DarkeSword

I didn't think you were allowed to vote on your own mix.

Wow very trippy. Very chaotic in the beginning, but it manages to keep a balance throughout the piece. Hard to do, but pulled off quite nicely. The part at 2:00 is where it really comes together for me. Very groovy, even if only for a little while. The rest of the song has some great stuff going on in terms of synthwork. Nice. Like my co-worker Audrey would say, this song is 'ka-RAY-zeee.' YES

Three weeks to go.

You need a better shakuhachi; layer it with something airier sounding. Not much else to say. Everything else has already been said. That ending builds up to something, but it never gets there. Something like a really quiet chord right after a few beats rest would be enough. FINISH IT NO

Very buzzy and uninteresting. There's no real contrast to the sound throughout the entire mix. The strings are the same thing over and over again, as are the broken beats. Not much substance at all. Very repetitive; there's about one minute's material in this piece stretched out over five. NO

What are you going to do?

Nope. Nothing that isn't already taken.

Man I must have spent days upon days wandering Payon Cave when I played RO. I was always trying to get to the third level, where you could fight Munaks. If you were lucky, they'd drop a HAT for you. I never managed to get a hat. Anyway this mix is a fairly straightforward dance version of the Payon Cave theme. I don't particularly think that it's anything special; synths are pretty generic, the song doesn't really develop all that well, and its arrangement is faily close to the original. There's some interpretation there, but I really don't think it's enough. NO

SCREW YOU SOCAL! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH. Okay. The beginning starts off slow, but once we hit 2:20, it's pure gold. Now I'm not a guitar EXPERT, but I think this is pretty well played stuff. Nice stuff. Not overwhelmingly amazing, but nice. YES

Piano = GOLD! Strings = POOP! Seriously man there's like no attack on those strings. Use some detache strings somewhere; it's a TANGO. I really think that the piano should be featured more. I also think the percussion is too loud when it comes in. It could be toned back a little bit for more balance. Not a lost cause! NO for now, but RESUBMIT PLEASE! You have a nice concept; just work on the execution a bit more.

I really enjoy this mix. Personally I think the overall package works really well, but the minor issues detract enough to warrant a rejection. Instruments in the beginning aren't THAT bad, but there's better, richer stuff out there that's readily available. The only BIG issue I have is with the male vocals. Like DB said, they're in tune and on time, but they lack any kind of real energy. Vocals like that, cheesy as they are, need to be BELTED out. They sound so casual right now, and it doesn't match the energy in the rest of the mix. I like it, but I really think that with some tweaks, and possible a reperformance of the main vocals, I would be a lot better. NO for now, but I STRONGLY urge you to take suggestions to heart and resubmit. (that strongly is size 29 dude. that's how strongly I feel about it.)

An excellent mix of orchestral and electronica styles. I enjoyed the back and forth arrangement ideas presented, but I was hoping to hear more integrated sections as well. The initial lead in the first electronica section comes off a bit thin, but once it starts bending around everything sounds nice. Very much enjoyed. We gotta collab sometime, guys. YES

Yeah I could do with a little more sharpness. HOWEVER, I disagree that it's just an upgrade. 'Those Who Fight Further' off of the Black Mages album is an upgrade. This has a lot of excellent original reinterpretations of the original song. I absolutely love the rolling hi-hat work during the section that starts around 1:38. So chill, man. SOOO chill. Guitar stuff is sweet too. It doesn't follow the arrangement of the original exactly, even though it's the same/of-a-similar genre. I think this is a great example of how to remix a song without resorting to doing a genre adaptation. YES

Don't be so quick on the override. This is definitely resequenced with originality in mind. However, it's just too empty and too repetitive. Needs much more development. Bring in more instruments, start an improv solo, make it more interesting to listen to. As it stands now, NO, but this is a great concept with lots of potential. Post to the WIP, get feedback, work on it more, and go for the resubmit.

uhh... It's not an open project. I did auditions about a month ago. If you didn't audition then, you can audition now. If your stuff is good, you can be a backup. If it's not, you can't mix for the project. Either way, all slots are filled up, and I still have two backups on deck in case someone drops. Hadyn: I didn't MISS Super Star. I definitely know about it. I intentionally left that one out. I'm thinking about doing the Super Star mix myself as a bonus track. We'll see what happens.

