zircon

I've ordered quite a few shirts from them.. no problems.

Are there any good, free firewalls?

Awesome!!! So who will be around for a BBQ in the late afternoon to evening? We gotta know so we can figure out how much food to buy.

100, as a matter of fact!

Tommy WAS one of the makers of the CD.

The whole mix feels pretty muddy in terms of production - dark, but not in a good way. Simply increasing high frequencies with EQ, putting in more instruments with a higher timbre, and slimming down low frequencies would help to fix this. I really liked the soft piano playing "Angel's Fear" in the background with variations, but it was a little too quiet & muffled. I disagree with Larry on the drums being out of place - I like how they get more complex over time, and my only really gripe is that the snare and hats don't have enough high end. You did well in terms of layering them over time, though totally switching up the rhythm at a break would have been appreciated. More fills would help too, in order to break up some of the repetition. The structure of this mix is basically the same motifs and chords, but with continually layered parts after the backing changes at 2:07 or so. I like the approach and you did have a fair amount of original material as well as interpretation of the sources. However it's not QUITE at the bar yet - in my opinion the first half is somewhat weak in comparison to the second, which has that plucked instrument providing a lot of interest and breaking up the repetition. If you could spruce up the first half more and address some of the production things Larry and I have pointed out this would be a YES from me. NO, RESUBMIT

It is official. If you go to the album website (from the first post) Tommy himself is discussing the site, the album, the concept, and it plays previews right there. It's 100% legit.

I have talked to someone who owns the album. Here is exactly what it says: (BACK COVER) 1. Invertebrate Retreat (Subterranean Remix) (Inspired by Earthworm Jim 2) Artist: Tommy Tallarico and Daniel Baranowsky (LINER NOTES - INSIDE) 1. Invertebrate Retreat (Subterranean Remix) (Inspired by Earthworm Jim 2) (Tommy Tallarico) <c> 2006 Tallarico Publishing <p> Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc. Vocals by Daniel Baranowsky Guitars by Vig, Rap by Waleed Hawatky Artist: Tommy Tallarico and Daniel Baranowsky ---

If you want to get very technical, the ReMixers only hold the legal rights to the original parts of their remixes... not the parts actually from the games. djpretzel (site founder) is actually in the process of drafting an official legal document outlining what people can and can't do with the remixes. One of the provisions will be that you CAN use ReMixes, but only for non-profit purposes, and only if proper accreditation is made to OC ReMix and the ReMixer. If there's going to be money involved... eg. from winning prizes, it's not OK. That being said, if there are ReMixes you like, you may be able to contact the artist and ask them to do an original track in the same style. Many people here want to get into the film scoring/media business.

Vinyl really doesn't accurately produce tube sounds. It's just samples of various noise types, a lowpass, and a highpass... as far as I can tell. As for "tube" based stuff, they might make your music sound different, perhaps even more pleasant, but avoid that at all costs for listening to music that YOU are making. You don't want your sound colored when you're trying to figure out what's wrong with your own song.

Multiband compressors aren't that different from normal compressors, I'd be happy to try and explain how they work if you want... if you have a link to the specific compressor you're using (or want to use), that would be helpful too.

Just hold out another 2.5 months or so...

Right, but I mean he's using the track off the EWJ Anthology...

A few things... (1) It already is instrumental. Maybe you meant "acoustic" instead. (2) It is highly unlikely that Protricity still has the file for this and could actually change it, since it is years old. (3) Even if he did, it is usually frowned upon around here when you ask a mixer to redo an older mix - especially if it's in a big way like changing the instrumentation in its entirety.

Hmmm, interesting situation, I know Tommy came by awhile back and asked people for EWJ (etc) mixes for a compilation, but I thought they would be credited.

Can you show an example of what you have now, and then a song that you would like to sound like?

I've been having trouble getting in touch w/ Karl lately... I think this mix used sampled piano, but it doesn't really matter. He played it in live (as opposed to sequencing), and piano samples are so realistic these days that it doesn't really matter what you use IMO.

Actually, it's not an issue at all. You can just drag and drop the sample conveniently from the browser into the playlist at the desired point. You don't need to sequence anything.

Was subbed and rejected.

