anosou
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Posts posted by anosou
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i think tweek knows what he's talking about, meteo. considering that this is his job and all.
Doesn't make his opinion about what a composer should be paid more right. Actually, since he got his info from the firm he works at, it might be terribly out of date? The music industry is too crowded nowadays, you can't expect to make as much money as in the past. Not saying it will make you broke but you'll have to compromise. Also, economic crisis anyone?
I dunno, I just don't like the attitude which mainly revolves around "don't do somethinc creative for free, it screws up MY ways to get money". It's terribly rude AND probably inaccurate.
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OK I have the perfect solution to the free / pay argument here:
Charge $1 for every song you make for a game.
Problem solved, everyone happy.
You can thank me when you make your first $20.
=)
*snuggles McVaffe*
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Also, please don't work for free. That makes it extremely difficult for those of us that would eventually like to make a living off of composing...remixes are hobbies. work is work. if people work for free, then people who need money for their work get undercut.
I don't like this attitude, not in a field like this anyway. If you wanna make a living making VGM, you should be so good that people working for free shouldn't give you any lower chances to get work. Developer's who'll hire a guy that works for free probably didn't have the skills/money to pay you anyway. He's just trying to get experience so that he CAN get paid for work eventually..
Seriously, and I think this is cool to repeat yet again, if you're planning on being a full-time VGM composer your skills should be so dope that a guy like this shouldn't bother you. I mean, since this is your job you should be worth paying for, right?
People should be encouraged to be creative and do some free projects, not discouraged D:
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The only real dissonance I heard was at 0:15-0:19.. The rest is just colored chords that tend to sound out of place. The synth stab at 0:24-0:26 for example sounds iffy because of the detuned sound itself and how loud it is. The only thing that really makes this seem unfocused and dissonant imo is that your mixing is really wack.
You're putting a LOT of emphasis on some of the arpeggiated synths and the chord stabs which overshadows the bass and melody and feels out of place.. 1:17 is borderlining dissonance but that's because you can't hear the bass that establishes the new chord. Also all sounds are chorused which makes this sound very muddy and unfocused. I didn't think all sound choices were bad, quite the opposite. The bass/guitar sound around 2:10 was pretty damn cool imo and meshed well. Most of the synths work but needs to be mixed properly.
Arrangement was a bit strange though. You're missing out on a LOT of source when focusing on your original ideas. 'The Airship' might be short but you haven't even used all of it. The main hook of your track is your original stuff (0:43 for example) and even if you've got hints of the source chords there it's not identifiable and dominant.
You've got a lot of kinks to work out here. I didn't think it was a completely lost cause but the mixing is wack and the arrangement doesn't even present 50% source. Sorry man but this is a no-go.
NO
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Scary stuff. Very, very loud.
You totally nailed the arrangement though. That track ain't got much speaking for it but you squeezed it and used every little drop of source juice. I applaud you for that! Breakdowns were hot and drums were positively bad-ass.
Production was scorching my ears. Then I checked it against the ChaosField-soundtrack (my go-to 'is this loud' source) and I'm cool with it. Distortion was a bit all over the place but it was never ruining the track. The "simpler" sounds used in the breakdowns were good pauses from the over-the-top sound design too, good balance.
Yeah, this is quite awesome.
YES
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Danny Baranowsky is made of sex. I wish I was his friend...
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I'm 100% with Vinnie on this one. Arrangement had tons of cool ideas but you need to focus it more and make it more cohesive. Speed-up and filtering was weak sections. Good overall personalization though, just have to find that balance and focus your ideas into a shorter, more cohesive piece.
Production was a bit crowded. The piano was, like Larry said, a weak link but I didn't think it was horrible. The compression however is quite over the top though. Take it off, balance your levels (take the drums back a bit) and THEN put some on.. only a little bit helps!
You guys are showing some promise. Keep trying to find that perfect balance of everything, I'm sure you'll get there!
NO(resubmit)
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Cool source, never heard of this one before.
Arrangement is playing it cool, clearly presenting the source and then showing off some of your original stuff. The key is mixing the two to create a really interpretive arrangement. You obviously know what you're doing judging from the original parts, so I see no problem with that
Production is a little iffy. Drums have some serious reverb and EQ going on which puts heavy emphasis on the cymbals and hi-hat which overpowers the rest of the track. The instruments sounded good but the flute was a bit buried compared to backing guitar and drums, it's supposed to be the lead, right? Also, what's up with 1:12-1:16? I didn't think that filtering really worked but that might be personal taste.
Overall this shows a lot of promise, you just have to kick it up another notch and iron out the few issues that are here. Good work so far, keep it up!
