Gario

Yes, I would play this - beating the hell out of other people via sprites we create sounds freakin' amazing, lol. I don't know why, but if I came across an OCR-tan sprite I'd probably laugh pretty hard... then die because I wasn't paying attention. It would be awesome.

Well, if you want to let your music out onto the world, http://soundcloud.com/ works, http://www.gameremixes.com/ is more videogame-oriented, remix.thasauce.net might accept your music, www.newgrounds.com is an interesting place to post on, and... well, www.youtube.com . Go ahead and post your stuff on those places and see how they fair. I don't think the Ducktales track would fly, either, because of the quiet production quality of it. Don't be afraid to check out the WIP forums, if you want to try your hand at making an OCR type song (or hell, even checking to see if any of these tracks could be re-arranged to become OCR style tracks) - people are willing to help, there.

WIP forum is for threads like these. Please us them, for the future. Your work isn't too bad. It does, however, go against one of the basic premises of OCR - they're all about rearranging the music in an artistic fashion while retaining the essence of the source. You believe in retaining the original as purely as possible (upgrading the sound, but not the arrangement, if possible). It's a conflict of ideologies that OCR won't accept, so no, it's safe to say your work won't be accepted here.

Constructive criticism hurts the first time or so, but it's quite useful. Let's see if I can get into some detail, here. 'Sour notes' are, apparently, not sour, but intentional. Keep what I said in mind, though - they don't sound intentional to me, there, so it's probably not going to sound intentional to anyone else who listens to it and recognizes the source, either. On your own, it's great if you enjoy it. Music isn't about what you like when you send it out to others. Synths that are 'simple', in this case, are synths that are thin and don't fill the space that well. bLiNd is good at filling space with his instruments, PrototypeRaptor has sound that fills the bass better than anyone, hell, Shnabubula and Rushjet12 use chiptunes to purposely emulate old videogames like champs. Your sounds accomplish nothing to fill the soundscape or really pump the bass (and emulating old VG sounds from an NES source is sort of pointless). The sounds are just there to 'fill in the notes', so to speak. I didn't say your drums were simple, I said they were bland. Simple is fine, for some genres (Trance, for example), but bland isn't acceptable for any genre. The bass needs more beef, the snare needs to be far more salient and the overall sound of the drums needs to be cleaner and more crisp. To be frank, I couldn't tell Trance was the genre that you were going for - what you have doesn't fit Trance arrangement-wise (changing little at a time) nor production-wise (the soundscape was far too thin for). The instruments didn't wash over the listener enough and the drums didn't stick out nearly enough. Again, listen to bLiNd's earlier tracks & Rayza for some really good trance VG remixes, here. Compare the synths and drum track and see the difference. As for what OCR accepts or doesn't accept... well, DJP makes it pretty clear that he's looking for music that doesn't emulate the source too closely nor stray too far from it - he wants 'artistic' interpretations without losing the VG quality of the music. A good rule of thumb here is 70-30 to 50-50 source-original interpolation, if you want a general idea of what OCR will accept. I say OCR won't accept your track because it's closer to the 80-20 mark, meaning while it has some interpretation, it just isn't enough. Sometimes it seems arbitrary, but hey - it's their site, not yours (or mine). Again, I'm not attacking you or anything of the sort. I'm giving you honest 3rd party feedback on the track. I hope, again, that this helps you. Good luck.

It sounds like an excellent idea for a game, there. Be very careful using copyrighted material if you intend to sell any element of the game, though - companies will get all over you. I don't think you were planning on using copyrighted material, but the pictures you posted show Zero so I just wanted to be sure. Good luck with it.

The project is frozen - you won't get feedback on it for some time. Wait until it's up and running again and either resend the PM or simply take it on good faith that he'll get back to you.

I'm sure Level 99 won't mind this shameless plug, either. WIP forums pop in with great stuff, too, if you care to sift through it a bit .

Send it off to Bahamut if you want to be recruited (he's probably not looking at this thread, at the moment, and project music isn't supposed to be heard by the public ear). Be aware, though, that this is a frozen project, atm, so it's not going to move for another month or so.

