SuperiorX

That's awesome! I'm glad people are enjoying it so much! If I host another Sonic compo in the future, which I have a feeling I will due to the popularity of this one (and if I do, it would probably be a yearly thing, much like DarkeSword's Mega Man compos), we'll have to coordinate ahead of time to hype this thing to the greater Sega/Sonic community. That way we can get more people involved from the get-go in a more proper/formal manner, whatever that may look like.

Beautiful song and a stellar arrangement!

JUST NOTICED THIS THREAD YES And yeah I was going to say there is already a thread for this, but it looks like this has been reconciled below. In fact, I was going to propose directing a Sonic CD album myself after the SZRC ended, because I noticed the lack of Sonic CD love. So I would be interested in contributing a song(s) and possibly co-directing, because I don't want to start up a proposal for a project if there are already two other people interested in directing one. As for which songs to cover, I was going to propose covering both soundtracks, but only from the standpoint if there were people that wanted to do both. For example, if all the JP tracks get picked, but only half the US tracks, then fine, I wouldn't hold up the album for songs that don't want to get covered. As long as there is a version of each song represented (JP or US). And future/past songs are too similar in my opinion, so I'd say if you pick a source, you can use all aspects of that source (just like I did in the SZRC). Shooting for around 20-30 songs should be plenty, cause you don't want a behemoth project on your hands.

This is pretty groovy! Yeah I definitely haven't heard Marble Garden done quite this way before. I like all the different textures you have (in the background particularly) like the arpy synth thing and the bells are a nice touch. The somewhat disjointed, jazzy take on the lead melodies are really fun too. I'd say overall it's a pretty nice job on the arrangement too, it's similar enough to still recognizably be Marble Garden, but I think you did a good job making it distinct. The ending is a little weak in my opinion though, from like 2:50 on it just feels like it's meandering a bit. Nice job tho, I definitely enjoy it!

Another super-close round there ending out the week: Brandon Strader: 14, Gario: 15 Great job to both of the Robotnik Bracket finalists, both of your songs were great! Good luck now to our participants in the finale! Hold nothing back, pull out all the stops, for THIS IS THE FINAL BATTLE: AMPHIBIOUS vs. GARIO

It's awfully quiet in here... remember no new music this week but we will get the results of the Brandon Strader vs. Gario matchup, which will set us up for the final round next week!

I just bought this and it is really good! Everyone else should buy it too! Nice work Jamison!

I don't think so... just because the theme is a genre, the mixers can still choose any source they want, so it's not like all the mixes will sound the same. Radio stations categorize their music by genres "rock", "pop", "jazz", etc. and that works out just fine. Plus it wouldn't hurt to have a genre theme one month, then do something non-genre theme the next month.

how in the hell I saw it move, I don't even EDIT: it is animated... I just opened it up in Photoshop, it must be on a timer or something. I thought I was losing my mind... EDIT EDIT: and to stay on topic, I've never received any strange music requests. Although someone in the WIP forums asked me to remix a song from Sonic Riders. WHY? WHY WOULD YOU WANT THAT?

Just got done listening through the whole thing, great job man! I was a little surprised to see that the "Hydrocity Zone" remix was indeed not the song titled "Hydrocity" haha.

Definitely one of my favorites of Maverick Rising (although I think I've said that for every song from it posted ). I love Vurez's blending of ethnic instruments & rock and each song is incredibly polished. This is no exception, great job!

Upon first glance, I thought that said "Hydro titties" which may be an even more awesome, albeit inappropriate, album title. I will BUY it sir! And soon! And then I will talk about it!

I forgot about the listening party but am checking it out on bandcamp right now. This is pretty awesome stuff man!

