Rozovian

Mic noises. Needs some EQing, or a multipressor, as it also needs more volume. Where did you record this? You might want to consider a larger space, or to apply reverb, tho the former is a more organic (and REAL) option. I'm not that good at how mics should be placed when recording stuff, but it sounds to me like there's some lack of stereo here. Not that it's mono, just that there's more width to be taken advantage of. The mic or mics feel like they're in front of the instrument, not behind or above where I recall them usually being placed, probably for good reason. I like the section leading up to 4:14 somewhere. Mic noises annoy me the most here. No wait, the ending annoys me more. These fixes, and you're good, I guess. I like the arrangement the part ending around 2:40 is really cool, followed by a really beautiful piece. I'm not that familiar with the source, tho. Could you, or someone else provide some MIDI of the original(s) for reference? Re-record, some processing, and you're good to go. If there's enough source in this, I'd say you'll get a YES from the judges. I could be wrong, and there's still those production issues to be worked out.

It's very repetitive, it stopped being cool to listen to after a minute, and at 3 minutes in, I'm getting tired of it. Try doing something original to practice your skills and tools. Then copy a small part of this and rewrite it. Then take another part and rewrite it. I mean, take a melody, nothing more, and write your own accompaniment, the backing tracks for the melody. Then take, like another melody, and do the same thing. If other parts still fit into those, insert them. Develop your arranger skills like this, or some other way. Let me ask you this: would you listen to this? The drums need to be way more interesting. Sections need to be more tightly bridged. The bass needs more bass (and needs to be in key). The backing soft synth needs to have a more active role, and more depth. It sounds completely unmixed. Decide what the important instruments are, and make them louder. EQ them accordingly. The bass doesn't need as much in the high range, but your leads are completely overshadowed by it. Your drums are really two-dimension with no punch or anything. I'm hearing promise, but your production and arrangement issues are stealing all the light. Four minutes of material that, like this, would easily be boring when squeezed into two minutes... You need to make this more interesting, give it more depth, more life. But like I said, I am hearing promise, so it's not all bad. It just takes some practice and a lot of listening. Don't think "I'm a newb, so it doesn't have to be perfect". Think: "I'm gonna be a remixer, my stuff needs to be decent or better". Good luck!

Haven't had the time yet to try out your suggestions, but here's the most recent version. My biggest problem has been direction. There's a few things I know I need to change in this, sections to bridge in better ways, but in case there's stuff I've missed, and in case I'm compeltely screwing up the direction, let me know. And I also appreciate positive feedback, so thanks for that. Constructive is more helpful, but... Rod - it's all sampled orchestral stuff. No synths. Also, I have no decent or half-decent choir samples, just bad and/or low quality ones.

My thoughts, listening through. Some guitar notes have a little click. Lower attack slightly or use another sample. The intro is a little too long and it makes the whole thing really repetitive. You could kill at least a half minute of the stuff before 1:28. The harp, or whatever it is, needs waay longer release time. More bass! Seriously, the instrument is fine, it just needs to be louder. More bass on the EQ, or more volume, but... more bass! 2:29-2:59, see if you can shorten this, kill a loop or so. 3:13-3:41 again? The subtle changes either need to be way more prominent, or the whole thing needs to be shorter. Basically, it's the same from 2:29 to 3:41, and with the same rhythm coming back at 4:13, it's just way too much that's the same. This last time around, it works better due to the differences. The 4:58 to end part is too long. 1,5 mins head, 1 min tail, it's too much. You could halve this and make the remix more compact. Throughout, the piano is very mechanical, it needs to be more humanized. Change velocity on the individual notes to fit what someone actually would play. Overall, it's very repetitive. I'm not familiar with the source, so I can't comment on how well it's incorporated into this. This is something I can imagine myself listening too, once it's been fixed a bit. Length is a problem, repetition is another, and there's the bass issue too. Also, with stuff cut out, I worry there's not enough content, so while you should cut and merge stuff, you should also find places to add your own take on the theme, beyond extending and into expanding.

