*NO* Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time "w e l c o m e t o t h w o m p m a r t"

[Liontamer ⚖️]

Artist Name: Lucas Guimaraes

Arrangement, Production, Mix, Master - Lucas Guimaraes
Vocals - colorado weeks
Bass, Additional Drums, most Guitar - Sly Man

The source is plastered like, all over this
0:16-End - The rhythm that's played in the background on the bells
0:32-1:35 - Section A
1:36 - 2:08 - Section B
2:08 - 2:40 - Section C
2:41 - End - Section A

I don't have a whole lot to say about this track. I'd been in the mood for making Vaporwave for a while thanks to Ridley Snipes. I've already been doing Synthwave for a while (with mixed results... but hey, I'm learning!). I was listening to some Vaporwave, heard this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYb57fJzV7k and thought "Wow, Thwomp Volcano fits with that!" So I worked on it in October... and then it hit my draft folder. DoD came up with DS/3DS Month and I was like "I guess I could finally release some songs I've been working on." so I recruited colorado for vocal chops and sly for bass. Honestly, it was one of the most fun collabs we had. We were a bit deadline tight, but I had a blast.

I don't have much else to say about this track. If requested, I'd be glad to talk about the process in-depth more for the post, or to anyone interested in listening. The biggest thing I focused on here is making sure I got a good mix/the best sounding vaporwave *while* remaining true to the aesthetic... so some of the stuff you hear that might not be the cleanest mix (e.g. drowned in verb) are intentional

Enjoy!

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Games & Sources

 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by pixelseph

[prophetik music ⚖️]

such a goofy soundtrack. the melodic line is so angular, all the ascending fourths are an inverse of the bassline so that's really fun.

opens with detuned, crispy chords that echo the flute element in the original. 0:17 is where the percussive elements come in, and i agree, they are drowning in reverb. it's a lot lot. bass and melody come in together at 0:32. the lead instrument is a really unique sound with the detuning on it. the vocal clips are real interesting too.

there's a guitar that comes in around 1:05 and noodles through the melody, and soon after we get what sounds like an accordion or organ with vocal clips on top. this is another interesting sound profile, but admittedly the feel is getting tired by here after 90+ seconds of the same thing. there's mercifully a break right after this at around 2:10 - this would have been a good time to do a different drum pattern for a bit to give it a break before going back to the original feel at 2:26 when the bass comes back in. the track keeps the same feel with a recap of the original synth lead before a sudden stop for an ending, and then it's done.

i really don't care for ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣＳ that much so this genre isn't one i'm super familiar with. overall i feel that the track is pretty stilted and repetitive, although the concept is neat initially. the effects work on the vocals and leads is pretty impressive. the reverb that's washing the whole track does feel less like the lush, rich reverb i've come to associate with synthwave and other microgenres around it and more like playing a speaker in a bathroom - it's a lot colder and harsher than i'd have expected.

so i guess i'm not sure if my thoughts are appropriate here or not. i'll wait to get some perspective from other judges.

 

 

???

edit 7/31: i listened to a pile of stuff that emu wrote, and read through the other judge writeups. i need to state that i think that this genre is nonsense and the genre norms that it encourages sound wretched, way more so than sludge rock or crunkcore or other similarly niche concepts, so that's the context of this vote. but comparing lucas's track to his reference track, lucas's verb is far more present (and metallic, it does sound like spring verb, good call kris) than the other examples provided. comparing it to most of the 'chillwave' and 'vaporwave' tracks on emu's reference vid, the reverb is again more metallic - and, more importantly, the instrumentation feels far more separated. the percussion for example feels like it's a totally different song's percs layered in, same with the bass. i agree that the vocal clips are handled really well, and the obviousness of the low-poly approach is clear. but man, this just sounds like something that comes from a kid's electronic toy that took a dive at bath time. the reverb just feels too much. and that's aside from how angular and stiff the actual arrangement feels.

NO

Edited Thursday at 12:19 PM by prophetik music

[Chimpazilla ⚖️]

Very interesting production style here!  The heavy reverb and the flutter and wow over the whole soundscape puts me right in the middle of the mall in the middle of the 80s.  Very cool!

I do agree with proph that this reverb sounds cold, almost icy, perhaps it's too crisp?  Is this a plate or spring reverb perhaps?  It has a metallic feel.  The reverb lacks warmth (hence the coldness!).  The amount of reverb is fine, as this is what was intended, but the character of the reverb could definitely be more pleasant than this.  This isn't a dealbreaker for me, just an observation.  Heck, maybe I'm at the mall in January and it's snowing outside.

