Gario

1. MushroomSword 2. Ghetto Lee Lewis 3. Jonathan!

Well I'll be damned, that's some nice guitar sampling.

By all means, that would be great. I understand that feeling all too well - my tower track was 99% complete, but I can't possibly put that track out now since I've gotten another five years better since then. If you sent it to either myself or Bahamut we'd be more than happy to take a new version

Honestly, it doesn't sound like it could physically be an issue with the sites themselves for at least two reasons. First, I can verify box.net at the least, and I know it doesn't arbitrarily turn volumes down on my things. Second (and more importantly), it is physically for a file transfer site to consistently change specific values on data so that the volume turns down like that without causing other kinds of corruptions on different files. The odds of that happening are astronomically low. If you think it's your internet itself (as low a chance as that is), transfer your music files via flashdrive and go to another computer and connection entirely (a friends place, parents place, school, library, etc.). That will narrow that option out entirely. I suspect it to be a setting in the DAW sound output settings, personally, but that's up to you to check out. Don't worry about the thread being about your issues - things like this are to help you get better, and if we're able to help on this I feel that would make participating in this compo entirely worth it (even disregarding the monetary prize).

Ah, yesss... This project has been going slow, admittedly, due to both directors having life get in the way quite a bit. I do have some good news in that while it's not up on the front page yet, DaMonz rocked out Battle to a completed track. But yeah, lack of updates are not cool, my bad on that. If nothing moves before Summer of this year I'll start getting some fires started up again, but until then I'm mostly out of the loop, as well.

Oh, the issue might be with the SoundCloud site... I use Box.net, so if you upload the original track to there you might not have any problems in the first place.

You could use a program like Audacity to raise the volume post-export, then make slight production tweaks from said program to make sure clipping doesn't result from this. I do this sometimes to increase volume on my tracks.

Reason is a bit pricey, but you can import MIDIs and assign the instruments that come with it, which generally are pretty good. It's not normally a standard used in the industry, but it works well enough.

MOD REVIEW Mmm, the singing is simply impeccable. I loved it, but then again I have a soft spot for good singing. It's definitely the centerpiece of the track, and rightfully so - while the singing is going on, I can't honestly fault the piece for very much. The arrangement makes good sense, and even without your helpful guide I can hear the sources perfectly fine. Arrangement checks out. Production has few things to complain about, though I have my nitpicks. The hard-panning is hard to justify, and it puts me out of balance when it's there. It's probably amplified by the fact that I'm using headphones, atm, but I find it can be a distraction in general if it's not balanced properly. When there are two instruments hard-panned at once it works out alright (like at 4:16), but solo it's distracting (like at 0:07 & 0:32). Moments like that would be spaced out enough from the rest of the song at ~+/-32, or even 48 panning levels. While it's not noticeable complimented with the singing, on solo moments the instruments have some attributes that make them feel a little mechanical. The volumes are wonderfully varied, but the attacks tend to sound the same regardless of the volume levels or intention of the instrument. This issue is especially glaring at moments like 3:11 with the horn and 3:44 with the trumpet - they stick out like sore thumbs against the real instruments (such as the singing and guitar). There are often ways to move the start point of a sample for instrument sequencers, which can help bring more variety to an instrument (and, therefore, more life to the sequence). This is relatively minor, in reality, but against everything else it stuck out, for me. Overall, this would be a close call, but I think it would have a fair chance at passing the panel as it is. I recommend tweaking the panning, though, and figuring out how to humanize the instruments a touch more when they are playing solo - if those were fixed, this would be a surefire pass, in my opinion. Great singing, great arrangement. Good luck!

1. Cyril the Wolf 2. TheShaggyFreak 3. Nutritious

MOD REVIEW Nice blend of two great tracks - I love me some Secret of Mana 2. Clean and calming here, using the acoustic guitar to set the calming mood and the rest of the instruments to achieve an almost mystical atmosphere. It actually sounds really cool, though I do have some thoughts on the track overall. Overall, the production is so-so. The acoustic guitar forming the harmony is very distracting every time you leave the scratching in the recording. For a live performance it's acceptable, but for a recording it is just distracting, especially since it's not hard to edit them out with your DAW (or hell, even Audacity, if you're working on a budget). Toward the end things also get muddy - too much fighting to be in the front, leaving me confused whether you wanted the piano or the wood flute to be the focus of that section. Finally, the guitar at 0:46 is pretty piercing in comparison with the rest of the track, so be sure to bring down its high EQs, to soften that effect. The performances were pretty spot on, in general, though again that backing guitar sounds like it lands a little late on the notes (we're talking milliseconds, but it clashes with the sequenced bits). Playing a live instrument against a quantized one is tough because these discrepancies become glaring, so to fix this you'll probably either need to record the performance more accurately or edit the notes so they land more precisely with the quantized track. If anything, the second option would probably be more feasible. Another rewarding possibility would be to remove the quantize from the sequenced parts and have them sound slightly (SLIGHTLY) more humanized, as to fit better with the guitar in the background. Otherwise, nice work on the performance. The arrangement is pretty cool, using Angels Fear to Tread as a bookend like that, and the Innocent Sea as the meat of the track, but I think it should be expanded a bit. Unfortunately, once the second source comes in it almost sounds verbatim to the source, so it sounds a little like slapping the two sources next to each other rather than any mixing of the themes. Granted, this is a close call on my part, but I'd lean that some more integration of the sources would help your cause. Sounds very nice, actually, but I don't think it would pass on the site as it stands. I hope you elaborate on this idea and eventually submit it for another Mod review when you've touched it up.

