Chimpazilla

Sounds very cool and mellow. I like it, a good start for sure. The source is recognizable enough I think, and very nice improvisation. More potion shop please! How about some chimes? Nice choice of song combination! Nice guitar playing. I like the phasing that starts halfway through.

Thank you so much Rozo, and everyone, for the helpful crits! Gonna work on the issues of adding some midrange instrumentation, and the drums. Will check out Zircon's tutorial on that. Are there particular areas that need more midrange more than others? I know the Dark World bridge has been mentioned, anywhere else? What parts are OK as is? Maybe I'll work the Beast Ganon break out completely. Will experiment. I thought the piano sounded pretty good... clearly my ears are not well enough developed... could you describe the "terrible" for me? Give me that "aha" moment, please! Can someone recommend orchestral samples that may work better? A piano you like? A flute that sounds real? I've used Miroslav Orchestral samples... are there better ones that don't cost thousands of dollars? Or, can you recommend specific treatments for specific instruments? I'd sure appreciate this specific advice, as I'm a little lost here... (or, a lot lost here) I want to try all I can with the samples, before resorting to (gulp) re-doing it with all synths... I really REALLY want to make this song good. Thanks again.

And who doesn't love Ganon? I know I do. But what would it sound like if Ganon... (yikes...) prevailed??? "For the Love of Ganon" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Briefly, the story for this song: Intro - Link enters Ganon's castle and begins to ascend the spiral staircase. His heart beats louder and louder as he realizes this will be no easy fight! Verse #1 - We meet Ganon. He begins to speak, giving his explanation of his evil plan, his hatred, his cursed sword and how he plans to blot out the light forever. Verse #2 - Ganon is finished talking. Now he stands tall. He is evil, but man is he dignified. He paces slowly toward Link. Break - Ganon now shows his full ugliness. He growls... unsheaths his blade. All seems lost... Bridge - But wait... maybe there is hope! Maybe Link can take on this challenge! Maybe there are health hearts around, or a fairy in a pot! Maybe Ganon is not so bad after all! Transition - The horror of Ganon's plan sinks in... this is going to be a bad fight... it is getting darker... Ganon laughs as the first lightning ball comes flying! Verse #3 - Lightning everywhere! Ganon is laughing! His cape is flying in the wind! Link struggles to keep up the fight... Finale - The fight is ending... Link is losing... Ganon's evil plan prevails... low heart warning... Ganon laughing... very sad... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Constructive criticism is requested and appreciated! Here are the sources for this song: intro: Ganon Castle OoT verses: Hyrule Castle LttP break: bridge: transition: Hyrule Castle LttP (from 0:55 to 1:10) ending: (four songs layered) Hyrule Castle (from 1:02 to 1:18 ) : Special thanks to two dear friends: Dubsteppy bass solo performed by Liam (itsclipping), thanks friend! Dubsteppy drum pattern performed by David (anterroir). Thank you so very much for being my mentor, cheerleader, mixing coach/helper, advisor, and great friend!

Better! A bit groovier... but I'm not sure I like that tom pattern? It's like it isn't sure what kind of groove it is going for... tried tapping my feet to it, but they got confused! Maybe if you added a regular kick drum at a straight (or nearly so) 4/4, the tom pattern would be a cool accent instead of an un-followable pattern, make sense? Please try that. Keep the kick mellow, though. Also I think the drums drop out completely a bit too often, leave something in there during those breaks, even just a hi hat pattern so the song remains continuous. OK so the break starting at 2:00 should be drumless, at least the first tiny bit. The discordant break from 1:00 to 1:19 is NOT working for me at all... some seriously wonky harmonies there! And your drums got off the beat at 1:29. And the background piano needs some writing or timing variation, it's still too static. Except the ending piano, that's pretty good. But the leads are gorgeous, and that background sitar-y thing, love it. Really nice soundscape here. Please keep working on this, I like it!!! edit: also, put some breathing breaks in the flute, no one can play that whole section in one go without asphyxiating!

You added Dark World, coooool!!! Gorgeous soundscape, interesting melodies and perfect mixing make this into a listening treat!

I LOVE the melodies!!! What a great way to honor some underloved music! Very mellow and nice! TP is my favorite Zelda game! But... the background grooves/arps are way too static and they get old... piano and other synths are too perfect and need some velocity/writing variation... too plunky and repetitive... drums are too soft and also need variation. This could really go somewhere I think, just needs a bit more groove. Also bring the leads up front a little more. Looking forward to the next version.

Getting that timing right is job #1. After that, I think things will start to fall into place, and much more easily. If you want, you may send me the flp and I'll see if I can help!

