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If you want to write a remix for OCR, I suggest not using a MIDI, because here's the thing: that's not your work. The transcription and sequencing was done by someone else. Plus by using the MIDI, you're essentially circumventing the entire sequencing process. There's a lot more to sequencing than the notes; there's velocity, timing, and everything that goes into creating expressive lines. If you want to be a composer/arranger, you have to train your ear. You have to get better at figuring things out by listening to them. The way to do this is to practice. Ear training is incredibly important. How are you supposed to write anything original if you can't translate what you hear in your head to your DAW? If you use an existing MIDI, are we gonna know? Maybe, maybe not. We've figured it out before. I've always been a proponent of ear training and doing things by ear. MIDIs are a helpful tool when you're starting out but they quickly become shortcuts, crutches, and ultimately hinderances to your artistic growth.

Last time I did this compo as a villain. I'll play as a goody-do-gooder hero this time. Here's my list: “Dragon Age Origins” - “Leliana” and “Leliana's Song” - “Hero” “Tales of Phantasia” - “Mint” and “Mint's Theme” - “Hero” “Final Fantasy IV” - “Rydia” and “Rydia's Theme” - “Hero”

NES Version SNES Version

I'm in the process of switching to Reaper after using Sonar for 8+ years because Reaper is far more scriptable. As far as just starting out goes, the only real limiting factor with Reaper will be that it doesn't come with a bunch of bundled instruments/effects like a lot of other DAWs do. Whether this is important is up to you. Regardless, as you acquire your own instruments and effects you'll likely start to move away from bundled stuff even if you have it, since it tends not to be as high-end/top-dollar/specialized as stuff you buy separately.

No one is going to have an accurate answer for you because no one knows what music you make, how you make your music, what your work flow is like, etc. I've never used Reaper but I believe those who make use of live recordings tend to prefer Reaper or Cubase or Pro Tools, those who rather sequence everything typically use FL Studio, electronic music producers use Reason, the list goes on. You're gonna have to play around with the other DAWs to get an answer to your question, and you can worry about doing that whenever you feel stuck or frustrated or bored with Reaper.

First piece since moving out of NYC. From One Geek to Another. Levitating teddy bears is serious fun lol.

Haha, glad you're enjoying it. I consider it the second best VST purchase I've made and by far the best affordable violin library.

Yes. At least that's how I do it. Most people I know here do it by ear too. No. No. No.

Everyone did a great job If you pick a nice melodic song with vocals I may enter again Really looking to get away from metal stuff right now

Oh snap, thought you had this one hoboKa. I was worried mine was too mechanical. Gotta think of a source now.

eval Something about the drums doesn't sit right with me. Could be a combination of distance to microphone, the reverb of the room, the panning/mic placement, and any number of other factors. Maybe it's a performance thing. I'm not sure. So I'm being really helpful here. Seems like this is recorded as if heard from the position of an audience member. Sounds fine on speakers, but not as good on headphones. This is a very subjective thing, because someone who enjoys the sense of being on location might not have a problem with this. So, more subjective, super-helpful feedback. I'm not a big fan of the audience participation here. I don't terribly mind some cheering and clapping, but when it becomes distinct words, and/or too loud, it bothers me. As does the use of the original source in here. It makes sense for the performance, but I don't like it. But I don't have to. Again, subjective criticisms. More relevant, more to the point, I'm a bit worried about the source usage. The structure is basically source (in samba) -> soloing section -> source (ipad solo) -> repeat of theme -> end. It's probably fine, but I'm hoping there's some source bits in the soloing section that I'm just too obtuse to hear, since that would alleviate most of my source-related issues. The structure is rather conservative, but I don't think that's enough to reject it. The performance is fine. It's got groove. I'm not well enough versed in the genre and live performances to tell beyond that I don't have any particular problems with it. It's enjoyable and I can't easily come up with anything to complain about when it comes to performance, so at the very least, it's okay. On the production side, there's my aforementioned aversion to "on location"-type recordings, and I think a different placement of mics and instruments would yield a better recording. I think I'd prefer the drums centered and possibly a bit closer to the mic, and the rest of the band placed at the appropriate distance based on instrument levels and prominence in the arrangement. But that's subjective. It's a bit reverb-y and the audience noise is rather loud, but I don't think that's enough to reject the track. It's difficult to say whether it's a pass or a rejection. There's plenty of good stuff here, like the genre adaptation itself and afaict the performance. There's nothing that makes me say "easy no" or anything like that. Most of my crits are subjective, and I'm struggling to draw a line between what's my personal taste and an ocr-wide standard. My assessment is that it could very well pass, although it's not my kind of track. What's important is that you're happy with it, and I don't see why you shouldn't be. Sub it. If it's a no, it's a no with better feedback than I can provide, and if it's a yes... then it's a yes. And I'm leaning towards the latter. Nice work, y'all.

