Palpable

I never mind seeing negative reviews like this. As long as you explain why you didn't like it, and you keep it civil and impersonal, comments like this are good. That said, obviously you and I disagree.

Just wanted to post that I was able to get some awesome sounds out of my electric using some of the VSTs mentioned in the original post, especially the Marshall JCM900. Might post a clip here once I've got something. For some reason, I always had the impression that you had to mic a cabinet to get a decent electric sound (not sure where I learned this). This was as easy as plugging straight into the soundcard and recording. I feel like a totally new avenue of making songs is open to me now. You rule, Sixto.

LOVE the arrangement, Andrew. The combination of instruments is a little unusual (especially that weird hard-left-panned synth) but it completely works. The jumpy 0:59 section is like a sudden injection of energy, and I just love the dynamic contrast and thrills this song offers. I can see why you kept going back to this one. I think my only complaint about the arrangement is very minor: the dissonance of the synth run at 2:56. I'm normally the first person to dig stuff like that, but it seemed out of place here. I do think the mixing is a little off, but it's not a dealbreaker. The synths and strings are a little loud and tend to drown out some of the guitar and drums. Turn the volume of the song down and you'll really hear what I mean. And the piano at 2:26, though it's quiet, sounds thin. I've YESed songs with bigger problems before. YES

Bug Liontamer to make a Hotlanta OCR meetup, now that he's living down there. Note: I made this post just so I could say Hotlanta.

Wait, they left?? Then why they still be up in IRC all the time huh :?

I recently lost one of the former (SD600, in fact) and was thinking about getting a bigger camera like the latter just so that I don't lose it.

Read or Die OVA! Only three 30-minute episodes, but fantastic storyline and action.

Man, my FFX wall scroll looks like ass with the flash on. I don't normally keep my guitars such that they block the chair, but... well, you understand. Holy hell, dude.

I agree. Obviously it's Pachelbel inspired, but the chord progression is too common to discount anything using it on that ground. If the melody was similar too, I think I'd agree with Jesse. I should also note we've managed to collectively spell Pachelbel wrong three different ways so far. Awesome, right?

I really wasn't feeling this one either. The backing track was not bad on its own, but it seems completely unconnected to the original, and the backing track and vocal just didn't sound good paired together. There are also parts where the vocal timing goes well off from the music timing. The mix of triplets and 16th notes was distracting - that kind of stuff can be hard to pull off well. It also started to get repetitive towards the end, and the ending was abrupt. To be honest, I've heard plenty of remixes like this which sort of invent a new backing track for a vocal, ignoring the original completely (to amelodious results, intentionally), but I don't think OCR is the right place for it, given how we discourage direct sampling that extensively. In this case, it's nearly the only thing tieing it to the original. I probably came down on this a little hard, but I hope to see new stuff from you, Alex. NO

The first couple minutes sounded quite similar to Plains of Time - the parts came in and out, but all the melody lines were the same and the instruments were similar. I think having such a large chunk of your song sound so similar hurt. The second half got a lot more creative and I liked your structural and chordal changes and added melodies, and especially the ways you played with the rhythm of the original melodies. Nice approach to the material. I just think you could have gone farther with the variations, especially in the first half. (Minor note: 6:24 has a dissonance for a few seconds that sounds unintentional to me. Think about clearing that up if you're going back to this.) Production is a little problematic. With such an organic sound, the stiffness of the instruments detracts. Some rhythm and volume imperfections would make the material more convincing, and a higher quality sample for the guitars would add a lot. There's also some mixing problems. Many of the instruments sound too close to the forefront, and at times, the sound gets muddy. I think especially when the drums and strings come in, clarity is lost. Taking down volume levels slightly will help a little bit (I think the percussion sounds like it's at the right level), and EQ might help some of the rest. You've got a good ear for arranging, Will. I like many of the ideas here and I want to see you take another shot at this. I hope you hang around the forums and try to work on improving your production skills. NO (resubmit)

Totally interested and I'm almost positive I'll be available for this (again, depends on work). I'd be up for the sleepover as well, if there's still room at Andy's/Jill's rapidly filling apartment.

A lot of prog-influenced stuff is pretty hard to break down that way. In that Children of Bodom song, I would call the 1:14 part the verse and say it doesn't have a chorus. It's pretty debatable what's what in a song like that, because the structure is unusual. If you listen to a lot of music like that, that could be why you find it difficult to pick out verse-chorus-bridge sort of stuff. With nearly everything you hear on the radio, it's pretty easy.

Great source. I'm totally unfamiliar with this game. Fairly conservative take, but I loved the mood being created here. It's a light techno-electro track that drifts by like a dream. Thought the subtle additions like the arps, piano, and pads gave this enough character to stand out from the original. Also some new melody stuff going on at 0:44. I agree with Larry that it doesn't feel expansive enough given the repetition and short length. Another original section somewhere would help round out the song. I love the clarity of this, I think you did a good job with separating the instruments. My biggest criticism on the production is that a lot of the instruments sound muted, and it robs much of the energy this song could have. I'd especially like to hear some upper frequencies restored to the lead to lend it more presence. (It's possible the heavy reverb might be hurting that too). With the case of the drums, the solution might be layering them with drums that has more bite and snap. The snare in particular. I love what you have so far and I'd be real disappointed if you didn't revisit this song, Jose. Don't let ol' Vinnie down! NO (resubmit)

