GrrDraxin

I came across this when HvV came out, and I dug it then, but since I don't really pick apart albums to grab the songs that appease me, I had not done so for this, and forgot about it... that is until I was browsing the OCR torrent, and had just hit random on my playlist and this came up, and I was like... Duuuuuhhhhh.... (in a state of phonic ecstasy) Ever since then, I've listened to it about some 25 times on repeat just to make sure to drill it into my head how !AWESOME! this mix is. I've never played the SoR games, but if there ever was a remake to that game that uses this mix in it's soundtrack, I would put my money down for it just to punch out some mooks while jamming out to this.

Ah, darn. I wanted to try seeing if it could process a Megaman X song made entirely from cat meows. Oh well, maybe next year.

I was one of the downloaders of the Serious Monkey Business album, and I have to say that this track was my absolute favorite of the entire thing, only one other song grabbed me, but this one did it best. I really liked the synth melody that starts and ends the song. I've found myself putting on my a-b repeater on the end part because it's just that grabbing and in a way relaxing. It does have a feel of a song that uses a similar synth, but for the life of me I can't recall any name or even what the genre of the one this reminds me of. Though I never got to play DKC2, I did grab the music files to hear the sources and I must say that this was definitely an improvement over the original, Though I'm sure that if I had played the game like I did the first, maybe my opinion would be a little different. Though personally, I kind of think that the lead synth was probably just a bit hard and unnerving, maybe if it's volume were cut by a sizable fraction it wouldn't make me want to turn the volume down to not hurt my ears, as the frequency of that instrument in particular seems to hit pretty hard in my most sensitive hearing range. Other than that, I'd give this not just 2 thumbs up, but 2 big toes up as well.

Hello. I may not post much at all here, but I must say that this is an awesome mix. Though I may not know what "muddy" is defined as here, but if it's what I think it is, I think you could have solved that issue simply by adjusting the equalizers on each of your instruments used, and sharpen them with a bit more treble. But since it's already done, well, we'll just have to deal with it as is. But that's not to say I think it's bad by any stretch of the word, oh no, I quite enjoyed it, and think it was fine just as it is. But, one must account for a very wide range of listening equipment each of us users have, and how different a song can sound on those systems, like the car stereo would have a better or worse sound than say, your home theater system, or even different brands of head phones and earphones, can sound vastly different. Personally, I don't even use any kind of equalizer when playing music through my earphones because they have just the right frequency response ranges that take care of all the things the equalizer would normally, unless the song I'm listening to needs and extra boost somewhere, but normally that's not the case. By the way, I use the Phillips SHE9500 earphones for my listening, and let me tell you, not only are they tough and reliable, they sound awesome with most everything I've listened to thus far. And they last almost forever. I've had my current pair for over 2 years now without a single problem, and my last pair lasted my just as long. So you know that's something in quality to be able to take what I've done to them and still keep performing great. Hopefully we will hear more from you soon. I know I would be overjoyed to hear what else in audio awesomeness you can dish out with your next production. Till next time, later.

Well now, I know I'm about a year late to congratulate you, but I guess better late than never. I remember asking about having you post all the version you had of this in the WIP section, and I'm glad that your hard work payed off. Even today I'm still listening to your current and first versions of this, it's that awesome of a mix of that beloved game I had on my first and last gameboy handheld. Excellent mix.

Very nicely done. Though I've never touched any of the Myst games, I'm sure that by the example set here that they have their own charm for each one, soundtrack wise. For this, I can appreciate the trancy feel with the ultra smooth soundscape that invokes visions of games like Eve or your choice of space flight games with fairly long times in between the action. But to see it as colorful and an abstract beauty of sight and sound this plays well indeed in such a vision. The emotional crest (really the closest way to describe it) around 3:40 with the second chorus synth and the key change was quite an epic part for me until the drop-off to the ending, which works for me very well. I'm sure bringing forth games and songs that aren't well trod would be a nice niche for you and many others to those of us with limited exposure to these sources. Until next time.

Ah, I see it clearly now. Good for you and good luck.

Yes, he changed the name in his last update, the post called "Comparisons". He has no idea why he changed it, maybe this new title sounded better.

Thanks Rozo, I'll be sure to put my 2 cent in there later.

