Rozovian

Too loud, but once the rest of the stuff had their levels fixed, it'll be easier to tell.

Wait a sec, wasn't this on the wip board a while back, where I said those dang noises where really annoying, and Skryp said he sure wasn't gonna remove them (probably to annoy people)? From what I can remember, it was good back then. It's probably better now. Oh right, now I know for sure I heard it on thewip board - the friggin heart monitor reference at the end. Skryp just killed the remix. It's enjoyable, really relaxing, unlike a few too many remixes. I'm actually getting inspired just hearing it. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. I guess. Go Skryp! Tho I might put a low pass on it before listening to it on headphones again.

*sigh* Megaupload. More like "Megawait". Synth organ is waay too loud. Bass needs some EQ, it's a little too prominent in the higher range. Kick is gonna need some processing. Synth lead with glide on is also a bit too loud, tho it doesn't need to be dropped as much as the organ does. Snare is weak, but that could just be the organ overpowering everything. Hihats could be a little softer. Work on the levels first. If you're unsure about an instrument's levels, drop it to nothing, then slowly raise it until it sounds good. No comment on source, because I'm lazy. I just realized, having been making music since 2002, that my skills took a significant step up after a year trying to learn from OCR. Make your album, and listen to it in a year, see how much you'll have improved.

It's not downloads it's counting, it's clicks on the download button. I've done that 4-5 times. Anyway, it's not a problem in Firefox, so I got thefile. It's sounding better, compression is a little too aggressive at this point, but once the rest of the track is filled out it shouldn't be as much of a problem. The guitars sound awful, and the melody going up and down, starting at 0:12, sounds terrible. Might work if it's a cleanern instrument, similar to your lead but not as distorted, and a few octaves up. As for the guitars, are you using an amp simulator? Those work way better than pre-processed distorted samples. The hihats could be a little more than three ticks. First, go with 4 or 8 ticks (3 ticks aren't a problem unless you use that all the time). Second, don't use ticks, use a little longer samples. Not all samples have the energy they should for music like this, but see if you can find something a little longer. Wait a second, there's a ride in there. Good idea, but a ride doesn't have the energy to punch through. Rides work well in calmer sections, but you haven't got any of those. You know, it'd be interesting to hear with with some backing chords on an organ or something. See how it sounds, might even things out a little. Overall, this is already sounding nice, but there's still a lot of processing to do. And you'll need to make it longer and more varied (evktalo's suggetsion to use the Green Hill Zone seems like a good idea if you can make the transition smooth enough). But so far so good.

%20, aka "a space". Don't use spaces in file names on the net. Tindeck is saying the file doesn't exist.

Dunno if it's fully mono, but if the lead bass thing was in mono, it'd feel more claustrophonbic than more expanded ones. Reverbs with low room size obviously also make things feel more shut-in. Long delay effects generally do not. Also, there's some really cool additions you have here, towards the end. Didn't check source this time, so my memory might be a little off but... is that stuff at the end from source or your own writing? I think you're a little low on source, but I can't say for sure. It's far more cohesive than the last version, so good job on that. I'm liking it, both the aqtmosphere and the actual writing (tho i wouldn't mind there being _more_ writing).

YET! Multiband compressor on the master. play around with it a bit to sort'a get a feel for what it does to your track, then apply a preset that sounds ok and improve it. You've got pretty good levels, but the track still doesn't have the energy it could have. See how the multiband compressor can fix that for you. Doing great, man.

It's very minimalist. I like minimalist. You're gonna have to work on your levels a bit, the main bits of the remix are way too quiet compared to the stuff that comes in occasionally. Hm, it's long. Needs more variation. Bring in a melody on top of the bass much earlier. You could also bring in the synth strings earlier, so the listener kind'a knows they're in there. If you wouldn't kill the percussion, the transition would be a little smoother. You could add some world percussion to cover the middle range. Write (at least) two versions for it - one that's fairly minimal and works as an intro for the track as well as for when the strings come in, and another to use in between. The more elaborate of them should have all the notes fomr the minimal, and some more. Like the idea? Overall, this sounds like one of those tracks I'd enjoy. More! More! (just... improve it)

