Chimpazilla

Um, that's adorable and all, Brandon, but some of us have been on the planet close to twice as long as you, and may be quite familiar with these words already.

House Jazz indeed! Nice solid kick right off the bat, sweet little panning sine arp, funky bass and a nice jazzy brass lead! But man, those backing key chords (Rhodes organ?) starting at 0:15 are soooooo loud, they are dominating the entire mix and really creating some mud. That timbre needs to be scaled back massively in volume, and needs eq treatment to fit into the mix. It also doesn’t help that the keys are nearly always hammering away on the exact same two chords. This arrangement starts out strong, but quickly becomes dealbreakingly repetitive. The same verse and chorus appear, verbatim, three times. You would definitely need to do something different for two of those three identical verse/chorus iterations, either in writing or instrumentation or both. Some additional percussion loops and/or altered drum patterns would also help with repetitiveness. This track is very groovy and has tons of potential. Tame that Rhodes organ in the lows and low-mids, do some writing/instrumentation variation, and I'd love to give this another listen. NO (resubmit)

Thanks everyone! I'm so glad to be onboard. We will all do our best to help in whatever way we can, and move the queue forward too! Oh, and here is Jooj-cat's brother, Gamer-cat.

This music is beyond awesome. Can't wait for the whole album!

Ok, I just love that didgeridoo. Makes me want to do my own didge mix... but I digress. Such a fun mix! Lots of potential here. I'm smiling! I like the soundscape generally, it is nice and wide... although having the lead pushed so far back (and the didge so far forward) all the way through isn't the best mixing choice. I'd suggest after the intro, pushing the didge backwards with reverb and volume automation, and bringing the mallet lead forward. The minimal drumming seems to work well here, with the busy didgeridoo acting as a tonal percussive. The hand drumming sounds great. The writing is verbatim to the source for a good part of the track, and seems to recycle the same instrument patterns frequently. Some of the more interpretive parts are quite sparse, and seem to consist of the main writing but with a few notes removed. Some source-melody and bassline variations would really add interest to the track, as would some drum variations or fun syncopation changes. How about a different lead for one or two sections as well? I love the ideas in the sitar section, but wow is that section busy. I'd recommend dropping the didgeridoo completely out of this section (and do some other percussive thing there), and also taming the release on the sitar to avoid midrange mud caused by its long tail. Great start, and it is so fun and groovy. I hope you'll fix this up and resubmit it! NO (resubmit)

Gonna pretty much agree with the other judges here on most everything. Super fun mix, has some fun sounds in it (love that crunchy synth in the intro!) and a lot of potential, but after the intro, the arrangement really just repeats verbatim a few times and then ends quite abruptly. Some writing variation and at least one fun solo would spice this up a ton. The drums are on autopilot all the way through which is really unfortunate. The arrangement and writing just need some more development. Much of the writing is mechanical and very quantized and could stand to be a bit more groovy and interpretive. Also, yeah it does need some mixing love to have the instruments gel together a bit better, and the bass needs to be better defined. Please hit up our excellent workshop, you'll get top notch advice there! NO (resubmit)

This is a great arrangement. Plenty of source usage here, even the mixed time-sig stuff which I love. Great soloing and unique writing additions as well. The mix does sound a little bit dynamically flat, feels a little cluttered at times, and lacks a bit of low end. I feel like the lead guitar competes with the backing guitars just a bit, but it still sounds good. The kick and toms sound excellent, loud and punchy. I love those Japanese instruments and the Taiko drumming so much! I feel like there are missed opportunities here though. The flute, plucked instruments, and even the organ are competing for frequency space and could benefit from some creative eq, stereo-separation and/or reverb tricks to separate them. These instruments and drums could have so much more presence and sparkle if they had only been stereo-separated a little bit wider, or maybe panned left and right, or given some fun effects or something, to add some 3d surprises for the listener, adding nice contrast to the metal. Something to think about for next time. Overall, I'm loving this mix. Awesome ending. Great job guyzzz! YES

Update: my brilliant friend managed to fix it on his end. He had an unsuccessful uninstall, so he spent about three hours combing his machine for every NI entry... all the registries, document folders, app data folders, and some other very random places contained little incomplete or broken NI entries. Damn, their installation process is the WORST. BUT... he FIXED it and got his stuff successfully reinstalled AND updated! I'm giving him a couple of days break before he has to do MINE... tl;dr - lot of work to uninstall NI and do complete reinstall, just to update.

