SuperiorX

Quick, someone go give KingTiger a call!

OK! The Robotnik Round 1 entries are available for download! 15 entries were submitted. Phonetic Hero advances by default. Voting is now open: voting ends next Sunday, February 16th at 12pm (noon) ET. Sonic Round 2 entries are due next Sunday, February 16th at 12pm (noon) ET as well. Good luck! Same here... I'm entertaining visitors next weekend, so my mix will need to be done by Friday. Good luck jnWake, I'm looking forward to our match-up!

OK - Voting on the Sonic Round 1 mixes is closed. Results have been updated in the first post in the bracket graphic. Sonic Round 2 begins now! Tracks are due next Sunday, February 16th at 12pm (noon) EDT! Sonic Bracket Round 2 features two rematches from the SZRC 2012: halc vs. ladyWildfire and Amphibious vs. Ivan Hakstok! Such drama! As well as anticipated match-ups of DJ Max-E vs. Sir_NutS and SuperiorX vs. jnWake. Good luck everyone! The Robotnik Round 1 mixes will be up soon

I have all the tracks except BlackPanther and Cosmic Sounds (who isn't going to make it) for the Robotnik Bracket. Tallying Sonic Bracket votes now. 5 minutes! Here are my reviews of the Sonic Bracket Round 1, as promised! Ladywildfire – I really like the groove and arrangement in this song a lot. I can hear the Latin house influences for sure. Everything is sounding nice and crisp from an instrumentation standpoint too. The percussion and that ‘lead’ bouncy synth instrument play together well. Your vocals fit the atmosphere pretty well. As others have mentioned, I think the vocals have the most opportunity for improvement – I don’t think it’s a problem with your vocals themselves, but more so the recording. It sounds kinda tinny, or lo-fi as someone put it, like it was recorded on a subpar microphone. It’s missing a lot of a low-end bassy sound. I know nothing about proper vocal recording or mixing techniques tho, so unfortunately I can’t make any recommendations there. Great song tho! Jason Covenant – damn this song is catchy! I could listen to that vocal hook over and over again. I really hope you finish this song up, as it has a lot of potential. The arrangement and instrumentation was a little sparse throughout, but given you finished this in an couple of hours, that’s to be expected. A shame you didn’t have more time to work on this. halc – not much to say here. Awesome stuff you two I think the vocal mixing is just fine. You want the vocals to be front and center in a song like this. Awesome groove and nice vocal performances by both of you. Disambiguity – Glad you stuck with it and turned in your track. This does have a cool mysterious ambient atmosphere to it. As others mentioned, definitely work on beefing up the percussion and some additional instrumentation to fill out the sound. Some nice pads would accompany this track really well. Sir_NutS – Really groovy song between the two of you! I like the percussion work and backing synth work in particular. The vocal performances are solid too. My only gripe is I feel there is a little too much distortion on Jive’s vocals. I assume this was a stylistic choice for the genre, but I feel they could be just a little cleaner. Awesome track regardless tho! DJ Max-E – I really enjoy how this track continues to evolve throughout the arrangement. Really clever integration of the two themes and some really nice ambient percussion mixing. I also like the lead instrument that comes in about half way too. This track may be a little more “out there”, but I really enjoyed it. Xenonetix – This track is a lot more fast paced than Max-E’s, and I think it fits the two sources very well. Mixing sounds a little muddy, particular with those pads that are overpowering the mix a little bit. I really like the piano stuff and that plucky synth instrument halfway through too. This definitely has sort of a JRPG battle music vibe, I dig it. Nice work. Ivan Hakstok – This is a really original mix. You worked the two themes together really well. The instrumentation is what really sells this mix tho – the combo of that piano, fiddle, and lead guitar was executed really well. My only gripe is that wub-wub bass that comes in around 3:00 does feel out of place. It doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the instrumentation; feels like an odd choice. Still a really enjoyable track tho. Ryan Jobson – This song is so fun and bouncy. Perhaps a little more straightforward cover of the sources – but you fit them together in a really clever way. Not much else to say, I really enjoy this mix, it’s just a lot of fun. This match-up was probably the toughest to decide between. Amphibious – Classic Amph right here. I always love your epaino stuff. So smooooooth. Mixing is tight and crisp as always. It feels like it was mixed a little quiet overall, but not a big deal. Awesome transitions between the two sources – they were fit together very well. And that a cappella breakdown was sweeeeeeet. Feels like it could’ve used just a tad more reverb, as the vocals sounded a little dry, but awesome nonetheless! Cash – Another really fun and bouncy song. Nice instrumentation choices! As the others have mentioned, the arrangement didn’t feel quite as cohesive as it kind of bounced around between sections. Really cool tho and a nice nod to Marble Madness too Trism – That intro is really cool. I love the overbearing percussion and pad work – it really sets a nice atmosphere. As the song progresses, a few of the bits feel out of place (Metropolis bass, as others have mentioned), and like something is a little amiss in the key signature. Nice interpretation of the source material though, it definitely is a unique take on these themes! jnWake – DAMN! I really like this mix. The arrangement is stellar. You mixed the two themes together very well. I personally liked the big Green Hill transition epiano section; it was a great change of pace and was a lot of fun. Nice guitar work throughout too! The guitar mixing feels a little muddy, the lead feels a bit buried and like it should’ve been EQed more up-front so it could really shine. Not sure if that’s a reflection of the recording or just the mixing (I’m not familiar with mixing guitars), but that’s my only real gripe. Nice job!

