Emunator

Yo, so I haven't really had time to show my face around here or the Internet in general lately (since my last update here I've stepped down from the Judges Panel, unfortunately, and really haven't been able to hang around OCR at all) but I'm settling into a new routine so I've had a little bit of time to work on music for once... I wanted to get this track off my plate so I took some time over the last few days to expand and polish the track until I can get it to a state that I'm happy with. https://soundcloud.com/emunator/sub-zero-phendrana-drifts Still some room for improvements and variation, but I'd say this is about 95%. I'm not totally content with the snare sounds and I need to work a bassline into the last section and generally flesh out the last minute or so of content before the guitar solo. Getting close though! Let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who's provided feedback up til this point, you've been incredibly helpful. This track has been a long time coming!

Done! 10char

Wow, guys. This is so far above and beyond the level of feedback I could have even hoped for. I'm honestly flattered that you all took the time to be so thorough!! I appreciate you taking the time to be as critical as you have been, it's exactly what I needed to push me forward. Just to respond to a few individual critiques and also make some notes for myself to look over later when I have time: Yeah, those heartbeat kicks were entirely inspired by your suggestion. I'm not 100% happy with my implementation though... I even got a completely different kick sample for that section, but it still stands out a bit too much. I also like the idea of adding some additional ambient percussion during that section... I've got a few sample libraries to test out, but I'm sure I can find something. And yes, definitely need something to better signal that the drop is coming - I intended for it to be a little bit startling, but obviously it's too much of a drastic shift. I'm going to try adding some filtered white noise sweeps toward the end of the intro to build up the intensity more gradually, while still having the full stop before the song drops. Ivory Italian Grand Piano, layered with a soft string pad I love it, the string resonance adds a lot of texture to the track that would definitely be noticeable if I took them away. Haha, getting some conflicting opinions here, I see. Currently I think the sidechaining that Timaeus is hearing is really just me overdoing it on the compression, because I haven't processed/mixed the choir at all yet. I agree that they are plain, I plan to remedy that with some automation and actually tweaking the velocities on each note, then turning down the overall volume. It should sit much better in the next update. Totally agreed. I haven't even touched the percussion yet, I'm just using one loop for the whole song while I develop the structure. I don't know if I will address it in this next update, but it will be taken care of before the final! Yessss. I will be adding some sort of lead to this section, not sure if it'll be a screamin' synth solo yet but I am planning to have a solo section SOMEWHERE in the track before it's done. Keep in mind, I'm still planning on extending this mix to at least 6 or 7 minutes, if I can. I've got a lot more writing ideas I haven't gotten down yet, but a solo section is definitely in the stars. I'll hit you up if I can't come up with something sufficiently awesome on my own! Good catch. I'll throw in an additional element after that transition, not sure if it'll be percussion or maybe some backing strings/choir to help the pad not feel so stale... maybe both? Will try this as well This confirms my thoughts as well, I find myself skipping the intro on repeat listens which is obviously a bad sign. I need to increase the energy of the intro during its second half to remedy this critique. Part of this is really just the style I'm trying to develop - mixing aggressive electronic percussion with extremely chill, organic soundscapes. I feel like I was successful enough with Footloose Falls on the soundscape fusion department, but I dropped the ball on the arrangement and melodic content. I'm trying to achieve the same aesthetic with a more progressive arrangement this time around. So yeah, the drums are definitely an intentional choice I do agree that adding some acoustic drums (I currently have shakers and congas but you can't hear them that well) more prominently would be worth it! I somehow didn't notice this until recently but now that I do, that melody sounds waaaaay too loud. Will be remedied in the next update, I'm going to try and get that hybrid lead (which is actually 3 patches used elsewhere in the song layered into one) to fit more naturally. Haha, you clearly put more thought into that than I did. I just used a random sample I found on my hard drive The change-up you hear at :39 is me increasing the velocities on the piano+strings, so the string component of that patch stands out more. I do need to do more to make that patch work - it's from Alchemy player which I know supports several automation parameters, I'll tweak with that and see what works! Good idea! I'll try this, thanks! The guitar will eventually be recorded live so I'll keep that in mind when I get the new stems to mix in! Agreed, you have any better ideas for the bassline? I know the writing is bland at this point but bass writing is by far my worst area. I'd love some feedback on that element particularly regarding what you think would fit. Or I'll just get Flexstyle to do the bassline again That worked well last time! Duly noted on both counts. Will address that in the next update. I wanna try it out myself first but I'm totally not opposed to collabing on this if I come up short Thanks so much for the offer, I'll let you know after I've had some time to tinker with it myself! Yeah, the arrangement isn't done yet. That's just where I left off. The guitar will also be totally redone live. This is just a placeholder to show the melodies themselves. THANKS YOU GUYS! I'll try and update this as soon as I can, I'm so excited to get going on this now that I've got some more direction on where I need to go!

