Rozovian

And not just any ad spam, Ad G spam. Somebody do an Ad G spam can image! Terms for discussing the preview... uh, idunno. As long as nobody outside the project hears or sees anything, I don't think reading anything would do anything but add hype among those that don't know anything. Which reminds me, I should let the guys at seikens.com know about the upcoming teaser AND my Heroes of Mana AOCC track. Sheexy must not have realized I did another Mana series track this year. Moz, link coming once I've written this post. I must have left adding your email to my contact list for "later" last time. By mad.

Welcome to the feedback boards, PN. You're gonna have to find a different host if you want ppl to listen to it. Most ppl won't bother registering at a new site, and you want to make it easy for ppl to listen. Box.net and tindeck.com are commonly used here, and there's other good ones as well.

Whoa, hard production here, nice lack of intro. Repetition is a problem, both in the writing and in the sound, at least if you're aiming for ocr. Might be a staple of the genre, but it doesn't quite hold my interest throughout. The source works well with this style, I can see why it got you inspired. Welcome to the site, btw. And it _does_ accept C64 mixes, too.

This source sounds familiar... Aren't there parts of Schala's theme in here as well? Not gonna check, but you should mention that - especially when you sub. I expect you to sub this when it's done. Nice intro, and you find a groove quite quickly. Might wanna make that filtered backing lead a little less filtered, either by opening the filter or by using a lighter filter. You might wanna turn down the key sensitivity on it tho, the higher notes can get a bit loud. It ends up quite far in the background, way behind the bells and clock noises (a really cool idea, and works great here). Transition into the piano part is a bit abrupt. The sax and cello work okay, but you'd have to humanize them. Sound-wise they work well, tho sax+zeal sounds a bit... idunno, retro ocr? Trouble coming up with a next part? You know, remixes don't have to be terribly long. Just start writing a last chorus part and an ending. If it turns into something else, that works too.

The sound is raw, dry, and mechanical. There's not enough ideas in here for an arrangement this long. You've been having problems like these for a while now, Wolfie, maybe you should practice with a a 30-second remix of something, practice refining a single idea (refining rather than extending), practice humanization and mixing. You'll get there.

Snare gets a really weird pan effect with so different samples hardpanned. Ease up on that. Drums are repetitive. The part with just kick and snap, no snare, doesn't sound quite right imo. That kick doesn't have the right sound to stand on its own like that. You can try adding a soft, heavily reverbed or filtered snare or something to fill the hole in the rhythm. There's some odd note choices in some of the melodies. Nice sound choices, but the whole thing sounds a bit empty. You could bring up the mids to fill out that range a bit more. Just be careful in the parts that get more mid action, like the crescendoing strings around the middle of the track. I like the arrangement. It's a bit bare-boned-y, being mostly a chord sequence from source and a single instrument repeating the lead melody, but it works. It could be more elaborate, and the judges might reject it over that, but I can't think of anything else, so you can sub it and see what the judges think. It could be more elaborate than I give credit for, but the many high bell and pluck sounds make it seem more sparse. These are the checklist items I can apply to this: STRUCTURE -Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough) -Too repetitive Nice work.

Not familiar with Boards of Canada, so I might not "get" this track. Just so you know. The breakdown seems about right, but it's a really broken up arrangement and the transitions get worse as the track goes on. You've got a really interesting sound design here, and those background voice clips don't bother me - they just add to the ambience. What does bother me is the level of noise in the track. I get that it's coming from your instrumentation, but it sounds like some kind of electric hum. Not pretty. The off-tune instrument for the Pollyanna melody doesn't make things better. These, and transition problems, apply: PRODUCTION -Low-quality samples - not so much as low as... weird-quality samples. Get rid of the noise. -Drums have no energy PERFORMANCE (live recorded audio/MIDI parts) -Timing not tight enough -Bad intonation STRUCTURE -Pace too plodding -Too repetitive

Way too much bass, way too much compression, way too repetitive, timings seem sloppy too. Nice sounds, nice groove, but terrible mixing. This wouldn't make it to the panel. Why are you marking stuff you didn't spend more than an hour on as mod review? (Everyone, when you mark something for mod review, please include a source link somewhere. If you want us to evaluate your stuff, you can at least make it a little easier for us.) - ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION I'm not gonna consider this without a source link. PRODUCTION -Too loud -Overcompressed (pumping/no dynamics) PERFORMANCE (live recorded audio/MIDI parts) -Timing not tight enough - possibly in the intro STRUCTURE -Too repetitive -Too short -Abrupt ending

Popular track you've got here. Ride is pretty thin. The arpeggios is pretty loud. Actually, most of the synths are pretty loud, or shrill enough to cut through a little too well. That first arpeggio seems a bit thick around the mids and its attack seems to be a millisecond too fast. The bell arp that follows has some really shrill overtones. It gets a bit messy in the busy parts, so some eq cleanup/separation wouldn't hurt. It's pretty conservative, but with the dynamics and the solo part I think it's altered enough to have a decent shot at ocr. Pretty rockin' track, dude.

