zircon

A simple Google search would have yielded those answers for you, but; CDxtract = $139 (demo too, which might work) ESC = $87

A sample conversion program, such as CDXtract or Extreme Sample Converter.

My understanding of the precedent we set is, in brief, chiptunes need to have a HELL of an arrangement to pass, because (by definition) their production is going to be very weak. Is this correct?

Larry - I wasn't comparing him to SSH. I was saying that fake guitars shouldn't be discarded, there's a lot you can do with them. But while we're on the topic, in terms of sound balance, SSH's "Merciless Killer" is pretty much mastered the exact same way as this. For the genre it's a VERY common approach.

I agree with Darke here. On the production end though, you've got some flat out generic/BAD samples. There's great stuff out there that's not being used. The drums are overused 808/909 sounds which just have no reasonable place here. Basic synth patches just sort of thrown together, combined with detuning issues between the different synths, make the sounds you have pretty unpleasant to listen to. Everything becomes a mush towards the end with the synth choir and the extra percussion. Arrangement-wise, as Darke said, there's basically no interpretation. That alone is grounds for a rejection. You really have to try to make the remix YOURS not just in the sense of using different sounds you picked out, but actually changing the notes, rhythms, harmonies, adding new stuff, and so on and so forth. It sounds like you're using FL. Check the ReMixing forum and read my tutorials, I think you'll get something out of them. Then, check out some of the other stickied topics and see if you can glean some info from those. NO

The opening chords here don't sit well with me, nor do they seem to fit when they are played after that (with the strings). The drums seem out of place somehow. They're more like big beat or hip hop drums.. I'm not really sure what style you were going for, but I don't hear OTHER elements from either of those genres here. The string samples are also horribly mechanical and it's really obvious when they are played fast. Try to find new ones or sequence them in such a way that they don't sound so fake. In regards to arrangement.. maybe I'm missing something, but I'm hearing a lot of sort of 'wandering' chords that aren't part of the original but ARE just thrown in and are not adding anything. It's really only at the halfway point that I'm hearing a strong theme from the source tune that's obvious. Then it's back to the repetitious stuff from the beginning of the mix, and a fade out. Geez. There's really no cohesiveness at all in the arrangement.. where is it going? Why is it doing what it is doing? I can't figure it out. You don't have a lot of material here, so even though the mix is short, it sounds stretched out and it's not very interesting. Here I would say arrangement is what you have to worry about first. Just rework it. Also, see if you can get a more palatable selection of instruments. You've got an electric piano, clavinet, acoustic guitar, strings, horns.. but none of them fit together! Focus on a particular style and really try and nail it down. After that, tweaking the production issues, like the percussive samples, would be wise. Keep at it. NO

No idea where to find the original for this one.. I'm not familiar with it of course. But speaking from a strictly production perspective, I don't think this would pass. Lots of REALLY basic sounds, simple patterns, and mechanical sequencing. The breakdowns out of nowhere don't really add much, and there's not any motion in the dynamics of the piece. It's a simple progression with a couple other elements like pizzicato strings and a lead on top. The ending is a complete copout. With all of these issues, I can't justify passing this even if the arrangement WAS really great (which I suspect it probably isn't given the simplicity of the mix). NO

Everything seems a little quiet here, especially for an orchestral song in this style. Maybe increase everything about 6db? Anyway, I can definitely hear what you were going for in regards to the arrangement. You've got some good ideas, for sure. However, they need some polish. The repetition of the same basic marcato string motif and chord progression becomes boring very quickly. You tend to rely on the strings for 'power' and energy, while most other instruments stay in the background. For a really dramatic orchestral piece, you want to have lots of different instruments working together, not just one or two. It seemed like there were really no instruments filling out the middle of the frequency range, which was disconcerting. Brasses or winds could have done a good job of that, orchestrated properly. Your samples aren't the best but they seem to have been used well. I don't have any major complaints about the production. The main thing is simply the arrangement, and to a lesser extent, the structure; I think the piece needs more dynamics and a denser texture, as well as a more firm ending. Start with that and you'll be on the right track. NO

Looking at the big picture, this is not far off from the general style that Disco Dan did in his Triforce Majeure remix. However, there are quite a few issues I have with this one. For one thing, up until 1:45 the whole thing is a really basic orchestral cover with poor instrumentation. The production is definitely subpar and there is no real structure outside of the structure of the original. The beat that comes in is completely out of place.. it's just a basic dance beat. Then, around 2:33, we get a new bass instrument and some crashes out of nowhere.. not really adding much of anything. From that point on, there's an attempt at making things dramatic but it just doesn't really work. You really need to brush up on proper production and more realistic orchestral sequencing. You also need to try and work on more interpretive arrangements rather than ones that are very close to the original. The ReMixing forum is the place to go. NO

