Russell Cox   Members

Yar. It's kinda cute when you see random Joe's guild #234 rant rave that "we killed Ragnaros 234,024 times, so we're good to clear Blackwing Lair" when they don't have a damn clue what they're getting into. With the introduction of Dark Iron gear, killing Ragnaros totes as much weight for e-p33n purposes as saying you killed Arugal solo.

1) The muted horns are supposed to cut through everything then fade away; according to the script it's parts of the conversation where Chrono realizes something's not right with his mother. 2) The only brass playing is french horns with a soft sample; they mesh with the Voilas one the same passage. Unless you're talking about the "buzz" sound from the Bassoon section as it gets into the lower register I have no clue what you're referring to. Did you get the .mp3 as Claado said it was lost (I sent an email)? The computer I use for music is put up into storage (hence why I had to back out of the DQ/DW project) so as "assholic" as it sounds I'm afraid you're going to have to take those "as-is".

Have fun being the bitch of the Japanese in FFXI. You left a game that's still growing in endgame to go back to one where end-game consists of "Who gets the pull!" while you wait in that 21-24 timeframe. Smart move.

Rogues are absolute shit for crowd control; Sap is the most unreliable ability in the game. Improved Sap *NEVER* works in a group when you need it to. Plus, very few times where crowd control is needed will there be just a humanoid. If you have the choice between letting the mage sheep or the Rogue Sap, you let the mage sheep. In the higher instances (Blackrock Spire/Strath/Scholo/Dire) it's not even worth it to let the Rogue try, as mobs hit so hard there's a high chance he's dead before he can hit the Vanish hotkey. Throwing for Trolls is crappy racial; I have yet to see anyone beyond level 10 use throwing. Most people go for a gun, bow, or crossbow considering they can get harder hits on the firearm, as well as stat bonuses whereas you get nothing on throwing. Orcs being better Warrior, absolutely. It's not because of the +Axe skill though; it's because of their +25% resistance to stun and knockback attacks. +5 skill really doesn't help that much since melee doesn't suffer as badly on monsters higher than you in comparison to caster resists. Kinky.

Cry more, please little child. If you don't play a class, shut the hell up about it. The only people that bitch about Paladin are the ones that aren't good at the job anyway. If you want to see a job that still need a role defined, look at Warlock. You came on her ranting raving about Paladins when you stated you HADN'T played them; GG moron. Sorry, last I checked you don't rule my life, so I won't be shutting up little lassie.

Cry more? Don't be as stupid as the idiots on the official WoW forums, please. Learn your place, mortal! Such a really nice looking dragon model. She's cocky as shit though. Heh, just wait until you get to Blackwing Lair, since you've already been working on Molten Core. There are no trash mobs starting off, and the first boss is going to make your jaw drop open -- "ordered chaos" is the best way to describe it. We went at the event for almost a month before we beat it, and when we did finish the first half we couldn't believe it (and wiped to Razorgore from being stunned in awe, but that's beside the point). The second boss, Vaelastraza the Corrupt starts at 30% health and will kick your ass across the room and apologize while doing so, lol. Molten Core's pretty much like a normal dungeon crawl, with Ragnaros focused on burst DPS (like Lord Kazzak) and having a decent amount of Fire resistance gear to counter balance the lava surges. Tanks should get a good amount (since Ragnaros's attacks are all fire based, not physical), but beyond that for everyone else it doesn't matter. I have... 60~ fire resistance (I think?) on my Druid and haven't bothered with more. Greater Fire Protection pots. Use one before you have someone 'suicide' to summon Ragnaros (we have people log out onto alts, join a channel, and the dead person will say when it's OK to log back on). It'll absorb 1.5-3.5K fire damage, but usually averages 2-2.5K. You can drink a pot before summoning him (lasts 60 minutes), and use another when yours wears off. They're more important than mana/health pots for *almost* everyone. The materials are cheap (1 Elemental Fire, 1 Dreamfoil, 1 Crystal Vial), and you the best droprate for the elementals are from the Burning Exiles in Arathi Highlands. Ragnaros is one of those bosses that go onto farm status once you kill them. Uh, no they're not. Rogues are the main source of damage on a lot of the bosses and even trash mobs in Molten Core, and they're where a good 60% of your DPS will come from in Blackwing Lair. Rogues are far from useless; the ones that know how to back off if they get a nasty string of lucky crits (or better yet actually know how to use Feign) are golden. There's nothing wrong with Rogue endgame; there's just too many of them, like Hunters.