I just heard the first song but I think I need to buy this. Great job so far! EDIT: Just listened through the whole thing, I really enjoyed it! The first part of "Gimme" really reminded me of Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2. The chord and bass progression sounded very similar.

hahaha me too man. Whenever I try to record vocals I'm like "wow I sound stupid" DELETE. Someone's gotta tackle barbershop sometime though. That and some true acapella. To my knowledge there is no barbershop on OCR and acapella seems to be reserved for joke mixes on OLR And hey I realized I forgot to do reviews for last week's mixes with everything else going on and being out of my house and stuff, so yeah better late than never I suppose: Rexy: Your song's got a bit groovier vibe to it this week, which I enjoyed. I like those synth arpeggio things around 0:40, they sound cool. The bells are a nice touch too. I think that half-time-y sounding break section at 1:30 is my favorite part of the song. I like how the percussion there sounds a bit more deliberate and paced. Nice job incorporating SFX again too. The synth solo around 3:00 is a good change of pace from the rest of the arrangement. The drums sound a little overcompressed throughout the song. I'm used to Pete's percussion being a bit punchier (particularly the snare), but here it sounds like the highs were cut a bit during production or something. I think it would've served the track well for them to be a bit more pronounced. Overall very nice entry though! Amphibious: The e-piano intro is suuuper chill. It really set the atmosphere for the rest of the song. I felt like it went on just a tad too long, but I like the jazzy, oh so slightly delayed note hits. The percussion and sweep at 1:00 was a nice entry to the proper song. The sax is just so silky smooth, nice work Xenon! The arrangement is fairly simple, but you kept things really fresh and interesting by passing the lead between the sax and the electric guitar. The re-entry of the sax there in the second half is probably my favorite part, with the percussion hold right before 3:00. Just overall a super chill jazzy piece. Great job!

I'll most likely be coming this year (it'll be my first!!!) as long as there aren't any family plans around the same time. I honestly didn't really know much about it until I heard how much awesomeness was had at this past years'. I'm not sure of my rooming or transportation needs at this time, I guess I'll figure that stuff out the closer.

Dude, a barbershop remix would be epic. A good friend of mine sings in a barbershop quartet and I always joke he should make a barbershop VGM mix. I vote for tropical island jams tho, for either participant haha

Well the round is far from over yet, but if you do have to make another song, I'd say orchestral would be a cool direction (especially since you just had an orch mix posted). You could also go more pure electronica (like "She's a Squirter"), or some tropical island jams, ya know with some hand percussion, steel drum, xylophone, and some pan flute? Or you could do smooth R&B there you go 4 ideas! And Gario, you said you had an idea for yours if you won? Hmm now I'm curious...

Why? I'll take them out of the ZIP if you'd prefer.

Some quick reviews: Brandon Strader: Wow what a beautiful and emotionally-charged song you created Brandon! I absolutely love the acoustic guitar in the intro (and throughout) and the vocal layering creates a great atmosphere. The drum entrance right before the 1:00 mark is a perfect transition to the 'proper' song, and really sets the stage for the rest of the track, in my opinion. The back-and-forth between the acoustic guitar and your vocals is a really nice touch. I don't know exactly what it is, but I feel like this is one of the best vocal performances I've heard from you. Your voice just fits this genre/style perfectly. Like urdailywater mentioned, that theramin is just brilliant as well. It definitely has more of a western/folky feeling than psychedelic, to me, but I think it fits perfectly. I do like how the song as a whole has that really live & raw feel to it. It makes me envision a traveler walking down an abandoned, dusty road, reminiscing of times of old. Amazing. Gario: I love the panning synths in the intro there and then the pad entrance with your vocals has a really neat effect. This song as a whole really reminds me of something, but I just can't place it and it's frustrating me. Did anything in particular inspire you when you made it? I do really like the vocoded effects on your vocals. I think the chorus could've been a bit clearer cause the vocals are a bit harder to understand there without the lyrics in front me of, but I think the sound of the vocals fits the overall soundscape quite well. The verses though are perfect in my opinion. I love the overall vibe and flow. The 2:10 mark with the vocal layering was also really cool. The little break at 2:47 was neat too! Overall like DiGi mentioned earlier, I love what you were going for here, the direction of this song was really neat and completely took me by surprise. I know you made this in very little time and were dealing with some personal issues last week, so I really hope you come back to it and expand/polish it some more. I'd love to hear the vocal performance expanded. You told me you originally were going to have Starla do some vocals for you, I think creating some back-and-forth duet verses would be really cool. Like Starla's verses could be from Amy Rose's pont-of-view to build off what you already have. Regardless, I've really been getting into electronica/trance-y vocal tracks like this recently, so I really enjoyed this one! Great job both of you, I really really enjoyed both songs! Two great vocal tracks that went in completely different directions! FYI - I updated the ZIP file with Brandon's lyrics in the text file (Gario's were already in there) since he posted them below.