Sorry Hadyn, but from the stuff I've heard from you before, you have some issues with balance and cohesiveness in your mixes. A lot of it also sounds really 'defaultish' in terms of how you use effects in FruityLoops. No offense, of course. Important note! WIPs are due by the end of the month! Don't miss the deadline! If I don't like it, you're out! I don't want to have to drop anyone from the project, but I'm not against it, and I do have some guys on the sidelines who would like to contribute to the project. Hm. Some velocity issues with the piano sample. What are you using for the piano? Some of the notes stick out in the opening. It's also a BIT dry, so you might want to look at some reverb options as you continue the mix.

GUH. Brass sounds TERRIBLE. It's like you used a jazz 'brass section' patch instead of actually building your brass texture out of brass instruements. The piano is unnatural and mechanical. No real attention paid to velocities, and its written like a harp part, rather than a piano part. Not good in this setting. Arrangement is pretty boring; it's not Tetris for the first half, and then for the second half Tetris is hardly developed at all. Personally I think the sound effects are obtrusive and gimmicky. I don't agree with Coma's statements about policy violation; the theme from Tetris is game music, pure and simple. I'm not giving this mix a NO because of policy violation; I'm giving it a NO because it needs lots of work. NO

Should be 10/31/04. Fixed.

Uh yeah, Zircon is right. You don't need LSD for MIDI playback. ??

1. Die Hard Trilogy 'I Love The Airport' Too similar to the original. The only thing changed is really the drums and the airport effects. Some decent synthwork, but not enough change. YES 2. Ys 'Beat of Terror' NSF rip with nice samples. Try RPGamer instead. They like this stuff. YES 3. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun 'PharoTeknical' There are parts of this that even sound the same, as far as textures. I just don't think it's different enough. YES 4. Streets of Rage 2 'Funkdreamer' Again, this feels like an upgrade rather than a remix. There are some parts like the sax and bass breakdown that are a bit original, but on a whole, the mix uses the same instrumentation and style as the original. YES 5. Donkey Kong Country 'Strolling The Mines' Argh so borderline on this one. It's really good trance, but it doesn't really attempt to remix the source material in any way. It's just built around it. The melodic line never passes to an original sound save the section at 2:30; there's no melodic play, either. Meh. Coulda been a contender. YES 6. Usagi Yojimbo 'Homage to Amida Buddha' Borderline. Sounds are very similar, but I'm going to have to say that the guitar adds enough countermelodic ideas to warrant retention. I'd NO JUDGE it, but this is just lockdown. NO 7. F-Zero GX 'Dr. Stuard (Jeff & Toad Air Team Challengers)' Rip. 'Nuff said. YES 8. Earthbound 'Dreaming on Distant Shores' I can't for the life of me understand why this was even flagged in the first place. I compared both songs and I immediately picked up on the specific melodic hit points in the remix. Excellent remix of short source material. This is the essence of originality in remixing. NO

If you're having trouble with the one melody, try and work other material in. Check the list for conflicts before. As for the grounding, I have a few guys interested as backups, like Darangen and mv. Orch samples: got squidfont? http://soundfonts.darkesword.com/

Like I said to chth in the chat, I don't really get a Son of Wind feeling from it. I hope he tries to work that in more.

Bandwidth and webspace is not the prime reason OCR doesn't post everything we get. Anyway, nice job Neil. I liked your piece for the most part. Some iffy spots melodically and harmonically in the third minute, but overall, nice work.

Been a few days. Got WIPs? XD

Testing PNG-24 Alpha Transparencies.