OCR00615 - Wizards & Warriors "It's Knighttime"

[orkybash]

Wizards & Warriors 'It's Knighttime'

Well, I'll ignore the fact that the source music is pretty annoying. Overall this mix ain't bad, but it ain't that great either. Its very repetitive, and the brass sample is the worst I've heard in a long time, and the fact that there is a definite lack of reverb doesn't help much. The last part actually sounded decent - that and the drums were about the only parts of the mix I liked. If you download it, download it for those. But overall, unless you're a big W&W fan, I'd skip it.

[Royal Sovereign]

I was a fan of the source material (the first fire-cave) when I was a boy, so hearing this comes as a pleasant surprise. This remix is an exceptional one that I like a lot. The unique instrumentation makes it like something off the soundtrack to a modern horror movie (it does sound scary, doesn't it?!). Very, very good work.

[superdan54]

Great sounding mix...Reminds me alot of the old Atari 2600 "Asteriods" game.

[Apollon]

The link is not working at all

[OceansAndrew]

ok, now that is a snare.. the snare of a true pimp.

The brass is a little weak, but the groove is awesome, and all this needs is Snoop Dogg kickin tha ill flow.

The arrangement and development are both pretty subtle here, but I like it; mixing the percussion up throughout also keeps things interesting for a long time. I think the ending was a bit weak, but otherwise this is really some good stuff, and would sound great with an MC over it.

[The Author]

It's hard to define this remix. I am not familiar with the source material, and I can't say I'm a fan of the remix. But that's my tastes. It can, at some point, get a little grating. However, I can see what was done, and well, I can see a lot of work went in that remix. Everything fits together, and it flows well, but I kinda prefer the last minute or so, where it is less hard on the eardrums. And as it was said, the end is weak. In the last minute, the song picks up and goes in a different direction and then simply dies out.

It's probably very interesting from a technical point of view, but my untrained ear can't get over the painful first 2-3 minutes. (And I mean painful because in a bout of synaesthesia, sounds are associated with sensations, and the sharp noises in the first 2-3 minutes are just not doing me any good.)

[Eino Keskitalo]

This is quite rough. Some of those organ(?) notes sound out of sync. A lot of the sounds sound a bit too "cheap." Rough samples, but even rough samples can be used well.

The mix ain't all bad. The brass stabs are kinda painful, yeah, but at the same time kinda intriguing. The transition at 03:00 to a wider/fuller sound spectrum is very effective. The piece gains a whole lot of momentum, but then it just dies.

I think what the arrangement is going for is a good idea, the first three minutes build tension (with the bell-like melodies providing a little breathing breaks) and the release at 3:00 works really well, but on the whole it doesn't quite achieve what it's going for.

--Eino

[DragonAvenger]

Not really my cup of tea. Brass hits are...bad. Melody is repetative and grating, and I couldn't keep focus. From the sounds of it the original is to blame, but I can't say I'm going to keep this. Sorry.

[Palpable]

Haha, I'm liking this despite myself. Very dry, very repetitive, but there's still a compelling quality there. Put a good rapper over top of it, and you've got something. The ending was unexpected but was a cool addition; would have been cooler with real guitars and drums though. I could see a rock/rap group like Linkin Park making this into something massive.

[justinj212]

good concept, but I do feel like you could have built upon it a little bit and made it into something even better. feels kind of like a funky background beat that's missing the vocals. it definitely improves towards the end! good job overall

[Bahamut]

You know, listening to this now, it doesn't seem as bad as when I originally listened to it - perhaps not being overly fond of the source tune also turned me off initially.

Samples do hold this mix back a lot I feel, and the main melody creeps back in too slowly around 1:58, but this is a fairly minor complaint. The ending could've been done been though.

[Rexy]

Well, this feels kind of unusual for a 2002 mix to me - it's strangely dry for most of the way, maybe give or take the harpsichord part. Not saying that's a bad thing - after handing a lot of really damp and unclear tracks from this same era, this actually feels so much more refreshing to me. True, the samples may indeed feel a little weak and unexpressed even for their time though, but with what's there it fits appropriately with the genre.

See, it's not just trance musicians that uses the term DJ: can apply for the field of hip hop too.

The arrangement is pretty solid too, if not a little straightforward with gradually building up the components of the source material, repeating that same buildup and going all out with some original writing with the ending. But considering other mixes of its time it handled the arrangement component decently well IMO, which is pretty tricky in itself considering the source.

To be fair, if there's something that baffled me more it's the sudden transition to rock drums at the 3 minute mark. You had this urban flavor going on for most of the track, but to suddenly change drum kits near the end kind of started to feel a little unnecessary. I do however give mad props for the original writing in this part though, which can manage to make this oddity a little more hidden away.

Either way, I'm glad to see you managed to stick to your guns with some Wizards & Warriors coverage during your time. I don't find it bad at all for a 2002 mixpost