Eino <3 Green Hill Zone, Eino <3 Green Hill Zone... I recommend doing some production fixes before you do anything else on this. Clap is buried and unprocessed. Both your pad and that rhythmic thing (supposed to be the bass?) with the lfo-controlled cutoff is waay too loud, the lead could use a little trimming of dB too. You've also got a clashing instrument, in case you didn't notice how terrible the celesta-ish high-range melodic synth sounds together with the rest. Source doesn't strike me as being as annoying in this as in Tarnish's wip or in the original. Interesting. Maybe it's the off-key thingy in the bg and the detuned pads that keep my mind on other things. Haven't I heard something more cohesive and pleasant from you before? Too many wips have passed since...

Well, it _is_ pretty. The technical bits are really nice It coud use a little processing, a little bit of EQ/multiband compression to keep the really soft sections for souning so low on treble, something. Tho that'll probably only be a problem to people listening to this on headphones. Dunno if a piano track needs to be normalized, but you could raise the volume a little. If you want to it OCR, there needs to be a significant amount of interpretation in the remix. This can be anything, like new backing, new rhythm, new genre, chord changes, key changes, time sig changes... Or just embellishments. Playing it instead of sequencing it is gonna win the track a point, tho I don't think that's gonna translate into 3 YESes unless the track has some rearrangement, restructuring, repurposing another theme to fit in... something. Since you can play, play this for a while, just play, you know the notes, so just play it, different versions, different mood, rhythm, stuff like that, see if you happen to play something you like. Then use that when you play and record the final version. Don't know source, is not a judge, so can't comment on how much new stuff you'll need, but added embellishments and bits of original content laced with the original would probably be more favorable than a completely original section with little connection to the source. So, good luck.

Hmh, I wrote a great in-depth breakdown, and it's not here. It's not anywhere. Probably because I'm juggling too many tracks atm, must have missed the "sumbit reply" button. D'OH!! 0:00 Intro sounds great, tho you should stereo-spread the low pad instead of having the pan modulated. There are reverbs with great spreading effects, some delays work well as such too, and you might have a good effect for the very purpose of spreading a signal to the sides as much as possible. 0:20 Low piano notes could drop a little in velocity, or the EQ could weaken them a little... Or you'd do the opposite with the right-hand piano writing. The flute is lagging a little, so you could drop its volume and move it back just a little. 0:55 The piano writing is verysimilar to that of a track from Seiken Densetsu 3. That's a good thing. 1:13 The choir sounds great, the low voice that comes in later. It doesn't sound real, but it really adds a significant depth to the choir. 1:49 You'll have to EQ the choir to give some room for the drums to come in. The drums could also use some compression. Drum writing is great, but it needs to be power powerful than the choir. it is when the orchestral drums join in, but otherwise is jsut random percussion. it should be more than that. 2:15 An electronic drum? Doesn't sound good, it's overcompressed and overall... well, ugly. Drop it, or swap it for a drum that better fits the soundscape you've already got. Modern, orchestral, or world music, it doesn't matter as long as it's not electronic. Doesn't work in this track, imo. The guitar that comes in around then could use a little fixing. Some velocity fixes to make it a little more human would be nice, but mostly it's the timing that bother me. The guitar is a little late, so you'll have to move it back a little bit. Especially ther low notes, but moving all guitar notes back a 32nd note (I'm just guessing, but you get the idea: not far) should solve that. The ending seems to be missing its last note. You still don't end the individual tracks very well, you just transition inot the next bit. Work when you're building up or keeping the instrument, but not when you're dropping it out of the mix. Add a final note at 2:58 or 59 or somewhere around there. It can be the expected note, or it could be the same note that you just played. it's for rhythm more than anything, you need that final note. You've improved the track a lot, it's really enjoyable. But it's still not OCR-level, so if you want to learn, keep at it.