Well, i guess I'll concede your point, but not on the basis of how you interpreted the idea. (Ah yes, lazy is my friend too.) It's not so much on judging each one separately, but based on taking favorable elements from all the versions posted that people critique on and creating the final version with them. Now using this song's development as example, and referring back to previous posts of what I've heard, I'll show how I look at a song. Do take note that this is the first WIP I've monitored this closely since I've become an OCR listener/member. All because this song suits my taste in music. Firstly, I believe the one I first listened to was your "Post #13" one after Rozo's 8-14 post, so I had no idea what the original or any revisions up to that point sounded like. IE, what spurred my request for the original to see the evolution of this song. At first I didn't know that your links for all the posts all pointed to the same file, and that you would overwrite the old file with the new one at each update. So the link on the first page (and every post afterward) all pointed at the same file. This confused me as I listened to the song for the first time and read the forum. I was thinking "Where's the heavy bass boom that Zircon described?". Not quite what I was expecting, as I figured that out after about 3 or 4 tries. You get where I'm coming from now? I was expecting to get your original file and follow the changes as you progressed. So to continue with the original thought. In my first post I mentioned the drum set used. I was thinking "Those drums are kinda weak." and now that I've heard the original, I would have probably said to stay with the drum set you used originally but to tweak it's equalizer settings so it doesn't distort or sound "muddy". For the second example: you probably interpreted this part of Rozovian and PF Kitsune's posts the same way I did, the intro was too long, and you fixed it, probably because I was more specific than they were about that. (But I will not claim credit for pushing that change)Example 3 was Rozovian's suggestion on the vibrato at 3:33 (actually at 3:30), and also used at 2:08. That could have been better implemented, probably a faster vibrato would have sounded better. Doing it this way help minimize something I call "Overfixing". I noted several instrumentations that were present in the original that are now absent, even though in my opinion, they could have stayed, or vice versa, (new stuff that's not in the original). If it ain't broke, don't fix it, unless you're the government, who's motto is "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is (broke)". I'm no remixer, but messing around with Module type music, I've learned how to tweak songs to better fit my own tastes to an extent. So this could be considered the indirect approach, since I don't have almost all of the tools remixers use here. I'm sure if I did, I'd ask you for your sequencer file just to see what I could do with it. (I am NOT asking for it though, just to be clear on that.) In retrospect, my way of thinking is quite detailed, And I'm sure if I felt like running around the WIP forums, I'd probably quickly garner a reputation of being wordy and detailed (and probably annoying), at least if I had enough info to get into the details...... I'm sure the judges would be similar in their way of critiquing, but I don't know that for sure, I need to lurk more for proof of that. I don't expect any further changes since you said that edit 2 is your final version, so that's that. Ah, to close this, I'll add what I was listening to this through. I was using the Philips SHE9500 Ultra Sound in ear headphones, which are the best headphones I've ever had. The bass response is excellent, which is why I no longer use my equalizer for music. I highly recommend them, just..... don't blow out your ears on high volume stuff, that's dangerous. j/k I whole heartedly agree, where can I find such a thread? I need to vent. : )Later.

Whoa! That IS a big difference. My ears certainly heard those low frequencies in your original version, certainly not for those who put heavy emphasis on the bass on their equalizers. I'm glad I caught this when I did, I'd have never heard all this goodness of the 4 versions I collected. A word of advice on your next WIP song: allow the multiple versions to be heard along with whatever current version you are working on, so people can critique on all the steps taken up to your final version, for like a "Which version most appeals to you?" vote. You'll never know if the judges like a previous version better than the last. According to my count of links in this thread, this final version would be labeled as "version 6" in count. So I thank you for posting the first version, and I'm glad I had a hand in helping you get this far. Good luck, and I look forward to listening to your future works.

I didn't notice the differences at first, until I compared it to the previous version. I noticed you increased the treble to allow for a clearer sound, and the piano sounds a little brighter and fuller now. The backup harmonics and melodies are more noticeable, hats off for that, thanks. I did my comparison by rapidly switching between the 2 versions while manually selecting sections to listen to, and this new version has lifted the haze that the previous versions suffered from, good job. Now all you need to do is find a panel judge or two and have them look it over. I would also recommend that you include links to your previous versions from the beginning for comparisons to see if you have been evolving this song in the right direction. (That's also for my own curiosity too, since I've only seen the last 3 versions.) But I'm confident you've done well enough to be successful.

Well done. I'm happy you took my suggestions to heart. The ending sounds so much better. But that intro still needs a bit more work, but this may also be that I've been listening to your previous version like some 40 times up until this morning, so the new version's intro sounds like it flows a bit awkwardly now with the new snippet. I did come to fancy that small pause in the previous version just before the melody starts in. It does get one's heart going on that little bit of anticipation of what's to come. But that's at your option. A smooth flow of notes is desirable for a slow intro, try not to let the sound (notes) "cut" too much, a sudden cut of a note is pretty noticeable, unless it's in the style of the song. Of course, a shorter intro doesn't leave much room for extra notes, so be careful on your use of space there, don't rush it, it's meant to be slow. EDIT: Also an optional suggestion: that section I mentioned in the previous version (now located at 1:11- 1:17, and again at 3:19-3:25 and sprinkled throughout), the melody you used there, could you bring it out just a little more in the song? It just sounds SOOO good to my ears, it deserves better than staying in the background. Again, this is but an optional suggestion. I wish you luck that these also appeal to the judging panel.

Well, I must say that it's been a while since I've heard a recent Tal Tal Hights mix. As a casual listener, I'm impressed with your mix so far. Just to be fair, my first listenings (x6) were with my winamp graphic equalizer turned off, since I have a decent pair of ear-buds that sound great either way. Like what those who've commented so far have said, the intro could do with a little compression of 10 to 30 seconds to get into the meat of the song a bit quicker, and it would be great if it could be done without losing or cutting the elements that are established there already. I particularly liked the section from 1:33 leading into the main melody, I nearly welled up into tears of excitement when hearing that. Kinda reminded me of some early 90s anime music, a good thing mind you. My only other beef would be the drum set.... kinda sounds a little weak to me, maybe because the kick/bass drum doesn't have enough "Oomph" in my opinion. But then I kinda favor drums that literally kick the crap out of the lower frequencies anyway, but it may be different for everybody else. Otherwise, great job, and keep it up. EDIT: Something I'd like to suggest about the ending, you may want to consider having your lead (instrument) drop out a little earlier than the rest as the song fades out. Those mid-high frequency notes tend to persist a bit longer than needed compared to other elements.

What dreams may come. Which is exactly why I re-downloaded this mix, because the vocal part made a cameo in one of my dreams last night. Afterward, I couldn't remember the name of the song or where it was from, except that it was here on OCR. I got up about 5:20 AM just to search out those lyrics, because I didn't have that song to listen to immediately. I hadn't even listened to the song for a couple months since the unveiling of Votl. Funny huh? Damn subliminal messages. X P