OCR04569 - *YES* Donkey Kong Country 1 (SNES) & 3 (GBA) "Ancient Relics"

[Emunator]

Remixer: Emunator
Performer (Credited): Marissa Turnage (website: https://www.marissa-turnage.com/violin.html) Violin performance, violin arrangement
Mastering: Chimpazilla

Name: Ancient Relics
Game: Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA) [cameo]
Sources: Aquatic Ambiance (primary), Water World (GBA) [cameo]

Comments:

When considering making (yet another) remix of Dave Wise's classic "Aquatic Ambiance," it's hard not to question whether or not you actually have anything unique to contribute to the canon of legendary arrangements that already exist. Even if I did have a vision, were my skills up to the level they needed to be to execute? For a long time during the process, I didn't even have an answer to those questions for myself, but I kept trying anyway. Eventually, around mid-2019, my skills as an arranger and producer finally started to catch up to my ambition, and things started to take shape.

When composing this arrangement, I had a very clear visual in mind that influenced nearly everything about final product - one of a decaying, post-industrial civilization that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by marine snow and bioluminescent creatures that were slowly reclaiming this as their home. I built a sound palette that reflected this contrast, merging the organic sound of vocal pads, piano, and belltones with an array of warped and rusted industrial percussion, a warbling synth lead, and a gritty resonant bass.

From a compositional perspective, I wanted this to be a slow burn, using only glimmers of the original source material at first. It's not until nearly 2 minutes in that the iconic Aquatic Ambiance melody shows up in full. I let the lead synth fall deliberately behind the beat to capture the feeling of drifting along in an ocean current, guided only by the soft glow of the sea life around you.

Past that point, the arrangement takes a more dramatic turn, tethered by the persistent harp and piano arpeggios and the steadily rising pulse of the electronic/acoustic drums. At 3:36, a string section makes a final climactic run through the source melody, led by some stunning solo violin performances from my good friend Marissa. It's no exaggeration to say that this track would have never seen the light of day without her contributions - my sequenced strings were simply not cutting it, and the sharpness and expressiveness of her performance made all the difference. Words simply fail to express my gratitude to her for helping bring my vision to life!

From there, the arrangement closes off with a major key reinterpretation of Aquatic Ambiance's melody on the violin one last time, which serves as a grounding presence as everything else around it drifts away into formlessness and serenity.

My first demo of this track dates back to November of 2017, and since then, I've clocked over 130 hours of working time on the project file. I've learned more about the craft of music production and grown more as an artist through this project than any other I've done to date. It's no stretch to say this is the most intensive, challenging arrangement I've ever attempted, but I also think it's turned out to be my best. Now here's hoping I never spend this long on another arrangement ever again!!

Sources:

[MindWanderer]

You certainly did manage to do something new and creative with an overdone source.

Interesting sound choices. The loud, grungy pad results in a soundscape that's less clear than I expect from violins, and indeed from the rest of the palette. It's not objectively bad, and I appreciate what you were going for, but it does detract from my ability to enjoy it. I would have at least pushed the pads back a bit to let the violin shine. Marissa's part-writing really stands out as a highlight, and now I kind of want an acoustic or mostly-acoustic remix of this that puts her front and center.

Otherwise, I love this. Worth it.

YES

Edited July 26, 2023 by MindWanderer

[Chimpazilla]

I've heard this many times as Wes has been working on it, and I've loved it at every stage.  As usual, the bells, pads, choir and sweepy elements are on point, and I'm in love with the badass growling sustain bass.  The filtered saw lead has personality for days.  The live violin is an absolute delight and so well performed.  I love this arrangement which hits me right in the feels.  Mixing and mastering are top notch.  (edit 8/15/23:  I mastered this so long ago, in January of 2021.  I literally forgot this was my master, as most often Wes prefers to do his own mastering.)  I'm glad to see this finalized and submitted!

YES

Edited August 15, 2023 by Chimpazilla

[Liontamer]

Interesting treatment of the theme, and I liked the "Water World" usage brought in at 3:06 as well. Marissa's violin performance added a dimension to the source that I'm surprised I'd never heard before.

It'll come across as not trusting Wes and Kris's ears; this was too loud for my tastes though; I had to put on a control track to ensure I wasn't just being nitpicky. It's piercing and crowded for a ton of the second half and shouldn't be (e.g. 2:52, 3:20, 3:36-4:18, 4:33-5:25). If that's toned down, I'm down; if it's not, I'm a NO.

YES (conditional)

EDIT (8/18): The new master fixes everything. Perfection!

YES

Edited August 18, 2023 by Liontamer
changed vote from YES (conditional) to YES

[prophetik music]

low and slow intro, and we get some nasty bass at 0:28 contrasted against the percs and pads. beat comes in at 0:57, and there's some fun filtered patterns being played in here as well. the iconic arpeggio is up top and throughout this section. 1:40 gets us a break and some sliding synths, and then we finally get the melody at 1:54. it's heavily automated as expected, with lots of slides and volumization elements. 

a sustain at 2:38 finishes the first instance of the melodic material. i'm noticing at this point that the arpeggiated instrument has been hammering away for about two minutes, and it's starting to be a little much. thankfully there's some other elements coming in as we get through 3:15 to draw attention away from it.

we get some violin at 3:36, and it is quite striking. very well-played. the orchestral taikos (sounds a bit like a bamboo drum actually) are pretty fierce through this and the entire soundscape is pretty dense at 4:15 - clearly a lot went into making that section not be a mess.

the soundscape clears up more around 4:20, and the violins and eventually new filters escort us towards a washed ending.

this is pretty superb overall. it definitely achieves something that i haven't heard before from the piles of AA remixes that are out there. excellent work.

 

 

YES

[Emunator]

@Liontamer Kris hammered out a new master this morning that's a little softer and helped tame some of the harsh frequencies in the highs. The project file originated before this new computer build so it's dicey if I'll be able to make any mixing changes, but hopefully this sounds better to your ears! Updated in the first post.