Brandon Strader

Maaan it's not going to be fun to check on 30+ people for the deadlines... I hope people are inspired and simply produce great songs in a reasonable amount of time.

You can use this link to get Dropbox for free: http://db.tt/sRxsZhxp

Nobody is going to ban you for listening to public songs hosted on a public website. It's just a lesson to the people who uploaded them, use one of the myriad of private hosting services: dropbox, box, etc. Stopping there because those are the preferable 2. You could also use a purchased web server like I do. Appreciated, I didn't even know there was a final deadline! I still need to record some guitar parts, hopefully this coming week.

As great as this song is, it would have been EVEN BETTER if you had gotten those rhythm tracks doubled. That's pretty standard for songs with rock rhythms to have two tracks recorded, one panned left, one right. It makes the rhythm in this song sound far too narrow. The orchestration is fantastic and the guitar performances aren't bad, but I can't help but feel like they were only half finished.

Did he actually say that? I thought I was the only person who really.... really likes tin whistle riffs.

"A voice controlled RTS starring Wil Wheaton" just doesn't sound good at all, and the details of this thread are really crazy. You hired Malukah, of all people, to collaborate with? It's like you haven't even been around OCR at all lately so you forgot there are good performers here and instead had to opt for someone who is really not very talented at all and is only in the spotlight because a simple Skyrim cover went viral. If you had said "I hired katethegreat" or one of the other talented performers here I may have been like "Oh hell yes, this sounds like it could be good!" Ah anyway you're following your dreams so I wish you the best of luck, I'm just not into it. No hate, good sir.

Congratulations to the winners, it's an honor to sit beside you on the throne of remixes (it's either a really big throne or i haven't thought this out very well)

In certain cases, it is possible to get mixes on OCR that incorporate midi instruments. I don't think this is one of those cases, and I am sorry. All of the sounds are not much better than MIDI sounds, especially the drums. Some of the other instruments may have been workable into a song that didn't have such an overabundance of midi instruments, but when every single one of them is a midi sound it just doesn't sound good. I really like that you tackled Sonic Colors! As enjoyable of an arrangement as you could make, the sample quality just isn't doing it any favors at all. You could potentially find someone to collaborate who has some better sound sets. It's tough starting out and not having access to all kinds of high end sounds, you almost have to turn to the unspeakable act of piracy unless you happen to be very, very rich. I wish I could give you somewhere to turn concerning better samples, but honestly, I don't know myself if there are any good free libraries you could use to improve this. This actually reminds me a lot of Rexy, but she has purchased or acquired a bunch of libraries to help her music sound bigger and less MIDI over the years. It almost seems like something you HAVE to do, but there are some DAWs that have decent built-in sound sets... but unless you've got a huge chunk of cash for something like Cubase 7, that isn't going to help you either. If you had that kind of money, you could just buy the VSTs. The writing is charming though, so do not be discouraged. Especially that piano outro, I really like that. The writing is a bit rigid and it doesn't sound like it was actually performed, which is something you could look into improving on for your entire song. Writing naturally timed parts, and having realistic velocities is a good start. I'm really bummed out that I can't help more about the sample issues, but maybe someone else has some ideas as to what you could use. Your writing deserves some higher quality sounds to go with it. Probably my only good advice would be to find a collaboration partner who could help you take your song above and beyond. Good luck with this and I hope you are able to figure it out...

Pretty obscure source you're tackling here, eh? Write an intro instead of just tossing us to the waves! An introduction to your song can be a very powerful thing. I REALLY liked the contrast of the drop at 0:29. I think the sound effect of the bubbling is nice, but you really need to expand on that atmosphere with some reverb. Not just on the sound effect, but on your instruments, which are about as dry as a potato chip straight out of the oven. You should also fade out the bubbling sound effect when the drums and the song re-enters. At 1:56, the panning on your lead is insane! My rule is typically to leave the leads anywhere between 25L and 25R - that's plenty of space for a lead instrument. In some situations it's fine to go outside of that range, but I've found that for a majority of songs, that range is perfect for lead instruments. The same left-panned lead at 1:17 is an issue! You've got too much sub bass on the kick drum. Maybe you did this because you had no intentions of writing a bass part? Or maybe there is a bass part here and I just can't hear it. Seems like a weird choice to me, and at any rate, the kick is too loud. The kick is also really generic, like it's one of the load-up kicks in FL Studio or something. Very plain sounding. The snare also got on my nerves after a few listens with that constant hit on 2 & 4 with no type of variation. It's a really harsh type of hit for this style of song. It's almost like you are trying to make heavy drums for a song that just isn't heavy. If you wanted it to be a heavy sounding song, there are ways you can do that outside of just putting in pumped up drums. So yes! I think adding in processing on your instruments will help, fixing the levels and panning, write an intro AND the rest of the song since it just cuts out and doesn't end. Perhaps the single MOST important thing I haven't mentioned yet is that you need to write some of your own parts for the ReMix. That drum loop alone just isn't cutting it. You've got some cool sounds going around in the background but this is more or less a cover without some good, substantial original writing. Harmonization, a solo section, etc. Anything you can think of to break it up from just being a repetition of the original source. There is a lot of work to be done here, but do not be discouraged! Good luck.

