zircon

This is a really great mix, ranking among my favorites on the site. I'm always amazed at how universally musical and enjoyable all your tracks are, Harmony, especially considering your modest selection of tools - I've heard a lot of "expensive" sounding remixes of some of these F-Zero themes, but your interpretation tops 'em. My favorite elements of the mix are the vocal parts, predictably, though the instrumental fits it perfectly. My only criticism is that the velocities of the snare 'fill' between beats 2 and 4 could have been slightly reduced so they're not as emphasized as those primary hits, and your own vocals could have been brought up a little bit in the mix. But these are really minor and subjective, and don't detract from the greatness of the mix.

This is definitely brutal. I love the production in general, but there's one aspect that sticks out, which would be the vocals. It takes a lot of confidence and courage to do something like this, and I give you credit. However, the recording at times just sounds somewhat lo-fidelity and cheap. It's not the processing, either, and I'm aware that death metal (or viking metal or whatever) vocals are supposed to sound raw and edgy. Nonetheless, I feel that the recording quality still needs a bit of work for it really to be "enveloping" and immersive. Maybe some additional EQ, compression, and reverb would help. Additionally, while the performance is pretty good overall, the "weeping cloud of lily pollen" type voice definitely sounds cheesy, and in general I don't think your voice always lends itself well to that growling style... though you admirably pull it off for a good chunk of this. The instrumental is quite good. I have just a few critiques. The lead guitars sound a little thin to me sometimes - they could use more power somehow. Rhythm guitars are nice, but also could be stronger.. maybe less mid and more low-mid. The overall volume could probably be increased more as well. I have a decent amount of metal on my computer and it all seems to be a bit more "full" than this. Some sort of keyboard would be a great addition too, like an organ or something like that. The texture, by the end, seemed a bit stale to me since the actual SOUND of the track really doesn't ever change. The constant rhythm guitars, which are mostly present in the midrange, sort of make this somewhat tiring. I also think the parts where there are no vocals, the lead guitar needs to come out more. On the plus side, arrangement and structure are great. This is a really creative interpretation of the source tunes. Lots of variation, original material, and tasteful development. In the end, this is tough for me because there's a lot to like... but at the same time, lots of little issues can add up to a track not making it, and that's the case here, in my opinion. Further polish on the vocals, maybe rethinking a few lines here and there, and tweaking the production as per our suggestions would very likely push this into YES territory. I'm looking forward to a resub. NO, resub ps. I listened to Sixto's version.. to be honest if you had subbed that one I probably would have YESed it, as it addresses most of my production complaints and masks the vocal issues more.

SICK, very nice, will play around with this more soon and make a demo tune or two Thanks!

Very cool, Sam, will be perusing this shortly On a side note, erhaps this needs to be said (with regards to espergirl) - a rejection from OCR does not mean we (the judges) think a song is bad. We all liked the tune very much. Rejection just means a mix doesn't adhere to the scope of the site.

OCR has completely changed my life in two major ways. I'm not exaggerating. First of all, I would not be a composer/producer at all had I not stumbled on it. You see, until my senior year of high school, I was planning on going into information technology and/or business. So rewind one year - mid to late 2003. My family got DSL and someone recommended OCR as a great place to exercise my connection and get great tunes. I checked it out, and immediately fell in love with all the incredible, diverse music, the likes of which I had never heard before. Some were from games I knew, some weren't; some of my favorites were Terra in Black, PleasantlyDanceintheClub, Fillmore Freestyle, Metalman Goes Clubbing, and Wicked Orchestra. By the end of 2003 I HAD to try it myself, and starting with Phantasy Star IV music, I did. Of course, all of the early results were crappy, I had no idea what I was doing, and I got very frustrated with myself, but I never gave up because I so desperately wanted to make cool music like all these OC ReMixers did. Having even the basic tools to mess around was so much fun. I had played the piano for years and years prior, but using synthesizers and effects, layering sounds, using drums, and really creating music myself was something I had never experienced before. After I had settled in with my software a little bit, I took a shot at writing original music too (because hey, why not?) By the end of 2004, I had a handful of posted remixes, a bunch of original music, some indie game credits, and knew for sure that I wanted to pursue music as a career. My goal hasn't wavered since. The second way OCR has enhanced my life is perhaps obvious... meeting Jill, of course, would not have happened if I were not involved in the community, and now, a little over two years since the 2005 NYC meetup, I'm the happiest I've ever been. There are also a number of minor ways OCR has made my life awesome that I'd be remiss without mentioning. Like Jeremy, I've made so many great friends here, whether they're meetup regulars, site staff, or just dudes that hang out in #ocrwip or #ocremix daily; sort of like virtual roommates. OCR also comprises the bulk of the audience for my original music, a huge plus, and I feel like my career as an artist would be significantly less successful without it. My critiquing skills have certainly gone through the roof thanks to the countless WIPs and submissions I've written about... BGC and I always laugh at how the vast majority of song critiques at Garageband.com don't come anywhere near the level of depth that is practically expected in this community. Anyway, y'all get the idea. OCR rules. Thanks Dave.

Amplitube is a VST effect; a simulation of various guitar amps, cabs, pedals, and effects. It does not actually produce sound on its own; eg. it's not an instrument. VG2 is pretty cool for rhythm parts, from what I hear, but I don't think you get a lot of control over the phrasing... then again I haven't used it. Check the video & audio demos.

The bass here is from Zebra 2, a modified version of a custom patch I made (uncreatively titled "Ultra Bass"). Here's a snapshot of the synthesis architecture. And here's the FX chain - go from left to right, top to bottom. The stereo volume slider there is linked to the kick for light sidechaining.

OK, I'm double posting because this is so good. I'd YES it as is if it had an ending, and now that I've heard it like 10 times I feel like I could overlook a lot of the stuff I mentioned. I'd say the main things I'd point out now; * Drum variation (which you already know) * Snare possibly being changed/toned down a bit (pitched down perhaps) * Chords at :53, 3:31 section a bit off at times w/ harmony riffs.. maybe a few other places, just double check 'em * Ending needed (mine cuts out at 4:00 - is this correct?) * 1:55 - maybe layer another instrument on top of piano, add'l pads..

I finished this and now Sixto is adding guitars. Prepare to have your faces melted.

Born in New York, spent the first 18 years of my life there... moved to Philadelphia for school (Drexel) where I'm probably going to be for at least another 2 years.

Yes. But it's not a "distortion software"... the samples themselves are just pre-distorted.

Wow, the beginning is excellent. I really like this concept overall. So I'm going to nitpick. * Snare sample is a little too bright.. I would go with a different one, with the same kind of thwap, but not so much of a pop-genre sound, a la boy bands... the hat(s) could also be a little less like impulse clicks and more like real hats. * I like the addition of the piano and think that element could be playing even more jazzy solo material. * Not feeling the wind instrument at :55, the low strings also seem a little bit like they don't fit. Maybe it's just the sample (for the strings.) * The drum groove definitely could be changed up more. * In general I think you should go for the smooth groove & jazzy chillout angle... eg, the stuff at 1:36 is excellent. * Bringing out the melody more via another layered instrument would not hurt. * The change to major at 1:55 is a bit sudden. I'd fill this out with pads more. The melody doesn't seem to translate entirely well, so maybe look at that again. Piano is playing a bit too high up. Good time to introduce more drum layers. Again, some jazzy stuff involving the diminished fifth would be cool. * The breakdown at 2:33 is sick, but the transition is a LITTLE sudden.. give a little more room to breathe and ease it in more somehow. The strings seem to work way better in this section. Love the reverses and the spacey atmosphere. * 3:13 definitely needs some new drums or drum layers. Some soloing perhaps? More new parts. I like the part immediately following in terms of the kick changing and the PSO style leads. * 3:31 - some of the harmonies in this section don't quite jive 100% with the riffs going on (like the 1 - 5 - 8 etc square wave riff in the left ear) * 3:51 stuttering is SICK.. love it!!!! * THEN IT CUTS OUT WTF I am really impressed with this so far, man. One of the best remix concepts I've heard in awhile; a VERY creative take on an under-appreciated tune. Please put in all the extra polish to make this a legend!

One winner for each song.

SUP GUYS! Less than a month to the deadline. I've already received some cool subs but it is definitely anyone's game at this point. Also remember you MUST submit your entry or entries to me via email (admin@zirconstudios.com)

Most guitarists I know actually change their tone all the time... I'm not even a guitarist and every song I've done that has used guitar has a slightly different tone (though I can only change so much with Lyrical Distortion.) So I'd say it's extremely important to have that flexibility. Maybe if you only do ONE style, one distorted tone is OK, but look at Sixto... he uses a different setup with every track he does, pretty much, even ones that are in the same style. Plus as far as I'm aware, the clean samples are the same as the distorted, except they're just not recorded through the amp. Seems like if they recorded 140,000 samples that they wouldn't RE-record everything for the distortion version. I could be wrong on this, but I dunno, seems like a lot of extra work for them. Plus "natural room environment" does not necessarily mean a lot of ambiance... so logically you should be able to reproduce all of the sounds by amping the clean library, no problem.

I advise AGAINST the distorted version of Prominy. Get the clean and run it through software amp sims. Otherwise you're stuck with a single tone that you can never change. There are a number of great free amp sims (like the Simulanalog suite) not to mention all the stuff like Amplitube, Gearbox, and Guitar Rig, plus lower-cost/cut down versions of these plugins.

This reminds me of TO's style - heavily groove-based, with a structure that tends to progress by layering new sounds. However, I don't feel like it is quite polished enough. By :29, I think the soundfield is just a little too cramped. I like layers as much as the next guy, but the execution comes across as messy. Lots of low to midrange stuff with not a lot in the high range. The piano really contributes negatively in this regard, as it plays mostly lower-range chords. I do like the organ material at 1:00 as well as the glitchy organ style sounds that follow, and in fact overall I think the production is good in terms of samples and sound design. The mastering works too, I just think that the actual amount of sounds used and how they are voiced is what causes the muddiness and squashed sound. The instruments dropping out at 1:43 is really abrupt; same goes for the actual ending of the song less than 10 seconds later. There's a distinct lack of transitions throughout, just layers being added or dropped, and that hurts the mix as a whole. The arrangement has some good material, but is too short. It's hard to get all your ideas into just 1:52; if you expanded this to 3:00 and developed some of the sections more, perhaps it would feel less crowded and the ending would be less abrupt. Additionally, more variations on the melody would be appreciated; what you have is good, but you just keep repeating it rather than trying new things. This remix isn't quite at our bar yet, but it's going in the right direction. Looking forward to hearing more from you, Craig. NO

This version sounds much better than the WIP I heard, which was not mixed/mastered as well. That being said, I think those areas could still be better, as noted (lead vocal tending to get drowned out), plus the overall volume could be nudged up a few db, if compressed properly. I have absolutely no problem with the lyrics as we're not really here to evaluate the quality of lyrics.. we've passed some pretty banal stuff before, and I think as long as they work syllabically and aren't incredibly offensive they're A-OK as original additions. In terms of arrangement, the rhythms were pretty heavily changed from the original throughout. Plus, while the main melody might be pretty close, the harmonies are definitely not 1:1 with the source. New voicings and variations on the harmony parts do qualify as arrangement. Palpable also pointed out the places where there is new writing and chords entirely, which are both points in favor of this mix's overall interpretation value. The time signature changes later on are also great, though they surprised me at first. It's easy to write this off as just being close to the original, but I encourage the people who voted NO on arrangement to take a close listen in comparison with the source, and hear all the new stuff that's going on in the harmonies. I also don't think lyrics should rank high on the list of reasons to NO (or YES) any given ReMix and in fact should probably be pretty low, in the grand scheme of things. All that being said, I'm going with a NO because of the production. If Brad is willing to have me (or someone else) re-mix and master it for him, I would pass it, as that's the only issue holding it back in my mind. Conditional YES is not quite applicable here because I don't feel like Brad could necessarily make these changes readily himself, and might not want to anyway. NO, resub

It is not required. However, if the game is obscure and the soundtrack is not readily available or accessible by us, please do your best to provide us with as much information as possible. Even if you can find low-quality YouTube clips or MIDIs, that would be great. If we can't find the source it will be very hard to judge and you can be almost certain the judgment will take way longer.

As far as I know, the latest version of FL7 does NOT support FLAC. So, you will have to convert to WAV. However, OGG/MP3 IS supported, so if you encode your WAVs to either of those formats at high bitrates, you'll save a lot of space and lose negligible quality.

Guitar tone to me seems a little too thin.. needs more chunk and low-end. Almost sounds like just noise on the open powerchords. IMO, with properly mixed metal guitars, you practically don't need a bass because the chugs are taking up tons of space. The stereo spread is really nice though, as are the performances across the board. Drum sequencing indeed could be better, but I don't think that's a major issue as you can always find someone else to help with that. In general, things could be louder and more 'full' but I'm sure the lack of bass has something to do with that. I can hear a decent amount of "Awakening" here but I think it would really help to use more of it. Some of the most recognizable main riffs are nowhere to be found, which makes it hard to connect to a lot of the time. Adding some of those in some form would really help. Backing synth/string pads outlining the chord progression would also be useful. Overall though this is a cool concept, and the execution is on the right track. I look forward to the finished version.

Oof, megaupload for a 9kb file.. here, let me host that: http://www.zirconstudios.com/Safe%20Remix%20DDR%20Songs.txt You're right, that is a pretty extensive list.

The file size limit has not been increased. It has less to do with people being on dialup vs. broadband (though I guess that's part of it) and more about our own bandwidth and storage. I think we (the staff) have tossed around the idea of possibly raising it, but I don't think there is a pressing need to. It's one in a thousand that we get a mix that legitimately suffers because of the rule.

I do believe the majority of tracks in Bemani games are licensed, not written specifically for the game. That makes them ineligible.

Welcome to the Radical Dreamers album project comments & feedback thread. Download the project here: http://rd.ocremix.org/