OCR01569 - *YES* Touhou Youyoumu: Perfect Cherry Blossom 'Icy Peaks'

[Liontamer]

Got a complicated one with the eligibility of this doujin game; I'll try to sort it out - LT

Sorry if this is too long. I'm new to the whole "submission" thing, so I tried to be exhaustive as possible. Only read the parts you want to!

Your ReMixer name: Justus Johnston

Your real name: Justus Johnston

Your email address: cyberludwig@yahoo.com

Your website: http://www.justusjohnston.com

Name of game: Perfect Cherry Blossom

Name of song: 無何有の郷 ～ Deep Mountain

Information about this game:

Perfect Cherry Blossom is the 7th game in the "Touhou" series, AKA Project Shrine Maiden. This series is, for the most part a series of vertical shmups set in Gensokyo, a sort of "far-East wonderland" inhabited by various magical creatures out of Japanese mythology. They are a very particular brand of shmups known as "danmaku", or "curtain fire", where instead of dodging relatively few quick bullets and enemies, you must weave through a tapestry consisting of an insane number of relatively slow bullets.

Project Shrine Maiden is part of the growing Doujinshi (indy) software scene in Japan, but is still sold for money. An English wikipedia exists for this series, and can be found here: http://www.pooshlmer.com/touhouwiki/index.php/Touhou_Wiki

This game (like all others in the series), are created by Shanghai Alice, a group that in reality consists of only one individual and a couple of play testers. This individual, who only goes by the name of ZUN, single-handedly does the programming, scripting, level design, graphics, art, story, sound, and yes the music too. His website can be found here: http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/top.html

The first five games in the series were only made for the NEC PC-9801 personal computer. The rest of the series, including this game, is exclusively for Windows.

There is a fanmade English translation of this game available (though these games' stories really don't translate well at all). It can be found here: http://www.pooshlmer.com/touhouwiki/index.php?title=Perfect_Cherry_Blossom:_English_patch

Original soundtrack:

The original in-game music can be either recordings or MIDIs. The recordings are hardly better than the MIDIs though, since they're really just the MIDIs recorded using an Edirol SD-80 synthesizer. I'd rather not share the entire recorded soundtrack (besides, it too is sold separately in doujin circles), but I've uploaded the original recording of the song this remix is based on here: http://www.justusjohnston.com/temp/th702.mp3

I've also uploaded the entire original MIDI album if you REALLY want to listen to it: http://www.justusjohnston.com/temp/pcbmidi.zip

Just let me know if you need more.

The mix:

I actually threw the notes together last night while taking a break from some paperwork. I impulsively decided to record it after work today (I work at a recording studio, so it wasn't that hard a decision)

The arrangement calls for 4 violins. In this case, I just overdubbed myself 4 times, so all 4 are me. They were recorded with a Shure SM-81 mic'd from 2 feet above, off-axis, in our main isolation booth. Everything was recorded and edited in Pro Tools via a DIGI001 (using old-school AMR preamps).

Honestly, not much real production went into this. No compression, no EQ (I moved the mic a few inches closer for the lead part to help its harmonic content stand out). I panned the parts out a bit to make things more interesting, and added a convolution reverb (Lexicon 960L using a "Large Church" sample).

I didn't do any pitch or time correction, even though I really really wanted to. So, it's a pretty raw recording of this arrangement.

Artistically, I really liked my performance, though it could have been tighter technically. The instrument used is a 1844 J.B. Villaume (family heirloom), with a 1932 Marizot bow. No, I don't do it justice.

As for the music of the arrangement itself, I'm quite pleased with it. It's been a long time since I've tried anything "classical", so it's kind of nice to discover that I can still do it after all these years.

The harmonization is reminiscent of the neo-classical style, a la Prokofiev (or Koichi Sugiyama even, for that matter). Even though many of the actual chords used are the same as in the original, this arrangement manages to feel extremely different from the original.

Listening to this recording I've made, I think it sounds kind of chilly in comparison, which I suppose is appropriate, given the time of year, and the story of this particular game (Winter didn't end when it was supposed to, and local magicians go to investiage). I think people can enjoy this arrangement even if they've never played the game.

Well there. I hope I did this right.

- Justus Johnston

Director of Education, Academy of Recording Arts

My latest horrible musical experiment: http://www.justusjohnston.com/Music/MP3/Vesper%20Voyages.mp3

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I must say, this is an interesting submission. The doujin game here is definitely valid enough for OCR in terms of being popular enough and "professional grade". ZUN is one of the more known doujin VGM composers out there and also has professional credits under his belt unrelated to music. My bro CHz confirmed that the source tune is indeed from the game soundtrack.

Legit props to ZUN for being one of the really successful doujin game makers out there while also being a pro in the industry as well. I've heard of ZUN for a little while now, though to be perfectly honest, I've disliked nearly everything I've heard by him. The sound quality tends to kill off his songs entirely, even when the writing is good. Generally though, I haven't even liked his writing either. Nonetheless, I'm not an expert on ZUN's discography, and don't mean to say he sucks. Hearing this source tune, at least from a compositional perspective, was enjoyable, so I'm glad this breaks "the streak," even if I wasn't amazed by it.

Perfect Cherry Blossom (Game Rip) - "Paradise ~ Deep Mountain"

The arrangement here was particularly melancholy. The 4-violins gimmick ("gimmick" not meant as a negative) was used fairly well here, although there were some spots that felt very shrill.

