Tensei

Snake Over would be an excellent OLR submission Actually, I think it's just CHIPP by himself, which makes it twice as awesome.

Yup, as I already suspected, my mix got rejected because of lackluster production, so I kind of souped it up, paying special attention to the lower-end and general phatness, so in a few days it should be ready to submit. It's a sort of symphonic metal arrangement of the songs Bloody Tears and Beginning from respectively Castlevania II and Castlevania III. Things I've done: -Reprocessed snare, kick and toms -Layered in an extra bass-patch -Some general mixing to make the whole thing less thin-sounding -Changed the Lead Synth around a bit Things I still need to do: -re-record lead guitars using new setup, record guitar solo somewhere near the end. -Fix the lower-end muddiness -Humanize the string patches -Fix the snare, it sounds like crap, especially during exposed sections Submitted Version: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/nrsy/Bloody-Tears-OCremix Latest Update: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/kmsz/Roar--O--Mighty-Vampire-Killer- I'm mostly looking for production tips, the arrangement was generally very well accepted, so I'm not going to be doing any changes in that department.

Fray, I think I might have found what's causing the ear-tiring. The bass-drum sounds kind of overcompressed and overcompression tends to be one of the causes of ear-tiring. It's amplified by the fact that the bass-drums fills the lower end almost constantly because of the fast rolls. Usually this is solved by the bass-drum having a really punchy attack and a soft decay so there's not so much strain on the ears because of the dynamic difference. For the rest, I gotta say I love your version, I've been following the development of this song for quite some time, and I have to say you did an awesome job on bringing the best of the vocals out, it sounds very dramatic and really vikingish now. =P

Oh god yes, orchestral intro kicks ass. I do have a very minor gripe though: the extremely fast hi-hat seems to come in at a rather unusual moment; I'd either have it fade-in (which would work better as a build-up) or just wait until you 'drop the beat' to bring it in. The rest is absolutely stunning though.

Dude, CHIPP, how can you consider this song more repetitive than 90% of other non-progressive metal bands you indubitably listen to? Even if you take a look at absolute classics like Slayer's Angel of Death or Metallica's Battery you'll find the song structure is an incredibly simple Verse/Chorus/Bridge build-up. Just because YOU like to write songs that constantly segue into new sections throughout doesn't mean that anyone who doesn't do so is being exceedingly repetitive. For me, part of a songs inherent 'catchiness' comes from the repetition of certain sections, which gives the listener a chance to 'grasp' the song. The minor variations and instrumental additions/changes during the repeated sections (which Cursed Bloodline makes more than enough use of) can still give enough of a forward drive to the song, without going overboard. Don't tell me Dream Theater is more fun to bang your head to than some dirty old Thrash Metal Classic. =P

Who are you addressing?

Actually, Haunted Chase would happen to be a pretty blatant rip-off/arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain ( The fast rising note passages at the start and the ominous brass are almost verbatim) I always love the way Protricity's songs seem to progress throughout, but still keep a rhythmic and stilistic consistency. It's really hard to get a proper knack for that, and this song is a striking example of this style. Love it.

Oh but you already have a bassline there. At least it's in the midi

Exactly, I bet Billy Joe Armstrong is a better downpicker than YJM

Treat her gently, but firmly.

I regret that you presume that I have any other criterium for music than " Do I like it?". And even if that was the case, Green Day is hardly anything to brag about, especially against who doesn't really like it, don't you think so? I don't have an eclectic taste because I want to, it's just that way. I really can't help it that I want to listen Megadeth one moment, put on some Chopin Waltzes after that, and finish it off with a bit of St. Germaine. In no way do I claim that I know a lot about Romantic Piano or Acid Jazz, but I just like the musical pieces I have heard from those genres, and if someone suggests to me " Hey, you like Chopin? Well you should check out that and that guy, since he makes some pretty cool Romantic Piano music too" I will definitely do so, NOT because I will be able to brag about how I am eclectic and educated and stuff to others, but because I presume I will genuinely like the music. Blame OCR for my eclecticism and my realising that no matter what the genre, there will always be at least one good artist/song in that genre. I don't remember me saying anywhere that you thought YJM was the only GOOD guitar-driven artist, I was just puzzled by the fact that you said pretty much refused to listen to similar artists, because face it, YJM's style isn't all that unique or anything. And no, I'm afraid I can not agree that Far Beyond the Sun is a masterpiece. Technically impressive, yes. Compositional masterpiece? Not rly.

