DarkeSword

I believe Dave mentioned that spotlights will be a permanent fixture on the front page, and eventually will be randomized and/or rotated.

Brass sounds really fake man. I realize that brass is hard to sequence, but its so exposed here, with nothing to balance/hide it. This whole arrangement is suffering from medlyitis; each section sounds tacked onto the next for no reason other than for variation's sake. I would love to see each and everyone of these arrangements fleshed out to their own piece; they can certainly stand on their own as interpretations, but as it stands right now, I think there are too many ideas and not enough development. Percussion throughout this song is perfect, except for the Sonic 2 ending part. I didn't like the odd distorted sound. The Ice Cap Zone section is probably the weakest (shut up larry). You need better samples man; that harmonica isn't hacking it; it's got a weird syncopated rhythm. This medly ends up being less than the sum of its parts; I'd love to see a series of remixes that expand on each section of this piece, rather than having them all mashed together. NO

Gotta agree with Harmony on this one; the lower register gets really muddy and bleeds together. It sounds like a mish-mash of bass notes. As much as I like the dark sound, the piano really needs to be EQed so that the higher frequencies come out. The song has a nice flow though; good dynamics. NO

This is way too close to the original. Saxophone samples don't mesh well together, and the sequencing for them is terrible; very mechanical. Underneath I don't really hear a lot going on. It's very sparse harmonically. NO

OMG FFVI IS BETTER GO DIE NOOB er. Okay the intro is killing me. Why does it go for so long without an inkling of percussion/bassline? Where's the support? All of the instruments are mixed together pretty badly too; not enough balance! Everything is splashy. When the bassline finally comes in its too loud and has too much reverb. Oh, and the percussion is a drumloop included with FruityLoops. Now, there's nothing wrong with using a premade drumloop, in my opinion, just so long as you do something interesting with it, like slicing it up and retriggering it in different sequences. But don't just drop it under whatever you have. Put some effort into your percussion. The entire song itself is pretty close to the original too. I think this is a fairly solid NO.

I dunno about that; I'm not really into the programming stuff with FL; I just use it as a sequencer to play my external samples. Zircon is the one to go to if you want to know more about synthesis with FL. Anyway, yeah, the percussion is FruityLOL! Pretty weak percussion samples man. At least process them with a little reverb/EQ. Better yet, scrap them altogether and get some better percussion samples. The arrangement is standard FL newbie-who-knows-how-to-compose-but-not-produce fare too; lots of pyramiding, with interesting rhythmic ideas killed by lack of decent sounds, dynamics, skillful sequencing, etc etc. It's a good start; certainly better than my first FL song, but you still need to practice more with FL and start using some better sounds if you want to produce something that will really shine. Check out the remixing forum; there's a plethora of links there. NO

There's a great ambiance here; the texture is really smooth, so +1 for you. Everything is pretty groovy going though the song, but like the other judges, I felt that the leads were pretty weak, and that there wasn't enough going on in the background to support those weak leads. Hand percussion sounds good though, so +1 for you. I'd love it if you beefed up some of your sounds in this piece; everything sounds thin and sparse. The arrangement is nice though, so +1 for you. In the end, you're left with +3 and a pretty sparse mix. I don't really judge with points in mind; that whole +1 thing was just a running theme. Hopefully you can appreciate the humor? Anyway, work on the sparseness issues and try to beef up your sounds. Thicker sounds with more presence would really help this piece. NO

Well I really like this. I think RTF has done an excellent job with bringing originality to the Hydrocity theme without sacrificing what makes the original so great. I love the percussion; it does what good percussion should do: it interacts with the other elements in the song. The arrangement is constantly changing, I love the section at 4:08. SOOOO chill; the bassline is perfect. Some of the samples and sequencing in this piece are raw and mechanical, but I think that adds to the piece's charm. There's no pretense at reality here; this is raw, synthy breakbeat stuff through and through, with more than enough variation. A bit long, but nothing that kills the mix. I give it a wholehearted YES!

