Gario

Huh, surprised I didn't see this back in October... Man, I haven't been as active in this forum in quite a while. Shame - I would've loved to have heard this and commented on it back when it would've been helpful (a.k.a. before the J's got to it). Ah well, still interesting to hear something from someone that I previously thought was an 'off-topic only' member, lol. Alright, let's see, here... It's nice, overall - the ambient sound is effective. The minimalist approach would've worked for either a 2 minute or a 20 minute song (if you were going for a hardcore minimalism approach), but not for a 4 minute song. After that 2 minute mark, it wears on the listener quite a bit. There is variation in the textures, but because of the limited instrument usage it seriously is nearly unnoticeable. The choir is okay, but I feel the sample is a little bit mechanical, as it stands right now. It actually sounds like it came from the N64 (which isn't a good thing). You need to play with the velocities and volumes a bit more so it doesn't sound like the same thing repeating as much. PARALLEL 5THS, LAWL! Yeah, I despise them (as anyone here could tell you), but in this context they sound quite good. It gives the music the haunting feeling that it has... they were in the source, weren't they? I don't know the source that well, so I can't say for sure. Whatever, point is that the P5ths are fine. Otherwise, listen to the J's points - the direction being a bit ambiguous being the main point of theirs. Keep it up, and it's nice to see you in this neck of the OCR woods

Jhawk, for your lame ass review you've been SHUNNED! Away with ye, vile crap-spewing reviewer! In all seriousness, though, if you don't have anything constructive to post, just don't post it next time, alright? Saying something is 'crap' without knowing what it is that sounds wrong isn't very helpful. Level99, glad to see that you're giving this forum some love (more than I have, as of late ), especially with a remix of this source. It just can't get enough attention, especially from you . Alright, time to wipe the brown off my lips and move onto the crits... I love the effects on the guitars in the beginning, and the use of percussion outside of a trap set, there. It's a very nice touch. At 0:26 - 0:37, the background guitar there sounds like it would be a bit more fitting in the foreground. However, the transition from 0:37 to 0:38 almost makes up for it, imo, so perhaps it isn't a big deal. The main theme (you know, the one that sounds like 'crap') doesn't sound bad, but there are some points where your slides have rough landings (as in they land on a sour note). Be careful about that - Jhawk may have had a point, but was unable to articulate it. It only happens only once or twice, really, but watch out for that. Also, because the music before had such a full texture the music from 0:51 - 1:16 sounds very hollow. Of course you want it to be a little more open so there'll be room for the theme, there, but I believe the soundscape needs to have a little bit more in there so the transition isn't as jarring. The effect on the guitar is a touch loud at 1:16... Nice, but a little too loud, compared to the instruments around it. It's quieter at 1:24, which sounds more appropriate, so try to match that level the first time around. It could be that the sudden change in the texture (from hollow to full) is tricking my ears into thinking that one sounds louder than the other, so perhaps fixing the earlier part will 'fix' this part, in turn. Use your judgment, there. 1:43 to 2:08 actually don't have any of the problems from earlier, so I guess Jhawk was, indeed, talking about the pitch bends and not the landings. Meh, whatever, I'm not hear to figure Jhawk out . The soloing was great, later on, although I believe the lead is a bit quiet, there. Bring it up a tad. 3:12 has the same problem as 1:16 - crits from earlier apply. I'll say this real quick - I hear Parallel 5ths when the main theme is played with an accompaniment, but (for the first time ever) I'd say they're appropriate to the genre. Personally, I'd change them to something like 6ths or something, but I understand it's inherent to rock/metal, so... yeah. I'll stop now . Otherwise, great remix, dude! Obviously, everything I've said is pretty minor; they're just things that'll help make the idea clearer. Clean it up and I feel it'll be safe® when it comes to the judges. I don't think it'll be rejected, as it is, but it could be a little bit better. Good luck!

Interesting... It sounds like a legal version of what was done on this site.

I'm glad that the game has free shipping, at least.

O rly? Neat - nice to have some representation from the other sex, for a change Congrats, DA - nice to see you up there It's a stressful job, but someone's gotta do it!

I've (finally) got a decent update for you, Juan. It's basically the finished structure, which serendipitously worked out to a pretty cohesive whole. I guess it's finally at the stage where we focus on the production .

Make some deadlines. That normally helps. Actually, this is a good place to start, if you really want to make this happen. Yeah, MMV was badass, and I fully endorse a project, if it ever got started.

