Liontamer Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 (edited) Artist Name: Jonathan Fleming-Bock In honor of Super Metroid's 30th anniversary, I wanted to have a bit of fun and remix one of it's most iconic tracks: Lower Brinstar. Hope you enjoy! My thanks and utmost respect goes to Kenji Yamamoto and all those who brought us this masterpiece of a game that will forever remain one of my all time favorites. In the remix, I wanted to emphasize and bring to the forefront the rhythmic aspect that is subtle in the more atmospheric original piece. I imagined a more menacing, determined energy as if Samus was in a hostile environment but fierce in her conviction to complete her mission. I also wanted to bring in some more oriental instruments such as the ghuzeng and xiao as the original hinted to me to have some eastern scales in some areas. I also opted to blend synths with the more acoustic orchestral sounds as a nod to the games original soundtrack being a blend of sci-fi with more traditional orchestral scores. All sounds and sources are from purchased and licensed VST libraries I've gathered over the years. Games & Sources In honor of Super Metroid's 30th anniversary, I wanted to have a bit of fun and remix one of it's most iconic tracks: Lower Brinstar. Composer: Kenji Yamamoto Edited June 8 by Hemophiliac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 several seconds of silence to trim off the beginning. opening is a really delicate synth arp and pad with some cinematic orchestral celli. the iconic whistle lead is represented at 0:17, and there's a synth bass in there under the celli as well. we get a beat at 0:31 and some more cinematic orchestra stabs. there's no rolloff here so there's some mud down bottom that's a little distracting. lead here is played by a flute, and is played as the original is with no personalization. i hear the ghuzeng in this section at 1:25 but it's not particularly idiomatic - it's used in a western method through here with no multi-articulations and no vibrato, so it's basically a steel harp or piano here. there's a few of the pitch wiggles at the end of phrases though which is a nice add. there's a falloff at 1:49 that isn't particularly prepared, and we get the same feel as back at 0:31 for a bit. the same flute lead section as back at 0:47 plays with the ghuzeng from 1:25 layered on top. this felt pretty copy/paste until the riff at 2:28, and continued feeling like that after this section until 2:48. there's a very patient outro after this section. i liked the more atmospheric feel of this outro. overall i think there's a lot of repetition in the last half of the piece. virtually everything between 1:53 and 2:47 is repeated content with no changes outside of a two-second descending riff in the ghuzeng. that's too much. i like the overall feel of the track, and the groove you have going is a neat idea. hearing no personalization on either major melody line along so much repetition, however, is tough. i'd love to hear more BronxTaco shining through on most of this track. it feels like all the best parts are cribbed exactly from the original. i think your instrument choice overall is neat, and i'd love to hear you explore that more - just like you do in lower brinstar in the game! adding more personalization and breadth to your approach will only improve your arrangement here. i feel like this is really close, and i understand if other judges don't feel the repetition is as big of a deal. for me to pass it, i'd want to hear more personalization throughout, and for that repeated section to not be a straight copy of the previous section. change some instrumentation, add some new countermelodic material, mix up the chords a bit, change your approach a bit, just do something so 30% of the song isn't the same as another part. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 ANOTHER Lower Brinstar.... what is going on here, this one even has a nearly identical title to the one I voted on two days ago. I'm darn glad I like this source but I feel like OCR has entered some kind of weird dimensional rift into the Metroid-verse. I like the beat established here, very groovy! Good instrumentation and fun interpretations of the source material. Lots of variation in sounds used. The elements are cohesive and sound good together. Arrangement is conservative and repetitive, I agree with proph on that. I really like this sound palette, but since it remains the same throughout the track, the repetition gets heavy. I agree with proph that the arrangement needs just a bit more development to pull away from the repeating source material and sounds. You could add a very soft yet moody breakdown, where the drums drop out and the bass goes to a pedal instead of groovy pattern. Let that simmer awhile then bust back into the groove, with something new or surprising added for the final section, with some original writing, or with variations in instruments playing the parts. On the mixing side, I think the elements are volume-balanced pretty well. The low end feels a little weak, perhaps some compression and a bit of volume gain on the bass would be good. The mids sound a little hyped right now, due to the low end being on the quiet side. Raising the bass volume will fix that. I'm actually pretty borderline here because there's a lot to like in this mix! Ultimately, the repetition is keeping it just under the bar. NO (borderline, resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 There's one word that keeps shooting through my mind while listening to this: more. I kept hoping this would expand on the original source more while it progressed through the track. More melodic embellishment, more original material; anything to add your own personal spin on it. One tiny way you did to it was adding the syncopation to that starts at 1:27. That was a good way to really make it feel different compared to the source, because there is no syncopation in the original. 2:27 was another good example of adding to it with the repeated notes in the melody. I could easily see 1:50 as a moment where you inject more original material and depart instead of repeating again. Overall, the vibe is nice. The drums and bass work together well and don't step on each other's toes. As far as the balance and mix, instruments are pretty close to where they should be, aside from the whistle which could come up by 1-3db. In summary, more variation and less repetition. This was very close though! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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