Hey guyzzz, a friend and I were trying to collab when we discovered we had different versions of Kontakt. We both tried to update, and both our updates failed. We both got the message that the previous version could not be uninstalled. I still have my old version, but my friend went ahead and tried to manually uninstall and reinstall, but that failed too as Kontakt still seems to be installed somewhere. He even edited his registries (and he's generally really good with this stuff). He is completely dead in the water now, and furious. We have both purchased the Komplete 9 upgrade (haven't received them yet), but I'm thinking we will both end up having to reformat our computers and reinstall everything. Apparently NI has terrible support, people are waiting weeks just to get an email with a link to their knowledge base. Dammit Native Instruments. Have any of you had this problem? How did you deal with it?

Seems like a great time to say how happy I am to have discovered this site, and how it has become such a huge part of my life. I'm grateful to everyone here so much and in so many ways. Happy Birthday OCR!

DAYUM someone's a fast remixer...

Well that's kinda why I called it "Edward Zorn Gets a Haircut!" Haha! Thanks, and glad you like it!

Brandon: Dammit man. This piano tone is gorgeous. You can really play. The track is more medley than remix. If you had spent more than ten minutes at 11:30pm you would have really made something nice. Whai, oh whai Big B? I voted for you anyway, haha nyah nyah. You are so damned talented. Eino: Whoa, cool sounds here! Nice groove! Leads are cool, but a bit buried under the backing synth and also under the snare and hat which are way too loud. Bass could be louder and punchier. Kick too. The drums are on autopilot nearly all the way through. The backing synth is super crunchy which takes a lot of attention, burying the lead, and even kick and bass. I'd recommend taming the high end on the backing synth, and also stereo-spreading it super wide. Some lead variation would also be good. And a proper ending. That said, it is a well put together piece, well integrated, nice use of the source tunes. I'm particularly impressed when I hear both themes at once, layered, as I do here. Good job. Chernabogue: Cool, jazzy piece! Lots of style variation. I love the intro/outro jazz-club ambiance (although it is a little loud/dry), you could have even added more throughout the song. The clarinet sounds quite fake (could stand to be humanized a bit) but it is used well (and yeah, I ain't one to talk about fake sounds during this round, haha!) The piano sounds a touch mechanical sometimes, but is used really well. Bass is subtle and really nice, drums too. Good use of both sources, it's pretty cohesive even while shifting through ideas, and it remains interesting throughout. This is a terrific composition. Seems you and I had somewhat similar ideas this time, with piano, bass, light drumming and a lead (you: clarinet, me: voices). Great minds think alike! Avaris: Glad you liked my barbershop ditty! It was so much fun to make.

I've only used it once so far, but yeah, it is super fun and so easy to use. I know it's one I will use tons. Next sale, Action Strikes. Oh, and Evolve is really very good. Phonetic Hero agrees with me. And of the two Mutations, #2 is the better one.

