thegamefreak0134

Oh wow; this is super high energy. Makes me want to go find and dust off my N64 again I agree, it's very nice to see the originals from that series getting some love. This has me thinking... the "Break the Targets" theme from Melee is really, *really* catchy. I should see what I can do with that.

This actually sounds really approachable, and I'd like to learn to play it. To save me from notating it by ear, is the sheet music available?

Wow. This reminds me a lot of Sonic Advance (1), it kind of has that feel to it, lots of liberal use of the plain 'ole Square wave that gives retro games so much of their feel. Fun piece, I really enjoyed it. I need to go hear it with Bass now, these speakers kind of suck. It's shorter than a lot of my collection, but that's a good thing-- it doesn't have enough time to get old or boring.

Holy Crap I heard metal and was prepared for the usual riff-raff, with too much distortion and not enough musicality. You guys totally blew me away, this is the cleanest, most inspired piece of metal music I've heard over the short time I've been listening to it. If that makes it obvious that I'm not into metal in the slightest, then so be it. Regardless, arrangement is totally solid. Not crazy about the synth you're using for a string ensamble, but it suffices mostly. Great work, can't wait to hear more from you.

I hate to break up the wonderful philisophical discussion going on here, but I feel that I should offer up some of that critique stuff of the ages. I notice a few things as I'm listening here for the first time. At 0:32, the chords coming in sound out of place somewhat. I would feel more comfortable with them if they were overlayed on something else, like if the synth before them hadn't faded out completely. Overall it sounds really good past 1:42, I think the House style you were going for came out really well. I'm going to listen to it again with proper bass () and probably love it from that point on. Some people might criticize you for using the original sound samples at the beginning, but I think they're perfect, especially since you don't keep them for terribly long. It makes it clear that you're transitioning from a rather solid cover-like intro to a much more interpretive house piece throughout the song. Ooh... I love the dirty bass work around 6:00 and onward, nicely done. *repeats track for second listen* The drumline at 0:16 is golden, really it is. I feel that at 0:32, it might work well to layer another drum (something deeper, like the deep bongo suggested before me) into the mix, to give it a bit more depth. Still, it's fine the way it is. 1:02 to 1:33 is perfect, it's an area where the chords I mentioned (starting at 0:32) really sound good with the flute above and the bass below. While they don't work exposed, they *do* work with other things going on around them. From here on out the piece really has body, none of that empty feeling from the intro. If this was intended, I'd work only on making the exposed parts in the intro not as raw, so they don't sound out of place. Ok, the long synth around 3:25 sounds bad to me. There's not enough variation, you've got just the one stale chord and the original arpeggio from the song. When you start adding in the lower notes around 3:39 it resolves and sounds great, but I also note that it fades that one synth out at that point. Perhaps you could cut from 3:25 to 3:39 directly? The break is good, but it's a bit longish, and if you started adding the lower synths immediately with much less of a delay, it wouldn't sound so bare. Meh, just a thought. If not a direct cut, it would also work if you reduced it from 8 measures to just 4. Overall I like the piece. It's a bit long, but this style of music tends to do that, and it's good for DJ work especially since that makes it more fun to mix with. Knowing that you had this in mind, I can't criticize the length at all. I feel that I'm being nit picky here, so like usual don't take offense. I kept production strictly *off* the list as it's still not something I'd consider myself skilled at, this review is solely based on what I can hear, and not at all based on what I know your studio software is capable of. Can't wait for the final version, I think with just a bit more tweaking this is on par with most everything I've seen submitted here, so I'll wish you luck. Later, I'll listen to it with real bass. -gamefreak

I don't hear any issues with production, this has a very clean, well done sound. The guitar sounds just fine to me, so you clearly did a good job with it. My main issue is that this sounds more like a general cover and less like a mix, you can hear the source clearly throughout the piece and it never really deviates from that path. You've clearly moved on to other things, so I won't go more into depth than that, but it's certainly a good concept to run with. -gamefreak

Oh, how sad. Twoson stopped... there needs to be so much more to this awesome mix. You nailed the atmosphere on it, if anything I'd say it needs a little more in the lower end but that might just be my speakers. I can't wait to hear where you go with it.