Where is the remix? I was looking forward to hearing my favorite battle song from X/Y metulz.

1. Hylian Lemon 2. Cosmic Sounds 3. supercoolmike

This is actually really, really pretty. The voices add a flavor that I haven't heard associated with this source before, and it's great. Lovin' it. The production quality is surprisingly good, really. If I had anything to complain about it would be that the percussion is a bit loud, the clapping sounds like clipping (like, the instrument literally sounds like clipping - it actually is not), and that it's a bit too dry (though that kind of works, stylistically). I really do like it, though. If you decide to expand on it a little (which that ending really leads to expanding, IMO) I could see it being polished up into a nice submission. If it's a done deal, that's respectable, too. Very nice

MOD REVIEW Ooo, a source I am completely unfamiliar with (never got around to playing Majora's Mask). *Goes and listens to the source* Alrighty, I see where you're taking this one. Replace the source with more "live" instruments, shift up the source rather than repeat it precisely. Unfortunately, for the sake of submission, I think this is too conservative for OCR. The structure is roughly the same, and the melodies and counterpoints are nearly note-for-note accurate. Very spiritual, very soothing, but I think it would be rejected on conservative grounds, though. It'll be nice to see where you can expand a source like this one, though.

4/5 mixes turned in this round? That's not too bad of a turn out. Good luck next round, Beta group!

UPLOADING NOW, just giving a head's up. EDIT: Aaaand it's done-ish. Could be better, but perhaps this'll help dust off my skills a bit. Here's to a better round 2!

Working on it, sadly had very little time in the first round. Ah well, it'll at least be an alright arrangement for ya, when I get it in for everyone.

MMMMMMEEEEEH I didn't know what soundtrack to follow, so put me down for Shantae (Risky's Revenge), and I hope my remixing skillz aren't too rusty to put out some fun tracks. Let's do this fucka.

Dive man! From one of my personal fav's, Mutherpluckin' B! Actually, go listen to all of this guy's stuff, he's just great, overall.

I do want to do a new version of Spark Man sometime (hopefully soon!), so I will fulfill your request, one day. Not sure how soon that will be, though. In the meantime, I made one a few years back that you might enjoy, regardless. It's on ThaSauce, if you're interested. Maybe that'll satiate you until I approach this song again, sometime.

In the case where royalties would become a issue, your track would likely be rejected due to copyright issues before they became posted on the front page. If it were posted, you'd likely have no problems with copyright. Post with no worries, friend!

Oh damn, this IS a sexy rendition. Light, airy and a unique take on something where it's been done so often it's nearly impossible to do that anymore. On a more critical note, it does get a bit muddy at the end, though, but it's still quite a good listen. Loved it, and nice bump.

Nice way to welcome yourself to OCR - this is pretty cool stuff. It's not an official Mod Review, but I'm feeling nice so I'll give you a nice critique, anyway, since you're asking. This track is very pretty, but probably wouldn't make it through immediately due to the conservative nature of the arrangement. I like to emphasize that there is nothing wrong with being conservative - it's just that as according to site policy OCR is looking for arrangements that include more personal deviations from the source. Take a listen to some music posted on the site and listen to the differences between those songs and their sources, to get a good solid idea what the site is after. I like the idea of an orchestral track, and what you have works pretty well, in that regard. Quality-wise, though, the instruments are quite mechanical. It's not easy to make them sound more realistic, pending on the sample that you use, but varying the volumes, attack envelope, etc. will help make an instrument sound more realistic. It's not easy to get it just right, though, without doing some active research into what instruments sound like. It's tough work, but the end result is very much worth it, if you spend the time mastering instrumental arrangements. You kind of got a lucky break from me this time (I normally stick to Mod Reviews, when I post in here), but I suggest reading the stickies on how to use the WIP boards, too - it explains how the prefix system works, and what prefixes to use when you want critique, a review before posting on OCR, and when you just want to show off a cool song. Check it out, it'll make things easier for you. I like the idea, and the song is pretty sweet, in its own right. OCR can't take it due to being conservative, but it's a great starting point! I hope to see you posting more on the WIP boards