zircon

AWESOME, thanks!!! I love your other two DJ mixes. I have 'em on my iPod and they've gotten me through numerous long trips.

Dunno why I'm commenting on this so late... I thought the intro was pretty abrupt, right off the bat. I would have led into it a bit more. As Sil pointed out, there's definitely a lack of bass presence overall, and in fact the whole mix sounds a bit sparse. By :41 it really felt like there should have been a denser texture. You might also consider not using the sine synth. Everything else is orchestral, so the lone synthesized element sort of sticks out to me. I need to listen to the original SMG theme again to remind myself what it was like, but so far it also sounds like you're sticking pretty close to the source. If you expand the intro and play around more with the melodies and harmonies, build on them, vary the rhythms, add your own new material (etc) you will be more on course for what we're looking for here. I am definitely interested in hearing what you do here, as SMG has been largely un-remixed. I'll be watching this topic

It's more helpful to know what you did wrong, and most of what we write in our votes tends to be why we're NOing it anyway. In other words, it's not usually that a remixer doesn't have enough good stuff, it's that they have too many problems... and that's why we're focusing on the problems. It's pointless to make a list of all the possible POSITIVE things you could have. There are thousands if not tens of thousands of things you can do right. But there are a select group of NEGATIVE things that MOST people do over and over and over and over.

Well, if your synth has internal LFOs, you should be able to do the modulation in there and simply automate the LFO depth/amount in FL itself. Basically, to put any synth control to the FL piano roll, you need to tweak it on your synth, then go to the upper left of the FL wrapper, drop down the arrow menu to "Last Tweaked Parameter", then go to "Edit Events in Piano Roll". If your synth doesn't support modulation internally, then what you can do is create a Peak Controller on any FL mixer track. Uncheck "mute" in the lower right. Then edit the LFO controls on the peak controller to your satisfaction. Go back to your synth, and then find the parameter you want, go to Last Tweaked Parameter, and then do "Link to Controller" to hook it up to the Peak Controller LFO.

That's fine, and pretty much why I post my tracks here as well, but MOST people don't use the WIP forum to simply share, they do it to get feedback. Well, a few things. First of all, organizing it into an itemized lists makes it easier for the remixer to hone in on the core issues before scrolling down to the comments. If they're looking at three or four forms, and they all say "Too Loud", it has more of an impact than four comments about loudness buried somewhere in the post. IMO. Also, you don't HAVE to leave comments at all. Many of the things are self explanatory and don't require much (if any) explanation. Additionally, if you are the one leaving the feedback, the list may guide you to leave a comment that you wouldn't have otherwise, had you not seen it, which is another benefit.

I don't see why I should spend time evaluating mixes in the WIP forum when I could be spending time evaluating the 50+ mixes that have actually been submitted. There's just no reason to give unsubmitted mixes priority when there are ones on the panel that have been waiting around for months. If I have a spare 30 minutes to be writing about video game remixes I'm going to use it to help reduce the queue. The same goes for any of the judges. Again, if you just read our decisions you will get a much better idea of where the bar is. You can always ask us questions, eg. in the "Ask the judges" thread in Community, if you need clarification. You're right that if people don't have an ear at all, the form won't be helpful. But I don't think many people are like that. When you put options in front of people it encourages them to think harder. I might play someone a song and say "What do you think?" and you might say, "It's good," because you're not really listening for anything in particular. If I then say, "I'm going to play it again, but this time pay attention to the drums. Do you notice the drums are really quiet?" there's a great chance you WILL be able to hear that, now that you know what to look for.

That's actually a lot bigger, more daunting, and again, I really don't see the point in putting positive items there when it's a sheet for critique. It's actually MORE limiting because people might want to find their EXACT opinion on the list, which is not what we're trying to do. We're providing a list of very common criticisms that are often levied to help guide people towards giving more helpful feedback.

