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Dhsu

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Posts posted by Dhsu

    OCRA-0003 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Hedgehog Heaven

    in Album Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Since I've had so many requests/suggestions for a Sonic 3 & Knuckles project, let me express my stance here...

    I will not be running such a project. Don't get me wrong, I had a BLAST managing HH, and may do something similar again at some point in the future. Those two games together have a total of 47 tracks (correct me if I'm wrong). That's QUITE an endeavor, and really not something I'm willing to tackle right now. Rather I'll be spending my time relaxing and improving my mixing skills. Oh and school and work and all that. Heh. ;)

    I wish the best of luck to anyone that is thinking about managing a new project. But, at the risk of sounding egotistical and/or patronizing, allow me to give a few suggestions... I've learned a lot in the last year and a half, most of it the hard way. So why not at least take some pointers?

    Get out in the community: Know mixers, know LOTS of mixers. Be an active, avid, well-known member of the community. Hell, maybe even be popular (this one really would've helped HH NOT take so long) :P If you're known, your chances of succeeding and getting people to help out are much better.

    Line up mixers beforehand: Maybe around 30% of your tracks or so should be lined up before you even post a thread or solidify your plans. This will give you a great place to start and let others know that you're serious and have already taken measures to finish the project.

    Have a plan: How long will it take? Are you doing all the tracks? Who's doing site design? Where can we host WIPs? Can we post them in WIP forums? Are collaborations allowed? What if two separate remixers do the same track? Are we blending tracks? What order are they in? Do you intend for this to be an official OCR site project (and does djpretzel approve?)?

    LOTS of questions arise. Some need to be answered down the road, but for the most part, this should ALL be taken care of before you launch the idea to the public. Basically, get your shit together ;)

    Have the OST available: This is absolutely necessary. Usually people remix tracks because they know it and love it, but sometimes, especially with remix projects, folks may not know the source material at all. Preferably in mp3 format or nsf or something that sounds like the original... MIDI is ok, but it's not always 100% faithful.

    Keep a Change Log: You need to know when what happened. When somebody signed up, when they dropped out, when certain milestones were achieved, etc etc. That is one of my biggest regrets about HH is I kept no change log. That would have been SO HELPFUL and interesting to see at the end.

    Read the ENTIRE history threads for other projects: Do it, you'll learn a lot.

    Be prepared to be there: Projects are a lot of work, but even if all you're going to do is manage, delegate, coordinate, all that stuff, you still must be readily available and consistently present to take care of tasks and issues that arise. Showing up once or twice a week isn't going to cut it. For example, if it takes a year (which realistically, it shouldn't... heh... ) are you going to be there the entire time?

    Please keep in mind these are just my opinions/suggestions and that I'm not the best example to go by. This project didn't run smoothly, and many (most) of the problems were my own direct fault. If you'd like more pointers, I'm sure Digital Coma and/or Protricity would be happy (?) to answer questions. Mythril Nazgul is also currently running The Dark Side of Phobos (very cool), and is a super nice guy that I'm sure would offer pointers if asked.

    Heh, sorry for the long post.. thanks for reading. I just love projects like this, and want to help out if I can. I wish the best of luck to the next one! On a side note, I would personally recommend waiting for a while before starting the next project. Check this board -- there are several in progress right now. People can't care about everything, there's just not enough time, and a lot of resources are being spent on those projects right now.

    Thanks again :D

    Someone should sticky this.

    OCR01254 - Street Fighter II "Club del Toro"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Hahaha...brings back fond memories of the Vega vs. Chun Li fight. Thank you, SF Anniversary Collection. Although, it also brings back the unspeakable terror, dread, and utter helplessness I felt as a child whenever Vega would jump onto the wall, knowing full well that the cheap little punk would inevitably jump off and claw me and that there was not a thing I could do about it. And then he'd retreat and do it all over again. Curse you, first-grade reflexes.

    Ahem...

