Lie Mf B

If the collab with Dash Myoku falls out, I'm interested in possibly recording guitar and bass. I'm playing a lot of guitar, so I should be able to come up with something decent. The only problem is that my schedule is packed right now. But let me know if you're interested, if you think my playing would be suitable. Click on my Myspace icon to hear my music. (My website, linked below, is offline until tomorrow or Friday). Good luck in the meantime!

I love country music and I think it's a great idea. In fact, I've already done one country-style remix, of the Amazon tune from Duck Tales (NES). You can download it here, complete with acoustic guitar, Dobro and (soundfont) fiddle. Another country-tinged game soundtrack is Gunsmoke.

That was awesome!!! I loved it, thanks for posting!

Damn good! It's awesome to hear something so different and refreshing and real well executed. The whole thing reminds me of Depeche Mode and the Manic Street Preachers. An acapella part would be great, but don't do it too long.

Wow, I'm a bit overwhelmed by all your positive comments. It feels really great especially when one gets some criticism and actually use that to improve a piece. Willrock07 -- Yeah, it was me who did the previous Silver Surfer / Turtles tune. I'm glad you dig it, but I wasn't 100 % satisfied with that piece in the end. You can however rest assured that at least this one will be available on my site in a month or two, regardless of OCR. I love that you heard my Yes influences. I think the source tune has tons of Yes in it to begin with (especially the part at 3:43 in my remix), and my little guitar lick at 4:11 was nicked straight from Steve Howe in Yours Is No Disgrace. I really dig that Dr Wily map tune too; I think it's an overlooked little piece of funk which could have made a whole remix in itself. Ok, thanx. When I'm done with all my songs I'll try to clear my head, listen to some records for reference and mix the whole album to good levels (to my ears). I like it as it is now, but if I can please a few more listeners with more treble, there might be room for that too. I feel fairly done with that part for the moment, but I'll give it some thought. Yeah, I hear ya. I never really intended this song for OCR release, but it might be worth a submission. In that case, I'll definitely leave it like this. The medley form for this song only makes good sense within the scope of my planned album. A "medley" is a loose term, as well -- I really dig the way some albums have songs that segue into each other without a silence in between, but still being two separate titles, or having "part 1 and 2" in their names. Thanx, as always, for the feedback ... talk to ya later!

Ok, so now I've got a new version up, with some major improvements. Aside from the new intro I've also rearranged the guitar harmonies you talked about, Gario, and I definitely think they're slightly better. Not too many fifths in a row now. The drums have been improved a little as well. The only thing now is that the last part (now at 6:10) still feels quite redundant. I might cut it totally and let the next phase of the medley (which isn't there yet) take off right after MM1-Wily. Anyway, I'm still interested in any kind of feedback. Thanks in advance!

Here's my bedroom studio: The two tube amp heads on the floor are homebuilt by me, and they go to a speaker in a damped closet to the left, in which it's miked with an SM57. I don't have a mixer, the white MXR Micro Amp is my mic preamp. Note pre-school diploma on the wall. Guitar galore in the living room: Left to right: Fender '72 Telecaster Custom reissue, Samick Greg Bennett bass, '94 Hamer Archtop Studio, '62-style Frankenstrat, (in the chair) '93 Hamer Special, homebuilt pimp speaker cab, Danelectro U56 reissue. On the wall is a Spanish nylon string and an old '74 Yamaha.

I'm about to decide the song sequence on the NES remix album I'm making, and it ain't easy... Tell me how you do the track order on the albums you make (or imagine you'd make). I suppose my main question is, should I make it as varied (mixed) as possible or should I "group" my songs according to styles? The album I'm making will most likely be over 60 minutes long, and I'll probably make it a fake "double LP" in true seventies fashion, where the songs are divided into four "sides". This enables me to group them into four parts, but, as mentioned, I'm still not sure about what sequence I want. Any thoughts are welcome!

Thanks a lot for your thorough comments, I appreciate it! I agree, a little. But the only way for me to speed it up -- except for rerecording the whole thing -- is to actually stretch the wave after mixdown. The problem I have with many NES songs at original tempo is that I can't do 'em tight and groovy enough when they're that fast. Yeah, I guess you're right, it's a bit dull in the beginning, and I don't really like the intro that much at all. Thanks for reminding me about the arpeggios, though there's no way in hell I'm able to play 'em in their original form. But I'm gonna experiment with keyboards and some of those ringing chords you mentioned later. I'm also making a whole new part as a prefix to the whole song. (In it's finished state this track will be part of a 10 minute medley). A lot of the counter harmony was improvised and I went with the notes that I thought sounded good. I don't hear this "fifths" problem at all, to be honest. I guess you have more musical ears than I do. But it's very interesting, and I appreciate the examples you give. I agree that it sucks with harmonies that go in parallel too much, and that thirds work better in this way. I'm probably gonna rerecord at least parts of the harmony to make it tighter, so there's a chance to experiment with the notes as well. Haha, thanks! I like them too. I forgot to mention that I've borrowed heavily from Led Zeppelin's Achilles Last Stand (i.e. 1:04-1:17, 3:35-3:48 ). I don't know if you've heard it, but that song has tons of those ringing chords and harmonies. I'll see if I can put some more of those chords in this. (Btw, I'm probably getting my ass sued some day because of too much "stealing" from famous musicians, but it's part of my style to mix my favourite vgm tunes with parts from my ol' idols.) I'm happy you thought it was subtle, because I'm still afraid some people will find it incoherent. I'll work more on meshing the style of the last ("tacked on") part with previous parts to make it a better whole. This may also include more ringing chords and stuff in the beginning, which might improve the intro and make the song more relaxed (along with improved drums). I'll eventually post a new version. Also thanks for the source links (I forgot them).

