Liontamer ⚖️ Posted June 21 Posted June 21 Artist Name: 7DD9 This remix is about exploring Dr. Eldon Tyrell's pyramid in the Blade Runner universe. Vintage synths have taken over to create the proper atmosphere and mood for the listener. My love for this type of creation is strong as an old school guy and as a Blade Runner and Vangelis fan of course. I remember when I was a kid, I would wake up in the morning and run to put the cassette to load the game and listen to its music for hours. ...So Rick Deckard this time meets the Scarabaeus Astronaut... Games & Sources Game : Scarabaeus (1985) Music Soundtrack : Main Theme Original C64 composition by Csaba Nagy (perhaps) Scarabaeus, known in America as Invaders of the Lost Tomb, is a computer game released for the Commodore 64 in 1985. It was written in Hungary by Andromeda Software and distributed in the UK by Ariolasoft. Original tune :
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted July 10 Posted July 10 opens with a sustained version of the descending riff that's the the original throughout. there's some bass elements coming in eventually as well. 0:36 is where the melodic material comes in. there's some timing funness in here which is a neat thing. it's very Final Frontier-ish for a bit there until the descending arp comes back in with a beat. i like the bass automation bringing those tones in and out. it does this for about two minutes, and then there's a bit of a break for a few seconds before it gets back into it. i wouldn't have minded more of a shift there at 2:49. we do finally get a bit of a shift in the timbres at 3:39. one more languid melodic line, and then it fades out very suddenly in a detuned manner. so i really was digging this at first. when the beat finally comes in and it's trucking along, i thought that was really solid, through about 2:30 or so. after that it was over a minute before we really got a change from that same thing, and the change was minimal (just some timbral elements) before a non-ending, which is a real bummer. i think the concept is really neat and i really like the instrument choice. i wish that it'd mixed things up more in the second half, but what's here is probably enough. if this doesn't pass, adding some more progression to the track after the 2:45 mark would be an easy win, as would adding an ending at all. YES
Hemophiliac ⚖️ Posted July 16 Posted July 16 Absolutely feels like a modern Blade Runner/Vangelis piece. Suspenseful, dark, spacy, and future-retro. With contemporary production because everything is mixed forward and huge. Sounds are analog and throwback, super rad. Once the melodic material enters at 0:37, it gets used from then on out. I wonder how much of this was sequenced and how much of it is performed because the backing to the arrangement is fairly static with subtle timbral changes throughout. The ostinato doesn't have much note variation in it other than dropping out or restarting. It's the filter opening/closing that's doing the work here. Would've liked to seen more of your own personalization in terms of changing up more than just the colors that are being painted with. But the quality here isn't supposed to be that, it's an analog jam over the top of a repeating ostinato. It's short enough that it doesn't overstay it's welcome, but a bigger contrasting B section would have benefited it greatly. I could see the repetition of the ostinato being a problem for some, but the timbral changes do enough to keep it moving/changing. The ending is a bit disappointing because it does come out of nowhere with little preparation, but it is an ending. I don't really have any major issues that knock this out of being worthy of posting, but it absolutely could be more. What's here is good enough. YES
Chimpazilla ⚖️ Posted July 17 Posted July 17 The guys have covered the issues well. This is a cool Blade Runner/Vangelis vibe. It morphs and changes as it moves along, and the filter movement is appreciated and cool, but the arrangement actually feels very repetitive; once the instruments and vibe and soundscape are established, there is very little development happening after that. I would have loved to hear another lead sound take over for a section, or have something else added somewhere, and perhaps the arp dropped out for at least one section just for a sonic break. But this is cool and dreamy and just verging on cyberpunk. So I agree with the sentiment that "this could be more, but what's here is enough." The mix feels just a bit mid-low heavy/muddy. The master is limited at -1.1 which seems like a very odd hard limit. The master is loud but not overcompressed. Ok, I was all set to vote YES (borderline) on this, but I think I'd love to see at least one more opinion on the arrangement feeling hella repetitive first. I'm feeling like I'm pressuring myself to vote YES due to "onevoteaway" and that's not good, so I'll wait a bit. ?
paradiddlesjosh ⚖️ Posted July 17 Posted July 17 Easy to make the Blade Runner/Vangelis connections on this one. I'm reminded of "Island Spinning" by Rich O'Meara (yes, this is a percussion ensemble piece and yes, it's notably missing lots of synth elements) thanks to the polymeter and the idea of lots of elements -- even the melody line -- orbiting one ostinato for the duration. There's also something fun about the additional samples (the gong, the water droplet) as transitional elements, like some sonic easter eggs. In the broad strokes, this track feels repetitive -- once that three-note ostinato from 0:09-0:36 returns at 0:55, it trucks through until the outro at 4:12. Having said that, there's an appreciable amount of filter movement and unless I'm mistaken, I can hear notable pitch shifts in this ostinato. I would absolutely be on board with another no-arp segment like 0:36-0:55 -- maybe right before the key change at around 2:49 -- as well as more setup on that sudden outro. The addition of the detuning pad at 3:35 seems to be the harbinger for the end on repeat listens -- there's probably a way to make this clearer to the audience on a first-time listen, but I don't think I could communicate that myself. No arguments about source material usage here; if anything, this arrangement's fairly conservative, particularly regarding the presentation of the melody line. But the intro, the no-arp segment, the filtering on the arp, and the key shift at 2:49 are, I feel, enough personalization to put this over the bar. I agree with Chimpazilla that the mix is on the border of muddy with the low-mid presence, but I haven't heard anything that I'd consider a dealbreaker in terms of production. There's certainly potential for better but what's been submitted is good enough for OCR. YES
pixelseph ⚖️ Posted July 19 Posted July 19 Going for glib here since the other Js have outlined the main points of this piece - repeated arp line with evolving textures and key changes. There's enough here that sets it apart from the source, though I would have liked there to be more and smaller breaks to the arpeggio. The mix is indeed thicc in the low mids, but I'm not feeling like it's too muddy either. Happy to bring this one into the site. YES
Recommended Posts