Hmm... Yeah, the piano needs more humanization and such, but Mono seems to have that department covered, so I'll say no more . What worries me about this is that it's incredibly similar to the source. I don't mind too much, normally (I mean, OCR isn't the end-all of remixes), but you use pretty much the same instruments and everything - the only difference seemed to be the drum beat beneath the music. The orchestra portion is a nice change, but it doesn't make up for the introduction. You'll need to at least change the quality of the instruments (if not change the instruments altogether) in order to make an impression on the listener before the guts of the music comes in. Getting in touch with better orchestral samples would also be a boon for this It is an interesting source (although from playing the game recently it bugged me that Konami would use it for half of the castle...). I wish you the best on this.

Listening to this, the initial impression is that there is not nearly enough happening in this song. The largest problem is that while there are interesting changes happening, some of the most salient elements remain the same for far too long (the bass and the drums in particular). You need to be changing some of them up along with the textures if you want this to work for the listeners. Watch out for your source usage, if you're looking to get on OCR. There's just not enough in there, as it stands. Instruments are bland... blah blah, this has been addressed before by people who know better than I, so just take their word for it The soundscape is fairly hollow, in this track. It sounds like that's what you were going for, but in combination of the lack of change in many parts make it a bit too much for the listener to swallow. I'm going to say your production value isn't bad. It's clean and easy to listen to, the mix never drowns itself with too much sound, and the balance of every instrument is appropriate. Nice production This is a good source, and the remix isn't terrible. It's just a bit bland, as it stands, and doesn't sound enough like the source.

Sorry for not participating... I don't have any of my equipment working, right now, so it'd be difficult to get something done for this. Maybe next month.

His Symphony of the Earth is a pretty damn good one... If you want to start somewhere, that's a good place. It's basically his Ninth Symphony, but he named it that so he wouldn't write his Ninth, because, you know, if you write your Ninth you'll die after. He then wrote his Ninth, and he died after... goddamn curse... ...but yeah, that's a good one.

I guess my Tower track will stay green on the front page until the project unfreezes, then (although it has the arrangement down, and the rough mix is pretty clean ). Ah well, at least it gives us all time to get something done for the MMX project (you all ARE working on something for that, right?!).

Sorry 'bout that... Basically, I'm saying that the arpeggios you use in the very beginning are different than the source. Normally I don't care about that sort of thing (this IS a remix, after all), but the change that's present here alters something that was very powerful in the source, thus dampening the effect overall. Listen to the arpeggios in the beginning of the source and compare them directly to your mix and you'll hear what I mean. Of course, if you like it there's also no problem keeping things the way they are - this is a personal preference of mine .

We're talkin' about N64, right? If you want to have an extremely annoying game, get a friend and put on these settings: 1x Peacesim 1x Kaisersim 2x Cloaking Devices 4x Rocket Launchers Play this on a team with a friend, and be sure the sims are all Dark difficulty... Goddamnit, you can't lose, because one sim doesn't kill and the other will always kill himself when he kills you, but it's freaky as shit trying to outsmart invisible sims... I think it took a friend and I about 2 hours to beat a 20 point match, lol.

Not much to say except what's already been said - a Nekofrog remix of the Extreme would be great. However, it irks me that you simplified the progression in the beginning - that arpeggio moves from a tonic to a dominant suspension in your remix, while the original actually moved to a dominant triad... If you did that for your own personal reasons then don't worry about it, obviously (nothing wrong with changing the source a little bit). However, the augmented chord that arose in the original due to the neighboring motion was one of the most interesting parts about that intro in the original source, and it'd be a loss if it wasn't represented here in one way or another Yeah, the biggest nitpick ever, but it was one of my favorite parts that I don't here so I thought I'd point it out. Otherwise, this is awesome/epic/fill-in-the-usual-Nekofrog-comment-here WIP. Keep it up!

How does that rhyme at all? I agree with them too, though.

Huh, I did a remix of this source twice (the first one sucked and I hope never sees the light of day, and the second one is on R:TS). Always interesting to hear other interpretations of it. I loved the spark sound throughout - clean and fitting. The soundscape really kills it for me, though. It sounds like you're lacking in general volume when it comes to instrumentation. Little highs, weak bass, you need to really give the music some depth, and try avoiding moments where there's only one instrument playing with the drums (like at 2:00). I like the sparks, but if you're going to use them to break the music up a bit don't break the rhythmic flow. 1:32 is an example of this, and it's very disconcerting. If you want to space the music like that, at least keep the rhythm in tact. The drum loop is very weak. Change it up considerably and add some more bass to it. The harmonic motions you use are... interesting. Certainly not what I expected. Those are my thoughts on it.