I'll save you time on the panel review and say it simply - the production is too simple & quiet. There really isn't too much that's going on there that's original, either (except for the sour notes in the final temple theme - but I don't think those were intentional). You're probably going to get an e-mail from OCR in about four months bolding production problems, being too conservative and having problems with the arrangement. Here's some detail on why (because at this level there's a good chance you won't get a proper review on the panel - that's what happened to my first submission, too). Listen to the loudness of the track compared to everything else post OCR1000 - it just doesn't compare. Tracks need to have a general volume or else people will not add them to their playlists, since it creates too much of a discrepancy between songs. The trick will be getting it louder without encountering any clipping and such (which I can tell you will with the drums, at the very least, so be aware). The instruments are fairly basic. You can get away with this, really, but be aware that some people get a little picky when they hear simple synths. Combined with the simple textures, though, it's a killer - the music just doesn't catch anyone's ears as anything special. This will prevent people from listening to it, in the long run. Bring in some more interesting sounds/synths and create more interesting textures (the gated pad is pretty nice, but that alone gets repetitive, after a while). The drums are bland. The hats are dry, the snare is almost nonexistent and the beats are very simple. This won't fly on OCR - be aware of that for future reference. The Final Temple track you've integrated in there, while a nice diversion, goes sour since the notes are simply incorrect (and sound like a missed note rather than an intentional effect). 2:19, for example, has a note that's lower than it should be, throwing my ear off (there are many more than this single example, by the way). Go back to the source and try to correct these off notes as best as you can. I'm not being mean, here - just giving you some feedback. Since you submit to OCR already I'd like to see you at least make it to the panel rather than get rejected outright, so there are some things you can fix & replace the box.net file. That way you can beef out the track to something the J's will spend time on, at least (and hey, if you REALLY push it to the limit, get it accepted), and get some more positive feedback on it. It's not too bad (other than the wrong notes ), but it certainly isn't what OCR is looking for, at the moment. Put stuff up on the WIP forums here and we'll help you along the way before you submit it the next time you've got something going - we'll probably have something helpful to say before you send it off. I hope this critique helps, for the future. Oh, and welcome to OCR .

The 'stache was called a 'Pedo stache', when I went to college, the mime shirts were awesome, don't dis the glasses and the 'ivory holder' is called a 'bong' (and that isn't cigarette smoke coming from it). I think I explained it in the WIP threads, but let me explain again. It doesn't take a musical snob to listen to music like this (nor do all musical snobs enjoy music like this). All it takes is a little getting used to. Give it about a day or so listening to music like this (Schoenberg, Messian, Webern, etc.) and you'll start catching the interesting patterns, the expression, the real soul of the music. The human ear can catch a lot of things, whether you know it or not - it's just a matter of getting used to the new territory. I hate the phrase 'get the music'. It makes it sound like no one except the musical elite can 'understand' the music. It just takes a little getting used to, like anything else.

D-D-D-DOUBLE P-P-POST! Believe it or not, I did a little clean-up on this track. I cleared the sound scape up a little bit and fixed up one of the transitions. It's only got a few more days until it hits the panels, so I figured I'd get it as clean as I can before the J's see it. Man with the Golden Machine Gun Um... yeah, I'm basically just sharing this, as it is. If you have criticism, go ahead and let me know, but this file was already submit a while ago so I won't be able to make too many changes to it before it hits the panel. Thanks again, Nutritious, for the help .

I think I'm going to agree with Emunator on this one - I'm not as good as him when it comes to 'conservative' vs 'liberal', so I didn't catch it before. You should certainly send it to remix.thasauce.net, though - some exposure is better than none, and this track is certainly worthy of the public ear . I agree with you - start a new mix and learn from this one. Good work, at any rate; I still enjoy it much!

How did you know?! You've got me nailed...

R:TS = Remix.thasauce.net Check it out - all sorts of music is up on there from a bunch of people (including yours truly ). It doesn't hurt to have music up there - people visit that site often enough. If the fuzz I'm hearing is your filter then... well, it SOUNDS like clipping, but it might be intentional, after all .

It sounds better without the guitar. If you miss the guitar then I highly recommend getting a guitarist - it can still work, if you get a better sounding instrument, there Watch out for clipping, here - I hear it in this track in the texture and the melody. Clean up the fuzz. When you finish that, consider submitting it to R:TS. It's not bad, at all, and it'll get it more exposure than leaving it lying around in here. It's better than leaving it on your computer to rot away and be forgotten, anyhow.

This is certainly not a mix that I expected from this source. It's amazing. As usual. There are mixers that play with all sorts of different styles to match a source. There are those that simply stick to one style and find sources that work with it. Then there's you - taking a style and applying it to sources that don't seem like they'll work and make it work. Great work on this one

It's always sad to see people go in their prime. It reminds us of our mortality. However, it also gives us something to be thankful for - in this case, we should be thankful for our own lives and for the great music these guys provided in their short time here. Happy birthday, and RIP.

