WillRock

Hey guys! So I need a vocalist like... RIGHT NOW. The brief is to write a song in the style of Skid Row or Vertical Horizon - Song is in the works, but I need a vocalist! I have a deadline to submit by 20th dec, so whoever does this with me would need to record it pretty soon but there is possibility of payment (I'll give anyone who messages me more info on that). If you're interested, message me with an example of your vocals (and recording quality) and i'll get back to you asap. LETS MELT SOME FACES

You know, PuD is ALWAYS making top tier stuff. Production is always perfect, performances are fucking insane, and all his tracks evolve and stylistically shift between so many awesome fusions of rock/metal, while still being cohesive. This is no exception. Talent like this makes my butt explode with envy.

Haha this is cooooooool. Really appreciate the direction. That said, I'm not hearing any personalisation of the theme, its basically a completely conservative interpretation for OCR. That said, I have to say, just cause I'm noing it, doesn't mean I don't enjoy it. I'll be listening to this quite a bit over the next few days \m/ NO

There are ratings on Rainwave for all OC Remixes. Generally, I prefer to ignore them cause its easy to start overthinking them and comparing ratings.

When life gives you video game music, make remixes. Production is pretty awesome. Feels like there is some very minor issues with the vocals ducking under the intense unts-unts-unts, but not a massive problem, it just makes things feel a little less defined than I feel they should be. Arrangement is good imo. Good style shift. The only major issue is that the vocal samples could be too prominent in the mix but otherwise, this is an easy yes. Well done chimpy! YES

Cute! Feels like there are some tuning/intonation issues, most noticeably in the first song. I really love the concept, but the execution needs some work for OCR status. This is basically 4 separate arrangements pasted together into one track, quite literally. There is no transition between them. It just starts and ends. Personally, I'd take one of these concepts, flesh it out a little and submit it. Hell, you could do it with all 4 if you wanted. As it stands, very cool, its just not right for OCR. NO

Filter on piano. Never thought that would sound as cool as it does here. Some cool writing at points as well. However, the track suffers from some weak drum samples, there is over compression, muddy low end, the piano sounds quite mechanical. This track needs quite a bit of work to see it brought up to a postable standard imo. My advice is to work on bringing down the over compression, humanising the piano some more, and i'd also consider removing some of the repetition in the arrangement. Needs some more work, but keep at it! NO

Something I'd like to point out here... Yeah, I'm DEF seeing some defeatism here, and while yes I 100% agree that people are busier, complaining about it isn't going to help the problem. My thought process and what it needs is as follows... When I joined, one thing I think people don't remember is that the WIP forum was in a similar state to how it is now. The odd comment but yeah... nothing huge happening. Enter ROZOVIAN - who pretty much single handedly managed to spark some motivation from others because he was so on the ball with wanting to help people. Eventually, the WIP forum had a load of other people critting along with him, and he basically spearheaded a few good years of WIP feedback. He wasn't a mod, he wasn't a judge, he didn't even have a posted mix, but you know, that stuff doesn't matter - all it takes is ONE person to put in the effort and others will follow. Its not me, i'm too busy with other stuff, but this whole "OCR is dead" mentality is probably contributing to this current situation, because "why bother flogging a dead horse", which is what i'm fearing a lot of people are thinking based on some of these responses. All it takes is one person to start doing some reviews and it might kick things up a gear.

Could be a part of it, depressing to think tho. I wonder what the difference in subs is like from those days... Seems like "classic" ReMixers are not exempt from lack of reviews so I doubt thats it. I also doubt its due to games, since again, popular games are not exempt either. Chrono Trigger hasn't had a remix this year with more than 5 responses. Yes, people do get busy, but new members should be evening things out. Is that the issue? Lack of new members?

So I've been wondering about something. When I joined OCR in around 2008, seemed like there was a quite an interest in new mixposts. Mixes would get 10-20 reviews, 30-40 if you were lucky. And i'm talking quite in depth reviews, people actually took the time to post honest positive feedback. Fast forward to 2015! - Now, seems like you're lucky to get 5-10 reviews. So my question is this - what happened? Now... sure, YouTube is a new means of getting feedback, but its hardly the same in terms of the quality of the responses you'd get. Getting a "WOW THIS SOUNDS AMAZING" is a lot more common than getting an in-depth response on there, plus many of the comments lack that personal touch you'd get from people on OCR. The mass of comments, for me, made the long wait to get on OCR worth it, whereas now... you wait for about a year, and get a writeup from DJP and about 2 comments on the site. Seems a little anticlimactic compared to how it used to be. I'm just wondering why because personally, I never really looked at many new mixposts ever. I've always just looked at the stuff I wanted to after the fact and ignored the front page generally, so I can't really say what changed. So... 2 questions: 1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR? 2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?

Seems like a good thing to me. Tracks are all remixed from the same material so there should be some familiarity between tracks. Plus makes for more cohesive listening if made on an album.

Whats up guys! Its been a while since I've put something in the queue... Game: DuckTales Source: The Moon Remix Title: Apollo Duck After all the mega mans and stuff, I wanted to make something popular! Don't hate me. So I went after The Moon theme, I and turned it into self-indulgent but fun chiptune-synth-buttrock. Naming this thing was difficult... Luckily, when I typed "Apollo" into google looking for Apollo 13 (I was getting desperate for name suggestions) Google's first suggestion is "Apollo Duck". Apparently they sell boats. Remix Link: Source: (Yeah like you need it...) Woo!

