*NO* Out of This World 'Stranded Suite'

[Liontamer]

Hey Larry,

I tried twice to email my submission to the submissions@ocremix.org addy and kept getting failure notices. So, I figured I'd just send it your way if thats cool.

Here's the info:

Remix Name: Out of This World - Stranded Suite

Contact Info:

Real Name: Rich Douglas

Email: rdouglas@sbcglobal.net

Website: http://www.thq.com

User Id: 7038

Remix Info:

Game Remixed: Out of This World / Another World

Additional Info: Music Composed By Jean Francois Freitas, released on PC, SNES, Genesis, Amiga

Links to source material:

Unfortunately there really isn't much in the way of chiptunes available for this game.. so I found in game footage on youtube which I'll utilize as my source for you guys to crosscheck the validity of my suite.

My suite is broken up into 5 sections which are as follows:

Logos / Menu - from 00:00 to 00:15

This is a darker slower rendition of the logo / menu sequence which can be heard from 00:03 to 00:13 here:

=

Lesters Lab - from 00:15 to 2:16

The first minute or so of this is completely original up until 01:08 in my suite. At that point the string motif is fairly dead on (all the way through the female chorus I put in) from 02:46 to 03:50 here:

There is one chiptune for this cue which can be heard here:

http://www.exotica.org.uk/tunes/unexotica/games/Another_World.html

Another World - from 02:17 to 03:35

I had to find some way to work in the discovery piano theme heard throughout the game, so I put in an original ambient lead up from 02:17 to 03:08 which utulizes the 2 bass notes that accompanies the piano later on. At 03:08 the piano discovery theme is note for note and can be heard from 06:30 to 06:40 here:

Action - from 03:36 to 04:23

There are variants of this theme heard throughout the game, but my main influence stems from the beast chase near the beginning of the game. I utilized many of the motifs from the original and of course added in some more orchestration and electronics. It can be heard from 05:46 to 06:39 here:

The End - from 04:23 to 05:05

As I didn't feel like the original end cue fit the vibe, I made my own which utilizes the string motif heard in Lesters Lab once again... only this time it sounds a bit more hopeful.

Additional Comments:

Like my Flashback Memory Leak suite submitted a couple of months ago I approached this as if I was going to score an Out of This World remake or film and make it sound as epic as possible through the use of a full orchestra, choir, and a slew of synths (mainly an old yamaha DX7). This is a game that really blew me away when I first played it and the music (however sparse it was) was fairly catchy... mainly that discovery piano theme and the action music. I opted to utilize a fair amount of reverb, raido delay, and EQing to give the music more of a spacious alien feel.

I understand that this is... once again... a fairly unorthodox sort of mix and the lack of chiptunes definately doesn't help either. If you have any questions please feel free to pm or email me.

Rich

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Thanks to Rich for the thorough explanation regarding the arrangement, including the much appreciated YouTube links for easy reference. The source usage is obvious once you check those out.

Using Rich's cue names, here's how I'd break down the actual source usage per each section:

Logos/Menu: :00-:18

Lester's Lab: 1:08-2:15

Another World: 3:08-3:33

Action: 3:37-4:23

The End: 4:23-4:58

So for 5:02's worth of music, there was 3:11's worth of arrangement. Honestly, I would have just passed this along for DP, but I just had to be sure of what was there, plus the rest of us get to check it out.

The only changeup I wasn't feeling was the one into the ending section at 4:23, which was just abrupt and had no meaningful transition. Too bad.

I was loving everything else though. I really liked the difference in the treatment of Lester's Lab comparing the middle (1:08-2:16) and the last section (4:23-4:28). The electronic stuff in the foreground above the Lester's Lab strings until 1:50 was a great idea.

The Another World section was another good expansionist take and cranked up the tension that was already in the source's writing.

The dynamics were excellent, and the louder portions of Rich's orchestration were full of bombastic energy, in this case the Logos/Menu and Action sections. Very up in your face.

Solid stuff, and a great addition to the site. If this doesn't draw GrayLightning out from the dead, nothing will. He was sad that we had to remove our only Out of This World mix for being too close to the original. He'd get a kick out of this one. Way to go for arranging under-appreciated games. First Flashback and now this. Awesome. Rich has an arrangement from a more familiar game coming up next, and it's sure to be good stuff as well. I'm looking forward to it.

Say it with me now...

YES!

