zircon

Lots of talent trees are useless in PVP. If I spec 30/21 Disc/Holy, and I spec a certain way (to maximize healing power) I basically lose all PVP ability. No improved mana, no improved shield, no martyrdom, no power infusion, no blessed recovery, no improved holy crit, no spell warding.. the list goes on.

Yeah, the synths and samples here definitely aren't all that bad in and of themselves, we've accepted stuff with lesser production values. However, the arrangement is exceedingly simple. By :41 it's already going back to a repetition with no big changes. It seems like there wasn't a lot of source material to go with as it's more or less repeating a lot of the same motifs. 1:12 introduced a nice harmony pattern; do more of that stuff, it keeps it interesting. At 1:27 though we're back to that same pattern again and it's not getting changed up. More repetition after that and then a fade out. You see the common theme here, right? Need more variation, less repetition, or if you're going to repeat, at least change the layering so that the texture of the song gets denser. Your samples/synths are not bad so just put them to good use and you'll be OK. NO

As far as I know, this guy uses mostly GPO which is actually a pretty solid sample library when used well. I've heard some great stuff out of it. I'd say that it's not being used POORLY here, but perhaps not to its full potential. This is strictly speaking in terms of the production values. However, I've heard much worse and I think this passes our bar in that area so it's not a primary concern to me. In terms of arrangement and structure this is somewhat reminiscent of Israfel's style. It's definitely not huge and dramatic the whole time but it's not supposed to be. The thematic variations are good, as are the transitions, and the piece as a whole flows well and has a solid form. No complaints in that area. It's refreshing to hear a relatively unique approach to orchestral mixes like this, good job. YES

There's really no need to add extra classes. The additions to existing classes in the expansion should account for that. I mean, if you think about it, thanks to talents/gear you can really make a variety of different characters. A Protection Warrior w/ full Wrath is significantly different than a dual wield Fury warrior with all DPS gear. A Holy/Disc Priest is at the opposite end of the spectrum as a Shadow Priest with +dmg gear in Shadowform.

Oops, the background music list was mistakenly edited out - I just put it back in. However I didn't think to include the one used in the stinger (we usually have random music or none at all for that stuff). But in this case, I deliberately chose the song "Spit" by John Murphy, which was also used in Apple commercials for several years.

WAR! Huah! What is it good for, absolutely noth- wait, oops, that's not what I was supposed to do.. uhh.. what I meant to say was; VGDJ episode #042 has been released, and is now available at WWW.VGDJ.NET! A bit shorter than last week, but thoroughly amusing - I guarantee it!

With endgame gear, Druids are on equal footing with other healers. They have so much mana regen and +healing, typically, that they can do ridiculously efficient heals. That's ideal when you're spamming on an MT. However, in a PVP situation, you want maximized HP/S with a small chance for interruption. Priests are best for this w/ Flash Heal spam. Shamans can do it nearly as well (though they rarely do), and Paladins as well to an extent.

Compression can do it. But I think the problem is that some frequencies are making it harder to max out the perceived loudness. You tend to use ridiculous amounts of rumbling bass/drums (from what I've heard) and so that's taking up all your headroom. Some selective EQ will really fix that, or different timbral choices.

Are we talking perceived volume, or ACTUAL volume level (like.. -16db vs 0db)?

Lots of old-school/lofi sounds.. I guess that was intentional, but the intro wasn't pleasant. The synths are simple across the board also. However, the automation work with the legato lead was really impressive and served as a nice centerpiece, in my opinion. In terms of arrangement, things seemed pretty 'bleh' until 1:51. At that point, EVERYTHING picked up. This was the turning point in the mix for me. The actual arrangement got more interesting, the sounds flowed together more, the drums were more groovy.. etc. I really have to emphasize it, the whole song is just a lot better after that point, though the ending is a bit abrupt. Good job overall. I like the structure, the creative synthesis/sound design, the beats, the whole deal. My only major criticism would be that the intro is probably a bit too long considering that it's a bit grating. But that's just my opinion. YES

usmc2hard4u; Here's another link to the instrumental. http://www.zirconstudios.com/Lover%20Reef%20(Instrumental).mp3 And it's always good to know we're being appreciated by people in our armed forces.

