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You said you haven't applied any effects to the vocals so I'll assume that something to bring the vocals all to the same volume is included in that. I think a good deal of the issues will disappear once the volume is (relatively) constant. The only thing I can really add to the things that have already been said is that you're delivering the vocals like...staccato. I usually see it happen when people aren't 100% comfortable in front of the microphone, but it could also be because you're trying to be clear with the vocals. At any rate, the bests parts of the song occur when things are flowing together fluidly. A staccato-like delivery typically sounds more forced and tends to throw off the pitch at the beginning of words. Hmm, and you sound like you're a little too close to the microphone when recording. Might try giving yourself a few extra inches and see how it sounds.

I was expecting rapping. I demand rapping. Ahem. So, I like to think that I'm down with the hop of the hip variety. Only listened to it forever and analyzed it a thousand times. My critique and subsequent direction will vary based on what kind of rap sound you were going for, though. So...yeah. What were you going for? 90's rap? New rap? Somewhere between the two?

This is deserved. Goldeneye probably didn't make it because it relies too heavily on variations of the Bond theme...calling it "original" wouldn't be quite accurate. I'm not so sure about Perfect Dark being up there, though - the music fit the game, but it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable N64 game soundtrack I've ever come across.

Ah. I...didn't see the link. What version of the game is that from, and how do the other versions' themes differ? Yep.

Around 6 months ago I erased my project folder so I could start from scratch. There were 150-200 unfinished songs in there. I've since started around that many, only to get sidetracked each time. Musical ADD is the devil. I personally enjoyed this song. As usual, I have no idea what the originals sound like so I won't bother trying to comment on rearrangement, but looking at it as if it were an original work I can say that the dynamics to it are enjoyable. My only problem would be that it seems to drag on towards the end. I think the drums are at fault there. Dynamic though they may be, they're always present in some form (excluding the last few seconds) and part of me was hoping for them to cut out entirely, if only for a moment, leading up to the end. I think it'd give it a better buildup towards the finale. I'll listen to it later on better speakers to make sure I didn't miss anything particularly obvious (like clipping, everything being panned dead center, etcetera). This is definitely good stuff, though.

Definite improvements over the first version. The piano feels like it's in the song now instead of on top of it, which is a good thing. Yeah, you might want to EQ some things to give the instruments some space like avaris said. Much improved, though.

When my JFG project goes past one minute I'll put up a WIP thread for it and start working on this one again. Shouldn't be too long after that. The JFG song is turning out much better than this one so I'm waiting to see what I can take away from it first.

I thought that the piano from 8 seconds to 12 seconds had one or two notes that were too late, followed by a few that were too early. It's not like all the notes were off or anything, those were just the most noticeable. I could tell that there was a bit of reverb on the piano so I should have clarified - I meant more reverb. Enough to blend the piano a bit more with the strings, but not so much as to become muddy. I'd put a bass in there before screwing with it, though. Bass tends to be a very dry sound and could change the level of reverb you need. EDIT: I wanted to quote BGC for emphasis.

I'm not into the way that piano sounds. Low-quality synthesized pianos hurt. Might try adding some reverb onto it and lowering the volume to push it to the background. Also, eight or so seconds in the piano seems to go slightly off beat. The reverb would probably help alleviate that, as well. I'm grateful that the drums have at least some variation. Very, very grateful. It seems a tad bit out of place in the grand scheme of things though, probably because you don't have very much going on right now. Strings and piano work together, but throwing drums in that context alone sounds a bit...awkward. So... Put some more instruments in. You've only got three instruments in this thing: piano, strings, and drums, right? It needs some fleshing out. Some kind of bass would not only do just that, but provide much-needed focus. Hope that helps.

I had the same problem. I was playing Sonic 2 on the PS2 Sonic Mega Collection Plus (exciting, a plus sign!) and just couldn't get past the end. Then I realized that when you saved, it saved exactly where you were. I ended up pausing and saving every time I got a hit in and reloading the game whenever he got a hit in over and over and over until I finally won. So...there's always that route if you need closure or whatever.

There isn't much to rearrange? What? The original has enough material for a wide variety of rearrangements. And "plain"? You've obviously never heard classical guitar. It only wishes it could sound like this. Calling it plain is like looking at a Picasso and saying that it's anatomically incorrect. You can't always apply the same rules to different styles. What does it need specifically? I must know. Anything more would kill the dreamlike emotive quality he's painted and detract from the song as a whole.

