DarkeSword

Diggin this. Love the atmosphere; weird synth vs. light piano is really chill. Percussion takes some getting used to at the end there, but I think it works. Nice dynamics. YES

That piano is so plinky. Sounds like a guy playing it with his index finger. Nice vocals. Way better than the last time I heard this mix. You should do the Halo theme. Great soundscape, very nice. I like it! YES

Love this theme, love this game. Interesting ideas, but I feel like your execution doesn't really bring it all together. You've got some weird sound balance issues; the lead sounds really dry and separated from the mix. Those crash cymbals really sort of takeover the whole hi-end when they start splashing like that. Everything sounds tightly compressed together in this mix; very dry, very squished. Could use some opening up. I don't mind your ending at all. NO, resub

I can't seem to hear any of the source in here save for a few small sections. A lot of it seems to be completely original. It's a really cool track, but it needs WAY more source than just that little bit. NO

I like this. I can hear a lot of the source in the rhythm guitars and I think there's a clear connection. I'm not a fan of stopwatching the mix, but I can hear the connection in the chords and rhythm guitar. Most of the "original" stuff is just soloing over the chords anyway. Perfectly acceptable, IMO. YES

Great track, but it's too long and too liberal for OCR. Would love to hear more stuff from you though. NO

Yeah, I'm getting some clipping/distortion too. I like this. It's nicely arranged, good dymanics. Not the greatest samples, but you made 'em work. Conditional YES

Not a bad sound, but Larry's right. It's pretty much the same as the original with just a few elements added and expanded. Not that that makes for bad music, it's just not what OCR looks for. NO

Yeah I can dig what you're trying to do here. I like the slightly off-kilter synths in the beginning, but I think you really tend to overuse those detache strings; they end up making things sound uneven, in a bad way. Everything ends up sounding really PUNCHY; hardly anything sustains. You have the soft notes soft, and the loud notes loud and there's a very close juxtaposition there. I listen to this and I feel like someone is just smacking my head with a hollow stick; it's not painful, but it's just this constant "bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk..." kind of feeling that eventually wears me out. Interesting arrangement, but ultimately I feel that it meanders too much. :\ NO

OH HAI FLSTUDIO! Clipping on the organ when it first comes in. The organ also overpowers everything else, and it's especially evident when the beat comes in. Percussion is really simple and doesn't really have any kind of presence; it's sort of kind of there int he back. Could really use some beefing up. Piano stuff near the end sounds kooky and cool, but comes way too late in the game to make any kind of lasting impact. Needs rebalancing, better percussion, and a little more variation. NO, but not bad

Agreeing with the NO voters. It's certainly a competent performance, but it could stand to sound a little brighter and more focused as an arrangement. Sounds like a great starting point for a MMX rock album or something. You should consider taking what you have and expanding the ideas into fully developed pieces. This piece screams "medley" and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's not really what we look for here at OCR. I personally think it's disappointing when I'm listening to this piece and getting really into like, the Boomer Kuwanger section, but then it switches gears really quickly to something else. NO, but I hope to hear more stuff from you

Really not enough development here. A lot of it is just these long, sustained string statements. I don't think it works because there's not enough going on anywhere else to make it interesting. And this goes on for 3 and a half minutes. The solo violin really starts to become exposed and sound mechanical around 3:10. Something like this could really benefit from broader dynamics. Crescendos, decrescendos, really going on more of a journey with the music instead of just letting it sit there, flat. NO, needs more

Yeah, I can dig this. Love the sequencing and sounds. Great texture, really rockin' synth stuff. Solos are awesome. I like it!!! YES

This a fun track that really plays on the source tunes nicely. I like all the effects and sounds. Great arrangement. YES

Sounds really empty. You've got these really thin, anemic choirs in the background. They're not really helping the soundscape. The dissonance in the piano sounds pretty bad. Falling brass stab sounds way out of place, and you tried to change it up with some strings and harp; unfortunately strings sound really mechanical; weak attack, abrupt release. The attempt at sonic textural variation is too little, too late. And a cutoff ending. Really? NO

Oh man I played the crap out of this game. I'm digging the old-school sound here. It's got a nice groove and some neat processing. Nothing too crazy, but I like it. YES

Drums are really pushed forward, to the detriment of overall sound balance. It doesn't help that they don't really change all that much. Interesting vibe and soundscape, but you need to change up the percussion a liiiittle more. NO, resub

Love the vibe. Don't mind any of the percussion. This is groove central. Strings come in and kill the mix. Very loud, very dry, very bad sounding. You need some better strings. NO, resub Let's get this fast-tracked. Strings are the only gripe I have.

Not a fan of the fakey violin. Could be sequenced a lot better; the sample lacks any kind of definition in the attack it ends up sounding messy. It also sounds thin in the higher registers. The arrangement is nice, but your violin sample is really holding this back. I also think you could scale back the reverb a little on everything. NO, resub

Thanks. Capcom asked me to make it a little more interesting for the new version.

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The pacing of 2 was bad and flyboy West was probably the worst character ever introduced in the series, and it didn't help that he actor playing him couldn't act. Still they introduced some great characters, like Adam Monroe and Elle. Volume 3 tossed consistent characterization to the winds and killed off anyone interesting from Volume 2 (Adam and Elle). They would also introduce an interesting story idea and immediately resolve it (or forget about it) by the end of the episode. They didn't let anything play out; it was constantly shifting gears and had no clear direction. Volume 4 is a nearly complete 180 from Volume 3. They've picked one storyline and they're pretty much sticking to it, which is nice because you don't have to constantly re-adjust to characters deciding they want to be good guys this week instead of bad guys like they were last week. The character development actually makes a little more sense this time around. Plus it has Zircon music, so how can you go wrong? And yes, it's mostly due to Bryan Fuller returning to the show as a consultant/writer (he wrote last week's Cold Snap, which was just amazing). It's almost worth losing Pushing Daisies for. Almost. yes i'm still bitter at you ABC

No, Volume 3 was a year after the writers' strike. It was atrocious.

Volume 2 (Generations) was okay. Volume 3 (Villains) was absolutely horrible. Volume 4 (Fugitives) actually has some direction now, and last week's episode (Cold Snap) was amazing; like as good as some of the best Season 1 episodes. This week's episode (Into Asylum) wasn't as good as last week's but it was still pretty great. It feels like the show is finally back on track after such abyssmal storylines.

Absolutely.