hewhoisiam

...I... uh...

Fine, I guess I can poke this with a stick. Lets have a peeksee, pokesee? Eh, right. -Insert standard hewhoisiam post disclaimer here- As it turns out, the more advice I seem to give, the crazier I'm pretty sure I am. Or something. I just seem start going, mewantsthis! I'd feel more comfortable if someone came along and went: I DISAGREE! SIR! woop woop woop woop woop woop! Anyway, moving on. Guitar balance: not awful by any means, could be better IMO. I'd like the clicky strumming in the intro to be brought down in volume a bit, I think it'd help clear things up when the distortion guitar comes in and during the snare part in the intro. With that out of the way, the acoustic might need a bit more reverb and/or volume. Hard to speculate without hearing it. Drums: I want them sooner. I just do. You don't have to have them sooner. It's total opinion, I just picture tribal type drums in that intro filling out the sound. Another thing I could get behind is just a snare part, rolls, flams, orchestral style. (EDIT: Holy crap! that part is there! Bring that sucker out! (also pushing the strumming down a bit might help) @2:14 when the main distortion comes in, there is the faintest hint of a guitar part harmony, up down up down up down thing. I'd like it brought out a little bit more. It's so subtle I can barely hear it. @2:54 hats are too heavy here. I'd think about just putting them on 1 and 3, and playing the rest on a ride cymbal. Or play all ride starting at 2:41 - bells on the beats, then 2 16th notes. 1e& 2e& 3e& 4e&a Thing is you switch to ride right after that bit, so I dunno. @3:07 harmony guitar here is too quiet for my taste, see above statement. Gario is a stickler! glad I don't work for him... I'm is was still already a month and more late with Laguna. So fired...

...Love it. And I got nothing to complain about, woe is I. Ending might be abrupt, but you said you were working with that. Everything else is. Well, perfect.

@1:45 fuller might not have been what I meant. Hows about extended the idea here and really nailing what you want in the melody. The sound itself is good, just underrepresented there. That's the 'HERE IS SOURCE' reference that I was talking about. By fuller, I also mean that the heavy echo lead that you used is the same as earlier. That's fine, I just picture that for the main theme in this 'something' needs to really stand out. Be that a new instrument there, or just some extension/soloing/whatever. I think about it the way you'd write a story: You've got the main idea down, when you make the 2nd, and 3rd drafts, you go back and add details, better descriptions, add context, that sort of thing. There isn't anything wrong with it now, just sorta 'should be more' which can also be should be more clear. @1:34 That harmony is a nice touch here. I'd like to hear it extended at least a bit. At :32 it's very subtle, so you could actually extend it in both places. Since we're talking about making things even, I'm thinking if you extend the ideas at 1:45, you'd naturally extend the harmony that comes before it by about the same amount. It just seems like to me when I get working on something, if it's an 8 bar idea, or a 12 bar idea, or whatever, transitions and new/next ideas pop up the same length, or half or double. Something that fits pretty evenly always seems to sound right. You can do like a bajillion things with it in these places after you have it the length you want it. Play with filters and stuff, pull harmonies forward and push them back with automations and stuff. Making these longer'll give you a good base to work from methinks. At least in terms of having the audience's attention to be able to follow the changes and effects. Establish first, then tweak. Of course, that's just how I think about it and it doesn't always work as my stuff tends to end up conservative and dead ended but for this, it might help. Or might not, I dunno Also, these are mostly my opinions, which are, of course, never wrong and above contestation! I always hesitate when I give this much/this specific advice because there really isn't a right answer, only lots of opinion. If I turn on my radio one more time and hear Nickelback, I'm going to puke... but there's a reason that they're millionaire rock stars... I just blame people for having horrible taste in flavor of the week rock =)

