Rize

Sup Nemo. I was looking for a download link to this song to pass to someone else and here it is. I always loved this thing. I can't believe you did it in Fruity Loops Honestly, it still holds up today and I think it would probably get accepted on OCR as is. You ever heard of Dwelling of Duels? It is where a lot of the vgmix community vanished to... http://www.dwellingofduels.net/ Discussion generally occurs on the MiniBosses message board: http://theshizz.org/forum/index.php?/forum/8-minibosses-message-board/

One day I may redo this (and even expand it). The "over-distorted" guitar sound comes from using a direct line from the effects box I was using rather than miking a speaker (the microphone and speaker especially cut out the really high harmonics and result in a more proper sound). For my later two Castlevania mixes I used a Line 6 Pod Pro. For my next mix (whenever that may be) I intend to use a real amp with a microphone in front of it.

Thanks again everyone. I appreciate the comments. In fact, once a year or so I even check old songs for new comments, so feel free to leave them, even unto the end of time. <-- shameless attention whore I only wish I could get a song out there more often. Actually, in time I hope to simplify my life so that I can do just that... but I'll probably just recomplicate it after a short period. What can you do?

All this attention makes me want to do another track.

You want a good RPG on the DS? Go play Etrian Odyssey (or the forthcoming sequel). That game will grow hairs on your chest. And don't blame the changes to Castlevania on the DS, that's SotN's fault.

Thanks everyone. About the snare drum... on second thought, it does sound a tad loud on this pair of headphones I have, but fine on all normal speakers I've tried it on. I really need to get ahold of some good monitors.

I fool myself sometimes. On my 2nd and 3rd mixes, the mixing was so bad and the drums so muffled that they can sound like a bad live recording. In fact, only the guitars are live. The bass is a mixture of two soundfonts of decent quality and the drums are the popular goldrums soundfont. Unfortunately, that bass only sound as good as it does in this song. Probably because I don't have much rhythm guitar in the song (only the ending). I've got some work to do on my production. I'm still very happy with the way this turned out though, especially considering it was my second mix ever.

This is easily my favorite Chrono Trigger mix.

Hah, I've done the loop thing before with other mixes.

Joseph, I can hear the iron sword influences. They are quite strong (even if the melodies themselves are relatively buried).

I think the production on this mix is considerably better than that shown in my work at OCR. The guitars are around the same I think. They definitely doesn't sound like a direct feed with bad amp simulation (Legendary Strings). The drums sound a good deal better as well (in terms of production) though I think the snare has way too much in the high ranges. And the overall equalization is much better than in Rude Awakening. My next mix will feature major changes in the way I produce though, so as to how accurate this comparison is, I don't intend for it to be accurate for very long! In terms of the composition itself, I'm not enjoying this all that much. I just don't think I'm a very big fan of the Iron Sword melodies. There is a lot of originality and heavy interpretation on the original theme which is generally a cool thing, but there's nothing here that just grabs ahold of me.

I just thought I would mention that Harry Gregson Williams did not compose the original version of this song. It was played in most of the demo videos of MGS 1 for the PSX , HGW "REMIXED" it for MGS2 so this is a remix of a remix. I like both of the originals (not sure which I like more). I can't say I like this mix very much (the style doesn't really suit my tastes), but at least the authors taste in source material is good

Gemini Salsa is just too damn cool. It's just what I like in a remix. The original song followed by some soloing.

Surely you noticed the solo near the end? But you're right, I try to leave the original music unharmed until I've at least looped it all once. Then I solo

You should have named it Icy Hot.

I haven't been able to get much done on my latest mix unfortunately. You see, the mix has a triplet feel to it, and I forgot just how much I hate writing drums in triplet feel. It probably has more to do with skill than anything, but I just feel restricted in a triplet feel. I'll probably switch gears and mix something else (from this game/series or another entirely). My very first mix was from Mega Man 6, but it wasn't really mixed. It was just a rerecording of a tune with guitar in place of one treble track. I may fully remix that and release it on OCR as my next project.

I was picking up some strong Megadeth vibes during that solo. Nice work, especially on the Dracula's Castle theme (I was going to do that once, but I didn't feel that it was long enough, and I was having trouble splicing it all together... I should send you the midi "idea" file for fun though )

Well, that's fine. Nukkus' version isn't any good anyway j/k hehe.. Funny thing is, I almost skipped my mix since someone had already done a rock mix (I feel like I'm repeating myself). But as I listened to it, I didn't like it much and it was synth guitar (not necessarily bad, I'm listening to a good synth guitar right now). I suppose I didn't particularly dig the overall method of mixing in Nukkus' track. It sounded a bit messy. Oh well. I like some of Nukkus' other stuff.

Yes that is what I'm going to do (sometime in the next decade ) I'm going to keep the particular track a secret though! If you keep an eye on the forums and in the right places, I'll try to make it available as soon as it's done. The less hardcore can pick it up a month or two later on OCR

MagFlare: sound forge is telling me that the .wav file is already in 44100 and WinAmp is agreeing. WinAmp also shows 44(100) for the .mp3 so I'm not sure what is going on here. Just downloaded the track from OCR again and it's 44 as well (according to winamp). Anyone else have any ideas?

Ah, but Gradius II is not an SNES title... ...but tell me what track on the NSF it is and maybe I can use it for inspiration. I'm either going to have to invent something, or borrow from other songs/games in the series because this track needs a little more flesh in parts.

That would be the other game that fits that description. So.. which is it? And which track? .... ask yourself which game/tracks would work best as a rock guitar mix.

That was one of the two franchises I know of that fit that bill... ...unfortunately, I graduated recently and am seeking employment so this is going really slow. However, the song is forming in my head at least (and I'm learning some of the basic riffs on guitar).

What exactly do you mean reencoded at 44100? As a .wav file? A constant bit-rate MP3? Be more specific.