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Garpocalypse

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Posts posted by Garpocalypse

    Mega Man X: The Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet 2015

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Actually the judges on the panel encourage people to post their source usage because its quite possible that someone will miss source usage. People aren't robots who catch everything, if its clear or not. Its not just about whats obvious, its how well the listener knows the source tunes. Don't forget that people who are voting on all the remixes have over 40 sources to memorise. At some point we're going to make mistakes and that could mean the difference between a 1st place, 2nd or 3rd place vote. Saying that the remixer should have done a better job or that the music should speak for itself is silly imo because we're ALL liable to make mistakes no matter how much the remixer has tried to make the sources as clear as possible, particularly with remixes that use more than one source tune. A little nudge in the right direction from the mixer does no harm at all imo.

     

    For a quick analysis, and making the judging panel bearable,  i'm inclined to agree with these points but it bothers me that ReMixes have become so mathematical to begin with.  Percentages should not be used to determine if a remix is passable, familiarity should. Part of the fun of doing this OcReMixing thing is hearing how a ReMixer used the source in ways that you didn't notice the first dozen or so times you listened to it. Giving the source usage up right off the bat cheapens the effort you put into the remix and makes for a kind of guided discovery with the ultimate goal of requiring the listener to listen to the track less to get everything out of it.  

     

    This is also known as decreasing artistic worth.   Which I feel there is enough of already these days. 

     

    So HIDE SOME STUFF! ...and let's give the future OCRemix Analyzers, Biographers and Anthologists something to discover and write about.   

    Action & Tactical RPGs

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    It's hard to come by now since it was the last game Working Designs translated before they closed up shop, but Growlanser Generations for the PS2 is pretty good. A lot of story battles have special conditions that determine not just whether or not you win, but also how successful your victory is (clearing a mission flawlessly earns you a Mission Accomplished while allowing some things to go wrong like one or two NPC casualties earns a Mission Complete). Some special conditions may include fleeing from the field without killing any enemy units, or avoiding hazards on the map like a collapsing floor, or escaping from a villain you are simply not powerful enough to stand up to at that point in the game, stuff like that. Growlanser II also has branching story paths that can drastically change the direction the plot goes, one of which includes joining forces with the final villain of the game and turning against your friends.

     

    If you can find it, I recommend checking it out.

     

    So much love for Working Designs.  Iron Storm was my absolute favorite Sega Saturn game right next to Panzer Dragoon II. 

    Resident Evil 2 Remake Official

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So I finally broke down and got Revelations 2 and now I am extremely excited for the remake of RE2. After being underwhelmed with Revelations I figured revelations 2 was going to be more of the same when actually it's much closer to the return to form that people were accusing the first revelations of being. I've only played through the first 1.5 episodes but so far I love a lot of what I have seen.

    FTL-Fate of My Crew (Milky Way Battle)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Thanks Roz for the review,

     

    I did submit this one a short time ago but the version that was listed here wasn't the final version.  Before subbing I rebalanced the entire mix and spent some time doing more extensive eq'ing.  I recognized that volume was an issue and with this mix I was finally able to figure out how to get my SSD remixes up to normal volume levels.  

     

    The answer was GCLIP. :)  I found I could cut around half of the transient before it noticeably affected the sound of the kick/snare. Cutting those down I was able to get the volume up by a pretty good chunk. 

     

    The "string thing" i think you are talking about is a lead omnisphere synth, run through a high gain amp sim and tons of delay. It's role is to be a distant klaxon and the slightly slow attack is to create tension and to give the listener a feeling of panic and the associated time dilation. 

     


     


     

    As far as the drums go I was aiming for a cold and mechanical feeling so I layered the kick and the snare from SSD with a drum machine. I also kept the crashes, hi-hats and rides to a minimum.  I saturated the snares to make them crack more.  I'm not a fan of duller sounding mid-heavy snares but perhaps I overdid it for this version.  

    What's everyone up to??

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Outside of OCR:

    I'm working on a few albums.  One is an acoustic album that is going to be pitched to a prominent European label hopefully soon.  I've also been in contact with an almost local independent horror production company that's been looking for some music.   

     

     

    Within OCR:

    RECRUITING FOR THE STREETS OF RAGE ALBUM IS STILL GOING!  I'm getting another round of invites together so chances are if I haven't harassed you yet about joining the project I soon will be.  Check out the thread here: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/39653-streets-of-rage-album-next-check-in-may-3rd-2015/?hl=%2Bstreets+%2Brage+%2Balbum

     

    Other than that I'm working as a physical therapist and biding my time to the next MAGfest meetup. :)

    Celtic Square (Pokémon Square)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    I agree that the mandolin is the highlight of the mix.  You also have a pretty good sounding cello in there.

