Disco Dan Posted August 5, 2002 Share Posted August 5, 2002 Skies of Arcadia 'Dungeon Cave (Buried Alive Mix)' This is basically reworded from the judges forum... The quality on this mix is high. At least on the guitars, though I think the bongos aren't varied enough to connote realism to me, but that's just the way I think when it comes to bongos. The intro has a nice almost Irish sound to it, very beautiful with the layers and the reverb, though I'm still disliking the bongos. It drags on for a bit (maybe too long?) then the hard part. Ok, that sounds like bass-distortion there. And out of tune guitars. Not as baldy out of tune as it could be but... still... The guitars ARE out of tune in the "heavy" part. To be honest, I've heard good guitar music (Dream Theatre, Steve Morse, Joe Satriani), and this middle section just sounds plain messy. Very messy and crowded. The acoustic part isn't too bad at all, but it IS a bit too repetitious in my opinion, seeing as the first 1:45 repeats itself at the end. Overall, there's not much variety here, and the middle part is very messy, though, on the positive side, the repetitious part is high quality. A former roommate once said "Just because you really like a part of the song doesn't mean you should beat everyone over the head with it till they don't like it anymore." And if there had been more melody over the repetitious part it would have been more bearable. A nice violin with subtle reverb and delay would have sounded nice there. Anyway, I feel this mix has much potential but really isn't finished yet. A shame really. The question in my mind is does the high quality repetitious part redeem the rest of the song? I can't answer that. DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan8bit Posted August 5, 2002 Share Posted August 5, 2002 I had to download this just after reading the judges decisions (which I always do for fun). I've never even played this game before, but I liked this tune. I could understand the concerns for out of tune guitar. And for the bongos (they didn't have as much reverb as the guitars)... and of course repetition. But it's not so bad... I do like the arrangement, despite it's repetition because it's very calming. And then you're brought into a rock part in the middle which is kind of chaotic, but interesting. All in all, I enjoyed it, despite numerous little things that could've been changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdj_microbe Posted August 5, 2002 Share Posted August 5, 2002 I have to agree with the first post. The bongos at the beginning did seem unlikeable. It did drag on for too long. The transitions between the different instuments in the beginning seemed to not connect. It seemed a little jaunty. But then during the song, especially near the middle of the song it sounded good from then on. It's hard to explain you just have to listen to understand. I played Skies of Arcadia about three time and I have to say that this is a fair attempt of a SOA remix. I do hope the DJ will make another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion303 Posted August 5, 2002 Share Posted August 5, 2002 Wow, it went up. This is actually my favorite remix to date. I understand some of the judges' complaints about the "muddy, crowded, busy" middle, but I should point out that I mixed it that way on purpose. It *is* called "Buried Alive," after all, so even if you didn't like it, I'm happy I accomplished my goal. As for the other concerns: some of the lead in the middle was slightly out of tune. I'd like Ailsean to jump in and give me his impression, as he has a good ear for tuning. My guitar's intonation is off a bit, which affects higher notes, and I tried to correct the pitch drift with software. I don't have the best ear for pitch, though, so hopefully it wasn't too far off. For the repetition: the intro was just long enough to let me get the melody sections in (there are two in the original). I tried to make the outro a little different by throwing in the extra drum line over the bongoes, but apparently it wasn't enough to break the monotony. Anyhoo, thanks for the comments and constructive criticism. I'll keep it in mind next time around (although my Demon's Crest remix is done and I'm too sick of it to mess with it anymore, so there). -steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkCecil13 Posted August 5, 2002 Share Posted August 5, 2002 Nice to be hearing from Mr. Pordon again. First off, this is an excellent mix. The subtle intro smoothly introduces you into some nice heavier juice. My only complaint about this mix is during the heavier parts. The way the percussion is panned natural just doesn't work well with my ears. Panning the kick hard left and the snare hard right just doesn't work for me Other than that, it's great. Nothing else I can complain about. Good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWired Posted August 11, 2002 Share Posted August 11, 2002 This little piece remains a puzzle to me, the introduction was not very well pieced toghether, the transition between the many sort of instruments just didnt piece up. Near the middle the low-quality heavyer stuff kicked in, but its just not enough to make me put up with this mix .. the sound isnt horrendous .. but theres a lot of better remixes out there thumbs down on this one folks, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shhteve Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 I really think this piece is mediocre compared to some songs from this game that could be ReMixed extremely well.. No offense to the DJ, but I know you can