Rozovian

Yes, it's a bit lame, it's quite repetitive, but it's a step in the right direction. I had a listen to your very first version, and you haven't really changed the arrangement much (well you've extended it a lot, and of course improved the mix). Here's an idea that I might have suggested before. New project, write the melody from memory, and play around with what instruments, melodies, chords, and rhythms you can use to back it up. You're getting better. I think you need to take bigger steps, but at least you're heading in the right direction.

You know, you could just have dropped me a link to the thread. Hey there's a question to add to my survey thing. "Do you read other ppl's feedback when you post yours?" I'll add it... later.

an all-nordic thread. yay. The first minute is messy, but it gets pretty cool after that. Balancing the parts a bit more would be good, you've got a lot of different writing on guitars panned opposite each other. Some panned delay or plain ol' reverb might even out the balance a bit. The phaser on the synth is pretty annoying. The drum writing sound fine to me, but they're mixed kind'a quiet compared to the guitars... compared to pretty much everything else in the track. Other than that, it's pretty enjoyable. Good stuff, good luck with the album.

Cool intro, just... what was that very first thing? Snare feels weak. it's got the punch, but it's just... Sounds small. More reverb on it? Kick can only be heard when I'm actually listening for it. Hats are really high, sound more like a shaker with little flakes of metal. Transition at 1:50 felt a bit too sudden, but man do I like what happened after that or what? Not much else I can say, this isn't a genre Im very knowledgeable in. Drums are my biggest complaint, tho I think it's a little heavy on the high mids and doesn't have the lows it could.

Go easy on the high velocity notes, they shoot through the soundscape (and my eardrums) like bullets. Smoothen those out. Source is there, and I like how it's adapted. A few tempo snags that get a little in the way of enjoying the track as much as I'd like to. The left-hand writing is kind'a simplistic, I think the Js would have a problem with that. At the end of my first listen, I don't remember any left-hand writing that wasn't single notes, and most of the time, it's a very simple and montonous rhythm. yes, the left-hand writing in the middle of the track is pretty, but it's not always even nearly as pretty. Poor velocity control and too big and stumbling tempo snags - those are your problems with this. Your reverb settings might need some work as well, and you'll probably have to rewrite your left-hand writing to be a bit more elaborate. Good work so far.

No source link, no source comment. There's a few clicks on the sax that you could edit out or at least soften. The sudden closes in the 1:22 section and after 3:00 most notably. Piano sounds like it's missing some highs in its solo section. The organ sounds a little too fat for my taste, a little fat and a little minor. Arrangement is pretty, but I didn't get the progression. Whatever, the Js didn't seem to have a problem with that. I do like the stuff after 4:00, the rest simply didn't click with me. It feels like the mix is missing some highs, way to fat around the mids. Two resubs, so it's by no means bad. Good luck.

600AD version does serve as a good intro. What bothers me is how simple and empty it sounds. Dunno if it's a more clear lead I want, if it's more ambience, if it's a pad or something in the bg... something. Room reverb, maybe? A third guitar so you can put the lead in the center? Maybe it just needs to be mixed warmer? It is pretty. Not sure I like the recording, not sure it could get onto the site. Since you've got a lot of pauses, you could re-record some of those sections. I've got a long list of wips to remix so I'm not gonna list the sections and which guitar might need re-recording, but they seem to be a little out of synch with each other at times, and at other times, you're muting notes, cutting into the melody. Still, it's something OCR doesn't seem to have much of, so it's certainly worth working on. Good luck.

Kick and snare are buried, you cut make a slight EQ cut in the hats to give room for the snare, and boost the kick with a couple fo dB somewhere in the 80-150Hz area, wherever its punch is. Compress the file a bit less, to 160 kbps or something like that, maybe use VBR. Either it's the mixing or the file compression I'm hearing that's cutting some of the high range clarity. From 2:34 there's the even rhythm on the guitars, but the drums are playing the same thing as before. You could get some more weight into it if the kick would follow the rhythm guitars. Bass? There's bass? Oh right. yes, it's too quiet, just be careful so it doesn't bury the kick. You need an ending.I kind'a like what you've got here, but you'd have to add something to the end, a few notes or something to the end. Looping the bells from source for a little while, fading them out might work. Idunno, just suggesting. You need ssomething. Alex, why can't you download from purevolume? I could. There's a download link in the playlist.

Cool. Anyway, there's some humanization still needed in the intro, still has a very mechanical sound. The tempo increase starts too suddenly, and that drill noise is (although funny) a bit inappropriate, imo, like the kitchen utensils sounds around 3:00. This sounds like the kind of arrangement that'd easily get on ocr, just mixing and stuff needed. Stuff like at 2:00, where the bass is just too strong, even at 2:10 it overpowers that other synth. You could probably cut some highs off of the bass, cut holes for the other tracks in its EQ. Good stuff, I don't think it's that far from where it ought to be.