OCR's standards might not be your definition of what is good music, and they're not even pretending to. No-one's telling you how to mix and if people like your music, you could really care less if it would get accepted here. If you want to submit you're going to have to follow the standards, but it's not like anyone is forcing you to submit your music. So no, they're not telling people how to mix, they're telling people how to mix to stand a chance to get accepted here. I in fact think it couldn't be any better than as it is now, because just look at some of amazing works that are posted on this site, they wouldn't have existed if OCR maintained lackluster standards and every doof with an idea could get posted here. It helps to think of OCReMixes as a broad, but reasonably well-defined genre; you'll notice that nearly every posted mix has a certain level of quality, and a certain degree in which the mix incorporates elements from the remixed song. You're not going to add trance-synthesizers to a classical symphony, since a classical symphony has a few set rules for what makes it a classical symphony. Same goes for OCReMixes, they're based on a few set rules you have to follow, except here, you CAN add trance-synths to a classical symphony, and people will applaud you for your originality (if you've incorporated the synths correctly of course).

I'd like to add to this that you have to have some understanding of WHEN to change the key. I'm not exactly good at theory, but you need to create a cadence with the chord progression (i.e. It has to sound like the progression has ended.) This is usually done by playing the dominant chord in the key ( I'm guessing E# Major, yes I know that is in fact an F, but this A# scale is just weird), and then back to the root (a A#/Bb minor chord in this case I think). If you have an established phrase it will be much easier to keep the listeners attention. Now I THINK if you play the dominant chord at it's normal position, but you DON'T return to the root, and instead play a chord from the E#/F Major scale that's not in the A# Minor scale, you will have relatively succesfully changed key. To Summarize it: If you can't change keys successfully by ear, you should rather not do it at all, because it's a f*cking pain in the ass to do it by theory. Focus on having a nice sounding progression (with cadence) in the key of A# minor.

this version is way catchier than the original and I want those damn japanese lyrics ripped and in a .WAV file since they sound awesome over it.

Basically, the key that is implied by EVERYTHING before that chord is A# minor. The chord ( a G Major I believe) comes in without the previous progression being resolved at all, thus it makes no sense at all modulating to a different key, especially something weird like G Major. THAT's why I think it makes as much sense as a penis slapping a drum kit.

Geez man stop with the pads alright! =P I think a big problem is the lack of a sense of direction. The vocal notes that start at 0:05 are borderline passable, but still I'd like to hear them be more coherent, they sound like they tend to start at off-beats. Use some reverb to mask it up, I don't want her singing directly into my ear. Everything is relatively fine and dandy up until 0:50 holy SHIT man what kind of dissonant chord is that. It makes about as much sense as a penis slapping a drum kit (a Dutch saying, don't bother). By now the whole chord progression is non-sensical, there's all kinds of random piano notes, clipping going on and the intro has been drawing on for way too long. After an iffy transition and a totally weird drum break the mix picks up pace which is okay, except there's still a lot of dissonances and nonsensical stuff going on (Even more clipping, crashes at weird moments). I've been noticing an inherent lack of bass-like instruments in your mixes, which isn't exactly a good thing for consistency between the rhythm and the melody. Lose the pads and put in a nice bass patch when the faster rock-drums come in. Also, sharpen up that production man, you can't go around relying on your " I've only been mixing for 5 months, so I can be as bad as I want"-thingy forever. Learn to compress and balance your stuff so it doesn't clip like a mofo and learn to EQ and roll-off unnecessary frequencies so your instruments don't muddy each other up.

I think Snappleman pretty much nailed it here, so I think you should try to PM him about it.

Oh, HoboKa, who WON't you collab with? Anyway, this is sounding very nice, I dig the surf-style drum rhythm when things pick up. I don't think I'm really qualified to make suggestions here, so I'll just say keep it up!

500 grains, level 33, which is pretty effing good considering English isn't my native language.

Absolutely amazing. The intro reminded me of Protricity's stuff.

A good soundcard/recording interface isn't necessary, but it makes a LOT of difference in the quality of the tone, especially the sustain. If your mac has a microphone input, theoretically a converter jack should be enough to get you rocking ( you just plug your guitar in, but don't expect anything amazing). Depending on the input I think it's possible to damage it, something to do with the input levels, so I really can't recommend this. Ideally you'll want an USB or Firewire interface that has a dedicated guitar input, and a DECENT built-in pre-amp. Apart from that you'll probably want a software amp modeller so you can get relatively realistic amp tones. Of course, you can mic your amp too, but to get a quality recording you'll need stuff like a decent mic and a good pre-amp.

Oh fudge! You actually got me there, I just assumed they tested Reason too since Zircon remarked that in his post. Hm, I stand corrected.

Geez, the source is absolutely horrible and obnoxious. Arrangementwise your version has barely any differences, apart from instrumentation. The guitar tone is ew, it sounds more like a kazoo at some places. I suggest you throw this whole thing out of the window and find a source that's actually featured in one of the games (and doesn't suck =P)

http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12274 I think there's your answer. Personally I can't tell the difference between a .WAV exported from Reason and a .WAV exported from FL with Reason ReWired into it (using the same settings of course), so I don't think there's an inherent lo-fi quality or anything like that to Reason's mixdown feature.

Oh f*ck yes, that is the mix that makes me kind of sad about the site-standards (not saying that they should be changed though).