I gotta say this does seem pretty messy.. did you use a metronome or click track or something to that effect? The intro section is really off in terms of the guitar rhythms. The parts drift at times and contrast sharply with the very mechanical drum sequencing. The bass is sort of lost in the mix as well. I also noticed the guitar/bass panning seems weird at times (particularly the bass). I would really work on trying to get a tighter performance down and then focus on making a realistic rock drum part. You can always look around for drum loops also and then write your own fills into them, if you feel like your sequencing abilities are not up to snuff. The arrangement of the song is very simple. It's a simplified medley, with no real melodic or harmonic additions. All the chords are basically the same, all the rhythms.. it's essentially a cover. Covers are fine but that's not what we look for here. You really have to go OUT of your way to try to make the mix interpretive. What sets this apart from the original versions, if you just wrote down the notes on paper (in other words, ignoring the instruments used)? Not a lot. That's very important to consider. I really like your guitar tone btw. Now build on that.. NO

Larry broke a lot of this down part by part so I think I'll go with a more "big picture" vote here. Before I begin though, I will say that the original is kind of boring and doesn't have a very strong melody at all. However there's lots of material to go off of, so I'd expect that your arrangement would be pretty good. From a production standpoint, the non-wah electric guitar and the drumkit remind me a lot of Queens of the Stone Age. It's very up close, not over-reverbed or delayed. The sound gets the job done well. I didn't really like the wah-guitar stuff on the other hand, and I thought that in some sections, stuff seemed overly crowded in an unmusical way (don't get me wrong, I love wall-of-sound stuff most of the time). The addition of organ and harpischord was nice and it made the mix more flavorful overall. The soft electric piano was another good addition. I kind of was expecting to hear some other instruments, like maybe some strings, but I guess not. In regards to arrangement, I'm not pointing out specific times, but I heard some harmonies between the different parts that just sounded off. Maybe this was performance error or just weird writing, I'm not sure. However, in my opinion, it did detract from the mix a bit. I will echo Larry's sentiment that there are problems with the transitions. The different sections just didn't flow well together, to me. Looking at the structure of the entire song, there IS some sort of form and definition, so I don't have a problem with that. This is a tough one for me. The individual elements aren't really problematic, for the most part. The production is pretty good and the arrangement is pretty good. But listening to this a few times, I simply can't shake the feeling that it seems "unpolished". Some of the guitar parts seem a little off-rhythm and sloppy, there are overly-cluttered sections, transitions are kind of weak or at times nonexistant, and so forth and so on. Ultimately, I think I am going to have to go with a NO vote. There are just a lot of little things that add up and make this a lot less enjoyable than it could be. If you could tweak this just a bit it would be over the bar, in my opinion.

This really seems very close to the original overall. Most of the patterns and motifs used are similar. However your production is pretty weak. The drums aren't well-mixed, for one thing, and the groove lacks power - doesn't really seem like a dance pattern. The section at :48 is VERY messy. Too much stuff going on there, lots of reverb, lots of instruments in the same frequency range. You have to clean that up. 1:11 finds a more constant groove (though it's very generic and there's nothing interesting in the way of the snare/clap/hihat action). Past that it's basically just repetition. There's no way you can make an engaging arrangement in only 2:05 when you're repeating stuff over and over. Needs a lot of work mainly in the production areas, but once you finish that you need to think of ways you can personalize the arrangement. NOT just in terms of sounds, but changing rhythms, tempo, melody, harmony, chords, etc. Our ReMixing forum is where to go for that. NO

Lots of mixes are posted to this site that don't have great quality samples. Look at Rellik's latest mix, it's all FL default stuff. Chthonic's is pretty much the same way. Not to mention Dr.Fruitcake's mixes, and so forth and so on. I really don't think people like pixietricks or GeoffreyTaucer (or the other 4-5+ people who had a problem with the string sample, myself included) are saying that samples have to be perfectly realistic for a good song. That is obviously false. However, I think in this case, most people feel the sample is just not being used well, for whatever reason. As you should know, the same quality samples can be used by multiple people, and different results can be achieved. Whether it's through different methods of sequencing, different approaches to production, layering, mastering, or whatever, it's just a fact. I think the good majority of people liked this mix. I definitely liked it. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean there still might not be a small problem with it.

