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Villainelle

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Everything posted by Villainelle

  1. Alternate cover art Hi. I did alternate covers for this album, because it is jawesome. They are below. They are 24-bit PNGs of several MB. Front. Back. Staff: feel free to add these to the official VotL site, with a link to my deviantart page. Rock on.
  2. One more minor quibble, about ID3 tags (in small font size to not detract from this wonderful release ). I would suggest you not put the URL of the project at the front of the album title. The correct album title is Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream, as shown on the project web site, artwork etc.--not http://ff7.ocremix.org/ - Voices of the Lifestream, as it currently is in the ID3 tags. There is already a URL field in the ID3 tag specifications, and it is already filled out with the project URL. I'm sure you guys are just trying to follow OCR's standard of putting the official site URL as the album name, but I don't think it's appropriate for a site project and it makes for messy categorizing in media players/organizers. (As an example, I want this album to show up in my media player's album view next to Final Fantasy VII: Piano Collections.) ETA: Spotted an error in a tag: Disc 2, track 12, Hy Bound's "Mark of the Beatsmith" has a typo ("Beathsmith") in the song title.
  3. Excellent work, kudos to all involved, and thank you for this. Just wanted to add support to the notion of releasing FLAC instead of WAV files please. I've also chosen to skip those files in the torrent. Lossless formats like FLAC can be transcoded freely to whatever you like; no reason not to use them!
  4. So, what's up with the OCR 0001-1000 torrent? Still getting tons of errors. Check into it please. Thanks.
  5. Appreciate the support but I'm not going to be resubmitting or revising this. Regarding the last.fm profile...looks like I had a little too much sun this summer. And a sex change. Yikes. Gotta pay more attention while in the OR.
  6. Agreed with Passive Pretentiousness; this mix meanders. At first I thought it was spinning out a GrayLightning-esque reverie that would resolve, bit by bit, into an epic yet ethereal sense of serenity, harmony, and all those other Enya descriptors. Unfortunately I don't feel this mix goes anywhere, just glides around prettily but aimlessly. Thin Crust said, "Sets a mood, but doesn't do much else," and I agree. Perplexing, as I've heard much better from DS.
  7. Not sure if there's another LotRO thread, couldn't find any. So what do people think of the game now? I quit WoW 8 months ago and am itching to replace it with something that's more game than job, and LotRO looks like the best candidate atm. Is the roughness still there, are you still entertained after a couple months, etc.? And if anyone's got a buddy key they're not using, I'd appreciate it. Have the trial client downloaded already, called Turbine but the CS rep said they're out of buddy keys for now.
  8. No offense, but I had somewhat high hopes for this that weren't really being met--the piece seemed overly faithful to the original with an unconvincing chorus, and hampered by muddy production...until the last 2~ minutes, when the incredible rearranging just ran wild and floored me, making me dismiss the aforementioned concerns. A bit uneven overall, but what a fantastic finish.
  9. I get that you're trying to protect OCR's investment (money, time etc.) in submitted work, especially in the projected case of manufacturing DVDs, but the language of the removal clause still seems more favorable to OCR than to remixers. I think this could be rectified simply by being more explicit. Why not reword it so that any actual monetary or otherwise tangible investment on OCR's behalf (aside from web hosting/traffic) is protected, while accepting that investments of time or other intangible resources are offered at a loss? Something like: "...requests for removal of a ReMix from OCReMix.org will be fully honored, but removal may or may not be granted at OCR's discretion in the case of ReMixes which have been reproduced by OCR at cost on physical media or other formats, such as DVD compilations..." etc. While unfortunate, I don't think the loss of time/work spent in judging and writing up a particular ReMix (or even several, e.g. in Virt's case) that gets removed at the artist's request is sufficient to word the clause in favor of OCR, nor is the situation itself very common. You can protect yourself from the loss of these intangible investments in the future by refusing to deal with a submitter who imposes excessive requests for removal or otherwise excessive administrative duties on you (e.g. JD Harding). It just doesn't seem like there needs to be a clause that favors the site more than the remixer, just because of a situation that happens VERY infrequently, and which MIGHT in the future interfere with plans for DVD comps etc. (Has anything as bad as JD Harding's case even happened again since?) Using Compyfox's and Luiza's et al examples, if an artist requests removal of a song, it should be removed ASAP from the web site, while the artist accepts (per agreement to this contract) that it may not be removed from existing or in-production media such as DVD compilations. Per the contract, OCR may refuse to consider any future submissions from that artist. I suggest that you give notice to existing remixers first, and permit a reasonable grace period before manufacturing DVDs or anything like that, so that anyone who wants to opt out has the opportunity. Just my 2c. I don't think there's any malice on OCR's behalf here, but the removal language is just too vague and unfriendly towards remixers, IMO. Also, discussion of "stupid/petty reasons," or "reasons" period, has no place here. If OCR is going to evaluate each request for removal on an individual basis using various undisclosed criteria, that needs to be stipulated clearly in the contract. Otherwise, the staff has no place to judge anyone's request for removal, whatever their opinions on it, and must honor it without deliberation.
