Emunator Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 (edited) CONTACT INFORMATION Your ReMixer name: Unknown Pseudoartist Your email address: Your website(s) Official website (under construction): http://unknownpseudoartist.com/ Bandcamp: https://unknownpseudoartist.bandcamp.com/ Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/unknown-pseudoartist Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCuI6pSkP8kDupO64htg5mQ Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 38631 SUBMISSION INFORMATION Name of game(s) arranged: Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 Name of arrangement: HOPE!! Name of individual song(s) arranged: Hikari no Willpower / Theme of Trunks Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site): A rather mediocre Dragon Ball Z fighting game released for the PSX in the late 90s. The composer is supposed to be Kenji Yamamoto, like most of these classic DBZ games and part of the anime soundtrack (yeah, that guy who infamously known for massive plagiarism). This specific source is also commonly known as an anime song that later featured actual lyrics sung by the mythical singer Hironobu Kageyama, but the first appearance of that song was as VGM in that PSX game. WAV DOWNLOAD LINK of this remix (MP3 192k file attached to this message too): Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) Since the original soundtrack is real audio there's no emulation files to link to, but here's someone in Youtube who uploaded all the tracks here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5BB83550E16A796D Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, how the source material was referenced in the arrangement, etc: Hello! I know OCR for a VERY long time, it was one of the first sites I discovered dedicated to VGM covers/remixes sometime in the late 2000s when I was a kid. It wasn't until early 2021 that I decided to start becoming active in the scene, though, as I felt like I never had anything to offer anyways. And now this is my first submission to OCR, which also happens to be kinda fresh since this game is not even in the site's database yet. The first version of this was originally submitted to Dwelling of Duels (a monthly videogame music competition) for Licensed Month and it placed 13/26. A slightly improved mix was later part of "Metal Dragons", a small album / EP dedicated to more of these old Dragon Ball Z fighting games. I (Unknown Pseudoartist) did all the arranging work, programming, mix, etc but I had the pleasure to count with a team of talented musicians to play their instruments, like: Angry Polar Bear - Lead keys (sawtooth, organ and strings) Ian Martyn - Woodwinds (low whistle and irish whistle) Jett Swole - All guitars (electric and acoustic) and bass Jinx - Pianos I had some ideas for a hypothetical arrangement for a long time so that Licensed Month in Dwelling of Duels was the perfect excuse to try it serious. That piano intro in the original always gave me the feels as soon as I'd hear it while playing the game as a kid, and that's something I wanted to keep in my cover but strengthing the feels even further by extending that part and adding woodwinds, backing chorus and more stuff. Instead of going straight to the upbeat part I built the way to metal in a more progressive way, with a more orchestral bridge in between. This was originally the theme of Trunks in the game, and as such I had the story of this character in mind, with each part of the arrangement linked to specific events and things happening. That can seen more clearly in this AMV I did for Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL0rp-_7CK4 The title, "HOPE!!" is taken from what was written in the time capsule Trunks used to travel to the past with the HOPE to get the key to defeat the Red Ribbon androids that are ruining the future in Earth. Since this is about a character who travels in time, I just had the goofy idea of adding a reference to the main theme of the iconic movie, Back to the Future in the middle, to make it even more epic. I hope this don't cause any trouble to the judges regarding the prevalence of original content from the source! As it's not that long of a part anyways. The peaceful, acoustic outro with background ambient sounds is meant to symbolize the bittersweet ending that story has: the bad guys are defeated but all what was lost, was lost forever and no dragon balls can save them, but all what remains is to look forward and start a new life with HOPE to a better future (well... until another villain in the continuation, Dragon Ball Super, ruins it again, but that's a totally different story!). Edited June 21, 2023 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSim Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 Cool source tune, I can see what inspired you to do a ReMix in this style. The quiet intro, followed by metal guitar and some synth elements fits it perfectly. It's a great concept! The opening piano is unfortunately far too loose, and the recording has too much noise. As such, it doesn't carry enough emotion and feeling - I'm too distracted by the white noise and timing issues to get really immersed. The whistles sound good though, no problems there. The harpsichord thing in the right ear is too quiet. It's a lacklustre start for what ends up being an epic track. This piece really gets going when the guitar comes in. They sound amazing, although there's a little bit of (unintentional) distortion and popping on the lead when it first comes in (same with the acoustic at the end as well actually - compressor issue?). The drums sound good, crash cymbals are a little quiet though. Love the addition of a synth to switch up the lead. It sounds good, but could do with more body and clarity. The piano break exposes the timing issues again, and the contrast in quality between this and the previous section is quite stark. Some quantisation on the piano is definitely needed at a minimum. The drums also seem super weak here, compared to the previous section, but maybe it's just the timing making me notice them more. The 'Back to the Future' bridge at 3:06 doesn't feel like a natural progression, and the strings don't feel like they belong in this part. The call and response with the synth lacks impact because of the long attack on the strings. Why not use the lead guitar, or a different synth? I'm not entirely sold on this section, but swapping out those strings is a must. The string runs at 3:32 are buried, and don't add much. They could probably be removed, but I'd suggest replacing with a soft synth pad with low attack. 3:35-4:12 is fantastic. If the rest of the track were up to this standard, I'd love it. The ending with the acoustic guitar, woodwinds, and SFX is really nice too. Feels like a natural ending at 4:12 after the guitar solo. I'd be tempted to remove the piano break in the middle, and put this acoustic section in there instead. Overall there's a ton of great material in here. The main points that need addressing are the strings during the middle section, and the piano as a whole. Production-wise, the distortion on the guitars should be removed as well, and although overall clarity is generally good, some improvements would be welcome there too (cymbals, lead synth, harpsichord perhaps). If the noise on the piano recording can't be removed, I'd suggest a re-record on that, or use samples instead. I look forward to hearing this one again though - that guitar is epic! