OCR04313 - *YES* Castlevania: Symphony of the Night & Castlevania (N64) "The Witching Hour"

[Rexy]

This starts out with the moody intro of castle center and then transitions into the more driving melody of dracula's castle. I tried to make it feel like you were approaching the castle itself, and then entered in all it's evil majesty. 

 

Suddenly, monsters surround you from all sides and it's time to DANCE!

 

Is your footwork strong enough to SLAY and take you all the way to the top of the castle to finally face Disco Dracula?

 

Artist is OA

 

 

 

[prophetik music]

some fun originals here.

intro has some fun sound design and builds really nice. the continuance of that build through 0:45s up to 1:05 is also great. there's some more building out of the main beat that calls back a bit to the intro, and then the melody comes in at 1:27. the bass is really active, the background is full and rich, and the lead is clearly audible throughout. this is really well-done. i wouldn't have minded some more personalization of the lead synth through this section, but for an initial presentation it's fine.

there's a break at about 2:32, and the bass comes in and adds some fun punch to this section. there's a b section that starts at 2:53 and then has the melody come in delayed and mess around a bit which is nice. i would have loved to hear a new lead here to mix it up, but the backgrounds have continued to have some variation so it's not egregious.

the main melody comes in again at 3:39 and it feels pretty similar to the first time it came in for the entire way through the melodic presentation. there's a recap of the chorus of the original and that takes us through the end of the track. the ending is simple but is clear and effective.

from a mastering perspective this is mastered really loud (as expected in the style) but isn't difficult to listen to or anything. the instruments are consistently clear and nothing is overpowering. mastering is really solid, a high point for the track overall.

i wasn't a huge fan of the last third of the track being at least partially copy/pasted, but overall this is well over the bar and sounds great. nice work =D

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

I really dug the opening sound and build with the Castlevania 64 focus before the shift into Symphony of the Night. Nice grime underneath the main SotN source melody at 1:25; love the textures. The beat from 1:56-2:10 sounded too treble-heavy, and was crowding out other sounds, but didn't last long.

Really enjoying the energy throughout; Andrew just has it clicking all the way through so far with a beefed up sound and lots of additive supporting writing to give the sources a different, more club style. More great grimey sound underneath the piece from 3:21-3:36 coupled with the organ.

3:35-4:40 did rinse and repeat 1:25-2:28 (booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo); the subtle countermelodic stuff going on underneath totally faked me out and made me think it was a slightly different variation at first. The piece was already interpretive enough and structurally varied enough without the copy-pasta, so IMO that doesn't drag it down to a NO, but it was disappointing that some sort of variations weren't employed to keep the closing section from being such a retread. What a horrible night to have a copy-pasta curse...

YES

[djpretzel]

Really cool sound design on the intro; was a bit worried that thunder sounded mono, but the subsequent filtered noise effect kicked in with a wider field and it made me happy. The buildup kinda leads to almost a false drop? 1'05" didn't satisfy me in the pants like I was expecting, and my pants had to wait until 1'27" - some energy is lost, with this approach. I assume it to be 100% intentional, but from a groove bias perspective it kinda interrupts the flow, deflates a bit, THEN kicks in with that familiar melodic riff. Not awful, just a tad unorthodox, I guess?

The rest of it is solid, no huge surprises but a fun EDM take on the source, however... we need to talk about the drums. At parts they feel a little crunchy/muddled, and is it just me, or are they nearly mono themselves? Almost all the elements - kick/snare/hats - seem to sit dead center or only very slightly to one side.

I dunno... it's not OA's best work and I have a hard time providing a fully-throated YES - the intro/build has more variety in the sound design, there's a weird transition, and then things kinda ride out in a satisfying/enjoyable but predictable manner. I'd like more of the intro mystery & textural variety sprinkled throughout, at least one breakdown or left turn somewhere towards the end, and a rethink on the drums - with some wider stereo separation - to be 100% on-board.

YES (BORDERLINE)

[MindWanderer]

The fact that this was originally done for a compo shows, because the two sources aren't blended together very well.  This led to the awkward transitions called out above.  The lazy copy-pasta was probably also due to the original being on a deadline.  However, the repetition isn't too much, and the transitions are adequate.

My bigger issue is that the main SotM theme is done with a rich, gritty bass, fun arps and accents, killer beats... and a melody carried by a thin-ass square wave.  The fact that this is the part that was copied and pasted is really disappointing.

