GrayLightning
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Posts posted by GrayLightning
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Beautiful atmosphere, great soundscape. Really like the instrumentation. Great arrangement, great production. My only slight complaint is there's not much balance with the strings. You have the typical Violins in the left, but opposite that you still have high strings playing on the right. I would have written something to compliment the violins for the right section, here it just sounds imbalanced. Minor flaw though.
Great mix. YES
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I liked the first version of this mix, unfortunately I don't like what this second version has resulted in as much.
Yeah I pretty much agree the main flaw here is this has so many ideas crammed into this mix and it keeps jumping around from one idea to another.
But this has a lot of fuzz/clipping/audio issues going on throughout the mix. Does anyone else hear this? Bottom end is way too heavy in my opinion and drags the balance down.
Awesome intro though with the cello/double bass short bows, kick, synth bells. You definitely show a lot of promise. Polishing up your compositional and execution ideas right now seems to be your main weakness.
NO
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Let's see, a Morrowind mix, I wonder which source material was mixed...
It sounds like I've heard this mix a million times by now, considering that, something new is looked for and I don't think this one delivers. Now the main problem here is it's way too cluttered. I'm not sure exactly what you did here, either way too much reverb or delay or both. It sounds like one mass of sound that don't compliment each other in this case.
Some parts of this remind me of early 90s electronica, fun and enjoyable for what it is. Fun mix, but the execution, mixing and arrangement fall short. NO
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Prophecy Fallthrough - Not the same song as on Kong in Concert
Remixer Name: Prophecy
Real Name: Jason Miller
Game: Donkey Kong Country
Source Song Title: "Northern Hemispheres"
This is an adapted (shortened) version of "Chekan Winter" from the Kong in Concert album. Binnie told me that because it is on the album it would receive a direct post so long as it met your specs.
Also, there's been some questions as to the origin of the remix title. The "Cheka" were Soviet secret police. I think the name is appropriate for the mood of the song.
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A simplistic take of incredible source material. This is a good example of why it's so difficult to mix great pieces. This just doesn't compare very favorably with the original.
Another main issue here for me is all the clashing of the harmony with the melody. This happens way too frequently throughout the mix.
Otherwise this has a lot of promise. Neat solo string parts. I particularly liked the last half as it got more interesting towards the end. I would suggest working on this again, with a lot of fixing in mind. Could have been a great mix, but the execution just drags this down.
NO
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Development is the main problem here, or lack off. Period. It just feels incomplete. Try and expand this mix so it sounds more complete. The mix came and went all too briefly.
Minor gripe, I thought the recording quality was a bit disappointing, certainly passable, but perhaps at least some EQ and other processing work is in order.
Very cool guitar performance though, so I hope to hear more from you in the near future, but this isn't enough at this point. NO.
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For most of the time we have a lead and drums. So very sparse sounding, both compositionally and instrumentally. It sounds so empty. The lead isn't particularly attractive either.
Sorry, NO. This needs more of everything.
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Well more than anything, I think the problem is how the sounds are used, rather than the sounds itself. Although the sound quality is pretty mediocre. If you are able to use soundfonts, you can find plenty of free ones that are far better than this at hammersound, or check our Remixing forums for darkesword's soundfont site.
Lack of clever application or patience in synth design and effects processing are some of the flaws here. SP8 and Synth 1 are capable of much better quality than what's in here.
Not bad at all, but the arrangement is just slightly above average, with production skills to match. Keep at it, you show a lot of promise. Work on polishing your ideas and execution.
NO
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While there are certainly flaws here, the main ones as others have said; the variety of ideas that jump from one to another almost serendipitously, which I suppose one could say of a lot of Elfman's pieces, I too thought it could have been more focused.
However, what is here is done very very well. The arrangement is great, the instrumentation though linear and expected is still pulled off very well. The ethnic percussion added a nice flavor to the mix too. I particularly enjoyed the tempo shifts in the mix.