:sleepdepriv:Joo got me crasy, late at nite, giving all my posts the kinda disclaimer that comes with a stereo to let you know it did not, in fact, come with a free pack of gum...I'm giving a disclaimer on this one too: I'm binging the reviews in the WIP thread, things with the work-in-progress tag in front of them, it's late, and my sanity is waning. All are opinions, sanity not guaranteed, or likely. Some things may be off. Some words may be dyslexically spelled backwards and there may be things in the post that are just plain off. The better the thing I'm listening to is, the more likely I'll come up with something off the wall to complain about. Worst case scenario if it's really good and I have nothing to say about it, I'll just start making stuff up. 'I want some more schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic...' That being said, lets get going. Last one of the night. The beginning sounds more together than it was. Much better high samples. I can see some auxiliary percussion going a long way in the intro. Triangle, wind chimes, tambourine, suspended cymbal all come to mind. Especially a sus cym roll into and during the drum intro. Instead of 3 hits on the hi hats. (good orchestral reference from Nutritious's stuff, btw) Eep! There's something hiding, that sounds off. The flutes play the descending pattern, then the main melody repeats once, but the end has transition notes that sound wrong (1:54) Woe is I to not really understand theory! Sounds off, may be a key change, may be intentional, but I'm not diggin it. You have a similar sound at 2:23. Now, a while ago, I did a mix of this... Let me see if I can find it. http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20737 (HOLY CRAP MY OLD CRAP IS CRAP! THAT SOUNDS AWFUL Q.Q) Anyway, long story short. Sylgen gave me a crash course in theory relating to noirfair. I understood much more coming out of that than going in. If that's review for you, congrats! You know more than I do/did. The clashing sounds happen in yours the same place I was having a hard time with. The key changes in the source.

I'm giving a disclaimer on this one too: I'm binging the reviews in the WIP thread, things with the work-in-progress tag in front of them, it's late, and my sanity is waning. All are opinions, sanity not guaranteed, or likely. Some things may be off. Some words may be dyslexically spelled backwards and there may be things in the post that are just plain off. The better the thing I'm listening to is, the more likely I'll come up with something off the wall to complain about. Worst case scenario if it's really good and I have nothing to say about it, I'll just start making stuff up. 'I want some more schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic...' That being said, lets get going. DKC3 was the one I actually didn't get around to. I got DKC and DKC2: Diddy Kong's Kwest (Quest? Was the title Komically mispelled? Can't remember >.<) Then I went right to DK64 and I'm sure missed all the goodies. Anyway. Bah! It... It. It ends. It ends and leaves me making this face just gone. Right as the best part is coming. It was the point I was going 'Oh yeah. Now this..!?' I like the overall sound of the mix, very full sound without being muddy. Mastering really isn't my thing, but nothing pops out at me as being noticeably off. I'd like a bit more lows to accompany that kick drum, the bass sound you have is good, but the range (I think?) isn't really the right frequency for the kinda punch I'm picturing. A touch more body on the kick couldn't hurt, it's kinda flat as is. Really depends on the sound you want, but I really picture that fat, heavy driving bass thump. Volume automatons goes with filter automations like, lamb and tuna fish. I like the builds that you have, but you could stand to draw them all out a bit to add some length to this track. I tend to make all my stuff too short without realizing how short it really is (cause I'm listening to it on loop, over and over. WIPs feel like it's a 6 hour track sometimes) I tend to dream big on the WIP forums. I wants epic things, so It's a great idea that's 7 seconds long, I get these delusions of grandeur with a 10 minute track with all the trimmings. So, with this, I want stuff. First, 6 minutes, minimum. Cause... It's what I want XD. Eh, on a serious note, I do have ideas that I think would work well in this. I always like half time breaks, especially with a bell type instrument like you have doing the lead sounds in this, because it sounds good played at 1/2 speed. Another thing along that line that I like in techno/trance, is a minimalist thing like at 56, where it's just bass and the lead. You can really draw that out in some neat ways; bringing things down to almost nothing but a few notes per measure just to build things up again into a finale/key change/epic end. The source has some pretty obvious key (or chord) changes that you might be able to latch onto and make something out of. My theory is pretty weak, but I'm just throwing out ideas on this one. Key changes are a love/hate thing for me because I really don't understand them. It 'may' work, it 'may' not. Couldn't tell ya. I do understand every pop hit is 1654 over and over, same chords, different keys. Similar but different enough to be interesting. Just can't tell you what/why/and how. So really. it exists but is in the void of things I don't comprehend. Go on epic quest to make this thing work and understand! Go! Anyways, hope that helps, I'll be keeping my eye on this one.

