Rexy Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 Sup, I haven't submitted one of these in a while. Remixer: Ivan Hakštok Games arranged: Pop'n Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures Name of arrangement: Mr. Green Hill Names of songs arranged: Distorted Fantasy, Green Hills - Blue Skies, Sunset Over The Hills, World Of Ice And Snow, Celebration Composers: Ken-ichi Matsubara, Yukie Morimoto, Saiko Miki This was an entry for the MAGFest edition of Dwelling of Duels. The theme was 1994 Month, and I ended up placing 3rd. I said this over and over in DoD discord, and I'll say it again here: 1994 was, in my opinion, the worst 90s year when it comes to video game soundtracks. I have a list of some 30+ songs I plan to cover sometime in the future, and none of them was eligible for this theme. Which meant I had to spend a huge part of the month listening to different soundtracks trying to find something decent I could cover, and when I found this game I had to again spend a lot of time on transcribing the sources. That left me with very little time to actually record this, not to mention I was away from home during the holidays. But luckily I managed to come up with something decent. This is one of my more conservative covers, and it might be a bit too medley-ish for OCR standards but I hope that's not a deal breaker. Guitars, bass and finger snaps are live, piano, synths, brass and strings were played on my MIDI keyboard (with some quantization because I'm not that good at keys). The only sequenced things are the drums and the doo-wops. My idea initially was to make a song in the style of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky, and since one of the sources is called "Green Hills - Blue Skies", I've decided right from the start that the title is gonna be "Mr. Green Hill". I've kinda strayed away from that ELO style but I've kept the title. Here's the source usage breakdown with links to the soundtrack: 0:00 - 0:10 = original intro 0:10 - 0:34 = rest of the intro, taking the chords from the first verse of Distorted Fantasy 0:34 - 1:16 = Distorted Fantasy 1:16 - 1:41 = breakdown into a piano solo, played over the verse chords of Distorted Fantasy (the solo piano melody line is also a small nod to T-Square's Omens of Love) 1:41 - 2:08 = guitar solo over the chorus chords of Distorted Fantasy 2:08 - 2:19 = guitar solo over an original section 2:19 - 2:51 = Green Hills - Blue Skies second verse and chorus, converted into a swing rhythm 2:51 - 3:27 = drum break into Sunset Over The Hills verse and chorus 3:27 - 3:43 = bass solo over an original section 3:43 - 3:59 = guitar solo over an original section 3:59 - 4:47 = World Of Ice And Snow verse and chorus 4:47 - 5:08 = Celebration, with a bit of added swing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Oh my lord I LOVE this. This combines everything I've always loved about Ivan's past arrangements - the unabashedly-happy major key melodies, meaty guitar tones, and ambitious soloing - with a few new tricks I haven't heard before, such as the various new synth patches (I LOVE that synth-flute lead) piano riffs, and more in-your face drumming. I love the diversity of instruments and ideas across the board, and the way you expanded on the instrumentation and depth of the source material without really reinventing the wheel. From a production/performance standpoint, this is easily one of the tightest, most engaging tracks I've ever heard from you yet. Although this is definitely structured more like a medley, things flow pretty seamlessly. The transition at 4:00 stood out as a sole sore spot where things felt a little clunky, but this hit the mark FAR more often than it stumbled. Count me in! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 what a fun choice of tracks for this one. right off the bat i noticed that the intro is a bit heavier in the right ear, but that's minor. there's a touch of off-time in the initial melodic presentation of Distorted Fantasy, but it's more of an annoyance. the band sounds great, lots of energy and good overall sound. the break for the piano solo is well-timed to keep the style fresh, and it's competently handled. i liked the turnaround in the guitar solo around 2:01ish, and the backing brass that comes in after that is real nice. the transition into Blue Skies is great - i barely noticed the shift! - and the subsequent tempo change for Sunset over the Hills is great and gives the track a chance to reset and mix it up. the bass solo was dope, easily my favorite part of the song, and the subsequent guitar solo did a good job adding some contrast from a chord and melodic standpoint before we get to World of Ice and Snow. the outro using Celebration is a great way to wrap the track overall. and, from an overall perspective, there's more than enough content from the sources to balance the original content, even if you ignore the solos over the source chord progressions. so from an arrangement perspective, this track is great. mastering-wise, i found the track to sound great also. the guitars lead throughout but there's a lot going on in many places and i never felt like it was cluttered or stuff was in the way. you did a good job varying band dynamics from various breaks so it doesn't just sound loud the whole time, and you did a good job making the full band sound balanced while still being energetic. so great work. this is an easy one for me. nice work! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 I had a source breakdown of this just to double-check things and the F'ing computer ate my homework, so I'm mad. Anyway, nice work, this checked out. Boo technology. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Fun take on an obscure source. It may be a medley, but it flows exceptionally well. 2:52 and 4:00 were a smidge abrupt, but it's nitpicking. Crisp production, tremendous variety without being disjointed. Just delightful throughout. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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