Jillian Aversa

Not bad! Not bad at all. I have some very straightforward suggestions for you, though, and if you can take them into account I'll probably pass this next time around. At 0:57, the string rhythm gets weird. It's lacking some sort of rhythmic integrity, like the players are getting lazy with the attacks and just "swinging" them instead. The last down bows sound a little early in the pattern, making things out of sync with the bass drum. I agree with TO on your excessive reverb for the drums. No clipping for me, though. The flute part sounds awfully mechanical. Think you can mess with that a little more? Overall, you've chosen a very unconventional mixing style for a symphonic piece. If it were a mixture of styles, that wouldn't really bother me, but this is strictly orchestral, so I really think you should pan the instruments as they would be seated in a real orchestra. Here's a diagram for help: http://www.sammamishsymphony.org/Orchestra/Seating-Chart.gif I know it sounds picky, but there is a reason why instruments are spaced the way they are; if you don't observe the tradition, things start to sound muddy and imbalanced pretty fast. In this piece, as soon as you take away the drums, everything starts to sound very left ear heavy. In a real orchestra, though, the strings would be evenly spread across the front of the stage, so there wouldn't be that problem. Hope these suggestions will help for a resubmission. NO

I think a lot of people fall into a trap with percussion-driven pieces such as this. Just because a percussive instrument is struck (or strikes) to be played doesn't mean it doesn't have the same capacity for expressiveness as any other instrument! The piano line in this piece was probably the closest you got to a natural sound, and even it could use some more flexibility. Gotta vary up your articulation to produce a more organic result. I really like your arrangement, for the most part. Transitions at 2:03 (piano too quiet to take the stage there!) and 4:22 (meh?) could use some work, but you're off to a very good start. It's mostly the production values that are hurting this submission at the moment. Ever play Mario Party? Remember the little mini-game where you pair up in teams and play back Toad's "forest symphony" or whatever? The drumset you bring in about 1 minute into the track sounds just like the snare in that game! (Read: too midi.) I don't really see how the jingle bells add anything to the soundscape, either. They sound particularly unnatural. You're gonna need to do a lot of tweaking to get these samples up to par. Or you could ask for some swanky ones for Christmas? NO HOPE TO HEAR ANOTHER RESUB!

I agree with Larry that you didn't have a whole lot to work from, considering the rather generic source tune you've chosen. Sometimes it can make judging rather difficult, because there is such a fine line between liberal and conservative arrangements. Still, I can tell how much creativity was involved in putting this together! The intro was pretty bland, but then things picked up very well. What I don't understand is how you got from point A to point B at the 3-minute mark. It's almost as though you have created two different remixes, separated by a pause with a few little drop effects. Makes me wonder where you could have gotten with the first half, had you not switched things up so drastically. A bold choice, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. On second listen, I actually kinda liked it. Nice accelerando at 4:40; I really like the way it leads into the next section. Fadeout worked alright in this case, but you probably could have given us a little more conclusion. Aside from the flat drums at the beginning, production sounds really good: balanced and clear. Nice, ethereal mood throughout. It's like futuristic heaven... or something. ^_~ I can dig it! YES

Submission linky broken! Anyone have this already, that could send it to me?

There is a noticeable amount of repetition in this mix; I'm not gonna lie. That being said, I still feel like the personal variations are enough to constitute a solid arrangement— just not a great one. Production is fine by me, although I think everything sounds a little sonically flat. Something's missing. You've basically split us down the middle, and that is pretty unusual, so even if this passes, I hope you remember the criticisms you've received here and take them into account next time around. I'm going to ere on the side of caution, and ask you to resubmit. This mix has a lot of potential, but there are enough empty and/or repeated sections to lead me to believe it's quite ready yet. Hope to hear back from you soon! NO RESUBMIT!

Kawaiiiiiiiiii!

Alieo: I dunno if we will. We won't need to do another survey for quite some time, because it would probably give us the same results. But we often have contents and prizes on the show, so you could still win something. And argh, it seems like about a third of you received empty envelopes! So sorry... We had no idea there was a thickness rule for these things. I've always thought it was just weight that was taken into account.

don't stir still waters... Don't worry, Leon's never serious. I've met him! He's probably the silliest person ever.

Everything's sorted and cool now, but your math still confuses me... the PM was sent Wednesday at 9:30am, and Rexy posted about your news post the day after at 5:30pm. Either time goes twice as fast in America than in Australia, or something's not quite right here. Also, it wasn't my email, it was an OCR pm. I'm not *that* slack - I check emails a few times a day, whereas OCR normally only gets checked in evenings when I have some free time. Sadly on that one evening on Wednesday I was too busy to check. I probably don't need to be so defensive, but you still sound like you're a bit annoyed and I'm really not sure what I could have done differently. So yeah. Sorry! zircon PM'ed AND emailed you at least three days before the interview. I have no idea why you wouldn't have received them on time... Oh well.