I'm giving a disclaimer on this one too: I'm binging the reviews in the WIP thread, things with the work-in-progress tag in front of them, it's late, and my sanity is waning. All are opinions, sanity not guaranteed, or likely. Some things may be off. Some words may be dyslexically spelled backwards and there may be things in the post that are just plain off. The better the thing I'm listening to is, the more likely I'll come up with something off the wall to complain about. Worst case scenario if it's really good and I have nothing to say about it, I'll just start making stuff up. 'I want some more schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic...' That being said, lets get going. Ah VI. And Kefka, crazy for crazy's sake, evil for evil's sake. Evil for crazy's sake? Erhm, anyway. I like the vocals, neat and stylized. But imo you've got 2 equally important lead type sounds, and one is overpowering the vocals and the other lead-ish thing. It almost sounds like a slap bass, which it may be... which explains why I seem to be hearing that instead/over bass. I'm torn on what I think might fix it AND keep what it adds to the sound. I think you may have to split it into 2 parts, a bassey part and a melody-ish part. Course, I may also be crazy... So... Moving right along It's a great sound. Ima have to figure out how you made it cause it's actually exactly what I wanna use for something. It reminds me of the PVC pipe drums of blueman group. But here it's just too much in a leading role. To keep up with it, your kick drum is also very loud. When I listen to lyrics, I very rarley actually listen to words. At least, as far as 'this has a great message' I can't understand the intro of this. It sounds good, I like the way it sounds. I just can't understand the words. However, I listen to Trivium, Killswitch Engage, All that Remains, etc. And I can't understand ANYTHING they say so... It may not be an issue for ya.

I'm giving a disclaimer on this one too: I'm binging the reviews in the WIP thread, things with the work-in-progress tag in front of them, it's late, and my sanity is waning. All are opinions, sanity not guaranteed, or likely. Some things may be off. Some words may be dyslexically spelled backwards and there may be things in the post that are just plain off. The better the thing I'm listening to is, the more likely I'll come up with something off the wall to complain about. Worst case scenario if it's really good and I have nothing to say about it, I'll just start making stuff up. 'I want some more schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic...' That being said, lets get going. It's a neat source. I like the music to the DKC series, even the ones I haven't played and this is no exception. (never did play DKC3, did play the DK64 though. The DK raps sucked imo Q.Q) Okay, the first thing that jumps out at me is where the piano first comes (just a few seconds into the track) in the sound is too full. This may have to do with some of those low pad levels, but it seems to be that 16th note feeling pad unbalancing things. It's too hot and it seems like you brought the entire mix up to match it, which makes the whole mix too hot. Massive clippage and limiter stuff. Though I'm not an expert on mastering by any means. Some volume automation might help the intro also. As far as balance goes, that low pad mentioned above is occupying bass ranges. Where the piano first comes in is just a low bassy static sort of fading thud. and crash. It almost sounds like that build up goes into a sound effect, but as is, that crash takes away from the first notes played on the low piano because it's too powerful/overwhelming. You might should back it off after the intro in addition to toning it down so that the bass parts (low piano methinks) can stand out better. This seems to happen a few times in here for some of your 'build ups' Not sure if it's a synth issue or what. It's a neat sound scape, I like the 16th note arp-ish sound sometimes, and other times I don't. I think it works well for supporting sounds (IE 45-48) and not very well for melody (IE 1:10 1:22) Speaking of which, at 1:22, there's a sour note. It sounds intentional, but I still don gotta like it Q.Q Granted my theory is admittedly weak, but I'm just not a fan of sour notes, sometimes they're okay for suspense or things sounding wrong, intentional dissonance and such. Doesn't seem right here though. On the short side, but I don't really know what to tell you for length. It's a neat piano part in the lows that I wouldn't mind hearing more of. Also, it's some neat atmosphere at the very end as well that would sound pretty good expanded. Overall though, I think the balance needs a bit-o-werk. Hope that helps.

