Gario Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 (edited) NOTE: Not sure if it's just me, but for some reason the track appears to be 18:47 on Windows Media Player for me, even though it's more like ~3:50. If others are affected we may need another render of it, if it passes. - Gario Remixer name: tymime Remix title: Circus of Dreams Game: Little Nemo: The Dream Master / Super Mario Bros. Source track: intro, title screen, game over / underwater Link: Comments: I've been a fan of the primary source here for a long time, even before I knew much about the game it came from (long story). It always reminded me of circus music, so I went full-on in that direction. There are lots of influences on this track, and the most obvious should be The Beatles' "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!". There are actually lots of little Beatles references in here, mostly the sound effects. If you're a huge fan like me, try and see if you recognize some of them. The lead instrument is a virtual Wurlitzer theater organ, accompanied by a steam calliope, among other things. That's myself singing in the final section, with help from my brother. Also featured is long-time carnival attraction Laffing Sal. Look her up for the full madness... Edited April 10, 2017 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, I totally get this arrangement - it's as if you're at the carnival, with all of the wild antics playing in the background. On the other hand, the crowds, horses, etc., make the track sound far too busy, creating a whole lot of clutter at the cost of being able to hear the music. Upon repeated listening the crowds end up sounding like white noise, which makes the listening experience even less palatable. If this were coming off of a soundtrack of sorts I would be wondering why they left the background sounds in there - it's all pretty distracting. The arrangement is quite good, though, if you look past the SFX. The themes work perfectly on the organ and Wurlitzer; hell, they almost sound like they were WRITTEN for those instruments. The vocals sound almost like a barbershop, and they're well executed and incredibly fitting for the theme you have going in this. Under the crowded soundscape there's a really cool arrangement, but it's difficult to hear it with the layer of carny effects (you can really hear the potential at 2:56, when the music stands alone). Some SFX periodically to help set the mood would be fine, so decrease the SFX density and shorten the intro a bit. It'd be a really cool track to post, so give this another pass our way with those alterations! NO Sir_NutS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 The track does show up as 25:36 long for me in Clementine, and 8:26 in Music Player for Google Drive. I had to use Audacity to get correct timestamps. Re-encoding at a constant bit rate should resolve the issue. I agree that the main issue with this is the background effects, which indeed sound like white noise much of the time--clutter at best, distraction at worst. 39 seconds of carnival noise as intro is a bit much, too. They also cut out for half a second at 1:36. 2:10 is a seriously sour note, and the electronic game noises cause some clashing notes in the Mario section as well. I agree with Gario: Go with a shorter intro to set the stage, and use just a few carnival/crowd sounds interspersed judiciously at key moments, and definitely nothing tonal (game machines). I thought 1:53-2:09 was pretty good, though it would have been better without the horse sounds. I'd definitely like to see this get posted in some form, though. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted April 9, 2017 Share Posted April 9, 2017 Interesting use of carnival and theatre sound effects during the intro, quite creative. Things don't quite keep the same standard afterward however. The organ is disproportionately loud compared to the drums. The sound effects running in the background while a novelty to begin with start exposing identifiable loop points and are used too often at times. Panning is not utilised properly, with all instruments mostly sitting in the centre, bar for a the odd part here and there (you do make creative use of panning for the sound effects however). Near the end of the track you wind things down nicely with a completely original section (which I first mistakenly thought was a breakdown until the track ended). Apart from the main instrument levels being off, I feel your mix relies too heavily on sound effects to fill the soundscape - this isn't necessarily a bad thing on its own but the arrangement instrumentally isn't largely varied aside from this. I agree with the other judges. This mix has potential, you've done a good job bringing these parts together, I just don't feel you've quite hit the mark between creativity and overuse of effects to progress the track. Coupled with some of the production issues highlighted, it's a NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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