Pander
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Posts posted by Pander
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Absolutely loved it. I'm a massive fan of the original ME soundtrack (2nd one too). Very full, and it retains that winter feel.
I agree with everything here. It's funny, "winter feel" sounds like such an abstract concept, but it seems so universally identifiable. This song has it (as does the original Noveria). Sonic 3 Ice Cap zone has it. Secret of Mana A Wish (ice forest theme) has it.
Dunno what the point is, just very tight remix that keeps the spirit well. When it sounds good enough, it doesn't need a soxrox melody.
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The Mass Effect Soundtrack never really did have any standout tracks, from either game. Both were just "solidly good," which is the way most modern music (with some notable exceptions such as JRPG fare or Shadow of the Colossus.)
Wha? I absolutely disagree. You can easily distinguish countless features between the themes of races in ME2. Samara is vastly different from Jacob whihc is vastly different from the Collector suites which...and so on. Standout tracks? Try Crash Landing, Illusive Man, or the tour de force Suicide Mission.
From ME1, the Citadel theme, Spectre Initiation, and Noveria were favorites. M4 pt 2 was my favorite, but I don't think that counts, per se.
My point is that there are absolutely stand-out tracks, and just because the tracks work to tie together an ambiance doesn't mean that they can't also stand out as fantastic singular pieces of music.
Oh, and I love the remix. Flow and transition between themes is smooth. The over-emphasis on synths seem to make the battle portion of Tali's theme more languid, bereft of the urgency of the original. It's like Anso was looking to turn a ME2 theme into a Metroid Prime theme. It's cool, too cool possibly. Chill electronica isn't my favorite, although it's a nice slice on some great cuts.
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Melody is basically unchanged from source.
Levels seem unbalanced: xylophone/melody waaaaay higher than baseline/drums.
Sounds like too much panning to the right.
Sounds better in parts where the bass ISN'T dropped out. The electric guitar cannot stand alone.
After a full listen, I'd say this is like 3 and a half tracks in one.
- The beginning is an oddly balanced replication of the source. If you changed its theme to perhaps focus on the xylophone/bass it might not mirror the original quite so much.
-The breakdown is too slow and exposed. I get the idea this is where experimentation enters into the song, but the only instrument that really keeps it tied together with the rest of the song is the xylophone. I'd think about nixing the spartan piano/drums intro to it. I think Drums, bass, xylophone, and a synth could combine to make a good remix with the arrangement ideas you have. The violin isn't a strong point.
-From around 3/4 through til the last 0:25 of the song, there's a good mix of multiple instruments doing their chaos thing. It's too busy, but fun. The electric guitar doesn't sound good that loud, though. Like the violin, it adds variety, but isn't of high quality.
-The ending is not pleasant at all. The electric guitar outtro is completely superfluous and overlong. It's nowhere near as fun as the rest of the song either.
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Wow you need to hit Gradius, willrock. This sounds like it belongs in Gradius III.
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Best. Soundtrack. Ever.
Jacob's theme is so good it almost makes me not hate him.
I absolutely agree with whoever said how each theme has its own distinct notes (I can always tell Jacob from Samara from Legion from Tali from...), yet all flow so wonderfully together under a common banner.
I loved the first OST, but felt too much of it was idle and uninspiring, almost like time-passing atmospheric. This album is a triumph that enthralls, demands the user's attention and challenges the heart rate.
Suicide Mission is one of the most motivating songs I can recall. It's up there with "Don't Stop Believing" and "Eye of the Tiger" in terms of intense workout songs.
A lot of good questions are up there already, I just wanted to throw my own kudos and thanks for such a stellar work, BGC.
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Drums are clinically uninteresting. Guitars follow the melody with barely any variance. The heavy distortion is the only 'new' thing here that would allow this to qualify as a remix and not just a change of instruments. Changeup around 1:10 is jarring and unpleasant.
Right now it sounds like Great Revival with new samples. Arrangement side needs some love.
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With this mix's mesh of pulsing drums, brash brass, and dancing synths, Halo and Mass Effect come to mind. I hope the push for unifying "ambient techno" and "modern classical horns", with "tribal beats" keeps going, it makes for outstanding cinematic OSTs.
Awesomely done.