I figure my two cents are necessary here. I like games. I'm really quite indifferent to the system, the time, or the place. I play games and judge them by the standards that were... well, standard at the time. This is why FF6 and Chrono Trigger are so consistently on my all time favorites list. They're not necessarily great games, FF6 especially had some grinding issues, but they were above and beyond anything that had been done at the time. These are the true gems of Gaming, the games that stand the test of time. Get this: I don't really like the original Super Mario Bros. Not as a game. It has catchy music, but when you really think about it, it was a ridiculously simple platformer and not a lot else. It certainly wasn't new and innovative, and only its relative popularity (and the fact that it was boxed with the system, that helped) kept it alive. SMB3 was a great game, with lots of new elements and innovative platformer elements, so from the same genre, I think it's one of those that *does* stand the test of time well. And on the same series, I *love* what they've done with the NSMB games, with good fun level design and a significant lack of story and features to get in the way of good solid gameplay. I could go on for a while here. Let's see... FFVII did some interesting things for an RPG, really it did. I can get over the graphics... well, sucking badly, because I know that it was a launch title, and was developed before the capabilities of the system were truly known. In terms of impressing me with the system's capabilities though, my hat's off to the (rather underappreciated) FF9, for *stunning* graphics and sound for that system. It's easily the most beautiful PSX game I have ever played. Another favorite here was the original (2D) Rayman. That game was *wacked*. It's the first time I've suspected the use of drugs during the creation of the GDD for a game. It's interesting to go back and play the old games, and watch the progression in quality as the game release times go up in year. Once a console has lost its launch bang, and developers are confident with the system's limitations, you start to see some really interesting and unique attempts at pushing the envelope. I think the Wii has failed the hardcore games market hard. Moms tend to love the draw of motion, but the most intuitive motion controls I've seen in the vast majority of games is no better than a mouse: point and click. Occasionally, they'll throw in a Wiimote shake where a button would have done, and it's not really thought about beyond that. Some games (Zelda) have innovative uses for the wiimote in mini-sections, but it's failed to be challenging in the least. They might fix this with the Motion Plus, but that seems like quite the ripoff. Wait, I have to pay $20 for an accessory to make the damn thing do what I bought it for in the first place? The worst bit about this is that the three best games I've played on it so far (Galaxy, Twilight Princess, and MP3) worked almost like standard button pushers, and didn't even make use of the supposed main feature of the console very well. (Wait, Zelda actually *was* a pusher in the GC version!) So it doesn't seem like a good direction to go. I'll maintain this stance here: Motion control will only truly work when there's some kind of force feedback. Otherwise, you've given us a really fancy looking joystick/button thing that we can wave through the air. There's a lot of talk about Xbox and the achievements system. I've never played an Xbox, but I *have* played some of the games released on steam, which include the same system. I won't say that the achievements add to or detract from the experience of the game itself, so I don't tend to judge the game by them. However, I do appreciate them and consider the challenge of unlocking them fun, since I have a thing for 100%-ing games. Games on the system aren't going to be judged by them, since all games include them. They're simply going to be judged by the usual factor: are you enjoying playing this game, and did you get $60 out of it? My big complaint with new-gen games, especially games on the Wii console, is that so many of them are designed with casual gamers in mind. There used to be a day when just *beating* a game was fairly godly, and it was a social event to watch someone good plow through the last few areas of a good NES game. Now, it seems that games are rated on their length in hours it takes to "go through the story" which doesn't sound like much of a challenge. I won't deny that games now are still fun, but they're not nearly as hard as they used to be, and that's somewhat of a turn off. What I wouldn't mind at *all* here is some sort of "challenge" mode, that allowed the developers to go all out with the level design and really do a "kill the player" tactic like so many other games used to do, so that the achievement of beating the hardest level on intense was actually worth something. I've seen something like this is a few games, but it's becoming so uncommon that it's disheartening. Anyway, these are just comments. Like I said, I judge games by the standards of the time, not the standards of the present. If all the system can do is 8-bit graphics and 4-channel chiptunes, then you quickly learn to judge the games that really pushed that medium as far as it could go. While you're flame-warring over here, do try to remember something: different people get different things out of games. Happy Wii owners tend to like casual and social games that are light on the difficulty, and heavy on the silly, good natured, and kid-friendly fun. Happy PS3 owners are greatly pleased with technical achievements that can deliver high resolution imagery and surround sound, for total immersion. Happy Xbox 360 owners love hardcore games, multiplayer, and the social draw of online play. (At least, if you go by the stereotypes that these systems advertise as.) Not everyone will agree with these concepts, and not everyone should. After all, the day we all flock to the same system and like the same features is the day we humans as a species lose our individuality to "The One" and God help us if that day ever comes. If X and Y aspects of a game truly make you happy, then Hooray! You've won! You've found something you can really enjoy, and that's the whole point. ...if no one minds, I'm going to make this a blog post.

I don't need to add this song to my music rotation that I listen to while I work. Why? It's already there. This is an amazing piece of work, it really brings out the character or Beatrix in such a perfect way, the lyrics do her much justice. Kate has an amazing voice, this is easily my favorite of all her vocal covers. Kate, you've managed to make me cry over this game again, and I thought I was done with that. You are one of the most talented musicians I've heard in a long time, and I'm glad the ocremix judges agree with me on this.

...wow... Just listened to this for the first time. I'm going to be skeptical about any Galaxy remixes in general, since I feel that most of the Galaxy soundtrack was quite amazing in its original form, but this is truly very nice. I definitely recognize the source in a number of places. I was only able to find one thing that I slightly disagree with, that being right at the very end. (I'm listening to version 2 here.) When you fade out and just have the piano left, you're using a hard sample, and just fading the volume around. That's fine if that's the tone you want, but a real piano changes voice when the keys are pressed softly (or with a damper pedal for example) and I didn't hear that. That's the only place in the piece that it really stood out for me, and I know its very very nit-picky. Overall, I like this a lot, and I would very much like the final version to add to my ever growing list of things to listen to while I work. Good job! -thegamefreak

Certainly an interesting take on the source, it definitely qualifies as a mix. It seems like there isn't a lot of source there, but I can see that you seem to be using some of the chord progressions from the source throughout the piece, even if you're not using the actual notes. Its subtle, but definitely there. I know that the entire glitched feel was intended, but it seems like it still needs some work in the overall mastering department. I guess I'm saying it seems unfinished. On a musicality level, I loved every minute of it, but the quality overall could be improved a bit. Actually, I think I wanted a bit more. It seemed short to me, which is a good thing. So you have room to be more creative as it is, or you can leave it as just a quick artistic expression. Thats up to you. Good job! -gamefreak

Its been too long since I played that game for me to recognize this particular source, piece, so I'm going to comment on the piece as a whole, without a nod to source. ZOMG it needs percussion. I'm 100% certain that the entire tone/mood of the remix is going to change when you get percussion added in. That being said, the main melody needs... improvement. Its just kind of there at the moment, there's nothing that makes me really want to listen to the melody on its own, it kind of serves as something to make you listen to the other parts of the mix. This has potential, but it would need a lot of work to be accepted, I know that. All in all though, I definitely hear the classic Mario party vibe in terms of the other non-melody parts. -gamefreak

Well, you get instant brownie points for remixing my favorite song from this game. Unfortunately, you get three immediate red Xs for putting this song on MySpace. Bad choice of storage, there are many other sites out there that will not compress the heck out of the song. I felt that the mix was overall a bit too mellow. It has some interesting sounds, but it seems like the entire mix is building to something that it never quite makes it to. I definitely want to hear a different flute for the main melody, it sounds... icky on that high note. Its a neat idea though, and I definitely think with a bit more polish, it has a good chance, especially since I don't see a lot of rayman material that often. I always remembered this piece as kind of a big band thing, so its definitely a fresh take on it. -thegamefreak

...This is probably the last piece of music I would have ever expected to get remixed from this game, and yet you've done something truly unique with it, and I kind of like it. I definitely agree, a lot of the sections still sound a little robotic. The piano sounds fine, but I'm not to hot on the organ for some of its solos. Maybe its just me. The arrangement itself, from a musical standpoint, is just fine, no problems with it at all. I'd say right now, concentrate on making the instruments themselves sound more natural, and run with it. Good job, especially with the limited source material! -thegamefreak