    Errr, right...about the mix then. Anyway, yeah...for some reason, when it started, I couldn't help feeling it sounded slightly n00bish (mostly because of the familiar-sounding synth/sample and because omitting the original bassline notes there creates odd harmonies). I quickly got used to it though, so I don't have too much of an issue with that. Effects and percussion are used intelligently and effectively throughout. I think my favorite part was also the country names/"f-f-f-fight" thing. Very nice touch...Rayza always seems to know how to use sound clips/game samples in a discreet and generally non-annoying manner, unlike many other electronica remixers. :P I also like the break/transition/whatever-you-techno-people-call-it at 3:15. ;)

    Overall, very competent and well-executed remixing work. Recommended to any fan of Vega (and/or Chun Li's panties ;) ). Good stuff from Rayza as usual.

    (P.S.

    R.I.P., Chris and Charles...)

    OCRA-0002 - Donkey Kong Country: Kong in Concert

    in Album Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    It'd be a nice to have a complete listing of classical pieces he used in the games. I'm interested in arranging "Udderly Abducted" from EWJ2, but it sounds suspiciously classical. Can anybody confirm whether this is true? Although, I could probably come up with something for "Anything but Tangerines" too.

    But yeah...I guess someone might as well start up the EWJ1/2 Remix Project now. :P

    OCRA-0002 - Donkey Kong Country: Kong in Concert

    in Album Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    That would be because it's played ragtime style.

    There's playing ragtime and then there's stumbling over the keys or dragging (again, I only nit this one particular instance past one second, it's only one missed note, really, the rest is done superbly).

    I dragged at the beginning and then sped up because I felt that it fit the spirit of a pirate drinking song. ^_^

    Also...

    So I suppose I'm alone in feeling that Vigilante's lyrics were too creepy to listen to more than once? And that it would be completely unreasonable of me to so much as hope for a voiceless version of that mix?

    "Funky Monkey Love" is just another one of those remixes on Kong in Concert that encourages you to think outside the box! Have you never thought of how Donkey Kong would express his feelings for Candy Kong? Well then wonder no longer! Vigilante has given you the fans the insight into Donkey Kong's love life that even Rare's development team was reluctant to provide!

    That's freakin' incest, dude. You people are freakin' sick. This song deserves to be in Jerry Springer.

    Or Japan.

    VG Frequency: U Love VGM

    in Projects

    Posted

    analoq - Noir "amazeing!" [The People's Remix Competition: Animation 5]

    Aaron won PRCA:5 handily with this cool spin on "Maze" from the Noir soundtrack, which OverCoat randomly picked to be this contest's challenge (thanxusomuch!~). Stripping away the (crappy) vocals and focusing on the melodic progression of the music itself, analoq tinkers around with the original with a light, laid-back groove before moving up the power again with electric guitar returning at the 1:47 mark. Short and sweet, and a vast improvement over the original (hey, those vocals are the epitome of an "acquired taste"). You can always trust analoq to any idea and expertly exploit its potential. In the meantime, we'll be waiting for his choice of source material for PRC:A6.

    Larry, you are something stealth and ninja like. :D

    For anyone interested, I have analoq's choice for PRCA:6 and jesus, it's a doozy....

    When analoq wins, everyone loses (except analoq).

    VG Frequency: U Love VGM

    in Projects

    Posted

    The Blasted Man (Hungry Joe) - Final Fantasy 8 "Kind of Breezy" [VGMix2 #1998] - OCR Feedback

    Nate Jasensky's recent OCR submission was turned down, but was a mix that I personally felt was very promising and deserved more attention. This one's an energetic take on God knows what theme. ;-) If you're down with a guitar based remix with some rock undertones, then you should sign yourself up for a listen to this progressive offering. This one carries quite a number of style changes and features tons of development in those respects, almost functioning like a medley piece. With regards to the strengths and weaknesses of the track, I've written so, so much about this mix in detail as an OCR judge and that carried over into my review of "Kind of Breezy" over at VGMix, which you'll wanna check out if you're really wondering what I thought about it in ludicrous amounts of detail. It'll be interesting to see what material Nate can produce in the future with such a noteworthy effort here.

    This one is a tier 4 in VGMix, WAAAAY too low for the proficiency it has. Sure, the samples are less than stellar, and the rock section is haphazardly performed. That said, this is an awesome mix of THE OVERWORLD THEME fom FF8.

    Actually, it's a remix of "Breezy" (yeah, who'da thunk it?), the Balamb town theme.

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