Gario

I think you misspelled 'Prince of Darkness' up there, buddy. Well, my commentary on this one would be that the guitar tone is nice and clear, for the most part (especially the leads, which I enjoy quite a bit). The guitars and strings are hitting the peaks a little bit too much for my tastes, though - I'm hearing some popping from time to time that's distracting from the rest of the track. Spending a little time with the mixing would do this track wonders. Some of the synths and instruments are a little weak (that female choir, for example, is very thin - could use a lower voice to give it meat, or something). The drums are a little hard to hear in this one, too - moar bass drum would be pretty beneficial to this one. Moar bass overall, actually, would be great - there's a distinct lack of bass in this track. The arrangement and guitar work, though, is spot on, and that's the real important part of something like this. It's fun to listen to as is - hopefully with a few of the fixes I've suggested you can make this track unstoppable, Sixto be damned.

MOD REVIEW Mmm, a lot of flavor in this one. The arrangement works pretty well - I like what you did with the themes in the middle, there. The reverb is wet enough, and the dynamics are pretty neat. One issue that brings this down, though, is the static strikes of the notes. On a piano, the dynamics are not the only thing that changes when a note gets louder or quieter. While you have great dynamics in this track, the accents of the notes sound the same, as if the pianist is hitting the notes all the same way. Ask around and see if with your particular sample there are ways to create accents other than detache (Legato, Staccatto, Phrasing under a slur, strikes with the Una Chorda... or that 'Soft Pedal', etc. etc.). These are all very important in creating a great, live feel. There are people that can (and have) done this with their music before; Ivory is an example of someone that I know who can help handle this issue quite well. I don't know why I can't think of anyone else, at the moment, but that's at least one person who might be able to give some advice to achieve these effects. You've got the arrangement down, you've got the dynamics, with this final step it'll sound as human as it can get, and it'll be ready for OCR. Not yet, though, seeing that while you put a great amount of effort into making it human (and it's paid off, so far), there's still just a little more that needs to be done. I'd like to see this on the front page, so I hope to hear even more progress soon. By the way, I just noticed that you changed your link while I was making this review, forcing me to delete some of the commentary that I was going to give (since you fixed it). While that's great that you fixed the issues, if you know you're going to make a change please keep the thread as a Work In Progress, if at all possible, as that makes it easier on the Mods. I know it probably wasn't intentional, so it's alright, I'm just putting it out there for people. *Ahem* Nice work, very close, but I think you'd still be called out on this one on the panel because of the single issue I presented up there. Mix it up a bit (not arbitrarily, of course, but in a fitting, pleasant way) and you'll be in great shape with this one.

Got yo message, man, and I really enjoy this game + it's soundtrack. I suspect with the albums you like making that you were a Sega kid back in the day, weren't you? Anyway, put me down for "Theme of Smash Daisaku". I think I can do something pretty fun for this one.

Mmm, if I had a computer that ran the game at 100% speed I'd get in on hardcore in a heartbeat. As it stands, though, there's something like a .5 - 1 second delay to everything (due to my graphics card, not my internet connection), so I can't physically avoid certain circumstances. Makes the occasional death impossible to avoid. One suggestion I'll give to you, though, is to either break from play only after large quests are finished or refresh a given quest from the beginning whenever you enter a new game. It'd be a real bummer to have a lag spike the moment you enter the game... and you enter the game in the middle of a dungeon full of nasty baddies (had it happen to be earlier today... good times ). That'd be a horrible way to lose a hardcore character.

MOD REVIEW Dunno if it's ponies or whatnot, but you really have an improved sound to your remixing, as of late. I'mma liking this one quite a bit. Just a note about the singing - while it's a neat tone (sounds a little like Symphony X when they're singing a more pure tone, to me), and the raw, non-autotuned sound is refreshing to hear (not that you ever autotuned, I'm just sayin' overall), you have a tendency to sing a hint flat over time (and every once in a while, really flat, like the attack at 1:08 ). It's not enough to make the song hard to listen to, but it's enough to color the entire track just a little droopy. Don't worry about it as much, here, but for future tracks keep that in mind and brighten your sound up, maybe even sing a hint sharp for you, it'll make a big impact on your music. The synth work is excellent, and the guitar playing is effective. I would've liked a more distinct tone to the rhythm guitar guitar, though (the rhythm sounds a little like guitar soup, as it stands). If at all possible, give the rhythm guitar a more distinct tone, or accent the rhythm better in the performance. I can understand that you don't want to re-record any guitar work for this track, so if not for this track, then I'd like to see that for the next track, at the very least. The arrangement is pretty neat, but with that fade-out ending it sounds... incomplete. Sometimes a F/O works, and sometimes it doesn't, and this is one of those cases where closing off the song would've been far more effective. Find a way to close this track off better, I suspect the judges wouldn't be too impressed with this ending. Other than that, this is a sexy beast. Fix that ending in particular and maybe the guitar tone for this one and I could see a front page track, on your hands.

Sir_nutS, Ben Briggs, Halc, AkumajoBelmont, Main Finger... One by one all of the people I thought would've been favored to win have seemed to drop off of this compo. It's kind of invigorating to think that this is truly an open competition, now, where pretty much anyone can win. Lotsa talent going into this thing, ladies and gents, let's close these next three rounds strong!

