*NO* Kirby & The Amazing Mirror 'Kirby's Mystical Mirror'

Your ReMixer name – Navij11

Your real name – Jacob Naviasky

Your email address – jnav@nycap.rr.com

Your website – http://navij11.com/

Your userid – 20089

Name of game(s) arranged – Kirby and the Amazing Mirror

Name of individual song(s) arranged – Opening Theme

Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. – System was the GameBoy Advance, I could not find the composer.

Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) -

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. – This time I took a very cautious approach, unlike usual. I asked about the song on the forums, and they offered helpful tips on how to improve. This was meant to be a stylized piece, modeled after intelligent drum and bass from the mid to late 1990s, and I was attempting to emulate the well known artist Omni Trio. I think it came out well. This track is deceptively repetitive, and if you think that this song is too repetitive, then you are not listening right.

To listen to this song: Get a comfortable pair of headphones and sit in a nice chair. Close your eyes and drift away. I swear that this will make the song much more enjoyable then simply staring at the blank putfile screen for 3 minutes. Enjoy guys, I worked hard on this one J

Link to song:

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http://www.zophar.net/gsf/KirbyTAM.rar - 02 "Legend of the Mirror World"

Well, the source is definitely arranged and in here pretty much the whole time, but is plays more of a background role to the beats and original writing on top. Kind of Ninja Tune-ish in terms of style, if y'all have heard of that label, only this is a lot less coherent of an idea. Not really anything melodic going on.

This track is deceptively repetitive, and if you think that this song is too repetitive, then you are not listening right.

Sure I am. Pretty much all of your support elements are repeating ad infinitum, especially the percussion & bassline. It's mostly just minor additional and subtraction of elements giving the track its dynamic curve. I see what you're saying, and agree with you to some extent.

From a vertical building standpoint, most of this arrangement doesn't have much to do with Kirby, but what's there is surprisingly interpretive given how simple the source is. It's hard to fully get behind this though when the source tune is given such a peripheral role.

I'm probably a lot more enthusiastic about this sub than most. This is almost nailing that Ninja Tune style. I'll be keeping it. A little bit more development of the source tune, Jacob, including potentially giving it more of a foreground role somewhere would be good. This doesn't need an overhaul, and I'd like to think we're open enough to an unconventional arrangement approach like this.

With that said, using the source as more of background role doesn't discount the overall expansive approach of the arrangement as being uninterpretive, but it does have the tendency to make the source inclusion seem more of an afterthought rather than the focus. Very close to YESing this. The addition/subtraction composition style did help, but ultimately the cruise control of the instrumentation pushed me just under the borderline. We'll see how the others feel.

NO (borderline/refine/resubmit)

I don't think it would really be possible to arrange this source and NOT have it be at least somewhat pushed to the background, as basically it's just two chords going back and forth with a simple riff on top.. but that being said, the drum and bass elements do tend to override the harmonic/melodic ones. I like the groove you've got going, as I'm often a fan of 'lighter' DNB that feels more jazzy and atmospheric than detuned and in-your-face.

A little more melodic/harmonic substance would be great, in the form of additional pads or an extra instrument or two. Even some different mixing might be enough for that. Also, I would like to hear more variation in the drums as they seem static throughout. Fills here and there, DSP glitching, maybe a half-tempo break, anything to spice them up just a little bit more so they're not just on autopilot. There's a tiny bit of that now, but I think you could do a lot more to vary up the pattern.

I agree with Larry that this is very cool. A little bit of extra work and you'll earn a yes from me. Also, try encoding with VBR next time so you can preserve more of the high frequencies. This 128kbps encode is a little lossy in that regard.

NO, resub

I'm basically going to echo what the other judges have said. I felt the interpretation worked well - even though it was relegated to the background, the source was consistently there, subtly driving the song. Very laidback, chill groove.

My criticisms are all on the writing end, actually. There's just not enough variance in what's going on. With the drums so pushed to the forefront from 0:45 to 1:33, the pattern has to change more. You should think about incorporating more instruments too, even just FX, because this section feels static and bare, with little variance in any element to draw your attention. The following sections had more note variation, with those cool, weird chords, but they still felt static from a larger perspective. There were few changes in volume and texture from there until the end of the song.

The breakdowns at 2:19 and 3:06 would be perfect places to incorporate lighter drum patterns, more textural pads, or new melodies, rather than just holding the same groove without the drums. Even in the busier places, there are a number of directions you could take this in to spice it up - layering more hi-hats, or using some weird processing for a few measures. I'll leave it up to you.

Production-wise, this is fine work. It just needs some more action on the writing end. I definitely want to hear you give the song another shot.

NO (resubmit)

I just want to leave a side note that you don't necessarily need to get overzealous with adding new things in a vertical way, but more varying things horizontally. The source tune should not get completely lost in any revision of the arrangement. As I mentioned, it would be nice to get a little bit more of the source in the foreground aside from the intro and ending.