prophetik music Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 Cast: * minusworld - arrangement, production, guitars, bass, VSTs * Development of Avoid - guitar solo at 2:59, additional rhythm guitars * Biggoron - keytar solo at 3:27, keytar leads I spent many, many hours farming gate captains in Dynasty Warriors 2 and 3 for stats. As a result, the Hu Lao Gate theme is seared into my brain. When I started submitting to Dwelling of Duels this song was on my short list to cover when the right DoD theme fit. The source tune is such a banger that I didn't want to change much. The structure is pretty simple, using the tried-and-true method of turning an ABC game loop into ABC twice, but with solos! * Intro (Map Theme) * ABC (Hu Lao Gate) * Interlude (original bit + DW3 opening cinematic) * ABC with solos I always found the juxtaposition of ancient China with 80's rock hilarious, which spawned the title "Anachronistic Axes". In keeping with that title, I wanted this track to be a celebration of the axe! The guitharmonies in the source tunes were already a great bedrock. I added a Mr. Big-style interlude between the ABC parts, invited Development of Avoid for an insane guitar solo, and also invited Biggoron specifically for a keytar solo... since the keytar is axe-shaped. B-) Hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Intro: Map Theme (aka Oppression v2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foN3LZfMypc Primary source: Hu Lao Gate (aka Jump into the Battlefield v2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVCdQ1-Ecs&list=PLiLjrJxEE-t_nsyrdn-FgdQZaR7dBgvg_&index=24 Also this bit from the intro cinematic is featured in the Interlude: https://youtu.be/bSh8qDwC7jw?feature=shared&t=23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 big guitars with a ton of huge verb to start. i love how arena this feels at first for an opening. 0:39 brings in the Hu Lao Gate theme in the bass initially, and then the aforementioned guitar riff is right after. this is a pretty straightforward runthrough of the theme with rock drums instead of the silly electro drums in the original, but there's more verve in some of the harmonic elements than in the original. the electronic sfx are a little curious, i didn't really get where those were coming from. i was wondering how you'd do the stutter and...you did exactly what they did, so i guess that makes sense =) there's an interlude that's wildly different from everything else in the original, and then we're back to the original structure for some ridiculous solo work (like, holy crap, this is outrageous!). keytar solo is also superb as expected. after the solos we get a bit of the A theme, the same stutter effect as before, and it's done. not really an ending. i think this is a fun track to listen to. you're right in that the original is a solid foundation for crazy soloing. overall the arrangement is really close to not being enough for our standards - there's so little that you're adding that's different to make it not a cover with sick soloing. i think the adaptation to the style and adding in some extra harmonies here and there, alongside the pairings of the intro and interlude/bridge section, make it enough. from a mixing standpoint i can hear everything easily and the guitars have a lot of meat, so that's great. i'd love to hear more arrangement on this - there's so much that could be done with such a blank canvas of original material - but this is probably over our bar right now. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Huge mix! Map theme intro, followed by a very conservative playthrough of the Hu Lao source material. The guitar work is excellent! The production sounds great. Ooo I like the little stutter transition. I like the little interlude. Fantastic soloing! Cool proggy keys. I really like this arrangement despite its being so conservative. Each source is very clear to hear. I could almost see this getting a NO for being so similar to the primary source song, even including the little water drop noise and the stutter transition. The genre is the same so one could argue that this mix constitutes a sound upgrade, but it's a GREAT sound upgrade, wicked soloing, and the inclusion of the other two sources pushes the arrangement over the bar for me. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 Sweet huge guitars! Fantastically MASSIVE double tracked guitars. As was said previously, this is structurally conservative. However, the usage of multiple sources and solos are great at making this your own interpretation. This definitely could have had more of your own flavors and spices on this, but to me there's just enough arrangement to put this over the bar. The production is clean and all the parts are coming through cleanly. The 2:11-2:14 stutter transition was great. The transition at 3:27 could have been smoother, but that's like asking for a hot beverage to be even hotter somehow. Again, very excellent and tasteful solos from both guitar and keytar. This brings the axes to the party and everyone has a great time. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts