SuperiorX

Great, loved it! I don't think there is a JM mix (or album) that I have not enjoyed! Good job!

hey was there ever a link posted to the final version of this? I searched through the forum and couldn't fine anything... are we just going to have to wait to hear this awesomeness when it gets posted on OCR?

I really don't see how this remix could get any better! Great great job!

Wow, I have nothing constructive to say other than this is awesome. I can't wait to hear how it sounds with all the live instruments and with whatever you decide to do with the vocal situation. Either way, it sounds great so far.

So, I submitted this back in August after more tweaking based on everybody's very helpful feedback here. Unfortunately it was *NO*ed by the judges: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26799, Their feedback was rather positive and very helpful overall though. Based on that, I've decided to open this back up and see if anyone is interested in a potential collaboration. I'd be looking for an alto sax, and perhaps a tenor sax as well to record live versions of the sampled saxes I used in the submitted version of this song, as well as maybe a longer, more stylized solo section. If there is interest in this, I may also try to get some trumpet players on board to re-record those sections as well. I play trumpet myself, but at the time I didn't have a nice enough mic to record it how I wanted, which is why I went with samples on this track. If anyone is interested, just drop me a message here. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to dedicate towards remixing anymore because I just started grad school this past fall, so this really won't be a very time consuming commitment by any means if anyone does want to collab. Thanks again for everyone who provided feedback for me on this track earlier, it was all greatly appreciated! Oh and here is the link for the final version that was submitted to the judges: http://www.box.net/shared/3v3sn3im2i

Yes! I think this has really come together! WIP2 was a lot better than WIP1, and this successive update pretty much sounds complete. I think the solo at the end, although not quite what I expected, sounds great and fits in well. Overall I'd say it's great. I really like the interpretation and the style of the piece. We don't hear enough acoustic guitar remixes!

It's nice to finally see an update on this! It's sounding great! The last portion of the song is sounding a lot fuller now compared to that last update (from what I can remember of it). I like the high pitched synth that I hear in the background (I think that is new, yes?). It adds a bit more depth to the instrumentation. I'll have to go back and listen to the previous WIP to pick out all the other differences, but overall it's sounding great!

I liked the idea of this song quite a bit. I'm a BIG fan of jazz arrangements, so I was immediately excited when I read Protoman/Gemin Man jazz arrangement! However, I'll echo some of the below comments... the first two minutes of the song sound very very busy. Some instruments are much to loud then they need to be, while others are hidden in the background. I don't believe this is any fault of the performance, but instead the recording. It does sound like this was recorded on just one mic (albeit a very poor one at that). The sound quality overall is poor and muffled, but from what I can hear the instrumentation and arrangement is stellar; I definitely enjoy it... especially when the Gemini Man section kicks in, everything really starts rocking. Jazz is supposed to be very liberal and free flowing, so I really enjoyed the solo sections and arrangement (although I really didn't even think it was that liberal of an interpretation in the first place, so I don't know what these other guys are complaining about). The ending was a little weak, but I don't think it takes much away from the song as a whole... Definitely get this thing mastered and/or re-recorded. Particularly try to get every instrument on it's own mic, so you can make mixing the channels a lot easier. If you can get a good quality recording of this I can't see why it wouldn't be posted here. Really great job! I hope we'll hear a cleaned up version of this song soon, it REALLY deserves it!

any update on this coming anytime soon? It's been waaaaay too long!

I really liked this! Metal Man's theme is another waaaay overmixed song, but I haven't heard it (or any other Mega Man song for that matter) remixed this way with acoustic guitar. I do absolutely love acoustic guitar tracks though, so perhaps I'm a little biased Someone needs to get on making a whole acoustic Mega Man collab album. That would be awesome, like acoustic guitar, some well executed hand percussion, and some subtle string bass. Nice. Anyway... I don't think I really have much to say about the awesomeness of this track. I do think some light drums (either brushes, or hand percussion) could add a whole new level of depth to the track, but that's just my personal opinon. It stands alone as a pure acoustic guitar track just fine. The ending is a little anti-climatic, the rhythm just kind of fades out, I would have liked to see some kind of climax, but again that's just my personal opinion, it all depends on the direction you want to take the track. I'm looking forward to the next update!

How did Snappleman get banned? I did always enjoy his remixes...

