OCR04695 - *YES* Metroid Prime & Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow "Mission Final"

[Emunator]

Contributors: ZackParrish, Emunator, Xaleph, RidleySnipes, Lucas Guimaraes, JSABlixer, Lunarice, Ronald Poe

For this track I had a kind of chaotic vision for how to do things. I have had a similar idea in the past but because of time restrictions, availability, etc... it didn't happen. Well, what better way to negate that former statement than to try and pull off the same idea with even LESS time. The concept was simple... I spend a few hours banging out a sketch / skeleton of what the track will be... melody, counter melody, harmony, bass, etc. I then share this skeleton with the entire team and ask them all to contribute as much or as little as they want to the concept, and that they won't get to hear how they are going to be implemented until the track is 100% done. 

I, of course, would be contributing my own portion of stems for this monstrosity, frankentrack. So when the 3rd round of Game Set Mash 2 kicked off, I dove in and conjured up the skeleton / base for everyone to work from. As I awaited their contributions I worked on my own pieces, as darkness loomed around the corner. Stupid COVID kind of came in and demolished my family that week, and I got nailed with it myself leading up to the weekend. I had already asked Wes to be my main support for this track but I had not planned on leaning on him so heavily.

By Friday we had a huge pool of stems to work with and imported them all while the drugs were suppressing the ick in my body, so Wes and I hopped on voice and talked through where to feature different parts, what to cut, what was missing, and set out a plan for getting it all moving along. The first pass was already surprisingly pleasant sounding but obviously had a few kinks to work out, and lots of filler for sections that weren't fully realized. Ultimately because of my dwindling energy I asked Wes to pickup the slack where I left off. We both spent a lot of time over the weekend pounding out parts and fine tuning transitions to make it a more cohesive and enjoyable experience, all still without the rest of the team having a clue how their parts were being used. :)

It was a blind collaborative effort and I can't thank Wes enough for keeping me alive through it because I did not expect to get that stupid virus the one week I decide to take the lead on a track. :| We tried to incorporate as many ideas from the team's submissions as we could and kept way more than we cut, even sliding the full track over to add even more to the intro. Overall the project file had 175 tracks and a hefty dosage of automation. My computer from 10 years ago would have burst into flames trying to render it, but thankfully it is 2024 and that's not a problem. We hope you enjoy this different approach to producing a remix.

As to who contributed what... 
 

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Games & Sources

Metroid Prime - Menu Select Theme

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Forbidden Area

[prophetik music]

opens with a very quiet arpeggio and then a later bass hit - the contrast there might be a bit much. castlevania is referenced right off the bat at 0:20, and then the arpeggio from Forbidden Area is nicely dovetailed into the melodic line from Metroid. pretty neat idea. there's a bit of a break at 1:13 which is a nice pause in the action. 1:28 brings the groove back in alongside some more melodic content, although the stereo split on the beat here is surprising and significant and a bit of a turnoff. there's a big swell into some chippy synths at 1:48 - hearing those alongside some of the other burbles and orchestral elements was a neat idea. this gets pretty loud and overwhelms most everything else going on until there's a transition at 2:26.

there's a nice sweep lead used in this break with some cinematic swells. i continue to appreciate the simple changes to the menu select theme melody throughout this section - it's very repetitive so it's great hearing how it's being personalized. there's a big build into 3:39 where the strings take over with the Metroid melodic content. this is very cinematic and layered and sounds great, even more so when the guitar comes in on the next runthrough of the content.

4:17 is a switch to a much more rhythmic feel as the chiptunes come back and we progress through to the ending. there's one final big rush and it's done.

track is, as a whole, really loud. everything is well balanced - i can always hear everything, and what's being said is worth hearing - but the bass presence especially throughout is really significant and can feel overwhelming in a few places where it's more cinematic rather than electronic. outside of that, though, i really appreciated the huge variety of things going on to focus on in any given section. there's a ton of development throughout and the remix keeps changing and shifting and evolving as you go through. this is a great track in my book. nice work.

 

 

YES

[Hemophiliac]

Too many cooks in the kitchen here, just kidding...everyone said, "YES CHEF!" and Zack + Emunator wrangled everyone in.

It's incredible how all of the contributions from so many amount to this cohesive beast of a track. I particularly like the chip elements and how they fit into the mix, they fit very well into the chaos of everything. It's also very impressive how the blend and mixdown worked out as well. Nothing is too overbearing, too loud, or too quiet.

As far as the arrangement, things dovetail in and out from each other very nicely in the first minute. Overall both sources are used very well, and transitions between them feel well prepared and not sudden at all.

1:10 sounds like a Sonic spin-dash!

Excellent work all around, can't even nitpick anything here.

YES

[Liontamer]

Jeebus. OK then! :-P 

YES

[MindWanderer]

Frankentrack, indeed. I've been mulling over for this one for quite some time because I didn't know what to make of it. It doesn't sound nearly as disjointed as it ought to, given its backstory, but it definitely goes in quite a variety of directions.

But just because I'm having a tough time formulating a description of it, or even an opinion, doesn't mean I can't vote on the merits. And it has plenty of them. It's an achievement of arrangement on several levels, as well as being plenty creative. No reason at all not to give this a

YES