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Liontamer

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Everything posted by Liontamer

  1. http://www.primermagazine.com/2012/learn/how-to-write-a-killer-cover-letter-in-the-21th-century
  2. Yep. If you ask at the SMS Power forums, someone should know. http://www.smspower.org/forums/
  3. It could need a lot more people stating they use it before it gets added to the actual list, but duly noted.
  4. WE'RE LIVE! http://youtu.be/xDP5R94XrDs We're talking with the TMNT: Shell Shocked album team! Ask Qs with #ocrtalkback! http://shellshocked.ocremix.org
  5. ROFL. Well, I've been on the judges panel for 10 years as of next July, and I can tell you this would have been fine. We stay very open-minded on what genres we allow, i.e. we don't let knee-jerk haters of dubstep, rap, metal, vocals or ANY genre determine what we post. "Too crazy, too weird, it's loud, I'm not comfortable" can't just automatically disqualify an arrangement. A fan posted this great video on the merits of dubstep by PBS Idea Channel on our Facebook page: http://youtu.be/3l_hy33-1Yw Dubstep's not for me personally, but that doesn't cloud my judgement. You certainly don't have to like it, but don't tell us that we've drastically dropped our standards or that this was no-effort MIDI transcription. Anyone saying the quality standards here have loosened over the past 10 years hasn't been listening to everything posted in the last 10 years. The sweeping generalization of the site over disliking one track is brain-numbingly hyperbolic.
  6. No hate, but I need to debunk this now, because you're wrong about it and I don't want people thinking it's good advice. Nowadays, including a list of references or "references available upon request" is a kiss of death for a lot of people. I agree that it wouldn't be the kiss of death if I saw it, and it's a rather odd trigger. But in most cases, it's now unnecessary and needless to include it on a résumé. These days, if a company wants references, they'll usually ask for them either during the online application process OR after you've made it through a few steps like the initial résumé screening and/or interview. And if you know someone from the inside who will go to bat for you, that person usually vouches for you directly with their bosses or their HR department to help your stuff get through. It's either presumptuous or redundant to have references on the actual resume these days. Unless someone specifically asks for references directly on a self-created résumé, you shouldn't include them. You should use the space to elaborate on your experience.
  7. Prefer, but it's not required. We've posted mixes that were longer, they're just tougher to evaluate, that's all.
  8. Can't say I was feeling the initial synths opening things up, and the texture was all sorts of odd, but I'm always willing to see where things go. The dropoff at :30 had me awaiting a build, which finally led to things starting up at :39. The textures here were kind of thin and the drum work in particular sounded pretty plain and flat. Sections like 1:17 and 1:29, where things were supposed to get denser, didn't sound fully fleshed out. The lead synth from 1:29-1:44 handling the melody seemed to mud together with the countermelody and the drumkit continued to sound too flimsy. Aside from the drumkit I liked the textures from 1:44-2:14; the lead was too bright and indeed mudded together with the arp like Chimpa mentioned, yet I felt the instrumentation clicked the best there, issues aside. The final section at 2:56 was pretty lo-fi-sounding, and a nice, subtle finish. The arrangement's definitely creative, and it would pass for me if that was the only qualifier. However, the textures were never fully cohesive or filled out (despite the effects used to thicken up the sounds). The drumkit was a weak link. Another J can better articulate the production issues here, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some people agreeing that something's not quite working on that level. NO
  9. The intro directly sampled the original track, and switched over into actual arrangement at :14. Nice nod to the original. The soundscape was loud & cluttered during the densest portions, but not bad enough to drag this down to NO. There was a dropoff at 1:24, followed by driving beats coming back at 1:36 with some instruments dropping out, followed by another drop and rebuild at 1:50 all with beat changeups, then going back to the beats of the verse with the guitar soloing over it at 2:13 and having the guitar over the chorus at 2:37 all the way until 3:23. 2:14 segued into some original soloing with occasional pieces of the melody followed by the chorus melody. Again during the densest parts here, the parts could have been EQed a bit for some better separation, but it wasn't a huge deal by any means. Then there's another drop at 3:35 until 4:01's copy-pasta raised the intensity back up. Really liked the chiptune-ish stuff from 3:35-4:01. Pretty good use of textural dropoffs and buildups to provide variation with the treatment of the source melody. The arrangement felt recycled at 4:01, but it was only for about 40 seconds or so, and the final minute was a good conclusion. I didn't hear the first version that didn't make it, but this definitely had things firing on all cylinders now. Really great energy here, and a very memorable take on the source tune; I definitely hope we hear more from you! Welcome aboard, Juhana! YES
  10. Yeah, some of the timing of the bowed string notes sounded behind, and it would have been better to smooth out the timing, but it ended up not being a big enough deal to reject on. The last minute ended up doing its own thing outside of the source material, so there was some original writing added to complement the arrangement of the source, and it fit together pretty comfortably. Would have loved some more polish on the timing, and a bit on the mixing, but this got there. YES
  11. The steady beat plodded during the busiest sections, i.e. the main verses, but otherwise everything was on point, and the arrangement worked well in changing the rhythm of the source tune. Great dropoff at 1:25, followed by the rebuilding at 1:39; I really thought the textures clicked there well, followed by the plucked strings at 1:53, and the piano at 2:00. The instrumentation variation was strong, and that kept me engaged throughout. Nothing much else to say but I thought it was a solid effort. Let's go. YES
