OCR04468 - *YES* Celeste "Courage in the Dark"

[Emunator]

RebeccaETripp
Rebecca Tripp
http://www.crystalechosound.com/
ID: 48262
Game(s): Celeste
Song Title: Courage in the Dark

Songs Remixed: Resurrections

 

[Liontamer]

Arrangement-wise, all good. This is solid small ensemble adaptation of Lena's source tune. So many highlights to choose from here, from the lovely EP at the opening, the immediate fluttering personalization of the melody at :29, Rebecca's copious yet gorgeous trademark chime accents, the tempo slowdown at 1:43, the pivot to the source's second half at 2:18, or the idea of the quiet, isolated textures from 3:15-3:28 before filling things back out towards the finish.

When Rebecca's samples hit, they hit. I always enjoy the ornamentation of the wind chimes, for example, they're a nice touch. When they don't hit though, they sound like sketches/placeholders where you're waiting for live parts to be recorded. Some notable examples: the sudden string decay at :52, very robotic and flat woodwinds at 1:09 (most exposed from 1:13-1:21), 3:05, and 3:13 (yikes at the oboe (?) at 3:24; it's basically the only thing playing when it drops in volume but has no resonance), the sudden string change at 1:47, the mechanical piano/keyboard notes from 3:15-3:28.

Would love to hear another pass at this to mitigate the realism issues, and I could see the case being made to ask for a resubmission, but what's here is OK for the most part, so we ride!

YES

[prophetik music]

i just love this original. it's so simple.

louder than normal for RET pieces, but still ~3db of headroom.

the initial tremelo in the violins does not sound very strong. there's some odd registration in the flute at 0:30 as well. in fact, most of the non-percussion samples between 0:30 and 1:20 sound just not very good. even the EP under all of it lacks attack so it's hard to pin the pitch down. the introduction of actual sustain strings vs. that not-good tremelo violin ensemble helps some, but the bassoon sounds both out of place and in another time zone, and the choir is fake but admittedly applied with a deft and light touch.

i found the section starting at 1:23 to be more realistic in application, although i still don't care for the EP (nor do i care for it playing essentially the original as written). there's a nice ritard that is elegantly done, and then we're back on a recap of the earlier section that i didn't like.

there's some new content at 2:18, but it again features awkward samples (why does the violin only sound real on the second half of sustains?) and those tremelos that just don't sound good. there's some more stilted winds and then a shift to a new texture at about 3:20 that almost seems like it's missing a part. the EP comes back in at 3:29 and plays out the descending chord pattern again, and that's that, with no resolution and a sustain on a non-root pitch.

i don't care for this at all. there's poor sample choice and/or usage throughout and the arrangement is anchored by a similar instrument to the most important thing in the original playing essentially the same stuff. the best parts in this arrangement are things that rebecca didn't write =( so, i don't think this is passable here. if the samples and/or usage were improved significantly, i'd consider this borderline, but it needs more RET and less lena to go beyond that in my opinion.

 

 

NO

[MindWanderer]

I've been mulling over this one for several months now.  I don't buy the argument that this isn't transformative enough.  It's simple, and a lot less dynamic than the original, but less isn't necessarily "less" per se.  The tremolo on the strings isn't as strong as it could be, but I think it's adequate, just.  The samples everywhere else are even better.  The plaintive violin returns are a highlight.

I think sending this back would be making perfect the enemy of good.

YES

[Emunator]

I love how the delicate instrumentation cascades over the backing arpeggios. It's very tender and, for the most part, pretty well-produced if not fully realistic on the sequencing. I realize that my Celeste bias might be influencing this somewhat, but after some deliberation, I feel that there's plenty of minor modulations to the writing, and the change in instrumentation also contributes to the level of personalization. I agree with MindWanderer's overall assessment on this track. 

YES

[Chimpazilla]

The strings are uncanny but used well enough I think.  That string decay cutoff at 0:52 is odd.  Most of the instrumentation here works well.  The flute has vibrato on it all the time which sounds unnatural; a slow vibrato build would be better, but the flute isn't all that exposed.  I really like the humongous bell acting as a bass instrument although I feel it hits a little too heavy compared to the rest of the instrumentation.  Most importantly the reverb on that bell needs to be lowcut.  Low reverb = mud, nearly always.  Regardless, the mixing is adequate, and these are nitpicks.  This is a cool, vibey remix.

YES