There's nothing wrong with recording live with a midi keyboard, as long as you don't mercilessly quantize everything. There's not much of a difference between playing in live with unquantized midi and playing it on an actual organ, depending on the libraries you have. (I know no vintage organ enthusiasts are going to call me out on this so I'm comfortable making the claim!) If you have a library like B4 II, It's almost like having an organ in your computer. Oh yes. I'm using your box link to check the song. The problem is not with your sounds, it is with the mixing and production.. There's a lot you could do to beef up the presence and sound of what you have recorded here. You could try parallel compression with the drums to give them a bit more snap, but as it is they're already more present than the rest of the instrumentation. You could try setting up a nice reverb send to use on your instruments -- particularly the drums -- so that they don't sound quite so plain. Don't ever use reverb on the kick, and of course, don't go overboard with the reverb in general, but it'll help give you a more approachable sound there. Don't be afraid to embrace the panning. I personally didn't think the cowbell panning was bad, but you could definitely move it perhaps 40 Right instead of leaving it so close to the middle. I also noticed some velocity issues with some of the drums. It's really noticeable on the ride bell when there is a consistent velocity for each of the notes. That's something you could revisit and make more human / more natural with a bit of tweaking. But like with most things, you don't want to go overboard. Most of your organ sounds were quite too low. When you are using them to carry the song, you will need more volume on them. Use the EQ to bring more life to your left-panned organ, maybe compression, and raise the volume of it. You've got one organ that is turned down quite low near the center which could actually be panned farther right to give a good stereo sound, with that lead solo organ in a fairly good area as it is now. You've got a LOT of really CLEAN sounds here which is why you may be struggling to really give it that oomph that it needs. I don't think you really need to dirty anything up, but some reverb can go a long way, and raising volumes, and having a proper mastering chain with a multi-band limiter can also really help get you where you are trying to go here. BEST OF LUCK, and keep going, there's so much potential here!

All of the synth sounds are really plain though, really common type sounds without adequate processing on them... It's almost like you loaded up a bunch of preset sounds and dropped them in there. I do like the "moo" lead though. Remember those cups you used to turn over, and it would go "Moooooooo"? I like that sound, as vanilla as it may be. From what I can tell there's no reverb or echo or anything to dress up any of the sounds, which is really apparent in the intro. The whole thing was basically a loop, although some of the solos were pretty cool. I was digging where you were going at 2:04. I think with a LOT of EQ and effects you could potentially make this work with these sounds, so don't give up just yet, but know that you have a long way to go to make this more presentable. Also, try to write some type of chorus or other sections to break this up from simply being a loop. You need some of that personal variation to make it a ReMix instead of a cover! Tinker with this a little more and I'll come back to check out your next version, but do not rush - give it the time it deserves, and really work on refining all of your sounds. Tweak them, become a master of synthesis.

Just out of curiosity... did you use an existing midi file from the internet as the base for this? Or did you write all of the notes yourself? Purely based on how conservative it is combined with the sample quality (all of the midi instruments) I don't think it would fit OCR's standards, but it is a good enhanced MIDI for youtube if that's what you were going for -- I know some people who do that kind of stuff, and it can be very popular. Good luck with your endeavors!

