GrayLightning
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Posts posted by GrayLightning
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I don't really have strong opinions either way on this. However, I completely agree with what danny b just said.
If I'm forced to pick one, like vig, prot, darke and db I'm slanting for Replacement as well.
Whatever Dave wants to do or is easier for him. It's his call.
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I agree with Adhesive Boy. I need to make a claim on one also.
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Wow, Grey Truly amazing shiznit... ^^ Good Stuff, expect nothing but top notch quality from you now on... Is it Just me or do I keep hearing the FFT Theme Song in the mix? Probably just me.
I missed this one before. It's not just you. ^_~ Several people have mentioned this to me. There is no direct connection with FFT, but it does sound very much like it style-wise.
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ParagonX9 Fallthrough
I just wanted to ask you again if you can directly place this in the judges panel... Because ive submitted this around March but it still didnt appear on the panel. This isnt the first time this happend.
I think the problem is that when the site where i host the mp3's exceeded its data transfer limit
it cant be received... I do got the email that it has been received tho...
Here's the info:
Username: ParagonX9
Site: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=198486/
Song Title: The Alternate Route (Remix of Koopa's Road (Super Mario 64)
Thanks again, Jermain
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DM LEE Fallthrough
I was planning on waiting another month or two but I consulted GL about this and according to him you guys are judging mixes that were submitted long long after mine, so I am pulling a lost submission. I seriously tried not to do this and I am going to try and set up a new email account somewhere else since my yahoo account seems to rarely get my mixes all the way to judging. Anyways, onto the song and mixer info...
Game: Ms Pacman Maze Madness for Playstation, by namco
Original theme: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/sony/ps1/Mspacmaze.mid
Mixer: DM Lee
Real Name: Andrew Lee
Email: Andrew_20_cali@yahoo.com
Submitted: April 9th (the id3 tags might still need to be filled out, I cant remember)
Personal Comments: I made this mix during a point in my life when I had been really stressed out and needed to relax myself through my music.
I wanted to make something "the sounds of nature"ish, hence the multiple bird/water/etc samples throughout. I also wanted to make something with soothing music that doesnt jump out at you and grab your attention but I didnt want a boring, go nowhere, melody... I think I kept enough interest without forcing it.
This is a vast expansion on the original theme and some portions do make use of simple, relatively basic, techniques. For instance, I do just play notes up the scale during a section of the song, but underneath the synth strings are doing their own thing.
I added some modulation to the piano during the first half of the song so it would sound a bit out of tune as many real pianos would not be tuned to perfection, and I think this helped create the soft mellow mood. I took out the modulation towards the last section when the piano starts to play full chords, the piano should sound a little cleaner here.
The hardest challenge was trying to keep some reference to the original throughout the whole song. The only way I could really do this in some sections is just the progression stayed the same. i begin the song with a heavy influence of the original (as you can hear the original melody) and I brought some of the original back in for the ending. Most of this song is original material from my end but uses the same feeling and style throughout.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did making it and I hope I finally make it on the site. It will be probably at least 6 months to a year until I am able to submit something again, so I really hope this is ocr potential. You guys make the decisions and youve made all the right ones thus far, so I expect you will do what is best for the site as far as mix quality goes.
Thanx for your time, peace. (sorry, I know I talk waaaay too much... I cant help it)
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This is a close one for me. Almost a tale of two mixes, half of it sounds pretty interesting, and half of it sounds messy and lacking for me. Without the drumwork I thought a lot of it sounded too sparse and thin. I also felt the synth was kind of annoying after a while. Too brittle sounding. But that's a personal taste comment.
On the positive side, there's a lot of neat work here and more sophisticated effects processing than you'll find in your average mix. I did like the drum and percussion work.
Another main issue here is for this kind of genre I was waiting for either a section of high energy or catchy hook areas. Neither appeared for me. I also feel this was an overly long mix that tended to drag on.
More interesting sections near the end, but the combination of sparse composition and lack of driving sections make this a NO from me.
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If I were to categorize the arrangement it would definitely a conservative take of the piece.
Other than the lack of arrangement this is pretty cool. One issue I have here is the lack of definition between the instruments. I can understand if you wanted to create a textural orchestra piece, but I think for this kind of piece less reverb would have served the piece better. There's a wash of reverb everywhere with no sense of depth between strings, choral lines and percussion. That needs to be worked on.
