Vig

NO because if i wanted to hear this, i'd detonate a couple of kilos of C4 under my hood and try to start my car.

well it was an interesting choice to have the melody playing on low strings. i dont think it works very well; the strings are just too low and muddy. the harp part seems a little bit dishevled and unorganized at times, and at least once or twice the harp hits a "bad" note. in the rock section, theres the same mud i complained about earlier. i like the section after 2:25. i have to give this a NO because the mix sounds muddy and there are some questionable notes in the harmony line.

i dont really have a whole lot to say about this mix. it sounds good, it stays interesting, although it doesnt escalate as much as it could, and i have no real complaints. except the ending. too sudden. there was really no decline. but i guess i better establish that i'm something of a drawn-out ending whore. nice stuff. YES

dont really like the bells at the beginning. the lead then drops way below it should be. all i hear is muddy guitar, bass and drums. WAAAY too repetitive because i cant hear the lead. nice little fills and such. ah, i like the new synth at 2:35. 3:40, i love the background synths, but again i can barely hear them. ok. i like this mix, but for now NO i'll change my vote to yes if you fix the first half of the song by bringing the lead way up. as it is the first half is boring. PLEASE make this change because i like the mix otherwise. it just seems like such an easy thing to adjust.

as you all know, i'm a big fan of the fine line of sailor moon electronic gaming products. Thusly, it disappoints me to say that i think that a SNES could easily put out music of the same audio quality. the patches are just bad. ACK! the panning is completely nonsensical! why?! also, the mix is terribly simple, and i wouldnt be suprised if there's nothing changed from the original. this mix gets a NO regardless if whether or not it actually is different from the original. its just too simple and repetitive.

hmm...this mix is unorganized. he has afew different ideas going on at the same time that might not completely suck separately, but they fit like a midget in a diving suit. its spastic. it doesnt make sense. i cant tell whats going on. this makes me hurt. and there really just isnt much here. and it repeats. and it repeats. NO

ok the song is called flashmetal, but the link has neither, it has flashman, and wilymetal. i'll assume i'm supposed to review the "flashman" song. some small guitar errors in the intro having to do with timing. :40 guitar sounds out of tune. there isnt enough low end in the mix. do my ears decieve me, or is there just no bass guitar at all? there are still timing issues, and i know its tough to keep time, but it sounds sloppy. i hate the drums. This mix is too short, and it sticks pretty closely to the original. rock out, man. throw in an interlude, a solo, anything. and you need more bass. NO

this is screaming for a live guitar part. the guitar patch really brings it down. also theres a marimba solo near the end that is too low, and hits some wrong notes. also i dont think there's enough variation in the harmony/rythm sections between the different melody lines. NO id say find a better lead and resubmit.

"when dotted quarter notes attack..." "AAAAAAH!" first off i agree with CotMM that its not meaty enough in the midrange. but what really bothers me is that the rythms are all the same, and the rolling delay at the end of the bassline. in fact much of the delay in this song really bothers me. allright. the rythms in this mix dont fit the genre, i feel, and the delay is seizure inducing in many instances. i understand that these are two limitations of the genre, but i think that it wouldnt take too much effort to make some changes and make this otherwise well-done song more listenable. so for now, NO

page cannot be found.... EDIT: bear with me folks. its my first day. ok i've got it. cant say that i've ever heard the original. the patches are mediocre. up to 1:30, theres really just not much here. theres no harmony to speak of. theres a melody and a snare. i'll tell you now, i've yet to hear a melody so good that it stands on its own. context! melodies need context! strings are unnatural sounding. not the worst i've heard, but theres definately something off with the attack. 2:00, first semblence of harmony, unfortunately its muddy, two note 1-5 harmony and then its over. somehow. NO there are several things holding this mix back, but the best place to start would be to experiment with harmony, different instruments and parts.

hmm....i'm not sure i like the empty space in the intro. while i'm not opposed to the idea of having empty space in a song, i think this particular example might benefit from some ambient noise, soft pads, or something to let us know that there IS, in fact, a song attached to the riff. this is a minor personal gripe. The patches are quite impressive, particularly the winds. however, i tend to agree with Prot about the flange. clarinet sounds fantastic. it seems to be getting a little crowded in the low-frequencies around 3:30. towards the end, i think there is a little too much reverb on the piano. On the whole, this mix has great dynamics, and good development, and the only gripes i could find, while noticeable, are minor and dont detract from the listening experience significantly. i think its one of the more interesting and well done orchestral mixes i've heard. Well done. YES I'm glad i could begin my judgedom on a positive note.

