
GrayLightning
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Everything posted by GrayLightning
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I've said it before, but I don't think length matters. What does matter is how the ideas and concepts of the mix or piece are realized. In this case it isn't. It sounds like a rush job. The transition point between the two sections is very sloppy. I like the style, rhythm and percussion of this, but this mix is too incomplete and unpolished to really make any kind of full judgement. NO
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OCR01118 - *YES* Final Fantasy 10 'Guardian's Sending'
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
This is surprising. I really like a lot of aspects here. I'll come back to this later. -
*NO* Elevator Action 'Agent 17's on the Move'
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
It's hard to say anything more than what protricity said. I agree with those comments. For me the other main issue here is the mastering. The sounds are very sharp and grating. I think this needs at the very least EQ work as well. It's also very cluttered sounding. I suggest you work with mixing the various instruments, tracks and volume levels. Fun and fairly nice, if repetitive arrangement. Also the ending is a give up ending. NO -
I don't think this is SGX's most technically savy mix by any means. The rap work as others have noted is well, he sounds like a white boy. But this is really the case of the sum being greater than the individual parts. Despite some of the issues cited, it's one of the most enjoyable ones I've heard. MC's considerable piano skills blend very nicely with the mix, even without the "buzz piano." Fun mix and possibly my personal favorite of SGX's. Hard to deny this, so I give it a yes. YES
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OCR01104 - *YES* Final Fantasy 7 'Nanaki Searches for Truth' *FT*
GrayLightning replied to analoq's topic in Judges Decisions
Sparse, especially for the first half. But it works for this mix. I honestly don't like the transition from from the first half to the second half. Sounds like a generic crossfade. There's some minor issues, like a click or pop sound at around 2:53 and 3:22. A minor detraction that is probably nitpicking. There's also the other stuff that the other judges have pointed out already. Overall, it's hard to argue against this mix. Beautiful piano and guitar work, combined with rich strings with a paddish feel in the background. All in all this is very nicely arranged, and the result is a very nice filmic style, that gives off a haunting and lonely vibe. Easy YES -
Tricky track to mix given the reliance of the lack of melody and choir phrases from the original. While not completely relevant to the mix, the first thing that popped in my head was what some of the other judges felt on Jared Hudson's version of this mix. To me that mix, enjoyable as it is, sounded too original and I feel somewhat the same here. For a mix so relying so much on the melody choral phrase and without a real melody to cling onto - the harmony here takes centerstage and feels a bit lacking. On this mix's production side I agree with some of Vigilante's criticisms. But also the end result doesn't sound as polished as what we've heard from sephire before. The intent of the mixer could have been to create a soft sounding mix, however it sounds too dull, some slight treble boost work would have helped the clarity aspect while maintaining the softness. I do like the mix, and the atmosphere here. Turntable, sounds subtle yet there's something that makes it sound sometimes cheap or fake. I'm very borderline on this, so my vote for now is NO, but I may come back to this later.
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*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 2 'Indigo Rock Darkness'
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Reverb isn't good, but it's not too bad. It's certainly not an Eventide though. This mix is drenched in such a wet reverb, making it sound very muddy. There are some nice concepts here, however for me the main problem is this mix is very sparse most of the time. If you're going for an atmospheric mix there needs to be more layers and attention paid to subtlety. The ending is cheesy but also fun. This isn't a bad mix, it's just very repetitive, underdeveloped and needs some fine tuning in the concept and execution area. NO -
*NO* Legend of Zelda 'The Happy Hylian'
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Very happy sounding for sure. Nice fun mix that is lacking in the fundementals that other judges have mentioned. I would also restate that this is very repetitive and doesn't have too much of an arrangement going on here. There's also a click/pop at the end (2:20). This is not OCR material, but you should consider posting this in the OC WIP forums. NO -
DJP said I should remind him to post this here, but since he's resting on his way to recovery I thought it would be ok to go ahead and post this? SGX: "This is a remix of B4U be Naoki from DDR. MC did me a favor and busted out the little (awesome) piano intro, and the rest is my doing. I modified the original lyrics a bit because the original song is at an almost twice as fast tempo, so some lines did not have enough syllables to keep the flow going. This mix started as an entry for a BEERmix competition (the thought of me rapping was an extremely hilarious/horrible idea to me) , but ended up having way too much potential for a real mix, so I decided to actually put some effort into this. I'm glad I did. It was a fun challenge, both never have had worked with vocals before and never even thought about rapping. My voice sucks too. You can find this song playable at the online DDR sim, FFR (www.flashflashrevolution.com) along with a bunch of my other originals. Enjoy!" DJP, can you change my url to www.supergreenx.com
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OCR01099 - Chrono Trigger "Tears for a Girl"
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
Are you serious? There isn't. There's only orchestral instruments, pads, synths, guitar, drums and percussion. -
*NO* Ys Eternal I 'The Secrets Contained within the Books'
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
I am not familiar enough with the game to make a secure judgement at this point. Are any of you familiar with this game? Someone needs to supply us with the original source material for a valid judgement of this mix. After the All my Justice mix, with mixes this unfamiliar, I think the bar of caution should be higher. Undecided for now. -
OCR01099 - Chrono Trigger "Tears for a Girl"
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
Thanks to djp and the other judges for posting and accepting this. I just want to restate that this was mostly Freemind's work (which he posted in the WIP about 8 months ago) and the work I did was mostly touch ups and additions on top of his prior work, and rerecording and mastering as I stated in the submission. It was great to work with Freemind again as he's one of my favorite *mixers/musicians* and a pleasure to work with. Thanks to freemind for allowing me to help. Enjoy. -
My mistake, I was thinking of his other CT mix. ^^ Ya, as you found out, he used a hammond patch from reason. Just look for a hammond B3 organ or similar soundfont/sample.