Yup yup. As I said in my Judge Decision, this mix is stellar and has risen to the top of my "Most Played" remix list since I wrote that decision It's really one of my favorite mixes I've ever heard, and from one of the last people I ever expected to hear something like this from. Cheers on your return to remixing and for the amazing song that will definitely stand the test of time.

https://soundcloud.com/emunator/metroid-prime-phendrana-drifts Updated again! Still not final in any sense of the word, but it's getting closer! I'd like to get at least another minute or two of main track material in here, build up to a bigger climax and then drop out for the guitar at the end. I've got a pretty good idea of how I'm going to accomplish that. Afterward, it's all just detail work to be done.

Totally agreed with the flood of support above, this is one of the strongest debut mixes I've ever heard, and one of the most creative adaptations on this source to come across the front page in a long time. I'm extremely excited to hear more DKC music get this sort of treatment

Just wanted to chime in, I'm giving this a listen right now and I'm wholly impressed I feel like your sound reminds me more of a film score than a video game score, but either way, it's extremely high quality and memorable. Well-produced, too I'm enjoying listening to this quite a bit!

Yeah, I tried to change the title of the thread to something less misleading, but I don't have authority to do so Sorry for the confusion guys, please hold off on submitting/creating anything particularly for the project until further notice!

Yep, what Kristina said. At least for now, hold off on throwing anything together for this project. You'll hear an update from me or Theo soon.

This is some fantastic feedback you guys Thank you everybody, I will implement this when I have some time and try and figure out a way to make my chord progression more dynamic. Much appreciated <3

Mix: https://soundcloud.com/emunator/super-mario-64-file-select-wip Source: This is something I was briefly throwing together for the Super Mario 64 project before Argle snatched up the source... I'm sure he's got something far better cooking up for the album, but I wanted to share this anyway since I got a decent amount of progress on it. Structure is pretty rough, more focus on sound design and riffs here. Any thoughts are welcome!

A year has passed, and I finally had a chance to revisit this slightly. Still extremely rough and loop-y, but I added a few new elements and began to build up some structure past the 2 minute mark. Also, a guitar solo sketch at the end that I may try and work into the final product somehow. Feedback welcome https://soundcloud.com/emunator/phendrana-drifts-wip

Skrypnyk's got 2 claims on this? YUSSS. So excited to see how this turns out guys

Haha, definitely getting that cheesy eurodance energy here in a lot of the song (and the title ) Unfortunately, your melodies seem pretty tame and uninspired, both in terms of the writing (which lacks energy) and the synth leads used. Vig is also right on the money about how repetitive your pattern use is. You need to change up your beat writing a lot more than you are, which really doesn't change at all throughout the song. Not feeling this arrangement much, sorry NO

Hah, the strings in your intro bear an uncanny resemblance to from Metroid Prime 3. Cool.Damn. I've been hoping for this source to receive this badass metal treatment for years, and you executed it pretty much exactly how I'd hoped. The arrangement is relatively straightforward with some really cool ambiance during the breakdowns, but the biggest strength of this track is simply in how well you adapted the source to the heavy metal genre. Great rhythms, writing, sequencing... everything is pretty great here. And damn, I just now read that you made this with sequenced guitars. Really great job on making this sound so realistic. I'm even more impressed with this track, knowing that. Good job. YES

Looks like I mod reviewed this one a couple of years ago, but I don't really remember it all. Let's see what we've got here... After reading Vig's vote, I wasn't sure what to expect here, but after listening to your mix, his critiques resonate perfectly with me. I feel like this track is trying to fill a similar niche as your previous Majora's Mask submission, but the soundscape is not nearly as fleshed out and the beat doesn't seem to pack quite as much punch, either. Because of these two things, your approach just seems to fall flat. I know you can write some killer beats that have more impact while still contributing to the "chillout" vibe, and honestly I think that's what this track needs. This would give you a more dramatic dynamic curve throughout the track, so your buildups and drops are more effective. Filling out the soundscape with some subtle ambient elements would make this more engaging, as well. Cool ideas and sound all the way throughout, but it still has some room for improvement before reaching the bar, IMO. NO (resubmit!)

