Gario

To the man who agreed to wander MAGfest with my drunk ass in the wee hours of the morning, I salute you. Happy birthday, man.

By 'shine' I meant 'brightness'... sorry for the ambiguous language; I had a brain malfunction. The track isn't bright enough to represent a realistic ambiance. I agree that just a twist of the knob will get the desired effect real quick - it's not a hard fix. I was just pointing it out there . Yeah, they removed the submission size limit entirely. For the sake of space and such, though, there is now a time limit, though to be honest I can't see that being really challenged for a very long time (and with the previous rules that limit was implied, anyway). It's a very awesome and welcome change.

That's not as cheap as .

I will still say that you should allow more of the high end through your mix, as it still sounds lacking in that area for the sake of a realistic shine. I think the instruments are less mechanical than before, though, which is awesome. However, before you submit this, please note that the quality standard has changes - Mp3s need to be at 192kbps or higher (up to 256kbps), or a VBR that is close to that. In your case I would go for 256kbps, since it's a pretty short track. It kind of snuck in the submission standards, there, but DjP should be making an official announcement about it any day now - best to make the fix while it's still easy to do. I would also find a better video to link to the source, if possible - it's hard to hear the whole thing on that vid, since it's broken up by the gameplay. Yeah, you can submit it now and it'll probably be accepted, barring the Mp3 fix, though I would personally prefer some more high end EQ somewhere in the track to fill that space.

Aww yeah, they got their own website, now. http://extra-credits.net/ I think that'll be easy enough for most of us to remember off the top of our heads. Also, bumpity bump de bump bump.

I think that's why they're making their private projects public. I'm glad Prophecy is taking this as well as he is, but for everyone else what else can you expect them to do other than make the announcement now like they have? Damage has already been done - rather than deriding them on it why not appreciate that it's not going to happen again? I think the staff saw this as a problem and agree with you all, for the most part, hence the announcement. There's nothing that they can do to change the past, though, so it'd be more constructive to focus on damage control rather than assaulting the staff for all this.

I have all day tomorrow to get this done. You'll have my update tomorrow, in good time.

Way better, I agree. Still no bass, I agree. Yeah, keep making this better. This is sexy.

For OCR, the source is there enough, though if you're not comfortable bringing the source out in the beginning would be a good idea. If you counted the Empirial song as another source (forgot the name) then I'd say there was definitely enough source. This is really good as it is, and humanizing it would put it over the bar easily, but have you considered finding someone to perform it for you? That would make for an incredible mix.

I hear a lot of Wood Man mixed into this. It's kind of hard to say if that's the only source you use in there, but I definitely hear some Wood Man mixed in it.

Dem oranges.

Yeah, to be perfectly honest if you humanize and send this in it'll be accepted. This is an incredible arrangement with a lot of subtlety, and I loved every second of it.

Yeah, Magic man is final. I will also add (as you'd surely be aware) that the area is insane. Holy shit. As for Shadow, look up Silver Surfer NES on youtube. It's legendarily difficult, hence the fuss here. With that, MAG is over. I think it's time to get back to WCRG talk again.

Drunk post (Luke agrees with me). Also, MAGfest.

... Holy shit, you got my respect for that, man.

Whether or not he can doesn't matter - it's whether or not he will... which he won't. So yeah... um, MAGFEST!!!1!!

I started posting in the past few years. Since I'm awesome I'd have to say that's pretty significant. Also, MAGfest and Killer Studio Chops. ... Yeah, that ought to cacth you up, there.

Djmokram why the fuck aren't you at MAGfest. Were all here without you to make the crowd awesomer. And yeah, something about SOPA and killer studio chops and shit. Important post right.here.

what the fuck Ph and Tensei are here why aren't you inviting me you bitches seriously

You noob, posting your music when everyone is at MAG. Shame on you.

Wow, I actually like the glitchy-gated flute in the beginning, there. Kind of unexpected, yet awesome. I've got to say, this is actually pretty sweet, overall, for what it is. I want to hear someone bring in some serious hip hop vocals over this track, as it just sounds like it's missing from the track, as of yet. Unfortunately, there's a little lack of direction, at the moment. You keep playing variations of the same section over and over, with little pattern (save for the repetitive source) to keep it cohesive. It's... funny, in that it's both too repetitive and too varied all at once. Use a bit more of the source, and try to make your texture changes a bit more consistent. I really like this, though. Nice work.

Mmm, I actually really liked the arrangement, as far as what it is. I think when people listen to a Mario remix they want to still have 'Mario' in there. I don't think the judges will nail you on the arrangement, objectively speaking. I'm going to agree with the drums on this one - they are extremely boring. They need to have a lot of variety and spice, especially on a track like this that's supposed to have a lot of zest and spunk. The bit at 2:19 is a step in the right direction, but there needs to be more excitement in the set as a whole overall. This is absolutely critical in a song like this. The brass works in a 'I'm cheesy on purpose' sort of way, but some of the other samples are really quite grating. The piano sample in particular is really bland and unrealistic. Give it some volume, give it some humanity, don't play every chord at the same volume, add a little pedal to it... There's a lot of work on the piano before I can really accept it's presence on here. The production needs some more spread. Use a little panning in this to use the space better. Everything just crowds in the middle, as it stands, so don't be afraid to pan some instruments and drum set pieces to the left & right, even just a little bit. It'll help open up the track. The bass is pretty light, in here. Throughout the main sections it works, but there are some areas (like 1:14) where you have some intricate bass going down that no one can hear. You need to give the bass more strength in sections like this. Aside from what I've said, Flexstyle has a good review of what's going on - the intro, the drumstyle, the samples and such are all spot on, as well. Also, as he said, it's still a pretty fun piece - it just needs some more work before it'll have a chance in the panel. Good luck on it.

If you want to get started producing orchestral music from your computer you need a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that can handle your samples. Finale can actually work, but it's not the best tool for that job (though for score writing it's one of the best). If you want to stick with it, though, then find some appropriate orchestral VSTi's online, or buy something like EWQL Orchestra, and try to learn how to connect the VSTi's to your different lines of your score. I can't be more specific because I'm actually a Sibelius user, not a Finale user. I would personally invest in another DAW, though, as using a scoring program as a DAW has it's limits. Many people here use Fruityloops, Cubase or Reaper as their primary DAW, and I suggest those for writing orchestral music. There's also Reason, but from my personal experience I wouldn't suggest it for orchestral music (their samples are ok, but it can't accept most of the better sample libraries out there). Best of luck, I hope that's enough to get started with. Also, you should spend some time meandering in the Tutorial section - that'll probably have more details on what you need and how to use these tools.