The Nikanoru

It's been a while, everyone. Despite popular belief, I am not dead, nor have I fallen off the face of the planet! My apologies for the absence - I had some fairly serious stuff come up in my life in June which has carried on far longer than I expected. I have this mostly sorted now and with some changes to my family's schedule, I should have more time moving forward to work on this. YAY! I'm still getting myself back on track, but you'll notice some changes on the front page - some new claims have opened up as my discussions with folks over the OCR review progress. Anyone who does not have a WIP submitted (with a couple of exceptions) have had their claim released - this includes my own claim to Titania. This does not mean I've turfed anyone, per se; it simply means a claim requires a WIP to actually be claimed. This more or less lines up with the whole 'please submit a WIP with a claim' requirement that has been in place since July 1st. The Audio / Radio Play part is on hold while we get through the deadline. I'll be working on some scripts in the next couple of weeks; I hope to have them all in place by the end of October (hopefully sooner). If anyone has questions on any of this, let me know. ---- Last but not least, because of my absence and how close we are now, I've decided to extend the deadline by two weeks - check-in / updates are now required by October 15th. That being said, I'll be checking in with you soon to see where WIPs are at - be warned!

I've been quiet, I know - more life stuff came up last week, but I'm getting back on track now. I've finally made some changes to the tracklist at the top of the thread and to our lineup. I'm not done yet - there are still some decisions to be made and some conversations to be finished - but the new placement for the audio tracks is now listed. I know I've been slow about sending the feedback out, but I'm catching up. I should have it all out soon. ---- Guys, I am still waiting for updates from many of you who didn't get something in to me for the last deadline. I'm not going to point you out - yet - but you know who you are, and I'm going to come looking for you soon! In the meantime, please note @Jorito's generous offer above - I can totally vouch for his ear, musical ability, and his skill at making folks smile. We also have our Audio Support team, ready to advise with whatever help you might need. Keep at it, everyone. Just because it's quiet here doesn't mean things aren't happening. Looking forward to hearing what everyone is up to!

Hey John! I actually already had you down for the (French) horn, but I can add 'all brass and non-brass instruments'.... wait, isn't that everything? I'll put you down for 'all brass' for now - let me know what 'non-brass' instruments you would like me to include. Yes! We are looking for folks interested in providing a voice for Falco or Peppy. If you're interested, shoot me a PM with your role of choice and a quick sample. I recommend having a chat with @Thirdkoopa first, as he is putting together a slow jazz remix for Area 6. Hint hint, everyone! We have lots of performers willing to record for us - let's use them!

Wow, thank you, Weisty! It would be great to have you. Welcome aboard! I'll send you a PM to discuss some particulars.

Hello, everyone! I guess I should get this out of the way first. I received the news this morning - our initial submission for OCR approval has been rejected by the staff. I received a list of all the feedback from the projects team which reviewed the submission, and suffice to say, there are concerns that the overall quality of what we have does not reach the overall quality or potential that OCR is looking for. So ... what does this mean for us? It means that this is not over! A wise salesman once told me that a failing grade is never the end of the world, it only shows you where you need to improve to do better the next time. There ARE tracks on here that caught attention, we DO have some folks on here that are getting noticed, and there IS some excitement that this is happening! I'd like everyone to take a long, hard listen at their work and find everything you love about it and everything you can think of to make it even better. OCR has made it clear to me that they want to hear our absolute best before they give us their nod, so I expect nothing less of everyone here. It was @Thomas Neil's vision to see this as an OCR album, so now that we are more aware of what those requirements are, we need to work even harder at this. Let's kick it up a notch! Moving forward, I'm going to be asking for more help from the Audio Support team for track review and I'll be looking for a well-established remixer or to give me a hand with track QA. I know I've been slow with reviews - sorry about that, I'm getting there - but I'm hoping to have them all done by the end of the month. All this feedback from OCR is good incentive! I'll be going over the panel feedback for your tracks with each of you; a lot of you have submitted updates since the initial submission, but I'll touch base regardless. If anyone has questions about this whole thing, please PM me. ----- Updates: I will be updating the tracklist to reflect the new narrative schedule soon, and posting an article about the narrative component - I'll hopefully do something on this in the next few days. @Katamari sent me an update of his remix for SF SNES's Title Theme! ...and after a long absence, @CrimsonCobalt submitted a new WIP for Can't Let You Do That! which is sounding awesome. Give it a listen - He'll be looking for performers soon! @The Imposter never got back to me, so yes, I have released the claim on The Awesome Black Hole. @CrimsonCobalt has decided to release his claim on Katina, but will be keeping his original arrangement if anyone is interested in taking over from where he started. Please keep the updates coming. Keep up the great work, everyone!