^ What this guy said. Some pretty cool ideas in here, but it's too minimalistic and slow to really stand on its own without some sort of lead (i.e. vocals.) The bassline sounds pretty exposed too and would work better if it was mixed more subtly. Cool percussion writing, but the rest of the track sounds underdeveloped without much direction. As a backing beat, this would work perfectly, but I agree with Vig that it doesn't have enough to it to really work on its own. NO

Pretty great interpretation of the original here. I feel like you were a little aggressive on the piano velocities at times, a little more restraint might have helped you in the intro where the loud notes became just a bit over-the-top, but overall this is comfortably above the bar. I'm hearing plenty of the original throughout the track with a good mix of your own material. Nothing to say here, you're pretty good Keep sending stuff our way! YES

Considering how underwhelming and general-MIDI quality this mix started out, I'm actually rather surprised by how much I enjoyed your arrangement, and I'm glad Vig picked up on that as well. Really great dynamic control that, despite the problems that I'm about to go into, really had me captivated as a listener. There's some great ideas going on here, but the biggest problem right now is definitely your sample quality. Pretty much across the board, it sounds like you're using mostly low-quality soundfonts without any capability for expression. Your track could benefit greatly from more of a soundscape and higher-quality, more cohesive sounds. There are free sample packs available, such as Kontakt factory selection, Alchemy Player, and a myriad of other resources available if you do some searching that will let you achieve better sounds than this. I've remixed this same source with mostly free samples and got some pretty good results, but my arrangement was nowhere near this good. If you ever want to collab or just want some additional feedback, PM me! I'd be happy to work with you to try and get this up to the bar. NO (resubmit!)

Huh... this really is a tough call. Gorgeous writing throughout this track make me want to pass it on the merit of arrangement alone, but the sample quality and sequencing are pretty rough. The piano sound feels a bit overcompressed/blocky and not delicate enough for the writing, and the strings are also pretty rigidly sequenced without any sort of articulation. They get very thick and bleed into each other a lot during the intro section. The choir sample sounds too lo-fi for the rest of the track as well. I could see it maybe being an intentional aesthetic choice, but it doesn't really come across that way to me. Later in the song, your piano sounds softer and more appropriate for the style, but the simplified writing doesn't impress as much. The middle section of the track is much more coverish and feels underwhelming when bookended by such interpretive, gorgeous writing in the intro/outro. I want to reiterate that you've got some awesome elements to this track, but I don't think the sample quality is doing justice to your writing. This may end up swinging in your favor but I think this is still under the bar and could seriously benefit from some better samples/humanization across the board. Good luck either way NO (resubmit please!)

Not much to add, the rigid quantization and velocity levels are extremely detracting from your arrangement The piano sound patch itself may or may not be passable, it sounds low-quality as it is but with the right nuance on the sequencing, you may be able to work with it. Either way, humanization is the dealbreaker on this track right now, you need to make it so every note isn't quantized so rigidly and playing the same velocity for every note. NO (resub)

Downright fantastic guys Some of the most solid rapping I've ever heard on OCR, and melody... you haven't lost your touch!

I'll be getting feedback to people who have submitted WIPs this weekend

Gah, this is SO good. I've loved this arrangement since the first iterations, and I will say without a doubt that this is the best version to date. The mixing sounds much improved, and your new transitions are really cool However, Jesse touched on a few issues that are still holding this back. I'm in the opposite camp from Dave, the strings actually bother me more than the timing problems, especially because the strings are so exposed for the first section of the arrangement. I will admit that it makes the guitar lead that comes in later have much more impact, but they're exposed enough throughout so much of the mix that I still feel like they need to be fixed before this can be posted. NOT QUITE

YES! I did not expect to see this one make its way back to the panel but I'm extremely happy it did. I was one of the few in the YES camp initially, but looking back I can see how taking some of the other judges' suggestions into account has improved this arrangement. The distortion is reigned in a little bit, but you keep the insanity levels high with some very cool glitching and processing. Source usage is applied in a lot of unconventional ways but it still feels cohesive to me. I'm heavily inclined to count the drum pattern as part of that, too, it was instantly recognizable to me after listening to the original. Towards the end it starts to drag on for a long time without reprising any sort of melodic content, but I can appreciate your experimentation for what it's worth. Perhaps this would have been more succinct and better overall with some of the ending truncated, but overall I'm happy to sign off on this one. Good luck! YES