SegaMon

Hello OC Remix community! I'd like those interested to listen to my remix and provide feedback. As a caveat, I purposely did not humanize this remix as it was the sound that I desired. Other remixes and songs that I write are extensively humanized. Also, my two most recent remixes have been intended to mostly honor the original song structure and theme. However, I did change tempos, instruments, added some original form to the themes and repeats, and also meshed two songs together. The songs remixed are the level and boss music from the Sega Master System port of the arcade game Alien Syndrome. Due to the lack of enough originality and humanization, I doubt that this would be appropriate for submission. However, if you find that this would stand a fair chance of being greenlit by the judges then please let me know. YouTube version: Schmenk - Alien Sydrome - Malady of Aliens.flac

Hoboka, I have enjoyed a fair number of your remixes. I hope that your anxiety gets better soon and that you continue creating music and sharing it with the world.

It has been a while since I have worked on a remix (or any piece of music). I had told my brother that I really wanted to remix this tune sometime. So, I did. This is based on stalker.mid from Duke Nukem 3D as found in the MSDOS version of the game. The structure of this remix does not stray too far from the original. I did so purposely as I was not trying to change the genre of the song. Rather, I wanted to honor the original and improve it in my own way. The improvements include the obvious and the not-so-obvious. Among the improvements are instrumentation, sound quality, pacing, a new section, increased energy, and an actual ending (the original looped). I did change some of the notes. I do not know whether I made enough changes to be an appropriate OCR submission. Please take a listen and let me know. Also, I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback (both positive and negative). Also, I am aware of very slight distortion at the loudest moments of the song. In the FLAC rendition this does not exist. In the MP4 render (which uses WAV) it is present. I tried for quite a while to get rid of it but I could only greatly reduce it. I wonder what the problem was? Most people probably will not notice and I even have a hard time noticing it. Thank you!

Thanks so much for the feedback! I find that I have much room for growth in terms of production. Regarding the strings being too static, I agree. I was thinking of that being a problem with the instrument itself. However, what is a good way to mix this section better? Around 1:11 being too harsh? I am not sure I hear it the same that you do. I really wanted a wide dynamic range in this piece and that may be why you feel that way? Tempo changes in FL Studio has been one of the many challenges I have. I am a classically minded musician so I love to have lots of tempo changes. Maybe I over did it a bit much because of how much I like it. I tend to think of my style to be a bit erratic so it is hard to tone down some of the overbearing aspects such as this. I will keep this is mind. The sound does have bassoon but I dont like how the VSTs I have for bassoon sounds so that is likely why I didn't feature it too prominently. Regarding a more gritty synth near the end, I like that idea! I am not so great at finding great synths to use to I often fiddle with the instruments for a long time before finding an appropriate one. Also, there is a lot going on in this song so I wanted to maintain some more familiarity with the melody and changing the synth would go against that. Very good idea. What do you mean by "the sequencing doesnt do them any favors"? I tried humanizing the patterns quite a bit. However, I am a bit weak at creating melodies and countermelodies. I wonder how I could improve? Thanks so much for the constructive input. I am looking forward to improving with every song that I create. Happy New Year!

I still would like to have feedback please. This the only time I will bump this thread.

I enjoyed the relaxed tone and cool sounds of the song. It'd be nice if it had a more defined ending. A stronger B section would also be awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Hello OC Remix Community! I have visited and enjoyed OCRemix.org since the year that it opened. I tinker with writing music and making remixes from time to time. I want to get feedback on my most recent remix. I also want to know if it would be a good idea to submit this piece for review. My piece is titled "Truth Be Told." The themes that I used were from two songs from Phantasy Star 4 called "The Age of Fables" and "Requiem for Lutz." These songs can be found in the Phantasy Star 4 soundtrack as recorded and uploaded by Dustin Odell on YouTube with timestamps 1:24:09 and 1:10:52 respectively: EDIT: I was going to wait for feedback before publish this on my YouTube but I havn't yet received any. Therefore, I published it on YouTube. You can listen to it here: The only live recordings in the song are of me playing clarinet. Please do let me know what you think!

