The Nikanoru

I've been feeling very similar lately myself, and to be honest, this is one of the reasons I joined OCR. I can't even call myself a true gamer anymore; I don't have the time or money for a lot of the new stuff coming out (PS4 is still over $400 new here in Canada), and I can only play so many remakes of first-person shooters or GoW-style action/adventure before it feels like I'm playing the same game over and over again. I now call myself a retro gamer - and having a wide-spanning, intricate knowledge of a lot of games 10 years old or older does not make for very interesting conversation in many places anymore. Like you, I just stopped mentioning it because it feels like no one cares - and like you, I keep playing because I still really enjoy it. I'm a big fan of storylines and immersive plots, or games where you have to piece together the setting over two or three games, as the developers established the canon. For example, Castlevania is not what you would call immersive plot-wise in each game - maybe one or three lines of text - but piece it together over the series, and you have a pretty engaging plot. Now try talking about that to someone who's never heard of Castlevania! prophetik and Mind Wanderer are telling my biography. I'm married with children as well, don't have much time to get out, very picky over who I spend my time with, long list of games I want that I may never play. The best part is whenever I get used to something or get a good rhythm going, everything changes again. It's a tough thing to plan around, much less build any sort of schedule with others around. As for solutions to this, I think Meteo Xavier has it right in the first step being breaking out of the comfort zone. The whole idea of making friends starts by showing up, right? As Darkesword said, OCR is a good place to start, but not the only place you can go. Maybe joining an online league will help too. One other thing I have found to be somewhat cathartic to me is writing. It doesn't have to be about anything in particular; just the act of writing SOMETHING is a release for me. Not a cure, by any means, but for me, it helps. If you're not into writing, perhaps something expressive in another form like art or maybe MUSIC would be somewhat more up your alley. Just a suggestion. Anyway, you are obviously not alone in how you feel here. I hope one of us is helpful to you. Feel free to drop me a line through the forum here if you ever want to chat.

Not a bad remake at all, IMO. With this sound and style, you could very easily turn this into a remix. The drums could be a more exciting, the bass it too quiet, and it's almost too slow in some parts (some bits sustained too long IMO), but I rather like the synth and guitar sounds you chose for this and the slower tempo gives it an almost laid-back feel when compared to the original, which to me is an interesting choice.

There was a recent discussion of ads for OC ReMixes on YouTube that some of the staff here MIGHT have heard about. I've done a little bit of browsing and investigation and noticed that OverClocked Records has very little - if any - advertising presence outside of OCR itself, aside from a few articles that are two years old. Heck, there's no advertising on the OC Records site itself either. This seems counter-intuitive, considering how much advertising there is for OCR. Is there no appetite for advertising this awesome music elsewhere, or is there a cost/legal restraint, or has no one thought about this because they are too busy with other things?

I think this is a good start, but far from complete. Interesting interpretation of a fairly music-box style source - the style kind of reminds me of the band Prism. I'm curious to hear where you take this.

Very cool piece of info, thank you. I've listened to Kecak a couple of times now, and although I'm not sure they took the 'kacs' from a real performance, you can definitely hear the roots to the rhythm and sound. If The Oracle was a monkey chant, those would be some damn evil monkeys. Anvils on classical? Wouldn't be my first choice - anvils make me think industrial sounds - but it would be an interesting soundscape. I'd be interested in hearing that.

Alright, but if you want to indulge in the sound design, some of us wouldn't go into a dungeon with low health - that would happen after taking a bunch of hits in the first room. What I'm getting at here is a suggestion of adding a bunch of 'Link getting hit' sound effects to get to 'low health' (maybe 1:13ish?) then making that dreaded, awful beep lead into the solo. Just a thought. Yeah, I see I wrote 1:15 when I meant 1:35. I think it's actually a bit of muddiness in the low tone of the distortion. Now that I hear it again, I'm not sure volume would really fix this. I will say that the 8-bit stuff does seem louder than instrumentation, but this is likely design. Love this response.

This is nice; I like the extra effects and the extra percussion does add a certain something to this, but it still has been built almost completely off the source material. It just doesn't sound very hip-hop-y to me, sorry. If you were to rework the original melody and harmonies a bit to make them a bit more bouncy or create a few loop effects , it might sound a little more like something you could rap to. Cliché, I know, but I'm not much of a hip-hop guy. Someone like Smooth4lyfe might have some better advice for you on how to make this sound a little more like hip-hop.