Cool, but it's a No due to the arrangement issue.
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This is pretty neat. This reminds me of some classic JROCK or JPOP. Arrangement as a whole is average, but it has an enjoyable vibe going on.
Production is lacking and there's a lot of clipping and more noise than I could appreciate. This definitely needs a higher encoding rate, at least 128kbps. I personally found the drum and percussion lines interesting and to my taste.
As someone else said the transitions are weak.
Not bad by any means, but it needs quite a lot of work here and there. I suggest you go back to the drawing board on this one. There's definite potential.
NO
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The piano work is the strong point of this mix. Other than the whole mix feels very disjointed, especially when the drums come in. That snare dominates everything and drowns the piano. Ever hear of subtlety?
It would work better if you placed it behind the piano. Lighter and softer drumwork is definitely required for this kind of mix. The ending works for me.
I like the mood of this piece. It is better than decent, but needs a lot more work and polish. Keep at it.
NO.
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This mix sounds really similar to the the Final Fantasy X intro, but it is lacking some necessary polish needed to really appreciate this mix.
I can't understand what you're saying either. Production is holding this back. You have a wall of distortion surrounding your vocals and then your vocals aren't present enough. I suggest backing down the levels of the guitar at least. Vocals need some form of compression and EQ to stand out better.
The ending almost sounds like some form of brainwashing noise.
I appreciate the effort here and the unique concept, but there's too many production and execution problems going on here.
NO
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80s style Drums start out kind of dull but soon pick up the pace. The sound quality is lacking on this and throughout the rest of the mix. I suggest you use Drums by Slavo at hammersound with FL or you can extract the wav data out of these.
What really dooms this mix though is the uninteresting and not very pleasing lead. It's not hard to find better free soundfonts or synths that can do a better job than this.
Work on improving the complexity of the mix and trying to find your own style.
Overall this is too below the bar to pass. Good effort for your first official mix. This is a good stepping stone for you to gain more experience and along with that the quality of your work will improve. Keep mixing and keep at it. Post your work in the OC WIP forum for feedback for your future mixes.
NO
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I wouldn't call myself a dnb/jungle expert, but I have heard enough to appreciate the genre and vote on this. DJP brings up extremely valid points. I think this is where the flaws of a system based on some form of criticism can look its weakest. To some extent, I think there are often times when judging a genre and a mix can bleed into each other. If an atonal mix were submitted at OC I don't think we can judge it only on its avant garde nature. It would be judged to a certain extent on some basic guidelines and standards while keeping in mind the nature of the genre. I think that is true for this mix as well.
This is pretty interesting as a whole. I do like how several themes have been weaved in this mix. My main problem with this mix is beyond the drums we have the piano playing melody and then pads. In my opinion there isn't much at all going on here compositionally until the end. The other thing is the mixing. When a number of elements are really loud it can create a bit of a mess and can even be trickier to mix in. There's a lot of clipping/distortion as well going on here. Nothing major, but it is worth mentioning.
I really enjoyed the subtle section at around 1:20. This for me is the highlight of the mix.
As far as the drum controversy, I think this sounds decent for this genre. I do wish it was mixed up and expanded more here and there, but it's serviceable in this context. The drum effects used as transitions are pretty cool.
End sections of this mix are the strongpoints here. I just wish there was more attention paid to the composition. Perhaps more layering or harmony to build in the ending sections would have been interesting. Ending at 4:00 just cuts off before the note decays.
This is not a bad mix by any means. It's borderline for me. If more attention and polish was made in various degress of the following: the mixing, adding a bit more complexity to the supporting elements or mixing up the drums a bit, it would make the decision much easier for me.
Borderline NO.
I strongly suggest the mixer polish the mix up more as it has great potential to pass the panel with a some more work.
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I have to say, I agree with the other judges here on other issues, though this definitely is not a mere cover as far as I'm concerned. There's a lot of similarity in the structure and form, especially obvious with the melody. But there's a also a lot of additions with the underlying work beneath the melody, further additions here and there in melody and harmony, percussive work for it to qualify as an arrangement in my book.
I also hear the bad notes that other judges mentioned. The two sections that Digital Coma cited has like 2 or 3 instances there that I'd call iffy at best. I agree with that as well.
