DragonAvenger Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Salutations, Remixer name: Jorito Real name: Jorrith Schaap Email: Userid: 3899 ReMixer name: Stephen Kelly Real name: Stephen Kelly Email: Userid: 15320 ReMixer name: Furorezu Real name: Daniel Florez Email: Userid: 15612 Submission information: Name of Game(s) Remixed: Shovel Knight, Megaman 5 Name of Arrangement: Digging into Memories Names of songs arranged: Strike the Earth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqAYMZSOQao), Venus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM-mFItzRYU) Link to the remix: Comments about the mix: It was my turn for another round in the Robots vs. Knights compo and I wanted to do a chill, laid back track this time. I was playing around with some 7 chord progressions a bit earlier, wondered if it’d work for a remix, and it did. Due to my sound selection (e-piano, muted guitar, pads and funky drums) it somehow reminded me of Daft Punk’s track "Giorgio", with Giorgio Moroder recounting history of those early synth days. I figured it could work for my own track pretty well and that having Shovel Knight reflect on his life might be an interesting take. Originally I started out with vocal clips of Baz Luhrman’s track “Sunscreen" to test the idea, but I quickly reached out to Stephen to see if he’d be interested in giving it a try. He was totally up for it and wrote wrote some great tongue-in-cheek lyrics with a lots of puns. Took a bit of playing to get the placement and pacing to work, but since the arrangement already accounted for a monologue it worked rather well. Somehow this kind of track always makes me want to include a solo guitar part and I was able to wrestle a melody part of Strike the Earth into that role (somewhat; I had to take some liberties). Because it was pretty exposed, my sampled guitar wasn’t up to snuff, so I asked around on Discord and found Furorezu willing to play the part for me to bring more of the feelz. Couldn’t fully part with my sampled guitar part though, so I delegated it to play a harmony part and kept it in. For something that started out as a pretty experimental track I really like how it all came together, and the process itself was as smooth and enjoyable as the final product. That concludes my own digging into memories and self reflection The script for Shovel Knight’s introspective meandering thoughts about life: Let’s call a spade a spade. I’m a success. I read about it in a magazine. I’m popular. I’m captain of the yacht club. Someone will look at you and they think you’ve always been this storybook champion, this knight in shining armor who can do no wrong. But what they don’t do is they don’t look inside the armor. Because they can’t. That armor is yours. The world will give you no quarter; they’ll throw everything they have at you and assume it all just bounces off. What they don’t see are the people in your life standing in the way; a shield against the world so you can achieve that one thing you’ve always wanted. The armor is just for show. Nobody’s an empty suit of armor. Everyone has a past to dig up, but for me that’s always been very personal. Very literal. Like with an actual shovel. Source usage: 0:00 - 0:20 - intro (original) 0:20 - 0:40 - strike the earth melody part A 0:40 - 1:00 - shovel knight monologue 1:00 - 1:40 - venus melody 1:40 - 2:20 - strike the earth melody part C 2:20 - 2:40 - strike the earth melody part A (partial) + shovel knight monologue 2:40 - 3:00 - strike the earth melody part B (harmonized, improved and adapted to fit the key) 3:00 - 3:20 - shovel knight monologue 3:20 - 4:00 - venus melody 4:00 - 4:20 - strike the earth melody part C variation + shovel knight monologue 4:20 - 4:30 - ending Cheerio, Jorrith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 Definitely not something I expected here. Introspective is most certainly the right description here. Love the smooth style, and the instrumentation is just right. Really nice solos and direction overall, and while I'm not personally a fan of narration tracks, I can still see that this fits pretty well as a whole. Great work getting the extra help here, it made a difference to have the guitar solo played live, and the smooth voice of Stephen is mixed well into the track. Great work! YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Ah, I remember listening to this one. Very smooth groove, and clean production. Stephen's clips, pondering as Shovel Knight add a lot of personality to the track (I should know that!). The sax performances were well realized and the track just flows really well, never gets boring. I think the synth lead could've been a little less stiff and had more flair and funk in the performance, but that's a minor complain from me. The arrangement is great as we've come to expect from Jorito, mixing the sources pretty seamlessly. YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 Introspective is the right word for this, and it's smooth as hell. The spoken parts are a clever touch that you don't hear very often in an arrangement. The production and performances are pristine, as well, which really gives this a nice, polished feel; it seems pretty much impeccable, as far as I can tell. YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 What an interesting approach! I am one who loves vocal clips in songs, as long as they are cohesive and tell a story, and they fit in nicely here. The arrangement is great. Expect some hate for the vocals, but you'll get none from me. The parts are performed wonderfully and the mixing is tight. Love it! YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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