I think this is one of my favorite childhood games! I've seen people try to remix it before but not succeed, hopefully you have some better luck here. Now, let's get down to bizniss. Hmm, there's no way the version I am hearing on your box is the same version that ToN listened to. The bass and kick are so QUIET they can barely be heard. It's about striking a good balance, these are 2 very important elements that you really do not want to have hidden like that. You need to bring them both up quite a bit, and then make sure they are clean together. Find out where your real bass frequency is on the kick -- maybe 80Hz? Or maybe 55Hz or so? And give it about a 3db boost in a narrow curve right there while doing a similar CUT at the same frequency in the bass, in a narrow curve (maybe slightly less narrow, but still fairly narrow) to help the kick and bass sit together and clash less. It's all about subtracting frequencies from one to make room for the other. I really like the sounds you are using and think they create a good soundscape here, but the overall mix is QUIET and as mentioned the drums and bass are very quiet. There's also a lack of variation with the drums. You need to write some unique parts and change things up as the song progresses or else it just gets far too stale. People need things to change up once in a while. It may sound silly, but something as small as varying up the drum patterns for other parts goes a huge way to making something more presentable and making it sound more like a song and less like "notes over a drum loop". This is also very short. I hope you figure out some of these issues and also increase the length of the mix in a substantial way, do some more personal variations interspersed with the source usage to give it that "ReMix" edge, take it far beyond a cover and make it your own little baby ReMix. GOOD LUCK!!! Like I said, one of my favorite childhood games! Don't let me down, here!

Hi there! You've got a lot of off notes with the bass during the intro, as well as off notes with the lead. I haven't heard the source so that may be from the source -- I wouldn't be surprised, this is Pokemon we're talking about The song loses power at the 1:59 breakdown, and then the subsequent saw bass that enters is way too overpowering, especially when the song re-enters at 2:22. It's so loud you can barely hear anything else but it and perhaps the hihat. The snare could have some more high end snap to it, but it didn't seem like a huge deal. Some of the other levels are more important to clear up first before tweaking that to cut through. I think the kick is too strong to use it in any pattern other than a 4 on the floor. For example, this part at 2:53 just sounds like chaos because there is so much sub pump to the kick, and the bass synth is playing a bunch of notes that are basically indiscernible due to everything that is going on in that range, but at 3:22 it gets to a more normal progression and everything is pretty clear. (repeating the part at 0:30 but with less backing?) The sudden cutoff at the end is strange. At 0:44 you bring in a low grumbly bass that just sounds like a mess along with everything else going on. I personally think the song would benefit from a more clean toned bass and less clutter in the low frequencies with all these different low saws. If you got a really nice sidechained airy pad to help fill in some of the sparse areas, that would also bring a lot to the song. I don't think the arrangement is particularly cohesive, this may be due to the source, but you should try to work the source into a more normal structure.. The song sounds a bit odd -- maybe unintentionally avant-garde due to the odd arrangement decisions. I hope anything I said here is helpful, keep it up!

Hi there! I liked the intro piano, it didn't feel like it was played in live but it didn't sound overly rigid, so it was good stuff! I like the arrangement, and I think you went through a lot of good movements -- the solo section at 1:47 was pure class, and you had some fantastic sweeps in there, but as a whole I think you lost sight of the source. The song is very well produced and all, and the variations are perfect, but it may variate too heavily from the source. It depends on what you used, as you didn't necessarily clarify, did you use some of the Wii version theme? Did you only use the NES fight theme for this? I think there's a legitimate possibility that, on the panel, the unforgiving stopwatch would make short work of this piece, which is sad. There are ways you can work more source into the remix, add some melodies here and there. I really liked the piano breakdown around 2:23 with the source. A small thing of note, I felt that there was a bit too much sub bass on the kick. The low end could have been tamed more, or brought down just a dab -- JUST A DAB -- to make it less muddy. If you play this side by side with a professional song you may be able to notice it. It's a small gripe, and I think it will help clear up the song, but I'm not sure if that alone would be a deciding factor on the OCR panel... I'd say look into the source usage, as a main thing. Apart from that, this seems pretty solid with great solo playing. Good work! edit: And please use mp3s around here, it makes it easier for some folks, especially skipping back and forth through the song to check specific areas.

I think metal is probably a good amount of what we'll get, but if you heard the first album, you'd know that there was no limitation to metal. It should sound adequately Halloween-y though.

YEEES!! Do eet, people! Do eeet!

The note at 1:37 was clashing more due to what note it was rather than the EQ or anything. It sounded like an 'augmented note' and it would probably be fine if you brought it down in pitch one half step. That's the only reason it sounds like it clashes right there, because of the pitch. I do recommend layering in a bass with an actual tone though. I tried playing this through my TV just because I was lazy before plopping my good headphones on, and the bass is not there at all on a system that doesn't play sub bass.