I'm giving a disclaimer on this one too: I'm binging the reviews in the WIP thread, things with the work-in-progress tag in front of them, it's late, and my sanity is waning. All are opinions, sanity not guaranteed, or likely. Some things may be off. Some words may be dyslexically spelled backwards and there may be things in the post that are just plain off. The better the thing I'm listening to is, the more likely I'll come up with something off the wall to complain about. Worst case scenario if it's really good and I have nothing to say about it, I'll just start making stuff up. 'I want some more schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic...' That being said, lets get going. I love the DKC series music, lots of fun. Certainly a unique take on the source. I listened to the mix first, and it took me a while for it to kick in 'oh yeah, I know that source.' Anyway. This feels to me like its sorta everywhere, it could do with some development where the theme is used. The original is sorta like that though. And I have mixed feelings on this issue because I REALLY like the sounds and approach you've got... Very neat techno/DnB build ups and stuff, but then where it gets to where it should be like 'HERE IS THEME' that bit is there and gone in the blink of an eye. At 2:23 length though, you've got some leeway to expand. The very arp sorta synth you have in the into works well where it is. But I picture a fuller sound at places like 1:45. Not sure how a fuller/less echo'd sound would mesh with the very quick, jerky DnB feel though. It's a comment that looks good, but I'd have to hear it to actually know. Might as well let the echo at the very end of the song die down all the way, it feels cut off as is, though that's prolly cause it's a WIP. That there actually pretty well covers the mix. It's so different that it's going in and out of the theme, in and out of trick times, suddenly stopping the theme in favor of neat sounds and effects then back. Though the more I listen to it, the more it seems to be the theme, then where there were pauses in the original and it looped or transitioned, your mix filled that space with DnB effects. Now, that sounds bad, and it's really not. Or I don't mean it to be. What I mean is that you've mostly expanded transition and effects and I'm used to hearing theme expanded. It's by no means bad. I just maintain that for my taste, I'd like to hear the theme bits repeated more and balanced out length wise to add to the melody as well as the transitions. ARGH! MY IDEAS ARE HARD TO MAKE INTO WORDS! head.pain.cross-eyed.ideas.blarg.eat.samoflange. Hope that helps and isn't TOO confusing.

I'm giving a disclaimer on this one: I'm binging the reviews in the WIP thread, things with the work-in-progress tag in front of them, it's late, and my sanity is waning. All are opinions, sanity not guaranteed, or likely. Some things may be off. Some words may be dyslexically spelled backwards and there may be things in the post that are just plain off. The better the thing I'm listening to is, the more likely I'll come up with something off the wall to complain about. Worst case scenario if it's really good and I have nothing to say about it, I'll just start making stuff up. 'I want some more schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic...' That being said, lets get going. EDIT: Meh, I missed your source the first time. So I found this. And I'm leaving it here even though it's not really the source per se. Cause that's how I roll. Some neat info in the YT description: I don't know that the 2 'intro' hits on the hi hat are necessary for this. It's a pretty powerful track, I'd like to hear it go just right into it. like very BAM! and we're off! Also on drums, you prolly want flams or ruffs on the snare hits rather than single notes. Since you put cymbals with the hits, a real drummer only has so many hands, consider rim shots or something to set it apart from just a normal hit. The snare that you're using has too much body and not enough pop. Rather than a tone, it should have a more dead-ish sort of sound. My opinion on that sample anyway. It sounds like the triplets at the end are played on a better/more correct drum than the 2/4 drum. Trying using that. WAIT wait, hold on! What tha... Tindeck: 'Ha scrubs! No downloading! Leave a comment and I'll give it to you.' HOW can I keep my creepy stalker WIP forums collection folder (where I keep all the WIPS before they get to the judges) fed with that attitude?! In all honesty though, if I really wanted to get all serous, a downloaded file lets me really listen for EQ and compressor stuff (and see the waveform visually in Foobar) or open the file in an editor to check levels, L and R channels, etc. I'm just sayin, but w/e iz up to joo. iz ur babeh... I usually don't leave comments on the parts I like... But damn. The break right after halfway with the piano and the (arpeggio?) guitar part. I am in love with this, though I could really see a 16th or 8th note pattern on the hi hats working better than the driving rock quarters, and the double bass part there seems to be to fill the space rather than actually fitting there. This'll give you a fuller sound with out the double bass part. Shortly after that where you do triplets on the snare, consider adding the bass drum to the beginning of the triplets to accent the part, or put flams/ruffs in it. Speaking of accents, the rock piano might could use some in place so it sounds more humanized, it's pretty mechanical now. That bit I like should be accented on some of the heavy downbeats in my mind. Ending is a cop out. A powerful track like this shouldn't just fade into nothingness. Joo gotta give us some sort of epic build up and end. Rather than a repeat fading off. This might be a touch on the conservative side, but it's hard for me to judge cause the source is a full song. It's one thing to pick out like an 8-bit theme like Wiley played over and over again and say 'too conservative'. But it's a harder sell for me when it's a full orchestrated type epic-ish source. Is that bit there from the original or is it new to the mix? I dunno, lets compare. In short, I'm seeing that the progression/length/tempo in your track is about similar to the original and I'm not sure if/how much you should change it for judge standards. Though I love what you've got. Great work, pretty epic, something I'd listen to again if I could get mah greedy handsesys on it. I mean... More schmeere in your somoflange, then it'll be epic... Hope this helps.

