Nabeel Ansari

If someone could please clear up these things that would be great: What would you suggest in place of the sax? What genre is this? And is it too short? And what should I call this remix (I plan on trying to get this on OCR WHEN it's finished) EDIT: I replaced the Sax with a creepy Sine Wave. It should sound more... UUUGHHH WHAT IS THIS GENRE IT'S ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE??? EDIT 2: I fixed some velocity problems. I looked over every individual and I know that they aren't all the same velocities... I don't hear why you guys are saying they sound mechanical because when I wrote the patterns I specifically made each note unique... maybe the difference isn't as noticeable, should I increase the differences?

ALL RIIIIGHT!!! I just emailed my brother for some pointers and THANK YOU for this excellent advice! And about the instruments... it's not as interesting as you think. It's pianos, a sax, and a bass. I just got creative with the piano. See what I plan to do is remember in the beginning how the sax fades in? Yeah I'll keep it a piano it sounds kinda weird like that. And I think I'll make the sax fade into the rest of the song instead BAAAAAAHBAHBAAAAAAAHBAH over and over. And the repeating notes of that Piano (it's not a celesta it's really high piano) are actually something I like. Can you tell me any other parts that sound too mechanical? Whoooa I seriously just showed my age in this post. Jeez I haven't acted so excitedly childish for a looooong time. I fixed the sax and I kept the piano in the intro just to give you a little taste of power and theeeen... WHAM it sends you into powerful neblixsa music. But actually, DS just told me maybe I shouldn't use a sax... have any ideas on what else to use, Gario?

It's all right Jewbei, I already decided that this is no longer jazz. It's just me being free with my style (which is actually bad in most cases {^_^"} ) I updated it, a very big chunk of stuff added on, from the Requiem Of Spirit to an ending solo which starts as piano and fades to a sax with closing drum transition out! The solo is actually not that good, I couldn't think of anything a pianist would do with the notes of Serenade of Water so I did something random and then something looped and it went to a sax for the ending. And the production is pretty bad so far, I need to clean up some stuff and add a few finishing touches and I think it's good to go. (Like there's no transition between Serenade and Requiem it''s abrupt and bumpy. Also my sax sound is getting a little dry and exposed in some parts so I have to fix that) Edit: Most of these problems had a simple solution so I fixed em up. EDIT 2: I just placed the ending solo in the beginning and changed some stuff around. This is for people who like intros more than endings. Removed unnecessary repeats. Now this mix is dangerously close to the two minute short limit... You guys know I've received ZERO criticism... I've just been questioned at my claim of the genre of the song.

Uhm... no problem? ... Just don't come to me for everything, a little advice from EVERYONE is good. A novice like me isn't gonna help you onto OCR, you need opinions from all different aspects, not just mine. Speaking of which, if you ever encounter an overly harsh jerk that says stuff like "You have ruined the source" or "You didn't capture anything from the original" or "Your instrumentation/dynamics are terrible" and his name is Snappleman, don't get let down. He's just a jerk. You'll become twice as good as him if you keep up your pace...

Mine? Mine are terrible. http://neblixsaber.googlepages.com/PeacefulSpring.mp3 This is not Hip Hop, but you can tell I didn't do the same thing OVEr and OVER again (Well I kinda did but the differences were enough to keep the listener interested) And then there's http://neblixsaber.googlepages.com/SerenadeofWaterMix.mp3 A remix I'm working on it's not even half done I don't know where to go with it but I say the same thing it's not over and over and over. (The last few measures are just placeholders I'll put something new there)

Well, sorry, but if you submit a loop to OCR it's gonna get rejected. You do have potential... I am also a self taught Fruityloops user. (My brother's a judge here so I go to him before I submit something) However, you need to understand that OCR doesn't look for loops that are, well, looped with extremely mild differences every two measures. They look for stuff like songs. Stuff like "Oh this is a cool part" or "Wow I liked that buildup and it went smoothly to a high energy part!" Not like "... This is boring I've been hearing this over and over for the last minute." And I'D LOVE FOR YOU GUYS TO JOIN IN... I'm not very comfortable because I'm the only guy giving him advice and it feels wrong that he's getting it from a novice like me....

Please post the source. Fly is nice and flowing and it has some variety. However, the second half is a repeat of the first half. Once you get down something a little more original (something that wasn't previously in the song), the next step is to figure out if it's too conservative.

"The Wily Malfunction" ?!?!??!?! That's raw power with synths! It's good, but how do you call that Jazz??? All right, never mind. I'll just make this whatever. I always fail at something if I confine myself to a single genre, so I'll just go where it takes me. I updated it, I somehow put the Serenade Of Water in there without messing up the beat.

Oh my bad, I didn't read his post. He means that it's basically the same song with mild differences. And it doesn't matter if Hip Hop is usually loops... Saying "Hip Hop is usually loops" isn't gonna get your song on the site. Time and effort is what gets your song on the site. Twenty minutes isn't really time and effort unless you had your eyes glued to the screen and took aspirin every five minutes because of the intense headaches of trying to make it sound musically flowing. (I'm not saying it doesn't!!!) But if you don't put some effort it'll just sound like any other rejected remix you find lying around. Also, if these were just previews and you wanted to have your friend rap on these, what was the point of submitting them to OCR?