     

    My beef with what you have so far is that everything is DEAD CENTER making it almost a mono mix.  Of course i am not going to slam mono mixes, they can be done and done very well with careful EQ'ing.  I often switch an entire mix to mono via the master fader to take care of some careful EQ'ing when i am getting towards the final version of a mix.  What you have here though is everything trampling on each other instead of working together. Spread some of the instruments out, you might want to move the cello an octave lower.  Bouzouki an octave higher.  etc.  Then start working on the panning of the different elements.  You might want to double track the guitars, Maybe the harp.  Just about anything to make this more stereo would work.  

     

    I also have a fairly huge thing for Irish music and a rather sickeningly psychotic obsession with Uilleann Pipes.  I wouldn't mind contributing some of what I have to this remix if you needed it. I just did this for the mega man competition currently being run by Darkesword if you want to check it out.  

     

    https://soundcloud.com/ryandavismusic/is-e-mo-aingeal-imithe

     

    Good luck finishing this!  i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future updates. 

    Mega Man X: The Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet 2015

    in Competitions

    Posted

    For me:

     

    1. Wrote the hook

    2. Wrote the intro in the wrong key with a mismatched transition

    3. Left it that way

    4. Tried to improvise over it

    5. Improvised some more but changed the progression to extended 13th chords so it all fit

    6. People didn't like it so i told them it was better/smarter music than what they were used to

    7. Profit

    8. Face = :D

     

    ...actually sounds sort of prog.   :P

    Final Fantasy 7 - Fighting Fantasies

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Finally I've mastered this version at EBU R 128 loudness standards, too.

    I also removed every compressor in the remix and pushed the dynamic values to the maximum - makes a far better sound quality.

    ...

     

    Not to troll or anything but ....what?

     

    Compressors can be used to subtly increase the intensity of a performance. If it's intensity you are going for then you may want to rethink your use of compression. When used correctly, they can bring out the more subtle sounds of a recording, things that indicate that the player is playing with more energy. Bow scrapes, Puffs of air etc.  Compression also keeps the dynamics controlled so you can keep the volume right where it needs to be without fear of it suddenly dropping below the sweet spot and getting buried.  

     

    But as it is right now compression is the least of your worries with this mix.  That guitar around 7:50 sounds like a synth which really clashes with the realism of the piano sample you are using.  Which sounds decent but has too much reverb... The "guitar's" entrance is also unexpected. in a bad way. Something like that should have been used waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before the 7 minute mark.   Another issue is that the acoustic guitar is also a clearly fake synth guitar.  in order to make obviously fake sounds like that work the playing of them has to be perfectly in line with how they sound when played by a professional player.  Someone who has studied that one instrument their entire lives. Things like this take loads of listening and research.  

     

    There is almost no creative use of stereo in the entire 11:00 minutes of the mix which is a significant problem if you want to keep listeners engaged for such a long time.  A mix should be dynamic in it's own way (seperate from the "dynamics" of the individual recordings) Mix dynamics involve elements getting louder/quiet, wider/narrower, Disjointed/Focused  etc. and it all plays off of the emotion present in the playing and the structure of the music.  This can also be defined as "subtle manipulation of the listener" which takes YEARS of mixing practice and training your ear to perceive slight changes in volume in order to pull off correctly. 

     

    The biggest sin however is that this is a midi rip that has been repeated for 11 minutes until it ends.  suddenly.  Sorry to say, but something like this will not have a chance on OCR because their is no creative reinterpretation of the source. Which is a shame because outside of a few instruments, it sounds like you are working with some pretty decent sounding samples. It's good to be ambitious but this is over the line for your current abilities.  

    Mega Man X: The Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet 2015

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Garpocalypse knows about layering two basses at the same time. Or 5 :P

     

     

    haha.  jack as... i mean, excellently awesome former boss.   :P  that wasn't layering that was just piling sound on sound until it started to sound good. I think i was roughly 3 more basses short of it working too.   

     

    really tho once i got through that remix things started clicking production wise for me like crazy.  

    Mega Man X: The Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet 2015

    in Competitions

    Posted

     

    Thanks for the review. It is a very strange song for sure and everything you said about it is true. The second source always ruins my arrangement too. Any tips on what kind of mindset I should have when incorporating both themes? After making both songs match keys I'm at a loss as to how to go about successfully integrating the two. It's always been a problem for me.
     

    Music is easiest to keep organized if you think about it in layers. notes-intervals-triads. Definitely practice your scales, modes and chords.  Knowing what chords you are using is essential to keeping your arrangement organized.  

     


     

     

    I just looked at the source track link I sent in from Audicity and it says it is 2 channel at 44100 kHz with some wierd mono tracks at (1:28 to 2:09) also in 44100 kHz.

     

    Sounds like you imported the wav correctly into audacity but you might want to check your export settings. 

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