zircon

I have to agree with Larry here. While there's some mean shredding going on, and the performance is tight, those don't make up for the (lack of) arrangement. Production is not a big deal to me. The grunge style is cool; I know a lot of songs that pull that off well, and I think this could be one of them. However, this sticks VERY close to the original (which is direct sampled under the mix), too close really for the mix to be considered an OCReMix by our standards. Some solos in there, change ups in the chord progression, a more substantial intro + ending... any of those additions would be great and would put this significantly closer to our bar. I'm a fan of your stuff; even if this one doesn't make it, keep it up. I'll keep listening. NO

Kanthos, one last thing I forgot to mention. You can also write a whole piece using small soundfonts rather than QLSO, and then once your arrangement is done, load up QLSO part by part, tweak each thing one at a time to perfection, and then continue that way until you've replaced all the soundfonts with good stuff. This can save memory/CPU while you're still working on the song; a stage where preserving inspiration and ease-of-use is critical.

Ah man, you're right. Wow, I lose on two counts. I guess no Double Dragon love from me... I admit, I only played the game a couple times.

Glad you guys liked the stinger We were worried it might have been too random, but it was so much fun to do that we ended up using it anyway.

Friiiiiday night! And we're feeling fine! But now it's Saturday! And it's time for.. Episode 058 of VGDJ! Pick it up at www.vgdj.net! This one's definitely king-size, weighing it at just over an hour... but don't worry, we've got more than enough content (including a big ol' interview with bgc) to keep ya occupied. ENJOY!

Unfortunately, I have to agree that this is a NO OVERRIDE. This takes the basic arrangement of the original piece and upgrades it to MIDI-ish instrumentation. I would argue that the feel of the original was actually a little better than this, even, because the sounds are so basic and plain here. Other than these production changes I did not hear anything significant that could be considered rearrangement. Simply adding material and re-playing the original on different instruments does not cut it for our standards, as Liontamer pointed out. I suggest running your mixes by the people over at the Works in Progress forum here on this site before you submit, and provide a link to the source tune too.

FL's "Smart Disable" works like this; if the instrument has been inactive for more than 4 seconds, it disables processing on the plugin, thus conserving CPU. This means you can work on an enormous project part by part without your CPU being stressed by inactive parts, but at the same time, you can go back and edit those other things at any time. Of course, if you play everything at once, you're going to be just as lagged as without Smart Disable. However, if you want to listen to all the tracks without being able to edit them in real time, I don't see why you wouldn't just render them.

There were some basic instrumentation changes here - percussion was added in some spots, for example, and some notes were changed to other instruments. However, a handful of changes like that definitely aren't enough to qualify as an OC ReMix when the arrangement is virtually identical to the original in every meaningful aspect. Gotta agree with the NO OVERRIDE here.

The FL 6.3 beta supports VSTi smart disabling, which is as good as freezing since it does it automatically w/o bouncing to track.

Well, bouncing down completed tracks to audio (or even high-encoded MP3) is advisable if you're running low on memory. I had to do that with about 16 different parts in the DotH mix. Also, when I was done with, say, the vocal part I exported all of it, bounced to a new project, deleted all the vocal tracks + plugins, and then imported the WAV of just the processed vox. There's no reasonable way of loading samples mid-song, as far as I know, with good samples. However, it's always a good idea to see if you can get away with lesser-quality samples if possible. No reason to use QLSO for a big sustained string part in the background if you can use Cadenza Strings. It's only when the samples are exposed that you gotta be careful.

Well, for one thing, there was a TON of stuff going on in that mix. As pixie can attest, the project was so big that it took at least 10 minutes to load, 20 to render, and I couldn't play back ANYTHING in real time at all at any buffer setting. It was insane. Different parts of the song generally had different textural choices, and I built it around the vocals w/ pixie's guidance. Take those away and it wouldn't sound as full or as interesting. Generally, I used a lot of pad-type sounds and percussive layers (sometimes up to 10 or more at a time). Lots of doubling and layering, especially in different octaves. So, that all being said, what exactly are you asking about your own stuff? How do you pull off lots of instruments at once witout sounding muddy? How to load a lot of stuff without killing your computer? Be a little more specific and I think I can help.

Because... it is! "Fivepad" from the Pro-53 VST. Why reinvent the wheel, I say.

Of course!

