sephfire

My wife and I are considering going. I've been wanting to make one of these meet-ups for a while and VGL has sounded awesome. The more I think of this idea, the more I like it.

That's actually the problem I've been trying to put my finger on ever since I heard it first. Thank you, Snapple, for finally putting it into words. The way I'm seeing it, there's a roadblock in the way of this track. Either the vocals or the arrangement underneath them have to be the focus of this mix, and neither of them are ready to do it. As you've said, you're only a hobbiest singer and no one can fault you for that. We're all novices trying to improve and have fun. Unfortunately, nice as your voice may be and as much potential as it may have, it can't carry a mix the way a trained voice can. Again, I can't fault you much on the voice because improving it would be costly and time-consuming. However, the arrangement underneath is still weak, and that is much easier to fix. If the original composer isn't interested in reworking it, I advise you find another remixer who is. The dynamics are weak, the percussion is flat and the synths are boring. I think the instrumentals beneath your voice are holding this mix back more than anything else, and I strongly suggest you consider changing or replacing it however possible. Otherwise, this is definitely destined for a NO. Edit: Escariot, he has offered many suggestions for improvement in this thread so far, as well, as offering additional help via PM. Harsh, blunt critiques aren't fun, but they tend to be the most helpful. Honestly, it would be nice to see more bluntness in this forum sometimes.

Pretty cool arrangement, but yeah. Once you've finished writing it out, I'd try to find a guitarist to perform it. Fake guitars just can't get this job done right.

Regardless of voice quality, his analysis of the arrangment is right on.

It's not challenging, but this game rocks. I haven't enjoyed a Mario title this much since Mario 64. Chapter 3 alone is worth the full price of the game.

This. Is. AWESOME. Do us proud, pix!

Without the effects in play, it's hard to tell how well the vocals will mesh with the instrumentals. With some fancy reverb, delay, layering and such, it could work. I don't have much experience working vocals, so I'll let more qualified people comment on that. How the vocals end up sounding will make or break the mix though, so handle that with care. I might suggest adding a tad more depth to the instrumentals also. They get the job done, but they don't offer much else to the mix to keep it interesting.

It often comes veeeeeery close. And during those writer's-block days, it's twice as good.

The practice you have to put into these games is nothing remotely close to amount of time and dedication you'd have to put into mastering a real instrument (and nowhere near as expensive as trying to equip and run a decent band). These games allow even the casual music lover to get a taste of the thrill of nailing a huge solo in front of a cheering crowd. Even most start-up bands don't ever get to experience that.

I know it's shallow, but the fact that they aren't working off the movie license disappoints me a tad. On one hand, that gives them freedom to explore new artistic directions with the series, but on the other, the films portrayed Middle Earth so well, it's hard to look at it any other way. Just the same, I hope it sells well. Nothing like a little competition to bring new ideas into the genre and push competitors further.

It sounds like Harmonix is the main creative force here. EA and MTV are just opening up some new possibilities Harmonix couldn't access before (and I imagine EA will be publishing the game as well). I may be wrong, but I'm not too worried about it.

You realize what this means: official OCR Rock Bands. We've even got pixie for killer vocals. It's too perfect.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-04-01-rock-band_N.htm In short, Harmonix, EA and MTV are teaming up to bring us the successor to Guitar Hero: a full band variant featuring not only guitar and bass, but singer and drummer. With original artists instead of cover bands. And internet multiplayer support. This is the most important thing that has ever happened.

I've actually been thinking today: I'm sooo homesick for Vana'diel. Not for FFXI, mind you. As I've mentioned already, it was just too much work and not enough fun for me. However, I desperately miss Vana'diel in general. I miss my Mog House, the cities, the NPCs, the deep culture beneath it all ... My hope is that Square will explore Vana'diel further in future games. Or maybe release an offline varient of FFXI (in my dreams, I know). It just kills me that after all the time and money I spent on FFXI, I can't go back there without paying monthly for gameplay I don't really want. It's eating at me.

