Level 99

Red Rum: I don't know who you are, where you came from, or what you're doing here. But you got my song, and that makes me happy. Good luck! Good luck to EVERYONE!

So David's audio is cut for about 40 minutes for podcast 26. This is going to take a WHILE to try and take care of. *sadface* even longer delay now, sorry folks!

Damn, almost a whole week without feedback. WORKSHOP, YOU AREN'T DOING IT HARD ENUF! <3 you anyways.

I'll be editing as much as I can tonight. I HAS STUFF TO DO.

Stop teasing. Everyone respond to the messages. I'm eager to see who got mine. So eager. Edit: Also, OA: Your sig is so blatantly kissass that I can't help but think it's awesome. You got BALLS, bro! BALLLLLLS! *gives thumbs up*

I'm already supporting with some small donations to charities that are...well, let's say "waiting" to be allowed to help with the cleanup. But yeah, this needs more support. MORE SUPPORT.

I saw you posted it, I will be checking it shortly. Sorry, been quite occupied this week! Catch me on AIM and we'll talk. Short answer is: you probably passed. Some are quite far along, some need substantial work, and there are a few are "special cases" due to the people and factors involved. However, there is no way this is coming out before next Summer. By design, the songs are to be finished by December 1st so that the project artists can use the songs as inspiration for the large amount of project art we're trying to get. This is also to compensate for those inevitable project setbacks, however small or big they will be. The release date has been picked for a very special occasion: July 5th, 2011 (read the project info in the OP). That's the 15th anniversary of NiGHTS: Into Dreams game release in Japan, and this is exactly how I want to celebrate that day.

Just for that, I'm going to write a Harry Potter Fanfic featuring copious Dolphin Sex. Not really, but it's a good idea, you gotta admit that!

Umm can we get a website? Now? Tell Deven to fix it or I'm calling my lawyer!

Trying to move forward with a switch in my plugins choices. Anyone have experience with Ozone 4 or Voxengo or, dare I say it, both? Leaning towards Ozone 4 because of the price for an "all in one", but I've heard very good things about Voxengo as well.

Plaid Muffins are hard at work tweaking our arrangement. Then it's recording time for the brass. *puts on cool shades*

...just for that, no episode released tonight for you! (it'll be done this week)

I'd say someone room with me but I'm staying a very stunted length of time in Vegas, it's ending up. Reservation's from the 8th through 10th, I'll probably be leaving on the 11th in the early evening. I'll be at bLiNds from the night of the 6th through whenever I get to the hotel on the 8th. Woo.

Alright, so yesterday came and went with a lot less activity that I had anticipated. A number of extensions were handed out, but this is exactly why I designed the protracted milestone schedule the way I did. For those that are up-to-date on their tracks, thank you. For those who have extensions, get at it! If it passed and you did NOT get a specific extension from me, talk to me ASAP. Seriously. Final stretch this Summer and Fall.

Alright, here we go: 1 - Nice subtle intro until the drums smack me in the face. Then that very Primus-y bass and drums stuff. Not as deliberately complex or weird as their music, but I like it. Some of the vocal levels are too low and, even when I can hear them, it's hard to discern half of whats being screamed/sung. Still, it fits the style you're going for. Nice synth choices, and I like the aggressiveness of the harder parts. Pretty good way to start the album. 2 - Oh, here's a faster punky song! Maybe it's just my headphones, but those drums sound a little weirdly mixed. Man, this style really takes me back to my punk days...it's that brand of punk that's not quite pop, reminiscent of NOFX and Antiflag. And it's short. A little too short but I'll take it. 3 - Back to the more bizarre style like the first song. I'm noticing that your instruments are handled a lot better than the vocals are. That's something you should definitely focus on improving. It's definitely possible to keep the "sound" you're going for while increasing the comprehensibility and quality of the vocals. Again, also might be the headphones I have on right now. The drums, bass, and guitars are all mixed pretty well though and the riffs are cool, though I'm not liking this one as much as others. 4 - slooooooow doooooooooownnnnn. Liking this a lot, as it keeps the album from burning full-steam the whole way through. This is the kind of song played in between songs at a live set, and I'm liking what you did with the guitars in the back. Simple and almost dour song. Let's keep on rolling. 5 - Despite the title making it obvious that noise was an intended thing here, it feels like there's still just a little much for the first part after the bass comes in. Same issues present with the vocals here as previously, but the instruments here are all pretty awesome. I like the clean delayed guitars and the bass, and the drums do a very good job holding things together. 6 - ...interesting start. I can hear the vocals a little better here, probably because it isn't layered as much. Not a bad song, it's got character, but not really blowing me away...at least until a little more than half way through. When the guitar start to take over more I'm getting into it. This song shows a lot of potential for where you can go and grow. 7 - aggressive from the start, I'm not really digging the glitch noises you have on the top layer before the vocals roll in. Cool song besides that and that Primus influence is clear here again. I can hear the vocals better in this song, which is a plus. Good bridge section that reminds me a lot of the Z.O.E. first game theme song. This is my favorite song on your whole release. 8 - Harder rock vibe here. I'm finding it hard to word critiques for this one, but it's quite good! Maybe it's that I'm not really digging the vocal dissonance but that's a personal preference, I think. 9 - and an interesting way to end the album, with a long song that just goes on eventually into silence. I'm oddly reminded of Husker Du with this one. Strong final track. So, in all, it's something that feels pretty fresh to me, with hints of many different influences scattered throughout the 9 tracks. You show a versatility of songwriting in a good few aggressive styles, so this is a great start. Most importantly, it shows that you're bursting with ideas and that you need to now buckle down and refine them, and their execution. Definitely a good and interesting listen and you've got my attention for whatever you release next. Keep at it!