Its interesting to me that when the full soundscape enters, things sound ok, but that intro really showcased the lacking drum samples imo. The synths sound ok to me tho. You've got some cool evolving textures in the background with a chiptune lead, which is all good stuff. Like Deia said, the arrangement doesn't really do anything exciting but i'm not sure thats what the remixer was trying to convey. The original is hardly a showcase of musical extravagance either. It has a sort of subdued spacey feel I like. As for the arrangement, there is some variation, but there is also a bit of a lack of dynamic range, and texturally things don't change up too much... the arrangement doesn't really go anywhere either. There is also an issue of repetitiveness, not helped by the fact that the first 2 minutes doesn't have a single change of chord. I thought the whole track was going to be like that, I was glad for the change up 2 minutes in. Damn this is RIGHT on the line. But my gut is telling me its just not quite there. I'd definitely look into updating the arrangement a little, adding some more varied sections, adding some more musical variation too, and also some sound change ups and maybe updating the drums. NO (resub)

Instinct was telling me this was a DP when it started, but as it went on... yeah I can see why it was panelled, since it does have some repetitive moments. Production checks out fine for me, the only issue is that the toy piano is too quiet like Chimpy mentioned. Generally though, this is a well personalised, unique and fitting take on a popular source tune. I dig it. YES

So, lets see. That castlevania source sounds so much like the SMW castle theme at points, I can see why you chose to merge them. Quite an effortless choice there. The track itself... is pretty damn cool. The unsettling atmosphere created is great, and I have to applaud this remix for not only being stylish, but everything is done to enhance the aesthetic of the piece. I only have 2 issues. 1: That drum beat gets repetitive. I'd have varied it up, glitched it about more, particularly during the intro since its so upfront without a melody to grasp too. 2: The ending. I both love and hate it, because it seems like you had a great idea with some weird execution ideas. The bitcrushed drums going into a fill before that door open effect seemed a little random, but I can get you're trying to build up to that moment. Then the "it's me" comes out and oh god I love it. Best part of the track. I thought it was going to descend into some horror madness then for a crazy ending... but instead, the SMW theme enters and then the track just sort of ends. I felt like that was a missed opportunity because that ending felt tacked on and almost lazy, compared to what you had before it, and what you could have ended with. Sometimes I feel like the samples might be a tad on the lower quality side of the scale, but the ideas and arrangement are great. I am going to go on board and YES this, but part of me does wish you'd spent a bit more time on that ending Good luck with the rest of the vote! YES

Oh my. This might one of the best remixes on the site. Astounding.

Yeah you should probably know thats not me...

WillRock Flight of the Peacock (Cyber Peacock in Observatory Hall [X]) Overture 20XX (Crystal Snail in Observatory Hall [X]) Disco is NOT Dead, Disco is a Giant Metal Seahorse (Toxic Seahorse in Observatory Hall [X]) Rock Hard Mandrills

Only issue with this that I can see is that it counts ALL the votes, including the ones after the deadline. In some cases that drastically affects the voting. Wonder how Darke is going to handle that.

If you post the music this late, is it alright if we have an extension on the voting? The tracks were posted in the middle the week last round and I actually ran out of time to vote because I was busy.

Hey guys! So its been a while since I posted something here. This is actually quite an old track, but if I don't get some feedback from people its going to end up benched and I can't let that happen to this one, so yeah. Having production issues, stuff lacks some... clarity right now, and there are some mixing issues. Its hard to find a good balance. Arrangement is finished, but if you want to critique arrangement go right ahead, the sources are: Strike The Earth (but only from 0:22-0:44): Fighting With All Our Might: And finally, the link to the remix: https://app.box.com/s/88o1lby33eav8fv505e75vn4aw7udcs1 I look forward to your critique!

Not going to comment on artistic worth, or cheapening the effort, because I believe thats all very much in the eye of the beholder, even tho I see what you're saying. But in terms of not having that information - I agree... if its for general listening. Yes, is it cool to hear new things a second time through, but when you're voting or judging on a track for a competition etc, you're not just listening for fun, so that argument kinda goes out of the window imo. For this competition, analysis of arrangement is important according to darkeswords rules, so in this case, we should have all the information we need to vote properly. I've known remixers to ask for do-overs on votes after judges have missed source usage so not everyone agrees on your point of view here. I'm sure if someone said they put you lower in the voting cause they didn't hear source usage you KNOW is there (and quite obvious with some prompting), yeah, I'd bet that would annoy some people. Also, regarding the point of the list the source usage is the remixers interpretation. If someone else still can't hear it, then thats fine. Again, I don't believe it does any harm. As has been said already, agree to disagree. I don't really want to derail this thread too much XD

Actually the judges on the panel encourage people to post their source usage because its quite possible that someone will miss source usage. People aren't robots who catch everything, if its clear or not. Its not just about whats obvious, its how well the listener knows the source tunes. Don't forget that people who are voting on all the remixes have over 40 sources to memorise. At some point we're going to make mistakes and that could mean the difference between a 1st place, 2nd or 3rd place vote. Saying that the remixer should have done a better job or that the music should speak for itself is silly imo because we're ALL liable to make mistakes no matter how much the remixer has tried to make the sources as clear as possible, particularly with remixes that use more than one source tune. A little nudge in the right direction from the mixer does no harm at all imo.

Thanks for the review! The reverb there was suppose to simulate a live environment. Apparently I overdid it? Oh well That said, I do feel compelled to point out that the piano part was actually played live by Ghetto Lee Lewis. Could have been the playing style or possibly the sample? Wasn't sequenced tho.

I admit, having to mix that source made it MUCH easier for me to pick out what people used, and even then, I'm pretty sure I missed a lot when I did voting. Shame cause it might have affected my voting if I didn't hear legit parts of source usage but what can you do.