The following observation seems to confirm that. These are the voters from the Ds on the first page of Js Ds: no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry palpable, anso no - palpable, malcos, larry no - larry, palpable, darke no - larry, palpable, darke no - larry, palpable, darke no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry, anso, palpable no - larry palpable, anso no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry anso, palpable no - larry, malcos, anso no - larry, anso, palpable no - larry, fishy, anso no - larry palpable, anso no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry, anso, bgc no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry, anso palpable no - larry, fishy, anso no - larry, palpable, fishy no - larry, palpable, vig no - larry, anso, palpable no - larry, anso, palpable no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry, palpable anso yes - larry, palpable, zircon, darke, zyko, bgc, malcos, anso, vig, fishy, chz, yes - palpable, vig, larry, zircon, bgc, chz, malcos, anso, darke no - larry, palpable, zyko yes - larry, anso, palpable, fishy, zyko no - larry, malcos, palpable, zyko, chz, anso, bgc no - larry, zyko, palpable no - larry, zyko, palpable no - larry, palpable, anso no - larry, palpable, anso yes - larry, palpable, vig, zircon, malcos, bgc, darke, fishy, anso, zyko no - larry, malcos, palpable no - larry, anso, palpable, fishy no - larry, darke, palpable, anso, malcos And yes, I was bored.

No, these.

What are you talking about, Pan?

Bump, because I has question. The "Currently in the Judging Process" thread hasn't been updated in almost a month. Is Liontamer on vacation? Did the thread turn unimportant? Miscommunication? Cake?

See this thread. Should give you some to choose from.

No source link = There's no link to the original... No source comment = ...so I won't look it up. It's because it's faster for everyone on the wip board if there's a link to a midi or youtube vid of the original so we can compare. With some remixes, you need to be very familiar with the original to recognize it, and if it takes 4 wip reviewers until someone familiar enough with it can point out that they all got the wrong track, then their feedback on how the track is interpreted is as well as the time to look for the source and the time to evaluate how well it's been used.. then they've just wasted their time. I'm just trying to get wip posters to provide a link to the original. Makes it easier for everyone, and it's in your best interest to make it easy for us to provide good feedback. It usually means that after a few posts, the original poster, or Spakku or Willrock, posts the link. It's better if the original poster does it when he posts the wip. Just sayin'.

Consider using another host, we've got a thread here with some suggestions. No source link, no source comment. Hmm... loads of reverb, and a little too strong bass on the piano. Bass note is sustained, could use some variation in cutoff, volume, something when sustained for that long. Piano persists, muds up the sound a bit. Snare drum needs some velocity variation to be more interesting. The other drum doesn't quite sound good in this context, there's some electronic pitch motion going on in it, and it just doesn't work for me. Strings/pad in the bg is pretty, but is buried behind the poorly mixed piano and snare. Piano melody is also pretty, and would benefit from the other parts not dominating like this. Snare rhythm is kind'a repetitive too. And it ends without warning, then comes right back in. You need some better transitions. overall, past 3 mins, the track is getting dull, as it doesn't really change much. it's just the same loops over and over, and it gets old. These are some criticisms that I hope you'll find constructive. basically, you need more variation, a clear progression from start to finish, some work on the mixing, humanization and variation in the sound of the instruments, stuff like that. It sounds like this is a fairly new thing for you, whether that be remixing, this style/sound, the software, or making music overall... so don't take the crits the wrong way. I hope this helps. This track could be just downright beautiful wit the right work. Good luck.

Not familiar with these from the game, might recognize something from what's been included in SSBB or from other remixes. Break at around 0:45 is a little too long. Works well when it continues so softly, but it gets too quiet for too long. Using some soft backing pad or even just a really long reverb tail some some extra track would probably bridge it better. Continues soft and nice, but piano sounds a little mechanical. More variation in piano velocities, possibly some slight timing offsets, would humanize it. As it goes into a larger orchestral section, there's a guitar in the left channel that's mechanical and dry. Overall, the track needs a lot of velocity humanization. The long legato notes could benefit from some automation, so you have control over the sound during the legato notes. Snare rolls, snare usage overall, needs some fine-tuning. Those problems persist through the remix. The dynamic progression (the intensity progression, not the thematic or melodic) is a bit underdeveloped. It build up, pauses, continues softly, builds up, transitions, pauses, builds up, softens. A few too many instances of building up followed by pauses. The overall development should be simpler than this, tho there should of course be some development within each segment. Basically, I think you'll need to make some changes to the structure, the skeleton, or at least soften up the transition, move or rewrite some sections, possibly mix the themes together more. Aside from fixing the technical issues, I mean. This is a good example of medley-itis... which isn't a good thing. Thematically, the first 1:45 is fine, but then your transition issues start appearing. Transition around 2:50 comes pretty much without due warning, and it's stylistically a far cry form the rest of the track, making it stand out so much more. Transition out of it around 3:25 suffers from the same problem. Fixing those, or omitting them completely, might clear up the progression a bit, but it's hard to say. They break the overall pleasant sound this track has. Those softer parts are quite enjoyable, tho, even in this unrefined state. Good luck with this, chip, hope this helps.