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Soooo, a year and a half later the Roth/Uematsu FF machine rolled back into the Rosemont Theater in Chicago, and rocked the place stupid. Tracks stuck pretty consistently to the typical favorites, replete with a double helping of 1WA to close out the show with Uematsu on the hammond organ and the Chicago Mages providing the Black Mages-esque guitar/bass/drum support. With two shredding solos on top of a 7 minute playtime, I gotta hand it to Uematsu and the band for their energy.
Something worth noting I suppose was the inclusion of two FF14 songs. The intro started softly, but the second half busted into what sounded vaguely like Faris' theme from FFV meets World of Warcraft.
Anyone else make it to this second show?
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L4D2 is a fantastic upgrade over the first. Good level design from what I've seen so far. Good characters. And adding 3 more infected completely changes versus. Before you had to follow a very strict protocol: Boomer causes chaos, and in the chaos 2 hunters pounce, a smoker pulls, and hopefully zombies overwhelm the third. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Here? You can spread their forces with the spitter, bring em together with a boomer, break em apart with the charger, take one down with a hunter, peel one off with a smoker, and move one to danger with the jockey. It's a wholllle new game on versus. Lots and lots of fun.
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Excellent opener and pad leads so far. This is alot more calm than most of 8-bit Instrumental's stuff. It kind of reminds me of the GooGoo Dolls for some odd reason. Other than the neat drum/shaker variation in the middle this is pretty much just a relaxing mix of one of my favorite songs in the soundtrack. Nothing too far out, nothing too mellow either. Just right for someone who needs a relaxing song to chill to after a long day at work.
8/10
I'm not hearing the Goo Goo Dolls. The guitar riffs around 1:10-1:30 can follow from some songs like Lazy Eye or Only One, around their power-pop mid-90s sound era, but the rest is a very bass-driven, slow-paced atmospheric piece more in tune with spaghetti western than GGD. (/end GGD fanboy mode)
It delivers what it promises, and sounds nice. Not my favorite Brinstar mix though, a bit too limited in scope.
Reminds me of Luis Bacalov's Summertime Killer off the Kill Bill 2 OST. This mix feels like it could fit in that soundtrack/movie.
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I thought it was too long the first listen-through, but it's felt shorter since then. I think the first time I was just impatient to just run through every song in an effect to hear everything.
On the other hand, I wish Pocketman's Take Flight lasted a bit longer.
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I'll get to the song in a minute, but pleeeeeeease think about switching from Angelfire. It opened 4 different windows, and two had annoying audio. No, I don't believe Google wants to pay me $5000 a month to click links. Go away. Oh wait when I hit X it just popped up another window. Didn't these things die out in 2001?
Surprised how harsh the drums sound compared to the sofffffft synths everywhere. Each hat/crash/snare stands out a lot more, especially when they first come in, than I would have expected. Even the guitar sounds soft and synthy during the ending solo there, so maybe swap the drums to be a little more 80s-ish, a little more synthy themselves, or at least more deep toms and less high snares.
Intro is great. Sounds like you're about to lead into an anime intro (which given the PW source, isn't a crazy premise). Lead synth around 0:23 is very good. Double cymbals at 0:42 is too harsh a counter-point. I can't put my finger on it, but something in the background seems odd between 0:57 and 1:06. I think I was expecting the chords to come in a tiny bit sooner. Dunno why. (It sounds fine on re-listen, I'm probably just retarded)
I like. That solo definitely showcases a badass direction to take the song.
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Problem connecting to tracker - timed out
o god hrelp
Can you go to the website and d/l songs individually? I had to do that on my laptop since the school's wifi didn't allow torrents.
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I agree wholeheartedly with the Oinkness on the 320kbps MP3 vs. FLAC. But then again, thanks to the wonders of bittorrent I don't have to choose to d/l them, so yay choice!
Just listened to VHD's piece. Wow at the last two minutes. EMOTION. I love it.
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Oooh decay would be good. You can have bursting in and out without the 100dB shift in sound every half second for a couple seconds.
Good response to criticism, remember that I did LIKE the bulk of the track. I think I was really expecting a midi rip, because it seems like the FF battle themes provide the simplest starting grounds for new remixers. You, however, do not sound new, and as such bowled over what I was expecting.
