zircon

I have to disagree with Shnabubula here. I think while some ideas are good, the execution leaves a bit to be desired. I know the mixer is using mostly free samples, but I think they could have been treated better in a lot of cases. For instance, the horns are sort of washed out and get overridden by other instruments - making use of compression and EQ to bring certain song elements into the foreground would be a good idea. The percussion that comes in at 2:47 is just plodding and uninteresting. It's so far back in the mix that it's almost like an added afterthought, plus it's very mechanical. Generally all of the orchestral instruments simply lack brightness or life to them. Use automation, velocity changes, and EQ to remedy this - it's tough, but it IS possible even with free samples. At times I feel like the notes and harmonies aren't quite right, or they just don't fit in. Like some of the chord changes towards the very end don't have anything to do with the original and just seem to be added in there, as if they were part of a piece that was just spliced with the source. Adding original material is fine but part of the challenge of making a good rearrangement is making that original material fit in with what was present in the source. Simply adding over a minute of original stuff with no connection isn't the way to go. Basically, I thought while the arrangement and structure for the first half of the mix were solid, after that it went downhill with unrelated and lackluster material. Perhaps shortening the whole thing and tightening your ideas would help. As for other issues, I had some trouble particularly in the section with the drum n' bass (DrillnBass) stuff. Lots of weird chord changes, brass/string stabs, and synthwork. It struck me as sloppy because I thought it was building up to something, a less sparse section perhaps, but it just dropped out into the orchestral segment of the mix that continues to the end of the mix and doesn't have much of a relation to anything else. Basically, I think this needs more work overall - arrangement, structure, and execution. Nothing is really BAD, but the whole package is still below our current standards. NO

I have to agree with Larry here. In terms of orchestration, sound quality, expressiveness, and realism, this mix is excellent. I can certainly hear your film/game scoring experience shining in that respect. However, despite subtle variations and additions to the source, the overall structure and arrangement of the original is essentially intact in this mix. Expanding on the original by adding original material, new bridges or transitions, or stuff that builds on the melody or the progression would definitely bring this up to the level of individual interpretation that we look for. This is a strong mix in many areas, and though I'm giving it a NO, don't interpret that as me saying the mix is not enjoyable, bad, or amateur. It's simply that OCR really looks for RE-arrangement and "ReMixing" as Larry (Liontamer) said. With a few tweaks this would easily pass. NO

REALLY nice stuff here. This is a keeper. Overall production values are extremely strong, with crisp mastering and dynamics - rhythm section is tight and varied, levels are balanced well against eachother, lots of variation in the instruments and synthwork so nothing gets stale. The real instruments like the piano and strings fit in very well with all the electronic elements, which is often a tough feat to pull off. Finally, effects processing and automation is done tastefully as well. Arrangement-wise this wins too. It's clearly an Elec Man remix, but there's original material, stuff that plays on the progression of the source tune, variation, the works. Structurally I have no problems either - there's a lot of change, action, and motion that keeps the listener interested. I really have no problems with this one. An easy YES

Again, when Blackwing Lair was released, no info was given about it. People are still trying to figure it out, and apparently having a lot of fun doing so. It's like Molten Core was. The thing is, you have people like Gamelor bitching that it's too "well-tested". Then, when bugs come out, or difficulty problems arise (eg. the best guilds can't even get a boss down to 99% after trying for weeks), people bitch. Blizzard can't win.

Eh, I find MC to be fun. It's still challenging for my guild so we wipe a lot of times if we don't have our shit together. It's not farm status. Running 5man instances like Scholo or Strat is often challenging as well, and I certainly have a lot of fun in Warsong and AV (I'm playing my 5th guild CTF game right now). As far as I know, BWL isn't "cracked" yet - even the best guilds are still trying to figure out how to do it. Bliz is very good about adding new, fun content.

The upper levels are the most fun of all. Battlegrounds (two right now, three very soon), challenging instances (5man, 10man, 15, 40, and soon 20 as well), arena PVP, various forms of character-building such as farming for gear or materials for crafting. Professions may seem useless at lower levels, but in actuality they are very useful. First Aid is amazing, for one thing, and Alchemy is great too (at any level). Blacksmithing produces some of the most formidable weapons in the game, such as Dawn's Edge, Arcanite Reaper, and Core Marksman Rifle. Tailoring creates bags, which are useful for ANYONE, as well as some pretty powerful high end robes and cloth gear. Same goes for leatherworking. And all of these things ultimately have epic recipes that are as good or better than similar drops. For instance, Belt of the Archmage is an epic cloth recipe from tailoring and it's one of the best belts in the game. On a good PVP server you will always have some fun PVP encounters, particularly in groups. I can't even count the amount of times I've gone into an instance area like Dire Maul or Blackrock Spire and encountered a full alliance group. Hunting people in areas like Stranglethorn Vale is fun too, if you're into that sort of thing. Though personally, I prefer battlegrounds since they are designed specifically for PVP combat. I've only grown to like the game more and more since I've hit level 60. Once you complete the "grind" you get access to all sorts of fun areas. It's just a blast to be coordinating strategies in Warsong Gulch in real time over Ventrilo as you're playing the game. It's great.

