Rozovian

All right, it's now first on page 5. Anyway, Blue Nocturne's idea for requiring people to comment before they can post is good in principle, but in practice I think it'll just deter people from posting wips. Also, it can result in random "great" or "sucks" comments until the poster can post his/her own work. But I'll add it to the list of diverse solutions. One of the biggest problems with the wip board is that people don't think they know what to say unless they're remixers themselves. "I like the piano solo", "the guitar doesn't sound real", "I didn't recognize the original"... stuff like that is just as important as the technical nitpicks.

Thanks to everyone who've taken the time to answer so far. I just added a question, and thought I'd let y'all know. I also realized I hadn't actually answered these myself. #1 - Some time after writing the post and the questions, I looked around and found the tutorials category, which I then added. #2 - What I'd like to see here is activity. More activity. There's more of that these days, but there's been times where I've barely seen anyone but the OPs and myself. #3 Lack of posts. New WIPs. Friends' WIPs. Familiarity with the game. In that order. #4 See this post, list of "diverse solutions" is what I've found on the site or come up with myself. #5 Listeners that don't comment. See this post, "diverse problems".

Well, there's the Works in Progress and Releases forum. You might want to clarify whether your stuff are releases or wips, or you'll get comments on what to improve, where to host files because youtube compresses the audio, etc etc.

Piano velocities... I don't play piano enough to know, but I think a 15-step range is a little short. 70-100 could work. Not that I do much piano work, but I've used the 70-127 range, tho that could get a bit too aggressive. Drop percussion - eh, sorry, drop-like percussion. Before 1:40 iirc (too lazy to relisten). It appeared a little too often. You can use it more than you did, but not that much within that same section. I think it played three times, you could remove the middle one and add some later in the track. I think you've improved most transitions, and you're obviously improving the track as a whole. 2:23's gotta be a difficult transition. As for volume, use a multiband compressor on the master to boost the frequency ranges individually, get the track to peak just over 0dB and then use a limiter to kill those peaks. That's what I usually do, it's something I recommend. Be careful about overcompressing, or compressing the bands unevenly. Take a backup before removing length. Always take backups, whether it's because the program's corrupt your file or you make drastic changes to it. Good luck.

Shame on you, updating your track in the middle of my wip run. Anyway, the choir melody in the beginning doesn't fit in. Melody strings don't feel as complex as the lead. In fact, most of the time, the strings feel a bit underprocessed. If you can route their volume to an lfo via an envelope (or the other way around) to give them a tremolo during long sustained notes, you'd have improved them a bit already. This, imo, is your biggest problem: sounds don't fit together. Conceptually, there's no problem with them, but the execution leaves some of them underdeveloped. Also, check your melodies. There were a few places where verbatim melody might be getting in your way. Change 'em. Not gonna dig up specific times, you're the last item on today's wip run list. Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Too aggressive? Nah, it's dynamic enough to have soft sections too, and they're by no means just there just for variation and length. 1:52 crash feels redundant, tho. The second iteration of the source could sue some changes, tho, that might be too repetitive. Still a bit loud. How much apparent volume do you lose the compression? It's not unbearably loud, tho. Well, considering the amount of orchestration involved here, it's gonna be good with the Js. I think. It's far from the midi-rips and covers, so I think you're in the green. You might wnat to check with a J before submitting. Or is it that _you_ aren't satisfied with how similar it is (and btw, it isn't). Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Either I'm having one of those source-deaf moments, or there's not enough source to hear. Also, myspace tends to compress tracks, so check this thread for better hosting options. Please take the time to answer the question in this post.