Souperion and JulienMulard, thanks so much for your feedback! My goal for doing any of my remixes is to pay homage to the original piece of music and game as well as to hone my composition skills. Souperion, I really wanted that warm sound that you mentioned and am glad that you noticed it. JulienMulard, thanks for complimenting the drums. None of this piece is performed, unfortunately. I did try really hard to humanize the piece, especially the drums. For example, I frequently made the drums hit the beats randomly early. I also made frequent slight tempo accels and decels. One of the most noticeable parts is when I made the drum solo feel "rushed." Regarding the volume of the drums. Silly thing is that I kept feeling like the drums are too loud. You have a background in metal which emphasizes loud drums. My background is more classical and electronic which usually has more subdued percussion. I will keep your sentiment in mind in future pieces. I wanted to add a more "spice" to this remix but one of my weaknesses is forming new melodies. Evertime a changed up the melody or added countermelody and harmony it sounded really out of place. Any recommendation regarding this? Again, much thanks for the feedback. I am still on the fence whether I should submit as I feel like it'll get rejected.

I have long loved the puzzle game Columns and subsequent releases in the series. A Columns game with some of the best music in the series is certainly Columns 3 on the Genesis/Mega Drive. The song Columns Dive is a fan favorite and it is a favorite of mine as well. The following is the source: Here is my remix of the source: I have complete this remix. The reason for asking for feedback is so that future remixes can continue to improve. I also want to know if you think that this is of a quality high enough to submit to OCRemix. Thanks.

HoboKa, thank you for the feedback. Often when I feel that a remix or original piece is progressing well during development I fear that if I work on it again I will only make it worse. Sometimes that keeps me from finishing projects. However, I am determined, even it takes a lot of time, to finish this remix. I really enjoy the end result. Have a good one!

Hey OC Remix community! I am still improving my production and composition skills with the little time that I dedicate to writing and producing. I am hoping that get some input that will help this remix be appropriate for submission! As a caveat, I do plan on recording a few classical instrument performances (I play the clarinet) and I will humanize the piece a lot when I near completion of the piece. I also have not "master mixed" the piece. However, I think that this piece is coming along nicely. I intended for this piece to mix classical with electronic elements (there are two synths). Phantasy Star IV's music does this well so I wanted to also incorporate that into this remix. I also am mashing two pieces of music into one remix because the first song I chose was a bit thin on length (content). The two pieces have a similar vibe and they are Requiem for Lutz and The Age of Fables. I would consider this approximately 55% done but that's a rough estimate. I don't know how much more can be done exactly but there are a number of ideas floating around in my head (got a head ache). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Download of the remix in progress: http://www.tonalbliss.com/music/displays/truthbetold_4.mp3 The two original tunes I'm basing my mix on on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uH-4DZWv5fI?list=PLirSddeMOYZ5E_9xpoTRYi3ksQmlFPdFL and https://youtu.be/afEQQhQajLE?list=PLirSddeMOYZ5E_9xpoTRYi3ksQmlFPdFL

Gario, thank you for the time you took to listen and give me pointers on my remix. Feedback is a big reason why I have submitted then re-submitted this piece. I don't have much time to write and remix music so I consider my skills to still be amateur. I still have much room for growth. You say that you believe that I used gain throughout this song. I did not use gain. I changed the volume using each individual channel volume nob (violin, viola, cello, etc) prior to the grouped channel processing (reverb and EQ). Something that could make it appear that I used gain was that the volume changes are dramatic and done in-sync with each other. I think that humanizing the dynamics would help in this regard. The only instrument that can not naturally change volume dynamically is the organ. I will remove the dynamic changes on the organ and change it to velocity differences between notes. Regarding the snare drum, reverb is applied to that instrument. However, the Kontakt instruments have a reverb applied prior to the reverb that I applied myself. This probably caused the snare to have reverb that was noticeably less. I can certainly change that. One last point, the choir instrument swells into each note because that is how the instrument was made. There is nothing I can do to remove that swell without finding another choir instrument. Since you mentioned that it has become more noticeable to me. I will look for another choir instrument that doesn't do that so it won't be an issue anymore. I am going to revisit this mix later because I do believe it has the potential to pass the judges panel. I am working on another remix that I hope to submit in the future as well. Again, I thank you very much for your feedback and help. Have an awesome day!

This this is a remix using the sounds from a commercial for Chu Chu Rocket on the Dremacast that aired in Japan circa 1998/1999. I am not submitting this because it will probably be rejected. That's alright with me because this remix is a lot of fun. My brother and I did this remix back in 2003 (doesn't seem so long ago but that's 14 years ago!). This song would probably be considered "fun with sound" more than electronic but that's ok. I found this forgotten remix on my old Halo Special Edition XBOX that my parents found at their house. I recorded it, denoised it (it contains some clicking and artifacts), then made an interesting music video to go along with it using the video of the original commercial. I hope you like it!

I released my latest classical piece. This song accompanies a story that I created titled Remorse Nothing More. It is a full orchestration created in FL Studio. Please let me know what you think.

I have the basics of a novel titled Remorse: Nothing More that I would love to publish one day alongside an album with each song corresponding to a chapter of the book. The album would all be orchestral (at least mostly) and each chapter's song would correspond with specific events in each chapter in mood and style. In this chapter, chapter five titled "Sustenance," the main character and the supporting character are resting after spending an entire day burying the martyred townsfolk. This rest after the weary and sad work is what the beginning is based upon. The supporting character then reveals that he grew up and lived some of his adult life as a soldier of the dictatorship ruling over their country. This dramatic revelation occurs with a flashback to his military days and is what the second part is based on. The final part (which hasn't been started--it is only a piano cord at the end) will be the main character staring at the partially burned church as a he falls asleep in prayer. Even if you don't understand what I'm trying to convey with the story please have a listen to my work in progress. I recently purchased new instruments so I am not that proficient with them yet. I use the DAW FL Studio 12. The following is the link for your listening pleasure. Please, I ask for feedback so that I can finish this piece! I also have a sound cloud account under the name of Tonal Bliss so please check me out. Thank you! http://www.tonalbliss.com/other/ChV-Sustenance6.mp3

I am not familiar with the source material but I can say that this piece is very enjoyable and emits the Platonist vibe. I liked the syncopation at 1:30 especially; it certainly changed up the song and kept it interesting. I'm sure it will get posted. Keep up the great work because I enjoy your work.

I have already submitted this piece but I really, really would love to hear suggestions from other users. I improved the instruments a lot prior to submitting this piece. The game I remixed is Populous released back in 1989. The original piece can be found on Youtube here: The remix of the song can be found on SoundCloud here: Thank you for your time.

Hey Nom, There are some other ways to humanize MIDI. If multiple instruments have the same rhythm, you can offset one of the instruments by a very small amount to cause a small amount of tearing. If you don't want to record MIDI notes by performance, then you can also change the dynamics and hit each and every note. Furthermore, even if you can't record every single instrument then you could record one or two instruments to mix into your piece. I can play clarinet so realism is increased when I record and integrate some real clarinet into a piece. Another idea is to use multiple voices for the same instrument (such as two different flute sounds mixed together). I'm still learning a lot too but hopefully some of what I said will help.

I have finished the remix to the best of my ability and uploaded it to SoundCloud. Comments are still wanted so please listen: https://soundcloud.com/tonal_bliss/the-battle-between-good-and-ev

I agree with what smartpoetic has stated. Maybe I can add a few of my own thoughts, especially with the structure of the piece. I felt as though this song didn't have direction. In other words, the song made me feel like I was wondering around without a destination in mind. Some things that may help is shortening the piece a little, adding separate sections to the music with a different mood, and placing focus on building towards points of climax. I feel that I need a lessened focus on climaxes in my own music but I feel that yours could use it more. I'm also interested to know what DAW that you are using. Furthermore, finding better sounding instruments will help you greatly. I need much better instruments as well. Search the internet for free instruments. There are a lot out there that will help you to start improving your sound (although they are no where near the quality of paid instruments, of course).