This one had a bit of a long intro, I thought, compared to some of Mazedude's other stuff which tends to get right to the meat of things earlier on in the song. But once things pick up, this displays lots of strong qualities that are present in his other posted mixes. There's creative drumwork with lots of fills and 'treats' like stuttering, which keeps things interesting, along with well-sequenced and programmed synths and a strong arrangement + song structure. The use of voice samples was pretty creative well, though I was sort of expecting that they'd be more mangled or processed in some fashion. My only two complaints here are production-related. One is that the piano sample is really lo-fi.. very much sounding like a GM piano. It would have been nice to have a higher quality one. The other is that the melody at times (like around the middle of the mix, on the sinewave lead) sounds somewhat drowned out by everything else. However, these things are not major issues. This is a cool mix with everything one would expect from an established artist like Mazedude. YES

Hey, fake guitars can do an awful lot. Just check out SSH - the majority of the stuff you'll hear from that guy is sampled guitar, and he probably uses cheaper samples than you did in this one! Gray will tell you, it's all about the technique. But anyway, that's on a side note. For once, I gotta say, your heavily-compressed approach to production (specifically, drums) works very well here. This is exactly the style of execution I would expect to hear in this genre. The guitars are pretty well sequenced, you've got some nice breaks, a badass bass, and nice drum patterns. I can't quite place my finger on what style this reminds me of, but it's good. I think you've found a niche that really suits you. All your other mixes I've heard had elements that I hear now, but those elements didn't work as well in those other mixes. They DO come together in this one. Way to go. This is good stuff YES

You know, I think I actually listened to the first sub because I still have it on my playlist.. so with that in mind, here are my thoughts on the resub. First of all, everything kind of sounds quieter. In fact, the whole mix sounds pretty quiet. Pump up the volume using compression (reduces dynamic range, allowing you to maximize loudness). Of course, don't go overboard, but I had to turn up my mixer's volume to hear this, which I shouldn't have to do for a remix in the style of this one. Anyway, I think you're moving in the right direction, but there are still a lot of things that could be fixed. For example, there's no motion in that rezzy synth that comes in right at the beginning. Vary that up somehow. Also, the initial high synth is piercing and should probably be slightly filtered in some way. The phasing on the lead is somewhat excessive. The drums aren't that bad, but there's no groove. Sounds dumb, I know, but it's very important. I just had no real sense of of a 'beat' during this mix. Heck, most of the time you didn't even really have percussion going on. Considering how short the mix is, that needs to change. I would recommend focusing a LOT more on the percussion and making a good main groove, and variations/fills on that, rather than what you have now which seems to be completely lacking any sort of base rhythm or pattern. Finally, I would suggest fine-tuning the arrangement more, perhaps expanding it a little bit towards the 3:00 mark. It's a little hard to get a fleshed-out arrangement in less time than that. NO

As per usual, this is a marvelous arrangement. It's intricate, HIGHLY creative, and unique. Simply put, it's the Shnabubula style we all know - though I don't mean to demean it, as every mix I hear is interesting in a different way. The melodic and harmonic variations are just great, as is the technical work and the percussive stuff. So, it's the same question as Shna's figaro mix, pretty much. It's a chiptune, it's got a really good arrangement, so do we let it on? Well.. I think since that decision, we generally came to the conclusion that simply being a chiptune didn't bar a mix from being on the site if it was REALLY well done. There are a FEW things I have a gripe with here (the B section stuff towards the end I think is a little too pitch-bendy) but I feel that's a subjective thing and not really something that should impact my decision. Inevitably, people are not going to like this. But it's a hell of a ReMix. I think I would have liked to hear it as something other than a chiptune, but that's the artist's choice, and he made use of every tool at his disposal within those confines AND made them sound good. I liked the arrangement of Shna's Figaro chiptune just about as much, but the level of technical skill in this mix is higher, and I think a few more interesting things were done overall. Thus, my decision is; YES

Oh ho ho ho.. finally submitting this! I listened to this in various stages, being a regular denizen of #ocremix. I'm sure this'll be sort of a borderline one for the panel given that it's pretty much sadorf's typical style which there have previously been slight disagreements about. From a production standpoint, this is more or less identical to his Fury of the Medusa mix, pretty much. Simple trance synths and drums that get the job done. However, I liked the usage of pads more in that track than in this one; this mix could use a similar amount of filling out from pads and harmony synths/instruments. In addition, the more I listen, the more I think the lead is probably a little too chorused/stacked. The arrangement is relatively simplistic. It's not terribly repetitive given the genre, and the original itself, which was very short. However, there are definitely variations and new stuff has been added. It's a cute little remix that is right around the border.. but in my opinion, it's got JUST enough 'oomph' to pass. YES

