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Artist Name: The Vodoú Queen
I love the underdog, un(der)-represented, goofy-as-fuck source tracks in VGM OSTs, hahaha.
Done for Pixel Mixers' upcoming double album for Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE + REBIRTH, this remix of "Don of the Slums" was me taking elements from Latin Riddim Dub(step), Reggae / Jamaican Dancehall and Calypso, and fusing them with some soft Eastern and Western European influences in classical and electronic music, primarily from Italian, Hebrew and Slavic/Russian vocals & dance beats.
Just...wanted to explore sub-genres some more, and do something simple and minimalist with the soundscape (in keeping with how the Riddim genre generally works), with emphasis on the Drum 'n Bass, steel-drum & EDM percussion, the Caribbean-style horn stabs and a streamlined melody and harmony (that are still engaging due to the change-ups in the writing on occasion, (S)FX, glitching, panning, etc.) Just me having some lil' kooky fun with slimy-ass Don Corneo's mojo x groove, adding some dark depth and EDM-color to his swanky, goofball theme. Intro and much of the filtering/mono/detuned FX throughout are heavily inspired by the sounds of music reproduced through old record players and phonographs, and noir / mobster-fuelled music circa the 1920s-1930s, as presented in mafia films like The Godfather. ♥ Had to put some of dat 'Art Deco'-era swag on this, LOL.
No big reference tracks for this one, other than what I know and like between the EDM tracks I listen to often, and the detective / noir / mafia films I loved to watch with my folks back in the day when I was a kid. :) As humble-pie-honest as I can be. ^_^ Hope peeps enjoy this one! o/ o7
"Don of the Slums" [G / Emin (don't believe I changed the key at all, but the remix does go from 2/4 & 66bpm INTRO -> 4/4 @ 140bpm MAIN)] -
A.1 Part = 00:01 - 00:08; synth horns and woodwinds play first part of theme opener
A.2 Part = 00:09 - 00:17; drums and synth strings/woodwinds play rising crescendo fill
A.3 Part = 00:18 - 00:23; synth horns & woodwinds reprise opener at a higher octave to finish into main melody
B.1 Part = 00:24 - 00:30; synth flute/piccolo plays main melodic content - high octave
B.2 Part = 00:24 - 00:30; harmonizing synth horns (panned hard L/R) doing countermelodic stabs alongside the melody (they outline the chord progression) - high octave
B.3 Part = 00:32 - 00:40; synth flute/piccolo plays main melodic content - low octave
B.4 Part = 00:32 - 00:40; harmonizing synth horns (panned hard L/R) doing countermelodic stabs alongside the melody (they outline the chord progression) - low octave
C.1 Part = 00:31 - 00:32; low-end synth brass playing steps down the octave key
C.2 Part = 00:39 - 00:40; low-end synth brass on final low-note blast; track repeats main melody @ 00:41 & loops to beginning @ 00:58
REMIX SOURCE BREAKDOWN:
START / 00:01 - 00:18 = the Italian classical influence (the tone and palette sounds like it'd come straight from the game(s)!!) - A.1 Part, repeated twice with a slight change up reflective of "The Theme from The Godfather"
00:19 - 00:44 = A.3 Part, with a lil' pizzazz put on it (and the Don's sinister laugh at the end to round us into the main melody)
00:45 - 00:51 = B.1 Part
00:52 - 1:38 = B.3 Part; (repeats until 1:38, with slight variations on the melody throughout [both with shifting the notation to fit 4/4 time sig and 'performed' pattern])
1:39 - 2:34 = sequenced wobble bassline and donk dub-over slips into the melody as rhythm / harmony with the re-introduction of the 808 pulse, filling in for and mimicking the patterns of Parts B.2 and B.4, respectively, as the melody continues the rota
2:35 - 2:54 = now we get Parts B.1 - 4 played almost verbatim to the source, with the melody sped up double-time to still match 4/4, but sounding a lot more like OG Don melody; panned L & R "rhythm guitar" synths act as purist B.2 & 3 Parts, as the harmony & countermelody to the main synth guitar in the center channel
2:55 - 3:01 = Caribbean synth horn group, in unison, plays A.2 Part, with melodic strings leading us out of the mid-section by reprising the A.3 Part from the INTRO
3:02 - 3:29 = B.1 - 4 Part repeat / chorus, but with added C.1 Part played by the horns, introduced @ 3:07 & 3:21
3:30 - 4:23 = the Slavic / Hebrew dance influence; the OG Don aesthetic played double-times on synth guitar appears here again; leads out into the final choral repeat on build-up drums > riser > drop EDM / Dubstep motif
4:24 - 4:50 = choral repeat of Parts B.1 - 4 & C.1; Part C.2 happens @ 4:50, paired with the last drop + vinyl spin-down effect
4:51 - END = last vocal chops & melodic stuff; Don's laugh comes back; we've reached the end of the ride
Games & Sources
