Phonetic Hero

LOL!!! And you thought I was going to say something productive... EDIT: Sorry, drunk. Nice playin' Doug

I'm gonna pop in for a sec and echo Magellanic. I used to use Finale and was in the same boat, adamant about scoring using a program that... was good for exactly that. But when dealing with the actual audio rather than the physical sheet music, it's really not the way to go. I picked up FL Studio after my first remix was NO'd a little less than a year ago, and was super surprised at how much freedom you get with a DAW like FL (although it sounds like you're using a Mac, in which case Magellanic had some good program suggestions (but left out Logic)). Less than a month after getting FL, I finished another mix and (after a month or so getting feedback here in the WIP forum ) it was YES'd. So there's my success story, from a guy who can relate to your situation. Good luck! (Sorry I didn't actually give you a critique, don't have much time right now)

Hap birdday guise!

Yeeeaaahhhh this is sounding a lot better already. The mixing is getting pretty muddy now though; make sure you're EQing unnecessary frequencies out of the bass and the lead particularly, and the intro might be a little harsh in the highs (not sure though, I'm not used to the speakers in the studio on campus). The lead is mixed reeeallly quiet after everything drops in, and I agree with Ztm's comment about the melody in that one spot. If the lead is brought up, everything'll sound a lot more abrasive and in-your-face, as it should, and you might even experiment with layering another lead on top of it to alter the timbre and make it cut more The bass drum seems pretty loud in the beginning, maybe bring it back a little? It might just be the timbre of it, but it seems a lot louder than the snare in the intro right now. The drums aren't *quite* punchy enough during the meat of the song, compression and overdrive can help with that (be REALLY careful on the overdrive though; a lot of times just the default setting should do it). Stereo separation can also work wonders for clearing up the sonic space, don't be afraid to experiment. A lot of times I even create two separate channels for background instruments like pads etc., make them 100% stereo and then pan the channels completely opposite. It's amazing how much cleaner and thicker the soundscape becomes. While I'm thinking of it, glitching would be a wicked sweet addition to the soundscape, especially given the name Out of curiosity, what program are you using? Nice work so far, keep it coming. I'll be following this one pH

Personally, I think the intro is fine. Around :38, my ears were BEGGING for some harmonic tension. Then when the meat kicks in after the "I am error" sample, I felt like it could be just absolutely HUGE with more layers to the synths and some enormous drums, and probably not just layering the individual drums, but the kits as well (like having some filtered, moving stuff on top with some big kicks and snares over top on the big downbeats). The snare you're working with is great as a layer, but doesn't quite cut it (no pun intended...) when it comes to the soundscape. It should punch through, and knock the wind out of me I think keeping one pause for effect would be great, but I agree that three may be a little excessive. My main gripe is that the song doesn't hit hard enough. It's got the potential for some really dark, awesome harmonic stuff to happen. Check out PrototypeRaptor's dungeon mix from the first Zelda for some possible inspiration Hope this helps, good luck! pH

Wow man, it's been a while since I've listened to this... you've come a LONG way since the beginning of the WCRG Once things kicked into gear, I couldn't help but smile. LOVE the scratch breakdown at 2:00. I'd say this one's certainly close... I haven't heard the source in a while either though, and I'm feeling a bit lazy to listen at the moment haha. The only thing is I feel like the end is a bit weak; you should go out with a bang with such an upbeat track! I'll take a more serious listen when I get some headphones, I'm listening on big boomy speakers in the studio on campus

starlight expreeessss, starlight expreeessss, starlight expreeessss

Recruiting doesn't start for another 2 weeks, get in there!

I done gewd Man, y'all better be ready for my new-found powers after this Street Fighter tourney!

Not a huge deal, but I just noticed that Gario and I are listed under "Shoryuken Bracket Round 2" in the voting

There's a glitch at the end of my tra- oh wait that's supposed to be there also sorry submission was such a pain..

Sent, lemme know what happens Did... did it work? Where'd everyone go...? Can I go back to sleep yet?

Balls sending again hang on

Alright, subbed. I'm feeling pretty good although I got stuck with shit headphones, so hopefully production's not TOO bad Prepare yourself, Gario ALSO, worth mentioning that this week's piece was inspired by Main Finger and NutS' mixes from last week. Should be pretty apparent ALSO, there's a MMX3 quote in there... props to anyone who names it

Shit I'm the only one staying up all night with mine? Miss you Neb <3 EDIT: By the way, mine's kicking way more ass than last week's too. This is gonna be a fun round

Sooo Doug's got the possibility of his time freeing up a lot since his master's recital was yesterday.. and I told him about the compo. And he's thinking of joining It had a lot to do with the fact that he was wearing a Sonic shirt on campus today haha

I heard from Gario that he's starting his mix during the week instead of on the last day for the first time ever He's scared

Goddamnit, Gario beat me in the last round by ONE. FUCKING. POINT. I'M COMIN' FOR YOU

YEAH FOR ONCEbitch

You've roped me Supe, I'll do it You already knew that, just making sure everyone ELSE is ready for it

I mean, the SF compo is kinda like, actually FOR Capcom... it sounds like they were the ones to come to OCR wanting promotional material for the 25th anniversary of the series, which I'm assuming is coming up pretty soon (which is why that one was started before this one was truly finished), although I have no idea when the actual date is. But I'm sure there's more to get done than the compo itself if it's being used by a big boy gaming company I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard to slap down some votes and call it good, but I think Darke probably had more in store for this as far as closure goes Also yay n00bs Also Will, whenever I read anything you write, it's in Ferb's voice

Haha yeah man this is sweet! When I first started it up I was like "oh, great, more boring chords and... oh shit! Cool tensions!" Nice work so far. Sweet 8bit drum fills too (coming from a drummer/percussionist ) The only thing I'm seeing is that the waveform is pretty much maxed... There's like, no dynamic contrast between instruments, which makes the mixing feel a bit weird. I'm pretty guilty of this myself, trying to make EVERYTHING up front and heard, when in reality it's a lot more effective to have things still heard, but more in the background to support (in this case, the chordal stuff in the background is battling with the lead for attention). My suggestion is to take off the limiter and see how the levels are; my prediction is that you'll be clipping like mad. Try to mix things so that they aren't above 0 dB without the limiter, and then see how it sounds with the compression back on. Nice work, hope this helps! pH

Anywhere specific? I've still got fixin' time, although not a whole lot since I'm in the Street Fighter Tourney, and it's my week to mix

Yeah, more of this plox Gario, you better be on your shit this week. I want a good brawl between us, no holding back

must. Defeat. Gario