Gario

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 ).

Actually, that's exactly why I don't like this one as much - the rhythm is a bit too cliche, whereas your other mix had a lot of personality and uniqueness in it's rhythms... so I've gotta say I disagree with DS on that opinion . Not really, I think the wet sound suits it fine. It's in D, eh? The chord progression is i (dm) - VII (CM) - v (am) - i (dm), throughout most of it, with little change up. When listening for a chord progression listen to the bass - that holds the most significant note harmonically (not always the root, but it sets the harmonic mood). You can often discern the qualities of the chords by looking at the melodies and textures of the chords (in this case you actually can't tell the quality by that alone - but the outlining of a minor progression lead me to the conclusions that I have). Because the harmonies don't change very often through the mix it tends to get stale, after a while - try using different harmonizations with the thematic material your using, it'll make it more interesting. Hope that helps.As for the empty sound, I think its the relatively constant use of your instruments - the texture of the music is rather static, as is. Change it up . The music isn't bad - it just gets a little repetitive after a point. Change it up more often and you should be in good shape. Keep at it!

Dude, you so need a reverse galloping bassline under that, in the beginning. Otherwise, nice shredding track you got. The drums are rather lame throughout some of it (thump thump CRACK thump... when you change it up it's better, but every time that's in the track it drives me INSANE!). The notes at 1:10 and 1:35 - 1:36 just sound wrong, there, so if your able to fix them that would be great. The reason it sounds like your bass is already covered is because the second guitar seems to cover the bass' job. Unfortunately, it also could use some bass for filling the soundscape more - that part of the spectra isn't covered adequately, making the metal sound a bit empty. Great solos, incredible source (that really, really needed some metal attention) and some decent metal you've got going there. I loved this track in the game, and I'm glad your giving it the attention it deserves.

And counting . I can, but it takes the file over 6mb. Even 160 bit rate takes the file over a bit, so the next step down (128 ) takes it under the limit, but it hurts the sound, sadly. If anyone knows of a program to convert the original wave to a variable bit rate I'd appreciate it - it could probably sit well at 144 or something.Actually, Reason exports the file into wave (1411 bit, or uncompressed sound), but OCR won't accept it due to the file size. Thanks for the offer to export it, but the problem lies in the file size after exporting it, not the bit rate, necessarily. Actually, I sort of know... If you know the genre that I have, could you let me know? I'm terrible at labeling the genre of my music (seriously, I have no clue what the genre of this is - this is the sound you get when you give a classically trained composer some electronic sounds, lol). I'll tinker with the ending a little before I sub, I guess - I agree it's a little lackluster and that I'm not fully satisfied with it.Thanks for the input, guys!

BUMP! No comments on the last version? Either that's a really good thing or a bad thing, I dunno... Another update for you all - I changed the ending yet again . There is a transition that I've improved, and the production quality is better in this version (I reduced the popping considerably). Unless someone has any complaints about the music (except for the voice clips - they stay 'cause I love em') I'm going to submit this version - I'm quite satisfied with it. However, I feel that the 128 bit rate screws up the quality considerably. If someone knows of a free program that create Mp3s with variable bit rate, please let me know - I would appreciate it greatly.

Cripes, what the hell, Ninja Gaiden II had too much blood? Video games didn't have blood back in the early days (the game only had blood in very few cut scenes, like when you kill Jaquio, or when Robert dies), so how could you say it had too much blood?! Great oldskool game, nonetheless - one of the great games on NES .

ARGH! It's over 6mb! It'll never got on OCR with that, nor with chiptunes, or the medley, or... Wait, your not trying to get on OCR? Well then, that changes things, altogether... j/k - I know what your going for, and you do it very well. If Sam says it's amazing tracking then you have to sit down and listen to it... and I'm glad I did. Although it sounds a little too random, to me, you've certainly got talent in chiptune tracking, man. I thoroughly enjoyed it .

Hmm... Well, as far as the arrangement goes it's top notch, and the orchestrating is quite good. Yes, it's very quiet, but if you listen to any classical CD it's about at the same dynamic volume so it could fit in perfectly with a Debussy album or even Mahler. Mind you, I believe that if your listening to classical music, you need to have it up loud enough to hear the quiet parts and let the loud portions blow your head off (no tweaking the volume, people!) - that's the only way to go, and this piece is great for that type of listening (other genres of music don't have this element, which is rather sad, but that's life). I do feel that the instruments don't sound very real, though, but it does the job well enough - the arrangement and dynamic play works well, making up for that one deficiency. Nice stuff!