Rozovian

I see Sapph set you up with some hosting. Glass noise crash thing... great effect, great soundscaping that follows. Also, kick and snare are both good. Hihats.... tickety tickety tritickety tickety, guess what I think of the hihats. They are better but still... About half way through, the second section of source - faster synth stuff, more notes, more lead action. Lead is pretty soft, too, needs to be sharper, methinks. Bass in the area that follows - really cool. Lead in the following section isn't quite as good, but it's more audible than the 2ndsection one. More lead action, bigger ending, and consider tweaking the soft lead and using other hihats. That's what I think. And now you owe me two cents.

There's some weird phasing effects on the choir, and it is by comparison ridiculously wet - the rest of the track needs more reverb... or even more release, at least on the taiko drum or whatever that was. If you're gonna rework that into that hybrid instrument, take the release tail into consideration. Source has a lot of good stuff to use, and there's room enough in the remix for using more source, and perhaps by finding approprtiate instruments for those you can vary the soundscape like Nekofrog's review suggests you need to. 1:36 of build-up? No man, shorten the intro, use bits of it as an outro or interlude instead. The mood is great tho, it'll be interesting to see how this develops. That's my two cents. I want them back some time.

Very little in this remix has any stereo presence, it sounds like it's mono for most of the track. Not good. Panning is one way of accomplishing stereo effects, then there's stereo reverbs, really slight left-right delays, and the ultimate trick for guitars - record it again, hardpanned left, pan the one you've got right. Make sure they're both tight, and you've got yourself a lot of stereo. Very similar to source material (which btw is more stereo than the remix). Not gonna get on OCR like this, needs more original stuff/interpretation. Add a solo, change speed, key signature, chord sequence, bassline, rhythm, add a kantele solo, do something more than just record and update the sounds. That's what OCR does. Other than that, this isn't bad, but it's not particularily interesting, sorry man. It needs more drive, more presence, more weight, more attitude, more something. I bet one of the more rock/guitar-oriented remixers/wip reviewers would have more useful advice tho. Not much, but not bad. edit: ten more minutes, dude, ten more minutes...

Source is certainly there, tho as repetitive as it is, it might need some shortening or some more variation. Not sure if you used all the lead melodies from source, you know that better than I do. Changing the chords or bassline for part of the track would be one way of varying it. Technically, it sounds good to me. There's some backing instruments that are slowly rising one semi-note at a time, it clashes with the rest of the soundscape, tho it's fortunately blurry (as applicable to sound) enough to not matter too much. If there's more source to use, use it, otherwise, vary what you've got, or shorten the track. I think this might make it onto OCR, but you should run it by both the feedback checklist and the submission standards before you submit. It's too repetitive and the changes are a bit too abrupt for my taste in this kind of music, but the soundscape is nice, and I have a feeling this is the kind of track that grows on you.

Which track?

Source here, supposedly. Bears no resemblance, so I'm either source-deaf (has happened before), there's a case of mislabeling, or you've got the tracks confused, Mordi. At least you have a link to music from the game, so pick the one this is if it's mistakened for another. Technically, this remix isn't bad. It repetitive throughout, it wouldn't hurt being shortened or getting an extra spin on the lead melody, perhaps along some other chords. I don't think it'd make it on OCR otherwise.

Thought I had commented on this... Apparently not. It has source, and it has original content, I'd say it's ok as far as source vs interpretation is concerned. I am missing the big crash and lift tho. The electronica the listener is introduced to in the very beginning is reminiscent of 90's pop electronica, but then it just becomes this weird blend of light electronica and various orchestral sounds, sometimes rising to what could be an awesome drum-heavy section, but fading back to status quo before anything really happened. I dunno what to say about it, on one hand it's artistic choice, on the other hand, Liontamer NOed Fru's long mix because it never left "build-up mode". Sure, he wants beef, the other judges are a little less concerned with that, but you should decide earlier on if you're going the mellow way or the beefy way, and not make it as ambiguous as it currently is. It's decent music, sure (the piano might need to be looked at), but it's caught between styles. That makes it hard to critique it, too. Good luck with it, tho.