Alright; first off, you really gotta try to humanize those drums and make them more interesting. Slap some reverb on them too. They're very mechanical right now compared to the guitar parts which are, of course, all live. My big complaint here is that this mix just doesn't seem to go anywhere. There are sections where it's just very basic guitar riffs - 'noodling', I guess one could call it - and the very mechanical drums. To be completely honest, it's just boring, for the most part. The fact that it's JUST guitar + drums + bass doesn't help. The texture is very sparse, even in the sections that are supposed to sound more full. Also, while the guitar performance was good for the most part, I felt it could have been tightened up a little bit. The recording quality, however, was fine. The arrangement IS interpretive. I'll give it that. However, there are other issues here, primarily with the texture of the song and its structure, that are far too big to ignore. Also, some of the original material added seems 'wandering' for lack of a better word. It's not doing anything, it's just there. If you plan on resubmitting keep these things in mind. NO

Ah, that's the guitar tone I'm talking about! I don't know how one goes about producing it, but it's cool. Anyway, moving on to the actual remix itself.. Clipping! Watch your volume levels, man. I'm hearing some audible clipping and heavy compression. Bring everything down like 16db, put a hard limiter on top, and then slowly bring up the levels to max 'em out as desired. Right now, the bass is very boxy and it sounds like the bass guitar plus the bass drum plus the low end of the guitar is causing problems. If I were you, I'd cut out the lows a bit from the guitar and boost the mid-highs. I'd also maybe pick some different samples for the drums (I'm assuming they're sampled, forgive me if I'm wrong) - the kick is just really muddy. Try one that's a little 'higher' if you know what I mean, less resonant. Bring the snare a bit closer too, it's far back. Arrangement-wise, there's some interpretive value here. That's cool, but keep building up on the original stuff. Don't be afraid to stray from the source song as long as you can mantain a logical (or at the very least, musical) connection to it. Variations and additions are what keeps a ReMix interesting. What you have here is definitely not bad, but the stuff that you have from the battle theme is pretty much a direct cover. Then, you had that great solo section in the middle. More of that, please! We love to hear personalization and a unique style. It's disappointing to hear these good arrangement ideas you have, then it just goes back to the straight-up melody of the original again. Finally, I do have a bit of a beef with the synths. They're sort of irritating and don't have a lot of movement. Take out some of the highs a little bit, put a bit of reverb + delay maybe so that they stand out more without grating on the ear, and then try using modulation + filter automation so that on sustained notes they don't just sit on the exact same pitch or timbre. Keep working on the synth patches and tweaking them. Not bad overall, the clipping issues aside. I'd like to see more work done on this. NO

First time ReMixer, eh? Well.. in that case, try not to take the comments you will inevitably be reading here to heart. The sounds here are OK; you've got the piano, the percussion, the synths. But they are very basic. If you listen to most of the ReMixes on this site (at least the last 500 or so) you will hear that there is more complexity to the sounds. I don't know exactly what tools you are using, but you should do your best to try to get a more varied selection of sounds, and ones that are maybe.. a little more interesting. Check out blind or sgx's stuff for example. They have rhythm patterns just like the one you have in your mix, but they approach it in such a way that it's more layered and dense. I know, it might seem hard to do at first, but it's all about practice. Keep in mind the kind of songs you like, and try to emulate that when you're designing sounds for your mix. You might consider using more instruments also to flesh things out. Pads in the background would be nice to fill up the sound space. I would really suggest ditching the voice samples though. It's cute, yeah (I played as Kirby in SSB/SSBM all the time) but it doesn't really fit in here or add much to the mix. It just sounds kind of goofy. Also, the original material is a good thought, but that too sounds a bit out of place. Try to connect it more to the source tune. In other words, do some variations of the chord progression or the melody. Also, the ending is a little weak - you should try to 'resolve' things more. Overall, this would need a lot more work before it could get on this site. But please, understand that everyone has to start somewhere. My first four mixes were rejected from here and as I'm writing this, I'm smiling because you and your friend are doing the same things I did when I started (my first remixes were made with one of MY good friends). I had the same problems as you. But I'd go so far as to say that this sounds a little better than the first things I did. So just keep at it. Practice, practice, practice. Ask around in our ReMixing forum if you need help on something specific. If you heard a sound that you really liked in a particular mix, PM or send an email to that person and ask them how they did it. I guarantee if you keep working at it you'll improve, and before long you'll have a mix here. NO

