OCR04347 - *YES* Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door "Qfwfq's Origin of Birds"

[Rexy]

Name: Michael Hudak

Game: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Name of song arranged: The Great Boggly Tree

Name of my remix: Qfwfq's Origin of Birds (yes, that is the actual title)

Link to original:
 

 

Hey hey! Michael, here and there. I did tons of experimentation with sound design during the writing/collaging process for this and love the results. The goal was to create 10 to 15 different sounds that I really dug, polish them as much as possible, and then use as many as I could get away with in a ReMix that's still musical, and not incidental. "The Great Boggly Tree" is a short, bizarre piece of music that I figured would work perfectly as a foundation for this; it's so weird, that it already met me halfway. All I had to do was create more weirdness, and even though what I came up with was pretty nuts, as a reimagining of the source, it's really not too irreverent of a leap. 

 

I ended up getting quite a good deal of sonic and structural inspiration from a short fantasy story by Italo Calvino called "The Origin of the Birds" (which is the first chapter of his book Time and the Hunter), in which the narrator named Qfwfq first encounters creatures that will come to be known as birds, near the beginning of the world's existence. He is stricken by their songs, and chases them across his world, and into their secret homeland, as his continent and theirs crash together, and he's flung from one to the other. Transcendence follows. Highly recommended. Calvino's work is so colorful and so imaginative and so funny and so rich. I tried to match that with this ReMix. A sawed-off rainbow. 

 

Breakdown! The structure is AB1CDB2, roughly.

- Intro screeches are the same, pretty much. Maybe that's 2-5 seconds of sameness.

- 0:12 - 0:27 in the source: Used as refrain. 0:14 - 0:27 & 1:38 - 2:14 in remix.

- 0:28 - 0:45 in source = 0:59 - 1:38 in remix

- 0:49 - 1:06 in source = 0:27 - 0:52 in remix

 

  As always, thanks.  

[prophetik music]

elephant in the room: yes, i do think this qualifies as a remix for the site. there's recognizable TTYD content throughout, it's long enough to convincingly display that in a unique and new format, and there's no copypasta from the original.

so now about execution. to start out: i can't believe we're getting a boggly tree remix that's actually reminiscent in style to the original. your technique throughout this track is really well represented. you did a great job of really exploring a ton of intensely strange timbres in ways that still allowed the listener to grab onto it and go along for the ride without having to microdose LSD to understand it. i particularly liked the parallels of the opening sounds to the original. i also really enjoyed the fluctuations in timbre used from 0:15 through 0:27 to the point that i almost wish you did more with them there so that their more spare nature didn't clash against the more complex stuff on each side of it. the bird SFX at 0:55 were cute. 

the block chords at 1:39 reminded me immediately of the second third of silver apples of the moon, by morton subotnick. if anything i think that comparison falls a bit flat since his stuff was much more constantly moving than at least this track is, but you've got a lot of little nuanced noodly bits that are definitely comparable. 

throughout this entire track, i really appreciate the continued care paid to the quality of sound. you've got a ton of examples of fluctuating between an intentionally filtered/vinyl-sounding synth that then flows into these wide, full-frequency synths that explore every bit of the audible range. using those timbres as another musical element is an excellent strategy to apply even more nuance to what you're doing and i love it.

it's pretty obvious that i think this is a superb track. it will be nobody's favorite, and that's perfectly ok. art music like this has a place in the community just like every other style.

 

 

YES

[MindWanderer]

I was actually relieved when I heard this source!  Coming from any other remixer, I would have been worried about how they might approach it and turn it into actual music, but Mr. Hudak certainly does not have that problem.  He's fully in his wheelhouse here.

And for once, I don't have any problem evaluating it, either.  It's weird in a sort of "is this really music" way, but not in a "this is unpleasant and I have a hard time listening to it" way.  It does what it's supposed to do, and it's clearly a remix of the source material.

However, it's not all sunshine and roses.  1:19-1:39 sounded like horrible, horrible clipping.  I had to check to see whether or not it really was. It's not; it must just be part of that synth.  But it sounds terrible.  I can't sign off on it.

Take that crackle out of there and I'm happy.

YES/CONDITIONAL

Update: I listened to the Low reference track, and ultimately it doesn't change my decision.  Taking aside the fact that I think the reference material also sounds terrible (subjective), it's also very clearly deliberate, because of the alternation of the clean and distorted lines.  Mike's piece makes it sound unintentional, because it isn't consistent, and it rises and falls with the swells the way clipping would.  The Low track could never be made that way by accident; Mike's could.

Edited May 9, 2022 by MindWanderer

[Liontamer]

Intriguing sound design and extremely creative arrangement approach per Michael's usual. Thanks for the source usage breakdown, which is always beneficial to have and leads to quicker judgements.

1:39-2:15 is super crunchy; it definitely is too much so, even though I like and respect the intention behind it. Count me in the conditional camp too; without some sort of tweak, I'd be a NO. I think there's a way to pull that effect back some, keep it very similar, but not be as abrasive.

YES (conditional on production adjustment to 1:39-on)

[DarkSim]

"What the Qfwfq is this?" I found myself wondering on first listen. Having never heard the source, and expecting something experimental from yourself, I still wasn't prepared for what I was about to hear.

