halc

http://soundcloud.com/halc i post random stuff once in a while, and often forget that I have an account

still waiting for TSOS avatar. i'll use it, I promise.

pm'd........

more or less in the same boat as the other gentlemen - it's overmaximized and distorted, which is really hurting the quality of the mix, and the overall arrangement just isn't quite expansive enough for our standards; like Larry said, it's a good approach, but the straightforward nature of the arrangement paired with the repetitiveness brings it down a bit imo. instrumentation was well chosen, and the mixing/processing would probably sound pretty nice if the master wasn't being pushed so hard. take one more run at this one and send it back to us. NO(resub)

gotta agree with my fellow judges, that intro sounds completely amateur-ish, however the rest of the song is pretty solid. not really blown away by any particular aspect. I agree that the beats got repetitive and the soundscape could have changed up a bit more throughout the piece, but the arrangement and production both hold their ground. YES

definitely some stuff that seems off to me about this one.. bullet-point time go -it's way overcompressed. causing some distortion and stuff. -the wobbles get really repetitive. they need to change up more. also, the bass is really present in the mix, but there's not really any sub presence, so it doesn't really feel as low and dirty as it should. -liked the bass, but the other synths sounded like pretty generic trance-synths. they didn't sound bad per se, but they weren't particularly interesting. -the overall arrangement is kinda repetitive and doesn't really deviate much from the source, aside from some added arpeggios and flourishes. hope I don't sound too negative here, but I do think this needs a bit of work to convince me. sounds like you got the chops, you just need to expand your sonic palette a bit and experiment with your compositions a bit more. NO

arrangement wasn't too crazy, but I enjoyed it. if the dynamics/articulations/tempo can be better humanized, then I'd be pretty comfortable with this. NO(resub)

everyone's already said so much about this, so I'll keep it short. felt generally the same way as Vinnie, the lead was definitely more pleasant in the upper octave. overall the sounds and arrangement clicked for me despite being a bit straightforward as others mentioned, and the production didn't have any glaring flaws. I'm cool with this. YES

not gonna beat around the bush, I'm pretty much with Justin here. this mix is baller as hell, but that crowded low end needs to be cleaned up a little. simply toning down the reverb might do the trick, but you might need to tweak your levels just a tiny bit too. the basslines and processing in this are seriously sick though. I wouldn't feel right rejecting this. gonna opt that we hit up Rockos for a quick fix on the mixing please, nothing fancy, just cut back on the reverb, possibly adjust a few EQ/levels in the low end to get this sounding a little bit clearer. YES

honestly didn't notice the vocal bits were copy-pasted but now that OA mentioned it, I won't be able to unhear. wouldn't say it ruins the feel, but it's noticible. really though, I didn't see any glaring issues with this; thought the mixing on this was fine overall, source usage checks out. pretty groovy stuff. YES

Deia and Justin laid down some nice crits here. definitely an unexpected/welcome change of approach to this source, but ultimately pretty slow-moving and repetitive. the overall soundscape is super thin yet the instrumentation manages to sound crowded. theres also quite a few weird off key notes/progressions, and the electric guitar sample is atrocious. like Justin, hopefully my vote doesn't come off as harsh, but this definitely needs a lot of work before we could consider it for OCR. hit up the workshop, keep writing music and building your chops. NO

you've definitely improved so much since "Heaven Awaits", which is more or less the only thing I'd heard from you since before this compo. in agreement with the mixing quibbles the other judges mentioned, but this was a pretty solid arrangement overall, with some quality synths/samples and nice performances by AMT. nice job guys. YES

bumpy bump for the weekday crowd. thanks for the nice comments, y'all.

this one really stuck with me for a while; good driving music. killer performances from everybody involved, and a great mix overall. nice job, guys.

excellent percussion. this is really well produced, man. the low end seemed a bit weak considering the large-size basses that were occupying it. I didn't feel like there was a full spectrum of sound until 1:58. that's nitpicking though, as the overall track is well mixed and has some really gritty, creative processing. as for the arrangement, well I agree that ambitious is a good word for it. and I mean that in a good way. great approach and adaptation to a totally different style, nice variations and transitions between sections. very solid work here, I'll be holding on to this one. YES

excellent choice of source here. this mix had some good things going for it. I agree that you approached it in an interesting way and it was difficult to wrap my head around at first, but I felt a little more grounded to the source by the melody then the backing (after reading your writeup, I expected it to be the other way around ). the track felt a little repetitive, but I think this was due to the instrumentation not changing up much throughout the track moreso than the arrangement itself. some of the timing in the piano sequencing feels off to me, like it was humanized randomly. dunno, perhaps another judge will chime in on that. the bass sequencing and articulations was stiff though, it's really noticeable when at 1:25, when it's playing those exposed 16th/8th note frills. overall, a solid foundation. the production end of things however still need some polish. NO(resub)

Larry left a nice vote here, the arrangement has some moments that just feel lazy, but the overall direction is great. I never really thought about Mario music having predominately latin overtones, but it's so true. ;P piano and brass sequencing was very stiff, I know you have a pretty firm beat going, but they just sound hokey. the sounds are a mixed bag in terms of quality, but I always feel the need to commend you on fitting so much different stuff into one song. this has good potential, as do most of your subs, but the sounds/sequencing need to be improved, and the arrangement fleshed out a bit more.

unfortunate to say, I agree with Emu, I thought the overall generic-ness of the sounds (percussion not excluded) and some sparse textures brought this down, despite being pretty tastefully mixed. as the others mentioned, I dig the arrangement here, I agree that it could be slightly condensed but I won't hold that against you. I just think the sounds here are too amateur-ish sounding at the moment. NO(resub)

this is a great EP man, nice work. 'Watch Where You're Going' is probably my favorite, totally sick.

http://albums.halc9bit.com/album/no-song-left-behind-ep Yes, another halc EP. This one is a bite-sized collection of newly polished and remastered chiptune-house style tracks produced over the course of 2010-11. These were all written for various albums which never saw the light of day (a testament to my inability to write house music, and more importantly, to stick with it ). Rather than let them continue to stagnate on my hard drive, I've decided to release them together as a free 3 track EP. A token of thanks for the amazing support and response towards Zero-G. Enjoy!

Brandon Strader and halc Title: The Crumbling Facade Game: Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls (FF1 PROJECT MIX) Source: Ruined Castle ( )halc: this actually started as a solo mix, but after coming up with a solid minute worth of wip, I hit a total brickwall and never managed to come up with anything else. Brandon offered to collab on the song, and this is what came to be. despite what you might think, some of the chippyness in this later half of the track was made by Brandon, and quite nicely at that. <obligatory>enjoy!</obligatory> Brandon: I took halc's initial wip and turned it into the song you hear. I added acoustic guitar and bass because I thought it would be interesting to see how it sounds with halc's sound. I wanted to make the song sound like something people could confuse as a full-on halc song. ------------------------------------------------------------------

GAH I totally forgot, this is definitely the song I want to do if I pick up another track later:

okay, cool. DiGi, I'll hit you up sometime, do you use AIM? BrothaDom, don't put me down for anything else yet, but I am potentially interested in doing more if this takes off. are you looking for there to be lyrics in every track, or is instrumental hip-hop stuff okay too? just curious.

well, DiGi mentioned chemical plant, I think I'd be down for that. I also like mushroom hill and hidden palace on that tracklist. if I had to pick one sonic song overall that I really wanted to remix it'd be but I don't know if it would be considered within the scope of the project?