XPRTNovice

Was moving to MR this because it was marked MR, but the OP says "see latest post for newest version" and the latest post doesn't have a latest version.

[BEGIN THE REVIEW OF THE MOD KIND] Hey there. My first listen of the track really didn't yield much feedback, honestly. The mixing is pretty damn solid (though I am not a dance master, so my feedback is not as nuanced as it could be), your transitions are relatively smooth (I see you've been working on them) and everything sounds balanced. It seems, overall, like a good arrangement. Cool groove, solid beat, etc. Nothing really stood out to me as wonky. My only real comment on the first listen was that the ending felt like it just kind of fell off. That's a stylistic choice, so you're free to make it; it just stood out to me. After listening once, I took a listen to the source, because I saw some of the other comments on here critiquing that you stuck too close to the source. I know that you worked on that, but I still feel like it basically sounds like the source with different instrumentation. My prediction is that they will nail you on that, but I'm not a judge and I'm typically pretty forgiving when it comes to sticking close to the source. I can't tell you for certain what they'll say. In short, your mixing skills are definitely where they need to be. It might be time to start trying to expand your interpretation of sources a little bit, which might be as simple as switching genres. This source was already pretty dancelike, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to head in the direction you did. Good luck! [END MOD REVIEW]

I gonna be there.

[REVIEW OF THE MOD KIND] - Kinda neat little pickup there at :50. Reminded me a little of the Fez soundtrack, and at first I thought it was going to be jarring, but then it really settled in with the beat and I love it. - the Melody that follows after that synth action gets a little lost, and then by 1:25 my ears are looking for some relief from the synth. Maybe use some automation to scale it back when the melody comes back in. It's a great supporting synth, but it's too much in front after that introduction. - piano or harp arps at 1:45 are too loud. It continues and robs the melody of its glory. - Love the clap/breakdown at 2:30 - Given how rich of an arrangement you have going on here, I would have loved to hear more development. It's within the limits of OCR's length requirements, but there is so much potential here for a really cool, unique, relaxed take on this tune that I encourage you to revisit the arrangement and draw out some more of that vibe you've got going on. Really great job here! [/MOD]

[MODREVIEW] Secret of Mana is such a great soundtrack filled with so many intricacies to play with. - Really digging that opening bass riffing you have going on up to :55 - I think the melody after that could stand to come out a smidge, but not too much more since it's very high Hz. You could roll off the highs a bit and bring it out more but it might lose the sparkle; it's up to you. - the 1:55 section is so RJD2. It's cool. I could stand to hear a little more of the sax and flute/looping or whatever that is back there. It's a supporting role, yeah, but I think it could use some more breathing room and you have the room in the mix to do it. - Same crit on the melody at 3:32. I would have liked more of it. It kicks in nice and full at about 3:45 though so I wouldn't ding you for keeping it suggestive there to increase the payoff. In fact, go ahead and keep it. - My least favorite part was the ending. It just sort of...dies, almost in the middle of an idea. Given the rest of the track's greatness, I think you can come up with something much better than that for the ending. - I think the track could use a mastering run to boost the volume a bit and fill it out. In general, a really unique take on the source and I really like your style. Great job! [/MR]

[MODREVIEW] - That cymbal crash at :40 is really out of the mix. I think it needs to come down and maybe take a splash of reverb, because it's way too upfront in my ear. - The driving kick drum at 1:07 ish is a little too forceful for my tastes and distracts from the music, in my opinion. - The high sin-wav-ish synth that is arping throughout a large portion of the piece gets very grating on my ear after a while. If it were to come back in the mix via a reduction in volume a bit and be a little more supportive rather than out in front, that would reduce that, to me. I'm a stickler about repetitive stuff, though, so some people may not mind that. - Other than that, I really don't have anything technical to say about this. It's mixed well and seems pretty solid. [/MODREVIEW]

[MODREVIEW] - Love the first section. Mixing is tight, the reverb is tasteful, and the parts flow very nicely. - At 1:33, things start to get a little confusing sonically because I feel like these players aren't playing with each other, if that makes any sense. It's too freeform for my tastes, but it snaps back in at about 2:03. Like there's this very calm feeling that gets a little unbalanced there and starts to sound chaotic. This MAY be due to the fact that you are multi-tracking the same instrument in the same range, and you have some mordents and runs that run over the other parts at the same time. Since an instrument cannot physically do that, it sounds a little off in my ear. - The piece is just barely ahead of the 2min OCR requirement. I think you had lots of room to play with this piece and since it was so pleasing to listen to I would have liked something longer and more developed. There are huge amounts of potential in here. Great job! [/MODREVIEW]

[MODDILY MOD MODDED MODDERING] - Really interesting choice of instruments (in a good way). Good vibe going on throughout. - The cello is damaging the rest of the mix, in my opinion. I think you can do better to humanize that sample and make it sound smoother, particularly when it's up in front of the mix. - I think the flute melody could stand to be a touch out more in front (but I find I give that critique a lot since I'm a melody snob, or something) - I dig the harp run at 3:25 ish - At 3:45, I do kind of lose sense of what I'm supposed to be listening to; it transitions into something that resembles ambient music and I can't find a melody in there. That's not necessarily a strike against you or anything, just a comment. - Nice ending. Overall, I really like this. That cello sample is what's hurting the most. If you could get someone to play that LIVE?! oooh, that would make this really sing. [END OF MOD]

I pretty much write in these three genres exclusively, so it's good to see that all of my tracks will finally be searchable based on how techno or not techno maybe they are.

