Liontamer Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 (edited) Contact Information Joe November Joe Thomas SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/AGRPw; Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6RfNW5CQCqkdgYZXOpyZ1W?si=PN0aqW-WSRW2pors2aczAw; Bandcamp (Music | Joe November (bandcamp.com)) Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile 34557 Submission Information Mega Man 2, NES What's the Rush, Man! Quick Man Stage Original Composer: Takashi Tateishi. System: NES. Release Date: December 24th, 1988 (492) Mega Man 2 (NES) Music - Quick Man Stage - YouTube First of all, I wanted to make a beat that someone could rap to; so, keeping the BPM between 80-100 was key (it's 94 btw). Second, I wanted to interpolate elements of the Quick Man stage without jacking the audio sample in its entirety to make my beat unique, and third it was important for me to play it a different key from the original. Plus, there is a story being told based on my early experiences playing Mega Man 2 on NES back in the day. The intro depicts excitement and wonder as you enter Quick Man's stage for the first time. I interpolated the main rhythmic lead from the actual Quick Man stage, and you can hear it in the very beginning of my beat. It was important that it persisted throughout the entire song. I started playing chords with the Rhodes and when the root composition came together, I kept hearing Kashmere Stage Band's “Picture of Innocence" horns in the intro. Then, when Quick Man does his signature taunt move before the stage begins, it motivates you even more to beat him (thus the verbal taunt in the intro). The first verse is an alliteration of playing the stage with no knowledge of how to beat Quick Man. Once you arrive to his boss room, that’s when you hear that “Quick Man!” clip as if it’s like “Yo, there he is!” (it’s a sample from Ren & Stimpy’s Powdered Toast Man character going “Quick man, cling tenaciously to my buttocks!” LOL) The first chorus depicts the grueling battle itself, but since you’re not really equipped to defeat him then unfortunately you die. The scratching you hear in the chorus (“too-too-too-too-too quick”) is from DJ Quik’s “Get At Me”. I used synth pads to interpolate the chorus from the Quick Man stage in my chorus to build tension. I bridged the chorus with the interlude using a drum break from Jamiroquai’s “Just Another Story” along with the intro drop from the Mega Man 2 theme song. The interlude you hear next is saying, “I just read in Nintendo Power that Quick Man is vulnerable to Air Man's Air Shooters, and I just acquired them!” That’s why you hear the pause sound in this part, to make sure it’s there and you’re ready to rock with it. I also wanted to interpolate some of the background music from the Air Man stage by using piano in the second verse as sort of an echo to the weapon you have in your back pocket for this boss. Now you’re equipped with the Air Shooters, so into the chorus we go but this time the outcome is different… you are victorious! (thus, the signature death blow sound you hear) and then the sound when you leave the stage after beating the boss. The vocals you hear at the end are from a British group called AZUR (off topic: the bass player for this group was the same bass player for the early Jamiroquai’s albums, Stuart Zender). The feeling I wanted to invoke with the sample was “Hey, I did it!” as you’re off to the next Mega Man 2 stage. And... fadeout! Edited September 11, 2023 by prophetik music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 Kicks at :20 are distorting and don't sound good as a result; they stand out less as you loop this and get acclimated, though the distortion point still stands. I want the lead at :40 to be cutting through more (rather than competing to be heard vs. the beats), but what's here is OK. 1:42 repeats the intro, then 2:04's a copy-pasta of :40 for the melody (though with original piano writing also supplementing it rather than just the bassline writing). Aw man, 2:25's also just a cut-and-paste of 1:00 until 2:48. Good ending section at 2:48 though. This is a close one for me, because the arrangement's very interpretive, but then the track structure's utlimately too repetitive. I do realize this is a beat; this still needs more variations used somehow from 1:42-on to have this sound fully developed as a standalone arrangement. It'll sound like I'm saying your previous mix is now the bar you're held to, that you need to employ the exact same tactics, or that you need to do something drastic to update this; having heard your BotW piece, I know you're fully capable of presenting that variation somehow. Whether that comes from writing variations, adding a vocalist or sampled vocals, adding or changing some instrumentation, I trust your judgement and abilities. To me, it feels like a pretty easy resubmission candidate. Great base here, Joe! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 The distorted kicks are purposeful and I love these kicks but they are not meant to hit this hard in a mix, they are too loud and as a result they sound like they are overcompressed. Just turn them down. In addition, and especially since you'll be turning the kicks down, I suggest some pretty heavy sidechaining at the very least on your bass and piano. Those kicks will sound superb in a nicely-sidechained soundscape. (I sidechain every element in my mixes in varying amounts, for mixing clarity purposes as well as to add groove) Fadeout ending, boo! Not a dealbreaker, but fadeouts always disappoint me. I prefer some sort of resolution to an arrangement. I love this concept, what a great vibe and feel. Larry is right though, the overall arrangement is too repetitive with the straight copypasta. Make some changes in the second half, either a different groove, instrument changes, some varied writing, additional this or that, etc. to set the sections apart from each other and keep the arrangement interesting and fresh. I really hope to hear this again with those changes, because it is a really nice beat, but as a standalone track for OCR it needs more variation. Do eet! NO (resubmit: add more variation, lower kick volume, do some sidechaining plz) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 intro vibe is real nice. i like the EP work the most, i think. the drums are loud enough to be distorting, especially the kick, and it doesn't sound intentional. the bass feels really nice though and so does the brassy pad synths that come in halfway through the loop. this loops after about 1:15 of content, so it's nowhere near long enough for OCR, and 50%+ repeat content isn't something we can take. but the final version with voices and a bit more personalization to the second half would be a welcome addition. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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