Gario

That would be a good idea - you might just get lynched for your blasphemy, Will .

I love chiptunes. I just do - so that means I love you and your chiptune goodness... I don't know if this particular track would find it's way on OC, as it sounds pretty conservative throughout (for the most part, a note-for-note interpretation of the music), but I hope I'm wrong on that part. Good luck on this!

I like this version far better than the last - it's really, really clean. The sounds meshes well, and it doesn't have nearly as difficult of a time holding my interest. That continued variation of that last section is still a bit repetitive (even with the cool doodads you spice it up with), and that ending just makes me want more, so keep at it - it's sounding great, atm.

Damn, this is slick! You've made a rather uncatchy (but frantic) song into a catchy (and frantic) song, which is awesome. I agree that it's unfocused at the end, which detracts from the rest of the track, and the track is certainly overcompressed, in general. No, I can't fathom why you are not an OCRemixer, yet - the stuff you put out is great!

Nice improve on that theme - I'm surprised no one did anything like this to that song before, seeing how well it worked. I have some issues with the production (it's a little muffled), but the arrangement was great enough to make up for it. Nice work, Doug!

I see where your friend is arguing from, but I would agree with you - because it started and ended in BbM, I'd say it's functioning in BbM - it isn't at all uncommon even in classical music (well, romantic music, anyhow) to borrow from the parallel minor - it gives some nice spice to the music. It would be easier to write it in Bbm, but it still functions in BbM. Hey, is that a Neapolitan chord in there? Awesome.

Interesting observation. I wonder why that happens - is it because of the contrapuntal relationship between IV and I or is it a harmonic relationship (IV - I sounds like I - V, if the IV is played first)? I guess that depends on the context of the music. Interesting... I've gotta go check out the music from LTTP, now - you've got me curious .

Yes, anyone can give it a shot - so give it a shot

Yeah, I don't think the site was intended to be a host for WIPs. With all due respect, Quintin, I don't believe that would be a wise place to upload WIPs - I think you'd be looking for more-or-less completed music to post on there (much like R:TS or good ol' VGMix). If they post their WIPs on your site your going to get a flood of songs that are constantly uploaded and erased as the people get further into their music, costing you bandwidth at best (and cluttering the site terribly if the people don't take off older WIPs, at worst). I'm glad you posted the site, though - I almost forgot about it .

Hmm... I don't have a game that's coming to mind for this week. Instead, I'm going to do something that's a little more general and applies to Video Games, overall. Have you all ever played ? How about The Legend of Zelda, or A Link to the Past? These two games have themes in them that sound very militaristic, but what does that even mean?Way back in antiquity, Brass instruments were introduced. Their function was simple - you vibrate the air inside of a mouthpiece, and the opening amplifies that sound in a particular way. They had some problems inherent to their design, though - they could only hit notes that were on the harmonic series of partials (the 'fundimental', the octave, the fifth above, the fourth above that, etc), so they didn't have a full range of notes. Of course, at this time that was completely irrelevant, as the music that was performed didn't need that full range of notes - they just played music that only needed the notes they had. Interestingly enough, due to their rather 'brass' nature (ha, bad pun) they were used heavily to rally military troops on the battlefield. Of course, because of the limitations of the instrument (they didn't come up with a decent way around this problem until the predecesser of the Trombone was developed in the 1500's), the fanfare that would be used was the leap from the octave to the fifth above it (or just a leap of a fifth upward). Why do I tell you this? Because that perfect fifth upward leap is now a symbol of a militaristic fanfare, because it has been used as such for millenia. Therefore, if any song (game music or otherwise) uses the leap of a perfect fifth upward, it will evoke militaristic emotions within the listener. Let's take a look at the songs above and see how they use the perfect fifth leap. Bionic Commando starts the music off with some snare rolls (on the nes it isn't that impressive sounding ), followed by the theme music we all know and love. That theme music starts off with a leap of a fifth - mirroring the fanfare for militia of the millenia. The music that follows that further enforces that fifth motion by accenting the fifth scale degree throughout the beginning of the theme. I would go further, but sadly I don't have my headphones with me today (that is also true of the Zelda music I will elaborate). The main theme of all Zelda music also incorporates a lot of fifth motion (and the inverse of that, a leap of a fourth downward). The music starts with that leap down to a fourth, then back up to the main note - which is followed by a run up to the fifth and stops there, accenting the fifth in the process. From there it continues up to the octave and dances around using runs to the lower fourth and such throughout the music. In the Dark World music of A Link to the Past, it starts quite similarly to Bionic Commando's theme music - except there is a neat little bass pattern over the snare rolls. When the melody strikes, however, one can easily see that it starts the music with that leap up of a fifth - establishing it's place as a military piece. I'd like to elaborate on this song more, but again - I don't have sound right now so I cannot . If you want to add a little bit of a military flair to your own music or remixes try using that upward fifth leap - you'd be surprised at how effective it is in evoking a military mindset to your music overall. Of course it's not the only thing you can do, but as I've shown it can be a very powerful tool if used properly. Also, keep an eye out for it - more often than not when it is used it is done so to represent a military mood, whether the composer did it conciously or not. Happy analysing!