What is a dealbreaker for me is the repetitive nature of this arrangement.  First of all, it plods.  The energy of the piece stays the same from beginning to end. The drum groove is exactly the same all throughout the piece, even with the kick being dropped out here and there, the snare and hat patterns never change.  I do appreciate that the lead instrument changes throughout the arrangement, but the bass, plucks/mallets, backing elements and vocal clips are the same from beginning to end and it just feels so repetitive to me.  Some variation in the soundscape elements, writing, and drum groove would greatly improve this arrangement.

The source is definitely plastered like, all over this, so we're all good there.  I love the concept!  But the repetitive/static nature of the arrangement, instrumentation and writing are blowing it for me.

NO 

[jnWake ⚖️]

That reference track is fun, I dig the vibe.

Ok, so this starts just like the reference haha, on a different key apparently. There's definitely more reverb on the plucky synths though. Percussion enters at 0:16, it's more subdued than I'd imagined given the reference. Source melody enters at 0:32, joined by some really cool vocal chops (they were present earlier but they take a bigger role now) and a bass. Vocals and melody clash at times here, maybe some smart panning would help. At 1:05 we move to the second melody, also on guitar. At 1:36 we move to a new section, some interesting chords/harmonies here. Mix is quite muddy here. 2:08 is a it of a break with another source melody. We then return to the original melody until a somewhat sudden ending at 3:16.

This is definitely a trip...  Unlike chimpazilla above I don't have much qualms with the repetitive nature of the arrangement as I feel you do a good job of swapping instruments and melodies despite the general mood being somewhat static. I feel the arrangement nails what it's going for. That said, if you wanted to modify the arrangement, a good/fun trick would be to imitate the reference track on the quick key changes, always sound fresh even when melodies/sounds don't change much!

However, I do have issues with the production. I don't have really have more references of the genre other than the you shared so I may be off the mark but I feel the usage of reverb isn't really doing its job. In my view, the intent of the reverb is to make the soundscape feel bigger, especially on the percussion. Here, however, the reverb is instead applied heavily to everything, creating a ton of mud on the soundscape and making the melodies and chords hard to hear. On another note, I feel the kick and snare should be much more present on the mix.

Overall, this is a really cool concept and while I really enjoyed it I feel some extra work is needed to make it shine. Tame/modify the reverb so that it's creating the feeling of space you want but without it burying the melodies/chords and consider giving the kick/snare more presence (this one is probably just personal preference).

NO

Edited Wednesday at 03:34 AM by jnWake

[Emunator ⚖️]

I'm gonna be the naysayer here - I think this is actually pretty on-point for the style. I can definitely see why J's that aren't familiar with vaporwave might struggle with this, but I actually felt like this was better executed than a lot of "mainstream" vaporwave pieces. It definitely scans as a stylistic decision to me rather than an oversight - one of the hallmarks of this genre is really bright, over-the-top reverb washes that blanket pretty much everything, so it sounds like you're listening to it out of a loudspeaker in an old shopping mall. I really dig this a lot, I think this is one of Lucas' best electronic pieces to date. The vocal chops are really tasteful and well-processed, and Sly Man's live performed contributions really make it feel like this track was resampled from an old yacht rock banger from the 70's. 

I'd encourage anyone on the fence about this to listen through this mix which contains clips of 50 of the most notable vaporwave songs - you'll hear this reverb technique on almost everything: 

Where I think this song does better than many of the genre mainstays is the presence on the drums/bass - it helps provide a solid foundation in the mix so that it still holds up well compared to more conventionally-produced music, and keeps the washy reverb contained better so that it's still listenable even for those who aren't familiar with this niche genre that's fundamentally supposed to have a lo-fi, low-quality production aesthetic.

Not sure if this vote will sway anyone, but I will say this - in my opinion, I think doing anything to change the reverb would fundamentally alter the character of this song and I don't think it would be nearly as memorable if it were produced "traditionally." YMMV, but for me, it's a 

YES

 

[pixelseph ⚖️]

This one is a tough vote for me - I also hate this style! :D

Production-wise, I do hear what my fellow Js are saying about everything washed in verb, but I'm going to side with Emu on this being a feature and not a bug. It gets the vibe right where it's supposed to be for the style.

Arrangement-wise, this does a fantastic job of flipping the source into this style; no qualms about that. I have to side with Chimpa on the plodding nature of the piece, specifically because of the hat pattern on the drums. The way they establish the vibe @ :15 is great, bass entering with the slide @ :32 is also great! Bass drops out @ :49, and by the time we get to 1:05 with the guitar solo, I'm already sick of the hat pattern even with the drop. @ 2:10 not dropping the hats here with the rest of the kit is a missed opportunity to break that monotony.

So the question is, is the drum writing here a nitpick, or is it sinking the whole ship? I think it sinks the ship, even though it wouldn't take much to bring it back afloat. I'm not saying y'all need to wildly alter the feel, but it's worth exploring more options inside this vibe - ride cymbal, shaker, tambourine, just something doing a different pattern with a different timbre for some of the piece.

NO