Nutritious

Just remembered another team fortress 2 one. During a payload map was fighting another hunstman sniper in an adjacent room. We both popped around the corner at the same time and fired - causing our arrows to collide in mid air and fall to the ground. I got him right after that. This is one I actually DO have on video. Sounds like you were using the machinegun to stay airborne here - which means you weren't actually fighting the final final boss. Picky, I know, but I thought I'd point it out

Nice use of instruments and soundscape here. Liked how everything fit together, mixing wise - even when the boom tiss joined in. Definitely hearing the stiffness in the various parts. Really could use some humanization in the leads at the start & string stabs/plucks. Wasn't a big fan of the constant bass drum rumble at 2:57, but fortunately it didn't last long. Some hits in this section sounded like they may be causing some minor distortion from pushing the levels too hard, so be careful for those in the future. Nice use of sources, which was clear throughout here. Creativity points for the dance beat & synth meets happy orchestra. I can see where Vig is coming from here. A little less cookie-cutter electronica beat would've been nice. Getting the orchestra parts more natural sounding would also help quite a bit. Still, looking at the overall package, this is a solid mix and I'm fine with passing it. Yes

I think Larry hit it on the head here, especially on the drums issues. Going to also go on the record that I brought up this specific issue with Mathew previously, so he knows where I'm coming from here . Theres some real interesting stuff here overall and the unexpected changeup to swing is a nice touch. With the drum fix I would be good to go here. No, resubmit please

PC Team Fortress 2: Defense on first area of Gold Rush Payload. Pulled back an arrow on the huntsman to shoot soldier running on ledge up to my left. His teammate hits me at the feet with a rocket, blasting me high up into the air and to the side. Reaim my shot and release in midair, killing original target. Too bad they changed huntsman so you can't fire in midair anymore. Also too bad I wasn't recording a demo at the time. I used to create game highlight videos of midair frags and stuff (quake 3 and the like), and I actually have a pretty big collection of demos of midair shots and crazy stuff from tf2. Unfortunately, videos take a long time to edit, so I'll probably never actually create this one.

I agree with Andrew #2 - you've got a very cool concept here. Transitions were a bit sudden between the various sections, but they worked. Also on board with Drew #1 that this feels like it's missing some of the mid-low/low end presence. Guitars were performed very nicely. Though drums are very repetative here for the first section - they basically keep the 8th note hi hats with snare on 2 on 4, besides the occasional cymbal hit or fill. There's plenty of room for rhythmic creativity here (something OA taught me a lot about, actually). As a matter of fact, I can't even really hear the kick here, so you'll want to look into that too. Piano at 1:33 on was pretty mechanical and had a pretty weak tone honestly. Arrangement-wise, this is definitely too conservative/coverish for OCR standards. Not to say it's bad in and of itself, but we're looking for more personalization and arrangement of the original flow and structure. Fadeout of the original for the ending was pretty weak and seemed kinda lazy. I really think more could've been done to wrap things up. Hope this doesn't come as a downer for you - you've clearly got a lot of potential and some nice guitar skills. Hope to hear more from you soon. No

Andrew and Larry summed things up real well, so I won't beat a dead horse by rehashing them. A couple other things to consider: As in your face as the beat is here, some of the synths really felt like they should have more impact. The plucked synth line at 1:27 and the synth at 2:00 feel relegated too much to the back of things for carrying the melodic parts of the song. Also, the lead at 3:17 and used later has a pretty heavy mid & low/mid tone, which is taking up a lot of room in the soundscape. I'd cut some of the freqs in the 500ish hz range and brighten it up a bit. That way it'll cut through instead of muddying up the mids. You've clearly got some production chops, so I expect to hear some good stuff from you in the future No

As far as I know, this album hasn't yet been submitted for review by staff - so release is not imminent. As someone with a vested interest in seeing this one get released, I'm gonna start prodding Mr. Joker to get this moving

I wasn't sure what to think about this one upon first listen. So I've been letting it marinade for a couple days to put some thoughts together. The good: Nice arrangement of the original. Pretty straightforward usage of the original in the beginning but you take things in your own direction here with melody variations and expansions as the track goes on. The issues: In general, the low end of the track sounds muddy with the dark strings taking up a lot of room. Drums are a mixed bag. The sounds themselves are good quality, but the kick is really boomy in the low end, while the hats and snare are much brighter. This makes the drums sound like they're pasted on somewhat as they've got high end presence which is lacking in the other elements of the track. Also would've liked to have less repetition in the beat. Also, there's about 10 seconds of silence which could be trimmed off the end of this. Honestly, it's a bit of a close call for me with the aforementioned drum issues. However, the production is generally solid and the arrangement is nicely executed, which just pushes this one over the bar for me. Yes, borderline

So is the fireslash wip page no longer working? Right now the link is just directing to the fireslash.net homepage.

