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Source links? Don't make me go lookin' for them.

Ok, so the intro captures my interest right away with the airy pads and female vox. I like the unabashed 80s feel of this. Overall with this track you have a nice blend of instruments and offer a very different feel from the source. Source-wise you seem to have it well-covered, adequate source tune with some melodic modifications. Don't see any problems in that area. Production-wise, everything is clear and easy to hear, no muddy buildup. Nothing in the mix blew me away, but it's solid work. I don't foresee any drastic problems with the judges on this aspect. Two minor things I would note is the snare, which could be a little beefier and more present, and the bass could MAYBE be turned down a tad. Try it and see? Now, I PERSONALLY have no problem with your synth leads, but the judges may say they are sort of thin and static, particularly the one at 1:04. Just be aware it could be a possible point they bring up. They might ask you to vary your lead sounds as well. Possible things to consider. The thing I think would cause you the most trouble with the judges is the arrangement; specifically, the relatively static feel of the backing track. There's a great airy intro. Then the main body of the track begins and 0:30 and for almost 2.5 minutes keeps the same beat, groove, and instrumentation. Then there's a nice ambient break, but soon after that starts with pretty much the same arrangement as before. Now the little crushed and panned percussive ear candy at 4:02 was much appreciated, as was the outro. But overall, almost 4 minutes the song continues along at much the same pace and feel. So, options for you. Tastefully placed automation of your drums, bass, or anything else can spice up the arrangement and give surprises to the listener, which you should always try for. Distort the beat on the last measure or bar of a section, filter it along with the bass to allow a breath in the action. Like, ah, wall of sound momentarily lessening... and now we're back into it. Try to feel where a little production surprise would be welcome for the listener. Another thing is to simply vary instrumentation and density of arrangement in later sections more radically. Perhaps choose a lead sound that is completely different from your previous ones. In a successive iteration of a section, you could drop out the beat and bass entirely for a couple bars before bringing it back in. Or substitute the drums with other percussive sounds that keep the beat but offer a different feel for awhile. Swap out backing instruments for other ones that sound different. Even change the part writing! You've got loads of options at your disposal so that the listener doesn't say, "I liked this track, but a lot of it felt the same to me." Just my impressions to help you hedge your bets with the judges, should you choose to submit. I think it's an enjoyable track, I really like the airy instrumentation and overall feel, and would like to see it have some more arrangement diversity. Hope this helps!

Nothing at all. You're just my first victim.

I would love to join, except I don't have an internet connection at my apartment.

looks like you'll be the first person I cut my teeth on. give me a day or two to give a proper listen and put my thoughts down.

anyone that I try to it explain to, gives me a blank look.

I can give you a YES, no problem.

It's worked in politics forever.

maybe compared to some people, but I have a huge list of artists I can look at and think welp, might as well give up. and you know what? so do they. so it's all relative, and I think you have to be careful comparing yourself to others too much, or it can be a real bummer. you should do it SOME to get inspired, but too much and you'll go into a depression. when it comes to making music we are all special little snowflakes, and I am not being sarcastic at all.

2 years, how adorable. I've been at this for over a decade and I still feel like I basically understand nothing. and you can find old dudes on KVR who have been at it for multiple decades and say the same thing. the thing to realize is, self doubt can easily cripple you. so there are boundaries.... one side is arrogance where you don't grow because you don't strive to improve. the other side is being paralyzed by self doubt and not growing because you don't get anything done. you have to walk in the middle. understand your weaknesses and work to improve them, while realizing there are newbies who would look at you and say wow, that guy knows what he's doing. so look at peoples music that you look up to and say, ok, what are they doing right that I am not. and then try to do it.

I can understand Larry and djp when they express interest in hearing about the process, but honestly most of the time I don't have all that much to say about a track. it's like, here's a track, I was feeling this genre at the time, hope you like it. this idea came from Patrick Burns Balance and Ruin track, which I really like. and like djp says ambient is relatively rare here. so I had a hankering to do some. I guess the unique challenge of this track was designing animal and other sfx that are shout outs to the original forest sounds, rather than just ripping the ones from the game. my favorite occurs about halfway through. half speed, actually.

wow, this must be a lucky time of year for me.

for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. I put something dark and twisted into the world like my Balance and Ruin track, so I needed to even up the scales with something happy and upbeat.

bring it on.

I mainly mentioned it as a joke, but for the sake of accuracy, Tinley Park, IL.

if by "you totally can" you mean "you .1% can", then yes. unfortunately that leaves you a 99.9% chance of failing. in this unsure economy i would rather bet on a much more sure thing than an industry that simply has more supply than demand.

Wow, thanks for listening that long.

Hmm, that's a real good question. I'm not trying to do musics or anything as a career. I've been a programmer analyst for a few months, and am picking up some possible skillz for database administrator. So that's a possible thing. Or network admin. Other than that, I seriously have no idea? Kinda sad that by age 31 I don't have more clarity....

I've moved as well, about 10 miles.

oh, I see we're not on the list anymore. Well I can't really blame you.

Never. But to be fair, I kinda live like a hermit.

Moseph is probably correct, the sound difference you hear is the extra mic positions. You have to compare apples to apples. 24-bit samples are for people who think they add some extra fairy dust or something, there's no way they by themselves are doing what you think.

Well now you make me want to play it just to see if i can sleep.

I am not overweight but I need to lose some weight I've been gaining from shitty food. It's insidious. If I didn't have a fast metabolism I would be screwed.

Oh damn, that's a severe shock. The fact that such an immensely funny and talented dude could commit suicide from depression is just sad. IMO some of his best work was in voiceovers and improv, he was just brilliant at that stuff.