Sounds a lot better when it's not through myspace. Whoa, there's a pad in there. Hihats are now too loud, tho they could a little more high mids, so pull the EQ a bit closer to normal in the upper mid range. Myspace makes listening difficult. You should probably start hostings wips on tindeck instead. Kick, on the other hand, isn't strong enough. Could use more aggressive compression. Snare needs processing, but I'm not sure what exactly. I think it's got a little too much highs, but I'm not sure. Crashes need to be louder. The crashes sound particularly crappy on myspace, apparently. I've only got a problem with the low volume on those now. The lead is a little weak. It's clean and audible, but it could use some more phat. Try applying an overdrive on it. You could then drop the volume a bit. Then in the ending, you've got one with some distortion. That one's way too loud. The backing melodies need more volume when the lead's gone in the mid break. It's getting to the point where I have to guess what would work best for you. I left Tensei-San a message, he knows this stuff a bit better than I do. Good luck with further improving the track. As you can see, I don't think it's there yet, but you've improved significantly since the first wip of it. As for submitting it to OCR, a lot of good tracks get rejected because they're too close to source and don't have enough interpretation, despite fully original sections and solos and backing and whatnot. You may have to rewrite parts of this to make it vary more, harmonically, and more interpretively. It's something I should have commented on way earlier. If I were you I'd get some source-related feedback before submitting this. Anyway, I enjoy helping ppl with their tracks, so thanks for the opportunity. Once again, good luck with it.

Okay, you did the right thing, you only did it too much. The kick especially. You can hear that it "pumps" when it hits. It's also distorted, but I'm not sure if it's an effect (overdrive/distortion, too much EQ?) or if it's just so loud that it clips. It's got lots of energy, but it doesn't sound good anymore. (Do you know what clipping is? When a track goes above 0dB, it's more than the file can handle. The signal goes from a sound-like wave to just a flat line at the top. It's only for a few milliseconds, but it's enough to give it a very ugly sound when it clips a lot. A track can be above 0dB in the DAW (the audio program) and sound fine, but once it's rendered to a file anything above 0dB is cut. The best way to counter clipping is to put a Limiter on the master channel. The limiter is a compressor that reduces too loud peaks to a set level.) Try turning off the EQ. If it sounds good then, you've got too much EQ. If not, it's probably the compressor. Ease up the compression a bit. One of my presets suggest the compressor's attack should be about 50ms, the release close to a thousand. The ratio is 5:1, and the threshold is -15dB. Those settings should be okay for your kick. Raise and lower threshold until it has energy but doesn't clip. You might want to start by reading about compression and other remix stuff in zircon's remixing tips compendium. There's a lot of stuff to read, but parts 4 and 5 contain effects. You'll be wanting to read about compression in part 5. The new chorus writing is pretty cool, but you should make small changes to the melody too. Just small ones, like moving a note a step back or forward to change the rhythm, or to play the melody a few notes up (you'd have to change the melody a bit so it doesn't have notes that don't belong in the song key signature). This is how you learn. Keep working on it.

Sounds great. Hihats are still sounding like lofi trash can samples, and the crash seems to be just as trashy. Snare could use more punch. Drums could, overall, use more energy. Compression, compression, compression. Compress the master a little, all drums a little more. Once you do that, you'll probably have to raise the volume on everything. Compression could really give the track the nececssary energy. I'm wondering a bit how much myspace compresses the file, because the quality's starting to bother me. I'm hearing a lot of improvements, I'm liking the track, and I especially like what you did with the lead melody when it comes back after the midtrack break. Enough talk, take a backup and start compressing stuff.

Yes, it sounds sequenced. Sure you don't have any automatic quantization (auto timing fixes)? That would seriously screw up any human elements. Also, the full-power, max-velocity playing is really hurting the possible dynamics this track could have. Play softer at times, harder at other times, it makes it sound less like an angry sequencer and more like a human being playing. The performance sounds pretty good to me (albeit lacking human qualities), tho the recording could use some cleaning up. There's background noise and a lot of annoying ticking sounds. Also, there's eitrher someone with a way too quiet bass int he background or there's something weird about the low keys on the piano. I recommend you record this in midi instead. You'll lose some of the acoustic qualities of the piano, but you'll gain so much more control that it's probably better. At least if you can't record a cleaner version than this. Also, there's a few times where I thought the hands were clashing a bit, about 2/3 through, it's like either hand is a seminote (or something) off. Might be part of the style you're going for, but it doesn't sound right. Overall, this track has great potential, but it needs to be cleaner and more human.