The ending is definitely an item of personal taste, and I know fadeout guitar solos aren't everyone's cup of tea, so I hope a delay or some other FX can be put in to moderate the tsunami of sound that comes at the end.
By mechanical I was pointing to the fact that you seem to have a handle on synths pretty well. Look at the intro to the FFII battle theme, it's almost all synth there, if you didn't already know the sources you'd wonder if it was a different movement of the FFI battle theme that you decided to do a synth breakdown with. Perhaps drop out the guitars and play with synths, perhaps another key change (something lower), keep it going for 30 seconds-ish until you lead into the FFII battle theme a bit more naturally.
One example I can give of how to awesomely transition from one track to another can be found in
. The first transition in songs is 1:57. The second is 3:58. I think the editor did a fantastic job of synching, you can't really tell the songs aren't supposed to be anywhere NEAR each other if you didn't already know the material. The instrumentation, tempo, tone were all kept the same between the themes.However, when you end around 1:28 you drop the guitars and drums and go straight for only the bass and bassy-lead synths in a completely different tone. The strumming in the background throughout the first half of the 2nd minute is nice, but I wish it'd have more playtime with the FFII battle theme earlier in the mix. Also, when it does enter in fully around 2:52 it feels too low-leveled compared to the cymbals crashing, only rising up during the last seconds of the song (3:08).
The guitars are a big strength (they're some of the better samples I hear, and their arrangement is nice), and going from ever-present in the FFI part to almost non-existant til the last 20 seconds of the FFII part is too large a leap. I completely understand dropping them out a while, but I don't think your synths should fill up a whole minute and a half on their own.
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Wait what? You're from Champaign too? Do you also go to UIUC? I'm in the mathematics department myself...and I too lost a night of studying ha.
Yep, hanging out in Talbot til the wee hours as usual. Nuke Eng (obviously). Grainger's just too noisy sometimes.
Shit on Citan...I wish it would work, and perhaps be a little more prog and less garage, but it's garage. Kickdrum needs way more oomph, it sounds soo timid. Vocals need a blue snowball or something, it sounds like they're singing into a webcam (they sound too low-quality, even if they were SUPPOSED to be low).
A Between the Buried and Me style prog-screamcore would have been absolutely fitting and awesome to close out Gears (Citan White Walls ftw?), instead this one more represents the kind of humorous track you'd find in the average project album's bonus section. Regardless, I'm glad to see something in this vein represented amongst the mixes.
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I don't really know what I was expecting, but this beat my expectations by a fair enough margin.
There are certainly faults (I'll bring a few up later) but overall it's pretty fair.
Guitar distortion around 0:45 is really cool.
Bass synth throughout has a good fuzzy sound, like a BJ for the eardrum (around 1:37 for a bit)
Random touches like guitars joining in around 1:51 add character.
Good bridge at 2:50. I likey!
Criticisms:
Overall the mix is a bit too dichotomous. It might as well be two songs except for the fact neither one is long enough on their own.
Instrument quality is suspect at points. You do a good deal with it, but at times(0:31) things like a odd synth noise or lo-fi hi-hat make an entrance that detracts from the sound.
Bassline (especially early) is simplistic and overpowering. In fact, it seems like all instruments spend some time overwhelming the other elements on their respective registers (bass CONTROLS lower freq, guitar/synth share time at upper end). So even though you'll have about 4-8 instruments going at once it might as well be 2-3 for all my ears can tell.
A little too little original arranging in the first half of the song (FFI portion). Key change and personal touches help, but if it could go solidly in some unique direction at 1:30 instead of towards the FFII battle theme it'd do a lot. Given your distortion and synth elements I'd suggest a more mechanical verse.
I'm not a fan of the ending. You are about to slow the tempo down to end and then suddenly you dive in and out a few times before disappearing. I'd rather have seen a slower-tempo close or even a fade-out on a solo. The bursting in and out is rather harsh.
Interesting though. It is definitely a fun listen.
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Funny that you mentioned Godspeed you black emperor band, I'm so much loving their albums although I didn't think the influence could be heard in my remixes. If I could, I'd like to remixes with that last 20 minutes just building up on a simple relaxed theme with lots of instruments and church acoustics... Goosebumps
The influence can absolutely be heard starting in little bits around 2:10 on Dr. Wily and then blasting all-ahead forward with plucked menace around 2:28 with the soundscape loaded with some dark chords and isolated kicks so beautifully. This song tells me that if Mega Man had zombies, Danny Boyle would have filmed it and you would have helmed the soundtrack.