You are WAY more experienced than I am on the intricacies of mixing, compression, and sound quality, but on this particular point I don't think this point really matters for the purpose of enjoying the track. Many tracks on this site have drum progressions that would require at least three arms to play physically; but would that matter for panning too, to make sure you get the 'illusion' of two drummers playing so people don't think you collaborated with a three or four armed drummer? I get that it matters where things are for panning for a sense of the 'real space,' but now the drums sound truncated to me and the rest of the orchestra sound seems to 'bleed wide.' In most orchestras I've been a part of, percussion spans the entire back row, compartmentalised into the corners for their generally greater volumes; entire drum kits generally center-left from the conductor's perspective. I've always thought that this was terrible positioning for them, as it makes the sound of the complete kit somewhat jammed in the corner, yet wide-spanning for all the other percussion in the orchestra. It didn't sound right to me then, and this doesn't sound right to me now. I think the idea of realism for the drum kit in this case has cost something musically here, IMO. Curious, Bowlerhat - how would YOU do this? I think Slimy has done a good job of this already - I find the transitions smooth and fitting to the pieces they are moving into. And I LIKE the pace changes. I think changing out for the Rock Tunnel would go better with the Lavender Town theme mood-wise, but it would make the last part sound REALLY out of place. You have a bit of dead space between 2:34 and 2:37 now. Was this to deal with the bass rumble you spoke of? It sounds kind of ... empty there now. Also, I didn't mind the old pokeball ending, but I admit the new tuning does make it blend better.

Yeah .... I think this is good. I can hear good panning on most things, decent mix, and nothing seems out of place. There still a lot of 'space' in the song, but it matches the original tone of the track, IMO. If you're confident, tag this thread as 'eval' so you can get a good check-over by a judge before you submit. Great work!

Really glad to see a Legend of Mana track on here. One of the most beautiful OSTs of all-time (IMO) and I'm happy to see someone try to tackle some of these awesome songs. Not sure why it took three months for me to notice this one, but here I am now. This is ... loud. The guitar parts are very interesting (although I'm having a bit of trouble working out the source) and I like the original spin you put on these, but they sound muddled together, like they're crashing over each other to get to the spotlight, and it leaves the bass in the dust. This could really benefit from some good mixing. Maybe some stereo panning and more reverb for depth, and volume adjustments for the harmony/rhythm parts that don't need to be center stage. Also, I think the distortion on the guitar is a touch heavy on the rhythm parts; the low end sounds rather muddy to me. I'd like to hear this again once it's been mixed a little better. I'm not sure I can hear everything being said in the piece the way it is now. EDIT 8/26: I don't know whether you redid this between posts or I was just not paying enough attention, but I'm hearing different panning and reverb now. The intro sounds better than I remember it, and I'm hearing the individual guitar parts more clearly. Still think the middle has too much going on in the center for the feature metal parts, the low distortion is muddy, and EQ work still needs to be done overall, but this DOES sound better to me today. I wonder what I'll hear tomorrow? LOL

No responses in almost a month? Guess I'll take a stab... This has got a really good drive to it, and I like the progression 'deeper and deeper into the rock' as the track goes on. A couple of things: Not sure the intro is needed. I get that you are building from 8-bit to heavy metal and the sample sets the mood of Link going into the dungeon from the world map, for sure, but I think it's distracting, if not misleading. IMO, the 'steps' should be all you need to start. The beeping, oh god, the beeping between 0:20-0:38. Please ... let's not put Link low on life at the beginning of this track. Like what you did with the tone at 1:32 though - cool little solo. There are some mixing issues; some instruments seem out of proportion with others. For example, I can't hear the intricacy of the guitar-work at 1:15 as well as I think I should. The various sound effects are irritating to me. Once again, I get the sound design, but they are a distraction from the piece IMO. These are all suggestions that are my opinion only. I really enjoyed this track, hope there is more to come.

This is a very pretty track. There is a beauty in its simplicity which I admire; I actually think the sustain lends a certain lamenting tone to the song overall. To Jorito's point, however, it is HEAVILY sustained, and the lack of reverb does limit the depth. Totally agree with him on this. IMO, the similarities between the sound of the 1st guitar part and violin solo (2nd part) begs the question: do you need to use different instruments for both parts? I think the live violin as the melody suits the piece better - and a guitar playing the rhythm part may sound better than the low violin part - but that is my opinion and totally subjective. Guitar is buzzy in places and not compressed, but Jorito got that too. I like the sound of the electric and I don't think that is an issue. That being said, all the acoustic violinists I know run an external pickup; however, if you want to record by mic, a regular instrument mic should do the trick. I don't have any models to recommend, though ... maybe another contributor could recommend something? All the above are my opinions, nothing more. I really enjoyed listening to this anyway, and I'm looking forward to the next version!

Glad to hear. Looking forward to hearing the new arrangement!

I took a listen to Helljam, but the crackling isn't what I was talking about (very cool inspiration though. I did like the effect you were going after there). Not knowing the names of all the instruments doesn't help, but there's this 'waaaaaAAAAAAaaaaa' (very technical language here) that happens about 0:21-0:23. It's simply flat and conflicts with the notes of the melody. Now that I hear your response, though, it's likely sound design and fits with what you were trying to create anyway, so never mind. LOL Live and learn... thank you for defining that for me. Every instrument has a special talent.

