Chimpazilla

Funniest thing EVAR....

That's just too hilarious!!!

If this can be worked out logistically, it sounds amazing! Aw Brandon, stop being such a weenie!

My first MAGFest is now over. Words fail to describe what a good time I had. This was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I'm already looking forward to next year. It was great meeting so many of you that I've only known online, wondering what you'd be like in person. Every single person exceeded my expectations by a huge order of magnitude. I've never felt so much love or camaraderie among such a large group before. It was overwhelming, and in such a good way. I expect many of these friendships to go to the next level throughout the coming year. Too many highlights to do it justice... so just a few: 1. Having the two greatest roommates ever (WillRock and Wes-Emunator). I miss you guys already so much it's scary. 2. Meeting new people with whom I expect to have a much closer relationship going forward, in particular, Flex, halc and Stevo. We will be talking! 3. The suite parties, especially on Thursday night, where it was so packed that if you passed out you'd still be standing up, and seeing Larry enter the room and completely command it with his voice. Also, having Larry great everyone in the room with a huge hug and a loud "hal-SEEEEEE!" 4. Looking at a picture of the entire "Indie Crew," very similar to some of last year's pictures, and actually being IN it. Way too many more amazing things to even type out. But this was a life changing experience. Ok, so I guess I do have a touch of PMD. edit: one more: meeting Mazedude and having him say he was aware of me and likes my music. Wow!

Enjoy your day today, and see you soon at Magfest!

It's a "competition." We have one here called Remixing With the Stars, in which a posted remixer mentors a non-posted remixer through one mix to be completed in a week, and the results are judged against other such pairs at the end and a winner is declared. I did this compo once, as a "star," and my mentee never gave me the opportunity to help her. In other pairings it worked out much better and even resulted in postable mixes being produced. What I'm thinking of is a program that actually helps people, without any kind of judgement or winners/losers or a time limit. It just has to be manageable, because as Argle pointed out, people are busy. Yes the forums are GREAT. But I'm thinking of something more personal, and therefore more useful. If we can make it manageable! Otherwise this is just an exercise in futility.

That's why I haven't come up with anything yet. It will need to have a scope that's manageable. Not just hooking up two people so one can bug the other all day every day. So it has to be for a period of time, or to complete one mix, or even just to learn one skill like how to eq a drum kit. I do NOT want this to turn into a compo, either. Gonna be working on this. Any ideas to make this workable are appreciated.

I've been hinting at this for awhile now. Ok I'll get on this. Maybe I'll discuss this with a few folks at Magfest, brainstorm some good ideas, and get 'er going. We need it!

Omg now I finally know who to hit up when I need a trombone player!!! The performances here are really very good. I'd like the bass and drums to be a drop louder but I won't cry about it. I think the sparse-ish soundscape works here, giving the limelight to the excellent lead and countermelody writing. Agreed about the abrupt transitions, Larry is right, smoother would be better. Is it a dealbreaker? It's a close call, to be sure. Still, this was so well performed and kept me entertained for the entire 8:14... impressive. YES

I think the other J's, especially Flexstyle, covered the issues here to perfection. That kick is just too loud/hot/compressed, and has a bit too long of a decay for the busy writing. Way too much reverb overall, creating a washed-out soundscape (and I love reverb... so you know it really is too much, haha!). Flex has some great points about the trance arrangement too, like the drumless breakdown feeling abrupt, the transitions into and out of that breakdown will make that section work or not - needs better transitioning. What about trying a halftime section somewhere? Flex is also right about the lack of original writing, toward the end is a great place for some fun soloing and really varying up the source. That piano needs some more volume and sparkle/high-end to compete with the saws and sweeps. You could also notch the saws/sweeps a bit to let the piano cut through more in the higher frequencies. There's a lot to like here. I love the reverse sfx in the outro. I don't think this is too far from being passable. I think with some of the suggested changes made, this will really be a great track! NO (resubmit)

I've listened to this one several times now, trying to form an opinion. This is a tough one for me. The track does have some great sounds, and some great Timaeus soloing as I'd expect, although some portions of the melody writing are quite straightforward. I have very little to complain about the production and mixing. I agree at points the bass does feel like no sidechaining happened and this surprises me, especially noticeable from 1:23-1:58. I think I have to agree with the other judges that the track does sound quite repetitive for most of it, both in writing and in textures. The drum writing in particular sounds very repetitive, with the snare and hats bothering me the most. Those loud machine-gun hats are really a bummer for me, they are relentless. If they could have just changed to a lower-intensity pattern at least at 1:56, I might be able to overlook them. But there they are at the same velocity and speed all through the track. (sidenote, track needs moar Percolator, haha!) Ending was a little abrupt. This one isn't quite there for me yet. Fix it up! NO (resubmit)

Dem drums! (Damage?) Dem horns! (Pete, come on, get some better samples, stat! haha) Great textures here. Lots of little chippy/arpy details. I hear plenty of Sheldon source. I hear the Catfish chord progressions too, thanks for the source breakdown. It may be actually a bit source light overall, but it feels quite cohesive to me. Mixing is very good I think. Lower end could use just a teeny bit more definition. My impression overall of this arrangement is that it *does* have good dynamics and movement. I disagree with my fellow judges here. I like how the track builds, ebbs and flows. I love the varied ways you handled the source, while keeping it prominent enough. Nice gentle breakdown at 2:40. Soloing at 3:05 sounded like a good climax, ok that climax could have been a little longer and more epic, but it's not breaking the deal for me. I dig it. YES