FINAL FANTASY VII OST; Track 18 - Don of the Slums; Artist(s): Nobuo Uematsu; Release Date: 10th Feb 1997; Label: DigiCube Co., Ltd., SME Intermedia Inc. & Square-Enix
Original PS1 Version:
Remake Version:
Intro-0:45: The opening here more or less works for me. The brass dissonance at 0:22 reads like a cluster chord to me, I'll live. At 0:28, it sounds like the culprit of the brass hard cutting at the end of the bar is less of a programming error or a hard cut on the audio region and more of a part-writing error because that muted brass patch in the right channel just stops playing. Regardless of the virtual instrument's limitations, they're exposed by the writing here, so the two sixteenth notes they're playing on the "and" of beat 4 are a bridge to nowhere. I don't think this is a big enough issue to sink the track, at least not on its own; there's definitely a lesson to be learned here about more effective part writing for future works.
0:45-2:09: I'm not a fan of the heavy effects on the vocal samples for the duration this section, though the panning and the chopping I'm on board with. From 0:45-1:12, there's an argument to be made for the heavy effects here as there's a build into the beat coming at 1:12, but something's still smearing the vocals from 1:12-1:40 that keeps them from being upfront. Separately, they're not fully connecting harmonically with the chords underneath; even approaching this track with a mindset of the vocals as a sound source and not strictly as a human voice, it is very difficult for me to read the heavy filtering and the reverb applied to them marking them as a supporting/background element in a section of music so focused on grooving the chords that there isn't a strong melody line to focus on, more or less forcing a sound source like the vocals to be the focal point when they don't sound like they should be. When the vocals are gone and the wobble bass comes in at 1:42, it's refreshing by contrast.
2:09-2:21: The descending chromatic runs in the guitar expose the sample; the longer sustain of the individual notes causes the notes in the run to bleed into each other. This isn't very idiomatic guitar part writing, either, but I like the idea of bringing the low brass stepdown from the source material into the arp this way. Not a dealbreaker, but something to think about for future arrangements.
2:35-2:54: The pitch shift down into this section was rad. Fun way to personalize the modulation from the OG.
2:55-3:01: Brass pops out in the mix over the top of everything here. That first note in particular at 2:55 is a jumpscare. I don't know if proph's on the money with EQ and reverb modification here; this is more easily solved with volume automation here imo, pulling the fader down for the start and pushing the volume up until 2:59.
3:02-3:30: The chromatic brass stings really ramp the energy here, which is nice. The transition at the end of this segment's pretty good.
3:30-4:24: The vocals as they're presented don't carry this section well at all. To my ear, the heavy effects on the vocal samples are the biggest problem: the tremolo and the heavy filtering keep them from being intelligible enough to focus on, pushing them away from the front of the mix even as they are the only thing happening for nearly 30 seconds. And despite the fact the samples aren't the same, it's not clear to my ear that there's a difference between the new sample and the old one because they've been treated the same way. When the beat comes back in at 3:57, that feeling of the vocals not being prominent gets amplified, and the tonal clash between them and the sampled guitar isn't helping matters.
4:24-4:51: The shift from the guitar to the toy piano works so well, I have to wonder why the piano didn't come in sooner.
4:51-End: The vocal samples still clash a bit with the toy piano, but not as strongly as they did with the guitar.
No question about source material usage, it's all over the track. The arrangement more or less works; personally, I think the transition at 2:35 should have come one chord cycle sooner, but reasonable minds may differ.
This will sound like I hated the track, VQ: the way you've approached the sound design for the vocals makes this track impossible for me to pass in its current state. The treatment on them keeps them from being the prominent element they seem to be within the context of the sections where they appear, making them actively detract from the piece as a whole. The parts of this track that work really work! If it wouldn't compromise your vision, I'd really like to see the effects peeled back--if not in full, at least 1:12-1:40 and one of the two vocal layers at 3:30-3:57 so that they can maintain the energy you worked to build to that point.
NO (resubmit)
Edited August 12 by paradiddlesjosh