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The Remix Tournament Awakens

jssf1992

jssf1992

Shrine Maiden
Hey, it's been a long time, but I've been away too long.  So, I'm bringing back another Remix tournament.  For those who haven't seen/participated before, I'll have more of an explanation in here:

This is essentially a game of sharing and rating music remixes that we have found.  It's not really much of a competition, and there's not really much of a prize in the end, so don't worry about anyone taking this too seriously.  It will go like this: every participant will send three remixes/arrangements/etc to me via PM.  Then, I will post three of all the pieces in the thread, and everyone will comment on them and rate them.  A day or two later (depending on how many people we have and how fast they post), I will post the next set and we'll do it again.  We continue like this until we've gone through all the pieces, and we find out who had the highest rated song, best average rating, etc.

So, if you want to join, post here, then send me a PM with your choices.  Sign-ups will last one week, assuming we have enough interested people.

While rating by numbers is arbitrary, I can compile them into a percentage at the end so we can see who has the rated song and best average, so that would be preferable.
Hope to see some people I haven't seen for a bit.  Maybe some new people too.

Entrants:

Buskerdog

Ken Hisuag

Shionne Imeris

Drunken Flower

 
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how long registration phase is going to take though? asking because i'm waiting for a certain song which i planned to use in tournaments

edit:
also, is it fine with other sources like using a link of a song from bandcamp for example (or stuff like that)?

 

 
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Shionne Imeris said:
how long registration phase is going to take though? asking because i'm waiting for a certain song which i planned to use in tournaments

edit:
also, is it fine with other sources like using a link of a song from bandcamp for example (or stuff like that)?

 
Click to expand...
I'm fine with it if have to, but I'm also on the paranoid side of what I do online.  So, if you need to, fine, but if you can get it on Youtube that would nice.

 
jssf1992 said:
I'm fine with it if have to, but I'm also on the paranoid side of what I do online.  So, if you need to, fine, but if you can get it on Youtube that would nice.
Click to expand...
i got only one on youtube unfortunately, second one is from soundcloud and third is from bandcamp

 
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Who's ready?  Hopefully everyone, because we're starting!

Round 1:

An electric arrange of Hartmann's Youkai Girl:


Spoiler




 
 5 participants including jssf hmm ok

1.Fantasy Maiden Wars D - Koishi's Theme: PARANOIA STEP
eyy this int bad, nice pick jssf
i have not much to complain about this one, nice instruments choice, petty solid overall.
Although being a game music it tend to be short and has no proper ending, the uploader has no choice but to repeat the music which made it feel repetitive with no break in the middle.
aand idk but i feel something missing i cant point out. probably because this a BGM which serve as a support instead of the main focus ?
7/10

2. 月まで届け、不死の煙×ブクレシュティの人形師 - Melodic Taste
very straightforward title ಠ_ಠ
and WHY! why those 2, i feel like this arrange would be great anyway without the Bucuresti but ok... it just weeeiiiiiirrrdddd

medieval themed, starting out with waltz continued with symphonic orchestra
very grand, i have no idea what else to say.
the folk part at the very end reminds me of Scarborough Fair
追憶のシンフォニック・スイート [Reminiscence Symphonic Suite] ...no wonder it has the same feeling.
although im not too sure what does this piece trying to convey. Everytime i hear orchestra i cannot help but to try to find meaning behind it even there's none which in that case is unacceptableee, Orchestral is sacred aaaaa

trying to find the flaws so i can comment more but no have a filler comment to make this look a lot longer that it should be yeah!