...aaaaand it's out. If I have your email. If you did not get the email with the link to the preview, get me your email address. (if you're on the project, I mean) Huh, ilp0 needs to get me a new email that works.

You know, I actually wouldn't mind a pyrotechnic welcome... Also thanks everyone.

Hi new guy... gal... thing? So you're looking for something more like this one? You actually seem like the perfect candidate to read it and let me know where it gets to complicated and if I skip past stuff we just take for granted. (guides&tutorials is the place for guides and tutorials, not where you ask for guides and tutorials )

Okay, internal review is uploaded... Anyone on the project who wants it and whose email I don't have, email/PM/IM me. I haven't actually sent it out yet, so... btw, I trust the internal preview stays internal. I'll start working on the teaser this weekend, we already have some of it sketched out. If anyone has an opinion on whether their work should or should not be included, or preferences as to which of their works should be featured in the teaser, let me know asap. ... oh crap, I forgot something in the preview. Fix, reupload.... stupid 15 missing words....

I totally mute the output when I mix, and skip my own tracks whenever they appear in my playlists.

Read about synthesis (I have some info on it in my guide). Then load up presets in any synth, turn off filters and effects, try to figure out how each part of the synth changes the sound from the raw waveforms. Do not attempt to understand fm synthesis, at least not yet, focus on subtractive synths. The aforementioned FreeAlpha is one of the free synths I recommend, as is TAL-Elek7ro II. (btw VST does not mean Virtual inStrument)

1. It's the only famous enough site for video game music to be worth submitting their masterpieces to. OCR Y U NO UNDASTAND MY GENUS? 2. I'm so damaged by ocr's idea of remixing that I can't do too conservative stuff anymore. I don't have anywhere else to take my meandering messes. The community here seems to like my work, so I keep at it. Can't quit the site until the sd3 project is done anyway. Besides, it's taught me lots to hang around and make stuff, listen to stuff, and crit stuff. I still have stuff to learn, and can't think of any better place to learn than here. On that note, why isn't ocr accredited as an educational institution? Comparing the musical degrees and *ahem* chops of today...

Yeah, sweet soundscaping. Nah, piano doesn't make it too conservative, and there's other elements in here that keep it personalized anyway. Drums don't quite fit imo. I'd go for a more... idunno, organic drum sound. And I'd probably put a delay on it and filter out the kick and stuff like that, but that's me.

Big issues you missed? Yes. Still some weird notes. Here's an idea: Make a copy of the whole song, then replace all instruments (except drums, obviously) with piano. Write down all the parts where the melodies sound weird together, then figure out why. Fix it. When it's fixed, write down how you fixed it. When it's all fixed, go back to the original version, and fix it there. That way your ears won't be distracted by the different instruments and will more easily hear dissonance and just plain weird harmonies. Still volume issues. Here's an idea: In that piano-only version, change track levels so stuff that's supposed to be foreground is louder than stuff that's supposed to be in the background. Write down which tracks are where. Now apply this to the original. Then there's the snare. It's not a terrible sample, but it's the same sample on every note, whether soft or loud. I you have other snare samples, especially grace notes, flams, rolls, use them. If you have a snare instrument (solo or in a kit) with different samples for different velocities, that helps too. The idea is to make sure it doesn't sound like the same sample over and over. If your sampler lets you do this (you may have to put the snare on a separate track, on a separate kit), set the attack time to change depending on velocity. You can also use the filter to mask the sample, tho that works best when it's subtle and together with other methods. You're getting there. 2:14-2:44 is nice. The ending sounds written ok, tho you need to fix the strings slow attack and fast release. There were other parts where the snare or flute was the only big detracting element, so you're moving in the right direction.

+1 thumb. The rest of you, be done whining and get back to making cool music.

Nice looking game, burning forests ftw. It's hard for me to miss some of the problems with the mp3 versions. The music itself ain't bad, but the production stuff is in really newby territory - the kind I'm used to helping ppl out of. I could help you guys with needs 1, 2 and 4. Hit me up on aim (rozovian) or email (rozovianmusic at gmail) for details and we can work something out.