[big giant circles]

Aight, well, thanks to Larry and Rich both for breakdowns of the source & arrangement. Very very helpful.

This is definitely very cool and cinematic, which you said you were going for, so good job pulling it off.

My ONLY real gripe is that the mix seems a little off. Similar to the gripes people had with Harmony of Destruction, I think this loses some of its energy and/or intensity due to the fact that it's rendered a bit on the quiet side, and it's a little too spacey as well. Mostly, there's a lot of high-end saturation, and nowhere near enough mid/mid-low end to counter balance things. So here's the deal. I'd like that fixed before this goes up.

Say it with me now...

YES (CONDITIONAL)

[Vig]

The first thing I notice is that the track has some great textures. darkish fanfare and understated basslines. Solid dynamics, in part thanks to the mild case of medlyitits. I feel like this does detract somewhat. The tune doesn't have a unified direction; it just jumps from one tune to the next. It's crappy ending is especially indicative of this.

I think it needs to have more direction as a track rather than a collection of tunes.

NO

[DarkeSword]

Sorry agreeing with Vig here. What you've got is nice, but it sounds like a collection of songs rather than one cohesive piece. I didn't mind it so much in the Flashback suite as the transitions worked alright there, but not so much here. I think the medly-itis in this piece really kills it.

There are certainly ways to combine multiple source tunes into a single, cohesive work. This feels like a "Highlights from Out of This World" piece some pops orchestra would play. I think that as a single mix, it's really lacking in direction.

NO

[zircon]

The frequency balance sounds weird here, like there has been a filter applied. The treble is particularly heavy and there's not a lot of low/low-mid energy. This makes the entire mix sort of grating as a result whenever there are any instruments playing in the higher register. I think this should not be posted unless the frequency spectrum can be properly balanced; the highs are just too heavy. The melodic instruments are at times overshadowed by loud percussion (especially the blistering hi-hats), another mixing issue that I think needs to be addressed. Generally speaking, the volume level could be boosted via some light maximization.. not nearly as big an issue, though.

Overall, I think the interpretation of the various source tunes is good. Some parts stick closer to the original than others. I really liked how "Action" and "Another World" were handled. In general, this mix sounds like a film score version of the music from these game(s). In some ways, that could be seen as a good thing. In this case, though, I don't think it really works as a standalone ReMix. Things jump around too much - that's OK if you're setting music to picture, but the abrupt transitions/ending and "medleyitis" that the other Js brought up just don't sound right in the context of a song that should just flow from beginning to end without the need for visuals. Had I not watched the gameplay footage you linked to, I think I would have understood this (musically) considerably less.

If the mixing/mastering is reworked and fixed, and the arrangement is adjusted to feel less like a collection of film score cues, I think this has a great shot at passing. The interpretation is certainly all there, and the production is good aside from the mixing issues, but it needs to stand alone musically before I would be able to pass it.

NO

[zykO]

wow what the hell

on one hand, this track is ferociously chill... missing a few parts of the soundfield that make it sound hollow and a little TOO SPACIOUUUSSS... but chill

on the other hand, i'm not sure where this is going. like brother vig pointed out, it does jump, seemingly at least, independent of purpose and as a result doesn't make sense as a musical unit... and this is coming from somebody who's been hospitalized for medleyitis. the ending too. very indicative - the musical ideas just... run out.

if you dedicated to a centralized theme or destination and took advantage of your ability to chill your audience out that you displayed in the first theme you tackled in the arrangement, you'd have a winner.

as it stands now, however, i'm afraid you don't

NO

[JJT]

on the arrangement end this is too disjointed to pass my bar. medleyitus is definitely in effect, along with a general lack of direction.

it's hard to get a medley passed under our standards, so don't be horribly discouraged by this decision.

in the future, we do need some more continuity along with the feeling that we're listening to one song, and one song only.

NO

[CHz]

Yeah, pretty much. In your Flashback mix, even though the transitions were also fairly weak, there was still a solid overall shape to the piece, at least in the first three minutes or so. Felt like you lost track of where you were trying to head at 3:08, but it recovers down the stretch. Here, though, the whole package feels much more aimless, because the parts don't lock together by themselves. Might do well alongside a video, but standalone, it's far too jumpy and feels much more like a bunch of pieces glued together.

I like your individual arrangement ideas (especially the added stuff to Lester's Lab at 1:18-1:51), but try to hook them together into a song that sounds like it's one song and not four or five.

NO