That was beautiful! I rarely enjoy orchestral remixes because they usually sound too bombastic and too much cheesy high-tech. But yours was a pleasant surprise. I think you really got a good concept with the minimalist idea. Arrangement is great and you utilise each instrument very well to make it varied but still not cluttered or too saturated. Good instrument sounds and production, nothing iffy there. The only thing that left me slightly disappointed was the rather abrupt ending. Now I'm gonna check out who Philip Glass is.

Thanks again! I'm pleasantly surprised by your extremely positive reactions. I still wasn't sure about the ending, but yeah, I guess it's ok. Thanks for reminding me about the intro; I agree that it's not quite up to snatch. I got a new update on the way, in which I've simply deleted the drums and some bass in the very beginning, which makes it more relaxed. I might not post another WIP, but I'll definitely wave my flags when the album is done. Thanks yet again for listening and appreciation!

New version, 9 February 2009 Ok, here's a major update from the last version of this. I have now reworked the intro completely, letting a newly recorded version of the Dr Wily map song from Mega Man 2 precede the Silver Surfer tune (plus a bunch of environment sounds, beginning with the Swedish bomb raid alarm). Here's another WIP in the flood I've been producing lately. I really appreciate your help so far. This one's a kind of medley which in typical prog-rock fashion goes from one part to the another without a conventional song structure. It's also going to be part of a longer 10-minute "epic", so this isn't even the whole thing. Anyway, I've lost touch with it and can't hear what's good or bad anymore, so I'd love to hear some reactions, especially on the flow of the song. Does the transitions work? Do any parts feel out of place or too sudden, etc.? Some "disclaimers": - The break at 2:15 feels sudden but straight from the source. - I'm working on the drums; will among other things replace the hihat in the beginning with something less stressed. - The last part, starting at 4:58, is a bit tucked on; might be removed. - The moog lick at the turnaround of each Dr Wily repeat sounds crap, I know.

Thanks for your reply -- I'm happy so many people seems to dig this! Getting compared to the Mahavishnu Orchestra is a major compliment in my view. I'll check "Firebird" out. I now have a new version with a decent ending, here. It's pretty much finished now, except for minor tweaks, unless I (or you) come up with some really good ideas. I agree that the organ is panned a bit much, but I still wanna keep it "out of the way" as to not clutter the mix. I've noticed that I prefer more extreme panning than most people do, but I'll think it over once more. As for the "muddy" mix ... this is one of my clearest sounding songs as of late. I don't plan to submit it to OCR quite yet; but I might try later (after my whole album is done).

Cool, great to hear! I'm working pretty intensely on an album of retro rock NES covers right now, but I don't have any plans for a sax part yet. Anyway, it could sound awesome in the right place. I'll PM you here on the forum soon with my mail address for future use. Good luck with the jamming!

The link has expired. Please repost if possible. I'd love to hear it.

In theory you actually need a license for distributing a cover of someone else's song even if you're not selling it. This is part of the copyright law. From Harry Fox: "If you are manufacturing and distributing copies of a song which you did not write, and you have not already reached an agreement with the song's publisher, you need to obtain a mechanical license. This is required under U.S. Copyright Law, regardless of whether or not you are selling the copies that you made." This is the same in Sweden, where I live. But in reality no one's gonna hunt you down unless you're distributing massive amounts and get a lot of media attention. The composer may want her/his royalties, but she/he will also be happy that you've covered her/his song. Edit: I also found this on Harry Fox: "The Harry Fox Agency does not process licenses for master use rights or licenses for the use of a portion of a composition. They can only be obtained, respectively, from the owner of the master recording, usually a record company, and the publisher directly." "A new version or arrangement of an existing song that alters the melody or character of the song, or a medley of existing songs, is called a derivative work. You need to obtain permission from the publisher directly to create a derivative work, and include that permission when you apply for a mechanical license."

I think the only sound/artist I had in mind when I started this remix was Led Zeppelin. Their later songs like "Nobodys Fault But Mine" and "Achilles Last Stand" popped up in my head when I listened to the original Jewel Man. Aside from that, I just went with my usual funk style, as the original had some funky jangle during the chorus. I've never listened to Iron Butterfly, but Blue Oyster Cult -- yeah, there's a lot of them in my music, I think -- and when you mention it, I guess this song has a little bit of Doors in it, with the organ, even though I haven't listened much to them either. I'm about to upload a new version soon.