Good job zirc! YES
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This is tricky. The production in general, not just samples is definitely below average. I think some in the panel sometimes forget production is not equal to samples. There's a cadre of things that goes into production outside samples alone. Now in this case I have to side with the yes votes, for the very reason cited already. While the sample and production is low, it's passable due to both good arrangement and it doesn't detract this mix into something majorly negative.
Very neat arrangement. Fun. Yes.
Someone contact the mixer, this is above 6 MB. We need a lower encoding. 128kbps will do.
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I had reservations about this mix and thought it should be panel bound on the prior discussion of this, for the very same reasons Vigilante mentioned.
The pulsing synth sounds mono and panned hard right. This pulsing I found very annoying to listen to on headphones. You have something very strong going on in the right, and some in the center, while the left is totally vacant.
6 minutes of repetition for me could have been done without. I think this should have been a 3-4 minute mix without getting too repetitive.
Still, there's a lot to like in this mix, and I'd have no problems if it passed. I'm quite torn on this, but the repetition and the way the poor mixing was handled in the instance of the very annoying pulsing synth leads me to a borderline NO. I suggest mixers listen to their mixes on both headphones and speakers before submitting.
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I'm not really sure what this is. There's a groove, then some performance phrases/samples and they keep repeating over and over. There's a lot of mixing problems here too. Everything sounds very muddy and confusing. This needs to go back to the composition stage for some work on the compositional aspects. Work on incorporating more melody, harmony, something. This needs better eqing also. Honestly I'm not sure where to begin, there's a lot of problems. Main issue is there's no meat here.
If polished, this sounds like a neat theme that could work as a film type cue for background material, but ultimately I don't think this really works as listening material on its own context.
You show promise though. Definitely keep on working at it, keep learning, and keep gaining experience by doing more mixes.
This is a NO though.
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Very muddy and cloudy sounding. Work on fixing the recording quality and providing a cohesive drum line with the piece. This just sounds off in various ways. Which is a shame, because I enjoyed the actual guitar performance, or what I could hear from it anyway.
Sorry, NO.
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This is great. I have no issues with the dynamics. Everything here is above the bar, except, there is so so much clipping throughout the whole mix, like at 3:46. I don't mind a few instances of clipping here and there, but this is too much. I want a rerecording. Until then NO.
Wingless and Zyko, considering your strong opinions of this mix. You two can request this vote to go to a full panel vote, or the vote is closed at this point.
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I like the arrangement here. The mixer did a unique job as far as I'm concerned.
I don't quite feel as strongly as the other judges about high frequencies. This is how a lot of good ambient pieces are supposed to sound. The execution isn't quite there though. I do think some eq boosts in the 5k-10k and 15k regions sparingly would help here, as would some cuts in the lower/mid regions, perhaps in the 300-500 hz region would help balance things out a bit more. But still, I feel it's a minor gripe. When trying to determine mastering problems, the solution is not always to look for boosts, but often to roll off. In this case I would roll off and go back to the mixing stage and add some slight boosting as well. Then a global minimal boost in the master bus in suggested frequency ranges (these are only guesses, you'll have to find the ranges that suits your taste/this mix in greater detail on your own).
I would not use Winamps eq spectrum analyzer at all for anything, it's worthless in my view. A lot of classical music would show almost no activity in the winamp spectrum analyzer, certainly not much activity in the higher regions.
What I really think this mix needs is more instrumentation to create a lusher environment. For a mix of this nature there needs to be some density in the sounds. Component synthesis with clever midi controller programming would help change the character of the piece more. I think the key here is evolution of the background parts of the mix. Creative fx processing would be welcome as well.
Tricky, but it's a borderline NO. Please resubmit, I'd love to pass this. If you decide to resubmit, PM me about this and I'll post it back to the panel without delay.
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I definitely hear an evolution of an arrangement here. It's not the most daring, but there's a lot of nice subtle and constantly evolving additions here. I wish there was more instrumentation as some parts got a bit too sparse.
I particularly like the pad design and the instrumentation combinations here. Drums get a bit repetitive after a while, but I like the fx processing like the sweep/phasing on it.