The mixing is really getting to me but this is still well-executed. I'd say it's a battle theme worthy of a good RPG.

Well, this is a straight up interesting take, from the get-go. It's haunting, yet it drives the source forward relentlessly. It's obvious that the dissonance is intentional for the sake of atmosphere, and I love it; not all music has to be 'pretty'. The voice leading, though - how you move from chord to chord - throws me off a bit. While the dissonant sound isn't so much an issue, how you get from one chord to the next doesn't quite click 100% throughout, making the chord changes sound a bit janky. I like the dark direction that it was taken, though, and the harmonies used do enhance that atmosphere created in the track, so in this case I feel it's not a deal breaker. The overall production quality is pretty good. A few of the instruments are a bit low quality (like the choral strikes placed throughout), and the string arppegio in the background don't sound very humanized, which can occur when there's a lot of copy/paste without adjusting the velocities and attack envelopes individually. These issues are not breaking the track completely, though. The mix sometimes drowns the melody, as well. Overall, though, this doesn't do enough to take this below the bar. This one's a close borderline "YES" vote; while the voice leading could be a lot better, the less traditional harmonies help mask that. The track produces a solid, creepy vibe, even with it's flaws, which is what I think the track was going for, and I thought that was neat. YES / BORDERLINE

First, source amount seems enough, the original is recognizable here. I have a few issues with this track that put it below the bar, mixing and structure. The drums are powerful, well spaced in the stereo spectrum, and interestingly programmed, however they are too loud, taking way too much attention from the overall mix. The overall ambiance feels muddied because it's too drowned in reverb, which is affecting the low end quite a bit, and the low end is quite busy already. The instrument quality is not bad overall, and could work but needs better humanization. Most of the instruments feel very static and unnatural. I'm not a fan of the percussion element that appears at 1:19 and on. It's very distracting and doesn't fit very well with the rest of the percussion, and it doesn't fit where it appears later on either. Second is structure. Lead melodies take the backstage to percussion elements and arpeggiated staccato strings. Segments such as 1:20 should feel like a climax but they don't. Transitions are often abrupt and lack much needed buildup in energy towards a main section (2:25 as a good example). I also think that the section after 3:03 feels a bit unnecessary. The build up to this moment was great, and would've made for a perfect ending where you trail off the bass and maybe a final note in your choir instrument, but I don't see the point in extending the song for this section. Although I think structure could be better, it's not enough for me to reject this. But what definitely needs improvement are the transitions. I think most of the problems in this track stem from the mix. Try to make the instruments stand out more and reduce the drums. They are very cool, it's true, but you also want the arrangement to shine. Work on having more clarity in your sections. Perhaps a choir alone isn't ideal to carry the lead melody, try a single instrument and let the choir help it along. Work on your transitions, try to make your climaxes/choruses stronger than your bridges and verses. For now I have to say NO, but this track could work with a balanced mix and some small improvements in the transitions and structure.

