OceansAndrew

DD3: Way way way too much reverb dude. It's hard to even tell what's going on in most of it. The kick needs to come up a lot too. Other than that, I'd need to hear it without so much reverb before I can even tell what is going on. NG: Cool chipish synth, but there needs to some variation and the beat needs to be way bigger. The beat that comes in later is decent, but it needs to happen sooner, and be more punchy. The current one is flabby, and the rest of the percussion is too grainy. The constant main synth is completely fatiguing. It never ever lets up, until near the end when it just stops. The other elements all gradually stop too, and none of them have graceful landings.

Just bits and pieces i've picked up. Like my warning said, I am still a total n00b, but i'm always trying to get better. Bugging various people about mixing and stuff; some DJs I know, judges, friends, etc. And my PW mix was finished and submitted almost 11 months ago, so i've picked up a little since then. An example is a mix I can't publicly link yet until our project is released, but check your PMs.

The beats and synths are slick and sufficiently phat, I love the lead synth a whole lot. Lyrical flow is good, though the lyrics seem kindof trite. There are some good lines; the oil and water line is gold, but I wasn't really impressed with a lot of the rest. He has a great sound and the delivery was pristine, just the rhymes need a little more substance to them; Maybe i'm a snob, but there were too many single-syllable words in the chorus. Not a dealbreaker, this is going on my playlist for sure. This would be good in a Parappa game. Make it like prince of persia 2 where it gets all hardcore n shit.

Yeah this is pretty damn good and almost there as far as what I think the judges look for. I do agree that the guitar is pretty obviously sequenced, but it is pretty good samples. I suggest running a super light overdrive over the intro part (not the strums, those sound great) and very slightly alter the velocities to give them more irregularities. Also maybe detune them slightly, about 2 cents worth. The guitars in the middle are fine, IMO. WARNING: I am still pretty much a drum n00b, and spend more time flailing than anything really; take this advice at your own risk: For your drums, what I suggest is to is to take the tracks you currently have, double them, and then shape and compress the hell out of the duplicate. Though my drums aren't near as crazy as the ZIRCON PUNCH (SHOW ME YOUR GROOVES!), maybe hearing what I do can give you some ideas. I usually have three seperate parts for bass drum, one for the high frequency attack or 'click', one for the boom (80-300hz.. careful and don't boost 250 too much or its going to get crazy muddy), and one for sub bass or stuff you don't hear but feel (usually a electronic bass drum. if you mix it right, it'll still sound like an acoustic bass drum, but have a good kick.) for the boom and click, roll off 50hz and below so you have more leeway with volume. Bring the overall bass drum sound up though. For snare, I duplicate the snare and shape the second one. I'd roll off the low end, sub 100hz and boost your snare around 5k. If you still arent getting enough snap, layer in a handclap and have it sitting just underneath the snare so it's not really audible on it's own. Your snare sounds pretty good though, a little more snap to it and it's good. Other than that, it seems the track is a little quiet; i've been comparing it to some of my stuff, which is pretty low on the RMS scale and it's even quieter, so a volume boost is in order I think. Arrangementwise this is frickin sweet, I completely love what you've done to the source. I hope I am being helpful here, let me know if there's anything else I can do.

I'm not really feeling this one; There is plenty to like, but overall it seems half finished, and there is a missed beat in the middle of the drums. The different sections are nice; you picked good songs for your medley, but it needs some improved production, both in the high and low parts, as well as a bit more interpretation. THere are some added synths, but it really doesn't seem like enough to me. Sorry

Pretty nice source; The sounds are pretty cheap midi-sounding, but the melodies are good. I really like the organ that comes in. Not really samplewise, but the rhythm and harmony take the song up a notch. The drums seem on autopilot for the whole duration, and the background textures remain the same for most of the piece, but there is a lot of melodic variation throughout with different instruments and more melodic lines than I care to count. The linked version is far superior in my opinion; it has all of the strengths with none of the weaknesses. The samples are a bit step up, and rather than having a canned drumloop, it's ditched altogether for an orchestral sound. I'd recommend getting the 2003 re-ReMix one rather than this mix.

I understand what people are saying about the stabbing snare. Ouch. It's like each snare hit is bustin a cap in my ears. ;_; Either the rest of the track needs to come up, or it needs to come down. As far as the rest of the track, the synth is pretty cool and subterranean, but a little delay-heavy, and the B section has a cool changeup from the original. I think a non-delayed sub bass would help anchor the track a bit more, and something more going on in the high end besides some occasional chimes and that drive-by snare would fill things out. Another minute of some additional material would be nice as well.

You are wise in your ways. C-Island or anything from Startropics would be more than welcome in a smash game.

I've managed to get a lot more velocity stuff in, as well as some additional sections. The horns near the end need a bit more work, but it's bedtime for now. I agree completely about the rubato intro, though unfortunately garageband doesn't allow me to alter tempos mid track. Hilariously enough, I bought Logic and it arrived in the mail yesterday, but it requires OS 10.4, and I only have 10.3; I've been holding out since 10.5 is available in October, so if the rest of the mix is done before then, i'll just cut the intro. Updated the mp3 on the first post.

When this game comes out I am going to be having friends over for matches every saturday night if it's really true that KK shows up in the animal crossing stage. I was really hoping he'd be playable, but this will certainly do.

that would be really cool. I will be updating strange presblah tonight with a few new sections.

