Liontamer Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Remix download link: Contact Info: M J McLean kimmuriel@gmail.com www.myspace.com/mjmclean Remix Info: Game: Metroid 2: Return Of Samus Track remixed: Chozo Ruins Original Composer: Ryohji Yoshitomi System: Gameboy Original piece: Instruments used: Prepared piano, strings, ocarina, voices, various orchestral elements, various electronic devices I love Metroid 2, and I love what Ryohji Yoshitomi did to create a tense, unsettling, yet at times beautiful presence with not only sequences of notes but also with experimental sound. Given the limited capabilities of a sound processor found in ancient technology such as the original GameBoy, that is in itself an outstanding achievement, and this I respect. However, even though it was brilliant, nowadays the GameBoy chip can sound dated. This game in particular cries out for a lush, dense, and moody atmosphere. It is this that I hope to acheive in this remix. Hope you like! MJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Source - http://www.zophar.net/gbs/metroid2.zip Track - 4 Alright. Give it up for the Metroid 2 OST love! Wow, you've picked a crazy source tune to remix, bro. Although, 85% of the M2 sountrack is really abstract with no meter, melody, or even chord-based content. So I'm eager to see how you've interpreted this. Ok, source melody comes in via bell patch at 0:22. Pretty verbatim and therefore easy to here. Soundscape is tremendous and richly dark. I love the eerie ambiance seeping out of this one. Ack. I started voting on this one not realizing it'd take some tough deconstructing and analysis. I'll finish this later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Metroid II: Return of Samus - Track 4 The Zophar's archive was messed up for some reason when trying to extract it, so I just grabbed the OCR-hosted copy. The source tune loop is actually only :55-long, comprised of 3 sections. The first two are just slight variations with the second section merely at a slower tempo than the first. The third section isn't used. So really, we're only talking about a 19-second long source. The source sounds crazy at first, but once you let it loop a bunch, it becomes more memorable and easy to pick up in the submission. Seemingly, you pretty much have to use this verbatim in order not to go off the rails, as there's no real melodic qualities to the original. Lots of room to expand vertically here, so let's see where it goes. An eerie, spacey opening lead to the source coming in lightly at :21. A little too murky and in the back for my tastes, as the Metroid 2 material barely stood out from the various ambient sounds. The source stopped somewhere around :52, but you couldn't even really tell due to the soundscape being so ridiculously swamped and the source being buried in the back. The two note dealie first heard at 1:01 and used a lot throughout the track is not from the source; keep that in mind. Another iteration of the source on piano from 1:31-2:03, before seguing into more wholly original material from 2:04 until uhh... And we wait for the source to come back... and wait... and wait... and...nothing. It doesn't come back. At this point, you're just creating a spacey track that has little to do with Metroid II other than you wanting it to have stylistic connections. It's not bad to listen to, MJ, but hardly can be considered a substantive arrangement of the Metroid II source tune you chose. You can't use the source tune for not even 1 minute total of a 6:21-long mix and expect it to pass. Please read the Submissions Standards on arrangement before you submit material in the future. If you aren't using the source, you are not arranging it. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 This game frustrated me to no end when I was first playing it in the early 90s.. I tried picking it up again recently but didn't have much more luck. The source tune you arranged here really drove me crazy... I love the ambience and the mood that you create with your selection of sounds in the intro. I was able to recognize the source within the first minute without too much trouble, though it could have been more prominent - it really is buried pretty far back underneath reverb, pads, sweeps, and general ambience. At 1:31-2:03, the piano interpretation is nice, more obvious, and fits well with the somewhat dissonant pads in the background. After this point, I was not hearing the source at all. The general rule of thumb I go by, which I've adapted from Larry, is that any OC ReMix should arrange the source material in some audible manner for at least 50% of the duration of the song. Here, it can't have been more than 20%, which doesn't cut it. Some of the original stuff you added as the mix progresses is really nice, but you need to focus much more on actually using material from Metroid II. With regards to production, some of the drones and sustains got a bit excessive over time. I would have liked to hear some atmospheric break with less pads in the low/low-mid range and just some ambient plucks, stabs, hits, and/or noises in the highs. Something to contrast all the low stuff. On a side note, since I have Stormdrum I can hear how you used it a whole lot here. I'm glad you didn't use the loops from it, but instead did some creative sequencing. Just thought I'd give you some credit for that Anyway, bottom line; needs more source tune! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Forgive me for being glib here, but Larry and Andy generally summed it up (Jimmy on the other hand contributed NOTHING). This is a nice atmospheric piece, but it simply doesn't use enough of the material you've said you're arranging. You've got to use more of it, especially when your piece is nearly six and a half minutes. NO *BGC edit* ur mom, darke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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