This seemed kind of monotonous the first time I listened to it, but I couldn't figure out exactly why until I realized that the hi-hat was incredibly linear (and just a bit too loud) throughout the entire song. The drums aren't exactly dynamic, and a linear hi-hat tends to bring that lack of dynamics to the forefront. If you switched up the hi-hat to work around the drums in a more varied way it'd significantly improve the overall quality. The only part where the linear hi-hat fit well was 1:44 on to the end. I like that part the best (it's got that 1998 top 10 emotive quality about it). Hope that helps.

I think you should. Or at least update so we can see the difference before and after the changes. You should submit soon though, lest my pent-up adoration for this track manifests into a mindless schizophrenic killing spree of unaware pedestrians whose only crime against me is perpetuating the ability of recording artists to make crappy music by buying said crappy music rather than listening to something of this caliber. Submit this track - save a life.

Did you submit this?

Longmont. It's great, really - all the crime of Boulder but with none of the entertainment. I like hearing things like that. Especially since I've only been singing since mid-December.

You're from FoCo? Awesome. Someone else with an appreciation for thin air and schizophrenic weather. Or hatred. Whatever works. On to the music. I like this a lot, but it needs more bass. It would get ten times better with bass filling out more of the lower frequencies. The kick could use a bit more bass, too. That kick just doesn't seem to have enough energy to it. Other than that, everything has already been covered in previous comments. No one has mentioned a lack of originality in the arrangement, and I've never heard the original, so...good job with the arrangement. I think.

I'm just making minor tweaks at the moment. I've started remixes for both Jet Force Gemini and Fire Emblem 4: Seisen no Keifu (both have incredible soundtracks, but no remixes on this site), so the workload could be cyclical. That way I can move from one to the other and constantly have fresh ears. So much faster that way. I'm going to redo the guitar for Reap What You Sow fairly soon...whenever the Fire Emblem one is ready to have the guitar recorded. Multitasking is a beautiful thing.

This sucks. You should stop remixing right now. Not really. I like it, but the drums need to be more dynamic and the vibraphone is a bit loud compared to everything else. I'm not a big fan of happy-sounding songs, but it works. Very catchy.

Besides the fact that it stays interesting, dynamic, and has more than one hand playing at a time? It's just enjoyable to listen to, whereas your track makes a little piece of my childhood die every time I hit "play". There's just no substance, nothing to grab my attention. It does loop. 3-4 times, in fact, before it's even over. Fake choir (one note at a time) going to fake guitar (one note at a time) again and again. It's not even slightly coherent. The only thing that's supposedly holding this thing together is a theme. What about melody? What about a hook? If this were a level soundtrack I'd be laughing too hard to ever beat the game. It's not scary, it's not climactic...it's not anything. Your other song had ten times the promise this one does. Get a metronome, learn some music theory, and go back to the other one.

My bad. Except for the drum track, it's definitely got similarities.

HERESY. It's awesome...but not SGX awesome. It is awesome, though. My only problem is that it feels like a cover with original stuff added. It's hard to explain, but it seems like the original melody isn't being reinterpreted so much as it's being redone with contrasting original material all around it. Then again, I may have just heard the original too many times to be able to fully appreciate it. At any rate, it's something I could drive 120 MPH to, and that's definitely a good thing.

I...don't get it. 95% of the song has only one instrument playing at a time, the sounds you're using are terrible, and it's got nothing holding it together. No drums, no dynamics, no...anything. There's not even any feeling to it. It's just the same thing playing over and over again. There's not even an ending... Have you ever listened to an ocremix? Listen to a few - it doesn't even matter which ones. Notice that there are layers and subtleties, dynamics and contrast...all of those things which make music enjoyable to listen to. Even if this was made with the best instruments, production, and mastering, it wouldn't make it. Not even 7 years ago.

V2 up. http://files.ww.com/files/29136.html

A good rule of thumb: If a song can be made that loud without the insatiable desire to pick up your computer and subsequently throw it out the window, chances are it needs to be fleshed out. ...Unless you have some kind of intelligent loudness maximizer, that is.

I have no idea what's that's all about. Maybe it was an ad or something? You might try again, just in case. If it still doesn't work, I could always upload it somewhere else. Changing the time signature was awkward at best, so it's a relief that it doesn't sound worse. I'll tinker with this one a bit more and see where it goes...