At times to me some of the accompanying guitar work almost sounds like it has random notes here and there. It just sounds messy to me.
I also found the tone of the guitar quite dull. There's no life here, almost like there's no effects or reverb going on at all throughout all the instruments.
This is a borderline NO from me, there's some good stuff here and certainly warrants postage after at least a few issues are worked on.
Edit:
DJP - I'm fine with that. There certainly will be times where we all won't see eye to eye on some matters so the discretion of what to do with this mix is certainly up to you. In the grand scheme of things I have no problems with this going up as is. However, I think the panel as a whole have cited some issues that are holding this mix back enough where a resubmit would be beneficial. Just my two scrilla.
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I am not looking forward to the jokefest that is going to dominate VGF this year.
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Zircon that would be great. Let us/me know when you find out.
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Anyone who knows anything about Chris Huelsbeck's music knows he likes to use reverb. Just listen to Giana Sisters, Turrican, or some of his remixes. The thing is, it is indeed too wet here, and the tails are too long.
Using reverb is tricky and Huelsbeck is a master at that. This simply doesn't accomplish the same polish that he often does. You don't just stick a reverb and mess with wet and dry settings and expect great results. I would dare say it takes years to use large or dense reverbs properly. That being said I can appreciate what you are going for, but the execution just doesn't work. Tone down the wet/dry ratio and/or shorten the tails.
Decent work overall, I suggest you listen to Huelsbeck's Balance of Time to get an idea on where this mix could be taken. Percussion work sounds like what he might have done in his early years. Keep it up. I hope to hear more from you in the future, especially more CH mixes. But this one is a NO.
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I highly doubt you'll be able to find that in the sample world. Your best bet is probably the erhu or another asian type violin/fiddle. You'll have to spend money for them too - whatever free ones are available are most certainly crap.
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I'm not as impressed as some of the others seem to be on this one. The arrangement and performance as a whole is pretty good on the whole. Some parts just seem kind of bland in my book. I'm not sure what exactly is the case here, whether it's reverb or far mic'd but I wish the piano didn't sound so distant. Intimacy would have been nice. Not crazy about this one, but the arrangement, performance, production as a whole make it passable.
YES
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Well this is certainly not Shariq's best effort but this is much better than his old version of this mix. I think the arrangement is fun and definitely cool! My only real main issue here is too much reverb/delays on this thing. More clarity on the synths would have been nice. It is a minor offense in my book.
Yes it's repetitive, but a lot of good works are just that. Enjoyable for me and earns my YES.
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I just played through this game recently and have to say the music in the game wasn't really there. Anyway, I do like what has been done here as far as the arrangement and construction. The concept is good, but the execution is lacking. So I must agree with the other judges. I did enjoy the flute lines. They were the best part of the mix for me. Production is lacking. Guitars and flute are really begging for effects processing. They sound really dull and drab.
Borderline NO.
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Gotta agree with liontamer on this one. Very catchy and unique. Yes at times it's sparse, but I think it works. Percussion and drumwork is nice. Lots of interesting instrumentation and I like the arrangement. My biggest issue here is the bass is indeed weak, but I can hear it fine on my headphones. Also the bass is panned kind of right, I think it should be more centered, personal choice perhaps.
Yeah it's got some issues, but it's pretty solid in my book.
YES
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As Mark Vera himself said, this is quite faithful to the original. I don't think the arrangement is enough really. The drumwork is excellent though repetitive. Speaking of repetitive the whole mix is just that. This is so long and drawn out, by the 4 minute mark I was already expecting it to end. Not bad at all, this has very nice production values, but the lack of arrangement and the length of it doesn't sit well with me.
NO
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This is so cute and enjoyable. For me the main problem here is the clipping. It clips everywhere and it's very annoying. Also everything is too loud. Very catchy though, but definitely not up to standards.
Better luck next time.
NO
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I wanted to do something different from my other mixes, and lately I've been really getting interested in the cinematic/hollywood sound. This was a definite learning process as it was very complex to put together. I really am happy how this one turned out.
Thanks for the comments and encouragement everyone.
OCR01239 - Streets of Rage "Sensual Ippon"
in ReMix Reviews & Comments
Posted
Enjoyable work as always MV. Easily my favorite SoR mix ever.