DarkSim

Skate was awesome (EA Black Box developed it), although Skate 2 didn't have the same wow factor as the first (but was probably better, although I only played it for a few hours), and Skate 3's just come out but I haven't had a go. My guess is they'll probably milk the franchise dry until it becomes an almost embarrassing annual release (see: Need for Speed, Tony Hawk's).

Hey nice start! It's a short piece and pretty conservative at the moment - I suppose you're going to elaborate on it after some feedback? Those drums could do with more volume, and that drone organ/keyboard sound definitely needs turning down or off after the intro (from 0:13 onwards). Other than that, it's a good starting point for a ReMix

Well, sadly, this had to happen one day. Games are a relatively new media (compared to film and music), and after 20 or so years of finding its feet, the industry is huge. With the size that it is, it attracts attention from big corporations - corporations like EA that have been bred from its own growth - and inevitably these corporations put pressure on the market to squeeze out as much profit as possible. Not that anyone apart from the people at the top really like this, but that's the perils of a capitalist society. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for giving people credit for their work in the form of sales, but as an artist, wouldn't you want your work to bring enjoyment to people? As long as you still had a job of course, but surely on a website like this that offers professional quality music entirely free, you see my point. I'm not sure where EA stands in the whole process either. My understanding of a publisher was that they distribute the material as well as promote it, then use the funds to finance another game from the developers. Surely a lot of developers nowadays can extricate themselves from this system, in the age of digital distribution? Valve seem to be doing OK with Steam, and the community feel is that Steam is a fair distribution platform in terms of price and service (God knows it wasn't at first, though!) Bypassing publishers like EA and ActiBlizz would surely give developers more freedom and allow for a better consumer experience, wouldn't it? I understand that games can take hundreds of people to make them, and they deserve rewarding for their work, but this just smacks of corporate greed. There is nothing wrong with the industry - only the shareholders' profits. The massive inconvenience to the consumer is not worth it, but sadly we only have ourselves to blame for allowing Gamestop etc to make such large profits from used games and make EA jealous. Just swap games with your friends, people! As an aside, I've never bought an EA sports title as I find any kind of team sporting game the most frustrating gaming experience in the world. So this doesn't affect me yet, but I can see it swiftly becoming an industry-wide thing.

Thanks for the comments Rozovian, I posted this cos I sort of hit a wall and needed someone else to listen to it - listening again I have to agree with you about the ending. I did just copy the section from earlier, so I might just cut out the first time I use it and go into the half-tempo section a lot sooner. That voice clip is also from the game, although it's kinda annoying so I might just lose it. I'll try and jazz up that bass as well - apart from some mixing and compression changes I didn't do anything to the bassline so there's room for improvement there.

Thanks for the feedback guys - I'm still new to this mixing lark so forgive my mistakes in the last one! I've tried to take your comments on board and basically overhauled most of the track so there's a lot of new stuff in this version. Hope you enjoy.

Wow, big improvement! My favourite bit is 2:43-3:06. That guitar has a harp-like sound to it, and the marching band snare is great. Really like the slow section after that, and then the solo is cool too. The solo definitely needs more backing than just the strings and cymbal though - maybe some of the mining sounds from the start to tie it in to the end? Certainly a bit more percussion. I think the ending feels too separate from the rest of the piece, although you did stray from the source with the solo so it's a good idea to tie it back to the start in some way.

Mission accomplished, I think! I'm surprised how many tracks I recognise from the N64, but I know virtually none of the tracks from the hip-hop samples, although I've heard of a lot of the artists. This is such a well thought out project - amazing that you can get 3 albums using different artists and different games for each one. Must have been tempting to use more than one tune from a game. Just had a quick listen to most of the tracks I'm familiar with the game, and I have nothing but praise for them! All different styles of hip-hop, some minimalist and downbeat (Ocarina of Time), some upbeat and almost dancey (love the Diddy Kong Racing one, and the JFG Disco music!). "Alien Conflict" from Perfect Dark is one of my favourite sources as well, and it's screaming out for some lyrics, so glad you picked that track from the wealth of tunes PD has to offer. Seriously good job man, downloaded all 3

