anosou

I still have no idea what the difference from Asta is since I haven't tried her much

I lol'd. Long and hard. Sorry Andrew, I'll try to either continue on my WIP (which frankly sucks) or try a new version. Nice sigs btw

I'm going to echo a lot of what Vinnie and Larry already brought up but they are all valid points. It's rather close to the source, the vocals are off-key a lot, the instruments lack depth (drums especially) and the mix is very very cluttered. The concept of 8-bit metal is quite fun, I give you that. You have to polish your singing skills, arrangement and production to make it pass though. NO

Bwaaahahahahaha, I love how they actually detuned the whistling in the game! I'm a big Animal Crossing fan but damn, the whistling! In any case. Andrew's back. You all know what that means kids! Great arrangement with loads upon loads of intelligent musical details and attention to instruments. This one's no exception. At times the guitar lead (one of them) sounds a bit out of tune (0:53 and 1:03 for example) but I think of it as an hommage to the source even though it was a bit distracting. The lead at 1:37 is very loud, like Vinnie said. I also agree with the snare lacking bite. Cool synths and processing, and although some of them might seem a bit out of place at first they kinda grow on you. The bells at 0:28 could've been more up front and less piercing. Production, all things consider, is above the bar even though some additional balancing could take your stuff to the next level. I like you Andrew. YES

Oh, I was being unclear. Bonus as in cameos, like star wars, spwan, link and heihachi. The characters designed for the game (like Ahslotte) are wicked awesome. More of those!

You get me I-n-j-i-n. I don't really enjoy playing against Mitsu (that lowkick/slice thing is pain) but I haven't had any trouble with Siegfried so far. Mapping shoulderbuttons is an option but I'm currently using both grabs, A+B and Critical Finish. Might have to change Critical finish then. Lizzie will require me to get used to using his stances instead of just mix-ups but it'll probably be fun. By the way, I urge EVERYONE to take the official Soul Calibur IV Survey. You have to register but you can tell exactly what you enjoyed/want changed in coming games or updates. Be smart now! Get rid of bonus-chars, bring back old chars and MOAR BALANCE

Yeah Amy's a bitch and she was a bitch in SC3 as a guest Rock basically has 6K, 4B, 9B and sometimes 2A+K but that's an awkward button combination. Those moves are good and all but very easy to read since the only good low is both a bit slow and hard to pull off. In any case, I'm going to practice some more and hopefully I'll get my Wireless up and running soon so I can play some more online at dad's. Lizardman is fun, like you said, but he's not the lizardman I learned to love in SC3. I might like him eventually but.. yeah eventually. :3

I'm currently sucking ass at doing stuff because of uni and work but I'm cutting down on that shit so I'll get goin soon, promise!

Just learn to read him. Kilik is pretty easy nowadays, I'm having more trouble with skilled players or Amy-spam. I can't read Amy well yet :'( I just picked up Rock btw, he's fun but incredibly bad. He's slow and all his main chains/damage moves require ground throws. These can both be ukemi'd and grapplebreaked.. but he's still a whole lot of fun. He's got a neverending throw combo if they don't grapple break

Oh god. Fantastic stuff. (OLD VOTE, SEE BELOW As Larry mentioned, some clicks and pops that shouldn't be there. Check your levels when recording, a safety-compressor is your friend. Really, lots of clipping, especially during the end solo section :'( Performance and arrangement is nothing short of fantastic though. This just shows an amazing ammount of skill. Nice work right there. Then there's the issue of how liberal this is. No matter how much I want too I can't comfortably agree that Cyan's Theme is an "identifiable and dominant" source in this arrangement. The solos are dominant in this one and, even though they kick major ass, I think it conflicts with that part of the standards. I urge you to revise this a bit to incorporate more Cyan's Theme but if that's too much of a hassle that's ok, as long as you submit stuff we can pass in the future! You are very skilled and you have a fantastic musical flair to your arrangement. When you get that to work with the standards you'll be a living legend. NO (changed vote, see below) --------------------------------------- EDIT 5/9 2008: Reasoning to why a NO on this and a YES on Shinesparks is valid: Cyan's Theme relies heavily on the dominant melody while Maridia Rocky Area relies on the dominant, unusual and distinct arpeggiated chords. To arrange Maridia is to use those chords and arranging Cyan's Theme is to arrange the melody. In any case it's hard to compare the two because Shinesparks uses the maridia chords all the way through with clever alterations that classify as "arrangement" and even parts of the melody throughout but this remix has a lot of original stuff (intro, outro, first half of EP-solo etc.) which makes it a tougher call. EDIT 6/9 2008: Reasoning to why a YES on this is indeed valid: Since the Cyan melody is introduced as the main hook in this and that it's very recognizable there's no question that this is a Cyan arrangement. The chorus chords are almost verbatim and together with the melodic arrangement they go over 50% source usage. The difference between this and for example Highwind Throwdown is that the latter doesn't use the sources chord progression to help the source use achieve "dominant" status, instead there was only the root chord. Here it's obvious that it's the same chord sequence and after repeated listens I don't doubt that anyone would think this is anything other than a great arrangement of Cyan's Theme. Beyond that there are the arranged Cyan's theme in the guitar solo at 3:39 that is identifiable. This also means this achieves 50%+ in source usage (a rule of thumb I personally like to use to settle tough calls like this) and that, imo, is safe to pass. NEW VOTE 6/9 2008 SO, to summarize: The question is if I accept the chord usage during the solos as source usage. In this case I think the melodic arrangement is both good and works as the major hook in the arrangement and because of this I think the chords are enough to create a cohesive arrangement with Cyan's theme feeling like the dominant source. It IS indeed a subjective opinion but it's based on reasoning that does comply with the standards so yeah.. change of hearts and a lot of headache. Before I let this on I really want you to try to sort out the clipping, especially on the toms. Phew, this was lengthy. YES (borderline, conditional on clipping fix)

