[DragonAvenger]

Remixer 1 Name: Rexy (real name: Beverley Wooff)
Email: bev.wooff@gmail.com
OCRemix user ID: 7528

Remixer 2 Name: Brandon Strader
Email: brandonestr@gmail.com (yes, Brandon has a new email, deal with it)
OCRemix user ID: 3123
Remix info:-

Remix title: "Red Chamomile"
Games covered: Mega Man 4 / Mega Man 6
Individual songs covered: Dr. Cossack's Fortress Stages 3/4 (MM4), Title (MM4 - Cameo), Plant Man's Stage (MM6),

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[Rexy]
Well, with the first Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet due to end soon, as well as 2011 itself, I shall take the time now to send off an entry in which I was the lead arranger.

Round 6's source for people to mix their chosen robot masters with was the second Dr. Cossack stage theme from Mega Man 4; when finding that out on the train back from the London Gaming Con, my first thought was "I didn't research this because Cossack isn't Wily", but I still pressed on and gave it a go.

Part of my inspiration on this came from studying some of Queen's faster-paced works from the early 1970s, which is made evident with the drum writing more than anything else. Having understood that Plant Man can be a more delicate Robot Master, it's fair that a hint of his more "feminine" side could be reflected by citing musical influences that could be seen as feminine at its core. (!)
Regardless, with Cossack being a Russian scientist, it's fair that the track would practically launch Plant Man right in the centre of a more chaotic Siberian plunderstorm of energy as he tries to force his way through the lair with nothing more than a protective barrier of petals. In other words, it's all about the mad rawk this time ;)

Again, I give thanks to team mate Brandon Strader who chipped in with live performances on guitars/tambourine and offered his mastering services for a third time. Quoting his experience...

[Brandon]
Red Chamomile is an arrangement by Rexy, and it is really fantastic I think. Just like with Hogtied and some of our other collabs, I recorded the guitars, replaced the sounds and mixed / mastered it. I even chopped one of her piano parts and she never noticed but I did it for the good of the song. >:] I love the subtle echo on the acoustic guitar, and I think the song sounds great. I think this collab, like our others, shows both of our styles pretty well. The tambourine was totally improvised and I got it in like 1 take and I love that part. This song is all about the TAMBOURINE!

[Rexy]
Given that the track had to be established within a time limit, it wasn't easy trying to get this together, but I'm glad it did because hearing this back managed to give a spur of confidence for both the track's performance and its listenability. Even hearing some of his subtle changes and creative decisions were neat too, so major props there.

And thank you again DarkeSword for running the gauntlet! It may not be quite as evident, but the experience really got me to grow as a producer, and I hope to take the experience to heart for future endeavours :D

-Bev & Brandon-
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlRGotA3Yzs - Cossack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7tQufOC0d8 - Plant Man

[DragonAvenger]

Not too crazy about the particular sources, but I think you combined them well here, and overall the arrangement is nice. There were a couple times where things the flute felt a bit overpowered, but they are in no way dealbreakers. I'd also say the guitar could come down a tad, but otherwise, nice work!

YES

[OA]

The balance sounded pretty good to me, though, the flute could have come up a touch. That live tambourine is awesome!

Some of the rhythm playing around 1:40 could have been a bit tighter, but otherwise the performances were pretty on, and the variety of instrument timbres was very nice. I really enjoyed the arrangement here, and think you guys make a good remixing team. Very cute piano flourish at the ending as well, was a fun way to end the track.

yes

[halc]

I thought the non-live/sampled stuff in this was pretty subpar, but the song as a whole gelled pretty well. nice guitar performances and soloing by Brandon, and a very strong arrangement, as I've come to expect from any Rexy mix. nice work fellas.

YES

[Liontamer]

Yeesh, imbalanced mixing. :'-( Drums at :03 were too loud. Piano at :18 was too quiet and buried. Flute/guitar interplay at :50 was good in concept, but the parts seemed to mush into each other. Guitar at 1:05 was blaring while flute at 1:08 was too quiet. String sequencing at 1:35 was poo. I use the term with endearment, but those strings were unfortunate, I'll just put it like that. That's a piano at 2:08, but you barely can tell since it's getting steamrolled by the guitars and drums. The arrangement's on point, but I'd tweak this mixing. Since we're not doing conditionals over production anymore, I've gotta unfortunately call this a NO even though the arrangement is balls out awesome. I'll live if this goes up as is, but it'll be pretty unfortunate, because some tweaks would result in a significantly stronger, more cohesive sound.

Fix the levels so all of the smart instrumental interplay doesn't get underminded (and improve the strings at 1:35 if you can) and then we'll be good to go. Awesome combination of MM4 and MM6, y'all are a solid team.

NO (refine/resubmit)

[Vig]

Man those cymbals are way out front but rather awkwardly sequenced. The lead guitar is a bit piercing, maybe take out some 2-3kHz.

What I like least about the composition is the piano. It's mixed really dark but it's too busy and percussive to really be just a layer. I'd make it much brighter.

This is a close call for me, because there's a ton of cool stuff going on, but I'm going to say make some adjustments and try again.

NO

[Nutritious]

Awesome arrangement, as usual. No qualms there.

Mixing is the achilles heel of this mix, though. Right off the bat, the drums are overpowering the strings & later piano. Strings here and later have awkward sequencing. I hear that you're trying to vary up velocities, but the extent it's used here is actually detrimental, IMO. I'd get a little reverb on them, and even out the velocity a LITTLE so it doesn't jump around so much.

Piano is too dull sounding and gets buried a lot. I'd roll off some lows on it and boost some of the highs so it cuts better.

Honestly, this is very close, and I can see the yes votes here. Performances are spot on and arrangement is killer. Some relatively easy production tweaks will bring this over the bar.

No, resubmit please

[DarkeSword]

Loved the arrangement back during WCRG, but other Js are right on production crits. Need to take a hard look at your mixing choices and rebalance and EQ instruments.

Really need this arrangement on OCR. Let's get it cleaned up and resubbed.

NO, resub

[Emunator]

I have to side with the NO's on this one, I feel like overall the various elements in the song are not balanced right, particularly the non-guitar instruments. Things like your synth flute, strings, and piano are barely audible over the drums and guitars.

In addition, the aforementioned instruments are also poorly sequenced and lack any expressiveness. That's a bit of a dealbreaker for me, as the song sounds noticeably weaker when those parts are playing.

As a side note, the ending here is killer! Really loved that part.

I feel like you've got a strong arrangement and sound pallet here, there just needs to be a better balance struck between all of your different sounds in order for this to click. Good candidate for a resub!

NO (resub!)

[Palpable]

After 8 votes, not a lot to add. I think Larry really hit the problems on the head. The mixing is the biggest issue, with the drums being too loud, and piano too soft. The string and flute sequencing also sounded a little too fake. Please give this one another shot, it's a really nice arrangement! Love the slightly jazzy feel of the piano at 2:06, that was an interesting departure.

NO (resubmit)