Hey, I really like this arrangement. It's pretty unique and it has some nice interpretive ideas. I love the meter change, like Shnab mentioned; pretty smooth transition. I'm in agreement though that the primary detracting element of this mix is the mechanical sequencing. This really needs a human touch; as is stands now it sounds like everything is pretty much the same velocity. Without the human touch, there's no emotion, and without the emotion, the song is dead in the water. I recommend spending more time adjusting velocities and trying to give the piece a more organic feel. Right now it's very rough and mechanical, which doesn't work for the instrumentation you've chosen. NO

Maybe I missed this, but are we going to be notified indiviually when our wave masters are needed?

SOC do the meta-knight track.

This project has demonstrated sufficient progress in all aspects. It has been moved to Site Projects. Welcome, and good luck.

I must be listening to a completely different song that Shnabubula is listening to, because this is incredibly similar to the original. It follows the progression of the original song verbatim; there is nothing in the way of expansion as far as phrasing is concerned, and I really don't hear the alterations to the chord progression that Shnab mentioned, though I could be wrong. Either way, the song is much too similar to the original as far as phrasing, instrumentation, and mood goes. You could superimpose this into the game without any alteration at all, and it could pass for a Mitsuda upgrade a la PSX remake. The production, sequencing, and samples are fantastic, and it really pains me to have to reject a song so wonderfully produced, but as far as OCR is concerned, it lacks the crucial element: strong reinterpretive ideas. You seem like a very talented musician; I would love to see you submit work that has more of your own original style incorporated. Play with the melody and rhythmic ideas, change up the feel, etc etc. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, given your obvious skill level. I hope to see more from you. NO

Yup, but expect one of yours up soon too. OMJesus, stop patting each other on the back!!!~ It's ok Larry, it's normal to be jealous of camaraderie. Larry has no friends. Anyway I never commented on this soundtrack. Great, professional job all around, though dark music like this doesn't really suit my tastes, so I probably won't listen too often. Still, pretty solid.

Alrighty! The week is done, so I'll be moving this thread back to WIP. If you're a mixer on this project, please help Shael with finding remixers, and if you're able to, try and take more than one track. Good luck everyone.

In defense of the original, it's more of a minstrel's ballad, which is why it doesn't sound as epic. Its suppose to sound more like a fairy tale than an epic legend.

AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!! Anyway, you can't directly sample the song like that and add beats to it. That's not what we do here at OCR. NO OVERRIDE

You should keep the concept in mind when you're doing all of the art for this thing; how would you promote this as a movie soundtrack? It's got to have a unified look; it needs to be 'branded.'

Klutz's piece is a fairly straightforward interpretation of the theme. It's hard not to compare, but the drastic differences present themselves at the very outset.

Well I had mentioned this to you on IM before, but I don't think we should have the album sound as if it was performed in a concert hall. It's supposed to be a movie score, so it should have more of a hollywood studio sound to it.

What does this have to do with Chrono Symphonic?

NO The rap is fine; no hate there. The problem is that there is pretty much no interpretation at all of the chocobo theme. It plays ad infinitum throughout the piece and is only supported by descending horns on the downbeat of every measure. Needs more interpretation, and at least a little more complexity.

Really amateurish sounds with very sloppy percussion. No attention paid to balance between instruments. That hi-hat is too loud, the lead is boring, and all of the elements vy for my attention. Arrangement basically follows the progression of the original without any real interpretation. NO

Ooooh this is pretty. A bit weak on the arrangement side, though I like the texture and production on this. The bass drum has just the right amount of reverb to convey a feeling of expansiveness without muddying up the lower end of the frequency spectrum. Cool. Nice pulse throughout, with some simple stringwork that accentuates the piano. I like it, though it could use a bit more arrangement and interpretation. Particularly another lead instrument to contrast with the piano. Almost there! borderline NO with emphasis on resubmit.

The strings sound oddly synthetic along side the female vocal, but that's a minor gripe. I like how well the choir sample meshes with the real vocal lead. The balance is just right. I'm also enjoying the cinematic quality, even if the instruments sound a bit fake. The entire track could be brought up in terms of volume, though its a minor gripe. Wouldn't mind getting a fixed version if this passes. Nice arrangement. YES