I totally failed the strength and conditioning portion of my parkour red band test yesterday. I feel like an ass. I did worse than I did the first time (I passed this portion the first time) but yesterday I was such a shit show. Ugh.

Would not recommend a bathroom. Because you're not mixing your voice with anything, you need to be very careful to eliminate room reflections. You could buy moving blankets and hang them around your microphone area using just staples, or whatever.

[REVIEW OF THE MOD KIND] Neat source choice. Never heard of this game. I don't really have a lot of feedback at particular points, because the piece is very well put together. Your transitions are smooth, and I like the vibe a lot. The general mixing is very good. However, there are a couple of things that go on throughout: - I think the bass could use a subtle rolloff around 80hz...I get a lot of sort of whooommm coming out of my monitors. - Guitar melody could be stronger and more in front. Stylistically, I might consider adding some verb/delay to it, but that's a pure style choice. - String pads are too in my face, I think. the whole balance of the piece would be more peaceful and flowy if you let the pads do what they were supposed to do (support) rather than be so out in front. I'll be completely honest, I think that's it. It sounds great! [END OF MODILY MOD]

Posting in response to your PM: You took care of all of the issues I had cited in the previous version. The noise at the beginning still sounds a bit more like pink noise than water to me, but the fact that it's so much shorter makes it easier to get in there and start enjoying the music. I'm not totally sold on the way you edited the splash sound effect, but that's artistic. The first version I could tell what you were trying to do - dive under water, and the music EQ changes to reflect that. This doesn't sound like a splash, so I didn't "get the joke." That's it. The ending is vastly better and smoother, and overall the mixing has tightened up considerably. This is definitely an example on how to take feedback and get better

I quoted that guy a large amount of money that will be easily undercut by anyone bidding competitively. So, no. Not even close. There's a big difference between doing something for nothing or next to nothing and bidding competitively. EDIT: Nase, somehow in my moderator fatfingering I've deleted your follow up post and can't seem to recover it. Sorry about that I do want to apologize for coming off hot-tempered, and I appreciate your second post saying you understood where I was coming from.

I dropped the 3 "work for free" posts into this forum, where it is more appropriate to discuss. I was out of line, I think, in starting it in his thread. Now that we are here, though, Composers have a hard time paying for things in enthusiasm. The guy was offering money on a game concept that was deeper into development than most games we see posted on OCR. I don't know what you do for a living, but I'm not sure you would be saying money ain't your currency if someone who does your job as a hobby offered to do one of your projects for free. OCR isn't exactly a fount of employment, but the jobs that do come through here are still jobs. Maybe I'm in the clouds, but I expected OCR to be a sort of "safe zone" for musicians, where we support each other's art and getting what we deserve for that art when people want to use our art - not saying "I'll do it for free" after several musicians say that they're interested in being hired.

Don't go there yet. Do yourself a favor and go to Voices.com, get a free guest membership that allows you to browse jobs, and just start reading copy out loud to yourself. Go to the top favorites and listen to demos of the top booking talent. Just listen and read and eventually you'll pick up a rhythm. Then when you're confident, buy yourself a month for $40 and audition for every single job every single day....see if you book. If you want to test out some reads before you start paying for membership, email me some mock auditions and I'll let you know how you're doing.

I do not understand at all why you would make this post publicly after all of the discussions we've had about how musicians offering to do work for free hurts the industry for everyone involved. EDIT: Further discussions about working for free should not be in this thread. If you want to undercut musicians, do it privately.

I do not understand at all why you would make this post publicly after all of the discussions we've had about how musicians offering to do work for free hurts the industry for everyone involved. EDIT: Further discussions about working for free should not be in this thread. If you want to undercut musicians, do it privately.

Neblix did a great job coming in at the last minute like that.

You're joking. He's joking, right? Ha, ha, ha. Oh, man. Wait, you're joking, right?

I'm trying to get there as soon as I can today guys. Lots of work stuff getting in the way

REVIEW OF THE MOD KIND - The kick drum seems panned to the right? That's a little distracting for me. I kept wanting to turn my head to get it centered. - I could stand to have a stronger melody at :35 in the mix. It seems buried, especially by the arpy-thingie going on up top. It's nice and strong at :52 though. - Again at 1:09, the melody could come out just a touch. I'm being nitpicky, but that's my job. - The transition sound at 2:19 is a little strange. I see what you're trying to do there, and I appreciate it, but it's not quite working. I might try to fade out that noise a little quicker or pick a different sweep. - The whole piano section feels out of place with the rest of the piece to me, like we've transitioned to another song entirely. I can't decide if I personally like the electronic/new age piano mix. And that idea doesn't really continue, it just seems more like an out of place interlude that, if you dropped it, might not harm the track very much. - Aurally, there seems to be something not very full about it. It feels like it's not complete to me, and doesn't really draw me in as a listener. - the ending from 4:00 on was just too empty for me, and the cymbal swell that closed it out seemed sort of tacked on. For such a bombastic piece, I felt like it needed more of a balsy ending. In general, the mixing seems pretty solid, aside from the melody issues and the kick drum thing that I mentioned at the beginning. It's some of your arrangement choices that had me scratching my head, and the overall lack of oomph that I think comes from the way you filled out the parts. Good luck! MOD REVIEW IT IS OVER

Please get some feedback from the community before switching to mod review. 24 hours is probably not enough time. I've switched this back for you - thanks!

Not doing my job if I don't keep you on your toes...