A lot of subs come from unknowns, and a lot don't. Glancing at the first page of the WIP forum alone, looking at thread starters only, here are people that have submitted before and have been rejected, with no posted remixes: Vidilian, Hoboka, majeliss, PrototypeRaptor, Shinnymetal, pu_freak, POCKETMAN, electric concerto, DeathBySpoon, and 1makes2. Again this is only thread starters on the first page, I'm not even counting all the people that actually participate in the forum as a whole. Most of those people have subbed multiple times and continue to get rejected. Do they have no talent, or do they just need better advice? I think the latter. We do that in our actual votes. If people read our votes and observe what actually gets posted to the site they will know where the bar is. Otherwise, yes, we are very busy. I already addressed that. It would unnecessarily bloat things to have a positive version of each of the negative points. If you have positive things to say, you can write them underneath the checklist. I also said you're free to remove points you're not using. So, say you like a remix but just had a couple complaints. Here's what you could write. Is that so hard to do? Does it seem overly negative?

The form doesn't prevent you from writing additional comments at all. You just write them at the bottom. This concern is without merit. Also, the way the points on the checklist are written is very similar to how a judge would vote on a mix, which I think is ideal. Again IMO the problem with this forum is that feedback is often too wishy-washy. People need to know the problems with their song, and the form has an awesome list of problems that we (on the panel) see every day. If I were looking for feedback, I would rather be able to briefly skim four or five posts to see "Oh wow, they all checked 'Too Liberal'" and then read closer to see WHY they checked that. Many of these criticisms would not necessarily even occur to people until they read them here. The problem is that people give inaccurate feedback that isn't easily understood. People submit all the time where people on the WIP forum essentially say "this is great, sub it." Perhaps by asking people to view possible criticisms in a comprehensive list, they would be more inclined to speak up about issues that they did hear. I would RATHER people checked off several boxes of criticism without going into detail than post something like "this is great, sub it." We don't need any of the latter. I emphasize that people on this forum need more criticism, and I don't really think it matters if it's "personal" or not. The idea of this form is taken from a very successful music service called "Taxi" where all submissions are screened by individuals via a form like this. It makes it really easy for any musician to see where their weak spots are instantly.

Yet isn't The Sims purchased more by females than males, and still one of the most popular game series ever?

That's great, but not helpful for discussion or listing other information such as servers we like to play on... it would be nice to have a specific "Team Fortress 2" item as well. "Steam" is too vague considering all the games you can play on it.

OFFICIAL OCR TF2 SERVER: 8.9.9.102:27015 OFFICIAL OCR TF2 CHAT: #ocrtf2 on ETG (same server as #ocremix) OCR Server HLstatsX: http://ocremix.hlstatsx.com/ Current Map Rotation: Dustbowl, Fastlane, Turbine, and Goldrush For a reserved slot, donate $3 to wesley.cho@gmail.com (thanks Bahamut!) Custom maps used for server: http://oceansend.com/5502/ocr/tf2/ (download into your TF2 maps folder, usually in /Steam/SteamApps/downloads/(your username)/tf/maps or something like that) OCR TF2 Players: zircon - cubic_zirconium Hemophiliac - Hemophiliac SleazyC - Sh03.s| La Migra bustatunez - [LEC]Bustatunez Salty - Salty Big Giant Circles - {GCC}Big Giant Circles EdgeCrusher - EdgeCrusher36 Kanthos - Kanthos Revelation Orange - Agent Revelation_Orange 002 OverCoat - OverCoat DJSammyG - SammyG starla - starla_injury Dyne - Lt. Col. Dyne Unstable Hamster - unstablehamster Vivi22 - Vivi22 Fishy - Fishy1618 OA - oceansandrew The Derrit - thederrit Anthonium - 1117chronicles Super Duper Sombrero - superdupersombrero The Dennis - IcedInferno joefu - joefu12 PosiBolt - PosiBolt --- Steam Community Group - http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ocremix --- Servers we like: 74.86.225.239:27015 (Dustbowl, Gravelpit, 2fort) Edit (Bahamut): The new server is at 8.9.9.102:27015! The map rotation is on the top of the page. I still have some customization left to go, and verifying the slots/admin things, but I don't need to interrupt a game to tweak that stuff. And please, I could use paypal donations for this (server costs $36 monthly, and ~$10 a month for HLstats)! Just $3 a month if you can, and if you feel like giving more, if there's extra left over, I will send them over to OCR. Click the following link or send the money to wesley.cho@gmail.com: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=wesley%2echo%40gmail%2ecom&item_name=OverClocked%20ReMix%20TF2%20Server&page_style=PayPal&no_shipping=1&cn=OCR%20Handle%20%26%20Steam%20ID&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8 When you send a paypal payment, please list your OCR handle, SteamID, and Steam ID # in the comment field - in order to get your Steam ID #, first make sure the developer console is enabled in TF2 (go to Options -> Keyboard -> Advanced and enable it), and then enter a game. Then press ~ and enter status. Find your steam ID and the # is STEAM_x: x: xxxxx (sans spaces) - copy that whole expression into the comment field. Just in case, send me a PM on OCR to verify the payment & all requisite info is sent. For admins - admin commands are here: http://wiki.alliedmods.net/Admin_Commands_(SourceMod) (so entering sm_admin in the console or !admin or /admin in the chat brings up the admin menu)