Goddammit, you gave most of us here a near heart attack with your announcement that this was dead. Don't scare us like that anymore! Good luck with the project, guys .

I could see this being quite useful. When I was in college, I found an even cheaper way to save money - not buy any textbooks at all. Most teachers teach their own material, anyway, and you can generally get homework assignments and such from other students for those that teach from a book.

Ugh, a checklist... I normally don't use these things, but I'll give it a shot. ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION [X] Too conservative - sticks too close to the source PRODUCTION [X] Mixing is muddy (eg. too many sounds in the same range) STRUCTURE [X] Too short [X] Abrupt ending Not too shabby, really. A fellow Reason user, eh? This'll be interesting. There isn't too much dissonance, Spakku. There is a strange low instrument that's producing all sorts of terrible dissonance due to overtones, but if he fixes that instrument up a bit so it's cleaner it'll be alright. The soundscape is fairly full (in a good way), but the mastering is terrible. It sounds like a pillow is covering my headphones. Mess around with the stereo seperation and EQ in the master combinator (particularly the highs - they're drown by the mids and lows). I like the variety in texture you use throughout - it's rare for novice arrangers to vary the texture like they should, so kudos to you. Bring out the drums a bit more - they're quite good, but hard to hear. This is very conservative (a.k.a. you didn't change anything at all with the source), so OCR will reject this outright. Of course, if you aren't setting OCR as your goal then you don't have a problem there. If you're planning on repeating anything in this song for the sake of length FORGET ABOUT IT!! If you want to increase the length you'll need to vary the music, possibly make some new parts up and change it from what you've already got. The copy/paste buttons are used to help you, not write the rest of the music. If that wasn't what you meant then just ignore that. I agree with Spakku that the background sound is a bit much at times. Mix them more in the background and it'll clean everything else up nicely. Yeah... actually, this is really good for three months of using Reason. Clean it up - even if it isn't going on OCR I'd still like to hear this polished a little bit, for my own personal library.

Yeah, the sound is almost non-existant in that one. Try this version instead.

Hey, Happy Birthday! Keep giving us awesomeness in the form of singing. And arranging.

Some hacks are just retarded, but if you've played a game to death (like MM3, in my case) picking up a hack might be pretty entertaining, if it's well done. I've played a hard-hack of MM2 before that was pretty intense (and therefore pretty fun), so if you don't know what to do with them try them out for yourself. Except the Half-Life hack, obviously.

Ich, it's never a good idea to tell people to 'be gentle', but I'll do what I can while being completely constructive in my criticism. One of my favorite tracks, just letting you know. Alright, that texture you use with the mega-synth is sort of annoying when that's the only thing it does. Instead of having it play staccato notes constantly when it's in there, try sprinkling the staccato with other textural elements. That'll help with give it some variety. That guitar sample needs to go immediately. No offense, but the sample is painful to listen to (and the synth under it is a touch goofy). If this is a dance remix there's nothing wrong finding a good synth to use for the lead. The mix is very top-heavy (meaning the mastering EQ is heavy on the highs and have virtually no lows). You've got to add more bass to the song if you want people to follow what you've got going there. Structurally, the bass is the most important thing in music (followed by the melody), so people need to hear it! For OCR, if a song sticks to the source too closely, it gets rejected, since the site is looking for remixes, not arrangements. This song sticks too close to the source, so you'd need to make some incredible changes to the music if you wanted to submit it here. The song basically repeats four times, doesn't it? Music in general will lose the audience if you repeat the same material over and over again (with the exception of minimalism, lol). Cut all of the repeats and try to vary the source considerably next time around. Overall, the mix is too close to the source and too hollow for my tastes. The source has some great potential, but it isn't yet realized in this arrangement. Don't lose heart, though - everyone needs to start somewhere. First time remixes tend to get hammered here (by me, at least) since most people need the wake-up call when it comes to remixing. After the initial shock, generally one of two things happen. Either the person walks away from the craft disillusioned, or the person realizes the standard that is out there and strives to overcome it. I'm hoping you're a part of the latter category. Good luck with whatever you work on next.