JJT

Fedora Roget in: A Prison of Fate by Jon Titterington INT. APT BUILDING - NIGHT FEDORA ROGET (24) sits at a digital piano, pounding out a Xenogears arrangement. Light from a streetlamp shines through window blinds, casting a shadow across his back. A JUDGE, obscured by shadow, leans against the opposite wall smoking a cigarette. JUDGE This is pretty good. There's no substitute for an acoustic piano though. As emotive as the performance is, I can't help dwelling on how synthetic it feels when compared to the real thing. FEDORA ROGET What, so you're gonna NO this? JUDGE I didn't say that. I'm just making a tired point. FEDORA ROGET I don't have time for this. JUDGE (chuckling) Alright kid, have it your way. You've got my seal of approval. The pretzel will be pleased. FEDORA ROGET Good. Now get the hell out. JUDGE (turning to leave) Sure thing. I've gotta ask though, was anyone with you the night Donna died? FEDORA ROGET (guarded) No. I was doing field work. JUDGE Great. On my way over, I went ahead and stuck her body in your trunk. Work on that alibi before the cops get here. A wail of police sirens is heard in the distance. Roget throws his piano bench across the room and pulls a .44 from his shoulder holster, leveling it at the Judge. FEDORA ROGET (livid) BASTARD! You think you're gonna get away with this? JUDGE (smiling) YES

linear notes: Notes which follow the order of the points made in the lecture are called linear or sequential notes. liner notes: The writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes. good thing you're not called the spelling club.

bump, because this album is good. listen to it y'all, its free.

shariq is posting under an alt

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in here. There are three major problems with this remix. 1) The textures are barely passable at best, and distractingly synthetic at worst. The intro is very weak in this respect. You've got a poor electric bass sample with rigid sequencing, which is soon joined by a very, very fake sounding trumpet 2) The drum kit is not pulling its weight at all. You've got this very driving, medium tempo pocket, but your snare is so thin and flimsy it can't support the groove at all...the energy just bleeds out. Good, free drum samples are not difficult to find, and as Andy mentioned, you could definitely be putting some more work into your sequencing. The worst section is where the ride cymbal is clanging out quarter notes. Doesn't make any sense to me, in context. 3) There's a uniformity of ideas, sounds, and dynamics that starts to grate on the listener after awhile. IMO. John, you're a very talented arranger. If you'd put this arrangement into the hands of a live band, it would probably sound great. As it is, however, the execution is holding this mix back. You're definitely developing your own style, which is more than most remixers in this community can say. As you continue to grow as a writer, arranger, and producer, you may want to think about expanding into the realm of live recording. In this case, your samples/sequencing aren't cutting it. NO

happy birthday TO you. haha. get it? that's your name there. in the birthday greeting. oh man.

seriously though, why is this on the panel? (YES)

i changed my mind. NO, RESUBMIT

looooooooool. if anyone needed a reminder of how old this game is, there you go. drum samples are pretty lofi, though the sequencing indicates that you know what you're doing. as the other J's so far have indicated, the overall production isn't anything to write home about, but it gets the job done. the arrangement shows a sure hand. nice work jredd. YES

haha. you guys got panel'd. there are sufficient amounts of both rock and roll in this submission. well, hold on....let me check again. yeah. YES

Seconded. If you're looking for feedback, this is the best place to start in the OCR community, IMO.

it was me. sorry guys.

listen to good music.

sloppy and sweet. some more rehearsal could've helped tighten the screws a bit. i agree that the performance is borderline at times, especially at the beginning. also, the medley arrangement with abrupt transitions pushes this closer to NO, but nothing feels horribly shoe-horned. i am head-over-heels in love with how the drums sound. actually, i'm love with how everything sounds. i love live recordings and i love garagerock (if its done with musicality). i'd be stoked to have this up on the site. YES

the repetition doesn't kill it for me, cuz there's a deliberate shape to the arrangement. its not like he ran out of ideas and just hit "copy+paste" IMO. anyway, this works. if not exactly epic, it'll still be a great addition to the site. YES

smell the glove

loool. i can't even remember when or where i said that.