I tried using a peak controller's LFO controlling the pitch of a sample in FL, but that didn't sound so good. I think the ideal way to do it is simply get a better sampler, eg. one with built in LFO functions.

Well.. that's good for FL plugins, but just about all VSTs that generate sound come with some sort of LFO functionality, which can be mapped to the modwheel if it isn't already.

Well.. from what I know of it, using Logic well is a challenge. It's one way to get a lot of grey hair very fast. But it seems like you've at least mastered the fundamentals here - fine execution and production, good variety of instruments and synths, strong presentation overall. This sort of reminds me of LastUnicron's Alisia Dragoon mix, "Halls of Abandonment". Atmospheric with relatively subdued sounds with a chill groove. But I think that mix is more repetitive than this one - here, you integrate melodic variations and lots of cool subtle stuff like soft choir-y pads, reverbed shakers, groove variations, and sound effects. I really enjoyed the mood of this. As far as arrangement , structure, and density are concerned, I think this is on the border. This isn't a massive reinterpretation of the original - it's like a really big upgrade and enhancement. However what differentiates this from a cover is that it also has some good original material that suits the mood and builds on the sound and composition of the original. The structure might not be ultra dense, but there's a fair amount of stuff going on here, and I feel like it does go somewhere - just not in the same direction that a driving rock mix or techno piece might. It's creative and enjoyable new age chill. Good job. YES

Maybe integrated use of CC64?

Yeah, but layer + sampler is no replacement for a fully featured sampler w/ crossfades, velo-layering (etc) like this appears to be.

It's a sampler with all the features that a sampler should have, quite simply. Reason's NN-XT, Logic's EXS-24, Kontakt, Gigastudio, Halion, Machfive.. all have similar functionality.

One nice thing about FL is that the built in plugins are AMAZINGLY CPU efficient and are intended to integrate perfectly. I always use the FL EQ, FL Reverb, FL overdrive, FL sampler, FL slicer (etc) whenever I can over the alternatives. So the addition of new plugins is really like an addition to the host. However, I'm 99% sure they're going to be adding more host functionality as well. They probably just didn't mention the specifics on the list.

Looks awesome.

This is ridiculously minimal in execution, and very close to the original in arrangement. It just sounds completely unfinished. If you want to take this somewhere you have to first of all FILL IT IN.. and please put some processing on that flute! You have reverb on the taiko, the stick, but the flute is 100% mono and dry. Come on. Weak in all areas. Hit the remixing forum and my tutorials. NO

Gray pretty much said what I wanted to. This is far too esoteric, minimal, and sparse for me. Lofi noise, digital distortion/aliasing, random and spastic composition, no structure, total chaos. The interpretation factor is clearly there, but the presentation is just too weird. I don't think I can pass this in good conscience. NO

Err, if you go to the browser, click "Current Project", then "Automation", it'll show all the patterns that have automation.

Got a PM about this. The remixer name is apparently "Junkmonkey" based on the tag.. the PM basically just gave the link and nothing more. It's a remix of the Metroid 1 Title Theme.

I've always thought that Sadorf/Sir Nuts tend to go a little overboard with making their mixes hot and saturated, but I think it's particularly noticeable here. The whole mix is very bright and sizzling - I would have preferred to hear a bass drum that stood out more and lead synths that didn't quite cut through the highs as much. It seemed like basically every sound had tons of high end EQ, from the hats, to synths, to piano, to the clap. At the same time, the stuff below that seemed kind of ignored; there's so much reverb/delay/highend that it drowns out the lower stuff like the bass, kick, and toms which are equally interesting. On a pair of standard computer speakers it doesn't sound quite as bad, but on headphones, it's definitely an issue in my opinion. The synths themselves are well-designed. Nice use of fm7, effects are generally used tastefully. Percussion was good too. A more present bass would have been really nice, though. Arrangement is OK. It keeps focusing on one riff - considering the short length of the original, more time could have been spent developing the other parts of the source. This is clearly an interpretation, but I guess I would have liked to have heard more of the source represented. Finally, structure is sort of mediocre.. mainly because of technical issues actually. Because of the massive level of compression its like everything is on the same dynamic and there's no build or progression. Also, as much as I like breakdowns and interludes, I think the beat could have been more sustained.. it gets interrupted quite a bit. Giving it some time to build up energy would have been nice. Overall, I think this piece shows it's age compared to the current skill level of Sadorf/Sir Nuts. I encourage a resubmit with another look at the mastering and production, and plus maybe a little tweaking of the arrangement/structure. A close call for me, but NO