I'm not sure why that's necessary, considering that the "big name" people will be recognizable anyway, if they're so popular. But I suppose if it would make you guys feel more comfortable, we can do it that way. We want to be sure that the voters have actually listened to all the tracks, after all. Just remember: All submissions should be properly tagged with song titles and artist names when they're sent to me. I'll assign numbers for anonymity when I host everything for the voting stage. ^_~ Some people might be recognizable, but some people (like myself) never use vocals anyway, so I'm hoping that you can't tell who I am. Well, *I* have to tell who you are to run this compo, but the voters don't.

I'm not sure why that's necessary, considering that the "big name" people will be recognizable anyway, if they're so popular. But I suppose if it would make you guys feel more comfortable, we can do it that way. We want to be sure that the voters have actually listened to all the tracks, after all. Just remember: All submissions should be properly tagged with song titles and artist names when they're sent to me. I'll assign numbers for anonymity when I host everything for the voting stage. ^_~

Oh wow, I totally misunderstood your question, Mewtation. Yeah, by no means do the lyrics have to tie in with the game! I thought you were asking if you could copy lyrics from a pop song or something, hehe. Ghetto Lee Lewis: Play nice. This is a friendly compo.

Ooh, a cappella! Sounds fun.

Gosh, that really sucks. I wish we had thought of sending everything in those sealable manilla envelopes... (But those are expensive, and for a tiny little button?)

Well, of course I wouldn't cheat, but I couldn't blame anyone for feeling uncomfortable if I were counting the votes. It wouldn't be hard to have someone else do it instead. zircon, maybe? He's involved indirectly, after all. (Also, if I made it to the top three, I wouldn't take one of my own prizes; dat'd be dumb. I'd just include a 4th winner.)

Haha, yes and yes. Still waiting for D-Lux to show up; this style would be perfect for him. Um... So, guys? Would anybody object to my entering the compo after all? I don't know if I can keep my hands off this track; it's too darn sexy! If I did submit, all votes would be PM'ed to someone else, obviously. EDIT: OMG, Mustin, jinx!

If you're going to do lyrics, they should be written with this competition in mind—not taken from somewhere else. But explain what you mean by "inspired lyrics." If they are taken from a really popular song, changed dramatically, and credited... that should be okay. Feel free to PM me what you had in mind. EDIT: Yo crazyonr1, sorry I didn't see your question until just now. Let me make a distinction: you can make a "funny" entry and still have it count in the competition, if you want to go for the prizes. But people who mark their songs as "joke entries" will just be in it for the fun.

Hmmm, why would you need that? You're not remixing the remix, just adding vocals. Lemme know, though, and I'll ask zircon if you can't find it online.

Silly Leon, read above! ^-^ There is no entry date, only the deadline for submissions... which isn't until December 23rd. So I'll put you down, ja?

bladiator: No, you don't have to be on the list of participants to enter. If you decide to do something last-minute, that's totally cool. I'm just keeping a list for the sake of everyone else, in case they're curious to see who's doing stuff or want to collab. genghisdani: Lyrics in a foreign language are sweet! No reason not to allow that. Also, yes, joke mixes are always fun. Just be sure to include "Joke entry" in the title when you email it to me, so I know to put it in a separate category. Ghetto Lee Lewis: I know three weeks isn't a lot of time, but most compos around here seem to run on a two-week basis, so I think should be just enough for everyone. If I made the deadline 4 weeks or more, I think people would lose some momentum, y'know? This is awesome, guys! I'm glad there has been so much interest so far.

No, I definitely remember addressing yours to Israel!

I've thought about that, but... a) Just like any compo, I don't really have the right to guarantee the winning mix will be posted. Everyone has to go through the same system, I'm afraid. It's still zircon's mix to begin with, and if he doesn't like anything that comes out of this round enough, we can't make him officially collab. Hopefully he'll want to, though, in which case the winner would flesh things out some more with him.

I like your itinerary, José! Only one thing... I think adding a museum to that list may be pushing it financially for some people. We're already gonna be dealing with lunch and dinner out, plus a bit of cash for the subway. Barnes & Noble would be a perfect resting place, though. What's Sam Ash and Manny's?

Really? Was yours from me or zircon? We both tried to include *something* for each one.

Brendan is actually planning on designating official "meetup" times for OCR, in the lounge, to help people get to know each other. They'll probably happen on Friday and Saturday afternoons. A lot of us already know each other, and I'm sure people will spots others in OCR shirts, but I'll post those times whenever he schedules them.