DarkeSword   Administrators 🎮

Really captures the spirit of the Halo soundtracks. I've always enjoyed that tribal+orchestral mesh that's defined the music from those games, and this mix really continues that tradition. The arrangement evolves nicely. I'm not crazy about the sampling of the choir, especially since it's from something unrelated to the source. However, it's not the meat-and-potatoes of the mix; just icing on the cake. God, I'm hungry. Anyway, great mix, though I don't want to encourage other remixers to sample from other media. It's a very tricky thing to do without ending up relying on the sampled material too much. This mix pulls it off well enough, but it's usually just better to avoid it. YES

That's the bass sample Larry. YOU GET THE !!! Larryhate aside, he is correct; things sound far too mechanical here. One of the advantages the piano had over other keyboard instruments when it was developed was that it was capable of producing a dynamic range of sounds, from soft to loud. I'm sure you already know that. So apply it! Every piano note in your piece plays at the exact same velocity. Adjusting velocities is one of the fundamentals of good sequencing. Don't ignore it! Arrangement isn't too bad though. NO

Lotta reverb. Maybe a bit too much? I do like the use of the StarFox 64 samples. That game had some solid voice acting, and the "Let's Rock and Roll!!' did get me a little pumped. Nice. This is pretty good trance. All your standard highs and lows; soundscape and texture isn't anything new, like Jimmy said, but sometimes you just gotta go with what works. Arrangement is nice too. Solid. Starfox fans and trance fans will like it. And maybe some other folks too. I know I did. YES

oooh my ears... It's such a nice arrangement, but in terms of execution, it's like you took a great vinyl and rubbed steel wool all over it. I have no idea how that analogy makes sense, but I'm using it anyway. Lots of production issues here, as Larry and Jesse have already covered. I really like the arrangement, but good sequencing is important, especially with that piano. It sounds too plinky and robotic. Don't get me wrong: robots are awesome. But they are terrible at playing piano, so humanize a bit. NO but resub

Samples in this song are in need of a major upgrade, especially those electric guitars at the end. The sustained strings are a bit too loud and have too much presence. The sequencing is very mechanical, especially in the sax. I'm pretty sure I know what sax sample that is, and you can sequence it a lot better. There's a lot of high instruments in this song; it's really missing low-range and strong mid-range; the only thing really covering that is your sustained string section. Drums sound really weak. The electic piano playing throughout ends up making the soundscape very crowded. The arrangement was a bit aimless, and I felt that the inclusion of "Beautiful Morning" in particular was slapped in. I didn't feel like the chords really lined up properly for that insertion. Chords could have been adjusted, as well as killing the repetitive lead phrase to let Beautiful Morning's melody stand out; there's a reason the title of that song has the word "beautiful" in it. NO

WHOA! Viola + rock = win. I love everything about this mix. Wonderfully mixed, wonderfully performed, and the arrangement just takes two great songs and integrates them seamlessly. NICE WORK YES!

Agreed, though griping about BOW movements is a bit specific, don't you think Larry? It's a sample; it's an attack, not an actual bow movement. YOU GET THE Larryhate aside, I will say that the strings occasionally have a weird pitch modulation going on. Look for a better string sample. I agree that the dynamics and contrast in this song are nearly nonexistent; it sort of just sits there with some left-hand eighth-notes and strings repeating over and over again. This is another song that you just get lost in, but not in that good way. And then it ends. I'd love to hear the piano's range explored a little more. You essentially stuck to the same octave in the left. This might sound like a ridiculously obvious statement, but a piano has a lot of keys. Use them. And don't be afraid to break away from the arpeggios in the left hand. How about some runs, or a strong, syncopated statement of the chords in order to accent certain parts of the melody? There's so much more that you can do compositionally. Take some more chances. Also, don't use so much reverb. NO

Inclined to agree with Jimmy here; when you realize the time signature, everything that initially sounded disjointed locks into place wonderfully. I disagree with Larry about the overcrowdedness; I feel like while things get a bit chaotic, there is enough space for each element. I like this a lot. It's very groovy and develops nicely. YES And I'll thank you all in advance for not accusing me of thirteenbias, kthx.