Shorty-shorty Shortsdale of Shortseyville. Watch this link with its audio muted and Willrock's thing going: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8xHjC27YvM Adrian! Anyway: Wow, looking back at what I wrote it's like. 'do you wanna sound exactly like Chariots of Fire? do this!' Which is not what I'm really meaning to do. I'm really trying to give insight and opinions, but well. The better the thing is, the harder it is for me to pick it's nits, and be nit picky. So. Anyway, onward to my compare/contrast venn diagram of Willrock v Vangelis. The thing about Vangelis that I like on his is the neat echo on the drums, which you've got for the most part. Bit longer echo with a longer lasting, less extreme delay maybe? In comparing the difference of yours to his and that sorta genre, your echo ish thing is on the short side. Might could re balance a bit. The high 8th note synth near the end sounds fine, but to pick nits (cause for feedback sake) but I picture them in more of a background capacity rather than right out front. Maybe filter them a bit, or automate the filter to put them in and out of focus. (automation is my new toy I'm playing with... So I'm putting it on everything >.>) The intro develops pretty quick, if you're looking for length, you could draw out some of that ambiance and really subtley add stuff before just starting with the main ideas. I picture a pad-like sound playing bits of the theme at about half tempo over a kinda ambient sound. Of course, I could just be crazy. So, shorter. ...and move it all onto the same note. Play everything on C. Not the key of C. The note C. All of it. Shorter and on C. Do it!

oh Ultimecia... This brings back memories. Anyways. I like it, but that's not very constructive, so I'll do what I alwalys do when I address my betters on OCR: I'm going to pick nits. Cause I can. It'll make me a nit picker. It'll also be lots of opinion, so grain of salt... The distortion effect at the beginning is nice, but I'd like the mix to be 'clean' for the first notes. The distortion sound starts as soon as the guitar track starts, and it on those few first grace notes sounds kinda funky. Dunno how to fix it, automation effects on the distortion mix amount or volume work maybe? The intro to the battle theme section is too sudden for my taste. I'd like a pause or those last few notes of the old theme at 1:20 held a bit longer than usual. Though it's one of those things I'd really have to hear to know for sure I'd like it. Looks good to me typed out, but it'd lose that abrupt change that you may be wanting. Hats at 1:24 are all up beats. You're just starting out a really rock feel. I think a better sound with those heavy hitting bass drums would be quarters on 1 and 3 until 1:32, then quarters on 1 2 3 4 until 1:38, where the up beat can really come into it's own. Also, some ride bells might give a break from the heavy hats all the time if you're looking for that sort of thing (I'm look at the up beats at 1:57 ish) (drum insite, the thing I actually know ) @ 2:18-21 I'm not sure what I'm hearing there. (These aren't my best phones tbh) But it may be too much distortion or volume hitting a compressor or something. Sounds 'fuzzy' to me? Like too much reverb almost on those accent notes. Maybe bring things down before that point so you get the illusion that it's louder than it really is. So many neat ideas that you could do with this: I tend to dream big on the WIP forum, but at a length of 2:35 I'm picturing a more fleshed out version of this with a half time, slow down, vocalist, solos and other neat goodies. And a puppy. Cause even more awesome. As far as the mix goes, where the rhythem guitar comes in 1:26-32 it sounds good, but then it may should back off a little bit to make room for the lead sounds and development. It's almost overpowering there. Its playing that fast 8th note pattern. I picture it quieter with the accent notes where they are, rather than the whole thing at this volume. - 1&2&3&4&1&2&3&4& repeat - More dynamic contrast, lower overall volume. That's all I got. Hope that helps.