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*NO* Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike 'Wrong Restaurant'
GrayLightning replied to Malcos's topic in Judges Decisions
For the rest of the other judges, malcos told me this is Chun Li's theme. I will be honest, this is a bit of a let down compared to your last mix posted. I loved that one. I don't think this is anywhere in that status, and I know it's not fair for me to compare the two. You did a good job arranging chun li's theme. Instrument selection is good. The bass and synths are particularly noticeable in a good way. I think the drums are a bit bland, but do their job. Reverb here is a bit much at times, imo of course - except on the piano where I liked that heavy reverb there. Bass line and the melancholic, thoughtful piano ending sections highlight this mix for me. Good enough arrangement and technical aspects make this an enjoyable track. Slightly borderline, but this is still worthy of postage. YES -
Zophar has the nsf to this. I really enjoy this. Good instrument selection and usage. However, I think the production here leaves something to be desired. This may be personal preference but having the snare that distantly panned far from center is really strange. I don't think it really ever works unless there's more percussion back there to the left and right of the kit. It is especially strange when it is often so exposed as it is here. The volume here is also a bit weak. This needs to be a bit louder. I'm torn. This is very enjoyable, but I think this could do with a bit more polishing and increasing the volume is a must. Please resubmit this, for now NO (I'll change this to a YES if 2 more Yes' follow this vote, I'm that borderline on this)
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I dislike to be curt like this, however the situation has not improved as much as we all would like. People are still asking such simple and redundant questions like "What are soundfonts?" or "Where can I download soundfonts?". This would not be so bad, except there are several sticky and current threads that address these issues. Stop being lazy and taking advantage of the regulars. This section is aimed to help everyone of all levels. We understand beginners have a lot of questions and we all want to help each other as much as possible, but we aren't here to cater to your every whim *especially when it has been asked a million times this week*. Please use the forum's Search function *then select ReMixing 101 in the search options* before asking. Thanks. Edit: The other solution which will be becoming more frequent is the outright deletion of such posts. Consider this a word of warning for the intended audience. ^^
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I agree. There is a slight possibility that the midi could be by this person and an arrangement, but given the questionable nature of the mix, it's a NO unless better evidence in various areas *validity, or arrangement proof* can be put forward. NO
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For future submissions: Mixers who submit mixes from games so old or this unknown, please try to supply us with the original source material, links to midis, or other file formats so we can more easily judge arrangement aspects. More
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I have not found anything about this game's music to use as referencing. Has anyone?
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OCR01120 - *YES* Final Doom 'The Calling'
GrayLightning replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
I'm not familiar with this one either. Original source material would be very helpful. I'm borderline, I'll have to come back to this later. -
Russell wants to use a fallthrough on this mix. Since not much is going on in the panel right now, I thought this might be an ok time to do it? Song: The Temple of the Magi Handle: Russell Cox Game: The Magic of Scheherazade URL: **removed** Comments: "This is an arrangement of the temple theme from the Magic of Scheherazade. It's Baroque with string orchestra, solo viola, and a spinet (not harpsichord, though it sounds similar). This is my most "classical" sounding piece so far and one of my personal bests. 85% of this song is original due to the amount of counterpoint and work that had to go into it to make it sound "authentic" (i.e. the three parts sound fluid and not jerky, not as though two composers supplied the material). The only thing untouched is the line in the violins for the first eight bars (and whenever it returns in the song). It's in standard Rondo form (for those of you theorists out there) and follows ABACABA. I didn't want a lot of reverb (and this is still too much) as it's supposed to represent a chamber feel, but since the sections of the strings I have are too large I just had to make due -- so if it's too 'dry' for your tastes you'll just have to deal with it. Yes, I know the violas are further back than everything else -- that's the way I intended it to be." Edit: Russ got back to me and confirmed it was track 21 of the nsf file.
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For electric guitar soundfonts for free, your choices are mostly the ones at hammersound. There's really no great guitar sample, they all sound fake anyway. ^^ For free rock kit, I like the slavo kit (80s sound) and the nskit at http://www.natural-studio.co.uk/nskit_download.htm
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http://www.hammersound.net/cgi-bin/soundlink.pl?action=view_category&category=Collections&ListStart=0&ListLength=15