Argle emailed me an update to this track this morning: I'll put this in the OP as well. (my vote is on the updated mix, which according to Argle is just some mixing improvements) I'm loving this mix. Great sounds! Not moldy at all, haha! It all sounds fresh and fun. Some of the sounds are indeed cheesy but in such a good way. The scratches are terrific . I like the unique chord ideas you've used, nice personalization. Nice gating at 2:45! Very upbeat take on a great source. Two complaints I have: the drum/organ groove really never changes all through the song, giving it a very stiff and quantized feel unnecessarily. I would have liked some drum variations, in particular. Also, yeah that ending is a real downer. I love the speedup intro, but the reverse of that doesn't quite have the same magic at the end. Overall, still a winner. YES

I think Andrew hit the nail on the head here. This is a GREAT sounding song, production is tight and the sounds are good. I love how you tackled this source. I also love the vocal clip, and the combination of guitars and synths. Really fun ideas! Andrew is also correct about the snare, needs more snap. I feel like the guitar lead is probably loud enough, but other leads are buried, such as the piano starting at 1:52. At 1:59 when the arrangement softens up, I'm hoping for a soft breakdown followed by some really epic soloing, then a cooldown and outro... song could really be more like 3 1/2 or 4 minutes. When it quickly fades out instead, I'm left wanting more. This song could really be so excellent. Please expand it! NO (resubmit)

Nice moody mix! I'm especially impressed that this came out of the RWTS compo. Aaron you sure picked the right Star! Nice work, guyzzz!

Some of the chippy sounds are really badly balanced volume-wise, waaaay too loud/dry and up-front. The writing throughout the mix is super quantized and robotic. I love the vocal clips (but I love vocal clips!). Nice beefy kick, but the snare/hats/crashes are weak by comparison. The breakdown at 1:56 is a great idea but the pads are sooooo loud and with such a long release it ends up sounding quite washed out. Lead writing in the breakdown is simple and repetitive. At 2:29 there are some SUPER cool bass ideas happening... but again the lead writing is really generic and repetitive, and the lead synth completely clashes with the high end of the bass. Some cool ideas here, good start. It just needs some more groove and personalization and a huge amount of production love. I'd recommend posting this in the wip forum for some more feedback! NO (resubmit)

Wow, FL stock sounds? Bass is really tight, synths are bright! (is that BooBass? C'mon, admit it!) The synths are stepping on each other a bit frequency-wise. A little more separation would have been wonderful. Dat kick! Yep, source is light... but it is there, and the overall vibe captures it nicely. I'm diggin' it! YES

Drums are sounding pretty good except the kick is really weak and buried. Snare is nice and snappy. Piano does sound mechanical, guitar and brass and strings are super noticeably fake. Bass is quite indistinct and ends up sounding muddy as a result. The mallets sound pretty sweet! I agree with the gentlemen that I can't really hear the source anywhere but in the bassline and some chord progressions. The guitar seemed like it started *almost* alluding to the melody and then quickly dropped it. Need to hear some of the melody! Another big issue here is the repetition. I agree with Larry that the cut/pasted part sounds creative (even while lacking source melody), but copy/pasta is such a letdown, as is the fadeout "I'm out of ideas" ending. NO (resubmit)

Great vibe going on here! Plenty of source and fun personalization. I agree about the samples, strings and piano in particular are thin and stabby, but the writing it dynamite. Yeah, drum kit could be better too. Fantastic arrangement though, really nice track. I love the synth lead at 1:21, and the soloing at 1:40 also. I feel like the ending didn't really need to fade... it could just have ended on that last cool chord... but that's a super minor nitpick. YES

You're right Timaeus, so much to nitpick... I agree with all the crits... but gosh this was written so long ago now, haha! I STILL love this mix though, it is still magical, and I'll always have warm feelings for it. Also, FIRST MIXPOST, WOOOOO!!! So special.

I think Flex sums up my feelings about this track just about perfectly. Good production, fun ideas (and I happen to LOVE vocal clips and sfx from games), source usage is fine... but it's just too repetitive. A few more melodic ideas, some additional drum writing, and a little more personalization would do the trick. Still, quite a great track... I hope to hear it back here again. NO (resubmit)

Agreed, nice time-sig conversion. I just adore 6/8. Really nice full soundscape, it is full without feeling overly cluttered, nice mixing work there. Great variation of instrumentation, I especially love the flutes and whistles with all their different articulations and sounds. Lovely arrangement. Nice expressive mix! YES

This is the coolest song... I love it (purchased Jake's EP a few months back). Track is a win for me, but I wasn't sure about the amount of source so I asked Jake for a breakdown. I think his timestamps are accurate, and it works out to 51% source. Cutting it a little close! I would have preferred a little more source in the intro and outro instead of sandwiched in the middle (but I'm guilty of something similar myself, and it passed haha!)... also I feel like the intro phase of the song goes on a little too long for how short this track is... but it's certainly cohesive enough, and man, what a track. Jake you sure are talented. YES

Brief source breakdown from Jake: 0:00 - 0:53 - arranged intro 0:53 - 1:12 - more arrangement 1:12 - 1:32 - arrangement into source 1:32 - 1:59 - buildup around the source 1:59 - 3:00 - source is displayed primarily, here 3:00 - 3:32 - more arrangement to an outro

You should be getting a visit tonight from The Birthday Skeleton