OCR04783 - *YES* Pictionary "No Eraser, 10B Only, Final Destination!"

[Liontamer]

And yet more Dwelling of Duels. For April 2024's VGMCon, DoD decided to host a special competition, a "Tornado of Solos" for the iconic Title Theme from Pictionary (NES). This type of competition is different from the standard DoD competition in the sense that everyone has to cover the same source instead of having a theme and freedom to choose a source that fits. Since everyone was doing the same track, part of the challenge (for me at least) was covering it in a way that would stand out.

Anyway, this source has become kind of a meme in the VGM community thanks to the "IT WAS JUST PICTIONARY TIM" comments and such but, if I'm being honest, it's not the most impressive Tim Follin work IMO. Although the sound design is impressive, the composition itself is much less crazy than other Follin works (like Solstice for example). In any case, it has a ton of fun riffs and solos so it was still fun to cover. For my take I went for a jazz-ish cover, since it's a style that comes somewhat naturally to me and wouldn't require me to hunt for any collabers. I also didn't have much time to do the remix for several reasons (work and the death of my computer among them) so yeah, it was kind of a miracle I even made it in time... Somewhat unexpectedly, given the circumstances, my track was actually the winner of the competition so yay me I suppose.

K, as usual I'll highlight some parts of the source to make judging easier. 0:08 features the first main melody of the source, 0:15 features the second main melody, 0:22 we'll call the "arpeggios" section, 0:34 is the "funky riff", 0:48 is the main solo and 1:26 is the outro.

Now, for my remix:

0:00-0:04: Intro, taken directly from the source. I raised the BPM a little bit, from 128 to around 138.

0:04-0:32: First solo, the chord progression is based on the "arpeggios" of the source while the lead is based on the first few bars of the main solo. At 0:18 I change up the chord progression a bit while the synths plays something similar to the arpeggios part. 0:25 has a fun synth run!

0:32-0:52: Main riff returns with a funky bass and then we enter into the first main melody over a different chord progression.

0:53-1:14: Slowed down version of the second main melody followed by a return to the main riff.

1:14-1:53: Arpeggios section followed by another synth solo, reprising the chord progression from the first solo. 1:43 has a weird piano/synth run that acts as bridge.

1:53-2:53: Funky riff followed by 2 solos. 2:07 has a polyphonic solo, I don't do them often but it was fun, I wanted the 2 solos to feel different and that was a good way of doing it. 2:22 has a more standard synth solo over a jazzy chord progression (gotta love them stacked 4ths). The ending of the solo at 2:49 is also the ending of the solo from the source.

2:53-3:14: Reprise of first main melody and then second main melody.

3:14-end: Outro of the source covered pretty directly.

That's it, hope you enjoy my weird take on this iconic Follin theme!

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Games & Sources

Game: Pictionary (NES)
Source: Title Theme.

[prophetik music]

intro hit at 0:04 is great. the solo synth's a bit loud, but i love the vibe of the keys and drums behind. arpeggios section at 0:20 or so was just awesome. we get the first real band section at 0:32. i like the use of the arpeggio in the background to tie it together. 0:53's slower melodic section was perfectly timed after all the faster shredding earlier. 

1:53's a nice settling point to work as a launching point for some fun solo work. i also liked the stacked fourths chord model for your descending progression near the end of the second solo. i think this second lead was a bit too trebley for me, but other than that this was really fun.

after some transitional work, 3:00's got a recap of the earlier section with an outro, and it's done.

this is outrageous as expected. you didn't need to go this hard. excellent job.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

Original writing at :03 was SO LOUD over the top of the Pictionary base, it pretty much drowned it out until :17. :'-( I can tell at this point that I'm not going to be enjoying the mixing due to the levels feeling too LOUD. It'll sound like I'm saying the production was jacked or below the bar; IMO, the leads are OK, but feel too dry and loud. There's probably a way to give the texture a warmer, more cohesive sound to it that I'm just not knowledgeable enough to convey, but hopefully a musician J can. Arrangement-wise, this is awesome and that carries it. :-)

YES

[Hemophiliac]

This source is right in your wheelhouse. I do enjoy your proggy-esque work.

Source usage is not a problem here at all, lots of interpretation and riffing on those wild Follin lines. I like how at 1:59 you emulated the opening from the source some with the doubling of the chip lines with slightly different voices. I do agree with Liontamer that the leads are a little forward in the mix and more dry then the background elements. That can be easily remedied with varying up the wet/dry levels on the reverb to push it forward/back (And maybe -1db less in the volume mix, not much). Not a problem for me though, as that only made it slightly off of perfection. Great work.

"Awesome, wild, and crazy". That's your Pictionary hint for guessing at this: YES

[Gario]

It was just Pictionary, jnWake!

All joking aside, this ain't an easy track to arrange just because of how complex the source is (it is Tim Follin, after all), but you do a pretty good job making it your own by using the source as the backbone to your wankin' leads and solos (and we all love wankery here on OCR). The mixing of the lead is too close to the front, as mentioned by Larry, but in an arrangement with this much motion it's better to mix things too much to the front than too little - even if it ain't perfect it isn't going to hurt listeners too much.

Overall the production is good enough, the instrument choice is juicy with some fantastic leads mixed in with classic NES rectangle waves, and the arrangement is fantastic (arranging Tim Follin, to boot!), I don't see any reason not to post this. Nice work!

YES