Altermentality

Am I mistaken, or did Jessie and James just succeed at doing something legitimately criminal? ...Oh, and I'm a sucker for bad puns, so the title is the best part.

Muaaah, thanks! Yeah, it's not my favorite either, but it's simple and I thought it would be appropriate to remix since it's a theme one hears so much when playing the game... it's often not my favorite tracks that I mess with anyway (although sometimes it is, if only just to study them almost), because if the music's really good already I feel like there's nothing I can add! I think my favorite track from SPM is Castle Bleck. It actually IS the Flipside theme but blended with Bleck's theme - of course, as lots of things in SPM are - and turned CREEPY and desperate. In fact, that might be what inspired me to tackle Flipside in the first place, seeing what the composer did with it there. SPM's music is zany and very obviously electronic, even purposefully 8-bit in some parts, but I like that kind of stuff and moreover I feel like I can emulate it with the technology I have. ...And of course, I am in love with the game. As for Electro, I have no clue what VST is, but it's high time I start learning exactly what FL can and can't do. And I do need therapy, especially after- oh. Well, that will be fun at any rate, especially since it's long been one of the salient features of my art that I often draw people looking exaggeratedly crazy and I'd like to express that in my music at some point, I'm sure.

Thanks. I took Electro's advice and got Dropbox.

Here's the source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3EWAohEDzc Here's the remix. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12021287/Crooked%20Wings.mp3 Pretty simple, but I like it. Getting it accepted here eventually isn't a priority (nor am I deluded enough to think I'm anywhere close), since I know it's not a stunningly inventive remix or anything, I just want to make it sound as good as possible. I'm still working on training my ear and learning about production. Thanks for your help!

Yes, I understand. There's overlap, I just don't understand how it all works yet. I really ought to learn instead of just going with what sounds good to me... especially since I'm not good with tones anyway! I've been working on humanizing the piano and guitar parts and they sound noticeably better. One thing I realized is that the pianist would be extremely bored playing this repetitive thing with one hand, so I added some upper chords. I killed the reverb and am messing with the instruments... in many ways I feel like I'm working from the ground up again. I'm not sure what to do about the arrangement itself, or if I even want to change it, as I wrote the basis of the song itself a year ago and it's sorta my baby. I'm not really concerned with getting this accepted, though I do want to use it to learn. At any rate, I'll just keep working on it bit by bit and trying not to rush things.

This is super fun. I can't wait to hear it after you've polished it up some more!

Thanks, Roz! Yeah, I'm a little reverb-happy. I do know about humanization, and I've tried to do it somewhat on the piano/guitar parts, but I'll work on it some more. Also, (if you happen to read this again) which sounds do you consider bad? And if not, I'll figure it out. Yep, I know I've got a lot of work to do, but I'll keep plugging away in my limited spare time

Thank you, Electro! Yeah, YouTube certainly isn't the most efficient nor highest-quality method for this. Thanks for the suggestion. The instrument that starts out was a synthesized piano. I replaced it with a piano soundfont and turned down the reverb as you suggested. I'm also working on tweaking the percussion a bit. I've been using FL Studio 6. I did listen to all your remixes (I'm a huge DKC trilogy fan) and I do think you have potential too, but we're both just learning. I especially liked the Game Over piece and the pipelines song that you're calling Circuits (although the clapping sound really pops out at me as too harsh, but it has potential). My problem is I can tell when something doesn't sound quite right, but I don't always know what to do about it. I have little formal music education- I've only learned how to read music to play a saxophone but nothing about theory, so I'm figuring this all out on my own. It's fun!

Hey there. I'm Courtney, a sophomore in college, and I've been a fan of OCR since somewhere back in my middle school days. I was raised by the Super Nintendo and the N64, and I'm a huge fan of the creative potential within video games. I love game music and respect it, as I respect games in general, as an art form. As I just posted on my first WIP thread, I'm very new to the process of composing music. The only instrument I play is the saxophone, and that only as well as a decent high school band requires. But I consider myself a powerfully motivated amateur, as of... just a few weeks ago, really. I've always been powerfully moved by music- it's my biggest inspiration for everything- but my typical reaction has been to draw. I've always yearned to make my own, and have experimented throughout the years, but only now am I getting really serious about it. A vital step in that process was joining here so I can get feedback, because I really don't know what I'm doing as far as production goes. Just messing around and seeing what sounds better or worse. But I also hope to enjoy the community as a whole. I'm glad to finally be a member of this wonderful site! Whether or not I'm ever good enough to be accepted, I know it'll be a worthy exercise to stretch my skills and creativity in a new direction.

Well... this is scary. I've been a fan of video game music since I was three years old, a fan of OCR since middle school and now, in college, I'm taking my first shaky steps towards producing something of quality. Visual art is my main creative outlet, and I'm quite new to the process of composing music; I've experimented throughout the years, a lot of it inspired by this place, starting back in middle school on a free MIDI program- but all of it very sporadic. Only recently- and I mean in the past few weeks- have I suddenly become obsessed with this little seed of an idea that someday, if I work hard enough, if I ask for help and suggestions, I too could share my ideas with the world through OCR. So today I'm offering you what I think is my best work so far, although it still needs a lot of work, I know. Please tell me anything- what you think can be improved with composition, production (this is an area in which I'm still very amateur), or whatever else- rip it apart if you must! Here it is: Great Prognostications, a song composed of Flipside (the hubworld in Super Paper Mario) and SMB3's Cloud Heaven. You're doubtless familiar with Cloud Heaven, but here is Flipside if you'd like to compare with the original. Thank you so much for listening. It means a lot to me. I'm really obsessed with improving my musical abilities at this point, but I really don't have much to go on or anyone around to teach me directly, and I've an untrained ear, not to mention one dulled by hearing my own songs too much. So please tell me everything you notice that bothers you! Thanks, -Alter