Wow, I feel kind of neat being the first reply. First off, I'm not too hot at all on the Bass drum at the beginning, although it might be my Mega Bass headphones. Its a little too harsh. Good effect, I'd just tone it down a bit. This is some really nice work overall, it has a really good kind of funk to it. My biggest complaint is that I didn't recognize any source material until after 2 minutes into the song. Now, that may just be me not having played the original Sonic in too long, but it seems almost like there's too much original material here, at least in the first 2 minutes. Oh... this song is only 3:33... well then. (To clarify, I tend to review as I listen.) Well I'll definitely give that the overall feel of the song is there. This sounds really nice, don't get me wrong, you've obviously got a good ear for this sort of thing. This is OCR though, and the R bit is very important. Definitely needs more from the source. Now, I can't tell if this is from the style of not, but I'm not personally a fan of long intros. Not at all. I think the best place to introduce some form of the melody would have been around 1:33 when the rings sample came in. Also, I notice that the... how do I put this... Referring to the original source, I guess it would be the "break"? The section after the most recognizeable melody, which basically consists of some drawn out chords, and more importantly a key change, which varies the atmosphere of the original piece during the break. You keep this mix in the same key for the entire length. I feel like when I get to the end, I want there to have been more, for the last phrase of the melody that played to have led into something... epic. So I guess my best suggestion is, either add some more source to the intro, or shorten it, and then lead the end of the mix into something more varied. Its a good start, but its definitely missing an epic punch that makes a listener want to come back to it. Thats my take on it. Consider me an outsider, kind of a GE judge if you will. Nothing sounded technically out of place to me, I just wanted more from the overall experience. I'm sure someone else on the forums can tell you if you need to fix something more relating to the actual soundscape, but it sounded OK to me. -gamefreak

I'm listening to the most recent remix for the first time, I'll note my comments as I go through it. (Haven't listened to the previous versions.) The first thing I noticed right off the bat was the lack of any real bass at the beginning. This would have been OK if it got picked up later, but the bass that came in was to me an octave too high. I absolutely LOVE the glitchy section. Also, to me, the speedup is really cool sounding, and just the right tempo too. Its fresh, really it is, and its not the style that I expected at all for this piece, which is neat. Thats one giant step closer to this being a true remix, which is already was to begin with, and I've sort of forgotten where I was going with this... Anyway, my biggest suggestion is to drop the bass down an octave, and possibly change the synth on it. You've got a groovy baseline going, it just feels more like its in the mid range. On that note, the "glitchy" section sounds good without bass. I would even say that you could leave the bass where it is on that and the sped up section for effect, and then bring in a lower bass when it goes back to a-tempo. Thats just my thought though, you may have other plans. Mastering will definitely help this piece out a lot,but from a musical standpoint I really like where you're going with it. Not too hot on the fading ending though, but thats a personal thing, it doesn't take away from the rest of the piece at all. (going for a second listen now, to get specifics down) When I listened to it, I kind of wanted the bass to come in with the piano. However, where you have it works well. I notice that you have the Piano panned in the center while you have the main melody/countermelody (first occurance) jumping around a bit. When mastering the piano for that section, you may want to offset it a bit in both ears, to make it sound more like the piano is "behind" the listener, rather than directly in front. I think this will make the piano sound more enjoyable, and help it to not get confused with the bass in terms of clarity. I don't know how to achieve the effect of which I speak naturally, but thats what I would like to hear most from that part. During the fast section, I feel that the percussion elements are the tiniest bit too soft. At 3:35ish, the bass in fine, don't worry about the octave there. However, when the synth comes in right after that, I would support the bass some more from the bottom. I'm also going to make this last note. During the "glitchy" section, you do a few repeats that make it sound as though my computer is freaking out under the strain that is Microsoft, causing the sound to not buffer in time. This is a bit similar to a skip on a CD, but its a sound that I'm used to hearing from my computer, since, alas, it is running Vista, and thus does not prioritize my MP3 player at all. I feel that this is an undesired effect. Most of the other glitchy sounds work fine, but I just think that the skipping effect is a little out of place, or possibly too much, and you might be able to find something else to do there. But I'm being picky here of course, the section as a whole works wonderfully. I like this, I really do, and I look forward to seeing a completed version. Good work! -thegamefreak PS: Sorry for talking your ear off, especially about the bass. I do tend to just kind of splurge thoughts until I realize the length of my post and decide to hush.

