*NO* King's Quest (DOS) "Under a Daventry Moon"

[Emunator]

Remixer name: MusicallyInspired

Real name: Brandon Blume

Email: 

Website:

UserID: 10382

 

Game arranged: King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (1990 Official DOS Remake)

Name of arrangement: "Under a Daventry Moon"

Name of songs arranged: Introduction & Oak Tree/Condor's Nest

Additional info: Composed originally by Ken Allen for the official 1990 remake of the original game from 1984 by Sierra Online distributed for MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh.

Original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz1VQjJm80E (Intro: 1:33, Oak Tree/Condor Nest: 4:51)

 

Comments: After the success (and more importantly, the fun) of making the first collaborative King's Chill remix album (King's Quest themes remixed in a chillout style) the artists involved decided to make a second album. For my entry I chose a couple themes from the official remake of King's Quest 1 to combine together as a medley. This remix kind of took a turn partway through the arrangement, changing from a smaller quieter pleasant mix into a larger crescendo with a big early 90s style saxophone solo at the end (something I've not attempted before). Some of the original MIDI data from the original game was utilized and referenced but heavily altered as well as amended with live performance and sequencing from other keyboard/synthesizer sounds including the saxophone solo which was performed live by keyboard (and only mildly quantized and touched up afterward). This track was produced, mixed, and mastered with Cakewalk and Reason and included the plugins Ozone by Izotope, Rapture Session 2, Dimension Pro, Stratum by Sonivox, and Loom 2 by Air.

(Intro: 1:33, Oak Tree/Condor Nest: 4:51)

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by prophetik music

[MindWanderer]

Very chill indeed.  Until the sax joins, the whole thing has a very '80s synth tone to it.  I was actually surprised that so many different high-end VSTs were used in its creation, since it has such a cohesive aesthetic that sounds like it could have been made on a single piece of retro hardware.

I'm a little torn.  On one hand, we generally frown on compositions consisting mostly of vanilla synths, which this certainly does.  On the other hand, it sounds like the synth choices were all very intentional; they're cohesive, chosen well for their roles, and used well.  But back on the first hand, there aren't a whole lot of different ideas present until three and a half minutes in when the sax joins; it sounds like you're working with a limited sound palette rather than making an intentionally simplictic decision, and I find myself losing interest.

The soundscape is quite thin.  There's a deep sub-bass pulse that's sort of like an 808 kick except that it has a longish sustain on it, and it's the only thing in the lows, with nothing in the mid-lows except the formants of one of the chime synths.  Production seems clean and clear, though.

There's no question in my mind that this would have been fine if it had been submitted 15 years ago.  But to me it just feels a little primitive and rough for today's standards.  I feel like it needs to fill up more space, and make more interesting instrumentation decisions before the final third of the arrangement.

NO (borderline)

[DarkSim]

Nice vibe to this one. Reminds me of halc's early stuff, especially that bitcrushed and filtered percussion layer.

The synths are, indeed, very basic in their sound design, but they're chosen well enough as to form a cohesive palette. Production sounds clean, although I felt the transitions could have been smoother, particularly the 3:36 sweep effect, which sounded too loud. Hearing that sax synth at the end, I understand the choice to keep the sound design basic. Any more interesting sounds would expose the sax sample as too fake - it doesn't sound the best as-is, and the real deal would be ideal - but you work with what you've got, and I respect that.

Arrangement is fairly straightforward to begin with, however the ponderous tempo left me checking the timestamp after just over a minute, wondering when it would pick up a bit. It's chillout, sure, but I found myself wanting to be engaged with it just a little more. I really like the idea of the pad at 2:33 and other sections. If I'm being picky though, some more body to it in the low-mids would serve to fill out the mix some more, and give emphasis to those sections. Heck, you could even bring in a nice warm and fuzzy bass layer there to really tickle the ear drums, and I bet that'd sound lovely.

It's a nice remix, that's for sure, but nothing about it wows me. The main point of interest is the sax solo, however that's the weakest of all the synths. It's super close, but I think something needs to be elevated to nudge it over the edge.

NO (resubmit)

 

 

[Chimpazilla]

This mix is very conservative in terms of source representation and the instrumentation and vibe are similar to source.  As the other two Js have pointed out, there aren't a lot of new ideas presented until the sax joins in and that is a weak sound, although the writing there is really nice once it begins interpreting and soloing.  The sound palette is cohesive for sure, but the entire mix sounds extremely dated.  The mixing works well enough but lacks any sparkle and the low end is on the weak side.  The drums feel very weak and every drum element is located dead center of the soundstage making the entire drum track very flat and lifeless. MW is right, this mix would have fit right in 15 years ago. The energy of the piece never evolves or changes as it moves along, making it feel longer than it should, at least up to the point of the solo.  Perhaps if this were redone with more modern sounds and more unique elements and writing appearing earlier in the arrangement this would be a much more exciting mix, but as it stands now it's just too plain as well as too conservative.  The idea is solid and I would love to hear this again with some sound and writing improvements. 

NO (resubmit)