Gario

Alright, as long as it's a compositional choice I'll wait to see what you've got in store for us. Strings CAN sound good, it's just a bit overused nowadays. Thanks for the link!

Here's me answering my own question, then . I'm glad we were right! It's ver-nice.

Hey, there. I'm back from the first version you presented. It's come a long way from when I last heard it (I tried to come in earlier, but your hosting is very unreliable for me...). It is a whole lot better this time around (thank God for the changes to the intro - it's made a WORLD of difference). Now, one of the reasons it still sounds repetitious is that after the initial statement of the beginning of the source, you repeat the second part for the rest of the song (from 1:11 - 3:24). I can understand repeating it a few times - it's where you get most of your remixing ideas. Let me make a suggestion, though - instead of going back to the material your going to repeat at 2:23, try moving back to the other section of the source for some time before going into the stuff you put at 2:23. That will not only add interest to the music, it'll also add length. You need to add more of the first part of the source in this - it's killing me to listen to the same section of source 6 times straight (even with the key change - it still drives me a little bit crazy). Nice outro, though . It's getting better, but it still needs some work. I'm still listening, though!

Strange, I'd say it was a more laid back remix of the Extreme, quite good, though. I can agree with what the J's had to say about it, but it certainly isn't a bad remix. It didn't seem to have enough of the material from past the intro, in my opinion, but that certainly gave it a unique flavor that I wasn't expecting. Very nice. For the love of God, don't do that to us! Too many people make that very mistake - 'I'll just make a remix with strings and percussion, rawr' - it will not help you as a remixer, and it'll destroy the potential for the remix. Taking on a project that is a bit bigger than you wanted at first will help you more as a composer than taking on something that is easier; that's not to mention the fact that strings, while good with other instruments, suck on their own (in general). If your orchestrating a remix use the full range of the orchestra, please. I didn't want you going out making a remix with just strings - that would've been slicing off your nose in spite of your face. I liked the remix, by the way - it'd be great for vgmix (and then I'd be able to download it - I can't do that the way you set up the link ).

If you want my opinion, it's a little boring. It sticks far too close to the original. In fact, it has even less interest than the original - at least the harmonies and such (I liked the lick at the end, though). It could easily be longer. The sounds, although a little cliche, were alright (the sound quality, I understand, isn't good because of Youtube - try hosting the mp3 on one of these sites, next time). The mix itself isn't bad, though - it just doesn't bring anything new to the table. Please start your own thread about your particular remix, next time. Jacking someone else's thread is very rude and gives the people reading the thread the wrong idea on what it's about.

Hah! I already downloaded his entry... I wonder why he took it down, it wasn't bad at all. Maybe he's just cleaning it up or something. Here's hoping it makes a comeback! EDIT: LOL! I just noticed something... odd in the ORC ThaSauce page... DAMN YOU GARIAN!! Stealing my glory, once again (this isn't the first time, lol).

You could bring me to my knees with a remix like this one. I will agree that the orchestral music was stronger than the techno, but I'm not going to say better, at all - to say 'better' or 'worse' would imply that they sounded like two separate entities in the music, which they did not at all. The techno portions needed to be weaker in order to mesh so well with the rest of the orchestral music; you cannot really separate one element from the other. I cannot express how wonderful this remix is in words. I'm frankly quite amazed that this is from 2004 - incredible work from both of you so long ago. It doesn't surprise me that Zircon is still making amazing remixes today (although it does surprise me that Tyler decided to stop after 2005 - Come on, we need more Tyler remixes, now!).

I wanted to do a remix of this source, myself, hoping that no one else did an amazing rendition of it. It is one of my very favorite Final Fantasy songs (perhaps next to Kefka). Damnit, you beat me to the punch! This remix is great, and I hope everyone on this site can at the least give it a listen - they won't regret it! The source itself was amazing, and you didn't detract from it one bit. Wonderful.

To me, this mix is like a great wine. When I first heard it I didn't like it. Period. I just thought,'Oh, those sounds are terrible, the mix is repetative, etc.'... I gave it time, time where I didn't listen to it, time I developed musically. I went back to this one a week or so again, and I found it aged incredibly well. I can now hear the very subtle things Snowbro has done to it, and it makes me very happy to listen to. In particular, 2:35 - 3:29 is simply a stroke of repetitive genius. I love it. Like a great wine, it has aged very, very well; it gets better with every listen. I'm still hard pressed to put this against Disco Dan's version, but it does give it's own unique charm to the piece.