Two things that FFXI has and WoW lacks: a sense of community and a relatively mature user base. FFXI's community was great. Players couldn't create as many characters as they wanted in any server free of charge, so most people made one character and stuck with it. And because there was no PvP and no soloing, it really fostered a team mentality. It didn't take long before you got used to seeing certain players regularly in cities and transports. And just as important: the user base. I'm certainly not saying FFXI didn't have it's share of immature dipwads. It did. But the ratio between dipwads and immature assholes seemed much better in FFXI. You couldn't just go around Vana'diel being a prick, ditching parties, trash-talking and such because you needed other people to play the game. If you alienate all the other players with your dumbassery, your grind is gonna get a whole lot harder. As a result, your average FFXI player is more polite, helpful and tolerable. I've met very few players in WoW who fit into this category. Perhaps I've just been unlucky in that reguard.

If the world and aesthetic of FFXI could be combined with the fun of WoW, I'd pick it up again in a heartbeat. If only ...

True story of how I learned that the term "fine art" is hollow and borderline idiotic: My first year in college, I was pursuing an art major. However, halfway through my first semester, I learned that the art school had dropped its CG and 3D animation programs and turned them over to the drama dept. When I asked why, they replied: "Those are commercial arts. Here, we focus on the fine arts." As I was considering those words, I wandered into the lobby of the art school's main building, where several students' works were on display. One piece in particular drew my attention. Someone had taken a bunch of raw meat and rolled it up into 8 round balls, each about the size of a softball. Then he or she had taken those balls of meat and stuffed them to the bottom of long stockings or panty-hose (I couldn't tell which). Then he or she had taken those 8 stockings and hung them in the art school lobby in a neat little row for all to see. He had also seen fit to lay some paper down beneath the display so the dripping blood from the meat wouldn't make a huge mess of the floor. This was "fine art". I set to work changing my major the next day.

After reading the interview, I think a better way to read the guy's comment is this: "Video games are a product first and an art second." He says Clover was a problem for Capcom because they mishandled the business side of things. And when your business is selling games, that is a serious problem. In that light, his comments make a lot more sense.

We all listen to music for the emotional experience we get from it, but emotions are fickle and can easily be influenced by many factors, as you said in the first post. That's why, ideally, emotional response is ignored when writing reviews. Instead, reviews should be based on things like composition, effectiveness and musicianship. Once a reviewer has a basic knowledge of technical things like these, he can learn to listen to music analytically every time, whether he feels emotionally engaged or not. That said, the OCR reviews forum isn't limited to professional, technical review posts. General feedback is always welcome. We remixers love hearing how much a mix resonated with you or moved you or helped you through a rough day, etc. It may not develop our musical skills, but it's incredibly rewarding.

Well while we're at it, SGX's birthday was a few days ago. And mine a few days before that. Lots of March birthdays around OCR.

Finally, the PS3 is starting to look appealing again. The last time I thought "man, I must have a PS3" was back in 2005 after E3 where they first unveiled it. Ever since that gorgeous display, it's been almost nothing but disappoinment. In 2005, the PS3 had my interest over any other. But by release day, Sony had whittled my enthusiasm down to apathy. But now, at last, the PS3 is starting to look appealing again. I think that might be some of the reason some people are fawning over Home and LittleBigPlanet. We've been wanting desperately to love the PS3, and now we might finally have a reason. I'm loving my Wii and my Xbox360, but a small part of my heart has been aching to see the PS3 recover and bring some unique thrills of its own.

It may not be a smart movie, but damn if it isn't a fun one.

It's an incredible feat keeping a show fresh after ten seasons. I'm not joking when I say Matt and Trey are two of my heroes.

I think everyone is wiling to admit that, on some small level, violent videogames can have an effect on their audience (good or bad). However, that effect is so small compared to the threat of other social ailments in America that it doesn't deserve nearly as much attention as it's getting. The more attention everyone pays to game violence, the longer it's going to take for us to address some of the big issues.

I'd actually try to take some requests around here if I didn't have such a long backlog of tracks I wanted to mix. Okami, Psychonauts, Katamari ... Maybe someday I'll be able to take a request or two.