Nice, I like this new design more.

http://www.geocities.com/trptcox219/WIP.mp3 I've only had a few minutes to work on this today, but there is basically the first 'scene' of my part. Marle and co. are at the top of Death Peak and prepare to use the Chrono Trigger.

No one has mentioned or claimed a spot for #21, so if there is still room I will start to work on that ASAP. Melodic content with a lot of emotion is usually where my best work is anyway.

I can not believe that I never commented on this. It's a great piece with a nice full sound to it. The piano seems to get a little muddy at a few instances, but other that that it's a very solid mix.

If I'm not mistaken you're talking about the trumpet soft glissando (i.e. pitch bend).

*cries* Ok, seriously now.... I had not wanted to post a review, as the few times I've been asked my comments on this song, half of those people came back with comments of "You're just jealous!" or "What, don't want someone else to write orchestral remixes?" This is my opinion of the mix in particular, and not toward the person -- I can't even remember his/her name while I'm typing this. The beginning up to the swell of the orchestra is nicely executed, even if it comes out of nowhere and serves almost no purpose in that particular section. Then once the brass 'section' comes in it becomes sloppy. Nice and chaotic, but still sloppy. The marcato of the SAM Horns delays the attacks and makes them sound late, not to mention the horns are *SO* far back into the mix that they sound like they're into a completely different room. If you're using the "far" version of the horns then I wouldn't add any reverb as it sits well in almost any mix that has a decent amount. I know that a little 'lateness' is acceptable on the brass parts, but the horns just sound so late the by the time the notes are heard it's too late -- even the percussion is more in sync than the horns. The dissonance around 4:15 is very nice and sounds great. But from here on out it just... dies literally. That may have been the point but once the quiet section begins it just sounds out of place after the "Bombing Mission" part. Is it bad? Not at all, but it just doesn't fit to me. The spatial field seems to move on a few things -- the bones and the violins. When the violins play the staggered sustain they're on the left but when the runs begin in "BM" they're on the right/middle. THe bones also seems to drift from center, right, and back to center. Maybe it's just my ears....

Sorry, but the harp *can* go that low. The piano is the only other instrument that has a greater range than the harp, being able to go a minor third lower and an imperfect fifth higher than the harp. The only reason most people don't use those extreme ranges are because of the sustaining power below the bass clef and the harp's highest tone sound too sharp and metallic. maestro knows my thoughts on this mix from the WIP and they haven't changed. Overall, it's a solid mix, though I'm not too happy with some phrasing choices. Nice one.

No, I am completely self taught, though I have had some one-on-one 'lessons' with David Holsinger. Most of my experience comes from actually playing in several orchestras, conducting a few songs, and natural talent.

First of all, I don't like the original song. It's too much "IN YOUR FACE" in comparison to the rest of the OST. The lead is annoying, grating, and doesn't mesh well with the strings IMO. The percussion feels like it's trying to drill a hole in my head with the overly loud bass drum and boring tambourine. Dreamer, though, has a pleasant tone and feels almost like what a lot of people have been describing. It's calm, soothing, and helps give off the pretense of relaxation. The strings and flute (I'm assuming that's a shakuhachi) are very pleasing to the ear. It's very simplistic, but so was "La Ballade de Cyan" and I love that one also (yes, I know it's not by you -- I'm just maing a point). Very good mix -- very relaxing and soothing. It's a nice contrast to the more epic or in your faces mixes on the site. Keep it up.

