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Everything posted by DarkeSword
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OCR01229 - *YES* Kingdom Hearts 'Above the Rising Falls' *FT*
DarkeSword replied to Protricity's topic in Judges Decisions
What the hell? I definitely already voted on this one. Where'd my vote go? Bah. Anyway, this is what the kids call 'tite.' SURE -
*NO* Street Fighter Alpha 3 'Brainwashed Girl'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Whoa kick. Too damn loud; those low freqs are killing my ears. Everything is drowned out buy that kick; what's there is fairly repetitive and inorganic sounding. Beats aren't particularly compelling eiher; they most certainly are not phat. NO -
As early as 1:55 this mix is just too repetitive. It's very boring; that drumline is the same thing over and over again. Not much melodic play or interpretation going on either. Overall, a good sound, but it's pretty weak arrangement-wise. NO
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*NO* Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow 'Aria of Fire'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Whoa...what a crappy guitar synth. All of those sounds are pretty bad. There goes the drumloop. Boring, repetitive, uneffective. There's clipping too. Sounds like you used a MIDI file and cut and paste parts. NO -
Not much else to say. Minimal and repetitive is the name of game here. Flute's too damn loud too. No balance! Work on making this more interesting and balanced. NO
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*NO* Secret of Monkey Island 'LeChuck (Calavera Mix)'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Good thing we have more than just Prot judging mixes then, right? Anyway, those horns are terrible, and the percussion is ridiculously weak in the context...actually in any context. TAP TAP TAP TAP. NO -
We're gonna catch a lot of flak on this for being uncultured yokels or some stupid shit people like to say, but I'm gonna close this out with NO, basically for the reasons already mentioned. That horn halfway in is SO unnatural compared to the stronger sounds throughout the mix. Work on it and resubmit.
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*NO - NEW POLICY* Streets of Rage 2 'Infectious Oldskool'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
What exactly IS the policy regarding mixes in 'lockdown'? Won't this potentially mess up the bittorrent download? I think it's a great mix; I vote YES for replacement, but because SID of Rage is so similar, I vote NO for new mix, on the grounds that it would violate some kind of policy. I mean, it's just two versions of the same, mix, right? Tricky. EDIT: I just want to clarify that I'm only voting YES if DJP allows for replacements. So don't consider this passed yet, unless we get the final word on the policy. -
*NO* Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 'Epona'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
NO Stuff like this is really a waste of time. -
Messy, amateurish, no production values, plus its a cover. NO
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It's a rip. Can't we just override this? Oh well. In agreement. Touched up original, with drums. NO
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OCR01237 - *YES* Seiken Densetsu 3 'Electrion (Guitar Mix)'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
I think it's got a nice atmosphere. There's a cool texture going on with the dirty guitar synths + the slick hip-hop beat. Things stay varied throughout, though not overly so. Pretty solid sound all around, no glaring problems at all. I enjoyed. YES -
*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 3 'Escape from Icecap'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Just wanna throw in that those vocal clips are ridiculously funny. I wish more people were as enthusiastic about their music as this guy. Kudos. I'm not contending the NO here; just throwing that in. -
I don't think there's anything particularly glaringly-bad about this remix. It's got a nice sound and a nice texture. I didn't catch many of the off notes, etc. Everything seems pretty solid to me. It's close to the original, but there's still arrrangement there, and I think that there's a great texture going on. All of the sounds really mesh together well, and there's balance and separation between the elements of the mix. Not the most amazing piece of work, but I think it's over the bar. I enjoyed this. YES
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*NO* Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 'Hyrulian Sunset'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Not a bad interpretation at all; it comes off quite pretty, aside from the fact that those synth strings really start grating on one's ears after a while. There's some repetition issues too, but I think you can work on that too. Try to go for some more highs and lows, rather than just establishing the atmosphere and going with it. This doesn't seem like a tone-poem. So yeah, samples and arrangement, but DEFINITELY not a lost cause at all. Fix stuff and go for a resubmit! NO -
*NO* Ninja Gaiden 3 'Fading from the Light'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
This is ridiculously harsh sounding. Everything is just tracked way too loud, and it's filling up my ears in that painful turn-it-off way (aka too much resonance). This is also too damn repetitive to be enjoyable at all. That flute(?) just doesn't let up. NO -
Interesting concept, but this ultimately comes off sounding pretty empty. Its just melody, bass, and percussion. I could have done with some more serious development rather than just a soundeffects mix. Scattershot is the word; this mix is all over the place too. Little in the way of cohesion. As stated, more of a novelty than a remix. Creative, but NO.
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Arrangement is pretty strong, and quite varied; however, I have to agree that the execution is severely lacking. This piece fills up my ears with reverbed strings; everything is meshed together so tightly its hard to make sense of what's happening sometimes. Its just like a wall of string sound coming at you. Think about how your samples interact with eachother (not just the violin, but the violin sample); samples need to be treated as instruments on their own, not as the instruments they represent. This is the essence of making the most out of your samples. Cool concept, lacking execution. NO, for now.
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Thanks for providing the originals! Nice rain! To bad that annoying deep droning comes in and numbs my mind. The percussion is also way too crazy; there's no balance here. Remember what Mr. Miyagi said in Karate Kid: Lesson of balance not just for karate, lesson for whole life. You need to find a balance between your sounds. Everything just comes off as overwhelming, especially when you've got an incessant drone with off-the-wall percussion. The melody is drowned out. Apart from that, a bit repetitive; voice clips work though, so kudos for that. NO
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Oooh very nice. Quite heavy on the kick; but that's the way I like it. Very clean sounds; nice synths and clear drums. This is clearly not just an original-with-drum-loops-over-it; like Vig said, it's got some nice expansion in the way of surrounding material. Very nice stuff. I do agree that that buildup is long as hell though. Wish it was shorter. However, this is some nice trance, and I just can't say no to something like this. YES
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Be forwarned, however; Squidfont is generally only good for strings, unless you really know what you're doing with the other sounds.
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*NO* Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow 'Eastern Quarters'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Very amateurish sound. Everything is just piled on with effects. I recognize effect presets from FruityLoops, especially on the percussion. Everything sounds overly reverbed; very muddy sound. There's also very little attention paid to balance and texture here. Everything is all over the place. DJP is right though; it does pick up after a while. Unfortunately it's still got an amateurish sound and is plagued by the wonky reverb and percussion effect. NO -
Drums are too repetitive. It sounds like one of those freshman drummers you meet in high school that wants to start a band, but he only knows how to play one drum pattern. You've got one nice fill in the ending, but the entire mix is plagued by the same beat over and over again. The violin lead is too thin and sounds stretched. You've gotta be careful when you use your samples; they don't always have the range that the instruments they're sampling do. General advice for everyone who might read this: Treat your violin samples like violin samples, not violins (this goes for any other instrument as well). Also, the arrangement is lacking; not much deviation from the original, and quite repetitive. It's not overridable, but it's certainly lacking. NO
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Holy crap! Not even the Soundblaster Card has enough cache to run this thing! Beware folks, beware! EDIT: Actually, if you have the skill, be prepared to cut the sf2 file into a few smaller peices using the bank manager in Vienna. There are some instruments in there you may or may not need. 275 MB and the brass is still crap.