Well, it's probably mostly a genre thing, tho I know the newgrounds audio community and OCR have very different standards. We're more nitpicky over here. The filter opening isn't the problem, it's what happens after 100 that is. The next note starts from 0 again, making it feel like a jumpcut in the audio. The effect is great when used sparingly, but since that track is half the intro, it's a bit distracting. If the drums are intentionally weird, see if you still can get some more energy into them. Dance might have the most boring drum writing, but the processing is the thing. Your kick is distorted beyond reasonable, and it loses energy. You have nothing in the high range where hihats usually are, so the whole mix feels like it's a bit lo-fi, muddy... or something. See if you can hear what the dance drums do to a track and try to copy that, not the writing or sounds themselves. The kick is currently processed in a way where compression would likely just worsen the distortion, so don't do that. Instead, see what you can do to give the drums more energy, more punch - i.e. EQ down the frequencies that don't constribute to the punch, the oomph, the weight of the drum. The source track being short isn't an excuse. I've stretched a half-minute loop to 6 minutes of never-repeating music. There's melodies that repeat, yes, but never the same backing, instrumentation, etc. Even when the melody and the backing are repeated, you can find ways to make it less repetitive. Make small changes, small deviations from the source melody, or make the backing loop twice as long and have it change harmonies when it would otherwise repeat. EQ stuff so it's more balanced and not as cluttered and noisy (despite the nonconformism), and it should sound more professional and intentional. It should rid you of that newb sound. Making it sound intentionally distorted and off-road is gonna make it easier for people to appreciate it as something that is off the beaten path. There's some clarifications and advice for you. Come show me the improved version some time. I don't care about the genre if it sounds intentional. Focus on that. Good luck.

It starts off fairly promising. A bit of a newb sound, but that's just the processing. The slowly opening filter of whatever other isntrument's in the intro doesn't sound good, it's a too drastic changed between partly open and fully closed, and every time a new note starts, the filter resets. The drums are terrible. There's not enough treble, there's more noise than percussion. The kick is distorted and way too dominant as such. The writing overall is repetitive, and when it does changes, it changes far to abruptly to be enjoyable. In other word, you need to work on your drums, the overall writing, and the processing. Essentially, everything. EQ everything so they don't compete over the same frequencies. Add filler in between the occupied ranges. Find new drum samples or redo the processing. Compress the drums. Cut repetition or vary it more. Add more stuff. Add new stuff. I'm not surprised this was refused. There's a lot you should work on, but there's stuff in this that I could see almost unchanged (save for some processing) in an OCR-OK version, the intro being one of those things. You've got some work ahead of you if you're gonna fix this up, but if you're gonna do it, post updates here when you need feedback. Good luck with it.

Well, if they're selling it, it's a crime. Who you gonna call?

Source was easy to recognize for me, maybe because I'm not a fan of the time sig adaptation on Blind's and Leifo's track on the FFVII project. The genre-jumping works well if both genres are well produced, but in this case, neither seems to be. The whole mix seems to lack in the high range. In the intro, only the toms reach far enough to sound good. The orchestral bit after the intro needs more stuff going on. It could use some more textures. Add some chords to some of those empty sections. Even short notes octaves would be better than nothing. Staccato stuff, something to fill the holes in the frequency range, and the space between notes. The rock section needs some serious production fixes. It's drowning in low mids. More highs. Also, there's a few instances where you should fix the timing, it's not as tight as it should be. Bass guitar sounds terrible, needs more bass, less guitar. And more punch. The guitars are mostly just noise, tho someone more into the genre (and guitar processing) should advise you on how to fix that. Overall, I've got mostly production issues with this, which is a good thing. Means the writing is decent or better. More compression on the drums, more high range in the EQ, fix the writing, fix the guitar processing, and you''ll have a significantly improved wip. Good work so far, I like it.

