XG - Bonds of Sea and Fire (MnP125)
Outline
Compo: MnP (Meat 'n Potatoes)
Congratulations to Souperion for winning the last round! As a result, he get's to choose this month's MnP source! Here's what he had to say about his pick:
"Bonds of Sea and Fire" from Xenogears. I've never played the game, but a friend directed me to the song. It's another beauty by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Cross, among others), delicate and delightful." - Souperion
GAME: Xenogears (PlayStation 1)
SOURCE: Bonds of Sea and Fire
Deadline: 7th July @ 1PM
Closing Date: 9th July @ 1PM
Vote Ends: 16th July @ 1 PM
MnP ARCHIVE - made by Trism
Resources
Rules
MISSION STATEMENT
The goal of Compo: MnP is to promote that "meat and potatoes" conservative approach to remixing: this includes the mood and composition of source tunes. It is up to the remixer to create their own personalization, or to simply give it a sound upgrade. Moreover, the compo is a great opportunity to hone your remixing skills and give video game music the respect that is due. SOME reinterpretation is recommended, but not required.
MnP Instructions/Guidelines
Rules for Picking a Source:
- All video game sources are limited to the 6th generation of video game consoles and earlier. This was due to community consensus, where people preferred to remix more retro games, than newer games. 6th generation includes: GameCube, Xbox, PS2 and Dreamcast.
- I'm now restricting big name franchises (Such as Zelda and Mega-Man) to one source per year. This is to encourage more obscure games, that not many people will know about to be picked.
- Make sure you provide me both a video and a MIDI of the source in question.
Guidelines:
- Modifying the Source is fine, so long as it doesn't sound completely separate from its original intent.
- If you're gonna do a genre change, at least make sure the original aspect of the source is not lost.
- Tempo changes are fine, as long as it's not a big change. I'm talking like, going from 80bpm to 140bpm.
- Submissions must be at a maximum of 20mb (keeping in step with ThaSauce's file size max), and submitted as a MP3 file.
- Only 1 entry per participant. Previous winner cannot participate but can submit a BONUS entry.
- Try to avoid making quality-based comments on submissions until after the Round is concluded. It is to avoid a Bias in Votes.
MISC/TIPS
- When picking a source tune, make sure it has a MIDI to make people's lives easier.
- In-game sound FX are permitted, so long as they don't comprise the whole track (i.e. replacing entire MIDI tracks with just sfx)
Entries (5)
, I wanted to channel some of the flavor of Xenogears and some of that "ethnic" vibe that is sort of non-descript yet everyone kind of knows haha. I suppose at this point its a mix of things. Anywho, I choose to bring that out in the choir sections and added some percussion in inclusion to the original. Lastly, there are two different soloists. One is a lady vocalist and the other is a Xin Di I think. I can't remember which Chinese flute I used haha. There is an outro I used for this version which I would have cut for this competition since its meat and potatoes so I won't comment on that. So just a nice conservative approach with some added goodies here and there. I wish I had a non-YouTube version to share!
About a love long lost, like a music box fading into memory...
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Genre(s): Acoustic & Classical
BPM: 70
Key: G Major
Tracks/Channels Used: 16
Mood: Reminiscing; Sadness; Longing
2nd Source Used, ('Chozo Artifact Temple' from Metroid Prime [GCN]):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cFIa29FXfM
Focuses This Round:
* The Beauty of Simplicity
* Integral Use of Many Minor Nuances to Uphold a Composition
* EQ, Auto Vol & Reverb
Notes:
- Wanted to make a much softer, more somber piece like the Zork I / Castlevania song or Secret of Mana remix I did, again with influence and the trappings of John Allen Burnett, AKA: "The Wingless" 's motif. This time, I took some ideas and the overall feel from his remix 'Rosenthorne', once again from the game The Guardian Legend: https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00607, and adjusted accordingly to this song and, I guess FWIW, my own developing "signature style".
- Focused more on Yasunori's use of acoustics and guitar from Chrono Cross to amplify the sound and "closeness" feel in the song, whilst employing Burnett's use of reverb and volume to play with the distance dynamics between listener and compositional instrumentation.
- Played around with different pads, reverb / echo and synth vocals to try and mimic a smiliar swell, passion and emphasis that the synth choirs from the Metroid Prime games had.
- Lots of purposeful play with background field recording sounds vs the very lite, almost non-existent percussion and drum. There's not much because I wanted to give the quality sound and attention on the foreground and midground soundscape, with more of a like SFX / ambience with tailored soft drum loops as accompaniment--mimicking how a lot of the Metroid soundtrack tends to be across all the IP's games. So although the main focus is the MnP round's source from Xenogears, the definitive, immersive soundscape that is trademark of the Metroid series is there as full ensemble backing for 'Bonds of Sea and Flame'.
I wanted to capture the FIRE component of the song, and aimed for a real warm instrumentation using guitars, drum kit, brass, and a little strings. I wanted to balance the original's delicate, elegant vibe with a bit more intense rock composition. I didn't change the song's structure much, but extended a few parts for melodic variation. It sure was a fun song to work with.
Ok this one seems to not want to go in lol. Tried a few times and i don't know why. Hopefully it works this time. Great tune, very much made for an orchestral sound, however in this case i made it more electronic, and tried to add some beats. Also since it's in a unusual 3/4 time signature, the beat kind of makes it a polyrhythm, it's pretty cool. Still in the realms of MnP. Hope you enjoy this one.
Ye olde bonus entry to not be voted on.
Nothing really fancy, but I was feeling something organic with subtle variations and some countermelodies. Featuring my plucked friends the koto and yangqin.