Flexstyle

Oh man, BIG smile on my face as soon as that first drop hit. Super creative arrangement, great chopping and layering of SFX and synths. I'm gonna side with Larry on this one in that I definitely think that the high and mids could stand to be cleaned up. In this case, I think it's as simple as lowering some elements of the mix--taking off a bit of the compression on the "real" drums, lowering some of the synthetic hats in the mix, maybe lowering some of the really glistening synth stuff so it's not quite as piercing. Some of the pad synths could use less energy in the high-midrange, just to leave room for the leads. Could use just a bit more low end to the entire mix as well, and that might help balance it out overall, too. So yeah, basically, I love this song! I just think it needs a *liiiittle* bit more production love to get it over the bar completely. I'm not gonna be mad if this makes it to the front page on arrangement strength alone, but I would really love to hear it cleaned up properly. NO (Resubmit, PLEASE!) EDIT - 9-9-14 I'm gonna go ahead and change my vote on this one. After listening to the song on several different sets of speakers and headphones, I think the arrangement is good enough and the source shines through clearly enough to go ahead and give this a pass. Yeah, it's a bit crowded, but the source is always legible, and the mixing isn't enough of a distraction on all the systems I've heard to where I can, in good conscience, keep holding this one back. YES

Kinda echoing what others have said on this one, I think there are some fantastic arrangement ideas in here. It just feels like it needs a good bit more production polish to make them work properly. The biggest issue is that there's too much fighting for space in the upper-midrange spectrum, which leads to the entire mix sounding piercing and harsh. It tends to bring this harshness at the cost of the low and low-mids, too, so a revamp on some of the instrument choices may be in order. Definitely hearing some overcompression when things start to get busy, too, so rearranging your instruments and mixing may help with that as well. The drums, too, could use some thickening. The snare, in particular, could use more beef in the low mid section--perhaps add another snare layer? I think I hear what you're trying to do with the bassline during the breakdown or "drop" sections, but you could use a patch with a lot more body to it. Right now, it's mostly sub frequencies and a bit of high mid--which, again, that high mid stuff is all fighting with the rest of the song for space in the mix. Really love the arrangement on this one, so I'd focus on beefing up your drums, making the synths play nice with one another, and getting that mix smoothed out. I hope we hear this one back again soon! NO (resubmit, please!)

I don't see it either. Win8 Pro x64, Chrome, at my usual zoom level (175%). EDIT: Changing the zoom level makes no difference. EDIT2: Cleared the page cache (by pressing ctrl+F5) and it's reappeared, in the slightly modified spot. Try that, guys.

If you've got a Mac, then you own Garageband. Have you tried that recently? It's built on the same engine as Logic Pro, which means that once you outgrow Garageband, you can still import your projects into Logic. Last time I used GB, it didn't have a great piano roll, so you may just want to give Logic a shot in the first place, though. The other tool you might look into is Reason, and I do believe it has a demo. I haven't used it a whole lot myself, but my younger brother does use it, and I was able to navigate its piano roll with very little trouble. For reference, my usual DAW is FL Studio, host of the best piano roll in the business.

Hey guys. I haven't forgotten about this, and--circumstances allowing--I plan to start work on it first thing after the Reno GAME Expo is over as my next big music project. I still plan on getting something usable together by January, too. I've been incredibly swamped even after my graduation, though, so I'm easing myself slowly back into the OCR waters.

Since I grew up without a console in my house (dirty lil' secret from an OCR judge, I know), I'm not very familiar with the Sega back catalog of games. Nintendo and Sony's stuff seems to get more airtime as far as "popular themes," aside from the Sonic stuff. I'm working on a project that involves Sega game remixes, and I need some education. What's your favorite non-Sonic Sega-based game? Doesn't have to be a Sega exclusive, necessarily. Bonus points: what's your favorite remix from a non-Sonic Sega game? Doesn't have to be from OCR, necessarily. Extra bonus points: what's your favorite electronic/dance remix with the above criteria?

I've always enjoyed watching his videos and his straight-laced, no-nonsense approach to video game reviews and the state of the industry in general. May he be blessed in his battle against a horrible disease.