  12. YOUR MUSIC'S A JOKE! I didn't want it on there anyway. I'll read Justin's jokery ^^ in the future.
  13. At this stage, we're just waiting for album art and final work to be completed. But if it's a matter of something like "I'd want to improve the track" or something like that because it's been a while since you made it and you'd rather not have it stay in that form, then go ahead and revise it, as it would be better if we could still have you involved. If it's for some other reason, let me know.
  14. UPDATED JANUARY 2023 KyleJCrb, Mae and myself were talking about résumés and how they're an asspain. I wanted to create a space where we can all talk shop about putting our best foot forward with résumés and cover letters, avoiding the pitfalls the fuck most people up, like crappy formatting/typos, not properly qualifying & quantifying accomplishments, and generic cover letters. Let's share advice and tips, as well as résumés & cover letters people need help with, so that we can help others in the community look their best when applying for jobs. If you host résumés or cover letters to look at, please take out your address or any other personally identifiable information you're not comfortable sharing. We can talk in vaguer terms as well, but I may be willing to Skype with some folks 1-on-1 to help walk them through improving parts of their resume. I'm not an uber-expert, but interested in helping some peeps. Feel free to post if you're interested, and we may talk if you have free time. Otherwise: any advice on job hunting can go here if there's no other forum home for it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These resources really helped me when I hadn't done any job hunting in 11 years and was super rusty and out of practice: https://youtube.com/c/DonGeorgevich - Don Georgevich: Job Interview Tools https://youtube.com/c/ALifeAfterLayoff - Bryan Creely: A Life After Layoff What I'd recommend with these two YouTube channels: Just search through the videos for each of these channels for ANY topics that directly interest you the most. It could be about résumé writing, could be about cover letters, it could be about what interviewers are actually looking for when they ask you certain questions, it could be about career changes. There's enough content on both channels that you can just pick and choose what's interesting for you. So don't feel pressured to "OMG, watch every video", but when you get some breathing room, scan around and dig in. For all jobs, order the skills/impact bullet points in the order of relevance to the type of job you want, i.e. if you want to manage people, put any managerial experiences first; if you love reviewing contracts and data, list those kind of actions first; if you love solving problems, put the instances of product development, tool creation/metric measurement innovation first or customer service experience. In other words, steer your relevant experience towards what you want going forward, and de-emphasize other stuff. Include any professional development accolades, e.g. formal trainings, certifications, presentations. If you have anything like that, that’s relevant. Lists of impactful résumé verbs: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/action-verbs-to-make-your-resume-stand-out Lists of overused résumé terms: https://www.capstoneresumes.com/remove-25-words-from-resume Without overhyping yourself or using words you wouldn't normally say when casually speaking, use more of these impact verbs instead of more passive and generic verbs like "provide", "support", “work with”, and “assist”. In other words, stay true to how you communicate, but put yourself in the best possible light with verbs that you like from the big list. You'll need to add placeholders for numbers you would fill in to help demonstrate impact. Good résumés convey your IMPACT at your jobs, not just the list of responsibilities. Your aim is to illustrate: 1) how you left each job better than you found it; and 2) what hard & soft skills you demonstrated to do it. What specific things did you accomplish? How did you make money or innovate for the company? How did you make things more efficient or effective? That said: 1) If a number wouldn't be impressive (i.e. typically 10+), then don't include it. 2) NEVER ever overstate a number. Always underestimate while giving your best guess if you don't remember something more specific (e.g. "worked with 300+ customers"). If you overstate, you risk the company contacting an employer and them being told you've embellished/lied. 3) The numbers usually should represent total impact (e.g. if you did customer service at store for 5 years, you should say either a) approximately how many total customers you worked with over the years or b) how many customer, on average, you worked with per year). 8 most requested general skills, in order, according to ZipRecruiter (July 2022) - these are important skill to both say by name (for ATS/computer screenings) and demonstrate by listing related accomplishments: Communication skills Customer service Scheduling Time management skills Project management Analytical thinking Ability to work independently Flexibility
