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This is going to require internet to play? Pass.

Are we supposed to adhere to an NDA when we enter contest tracks? Something I've wondered for awhile. Anyway, track seems a bit empty. Not a fan of the drums, they seem too dry and aggressive for the style, I think some brush drums would be more appropriate. Snare in particular sounds like a stock sample from a DAW.

This is perhaps the first time you can use the words "AARP" and "great job" in the same sentence.

If anyone likes podcasts, Graham Cochrane and Joe Gilder have one called Simply Recording. Also Joe Gilder has a solo podcast called Home Studio Corner. If you're like me the audio podcast is the best thing ever for your commute/work/anything else, and it's good to hear people talking shop about recording.

This is astonishing work given the stone age release date of 2001. Production is really good for a time before the VST and DAW boom. You were making sweet tunes before I even started to make music at all.

I'm only helping out so this darn thing gets released.

Actually, a lot of the Beatles tracks sound better in mono. Here's the thing, checking your track in mono is not for the faint hearted. It usually sounds awful, and requires some deft EQ to get things sounding things ok. Will it ever sound as good as stereo? Course not. But it's a useful tool in your arsenal to getting a good mix.

Big improvement! There's an instrument in the center, not sure if it's the autoharp or toy piano, has a peaky resonance sticking out. Try EQing somewhere in the 300-500 Hz range.

That reminds me, all of the numerous ways for Leon to die in Resident Evil 4. My fav is definitely decapitation with the chainsaw, although getting impaled in the face by that Wolverine guy has its appeal too.

Right you are, and I am an absolute retard for not seeing that. reading comprehension FTW. Yeah man, there's plenty of good stuff for Kontakt, but wait for a sale (unless you're made of money). As for Composer's Collection, I don't think it ever goes on sale. That said, if you wanna hold out for one of the frequent EW sales you can get 2 for 1, maybe the orchestra and Stormdrum.

Can I try the file select theme? It might be a few weeks till I can produce a finished product.

The Composer's Collection will give you those things. Komplete Ultimate gives you strings in the factory content as well as Session Strings Pro, but it doesn't come with Damage for big drums. Which is awesome, btw, but wait till it's on sale. I guess the salient differences between Composer's Collection and Komplete is, the EastWest stuff gives you a lot more in the way of choirs, ethic instruments. While Komplete gives you a lot more synths. Komplete also gives you Kontakt, which is a key piece of kit. I would recommend one or the other (or both!) for simplicity. Then when you become familiar with the sounds and know which ones you like and which are duds, you can branch out more with 3rd party shite.

I love Omnisphere. It gets used on every track. Whether or not it would be useful to you I can't say. I think it would help if you say what kinds of sounds you want.

Well, the stuff that gets a lot of use from me these days is Kirk Hunter Concert Strings II, Concert Brass II, Damage (big drums, percussion, distorted elements), Impact Soundworks stuff, the old Kontakt EastWest libraries (not so much these days), some of the factory stuff (orchestral), and various and sundry other 3rd party stuff I dinnae remember. Throw in Omnisphere (my fav), Engine2 libraries, and a few elements from Sampletank 2 and you basically have my setup. Problem for you is, most of the stuff on the list I purchased on sale, so buying it all now would be prohibitively expensive. The best entry-level bulk sounds are either Komplete or Composer's Collection.

Composer Pack is definitely the easiest way to get tons of sounds, other than Komplete. I prefer to use a bunch of different products in Kontakt, but I've been collecting them for years. Trying to get the perfect set of 3rd party crap all at once seems like an exercise in masochism.

Yup. Your mix might be a muddy mess, but because it's spread out across the stereo field you don't hear it. Once you sum to mono, holy crap. Quiet sobbing in the corner. But fix the sonic clutter and it'll sound even sharper in stereo.

Fantastic work like your last track. Unfortunately like the last one, I feel it's about 1/3 longer than it needed to be.

Planescape Torment is the one game I can think of where death is more than a game over screen. Death in the Fire Emblem games is pretty brutal and has made me rage quit a large number of times. It's part of the reason I love (and murderously hate) the series. You better be god damned careful before you commit to any move.

Nice work. I've thought about doing Plants vs Zombies. Maybe in a few years.

Hmm, I've never participated in one of these. Nice source, but unfortunately I've never played the game and there's only a few days left.

ok, Balance and Ruin contest song out of the way, now to work on this.

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

Yeah man, I dig it. I can hear what you mean by it being kind of raw and needing more finessing, and it suffers from medley-itis which the judges would frown upon, but it sounds a lot better than my first game remix.

Great execution, recording and mix leave something to be desired. Sounds totally mono to me, a bit of panning would be nice, and maybe some stereo reverb. Maybe consider stereo micing in the future?

The one Let's Play I like is that Super Mario World mod where the guy completely loses it.