I like the atmosphere here, great job on creating a very specific mood. Great direction, the arrangement is awesome. The textures and the structure are great. I like the slow, progressive build-up all the way to 3:03. I personally feel like the ending cuts a bit short on a slightly unfinished idea and I'd have liked to hear a bit more. The strings samples sound slightly lackluster to me. I really like the percussion work throughout, and the organs and choirs are great at keeping the ambiance dark and eerie. A few slight bothers, but overall: good arrangement and good production. YES

Maybe this is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I don't really feel this urge to go out and tell everyone about how great video game music is. It's... really just music. Sure, it's pretty good. But... treating it like a cause, to "raise awareness" to the general public (insofar as the OP's suggestion to have a TV show), kind of confuses me. Maybe in the vein of artistic/academic recognition, yes, there's some work to be done, to get it to the level of filmography studies and whatnot. I could see that, and I certainly am of course in line with OCR's mission of promoting VGM as an artform, especially since I've been indoctrinated into it for like 8-9 years. But in general, I don't feel the urge to go out and tell regular people about VGM anymore than I feel the urge to go tell people about jazz music, or EDM, or progressive metal. On the contrary, I do feel strong urges to share specific music with people. Like when I hear a hot new album from zircon, or a great new cover from Dirty Loops, I'll share it around, try to get my friends to check it out. That's because I'm excited about how much I enjoyed something. But I don't think I've ever gone to someone and said "Look how great video game music is!" and threw a giant list of timeless OST's at them. I'm as likely to share non-VGM as I am to share VGM. So I guess tl;dr, I think VGM should be better institutionally represented in academic/artistic endeavors (should see more game composers winning Grammys), but as far as the general public actually listening to it, I feel like trying to push that is as fruitless as trying to do it for any other genre/classification of music.

omg, is this actually coming out? i've been lurking for like 2 years since they said the music was finished.

Super borderline call, I can see why this split the panel. I will start by saying that this is bar-none HoboKa's best solo attempt to date. There are still some lingering issues that have plagued his past subs - most notably, the sequencing and unrealistic/dry or poorly mixed instruments (choir sounds fake, organ sounds rigid and dry) bring this down a notch. However, I found that the areas you improved on (exciting drum samples and sequencing, the way you built up dramatic tension) carried more weight than the problematic parts issues. There were some legitimately cool moments in this track, such as the final choir pitch bend, that were just awesome and really kept me engaged with the remix. In this case, the good edges out the not-so-good. I'm happy to co-sign with your first official solo mixpost - your progress hasn't exactly been meteoric over the years, but the small improvements you've made over time seem to have finally helped your execution catch up to your ambition. I admire the effort you've put into constantly improving your craft, I think you made a few big leaps here that really impressed me. YES

The funny thing about music is that everyone approaches it differently. A lot of people in the music industry don't really have the koalafications for writing music, and yet they still make money with it. Other people actually have a lot of knowledge about their field, but they don't manage to make enough money to feed themselves. You say you have all the tools to compose, but I personally find that a bit of an odd thing to say. All you need to compose is your mind. And if you also want to pass it along to other people you might need a pencil and some paper as well. In the current time and age that could also mean you've got sibelius, or finale or an account on Noteflight. But, in the current time and age it could also mean you've got a recording device and a piano, and you're composing your own piano compositions. It could also mean you've downloaded fruity loops, and are making some beats. Or maybe you bought a guitar and are now singing your own songs at the local pub every Friday night. Naturally ,it could also be something entirely else... Now, to come back to your original question, it greatly depends on the kind of music you want to compose. If you want to compose orchestral pieces, and have them played by real orchestra's, then I'd definitely say that grades matter. Because having a teacher who has experience with such things is crucial to such a complicated and time-consuming project. Schools that teach such things also have the connections and facilities to have your yet to be made orchestral pieces played, which is, as mentioned before, a must for starting composers. On the other hand, if you make your orchestral pieces yourself, in some kind of Daw and a midi keyboard, then you don't really need to have your pieces played, as you kind of play them yourself. It's the same with self played piano pieces, sing and songwriter love songs and generally everything that doesn't require other people to get the sound you want. But... it's quite complicated to determine if you need to follow some kind of education in order to make such music. Besides music being a very subjective and personal thing, it is still somewhat possible to see if music is 'good' or not. Some people do not have any education in music, and yet produce some very cool stuff. Other people do not have any education in music, and produce some very uncool stuff. It depends on the person. And, as I mentioned earlier, your music doesn't have to be 'good' in order to make money out of it. Something however which is kind of certain, is that, if you follow an education in music, it really improves your music. So, if you're not sure if you're a musical genius, and you want to make 'good' music, then I'd say that grades matter. Because that allows you to follow an education in music. Which doesn't immediately mean that you have to compose orchestral pieces. There are lots of music educations focused on electronic music, pop music, rock music and other such things. If you're already confident that the music you're composing is sure to sell well, and you know how get it to the general public, then you don't really need a teacher or a certificate or anything else school related. But, even then there is a difference between thinking that you're making 'good' music and actually making 'good' music. And the people who can tell the difference between those two things and help you in crossing that bridge are music teachers, working at conservatories and music schools.

