Cash

I don't think I'll be turning anything in for round 5. I have started anything yet, and it's already Thursday. I just haven't had any inspiration all week, plus jnWake won't be turning anything in either. But I'll see what I can do this weekend.

Damn Luiza, this is sexy! I really enjoy this! Excellent work. The only thing production wise I think could better is the trumpet. Some of sustained notes sounded a little bit fake, at least to my ears. Then again I don't listen to much jazz, so who knows. Other than that, sounds great!

Well, I did in put more effort, but it didn't really work out how I wanted. I never said my efforts would pay off. I agree that my instrumentation was strange, and the first section lasted too long.

Yeah, this looks like fun to be sure, but I'm just wondering how different this will be from Brawl. It looks more or less the same game with enhancements. It's too early to tell, I'll be interested to hear more later on. So far, this is the only Wii U game I'd want. I'm going to have to have a few games on my wanted list before justifying a purchase of the console.

Mine has been submitted! I'm happy with my entry, I put more effort into integrating both sources together. I'm not 100% satisfied with the instrument selection, but hopefully it works well enough. I'm excited to hear this week's entries! Good luck with your battles everyone!

Mine is going alright, I think it's better than last round.

I'd be willing to put up with poor translation if the gameplay wasn't so terrible.

Personally, I'm done buying consoles. I'm sticking with PC. I only bought consoles to play games, I have no desire pay for extra stuff that I'll never use. I understand that some people want more out of their consoles, but it's just not for me anymore. The Xbox One looks especially awful. This sums up my thoughts on the next round of consoles.

Happy day of birth! Have a good one!

Just watched the trailer, game looks good. Might have to get it at some point. Main character definitely looks strong, a welcome change for female characters.

James Portnow of Extra Credits has started a project on RocketHub called Games for Good. As the name suggests, the goal is to advocate for the good that games can accomplish. I'll quote an excerpt from the description: I recommend checking it out!

@Mindwanderer and jnWake Thanks for the reviews! I really hate what I did with Marble Zone this round. I'm afraid all my energy went into Needle Man, which is really the only section I like. The rest is bleh if you ask me. I'm still learning how to incorporate two sources into a coherent whole. I never work with multiple sources outside of competitions, so I'm still struggling. I'll put more focus on this in the next few rounds, hopefully it'll pay off! Also, I think I should tone down my drums, I've gotten lots of comments saying they're loud (well, no one has explicitly said this a bad thing, but I get the impression that it is). EDIT: I hear that dissonance at 0:39, it's sounds like the bass is the problem. The synth string I used for a pad might also be contributing. Or maybe it's just the arrangement. I'm not surprised if I have off-key sections in my music, I don't know much about "key" in music. Plus, I'm still not very good at creating counter-melodies.

Yeah, I agree. I had all my pieces, but ran out of time when it came to putting them together. My intro, outro, and transitions suffered as a result. Thanks for the review!

Hey, at least you didn't do that for both themes, like I did in round 1. And I also think you did a better job than my round 1 mix! Thanks for including me in this list, it validates my belief that my music is getting better! I'll definitely give you feedback when I get around to it!

Timaeus, stop right there. You misunderstood my post. When I said I was asking people to prove that claim. This statement was meant as a response to those who say violence in the media causes an increase in actual violence. It was a request for proof NOT a hope for evidence; I wasn't trying to establish any link between depicted violence and real-world violence. I was making a general response to previous points made by zircon and Radiowar. My statement should been thus: I apologize for an unintended lack of clarity. (Did anyone else have the same interpretation as timaeus?) So for the sake of clarity, I figure I should make my original point again. I think depicting violence in the media, specifically video games, can be a useful tool to spread awareness of a violent action(s), and possibly promote it's reduction. It seems to me that actually seeing a violent action is far more effective than discussion and citing statistics at getting someone actively involved in reducing instances of said action. After all, a picture is worth 1000 words.

Cash and Cash was first used as my Xbox Live name. There's a little story behind it. I was in a gaming club during college. We had a Halo 3 tournament at one point and I happened to play using a profile named "Cash." My friends at the club starting calling me Cash, and the fact that I was the treasurer made the name fit even better. So fast forward a few years and I'm trying to come up with a new name for my Xbox Live account (originally ColdSithmaster, really stupid). I wanted to put "Cash" at first, but it was taken. I started thinking of other words for cash, the word change popped in my head (you know, like spare change?). CashChange sounded silly to me, so I added an "and" in the middle for no particular reason. Cash and Change sounded a bit like a tongue-in-cheek political slogan, so I kept it. There's my little story.

That all well and good, but we shouldn't make decisions based on inconclusive evidence. I'm not sure what you mean by "connect depicted violence for literary arts with real-world violence". I thought I made the point that depicted violence does not cause actual violence. By the way, I didn't actually define violence. Woah there, I didn't say I want more violence in video games, simply that depictions of violence are not always a bad thing. In fact, my point is that depicting violence is a useful tool to spread awareness of a violent act, in addition to simply talking about it. I guess I didn't make myself clear. Alright, I missed a point in my previous post. A major problem with this issue of depicted violence and real violence is that we have yet to define violence. My question: what is violence? Dictionary.com defines violence as 1. a swift and intense force and 2. rough or injurious physical force, action, or treatment (a few more definitions I didn't include). But what acts should we include when we measure violence? You're right, nature violence is different. I just threw that in my post without really thinking.

Here are my thoughts on depicted violence versus actual violence. I'd like to see proof to support the claim that depictions of violence cause an increase in instances of actual violence, before we start advocating for changes in the way we depict violence. [wording changed for clarity] People have been trying to blame depictions of violence in the media for actual violence ever since “the media” was a thing. Yet the data does not show any such causal link. I bring back a paper linked by djp, I'll quote the abstract: Now to bring video games into the mix. I'm sure we're all familiar the attempts to link “violent” games with real violence (what is the criteria for a game to be considered violent?), along with failed legislation against so-called violent games. This article provides a nice overview of the violent video game controversy (pay particular attention to page 3). Basically, the data linking actual violence and video games is inconclusive at best. For more specifics, click here: Reality Check on Video Game Violence, and here: Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked. You're welcome to read through these articles if you wish. My thinking is that people who are already predisposed towards (for whatever reason) will be drawn to “violent” video games. People have depicted and explored violence for thousands of years. Before television, video games, and the internet, people used plays, art, and literature to depict and discuss acts of violence. And before writing, people simply used language to convey stories. Also, music can be used to explore violence. We depict violence in art, literature, music, and all other forms of media because *spoilers* we live in a world where violence exists. Even nature, as we all know, is violent. Should we just pretend violence doesn't exist? Should we not use the arts to explore violence as it relates to the human condition? Should journalists and news media not cover the events in Syria because it involves depictions of violence? People have been saying throughout this thread that spreading awareness of issues is a good thing. What better to do that than by showing the actual acts of violence? For example, it's nice to talk about violent crackdown of peaceful protesters, but it will resonate in people far more if they actually see the crackdown via video or first hand. The recent turmoil in the Middle East is a good example. Shock value is a good thing, we need to be reminded that horrible stuff goes on everyday. Lest we forget. It's easy for those of us who are safe to lose sight of the world's troubles. If we see the horrors, perhaps we will be more motivated to do something to stop them. The following quote from one of the above articles (Reality Check on Video Game Violence) sums things up nicely:

As soon as DarkeSword posts the music, not sure when that will happen. I'd imagine sometime soon.

I wonder if Yami ended up submitting anything this time around. I had a lot of fun working with Needle Man.

Submitted with 4 minutes to spare! Looking forward to hearing everyone's work!

Happy birthday x2!!

REVIEWS FOR BOTH ROUNDS! I apologize for the obnoxious, stream of thought format. Round 1 Yami -nice atmosphere -build up was too long -abrupt ending -sources are recognizable Tuberz -nice guitar work -a bit repetitive -love the breakdown at 2:21 -rockin arrangement, sources are integrated well Mr. L -I'm feeling the beat -drums are pretty generic though -cool atmosphere going with the pads -lead synth was a bit harsh in the high end, too much of a "ringing" sound -source usage is nicely done, good integration I'd say jnWake -I like the jazzy/funk feel -the reverby electric piano was cool -pretty good instruments choices overall -yep, I'm hearing both sources therex -the modulating panning goes overboard -the instrumentation feels very raw, needs more fine tuning in the EQ department -sonic palette is overall harsh -sources are easily recognizable MindWanderer -I like the source arrangement, nicely done -the fake guitar is well...very fake -that eastern string is sounding robotic to me, could use more humanization -I think the drums are too far in the background, they could stand to be stronger Cosmic Sounds -I like the feel of this one, dark but with a bit of hope -instrumentation works, but the piano sounds like it may have a bit much reverb -creative source usage, well done Me (C&C) -well...it's basically a piece of crap -I smashed the sources together without thought, production also sucked -the main reason was I didn't leave myself enough time; I was working on Remixing With the Stars, and then my brother's graduation Round 2 Cosmic Sounds -opening string is very fake sounding, mechanical -the orchestral instrumentation is well done, after the intro -overall, pleasent and enjoyable Tuberz -definitely more subdued than your round 1 entry, but I like it -good guitar work as usual, I would say the synths are the main weak point, and maybe the drums could be stronger jnWake -I'm digging your synth choices, the piano is pretty cool as well -I can't really find any major flaws production wise -I had trouble picking out Turbo Man Mr. L -nice intro, and I'm enjoying the atmosphere -drums feel a little weak, as well as repetitive -great job with the sources, it feels like one song Zerothemaster -the brass sample is not very good, sounds way too fake, needs more humanization, it's a big issue because it dominates the whole track -aside from that, everything else seems okay -I can't hear Toxic Caves therex -brass here works fairly well -trumpet is descent, though I think it could use some more humanization, and perhaps more attention to EQ -I like the title, it defintely fits the style nicely -sources are handled well MindWanderer -I'm not too hot on the instrumentation, sample quality isn't the greatest -I think more could be done to mask the quality, mostly in the EQ department -arrangement works for the most part, but I'm still having a hard time picking out Marble Zone, even after seeing your source breakdown Me (C&C) -soundscape is mostly too bare, like rex said -I was obsessed with the arrangement this time around, I put a ton of effort into integrating the two sources together, I think it turned out pretty good

Bump for feedback!