ReMix:DuckTales "Harden the Duck Up!" 3:38

By norg

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"Control Room", "The Moon"

Primary Game: DuckTales (Capcom , 1990, NES), music by Hiroshige Tonomura

Posted 2008-02-26, evaluated by djpretzel


Well, the Oscars are over... I was cheering for There Will be Blood but the Coen Brothers are awesome and deserve praise whenever and wherever it can be found. Nice to see Jon Stewart playing Wii tennis, too. norg's previous submission was his collab with Snapple for Voices of the Lifestream; if you haven't already, definitely check out the recently posted music video contest entries. The winners are awe-inspiring, but ALL the vids are worth watching - congratulations and thanks again to all entrants!

This ReMix is norg's first solo submission, arranging the Moon and Select themes from Ducktales. We still don't know the original composer(s) for this game - Larry mentioned that some suspect Junko Tamiya, which would make sense, but there doesn't appear to be hard evidence. At any rate, it's a soundtrack that has yielded some excellent mixes, and norg continues that trend with this jamfest, which came in second place out of over fifty entries at MAGFest 6's Dwelling of Duels. norg writes:

"I’m going to try to work up a few more arrangements that I’ve done to be OCR-worthy and try to hang out there more often so that I can get to know everyone a bit more and not freak out over all the OCR shirts that invaded magfest. (:"

I actually saw him today, talking about bacon and fast food with Snapple, in #ocrwip, so he's making good on those intentions. If this mix is any indication, I'd personally love to see more of his stuff here. Solid production, creative arrangement, and wicked soloing combine for an over-the-top piece that even works in a cameo from the cartoon's intro theme at the very end. I watched the hell out of that show back in the day... each time I saw Uncle Scrooge swimming in his vault, I could hardly contain my envy. If ever I become a millionaire, that's what I'm doing with my money. Screw investments and portfolios and all that nonsense... nothing says "I'm rich and I couldn't care less about the problems of the world" than swimming in your own opulence ;) But I digress... shimmering bells intro, but the second that bass guitar comes in, you know it's gonna be a rock track. I love the repetition/crescendo at 1'59" - the guitar might be playing the same thing over and over, but it's different each time, builds in intensity, and the stuff underneath is changing up more than enough. In general, both the soloing and overall arrangement has a lot of same-note runs and fills that add a lot of variation. The bass solo fill at 3'10" is just one example of keeping things fresh and not losing energy; it's one thing to rock out, which this certainly does, but it never gets in any sort of rut, thanks mostly due to arrangement that's constantly throwing new ideas into the mix. Awesome stuff.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Mikeaudio
on 2012-07-17 10:03:03
Am I the only one that thinks this song is sooooooooooo Daisuke Ishiwatari??? o_O?

Actually its more in the style of Jun Senoue. I could easily see this track playing in a Sonic Adventure stage. Props to norg. This mix is just an all around rocking, fun loving track!

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Magellanic
on 2012-06-24 16:39:19

I stumbled across this mix on Youtube and my GOD is it fantastic. Everything is just so well and professionally done. The production is top notch and the lead guitar is just pure sweetness!! Great technique and great arrangement. Thank you for blessing my ears with this fantastic rendition of a NES classic!

Edit: And the title is just the cherry on top :D

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MechaFone
on 2009-12-11 23:26:53

Fantastic mix with high quality mixing. Awesome guitar work!

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Sir_Downunder
on 2009-05-19 01:26:51

Very, very kickass. :-P

Wicked guitar solos.

Good work Norg!

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willdayble
on 2009-05-18 19:27:31

Harden The Duck Up is an excellent name.

Also, guitar solos, FUCK YEAH. :D

Totally loving it.

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metalsnakejuice
on 2009-05-15 10:58:43

This is so brilliant norg l really mean that.

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yosefu
on 2009-05-12 01:39:41

A personal favourite of mine. It has great guitar work and i just love it!

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LuketheXjesse
on 2009-04-26 23:51:09

Fantastic mix, a personal favorite. I grew up with this game too, which adds to it :D

Your guitar tone sounds really good too, something I'd certainly like to replicate. I probably shouldn't have to say this, but the mastering here is top-notch. I like the progressive, acoustic part at 1:47, and the rest that goes on to 2:26. Gives the mix flavor and keeps things rolling, in other words keeps me interested in it. You gotta love that solo at 3:01, too.

Not only is this a creative mix, the production values here are top notch. Highly recommended.

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Lucentas
on 2008-12-06 20:10:51

This is some simply genius guitar work, amazing job. I love to air guitar to this when nobody's looking. Don't tell.

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Deathtank
on 2008-07-20 23:08:34

Am I the only one that thinks this song is sooooooooooo Daisuke Ishiwatari??? o_O?

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FlamingTP
on 2008-05-03 01:09:49

Review 14/1522

Not too over the top not to dull simply put this is a rock remix everyone can enjoy. Pure and simple say no more.

Score 10/10 "Even Scrooge McDuck would like it"

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KogeJoe
on 2008-03-29 02:24:38

This is a cute little re-mix... think the title is kind of lame. Harden the duck up?

I mean, my duck's hard. Is yours? :

Nice theme and variations.

I thought the ditty at the end was cute! I mean, it appears in the game when you die, but also whenever you were watching Ducktales, it would play whenever the show would cut to a commercial break.

Great start, middle and finish. Brought back memories of me playing my NES and watching Ducktales.

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Martin Penwald
on 2008-03-14 17:10:57

A classic source, and some good ol' rock. This is as oldschool as OCR comes these days, and I like it. Good work.

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Platonist
on 2008-03-06 12:29:28

this definitly does the source perfect justice!

there's alot of Moon Remixes out there in the Swarm and this is definitly the best rock version ive heard so far

liked it at DoD and am liking it here .. keep it up!

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Shadow Wolf
on 2008-03-06 11:22:57

Wow, this is like the end credits to some epic 1980's "Badass teen in ripped up jeans makes good, kills bad guys, and generally kicks epic ass" movies. Hot, steamy, distributed guitar that is awesome, electric piano that smells nice... and it's Ducktales. WIN. I'm gonna go watch me some DuckTales now, in fact. DVD FTW.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
DuckTales (Capcom , 1990, NES)
Music by Hiroshige Tonomura
Songs:
"Control Room"
"The Moon"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Synth
Additional:
Origin > Competition > Dwelling of Duels

File Information


Name:
DuckTales_Harden_the_Duck_Up_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,183,849 bytes
MD5:
a30a11d4dfae9c7793ad4448952343f7
Bitrate:
224Kbps
Duration:
3:38

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