Well Ok, my mix is subbed. It is titled "Edward Zorn Gets a Haircut." Listen to it with the following warnings in mind: 1. This mix is seriously catchy. Be prepared to have it stuck in your head for quite awhile after you hear it. Hopefully this is a good thing, but consider yourself warned. 2. Yes, the voices are fake. The mix came into being because I started messing around with Omnisphere's "jazz voices" samples. (what better time than a compo to try things you've never done, right?) I'm sure they were never intended to be used as leads, but wow, that harmony! So yes, I am aware that the vocal samples are fake-sounding. Anyone who feels the need to point out to me that they are fake-sounding will receive a tomato to the face. 3. Anyone who says this mix is not seriously groovy despite the fakeness of the samples will likewise receive a tomato directly to the face. Don't say you weren't warned. 4. It's short, I know, I know. Shortest thing I've ever written. But do you really need more of it? There is ONE real vocal sample in this mix. The final "yeah" was recorded by our own XPRTNovice. Thanks Joe! tl;dr - so fake, many harmony, much yeah Source usage: Intro (0:00 to 0:07) is Zorn & Thorn Main verse (0:20 to 0:47) is Edward Chorus (0:47 to 1:14) is Edward. The trumpets in this section are playing the Zorn & Thorn theme, but in reverse order from the source. Transition verse (1:14 to 1:26) is Zorn & Thorn Final verse (1:28 to end) is Edward And now you must wait until midnight to hear it...

Good luck Brandon. Btw you're jamming everyone up against Christmas, New Year's and Magfest... how about you do your next compo in June?

Go to Magfest (gonna have that one accomplished within the month, yay!) Get better at production, and learn different types of production (electro, orchestral, jazz, ???) Have at least ONE of my passed mixes hit the front page (ok so that's dependent on djp's time schedule ) Have at least five more mixes pass the panel or DP in 2014 Learn Cubase Begin piano lessons with my son Start a mentor program on OCR Good luck Amy, gosh PTSD... sorry to hear that...

Would any of you guys be interested in some kind of mentor program? I have been thinking of starting one. I'm not sure how it will work yet, but I'd love it if I could hook up a couple people with each other, either for a length of time or for a project or even just one remix... in a NON-COMPO type of situation (NO deadline and NO judging). No one should be getting steadily worse. Sometimes you just need one dedicated person to guide you in a couple of specific areas. Anyone got any ideas how a nice mentor program could be put together? Wanna help me set it up?

Mine's done, just gonna do some final tweaking and a few drum variations tomorrow. This one is... interesting!

Garpocalypse and MindWanderer and also Tuberz: Your tracks are hard to choose between, you are well matched for production and writing. Garpocalypse: Your track confuses me a bit. It starts out so soft, a pad and harp, then a synth and some very rock-style drums, then with no warning, whammo... guitars and super fast drums. The guitar parts actually sound pretty good, but I don't think you've chosen the best synth timbres to go with them. Back and forth from super-soft/slow to very hard/fast sounding sections here... with no warning or signaling... need some transitions! The ideas are solid, they just have to flow better. MindWanderer: Nice intro pad and flute, white noise sweep is really loud and dry... that first lead synth that comes in is quite loud and the glide parts aren't sequenced well. The second lead synth suffers from the same problems. Transition at 2:00 is really abrupt and has no warning that the track is slowing down, so it feels awkward. Tuberz: That choir sounds really nice! That's the wordbuilder? I have to mess with that, I just got Symphonic Choirs myself. Makes for a really lovely, soft mix. Pretty track!

Gosh isn't that the way it always goes? Haha we're all plugin/library HOARDERS. *forms support group*

Damn you, Native Instruments! I've just bought the Komplete 9 upgrade, that was a no-brainer. Is Alicia's Keys a must have? I've heard good things about it but I have so many pianos already... thoughts? The two things I'd currently like aren't yet on sale: Action Strikes and Kinetic Metal. Those look cool. But I'll wait for the sale later on. Action Strikes has an interface like Action Strings which is cool and easy to use (I picked up Action Strings in their last sale). Did I mention "damn you, Native Instruments?"

OMG so yes.... (also reminds me I have to hit up Deia again for some girlie OCR shirts... dammit I really want one or ten)

I see potential for a video tutorial here!

New arrangement is 85% done. Again the themes are blending well. This one's gonna be short but sweet, about two minutes of very silly happiness.