DarkeSword   Administrators 🎮

Epiliptic is right. This is downright seizure-inducing. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge about the genre, but I'm not a big fan of this. However, there's some crazy sampling retriggering going on here; really weird and chaotic; kinda cool. Still, the opening really follows the original verbatim, and there's not much interpretation as far as the music goes. It's mostly just the original with similar sounds with creative breakcore loops thrown over it. Not much in the way of a remix, and not much in the way of what this site aims for. Try releasing it on the WIP, or at VGMix; there's gotta be an audience for this kind of stuff somewhere. NO

Yeah. This is basically the original over dance drums. Not even very interesting dance drums. Pleasant enough to listen to, but it's there's really NO interpretation here at all. Not even so much as a countermelody. Nothing.

Seems to me that this is an attempt at melding styles; the problem is that it's only done with different percussion. Take out that 808 percussion and you've got a piece that's very close to the original, in terms of arrangement, interpretation, and instrumentation. Personally I think the harp work is just fine; the opening has a nice clockwork quality that I'm pretty partial to; the runs aren't terrible either. What I really think this piece needs is something to compliment the percussion. If there was some kind of Mitsuda-esque bassline that added more motion to the lower range, the song would be more interesting, and the percussion wouldn't seem so out of place. I also think that utilizing the piano to add some more countermelodic ideas (to fill in sustained flute parts) would work really well too. Certainly not a lost cause. I do like the texture in this piece; strings are pretty and the flute is nicely sequenced. Personally, I'm keeping this, but as far as OCR is concerned, I really think that you can do better in terms of arrangement and interpretation. NO, but go for the resubmit!

Not a bad mix, but I think that there are some issues. My main issue is that the song's development is pretty flatline thoughout the whole thing. Dynamics are really important here; everything sounds the same all throughout the mix. I also think that the guitar could be sequenced better; add some slight pitch-bends to give it some more character. I'd also like to hear more of the panpipes in this song; it adds a nice quality to the texture, but it disappears so quickly. I do like the reverb going on; nice cavernous effect without being muddy. Overall the mix needs somework; solid, but not solid enough. NO

Gotta agree on with Danny B. That trumpet solo makes me cringe. JHockett, change it up! The range displayed in that solo is so weak, and there are notes that are flubbed that even I could play cleanly after 3 years of inactivity. Sounds like you're trying imitate Lee Morgan's solo style (Sidewinder, anyone?), but it comes across as very uninteresting because the articulation is messy, the rhythms are repetitive, and the range is so low compared to what a trumpet is capable of reaching. Anyway, sorry to harp on the trumpet solo; I used to play a lot of jazz trumpet back in high school, so speaking from experience, I really think it could be a lot better. As far as the rest of the mix is concerned, it's a solid track; however, I really feel it lacks the intesity it could have. There's some attention being paid to the articulation and accenting of the notes in the head, but I think you should bring that out even more. The bass and guitar are also very boring. Gotta work on that. I know it seems like I complained a lot about this piece, but it actually is pretty solid; I just think that it could be a LOT better. NO, but go for the resubmit!

Thanks Krispy; I've heard your work before. Glad to have you on backup.

I think this is pretty damn good. Lots of buzzy synths, but nothing wrong with that. Not much reverb or delay going on here, but sometimes (like here) that's a good thing; don't have to worry about muddiness or messiness. It's a nice, clean, straight forard sound. Good beats too. I like the section with the low pizzacato + clarinet; the clockwork beat works really well in tandem, and the progression from string to clarinet to violin is seamless. Low choir at 2:00 is a nice subtle touch. That wonky transition around 2:12 seems off at first, but it's a great change-up; VERY danceable. Other judges may disagree, but this is way over the bar for me. YES (if you DO get rejected, RESUBMIT please)

I've heard this said (re: poor sound quality) said about Reason's samples as well, but with effects and EQing, they can be tweaked well. Here's a dumb question. Does anyone have guidelines to make these things "sound better"? I confess, I'm still new at this all and I still need to develop my ear, but any knowledge would be more useful than none. This is a slightly (actually, a pretty dramatically) OT question so if it is let me know and I'll start a new thread instead. Thank you for your attention. There are tons of resources here at OCR on how to make your stuff 'sound better', just search around and EXPERIMENT. But I'll say this for now: a little reverb goes a long way.

No effects added, huh? There's your fucking problem.

The thing is, I'm very set on saving the piano exclusively for the ending theme, and if you could try something that worked as well as that (or even slightly less well) it would be a perfect piece. I understand if you don't want to...either way, you're still accepted. I really don't think there's a problem with using piano in pieces. Piano is used a lot in film score music as a PART of the orchestra. I'm not highlighting the piano as a solo instrument here; it's part of the texture of sound.

Holy crap. I think we just found our Millennial Fair piece remake. The only problem would be the piano-type thing in there, which could be replaced by strings quite easily. And you're right, it does explain its visual by itself. Otherwise, one track out of 25 has been already created. This also means, DarkeSword, that you're accepted. Congratulations. You really want to replace the piano? There's already strings every where in there. It's really an integral part of the track. I could change it to something else, but it won't have the same effect.

Haha. Well I just posted those to own Piejacked, but I guess Blue Skies Over Guardia (the very last one, I think) is pretty evocative and self-explainatory. Just think about walking into Leene Square and seeing all of the amazing things that the fair has to offer, on a beautiful, cloudless day. I could probably still work on an audition piece, if you want.

KirbyMixer - 22/57 - Water Drop Darangen - 51/52 - Son of Wind Adhesive_Boy - 41/42 - L'il Traveller Dj_StarChild - 33/34 - Star Herald Rellik - 55/37/22 - Swift Hunter Suzumebachi - 28/29 - Dream Hunter Ellywu2 - 18/19 - Dream Warrior Trenthian - 1/2 - Star General Sir Nuts - 13 - Great Ace DJ Ikronix - 14/15 - Final Star mv - 56 - Hero of Lore DarkeSword - undecided/backup mixer (super star?) analoq - backup mixer Updated list! Helen (Destiny) emailed me and said she had to withdraw from the project because of her workload at University, so mv's going to take her place. Remember people, WIPs due Oct 31!!

http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/dragoon.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/dream.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/moonlight.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/fallingstar.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/seven.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/sunmoon.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/revamped_soundtrack/shariq_ansari_-_childhood.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/revamped_soundtrack/shariq_ansari_-_child_of%20_the_wolf_clan_-_sion's_theme.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/revamped_soundtrack/shariq_ansari_-_cold_stone_walls.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/years.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/distance.mp3 http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/fight.mp3 http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR01079 http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR01095 ????

Sounds good. You didn't say I had to audition though. Meh. I'll work on something. XD

I thought the intentional lo-finess was a nice change. The point I want to make is that while this sounds lo-fi starting up, it still has a very clean, balanced sound. It's lo-fi, but not MUFFLED like a lot of submissions we get. I think it's part of the charm. Deceptive in the beginning, of course, but ultimately effective.

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