I felt the brevity of the arrangement was a distinct negative, a lot moreso than Select Start's Frog arrangement (since that one had 3 notably different variations of the source theme). Yet the new writing involved underneath the conservative melody in adapting the piece for 4 violins helped offset those concerns. There were good changes in the texture at :42 and 1:23 for the iterations of the verse and chorus respectively, which helped things not feel repetitive.

I wish there was more time given to this one, but what's in place here is more than solid enough. I thought you just did MIDI work, Justus, but "Vesper Voyages" (I recommend y'all check that out) and this piece definitely illustrated otherwise. In any case, an interesting approach with a unique result.

YES

EDIT (3/9): Way back when, BGC wanted some more clarification and play-by-play on why I passed this one, so I'll finally get around to elaborating. This mix is more of a case where the personalization of the approach carried the track, much in part to the original and rearranged writing of the supporting instrumentation.

After being iffy when I first heard the piece, a side-by-side comparison of the source vs. the mix gave me all the confidence I needed to pass this one. The slowed tempo and less busy feel of this compared to ZUN's piece (which was beat-driven) was a plus. Immediately at :01, the new countermelodic and harmonic writing trading off underneath the melody was apparent, and continued that way for the rest of the track. The countermelodic stuff from :45-:54 mimicked :20-:31 of the original, so that wasn't as interpretive. After that though, I liked how Justus altered the backing rhythms of the original (e.g. :45-1:11 of ZUN's piece) with the quick backing bow movements of 1:03-1:39. The original ending at 1:46 added to the tension, resolving the track nicely.

Looking at the submissions guidelines ("Changing a piece's genre, adding original passages, solos, harmonies, and counter-melodies, as well as altering instrumentation, dynamics, and tempo are all ways of making a ReMix your own unique creation, and are techniques best used in conjunction."), the genre change, original harmonies & countermelodies, and the altered instrumentation, dynamics & tempo collectively sealed the deal. In short, a decidedly different animal than the original.

[DarkeSword]

This is nirvana. String work is gorgeous.

YES

[Malcos]

This is superb. Organic, emotive, original.

YES

[Vig]

Um...uh...yeah. Holy shit.

How would you guys vote if the strings didn't sound so good?

[Vig]

The beautiful strings having me creaming my pants as quickly and in as great a volume as the next judge, but it's worth noting that the track is less than 2 minutes long. There is not too much in the way of idea development, and even considering the minimalist instrumentation, I think there's a lot more "Justus" could have done to make this a more complete expression. Of the ideas and emotions present.

I'm going YES, but I'd really like to hear some other opinions, so I'm not going to lock it.

[big giant circles]

yipes. this is a very tough call. my main struggle ends up being the fact that this piece is mainly a slowed-down version of the original. the violins are in fact very very beautiful. i don't see how someone could not feel moved by this.

man, i'm reluctant to vote either way, to be honest. this is basically a string cover, for what it's worth. i'm not hearing any real *rearrangement* here, if someone would do me the honor of pointing it out. larry, where's your play by play when we need it?

i'd hate to pass this and then realize that it didn't qualify. yet, by the same token i'd hate to reject such a beautiful piece and stall it the chance to be heard by anyone who should stumble upon it here at OCR. I'll have to talk about this in #j before I can comfortably come to a decision.

?...

*EDIT*

Well, after a bit more pondering and listening and pondering some more (great music to ponder to, btw), it is with a sprinkle of reluctance that I have to pass a NO onto this beautiful song. Should the rest of the panel decide the same, I strongly encourage you to leave your link up, Justus, because this definitely deserves to be heard by all means. As an OCReMix, however, I feel like I've listened to enough submissions where the track is immensely more enjoyable than the source, but upon further examination, the remix is just a cover--that is, so nearly exact with only minor adaptations, changes. in this case, i feel like you've played it beautifully on a live instrument in a slower tempo. being live, of course, you've thrown dynamics and huminization and emotion into it, but it's still an adapted cover in regards to the source.

I suppose I'm not going to ask anyone to revote, and I hope I don't sound like I'm just out making demands, but Malcos and Darke, I'd appreciate you both going back and providing further explanation for your votes, and a few more comments on the level of arrangement.

BTW, expand and RESUBMIT, please

[JJT]

i'm not hearing any real *rearrangement* here, if someone would do me the honor of pointing it out.

What do you call the writing in the supporting string parts? Very mature, substantive stuff there, but apparently that slipped under your radar.

Short? Yes. Beautiful? Yes. Enough personal touches and original part writing? Yes.

So in closing,

YES

[Jillian Aversa]

Alright, I'm gonna step in here to help justify the glib YES votes.

I feel your concerns, Jimmy, about the lack of actual rearrangement; what Justus has done here is actually a simplification of the source in terms of note quantity. However, that is a very common practice in string arrangements. The focus should be more on the emotion of the performance (which was executed beautifully) than the level of technical additions. Y'know what I mean?

Here's how I see it: OCR is dedicated to the appreciation and "reinterpretation" of video game music. This remix demonstrates a very clear artistic vision– one that is far different from the original source. It took some obvious skill to arrange (even if that meant simplifying some things), perform, and mix. I do wish that Justus had added some more original material, but what's there is still passable in my book.

For the record, there were a few sour notes throughout the recording, particularly at 0:15 and 1:29. The violin playing the melody tended to veer flat on occasion, which caused some minor wincing. BUT! All in all, very lovely work.

Anyway, I am glad you had the guts to question some of the glib votes here, Jimmy. I still think the mix is passable, but it's important for us to always explain our decisions with some level of detail, even if we think it should be an obvious YES. ^-^

YES