I used to confuse some themes in Super Metroid, calling Red Brinstar "Maridia". You've got it backwards too, this is the second Maridia theme. You've got enough of the source in this, unfortunately not tied together. It feels like a drum region, a bass region (that needs more bass and less noise), a low noisy lead, a piano region, and a flute region, tossed together in different combinations without any arrangement besides simplifications of the source. I'm not feeling the bass. Listen to some drum n' bass music to get a feel for it. It sounds more like the backing beat for rap than dnb, what little I've actually listened to either. This needs more work. Reason is a great tool, I've heard really impressive stuff done is Reason, so it's up to you to learn how to use it. Bass, variation... this doesn't have energy. Dnb, afaik, has energy. But work on it for a week or two, and come back. There's some pretty cool things you've done with the drums. I suggest you don't try to make it dnb, just make it your own style until you start hearing what it should be. Or, work hard ot studying dnb and rework it in that direction. Good luck, and check back in a while for feedback on your next version.

Teh link doesn't wörk. Hard to give feedback then.

Yeah, I'm with da Haus on samples, they're really atmospheric and you use them well. I'm not too fond of the bass drum, it's a little too soft in more than one way. See if you cna find a more aggressive one. It fits in better when there' enough other stuff going on, but that's not always. It's quite repetitive. Lose the section from 0:28-0:35, or even the 0:35-0:49, except the piano that you throw in in the section before 0:28. Shortens the remix and kills lots of the repetition. 0:49-1:32 is pretty much the same throughout, and with the break that follows shortly, it should have way more energy... and be shorter. 2:08 - nice. 2:22 - even nicer. 2:36 - okay, getting boring, despite that it's a pretty piano. The texture is too much the same. 2:58 - okay, we know you can take breaks, and this one is pretty boring, tho the ending almost makes up for it. Not because the ending isn't good, but because there's a lot breaks in this remix. Plus, this one is too long. 3:12, yeah, that's right, more energy. But... it needs _more_ energy still. And it needs to lose some repetition. Much of this remix sounds like it's an attempt at making a long remix instead of making a good one. It's not bad, but it gets boring quickly. The soundscape is really great, what this needs is just more variation, and about a minute or so cut away from the repeated sections. Gonna be interesting to see how much you agree with and how much betetr it'll get from a few fixes, so come back with the next version soon!

Straight to the criticisms: There's some noise at times, I think you've got it justa little too loud. Bring down the master as little as possible. It could be the samples, but it seems to only happen at the loudest parts. Then there's a little click in the beginning, and the whole (almost) silent part in the beginning (0:00-0:06) is something I bet the judges would have you to fix before they'd let the remix onto the site. Strings sound so much better now. Kick needs more boom. Layer another sample on top of it, something with more bass and boom. Either that, or add a bass on it. That bass could follow the low brass most of the time. Effects, use a compressor on each drum. The toms could use that, and the kick more so. I'd use a little bit more reverb, I think. A really weak compressor or multipressor on the master out could also be good, level it all out a little more and kill spikes... which could be what those crackling noises are. And then there's the matter of velocities. Don't think about that you may have to set it on every single note. Focus on the exciting parts of one instrument, say, the guitar at 0:58-1:10. The end hits could use more velocity, and some notes in the beginning and middle of this section, the lower ones, could be less loud. Some of them. Then pick another section to fix like that. With strings, use the automation feature to give more life. Think like a string ensemble - more or less volume on sustained chords, depending on what you wanna do with them. Drums, start by fixing the tambourine, the multiple hits at the end of every measure (if I got the terminology right), the first ones could be a bit more quiet. The opposite on the 1:10- part, first one louder or second one more quiet. But you're right, this is sounding a lot better.

You obviously haven't fixed the bass drum. The instrument really subtly in the background, 0:28-0:, it could be a little louder or otherwise more prominent. That'd kill some repetition. 1:24, nice break. 1:39, lead sounds better with filter on, maybe you should open the filter more or up the release. 1:54, lead sounds cheap. On the adsr, lower sustain and raise release, that's what I'd try. It's not half as repetitive as I feared, tho I'd leave out the bass in some places, or play something else with it. Do those fixes, the ones you deem appropriate, and the bass drum, and I'd give you a YES. Now the only question that remains is, does it fit the judging criterion on source vs original content?

Okay, one of my favourites from when the remixes I knew were Metroid ones. It's a great remix. And it's surprisingly old, which makes it even better. While the first synth is really primitive, it fits right in with the crazy calm, or calm crazyness, that this remix induces. Highly recommended.

