*NO* Shatterhand "Select and Shatter"

[Gario]

Contact info: 

MAP3Music

Marty Poirrier III

33552-User ID.

 

This is a remix from the NES game Shatterhand.

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Sir_NutS]

NGL Jaleco games didn't have the most memorable music, but Shatterhand has some decent tunes, albeit it retained the highly repetitive nature of other soundtracks from this company.  This remix starts out in that same vein, with the main hook being repeated a lot... and really, it never stops repeating.  You had some good ideas to get around this: first, you switched instruments on this hook after a few measures, also made some small note changes here and there to keep things fresh.  There are some interesting instruments supporting the main melody line as well, though I found the main beat a bit lacking in power and kinda forgettable.  There's also a small break and near the end, a weird slowdown of the track's tempo.  hmm.

Another thing is that you kept this track's length very short.  These are all good measures to take when remixing a short and repetitive song but I'm trying to decide if it all worked well.  Despite everything the track still feels very repetitive and under-developed.  I think that the 1:28 section is brilliant in that it's right where it should be to break the monotony, but sadly it's underdeveloped and just a couple measures later we get the main hook back.  I think that if you extended this section even just a couple measures more, adding your own interpretation and takes on the original's progression or even a short solo of your own making, coming back to the original hook wouldn't feel so bad.  I'm not sure I like the slowdown near the end, feels out of place... although if the track was developed more, and the slowed section was shortened, this ending could work.

I would like to see you extend this just a little bit and giving it more of yourself instead of relying too much on the main hook which brings too much repetition with it.  I think you got a great idea here just needs a bit more development.

NO (please resubmit)

[MindWanderer]

Can't argue with any of that.  It's a valiant attempt to draw 2:30 of remix out of 7 seconds of source, and a lot of it works well, but it's not enough.  The slowdown and fadeout at the end emphasize the feeling that you just ran out of ideas here.  Understandable but unfortunate.

NO

[Liontamer]

I'm actually closer to this as a pass than the other judges. The countermelodic additions in here really shouldn't be sold short; very well done. IMO, you did a lot with such a short source (it's 14 seconds long, actually ), going for instrumentation and textural changes to provide the variation. I'd argue though that the overall groove still felt static/flat despite all of those changes with the instrumentation from verse to verse.

I get what you're going for with the slowdown around 1:47, but MindWanderer had a very valid point that it feels like a way to extend the clock without really presenting something new or varied; though I liked the delay effect starting at 1:57, the fact that the slowdown wasn't very interesting to listen to undermined the merits of at least attempting the technique; perhaps consider doing the total opposite and hitting folks with more intense and a faster tempo for the final section.

Very promising stuff, Marty! It still needs some additional ideas and refinement, but IMO you have a very strong and creative start to an arrangement of a limited theme. The arranging was going very well in the right direction, but explore other ideas to further spice this presentation up and provide even more dynamic contrast. Definitely don't be discouraged; I really hope you'll send this one back to us.

NO (resubmit)