Just out of curiosity, let's see how many tries it would take for someone/something to roll the number of perfect slot rolls (Cherry-Cherry-Cherry) required for the theoretical life cap. Let's take a look at some of the calculations, first... There are four shapes that you can get in the slots (Star, Veggie, Snifit and Cherry) and three slots, so the odds are 1/64 that they'll line up (4 possibilities x 4 possibilities x 4 possibilities, or 4^3 possibilities altogether). Now, for such an event to occur twice in a row, we would multiply 4^3 x 4^3 = 4^6, or 4096, then use that number as our ratio (1/4096 that this would occur). Now, based on how many coins that one needs to obtain in order to get the total theoretical amount of lives in this game, we need a total of 119,332,579,057,468,303,119 coins to roll three cherries in a row (I added Dennis' numbers together).Thus, we need to multiply 4^(3 * 119,332,579,057,468,303,119) to achieve the odds of this monumental event occurring, which is 1/4^357,997,737,172,404,909,357, or... well, the computer's calculator is crapping out on me, so... yeah. Let's just say it's faaaaaar larger than anyone can calculate (computers that are designed to calculate these numbers quickly would take weeks, if not months or even years, to get the solution...). Those are the odds that a program could randomly generate that many lucky rolls in a row, resulting in the theoretical cap for lives in Mario 2.

ALMOST! It's a lot cleaner, it's a lot more fresh, and it's really jamming. Great. The EQ is a bit piercing in the upper mids, though. For some reason, it's a habit that I tend to have when making music, too, but it creates distortion. Bring the upper end of the EQ down a little bit. That strike at 2:27 is all fuzz and no music. Fix the clipping there (perhaps the EQ problem I mentioned before will fix this, as well...?). The ending FO is too long. I'd start it no more than 4 seconds after the drop off, there, and give it another... 8 - 10 seconds, if that. Not far to go - you should put it up for Mod Review, with the next update. Good work .

Kong Kountry Kollection. Kong Kountry Kollection. Kong Kountry Kollection. No clue what people see in the title, really. I still wish you luck, but I also highly recommend putting something out here like a portfolio so the singers will know what the quality of the arrangement under their voices will be. It's pertinent if you want people to look at this seriously.

I have no clue - it's a test of insanity, since every time you swear that a game was the first you come across another that must have been earlier. I remember Megaman 2, but before that was Track Meet, before that was Mario, before that was Duck Hunt, then Karnov, then Bad Dudes, then... You see where I'm getting at. I'll cap it at 'Zelda', for no particular reason.

You should hook up with this guy (he's here and here). It's actually a genre I'd like to tinker in someday. I just don't have the right equipment for it. Nice little tune, by the way

I'm getting down to the groove, here - very catchy and well produced. It wouldn't get accepted on OCR for technical reasons (too large of a file & bitrate - 8.0 mbs & 192kbps is the limit, respectively, and 96kbps is the bare minimum). There's one thing that bugs me throughout - that saw wave just doesn't work for me. It's a nice sound, but it doesn't fit all of the other cool things you're doing in there with the instruments and such. I'd highly recommend changing it to something with a little less bite, there. I'm surprised that you keep my attention very well throughout the track, considering it's a whoppin' 10 minutes long. It does wear on a little bit, though, so it might be a good idea to get it down about 2 minutes (~5:00-6:30 sounds a bit repetitious unintentionally, there). Towards the end (7:50-ish) you really shouldn't be repeating the source anymore note for note, harmony for harmony. My suggestion there is to simply change the harmonic patterns underneath the melody, since it really does transition nicely into the next part. Perhaps a static harmony (one that doesn't change throughout the thene)? It's a thought. It's quite good, though - thanks for sharing . Always nice to be reminded that there are decent artists outside of the OCR community . Oh, and welcome to OCR!

Arrange it as you please. You've been targeting and eliminating the problems quite nicely. The mix is actually quite good, now (the melody could be a touch louder throughout and the hats at the end a bit quieter, but that's all I can think about, for that...). Now we're moving on to some more interesting territory - Samples and EQ. As you've requested on this thread, the samples really do need to be changed altogether. They's just too simple & midi-like to really make the work shine. The flute, the synths, hell, the guitar could even change (although I personally like that sample, in particular). There have been some suggestions on here as to where to find better samples, as well as this sticky found here supplying you with all sorts of new samples & VSTi supplies. Look at them, investigate them and incorporate them - these are things we can't help you with at all past what's been done, so you need to get crackin' there. If you want to leave the instruments alone, fine - I'll like it anyway (but it won't be accepted on OCR on those grounds, alone). In the meantime the entire sound of your track is far too low in the highs and a touch to high in the mids. What's that mean? It means the track needs to have an equalizer attached to the master track and adjust the levels of the frequencies. This can clean up the track and clean the sound up considerably. Lowering the mids (I'm thinking lower mids, here) and raising the highs is what it sounds like the track needs, imo, so toy with that for a while and see what you like, there. Experiment with those ideas, and continue to expand the ideas in the arrangement, there. I hope this helps