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OCR04328 - *YES* Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"


Emunator
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Your ReMixer name: Pixel Pirates
Your real name: Tobaunta Torkelsson
Your email address: 
Your website: pixelpirates.nu
Your userid: 37469 

Name of game(s) arranged: Donkey Kong Country 2
Name of arrangement: Dancing Bossanova
Name of individual song(s) arranged: Boss Bossanova

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc: One of my personal favorite tracks from the DKC trilogy since childhood. Haven’t seen many remixes of this song so I wanted to create my own dance version of the song for DKs 40th birthday since dance remix of game music is what I do.

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  • Emunator changed the title to 2021/06/25 - Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"
  • 1 month later...

Well, bossa nova it's not!

At first, I was put off by the simple, repetitive approach, which, combined with the short length left this feeling underdeveloped.  There's also a lack of highs; the sweeping strings are meant to fill that frequency, but they're too low for it.  The mids are pretty cluttered; in the busiest sections, there's a lot of fighting for the same space that results in a lot of the parts being inaudible at times.  Even the meaty kicks lose some of their oomph.

But what is there is just so rich and catchy!  Those harmonies that kick in at 0:50 are tasty as heck, and there's clearly been a lot of thought going into such a short piece.  This is going to be stuck in my head for a while.

There's a lot of room for improvement in the production here, and I'd completely understand a NO vote.  But while I'd love to hear a cleaned up version of this, I think it's just passable as it is.  The leads are never buried, mainly because they're simple waveforms, and at least the lows and mids are well-represented.  It does the job, IMHO.

YES (borderline)

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  • MindWanderer changed the title to 2021/06/25 - (1Y) Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"
  • 5 weeks later...

suitably funky opening. i like the idea that you're going for here, even if that snare isn't quite snappy enough. immediate head bob.

there's a build through 0:39, and even that part is a bigger build to 0:50 to what's clearly the best part of the track. love the altered chord progression, and the macro/micro beat stuff going is very catchy. there's a drop around 1:15, which is good timing. i wish the bass had mixed up what it was doing there, but i still like the overall build. there's a recap of 0:50, and some melodic content layered in, and then a drop at 2:02 as it goes towards the ending.

i am gonna echo MW - i think the production is a bit lacking. this track wants a beefy kick and some more brightness, a lot. it does feel cluttered in the mids to a point and it doesn't have the sparkle and snap you'd expect from a track where the beat is a big highlight. but it's fun and i love it! so i'm good with where it is. nice job.

 

 

YES

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  • prophetik music changed the title to 2021/06/25 - (2Y) Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"
  • 3 weeks later...

On first listen, my gut impression was that this track was perhaps too simplistic and underdeveloped, but repeat listens showed me that I was dead wrong. Although the track does quickly find a lane and stay in it for most of the duration, the there's a deceptive amount of expansion in the melody, transitions, and structure of the arrangement that didn't immediately reveal itself to me. Some highlights include the beautiful string harmonies that add your own personal flair to the arrangement, and the "micro/macro" beatwork that Brad pointed out. I also loved the panflute lead that entered around 2:02 - perhaps bringing that in earlier in the song would have been nice to offer some respite from the supersaw lead that dominates the first two minutes of the track and contributed to a bit of listening fatigue for me. Ultimately though, this checks all the boxes and does a fine job with it - I'm glad I gave this a closer listen!

YES

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  • Emunator changed the title to 2021/06/25 - (3Y) Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"

I really like the vibe of this remix!  The production could be improved massively with one small change, better sidechaining of the big saw lead.  That huge saw dominates the soundscape, as others have pointed out even the beefy kick cannot compete.  A nice deep sidechaining of that timbre would fix it entirely for me.  A louder and snappier snare would also be welcomed.  Other than those issues, this arrangement is fun and interesting, although I wish it was longer and the end seems to just drop off.  But what's here is too good not to post to the front page.

YES

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  • Liontamer changed the title to OCR04328 - *YES* Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"
  • Liontamer changed the title to (2021/06/25) *YES - TAG* Donkey Kong Country 2 "Dancing Bossanova"
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