Hmm, I was under the impression that this was something that was done in the past (from personal experience as a remixer, even). Given that this one is near the back of the queue, and that it's currently at a straight split that could take time to resolve, it seemed like a viable option. If it's inappropriate then that's my fault.

Not a whole lot to add to what's already been said. I can hear what halc's saying on the highs being harsh, but it weren't enough to really bother my ears too much. To be very nitpicky, I think the balance could be worked on a bit to get everything a little more cohesive. For example, the bass at :27 is quite loud and relegates the beat back in the soundscape a little more than it needs to. There are also some later sections where there's a lot going on and the track gets a bit crowded. Solid track here, though. Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future. Dub

Mathew asked me for an update on the judgement and since it was a split vote, opted to update the track. Everyone please revote.

For those of us who can't get the link to work (for whatever reason), could someone sum up what happened?

Hmm, I guess I'm not as sold on this one from a production standpoint as my fellow judges. The mixing is off in several places: piano at :06 is too loud as well as the guitar that follows. Halc mentioned it briefly, but the drums sound way muffled - like they're playing from behind a wall. The only real distinct elements getting through from the drums are the occasional hihats and cymbal crashes. Orchestra, while seemingly loud enough in general, is also pretty indistinct. At 1:41 the orchestra comes in quite loud and starts interfering with everything else; lots of clutter here and even distortion at 2:06. Same at 3:06, every time the cymbals hit, you can hear them distorting in the soundfield. Don't get me wrong, I love the ideas you've put in here and I can hear a ton of potential here. Just need to have the execution tightened up. To sum up: get things mixed so all the elements play nice together, see if you can get some more clarity in the drums, and maybe even orchestra (some high end eq boost on strings and maybe scoop some mids from your brass). Really looking forward to hearing this one again. No, resubmit please

Yeah, it sounds like two loops are layered on top of each other, which is causing mismatched timing and clutter. As mentioned, piano is pretty loud & full, taking more than it's fair share. There are some big balance issues, for example from :37 - :47 everything is pretty loud, which is causing ducking and some distortion. Another example is 1:16 where the lead oboe is being relegated to the background because the beats, formant synth, and other elements are quite a bit louder. Piano near the end was very loud on top of everything else going on. I'd recommend you concentrate on getting important elements up front (melody parts for sure), and letting other parts sit back further in supporting roles. Not everything has to be heard loud and upfront. On a positive note, there are some cool elements and nice sounds used. I liked your choice of synths here and the drums, while repetative (likely loops), had good tone and a decent groove. Arrangement side, I liked how you handled the intermingling of the zelda theme in the first third of the track. The slowing down of the beginning of Saria's song was a good idea, but it only seemed to touch the very beginning of the melody and then trail off. We'd need to see some more substantial use of the original tracks for them to be considered a dominant part of this arrangement. I think this song would need quite a bit of work to get over the bar, both in terms of production and arrangement. You've shown you understand the basics and have potential to be a very good remixer, so don't get discouraged by any means. No, resubmit please

I have been knocking heads together in the background, pushing for updates (quasi-metaphorically speaking). I'm expecting a couple more finished tracks in the next 2-3 weeks.

Pretty cool take you have here. Liked how hard the beat hits and the gritty synths. Totally agree that sfx use could be cut back quite a bit. The balance of the track seemed a bit off to my ears - I can appreciate the loud, in your face synths and beats, but it may have been a bit overdone here. For example, the syncopated synth that enters at :49 is competing with the others and starts to overpower the mids. Note: there's a rendering glitch at 1:24, which the mixer may want to look at. 1:51 presented a nice break from the harder stuff, giving a nice, if brief contrast to the song. 2:51 - 3:29 felt like a rehash of what we've already heard quite a bit in the first part of the song. I would've liked to hear something more or different hear to progress the arrangement along. Given that you do bring back a similar section later at 4:00, but with some additional variation this time, you probably could've cut the aforementioned section entirely. Cool idea with the bitcrushing at the end, though it could've faded down more smoothly IMO. Right now it ends a bit abruptly. Overall well produced, if a little repetative. Enjoyable listen and cool mix dude. Despite some weaknesses, this is over the bar IMO. Yes