This is sort of a straightforward mix a lot of the time.. and given the simplicity of the original, that's not necessarily a good thing. The progression was basically kept the same, and the melody is played at the same general tempo with the same rhythms. The organ -> guitar solo are where this gets more interesting. THAT kind of stuff is what I like to hear. But, in my opinion, it doesn't last long enough - in fact, looking at the big picture, I don't feel that there's very much interpretive material. It sounds more like an extended version of the original with a solo and more repetition. The production values are a mixed bag - recording is good, the bassdrum and bass are overcompressed to the point where it seems like they are hard limited to not clip. Panning, EQing, and reverb (etc) are all fine. The addition of the synth was a welcome one.. I would have liked to hear more of that (go fm7!). But I guess that's personal preference. On a technical level this is above the bar. I'm pretty borderline because this is a well-presented mix with some good arrangement points. But I don't think I can pass it until there's a little more of a unique interpretive factor. Please resubmit with more stuff done with the source melody/progression or more original material that mixes well with the source tune. NO

Well, I hate to do it, but I would like to draw some comparisons here to your DKC2 mix as a reference (though my actual DECISION is not based on that). I felt that here you had an overall better grasp of structure and production - the whole thing has good pacing and incorporates a lot of material and variation, staying fresh the whole time. It's not as cut & dry as "Set Sail" either - lots of neat, but subtle stuff going on throughout. At times, I felt like some of the chords and notes clashed, though, such as 3:33 to 4:00. The section after 4:00 also felt a little sparse up until 4:33 with the conclusion that I REALLY love. Overall.. great job on arrangement and structure. Production is A+ too consider what you have to work with. Some of the voicings seemed a bit unnatural, but that's basically my only problem. In my opinion this is a solid improvement over Set Sail, which was by no means a bad mix either! YES

Listening to both side by side, I hear virtually no differences. Instrumentation is changed, barely - they're not even completely different. More like different samples or timbres of the same instruments. Some added percussion and effects, but that's about it. Song structure is identical, rhythms identical, notation pretty much identical, even tempo changes occur at similar points. Sounds like a rip to me. NO OVERRIDE

Oof. Production is both one of the strongest and weakest parts of this at the same time. Really well-executed synths and percussion, but the whole thing has a very weird sort of compression/limiting on it that is causing a subtle, but present, pumping sound that is irritating to me. It's not as bad on speakers, of course, but on headphones it's pretty annoying. Some tweaking of the bass and kick frequencies and compression could really help there. Overall mastering could probably be a little less "hot" and more dynamic.. whole thing is sort of maxed out and it's apparent on the swells and crashes - particularly the beginning. Since this is a heavily electronic song, I feel that production is more important than normal, and that's why I'm sort of nitpicking here. This mix sort of reminds me of bLiNd's stuff.. were you influenced by him? If so, you might consider talking to him for tips on how to create a better overall mastering that's not quite so saturated. Finally, the strings/synth strings and piano that come in towards the end really don't sound that great. However, as I said, lots of aspects of the production ARE quite good, particularly on the synth end. Structurally this mix has a lot of breakdowns for an upbeat dance song of not even 5 minutes. Also, there's no climax of any kind - I was expecting a final run after 4:00 or so, but nothing happened. Not even that much of a resolution. Come on! You have some seriously adrenaline-pumping elements here, and then you just let it ebb away in the breakdowns and the ending. Come up with something a little more fulfilling there! This brings me to the arrangement, which is obviously derived from Super Metroid, but it's really right on the border of having enough material. We do encourage the addition of original material to a mix, but injecting the source into a body of original work is not quite what we look for. I think if you just tweaked some of the original sections to draw more from the source tune and progression, that would really help. This is an enjoyable trance remix. No doubt about it. But I think it has some minor technical problems, as well as some slightly more serious structural and arrangement problems, that should be addressed before I can pass it. Please resubmit. NO

Atmospheric pads? Well.. as a little hint, I will be working with Bela D on such a library. In fact, two libraries, with different moods/styles for both. Formal announcement later

There are relatively cheap ethnic libraries out there, but I'm not sure if they have bagpipes. Look for Ethno World I (www.soundsonline.com now has it on sale) and World Traveler, among other. I don't think those are more than $100.