I am not a good piano player either. This means that direct input via a keyboard has been difficult for me too. Thus, I do a lot via my mouse and QWERTY. I currently use FL Studio 12. What do you use? No matter, you music is still vastly enjoyable. Keep on creating and it will only get better. Thanks for sharing what instruments you use. I really am liking the idea of the Composer Cloud. Oftentimes is hard to slap down a large sum of money so paying a monthly subscription is a great idea for both EastWest and their customers. I don't have much time for writing music but I will message you when I have some collaboration ideas.

I feel that I am close to or am finished with the remix. Please provide me with some feedback so that some changes can be made if necessary. I do plan on submitted this to the judges so any way that it could be improved is what I want. Please listen to it through the following link: http://www.tonalbliss.com/music/displays/Christopher%20Schmenk%20-%20The%20Battle%20Between%20Good%20and%20Evil%20-%20Populous%20Remix.mp3

Wonderful collection of sounds that you have here. You have also mixed the song well, in my opinion. This song is very pleasant to listen to. The song doesn't get "old quick" as k-wix mentioned. However, the build-up certainly could be done quicker. The whole piano part between 4:00 to 4:40 felt like it had no direction. This is another case where building a bit quicker would make the song as a whole better. The climax that was mentioned could use a bit more energy too (I love high energy sections). I'd be interested to know where you get many of these sounds. I loved the piano and trumpet sounds the most. I'd also like to think about working with you in the future. I saw in your profile that you play clarinet? I do too! Just keep writing music because I certainly enjoy listening to it.

Hello OC Remix Forums! I have long been a listener of the remixed on OC Remix (since 2000, I believe). I'm looking for feedback so that I can continue to improve my song-writing and remixing abilities. It appears that classical music is one of my strengths. The following is the original song from the Amiga version of Populous written by Rob Hubbard: I grew up playing the Genesis version but the SNES version's music also played an influence. The following is an mp3 file of the remix thus far: http://www.tonalbliss.com/music/displays/goodnevil8.mp3 I feel that I am mostly completed with the first 2:25 minutes but I'd like the song to go until 3:30. Any comments on the direction of this remix? Any critical comments? Thanks.

Hey Dan, Thanks so much for your very thoughtful reply. What you said is very encouraging and also very helpful. I especially like how you say that I should be saying "I'm working on..." rather than "I want to eventually do..." This is a change in thinking that I really need to be successful. Being that music is not my career (I'm a registered nurse) I often make excuses why I cannot work on my music. I have always wanted to make music a career of its own and... I am currently working on it. "Your production isn't quite there yet..." I agree wholeheartedly. A few weeks ago I bought some mid-quality Samson studio monitors. They help to hear what I am writing and producing a lot better which helps. I agree that having the right equipment and virtual instruments will make a big difference. I will buy professional-grade midi instruments as well when I am able to. Currently I am using mostly out-dated but free sound fonts. "You became a better writer as you wrote this..." This is also true as evidenced by 6:32 through 8:37. This portion of the song is partly new and partly from the original composition. This touches with your other point of always writing new music rather than working with the old. On point. I was considering a remaster of another piece I wrote a long time ago but now do not want to. I need to move on to new music. I need not hold myself back. "The early sections suffer from boring rhythms." I agree although the simple rhythmic structure ties to something in the story. I like how you say that "on the computer it's very unnatural to write variations" because I agree with that. To achieve variations I have had to create a ton of patterns many of which only have small differences. "Study lullabies[,] popular music[, and] more idiomatic writing techniques..." You want me to listen and study Menken, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev. I will do so. I am quite familiar with Tchaikovsky and I can see what you mean about creating a more melodic and memorable experience. My mom and others that listen to my music have often said that, although enjoyable, my music is not often memorable. For some reason I struggle with this aspect. I have always disliked music that is overly simplistic and, as a result, my music has become too complex for its own good. I have never focused much on melody. When I have tried to make a memorable melody I always have difficulty. Do you have any other advice to help me with this? I listened to some of your music on your website. Your music sounds really fantastic! I'm glad that you gave me the constructive advice that you did. Now I can change to become a better musician/artist and so that I can listen to your cool music. Cheers!