Looking forward to the results from this great material to remix for sure

PAL-release plz? anyone know if it's region-free?

Cool soundscape right of the bat. I always think leaving a metronome-sounding element is a bad idea but that's a highly personal opinion. It's a good concept, I do like the DnB, but right off the bat this seems very repetitive, let's see of you can get past this then. The counter melodies (way in the back at Larry's timestamps) were all good but could've been given more room to really show you have new ideas. Getting at around 4:15 it feels I've heard this track around 5 times already. Changes in the bassnotes/chords would really help to make this less repetitive, the small bassline quirks at 3:39 is not enough imo. The changes made to the melody are interpretive but the rest of the track sounds about the same all the time except the drop-offs at 2:57 (which still uses the same bassnotes and background arpeggio.. which is straight source). The beats are also very static apart from a few drop-offs and the same elements are used to build it back up. If the beat and melody are gonna hold this track up I think they could be more interpretive and varied. Production-wise this is fine. It sounds a little lossy, like Larry mentioned, but it's minor. It also sounds a bit cluttered at times because of the high sizzle and reverb from the beats, could town that down a bit but it's not major. Overall I don't think the arrangement is ready yet. Even with the dynamic alterations (0:00,2:54, 5:07) this is just very repetitive. There could definitely be some more sophisticated source usage and variations of the beat and instrumentation. Even an original section with different chords would do! Click around anywhere in the track and you'll encounter mostly the same elements playing mostly the same thing. I didn't think the new pad at 3:39 was enough to look at this as a new section when the arrangement already has flaws. So, with some variations in the arrangement (changing chords, instruments and varying stuff up in general at times) this would make a good addition to OCR but I don't feel comfortable letting this on just yet. Sorry. NO(resubmit)

Well hi there Justin, long time no see! .. or is it? Anxious Heart is quite a minimalist source but I think you pulled it off here. Main Theme of FFIV meshes well. The dissonances at 0:33 and 0:40 is used well but might put some people off. The arrangement all in all is good but some more intricate use of the source that is more in front would've helped this. Production is a little on the thick side, could use some more separations. It always seems like your samples are a little lacking in high-frequencies, you should think about that for your next submission. Anyway, none of this keeps this off the front page. YES

Very cool, didn't expect this when I checked out the thread. It takes dedication to do this. Nice work!

I'm gonna chime in and say I love everyone and pretty much all game music arrangements. The more interpretive the better imo but I can appreciate everything. More game music to the people! The only thing I'm against is selling unlicensed arrangements. I don't think it's a good way to promote game music at all since it takes away potential clients from the original composers and companies, this leads to bad record sales and suddenly nobody's gonna give us anything else than Halo 4 and Final Fantasy Quadrillion soundtrack. Arranging music and distributing it for free is a better way to show appreciation for the composer and/or game in my opinion. Nobody has to agree, I like all of you anyway, but you don't have to assume this is hate either. It isn't. Just an opinion. Anyway, love one another, love the music, grow long hair, use condoms. You know the drill. <3

Yeah I figured they were unlicensed and that kinda goes against what I believe. It was mostly that. As I said, these are fenomenal covers. "Calm down now Anso, they ain't hurtin' nobody." :3

I'm not against the music per say, I just don't like people charging for what other people composed. We don't what VGM turning into the pop-industry, do we? Though in the pop-industry the composer actually gets paid :/ That's why a free download would justify getting it. Stealing it if it's licensed, not so much. Though this is my highly personal view on morale so don't go through the roof about it, these guys are fantastic instrumentalists and if people are willing to pay for it, good for them! But IMHO you can find arrangements that are both more interesting and around the same quality for free at OCR.

oh. my. god. that is just horrible.