ReMix another song that sounds so much better than this did. This was an odd song to ReMix, but of course, if it weren't for daring people like you, this world would be such a boring place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayLightning Posted December 25, 2002 Share Posted December 25, 2002 I thought this was pretty enjoyable. I'd like to see more from this artist, that's for certain. As someone suggested about more Skies of Arcadia music, I don't know about that, since the original is pretty perfect. Hard to top the original, perhaps impossible. Good work though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Heart Posted May 13, 2003 Share Posted May 13, 2003 This tune did its job to be called "Buried alive" but it could've been done a better job. I won't really want to dl these kind of songs but it was enjoyable while it lasted. Meh...imo it could've been done better but it was pretty good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corporal Eschebone Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Very good, wonderful really, but not for close listening - Too repititious if you don't allow it to work its intended effect as background music, at least up until the guitars. Then things get heavy, but in a good way. The guitars are very high-quality with the perfect amount of reverb. Good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Can't say i'm a huge fan of this one. Sorry. There are some good parts to be sure, but the out of tune lead guitar and the somewhat aimless arrangement left me wanting more. The clean guitar tone was nice, and it was really densely layered, but it seemed to go in circles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uagrenadier Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 damn this is awesome and overly snubbed and criticized if you are easily offended by any hint of repetitiveness in music, never play a video game or judge video game music and let the rest of us enjoy the splendor blighters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmiduke Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 I can see why people minded this, and I certainly have issues with some elements in here, but I also really get something out of it. It's not just repetitive music; it sort of transcends that. In fact, the only problem I have with the mix is that the two sections don't gel like they should. Transitioning into the heavy part was a lot less jarring than coming out of it, but both left a bit to be desired. Most of it is the fault of differing levels of production quality, or approach to production quality. The result is the disorted guitar work drifting over the acoustic stuff like a murky fog. Aesthetically and cohesively, it creates problems for me; stylistic choice or not. It could have been a much better bridge section if it didn't make everything seem unclear and cloudy. It's like listening to a bad song and a good song over the top of one another. As for the rest, I understand that it needed some sort of variation shift with the bridge, but I have to say that I liked the drawn out approach and thought the added drumline worked a treat. Pity it didn't knock it out of the park though. A misfire maybe, but an intriguing one nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 I enjoyed the opening and ending a lot more than I did the middle section. Dave put it right when he said it felt like a descent into darkness for those portions, which I thought was a really cool and mesmerizing affect. The center section felt a bit aimless to me (odd considering the beginning is aimless as well, but IMO in a good way), and it didn't fit with overall with the two outside sections. Too bad, I really liked the intro/ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweex Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Ok, right out of the gate, this intro has me groovin! The hand percussion is really cool and it sounds great. THe echo electric guitar also sounds really nice. The performance gets a little hairy here and there, but I can easily get past that. However, it took 1:45 minutes to get into the meat of the song. The sudden change was a abrupt and devoid of high end head room. The intonation/pitch of the solo e guitar is pretty off here and there. The transition back into the percussion and e guitar was also abrupt. I would have LOVED to hear more development of this section as, production wise, it was the strongest. However, the acoustic drums that come in with this section really added a lot but it really needed a bass line in there to keep it going stronger. The fade out took way too long to come in as that section just repeated over and over again. Once again, it's good to hear Steve get away from the GM sounds and I will give him mad props for that alone. The arrangement here was a just a little too empty for me to really get into the vibe of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ligerwolf Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 ok, i actually like this. just a tad too long of an "into" to it but pretty good overall. good job though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octagon Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 I hear Ali Farka Touré and some Death Note in this, an interesting combination with the distorted guitars. The intro makes the rest a lot more hypnotic than it would be on its own. Very evocative - it feels very heavy, yet the percussion causes a bit of a floaty sensation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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