A well remixed source... Let's start with the drums, their panning is awful, snare and kick should be centered. They do have punch enough for a track like this, but the actual drum writing is a little too intense for the overall feel. Also, the ghost hits on the snare shouldn't be this strong. Consider listening to some mellow jazz and other calm music just to hear different drum writing/playing. The guitar seems to have some slight swing to it, which on one hand does make it sound a little more human, but on the other hand make it rhythmically incompatible. Fortunately, it's just a slight swing, but even so, it's noticable and distracting. Also, some of the guitar notes need to be longer, especially the lower ones. If you play guitar, think about when you'd mute a string. If not... uh, just make some notes longer 'til it all sounds a little more natural. The ending sounds great tho, makes me wonder if it's a recording. If it is, great job, just make it tighter. Some of the strings sound good, some don't. I'm not sure I'd play the melody on the strings. The slow attack might make them better for just chords, tho nothing's stopping you from writing a counterpoint for them to play. There's also a significant balance issue, especially between drums and the flute, notes just out of synch a little everywhere. Those are the problems I found. I'd also like to hear more of an original spin on it. There's some adaptation and the use of the LoZ theme lends itself well to the rhythm of this track, but it needs more. Even a change in the chords you use would give this more of an original flavor, tho I'd like to hear the melody and the backing (the guitar) change rhythm somewhat as well. Not bad, but quite a ways to go before it's OCR material.

If you're new to making music, do the most basic rhythm you can, and use that. Then make another song with a slightly more advanced rhythm. develop your skills and don't expect these songs to be particularily good - they're practice. If you play an instrument, think about the rhythm you use then. Listen to someone else's music, and try to figure out the rhythm, and copy it (practice). Even if you can barely tap a rhythm on your desk with your fingers, that's all the skill it takes. Another approach would be to start simple. Add drums, one drum and one note at a time. One note for the kick. One note for the snare. Then add notes for the hihats. Then mess around with it, add notes, see what happens. If it doesn't work, try again. Best advice is to listen and examine, tho.

Dropping a quick line here, got no headphones with me atm so it's not complete as feedback goes. 1:39 and forth, that instrument seems to be pushing the track compression, and is otherwise too loud anyway. Aside from that, I like the soundscape, at least as it sounds on iMac speakers. Make up your mind on how ambient you want this track, sometimes it's really soft and nice, other times it's approaching raw/rude. Strings sound better than previous version, at least on these speakers. The newby sound v1 had is gone for most part, it's more refined and complete, but it still has some distance to go before it's done, in terms of both length and refinement. PS. Nekofrog - I'm not a usual WIP review suspect?

I was hoping I could get DrumUltimA on that one, or work on it myself, but sure, go ahead. I'm not at my own computer atm, so I can't check my notes, but I recall it not being taken. Now it is, and it's yours. Consider the possibility of collaborating on it, I have a few ideas for it that I'll send to you once I get around to writing them down in midi.

Hmm... I manage to omit an "if" there. Oops. Anyway, this sounds much better now. It's still very reliant on the beat, and some of the beatslicing feel a bit forced. Make it a part of the sourdscape from earlier on, and consider slicing other instruments as well. You're also recycling the same bit of source for the whole track. Need something else from source. Or, you can rework it to another key sig, another time sig, another rhythm thing, something. Whoa, really cool slice fill thing towards the end of it. Then it becomes this same sort'a stale rhythm again. Consider double speed drums for parts of the track, even for short bits. That's what I've got to say. Cool track, but it gets repetitive and the deviations you do feel a bit inconsistant at times. It's one thing to be unpredictable, but it's best to be unpredictable at the expense of a consistant soundscape. Beatslice a little much earlier, use more source (another source?), drop the beat for a while or double it's speed. Says I, anyway. 'Tis good, tho.

Still ticky hihats, and the piano used as a lead really kills some of the intensity of the track. The pitch bends and whatever else you've done to it (except the annoying pan thing) sounds great, but even so, it lacks the intensity the rest of the tracks eems to be building up to. I'm not saying you can't use the piano (considering how cool the bends and all that sounds, you _should_), just thawt you need a more intense lead for some of the parts. I suggest you also incorporate more of the backing bits from source in the parts where you don't have a lead. I've tried a few MMX tracks, they're pretty elaborate, so there's lots to take from source. See what else you can use for those transitional/buildup parts. Summed up: More from source, more intense lead. Still not bad.

IIRC, last I heard, Larry's moving, and hasn't gotten his net up and running. As for the threads - "Display Options" below the threads, above "Forum Tools".

The organ seems to clash with some of the other tracks at times... pretty much all the time. I like the feel of it, but the organ is very harmonically rich and dominating and... well, too much music. A couple of detuned chords would be nice for effect, but not this much. It's also too loud, especially during the 2:20 section, but other places as well. There's a lot going on in the track, I'd recommend cleaning it up. The Zelda's Lullaby section is nice, but the one before is a little too cluttered. It might be really elaborate beautiful writing, but much of it is drowned in the rest of it. De-clutter and fix the organ. The sources I knew from before are there, easy to recognize. I think this could get a YES once it's polished, but there could be issues I'm not hearing (laptop speakers, no headphones atm). Gonna be great when it's done.