That cutoff organ pad needs some more interesting chord writing, imo. Beep beepety lead is mostly annoying. Choir doens't fit in (and yeah it's synthy, but MORE synthy might be better here). Hihat is noisy. Bass drum is fine, imo. Bass is repetitive, you could write some more itneresting stuff for it when not dealing with source... or youcould make it play stuff from soruce all the time. Piano writing is verbatim source, so you should work more on that. The piano sounds a bit too cutoff, you need more highs. Yes, it's an aquatic mix, but it's not the piano that should be cut. That's something you could do with the choir - EQ down it's highs... and lows. overall, the mixing is emphasizing the bass drum and the bass. Nothing wrong wit that, but you need to raise the other parts that need to be loud - such as the piano. There's not much int his track that I can remember of the source - just that piano melody and the intro arpeggios. You should rewrite that to fit with the source-less sections. I suspect source usage was the main reason this didn't make it to the Js' panel. Work on that and the mixing, and you should have it submittable. Good luck. Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

You've been kind enough to list your concerns, so I'll just answer those. -Overall volume: too loud/soft? Enough variation? Variation is good, but it could be louder. use a limiter to boost this until you're around 0dB. -I'm not confident about some of the transitions between sections; any recommendations for those? Nothing stands out as bad to me. Are you talking about stuff like 1:46? Not a problem to me. -The piano solo section: too mechanical, or passable? Triplets always make stuff sounds better. I think it's fine. If you really want something to work with there, work on the velocities. -The synth solo at the end: super-cheesy, or passable? I have no problem with it. It blends into the general sound of the track just fine. -The synth sound in general: too thin or too muddy? Any EQing suggestions? The cutoff envelope is a little too easy to hear, you might want to let an lfo have a few % of influence on the cutoff frequency. It's not annoying unless you're actually listening to the synths looking for flaws. There's a weird pan effect on the lead synth towards the end, something I'd get rid of. If it's there to give the synth some more width, use echo, faint reverb, slight detuning, overdrive, distortion, something _else_. Don't annoy the listeners with that pan The noise sweep is a little annoying, tho. I like how it sounds, but when it's not sweeping, it's NOISE. Gets audible around 2:40, and is just noise at 2:47. Drop its volume when that happens. -Too much or not enough compression on the drums? Hard to say. They sound ok to me, aside from that they, like the whole track, doesn't quite have the volume they should have. -As per ocremix standards, is the arrangement too close to the source? It's conservative, that's for sure. _TOO_ conservative? I don't know. I don't think so, but you'd best check with a J. Look for an active one on #ocremix and #ocrwip. -Is the arrangement too repetitive? Might be. Changing the chord progression and drum writing in the middle section would change that. -EQ and panning in general: are certain ranges too cluttered/muddy, unevenly panned, or overpowering? I mentioned panning before. it might be a little too centered overall. See if you can double your lead - that would spread it. Delaying one channel a few milliseconds is gonna get you a stereo effect called the Haas effect, but be subtle, or it's gonna sound hard-panned. Mixing sounds fine to me. I'm not eharing much bass at normal volume, but raising the volume should fix that. You might need to raise the bass a little, but not much. -General instrument mix: should certain things be turned up/down? The piano vanishes in the end. Drop it, let it play chords only... having it there that soft is just annoying. -The fade out at the end is extremely weak, I'm aware. I will definitely change it, but in the meantime, any suggestions? Single hits on 3 final beats is another way to end it. Fade-out are usually cop-outs. Some tracks work with fadeouts, some don't. This, imo, shouldn't fade out. All right, that's that. Good track, good work, good luck. Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

No source link, no source comment. Ooh, Warcraft. Voice clips. But no, they don't really fit. Ooh, chip arp. very enjoyable, considering the crushing and stuff. Usually, stuff like that feel like a gimmick, but not here. I get the DKC2 feel, and have no problem imagining something like this in RA or Starcraft. The whole thing could use some more changes towards the end, it's basically the same from 1:24-end. key changes, changes to the rhythm, something should change there. You've got your melody overlay at 2:02, but something _more_ than that. The ending parts could use some cleaning up, they get messy and difficult to follow. Overall, tho, this is great. Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Gonna be quick and just write what comes to mind as I listen: Piano needs some velocity work. Nice slowdown. It's a bit quiet. Either that, or the past few wips I heard have wrecked my ears. Drop percussion is nice, but don't overuse it. And avoid repeating stuff... oh good, wasn't a full repeat. Still, at 1:40, it's a little repetitive. You might want to move an octave... oh, you did that next. Well, you might want to move something down before then, just to vary it a little more. And into the latino rhythm. 2:23 transition is a little too sharp. Shaker here is a little annoying, it's got some pan effect on it. Pan it a bit one way, and use a soft stereo echo to spread it. makes it less annoying. Once again, it gets repetitive before it changes, so you might want to switch some piano parts to an electric piano or something else to make it more varied. 3:40 section could use a 3-note reference to the ice cap zone theme somewhere, just to make it a little more interesting. Your latino-ish single semi-note steps at the end of a section get a little annoying after a few times, you might want to come up with something else. Slowdown at 5:10, nice. The following section could use some velocity work, it feels a bit mechanical. I think I'm hearing some, but I think it needs more. Also, that part is too long. Cut it by half, nobody's gonna complain (you might be the one exception to that). Repetition, annoying bits and pieces... But it's only getting better. Great work. Listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post. Thanks for alnswering them, Sengin.

