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*NO* Princess Maker 2 'Uppercut'


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ReMixer: Dangerglass
Name: Zach Kohlmeier

Email: 
Website: https://soundcloud.com/impactlunar
Forum ID: 34953

Game: Princess Maker 2
Arrangement: Uppercut
Original track: Martial Arts Competition
Composer: Masahiro Kajihara
System: PC-98
Developer: Gainax

Link to the OST: 

OR

 

Description: I was looking for a track that I could work in a little bit of a classical/disco vibe (ex. Walter Murphy’s style), and I came across this track from Princess Maker 2 while surfing through old computer game soundtracks. The driving beat and wicked bass solo of the original seemed perfect for what I was looking for. Balancing orchestral elements such as a harpsichord with electronic sounds to build a disco-like dance piece made this an enjoyable arrangement to work on. I used Logic Pro X to arrange this.

Thank you for your consideration,

Zach Kohlmeier

(NOTE: Source is at 1:02:54 in provided Youtube link)

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

First note here is that the time stamp on the source in the YouTube doesn't appear to be correct, it I'm missing it completely. Right not I'm just going to be mentioning production issues I'm hearing and structure. EDIT: source is at 55:05. Quick listen through of that and I'm good to go arrangement wise. It's a little close on the structure, but I think the style change does a lot for it.

Love the slow harpsichord set up, and jumping into the faster melody works right away to get the listener interested. Similar, the trade of between the leads is clean. 

The biggest thing I notice just about right away is that the low end is completely lacking in presence here. There's a bass playing, but it's so high in the register that it sounds more like a mid instrument. I'd love there to be a doubling down an octave to beef up that low end here. I'd say that is the biggest issue currently.

The other bigger issue I have is with the middle section of the track. The beginning starts out very energetic and fits the gents great. One 1:15 hits the melody drops out and the track stagnates. It feels really awkward, made more so by the lack of low end. The same stagnation happens at 2:04 thorough the end. The track then tapers off and the fade ends abruptly. I think the track needs to get something going on more strongly in those sections.

The drums sound awkward in a few sections, the 1:47 fill is strangely mixed and feels very random.

All in all I think this needs another look. It has some good promise, but the lack of low end and some of the emptier sections make me want to hear some edits. Good luck

NO (resubmit)

 

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Here's a link to the source by itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDsXUvUt11k

I personally don't feel the "stagnation" issue DA has, but the lack of low end is a serious one.  It detracts from the impact of the whole thing and makes it seem more monotonous than it really is.  I suppose the breakdowns DA mentions suffer the most from the lack of lows, since there's briefly no melody either, but really the issue is pervasive.

I think the awkwardness of the drum mixing is because you have a really nice, meaty kick that's the only thing occupying the low end.  As a result, it sounds particularly dominant.

The ending is definitely lackluster as well.  It doesn't even fade out at a point that makes sense--it would have been trivial to just draw those last notes out and end that way.

Good ideas, fun arrangement.  Occupy the low end and end the track more conclusively and I think this will be fine.

NO (resubmit)

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  • 1 month later...

Yep, the sound design was lacking, mainly for the electrosynths, and you also had realism issues with the timing of stuff like the bowed strings, and then most of the textures were too empty. But you did some good stuff with the available instrumentation in terms of creating your own sound. The arrangement did stand apart from the original source tune, even if the arrangement was melodically conversative. The way the textures feel so empty though, the percussion definitely doesn't drive the track forward. Definitely agreed on the lack of low-end hurting this.

I did not get a sense of stagnation from the writing, just emptiness and the overall soundscape feeling too thin and the percussion production not adequately filling out the piece. Definitely get more feedback on this from the ReMixes area of the Workshop forums, because you show off a lot of promise. Good stuff so far, Zach, it lacks production polish to give your instrumentation more heft, and you'd also need to bring back in the low-end presense, but this was at least moving well in the right direction in terms of your arrangement/writing. I definitely hope you'll continue submitting here, even if it's not a revision of this one. Nice source tune choice, BTW.

NO (resubmit)

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