Spakku

Now that's a download time I'm willing to sit through! On to my first impressions: This isn't so much a "Bond Remix" of the Area 5 song as it is slathering the James Bond theme song all over the slow bits of a perfectly good Bionic Commando song. More specifically, you didn't take the James Bond theme style and apply it to a Bionic Commando song but you took the whole damn theme song and inserted chunks of it. The Bionic Commando part doesn't even use the Bond-y instrumentation, although it goes well enough beside one. You need to take most of the already-from-James-Bond-movies materials out, since the movies (at least the ones that I've seen) never alter the main theme. The stuff 1:59 through the end is more of what I think you're looking for.

Also, SaveFile is a crappy host. It's too slow.

It's not that it sounds weird for a snare drum, it's just that whenever I think I hear a snare drum somebody always corrects me.

I hope you weren't too discouraged by that "you sound like you're in a boy band" comment. I just meant your actual voice, not the way you sing. As for the track, I like it better than the source at this point. I don't feel it was best suited to be a chiptune.

If that's what causes the sudden burst and disappearance of sound in the first second, you already know my first issue. Although, now you know it either way. I'm not liking what-sounds-to-me-like-a-snare-drum-but-probably-isn't-meant-to-be hitting at completely the wrong time in spots. It adheres to the rest of the track most of the time, but during the middle it gets bad. And, I'm not really sure how to phrase this, but your electronic-sounding samples I think should be changed. Go ahead and keep the sound, but get a different recording of it, or something. As in, the arrangement's not the problem but the individual electronic sounds don't sound good. I hope you can get through my (no-doubt wretched) vocabulary and syntax up there.

Save the copy you upload for us as an MP3, it'll be a smaller file that way.

I'd offer you feedback, but I'm not going to work through MegaUpload. Put it up through a source where one doesn't have to download special software or make an account for and I'm sure you'll get more feedback all-around.

I don't understand what you mean by "it sounds like you're meeting the shopkeeper". The closest coherent statement I can come to that is that it sounds like music that would be playing in a shop, but it most certainly does not sound like that. And what the hell was that ending?

That ending left me hanging. Really badly.

So this is basically just asking for how to improve technical details about the production quality, the project itself unimportant? Well, I guess it sounds alright. I think a better way to hone your skills would be to make a different arrangement than the one that already existed. You already know how this one works, since it's the same as the source. If you change the arrangement you'll be forced to balance it without a reference point. It'd be harder but I think it would get more done.

Trav, this isn't something where I can just hand out a few specific pointers and all the problems are solved. This is simply not sufficiently different from the source in any way to be justified, and the production quality is near non-existent.

Your first two links are the same thing. While you've done a decent enough job with making a coherent arrangement, every aspect of this sounds like straight midi.You've re-written absolutely nothing from the source tune that I can identify. Also, the arrangement you chose is way too close to the source. If you want something to orchestrate, take something that wasn't more or less orchestrated from the beginning.

I'm confused by this track. I don't know whether it's good or not.

When they say "higher-quality samples" they mean they want you to improve the actual instrument files that your computer is using. As in getting new ones. Sound fonts, and what-not. Though, I'm not sure where to get them.

If you get rid of the story guide it would leave the track more open to interpretation, which I think is a generally good thing. And there'd be less of a risk of fucking it up by incorporating my ideas. Mechanical is how you play it, industrial is the sounds you use.

Can you post the source? I don't know what to compare this to.

Maybe it's just my TV, but your source link doesn't sound quite like how I remember it. Your musical guide makes me think you didn't push the arrangement far enough. The following is suggestions, but put your own judgment ahead of mine, as you're clearly already more of a musician than I am. 0:00 - 0:30 sounds pretty and peaceful, but it should probably be quieter. 0:30 - 1:14 sounds mechanical but I feel you should go for more industrial. 1:14 - 1:41 sounds good as far as that it conveys...well, conveyance. But the instruments need to flow better, so as to convey water as well. 1:41 - 2:09 doesn't sound so much like heat and pressure as it does malice. I don't know how how to improve that, though. 2:09 - 2:16 sounds about right. 2:16 - 2:53 should use softer, lighter instruments. It's wind and clouds, it needs to be a gentler arrangement. 2:53 - 3:37 should drop the strings. They just feel out of place. My changes are more drastic, though, and wouldn't go together quite so easily. If you plan on going farther with arrangement variety, you should consider lengthening the track.

For me, it's only bad if this is going to be put in the game. As a ReMix, I've no qualms with it, other than repetition.

This definitely sounds rushed. Parts of the track seem completely forced. It can work, but you need to put more thought into adapting it.

The instruments sound really fake, but considering the source that may have been intentional. If this is for an update of the game, as your description implies, I'm very disappointed in your arrangement. Although it's very close to the source, you've completely blown off the tone of the original track. Now, with a normal ReMix, that's fine, but if this is meant to represent the original track you need to respect the original artists. Go back to the original soundtrack and listen to the commonalities all of the tracks had with each other. Your arrangement won't meld with other tracks like the original did. Sonic 2 had a very unified sound. I'm sorry if I'm being harsh on you, but Sonic 2 is something that's important to me and I don't want it misrepresented in any way with your project.

There's so clicks just before two minute mark. Or are they soft percussion?

What Inc said. How does one go about making NSFs? If you're going for a perfect match, one of the leads is a little off at 00:11 - 00:22. The non-melody one I think is hitting too many notes. It sounds great, though. As for playing them, I found a plugin for WinAmp a while back. Shouldn't be too hard to Google one.

I'm very familiar with the source, and it's quite prevalent in this track. Also, here it is on YouTube. All for you, Rozov.

Whenever it gets up in volume the sound gets distorted. Especially the bass. I'd pinpoint the spot where it's worst but it's decided to run in a browser window instead of WinAmp without my consent.

I can't identify any source tunes. I don't know if its the writing or the...whatever it is you did with those guitars. The noise of the guitars is overpowering and I can't really hear what is is they're playing. You've gotta clean those up.