I didn't hear any Mechanical Man... (and I grew up on C&C!)... but that would make a killer mash-up song. Metal Man and Command & Conquer. Nice! Maybe I should work on that next In regards to this song though... I like the rolling synths applied to the main theme, it's pretty catchy. As it stands now I think the song needs to be fleshed out more (more original parts, more variation, etc), as this tune has been remixed to death, but I think it has some potential. Keep on it!

Ok, so this is just a minor update, but I wanted your guys opinion... I have two versions of update 15 posted here now, one is identical to my previous update, and for the other I boosted the new bass significantly. I just wanted everyone's opinion on which they think sounds better. I think I'm favoring the boosted bass, it sounds much more defined and present in the song. Thanks again... Update: Lay Down and Dive v15 (boosted bass) http://www.box.net/shared/0sx0q7zexy Update: Lay Down and Dive v15 (original) http://www.box.net/shared/aji8dcghp2

Alright, so now I think this is finally the bass sound I've been looking for. I now have a sweet upright bass which I think fits much, much, better than the electric one. Thanks for the suggestions guys, I ended up finding a demo of Trilogy which I used for the bass. It really rounds out the low end of the song now. I also adjusted a few volume levels on the main trumpet again, and added a bit more reverb to the wind instruments. I think this is finally coming together now, tell me what you think! Update: Lay Down and Dive v15 http://www.box.net/shared/aji8dcghp2

Wow, thanks for all the great feedback everyone! It's nice to get some new opinions on here too, I really appreciate it! Yeah... the new bass is A LOT better than the old one, but I know what you mean. Most of you have said that a nice upright bass would fit best, which is what I've been trying to find, but I haven't had any luck finding a decent soundfont. If anyone knows of (or has) a good upright bass soundfont suitable for jazz, I'd love to know where to find one. That really is still the biggest thing bugging me about the song. I'm going to do some more digging tonight and hopefully I'll have another update tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again everyone. hahaha, nice! I'm not sure I deserve that much praise, but I'll take it! Oh, and one last thing... @ Joren de Bruin, your newest Chrono Trigger mix, 'Corrupter of Time' is amazing, I love it!

Alright, so this is a rather significant update... I think I finally found an adequate bass sample, so I replaced the weak muted bass I had in there before with a nice plucked electric bass that it a lot more powerful and brings quite a bit more to the track than the old sample. I also overhauled the dynamics completely. The major areas I worked on were the piano, which no longer sounds quite as stiff as it did before. I'll admit it's still not perfect, but it sounds a lot better. All the wind instruments' dynamics and reverb were also modified to fill out the piece and to give it more variation. More volume levels than I can remember were changed throughout the song to just make everything more cohesive. I've also panned the instruments appropriately... trumpet section is oriented slight left, low brass mostly centered behind trumpets, saxes and piano are slight right. I've decided I really don't want to add any more sections into the song, I'm quite content with the structure of the song as it is.... so now I finally think this is nearing completion! Update 11: Lay Down and Dive v.14 http://www.box.net/shared/3vsblz8lrq

Whoa, I just saw that you already replied too Proto... Yeah the piano still hasn't been touched since the last update, so I know that still needs fixing Which wind parts are you referring to exactly? I can't seem to pinpoint what sounds disjointed. Thanks again for the feedback guys!

? Haha, yeah pretty much. I kept telling myself that I thought the song was finished, but then I kept finding more things to fix and you guys pointed out some really good issues. I think I was just burning myself out with working on it constantly too... coming back to it now after it sat for about 3 weeks has really helped. Yeah the bass is really ticking me off. I can't get it to sound the way I want. I don't know if I just need to try more samples (I've already sifted through at least 20 different ones) or just mess with the EQ until I can get a more pronounced sound. And yeah the panning and pitch are the other main areas I want to work on. Right now there isn't much panning at all with the instruments, so that I need to fix once I get around to it. I'm pretty familiar with a big band layout, so it's just a matter of actually doing it. And yeah I'm working on some pitch bends/modulation to make the samples sound more real. We'll see. I should have another update next week addressing these issues.

