songs arranged: Strike the Earth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqAYMZSOQao), Farewell to Ballade (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEiOtnE9oLA)

Link to the remix: 

Comments about the mix:

This is a track I did for the first round of the Robots vs. Knights compo. When I saw the source of my opponent Gario (Farewell to Ballade), I wasn’t sure what to do with it immediately but I did already notice that his source would make for an interesting remix with my own source "Strike the Earth" And boy was I right! 

 

I had this vague idea to do some 80s synth rock style track, but it wasn’t until I played around with the sources that it found its shape. It took a bit of experimenting to find a good arrangement and a good flow for the song, but fortunately the sources have a lot of cool melodic content to play with. I had so much fun with these sources that I got carried away (yeah, that tends to happen). I would have to really dive into it to see which part of which source goes where, but there’s a ton of it in the track. Small arps and riffs sprinkled throughout, leads from both tracks, sometimes alternating, sometimes playing together, the little progression from Ballade’s intro all over the place, the list goes on. I hope I got the balance between a recognizable, familiar source and original material right, but at least I feel it makes for an interesting and engaging listening experience.

 

Big shout out to Hal (HeavyViper) too! Since I went for a 80s synth rock track, that of course means guitars, and nothing beats a real guitar. I stumbled upon HeavyViper on Discord, showed him a work in progress and asked if he’d be willing and able to play the rhythm and lead guitar parts. He agreed, and it was a pleasure to work with him! Since we had a strict deadline, we only had a little time to make it work but with a few strenuous practice and recording sessions on his end we managed to finish it in time. Despite him being more of a laid back guitar player, I feel he got the rocking vibe of the track right and it’s definitely a step up from the Shreddage parts I originally created.

Hal adds:

 

It was a surprise when Jorito asked me to record some guitar parts for this remix! As he mentioned, I'm more of a laid back guitarist, so the rapid-fire palm mutes and technical solos were a challenge at times. But hey, nothing like an impending deadline to get fired up for practice, right!?

 

Overall, I really like the direction Jorito took. It definitely calls some recent Nihon Falcom soundtracks to mind, and the intermingling of core themes from the two source tracks is handled quite well. Big thanks for the opportunity!

 

Cheers,

Jorrith

 

 

Edited April 5, 2017 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Gario]

Oi, this is the track that beat mine out in the competition! CURSES!! 'Course, I kind of didn't put out a finished track and all, so I suppose it was to be expected, but still... Rawr.

*Ahem* (puts on judging hat)

The arrangement definitely covers both sources well, and honestly does a good job developing the sources into a pretty interesting arrangement, and often layers the two to great effect. The variety of synthwork and guitar playing helps make for an interesting, varied arrangement.

I'm not sold on the production of this track, though. While I appreciate the layering, there's a lot of moments that sound extremely crowded due to this. 0:18, for example, is particularly problematic, for example, but there are many more moments like it throughout (such as 0:30 & 1:09). Things get very busy on each line, and ultimately it's difficult to hear any one thing when everything is trying to grab your attention at once. The mixing could use work, but I also feel a little hack-and-slashing to instruments for some of the more extreme moments of crowding would be beneficial.

I know you did this in a week (which is definitely great for a week of work!), but you have all the time in the world to tweak it up for submission purposes, so I suggest cleaning up that mixing so that the instruments don't crowd nearly as much, even going as far as to cut unnecessary layering for the sake of providing breathing room for the arrangement.

NO

[MindWanderer]

Back in the voting thread, I made the exact same comment on the layered sections being too crowded, although I cited a different standout example (2:18-2:47).  It's still true.  I'll also repeat my comment that the arrangement is busy in a serial manner as well as a parallel one: sometimes it's so eager to move on that it doesn't fully flesh out what it's doing, such as when 0:24-0:36 and 2:12-2:23 aren't repeated.

So... yeah.  In some ways this is too much of a good thing.  Either do a lot of aggressive EQ work, or swap some layering for some call-and-return, or just simplify in general. I wouldn't hold it back on the other issue--it's more my preference than anything else--but if you're going to spend more time on this anyway, you can at least take a look.

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

Cool blending of these sources, but I agree with the gentlemen that this soundscape is just too busy.  Too much competing writing going on together at several points, melodies and countermelodies all competing for center stage.  The other issue is that the leads and backing elements are all playing in the same frequency range, so that further adds to the overcrowded and competitive nature of the soundscape.  You will need to do some eq work to let leads shine and push backing elements back, and also don't be afraid to delete parts outright that don't add anything to the mix.

NO (resubmit)