I'm all for loops. When I'm on a deadline, they're lifesavers. When I'm in a dry spell, they're lifesavers. When I just need a flavor that I can't play myself (or don't feel like sequencing), they're lifesavers. Heck, even my contribution to the MM25 album leans heavily on some loops, just because they made it possible for me to force the song in some, any direction at all. Loops are there to be used, and you'd be a fool not to make full use of your toolbox. It's like a carpenter saying "Nah, I'm not gonna use that power drill--gotta use the hand crank or it's not really my work!"

Dude. I gotta visit your house sometime.

Reviving this thread to post this killer deal on a great interface and mic combo: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Blue18i8Bun I'm hoping I can afford this after my graduation party and the expected gifts that come with such a thing.

Sure, I wasn't necessarily suggesting you grab the unit from the store--of course Amazon is more reasonably-priced! I'm just saying you may find it useful to touch any given piece of hardware before you buy it.

Pioneer makes pretty decent gear, as far as I know. I personally own the Numark Mixtrack, with a Traktor Audio 2 as the audio interface. So far so good, although I need to sit down and manually re-map some stuff in Traktor 2. Numark also makes an upgraded version of the Mixtrack, called the Mixtrack Pro. It includes a built-in audio interface, much like the Pioneer unit you linked. Basically, my recommendation is to go to a music store, find out what feels most comfortable, and then get that. Keep in mind, too, that some products come with better included software than others--when I bought my Traktor Audio 2, it came with a full version of Traktor 2, not just Traktor LE. You should probably expect to spend about $250 for an entry-level controller and stable audio interface regardless, though.

Okay, what is this crap? I said I was on sabbatical a couple weeks ago, but I happened to check the front page today and...I'm out of a job? What a joke.

to SAVE MY LIFE!

Bullcrap. They know when they manufactured that drive. I mean, I'm not trying to discount that you're having difficulty, but that's utter crap on their part. As a guy who's spoken with many different warranty service folks, that's incredibly poor service from them (and possibly an outright lie), and they say "three-year warranty," then they need to honor that warranty. Just because they don't know where it was purchased doesn't mean that they don't know when it was made. The whole proof-of-purchase-needed bit is 100% unacceptable. On the more practical side of things, I'd make sure that everything important is backed up to SOMEWHERE. Sounds like you may be up a creek without a paddle very shortly here. Hard drives are probably the single most failure-prone computer component out there. One thing you COULD do--and this would DEFINITELY void the warranty, so this would be my last resort recommendation--is get a SATA-to-USB adapter of some sort and rip the drive out of its enclosure to see if it's the drive itself, or just the enclosure.

As long as you've got a serial number, you can get the warranty process going. That's the short answer.

Yeah, echoing what has been said up there, I'm going to say that there are several needing improvement in this track, and I'm not going to cover all of them. A couple of the big points to consider are as follows: DRUMS There's literally nothing in the way of transitions. You go from a tame beat in the beginning to the machine-gun kick with nothing to warn anyone of the change, and I can name probably four patterns that you've used in the entire song for drums. A real drummer definitely doesn't just play the same four-beat pattern over and over and over again, so use some creativity! Fills are nice, as is changing up the basic beat once in a while. Speaking of a "real drummer," gotta make sure you have some dynamics in the drumming. What I mean by that is that the drummer doesn't hit each drum equally hard every single time he hits the drum. Get some velocity modification in there, yo! Finally, make sure that the beat isn't completely locked to the time grid. A real drummer will have some slight imperfections in his drumming, rather than being machine- and robot-like in hitting every single note in time with the grid. MIXING The drums are incredibly thin-sounding, so you're going to have to beef those up significantly. I can barely hear anything but the "click" of the kick, the snare is mostly "snap," and the hats are too loud compared to the rest of the drums. I'd reconsider the kit you're using, as it may not have enough depth to it to really get a realistic drum sound going. The guitars are all kind of a mush of same-level-ness. The acoustic guitar would sound nice if I could hear it, while the rhythm and lead guitars are all kind of the same glob of sound. Basically, you're going to want to consider the fact that each instrument should have its own part of the EQ spectrum--a lead guitar should occupy a different place than the rhythm guitars, and probably should have a different tone as well. Stereo separation will help your case. Finally, the entire mix is lacking in any semblance of bass response. Whether it's the fact that the kick hasn't got any low end to it, or the fact that I can't hear any sort of bassline at all, you're severely lacking in the low end. There's a lot more, but you'll be best served by working on some of the crits here and then taking this over to the workshop forums, if you do choose to continue working on it. Best of luck as you continue to improve! NO

