Chimpazilla

Unbelievably awesome track, Jason. Thanks for sharing it here! We will look forward to seeing it on the front page too! And I'm super excited to hear that you'll be reviving OoT! Woohoo! (yes, I'll be patient awhile longer, haha!)

I also use FL and I have also had that happen on an Omnisphere preset, a pad. It was conflicting with a TruePianos line I had going at the same time. I solved it by rendering them both separately, though. What rhodes preset are you using? And when you render, does the render click and pop all by itself, or only when you import the wav into your song?

Oh? Then you'll love some of the samples I just sent you. Lots of spooky stuff. Also, there's one chime sweep in there, I made it myself, it may not fit though, I think it's too short and upbeat. Try freesound.org, or I can try to make a slower one.

But you subbed it already? Yeah you can always send in a revision. (at least you have your place in line saved, haha!) I'd add more (and more realistic) birdsong (in addition to what you've got), distant birdsong and maybe even a solo bird here and there (like one up closer and the rest in the distance if you get my meaning?), some frog sounds, babbling water in some parts (not all the way through), and possibly wind here and there, I have a nice "gentle wind with rustling leaves" sample if you'd like it, very peaceful. It would feel like taking a walk in the beautiful forest. Maybe some crickets for a brief nighttime interlude? I have a few things I could send you, actually. And freesound.org is a wealth of sfx, I'd type in "nature sounds" or "birdsong" or similar and just see what comes up. You could go another way altogether and use ocean sounds, seagulls and whalesong! And for the pads, I think they could evolve a bit more, they are very tame which is fine but could be a drop more interesting. Just a drop... and maybe even less if you fill out the soundscape more with sfx. What about some chime sweeps or soft, gently-gated white noise sweeps too? This is lovely but I think it can be even LOVELIER and then I can't see why it wouldn't pass with flying colors.

This is really lovely, Argle. Especially that vocal part. Super dreamy atmosphere. Top notch production. I personally would have added more nature sfx, and possibly some more modulation on the pads... it is a bit empty... but still gorgeous. I wish you the best success with the sub!

Happy birthday guyzzzz!

Brandon, you certainly have the enthusiasm, the dedication, and the ability. I think you'd make a fine judge. If my vote counted, you'd have it. *casts vote for Brandon into the wind*

Ok, Tamer of Lions, glad to hear it, we'll try to be a little more patient then. Good luck.

I'm really, REALLY sorry to hear this. I personally feel very sad that the normal judging queue has become such a problem... I can understand judge burnout, though, I really can. But I'm wondering, is the ride over? Should we give up on individual submissions? Projects seem to be still moving forward, generally, should we just put our efforts there? Or, will new judges be coming along anytime soon? The eight months is just the first part of the waiting to have a song judged and posted. There is still quite a long wait after that, too. It has become quite disheartening. There's just gotta be a better way!? edit: I'm just going on record here publicly to volunteer for any part of the process that would be helpful. Anything at all. I've got time for it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who checks the "in the judging queue" post every day to see if the date has moved forward. The "subbed on or before" date has been stuck at February 9th now for several weeks. This is very close to eight months ago now. I realize everyone is busy and has their own lives and projects to do, and I also realize that judging is a time-consuming and not-so-glamorous job. I can only imagine the drudgery of having to weed through all the initial submissions, wow huge respect and appreciation to Larry and OA and whoever else may be doing that job. I can also imagine that other projects are more important than the regular judging queue. So my question is genuinely asked with understanding and with all due respect. But are there plans to improve this process? Or is it really time to stop submitting single remixes and just focus on projects and compos? I'm not leaving OCR anytime soon, I LOVE IT HERE... but I will probably adjust my writing direction based on the answer to this question. Again, all due respect... no hate... I know you guys are busting your butts every day with the stuff you're working on... I'm just really curious, and I'm sure others are as well.

Happy Birthday, Jordan!