It started off good, but when the pizzicato strings come in, it just sounds... well, bad. The first two minutes sound ok otherwise, altho they do get a little repetitive, and you could use some more melody in it. High strings, the violin from the end of the track, or a woodwind or two, something to make it more than just pretty chords. Those snare rolls are horrible. In fact, most of your percussion is subpar. See if you have any other samples to use. Also, the drive in the track is in the pizzicato strings, and they don't sound particularily good. Also, you could use more lows. More bass. You've got very hard transitions. The arrangement doesn't sound like it's a medley to me, mostly because I don't know the source tunes. I did a quick check, and recognized enough. Fix the transitions, and it should be a more coherent remix. You've got some good backing tracks, good writing. I hope that's not ripped from source. Production is okay, imo. You could use a little panning, especially in the end. Dynamics need some work; the track gets kind'a empty sounding at times (e.g. ending, around 3:00). Consider adding something to play there. You're also having the opposite problem at time, it gets too even, too thick, too similar for too long. You need to vary stuff more. You've got legato strings from around 0:30 to just before 3:00. You need some variation here. Drop them all an octave, have them play shorter notes, something. Overall pretty impressive, but it's not realistic sounding, and it's still a stretch from being OCR-level material. It sounds like you could make it OCR-level material tho. Good luck with it.

Not my genre. And I have no idea what you're talking about. It's kind'a cluttered, you should see if EQ could dampen some of the background things so they don't interfare with whatever your main rhythm is. You may have to move stuff around, tho. It's all kind'a exposed and unprocessed. EQ to filter out redundant frequency ranges and dampen ones that are cluttering. Drums lose their energy once the track gets going, so you should probably compress it more. Drum panning is a little annoying too, especially the snare. It's also repetitive. That could be genre thing, tho I recommend doing some slight variations anyway. Melodic changes in the lead, changes in the chord progression, fills for the drums, stuff like that. Consider changing up the arrangement and not just the individual part writing. Overall, the writing sounds okay, arrangement is a bit weak, production decent, at least for an amateur. Then again, it's not my genre, so what do I know? Well, I know I listened to it 4 times or so, so it's not unbrearable despite the genre and the issues. That means it's worth working on. Good luck with it.

Knowing your way around the toolbox does not mean you can assemble car engines. But you seem to know enough to fix a flat, and I think that's enough for this track.

Report it to youtube. And bombard the kid with technical questions about them. Say they're awesome, suggest he submit them to remix sites. Ask about sample libraries, DAW, effects, number of tracks, etc... Or refer to him, in those comments, as the artists he's ripped off. "Hey McVaffe, great remix!" etc.. And _then_ start calling him a thief, unless youtube's gotten to him first.

I didn't say the source was bad, I said it was stupid. Of course it's a matter of taste. I've just heard that childrens' song too much. If you have any questions about terminology, production, creative, or ocr-standards-related, just ask. And google is your friend, too

Usually, people ignore the pan feature. You, on the other hand, totally overdid it. The stereo soundscape in the first section after the intro is a little too wide, at least without a clear lead to follow. imo, anyway. Drums... The samples sound pretty good to me, but the panning is a problem. Kick and snare belong in the middle, and breaking that convention makes the track annoying to listen to. Guitars are noisy, and the whole soundscape could use some serious EQ cuts to clear it up. Yes, it needs to be cleared up. You've also mixed everything very loud. Bring down everything by 10 dB and then raise the stuff you need. If it's too soft, use a compressor/limiter on the master to take it back to 0dB. Source is definitely there, tho someone who's heard the source more could tell if it's up to OCR's standards of interpretation. The writing, overall, it a little repetitive, but you manage to keep it fresh with breaks and weird effects. That's where your drum panning would actually serve some use besides from annoying the listener - as an effect that you use once or twice. You could still use some more variation in stuff, imo. Overall, this is a fairly good wip, but it's got loads of production issues. You obviously know your way around the toolbox, so I have no doubt you'd be able to clean this up with secateurs and varnish. Good luck with it.