Gario Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Remix Link: Your ReMixer name : Rotten Eggplant Your email address: Your website: http://www.rotteneggplant.com Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 33634 Name of game(s) arranged: DuckTales Name of arrangement: Dark Side of the Moon Name of individual song(s) arranged: The Moon Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) Hiroshige Tonomura / NES Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF32DRg9opA Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. This song was a challenge made to me by a friend of mine. Normally my style of music is orchestrated and a little bit of EDM. I asked him to pick a song and style for me to remix, and he chose the Moon theme from Ducktales in the style of Goa / Psytrance. I listened to a LOT of psytrance to get the hang of the style, watched a lot of videos, and I think I managed to complete most of his challenge, although part of the challenge was also to get this song posted to this site. Now, Gario suggested that I include timestamps of the source material within the remix because I used it in a... er... creative way, although I tried to lay in as much familiarity and similarity as I could, given the nature of psytrance vs the sound of The Moon. So, I'll start with a breakdown of the source that I'll reference to when timestamping the remix (using that Youtube link of the source): The Arp - 0:00 - 0:02 Intro - 0:02 - 0:13 Section 1 - 0:13 - 0:26 Section 2 - 0:26 - 0:36 Section 3 - 0:36 - 0:46 Alright, so here's the timestame of the remix: 0:00 - 0:07 - The Arp (actually, the Arp is used a lot throughout the remix) 0:07 - 0:33 - The Arp with the bassline of the Intro 0:33 - 1:00 - Er....... Original, I suppose. Was meant to establish the psytrance feel. 1:00 - 1:26 - Return of the Arp (in a minor key) 1:26 - 1:53 - Intro (in a minor key) 1:53 - 2:32 - Some playing around with the squelchies to the bassline of Section 1 2:32 - 2:59 - Psytrance climax using The Arp to the bassline of Section 1. 2:59 - 3:26 - Section 1 (with a little spice added for flavor) 3:26 - 4:05 - The Arp followed by Intro (heavy reference) 4:05 - 4:32 - Section 1 (heavy reference) 4:32 - 4:58 - Section 2 (not-as-heavy reference) 4:58 - 5:25 - More playing with the squelchies 5:25 - 5:38 - Added in a very gated Section 3 melody reference (minor key) 5:38 - 5:51 - A less subtle Section 3 melody reference (still minor key) 5:51 - 5:54 - Now in major key 5:54 - 6:07 - Section 3 (Heavy reference) 6:07 - 6:21 - Section 3 with gating treatment 6:21 - 6:47 - The Psytrance climax again with some more things thrown in 6:47 - 6:57 - The outro of the climax (and remix) So, hopefully that should help if you're having a hard time hearing the source. I hope there's enough of it in there. (Sorry for cutting it so close to the 7 minute limit.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted February 22, 2018 Author Share Posted February 22, 2018 Funny story, here: I was lurking in the WIP forums a bit and I found this song label'd "Ducktales Moon theme - Psytrance/Goa remix' and it got me thinking "Moon theme? Psytrance? Goa?! ... Never heard of Goa before, but I love me some Psytrance and Moon theme from Ducktales, gotta check this out!". Not going to lie, it was completely different from my expectations, and I loved every second of it. Typed up a comment and found out the artist switched to a review. Gotta love it when things line up like that! Anyway, as for the arrangement itself, I think it's pretty darn good, but it's biggest strength is that it takes something already heavily arranged and does something completely new with it. It's definitely Ducktales Moon theme (easier to hear with the helpful timestamps he gave... fun general fact, timestamps are VERY appreciated, to anyone paying attention here!), but it's so alien at the same time... That's the kind of thing that helps make you stand out on OCR, in my humblest opinion. The production is great where it counts - the beats are solid, and there's plenty of space given to the drums without making the track sound empty. I have some small issues with the snare and the mixing of some of the leads - they sound too far into the background of the mix. Doesn't sink the arrangement or anything (it's still easy enough to hear everything), but they could've been placed closer to the front of the mix. Finally, one hell of a name to give the track. Classic Floyd reference, also perfectly fits the arrangement... It doesn't win you panel points, but you do get some solid style points from me. Alright, enough chatter, great remix. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 Ah, this is a genre I know a little bit about. The sound design on this one is pretty good in some of the parts, and the production is clean, however for me it's missing the dark atmosphere that characterizes Psytrance (and to a lesser extent, Goa). It's something I find hard to convey myself with a lot of videogame tunes, specially those from the NES era, which are meant to be more upbeat/adventurous in nature. However, having that dark atmosphere isn't obligatory to make an enjoyable mix. The squelches are well designed, tho I found the stacked saws to feel a bit plain, specially for Goa where we often hear much more movement in them like in some classics such as Dancing Galaxy. Overall, I think a switch to a darker key and more movement/structural breaks in the arrangement would've made this track much better, but it's solid enough as is to be over the bar. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 It's hard to something clever and different with a source as overused as The Moon, but I think this succeeds elegantly. In addition to the clever riffing, the key changes neatly subverted my expectations, keeping me engaged. And it's engaging for seven minutes, no mean feat! While I do also hear that the leads are technically quiet, it seems intentionally so, again being surprising without being unclear. My only beef would be with the ping-pong panning, a personal peeve of mine, as I find it highly distracting. Otherwise I'm quite happy with this. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 Wasn't my cup of tea, and I felt the synth design was vanilla and thin in places, but it gets 'er done in terms of the interpretation. Let's go. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Rotten Eggplant contacted me with a Wav, I'll be taking this out of conditional posting. @Liontamer @Gario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted May 25, 2018 Author Share Posted May 25, 2018 Ah, he sent me the message too, glad to see he already got covered. Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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