OCR04407 - *YES* Shin Megami Tensei 5 "Sands of Da'at"

[Emunator]

Remixer Name - Black Ace
Real Name - Alexey Bakhmetyev
E-Mail - 
Website - https://vk.com/cjblackace
UserID - 34929

Name of Game - Shin Megami Tensei V (Nintendo Switch)
Name of arrangement - Sands of Da'at
Name of song - Shinagawa Theme
Game info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei_V
Original track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U17FDOUW2Bc
Release Date - 20 Mar 2022

Download FLAC, PNG and looped animation here - 

Thanks!         

[Emunator]

Production is as solid as we've come to expect from Black Ace by now, but this is a long track that is foundationally pretty repetitive, even though there's a lot of well-integrated bass stabs throughout the second run through so there's not any straight copypasta. There's a lot of source tune here so I'm also paneling for a sanity check there. Sounds great though at first listen!

[prophetik music]

original is indeed highly repetitive. i'm picking out the bass lead's progressive elements alongside the chord movement as the big things to take away from it from an arrangement perspective.

the entire opening is clearly drawn from the original - the stutter synths doing the alarm motif are immediately recognizable. the beat kicks in at 0:45 and features the bass synth's line from the original as the primary melodic content, following the overall same line as the original. as of 1:29 we've gotten through the melodic line once, and there's some neat guitar and sax-adjacent synth doing stuff. this is still the main chord pattern but doesn't really feature specific melodic content that was obvious. at 2:14 the melody comes back and is doubled by a stringed instrument. there's not a lot different this second time through, but the addition of the violin and some mastering changes like the filter mix it up a bit.

at 2:57 we get our first break (i was def getting tired of the balls-to-the-wall sound so this is good). i think this is the shinagawa pier chords, arpeggiated out and distorted similar to how the backing at that point in the original is. the vox samples are back here too (assuming they're from the game?) and there's a filtro build into 3:40 when it's back at the same beat with the arpeggiated chords and a choir synth that is also reminiscent of the end of tennozu and the shinagawa pier section. there's a great intensifying saw synth around 4:15 that i liked a lot.

this builds into another filtro transition into The Break at 4:25. the melodic content gets pixelated as part of the chopping which is fun - i almost wish there was more of that, since it was a great break from the same concept that has been going on for a while. there's some drum fills and a lighter section at 5:10 that again features the stuttered alarm synth from the opening of both the original and this remix. instruments continue to drop as it gets to the final drop and ending at 5:52. some interesting distorted effects after the last hit which was a nice touch.

this is mastered real loud! it's a bit tiring to listen to, but it doesn't ever sound bad, just really pumped. there's a lot of distorted elements though and they're all clearly audible so great job with leveling and balancing, especially the clean electric guitar when it's playing.

i don't think this is too repetitive, although it's fairly close. the source doesn't do it many favors. the strength of this track isn't necessarily that it keeps it fresh, but that the basic idea is great and it does enough to keep that interesting throughout six minutes. it probably could have dropped a minute and i wouldn't have minded, but the energy and production really sparkle, and the remixer did a nice job keeping it moving from section to section. nice work.

 

 

YES

[MindWanderer]

Great house sound.  Hits you hard right out of the gate and never lets up.  A great adaptation of a source I would have overlooked.

Production is excellent, top tier work like I expect from Black Ace.  I didn't find it mastered too loud at all — in fact, I A/B'ed it to a couple of other tracks in my judging playlist, and it was quieter than them.

Arrangement is indeed a little repetitive, but that's the genre for you.  The amount of actual copypasta is pretty low, it's just that each section loops a whole lot, and several elements are reused a lot.  I'd prefer something more progressive, but it gets the job done.

Not having any trouble with source usage; it's clearly used throughout, almost to a fault.

YES

[DarkSim]

Production sounds great, I wouldn't have minded a bit more stereo separation, as there's a lot down the middle. Energy levels are HIGH and do fatigue the ears over the 6+ minutes duration.

Mercifully, there's a break at 3 minutes, and then after the break, although not repetition, it's a similar character to the opening 3 minutes. I'd say that the arrangement and dynamics of the track could definitely have benefitted from an earlier break (maybe a second one as well), and possibly trimming a minute or two off the running time.

My favourite bit is the glitching/dubstep-style effects at 4:27. Would have loved a bit more of this, and perhaps earlier in the track, to keep things fresh.

All that said, it's another banger from Black Ace, easily a

YES

[Liontamer]

In focusing on criticisms first, it'll come off like I don't enjoy the arrangement. IMO, the DnB pattern droned on, because the track's mixed in a way where the breakbeats are somewhat obscured during the fullest sections, yet the core kick's much louder; it makes the writing feel more simplistic than it truly is when the soundscape was dense. The sax line introduced at 1:34 was consistantly downplayed, moreso at 1:51. Granted, it serves to mitigate the sample realism issues, but I still felt it was super quiet, especially from 2:34-2:56 (where it's a non-factor). From 1:50-2:12, there's also a light but pervasive crunchy noise going on. The breakbeats returned at 3:40, and again, you mostly hear the main beats, not the rest. If you listen to other stuff of Black Ace's like "Now the Flowers Will Grow!", those details pop a lot better. Cool break in the monotony of the beats at from 4:24-4:35.

Not a sharp soundscape, but seems by design given some of the effects on the voice clips; still reasonably produced, so it's not as if this was on the bubble of acceptability. Arrangement-wise, totally appreciated the varied writing and textures; aside from the core beat feeling too repetitive, all of the other elements evolved nicely. Let's go!

YES