  15. Noting that I've only heard the updated version, which is what I'm judging. Arrangement was definitely on point, so no issues there. I'm in love with the arrangement, and being familiar with the OST, I loved how it was consistently and creatively in play here. At first I was wondering why the production was a problem, since the intro was hot, but at :35, it was immediately apparent. The soundscape was definitely cramped and imbalanced, and I don't know why the beat had to be so prominent, but it's definitely taking up too much space. At 1:00, the supporting orchestration sounded lush, but swamped out. Why is the kick at 5:34 so loud, even louder than what came before? The balance is just off for too many extended periods of time, and the densest parts suffered for sure. The violin's not as bad as I was led to believe, but in tandem with the beats, the soundscape is just too crunchy. Quieter moments like 1:26-2:01 & 2:51-3:03, where the parts breathe more make me hate to vote against this all the more, because this is such a good piece. I wish I could get on board, and Xavier is awesome as always, but the way this is produced is just too crunchy and cluttered for extended periods. I understand about holding arrangement and production in appropriate balance, and I want this on the site, but not enough to lower the production bar this much, IMO. Any further effort to tame these sounds and get this improved further would be great. NO (refine/resubmit)
  16. Synths seemed rather flat to open things up. Lead synth at :41 was also generic, plus had some odd notes. The soundscape also sounded kind of lossy for whatever reason, with the lead feeling buried from 1:01-1:29. 1:42's lead seemed a little more expressive, but the (otherwise cool) supporting writing from 1:49-2:10 was burying the lead and creating clutter, so the balance continued not to make sense, IMO. I hate to sound like this is bad; it's not, but I'm definitely not as enthusiastic on this as anyone else. The arrangement wasn't clear to me, i.e. the A-to-B connections. It could just be lack of familiarity with the theme, but the arrangement sounded pretty liberal with the treatment, and I'd need more of a breakdown to feel confident on it. It may be more rhythmically similar than melodically similar. More importantly, things were too busy, the beats were repetitive and the leads were vanilla/generic. Flex gave the best, most detailed critiques on what could use more detail work. Ben's persistent, so I'm not worried that he couldn't work on this further and get it over the finish line, but it's not there yet for me. NO
  17. Man, the ReMixer name AND mix title are both... no effort. Why? Oh well, we'll see if a change on either is something they'll consider, if it passes. The highs here were a bit piercing, but not enough to merit a strong complaint. Overall, the soundscape was clean and well-mixed. Onto issues, the vox at 1:47 was definitely not rockin' it, but it was at least ethereal enough to not make the awkward articulations a big deal. The lil' plucky synths underneath it had some odd notes that stuck out sometimes until 2:16, but it wasn't a huge deal. At 2:31, it would have been nice to hear the beats be a little more progressive and fleshed out, but it wasn't a huge deal. It's just that you'd have moments where more elements dropped out, like from 3:00-3:22 and the beat felt plodding and barren when it was more exposed. On the whole though, the textures were solid enough, and the arrangement had some good energy, even though the pace could have been more energetic and varied. This was a consistently good interpretation with the genre adaptation and new writing ideas while retaining the structure of the source. I'm not ZOMG, but it's ticking the boxes for me with a solid, well-rounded enough presentation. It could be spiced up, but I definitely heard no dealbreakers here. YES
  18. Definitely been chillin' to this once since Temporal Duality dropped. Nice work, Corey! Glad to finally have you as official.
  19. Dayum, big news yesterday. http://twitter.com/MartyTheElder/status/456303189998841856 http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/16/halo-destiny-music-composer-martin-odonnell-fired-by-bungie/ http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/16/halo-composer-terminated-awithout-causea-from-bungie Sooooo... back to Halo by joining 343? Anyone. We'll see what other info eventually makes the light of day.
  20. BUMP! What about a baby pic or two? Perhaps her listening to Contra 'AMEX Reflux', perhaps not!
  21. Yeah, it's "The Sin War". You can get it from http://www.doulifee.com/Storage/OC_Removed/.
  22. Just putting some alternate ideas out there that involve less work. Someone could do an EP, maybe 6-7 tracks where some people just pick a GB song they like and arrange that, with no specific game or genre requirements. In the effort to keep it tight, you could also restrict the game choices to launch titles, of which Super Mario Land and Tetris were the main draws. There's definitely no album coming on April 21, but if someone wanted to run a short, compo-style quick creation of an EP in time for the North American release date (July 31), that could work. If someone else wants to pick this back up with a fresh approach, they should start a new thread.
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