i heard this a while ago, but didnt remember it. till i heard it again this morning. AH! i love the intro! great transition to the melody. i think the drums are decent. not great i would like to hear more harmony in the section around 1:00. seems a little empty. i dont think the drums should be the most audible instrument at any point, but they are at aruind 2:00. 2:30 a nice mute guitar comes in, the song starts building again. nice. ending is cool, but kind of comes out of nowhere. it works i guesss. this mix is clearly OCR material, but i think the section from between aproximately 1minute to 2 minutes is uneceessary, and it makes the song drag. good stuff tho. really like the intro and the section after 2:30

Ah this is cool stuff. I didnt remember the ost till i heard the mix, and if i remember correctly the original wasnt terribly meloidic, more moody, con mosso. as for the mix, it definately maintains a sturdy level of movement and urgency. my only complaint (so far) is that some of the brass patches sound better than others. As always, Prot does an exceptional job of keeping things interesting by mixing up the dynamics. as always, there is plenty of variation, and the mix never feels repetetive. I'm not a huge fan of the guitar sound; i dont htink it has enough punch. but i say this as a guitar player, andi understand that it isnt easy to find a realistic sounding guitar patch. good mix. i like it. Crunchy

its called creativity. thats what makes it a good mix. anyone can rip midi. there are a lot ofthings i like about this mix. the mood is good, the chord interpretation is fantastic. howver i think that with a little work this mix could be twice as good as it is. the patches leave something to be desired, especially the harmony guitar. also, i think it doesnt build up enough. in my mind, i hear this song going into a heavy rockin' crunchy guitar driven refrain. (i'm sure many of you noticed that everything i hear in my mind tends to go into a guitar-related something.) i think this mix is very good, but i think it has potential that was not tapped.

Thanks Wingless and Vinren and everybody else. Dicaeopolis wanted to know how much was live. i guess i'll take the time to go into the mix a little bit. All the guitars, and the scream noises were live. most of the other sounds are courtesy of roland's fine line of synthesizers. as soon as i figured out how to play Kraid on my guitar maybe a year ago, i knew i wanted to perform it. i started mixing during the summer of 2002 after buying some cheap recording equiptment, and i decided i would at some point have to do a metroid medly. (Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time.) but i wanted to do it right. i really didnt get the hang of mixing until september or october. I spent all summer on my first mix, Zero's Sacrifice, and i finished my second, liquid metal, in about a week and a half. maybe november i decided to start working on this little marathon of mine. i decided on lower brinstar and kraid, but i couldnt figure out a good intro. so i figured it might work to throw in the Super Metroid load theme into the beginning, but even that sounded too abrupt. and from that came the sandstorm intro, which evolved into the "lost 2 minutes," the first movement, which consisted of the super metroid intro/story theme. I'm happy with this mix. i think its my best work so far. i can think of some things that i would like to change, and maybe sometime i will. dont mean to talk about my mix like this, but as for what went right, i'll say that my favorite part of the mix is DEFINATELY, without question, the ending. The last minute is my favorite, especially after 6:43, when everything fades but the piano and guitar. anyway, i'm very glad that people liked this mix, and i'm flattered by the praise, and i apreciate the constructive criticism. I do have 2 projects in progress, and i have several others planned. thanks for the comments, and feel free to add any thoughts, impressions, criticisms; whatever you have to add. all reactions are useful for my future works. let me know what i'm doing right, and what i'm doing wrong. -Jesse

REVIEW ON REMASTERED VERSION This is very effective. incredibly chill. There is a lot of instrumental interplay and interweaving, but its not crowded. there is still plenty of space. i like how he slowed it down. it is fantasticly ambient. it would sound right at home on the deus ex soundtrack. really cool. I know this mix isnt REALLY that short, but for such an ambient and haunting peice, its not long enough. a song like this could go on forever and it would still work. its not like a melodic piece you can get sick of. its very cool bacground stuff, and i think it should be longer. and i didnt like the ending. too abrupt. but if you listen to my stuff, i'm a fan of the overdrawn, long-ass ending. so maybe i'm biased. overall, very nice stuff.

i think the comparison was of the use of unusual harmonies, or harmonies that werent the traditional interpretation of the original. people are complaining about liberal interpretations in ZM, and they complained about it here. i happen to think that the people who are apprehensive about these different interpretations are listening conservatively. they know what they want to hear, and they wont hear anything else. on to the mix: i'm not one to give out compliments easily or without warrant. this mix is incredible. its a sonic achievement. the harmony isnt what you usually get in a bubbleman mix, but it is better. This mix has fucking texture. the harmony works, and it conveys emotion better than most anything on the site. i especially like the interlude at around 2:05. the strings are wrenching. There is such a fantastic use of dynamics and layering. its organized chaos. we should be lucky if more remixers knew the value of dynamics as well as The Wingless.

to those sharing on kazaa, please change the filename: add my name, Jesse Taub to the end of the filename so i maintain credit and it doesnt end up as one of those "minibosses/jimi hendrix/blink182 does metroid" tracks floating around kazaa. thanks.