Sometimes it take a while before you get feedback I'll give it a go. For piano arrangements/minimalist stuff, the bar is really high as far as OCR standards go. What you have now sounds pretty mechanical as far as volume and presentation on the piano. My theory is pretty weak, but it seems a bit on the simplistic side for what you're going for. The fewer instruments and sounds you use, the more you have to do with them to keep it interesting and fresh. I hear lots of repetition in there, which may call for some changes to keep interest and make places/things/sounds/ideas really pop out. The pad sounds you use are somewhat overwhelming in places. (esp the last sustained chord) They're also in the range/sound as the piano, so it sounds kinda muddy to me. Maybe just opinion though. Maybe opinion again, but there's a lot of reverb on that piano. Too much for my taste. Esp in the higher ranges. As far as that goes, the entire mix is more or less in the same 'range' on the piano. Up and down octaves might help things a bit in places. Another thing in tracks like this one that's kinda neat is when you get fermata pauses on important notes like intros and sustains. Tempo and stuff. Volume is samie all the way through. A track like this can really benefit from a lot of dynamic range: From the whispers to shouts. I feel your pain! I post a mix then troll OCR forums thinking to myself: they're looking at it... WHY is no one saying anything! They're mocking me! *refresh* Nothing! Argh! Anyway, good stuff. Hope that helps.

How did I miss this? I'm not up to my usual trolling. Anyways, my first thought it that it's really conservative. I hear pretty much the midi set to new instrument. Don't be afraid to play with the parts you like. I like most of the changes you made to it. I'm working on structure and sound of mine, but pretty much hit a wall. The driving force of this starts to wear on me after a bit. Too samie, just thud thud thud thud. Weak/no hats, and other than the melody, not much going on to keep me interested. There are a few sour places that sound off: Wrong notes/keys off. Hope that helps

That's confidence. If you figure out the secret to getting some, or have extra. Let me know.

Eh, only if by pity you mean get annoyed at the lack of comments and crits I get bass off the kick drum, I dunno. I'm looking back at what I wrote and it doesn't sound like I wrote what it sounds like I've been known to have more than one tab open and leave the wrong post on the wrong thread when I'm listening to more than one thing and going back and forth... Hell who knows at this point, I think you got half of a post for this, half for something else. Or you changed it all ninja style either way, not a problem now.

Youtube sound quality is pretty bad. Get you something like tindeck (free) Maybe it's pitch bending or something beyond my ability to understand (my theory is pretty weak). But there are places in this that sound 'sour' from being off pitch. Like chords or notes outside the key signature. Some of the low 'sweeps' also get this feeling. Ex. 0:49 The entire mix seems to get kinda samey for the length, it could use some change ups to keep things fresh. Along the lines of keeping thins fresh, some filter/volume/morph automatons would go a long way. Mix seems to be missing low end sounds. Especially in the kick drum. I'm also missing the sounds a dedicated low end instrument would add. It's a great start, some fun ideas in there. Be sure to link a source with it. Hope this helps.

I know it says finished, but... HOT! The first thing I can see on the player is that it's hitting limiters/compressors hard. Whole mix should be brought down some.

I like the idea for a quick change up at the end, but some of the ideas at the beginning aren't really suited to the new tempo. One of the things that's going to be fine there is the piano, but some of the ambiance and some of the other things that had such a great sound at the beginning are messed up by the speed at the end. One thing you can do that may help the sound to not be so muddy at that speed is put an automation on the heavily ambient tracks that turns down the decay and sustain. It'll change the sound of your instruments there and my help them not blend together so much, which is what I'm hearing that I don't like there. There is that buzzy synth again that I don't like about halfway into this. However, it's a matter of opinion on my part. Before you mess with it, you'll prolly want to get a 2nd and 3rd and 4th opinion.

