OCR01568 - *YES* Earthworm Jim 'Acrophobia' *RESUB*

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4563

ReMixer name: about:blank

Real name: Chris Bouchard

Email: boosherd@gmail.com

Website: http://www.myspace.com/aboutblankhtml

Name of game(s) ReMixed: Earthworm Jim

Name of Indivdual song(s) ReMixed: Buttville: The Descent

Here's a resub of a mix I sent in a few months ago. I've made a lot of changes thanks to feedback I've recieved from you guys and the folks at the WIP forum. I'm pretty proud of the final outcome. Hopefully I've improved this enough so it's ready for submission.

Hmm didn't I yes this last time. Oh yeah, I did. Well this has improved even more over the last version. One gripe with this is the section in the middle, where the strings are kinda pushed to the side by the phat drums. This version is a lot fatter overall, and the transition into the piano section was excellently done imo. The one thing I would say for future subs is to try and get some more dynamics going in relation to volume, as I think the sections ie.piano section, should have been somewhat quiter to better contrast the 'soft' and 'hard' sections. More melodic elements have been added here, and this relies on the stutter much less than the previous version. Good resub!

YES

Hmmm, big ouch on production. Overcompression + volume issues (mostly on drums) Starting at 1:28, and gets really bad at 1:49. Can't let that slide.

Fix that.

That (the volume issues) being my only gripe, and a notable enough quirk to the overall finished track, this is otherwise in YES territory. The song has a nice direction. And some fun chopping/gating going on. I really like the piano and synth playing off each other at 2:38.

Once again, fix the volume/compression and you got yourself a YES.

*EDIT*

CONDITIONALLY, YES

seeing as that's my only gripe. Just rerender it, lay off the compression, and lower the levels.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ewj - "Buttville ~ The Descent" (ewj-07.spc)

Glad to see this resubbed. Loved the effects and layering done with the acoustic guitar. The sequencing on the piano at :45 sounded too stiff; way too exposed despite the effects in play. Luckily it only lasted a few seconds before moving on.

Still some awkwardness on the stuttering from 1:20-1:22 where the timing didn't seem to match up right, but overall I still loved the concept.

Those beats are meant to be pretty loud at 1:27, but it felt like it was to the detriment of the song. I liked 'em lower. The airy strings from 1:49-2:10 were getting massacred by the distorted beats, IMO. They were getting killed so bad, it was as if you were encountering some sort of channel limitation where the strings dropped out entirely. I know that wasn't the case, but that's how bad it seemed.

Nice effect at 2:21 to fade out the guitar, and a slick transition to the electrosynth effects and piano. Piano sounded too rigid and bright, but things were alright on the whole.

Sweet tempo change at 3:17; you definitely needed something to keep things fresh, and that was an effective idea. Wasn't liking the bare plucked strings from 3:36, but you resolved it strongly with the final WHOOMP at 3:43. Solid stuff.

I won't die if this goes up as is, but I'd like to see some mixing tweaks done just to get this in a better place sonically. I agree entirely with BGC's reasoning, but feel this is more of a case of a conditional YES, rather than a NO. Fix it up, Chris, but beyond that, congradulations bro.

I'm not a fan of the retriggering effect on the guitar. The glitch effects are waaay overdone in my opinion, and they distract from the fact that the song is kind of repetitive. As I said before, the effects would be cool if used correctly, but they are used too much, and too often the samples are retriggered way off the beat.

I didnt have any real problems with compression or volume, but I was litening on headphones.

I think the glitch effects really need retooling.

NO

I agree entirely with BGC's reasoning, but feel this is more of a case of a conditional YES, rather than a NO. Fix it up, Chris, but beyond that, congradulations bro.

Yeah, that's probably what I meant, anyway, seeing as that's my only real gripe. I've edited my previous vote to reflect that.

I don't hear any of the production issues that people are rabbiting on about. But maybe that's due to my awesome new sound-system.

The mix is dysfunctional. It's halfway between sounding cool and sounding randomly noobish. Some of the instruments fluctuate between sounding smooth, enjoyable and then they make a jump right into "wow, that's really fake-sounding" land. Maybe other people can be more forgiving about that.

I can't think of a good reason to pass this mix, nor can I really think of a good reason to reject it. There's not really a lot you can do to make it "better" so to speak. So I guess it's a style thing.

YES

Been on the fence with this one for awhile. Here's how I see it..

The arrangement works for me, and I think most of the ideas are executed well.

The retriggering effect that's such a problem for Jesse isn't for me. That's not to say I think it was implimented in the best possible way. I just don't see it as holding the mix back, so to speak.

Finally, the production, while not stellar, doesn't seem bad enough to drag this into NO territory. It would definetly benefit from some retooling, though. Larry's conditional YES makes me more comfortable in stamping my seal of approval, because without his vote, this probably won't pass.

BORDERLINE YES

Volume levels are still inconsistent across the board here. The intro is really quiet, can't really hear much of what's going on. More compression please to even things out. The drums are now a little too loud in comparison to other parts. The stereo field is definitely better, good job on that. However, the texture is still minimal. You need more meat here, as I wrote in my previous vote. You addressed some of the production issues but this is still not quite there. The piano/strings section later is too minimal, and I don't think the tempo change fits either.

Some good fixes and concepts, not everything worked though. Keep at it.

NO

I'm with BGC and zircon on the volume issues. The guitars in the intro are rather quiet (and slightly sharp), but then things even out... until 1:30, when everything gets crazy loud. It would be such an easy fix that I don't feel like this mix needs to go through the entire resubmission process again, so long as about:blank is willing to get us an update ASAP. The drum compression doesn't bother me, but do whatever you want with that. ^_~

As for the arrangement, I'm loving it. I can see where Vig is coming from about the retriggering effect being a little gimmicky, but then again, the Earthworm Jim soundtrack is pretty quirky to begin with. I think this fits right in! Transitions are all interesting and unique, and the texture works very well, in my opinion. Lots of personal flair!

Provided you fix the volume probs...

YES