OCR03952 - *YES* Killer Instinct "Dawn of the Instinct"

[Gario]

Hey OC team,

 

This is a remix of Killer Instinct 1 (Arcade/Snes)

 

Original track,  Killer Intsinct - The instinct : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvq-znoS2HY

 

My remix, Killer Instinct - Dawn of the instinct :

 

You can download the track on this private link.
 

Thx,
 

Aymeric VELOZZO (Paul Hadame)

 

[Sir_NutS]

I wish we got more KI remixes, every track in that OST is... Killer.

*aherm*

This mix is a pretty difficult evaluation.  I like the ambiance, the textures and instruments, it keeps an interesting and well-crafted atmosphere with very lush pads, filtered arpeggios and tons of reverb.  My main issue with this one is mostly arrangement.  It doesn't feel like the song develops into anything, and there's not a lot of interpretation of the main melodies.  There's structural changes of course, but other than that not much on the arrangement side of things.  Also the ending is super underwhelming.  I actually feel the song should've ended at 2:58 instead of dragging on for 30 or more seconds and fading out.

There ARE a few original bits though, and it doesn't feel like a copy-paste work from the original.  Tough one here, but I'm going to give it a borderline pass.  I think it does stand on its own and although it quotes the original verbatim too much, there's a lot of work done with the synths, structure and ambience for a pass.

YES (borderline)

[MindWanderer]

I'm going to lean the other way, I'm afraid.  I was listening to the source and the arrangement back and forth, and I frequently found myself not even noticing which one I was listening to.  To be sure, it's slower, but the ambience and textures are so very similar.  I also agree that it's underdeveloped; take out the slow-burn intro and the underwhelming ending and there's barely two minutes of fully fleshed-out content.

I waffled on this a lot, but I'm coming down on this mostly for not being interpretive enough.  Add in some exposition and/or change up the textures a bit and I think this is golden.

NO (borderline, resubmit)

[Rexy]

I'm down for the direction you took the framework.  It's got some gorgeous textures, effective use of reverb to give it a hint of a post-rock vibe, and that wet guitar feels surprisingly lush despite the risky ambiance in play.  The source material is also clearly there, but the track only uses the pads and melody from it, and they worked well to contribute to this spacious soundscape.

Regarding the arrangement, there are two points to bring up.  Yes, I agree that the ending at 2:58 sounded pointless and can get scrapped.  I get the idea that you want to add original material, but the change-up to something bigger and leading into a fadeout gives an unfinished feeling.

As for interpretation, there is plenty of it going on via the other instruments with the added original guitar melodies, filtered arpeggios, and other additional pads on top of the source representation.  The structure is also broken up to the point that it doesn't directly follow the original, so with all this in mind I feel it's barely gone over the bar.

I'm okay with seeing this on the front page, but I believe it only just made the standards.  Production work is engaging and well balanced, and the arrangement feels minimal but does have hints of brilliance.  Whether this passes or not, I'm all for seeing tracks like this on the OCR front page sometime soon.

YES (borderline)

Edited July 26 by Rexy

[prophetik music]

i think that this is a great example of how to take a song and do almost the same thing, but not quite. i appreciated the fx clips and the consistent dynamic contrast that was presented throughout, and the space that's been allowed to exist really gives a great backdrop for when the rest of the mix is going. i also really like the attention paid to the lead to keep it interesting and varied. i think there's some attention that could be paid to the backing pads to prevent them from redlining the mix (at 1:28 it gets pretty loud, louder than it should with what's there), but that's a minor change if anything.

as for it being not enough content - you can't really trim out the intro if the original also had the same style of slow intro - especially when it's part of the allure of the original! those sustained pads are such a good contrast to the actual body of the track.

i think that the consistent use of spacing and contrast really make this a track that works. nice job.

 

YES

[Liontamer]

I'm with the YESes that this is an example of a piece that seems deceptively straightforward, but is actually involving lots of different textures, subtle interpretation, and genuine personalization of the source theme; Rexy laid out the differences the best in her comments.

I liked the potential of the ending section, but it could have been stronger. The beats at 3:02 were a letdown by having no depth/thickness to them, and the tone of the beeping-style supporting line also sounded too soft. That, and the underwhelming fadeout (and I'm not one of the judges who's inherently against them). The rest of the arrangement made up for a weak ending.

YES