*NO* Terranigma 'Royd Rage' *PROJECT*

[Gario]

Remixer Name: Trism
Real Name: Troy Plain
Email: 

Game Arranged: Terranigma
Name of Arrangement: Royd Rage
Name of Song Arranged: Royd Theme
Original Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I28ZgYKFsE

Arrangement Link: 

**This track has been made for inclusion on the Terranigma Paths Less Travelled Vol. 1 album project**

I have to admit; I’d never actually heard of Terranigma before Odai created the thread for the album project. After listening to a few songs from the soundtrack I was instantly hooked; there’s a really interesting theme and tone that seems to run through the whole OST that gives it a really sombre feel, even when a track itself is quite cheerful. Royd’s Theme really stood out to me though as the main melody sounded a lot like a dance track ‘hook’. My initial WIP to Odai sounded nothing like the final product though as he quickly suggested I try and turn it into a drum and bass track (not sure I quite managed that request but here we are!).

The track has been brilliantly mixed and mastered by the ever-amazing Chimpazilla so I’d like to give a massive shout-out to her (and also an apology for dropping so many stems on her originally!) and also to Odai for creating the album project and for the constant coaching he provided while the song took form.

[Gario]

Ah, more from the Terranigma album, and it certainly has some undeniable polish to it. The source is easily there, and the choice to make it a DnB track was a great one. The drums are on point in this, with some great fills and variety to carry the track home.

The track suffers from long periods of being too static. When everything first comes together at 2:08 the various elements (drums, theme, textures, harmonies) already seem worn it, and having those elements continue with little variation for another minute wears on the listener. At 4:31 it continues the same sorts of textures and harmonies, which only serves to make the piece feel tiring. The break in the middle (2:58 - 4:30) and the introductory period are great in how they break up your main idea, but when it settles in that groove it feels repetitive and uninspired. Shortening those sections or introducting some more variety to keep the listener interested would help this track along considerably.

There are some strange harmonies in the texture at 3:34, 3:51 and 4:13. They come in as arpeggios, but they don't line up with the rest of the music. They sound bitonal, which if that's your thing that's cool, but in the context of the rest of the track it doesn't make sense.

I like it, but it isn't quite there for me on arrangement grounds. The long stretches of static harmony and overuse of the same textures makes this arrangement sound drawn out and repetitive, and while not as big an issue as the repetitive arrangement the random arpeggios didn't do the arrangement much good, either. The production is pretty good, the drums are great, and the source is well represented, so there's a solid backbone to build off of, but there's some work to be done on this before we can post it. Best of luck!

NO

[MindWanderer]

Unfortunately, Gario's right.  This is some great work coming from Trism, and he's clearly come a long way in the time I've known him on the forums here, but that repetitiveness is a real killer.  That last section in particular is nearly a minute and a half of basically the same thing, and it's something we heard plenty of back at 2:03-2:57.

I also caught what sounded like unintentional dissonance with the backing arp at around 5:17.

I feel like this is really close--the general idea is great, production is on point, and with the exceptions of those subtle off-kilter arps, there's nothing in here that's bad in isolation.  Come back to this and insert some new ideas at 2:13 or at least 2:36, and again no later than about 4:53, in place of the repeated sections there.  There's a good amount of source representation here, so you can afford to give some of it up in favor of original writing if you liked--a synth solo is what comes to my mind--or just riff on what you have in a different way.

NO (resubmit)

[DragonAvenger]

Not much to add here. The track is nice to listen to, and the mastering and production is on point. I agree though that in the end it's just too static. I'm not sure what to say aside from trying to rearrange a few parts, maybe some countermelodies might help? Good luck!

NO (resubmit)