I'm digging the intro. When the drums come in at 0:19 it seems a bit sudden, and the arrangement sounds very rigid here. If your piano is quantized, step back from that a bit. I mean, if you clicked it in, then you may need to get a bit more creative with the timing, but if you performed it with a midi keyboard then you may need to re-record it and maintain the natural timing. I'm not saying BAD or LOOSE timing, but natural. This is just a bit too mechanical. I may have misread bap as rap, and I kept waiting for the vocals to come in. Is that something you are looking to pursue? Without the vocals, it seems too straightforward. It's a nice loop, but it needs some vocals in there, or at least a lead instrument to give it some oomph. I'm assuming the part at 2:28 is supposed to be a chorus, but as it is, it just seems like an extension of the previous part. There isn't enough of a change for the chorus to really set it apart from the verse, in my opinion. Depending on how the vocals are implemented (IF THERE WILL BE ANY) this may not be so much of an issue. In many modern hip hop / pop songs, you will hear a chorus with just a lot of layered vocals filling out and expanding on the verse to create a new chorus. I can think of a lot of Ke$ha songs that pretty much just repeat the verse with more instrumentation and soaring vocals to create a chorus. Anyway, this still seems like a fairly early version of the song, and I will keep an eye on it to see its progression as you continue, and share some more thoughts as you go along. Keep it up, I really like where this one is heading!

This is quite a loud mix, which isn't necessarily a problem, but you've got to be careful pushing for that kind of loudness. For some of the snare notes, I detect a subtle breaking up in the frequencies due to loudness. It's not that big of a deal though as it is subtle. I like the movement into 1:07 where it is building up. The kick seems alright to me, but that may be a taste thing coming into play. It's nice and strong, and it doesn't clash with the bass. I could hear the bass with a bit more tone actually, since it's more of a Genesis-type bass, you could potentially EQ up some more bite into it, and experiment with adding a bit more sub / lower bass if you can. I'd have to hear how it sounds afterwards of course, but as it is, it is ALREADY pretty strong of a bass with a borderline saw texture. Nice use of reverb, especially at 2:57, but I think with that much reverb the lead should come down slightly -- seems loud, OR you could lower the reverb a bit. If you lower the volume with that much reverb, it'll just get buried, and that's not so good. There are ways to have a lot of reverb without pushing something way to the back. Maybe fiddle with the predelay in your reverb effect if you can. As a whole, nothing too impressive, and not a lot of HOOKS to really sink into people and pull them in, but it's a cohesive piece and sounds pretty good. Maybe take another pass over it and refine things up a bit more before subbing it to the joojment overlords.

Hmm, this is a pretty obscure source, eh? I think the beginning is a bit sudden, you could lead into the song a bit more. You're a posted mixer and you obviously have a grasp on what you are doing here. Nothing seems too out of place. There's some strange bleeding with the sub bass sometimes, and personally I think it'd be interesting to hear it as more of a sub -- that is to say, it's quite loud. QUITE loud. You could lower it, and put a more normal / mid-based bass layered with it. It's a personal thought, but I do think that loud sub bass needs to be looked into. There's definitely a clash at 1:37 with the sub bass note, which is repeated elsewhere. It's a long piece that doesn't really build up to a crescendo but it is enjoyable. It may be worth trying to put some variations in there as you go along, make it seem less repetitive. Some dynamic variance perhaps. Good work, and you don't HAVE to keep this from OCR just because it has been done here a lot - it's not about what everyone else is doing, it's about what you want to do, and you clearly want to do this (as you've already done it)! Don't neglect the OCR audience for those reasons. It will be cool to see if you return to this one, and I'll check it out on VGMix if you go that route.

This is great. I think the lead writing could be refined to make it less mechanical, with more human timing and velocity for each note. The voices could be cleaned up a little to make them easier to discern, but I like the vibe they bring to the song. There's a cutoff at the end, and there's also clipping throughout the song which could be fixed. Some EQ'ing to clean up the low frequencies may help, as well as pulling back on the master compression or limiter (and of course, limit it to -.1db to help prevent clipping). You could also expand the arrangement, it's a nice short piece but it doesn't really go anywhere or seem to express too much of a "song structure". I really like it as an artistic piece. Keep going! And the "thank you" at the end was far too loud! Nice work, keep it coming!

JH, has tooken a very strange path as an artist, but it's always interesting to hear where he is going.

They're just super super super super super super super slow under the guise of being 'busy'. One of my friends was interested in getting on the album..... a year ago.... and The_Damned didn't follow that through adequately so who knows if that's even going to happen. I haven't even seen him around here too much, who knows. Alls I can say is, as someone who already has a claim on this thing, I am going to be cautious before making the song just to make sure it's even going to go anywhere.