You guys have 45 mins. Get on it

Pete has a mix. No worries. I think we're good on everyone except Cosmic Sounds. I haven't heard from Gar since yesterday either, but I'm sure he'll turn something in. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!

OK - so since my last update, I've received tracks from TheGuitahHeroe, DusK, Flexstyle, therex, theshaggyfreak, Novareaper, BrothaDom, and Chernabogue. That makes 11 total. I still need mixes from BlackPanther, Eino Keskitalo, Phonetic Hero, Garpocalypse, and Cosmic Sounds. You guys have an hour and half!! Voting on the Sonic Bracket Round 1 will close at that time too. At noon, I'll tally up the votes and post the new matchups for Round 2. Then I'll tag and upload the Robotnik Round 1 entries and post them for voting! Even if it's still just a WIP, you should turn it in! Better than just dropping out!!

Oh crap! I hope you feel better! If you can't finish it, still turn in a WIP if you can!

YOU CAN DOOOOOO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, I got it! I got Arceace's track too. So 4 down now. 10 to go!!

Just a little over 24 hours until the Robotnik Round 1 entries are due! I've received entries from urdailywater and Tuberz McGee already! Voting on the Sonic Bracket Round 1 entries closes at that time too, Sunday February 9th at 12pm (noon) ET sharp! So make sure you grab the tracks and vote if you haven't already!

Sweet! I got it, thanks! I think they usually put the recording up sometime the next day, although I'm not 100% sure. It'll show up here when it's up.

I've talked to DusK and TGH outside the boards - all good. Cosmic Sounds posted in here in regards to downloading the Round 1 mixes, so I assume he's working on his match I am really really looking forward to all these Robotnik mixes! Meant to respond to this earlier... yeah I think the track definitely "sounds" more like a Metropolis Zone remix, but there is a healthy amount of Hot Crater in there too. The melody line in the first section (around 0:35) is playing a combination of the Metropolis melody with a bit of Hot Crater mixed in. There is a bouncy delayed background part playing throughout this section that is from Hot Crater. The middle section at 1:38 - 2:20 is entirely Hot Crater and then the final melody section at 2:30 has the Hot Crater B melody playing the harmony part behind the Metropolis A melody / Hot Crater A melody combo. Funny thing about that, is the Hot Crater B melody I wrote out in my DAW and was originally tying to work it into that middle section. I couldn't get it to fit and I got ticked off and dragged it out of the way (over to the right) and wrote the Hot Crater A melody section to play out there instead. Well when I was done working with that section, the song continued to play (I had already written out the end) and that Hot Crater B melody fit PERFECTLY as a harmony part behind the Metropolis melody. So that was actually completely random and completely awesome that it worked out.

Ooohh that's exciting! Hopefully Jason is feeling better and hasn't fallen on more hard times

It's midweek-ish... how are the rest of you Robotniks doing on your mixes?

LOL! What is a doof-doof?

Yeah, certainly. I wouldn't post it anywhere public, but if you wanted to show it to some people individually to get feedback, that's definitely ok!

Yeah I noticed that too. I know in some cases people vote on some right away and then come back later to decide on others. But yeah luckily there is still a lot of time left. Hopefully everybody will grab the mixes and we'll continue to get strong voter turnout throughout the week! Looks like there are a handful of close matchups that may go down to the wire! Exciting! I appreciate everyone who's been leaving reviews in here too. It's great to receive some feedback! I'll plan on leaving some myself when I place my votes and close voting this Sunday! Thanks everyone!

You have to incorporate parts of your opponent's theme in your mix. That's the main point of the competition Try looking for ways you can incorporate parts of Tuberz's theme into backing parts of your theme. Like accompaniment or harmony parts. It can be subtle and creative; it doesn't always have to be featuring the big main melodies of each theme.

I hope you Robotniks are making some music magic for us this week! As others have echoed, some of these match-ups couldn't have been scripted better. I'm stoked to hear the results! Excelllllent, my plans are working perfectly I'll switch it to a ZIP and I'll make it a ZIP going forward, I think I just defaulted to RAR. I use WinRAR, which is also free, if I recall.