... yes. Syllix vs Chernabogue was very close, and both songs were great, but deep down I secretly wanted Syllix to win this round, 'cause I had some fun plans for this source. This is going to make this week very fun. Launch Base Zone, Round Two, baby. Kind of funny that this is the second time I'm going to remix this source into Sky Sanctuary Zone (I had little references to it in the first round, too). Alright, have fun, everyone.

Oh sweet, a Dj Morkam (Mokram... I can never get that right, to this day) remix. The ethnic sounds in this track are clean and well used. There's a clarity to this track that I don't normally hear in your tracks, and I like it. This is a sexy beast, and I hope to hear more get posted by you, man.

Oh neat, I made it on the list. Only track on the site so far, and it's an OCQR. Go figure.

Depends on what is causing the peak. If it's a fault in the recording (and is one that you can't re-record) then EQ'ing the peak down or limiting the sound is will be what you need to resort to. Oftentimes, though, a peak means that an instrument is too loud, and you should mix the instrument levels down (generally for the entire phrase - suddenly getting soft and loud can be jarring). Compression, limiting and EQ'ing can create unintended artifacts in the mix, if you're not careful, while adjusting the volumes will not. I personally recommend messing with levels before resorting to other tools to fix peaks, if you can at all help it.

Someone hurry up and vote for Syllix so that the universe doesn't collapse onto itself due to the infamous Voting Chivalry Paradox. For realz.

Ack, sorry to hear about your loss, Brandon. We will all persevere while you spend time you need to yourself. Personally, I wouldn't mind Willrock coming in the compo, at this point - it'd be kind of fun taking him down a few rounds down the road...

I'mma promote myself and link you to these two tracks. http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02372/ http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/450350 I mean, the Chrono Trigger track is even called 'Feels Good', though that's less chill than the other track. Nonetheless, it's gotta count for something.

Submitted. Prepare to ate pamcakes.

Alrighty, got mine fimished. As soon as I can rrach a spot where my computer can upload it I'll semd it your way, SuperiorX.

Urgh, won't be able to vote. I've literally spent every non-working moment composing, and I'm just getting things done with the skin of my teeth. Like this track that I'll be submitting at the last possible moment. Hope you don't mind getting your pamcake roasted, King Tiger.

The levels for the first track are pretty close to perfect, there - loud and clean. That's the ideal that you need to start with, and you have it covered. The tune is interesting, though when it repeats for so long it becomes hard to listen to. Nice drum work, as well. You don't need to work on the levels much on this one. For a track like that one, you would be using EQ to give the guitar a certain flavor. Want a warmer feel to the track? Lower the higher end a touch and possibly bring the lower-mid end up a touch. Looking for more of a bright sound? Raising the higher end of the EQ a decibel or two would be a good idea. Tinker around with it and just use your ear to catch any possible clipping and such. The second track, though... that bass is causing all sorts of problems. Notice when it comes in everything else distorts or cuts out - that is clipping. This is when levels are great to tinker with - adjust the bass so that it doesn't ruin the spectrum for everything else. If you wanted it to be loud in comparison to everything else, lower the other instruments with it and try to raise the master level to a point where it's loud, but not clipping. Messing with the levels is a great way to achieve the balance that you want in a track before raising the sound to it's ideal limits. EQ can be used to balance sounds in a track, too, by lowering certain spectrum in individual instruments, but it'll also change the timbre of the instruments, as well, so use EQ for leveling with caution. Hope that helps you out a bit.

Got ya covered. This is pretty sexy stuff, as usual. I'm hoping you have at least some of this solo cello music heading OCR's way, even though the video showing the recording makes it about 10x more impressive. I mean, the site wouldn't be able to show you get up and leave the recording looping on it's own, which was pretty funny. Also loved the Final Fantasy & Lion King guest themes in there. Very tasteful.

And it is, indeed, sexy. Sounds like you have a challenge set out. I'll accept that challenge - get my two tracks finished before your next two (which I'm surprisingly close to having time to finish, now). May the best man win.

I don't think there's risk of that happening (I mean, the deadline is two weeks away), but just in case, yeah, I won't be able to vote on the music until sometime next week, so it'd suck if he got enough people for a cutoff before then.

I've been busy. I hope you don't mop the floor with your mix, there - pancakes that've been on the floor taste all nasty.

When it comes to mixing on headphones, I mix at levels closer to 20-30. At higher levels, I'm afraid that my phones are going to blow before the track has a chance to clip, when I'm mixing my stuff on headphone. I'm sure it's different from user to user, but because of the proximity of one's ears to the output lower levels are preferred. On that note, though, this track is pretty quiet. Have you compared your mix to other songs? Pushing your levels shouldn't be too hard - simply pushing the master up a few decibels should get you up to snuff without any production pops. I personally don't mind the empty sound that this has, as it gives it some nice atmosphere, but at moments like 1:11 I'd like to see the soundscape fill up a little bit more as to contrast the section previous better. The synth at 0:57 is neat, but I think it would work a little better if there was less release and a bit more volume on it when it comes in. I think it's a nice atmospheric track, overall. I'd give more advice, but I'm working on finishing my track for this myself so it's a bit tough to break away, for the moment.

Wow, that's pretty sexy guitar work. I really like the slow, steady jam that's going through my headphones right now. Nice work.

I'd recommend downloading all of the mixes and listening to them at one's own leisure, voting on a separate notepad and doing the survey in one sitting, if it's not possible to dedicate too much time in a single sitting. That's if you can't do it in a single sitting, that is. EDIT: Er... we can't download them, can we?