He didn't mean you need to have that many variations for the sample, he meant you'll need at least that many throughout the entire piece. Add hihat hits on 1 and 2 and that part will sound more natural. here is your rhythm: 1 2 3 4 Offbeat is like: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 it's the ands

Really really early, there is almost no humanization on this, and that will be added, as well as other stuff that belongs in an orchestra, like a glock. Oh yeah, an ending too. Is it too repetitive? What sounds are weak? Is it too liberal with the source (track 4 in the nsf)? http://oceansend.com/5502/rockp3/ocr/The%20Winding%20Road.mp3

Thanks and congrats!

You can; I am not familiar with anvil studio, but it would be something like velocity or expression or something. There are changable values from 0 to 127. The higher the number the stronger the attack to your cymbals, and thus each 127 hit will sound exactly the same. Good luck with the judges dude.

Good to know, thanks. Also, thanks for hosting it in the first place; it's interesting to hear how the site standards have gotten higher with specific examples.

It's the Cammy sports training montage song! That's pretty much the only way I can imagine this going with the hundreds of vocal Cammy samples. Pretty decent straightforward techno, nothing really stood out except when Cammy gets pwned at the end of the mix. All those special attacks and she still loses? Better train harder next time, Cammy. Production seems to me a little flat, nothing really cuts through except for the samples; might be a bit too much reverb. The piano solo near the 2/3 point was a nice touch and a good way to personalize the mix. This would be good background music except the vocal samples keep distracting my attention. I realize they add a distinct flavor to the mix, but the overuse of them pushes this mix down a bit imo.

I was going through chiptunes this morning looking for some cool songs to potentially remix myself, and I was really impressed by a lot of the tracks in Crystalis so I decided to check out what remixes others have done on the game, and I have to say this mix is pretty frickin awesome. I love how the melody is swung a bit, and the production is nice and clear. The beat is housey without being on autopilot, and he filtered percussion is a nice subtle touch. The piano solo is fantastic; tasteful and just a tiny bit funkified. The switched up B section is also really well done. Great arranging on this track. I am actually horrified that I have missed out on this remix for so many years. It was released in 2002; that means I could have had it play at my wedding. ;_; Well, I'm not so sure I'd have this at my actual wedding, but definitely at the reception. Cool enough on it's own to have my relatives dance to it, but kicked up a notch with 8bit awesome for me and my friends. BAM Both Emeril and I strongly recommend this outstanding track.

Thanks for the link; i've been looking for a few of these. Is this list complete? I remember there being a duck tales moon remix that was fun to listen to that was removed in one of the lockdowns and I'm not seeing it here.

Sounds kinda like vgmix? Didnt they talk about doing something like this? edit: I guess they don't have it up right now, but sometime soon? welcome to their hompy edit2: beaten by Larry "Liontamer"!!! pftz edit3: beaten by like half an hour, how did that even happen? His post wasn't there when I hit reply.

Fixed it for you. I think your circle diagram is pretty spot on, and though there are lots of sub circles, the way you drew it out is great. GG

The beats are clearly the strong point here, they are really good. I love the sound of the snare and the bass drum. The sound effects and vocal clips I could really do without, they just seem annoying to me. I was worried that the simple source track would be grating, but it's actually pretty well transformed, with the main line slowed down and with the rhythm changed slightly; played by the bass. I'd even say it's an improvement over the original. There is too much random crap going on in the background though, and that makes the track a little harder to listen to repeatedly for me. The synths are passable, nothing jumps out as being fantastic. Those beats are awesome though.

There are a lot of cool parts to this mix, but I feel the various components just didn't gel. I thinnk the issue for me is the wimpy kick and strange bass. The constantly repeating synth arpeggio riff that is taken from the first part of the main theme isn't helping matters much; I think i'd have kept those sections out. It just grates. Not everything is bad though; There is a lot to like in this mix. There are some nice atmosphereic sections, and for some reason I am really liking the super dry and precise hihat. The ending is also really nice, If I had remixed this track, i'd have done something similar with the notes, but the ritardando was a unexpected bonus. It seems to me like the intent was a more cerebral elecronic track rather than something that's fully dancable, and I like the idea, but the execution isn't quite there; I think an additional texture would have really helped, and a stronger kick and snare to really differentiate the sections.

This is basically an extended synth solo and I frickin love it. The groove is tight and the solo is interesting and funky throughout. I think the bass could be beefified a bit, and the sax samples are merely 'ok', but neither issue is detrimental to the mix. The winddown near the end is great; just what the mix needed, and I was sad that it ended instead of going one more time. Thanks to the magic of mp3s, I have that power to make it go again. I don't think anyone is going to be fooled into thinking it's areal guitar, but there's absolutely no need, as there's no shame in a funkified synth solo. For being so venerable, this mix kicks a ton of ass. If there was an OCR timeline of defining mix moments, this one definitely should be included in the early era.

The beats are good and I like the vocal sample, but that midi is not cutting it for me. That guitar just ruins the mood for me. I think if A ron redid this nowadays it'd be way better as far as samples go. The mix is a little conservative as far as melodic interpretation, but the new bassline is pretty cool, and the beats really are nice.