I just listened to the Scrap Brain Zone (Seriously, that's the fourth remix of that song I've heard this week... It's getting a lot of attention nowadays), and I'll say it's a nice arrangement. It has close to no variation to the source, but for a project like you say it's for it's pretty sweet. The Sky Sanctuary Zone sound a bit off on the harmonies, though. I understand your changing them up (which is good), but some of the choices conflict against each other (I can't tell exactly where, but more or less a little before the middle of the song), mainly the piano against the guitar. In fact, I feel that most of the song could do better without the piano plunking along (use the instrument in a better fashion - arpeggios or single notes instead of those octaves), and try to make the piano a little more human by playing with the velocities. I really like the direction you took this song, though - I didn't expect it, yet I enjoyed it quite a bit . It does need cleaning up, but the meat is there, and it is so tasty.

Other than the voice clips (I love voice clips... consider it a strange quirk of mine) I agree with Rozo completely. It needs that lead to just come in and tear us apart. Nice song though - keep at it .

No, that's terrible advice, bro - telling someone that something will not pass the J's is perfectly sound advice, as long as they provide the crits to back it up and allow you to improve. You said you were going to submit because you thought it was good enough, and someone else came back and told you that it wasn't (for good reasons, might I add - I'll elaborate in a second). Your DS's little brother - great! Unfortunately, he is only one of many judges, so even if he gave you a thumbs up it doesn't mean it will pass, necessarily (also, since he's your brother his opinion could very well be biased, so I'd take it with a little salt, if he says something - I'm not accusing him, as he could be very neutral, just giving it some thought if he passed this).Rozo seems to have sniper'd what I was gonna say (damn you, Rozo!). No offense, but I don't want to see people develop a weak attitude on critiquing (which that attitude encourages). Just accept the criticism gracefully - it takes practice, but you'll develop better in the long run. Actually, I think the soundscape is alright - it stays rather full throughout (actually, it mights be oversaturated in some places, making it muffled - but I can't tell with my headphones as they make everything sound muffled ) The sample quality, however, won't pass OCR's judging process. This sounds like an amazing snes soundtrack (ah, back in the day... good ol' snes), but with technology nowadays you can do better almost certainly for free. The samples are stale and hold this mix back. For example, the choir has the same attack for every note change. The fade in is good for the very first attack, but after that it's just annoying. That type of sound actually gives it a very midi quality (because midis don't allow you to change the attack of any instrument - you get what you get). A lot of the real instruments in the background sound uncharacteristic for what they are (the dulcimer being double picked, along with the piano, int he fashion that you do so is very odd for the instrument - think about what the player would need to do in order to do that and realize that is isn't possible, making it sound weird). Be careful when you use sampled instruments - people will hold them to a real life standard, even when you don't intend them to be used as such. The bass/snare action you have going there doesn't help the piece - the breakbeat sound conflicts with the atmospheric sound you otherwise have going. I'd like to see a version without the drums and see if that helps at all (the toms are actually nice - they add to the atmosphere well). It's a conflict of interests, in a bad way. I can't say anything about the EQ 'cause my headphones absolutely suck, so sorry if I can't help there, right now. It does sound nice though - keep it up .

Ahahaha!! I've always wanted to participate in a compo with you, Willrock, but we've been alternating... lol. I'll participate now, for sure

Midi-ish = [X] Low-quality samples, most often. I don't have sound at the moment so I can't clarify this claim, right now - I might give it another go tonight.

Good point, but still, a Geo? Oh yeah, congratulations on your place in the Nintendo World Championship... er, on your place as a judge, OA!

Sweet, we'll have at least one participant. I'll try to get something together for this, as well - I don't want poor Setokaibarocket to be all alone up there .

Woa, so does that make you 'The Wizard' of the judges? If so, you'd be even more awesome than you are now . I lol'd at the prizes for that thing... The other stuff isn't bad at all, but seriously - a Geo? Nintendo certainly has it's perks, but choice in cars isn't one of them.

He did his Snappleman thing to an unnamed member on this forum, then proceeded to mouth off to the moderator DS (I'll admit to lol'ing to his comments that day, but it still got him banned ). 'Tis still a shame, though - I do miss his antics and contributions around here.

Alright, I've submit my track. Wish me luck, and thanks for the feedback! Neblixsa... With every song you create, the genre will grow.

Yeah, I've seen that drum pattern in many, many songs before (not necessarily yours, per se), and when I hear it I think 'Man, that pattern again?' - hence, my use of the term 'cliche'. It's not really your fault, as it's functional in the music, as is - it's just used too often by composers, so the effect has been overused before you even used it .Sadness.

Very nice; I do notice the changes you've made, and they're for the better. I wish you the best! Funny you submit today - I think we're both submitting something today .

A small update - I changed the ending around 'cause I wasn't satisfied with it. Rig1015 was lucky, seeing we had a shared opinion of the ending, so now it doesn't fadeout, anymore. I also increased the volume by ever so slight an amount and soft-clipped the last of the 'pops' out of the track. Let me know how the ending sounds now - I think it's better, though . No. I see your point, though - maybe the next time I incorporate clips into a track I'll take that into consideration (although I absolutely cannot vocode - one of those things that I need to learn before I die ). Not a bad consideration... if it's just the ending (which I changed) and the unaltered voice clips (which will stay, for OCR), I wouldn't mind making a version for your table (just PM me with some of the details ). Yes, everyone - it's time to break down to a whole new genre! Be very afraid! I could, but it's over 60mbs so I don't really want to take the bandwidth for it . Thanks anyway, though.

Yeah, it means 'disconcerted, uncomfortable'. It's a GRE word, and I just memorized it a few days ago for my test (which I'm hoping to take in a month or two ).