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OCR04321 - *YES* Mega Man 2 "Ajetreo del Castillo"


Rexy
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Sounds like what Mega Man would sound like if it was crossed with Outrun or something. After getting into things fairly quickly, the pacing changes at 0:32, which sounded ok, although coming out of it at 0:42 felt a bit weird. The break and solo section starting early at 0:55 was a nice early surprise and sounded good. The pacing there worked ok. The drums sound a bit crazy and chaotic, but it is jazz I guess. The break at 2:08 differed from the earlier break which was good to hear. We revisit the slower paced piano portion before things start to wind up at 2:54 with a unique outro. The arrangement here is quite interesting, the solo’ing added a lot of uniqueness and personality to the mix. Production is decent enough with everything having a clear place. The main complaint I have is the pacing transitions did feel a bit abrupt, and there are quite a lot of them throughout the mix, each with varying degrees of cohesion. Not a bad performance overall though, you’ve certainly brought froward an original take on this piece.

YES

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  • Jivemaster changed the title to 2020/06/11 - (1Y) Mega Man 2 "Dr. Wily's Castle"
  • 4 weeks later...

Jazz fusion Wily?  Hell yeah, sign me up!

You've changed up the A section's chord section entirely, left room for a sweet solo at 0:54, and allowed for more swagger across your backing to carry the style forward.  I'm afraid I have to disagree with Joel regarding the pacing transitions, though - which use the B section of the source.  Even though they got their time signature changed from 4/4 to 12/8, the lead in and out of it flows naturally, making them a feature that works and draws attention at the same time.

Despite the excitement of the genre switch-up, I did, however, feel concerned about copy-pasted segments.  You have two uses of the A section (0:41, 1:42) that all got duplicated from the initial one at 0:06.  These duplications account for nearly 20% of the running time.  Thankfully, your B sections all have different drum patterns - and in the case of the one at 2:07, the piano also took more of a backseat to the toms.  So while the A sections aren't all that distinct, you've demonstrated that you've got a grasp for variety elsewhere, so I can let them slide.

The mixdown is a slick one, with all instruments getting their defined space in the mix.  The guitar parts sound tight, expressive, and free of artifacts, and the tone is sublime for this kind of genre adaptation.  Though, my only complaint is the snare feeling stuffy with not a lot of punch getting through.  It sounds exposed when it's on its own for the intro and a brief drum fill near the end, but less than 10 seconds of that isn't going to break the deal.  It sounds a lot better when the rest of the backing is in play, so no harm got done.

I understand that everyone and their dog had covered this source at one point, but the style you went for here shows that there's still room to do something refreshing with it.  Complete with a slick presentation, I'm all for seeing this on the front page as your debut!

YES

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  • Rexy changed the title to 2020/06/11 - (2Y) Mega Man 2 "Dr. Wily's Castle"
  • 2 months later...

Great formula of a spirited and personalized cover (:06) interspersed with a wholly original section (:54) before moving back to the treatment of the source tune for the rest of the way (1:42).

I loved focusing in on the drumwork. Wish the bassline cut through a little more with a sharper and more distinct sound, because I dug the writing so much.

Awesome, polished stuff, Ricardo; welcome aboard!

YES

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  • Liontamer changed the title to 2020/06/11 - (3Y) Mega Man 2 "Dr. Wily's Castle"

wow, this is really fun! this kind of uptempo jazz track can be really hard to nail, but you've done a great job combining the melodic writing on the guitar (great tone throughout!) with some clever time changes and busy background parts. this is an obvious pass for me. my only complaints were that the drum could have used a tighter snare and more beater on the kick to make the complex drum parts easier to understand cognitively, and i'd have loved to have more treble in the bass to allow the attacks to be clearer - again because it was playing great stuff and i wanted to hear more of it.

this is really well done. looking forward to hearing more by you on the site!

 

 

YES

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  • prophetik music changed the title to 2020/06/11 - *YES - TAG* Mega Man 2 "Dr. Wily's Castle"
  • Liontamer changed the title to OCR04321 - *YES* Mega Man 2 "Ajetreo del Castillo"

The mix was submitted without an original title, so djp was kind enough to hearken back to OCR days of old when he would personally name generically-titled stuff. Now we have a Spanish translation of "Castle Hustle" that's Sir_NutS-approved for accuracy! :-)

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[3:29 PM] Liontamer: Well, I asked for a title several times for this, never heard back; wanna give it one? https://ocremix.org/community/topic/49866-20200611-yes-tag-needs-new-title-mega-man-2-dr-wilys-castle/
[3:33 PM] djpretzel: "Ajetreo del Castillo"
[3:34 PM] Liontamer: Castle Hustle, eh?
[3:34 PM] djpretzel: for that translated double -stle english ending, sure
[3:34 PM] djpretzel: plus everything sounds better in Spanish
[3:35 PM] Liontamer: Would you be against running it by Mike?
[3:35 PM] djpretzel: but you're welcome to come up w/ something else
[3:35 PM] djpretzel: nah go for it
[3:35 PM] djpretzel: and if he's got something better, go with that
[3:35 PM] Liontamer: ok, I'll ask him, just to ensure the Spanish is solid
[3:36 PM] djpretzel: yeah well link him the piece too, to see if it makes sense w/ the music
[3:36 PM] djpretzel: nice stuff, latin jazz fusion, not a lot of that on the site

 

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