Alright! Got it done! I went with the XSPF player. If you have the time, check my site out and tell me if it works. Thanks a lot!

Yeah, that makes sense, Kezyr. Albums no longer need to be an outlet for single songs (coupled with filler). And I don't mind if there are fewer album releases than before, if the ones that do come out utilize the format better. And that's what I hope and think will happen; the album will live on as a format for artists who really wish to strive for the full potential of it. Of course, that doesn't automatically mean that everyone will succeed in making a great album without filler. I love CDBaby's take on it:

I'm running my own website with my music (see banner below), and I would love to add some kind of embedded music player on it, just like on Myspace pages, that plays in realtime when visitors arrive. If I had really good bandwidth, I'd probably install Icecast and stream from my server. (I might still consider this.) But are there other options? I don't want to embed youtube videos for this purpose. And I don't want to provide merely a URL to the stream -- I want a player console in the corner of my website. Ideas are very welcome!

To me, there often seems to be two "schools" on this matter: Leave it until inspiration is back, or "an artist doesn't wait for inspiration". I'm more of the latter. I try to treat my music as work, and when I get to work on it, I just do it. I'm usually not quite as focused in the beginning, but after a little while I get into the "work flow" and time flies. I take a pause to eat and I eat at an unhealthy speed because I can't wait to get back to where I left off. Finally I lay off at 2 a.m. or something. But yeah, sometimes I get stuck, I'm out of ideas. I sometimes force things out of me when I know it's a waste of time. It's a good idea to work on several projects or songs in parallel. You get stuck in one, switch to another. You usually have an idea that works somewhere.

Don't be embarrassed!!! This is so refreshing, so laid back and wonderful sounding! Playing and sound is top notch! It's alive and dynamic and packed with feel. There is way too little of this sort of stuff in the video game music community. As you can see, you've received some big props already, and I think this music can remind more people of how much they really love a great spontaneous improvisation. You don't have to tweak your beats and arrangements and mixes for days to make for a great listening experience. The judges might however give you a "no" because the song is lacking a "song structure", etc. But bardofawen is probably right in that the live setting of this song will give it an advantage to something synthesised with the same arrangement. If you don't pass the judges, why not distribute it elsewhere, on VGM communities like VGMix and Da Sauce, or on Myspace, etc. Another question: Would you be interested in collaborations -- e.g. to play some sax on a tune that someone (such as me ) is working on?

Thanks all for your input! I appreciate it. Haha! I personally think it's part of my "niche" to not do metal, since so many people are already doing it, and many of them real well too. But that's a general statement; there's nothing wrong with mixing different styles. I'll think this over a bit more, but I don't wanna lose the vintage funk element of the song either. I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean here. Do you think the whole coda (starting at 2:29) feels abrupt, as it departs a little from the rest of the song. Or do you mean the coda ends too abruptly (at the end of the song, 3:22). In the latter case, let me stress that it is not finished in its current state. I'm planning to cut the coda in half and add an ending that has a little more in common with the rest of the song. (On a side note, I think fade-outs are underrated on this forum, but I'm not fading this song out anyway.) You have a point there. I'm not totally satisfied with the intro. I'm usually too lazy with intros, as I can't wait to record the actual "verses", thinking I will do the intro later, but then I lose interest...yada yada yada. Anyway, I'm gonna add something there, preferably something slightly heavier.

Thanks folks, cool to hear that you enjoy it! Funny to hear that it reminds you of Heart of the Sunrise, since I completely stole that song's riff for another proggy remix I have in the can. For this one, it was more of Led Zeppelin's Presence album in my head, I think. FreddeGredde -- you have a PM!

Yeah, I do agree that solos (and any other part) can drag on for way too long. I listen to a lot of jam based music (Hendrix, Led Zep, Cream, Grateful Dead, etc.) so I've got my share of great and dull and endless noodling. I also agree that prog epics should be real songs with a proper structure, and that this really works in this genre. But I've heard too many performances that are just melodies, riffs, chords, etc., one after another with a questionable flow and no repeats, which means that the concept of a "song" just disappears. In that case, the artist might as well do a "Thick as a Brick". I love that Jethro Tull album, and I think that about 95% of the song is perfect. But as far as prog albums go, I consider Aqualung, or the Yes records Fragile and Close to the Edge more "ultimate". That's also how I prefer to make, or listen to, video game music -- a mixture of longer epics and shorter interludes and little ditties -- some sources expanded, others just a little riff that gives way to the next track. As long as every song is good and the whole package is cohesive. Fan vad jag häver ur mig självklarheter, känns det som plötsligt. Jag har lagat Jewel Man-länken nu, men de flesta av mina låtar på sajten är fortfarande nere p.g.a. serverkrasch. (Några finns dock, bl.a. på Myspace.)