I agree with many of the above comments on the vocals. They are not very strong, but with vocoding and perhaps a bit more reverb/delay and selective EQ, I think they could definitely work. Maybe layer the vocoded track with what you have here. As is, they really are hard to understand, and very muddy. The instrumental is also sort of sparse and low volume overall. The drums sound like placeholders and don't add anything at all besides keeping time. I think for this style you'd be better off finding some sort of cool stylized drum sound. I don't really have any big problem with the arrangement. I wouldn't object to more usage of the source but I do think the connection is there, between the actual usage of the riff/melody from the original and usage of the chord progression. It did seem to drag though, so cutting the repetition would probably help. Ending was too abrupt also. The bigger problem is still production & performance, I'd focus on those first. NO

As piano arrangements go, this isn't particularly deep or complex. As Jon pointed out it does seem like the same rhythmic motifs and performance elements are being applied to all the themes. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing as it helps the cohesion of the track. If the arranger simply jumped to different styles with every new theme it would be jarring. Plus, the performance itself is quite solid as is the recording. That being said... the motifs here are very basic. Simple chord arpeggiations in the left hand, (usually) monophonic melody in the right hand. No major variations in rhythm, no modulation, no time signature changes, just a flat dynamic line all across. Don't get me wrong; I can appreciate a soft, soothing piano piece as much as anyone else, but even those tend to have more variation in the rhythms and voicing than this mix does. Combined with rather minimal interpretation, I don't think this is passable. I suggest reworking at least the left hand throughout the track and, as Jon said, revisiting the "shape" of the arrangement. NO, RESUBMIT

Thank you for resubmitting! Mainly people don't and it's really unfortunate, because a lot of the time the mixes were close to begin with. Anyway, I'm really liking what was done here - as BGC and Malcos pointed out this is practically a new mix, but the feel and general structure seems to be like your original sub. Mixing/mastering is much better on the whole. However the piano at 1:16 is really low in terms of volume, and gets drowned out by everything else easily. Also, the low strings/brass are pretty muddy. Meanwhile at 1:46 the arpeggiated synth should be highpassed so it doesn't take up so much low end. Lastly you could probably layer up the drums more later on to make the mix "climax" more. So... not flawless in terms of production, but the big problems I had have been fixed. Just keep these things in mind for future mixes. Arrangement is great. Good variations and personalization. The breakdown at 2:19 is a nice change, and I really like the synth at 2:31 especially. I guess my only complaint here is that it feels as though the outtro is a little long, considering there wasn't a lot of energy before it.. in other words, the sense of momentum overall is somewhat lost. All things considered, this is an excellent example of refining a borderline mix with judge critique in mind. You significantly beefed up the production, focused the arrangement, extended the ending, and ultimately brought the mix above our bar. YES

Intro is really quiet, and the forest riff is REALLY low/muddy. It needs to be in a higher octave.Almost inaudible. At :34 there are some serious chord clashes, and again, things are just really muddy overall. Hard to distinguish between parts and the volume is low throughout, which doesn't help. At 1:25, another "off" chord. 1:31 finally builds up the volume and texture a little bit into something that sounds good, but it stays close to the original before going into a fake sounding 1:53 section that also feels overly close to the source tune. While I appreciate the stabs at variation and personalization, a lot of the added harmonies just don't sound good. Then, many of the parts from the original are simply left untouched. The mix doesn't really go anywhere with basically no significant percussion, no big changeups, just a lot of repetition. Try to vary things up more and don't feel like you have to use every part from the original as-is. Production on the whole is muddy and most of the instruments sound pretty fake in their sequence. Volume is also too low. Spend more time on the WIP forums and ask any tech questions you have in ReMixing. Good luck w/ future subs. NO

FYI the volume thing can't be easily fixed in Audacity. The track is only 1.4db off from being completely normalized. That's not the "problem" (not sure if it can really be considered a problem), but rather that the dynamic range (or the volume difference between the quietest and loudest parts) is quite large. Compression is a form of dynamic processing that reduces dynamic range, but it's something best left to whoever made the song, rather than using external tools on an MP3. Until then... just turn up your volume.

Heh, yes, those program titles are fun... if you notice my latest remix collab, it's actually sort of a three way pun. The original was "Under Logic". My mix is "Above Reason"... so besides the obvious down->up, there's also the logic/reason thing, but more importantly, "Above Reason" references the fact that tefnek and I made the song in FLStudio. And since we think FL is better than Reason...