Happy birthday. Now get BACK TO WORK, SLAVE. No, there's no cake for you. No ice cream. No belly dancers. No piñata. No candles. Okay, I lied, you can have all those. Cause you're awesome.

Done deal, stoked to hear it.

Level 99 - Fire in the Tires (FINAL) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Source tune: Rad Racer 2 (NES) - Gum Ball Crash My remix, which is already at WIP2 - Fire in the Tires: http://www.mediafire.com/?ncy1ehkjjzz Where I'm taking it from here: Going to drastically change the second verse+chorus to remove much of the guitars and put in either a piano or organ and some synths. Better noodling during the solo Pads and synths during the bridge section More refined ending climax 50's rock style claps during the second chorus, the bridge, and the final chorus. More drum variation ------- This one is more of a revamp of the original track plus some of my own material in there to switch it up. It's not nearly as drastically different from the source as some of my other stuff. It's still a tad too coverish at the moment, but the planned changes for the second verse+chorus and the ending, along with the current bridge section, will end up being enough to keep it from being a cover. Let me know what you think, folks!

Get it to me by compo time on Thursday. Also, I'm looking at all that gorgeous ORANGE on the First Post and I'm liking it. Liking it a lot. These songs are shaping up to show the vast diversity poured into each song of the original soundtrack, and just like the OST, there's quite a few cool surprises. I'll be checking our private forums all day today. Like a hawk.

First, I want to thank everyone for the comments and feedback. It really means a lot, both praise and criticism. I'll take it all and do my best to learn and improve for the future. Also, a very big thank you to the folks from the WIP forums for giving me feedback on revision after revision. Dafydd: For the final version of this song, I was using a MXL991 with a pop filter on-axis to my Hohner Acoustic HW300-TBK. Recorded through a Lexicon Lambda in Sonar 8 or 8.5 (I can't remember exactly which one). I had to EQ out some of the bottom end because of how it was aimed directly at the hole, but the pop filter helped a lot in reduction of that from the get-go. The result was a very warm sound. This is my usual method of recording acoustic guitar, though I'm now using a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB instead of the Lambda. Stevo get LEVEL-UP.

This was such a pleasant surprise to see on the site! A pleasure to listen to, and shows incredible character ingrained into the piano and vocals. The piano playing is smooth, but that's not really what this mix is about. It's about the lyrics and singing. This song has clever lyrics with great execution. Needless to say, this song was awesome. <3 it.

I haven't watched the video so I'm doing this from an audio-only perspective. An interesting take on the source. First thing I noticed is that it sounds very centered, almost mono. Yes, it says in the writeup that the stereo is very compressed, but I feel the need to say that again. It really takes some of the life out of the song. Besides that, it was alright except for the guitar, which sounded oddly processed. It was a bit too quiet and almost frail. Overall, I wasn't quite taken with this one.

At first I was all :-/ but then I was all This is a great concept, and well-executed, but I have to echo that the production could have been a good bit better. The production is, frankly, what holds this back from being "OMFGJHJSHFnj NJhu Awesome!!1", instead it just being "dude, this friggin' rocks". Guitar playing is great almost throughout, and the synths are what put it up there as being kickass. Arrangement is clever in how it moves, and never really stops for directions to the next place to shred. The overall mixing, especially the drums, have room for improvement. I'm still giving it two-to-three thumbs up. Looking forward to where you go from here. It may have me needing to "acquire" a fourth thumb just to give it four thumbs up. >_>