My parents can't hear 15khz, but they're only in their 50s. My speakers couldn't play 30hz, but they're just $99 Tascams... my headphones easily reproduce everything. Pretty cool site.

"Direct sampling" is pretty much only allowed in small quantities. This combined with the rest of the guidelines should make that clear. We strongly discourage direct sampling for more than short portions of a piece. Even if there is original writing and arrangement around it, getting a piece passed that directly samples the source tune for extended periods of time is almost a surefire NO.

Informative purposes. There's really no reason not to have it. I can think of a number of situations where I would want to know that info even if some people have listed "not available" as their current status.

This thread is stupid. Nicholstein, I'm giving you a warning for basically being a troll/spammer. Most of your posts here are pretty bad. Think before you write.

AlisiaDragoon "HallsofAbandonment" by LastUnicron Last Blade 2 "Kizukaseru" by Unipulator Chrono Trigger "Green Amnesia" by Disco Dan

Yep, still have both.

Quantum Leap what? Stormdrum or Rare Instruments?

Haha, yes, if I had more free time and didn't have to worry about classes or making money, I'd be pumping out mixes. I have one in the queue to be posted right now (feat. Sixto) already and about three or four WIPs. Thanks again for the comments everyone.

That's partially correct. Any kind of music composition is VERY hard to break into and make a career out of. There are so many more people doing it than ever before, because the tools are cheaper than ever. Samples and loop libraries are automating more and more of the process and cutting out the need for professionals with certain skillsets. Previous cash cows for media composers, like advertising, are drying up because ad agencies and supervisors would rather license music from bands (who are DYING to get their name out there) than pay a professional to write from scratch. If they do pay, it's a fraction of what they used to. Depressing? Yes. If you're going to do it, you need to be ready to work your ass off, be constantly reading and learning from other people, networking, improving your skills, promoting to potential clients, etc.

Video game music is in very LOW demand. There are countless people trying to get into it and very few real opportunities. Audio programming and implementation, however, is very high demand.

Well, PC gaming is way less profitable than console gaming. All parties in the PC market continue to screw themselves with terrible business decision after terrible business decision, so it doesn't surprise me. Using my Xbox 360 is a breeze. The amount of shit I've had to deal with for the last month just to install new RAM and upgrade my graphics drivers, on the other hand, is unbelievable. If I had simply worked instead of spending all that time trying to get my PC simply NOT TO CRASH I could have bought a PS3 and several gaems.

Wait, isn't express slot PCMCIA? If so, there are a number of options for less than $1000... come on guys! http://www.sweetwater.com/c709--PCMCIA_Audio_Interfaces http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?q=pcmcia&button=search%2Fheader&form=search I wrote about this in my soundcard guide too, which is in the Guides & Tutorials forum.

www.wiitracker.com Refresh a lot. That's how Jill and I got ours.