Not an all star mix, but the end result is a pretty cool arrangement and overall just pleasing.
Borderline YES
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I can see where zircon is coming from. I have to say from a personal standpoint, I'm not particularly fond of this mix. The arrangement is good, but not as good as Christian's other mixes. It seemed to drag on a bit, in part to the source material which was never that great in my opinion either. I agree with zircon's assesment on the flaws, but on the other hand I think this is personal preference on my part. As a judge one (I) must be able to set aside personal tastes and judge a mix objectively.
Objectively for me, though the concept wasn't my cup of tea; this was an above the bar arrangement, with great performance, and superb production, mixing and mastering. So, YES.
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My biggest issue with this is it's pretty short and in my view, it feels underdeveloped. The arrangement is pretty good, and the performance and production is excellent. I wish more thought went in the composition process though, minor nitpick. But the overall result sounds like every other guitar mix out there. Nothing here stands out for me that says, this is BrainCells. Solid and nice mix overall though, YES.
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Gray, you always have a place in my Sunday morning playlist.
I was wandering about a team up with Zircon, it will be cool, huh?
Thanks Jagunço, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I have never had more interesting feedback either way with a mix than with this. So I guess that's a good thing.
Zircon and I have been discussing a team up/collaboration on a mix soon. I hope we can do it sometime in the next few months. I also have several exciting collaborations with other OCR mixers this year. Stay tuned.
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Pretty neat, I think Israfel needs to weigh in on this, since he is probably the most informed about this genre than any of us.
I think the instrumentation sounds pretty authentic for this genre. The sound/sample and production quality is pretty mediocre though.
Main problem is average arrangement. I would try to make this mix your own in some manner or form. Try to mix things up, move sections around, expand the harmony or melody.
I did enjoy the tambourine rhythm section and some of the brief clever writing here and there though. Not bad at all. It's an average attempt, but below the bar. Better luck next time. NO
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I expected this to be somewhat controversial considering the changes in structure, form and rhythm in the piece. It may take several listens before the melody sinks in, I personally had no problem hearing the source material.
This might not be for everyone, but I'm quite happy how this turned out. Certainly not my best mix, but that wasn't a goal of mine anyway. It was a fun, unique and educational arrangement experience for me.
Thanks for the comments.
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it affirms to me that some very unfortunate biases are likely forming. Since the bar is already so high to begin with I think that the bar should be raised higher as the artist gets better as well.
There is no bias. We rejected zyko's last submission. It may not be to your taste, but this particular mix is certainly well above the bar.
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maaaybe if this was done live with the passion of a performance... it could pass.
but what does fake guitar, mechanical sequencing, and minimal arrangement offer to the listener?
not much.
I agree, particularly with the first statement. Analoq nailed it on the head. I do think the composition is quite interesting. Also the sequencing is quite good, considering...Production is pretty decent. I think there's too much hall here though. I would have used a combination of delays and smaller room setting. I found it enjoyable overall, but there isn't enough here for a yes. Next time bring the poker ace in your sleeve or blame liontamer for not voting *inside joke*. Keep at it xerol, your work is very promising and you are continually improving in the last few months. I hope to hear from you in the near future.
NO
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This is incredibly loud, there's way too much overcompression, there's so much clipping/distortion that it's painful to listen to. The RMS levels on this mix are through the roof. Back down on the levels please! The arrangement itself is pretty decent, but the major mixing problems make this difficult to listen or enjoy.
Best of luck next time. NO
*NO* Final Fantasy 6 'Amor Mio, Caro Bene'
in Judges Decisions
Posted
Very neat mix, but as everyone has already stated there's barely any arrangement here. The main issue has already been brought up so anything I say in addition would just be repetition. Next time work on expanding the ideas, changing the genre, melody, harmony - bring something new to the table. Doing an orchestral version of an orchestral piece demands greater creativity as well.
Enjoyable work, but there's too many arrangement shortcomings here. Hope to hear more work from you in the future that showcases more creative and original additions.
NO