Song concept is pretty amusing. With a sound upgrade like yours, I'd imagine people would be pausing this game more often back in 1986. The arrangement had a lot of energy but the writing was too simplistic. The melody is kept intact and practically the only additions were an octave bassline, some pads, and relentless drums. I felt it needed more interpretation (e.g. countermelodies or new chords) and more attention to detail. The stutters at 1:57 were a cool detail and some subtler variation in beatwork like that throughout the song would go a long way. I think adding a few more melodic instruments would also help fill out the texture. On a minor note, I thought the original game music intro and outro were both longer than they needed to be. Some good sound choices here. I really like the lead synth and the effects you put on it, but the pad tended to drown it out. Use some EQ to take down the clashing frequency ranges on the pad. Larry described some parts of the song that were cluttered; EQ might help there as well. When that doesn't work, it usually means that two of your instruments are covering the same ranges and you might have to switch up one of them. The section that lays the breakbeats over the main beat could be a situation like that. I like the general concept and layout of this song, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement, and a lot more you can add to it. I hope you don't get discouraged, Quincy, and that you keep working on music. NO

To go contrary to DS, I started out making originals in Cakewalk, but I think my skills really took off when I started actually just trying to recreate sounds I heard in other songs. Not that his advice wouldn't work for you, but I may as well offer the approach that worked for me. One of my remixes on this site started because I tried to recreate Daft Punk's "Around the World" (I'll leave it to you to figure out which one). I ended up modifying huge chunks of the song in the end, of course - new melodies, instruments, structure - but that's how it was born. Trying to recreate other songs gave me a solid understanding of how songs break into instrument groups, and what sounds sound good together. And sometimes, it can inspire a totally new song. But skills still take time.

Oh I really dig this one. Has that club banger sound and the filtered pads and synths all fit together to make swirly goodness. DA's voice fits this very well, though the rhythm of her vocals was a little stiff at times. I also think the beat could have used some mid-range parts to give it more fullness, maybe an open hi-hat or a kick with more mid. It's still a pretty sweet groove and the blend of instruments is gorgeous. I was waiting the entire song for DA's voice to get glitched and I almost thought it wouldn't happen. Then it happened. YES

Man, what's here sounds excellent. Awesome take on the theme. The style fits the song like a glove. Which makes it very sad that it only goes through two repetitions of the theme, with one additional instrument layering the lead the second time. This could easily do with some soloing, new chords, something. I don't think it would need to be much longer than what you have here, but at 1:22, I can't really YES it. It sounds like half a song. I highly highly encourage you to extend this. Highly. NO

Love this one! The lackluster drums have been mentioned enough, so let's focus on the plenty of good stuff here. I just love the trading of the spotlight between the many instruments. It's a great song for this sort of approach. Think my favorite part is a toss-up between the first time the sax comes in (it just sounds right) and the crazy octaves on the piano near the end, but really, every part just hits.

Love Sam's playing in this. It gets so delicate at times and so full-out at others. Actually the drums too, but I think the piano is more noticeable. Great arrangement, but I too felt like bass would have rounded it out. If I recall djp's logic correctly, LSD is the artist so that's why they're credited that way on the MP3. But Sam is included as the artist on the site to make searches for him include this song.

Some interesting ideas here, but this still has a ways to go. The sections of the song don't transition very well (especially the full stop at 0:33) and the textures didn't quite fit together, especially in the first section. The use of such cheap, programmed drums with real guitar and bass didn't work. The section beginning at 1:33 was my favorite part of this song. The texture was good and the slowdown of Battle Theme was creative. I think the playing could be tightened up a bit there though, and careful with the tuning of your instruments. Either the bass or guitar sounds like it's out-of-tune. The cheap drum samples definitely hurt this piece. Some layering of drum sounds could give you a fuller sound in lieu of upgrading your samples. In addition, the drums sounded too low in the mix for the entire song. The first section is also muddy and the guitar and synth could use some trimming with EQ so that the individual parts can be heard better. Make use of our remixing and WIP forums for tips and advice, Marc. You have a lot of room to grow, but you also brought some good ideas to the table. NO

Well, the thread reminded me of how excellent Snake vs. Dragon is, and I'm listening to it right now. I guess random bumps like this help keep his memory alive.

Cool, definitely an improvement over the last version. Balancing seems good. I think the overall sound is still a little thin, but I'm having a hard time putting a finger on why that is. The snare still sounds like a weak link and I really think you should layer it with a snare with more low-end thump to it. Those low-mid ranges often feel a little empty in this song and filling that region might be the key here. It's hard to say for sure; maybe some other judges or people in the WIP forum can provide suggestions. My comment about the arrangement still stands from the last version. It's on the conservative side, and you can still hear a lot of the original in this. I don't think anything necessarily has to change, but I'd love to see some minor melodic changes and more countermelodies for variety. You're steadily moving your way up towards that bar, Michael. I hope you keep going with this song. NO (resubmit)

Yeah my work thing is going on Saturday as planned. Have fun, y'all.

Beginning is wobbly. Obviously going for an intentionally wobbly sound (as noted), but I wasn't feeling it. Finally, at 0:42 it started to unwobble, as instruments filled in the gaps in the soundfield. 1:02 brought in the main melody on another wobbly instrument. I dunno, the first minute and a half really tread the line of being intentionally low-quality for an effect and... just being low-quality. I also wasn't a huge fan of the treatment of the source up until this point, as it kept two original parts the same, albeit with minor background instruments and processing. But 1:25 was a turning point, introducing new chords and countermelodies. Nice interplay of instruments in that section. From there, I think it had a great, unique-sounding groove and a good balance of pairing the original melodies with more interesting backing ideas and countermelodies. There were structure changes and some sections that sounded wholly original too. Some excellent ideas, in all. 5:02 sounded like an ending point but I wasn't disappointed that it went on for another 40 seconds. Great job on production. Everything seemed to be firing right. I'm interested to hear what other judges think because I'm pretty much torn. On one hand, I hear the last 4 minutes of this song and think YES, but then I play it from the beginning and feel like the long intro doesn't quite work. I think I'm still going to go borderline YES; may reconsider. YES (borderline)