NO(resubmit)
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Production is scorching loud. The panning of, quite frankly almost every instrument, is distracting and makes the loudness even more disturbing. However the sound design is, as always with you Andrew, very strong. I thought it was still below your recent mixes but certainly not bad.
Arrangement had some issues. The track doesn't sound cohesive and switches "style" often and quite abruptly to introduce a new theme. A more focused arrangement approach would've made this much better. Beats were at times a bit simple and out of place too. The personalization is still good as per usual with your mixes but seemed to rely more on the backing than actually arranging the melodies.
I don't feel bad for rejecting this because I know you're twice as awesome nowadays Andrew. Keep doing what you're doing!
NO(don't resub, make new awesome mixes instead!)
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Yeah, this definitely makes me wanna dance like crazy. However that's sadly not enough reason to pass this. The production was tight and the sounds were a lovely bunch of cookie cutter and creative stuff, all crisp and clean. Great energy too!
The arrangement, however, was lacking. Even when the theme finally entered it was a very vanilla arrangement approach and quite repetetive. You have some good personalization going on but you should try vary it up some more.
Would love to see someting like this with some more and interpretive source usage. OCR needs more awesome trance.
NO(resubmit)
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I think we also need a set of rules on how to critique other people's works...as there have been some issues regarding deconstructive criticism, which only serves to scare away potentially good remixers and makes other people less likely to add in their own crits. We need more TLC, not bashing.
Also, we need a clearer statement on what makes a good melody, as me and several other people seem to be melody-challenged. Reason being is that not everyone learns by listening to other pieces of music, sometimes they need more guidance (I'm one of those people).
Which also brings me to my last suggestion: I think it's time that we set up some form of one-on-one lessons, either through voluntary or paid incentives, as the wip forums and #ocrwip aren't sufficient for everyone. I mean, this site does make a considerable amount of money (for a fan site), surely there's some way to go about this.
I know I'm not the most favored member of OCR, but please, consider my points. Thanks for reading.
Well..
1. A good melody is hard to define but often boils down to music theory. For music theory I recommend you taking some actual lessons or buying som literature on the subject.
2. one-on-one lessons doesn't benefit the one giving lessons and if we're talking about money you're better of finding a real teacher. OCR can't sponsor this since we're not really an organization that tries to CREATE remixers. The WIP forums and #ocrwip ARE the voluntary feedback. It's up to users to step up and make that feedback better.
Oh, and we do not make a considerable ammount of money D: That's a lie!
And let's face it, not everyone is capable of making fantasticular music. Not pointing fingers here at all but it's kind of a strange way to look at it if you're suggesting "everyone should have a chance" and that we "need to help". It's not a RIGHT to be a musician or remixer D:
<3 u all
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AnSo, I'd like to read your paper, too. I spent the last two semesters arguing with the musicologists in my classes, and now that summer break is here, I'm beginning to miss what I guess would more properly be termed our "scholarly exchange of ideas."
Hahaha, that's as good a reasons as any.
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How the hell did you ever figure out all this crap? This is insane. I'm glad I got into game music after the Super NES era... this crap is so ridiculous (but impressive).
Great read (especially for someone like me - who knows next to nothing about chiptunes) - and I loved how you included the sound files as examples. U get a smiley.
=)
there.
I feel you man, I got interested around PS1
I liked your take on Worms 2 soundtrack, AnSo... I need to go out and listen to it soon so I can figure out what 'squidgy' means, but when I do I'll learn something new (which is always awesome).By the way, what is your musicology paper about? I'm always interested in new things when it comes to music - not to mention a swedish take on something (Americans always try to overcomplicate things with their 'experimentalism'...). Person #2 to show interest
.Thanks, squidgy was a fun word to pick, right? Elastic also works. But you'll see what I mean if you listen
My paper is an analysis of the soundtrack for Jade Cocoon. I do some in-depth analysis (including sheet music transcriptions) of around 10 tracks I feel are representative for the soundtrack as a whole and then talk about how the music works in it's context. Finally presenting some conclusions about the work, typical and/or unique traits for the music and similar stuff.
I was thinking about comparing it to soundtracks from the same genre/era (PS1 JRPGs from the latter half of the 1990's) but that soon got out of hand when the analysis was 9 pages and the paper should be max 10
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i'd be interested in your term paper. sounds interesting.
Your interest in my interests is interesting.
I've gotten some requests from VGMdb to translate it too. It should be done (Swedish version) Thursday. Then we're having a day to go through all papers in group and give criticism, then I have a chance to correct any mistakes or such.
After that, translation might happen. We're talking early June. However it's 10 pages and I'm not a native speaker so I won't promise anything but if enough people shows some interest it's more probable
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TWILIGHT ZONE!