No, you're hybrids by virtue of the fact that you can shapeshift. You can turn into a tank at any time, capable of withstanding massive damage (at times, better than a Warrior), a versatile combat healer w/ a few CC spells (root/sleep) and a few offensive ones, or a roguelike DPS class with stealth. You don't even need to have a particular set of gear to be able to do these things. This is not so with Priests. If we want to do Holy damage or Shadow damage with more than 200 or so DPS, we need to SPEC for it. And I mean spend 31+ points in related skills. Likewise, Transcendence is 100% useless for any sort of holy or shadow damage. We have to change our gearset entirely to be able to do anything there. Even if you're not feral specced or geared, you can still run a flag, you can still hold a flag, you can still stealth, you can still heal, etc - all relatively well. No, trust me, it's not easier. If I go in as 31/20 spec (pure PVP healing) I really can't do anything but.. heal and take damage. The Druid thing is completely false. I am exalted with all 3 BGs and have done countless hours of PVP, and I've played with a LOT of good Druids. Not one of them only stays in one form the whole match. They are constantly changing forms. Need to run a flag? They stealth in w/ catform, dash, turn into a bear, keep going. They pop out to heal themselves as necessary, sleep another druid (or pet), rejuv themselves, root someone, etc. Then they go back to bear. Or in a situation like AB which has larger combat situations, they can be spamming heals on someone in caster form for a bit, throw a root off, then as Rogues come in to try to fight them, switch to bear and tank. That is the very definition of a hybrid! Right, this is exactly my point. Just like no good Warriors I know go all out +defense (even though they CAN be tanks), most of the best PVP Druids I know do not focus on Feral gear, but healing, stamina, and +armor. This is because they know their role as a support class, flag runner, and healer, that they will be focus fired, etc. I can't say I've ever really seen any good Druids I know running around in cat form trying to DPS people. The ones that do, do it for novelty purposes, primarily - I've gone toe to toe with BWL/AQ-geared feral druids and they're a joke compared to similarly-geared Warriors and Rogues. They're WAY better off performing their role as hybrids, which can be anything depending on what the situation requires.

Yeah, but you're hybrids, thus you get hybrid gear. Hell, even the Priest set is hybridized; it's not pure healing, it's not pure shadow damage, it's not pure regen.. it's a mix. That's the point of it. It's like a Warrior complaining their PVP set doesn't have +15 defense on every piece.

Warriors own hard because their itemization is superior to basically all other classes.

I don't think you guys lost much AP. I'm pretty sure you gained some nice stam + armor though. Druid PVP != Feral DPS..

No, I don't think they UPGRADED the weapons; they did, however, add 5 new ones, if I recall correctly. Two 1 handers, two offhands, and a 2h mace.

Yeah, the upgrades look GREAT. They made the Priest set actually worth using, for both DPS AND pvp healing (more armor, stam, mana regen). Fantastic. And they added HWL caster weapons!!!

Also; freezing trap is DEFINITELY your friend. You can kite people indefinitely with it and Feign Death. If you see a caster, your pet should be on it. It makes it harder for them to cast spells. Priests are your #1 priority; their self-buff gets diminished as your pet hits it. Viper Sting on every Priest you see.

Simply because it can support bitrates/sampling rates that high doesn't really say anything about the actual build quality, which is what really matters. There's no good way to quantify that either, as far as I know - just as many mics have similar-looking frequency responses and specifications, they can still have wide variances in price because of the build quality.

369 square km and we couldn't find a single arcade or music store that was open.

Yeah. But just so you know those guys do a sale like that a good 5 times a year at least. So don't feel pressured to spend NOW as they'll be doing one several times throughout the year.