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 original is a great track. melody is very exciting and catchy. intro's timing is indeed pretty rough, and it does sound lo-fi to the point that i'm not sure if it's intentional. the whistles and choir pad sound great though, that's a great vibe. the next 30 seconds or so continue to feature some rough timings in various instruments, but the underlying idea is great, appropriately epic in scope and realization. the whistle sounds excellent. we get some (overwhelmingly loud) guitars at about 1:03, and then get into what feels like the main body of the arrangement at 1:18 along with a tempo switch. the drums feel pretty bland and the rhythm guitar sounds way too loud, but the guitar tone itself is great, and the saw's tone cuts really well through the mix. there's some extended transition to the B melody on organ, and the guitar parts here sound great (still too loud) and are perfectly timed as compared to the opening. around here i realized i can't hear the bass at all. i'm not sure if it's a result of the instrumentation (ie. guitar chugs are covering it) or just mastering, but it's not obvious if there's anything there. there's a break at 2:16 that is even more obviously out of time since the piano's got drums behind it this time, and the guitars (which are still too loud) come in for a lower-energy section. the chord that you altered at the end of the A melodic material (at 2:47) is wrong here - i liked the altered choice, but it's performed incorrectly here. 3:09 brings in some new material. the drums are more interesting in this section as compared to elsewhere, but are still mostly on autopilot outside of a few fills. there's some fun call and response in the guitar and leads here which is a nice way to mix up the delivery of the melodic material. this kinda just ends and it goes into an acoustic outro with some ocean or rain sfx. the last sustain and chord is not a particularly pleasing choice. this has some really fun ideas! the guitar-driven approach with leads is energetic and exciting, and the whistle-driven elements that are more acoustic sound fun too. the piano parts are just so out of time, however. it's very distracting. the drums throughout are pretty rote, and i really just can't hear the bass. from a mastering perspective, the rhythm guitars are too loud for essentially the entire track. overall i think a redo of most of the quieter sections and maybe a reorganization like what darksim suggests would really benefit the track overall. i agree with him that the last blow-through with the band going full blast is probably the best part of the piece - focusing the arrangement more around that best part would help a ton. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 Definitely very noticeable hiss and also some little pops (e.g. :08, :17) with the intro, though the hiss became less in your face from :16-on. What was that part added in there from :32-:47? Man, that's some weird looseness there; brief as it was, that part didn't fit at all, plus the piano sounded odd too. At :47, the performances had no synergy. Then at 1:02, the guitar came in (another crackle at 1:06) and muddied up the soundscape. Strange combination of the guitar work and the synth line at 1:18. The drums don't have synergy wuth the other parts either, due to very bland writing, and texture feels thin until 1:47 in spite of the volume. Then an organ lead at 1:47 (with some nice doubling by the synth), but the guitar chugs alongside it were too loud (though well-performed), IMO. Some kind of click/pop at 2:10, just noting it, then another instance from 2:20-2:55 where the drum writing again doesn't fit well with the other parts. Lots of buzziness behind the guitar line at 2:34 that was a bad contrast with the clean, quiet texture right before it; didn't sound intentional that the guitar would be adding that much mud. Sounded like a sour note at 2:46 as well. Admittedly surprised at the lack of cohesiveness thus far. Super fake-sounding string line at 3:07, then pivoted to an out-of-tune (with slightly lagged timing), non sequitur reference to the Back to the Future melody at 3:09. I don't know Unknown Pseudoartist at all, so their dadaist handle may just be giving me the wrong impression that they're an anonymous troll that we've all heard of under another handle. If not, UP's probably going to hate me for saying this -- it's moments like this looseness at 3:07 that feels more like a tongue-in-cheek troll job than a sincere effort; that doesn't compute given who else is involved in this, but that's still the takeaway I was having. I liked the acoustic guitar at 4:14, but then the wind line at 4:28 was shrill had some iffy notes (including the very last note at 4:43 for a headscratching finish), along with low-quality sounding rain SFX. There's so much Obama-shrug GIF energy here, I genuinely dunno what to make of it. It'll sound like I'm frustrated, when really I'm just confused and disappointed that some good potential wasn't realized here. Every time an electric guitar was in play, there was a lot of mud behind it. And while I generally like the instrumentation and performances when I listen to one part at a time, there's a disjointed sound to the whole thing, so many times where timing feels loose or combinations of instruments don't fit well together. It seems like as far as this track goes, the cake is baked, as I don't know how easy it would be to revise this given the amount of performers. I've seen so many artists over the years in a similar spot. The arrangement concept itself is strong, the theme's arranged in very interpretive and creative way, there's lots of good moments of dynamic contrast that keep the presentation interesting and ambitious. It's rare to see a unanimous NO decision have lengthy commentary from the judges, and that speaks to a meaningful level of promise here. However, there's lots (and lots) of smaller issues of writing, performance, and mixing that added up to an overall lack of cohesion. Keep up the good work; your arrangement quality already shows you can put together something creative, UP, so I would love to hear another pass to see how far you can bring it along though. Or, at the very least hear strong efforts at cohesion applied to different, future subs. We'd love to have you use the Workshop forums and #workshop Discord channel for some additonal sets of ears and feedback on your work. Even if you don't become an OCR community regular (which you're always welcome to become, we're here for you), please keep solicitng tons of feedback on your DoD subs & other work and keep striving for more polish and improvement. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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