Good stuff, I do so love the Metroid series. I like the general ambiance at the beginning and the feel of 'building to something' Powerful accents in the low brass. It does seem that for an orchestral kind of sound though, that that bit could use some highs, flutes, clarinets, trumpets, etc. Sounds good now, but if you're going for an orchestral feel, I could see some highs in there to fill the picture. The, high brass in the intro sort of comes off with more of a like an accordion sound to me. The bit when the drum kit comes in is nice, very well done. The progression on the first idea is very fast though. I'd like to hear that little bit extended. Of course, part of that is that that is my favorite part of the Norfair theme

That 'something not right' feeling I have all the time with everything I try to do. I think it just comes with the business. I feel like the guitar you have now sounds great, but it should stand out a little bit more, with the occasional fast-muted strumming pushed back a bit. Just my first thoughts on balance. The synth 3/4 of the way through kinda gets old on the long notes. I could really see some filter/delay effects helping the sound to sort of 'fall off' mimicking the guitar part. I've been playing with filters and sounds too, so I may be kinda biased on this point. Nice changes so far, this thing is really coming along. I look forward to the next update. Hope this helps.

Balance on this is pretty good. Might tone down the bass drum a little bit, but only a smidge. Short. Bit to do with structure, but that's also a length issue and yer werkn on that, so I don't really come up with anything that jumps out at me as far as 'change this' It's a nice full sound, well done.

What's R:TS? Jaja, I have a growing collection of 'things left to rot' on my computer. I'm right now working on a few ideas. One of which is to mellow out some of the filter on my main synth (playing the patern) cause in the filter off ranges, it's getting fuzzy (I think) Still like the filter sound though. As far as liking the guitar goes, I'm indecisive. I wanted the guitar from listening to Sixto, cause... It's Sixto But lots of things can work. I just have to find something I want. And I've not succeeded in talking myself into liking this synth. I'm going to try a harsher sound. It's really unlikley that I'll ask a guitarist to help with this, because of the amount of work needed and layout. (I see layout as the big weakness in this) But I'm glad I'm not the only one who said... guitar?! awesome! ...just not that one... Another thing pointed out earlier I'm trying to address is that the beginning on this is very conservative and the new stuff is really new and really sudden. Going to try to werk in some creativity sooner if there's still some interest in the track in general.

XD I've seen him before. Fun stuff, but I'm more into sound than showmanship.

XD, sorry. Flams and Ruffs are drummer geek speak. It's done by putting a grace note, or series of grace notes just before the main hit. A grace note is a quiet hit. So a flam has say, 2 notes very close together. The 2nd note comes in on the beat, and the first note is about a 32nd note length before that. A ruff is the same thing, but it has 2 notes before the main 'last' note. A ruff is a flam , only you 'bounce' the grace note so it hits 2 times. It gives you a fuller sound. It's used lots in marches. I have to really think back to how the pieces I liked and remember playing went. Yours reminded me of like http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=aaAys23Lc7Q&feature=related Anyway, that was more a brief idea if you had something in mind, more dynamic. It's not how I remember it going when we played it, but it's a good enough example. The end of all the runs get quieter and then the beginning of new ideas are louder. It's in the details I guess I'm saying, kinda nit picky. I almost always have to grab something for reference, words are hard! :tomatoface:Again though, it's my opinion, so is no right or wrong in this, just thinking of examples and ideas. Modes and keys are beyond what I understand right now. (insert joke 'drummer is not musician' here, Is okay, I get it all the time. PFFT! THEORY! Hit drum with stick good!) I just have a very basic knowledge of triads and play with it and hear it. 90% of the time I hate what I make when I'm like... 'I wonder if...' So, yeah. You'll have to get someone who knows more than me ta help ja with that. Some day I'll have to break down and take a theory class... Bah, I'm going to have to be listening to classical stuff all day today now till I find exactly what I remember... Hope this helps. EDIT: Another thing occurs to me as I troll through youtube for things. A lot of pieces I see have different voices coming and going, and your arrangement is a lot of voices, but more or less one 'sound' I think I mean. I see things like flute runs and low brass builds and stuff. Just pointing that out as well.