Before I start; it's definitely possible to encode with VBR and still have it sound good; take Triforce Majeure for example. I It's a little over 7m and sounds fantastic. Alright - the drum pattern here is really basic trance, nothing out of the ordinary, but it's solid. The changeup with the ethnic percussion is creative. In regards to the melodic and harmonic material - the synth that plays the melody slowly is really lame. You HAVE to do something with the rhythms there, or the timbre of the instrument, to make it more interesting. Otherwise it feels very slow, plodding, and boring. It's only at 2:45 where something with more movement comes in. But come on.. it's the most generic, cliched gated, annoying supersaw I've heard. You can do better than this. There are other synth sounds you can use in trance besides saws. As is this is just REALLY bland - the synth at 3:43 or so isn't all that great either. The arrangement is OK but it's not adding much new to the table. If anything it simplifies the bass + chord progression while drawing it out into a longer trance structure. Not much is being done to vary anything besides that. Towards the end, the repetition becomes very noticeable with no variation in the drums (which, again, are solid but bland) and a LONG outtro that is unnecessary. This is just basic trance. You have to go above and beyond here. NO

This seems very close to the original overall in terms of the arrangement.. even the synths used are quite basic and somewhat similar in timbre. The drums lack any sort of power and are kind of just plodding along. Overall this is pretty much the original, with some very basic interpretive additions. There is hardly any arrangement to speak of (no real ending), and production is very lackluster overall. For this site, we really look for mixes with a high amount of interpretive content; not just an "upgrade" of the original. If you're going for a dance mix, for example, pump up the drums, put some fills in, make the synths more complex, etc. There are a lot of things you can do. Until then.. NO

I like the concepts here. Synth guitar, drums, orchestral stuff, keyboard parts.. recipe for synthrock right there. But the clapping? The brass falls? I dunno, but it sounds like you're just relying on your samples and not putting any thought into cohesiveness of arrangement (eg. where are things going, WHY is this not here) or texture (eg. how do these instruments interact, and is it musical). I have to echo the concerns of the other judges. This is kind of weak and sloppy all around. Look. I suggest maybe cutting back on using all the fancy samples and going back to basics. Really focus on a good, creative arrangement. THEN worry about the sounds. NO

I'm a fan of Mark Vera's stuff. It's a unique style that you don't really hear from any other mixers on OCR, even people who work in an electronic style. The synths, in another context, might be viewed as basic, but I think here they fit very well. It's not just about the timbre of the synth itself. It's about modulation, automation, effects, proper sequencing.. those things really make the difference. But even those things aside, these synths aren't exactly chiptune-style blips and bloops. They're carefully made and sound great. Arrangement-wise, I can see where one might say that it doesn't stray far from the original. I would also say that more could have been done to vary up the chord progression and the structure of the song, as it IS a little on the repetitive side. Nonetheless, I believe it's acceptable given the style, and there's a strong interpretive element here that just can't be ignored. Combined with very smooth production there's not a lot I can criticize in this mix. Great job, I look forward to hearing more subs from you, Mark! YES

WOW!!! Talk about piano technique. We've got some great pianists in this community, but this ReMixer shows a lot of proficiency, and a pretty unique playing style too. Bravo. The arrangement is most excellent as well, with lots of dynamics and emotion. I have no complaints in this category. I will be completely honest. I thought this was a live recording. You had me fooled. I had a whole paragraph written up about how recording live piano is difficult and that it's not a big deal, until I saw that you said you used samples for it! That being the case, there's more you could do to make this sound closer, cleaner, and more full (in terms of stereo width). However, by no means does this hold back the GREAT arrangement and performance. YES PS. Can you provide the sheet music for this? I'd like to try it.

Harpischords naturally sound somewhat "fake" given that they have no sort of dynamics by default. If anything is supposed to sound mechanical sounding, it's a harpsichord. So that doesn't bother me in the least. However, I am absolutely in agreement that it doesn't mesh well with the other instruments. I'm no expert on baroque music, but from what I HAVE heard, the instrumental parts mesh better than they do here. Not a dealbreaker though by any means. The next section with the guitar is an interesting change. I liked where it was going up until 2:15; then, the guitar parts became very mushy. The drums are weak. Once a strong theme comes in at 2:41 it's ok, but the guitar performance and mixing is simply sloppy. The guitar "noises" don't help at all. There's no real connection to any earlier part of the mix, and the transitions across the board don't work. It sounds like there were a lot of ideas but none of them were fleshed out. Rather they were just put in somewhat haphazardly. Finally, the ending is awful. It just putters out without any sort of resolution. PLEASE change that. This needs a lot of polish, primarily in the cohesiveness of the arrangement, and the production. There are plenty of good ideas and no one aspect is particularly weak. More work all around will make this into a passable mix by our standards. Keep it up. NO

For noise removal, get Audacity. Record a few seconds of silence (w/ the noise) and then use the "Noise Removal" function, which takes a clip of the noise, phase inverts it, and copies it across the whole waveform. This will cancel out the vast majority of the noise while adding minimal artifacts. This is what I did with VGDJ before I got a new mic.

JamesL: tefnek is alive and well. Check out www.tefnek.com for his originals, which are awesome to a magnitude I can't even describe. Him and I did another collab as well (from Streets of Rage 2) which you'll be seeing sometime soon, and he's going to be featured on the Final Fantasy 7 remix project.