GrayLightning

Thread cleaned up. Get back on topic, please.

For the record, as Harmony noted - We take previous mixes into consideration, but no one mix holds the bar. The key question for any mix still has to do how it relates to the current bar/avg of our standards, rather than how it compares to one mix. Now for the mix some slight gripes I thought there was too much sustain and reverb, especially with how bright this piano still sounds. I wish you EQ'd some of the higher frequencies. It's too bright and harsh at times. Cool arrangement overall though, and certainly very nicely executed. Sweet ending too. YES

Yeah the machine gun issue is obvious, but Jeremy uses older tools like Giga 2, so that's not something that could be fixed easily. The best bet in the future is to try to create more tracks with envelope variations, unless you want to reprogram some of your samples and of course drastic velocity changes may be necessary. I don't think most people would notice it anyway. It's noticeable, but it's not a huge deal ultimately. Now as far as this mix, really great arrangement. The orchestration is wonderful. All the different instrumentation, change ups, pacing and articulation usage is used expertly. Production values are generally excellent. I thought the dark sound here is perfect. It's got the perfect european sound. I would not like it any brighter. This sounds very much like many Tchaikovsky recordings in terms of the orchestral/ambient color. Great work. Easy YES.

The source is difficult to pick out because he took the main motif of the original and made it so submerged. Considering what little material he had to work with in the original, I'm willing to let that slide. Not to mention as someone who likes to push the arrangement envelope with liberal arrangements, who am I to criticize too much. Overall I thought it was certainly an above average arrangement with several very interesting moments. Your percussive accents I didn't think worked though. They sounded limp. I'd like to see more processing on that, as well as different patterns. I'd like to see this polished a little more with some more processing on the synths and pads, that production aspect came off rather dull. But your synths and samples are certainly nice. I'm tempted to go YES, but I'd like some minor tweaking on all aspects. Borderline NO.

For my part, Sephfire sent me Wavs and the reason project file.

When djp asked for my opinion, I thought this was definitely DP material weeks ago, and still do. Superlative arrangement. One of the most enjoyable mixes I've heard in a while.

Ain't it the truth. Amen brotha!

This is one of my favorite themes (there's only one or two that aren't crap) from Saga Frontier. I think this is a much improved resubmission. I like this a lot more. Some of my gripes from my original vote are still here though. I think overall you took this mix up several notches, but the arrangement is still a bit conservative. Also as someone who does this kind of music a lot, I have to point out one major issue here. There is nothing that drives this mix. A mix of this nature needs something to drive it with either percussion or rhythm or a powerful atmosphere. I'd like to see more pads with some fx processing here. I think this mix needs more reverb and delays too outside some of the percussion and string pizz. What is key here though for me is some form of evolution, either in the rhythm or instrumentation. That is an important element I'd like you to try to focus on. The highlight for me here was your ornamentation of the piece with the heavily reverbed string pizz, particularly in the opening section it was very beautifully done. I also really liked the distorted guitar sustains with the bends. They added a nice texture to the piece. I'd like to see you continue this mix as it's very very promising and could end up as my favorite of yours. Fix up the issues cited and especially please expande your arrangement some more. Very promising, but it's not there yet. NO

The arrangement is certainly very creative. But I too had a hard time picking out the theme, which is understandable given the source material you had to work with, ie. what little of it. In some sense it reminds me of the lockdown 2 situation with the earthbound mix. Since you have so little to work with it's kind of obvious that most arrangers would only be able to mix this kind of source fairly liberally. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt not only in this context, but just in general. I still thought there was an overall present connection. I thought the samples were definitely well above passable, but you still can find better stuff here and there for some of the instruments for free. My main gripe is the production. There's nothing special in the production. There's a very bland reverb gloss throughout, there's balance problems too. I don't think it's a major issue as Liontamer thinks though. I'd like to see some more work and cleaning up of some of the issues I cited and what others have cited before this passes. This isn't there at all yet and deserves some more work. PS. Your trumpet sequencing is fantastic. NO

This sounds more like a techno mix than an orchestral one. It's so repetitive. The orchestral motifs are very simple as well. The same instrumentation dots the entire mix without any instrumental change, compositional evolution or dynamic shifts. The snare line is ridiculously repetitive. At least change it once in a while with some rolls or rhythmic changes. Production wise, I think this needs more high end. It sounds a little "dull." Consider some light boosts in the 8, 10 and 16 Khz ranges. Some conservative boosts in those regions would help this mix a lot. Finally the entire concept is incomplete and unfulfilled considering its short length and repetition. NO

To be clear, my involvement in the mix was from a suggestions perspective. I mentioned having the same issues as many have noted right before he submitted it. I thought it needed more work in several areas still, but he wanted to wrap it up at the time. My main issue here is the conservative nature of the mix. This isn't ready for primetime. I actually did like the breakdown section, I thought it added a nice change of pace and it does work for me in this context. But other than that and the vibe expansion, a lot of the progression/structure/melodic content especially is far too conservative imo. I'd like to these these at least worked on further, as you have sections that go on for minutes that sound almost unarranged at the core. My other issue is the sparseness issue. I think this can be remedied simply - either by thickening up the chords or even layering the pad an octave down at a softer level. This does need more middle and middle low end frequencies. I'd like to see the percussion and drums mixed up a little more as harmony said. It does get a bit stale, I know you're going for a chill vibe and in a lot of music of that sort, there shouldn't be too much evolvement or busyness. Maybe throw in a clave in there for variation and more bottom end drums like slightly heavier kick. I did really like the hand drums though, cool sequencing on those. Ultimately I don't feel this is near the quality I've come to expect of you. Your next two mixes are Ace and I look forward to those. But this is a NO for me.