not a whole lot to add to what LT and zircon said. this isn't bad, but it's not really approaching our arrangement or production standards either. vanilla on both ends of the spectrum. would be interested in hearing a resubmit of this, though. also, say hi to wayne and garth for me. NO

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/11/two_dead_three_injured_in_car.html

Early this morning myself and some friends witnessed the preamble and the aftermath of a fatal car crash. Basically, we were heading down a 4 lane freeway in the slow lane and a car careened by, just missing us. It was going the wrong way in the fast lane. We pulled over and called it into 911, then went on our way. Upon returning to town, we were greeted by the flashing lights and mayhem of a wreck caused by that same car. Very eerie. Also extremely sad. About a mile down the road, the car that just missed us initiated a head on collision with another vehicle and burst into flames, killing the driver. The car that was struck contained 4 female students returning to George Fox University (outside of Portland, OR for those who've never heard of it). One of them didn't make it. I am assuming the driver going the wrong way was under the influence. The police asked us to give statements, and then we drove home in a daze. I don't really know how to process this, so blogging/posting this on the boards seemed to be the thing to do. I'll link to the news story in the morning. I have rarely felt this powerless.

on the arrangement end this is too disjointed to pass my bar. medleyitus is definitely in effect, along with a general lack of direction. it's hard to get a medley passed under our standards, so don't be horribly discouraged by this decision. in the future, we do need some more continuity along with the feeling that we're listening to one song, and one song only. NO

i'm still in love with that piano segue. there is plenty of personalization going on here, while still keeping Ocean Palace at the heart of the arrangement. in that sense, this is textbook OCR. i also have respect for just about anyone who can write a decent bassline. production does the job for me. i can hear everything i'm supposed to hear clearly enough. blah blah blah, yes. YES

sample quality is the biggest issue for me with this track. its passable, but definitely nothing to write home about. the arrangement itself is a very well conceived interpretation of the source. i love the part writing, and the gentle dynamic shape of the piece. jill's concerns re: energy don't seem valid to me. if this were a punk song or happy hardcore or something, i could see that complaint sticking, but (as palp mentioned) this has the feel of a funeral march. creative arrangement + borderline execution usually equals a YES from me, so YES

hahhahahahahhahahhahhahahahaha

The soundfield is disjointed. Everything sounds like it's in a different room. The guitar playing sounds beginnerish. the phrasing especially is stilted and awkward, and there are some glaring errors from a theory perspective. to get really specific, at 1:35 the piano is playing an Ebm7 and the guitar line incorporates a B natural and an E natural. Wrong mode dude, we're in Eb dorian. Also, at 2:19 the rhythym section is moving from an Abm7 to an A major. The guitar lick incorporates a Bb, which is also wrong. If you don't believe me, try playing an A major chord with a Bb on top and see how that sits with you. This may sound really nitpicky, but it's important. If you're going to improvise over something, you need to know the specifics of what's happening harmonically. Moving on, the piano is generally okay, but the voicings are pretty basic, and again the phrasing doesn't groove well with the rhythm section. the solo piano section at 2:43 is pretty weak IMO. The left hand should be doing more than just stabbing at chords. Listen to some Bill Evans if you need some more cues on how to fill up space in an interesting way. This vote is getting pretty long, so I'll keep the production crits brief: Those string stabs are extremely distracting in both their overall volume (clipping) and how much reverb is placed on them. the drums aren't terrible, but they're nothing to write home about either. some more humanization could help the "jerkiness" that zircon is alluding to. finally, the overall composition feels kind of aimless. the sax soloing is fine, but i feel like the prophet of mephisto is just kinda of filling up space. there's no dynamic shape that he can really build off of, so he plays blues scales for awhile, then just kinda stops. sorry for the length/harshness of this vote but well, jazz is kind of hard. you've got some talent, you just need to hone your skills as a producer, and maybe spend some more time learning music theory. the jazz piano book by mark levine is a great resource. i highly recommend it. NO