DarkeSword

For cover art, I'd like something clean, artdeco-ish, kind of like a throwback to 50s/60s space posters. No black outlines on anything, no official art either. I'm thinking Kirby (with no powers) riding on a warp star that looks like it's moving upward through a starry backdrop. See what you can come up with, Vilecat, Linearity.

The intro takes a long time to get through; it's a good intro, but it's long. Transitions are awkward and really weird. The song of healing section has absolutely no relevence to the song of storms section. It also sounds really thin, with piano and strings playing in unison. Arpeggiator on the melody is corny as hell and totally ineffective. Seems to me that you made not real effort to cohesively combine both source tunes into a single mix; there's medleyitis out the wazoo here, and the two songs don't compliment eachother at all. You've even got them in two different minor keys without any kind of transitory passage to take us from one key to the other. That's some pretty messy writing. NO

That kick drum has way to much presence in the mix; it's too loud and it fills the soundscape. That lead that come in at 1:39 is atrociously bad. It's messy, wide, and buzzy. Seems like a lot of ideas strewn together too. Not much cohesion to the arrangement. The ambience is pretentious and the substance is lacking. NO

BOOMCHICKADISSH BOOMCHICKADISSH BOOMCHICKADISSH BOOMCHICKADISSH That's what this is. A bit more interesting than boomhiss, but it amounts to the same thing. Come on man; this is so generic and straightforward. Needs highs and lows. It's so repetitive. Pretty much the same thing over and over again. NO

Everything is louder than the melody. The piano is buried way in the back behind with phased sounds. Speaking of which, everything sounds like it's phased. Bring out the melody, vary up the sounds a bit, and do something interesting with the arrangement. It gets old fast. NO

Whole thing sounds muffly, like there's too much reverb. The leads aren't all that interesting; the piano and the weird flanged sound just play the melody in unison for a while. Pretty uninteresting. Pads are boring too. Like Vig said, they just take up space and don't really do anything interesting. Percussion never really breaks out with anything interesting. Bad note choices before 1:30! Yeah, this is pretty messy. Needs a clearer sound; levels are weird, and there's too much reverb. NO

That horn playing arpeggios has got to go. Sounds unnatural; as do the rest of the orchestral instruements (but not as much) Dan really broke it down well; a lot of GMish sounds, particularly harp and slow strings (which I'm guilty of using too). The sounds work well together though, and the arrangement is quite nice. The addition of the guitar is great. The elements of the mix are clearly separated. I would have liked a fuller sound, especially around 3:40; sounds kind of sparse there. Still, the overall package is pretty good. Above the bar in my book. YES

I like this piece; it's got a really nice, clean texture, with cool, albeit fakey, sounds. But I gotta agree with Larry; needs more arrangement. Sounds a lot like the original, upgraded. Cool dynamics, cool sounds; needs a better arrangement. NO

Needs bass. Seriously. Also it's super quiet! The second half of the piece doesn't come off as powerful as it could because the samples sound very thin. I'd like to see a fuller sound that isn't buried in reverb. There's a GM ooh choir in there that sounds really out of place too. Arrangement is awesome, but needs more on the execution side. RESUBMIT PLEASE! NO

The vocal stuff is pretty cool in the beginning. Some odd intonation stuff that rubbed me the wrong way, but nothing major. I agree with Dan though; the piano/percussion should have more presence, and there needs to be more underlying harmonic support. Needs more! Resub. NO

The guitar is way to plucky for the mood you're trying to create. Instruments don't balance out either. What's the melody? What's the harmony? I really can't tell. Nothing changes volume. There's no balance. I don't feel any energy here either. The whole arrangement is plodding along without really building and releasing. Too much going on, not enough focus. Back to the drawing board. NO

I'm pretty sure it's "beefs," Dan. Anyway it definitely sounds like it's straight out of Halo; it has the same sound to it; but I think that like Dan mentioned, the composition is really good, and I think it's varied enough and plays with the source subtly. Conservative, yes, but not a cover. Good stuff, I think. YES

Did Uematsu use this chord progression in FF6? Whatever. Okay jeez man that guitar just doesn't let up. It's a nice sound but it seems to go on forever. I'm not saying it's played badly, it's just a lot to listen to. This needs some bright comping '80s style piano. That's what's missing. It feels kind of empty without that middle register harmonic support. Anyway nice arrangement I really like it, but I wish the guitar would cut out for a while and you'd segue to another instrument for variety; I started losing interest after about two and a half minutes. Keep at it; I like your style! NO, for now. Go for the resub.