The first 12 seconds or so remind me of something by The Avalanches, except you're not sampling anything - it's all original sound design chopped and mashed together to create a similar effect. There's a similar melody to the classic one from Close Encounters of the Third Kind that appears around 30 seconds, which is fitting because this is so alien to my usual tastes that it's a challenge to evaluate objectively. Nonetheless, there's a certain magnetism that has been conjured up in these short minutes which is a testament to your sound design and arrangement. Without using traditional methods (you know, things like a beat, groove, or melody...) you've somehow captured my attention and held it for the duration of the track. I'm not sure whether I love it or hate it by the end, but I definitely appreciate the artistic endeavour.

After 3 listens, I heard the source tune, and that went some way to explaining the weirdness. The rest is just Hudak being Hudak.

I'll disagree with my fellow judges when it comes to the crunchiness of the synths after 1:19 - I didn't find them unpleasant at all. The sound design is 100% intentional here, and although it may sound like a clipping-style crackle, those crackles have some processing on them and evolve in their own way which means it's not purely digital distortion. I think it's a very clever way of managing to fill out some of the mid-high frequency ranges without using a pad/other harmonies/traditional percussion.

I think I've somehow managed to talk myself into this one, after my initial reaction. Cerebral stuff as always Michael, thanks for the submission!

YES

[Emunator]

I loved reading my fellow judges votes on this arrangement. @DarkSim made a very astute comparison to The Avalanches that I never would have gotten to on my own, but I completely hear it!

My heart flutters a little whenever I see a submission from Paper Mario: TTYD, it's truly one of the most underappreciated and ahead-of-its-time soundtracks in existence, but it takes a special kind of vision to capture the essence of what makes it so memorable in a remix. This arrangement does exactly that - you dial up the insanity without anything feeling tacky, and you maintain the floating, cerebral feeling of the original throughout so it never strays too far from the Boggly Tree source.

Regarding the distortion at 1:39 and onward, I would encourage the conditional votes to check out BJ Burton's intentionally-crushed production work with artists like Low. Nothing is actually clipping, it's just using extreme distortion to creative effect but it's absolutely intentional. The closing section of this arrangement takes a similar approach to production, though I will say I'm personally disappointed in the ending of this arrangement - without a retreat back to the quieter, more cerebral tones after the wall of distortion, it leaves things feeling unresolved. However, from a production standpoint, you can count me alongside the unconditional YES votes; in my book, any tweaks to mitigate the distortion would ultimately compromise the effect that Michael was going for.

YES

Edited May 8, 2022 by Emunator

[Liontamer]

19 hours ago, Emunator said:

Regarding the distortion at 1:39 and onward, I would encourage the conditional votes to check out BJ Burton's intentionally-crushed production work with artists like Low. Nothing is actually clipping, it's just using extreme distortion to creative effect but it's absolutely intentional. The closing section of this arrangement takes a similar approach to production, though I will say I'm personally disappointed in the ending of this arrangement - without a retreat back to the quieter, more cerebral tones after the wall of distortion, it leaves things feeling unresolved. However, from a production standpoint, you can count me alongside the unconditional YES votes; in my book, any tweaks to mitigate the distortion would ultimately compromise the effect that Michael was going for.

I appreciate the further context and example track. I had a similar reaction to ella guro's EarthBound mix way back. I'm OK keeping my vote conditional. With the Low track, you could argue that the intentional distortion's done in short bursts and provides a more obvious and direct contrast with what came before it. Here, the whole soundscape feels too washed out for too long a period of time. I like the track in a vacuum, but would want that overall effect pulled back some. Nothing Michael does strikes me as unintentional or unskilled, same as ella guro. I'm willing to be the bad cop though, it's too unpleasing of an effect, IMO.

[Chimpazilla]

What a perfect source tune for Michael Hudak to tackle!  I love the source, and the remix.  I have no problem with the crackly effects.  But others clearly do, so I suggest we reach out to Michael and see what he's willing to dial back or part with, and/or if he has any ideas to replace the "unpleasant" sounds with some other effect.

YES

[Emunator]

I've reached out to Michael about this track and shared our feedback, I'll keep everyone posted on his response!

[Emunator]

Here was Michael's response to the feedback:

"Thanks for asking. Apologies for making you guys slog through another odd one (but at least it's short this time).

 

Those crackle sounds at around 1:20 are just some granular residue from a send effect, if I recall. I like them. Like gravel in a bird's gut that helps with digestion...

 

The stuff starting at 1:38 is one of my favorite parts of any piece of music I've ever done (even though I put reverb on the low end and boosted it way up, which you're technically not *supposed* to do). I wouldn't want to change it. In fact, there is so much generative stuff in this track that's baked into the export, that I wouldn't want to change anything if the vote is mostly positive; if I re-did some things and tried to export again, I would never get the same thing (I exported 7-10 different times and picked the one I liked best - the one I submitted).

 

This Low song is really interesting! I've never heard of them but it looks like they're pretty new, which is exciting. Will dive deeper in the coming days I hope.

 

Anyhow, thanks again for judging this one. I don't think any changes are due, if I can get away with it! "