prophetik music Posted October 25, 2024 Posted October 25, 2024 Arrangement wise, I wanted to make a techno song with sounds that were overall less synth-y and more organic. There's a kick drum throughout, so I obviously couldn't make the whole track into some found sound, ambient adventure, but I do like the extended section in the middle where things start to sound extra incidental. The main lead is just a simple monophonic piano sound with a lot of deep reverb. The bass kind of wobbles back and forth in the stereo field, and also up and down in level, which is maybe a risky approach, but I don't think it's distracting as much as it is interesting. It has a granular send set an octave up to simulate low strings, and that same send effect is also on a few midrange instruments, simulating a middle strings section. I made these strings swell by ramping the send volume up using automation. Lot's of LFOs connected to all kinds of things via (virtual) CV, making constant (sometimes barely audible) changes to timbre and pitch. Different sounds coming and going. 134 BPM. 0:00 - 0:49 in source is 0:00 - 1:11 and 2:59 - 3:50 in mix. 0:49 - 1:47 in source is 1:11 - 2:44 in mix (some of which is the Bond theme but the arpeggios et al. are still there) The last 35 seconds of my mix have some subtle callbacks to earlier in the track as well. Big thanks to everyone who continue to keep OCR going strong. - Mike Games & Sources The source tune here is the Caverns theme from GoldenEye 007, by Graeme Norgate. I always wanted to do something from GoldenEye, and Caverns might feature the most melodic content that isn't the Bond theme - though that song is featured in the source and in my version - making it a suitable candidate for an OCR ReMix. The game's OST is kind of like the original game remix album: Graeme and Grant Kirkhope reinterpreted Monty Norman's classic theme in so many distinct, different styles, and even toward the end of the game, the music never felt repetitive despite the player hearing the same few motifs over and over.
prophetik music Posted October 25, 2024 Author Posted October 25, 2024 opening is heavily filtered. bell instrument that comes in has a ton of automation on it which is pretty neat, although it's a touch loud initially. same with the subsequent chord stack arp. there's a shift at 0:58 that cleans up the soundscape and has some interesting swells under it too. the melody at 1:11 is a bit buried by the arpeggio in the front, and also that instrument just doesn't carry like the arp's synth. there's some neat verb effects at 1:40 under the bell and backing elements. the section after this has a lot of washes of sound - it almost wanders but doesn't quite get lost in there. things start to fade down around 2:45, and we get a transition into a more angular feel at 2:51. this really reminded me of some mass effect soundscapes initially. it noodles through some more expansive synth elements before hitting a hard transition at 4:18 and then slowly dissipating. there's not a ton of source in the second half, so i did a quick review. i hear melodic material from 0:04-0:57, 1:11-2:09, 2:22-2:45, 3:06-3:20, and 4:32-4:35. that is just barely over the 50% line for a track that's 4:47 long - 145s out of 287s. there's a lot more here though since the chord progression is used a lot, so i don't mind that it's so close - the rest of the track is clearly derived from the source, so no concerns there. this is a pretty understated track overall. the subtle variations in backing elements are pretty neat once you pick up on them, and the more ambient approach is refreshing when presented alongside a consistent beat like this one has. it's certainly nothing hugely groundbreaking or wild like some of the stuff michael's submitted in the past, but it's definitely over our bar. YES
Liontamer Posted October 25, 2024 Posted October 25, 2024 Around the 2-minute mark, things felt sparse with the basic beat in place, but that was more of a nitpick and things filled in well at 2:52 anyway. It could hit harder, but it's meant to be a moodier piece. Cool exploration of the theme! Wonderful to hear GoldenEye 007 repped again, finally! YES
Hemophiliac Posted January 8 Posted January 8 This is minimal in a maximalist way. Do the most you can with as little as possible. Sparse, dark, and subtle. The massive reverbs fill so much space that you can use very little but maintain fullness. The departures from the source are welcomed as the original is mostly sparse and doesn't do much dangerous. I really liked the kick drum dropout for the final ~20-30 seconds or so as it was going relentlessly throughout. A change-up in that kick pattern sooner or a dropout could have added some textural contrast, but you also did kind of achieve that by making 2:44-2:52 drop down in velocity and maybe a slight high-pass filter on it too (hard to tell). At the end of it all, that's a nitpick as the pattern is fine as is; it's not the main focus but a driving force to move the song forward. Enjoyed this one! YES
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