Sounds like you recorded this in your room, but had the microphone outside the open door. Time issues abounds and the whole thing needs to actually be mixed. This sounds like a mish-mash of sounds (yes, a mish AND a mash). Despite all that, you have made an effort to make the composition your own, and there's a lot of nice ideas here. Very nice ones, actually. Keep practicing, and try to get some better equipment to record this stuff. It'd be nice to see you on OCR one day. NO but don't get discouraged

Yeah the weird stabbing lead has got to go. The piano makes an attempt to be delicate, but ends up sounding like it's being pounded on. Percussion sounds very "flimsy," a word Larry likes to use a lot. Get's repetitive and old fast. You haven't given the sections of the song the attention they deserve; it sounds more like you came up with an idea for a very small part of the song and tried to apply that idea to the rest. The entire second half of the song is so aimless that you get completely lost in listening to it. Not lost in the music in that transporting way, more like "what the heck am I listening to?!" Like Larry said, hit the WIP and Remixing forums. You've got a ways to go. NO

Quite expansive with lots of excellently executed interpretive ideas. I greatly enjoyed the genre grab-bag. It's not easy to successfully meld different styles. Nice work. YES

This is an extremely straightforward genre-adaptation, and that statement alone speaks volumes, so I'm going to keep the rest of my comments brief. There's little in the way of fills in the percussion. I expected more here. The percussion is also very repetitive. I was hoping for perhaps a double-time section where the pace would pick up a bit, but it was just your standard, plodding rock beat. The backing track is limited to sustained chords and a repeating "1+a 2+a 3+a 4+a" rhythm. Come on, you can do MUCH more than that. How about some countermelodies, or having everything lock together to make a powerful, harmonically rich statement? You need to bring more of yourself into the piece. One improv solo near the end, however nice it does sound, doesn't cut it. There needs to be much more in terms of exploration of the melody. Think about how the melody can fit over different harmonies, and how you can change the rhythm of the melody. Terra's Theme is very simple, rhythmically; there's a lot you can do to fill in those empty spaces. Keep at it. NO

Bridge is great and all, but it's completely original, isn't it? I think something that plays on the main chocobo theme or some other song from FF7 might be more appropriate there. A bridge that someone can listen to and say "oh yes, I can hear final fantasy 7 there." Otherwise the Chocobo stuff doesn't sound bad, but I agree it's quite straightforward. I think some more elaboration and rhythmic variation would really help these parts out. NO but resub it

This song feels like it never opens up into something larger. I kept expecting something more expansive to come into play, but it stays very low key throughout the entire piece. The whole song feels like an intro. As stated, it sounds great, but its underdeveloped and far too short. I hate judging songs like these. They sound so great but there's never enough. NO but definitely resub.

There's a GBS of the soundtrack. http://www.angelfire.com/nc/ugetab/Magi-Nation_Broken_GBS.zip

He's going to, this was just the demo.

Prepare to be open minded. A lot of critics have raised very valid points about why the movie isn't awesome. Go in with low-expectations and just enjoy it for what it is.

I saw it last night and I thought it was really awesome. Not superomgamazingawesome, but still awesome. The comedy throughout the entire movie was a riot. It was a nice change from the epic dark LotR-style fantasy that Hollywood is so keen on shoving down our throats. It felt like a return to old-school fantasy movies. Also, Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most beautiful women in the world, and is pretty damn gorgeous for most of the movie; too bad things ended up the way they did. Definitely gonna get it when it comes out on DVD.

Yeah I've played Megamix, it's incredible.

argh its out by i can't play it because i'm at work

A lovely piece of work. Nice job guys.

Might help if you posted some of your own stuff so that people know what you're capable of.

I hit up a YouTube video of the song in question, and while it does have some similarities, I'd hardly say it's the exact same thing; the ending of the remix is just a natural extension of the rest of the song. I believe this is just another case of some listener finding something in a song that isn't there; like how they find Ice Cap Zone in like every single one of my goddamn remixes. Jerks. If someone wants to check an actual MP3 of something off the E.P. go right ahead, but I don't think you're going to find anything.

I thought it was all pretty clever.

Well, that is what I'm here to do.