Thanks for the comments about your headphones. I really appreciate it. Fantastic mix - will be reviewing it on VGDJ in a little more depth. But suffice it to say I'm always impressed that DS uses the most basic of tools and continually puts out incredible ReMixes. Every time he releases something like this, it's something else I can point to when people complain about their gear not being good enough.

Stormdrum is a great product. It's expensive, but it will definitely fulfill your needs for big, booming percussion. It also has a lot of really good acoustic AND electronic drumkits, surprisingly, as well as a fairly strong selection of small percussive instruments. I use it all the time. The Intakt loops are useful, but somewhat recognizable to any other Stormdrum users because they're so distinct. You gotta be careful w/ em.

Yeah, gonna agree with bgc here that this is more or less a straight up trance adaptation. Reminds me of old-school trance mixes from the early OCR days; nothing egregiously wrong with the structure or production, but a very conservative arrangement. Our current bar for arrangements is quite a bit higher than it was; you gotta do more with the source tune via melodic/rhythmic variations, chord changes, addition of original material, and so forth and so on. Simply adding trance transitions, an intro, and an ending is not enough. You're welcome to play the theme straight up a few times and use that as a base, but you have to branch out from there. You did at least change the sound that played it, which was good. bLiNd, Sir Nuts, sadorf, and sgx are all OCReMixers who work in a trance style. If you're still out of ideas, try listening closer to their mixes and see what they did there (compared to the original tunes) to make it on to the site. As far as production goes... again, no major issues. The volume levels and frequency balance sounded fine, too. However, I'd like to point out a few things that could use improvement. One would be the percussion. The sounds used for the drums are incredibly cliche throughout the entire thing. At the very least throw in some sort of switched-up loop on top later on in the song, or put in a breakbeat somewhere. Anything to break up the 'four on the floor' groove that's going on the whole time. Not to say that you can't use that for the majority of the whole piece; you can. Just don't rely on a basic pattern with basic samples for the entire remix. Generally speaking, the synths got the job done, but were also not too creative in their design. 'Plain' would be the word I'd use to describe them. Add some spice to 'em - try different synthesizers, add more effects, perhaps some automation, layering with real instruments, stuff like that. Every little bit counts. If you don't know where to start, there are plenty of synth nuts on the ReMixing forum here at your disposal So, to summarize, I would first suggest reworking the arrangement to expand on the source tune more. Not just playing it on trance synths w/ a beat under it, but something more. I would also try to be a little more creative with your percussion and synths. It seems to me like you know how to use your tools well, and you're capable of putting together an enjoyable trance structure. Now you need to kick everything up a notch. Good luck! NO

File: Contact Info Remixer Name: Latency Real Name: Caleb Guenther Email: apok@theshadowsun.net Website: http://www.theshadowsun.net ReMix Info Name: Mechanized Game: Command and Conquer Songs: Target (aka Mechanical Man) Comment: After seeing the VG arrangement community grow over the last few years, I was pretty disappointed in the lack of remixes of the Command and Conquer series, so I decided to see if I could get a CNC movement going on in the community by creating a Techno/Trance of the infamous "Mechanical Man" track of the original Command and Conquer game.

Again, if you don't believe me, test it yourself. Compare the CPU on a single note with a 20 note chord.

The arrangement is indeed pretty strong overall. I feel like there are a good amount of dynamics from section to section. Execution is really the weakest area, with the samples sounding too exposed in several different sections (where they're soloed). The percussion and strings are both pretty solid, but the brass staccatos and the woodwinds are generally not so great. Those can be really hard to nail down with samples, no question about it, but I'm confident that there's good stuff out there for free. Might want to talk to blizihizake, or if you can't get ahold of him, consult w/ people on the ReMixing forum. If things are still sounding unrealistic and mechanical even after a sample upgrade, consider writing the parts differently to accomodate - for example, layering brass and string marcato hits. Also, while the quality of the string marcatos was mostly good, you had some riffs that sounded somewhat mechanical. Try going back to those and alternating velocites more (or even samples) to achieve a more realistic effect. Anyway, I feel like this is on the border. The arrangement has no major problems and takes a fairly interesting perspective on the original, but the execution falls slightly short. You're close, just keep at it. NO

Haha! That is my plan, actually. I'll sub it via email like any other ReMixer and we'll see what happens.