Pretty. Pizzicato strings fall into the bg quite soon, and the piano is a little hard on the highs, you might want to work that out. Changing the chord progression during one of the iterations of the theme would be nice. 2:11, weird flute note. Repetition is my main problem with this, but it _is_ pretty. Good job, man. Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

You've gotten a lot of feedback already, so I won't get too in-depth with this. Piano is a little rough on the ears, you might want to drop the high frequencies a little. In fact, the soft intro of it might work better with a little lower overall volume. When the drums come in, the long release of the crashes cover the piano. You might want to move the piano down an octave to make sure it carries through. Overall, this seems to be mixed with an emphasis on the highs. You'll want to change that. At 2:45 I'm getting tired of the ear abuse. It's the same thing over and over and over again, in different variations. It gets repetitive after a while. Key changes might help, but I'm more annoyed at the frequency balance than the repetitive nature of the track. I do want to encourage you to cut the piano from parts of the track, as it gets old quickly. You might also want to cut some length, it's at 6 megs and about 120 kbps, so the quality isn't at its highest. 6:00 - my favorite part. My ears can rest a bit. It's still a bit strong on the highs, but not as much as the piano, cymbals, and the rest. Colin, listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Feels cluttery in terms of frequencies around 1:00, you might want to drop the volume or some frequencies off of some of them. Your sine-ish instruent could use some overtones, it's a little too cut off, a bit too smooth to sound good. Overall, the frequency balance is centered somewhere around the low mids, which is the range you'd really want to clear up as that's where the weight of the track tends to be. Your piano reverb might be adding some clutter there, I'd shorten the reverb time. I'd also drop those a few dB from the percussion. I'd try to shift the strings/pads towards that range, tho, keep them from cluttering the high mids. Clutter, clutter. Frequency clutter - that's my main criticism. Good writing. Listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Some backing guitars sound very synthy. Lead doesn't sound very organic. Guitar could use some different amp sim settings... I'm not even sure you're using an amp sim - you should (unless you're using a real amp). Cymbals aren't very realistic. Vary velocities. Piano sounds thin. Could also use some velocity work, that and reverb. 0:55-section doesn't sound very good. Cymbals are just annoying, I'd drop those completely, let it be a bass+piano section. If the bass has life enough in its sound and writing, that could work well. Listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Piano sounds detuned. Not pretty. Dunno what the Js would say, but I don't like it. Left-ear plucks are too thin and high, compression, EQ and reverb might fix that. Other insturments have the same problem, and before 5:00 mins there's a lot of mid-range clutter. Still a problem with the many styles you've used. It's not very cohesive. Atmopshere is a bit too loud, you could drop its volume once the track gets going. Stepping away is a god idea, but I suggest you take a backup and then radically cut out anything you're not sure about, anything you dislike, anything that stands out too much... see what's left. I wish you luck. Luckyfish, listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Left-ear brass sounds too dry (e.g. around 0:30), as does the center (e.g. at 0:20) but the right-ear one is more annoying imo. Some transitions need work, check 0:40, 0:54, 1:07, and 1:55. The whole 1:50-2:10 section feels redundant. High frequencies are too loud by comparison. You seem to have forced a transition onto 0:50, and that makes the cymbal sound misplaced. Timing problem after the 0:50 crash when you're changing tempo. I can hear individual reflections in the reverb there too... And that's not a good thing. See what you can do about that. You've changed it a lot since last version. I like it, but it feels like you've used too many styles. Might work if you can blend it together more, but you might want to cut some styles from this, make it more cohesive. I do like the strength you've managed to put into it. Listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Working with synths is like building a guitar. Anyone can take a box and a plank and tie some strings to it, but you're not gonna make it sound pretty that way. I have minimal formal music theory, I've learned pretty much everything by playing and writing music. When I read up on music theory, it's not as much about learning new things, it's more about finding words for the things I've learned and connecting my terms for things with the formal terms. The grade school music theory I've got is in swedish, which doesn't really help much either.