It helps if you provide a link straight to the files, the links on your portfolio page don't work, and the front page would be cut off on a small resolution so the link wouldn't be accessible to everyone. Couldn't hear in the stuttering music player a quick listen to the first few seconds of tracks 04 and 06 before Safari stopped loading, so the site and server could use some optimizing. Anyway, what I get to hear of the music was atmospheric and would certainly be worth a listen if you normally use a browser that works better for the site. Folks, here's his site.

Would be interesting to turn this into an experiment. Load up a few dozen short themes from various games in a youtube vid, have ppl list the ones they recognize in their own top ten list. Then just assemble that, assign points to each score, and crunch some numbers. Anyway, most of the themes/games listed are from the snes era, and many younger gamers might not recognize them without having been introduced to the oldies but godies. Duke Nukem, SoM, Sonic, DKC... Mega Man 2? Ducktales!?

Same problem. ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION [ ] Too conservative - sticks too close to the source [ ] Too liberal - not enough connections to the source (too much original writing) [ ] Too much direct sampling from original game audio [ ] Borrows heavily from non-source material (eg. a theme from a movie) PRODUCTION [ ] Too loud [X] Too quiet [ ] Low-quality samples [ ] Unrealistic sequencing [ ] Generic/cliche sound choices [ ] Drums have no energy [ ] Overcompressed (pumping/no dynamics) [ ] Mixing is muddy (eg. too many sounds in the same range) PERFORMANCE (live recorded audio/MIDI parts) [ ] Timing not tight enough [ ] Wrong notes, general sloppiness [ ] Poorly recorded [ ] Bad intonation STRUCTURE [ ] Lacks coherence overall (no "flow") [ ] Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough) [ ] Pace too plodding [ ] Too repetitive [ ] Too short [ ] Abrupt ending We're awaiting your actual remix, buddy.

I recall spotting a news report on google about how the christmas play was cancelled in a school, christmas overall cancelled in the school because it might offend the moslims. Strangely, the moslims in the area, moslim parents of children in the school had no problem with christmas. So before blaming the middle east for the delay, how about we think about who actually has got a problem with the verses. This is an expression from the Qur'an, not a caricature of their prophet. So why? Fear of Jihad? Belief that games can't be enjoyed if they contain religious music or music containing religious "expressions"? Anti-religious bias? Political correctness just for the sake of political correctness? Or maybe it's fair. Europe gets the games last. This might put the european release a bit closer to the rest of 'em. edit: found reason, see kotaku

Took it. Surprisingly short. We better get to see the results of it, the paper, or else...!

.rsn file... Great. Doesn't work in Audio Overload. The little tick around the kick is a bit annoying before the hihats come in. 1:04 until something actually happens. Heh, the first notes sound very secret of mana-ish. Anyway, you might want to cut some repetition. Eino's right about the boxy nature of it, too, so you need to deal with that as well. But it's early. I'll probably have more to say about next update. Good luck with it, man.

0:20-1:27 What is this? Creativity - I think everyone's got at least some creativity, and everyone can learn to use it. You've created something pretty interesting that spans over half the track, so you know you can create. Controlling your creativity, recognizing what works and what doesn't... well, like Eino said, try stuff out and have a look later. I also think comparing stuff to other works is an important aprt of learning to create quality pieces. I've been making music for soon 10 years now, but I've learned much more about production during my year on OCR than during those years combined. The creative parts, writing melodies, arranging, that stuff comes from practice, trial and error, and you've done a good job at those. You just haven't done enough yet. Here's an idea, Tarnish. Step away from this track for a week, write original music during that week. Make a song today, a short one, and listen to it tomorrow. Make a new song tomorrow. Listen to it the day after that. After a week, listen to all your new songs, and you should hear what works and what doesn't. That way, you should get a better understanding of how notes and sounds work together. In turn, that's gonna help you with this track. Whatever man, learning is a process, and you've come a long way already.

Yes, there's source. Same as in sd3, so I know it well, plus it's one of those often remixed and easily recognized themes. It's there, and it's interpreted. I don't think the Js would have any problem with it. I agree about the quiet sections. A really slow compression coul keep it balanced without much work Then there's a bunch of instruments that don't sound good, simply because of their adsr settings, like the 0:30 trumpet and the 1:20, 2:00, and 3:20 brass. Humanizing them might help, but you might need another set of samples. A lot of it sounds way too dry, too. Needs reverb. Good arrangement, tho. I like it.