Main difference here is that you cab get grants with that paper.

Depends on where you want to go next. Were you planning on being a composition major at a university? If so maintaining a high GPA is a must for both financial and academic reasons. Keeping a high GPA will give you a lot more opportunities than an average one will. Music majors tend to have higher than average grades and if you don't fall into that category it will reflect poorly on you and probably affect you socially as well. As far as freelancing goes, probably not...? People who are looking to employ your skills are more likely to judge you by your portfolio/past work experience/social network since it requires a number of hoops to obtain your transcript in the first place.

Cool Arrangement, really nice dynamic shifts, great mood building, some production issues, other judges pretty much covered all the bases... w/e, gets my WillRock stamp of approval - LETS GO Also, wanna say hoboka - Nice work on improving your craft over the years. This is swell. YES

On the plus side, I liked the cinematic approach. Other than the vox being problematic and some textures not clicking 100%, the sound design's ambitious. Cool intro with the crystalline SFX. Vox opening at :09 was OK, though the organs at :20 sounded too squeaky clean, and so it sounded awkward when the organ chords would drop and empty space was left; at :31, the volume of the padding was raised to help mitigate the issue. I thought the unrealistic choir vox sequencing/articulations were an issue (e.g. :00-:19, :44-1:02, 1:19-1:53), and should have been smoothed out, so I'm with DragonAvenger and zykO on that. The string sequencing also had some tightly-timed moments, though 1:02-1:19 had a pleasing string sound for sure. Overall, I'm with them that the overall timing of the vox was blocky and silted, with 1:19-1:53 being the worst (and most extended) offender, and that this dragged down the execution on a production level. Not sure what was going on with the writing from 1:36-1:53 also; it was a variation of the verse melody, but the combination of the lead and supporting string writing didn't sound right at all. The textures from 2:09-2:25 didn't click, mostly due to the percussion not being the right fit, but it was a brief passage. Smaller detail, but the change from the verse to the chorus at 2:40 didn't make sense. If you're transposing the verse, why not transpose the chorus as well? I'm not trying to make the perfect the enemy of the good. I think it's a solid WIP that mainly needs vox refinements before it should pass, and tightening up other brief issues of odd textures and writing would be a bonus. I'm in the minority, as it's not a bad track and it plays to the strengths of what makes Alex's arrangement work, i.e. not changing the melodic structures, but meaningfully personalizing the sounds/instrumentation. NO (resubmit)

Way to bring some energy and excitement to a pretty underwhelming original track. Liking the concept of this one. There are some production weaknesses present. Some of the percussion hits sound a bit on the lofi end and didn't mesh well with the rest of the track. As Andrew mentioned, the choir isn't super realistic, but it gets the job done. Cool beatwork around the 3:15 mark. This may be my favorite section of the track. Mixed bag of cool writing and energy with some production issues that could be tightened up, but on the balance I'm on board with this one. YES