Ok without going into a bunch of details that would not be favorable for anyone involved, I'm just going to say that there was more going on than just these new forum accounts & Radio Sega voters. So that is why what happened, happened. So everyone can stop with the conspiracy theories, because without knowledge of all the details, none of the conclusions will make sense. Discussing a bunch of "what-if's" will only exacerbate the situation. Trust me. So let's just please get on with the competition.

Robotnik Round 4 songs are up! I haven't even heard them yet, but I'm excited! I'm going back to my house now to throw out all of my food so I probably won't be on for awhile. Hopefully my power comes back soon. Enjoy!

OK, first off I apologize to everyone for taking so long to respond to this. I've been trying to figure out how best to word this, not to mention numerous people have been contacting me now. Also my house has had no power since yesterday so I'm not even home but anyway... Anyway, Rexy's resignation will stand. We've discussed, in private, and came to the agreement that it was the best solution given the information that was presented (information that may or may not be publicly known). For everyone crying foul about the influx of new voters the past couple of days, I hear you. It is a legitimate concern, and is something we need to consider in any compos going forward. We never want to turn away new voters, or new community members, but we also don't want these competitions to become popularity contests where people only join at the last minute to vote for a specific person and have no other community activity. Especially when it may be an issue of voter politicking or vote-stacking. It's a fine line to tell the difference, and I have no proposed solution for this, but it is something that deserves thought. Without disallowing any votes, Amphibious still won by one vote anyway, so that is the end of that. He will be moving on, regardless of if Rexy resigned or not. Please know this next statement is not directed at any one person but as a general statement due to numerous events involving numerous people, which I feel needs to be said... Going forward there will be rules specifically outlawing any sort of vote-stacking, voter politicking, directly contacting or recruiting people to specifically vote for you, etc. New forum profiles may be investigated by site admins to ensure they are genuine. This unsportsmanlike conduct is extremely inappropriate and would be grounds to disqualify a competitor if there is proof of this type of behavior. Things like this shouldn't need to be said, but it is necessary. I've spoken with Shariq (Darkesword) about this, among other things, last night and he agrees that going forward we'll make rules like this explicit. I think we often forget that the point of these competitions is to just enjoy the music! It is all about the music and the camaraderie we have from being in the tournament together. Sure winning is great, and winning is fun, but honestly we ALL win when we get to enjoy all the great music we are creating. Any time spent arguing, complaining about voting, hurting each other's feelings is just wasted time. I know we're all capable of being adults, treating one another with respect, and appreciating one another without reducing ourselves to pointless bickering. Giving criticism is all good and a necessary part of musical development, but we just need to do it in a way that is not degrading to others involved. It's called constructive criticism. Given all that, I'd appreciate if everyone can just remain civil and move forward now. Please don't call anyone any names (pancakes and lizards are ok ) or make any disparaging remarks. The decision I came to is the most fair thing for everyone involved and that will be the end of it. Believe me, I didn't like being put in this awkward situation either and it's not something I anticipated when I first started the compo. Regardless I've still thoroughly enjoyed hosting the competition and enjoyed all the new friends I've made here. I hope you can all still enjoy yourselves too, especially as the compo nears it's completion. Now that that is said - the Robotnik Bracket finals songs will be up shortly. Thanks.

Just FYI everyone a big storm knocked out my power early this afternoon so I'm staying at a relative's. Tomorrow's music and results might not be up until later tomorrow afternoon depending on when my power gets restored and when I get home.