I was a little put off by the intro here, I admit. The pitches not being entirely stable was not something I was expected, however as the mix progressed I got into the feel more. I'm still not 100% comfortable with the tightness of the performance- I think a little more precision on the rhythms and pitches would have been good, but it's not a huge concern. I'm going to disagree on the drum samples, though. Except for parts where they're exposed one piece at a time, they're serviceable. Maybe the open cymbal/ride could have been softer. Really though, the drum sequencing itself was VERY good so I think that made up for the sample quality being not the greatest. The synths were probably the weakest point of the production. I thought they tended to be overly basic and uninteresting, but since they weren't spotlighted, this problem wasn't a killer. On a side note, this sounds pretty damn good for a 112kbps CBR mix - I'd imagine it would be even better as VBR. I think this mix is more than the sum of its parts. Maybe the drum samples aren't the strongest and the performance isn't as on-target as it could possibly be, for example, but all together it's a very 'human' feel that I like. The arrangement doesn't suffer from medley-itis thanks to the additive original material, so while no ONE part is a standout, the track as a whole is very solid. Props, and I hope to hear more from you in the future. YES

Relying on that one riff from the original - verbatim - isn't the best way to lead off the arrangement, in my opinion. Considering the source starts that same way and you use the riff a whole lot of times, I would REALLY encourage some variation there. Whether you change the rhythm, the melody, or the underlying chord progression, anything would work to break up the repetition there. The parts where you bring in the heavier rhythm guitars and lead are a welcome change, and the panning at 2:01 to the beat is pretty awesome. So, you've got some good ideas in here for sure. However, they're not expanded on enough. The original might have been simplistic but you're allowed to add your own material and make more significant changes. In fact, it's encouraged. Also, 2:36 is a little on the short side, even for a source that is brief - if it's going to be that length, at least write a proper ending rather than an abrupt cutoff. The production and the performance were both sounding solid to me. I think the main thing here is just a deeper interpretation. You're on the right track. NO

Yeah, Larry basically covered it. This borrows heavily from "Beyond the Wasteland" to the point where I think if you took out that element, and took out the direct sampling from Crazy Motorcycle, you wouldn't be left with a significant arrangement. On the other hand, you DID have some real solid interpretive stuff going on. For example, 2:28 to 3:36 or so was excellent. If you had applied that level of interpretation throughout the track this would have been a lot less questionable, but you kept coming back to that string riff from Beyond the Wasteland. If you changed up that riff to something similar, but not from Advent Children and replaced the direct sampling with some basic arrangement of the theme, you'd be good to go. The production here rocks, and the structure is great. Now, just fit those things into a true OCR arrangement. NO

The production of this mix is definitely the killer. Right off the bat, there's a highly mechanical piano w/ delay that still sounds very sparse. The plucked synth (Sytrus preset?) is very muddy and overrides nearly everything else. There's very little attention paid to sound balance between the different parts, volume and frequency-wise. You gotta work on that so the different song elements sound distinct. Cut down on the reverb/delay usage across the board as it's more or less overwhelming. The drum samples are standard electronic fare and I'm not sure they really fit in with this genre. I would try an acoustic kit instead and work on sequencing more humanized drum patterns. If you're not sure where to start, the ReMixing forum is the place to go. Vig brought up some good points about the instrumental sequencing being unrealistic, so I won't repeat those. Arrangement is relatively simplistic when it's actually dealing with the Gerudo theme. I'm hearing some weird notes throughout - some points include :10-11, :37-39, and 1:00-1:04. I would take another look at those sections. The introduction is really uninteresting because it's so simple; you can be more daring before entering in the main Gerudo theme. I do appreciate the stabs taken at creative interpretation with the theme and chord progression, so I think you're going in the right direction there, but what's holding you back is that you're not giving yourself enough tools to work with. At most you're only using four parts; drums, bass, piano, and lead, which doesn't give you a lot of room to be creative. Not only that but you don't even use all four all of the time. Adding additional instruments will give you more options, provided you are careful when EQing and mixing them. Good effort for a first submission, so don't be discouraged. It takes practice to learn how to fine tune an arrangement and get a good hold on proper production values, but that's why we have two forums dedicated to helping people out with that. Make use of 'em and keep practicing. NO

It's time for the weekend, and we got your hookup: Episode 057 (Flow Basket part 2) of VGDJ has been released, and is now available at www.vgdj.net! If 056 could be compared to a grilled chicken sub, 057 would be a 16 inch meatball sub on garlic bread with extra cheese. Yeah, that's right, I went there. Anyway, we had a lot of fun recording this one, so hopefully you'll all get a kick out of it - and of course, there's also the second installment of the Flow Basket included for all you aspiring ReMixers out there... (the white text about the canopy is a little hard to read, but it's there!)