I could've sworn that they've been on trial for this before, but I guess I was thinking about the raids to their building and other legal issues. Okay, then my previous post makes me look like an idiot - although I still am a little flustered that the law waited five years before doing anything like this. If it was acted upon five years ago (when the company was starting up), it wouldn't have had such a large database of illegal activity and would've been pretty simple for everyone, wouldn't it? Why wait five years to do something this important? Believe me, they had every reason to accuse these guys earlier, yet they waited until they had an unstoppable machine of piracy. It's bad for anti-piracy, as it now has no effect on the issue whatsoever (as Schwaltzvald said, it's just the tip of the iceberg, now). It's bad for the people involved, as their sentence probably wouldn't have been nearly so bad (and it would've deterred the activity much better than it will, now) if this was caught before it was so large. It's just bad for this type of action to be taken so late for everybody involved.

If your experienced in Cubase and you like it, use Cubase. If you don't like it, look at FL (as you already have that, as well). I use Reason and others also use Reaper (which I plan on looking into, btw, 'cause it's free ), and still others like sonar. It really is a matter of personal taste - users on this site have made all sorts of programs work for them, so chose your DAW based on what feels right for you. With time and practice you'll get it sounding like other well produced music on this site. By the way, if you have specific questions on the particular DAW your using you'll probably get better feedback than this - it's hard to answer a subjective question like the one given here . Sorry if I couldn't help you with the virtual keyboard - it's something I don't use. I just input everything via mouse. I've learned to do it pretty quickly, so don't shy away from that method. Further elaboration on this, Zircon is pretty explicit on this particular topic in the 'READ BEFORE POSTING' sticky above... Here's his advice for you... Oh, and PLEASE don't use so many question marks in the topic title - it REALLY deters people from helping you.

I'm not totally against the fact that they're convicted of piracy or anything (I'm actually against it, myself). The only thing that bothers me is that they're getting 'backlashed' by the law. These are crimes that they've been tried for before, and were released. Essentially, they're just going back, making some changes or finding some loopholes in the law and reopening the case just to make these guys pay. It's wrong. Really, if things were like this in America's law systems, people would never stop bothering the accused and keep asking for a trial to re-open up for every new change in the law, or for every new piece of evidence that came up, possibly even reconvict people for 'crimes' that weren't crimes ten years ago (due to changes in the system). That's just screwed up that it's exactly what's happening to these guys.

lol, hey, I have a backstory, too; unfortunately it's very long and complicated so I can't share it >.<. I won't be hurt if it isn't at ThaSauce, but it may affect Setokaibarocket's chances of winning the compo... EDIT: I just listened to it... Very, very nice... especially the victory song (not to mention the Konami pause lol)... now hurry up and put it on the site!

Sounds about right...

Hey, a fanclub! Sweet... I THINK I hear some of the source in there... but it's hard to make out in some parts (and that's coming from the composer, so I bet it's even harder for everyone else), lol. It's still awesome though. For our next submission, we need a Pacman soundalike... | . |. . . . .| - |. . . .| - | | . |_____| - |____| - | |. . - - - - - - - - - - | /\/\/\/\ Pacman for the Atari 2600 /\/\/\/\ ---------------------------- Nevermind, that would suck.

Seriously, the best thing I've seen on OCR, as of yet. Now that the pencil debate has subsided, this is another 'Am I the only one who heard that?'... thing. Shut you eyes and listen to the first part of this... Seriously, what were they thinking?? If her slut-astic suit wasn't bad enough...

That's true, too... I'm just saying that it feels like it needs more variation with the structure of the music. I can't speak for the J's (0/1 myself ) but I feel that will be the area they'd hammer you on. Did you listen to the comments the judges made on 1makes2's Spark Mandrill WIP (Post #35)? They made the same comments on that very issue (among other things), and it wasn't even as extreme in his case (personally, though, I liked his arrangement a lot; shame it hasn't been accepted yet ). I think I was mixing up a few things in the submission standards, there (I guess they aren't prejudice against arrangements...). I meant they're going to want more originality in the treatment of the themes, is all.

I notice that you are having problems with the file size. Frankly, wavs are like bitmaps - it doesn't matter what you do to the quality of them, the filesize will be the same if they are the same size. If the bitmap is completely blank it'll have the asme filesize as if it had the Mona Lisa on it. Wavs are the same. If there is no sound on the file it'll have the same size as an equally long file that has all of your music on it. Mp3s follow the same principle (even though you CAN change the filesize through the 'quality' options), but changing the content isn't going to help the mix at all. Hey, my recommendation is to speed up the file that you feel is the best up by a one or two bpms. That may get it to the 6 mb limit (as it'll make the song just a little bit shorter), and hopefully no one will tell the difference. Check out my many, many posts of Sparkman here (I'm not advertising my music or trying to divert attention from your music - it just provides an excellent example of what I'm talking about with the filesize). The filesize only ever changed if the length of the song changed (like between v.2.0 and v.3.4), otherwise, it would be the exact same as the others before it (the bitrate always stayed the same, 160kps - I lucked out with my final submission, lol). As for the mix itself, I liked the idea of combining the two songs together like you did. I feel that the instrument usage was a bit stale (as you used each instrument for the same purpose every time). I'd say it's on the conservative side of things and has an ever-so-slight 'medley-itis' feel to the connection of the mining song and the DK2 song (and from the DK1 mines to the DK2 credits, the reference to the lockjaw song, though, was brilliant, imo). It was a great mix, nonetheless; very clean and enjoyable. I'd fix the transitions so the sections don't feel as slapped together and try to vary the instrument usage more; then it may have a shot with the J's (as long as the filesize is brought down ).