The first thing I thought of, when it got to around 0:30, is "This would work really well as the into to a zelda movie." Not that they're ever going to make one, despite IGNs claims of april fools falsehood, but still, it kind of has that into to it. The intro is really good, and then we get... more of the same. It needs to go in a different direction from there, and I've actually had an idea that you might want to consider. The percussion seems out of place when it is there, basically amounting to a timpani roll here and there, and certainly doesn't add to the piece. So, when listening to the melody loop about the third time, I wanted it to do the following: Drop the melody, come in with some low sounds and a percussion groove of some sort (organic sounds, maybe sort of jungle ish) and sound dramatic, like something ominous was on the horizon. I dunno, that was just where I think it could have gone. What you've basically got here is a great starting point, but not something that I would really see standing out as a mix on its own. It either needs to do something... (I hate to be a sheep) more, or you need to add another source to it, or go in a different direction. I guess what I'm saying is, its bland. The choir octave... I dunno, I guess it didn't really bother me. Definitely sounds like a female choir, but I don't think that particular pad would sound good as a male choir, so I dunno what to recommend really. I guess you'll just make more people happy with a male choir. You could even leave the female choir in the introduction (and possibly conclusion) but use a male choir somewhere in the middle for dramatic effect. However, it won't hurt my feelings any either way. The whole thing sounds really ethnic to me (listen to me, sounding all American, using words like ethnic ) which is a rather unique direction that I don't really hear a lot of Zelda pieces trying. You might want to build on some of those things. The lower chords you use remind me a lot of Kakairo village from Twilight Princess actually. I realize that this is a WIP, but the quality of the samples... well, it certainly isn't a plus. Now, take that with a grain of salt, the source material (the n64 hardware) didn't have a lot to offer, but the temple especially sounded magnificent on it, I know that. I also have to baaa again and note that the middle voices get a little overpowering. Your synth strings, especially, do NOT work well for me at all in the high high range, and you have them playing there a lot. Synth strings, especially more generic ones, become far more noticable the higher you have them play, so you may want to consider taking them down an octave. I can see where you're going with it from a music perspective, and I think it would sound fine using real live instruments, but just the synth sound in that range doesn't do it for me at all. Had to point it out. I've spoken for too long, it's someone else's turn now. -thegamefreak

Wow, that was a great game. I think the track is really good for a first post. Around 1:40 - 2:10 ish, I could have used something... more. It was missing something as simple as a little more volume from the relaxed strings part, something as kind of a filler in the mid range, to help the melody not stick out as much. I definitely agree with others, the piano part at the end should decrease in dynamics slowly toward the end of the piece. Not even so much in volume, just adjust the samples you're using (not sure which piano synth you've got going here) to give the sound that a real piano player would use when "pressing" (for lack of a better word) the keys rather than striking them. Its hard to describe, it just needs to mellow out a bit more at the end. Overall though, I'd say this is very nice from a production standpoint, and definitely a better first try than I could have done. To comment on the source material, the percussion is perfect. This is my absolute favorite track from one of my favorite sonic games, so I know it very well, and the percussion really needs to be just where it is for this kind of an arrangement. Its kind of out of the way, the focus of the original just used the percussion to keep a beat going really, the focus of the piece is really on the string parts. Just noticed this as I was listening, you have a diminished piano chord at around 1:50 that sounds very out of place, you might want to either look into changing the chord, or the material around the chord to put it more in place if you planned it that way. I love the use of the source material. You varied it, but only just enough, so that I was able to catch where every part of the mix came from, but it still had that kind of fresh vibe that I can only seem to find in a remix. My suggestions are just to increase the quality of the samples a bit, especially on the piano synth since it seems to be the main focus of the mix. Other than that, it seems very solid to me. Good job! -thegamefreak