I just started reviewing, something I've been meaning to do for a while, drop a line on every song I've heard. Now I instead went to listen to some old stuff I hadn't heard before. And then there's this. It's Jeremy Robson, it's Seiken Densetsu 3, and it's great. Where are the reviews? This one deserves several pages of reviews. Really!

This is one of my favourites, ever! Those who have read some of my posts should know I avoid using exclamation marks, but when an exclamation mark is due, it's due. And there it is. His inspiration for this comes through nicely. It's an overall high quality arrangement of two probably underrated themes from sd3. Repeat: This is one of my favourites, ever!

Source is definitely Kikuta, and this remix is a decent remix of it. Seeing how old it is, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's still listenable. A number of sound effects make it pretty atmospheric. The drums cheapen it a bit, at least in the intro, and I feel the end could have used those two minutes it'd take to set the notes to fade out rather than just pop off. But overall, it's not much worse than what's being approved today, at least not when listening through laptop speakers.

I played this game too when I was younger. I remember not understanding much of it, but that's about it. It's a pretty cool synth demo, but doesn't really sound that much like a remix. Then again, the source, that of it a quick google let me find, wasn't much to remix anyway. Anyone working with synths should listen to this, just for the synths. That it's a remix of the first game from which the SCUMM engine came gives it a bonus point, too.

I like the drums. It's minimalistic, and feels very much like a remix, in the in-between traditional and ReMix sense. Not much original content, but it doesn't need it. While the isntruments are fakish, the theme and how the remixer treated it isn't pretentious enough for the simple synths and samples to matter. That's what I think, when hearing it to review. I've heard it before, and haven't really listened to it since. A sound update and recorded guitars and trumpet would make it really cool. Bonus points for reverse snare and for a really cool break jsut before a minute has passed.

Nowadays, this wouldn't have passed, for a number of reasons. Too much of a cover+drums, arrangement-wise hasn't left the NES era. Would be interesting to see what the remixer would do today, tho, as this seems like a first attempt, a MIDI copy with drums, and that was ages ago.

All percussion... I like that idea, and the source even calls for it. Link to a MIDI version or archive is always good to provide, for comparison. Of course, vgmusic link don't work by clicking on them, so: http://vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/Rowasae.mid Correct me if I'm wrong. Feels like the tambourine should be EQed up a little in the high range, and the overall volume down, as there's some clashing when it plays more intensely. Try adding a multipressor to the output, try out some presets. It's hard to give constructive criticism on an all percussion piece, so that's all I've got. Well, I could add that I like it.

Sound quality has improved with the new strings, but the overall in those parts don't appear any better as there's now a really slow attack on the strings. See if you can tweak the attack, or start from further on in the sample. Now it sounds like the strings are a little behind. You could of course fix that by moving them a little little bit back, tho I'd prefer strings with sharper attack. Dunno how much control you've got over soundfonts, so can't tell you what to do, but see if you can fix that somehow. Also, the strings need a longer release time. The theremin is cool, but with a rather soft attack, strings lagging and drums providing a solid rhythm, everything sounds unsynched at that point. Probably because of the strings. It also sounds a bit off key. Try recording yourself, and apply some effects, kill highs and lows with EQThat's the best way to fake a theremin unless you sit for hours tweaking vibrato, tremolo, and pitch bend settings on a sine wave. Also, apply a little reverb to make it less dry. Tensei-San, I dunno what bus features and reverb effects FL has, so you should help him with that. Do note, Haus, that too much reverb drowns the song, and too little (or none) make it sound like MIDI or like something recorded in a bathroom. Different instrument require different amounts of reverb. Check the guides forum, I think there's a section on reverb in zircon's compendium. Much to do. But you're getting a big fat bonus point for the WHOO sound.

The bass drum is noisy. Unless it's intentional, I'd suggest cleaning it up with a cutoff filter. It could also be a little harder, quicker attack, slower compression, whatever can be done. It works as it is, but towards the end, it starts to feel a little soft. The soundscape could use a little more variation, at about 2/3rds of it's length, I start getting tired of it, so some variation would be good. The hihats are a bit too sharp. The car starting noise feels a little out of place. I dunno if the game has anything... oh right, you addressed that yourself. Nevermind. So when it comes to adding stuff, make sure only to add where adding is due. It works as it is. It does need an ending, and as trance, it could use a bit more length. I think Production is okay, but production isn't my forte. Arrangement is... well, it's trance. That's what I can help you with. I dunno how close to source this is, but if there's more from source that you could sneak in, subtly into the diverse notes (unless they're from source already) played by the piano, or into the bassline or backing synth or any of the additions you're making. Gonna be interesting to see what the update will be like.