Cool mix here Stevo. Pretty unique combination with acoustic, electric, chip, orchestra, which works surprisingly well. Lead acoustic sounded fine to me at the beginning of the song, but as things progressed, it seemed to get more and more marginalized in the soundfield - orchestra covers it a bit when it comes in, but it especially gets lost when the electric guitar joins. Might want to brighten it up to let it cut through better. Some notes at 2:06 sounded a bit off-key to me in either the acoustic or electric. Doesn't seem like anyone else has mentioned it, but you still may want to check them both. Agreed on the minor fixes to the electric lead Vig mentioned. The bridge at 3:05 was a very cool section - really loved the voices brought in and the increased energy. But yeah, definitely needs an ending here. It was just a quick fadeout. Even extending the choir lines and water fadeout could help, but right now it's just to sudden. Close here man, tweak this one and get it back to us! No, resubmit please

Nutritious, OA (Overwhelming Awesomeness) Justin Medford, Andrew Luers 16520 Retro City Rampage (PC) Ignition Main Theme OST by Jake "Virt" Kaufman Source: This remix was created for the Retro City Rampage Remix Competition over at SoundCloud. It ended up placing third there. I initially wrote off entering this competition simply due to how complex and crazy good the original track is. I decided to take a second look, however, and had the idea to create a high energy movie score/rock song in the vein of the Ironman soundtrack. Fortunately, I was able to secure the guitar work of OA pretty early on, who, like myself, is a very busy family man. So, as mentioned before, the OST is extremely complex and, at times, chaotic with all the chip soloing (props to Virt there). I ended up focusing mostly on the non-solo portions of the original track, but also asked OA to lend some shredding on top of the chord structure. His contribution really brought the energy needed for this type of track. One note: 2:22 - 2:44 utilizes the lead synth from the original track, as the stems were made available for the competition. This is the only sampled portion from the original. I can provide source breakdown if necessary. Justin

Very nice performance here. Clever use of panning to fill out the soundscape and separate the parts. I agree with OA that the tone is a bit thin - could use some more body in the lows/low-mids. Nice expansion on the source tune in the various added parts and flourishes. Goes into original territory for a while after the initial run though, which had me a bit worried, but you brought things back soon after and had some nice variations on the themes as the song progressed. I actually wasn't as big a fan of the pads/organ that came in later. It sounded like it actually muddied things up a bit, rather than enhanced the mix. Transition at 2:41-2:43 felt a bit awkward. Minor gripes aside, very nice track with great performances. Yes

Congrats, Larry! You're soon joining the married club. Kids club next, dude.

Gonna agree with Andrew on the arrangement side of this song. It's definitely on the conservative side - at the start I was worried it would be too much so. But you brought some good expansion later on the theme and infused some dramama into it. I was a little less enthusiastic on the production, unfortunately. There seems to be an abundance of mids in the mix, which causes it to sound cluttered in places. It's especially apparently whenever the orch chimes play as they seem to have a lot of resonance in some mid frequencies, and it's getting muddied up with the same frequencies in the brass and woodwinds. String sequencing felt a bit exposed starting at 1:48; and moreso at 1:56 - 2:10. I think this was the weakest part of the mix as it really lost energy here with little support to help out the string parts. Maybe it's a personal taste thing (or I'm just an orchestral snob, which I'm sorry if I am but this section just felt awkward to me. Still, it's a very short part of the song, so it's a minor issue. Watch those levels from 2:50 - 2:54. It got pretty distorted as the piece peaked in volume. Not sure if it's getting squashed by a limiter or just old fashioned clipping. On the positive side, you've got some nice samples here and some very nice subtle counter writing throughout the piece, which I love. The energy for the most part is nice and I really enjoyed the approach. If it was just the distortion/clipping that was a problem, I'd be inclined to go Conditional on this. However, I think the mixing issues may need some more effort to get under control, and push me more towards a resub. No, resubmit please

Yup, just gonna sum up what's already been said. Source is clearly used, with some good variations thrown in. Production is very clear. I can agree a bit on it being on the repetative side without a whole lot of contrast throughout - but I think that'd be my only (minor) complaint. Yes

Not a whole lot to add to what's been said. Transitions and sample quality were definite weak points here. Some distortion at :20 from pushing the levels too hard. As DA mentioned, some of these separate sections sound like they could develop into separate mixes, which prevents this from feeling overall like a cohesive arrangement. You're definitely showing promise here, so don't get discouraged. Keep working on your mixes and definitely utilize the WIP boards and workshop mods if you haven't already. No, resubmit please

Yup, OA hit it. Nice atmosphere, but this is basically a piano cover with some added elements. We're really looking for more arrangement & personalization for OCR. No, resubmit please