OCR04487 - *YES* Paper Mario "Clash at the Koopas"

[Emunator]

Your ReMixer name: Lucas Guimaraes
Your real name: Lucas Guimaraes
Your email address: 
Your website: https://twitter.com/Thirdkoopa - knew nothing better to link for this
Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: http://ocremix.org/community/profile/33965-thirdkoopa/
Name of game(s) arranged: Paper Mario
Name of arrangement: Clash at the Koopas
Name of individual song(s) arranged:  Attack of the Koopa Bros (https://youtu.be/xPsXN9hJJis)

Lucas Guimaraes: Arrangement, Mix, Baritone Saxophone, Alto Saxophone

JohnStacy: French Horn

Wurtzel: Trumpet
Kenny Jr: Drums
Ivan Hakštok.: Rhythm Guitars

Extrinzic: Guitar Solo

Ian Martyn: Rhythm Organ

Biggoron:  Organ Solo

evilsonic: Bass Guitar

My comments: For February's Dwelling of Duels, the theme was Mario Redux. I took that and went with a huge Hard Rock arrangement with Horns of the Koopa Bros. Battle theme. I had a LOT of fun making this one. Unfortunately the mix was a bit weak,  so I took some time over two months and redid a bunch of the mix. I really wanted to get something out the door for Mario month. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!

 

[MindWanderer]

Really fun arrangement, sort of a ska/surf rock fusion. It's long but doesn't wear out its welcome too much, although I do think it would be stronger with a bit more room to breathe a few times.

The mixing is still a little flat. Both the high and low ends are filtered a little too much, making the soundscape feel thin.  The percussion especially feels weak: the kicks are all thwack and no boom, and the cymbals are mostly in the same frequency as the guitars instead of cutting over them. It could definitely use another pass on this front, though I don't think it's quite a dealbreaker.  Good enough for me.

YES

[prophetik music]

this kind of doesn't get started really until 0:33. before there, it's a lot of sustains on the same couple notes, which quickly sounds odd. the mix has a huge boost on about 70hz and little below that, so it's got a weird harmonic effect that makes it feel like it has no guts. there are conflicting notes at about 0:30 that sound intentional.

1:02 is what sounds like a soli section, but the guitars and drums are so loud i can hardly distinguish between what the band instruments are doing. there's some weird swirling organ sfx at 1:30 for like 12 seconds, and then a pretty solid organ solo for a bit. this is followed by a guitar solo that has some fun stuff it's saying, but there's conflicting parts again in the background at around 2:37. solo keeps going for another two minutes (!!!) and then there's a quick blow through of the melodic material before there's a quick outro and it's done.

from a structural standpoint, this relies heavily on the solo parts to get it to 50% source. there's a lot of reference in the solos themselves - without that there wouldn't be enough of the OST in the track to get above our criteria. i felt i had to be fairly generous actually to get it there.

from a technical standpoint, the parts are all on time and map fine with one another, but there's no volumization or dynamics in the entire piece essentially, and that is very tiring. in a real group, you'd expect to hear instruments popping in and out of the texture as they're more or less important with what's being played, but there's none of that here. the alto sax is a consistent volume in my left ear, for example. separately, the lacking of a true low end means the emphasis in the 70-100hz range is very noticeable the longer the track goes on.

i would have really liked to see my dynamics (like, at all), and more band sections that were actually the whole group playing through ensemble blows rather than little chunks here and there. i would also have preferred to hear this mastered with less of a focus around the 70-100hz band that causes it to feel so dense. however, personal feelings aside, this meets our criteria, and it's performed well with a good energy throughout.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

The track was 5:15-long, so I needed to identify the theme for at least 157.5 seconds for the source material to be considered dominant in the arrangement.

:14.25-:32.5, :34-1:00.5, 1:02-1:25.5, 2:15-3:03.75, 3:29.5-3:40.5, 4:27-4:59, 5:03.5-5:05, 5:09.5-5:14

The timestamping was way over for me, so no qualms there. prophetik mentioned leaning on the soloing to invoke the source; I don’t mind how referencing the source is done as long as it’s observable and dominant.

Something about the drums felt plain; I liked the kicks having a meatier sound, but they were too loud compared to everything else, which probably made them sound a bit plainer than intended. Sounds like all the high-end sharpness was gone, and the performance sounds distant. That said, the performances are otherwise very expressive, the arrangement’s very interpretive and personalized, and the mixing's still solid in that I can make out the parts fairly cleanly, so I'm down. Hell of a party here!

YES

[Emunator]

This is a really tightly-written ensemble, and the performances across the board are solid! That organ solo is particularly nuts, but all of the performers here are pulling their weight. The drums aren't mixed perfectly, and there's other minor quibbles that have been correctly identified, but considering how much you have going on in the mix, everything is still clear and identifiable at the right times. This is a clear and easy pass!

YES