I quite like this mix, although it seems a little quiet and distant - not sure what program you're using, but all the instruments sounded quiet and I couldn't make out much panning. Tbh I think you are setting yourself a big challenge by attempting a similar - if not the same - genre. I'd try something a bit different because it'd be a mammoth task to try and better the original in terms of orchestral arrangement. Sorry I can't be of much help, but I thought I'd comment seeing as though I listened to it a few times

First off let me say that Water Ruins is my favourite track from this game, so I'm excited that you're attempting a remix! Definitely not a disappointment either, I love the sadness of this track and the instrument choices are great. That acoustic guitar is beautifully played in the intro, and nicely recorded too. I noticed that you used the same ambience sound (0:02, 0:11) in this mix and your other one though - probably worth changing one of them up The time signature change at 1:04 I think could benefit from some percussion to help it along for those unfamiliar with the source - it almost seems like it's a different tune. Just something subtle to switch between whatever crazy time signature the start is (any idea? I don't have a clue...) to the normal 4/4. A problem I think with playing the guitar live and the rest digital is that at some points the guitar sounds too loose within the mix. I reckon you could get away with more reverb/echo on some of the digital instruments to make them spread out a little more and fit better with the guitar. I think changing that bass to a cello might work out nicely too. Really like the long claps every 8 beats - it's like the tribals are chipping away in the mine. Same with the industrial whirrs and ambience in the intro. Great fingerpicking section around 1:57, I'd like to hear more of this, and more acoustic guitar. You could definitely get a solo in there, Rodrigo Y Gabriela style. Give it a try! Looking forward to hearing more.

Have been listening to V1 of this quite a bit, so glad to see you're still working on it Really like the changes - the more industrial and 8-bit style synths are a great addition and after the crank-up it's a bolder sound. I still feel like you could turn up the bass at that point though. As for the conservativism, I don't mind the arrangement at all, but if you WERE to add some more of your own flair, I'd do it from 0:55, maybe try a short bridge section just to mix up the chord progression a bit. Great mix so far, enjoying it.

Really promising mix - great source tune and it has a lot of potential. I'm new to the forums but wanna get involved so I'll give you some feedback, for what it's worth! Soon as I put this on the chord progression reminded me of Eminem's "Kill You" track, so I sort of had Eminem rapping along in my head until the bass and vox pad came in at 0:20... I love that blip at 0:12 as well. The track builds nicely from here, the vox pads are reminiscent of Perfect Dark, and then when the strings come in at 0:38 I could be playing Jet Force Gemini, walking around a huge spaceship. I seriously love this section, and am a little disappointed at 0:55 when it drops back down again - I was expecting it to grow into something even bigger. Maybe some elaboration would work well here? 1:33 is brilliant, but I also agree with previous posters in that it needs more urgency from this point. Maybe add another layer of industrial drums to give it more force? A tempo change? I reckon a bit more expansion before the cranking up and then go nuts after that part would make this track stand out. 1:52 - not sure the flute is the right choice of instrument here. It's a very industrial sounding tune and the flute's almost too "smooth", and a little quiet. Try beefing up the lead at 2:20 too, again it seems a little too quiet. That said, the lead at 3:04 is worth waiting for and I'd like to hear a bit more of it. Hope I don't sound too critical, keep working on this track as you've got a great foundation here. Looking forward to hearing more

Hey OCR! Like the title says, I've been coming here for years and now I've got a decent bit of software (Garageband just wasn't cutting it any more...) I thought I'd try a remix of my own. After listening to Malevolent Mansion for months I've sort of had it seeping into my consciousness, and while this doesn't compare, I thought the source was ripe for a fast-paced drum & bass-style arrangement (although admittedly it's not my favourite genre). The game is "Dennis" for the Amiga - an old one, but the old ones are the best, right? Never got past level 2 but the music on level 1 was great - check it out here: UPDATE: After taking a break from this track for a few weeks I've come back to it and given it a complete trimming down, making it almost a minute shorter, less repetitive, and improving the dynamics, as suggested. It also has a title (exciting, I know), based on the name of the bundle my Amiga 1200 was in. Thanks for all the feedback! Edit: changed status to Finished to try and get some final comments before subbing/Mod Review. Finished version below: