m68030

... man it's weird when you recognize a piano patch... I think for sure I recognize it from some S3Ms, way back in the day. I think prot and yanniwhatshisface have summed up most of what can be said about this one. I hope to see this one supercharged with some sort of special lead introduction to fill in what feels like a whole. Looking forward to a resubmitted version all riceburner tripped out, NO

I think we can let a concept piece or two slip in every now and then. Come on, you can't deny the overwhelming cuteness of this track. F*ck it, I say YES.

This is like tweak session away from being damn great. As was said, dynamics are non-existent, but the arrangement itself is pretty neat. I liked it, it just felt so jumbled when lower chords were just as loud as melody and all the like. Somebody hook this guy up with one of the more experienced piano remixers and lets get this thing presentable. NO, for now.

Ack. yeah, compression problems aplenty. And that piano instrument is like law breakingly bad. I'm not really sure what to say to this one.. It basically needs to be reworked from the ground up. The arrangement isn't terrible, but it's hard to hear anything going on because of the instrument choices... Loud and jumbled. NO

Well that was cute. Sounds pretty good... but as soon as I was getting into it, it was over. it just seems to me like if you can arrange that much you could make it long enough to be of some substance. Sounds good, nice arrangement, but where's the rest of it? NO

I'm kinda digging the synths themselves though. Very shimmery, and the lower drone is neat... I think this shows an attention to synth usage we don't really hear much in our technoish submitions. It's a shame it's just the original melody with a drum loop and new instruments. And yes, that little vocal clip is getting annoying, and I've only heard it twice now. I dunno. i mean it sounds good an all.. except for that damn little voice... but this is the exact original with new instruments... you've got to be doing some pretty specially detailed stuff with the Crystal theme anymore to really be doing something worth noting... this really doesn't do it. NO

More claps oh well. I third the oddness of that lead. It's really the filter envelope that makes it weird... giving it that 'vocal' quality of the moving bandpass type thingy. I'd keep it but slow the asdr on the filter envelope, maybe even delink it from every single trigger so that it filters over each section slowly changing instead of per-note. I dunno, just some ideas... A few issues with notes not in the proper key also.. I'd just transpose the offending notes to keep with the theme. Better to sound good than be 1:1 with the original. Variations the name of the game anyway, right? I like what's going on here, i just don't like how it's happening. Were it not for that lead synth I might say yes, but right now it's just too goofy sounding. (: NO

Wait wait.. Metalman is Megaman 2... Come on now. That's like two strikes against you right out the bag. That drum loop is just overpowering everything else. it's like everything happening is so short and blippy that there's nothing to carry the melody together. It almost just sounds like a bunch of unrelated notes as a result. When you cut into the more legato section it's more recognizable, but past that it's just loops that are at war with each other. The little ditty at the end was neat.. but... well it's over now. NO.

yeah, i'm really digging the intro on this so far. That piano patch is a bit weak, but being so far in the background it's not so bad. Strings are a bit questionable in the attack/decay. Very nice build up to the change over to the 'techno' section. I'm not real wild about the clap though... but i don't like claps. Also I'm not totally convinced about the cadence of the detuned synth.. it sounds good but just feels a little awkward.. nothing wrong with it though. Fun stuff, this. YES

Once the main melody line came in at around 1:24 or so things started to look up a bit for this one, but I still can't get over how static the whole thing feels. The flow of the choral type pad in the background is nice, but the rest of it just feels too boxy. The arp line is really getting to me also. It's just not really... well.. going anywhere. The change few changeups are very welcome, but it's just not saving it for me. on the upside, it does sound pretty damn clean and crisp. just work on the arrangement.. that's what kills it. NO