Just wrote a shorter not-very-in-depth thing on Worms 2 ( http://anosou.com/?p=96 )!
Also, I'm currently working on my first academic paper in musicology, an analysis of parts of the Jade Cocoon soundtrack. I chose not to analyze the whole thing but choose tracks that were representative for the soundtrack as a whole.. though this is in Swedish I might eventually translate the 10 pages to english for anyone who's interested.
Anyway, I approve of this thread and idea!
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Seriously awesome.
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Regarding modern sounds vs. chip there's a lot of pad textures underneath it, including some quality strings. While much of this sounds like old game soundchips a lot just sounds like synths used in a creative way. I'm cool with this.
Arrangement is creative and enjoyable. I'm a big halc-fan and this doesn't dissapoint. Nice Green Greens in there too! We'll see more of Andrew, no doubt, and I'm looking forward to see how he'll evolve his craft.
In the end I was going to pass this based on the title alone. Turns out the music is pure awesome but I'll see that as an added bonus.
YES
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Larry's basically 100% right. Performance is sloppy but has character. Mixing is really rough, the kick and snare especially hardly existant. Arrangement was very close to the source, some more interpretive writing in the same style would've worked but now it's mostly a cover. I enjoyed the noodling though!
NO
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I would've preferred it in Finnish D:
Not much to say. Very pleasing soundscape with many interesting textures. Personally, I'm always a fan of any bell-type sound and ethnic percussion so you had me at hello. Sometimes the arrangement felt a tiny bit too original but it was minor. Nice usage of the prelude to spice things up.
Yeah, Ad, väldigt bra!
YES
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The production is really lacking. The guitars especially sounds like it's been put through a low-pass filter and a low-quality distortion pedal. The snare was too loud and compressed. The production overall was very muddy.
Arrangement does suffer from some medley-itis. Not the worst case though, that's for sure. The new writing that was there was good but you could've taken more liberties with the melodies and, more importantly, the transitions. The drums could use some more subtle velocity variation, especially in the hi-hats, to sound more realistic. With a more personalized and cohesive approach I can see the arrangement working. The playing was good too!
This shows a lot of promise but at the same time has some obvious flaws. Do take some time to learn more about production and maybe participate in a few DoD tournaments or post some stuff in the Workspace-forums. I don't think much more is needed before you submit something we'll pass.
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Pro-tip: Get that underline out of your name or you'll regret it later
The arrangement shows promise, like Larry pointed out 2:28 is where the original writing really shines. I urge you to sprinkle the rest of the track with some more non-source support writing because most of your melodic material AND chords are straight source. Nothing major, perhaps just some smaller variations in the melody. The beat needs some variation too. While it's good, it does gets old quite quickly and is kept the same throughout the entire track.
No hate on any of the sounds though. I thought the drums were phat enough and worked in context. Synths were at times simple but effective. Mixing was a little crowded, like all elements fought over the same space. The extensive modulation and delay effects help muddy it up even more. However, it wasn't a dealbreaker. I agree with Larry re: the vox sample because it's out of tune when put in this context which was off-putting. When the actual sentence was used and not just the first syllable, I was ok with it except it was too loud.
This just needs some additional polish to really make it shine, looking forward to hear the resub!
NO(resubmit)
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Had no problem with the.. eh.. it is an oboe isn't it? Anyway, I had no problem with it's place in the soundscape. The strings have the same slow attack all the time, this really hurts when they play the melody for example at :24. The samples didn't sound bad at all quality-wise but you could've used them better. Production was clean and loud enough though, nice work there.
You take close to no liberties with the source and the arrangement is very static without much hint of developement. This lead to the piece feeling dull and repetetive.
Evolve your ideas some more, really arrange the source, and you'll be in much better shape.
NO
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I agree with analoq. In my case, it's not by accident that I've never given my full name to anybody on this forum directly, yet there it is on my artist page - something which I assume was found on my (private) Facebook page. (It might also be worth mentioning that my birthday is publicly available on my forum profile, but missing from my artist page.) As for the "space alien" example, I didn't lie about my name, I just chose not to disclose it.
It's not something I'm gonna pull my remixes over, but it doesn't seem right to me.
This is only my guessing but isn't it possible that you gave your full name in your submission e-mail?
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Just switched to Wordpress to incorporate some kind of semi-professional website.
Not many blog posts yet but yeah, you know, there it is!
VG Music Analysis (Come on down! Discuss Theory!!)
in History & Study of Video Game Music
Posted
My paper is finally done. To celebrate, I do some casual analysis of processed vocals in Armored Core:
http://anosou.com/?p=103