WAV is available by request. its on a fast server, but it's still 74 megs. if you want it, send me a PM, IM, or Email. -Jesse

thanks guys. just to let you know, i will respond to as many reviews as i can, but i will do it by editing my post on the first page of the thread. i've already edited it once with responses, so please check it out.

Thanks for the feedback, and a special thanks to protricity for helping me fix some recording and encoding problems. He has been a big help getting this 7 minute song to 6 megs without it sounding like ass. thanks protricity. As for the song, when i submitted it, it was 9 minutes long. it was divided into 3 movements and an intro. there was no way i could get it down to 6 megs without the bitrate sinking....really bad. it was a hard thing to do, but i ripped out a minute and a half of the song, so whats left are the second and third movements and a slightly different intro. the version Prot is hosting has the elusive first movement. (its also 9:04 long). djp said that he would veto the song as it was even tho the judges voted yes because the bitrate was too low. i think the second and third movements are far superior to the first anyway, but i encourage you to check out the original version -Jesse NOTE: did anyone notice the metroid/scream noise? i created that sound by plucking my guitar strings above the nut close to the machineheads and throwing the whammy bar on. i them reversed the recording and had myself a nice screaming metroid noise. EDIT: I will respond to individual comments here, because i dont want to make a new post Mustin: i'm not sure what artistic liberties you speak of during the 'kraid' section. in the lower brinstar obviously i realize that the solos were over a jam section that i pretty much wrote my self (if you could say that, only 2 chords) that was *very* loosely based on the original chords. other than that, the only real liberties i took in kraid were in the melody structure, i.e. how many times a line repeats, and the string voicing of the chords, "comping" if you will. i did change one chord in the third section of the kraid melody that was very very minor sounding, (i cant remember if it was a half diminished, but i wouldnt be suprised.) into a major chord, but i think that the half diminished would not have fit in with the feel of the song. (AmIEviL made a similar chord alteration in "MindoftheMotherBrain) thanks for your comments, Mustin, russell and everyone else. And to those who complained about the percussion: DEAL WITH IT. EDIT 2: in response to the judge decisions, Analoq: at 1:39, (assuming you're listening to the 7 minute posted version, not the 9 minute original) that particular passage is all synth, so there are no off-key notes. Malcos: thanks for your support, but i was taken aback by your suggestion of "cutting down the drawn out ending." to make the song shorter. personally, that drawn out ending is my favorite part of the song. i think i definately made the right decision taking out the first movement and leaving the ending intact.

The Vigilante says: listen to this mix, NOW!!! its a little bit of interpretative genius. you've never heard kraid done this way before. the piece is haunting, the whistling is fantastic. you've never heard norfair done...at all before. for those out of the loop, the NES metroid norfair mid was a TERRIBLE dissonant, aharmonic, arythmic mass of beeps that sounded like an 8-bit merry-go-round on crack. it even had an understated oom-pah thing going on... this pitiful midi, which AmIEviL starts this mix with, is COMPLETELY redefined. he salvages the melody and completely reworks the harmony. it sounds terrific, the drop-D tuned guitars are very moody. i dont know where he pulled this stuff from. its a shame we havent heard anything new from AmIEviL for quite some time, because i think that this is hands down, THE best mix on the site. listen, NOW, and show AmIEviL your undying gratitude.

Very nice stuff. its simple and pretty. not too empty, good harmony. BTW, there are no off-key notes. dont know what Gman was talking about.

This is a beautiful mix. great interpretation, as usual. theres only one thing i dont like: the rubber bass that comes in at :33. it sounds like a frog. it doesnt fit and i find it to be a turn off. i ask, why did djp go with this sound for bass? its cool, but i dont think its right for this song. i can think of any number of bass osunds that would have sounded better. well i love the mix other than that.

Really creative. i like it. Has a great feel. i think there is crowding in the midrange frequencies and as a result some of the sounds kind of blend toghether. and i'm not a fan of the drums that come in around 230. but other than that, its a very solid and interesting mix.