I really didn't expect this track to gather so much attention. (: For those who don't check out ID3v2 tags, this started out as a concept track for Protricity's Super Metroid super megahuge mix project. However early on in the development it was made clear to me that this was almost the complete antithesis of what he wanted. Norfair 1 was hot and violent, my concept was the effect of that world on it's viewer: a shrinking away from reality, of sorts... Detaching from one's self as you realize the futility of escape (unless of course you're Samas Aran, but if we were all super hero women with bitchen space suits then the whole thing would be moot). I was really glad to see people accepting GreyLightning's track just a short while ago. I think there's a serious lack of ambient/soundscape type stuff on OCR. I feel as though people see OCR as a bunch of 'techno' remixes. Of course not EVERYONE, but enough that it's might not be the image we want people to get. I hope that tracks like this one (a more extreme case of minimalism, possibly even treading into the so-called "lowercase" genre) and like GreyLightning's "Drifting Toward the Stars" will show that we're open to more than four on the floor fluff. I really didn't want this track to be my first track after almost 7 months of not having anything for submition to OCR, however with the way things had been going in my life I knew that if I wanted to wait to release any of my other works in progress first, this track would then have been waiting for at least another 4 or 5 months, easily. The few other remixes that I've squeeked out this year were to satisfy the ambient kick I get on every now and then. Don't expect to be seeing my 8+ minute Xenogears ambient track on OCR anytime in the near future. (: Thanks to all who listened. Hope not too many of you sat down for an intense listen with your full attention on the track. From the very get go I wanted this to be an 'afterthought'... something just soft enough to let you know it was there and let your mind interpret the rest. I found while listening to the original at softer levels, while doing something else, such as reading or chatting, that I thought I was hearing more to the song then was actually there. The slightest hints of melody, moving counter melodies and harmonies... Things I knew for a fact were not there in that SPC. I wanted to capture that feeling of something ephemeral and just below the surface. I'm not sure I fully realized my goal, but I'm pretty picky about my own stuff. I'm sure at least a few of you got the sensation I was going for. A few people I talked to early on even picked out the exact imagry I was going for (check the ID3v2 for more details), so that left me pretty satisfied with the end result. Unrelated side note: Septic Dreams is still on schedule for a Winter 2003 release. This is of course subject to change, so don't hold me to that, but for those of you who have been waiting patiently, keep your hopes up. At over an hour long, a mix of ambient and industrial, I think you'll be pleased with the end result.

I listened to this one a few times and just never really felt it got 'there'. I think the comments from other judges cover anything that really needs to be said in so far as suggestions for improvement. NO

This is a remix of the track "True" from the SH2 OST, track 24. This remix is not too terribly unlike the original. Wingless adds some piano embelishment and strings that were not in the original. The soft choral sounds also are not found in the original. I *heart* the SH2 ost.

I've always enjoyed this theme ever since i heard a .XM of it way back in the days when I dialed up the internet via a 2400 baud modem. I really enjoyed this take on the theme, and it's been growing on me more and more ever since I heard it a while back when it was on the judges forum. I'm not sure what mustin is smoking to not recognize the original poking through in those pads... but oh well. Very fun stuff indeed. Very much makes me want to dig out and salvage the remix of this theme I started way back in the long time ago. Maybe I'll pick it back up someday.. I'm feeling rather inspired listening to this. Yay for non-dance music. (:

Hearing the first 2:20 and being told that something bad happens at 2:40 is like hearing, at the age of 10 that your second born child will be eaten alive in front of you by your drugged wife. And then it turns out to not even really be that bad... Damnit prot, you almost made me not enjoy this. YES. this is neat.

This one left me scratching my head. there are some really neat ideas and arranging going on in several places, but there are other parts that are just overwhelmingly confusing in execution. I think others have explained what they are hearing clearly enough, so I'll just leave my vote as NO

Sounds pretty solid and all.. a little boring to my ears.. Kinda wish something happened more in it. That little break at 2:00 is kinda neat, but it's not really executed as smoothly as one might expect. On about the third listen to it now.. It's got some good qualities in it, as far as being a solid and well fleshed out dance track, but the progression just seems so flaccid to me.... I'll give it a YES because it's hard to be objective about something you really don't like.

Not a whole lot going on in this mix... just a melody and som drums... and the atonality in the opening just doesn't seem justified by the rest of the track.... and the genre doesn't seem to justify the arrangement. It's just not in a high enough gear for my ears. NO

Right off I'm not digging the arrangement of the piano line knowing this is suppose to be loungy/jazz. The style it takes on once the bass kicks in is cool, but I'd like to hear some chords under those notes to start off with or something a little less 'plucky' sounding. Just sounds too 'strict' for me to get into it... I'd love to have heard this actually performed instead of having been synthesized. It's just not human enough. NO

From the very get-go the improper mastering of this track has gotten a NO from me. But I'll at least try and offer some advice on the rest of it, ignoring that this needs HEAVY attention to the mastering aspect. The lead is lost in the bass and percussion. Mixing mixing mixing. Never underestimate how important the stereo image of your audio is also. You've got two channels, please use them (: The main lead at around 1:46 or so is way too loud and is sort of uninteresting versus the rest of the track. The drums arn't particularly fancy, so I don't really feel like I'm hearing more than the original lead with some basic drums going on under it. You're starting to understand how to use the software.... now time to learn some music theory and technical aspects of music production (:

Those are some nice sounding pizz strings there, sir. I wish a few of the places where it built up there was a stronger foundation to land on after it breaks... just something a bit thicker than what's there... maybe just some marcatto strings under it all on the tonic, or something. The break at 3:24ish is sort of like what I'm saying... I don't dig the singlesample sound of the snare and it's stereo placement. It's really killing this mix for me now, i was enjoying the hell out of it until then. That's one thing that always bugs me... really shitty samples along side really good ones in a track... it makes me think you either didn't care (which makes me frown) or you just didn't think it was important (which also makes me frown). I thought the ending was kinda neat too. Reminds me of a symphonic arrangement of "Watchmen, Tell us of the Night" that I once heard. *still listening to it a few times* I'm horribly torn over this one. Parts are just perfectly transporting, and that snare is like reality sneaking up behind you and going "BOO MOTHERFUCKER!" Being that I'm borderline on this, and I'm usually horribly objective, I'll side on YES since if if I enjoyed it mostly, then I think most people will enjoy it morely.... or somethign.

You know i really hate sitting here listening to a neat little intro and reading "Was really cool up to :40 when the lead came in" and watch the counter on winamp go 35... 36.... 37... 38.. knowing that something that made someone's backcrawl is about to happen... especially when I'm digging the arrangement thus far. I'm gonna have to agree though.. those synths are just not what my ears want to hear over the rest of this very stereotypically MOD sounding remix. Like I've said before on other tracks, i absolutly *heart* S3Ms and MODs and all that good stuff and that mod style of arrangement really does have a special place in my mind... i wish we had a few more tracks that combined favorite game tunes with that nostalgic sound of an S3M. This track does that quite well, but really needs a different lead synth selection before I'll smile about it. NO

But for those of us WITH a nice set of speakers to listen to we've got a pretty neat ambient type track... Though I think that airy lead is too forward... with a deeper reverb on the air and a wider stereo image I think it would drift through the background in a much more endearing way. This track could also be at least a minute or two longer. Once those drums come in and it gets grooving around 2:40 it's already over. I dig alot of the ideas here, but I think it could really be expanded into something a little bit deeper and developed. I'll be looking forward to seeing this again in the future if you decide to flesh it out further. NO

Mehhhhhhhhhh..... i dunno.. Those drums just don't feel right against the rest of the arrangement... If there were a heavier techno/electronica element to the track it'd be cool, but as it stands the lack of an 'orchestral' snare bothers me. I'm hearing some clipping, i believe, in there also that bugs me. The arrangement itself is neat indeed, but the samples sort of drag it down... A style like this is one that if you are going to do you need to do it well. While definatly not as 'unsalvagable' as Coma is calling it, I still don't think it's reall up to par for this style of music. Definatly not bad, but I think with some higher quality samples, and a different approach on the percussion it would be much more enjoyable. NO

Listening to the opening of this I'm thinking "Man, now this is a neat little dance track. That's an agressive sounding bass line with lots of fun little toys going on all in the background" then I look over at my playlist and see it telling me that I've got a full six and half minutes to enjoy what this person has come up with using all these nice high quality sounds. Then I start hearing some encoding issues creepying in... a few places where 112kbps really hurts. But that's ok cause there's some other neat stuff going on in the lead. Ok, a little break here at 3:30, that's kinda neat... but this part feels a little unpolished or something... something about that synth doesn't seem to stand on it's own. I think it's the filtering over it.. once the other parts come in it helps a little, but I still don't feel like it stands on it's own... especially the fast cut off at the end of the statement. Feels chopped... really sounds like it wants to hold on to that note for like an 1/8th longer. Now that we're into the last few minutes it's getting a little repetitious, but I'm still enjoying the sound for the most part. That sawy lead is getting a little boring though.... kinda would like to hear more variation in that.. I'm really not so downtrodden like the rest of the judges board with the repetitious nature of the track. My main issues are that the end seems to just cut off, and this could really be encoded a bit larger and sound a good bit better in a few places. I'll vote NO on this one not because I don't like it, but because I'd rather hear a resubmitted version with a smoother fade out on the very end and maybe encoded at an ABR so that it comes out to exactly 6 megs (take 6 megs, in bytes, devide it by the length in seconds and set that as the Absolute bitrate in your encoder). I think that would produce better results. Overall though neat little dance track.. tighten down a few of those nuts here and there and you've got my big thumbs up.