Seconded! You got one. Sorry for being slow on this. Please do not post non-LSC related info on this thread. The thread is for project-related discussion only.

I think the first minute or so is rather underwhelming. I do like it better when it picks up at 1:26 - that part feels more appropriate.

Welcome to OCR, @MikeyA18! Just wanted to say I really enjoyed listening to this. I really like the harmonies and I hear a lot of passion in those lyrics! Keep on singing, man.

@TheChargingRhino Kew is the planet Fox finds Krystal on when she becomes the bounty hunter 'Kursed' in SF Command's ending 'Star Wolf Returns.' The Japanese version of SF Command implies this planet is in another galaxy; either way, it is not on any map. The Sargasso Space Zone is the area where Star Wolf's base exists in SF Assault. It is described as 'somewhere within the Meteo Asteroid Belt,' likely somewhere in the direction of Fichina. Papetoon is a desert planet (implied to be similar to Tatooine), likely somewhere near Titania, given the hints implied in SF Command and the fact that both planets have a similar climate. Building a map of the Lylat System is a subjective activity. Even the maps of different Star Fox games make little or no sense when compared.

I can't access the link - permission denied. Could you please send the updated link to me via PM? My guy (Mike Ramanauskas) is only doing the cover, the back cover, and the CD covers. He is only doing this as a favor to me; anything beyond this scope would start to cost some fairly serious coin. A map is a good idea, though. Personally, I'd like to see a map of the entire Lylat System - There are 12-16 planets (depending on who you ask), 3-4 nebulae, at least one orbiting meteor (Meteor Base) and one single blue giant star named Lylat (Solar is a planet, not a star). There are also lots of little-known locations such as Papetoon, Eladard, Kew, and Sargasso to consider, or the theory that Solar is the way it is because of its relative proximity to the three sectors. Also, the tracklist will be changing slightly with the development of the narratives, so this may impact the flight path. I can ask if Geo-Dragon or @Etzaen are interested in building on your design, once you have a final draft.

So, another deadline has come and gone - now it's time for our July update! I have updates from the following folks (thank you!): @DS394 for all tracks. @YoshiBlade (first WIP, but he got it in ) @Slimy (Ode to Star Fox only) @Etzaen @TheChargingRhino @Siolfor the Jackal @Ronald Poe After confirming with me last month, I'll be expecting updates from the following folks this month: @Slimy (Surprise! and Krazoa Palace) @Your_Face @JulienMulard @Cole Train @Starphoenix @M_Blacki @Thirdkoopa @Pichu's Dad @bLiNd @Trev @Katamari @HankTheSpankTankJankerson @The Nikanoru I have not heard from the following folks at all in at least two months: @CrimsonCobalt @The Imposter I will send out one final PM to each of you - please get in touch with me before July 14th if you wish to keep your claim(s). If I do not hear from you before then, I will release the claim; you will have to submit a new WIP (or an update of existing WIP) to reclaim. ---- Now that school's over, no more excuses! Please keep the updates coming and the tracks moving towards completion! We're almost halfway through our timeline now. Unless you have made arrangements regarding your timeline with me, I'm going to be putting more pressure to get updates before deadlines moving forward - I'd still like to have the project completed early if possible and I'll need everyone's help to get there! I'll be reworking the thread's details a bit to reflect some of the changes in the project. Big component on the narratives is coming - stay tuned! Reviews are coming for the updates I have this week. Thanks for your patience and feel free to keep working on your track while you're waiting. Happy remixing!

Out of This Dimension is the area music. Here's the boss music for the Slot Machine, which is the one the saints go marching into.

Another shameless triple-post: @YoshiBlade has claimed Boss A from SF64! He just sent me an awesome drumstep/dubstep WIP - another outstanding addition to our project! Wow, just one claim left on the regular album - so close!

Very nice. I'm no expert, but I can give a bit of feedback: Definitely a fan of the arrangement and structure of this. Production-wise: The loud spots are quite loud IMO. I think some compression would do this piece some good. I'm hearing a bit of mud on the low end, especially when the drums and bass pick up at 0:24. Check EQ. I also think the choir that starts at 0:47 is drowning out the rest of the soundscape. Maybe bring the volume of this down a bit. I also think the choir is 'too close' to the leads in the soundscape. I would stereo-pan the choir with a bit more reverb myself, but that's just me. I hope this helps. Great work for your first time!

