OceansAndrew

First, tune your guitar; this is painfully bad intonation. Your rhythm needs work, and this can only be done with practice. I would work on your power chords, and expand them beyond just the root and 5th to make it sound fuller throughout. Once you get that down, it'll sound better. The drums sound pretty wimpy as well, and there isn't a groove as much as there is some hits here and there. It sounds like you are going for a slowed down groove, but you are missing a lot of elements. Where are your hi hats and cymbals? The main thing you need to do though is replace that trumpet sample. It has no attack at all and is cringe-worthy is some spots, especially the high notes. This needs a ton of work, so keep practicing.

The mallet instruments are nice at the beginning, but your sustained strings are really choppy, as is the lead recorder and flute. All of your shorter duration instruments like the guitar and marcato strings. Brass is decent, but neither awesome nor terrible. What the main issue is, in my opinion, is the lack of progression through the song. It doesn't seem to build at all or go anywhere. You should have a clear goal in mind where the song needs to go as you work on it. Decent start, but a ways to go before submission.

I haven't heard any previous work of yours, but this mix is ha;f good stuff, half stuff that needs work. The song takes forever to progress. I can see the appeal of building one part at a time, but for this specific opening riff, it's not going to work. It's just not interesting enough to hold the listener's attention while the somewhat generic drums slowly come in one part at a time. Some of the synths are downright annoying too; you gotta mess with them, humanize, add some effects, etc. it sounds like they are stright out of the FL box right now, and they need some custom work. Arrangement-wise it is not enough development, it just kindof repeats a few ideas, and there is nothing central to latch onto. You need to have a cool lead line to make this interesting. Keep workin, dude, and change out those synths.

The first time I listened to the project, it was pretty clear it was full of rockin', kickass mixes, but this is the first one I heard that made me stop what I was doing and really listen. Beautiful playing and production, and a very tasteful arrangement. Despite all of the stellar tracks on the project this one is easily my favorite. Fantastic work, PH.

Ktriton. I thought Doug did a version of Epilogue Dream shore since the source is arguably the exact same as Days of Summer. If I am wrong, oops, but that means we don't have an epilogue dream shore, and that we need to do it. Clarification, Doug?

Congrats Larry; I hope you have found enough meat in at least a few of those remixes to tame some lions.

http://www.oceansend.com/5502/rockp3/ocr/_the%20nightmare%20oath.mp3

Doug has another mix?

O look. Le tresor interdit? More like Le tresor iscomplete.

Who is teh l33t h4x0r? I am t3h l33t h4x0r. The forums are working again. I looked into it, and the issue was a deficiency of Facing.

Drums and leads are fantastically sequenced, very creative and varied. Some of the samples I felt were a little fakey, like the rhythm guitar, but everything was mixed cleanly and it certainly rocked, so minor issue in the grand scheme. The solo at the halfway point was pretty badass, way to rock. \m/

I gotta jump on the "bad ass sound effects" bandwagon, and I am possibly the most anti-sound effect guy I know. They are perfectly used, with great restraint, and really get you ready to get down. Great layering of synths, and the kick especially is poundingly intense. I'd have preferred the kick rhythm to be mixed up a bit more, but there is so much going on in the rest of the song that perhaps making something rock solid like the kick is required. Are those starcraft sound effects about 3/4 through? Guitar playing is really good with a beefy tone and nice phrasing, and it fits well with the epianos and stuff. Kickass mix guys, I love it.

Sounds like you have an awesome track, but I am fairly certain that it won't pass. Not because of quality, but because it isn't really what OCR is looking for.

Nice medley, though the transitions need to be a lot more seamless I think. Nice dynamics throughout, and the samples are good. I think it needs some more personalization, as though I'm not an expert on the soundtrack, what I am hearing here is really similar to the original soundtrack. Some additional original sections that could be used as transitions would help a little, and perhaps adding some additional counterpoint and chord changes would work. Kick ass foundation though!

so how do i get here from using the java applet on the site? there isnt an option.

I think you nailed it with a combination of an ad between the first post and initial reply for guests only and a footer ad for everyone. That would be the best way to do it, and it wouldn't mess with the layout too much. I honestly don't see too many people freaking out over this, but maybe I am too optimistic. Any site even a fraction of the size of OCR will have some decent bandwidth usage, and it's not free.

I can't believe I am going to complain about a game the second we get news of it's existence, but there's a first time for everything. I loved the first one and think this one will probably be pretty cool, but is that much shit on his arm really necessary? I suppose with realistic graphics they had to make it look plausible for the grappling arm to be able to hold his weight, but all of the tubes and stuff just look lame to me. That being said, if the game rocks, I won't care what his arm looks like. Just sayin' is all.

I listened. Calmly, I might add.

The good news: This got fixed fast. Good work OCR posse! The bad news: This got fixed too fast for me to post my lolcat. I guess i'll post it anyways. I can maybe use it for something else later.

Just checked your updated link; Cool obscure source tune choice, but sadly there is a lot to work on. The GM midi-ness is overpowering here, and is apparent in every instrument. This is going to need a massive sound upgrade to make it further than an auto-rejection letter. You don't need to spend any money to do so, just get some good free samples (check Darkesword's page) and learn how to use them and you will be fine. It's also pretty clear you input this all by mouse, which in itself is fine, but it means you have to do a few extra steps in order to make it sound natural or "humanized". This includes adjusting velocities of individual notes and offsetting notes ever so slightly to be a fraction of a fraction of a second off beat. This is crucial and isn't something you can ignore. The arrangement is pretty similar to the original in tempo, but does turn things a bit more rocked out. It seems like you simplified it quite a bit and turned it into mostly bass and bass drum, which I'm not sold on. The drums end up being mostly repetitive with just bass drum and snare. Where are the cymbals and hi hat or ride? It needs counterpoint as well. It seems like you mostly just took the chord progression and made a rock song out of it. A lot of the melodic ideas and supporting parts are absent, even in altered forms. It's a start, but you really need to upgrade your sounds (which can be done for free), and add more to the arrangement.

wont even let me login to reboot it. Brad, do you happen to be able to get into the amdin section?

Agreed; there is some style personalization done to this, but it is far too close to the original. I like the club feel you are going for, but the synths need to cut a little more. Add a little bit of high end on them. your drums are a little flabby as well. The bass drum is more of a flabby moosh than something punchy. you'll need to EQ the lowest frequencies down so the bass can fit in there, and then probably layer something in that has a little more high end so it really slams. As for arrangement, you are going to have a lot of work on; it sounds way too close to being a straight up cover. It sounds like you might have added a new part or two, but if so, they are way to subtle. I think part of the issue is that the synths you are using generall sound similar, so the parts all blend together, without much definition. Get some sharper and more stacatto sounds in there to counterpoint the melody. It's a good foundation, but this has a ways to go.

yeah, im not sure. they still work though, right? just the header is messed?

Brad and I have a good cop/bad cop kindof thing going as far as running the project. It works pretty good because he is a lazy sack and nothing would get done if it was just him. Oh wait, i'm supposed to be the good cop.. >_> Larry, I sent you a PM with a link to the collected songs. They aren't completely labeled with id3 and the like, but should have track number, name, and artist at the very least. I also can't find Cold as Hell, but you can check it as it's been submitted to the judges panel.

Complete organized chaos; I love it. The ending was a little too anticlimactic for me, but the rest was amazingly ornamented and busy without being cluttered. Super skills on display here, folks.