Like the others said, not OA's best work, but only because OA's work is usually so damn good.  There's a reason he won the compo.  This is plenty good enough for our standards.

YES

[Gario]

Hey, wasn't this one of those Castlevania Remix compo tracks? I knew I recognized it from somewhere, lol (nice job winning that compo, btw!).

Oh, I like the approach in the beginning of this; using the N64 castle center theme leaves you with more to work with when you get into the meat of the track (which is the SotN castle theme), and it doesn't sound like a different track being slapped onto the beginning. I could see some complain that the sources aren't integrated, but I think they compliment one another well enough side by side. The instruments are pretty clean and bouncy, too, which fits the theme of fightin' dancin' monsters.

That transition to Symphony of the Night wasn't my cup o' tea, though. I think it could've worked had the key changed been avoided by either transposing the intro or later material to match the other, but as it stands the key change sounds like something important is supposed to be happening, but the rest of the instrumentation and textures suggest otherwise. While I stand by my belief that these sources work quite well side by side as an intro to the main portion of the track, the key swap makes the two parts of the track sound disjointed.

I like the instruments and textures, once again, but I feel that texture at 1:28 is overpowering that lead. You can still hear everything well enough, but some mixing TLC could've helped make the leads stand out better. This doesn't affect the track much as the song moves along, and when the lead ain't there to overpower the texture at 2:38 sounds great, so it doesn't ultimately take this track down too much.

That bridging material at 2:53 is a really great way to make the returning material at 3:35 sound relatively fresh. I could slap you on the wrist for repetition, but I think it works well enough as a nice contrast to the bridging material. The melody playing over different harmonies at 2:59 was a really cool touch, too.

Overall I think this does a great job at what it wants to do, despite one or two hiccups. I think this'll work out well on the front page.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

Chiming in here to agree that this is an excellent track.  I agree with djp's vote entirely, and most especially about the lack of stereo separation.  That's a shame because there are so many luscious details here that could be all over the soundscape and they are just dead center or lightly separated.  This would have been an easy fix to make this a fully-immersive experience.  Also, I agree with Larry "boooooooooo" for copy-pasta, and the sameness of the instrumentation throughout the arrangement makes the track feel longer than it should be.  But dang, it's groovus-maximus, gotta go with it.

YES

[Emunator]

Gotta co-sign with the judges above - this gets by on the strength of its charismatic melody writing and energetic groove. However, I'm definitely picking up on a number of issues here - most severely, the mastering sounds REALLY loud and heavily compressed. This is super noticeable in the drums, which DJP did a great job of identifying the issues with. I'm definitely feeling ear fatigue from 1:27 on, and there's really no letting up from there til the end, especially since this mix relies heavily on bright, abrasive synths and drums throughout. The copy-paste to extend the arrangement was a bit cheap, but the sources were pretty smoothly integrated together, all things considered. 

I dunno though - with all my gripes laid out above, the good parts of this still feel like enough to win out in the end. I most agree with DJP's overall level of enthusiasm for the final result, but it's a YES in my book regardless.

YES (borderline)

[DarkSim]

The intro to this reminds me of the fortress music from Super Mario World, but listening to the source tune from Castlevania 64, it appears it’s the same progression. Either way, it’s an ominous, evocative choice to open the ReMix with.
Some well thought-out synth choices lead up to a false drop at 1:05, which caught me a little off-guard, and served to dampen some of the tension built to that point. When the full drop comes in at 1:26, it feels like a missed opportunity, arrangement-wise, although I can appreciate the stylistic choice. The groove leading up to the drop from 1:19-1:26 does serve to build back some of the energy, and the bass is absolutely sublime!
There’s a lot going on in the chorus, but for the most part it’s well-mixed, with some very nice staccato arp work and a nice complimentary detuned saw backing up the cleaner lead. The track does push the limiter at 2:25 at the chorus’ crescendo, when the bass is in its upper register, but it’s brief and the breakdown afterwards allows the listener’s ears a break.
Working in the Castlevania 64 source again at 2:55 works very well, adding variation, and seamlessly connecting with the half-tempo section at 3:27. Some excellent synth work here, as well as a welcome change-up with the percussion. This whole mid-section helps avoid the arrangement being too conservative, as well as showing off a few more skills.
The chorus at 3:42 came in a little sooner than I was expecting, with just a little build from the half-tempo section, again a stylistic choice which I can appreciate, although can’t help but feel a longer build could be an opportunity to improve the flow of the track before the final chorus.
The climax at 4:40 again pushes the limiter as the bass ascends, but it’s an emphatic end to what is a very well put together arrangement. Some minor mixing issues and stylistic choices don’t detract from the overall quality, and for me this makes it over the bar.