The MP2 track is a remixed version of the Red Brinstar track from Super Metroid, in case you didn't know.

Gonna listen later. Also noticed that I said the punch of _any_ instrument is under 200Hz. Not sure that's actually true. It is in the case of drums, but piano..? What most remixers do is they either post it in #ocrwip, or they ask, specifically, a judge to have a listen to the wip. We don't want to waste their time with too early works, so make sure you can't think of much yourself that you can improve before taking it to a J.

Some time ago, I read about a fan-made Mega Man album in the swedish Super Play, and there was a mention of ocr there. The author of the MM album review (or whatever the article was) said he wasn't a fan of ocr. I assume it was the non-conservative aspect of remixing he had a problem with. I know HoboKa brought this up in the new WIP discussion thread: Blind's Blue Vision being very close to source. It seems to be among the more popular remixes I've come across. Are we alienating listeners when we don't just remake it?

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Dude, it's from Timesplitters 2, and there's really not that much of the remix that's from the game, most seems to be random pop clips. Read them all here. Going in, I felt evaluating this to the extent I usually do would be a waste of my time. I was sure about that from just a second into the remix. Sorry dude, this isn't a site for collages of pop music clips with video game music references, this is a video game music arrangement site.

I've been waiting to hear a remix of this. Tried one myself, but haven't developed it far enough to share anywhere, and am not gonna until I've got time to work on it. Samples here could use an upgrade. The strings aren't pleasant to hear, especially the pizzicato and the solo parts. Reverb can mask some of that, but you might need other samples. The timpani and a lot of other instruments are buried uner the strings. All I hear, when I don't lsiten closely, are woodwinds and strings, everything fairly high in the ranges. More weight to the low registers. As for interpretation, there is some, but I think ocr wouldn't find it substantial enough. 0:26-0:32 is nice, but the rest is basically just original+additional tracks. The track follows the progression of the source closely, you could deviate some from that. I think you should work on giving it a more realistic sound as well as creating parts that aren't close copies of the source. Figure out a progression through the track that you want to hear, then make it. Good luck. Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.

Welcome. No source link, no source comment. I recall playing some old pitfall game, tho, and this does sound like it'd fit in. Something of an Indiana Jones sound. You're gonna try to record this with live instruments, so there's no point in commenting on production issues. Okay, what _can_ I comment on? 1:52 sounds a bit like something from Zelda 3's Dark World. Overall, the same 5 notes over and over gets a bit repetitive, you could rewrite some iterations of it to be less, more, or just different. Cut the last one, drop the last one an octave down, make it quarter notes only and start the iteration with a quarter pause. The intro could also be longer, or at least not sporting the leitmotif, theme, whatever as prominently as you do now. A longer intro reminiscent of it but not necessarily identifyable would give the theme more strength when it finally plays (which atm is most of the track). I think the writing is good, so I hope this isn't a copy of the source. But you'll need to record it well. Make sure to conduct the thing so there's enough change in dynamics for this to be interesting. If you're recording the parts separately, you've got more control over them, otherwise you'll take into account stuff like how the room sounds, room acoustics, etc.. If you record the pieces separately, you might ahve timing and dynamics changes, tho. Blah blah blah, I like it in its current state already, so a recorded version has got to be pwnsome. If it's going to ocremix, it'll have to be interpreted, but I can't comment to that without hearing the source. Good luck with it Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.