Very pretty! Makes me think of a calm stroll along a busy city street. A couple of things that stand out to me: acoustic and electric guitars sound VERY VST-ish (but knowing you, I'm sure performances are on the way) the pan flute, although very fitting choice of instrument, carries the lead throughout the middle of this piece - it gets a bit much for me after a while. I'd suggest letting a few more instruments to take over the lead, such as saxophone or clarinet, etc. This, IMO, will vary the sound a bit more and keep folks engaged in that pretty lead you have going on. Bass and piano do not sound EQed and feel a bit buried in the soundscape. I like the parts, though. Ending feel unresolved. Probably subjective. Other than that, I like where this is going! I'd like to hear this again once you have all the performances in place - including vocals!

I'm very pleased to announce that @XPRTNovice has claimed Andross! He has yet to decide on a source, but I have no doubt that he'll remix a winner. Welcome aboard! EDIT: SF64 will be the source for this remix. ----- I don't know the fate of our plans for collaborating this track yet. What I can tell you is that the Andross monologue WILL go ahead, even if I have to make it a separate track. More on this later, once I have a chance to get to it. Two claims left!

Apologies for the double-post, but there's a bit of new info on this: According to Wikipedia (so you know it's true), the first season will consist of four 30-minute episodes. Disappointing. I thought there would be at least ten episodes for something like this.

I'd just like to thank everyone for staying in touch - it's 3 days before the deadline and I've received word from just about everyone on the project on where they are. This is great! For the few stragglers, please let me know where you're at when you get a moment - even if you just tell me you're alive and that you heard me. LOL ----- I told everyone we would have a script ready for the deadline for our narratives and we've got two draft scripts so far (big thanks to @TheChargingRhino and @classic_gamer_76 for writing these up!) - they are pretty solid in writing and concept so far, but I still think I need to go over them a bit before I feel we can share them with the team. I'll probably have one I can post by Saturday. What I'm trying to do is think of overall concept right now - these were originally supposed to be simple, quick intermissions to give a bit of a context to the journey, but after a lot of discussion with those involved (and some advice from @YoshiBlade - thank you again for all your comments and suggestions!), I've been encouraged to really think about building an overarching story behind this and work the dialogue into how the album flows. This would turn our currently musical album into a remix/audio-drama hybrid - sounds cool, but it would have to be done right to be taken seriously. I'm going to really consider this before I commit to rolling this out (hence the delay in posting a script). More to come on this, stay tuned.

@MindWanderer - It would make sense to market the thing with the games that made it popular in that area, but I see that according to Nintendo UK, Euro release will match the US titles. Given that, I would guess that Nintendo based the list of titles from international sales numbers instead of just US numbers to combine markets and lower console production costs by only making two consoles options instead of three. Of course, I don't have sales numbers for each game handy to back that up, but the example of Mother 2 you use would make sense, since Mother and Mother 3 were never released outside of Japan and as has been pointed out before, nostalgia marketing dictates that we must be slaves to good-selling familiarity....

No. Please do not post any of our tracks until LSC's official release. Savor the wait...! It'll seem so much better when it actually does come out. I hope @Etzaen is paying attention!

Official Link: http://www.nintendo.com/super-nes-classic Another nostalgia marketing tool, but what a selection of great games. Price point isn't terrible either. What does everyone else think? EDIT: And I would just like to shout-out the fact that Star Fox 2 will be released on here - very curious to see what this is like to actually play!

Official link: http://www.nintendo.com/super-nes-classic Well, I already own a SNES and all the listed games expect Contra III, the Kirby games, Super Punch Out, and Star Fox 2, so it's probably not going to be on my list of must-haves, but very cool to see an actual release of Star Fox 2. Now all our SF2 remixes will have some context!

I received an update from @Slimy for Ode to Star Fox! Posted to the WIP spreadsheet for anyone that wants to give it a listen.

I'd love to take a stab at this - big fan of Valkyrie Profile's soundtrack - but my time is committed elsewhere for the time being. How soon would you need to have this?

The ambient background and straight piano is creepy enough for a horror film, but adding on a full kit with that screaming guitar and bass gives this a particular kind of fear-inducing effect ... like seeing the egg of some monster hatch, then watching as it unsheathes nasty claws and then sees you. ... In retrospect, kind of like playing a Metroid game. Great track, quickly becoming top of the list on my mix!