Let me elaborate on what Kyle just said. The verse is the changing part of a song, usually not as intense as the chorus. Their lyrics are different every time. The chorus is therepeated "theme" of the song, usually with the same lyrics, usually more intense than the verse. The bridge is a deviating part of the song, essentially an additional couple of lines of chorus or a short verse to other chords and with another melody. Usually, songs are laid up like this: Intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-end Note that in some songs, there are repeated verses, a song can end with a bridge or verse, have no intro, have the chorus as intro, etc. Just listen to some commersial music (with lyrics!) and you should hear the difference easily.

Finnish? What's that? Some language of some backwater country with a random world-leading cell phone company, operating system, education...? Some language only of interest to fantasy writers and Conan O'Brien...? Some language that nobody besides evktalo speaks on a daily basis? Finnish? Seriously tho, that sounds interesting, let me hear it when it's done. Especially the finnish parts. I want to hear how close to epic fail the pronounciation is. Anyway, I'm unable to listen to your track atm, but will check it out later and leave my feedback.

I'm actually having trouble hearing if the bass instrument is strings or brass, but whatever it is, it need humanization, possibly more layers, chords, counterpoint, something, they're too alone. Considering the crashing start you had, you should either give the whole track much more weight (at some point), or rework those first seconds. If you're gonna add more weight, you might want to add some to the intro as well, just so it doesn't sound out of place. It's a nice start, but aside from being longer, it needs to be deeper, more elaborate.

Not too fond of the synth used when the track really gets started, nor of the square or whatever it is in the first part of the first (fits better after "cannot fight"). You've got painfully sharp s's in the non-vocoded vocals. The vocoded ones aren't as sharp, though they could use some dampening too. The five-note little arpeggio-like melody just before the chorus (and half way through it) sounds a little forced and not quite fitting. Might be that it's jsut breaking out of the soundscape, try just dropping its levels a little. This is great, it just needs to be less painful.

It's like vgmusic, it blocks the link but not the url. Copy-pasta! Source is clear and not verbatim in the intro, but I had trouble hearing it further on. The hihats need to sound less sharp and ticky, so work on their EQ. That's what I got so far. Not bad.

Pwnsome, man. Pwnsome. Consider varying the soundscape later on by using an organ or glockenspiel or something. Source is there, obviously adapted. More length and I'd YES it. If I was a jugde, I mean.

I like the drums, and the overall sound is good. It's way too close to original. It's also not going anywhere, and this is the kind of track I think needs to. What this needs is an end. That's among the hardest things to come up with, and many fail. See if you can come up with a chord progression, a creative spin on the melody, somewhere new to take the listener. This is promising, but it's not ocr material yet.

Short answer: EQ. Long answer: If they sound good on their own (when everything else is muted), add one instrument at a time and listen for when it becomes muddy. When it does, it's probably because this other isntrument is competing with the guitar for the same frequencies. Drop the shared frequencies in the guitar channel's equalizer. You may have to change the EQ of the other channel as well. If they sound muddy on their own, it's probably a recording/amp issue. Can't help you much if it's a recording thing, but if it's an amp (or amp sim) thing, tweak its settings 'til it sounds better. Muddy usually means there's too much in the low-mid range/not enough in the high range, so fix accordingly.

Someone had a wip of that here ages ago, I remember it vaguely. I've tried this source myself. The orchestra hits... Play them one octave up. If they lose bass, play BOTH. I think I had four octaves of orchestra hits for a track some time ago. It'll give them more punch and have them break through the soundscape better. The backing beeping thing... Your version isn't bad, but I'd like to hear the original more. 0:34-0:47, you've done something weird with the time sig here (like ignoring it). It's not a bad idea, but it needs more work, it's easy for the listener to lose track of where the beat it. Drums need to be more interesting, methinks. More bass drum, an alternate or layered second hihat/shaker track, something. Snare needs more punch during the sections where the orchestra hit is playing, it's being drowned. Source is there, tho not as I remember it. There's enough of your original take on it, tho it's a bit chaotic. Clean it up, you have a few notes straying out of key, messy use of the orchestra hits, those time sig issues that should sound more deliberate... Clean it up and give it more attitude.

Some people have to wait days for a reply, don't expect one within 12 hours. The sound is decent. I'm not fond of the stereo presence of the snare. The guitars be recorded again and panned opposite the existing ones, it'll give a greater stereo width to the track. Also, bring back the sound you had the first couple of seconds, it's a great sound and it'd spice up the track. It gets kind'a repetitive really soon. You need more lead, whether it's synth or guitar. It's at a good length, but it's very repetitive, so make more stuff happen, make the sound change a bit more. Those synth sections are nice, but you should throw in a really rude guitar solo somewhere. Also, comparing this to source reveals it might be too close to get on OCR. You could deviate a little further, a little more. Add a calm section, play a section twice as fast, put your own original spin on the melody and rhythm, do something different.