I know it's been the better part of the month since I've updated this, but I've been caught up with other things that I haven't really been able to work on this in the past 3 weeks or so... but today I bring you another (somewhat minor) update... I've beefed up the sound quite a bit, I've added in a lot more lower brass and saxophones to give the piece more depth and volume. I added a significant amount of reverb and played with the dynamics on the (new) trombone hits and trumpet sections to accentuate certain parts of the song and to reduce the grinding vibrato that was natural on the end of the trumpet notes. Although I really didn't change all that much yet, I think the added instrumentation really helps the "thinness" that the song was criticized for before. I still haven't touched the piano or bass yet, but I'll get to that eventually. I'm also playing around with the idea of adding in a nice little drum solo section in the middle of the song, but we'll see. Tell me what you think of instrumentation changes thus far! Thanks. Update 10: Lay Down and Dive v.10 http://www.box.net/shared/uv60fnzk7b

Good luck!

Thanks, both of you, that was some much needed feedback... Yeah... I know.... I think I just kept making minor adjustments because I was working on this thing every day and I was just getting frustrated because I couldn't get things to go the way I wanted them. I haven't touched it in about a week now, so I'm feeling much more eager to work on it again. Major issues (as you both pointed out) is that the mix is too thin. I agree, there is nowhere enough low brass. And yes Gario there is a small woodwind section, but it is just that, small. I need to add more sax countermelody action in there. Haha...yeah. I've come to terms with this too. Although, I think the samples I have are the best sounding brass samples I've ever come across, they really do pale in comparison to the real thing. Especially since earlier today I was listening to some Benny Goodman, and the the song you posted PrototypeReactor... ...which got me to thinking that I might just overhaul the whole piece and try to do some live recording. I'm thinking a collab might be necessary, if you are still interested Proto! I can play a mean screaming trumpet, and I have access to a tenor saxophone player (although he's really busy, so the sax might have to stay sampled), you said you played bone (which I've been having issues trying to get the bone samples to sound the way I want anyhow), and piano, bass, and drums can stay as-is (after some dynamic treatment for the piano, as everyone has pointed out). I think I'm going to see what I can write this next coming week or so and see how it sounds with the current arrangement, but I'm really thinking a live collab is going to be the way to go. I'm going to need to buy a nice microphone though, cause I've got nothing for recording now (which is what was holding me back on going live the whole time anyway). Let me know if you are still interested. Yeah, that really is the biggest thing I have a problem with, is the overall feel. The whole song is to thin. More reverb, a beefier arrangement, more counter-melodies. I'm really suprised no one has 'jazzed up the Dive meister' before . Everytime I hear the theme, I think that it just screams jazz remix! Ha! Victory! The sticks stay! Thanks again for all the feedback! You were both a great help. I think I have a much better feel for what needs to be done now. I'm going to see how things go with writing with the current samples over the next week or so... Until then!

Nice. I like the changes a lot, I haven't listened since v2.0 and I think the intro sounds a lot better (the added reverb/echo was a nice touch) and the transitions are a lot smoother (2:32, 3:11 especially). I wasn't expecting the note change at 2:23 on the synths since I've been listening to 2.0 so much, but I like it, it adds some needed differences with the melody. The added reverb throughout the synth also adds a nice layer of depth to the track. The only thing I can really complain about is what evktalo pointed out. Towards the end (around 4:41 I believe) the bass drum just doesn't seem to fit, it kind of throws off the rhythm. I also agree that mixing up the beat is a good idea, but maybe keep something dropping a steady downbeat and then use another drum/percussion to mix things up. Other than that, it's a great improvement over 2.0! Good job!

Ok, so after going back through and listening to my Fine Tuning 2 update, I kinda realized what I changed sucked. The low brass just made the intro part rather muddy, and the reverb on the piano didn't help much either. So in this update, I basically went back to my first Fine Tuning update (version D6), and just tweaked that a very little bit. Pretty much all I did was redo the transitional section from 2:17-2:29 because it kept bothering me. It sounds a lot cleaner now and transitions nicer into the improv section. Now I think I'm done. Update 8: http://www.box.net/shared/gemnu3j4kb P.S. Oh I particularly liked the new OCRemix homepage for today too

Yeah, I'm a trumpet player as well and nothing is a substitute for the real thing, but I don't have the quality microphone to due justice for a horn recording... I thought the samples sounded pretty damn good though, by far the best brass samples I've ever come across.