ReMix:Little Nemo: The Dream Master "Nightmare King's Dream" 3:23

By Shane Barber

Arranging the music of one song...

"Nightmare King"

Primary Game: Little Nemo: The Dream Master (Capcom , 1990, NES), music by Junko Tamiya

Posted 2004-06-29, evaluated by djpretzel


Excellent first submission from newcomer Shane Barber with some professional polish. This Nemo mix intros with a phased-organ synth doing some panned arpeggios, but piano quickly joins in, and from the initial touches on the piano part alone you can tell there's gonna be enough attention to detail throughout the track to make things work. Drums enter, along with a heavy saw synth bass, but it's at the one minute mark where some high-energy, mad flyin' synth arpeggios come in and take off, and the beat really picks up. At 1'40" Shane goes "crazy-sick", as I recently saw Shariq say and am blatantly emulating, with some jazzy piano soloing that fits right in, makes sense, and is jammin'. He brings in additional bongo percussion in the following sections to keep things interesting, has a cool piano run break, and finishes out the mix with some less jazzy, more classical flavored variations on the melody. At 3'23", this could have been longer, but as it stands it's quite a tight little production, which rocks out in its limited playtime and has some clearly refined aspects to its composition and production. The ReMixer writes:

"I have been doing remixes for years and play and engineer professionally, but this is my first OC ReMix submission. I remember liking the Nightmare King (last boss) music so much that I recorded it on a tape when I was little. This is an homage to this incredible but mostly forgotten and rarely remixed game. I have incorporated my own themes (and put a lot of emotion) into the work. I left the piano solo parts unquantized in hope that it would present a nice juxtaposition with the mechanical nature of the song. The piano parts were all recorded at full speed. You may notice that the piano playing is somewhat mechanical too, but my main instrument is drums so I have a tendency to "play drums" on the piano with my fingers. Hope you enjoy!"

I know I enjoyed, it sounds like he enjoyed, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy too. There will be much enjoyment. Different in tone from the existing Nemo mixes, this certainly doesn't make me think of dreaming or sleep, but rather more of the energetic type of track you'd hear in a shooter or what not, esp. with the abundance of rapid arpeggiating. All good, though, and a welcome, fresh arrangement from a new face. Hope to see more in the future; definitely slick.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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jennythemonkey
on 2013-09-24 17:25:29
does anyone know where i can find the movie of this on DVD? 8O

Dude, I totally saw this back when I was a kid. My dad picked it out at the video rental store. One of the weirdest movies EVAR :-P

www.amazon.com/Little-Nemo-Slumberland-Mickey-Rooney/dp/B0055HK792/ref=sr_1_1

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WesternZypher
on 2012-09-25 15:00:39

Still sounds plenty fresh to me : ) Thanks for making this

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MrNemo
on 2010-12-15 09:56:55

Yeah, it is pretty amazing how old this sounds now. When I did it, it sounded pretty fresh to me. Maybe I will get around to it one day. By the way, I now do music under the name Rush Coil.

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Bahamut
on 2010-05-31 15:44:12

I remember first hearing this at a friend's dorm room - it's a curiously catchy song. The samples are unfortunately outdated - would love to hear this with updated ones. :-(

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glasfen
on 2008-10-07 12:32:42

This is one of the ReMixes that made me go back and play Little Nemo again. This is top choice mixing here, very energetic and altogether awesome. The Nightmare King is no match for Shane Barber!

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OA
on 2008-10-07 12:23:53

Great start to this one, nice intro synth, and piano solo lead into the track.

Very cool beats and synth selection; that bass synth has a great arpeggio at the end of a few of the phrases. The piano is a real highlight throughout, and the layered percussion has some great rhythms.

Really classy work, this is a great mix! Recommended!

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Kozmo
on 2006-02-21 21:38:06
does anyone know where i can find the movie of this on DVD? 8O

if you mean "Finding Nemo", then I'm sorely upset. Just kidding.

Anyways, I hate to be the one to say it, but the intro immediately made my mind turn to Final Fantasy 3(American) Boss music. Listen to the first 2 seconds of it and then think of the very beginning of the boss music. DIE-HARD SQUARE FAN!

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Shwenky
on 2005-09-24 09:13:40

This is the best remix on the site, after Time Management. 'Nuff said.

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SixthFlyingMan
on 2005-05-07 03:39:00
does anyone know where i can find the movie of this on DVD? 8O

Oh say WHAT? A Little Nemo in Dreamland MOVIE?

I wanna know more.

Oh yeah. The mix. Not quite download-worthy for me, I just didn't like it. Can't put my finger on why though...

Hey. I'm caffeine-high, sick, CO-poisoned and it's 12:45 AM, and you expect me to THINK?

Fat chance.

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Lacour
on 2004-07-14 14:34:36

does anyone know where i can find the movie of this on DVD? 8O

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Kaleb.G
on 2004-07-14 02:52:32

This is awesome! I love everything about it. 8O

The instruments, the melody, and the overall feel. This remix sounds like really good video game music, and that's why I like it so much. I MUST hear more! :D

P.S. Do you have a higher quality MP3 of this song available? :wink:

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Dectilon
on 2004-07-05 09:38:47

After hearing it a few times, I've changed my mind. It's not just the solo that's great, the whole thing is. The start is a little slow, but what ReMix serves the whole sound package at the start?

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DarkeSword
on 2004-07-04 14:44:21

Awesome work man. I really enjoyed this.

Submit more! 8)

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Dectilon
on 2004-07-04 06:43:07

I don't see what was so great about the original, and thus I don't see what's so great here. But, the piano solo was absolutely great! More of that stuff!

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Old Man Pac
on 2004-07-01 10:01:22

This is a great track, simply put. Its one of those songs you play over another games music. Both yellow thumbs up

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Little Nemo: The Dream Master (Capcom , 1990, NES)
Music by Junko Tamiya
Songs:
"Nightmare King"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Jazz
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Piano,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Little_Nemo_Nightmare_King's_Dream_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,336,742 bytes
MD5:
0d6fc90b17f1e97a1310c9fe4c63e091
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
3:23

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