9/10

3. Gurdian of the Shrine - IZMIZM
heh this reminds me of my early days, the style is similar to SÆTHER from Norowareta Night
still liking that kind of heavy drop
idk if y'all rember ive ever said that house is one of exception but i cant rember either!

as usual idk how to comment on electro stuff
7.5/10
also i wanna quickly address the differences between Cover, Remix and Re-arrangemet. might be useful some time and probably will change your view of music a bit.
- Cover is basically where someone play faithful to the music sheet with barely no change. e.g Piano Cover
- Remix is where you add something to the original music like effects, mixes, enhancements and such while keeping the original feeling the same. quite hard to differentiate from Re-Arrangement but when you feel it you feel it. probably because most of the remix is a remix of a re-arrangement.
- Re-Arrangement is where it gets interesting. Basically you play music with your own style, your own image. Altering the original meaning and mood to fit your own views and expression. just imagine for a drawing, i'll use youmu for example, there's loyal youmu, dork youmu, sicko youmu, [REDACTED] youmu and many more!!

 
Here we go!

PARANOIA STEP

So we're diving straight into the chaotic end, huh? The beginning is pretty weird sounding, which I get is intentional but it's a bit offputting, but once it reaches that break in the middle? That bit is really nice. And then the electric guitar section afterwards is just plain cool. Looping back to the chaotic bit, I'd just like to point out that I think the use of that siren noise is good.

I feel the "chaotic" section works much better after hearing the other sections, so I think the song would be a bit more palatable if the structure was reshuffled a bit, but it's a cool boss theme once you get used to it. 6/10.

Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke x The Doll Maker of Bucuresti

I like it when two really unexpected themes are joined together.

There's quite a lot that happens in this piece, but none of it happens all at once, so it really feels like there's a journey through the music. This song actually reminds me a lot of the Ori soundtracks, not sure if it's because of the mood, style, instruments, or maybe it's just all of it. But either way, this is so atmospheric. There's a very magical feeling to it. It's hard to explain why it's a 10/10, but it's a 10/10.

Guardian of the Shrine

Ok I'm not sure how I feel about the random shouting in the background, but I have to admit the beat is pretty funky. That being said, there are also certain things which annoy me. I can't quite explain it, but during the bit at 1.20 there's something which feels very slightly out of time.

The bit afterwards is good.

But then there's the bit at 2.52. I really don't like it when songs do this upward scaling thing.

Overall I'd rate this "has potential" but there are certain aspects which get on my nerves. 6/10.

 
ay

 

1.

A little bit chaotic but not that bad arrangement although i'm not really a fan of parts like 0:00 - 0:21 however final rate gets carried by guitar parts like 1:41 - 2:05.
i prob could tell on first listen that it's ost from a game too

6.5/10

2. like said before unique combination for sure, song is also nice feels good to listen in background when you need to focus or something like that 2nd half is superior imo but first is still quite good

8/10

3. good old IZMIZM huh?, electro house is my favorite house in most cases and this is no exception however i kinda agree to shouting complain that's in post above otherwise beat is pretty nice however this is still one of the least solid izna songs so 
7.5

 
Wow, y'all were quick. I apologize for holding things up.

1: [insert arranger for Fantasy Maiden Wars D here] - Paranoia Step
Interesting start.

I hesitate to say Hartmann's Youkai Girl is over-saturated for me, because I regularly come across very impressive arrangements. That being said, I've never understood the extreme reputation and representation the piece has in the community. This remix doesn't do much for that perception. It's well planned and takes advantage of each section with varied instrumentation, but with little creativity. I appreciate some of the background elements, but I'd appreciate them more if they built up to something more than a loop track.

A good listen, but not particularly interesting. 6.5/10

2: Melodic Taste - Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke x The Doll Maker of Bucuresti
Melodic Taste is always a good choice.

The progression seems cinematic, being reminiscent of the shifting emotions of transitioning scenes in a film. This approach makes the blend of two source pieces much smoother, and allows for quite a variety of styes to be showcased. I'm reminded of Sam Dillard's Chrono Trigger arrangements, though with those motifs were used to serve specific functions of mood within each piece. With this, there's less prescribed emotion to capture and more freedom to take the piece wherever the artist would like. There is a sense of mystery that comes with this, and I wonder if that was the goal behind this project.