Good tempo shifts; the choir was fakey but fit well enough, and the drums were a touch loud but the patterns were powerful and interesting. The arrangement was solid, and while the ending felt abrupt, the mood and expansion of the source was well done without meandering. Sequencing overall was good enough, and I think the strengths of this outweight the weaknesses. Good progress and determination on this one. Yes

I didn't hear a lot of connection after the intro and before the second half, when the themes are strong, but the string runs are straight from the original and it has enough connection. The cool instrumentation and great dynamics are the highlight here, and make up for the minor flaws with the sequencing. Alex's song painted a complete picture for me and I'm happy to give him (IIRC) my first YES on one of his tracks. It's great to see people progress as songwriters and Alex's determination to improve has carried him a long way from where he started. YES

while I agree that there are the above mentioned production/sequencing issues, the arrangement comes together nicely. personally, the percussion & organ entrance struck me as fake sounding, but the piece builds interest with cool changeups and layers. the dynamic shift at 3:03 is a highlight for me. throughout the piece, I hear the production as being a little rough around the edges, but I ultimately have to say YES

I found a lot of Breath of Fire 2's soundtrack tone fairly bland, and this track is no exception. I think your approach is definitely a more interesting take of the melody, and it was much more fun to listen to than the source. You added some near embellishments to the melody that I think overall work pretty well here, and I have no fault with the arrangement side of things. I found the transition at 0:45 to be pretty smooth, nice work there. I also think I'm hearing some sort of whispering or moaning on the left side around 2:42. It's a nice touch and could actually be a little louder. I can't say I'm as on board with the production here. A lot of the synths feel really blocky, which definitely pulls me away from being immersed in the track. To some extent the blockiness is forgivable since the original has some similar sections, but I think here that following that style choice clashes with the other elements you added to your track. The others also mentioned the timing on the choral patch, but I'd also like to make a note that the sample itself really stands out as being fake. Some of the other synths also stand out a bit, but the choral ample is the biggest issue. I think you're really on the right track here. The arrangement is good, but I think the blockiness and the samples are bringing this down below the bar. I'd love to hear you revise this a bit. Good luck on the rest of the vote! No (resubmit)

I always know I should expect something creative from you, Alex, and this is definitely no exception. Nice and cinematic, with a great atmosphere. I second Chimpa's complaint about the drums being a bit loud in comparison to the rest of the project, but it's not so much so that it kills the track. Another issue I have is that a lot of your string runs seem behind the drums a bit--that's usually due to a too-slow attack on the string patch, or just not sequencing it slightly ahead of everything else to compensate. This is obviously not done with an actual orchestra, and if it were sans drums and fun percussive work, I'd probably NO this. As it is, the entire package is cohesive enough to pass muster--to use a cliche, it's definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Mixing is adequate, arrangement is creative and solid, instrumentation is adequate--you're getting a pass from me! YES

teoria.com has helped me quite a bit

My secret that's not really a secret since I've said it numerous times before is that I hate DAWs and doing MIDI sequencing, but it's a necessary evil. My listening secret though is that I listen to Girls Generation, cheesy J-Pop and 90s Max Martin pop hits when I think no one is within earsho-SHUT UP IT'S CATCHY AND NOSTALGIC OKAY!?!?

Five or six years on this remix? Wow... well I'm glad you stuck with it, and you got some good help and advice as well. I'm finding this moody and creepy! I like the drums you've used, are they Damage or Evolve? The organ sounds epic. The choir is a drop loud and could use a little more reverb and a little less in the midrange but is is working. The string arps could be a touch louder. I hear plenty of source and lots of variation. Some sections go on a bit long with whole notes, like 1:53-2:10, but that's a nitpick. The drums sound a little louder than the rest and sound slightly pasted on top, something to consider for next time. The mixing isn't perfect here but it's working well enough. The arrangement builds nicely into excitement. The cool down at 3:03 is downright eerie! This is a very cool track, I'm impressed, nice work. That pitch bend at 3:48... love it. YES