Hey, I like this! It seems like something that one would hear in an action movie. "City at Night" for sure. You should definitely expand it! I can envision some wicked cool lead work in between the piano parts, some really cool portamento synth lead. Bass can be louder. Kick sounds great but could be punchier. The piano sounds really good but I'd tone down that reverb just a bit... I get what you're going for but you don't want it to bleed. Also, you could add some stereo widening like at 0:29 when that growly thing begins, or even pan it gently back and forth. Don't be afraid to add fun little percussion loops and such, very wide spread, too. I'd love to hear some more drum variations as the song progresses. Maybe some kind of slower breakdown next? Nice start!

This is really nice to hear. Please, stick around, don't be gone for years at a time, as new mixes get posted every couple of days, and new albums quite frequently too!

Lady of the Lake Re-linking the track in case anyone wants to skip all this silliness and just play it! Thanks for the kind words, Chris!

Thanks for that! Also, not a man.

wooooooooooooo

Nice save. Cool track!

Yeah, I get that. So, you're comparing my lovely waltz to Muzak? (badly instrumented, mono covers of old 70's easy listening songs) Edit: nitpicky little improvements made.

Ok T, I'll look into those, thanks! G-M, "sex" ok, but "elevators?" Fo realz? I will just assume you like mah song. I will further assume you enjoy sex in elevators.

Lady of the Lake I finally got around to finishing this track. I'm thinking it's just about ready for submission, what do you guys think? My big remaining concern is the bass... is it a little light, a little heavy or is it ok? Superduper thanks to WillRock, Timaeus, and Jason Covenant for holding my hand through the final mix and master of this. Wow guys, I learned so much from you in this process. I appreciate it so much. Btw, does anyone know what happened to Eradicate??? He popped in here after several years of silence, gave me that awesome critique, then three days later, he disappeared again!

The game violence concerns me greatly. Sure, most people can probably handle it. I don't like human on human violence in the slightest, and these games would make me sad and upset... but for most, it's probably fine. Then there are those people who can't seem to separate fantasy from reality, and there seem to be more of those people around lately than ever. We are exposed to violence in all aspects of media, not just gaming, so people are becoming desensitized to it, making it much easier for unstable people to go out and do it in real life. I watched the trailer for GTA5. I was astounded by the beauty of the game, the realistic scenery and gameplay. But I was equally horrified at the realism of the characters who are ugly to the bone inside and out and gave me the creeps. Call me a polyanna, but why can't resources like this be put toward something beautiful and life-affirming instead of soul-crushing? I suppose the short answer is that it won't sell, it is about money. So this terrible trend toward uber-violence is about greed... with no one to say when it's too much. I think we are going to be seeing this kind of thing more, and more, and more, and even more. *sigh* edit: You know, it's really NOT fine. Even if playing these games makes us less nice to each other in general, it really isn't a good thing.

You CAN, of course! All you need to do is add to your list of instruments you play well, the following: violin, viola, cello, bass, tuba, french horns, trombones, and glockenspiel. Hope you've got the time, and plenty of extra room in the music cave.

Super groovy, *and* brought a tear to my eye. Magical!

Man, it's hard to get these orchestral mixes sounding real. The arrangement is dynamite, despite a bit of repetitiveness and/or loopiness, mainly in the first half. My biggest gripe would be with the strings. The pizz strings in the intro are very repetitive and the velocities are too similar and timing too perfect. And when you have backing strings, I hear no swells that would tell me there are humans playing them. I feel like the strings in general (including the pizz) are too loud. If you do some humanization, the volume generally should come down, with periodic upward swells. Basically same comments for the brass sections, needs humanization and volume control, especially when playing long chords. The instrumentation I like the best here is the clarinet and the violin solo at 1:57 (but boy is it fighting to be heard over the backing stuff). Bells/glock are nice but could also benefit from some velocity variations. Some notch eqing should also help to bring lead instruments to the front and give them breathing room. At 2:22 that loud backing layer just... stops! That gives a real sense of how badly some volume automation is needed. Beware of instrument layers stopping abruptly with no kind of fadeout or overlap, it just isn't real enough. I also hear this from 0:58 to 1:01 and again at 1:05 to 1:09, where your backing winds just stop too abruptly. They need a teeny bit of humanization, and a short fadeout. Oh my there's a loooong deep brass note from 1:25 to 1:33... man that guy's got some superhuman breath control... (automate the volume slowly down starting at least halfway through if not sooner) Great track! Just... put in the time to polish those strings/brass performances.