Bump.

I agree with Rozovian on the piano being too loud. The clarinet-y synth that enters at 1:43 seems .. hollow and flat to me. And what is that extra sound at 2:09-2:11? The off-pitch interferes with the soundscape IMO. I dislike the snare - to me, it limits the depth of sound in this track. I've heard this drum sound used before (Tegan and Sara's Walking with a Ghost comes to mind), but with the reverb on the piano making the sound 'deeper,' it really does feel like there's too much 'surface' with this choice of drums, IMO. Neat track, otherwise. Really bouncy. I don't mind a lot of the other choices for sound design; I think consistency with your 'root' sounds and rhythm is important, but this piece feels full of fun, and the unusual sound design adds to that feel.

I'd like to visit Nosgoth from the Soul Reaver side of the Legacy of Kain series. Sure, there are lots of bloodthirsty mutant immortal vampires running around everywhere and the only other humans are weak, cowardly, and not very social, but it would be pretty cool to walk through those ruins of old castles and temples and just take in the history a bit. Also, the world of Lunar. Wouldn't it be cool to watch the Earth rise?

This is great, I really like this. Very interesting sound overall; I like how each style trades off but still plays off each other in the meantime. I'll also say that glitch effects usually annoy me, but they are used very tastefully here. Two things: 0:21/0:22 - there's a glitch effect that conflicts with the note here. More esthetic than anything else and could be a part of sound design, but it stands out to me. 1:05 - there's a bagpipe-y tone that comes in here at a bit of a warble. It stands out, but once again, could be sound design. I got nothing else and these notes are nit-picky at best. Great track! I'll definitely be adding this one to my library once accepted...

I have no remixes posted currently ... but if/when I do, I'm opting in.

YESSSSS! - SO glad to hear someone is pursuing the storyline of Demon Castle War, regardless of what final form it takes. I sure hope some rogue developer tried to build something with it ... I really like how there are hints of previous themes mixed in with original compositions. I especially like the feel behind Sanguine Moonblossom; like a long pensive look at Alucard, bringing past to present. 'Ecclesiae Strigam' is a really interesting name. 'Call of the Ecclesia' or 'Holy Shout' or something like that? Foreshadowing of some sort, no doubt... I will be keeping an eye on this. Great work so far!

Obviously some already have, but it's one thing for individual artists to do so and another thing for OC Records as a whole to endorse it. Now I have no idea what legal requirements would be needed to put this in gear - aside from a printing bill for a whole bunch of new contracts for everyone to sign - and I have no idea whether distribution rights or simply permission would be required for this; but as I say, from a branding standpoint I think it would be a good thing to at least look at whether an 'official' OC Records presence on Spotify itself or other streaming services would be worth pursuing. Gotta get the word out!

Well, since there seems to be a reluctance to pursue the non-licenced remixes route, and OC Records already has a presence on Spotify, then why not run with that and actively promote OC Records to streaming services? This would be a great way (IMO) to promote the name of OCR. Think about it: anyone looking for OC Records online will come across OC Remix anyway. If OC Remix has too many hurdles to jump, why not use the OC Records brand to promote OCR as a whole? Just a suggestion.

I like the feel you've created here and really like your choice of instruments, especially the bass and drums. IMO, the 'melody' bass is a little too loud in comparison to the 'rhythm' bass, but otherwise, solid to me.

But seriously, awesome track. Amazing job of transposing this; it must have been really challenging to find the correct tones to match not only the key but also the beat and style. I got nothing but good things to say here ... and for the record, I think the trumpet sounds just fine with this track.

... and after two weeks, I finally respond. Some fan I am! Well, I've given this quite a few listens, and I really like how you tied the song off. Love the clean guitar cascades behind the main melody, beautiful finish IMO. My only comment: I think the track may be stretching a little too long now. I think there are parts where you could reduce or remove some of the solo parts to make the song feel a little more concise: 2:02-2:33 - this part sounds a bit like Spirit of the Night, but you have this melody covered later. I think this part could be removed. 3:08-3:18 - I like the mechanics here and intonation is good, but is it necessary for the lead in to Leave Time for Love? 4:47-5:18 - I really like the feel of this bit, but I think it may be too long. Please note these are only suggestions. I like it all, but if you were to shorten the track a bit, this would be my choice. You may see it differently, depending on your sound design. Not much to say at this point on technicalities so I'll have to point you to someone else like AngelCityOutlaw or Brandon Strader to give you advice on mixing and mastering, because it doesn't sound bad to me. I've listened to this a whole bunch of times, and I love it every time I hear it. I'm glad some the things I've said have been helpful to you!