Traaaaaaaaaance! Also known as the best genre EVAR. Also, I love this song, so I'm pleased to see a remix here in the queue! Ahem. So, source-wise, I've got zero complaints. Plenty of usage there, even without the vocals that made the original track so great. Production-wise, I've got a few nitpicks. The whistle synth is a bit harsh to my ears, and I wish overall that the song's highs were higher and the lows lower. The deep bass just isn't there, and the energy is concentrated in the midrange, rather than being spread around. The drums, too, could stand to be a touch punchier. I do echo OA's concerns on the piano, too, as that's mechanical as heck. Thankfully though, these are only nitpicks, and not enough to make this unpassable. Let's see this on the front page and get some Mirror's Edge love! YES

I'm gonna go ahead and echo what Kris and Andrew have said before me and say yeah, definitely gotta get that lead guitar out there! I'd also venture to say that your case will be helped with slightly less-mechanical drums, too, as it doesn't really sound like there's any humanization at all. Every kick sounds the same, every snare sounds the same, and you get the point. If the kit allows for some dynamics, by golly, go ahead and use those dynamics! Finally, I'm personally not sold on the length of the song as it stands. That is to say, I think you could probably do more with it--it's a bit short. This part isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, but I was left feeling cut off at the end. Hope to see this one back soon! NO (resubmit)

What a heroic finale for the Robotnik bracket!

Remixer Name - Flexstyle feat. OverClocked University Remix Name: SZRC Anthem (Busiest Days of my Life) Game: Sonic 2 (Genesis), Sonic 3 (Genesis) Source: Aquatic Ruin Zone - , Ice Cap Zone - Remix: (MP3 V1 download available) EDIT: okay you guys here is one with less compression ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? So, this was my losing track in the Sonic Zone Remix Competition 2014, but it's also the one I'm most proud of at this point. Stevo (Level 99), Andrew (OA), and Deia (DragonAvenger) all pitched in and got me some excellent instrumental tracks in the span of about three days on incredibly short notice, and they all ROCKED this track. Stevo, in particular, REALLY brought the heat with multiple layers of rhythm AND clean guitars. The vocals are done by yours truly using a crummy Sennheiser e815 handheld mic--which is good for live vocals and not much else--SO MUCH VOCAL EQ. Didn't even bother to use a stand or a pop filter or anything while recording because screw you, mate. (That's the punk rock attitude, right?) I deliberately chose the Ice Cap zone theme for this competition because I wanted to see what I could bring to an "overused" source tune. Just had to have a bit of a challenge. Well, I'm pretty sure nobody's done a punk rock spoof of the Jetzons before! The lyrics are a bit "referential," so basically the story is that I did this song during midterms/finals (for one class) week in my final semester of school. Since I also work on the days I'm not in school, I don't usually have a lot of time to work on music, hence this ode to FL Studio. Growing up is serious business, yo! Anyways. I'm aware of a couple flaws in the vocal mixing 'n such, but I wanted to let this be since it's the first time I've done this genre. Zero changes from what I submitted to the competition. I'll have something even more polished the next time, hopefully! LYRICS: All through the day I have no time To play with my F L Studi---o And so I must wait Til I get home To play with my F L Studi---o I wish I had time Throughout the day To play with my F L Studi----o But I am a working And learning man No time for my F L Studi----o SZRC Busiest days of my life How time flies by -------------------------------------------- Aquatic Ruin Zone - Ice Cap Zone -

The spleen?

Great news! You're mistaken!

You mean you're gonna PUNch me?

Curses! My subversive plot has been revealed! Arrow was my henchman all along! Wait. I'm about to lose this round...does that mean I'm going to have to snuff myself?