Posted 2015-12-14, evaluated by the judges panel


"Aliens in MY waterfall?!?! It's more likely than you think..."

It's been over eight years since our last ReMix of Contra, from goat. Crazy, eh? Jorito (Jorrith Schaap) & his powerful posse of collaborators are here to change all that with an action-packed symphonic rock adventure:

"For years, the music from Konami's Contra waterfall theme has been stuck in my head and I thought it deserved a remix. Of course, there are plenty of rock/metal Contra covers around already, so I decided to do things a bit differently.

A few months ago, I finally found the time and inspiration to actually do something with this track, so I fired up my DAW and some orchestral patches and started working on it. I'm not much of an orchestrator, but I like combining different genres and thought injecting a bit of rock would be a good idea.

After a few WIPs, I offered a demo link to some people at #ocrwip. Ivan Hakštok liked it and offered to play the rhythm guitar. A bit later, I found some nice drum videos by Erik Vreven and asked him to play in the drums. Finally, deciding it needed a bit more climatic ending, I added in a MIDI lead guitar, decided a real guitar would immensely improve things, and asked Sixto if he would play a bit of lead guitar.

So there you have it, a full-on rock/orchestral take on Contra's waterfall theme combined with some (not so) subtle references to the level 1 "Jungle" theme in the calmer parts of the song, featuring the following guest contributors:

Also a big shout-out to timaeus222, who lent me his ears for mixing stuff (and created an alternative mix that I didn't end up using :P)."

There are still some EQ, balance, and instrumentation issues present, where brass in particular comes through a little thin & more overall oomph would have helped certain passages, but there are also a lot of highlights, good variety & creativity, forward momentum, and some sweet shredding towards the end. Of this revised version, Liontamer writes:

"Other than that issue with the supporting brass mixing, the overall mixing is certainly much better. It's not ideal, but it's also nothing holding this piece back from passing now. Nice job heading to the Workshop for feedback and taking charge of this, Jorrith!"

Palpable had similar reservations, but ultimately felt the arrangement's creativity compensated:

"All I can say is, keep making arrangements this good, and in the future, keep working on making the production better."

Roger that; the ideas here are all solid & the energy/ambition are both present, just need to work on incorporating as much production feedback as possible! Solid stuff from Jorito that benefits from ace collaborating artists & an invigorating arrangement, bringing the original Contra back to the spotlight on OCR for the first time in a good while!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 8 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2018-05-07 01:34:57

Very action/adventure oriented, which is perfect for delving into the Contra games. Hits hard and fast from the get-go, and has a great break in the middle that gradually builds back up to the action quickly. Not much I could say that others haven't said, but I do like how the drums sounded, especially in areas where they were more featured around the guitars. The xylophone was a good choice to add another layer to the arrangement. Overall, pretty good work from a lot of talented ReMixers.

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jnWake
on 2015-12-21 21:20:48

I love the drums in this one. They sound powerful and I enjoyed the more electronic elements in the intro. Arrangement is sweet, the combination of strings and heavy guitar works amazingly. I do feel the guitar could be louder though since it gets a bit lost in the mix. On that note, I like how you mixed the bass. It's not often that you can hear it so clearly and notice all the cool licks it has. Introduction of the lead guitar is nice too.

Overall, very good remix. As Necrox pointed out, the xylophone adds a cute touch to it and the mix of rock and orchestra elements is sweet. I feel the production could be polished a bit since the rhytm guitars got a bit lost in the mix. I'd have also loved to see the more electronic elements from the intro in other sections of the song.

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nitrozsz
on 2015-12-21 15:23:56

Very nice, action packed remix. Parts of it almost sound like it was inspired by the Metal Gear series rather than the Contra series. And I say that as a compliment because this sounds like something I would hear in an action adventure game during one of the fast paced moments. And that guitar solo near the end? Amazing.

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Necrox
on 2015-12-18 22:10:36

Xylophone! I like how this feels like a real orchestral-rock hybrid instead of a rock mix that tries to force some strings in. That run in the guitar solo is sick. Solid stuff.

Good to be done with finals.

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Black_Doom
on 2015-12-15 00:25:01

Very cool! Love the energy packed here :) Simply jaw-dropping arrangement!

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timaeus222
on 2015-12-14 23:21:44

Glad this made it through! I had said earlier that it sounded like "The Rescue for Latios" from the Pokemon Heroes movie. Ambitious arrangement for sure, and it could have used a bit less involved partwriting at times, but overall still enjoyable!

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TillyFun
on 2015-12-14 16:18:16

Very cool! ^__^ Clean cut and mixed up nicely. c:

The last third is my favourite.

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Liontamer
on 2015-12-14 14:51:27

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Contra (Konami , 1988, NES)
Music by Hidenori Maezawa,Kazuki Muraoka
Songs:
"Dense Forest Battle (Main BGM)"
"Waterfall of Bloodshed (Waterfall Stage)"

Tags (11)


Genre:
Rock,Symphonic
Mood:
Aggressive,Energetic
Instrumentation:
Brass,Electric Guitar,Orchestral,Strings,Woodwinds
Additional:
Origin > Collaboration
Origin > Resubmission

File Information


Name:
Contra_Aliens_in_My_Waterfall_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,753,035 bytes
MD5:
08a24f474b27c5d5bca0388873359eb6
Bitrate:
227Kbps
Duration:
3:19

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