Hey Jim! Nice first attempt! My first observation is that the drums aren't actually keeping time with the melody. I would do as other suggested, and make a very simple drum pattern with kick, snare and hat, and paste it over the entire song, for now. Use this simple pattern to get the synth melody timing right. Then, once that is sounding right, add another element, maybe another synth playing a counter-melody, or a bell accent or something. And you just add from there. Later, you can add more drum elements, and more patterns, but start with the basic one as a backbone for your song. At least this is what I do. Is there a bassline there? If so I either couldn't hear it or it also doesn't match the melody timing. I think you have the right idea about using the source, then progressing into your solo-ish variation, this is good. But just start by matching up drums, bass and melody, then see where it takes you.

What is the timeframe? I will finish my other project, then brush this puppy up and shoot you a wip in a pm.

Pokie, do you have specific rules on this? As in how many songs can be mixed together? The remix that I have started actually already contains three themes (maple treeway, dk summit and kart selection screen). Is that ok as long as the main theme is the one selected?

Wow I like that a lot, good luck!

OK I will. I'm 90% done with a Ganon remix (which I will post on ocr shortly), then I'll brush it up and see what can be done with it!

I started a remix of Maple Treeway a couple of months ago, it's been on the back burner, but maybe I'm interested?

You took out the drum breakdown that was starting at the end of the other version... I liked that soooo much and was hoping for more... was hoping for alternations of drum breaks and deep wubs. I really like this (love the source tune too)... love the dubstep and the contrast as I mentioned... but it is way too repetitive. How about at least incorporating the other part of the tune? At least once? And at least one original theme somewhere would really make it. The lead is too plain. The farty sound just sucks, sorry. I think the coins are fine and not overdone imo. Please vary and make this more interesting!!!

I like this. The intro is way too long though, and needs more interest and variation. The farty sound has GOT to GO. I like the drop, and the contrast, very skrillex. The drop needs to come sooner, or at least a pre-drop dirty teaser. (couple of filtered wubs maybe) I can't wait to hear where this is going next, it starts to get interesting and then stops! Also: I like the chiptuney lead but it could be more interesting, less vanilla. Add some effects or change it somehow. Same with the other synths, just a little more interest will make a big difference. Judges hate vanilla synths.

Nice ideas! Needs to be much more raw sounding, that wub bass needs to be more evil! Needs some more melody variation, some key/chord changes, more interest. And yes I think youtube may be killing your sound quality...

It is just lovely!!! I agree about making the violin legato, there's too much staccato going on, the legato violin would make an excellent contrast and it would flow like a happy little river. Really, really great sounds here. Please add some melody variations and make it a proper mix!

Geez...

What PS console should I get? If I get PS3 will it (or other older PS games) play on it? Or what is the latest PS?

That's great, he will definitely be a "cool kid!" And wow that's crazy about being born in the car on such a short trip to the hospital, sounds like a real go-getter! Great story!

Just for fun... here's my Tom beating one of the dreaded cart levels in DKCR and making it look like business as usual.

Another question: What about the 3DS? Someone mentioned to me that 3D can be hard on the eyes, especially kids eyes... do you guys agree? I'm toying with the idea of a 3DS for Christmas for Tom, with Mario Kart 7 and OoT 3D.

Conversation between me and Tom while playing Skyward Sword: me: Get that red rupee, red rupees are good! him: They're OK mom. me: They're better than rupors, at least there's no rupors in this game, thank God. him: Don't thank God mom, thank Shigeru Miyamoto!

He's got a great attention span, logic, and photographic memory. His map reading is crazy good. His only real downfall is getting frustrated when he loses a race or challenge, but getting killed by worthy adversaries seems to be no problem. He is learning quickly about the importance of going into battle fully stocked on health and potions! And thanks for what you said, I hope your nine month old is a cool kid too! We have Super Paper Mario, that was great! Will check out the Thousand Year Door, thanks! Will have to check out SMRPG. We played through Bowser's Inside Story and that was another terrific reading practice. These are great replies, thanks so much everybody.

Wow great recommendations... gonna check them all out! For some reason Sonic doesn't do much for Tommy (I love Sonic though). And we played through Okami all the way to the point where you *must* do the digging challenge to continue (not a side quest) and it is IMPOSSIBLE so we gave up on it... (sad chord here) @Ecto: Yes he is a video game wizard, amazingly advanced for his age, navigates all the confusing dungeons with ease and fights the gnarliest enemies and makes it look easy. *so proud of him* Tom is the only first grader (only kid in his entire school I think) who has a backpack covered with triforces. No one else he knows has even ever heard of LoZ. That music from Alundra is awesome. I forgot to mention Tom is a music afficionado as well... he remembers every song from every stage of every game we have ever played, and can hum every bar perfectly, even four years later. I can't wait to get him started with FL Studio, he's going to be my favorite music buddy too. He needs to be reading more reliably first... we are getting there. Can you tell I love my kid? Thanks again for these suggestions, keep 'em coming if you've got more.