ReMix:Tangledeep "Prepare to Learn" 4:15

DaMonz (Emery Monzerol) sends us a peppy, upsteppy chip-disco-edm jam arrangement off of Tangledeep ~Arrange~, blending funk bass & spiralling major-key synth dialogues into a vivacious hybrid hoedown:

"This is my contribution to the Tangledeep - ARRANGE album. My arrival on the project was quite late, so I decided to try to make something that would follow a very simple and "traditional" structure: an intro followed by a single, very progressive buildup, followed by a slow outro. Sound design-wise, I also stayed pretty close to my comfort zone, so I hope people aren't getting tired of my simple low-profile synths. :)

My big challenge was to make sure things stayed interesting for the entire duration, because I'd be stretching about one minute of content to a bit over 4 minutes. For this reason, I had to be very careful with how I managed the energy progression throughout the track. I know that sometimes I have a bit of trouble handling the low-energy parts of an overall high-energy arrangement, as I have a strong urge to go full blast most of the time. The restrictions I used for making this arrangement were a lot of fun to work with, and I think they helped me achieve my objectives for this track.

Also, big thanks to zircon for inviting me on the project! :)

Cheers, and enjoy!"

It's hard not to :) I dig the accelerando, the funk bass, and I've always kinda perceived Emery's "simple low-profile synths" as chiptune elements, basically - that's how he tends to sequence them, and since they're "purer" waveforms, that's how they tend to come off, at least for me. I also dig how reverb is applied, which is potentially the more experimental/risky side of the production, here, as elements exist in a mixture of near & deep spaces. Gario says it well:

"There's something to be said about staying within your comfort zone: while it's true that you won't every truly "expand your creative arsenal" by sticking with what you know, you'll generally produce something excellent when you're comfortable with what you're working with. And I've got to say, you've produced something excellent, here.

Production values are crisp, and the arrangement is easy to follow (all while changing the entire feel of the source - always a plus on OCR). If people didn't already love it on the album, they're certain to love it on the front page. Great work!"

With elements of EDM, funk, disco, & chip at play, and ornate, actively-sequenced leads, this might indeed be Emery's comfort zone, but it's a damn good zone to get comfortable in, lending additional energy, groove, & panache to zircon's source. Fun!