Liontamer Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 (edited) Hi there! Here is my submission link: artist details: My remixer name: Bustello My real name: Forrest Messerman Email address: My websites: https://www.distanttiderecords.com/ https://bustelo.bandcamp.com/album/sr387 OcRemix user ID: 38731 Submission details: Game arranged: Super Metroid Arrangment name: Fires of Zebes Song arranged: Lower Norfair (Ridley’s Lair)/Nofair Ancient Ruins Area From Super Nintendo, composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano About my mix: When I create arrangements I usually take only the melody of the original track and create my own musical ideas around that. With this piece I did just that I used a few of the original bass lines but other than that almost everything from the drum beat to bass line is original. For me that is the most satisfying part about creating remixes or arrangements. I recorded and produced this in Reason Studios. Thank you for the consideration! Edited December 9, 2023 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 17, 2023 Author Share Posted August 17, 2023 The sounds felt basic in places, but I'm digging Forrest's textures, which bring a lot of character by personalizing the instrumentation. At 1:58, I was hoping the textures would dramatically fill out more, because the core drums plodded, but it was still OK, and the drum dropoff at 2:24 was overdue. Drums came back at 2:49 after a rebuilding section. At this point, I was wanting to hear some more ideas to play with the leads or supporting instrumentation for the final minute. There was enough of a textural transformation that nudges this over the line for me after the last minute came off comparatively underwhelming and underdeveloped; that'll sound like I dislike the end, when I instead felt there were more opportunities to evolve the ideas even further and employ more dynamics for either a big or diminuitive finish. The overall transformation still works for me, and feels like an example of using some relatively boilerplates sounds and effects to nonetheless develop something cool. I don't think this will skate by, and I'm intersted to hear some other perspectives; that said, enough works for me that I'm good to go for this take. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted September 5, 2023 Share Posted September 5, 2023 intro takes a minute to get there, but we get melodic material at 0>36 with a beat eventually. there's not much going on here - just the bass the drums, and the melodic synth. no pads or countermelodic material. this goes through what i'd call one iteration of the melodic material before dropping back to just the bass and lead, although we start to get occasional side content. there's a shift at 1:58 (the drum fill before this is oddly out of time) to the B content of the original. there's some more expansive interpretation first, then the descending line. the doubled bass/melody line at 2:43 was nice, but then we're back to the melody over the drums and bass for about 40s before the track uses the B melodic content as an outro. there isn't enough here ultimately from an arrangement perspective - the melodic content is pretty straightforward, but specifically there's just not enough going on behind it to constitute a completed track. there's no countermelodic content, no pads, no fleshing out of the textures at all, and it feels incomplete as a result. additionally, i like the concepts behind the synth choices, but ultimately agree as well that the synth tone choices are pretty basic. i'd love to hear this have an expanded sound palette and some other stuff happening outside the bass and lead. it's just too simple right now. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 Yeah, this almost sounds like it was created as a challenge to make something using a minimal set of tools. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been made in something like Caustic or LMMS. Really basic synths (though you do a lot with them), few layers, and a static sound palette. I do think it makes stellar use of what it does have. The soundscape is rich, and the progression is structurally dynamic. You clearly have arrangement and production skills. You just need to put together a toolkit to show those skills off properly. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 Right off the bat, I'm hearing some cool textures and modulation, and the cool sound design continues throughout the arrangement. There's a cool sense of dread in the pacing of the arrangement, it feels like it's constantly pulsating and brewing towards something, but never fully explodes (this is something I really appreciate, and not a critique!) The drums are probably the weakest part of this arrangement, they are mixed very dry (especially the toms!) and up-front in terms of volume, so it highlights the fact that you're working with some pretty basic samples that are not sequenced with a ton of nuance either. I notice that your tom fills consistently don't resolve to anything on the downbeat, like a crash or an impact, so they feel detached and lackluster. I also found the glitch fills, such as the one at 3:00, to be not particularly effective because the fill doesn't lead into anything - it just happens and then the track returns back to the same exact energy, with no impact or resolution. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this right, but although I like the idea, I don't think the execution lands. The mixing feels rough around the edges, particularly in terms of volume. The intro bass comes in loud and hot, and in general it feels like your levels are cranked up too high and the elements are competing with each other. Although everything is generally audible, I feel like that's more because there just isn't a lot going on in the soundscape, so it's not the most effective way of filling out your frequency range. Arrangement-wise, this is actually really good, exactly in line with what we're looking for in terms of expansion on the source material and giving it your own personal touch. But the mixing and sound choices, as well as the implementation of the drum and filter fills, leaves a bit to be desired before this is ready. Really strong start though, I hope you find the feedback useful and get this back to us! NO (resubmit!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 Opening bass sound is super simplistic, and there is minimal other stuff going on at the same time, so it is exposed. I like the beefy beat when it hits, but the drums and synths are sounding really vanilla. The arrangement, as others have mentioned, is generally good. But overall the soundscape is just too simplistic. The drum samples are really basic, and the drum groove is repetitive when it plays. Also, Wes is correct that the pacing of the piece is off. The groove pattern of the drums would suggest that something bigger is coming, but it never delivers. The melodic writing is either completely verbatim to source, or it is noodley, with nothing much in between, making this arrangement melodically awkward. Brad is right that the arrangement is missing countermelodic elements, pads, or any kind of fleshing out of the textures, and this lack gives the arrangement a repetitive feel. There are moments of disharmony, such as at 2:25, when the tails/reverbs of the previous notes mush into the next section. The glitching is awkward when it appears. The glitches are not signaled by anything before they start, and because they happen abruptly they sound like rendering errors rather than a cool effect. I can see why Larry gave his YES, a lot has been done with very simple synths and sounds, and the arrangement works well overall. But ultimately, with writing and sounds this simplistic, it isn't enough for OCR in 2023. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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