If this gets uploaded at gamemp3s.net it would somehow justify a download. Especially since I can bet my right testicle they've downloaded quite a few OSTs illegally themselves even though they've only remixed tracks that are avaliable in chiptune format. but yeah, quite talanted guys but leaving out most things I love about VGM arrangements. Some of the solos are fantastic, no doubt.

It's a very minor difference but the general production boost makes it seem louder anyway. It's good enough for me but we could probably get him to pump it some more.

Sweet source-tune choices. While I'm not a Sakuraba-fan you picked some of his best work (except the obvious Baten Kaitos world map music). I like the instrument choices in the intro but the strings sounds a bit off. Too slow attack and rather fake-sounding samples. The pad is a bit sharp to the ears, either roll of some hi-freq or lower the volume. Overall the remix seems drowned in reverb and mid-frequency content. Try taking away some of the unnecessary frequencies and reverb and toning down the pads to make it cleaner. You should also be able to sequence the strings a bit better or find better samples for that, the attack just sounds off especially when they're exposed at 2:41. The arrangement was pleasing overall. You did fit the sources together quite nicely and nothing felt out of place. When I was starting to think the arrangement was too conservative I always discovered clever additions and arrangements. The fade-out was well done too. The production is what's keeping this from being what it could be. Work on separating the instruments, using your samples and making stuff less muddy and you'll have a winner. NO(resubmit)

Haven't heard the previous submissions so I'll be objective. :3 Pretty cool concept. I think the kick is a tiny bit too loud but it ain't a dealbreaker. The synths all sound a bit squashed, like they're all modulated and over-compressed which leads to the general emptiness of the sound. Something warmer and a bit wider, like a pad, would help the soundscape just like the other judges pointed out. I think the softer sections are this piece's forte. They have an interesting texture and atmosphere that works well. The 'main' parts like the one at 2:05 just sound very empty with those synths. 3:29 is indeed very cluttered but mostly because of the sounds you chose, they just sound hollow and squashed at the same time. There's one note in there that sounds off though.. I don't have my keyboard atm so I can't check exactly which interval though. Arrangement-wise you could use some more source, preferably the three note pattern in altered form. The three-note pattern now sounds good at 1:29 but the second time it enters at 1:35 it conflicts with the chord. 4:18 was cool but how it ends wasn't, it's a bit too abrupt. I think the main issue is how the sounds were processed. It gives the remix a hollow character and it sounds a bit cluttered since all synths fight over the same frequencies. You could probably refine the arrangement some more too. Sadly, I think this will require a lot of work and a big overhaul of some of the sounds. I admire you for resubmitting this so many times and I believe, like Larry and Malcos said, you're on the needed level but this remix isn't. You could try fixing this but I think you'd be better off with a fresh start, be it this source or another one. Good luck with your next submission! NO

Intersting concept for sure. What strikes me when I listen to this is how cluttered it sounds. We're talking both arrangement-wise and production-wise. Like Vinnie and Larry pointed out, 1:48 is absolutely a problem area but as early as 0:45 it gets extremely cluttered. The organ is just occupying a LOT of space. Actually I didn't even hear the piano at 1:24 until 1:34 so that really needs to be put up front. I also agree with Larry re: the brass. Somehow it feels like some of the harmonies are clashing. Like the chords are to thick, the notes to close to each other. You've got an organ which means you have pretty much every frequency avaliable to you, don't put them all in the middle. Spread out some chords and melodies instead of putting them all in the same register. Use the different instruments strengths. I think for the most part the transitions worked although 3:03 was a little abrupt. Though the zelda theme was terribly out of place, didn't feel that at all. I understand your concept but coupling major and minor at the same time (I mean at the SAME TIME) is just not a good idea, especially when it's already this cluttered. While I understand and admire your concept I feel it doesn't justify the result. It just sounds cluttered and doesn't really help you getting the 'story' out there. You have a good start, this could be quite the arrangement, you really have to tidy this up first. NO(resubmit)

Best mix title yet. No contest. The opening got to me, it's pretty damn groovy. Sounds a lot like Trentemøller but with a bit more punch. Nice sidechaining break at 1:01. I still think the intro needs some more hints to the original track to keep it from being drawn out. The theme enters very minimalist at 1:24 but it fit the track very well. 1:54 is indeed an ugly synth and it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the track at all. Around the 3-minute mark you really want to hear a new element or some serious variations to get into this. Making some lively percussion like in the intro take a more central role could probably help but my biggest advice is to really work more with the melodies and counter melodies. This remix lacks good melodic interpretation. I think it's a cool concept but you need to evolve this some more before it can get accepted. Really work with the source material. You can change some chords and melodies, add counter melodies, less repetitive beats and other elements to really spice this up. I'm also of the opinion that you could find a better leadsynth with relative ease. I'd love to have something like this on OCR so I hope you keep working on it, but this one isn't there yet. NO