I agree the mix has several problems. The key ones is it's not interpretive enough. There's barely any arrangement, the new material sits over the original in layers and they sound off to me. Don't try to take stuff wholesale and just lump new things over or under it. Try to expand the concept from start to finish. The guitar and strings seem to clash with the piano in both textural and how it sits in the mix terms. Beats are way too simplistic and repetitive as well. Most of all this needs actual arrangement material. Production is average as well. Nothing fancy going on in here on all the elements we judge. Not bad, but it needs a heck of a lot more. NO

Enter GrayLightning after the vote... The ugly distortion in this totally ruins this mix and makes it unbearable to listen to. I suggest if people will use so overt a distortion in their mixes, that they should buy hardware or the best software distortion plugins (most software distortion sounds annoying) and/or just stop using ugly software distortion. It's a shame though, because your intro in this mix is very captivating.

Just had to ROFL with this in public! He'll be jealous forever! Plus Paige PMed me earlier today telling me she clicked on that evil 1 Night in Chyna link and saw the utter devastation of Chyna clenis. SHE"S TARUMATIZED, SOC! I'LL KILL YOU! It doesn't matter anyway. The ultimate honor was winning the vote of the fair maiden, the queen of hearts, ThatPaige. ThatPaige 4 Judge!

Or in this case, not a xylophone, it's a marimba. YE Uh you didn't do any hard work larry. I did all the "I could get this one brought our way." Now as far as this mix, the highlight here is the great arrangement. Israfel made something really special out of very little to work with. The mood and vibe of this mix really carries a very mystical energy throughout. Mike's sequencing for marimba needs to be recognized. Very well done on that front. My only minor gripe that has not aged so well are the string short bows, they sound a bit synthy. Loved the choir with heavy vibrato, they really add to the mix. Production wise this is great. The samples are great, the production, mixing and mastering is all good. This mix isn't for everyone, but it's an artistic tour de force. It's incredible that this was done 3 years ago, and regardless it still holds up to today's standards - I also suspect it would hold to standards 3 years from now. Quality mix then, now and certainly deserving of a place in OCR history. YES

Excellent in all categories. A little too much reverb though. YES

Gray is a smelly liar, with an odor of old cheese. Don't be shy larry. We all know you have testified your love for all WWF/WWE related women. Especially chyna. Plus you're stealing my trademarked lines against you. Weaksauce! We can only assume you've had one too many of those Campbell soup cans (including the cans).

Glass Cage (Pac-Man: Toshio Kai; Namco; Arcade; 1981)- This is a minimalist take on the main Pac-man theme, you know, that short 5 second diddy that plays in the arcade version. The idea of the piece is that the theme would repeat throughout the whole mix in one form or another- and that the theme would gradually become more recognizable as the music progressed. I thought of it like a TV getting a progressively clearer reception (incidently, a TV is one of the things that 'Glass Cage' refers to). Sure it's a bit creepy and you might think that that doesn't really fit the "feel" of pacman; but c'mon, a guy trapped in a maze while being chased by ghosts, sounds pretty freaky to me. URL: - Israfel

Yeah I had a chat with djp about it. There's exceptions made for well known games, like Starfox, Sonic, etc; as long as it's not from some crud no one's heard of. I think he's gonna post here later.

This was being discussed earlier in the oc chat, and where I got a lot of the information on this issue. This game was never released. It was cancelled by Nintendo. More info at: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/s/st/star_fox_2.htm I think DJP needs to weigh in on our policies on this. Issues: The game was never released, it was cancelled. So is this a game or a demo? How do we tie this in with other policies such as no music from game demos (Sweet Games) or freeware/shareware games with mixes (born from the TO inquiry from last year). Where is the line drawn on what is allowable for OCR? This game is only obtainable via rom/piracy. Do we want to allow this? Vgmix has made a policy not to allow mixes from this game. More info: http://www.vgmix.com/topic_view.php?topic_id=8162Our current policy is a bit vague: BTW spelling error of "ReMiixes" in case that needs to be changed. Thoughts?

Fixed.

I've put up a new poll at last.

Thanks for the comments everyone. It was a pleasure to work with Sephfire and Pixietricks. I'm glad I was allowed the opportunity. I hope to be able to collab with either of them again in the future. As far as the contentious parts of this mix for some; I may be biased, but I personally really liked the lyrics pixie wrote for this piece. I think it worked wonderfully well in this context.

I'm not a fan of medleys, especially when our guidelines are concerned with the size/time limit, I don't think they ultimately can capitalize on a proper experience. But in this case you did it as well as can be expected. Right off the bat, the arrangement is evidently well done. All the various instrumentation works together nicely. The orchestration is very well done. The balance of all the instruments is great. I think some of the instruments needed more reverb. The string sustains for example have no release they just end at the note's end. Also your snare sounds more upfront than some of the other instruments. It should be at the back. I would have placed more reverb on that, and eq'd the 5000-8000hz range for some more crispness. Keep these in mind next time. Small suggestions aside, everything else was very well done. Very capable work in all areas. YES

Bleh game and source material. Shna and his deviance in game music tastes. This is probably one of the more accessible mixes I've heard from Shna. The intro starts off with very interesting and thoughtful arrangement for woodwinds. Quite convincing. The composition and orchestration in general is nicely executed. I particularly liked the interplay of the instruments. One slight gripe I had was the orchestral placement. It's unorthodox and doesn't really make much sense. You have two snares, one way way to the left of the soundfield, the other slightly right. Then you have two harps, one sounds centered, and the other one is far off. If this were an unorthodox setting sure, but I don't feel it's anything but orthodox in this regard. (I think I'm going to talk to you about this in more detail later in private to find out your thinking on this). The ending sections were particularly nice as well and were the highlight for me. Very thoughtful build up to that point. Good concept, arrangement and execution. YES