At the risk of (once again) rating too high too early: 9/10

3: IZMIZM - Guardian of the Shrine
Well, this a fun piece!

I'm not very familiar with the source piece for this one, but the motif seems to fit in very well to the style. I'm curious if there's a more specific genre this falls into, aside from what's in the video title. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this arrangement. The instrumentation, though not normally familiar to me, is nonetheless very well blended and balanced. The little added elements (sound effects and the like) did more to enhance the track than I'm used to expecting. Whereas the previous entry left me feeling reflective, this piece left me dancing, and I'm hard pressed to compare the two.

Perhaps I should be relying more on decimals? 8.5/10

If the rest of the tournament is like this round, it's gonna be tough (but in a good way! ?).

 
Drunken_Flower said:
- Remix is where you add something to the original music like effects, mixes, enhancements and such while keeping the original feeling the same. quite hard to differentiate from Re-Arrangement but when you feel it you feel it. probably because most of the remix is a remix of a re-arrangement.
- Re-Arrangement is where it gets interesting. Basically you play music with your own style, your own image. Altering the original meaning and mood to fit your own views and expression.
Click to expand...
This lines up fairly well with my own perception of the terms, though I do think it's actually very rare to see any remix that doesn't also arrange the piece to some degree to play to the new instrument'(s) strengths (which I would think it should).

In case this needs to be said though, despite the name, I don't see any issue with having the latter here.  I didn't pick the name personally, and I doubt the originator thought of the distinction (or maybe they did and decided 'Remix Tournament' rolls off the metaphorical tongue better?)

Also, I find it kind of funny that you immediately knew what my pick was.  I guess I am the one that keeps bringing fangames into this . . .

 
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Blooming

This is a very interesting piece, it has this overall calm and serene atmosphere yet at times it has these stronger parts which feel like they should change the mood, yet somehow synergise with it instead of clashing with it. It took me a few listens to realise it but there's actually loads of variety to the sections that happen in this piece, I just don't notice it because it all meshes together so well. Because of this I get really easily absorbed in it, it doesn't feel like 8 minutes long at all. I also just generally really like how it incorporates the source theme. I'm giving it 9/10.

Soul Concerto

A cool arrangement with a cool title. This one has a kind of retro feeling to it, which I like. At first I was just expecting this to be a straight forward remix of Phantom Ensemble - which was already good enough - but then things got really good when it reached the bridge section and more originality started showing. I also like the use of some less conventional rock instruments in there. A very driven and exciting rock piece, 7/10 was a fun time.

Falling Pegasus

A remix of Dark Pegasus + True Administrator, huh? I really liked the beginning but then things got kinda... hard to understand later on. It improved again later on though, I liked how True Administrator was introduced at the end. After a few listens the parts I didn't like got less distracting, which helped me to appreciate the overall piece a bit more, although I still wouldn't say I like those kind of "random" sections. 5/10.

 
1. well well, personally i would call it more ambient than orchestral at least huge majority of it. It blends together very well while also being so damn immersive and imo past presence and future really fits there
like said above while it's 8 mins long it doesn't really feel like it

8.5/10

2. TOHO TEMPEST II i think i had it on my drive somewhere but this one is much calmer rock that i personally usually prefer (while still being good nonetheless) while i prefer rock that is closer to metal i also heard phantom ensemble so many times that it sometimes can feel stale although i can't say i'm a fan of parts like 2:19. Overall it's pretty decent piece imo nothing special but nothing bad either

7/10

3. now this should be expected, this genre (both color bass and riddim/melodic riddim) are really niche ones (albeit getting more attention recently) however in touhou arranges case they're incredibly rare as for now and i can see why lmao, riddim is quite comparable to experimental music or industrial which tends to sound bad or outright hurt some people ears but personally this album is amazing for me and i really like genre in general too, song choice is also good there since it mixed saki's and miko's themes into that piece

9/10

However i recommend giving vermilion shell a hear too https://douyinshi.bandcamp.com/track/vermilion-shell

 
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