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Just finished my impressions/mini-review of the first disc in my post on the first page. That was quite a ride!!
I also wanted to say that I hate you all eternally for releasing this on the Sunday night that I was saving for a homework cramming night
Way to keep me distracted!
Haha, I'm in the same boat. Tackling nuclear engineering while also trying to groove to new music is pretty hard. Studying works best with familiar brain-turn-off music, so this night has been wasted on the educational front. Musical front though? Gold mine.
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What can you really dig into this song about? It's so unfailingly straightforward and well-performed it may as well be impervious to criticism. Just when things start to feel samey at 2:25 in jumps the clarinet (I think, I suck at telling which woodwind is which), flute, and piano until an amazing close-out at 4:00.
In such a stripped-down song, a quality arrangement with impeccably tuned (and played) instruments are required, and this track absolutely nails those.
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Track 1-14, Welcome to the Human Race
John Revordero does it again, providing an odd, standout track loaded with sound byte quotes.
I don't think it'll be the runaway favorite that Doom2's 31 Seconds was, but it's definitely a lot of fun.
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The first track is an emotional table-setter, from what I've listened to, the rest of the first half follows suit with guitars, pianos, brass, flutes, and happy melodies. Much love.
I don't get Bahamut's objection about length...a cursory glance suggests the average length is around 4 minutes. I sort of agree about the Oinkness bit. The guitars are too far in the background a lot outside of the solo around 1:30, and the singer's range is slightly less than what I would have liked to hear. Upbeat nature reminds me of Hale-Bopp, and I like the song, but it stands out not just in terms of style but in terms of production.
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I like the melody synths. Panning is high but fun halfway in.
Violin sample feels a bit high pitched at times. It's not the volume that bugs me, it's the pitch. The high-pitched synths notes afterward work fine, but that violin doesn't work well high.
The snare drum sample is rough-sounding. Compared to the fine kick and vibrant synths, it sounds like FL demo snare.
Love the interplay at 2:20-2:40. This is the high point of the mix.
The woodwind around 3:00 starts nice. I appreciate trying to meld it together with the violin, but...
Keyboard around 3:20 seems to hit offkey notes, and playing in conjuction with the violin and flute the mix gets cacophonous at times towards the end.
I love PW music, and I love where you take this mix. You really slow down the source and give it a different life. For everything between 2:00-3:10 you have me absolutely sold. The arrangement is killer and the sound is tight. It's just past the stuff before and after that has a few loose ends that don't sound quite right (a FEW loose ends, the bulk sounds great).
But yeah, to re-iterate, I love.
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If you're old enough, plunk down $100 on a beginner's guitar or keyboard (if you don't already have one) and find an appropriate tutor (Local colleges or craiglist should point the right direction). If you're too young, get your parents to get you one if you really have a strong interest in music.
The reason being is that while you CAN learn things online, it is (as Rozovian said) really difficult. You can't just wiki up music theory and expect to be able to suddenly write coherent music. You'll get an understanding of some things, but music is a matter of practice and self-initiative.
Another cheap tool I might recommend for learning sequencing and how to 'create' samples would be Korg DS-10 if you have a Nintendo DS. It's about $25-$35 and it simulates a synthesizer pretty well. There are definitely limits to it and sequencing an actual multi-synth song is laborious at best, but in terms of quickly seeing how to fit notes into a tempo it's very nice. The best part really is creating your own samples, which is a fascinating study in music theory in and of itself (did you know that since sound travels via sine waves you can effectively create ANY sound given precise enough control over the wave? Amplitude and frequency are the foundations of sound, and in the sample creator you can modify these are many other settings in real-time to witness sound in its most primal form). For $30 you can do a lot worse than a synth-creator on the go.
OCR02427 - Donkey Kong Country "Depth of the Deep"
in ReMix Reviews & Comments
Posted
Love this mix. George Winston vibe from it.
(1) Guy wants more songs from certain games
(x) Guy writes songs for other games to meet this need.
(2) Guy complains when songs from games he isn't interested in are posted.
Hmm...