Well I didn't say I was done lol I didn't mean to imply to you guys that the sax made it Jazz.... I didn't even pick all my instruments. But yeah I see what you're saying. For the drumbeat I took a very simple beat from something I love (Darkesword should very well know what I'm talkin about if you're reading this.) And i changed it around, adding some more stuff from a Jazz drumkit,

First One: There's no melody... it's just a bass and a drumline. It's kinda short and repetitive. Second one: Overall, it's really, really, really repetitive. It's not much of a song it's just two or three loops over and over again. Third One: Same. You got a little more creative in the second half, but the first half is really... how do I put this... stagnant. It's also really short and it ends abruptly, there was no effort put into a closing. (Well that last statement is based on my personal opinion) Fourth One: Wow this one intros quite nicely! I like this one. It's flowing and not too repetitive! However, it does repeat itself for an ending, and like I said before, it's too short. Try doing something original like a solo or something. Fifth One: This one is also nice. But it's kinda... how do I put this... stagnant. And it repeats itself. Also, the ending is abrupt. Again, too short. I do not know what sources these remixes come out of so I can't tell you if it's too conservative (means it's almost the same song with different instruments) or if it's too original. It's definitely one of the two as most of them repeat too much. This guy said he wanted to submit these, which is why my comments are a little over the top... To answer your many questions will take some time. Youtube makes your mp3"s sound different because they compress the file to fit their space needs. It would take up too much space if they put the full file. Therefore, the quality is lowered. You should host on a site where they don't compress the file. Like Geoffrey said, there are free ways to do this. Also, you need to understand what OCRemix is about. Taken from the front page; "This site is dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form." Loops and repetitive trance/hip hop/electronica/WHATEVER is really not something they are looking for. http://www.darkesword.com/frames.html (Go to Read, then Essays, then Four Man Combo) That is an essay one of the ReMixers here wrote. It's a simple approach to arranging and composing for people like you and me (beginners). Don't take what he says literally, but try to take the ideas he writes down and build off of those. The song should be flowing, from one part to the next, not back and forth. Yes, technically if you did the slightest difference like a change of instruments it is a remix, but OCR looks for stuff like rearrangements. A different interpretation of the song in the game. (It's called OCRemix because Over Clocked Rearrangements wasn't really that catchy). For example... Darkesword took a song played on an old flute and he turned it into an Orchestration. He added power to the song with a drumbeat, he used transitions. Think of music like an ESSAY MADE OF SOUND. He added melodies and he changed chord progressions. He used French Horns, strings, and Choirs. But remixing is not just Orchestration. You can take a Heavy Metal Rock battle theme from a game and turn it into a relaxing jazz song (if you really wanted to, but you have to get creative and use your imagination, it's not just gonna happen by itself) And you don't have to go out of the genre, you could stay in the same one if that's easier. You have to make the song your own, you have to make it sound like no other person could make it sound. It's your interpretation. The rules also state that submissions should be over two minutes at least. And your sample's are not a problem as long as they are the sound YOU are looking for. If we think you suck shouldn't even matter to you. It's your music, you have your own way with it, it's your style. It's simply a matter of taste.

If you told me why this doesn't sound like Jazz, I would understand your post. But I came to OCR so I could hear what people had to say about the song.

Attempting a remix once more. This time with a little more sense and experience. http://neblixsaber.googlepages.com/RainDancingAtTheSpiritTemple.mp3

Okay, but I actually don't know what specific parts you are talking about... It's better if you give me a place in time (ex. 1:35?) Other than that I like it, it's probably the best song I ever wrote (It's the only song I ever wrote.... so yeah)

Can you be a little more specific about which harmonies, please? I actually like the harmonies... The instruments are singing in this song. I especially like (unrelated) my harp, I used an idea from DS's Ancient Hero remix to make my harp have a plucking sound. And I see what you're saying about production... Maybe softer songs tend to have better quality. (I once wrote a Serenade of Water remix and it got rejected... but that was one or two years ago. BUT, that was because of the arrangement. My sounds were really nice and relaxing in that one.) Maybe my talent lies more in the relaxing side of music.

http://neblixsaber.googlepages.com/peacefulspring.mp3 This is a song I just wrote half an hour ago...

Yeah how much time did this all take you?!

Please provide a link to the mix, I actually never listened to it because I was trying to help you with your thread title problem.

Ya know to edit the thread title just edit the first post and change the title...

"Please do not create Multiple Threads for a single WIP." Darkesword just stickied that up yesterday. And what I said said before: It's kind of boring. your sounds are real nice but it's kinda "bleh" Everything's kinda the same. Try changing up what's happening (like high energy parts and low energy parts and make em feel different, they're all medium energy parts that feel the same)

It's kinda boring and the same throughout the same... but your sounds are nice.

Thanks, I'll work on it ASAP. Also, don't forget Boss Month. Darkesword just filled me in on what it is. XD

Don't worry about it. XD UPDATE: I made the drums a little less annoying. http://neblixsaber.googlepages.com/halfwaytogo.mp3 It's still just a bunch of kicks and hi hats so if you want to hear it make sure you have a subwoofer (the kicks are on a low pass filter for a little more electronic feel)

This sounds a little cleaner and I see you added stuff... It's coming along good, man!!!

NIIIIIIICE! I don't like this remix... I LOVE IT!!!