1:58-2:30 sounds okay, with the exception of the higher flute notes (like at 2:20) - they sound out of tune. It's not like there aren't improvements to be made in this part, but it's the best part in the track in all regards. The bass drum is WAAAAY too loud. If you don't want to reduce its level, EQ down its lows until it stops dominating the track. The flute doesn't really fit most of the track. Seems to be a combination of writing that doesn't quite agree with the chords, and its high notes being out of tune. The pizzicato strings have a really weird delay/reverb on them, and are too upfront. Work on your ears. If you need listening practice, here's one of my tracks from when I was fairly new to ocr (mid 2008 or something). It has some of the same problems you've got, including out of tune instruments, off-scale stuff, and unbalanced mixing. It has a lot of cool stuff, lots of ideas worth revisiting, but it's not a good track in this state.

Jordan, Jordan, Jordan... You should read my guide, in particular the chapters on writing: harmony and mixing: volume. I won't spoil your listening practice, but on a quick listen I easily heard an instrument that's too loud and seems like it should be further back, and that there are clashes between the chords and the melodies. You're still making these mistakes - learn to avoid them and your music will improve drastically.

Everything depends on the result you're after, the source you've got, the time you've got, the tools you've got... If you're going for a vastly different arrangement, going by ear is usually better. Not only does this limit you to the parts you can make out, but any mistakes you make will add to the personalization of it. I've heard notes 6 and 7 in the lead melody of ALttP's Dark World in two common variations. I don't remember which is correct, and I'm not gonna check right now. They both sound like the same song, but the choice of those notes affect how the remix feels. I used to use midi a lot, but these days I'm either remixing stuff that there's a lot of midi of, or I just find it faster to get to the parts I need by figuring it out myself. As for transitions, I usually wing it, which... kind'a makes my tracks meandering. Case in point, one of my AOCC mixes for this year. Transcribed by ear (with keyboard), originally written as three distinct parts and probably transitioning poorly between them. If you have all the source stuff just sitting there, next to the awkward chords and clunky rhythms you've written, you'll likely be tempted to just use stuff from source. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, you probably won't be experimenting as much, and not end up with cool odd-time intros/outros, new chord sequences, more interesting remixes... and you might not learn why the originals were written as they were. Then again, if you're pressed for time or are dealing with a long source, several sources, or a complicated source, ripping parts from midis gets you to the adapting and arranging sooner as you'll have the parts you need in midi form without spending lots of time trying to figure out the notes. In other words, it depends on stuff.

Dude, you really should read your posts before posting. As for bass dynamics is always a good thing especially with real bass played and recorded as not just the amplitude but the frequency distribution is also affected by the playing style and the attributes of the instrument itself even tho youd likely compress and eq the sound somewhere in the mixing process the qualities of the source sound still get through just consider transients the compressor doesnt get to in time or the difference in the sound of a slapped bass note and a regular fingered one even if you put a hard multiband compressor on it you can still tell the difference the same applies when its mixed in with loads of other sounds even side-chained to duck under the kick it matters while you of course have to manage the dynamics while mixing to make sure it fits in and doesnt drown any other instruments or get drowned itself you need the qualities of the original performance as they are important in crafting a mix that doesnt sound like a square peg in a round hole with the overly thick sound you can hear in many modern productions where everything is as loud as it gets you need dynamics to let the music and the listener breathe so squashing the bass altho giving the mix a darker heavier sound is not really something I recommend its best to preserve the original performance altho some loss of dynamics is required to have your mixes loud enough to not sound out of place in the company of other modern mixes but you gotta be careful to not overdo it I would suggest studying mixes that have been praised for their production by ppl that know what they're talking about to learn how the end result sounds and compare that to your own mixes.

"I wanna be a taxi driver. I know every street in city x and its surroundings by heart, I know all the right routes to avoid getting stuck in traffic, I'm great with people, I'm attentive in traffic and know the traffic laws... But what do I do to drive? What are wheels?" I'm working on a guide that should help you get started. While it's geared towards remixing game music ocr-style, most of the guide is just about music in general: writing, production, all that stuff. It's a work in progress, but I think I'm only missing a chapter on recording before I go into finalizing it - so the parts you'll need to get started are all there. Here's the link. (I wouldn't mind feedback on it - is it helping, what parts are too complicated, did I miss something important, did you spot an error, etc.. It's preferred, but not required.)