Looks to me like it can do most of what most programs can do... Tho I couldn't find that much on sequencing. Reaper seems to be a recording and mixing app, not a sequencer, despite some sequencer features. Have a look at the documentation, it usually helps. Someone that knows Reaper should be able to actually answer and not just point you in the right direction. Search the manual until you know whether or not you sequence using this... ...unless you plan on recording everything from audio. edit: never mind.

I think this calls for a guide on the basic principles behind remixing, or ReMixing. Or some sort of survey where remixers share their methods and views on how to go from hearing a Mario theme to making Angry Jumpin' Plummer or The Italian Hero. Not having gotten a ReMix approved, I'm not gonna start telling ppl how to do it. That's what the WIP forums are for. ReMixers, if you wouldn't mind...

I think it's ok. It's repetitive, and several of the samples used are low quality, but it's got variation enough. Some cuts and merging, and you should end up with a pretty cool piece of tolerable length and decent variation. I really like the intro. And bonus points for a cool bass! Sometimes way too high, feels like you could drop it an octave in some places, but overall nice. Cut away half of 0:44-1:12, it loops. Nice transition to "chorus". 1:44, you could toss in a secondary, faster, rhythm instrument, a shaker, second hihat, something cool on a ride, somthing like that. 1:58, okay transition, but when it comes back at 2:13, I'm sick of the texture you've used. Drop a few layers at either part. 2:28, less good transition, why not drop drums alltogether, 'til 2:42, to make it different, vary the remix a bit. 2:58, repeat from 1:58-3:41, boring. Something new, something different, please. The third time around (3:26-3:41), it's different enough, isn't it enough to just use that one? 3:41-3:04. Nice ending, it works. You could vary the drum comp a bit here, soften it a bit, keep only the crucial kicks or something, remove every other hihat. And the last note should fade out better than that. Sooner, maybe, but not as sharply as it does at the very end. Plus I was kind'a expecting to hear another note there too, one note lower (two seminotes down). These are a few of my observations, opinion, and suggestions. Do what you can with it, and come back to show what you've got. This isn't bad for a newb.

Remixed "Final Hours" because I found it requested on the requests forum. Submitted. Got a no. Worked on it, forgot all about it, and now, bored out of my skull with the lack of activity on ocr atm, I felt like getting some feedback on it, here, wosmething I should have done in the first place. Well, live and learn. The links: MIDI for comparison at http://vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/Last_Day_v1.4.MID (remember, direct links to vgmusic don't work) The judges' NO The old, NO-ed remix The new and improved, and hopefully better, remix The newer and improveder, and hopefully better...er, remix Bear in mind that I only recently rediscovered this one. I wanted some feedback before getting back to working on it.

Using headphones, this sound bot better and worse. There's a world of new flaws I'm hearing... Then again, everything sounds much better. Too bad the net is down at home, or I wouldn't have to haul my headphones to work just to respond. But now, the feedback: I now hear the harp could use a little longer release time. The first ride touch more so, it dies out too soon. make the note longer or tweak the settings. Panning works well. The drumkit sounds backwards, but that's probably because I've spent too much time on the wrong side of the drums. If you want this to feel more like a band, imagine placing the different instruments on a stage and panning accordingly. Just don't lose balance. It sounds good enough as it is, tho I'd try moving the bass somewhere, see if it work better a bit to the... right, I think. No promises, but try it. If it doesn't sound better, leave it where it currently is. It's good. Gonna be interesting to see what's next on this. See how much original stuff you can fit in and still stay true to the source. Then, and ending... or is it to soon to ask? We're waiting. Well, I am.

Write a whole lot of short pieces that can be put in any order wherever they fit. That'll get rid of some of the cue problems. Depending on music genre, you might even get away with fading it in and out. A good idea would be to talk to whoever's doing sound, as the auditory landscape is, like almost all aspects of movie-making, a collaboration.