Ah, a working link, yay! I don't mind if it's Newgrounds (although the feedback from there can be a bit... odd... at times). Just from the one song you've posted, the rhythm guitar is a bit too thin for my tastes. It doesn't seem to fill the space well enough (although the lead guitar makes up for it somewhat). For the drum sampling your using, I'd recommend some more delicate treatment of the velocities - adding some variety in the dynamics will help in getting a realistic sound dramatically. I really like the lead work, though. It really shines, showing off your talent very well. The tone is nice and mellow, and the notework is pristine. I'll admit it is a little bit underrepresented, as it is a bit quiet, but that's a pretty easy fix . The solo at 1:26 bothers me a little bit. I'd have chosen some different notes to double the lead with... yes, it's because of that old 'Parallel 5ths' thing, and I KNOW you know what bothers me about them (I'm not turning this into another Parallel 5ths debate, lol). Actually, I'm writing a very in depth guide on the subject of Counterpoint right now (it's my way to support OCR this month), and I'd love to have you read it when I'm done (it makes the post I made in Rozo's remix about counterpoint look like a puny note on the side...). It'll be very beneficial, even if you don't believe in it right now . Of course, you also know that it is a pet peeve of mine, so you can take the advice or leave it, I won't mind too much either way . Well, I don't know if you were asking for advice on it or just letting us know. I can't help critiquing music - I guess I've got a little 'Rozo-itis' in me...

I'm not going to lie, I like this mix. It does, however, lean on the mids and bass a bit too heavily. The synths you use for the melodic material is not quite thick enough to fill the upper register of the music. I'm not recommending to change your instruments, really; they add to the charm of the piece. The lack of upper range, though, does give this a certain, 'muffled' quality that I'm sure that you didn't intend. By the way, this sounds like an excellent piece that harkens back to the older OCR days. That nostalgic factor is really quite fun, but I don't know what that does to your chances with the judges (well, you'd know better than I, I guess; your an OCR remixer, whereas I am saldy not, at the moment). It sounds like you cut back down on the Dr. Wily portion of the mix. I liked that part before when it was a bit more prominent . Ah well, I'm sure you have your reasons. I like the mix, though, I want to hear the finished version soon!

Well, Dj Mokram, if it helps it also has a lot of Giant of Babil in there... listen to the harmonies, melody and drum pattern (not to mention the famous bassline) in there - maybe that'll divert your attention from the CT aspect of it

Yup, I came to the same conclusion, before; I'm glad you can see why I may have been worried, then . It looks like there are people interested, though, so I'm not really fretting about it, right now . Sadly, most of my midi music is pretty thick like that (or blatantly atonal, which wouldn't make for very good remixing...), so I have a difficult time trying to pick what I want to post here (especially if I'm dealing with GM... I made the music with Soundblaster Live, where it sounds just fine, but even the mp3 has difficulty conveying the balance it has...).

It's alright, I understand your hypothesis (and what you were asking). Frankly, I think that when a mix is very dense and doesn't have a very strong melodic element it more often than not won't have much attention (although I can understand what your saying, too). I was a bit worried about people participating because my mix IS pretty dense. It looks like there is some interest, so I'm patiently awaiting the submissions. Oh, and go listen to it - it's pretty cool .

I personally suck at art, but my brother's and sister are amazing. If you send me what you want I could ask them about it.

The source (well, any source for this competition) is from a body of midi works that I have. Sadly, I don't have a midi-maker that I'm satisfied with, right now (Anvil just doesn't work for me), so I can't quite make anything specifically for this competition, atm. I would if I could, but I can't. Hell, I've actually had this floating around OC for a while now (look at the OHC021 compo - I actually used it there because I couldn't make anything that week ). I don't think that's against the rules, and it is much more satisfying when people remix a work that you really put your heart into (this particular track, to get it just right, took me 3 weeks, for example). This was written for a game that I'm working on (that is currently on indefinite hold... we'll see if I ever get it done). What makes you bring this up?