*Comments are on the full version -- thanks prot* I like the little grind in the end of the beginning -- adds a lot of character. It has a nice laid-back feel, until we go into the 'action' (last) sequence. Most of it's excellent, with the exception of some chords I didn't agree with in the middle section. The intro and middle sections sound more interesting than the ending section, though that may just be me. I'm with Mustin; some of those chords don't really sound wrong, just not right. They're not so far gone as to say they're horribly dissonant and wrong, but just feel like they don't belong, even though they do work (to some extent). It may be because I'm not big on jazz, but they still strike a bad note with me. Overall, from this little bit, I would have rather had *you* do the score for Metroid Prime, as the entire game had music nowhere near the level of Super Metroid (aside from the title screen music). I think you would have done it more justice than what was ingame. ~Russell

Thanks a lot for the comments guys, I really mean it. While I'm not sure this is a good addition to my "ouvre," as I have no idea what that is, I would like to think this is a good addition to my "oeuvre." Question is, will David pop in here to tell me what an "ouvre" is?

Thanks for the comments and praise everyone!

Since I'm trying to be nice I'll go for 3) I've never ended a song with a cello, tough I have begun several songs with one.

Ahh -- that's not a cello. It's a bassoon.

Thanks for the review! However, where exactly are you talking about? Could you give me a time marker? I don't remember writing a cello in the ending, unless it's just the cello/viola/violin I and II chords that supplement the harp solo.

Definitely! And I'm speaking from experience. SAM sounds infinitely better than Dan Dean Brass Ensembles and the tone is better than Vienna Symphonic Library.

That about sums up Nick Phoenix. VotA has a pretty good sound, but it's packaged in an 'amaeturish' way. Just Men and Women? I'm sorry, but no matter how good the samples are that's like Garritan or Sonic Implants releasing a string library that just has one large Legato, Pizzicato, Sordino, or Marcato string sample -- it just doesn't work. A *good* choir library should have your Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass, not a mass heap of "Men" and "Women." The unbearable hiss in the lower registers of the two heaps is just unacceptable also, as well as recording divsi parts with VotA is impossible. We're finally starting to see some *good* libraries coming out (SAM Horns, SAM Trombones, Sonic Implants Strings, VSL, Garritan solo strings *hopefully soon*) and I think it's about time a developer looks into making a *good* choir library. I mean come on -- there are *enough* piano libraries out there, focus on other instruments companies!

Overall the song has a good feel to it. The pulse is constant and the syncopation is pretty easy to keep up with and doesn't get too out of hand. However, I'm not that wild about this song for several reasons: 1) Nothing really interesting happens, with the exception of a sudden key change around 2:58 that doesn't sound that dramatic and just sounds like a signification to the ending of the song. 2) The snare drum sounds too close in the mix -- it reminds of the horrible recording of 20020220 where the mic was placed *right* next to the snare drum and drowned out the whole orchestra. 3) Here's the biggie -- reverse string placement. I hate it when composers reverse the placement of Violins I & II with Cellos & Contrabasses, or any other alteration, with a passion. Some people may like the unorthodox sound to it, but to me it just sounds wrong (which consequentially is a reason I'm not to wild about a lot of Israfel's works because of this one reason). As far as the 'epic' comments, I don't really see what's so epic about it. Yes, it is a good strong, solid song but it doesn't have a 'epic' feel to it I think. I sounds more than a laid back march to battle than an epic work.

Overall it's not a bad mix. The samples are pretty decent (either Fluid or Squidfont I'd say). There's a very minimalistic sound to it, which is either good or bad depending on your preferrences. I would have liked to have heard a little more fleshed out sound, though not full. This sounds fairly empty overall, but that's just my take on it. The horns (I'm assuming that's what they are) around 2:00 are a little too quiet in comparison to the action that's occuring in the rest of the orchestra and I believe it should be louder for two reasons: 1) Since there's only timpani, contrabass, and violin, the horns would easily have overpowered the rest 2) The horn line is the melodic intent for that section and should be the loudest anyway Not a bad piece, but I think there's a little bit more you could have done to it.