YES

Edited November 24, 2021 by DarkSim

[XPRTNovice]

The buildup is really great, I love the ambiance and the delayed/multiple drops that lead into a 2 nd build phase at 103. All the introduction production is very solid, I don’t hear anything that tickles my ear, and then when Dracula’s Castle comes in at 1:25 it’s very satisfying. It makes it feel like one cohesive melody between the two sources. The melody really never gets lost, which is easy to do in a dance arrangement like this, and the countermelodies stand out nicely. Really love the wubs at 2:39, they keep the arrangement interested. I never found myself getting bored at all here. The short interlude 3:25 is excellent and very satisfying to the ear, but I couldn’t quite tell what was supposed to come out there, if it was a bridge you wrote, or if there was still some of the source left in there. Overall, this aces production and source usage.

To offer a little bit of feedback: The part leading to that second drop at 3:26 loses some clarity for me; I am not sure what I am supposed to listen to because there is that saw lead that's taking over, but it's clearly not the melody. I feel like I hear something in the background that should be coming forward. I could use a little more volume, maybe literally like 2db, of the lead in the first section (1:36 ish). The arrangement is a *touch* on the repetitive side, but for a dance piece it didn't stand out enough that I'd feel comfortable really nitpicking at it. Great job! 

 

YES 

[jordi]

Hey there! Not being too familiar with the music of Castlevania, I feel as though I’ve been sorely missing out. Firstly, I commend you on your thought to use these two tracks as source material for your arrangement. I might not have considered putting the two together, but they certainly complement each other, so kudos for that. There is a lot going on in this arrangement, and I very much get a “DDR” feel from it, which is what you seem to have been going for.

There are many individual aspects of this that were enjoyable to me, though I do feel that both the mix and the arrangement could benefit from a few small adjustments. I’d say that the mix itself is lacking balance, both frequency-wise and volume-wise. The higher frequencies are strong in the mix, which leads to certain parts in the track sounding shrill (at 2:25 for example). The percussion and the bassline are also lacking a bassier frequency (a real kick) for me throughout. For clarity, I’m not suggesting that you lift the bass frequencies up and be done with it as that would likely lead to distortion as the audio wave is already maxed to the ceiling, but rather take a look at the balancing and make adjustments based on your own judgments. Volume-wise, I’d love to hear those string synths louder throughout the mix, particularly at 4:24. I can hear that there’s some really cool things going on with those in the arrangement, but they are quite buried behind the synth instruments. With that said, I really like the attention to the stereo field; the mix sounds pleasantly wide, and the instruments generally have their own space in the mix. I can’t fully tell if it’s the distortion effect of the bass synth or actual distortion in the mix, but the distortion is quite grating at parts (for example 2:25, 4:18). I’d suggest taking a closer look at this!

Arrangement-wise, I really liked the atmosphere that was building in the intro, as well as the transition at 1:03. I’m of the opinion that the arrangement itself could use a bit of a dip in energy; a quieter part at some point to break up the high energy and the loudness of the track between 1:26 and 4:40, perhaps at the 3:22 mark as an example, or even at 3:37. This would aid the dynamics of the arrangement, as well as serve to make the climax of the song comparatively more impactful. This isn’t always necessary in every song but at the moment, the constant high energy does drag on a bit much for me. I do believe there’s a solution to be found that also wouldn’t take away from the “dance” energy that you want to keep. As a few other judges pointed out, the part at 4:30 could have benefited from not being copied and pasted, but this is a small thing as I didn’t even initially catch it on my first listen.

To summarise, I found many satisfying elements in the track. The suggestions I had were the balancing of frequencies with EQ (reducing some shrillness of higher frequencies and making some room for a little more bass in the mix) as well as balancing the relative volume between the instruments/synths (those string synths want to shine!) and checking for unpleasant distortion or loudness. On the contrary, although I feel that reworking the mix and arrangement would benefit the track, there is nothing here that is a dealbreaker and I’d say that your track is in-line with the judging standards.

Thanks very much for submitting and keep it up.

YES (borderline)