Everything that needs to be said has already been said, but I'll throw in some comments to close this out. Your percussion sounds like four-on-the-floor techno percussion run thought an orchestral sample set. Seriously; mmSS! becomes BOOMCHING! It sounds like everything is run though reverb on the same mixer channel; in other words, too much reverb and everything is bleeding together. Your instruments need to be clearly defined when you're doing something like this. Originality would help too, although I thought that the runs were written excellently (played on those string samples is another story; blech ) but this song basically follows the progression of the original. It needs more of you. Keep at it. NO

I gotta agree with Vig on that opening. It's pretty lifeless and dull. Needs tension and dynamics. It's way too long. There seems to be a dull hum thoughout most of the first half of the mix. Needs more percussion in order drive the piece forward; that timpani isn't cutting it. Everything sounds muddy, and it's bleeding together. Your strings are too slow. It isn't exciting; it sounds like it's making pretense at being exciting. That transtion at 4:19 sounds like you just started a new mix altogether. Where the heck did it come from? Nowhere. Sounds like you threw it in because you needed to make your mix longer. Same for the transition around 5:40. It's not so much a transition as a jarring change of song. Medlyitis arrangement, muddy mixing. It's not working for me. Needs lots of work. NO

Straightforward indeed. There are some nice countermelodic ideas. The beats are spastic and groovy, but I think in a good way. There's a lot of cool stuff going on here. I like that buzzy hi-pitched lead; it provides a nice contrast to the fatter sounds in the mix. I'm afraid I can't YES this just yet though; for one, it's too short. Sounds like you aren't even done with it. The song goes into a chill section, and makes like it's winding down so that it can wind up again, but it never does. Grossly unfulfilling. I'd like to see an expanded arrangement. Great start, but needs to be longer. Work on harmony and length! NO Please resubmit!

Wow. I just finished listening to the whole thing. This piece is smooth. REALLY smooth. I liked that a lot about the previous version; it had a cool, minimalist feel with a really laid back vibe. My biggest gripe with the previous version was that it felt empty, but the addition of the amazingly awesome lyrics by Just Us fill out the soundscape precisely as they should. There's a great, balanced sound. Production is clear. Speaking of the lyrics, I really like them. There's a great message there that's skillfully conveyed. Fantastic. n00bs will probably hate this because it's rap, or because the lyrics have nothing to do with Sonic, but that's why they're n00bs, so don't worry about what they say. YES, without a doubt.

Zircon said refreshing; that's a good word for this mix. It's got a nice vibe that reminds me (at points) of Grandia music. The major key flute stuff has a nice sound. Awesome percussion work here too. Weird texture, but it works. Lots of cool sounds mixing together in interesting ways. I like that. This a fun piece, for sure. YES!

I love that lightly-distorted snare. The synths in this piece have a nice balance; they lock together quite nicely. You would think that with all the stuff going on stuff would sound messy, but it doesn't. Oh man Gene Wilder; wtf awesome. XD Yeah this piece is totally groovy. Nice production, nice beats, nice package. Good stuff. YES!

HOLY FREAKING CRAP This is probably the most perfect remix that could ever be done of this song. DAMN SON YOU GOT SOME SKILS! Seriously, amazing work here. Totally digging it. Everything locks together like legos. 11/10.

DON'T FUCKING LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN ...

Never, ever, cuss out your remixers. You can say what you have to say without being pissy. Try to maintain some professionalism.

It's the same mix. Also, to someone who asked if the title of this mix is a reference to another title on the SoE soundtrack: no, it's just a coincidence. I've never actually played SoE; I did this remix for PRC.

NO And don't sticky this in the WIP forum either.

I've been ridiculously busy at school and at work. We just hired 332 people where I work, and I'm resposible for preparing all of the orientation documentation for them. I'm waiting on Beatdrop, but I've also started my own mix for 14/15 just in case. Nothing solid yet.