  10. That's just more typical tourist crap. You want to get a real sense of things, go walk around on foot in one of the neighborhoods like Logan Square, Wicker Park, anywhere on the north side...etc. The el goes through or near almost anywhere that's worth visiting. If you want to see the boring guidebook tourist attractions, then fine, spend some time downtown, do the Mag Mile and all that yawntastic stuff. If you want to see weird quirky cool shit, wander the neighborhoods. Stay away from the far South and West Sides if you're on foot and/or aren't very urban-savvy. The Northside is fairly safe, but proportionally higher income, so there are fewer interesting little POIs and more campuses, boring boutiques etc. Pretty area, though. And Oak Park is boring, don't bother with that FLW crap unless you're really into architecture. It's pointless trying to give people tips on how to get a real sense of a city. You really need to have a personal guide who knows it well. If you just want to see all the postcard sites, it's not too hard. I think you'll find your trip more rewarding if you do some exploration on foot through the artsier/more bohemian/etc. neighborhoods. Have fun, I miss my hometown like crazy.
  11. Please check your pulse. This is pure ear candy. Tefnek's mastery of sound manipulation + zircon's refined sense of electronic music songwriting = a blissful combination. You guys and other independent musicians are the true innovators in electronic music--I so rarely hear this level of attention to detail, variation, or sense of "handcraftedness" in commercial electronic music. If only more people were exposed to electronic music with this quality of craftsmanship... Thanks.
  12. Not bad...from the initial production values I was expecting a little more though. The bass is pretty active, but IMO not especially effectively...it seems haphazard rather than driving, and doesn't really gel with the track as a whole--perhaps because it's trying to be too jazzy; see Ziwtra's recent work, particularly "A Dream..." for active basslines that retain their drive--or sculpt the tension very much. It draws a lot of attention to itself, which is actually (unfortunately) effective in this track, since it diminishes focus on the repetitive phrases of melody which have little climactic variation. Drums are okay, crisp and serviceable, but the prominent hihat pattern gives a looped feeling to them shortly into the track. Ending is uninspired. Overall, this reminds me a lot of the wry, sinister electrojazz/dance music from the Coliseum ("Awakened Soul") in Castlevania: SotN, esp. the welcome change-up at 2:01 and the marimba-like synth thing at 2:33, both of which were highlights for me. I don't think the bass writing is exceptionally impressive, but it's nice to hear something out of the ordinary in a dance track. This source tune is excellent and I think more could have been done with it, but this is enjoyable for what it is. And I do love the slightly ethnic-tinged dance vibe here, which I'm also exploring lately myself. For a first track this is good stuff. Hoping for more.
  13. Some anonymous parent in the comments for the original article made a great point... There are just too many non- or mis-educated idiots out there who flip out over things they don't understand and/or misinterpret, willingly spy and report on their neighbors, and love to cultivate this neo-McCarthyist fear-obssesed thought police state etc. etc. Rather than react every time something new and impressively more stupid happens, parents need to step up and start teaching their kids to be media/culture-savvy, and to know and defend their personal rights. Ideally this poor kid should have known that making a map of his school for an FPS is incredibly risqué--not that that should stop him from having harmless fun, but that he needs to take steps to protect himself for touching on "controversial" issues. I do hope the family sues the fuck out of the school/law enforcement/everyone ever for caving to such blatant profiling, if only to get some media exposure of their own. You don't just sit on your ass while this gets worse. Time to accept that white yuppie parents are going to hyperventilate every time they see a gun or a racial and/or class minority etc. and try to jail your kid before he becomes T3H T3RR0AR15T5.
  14. Agreed with Eulogic, it would probably be far more difficult than it's worth for the amount of music on the site. Cool widget though, I've been playing with it since reading this thread. However, I would like to see a (moderated) folksonomic tag cloud search/navigation system on OCR at some point, a la Flickr. Would be cool if the upcoming VGMix3 adopted one too, since there'll be even more songs there eventually.
  15. Just going to add some names to OC's list. You can find all of these on KVR. synths: - Oatmeal (subtractive) - KarmaFX (modular) - Anna (modular) - Crystal (modular) - everything from Tweakbench.com (chiptune-like synths) effects: - dblue Glitch (Best. Free. Plug. Ever.) - digitalfishphones - everything (Blockfish, Endorphin etc. - compressors/asst. soundshapers) - Mykrasound Delay & Chorus - CamelCrusher (distortion/compression) - Kjaerhus Classic Series (everything from compressor to chorus to limiter, full suite) - Voxengo SPAN (spectrum analyzer) and other freebies These are just the ones that spring to mind immediately...more later.
  16. Shadowolf...you may find this thread on OUS informative. Post #106 contains a link to a chat log that explains his banning from OCR in great detail. So cool it with the conjecture and personal invention, and the defamation of character. Whatever you thought of the guy, that's really not necessary and doesn't reflect well on this site.
  17. This is just way too faithful to the source. I hear some small additions and changes, new intro/outro, but this comes off mostly like a cover. And the man certainly likes his cymbal crashes... I dunno, I wouldn't worry about sample quality so much right now when the arrangement needs so much work. Personalize the hell out of this! It's Bloody Tears, one of the most renowned (and most rearranged) Castlevania tunes; you really need to march in and wrestle it into some new form with a far greater deal of personal interpretation.
  18. Um...I don't think that's why VGMix is still down.
  19. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
  20. Yeah, that list looks old, and mostly Linux-oriented. The most robust freeware for Windows has been REAPER for quite some time. I go through a lot of the free VSTs that turn up on the KVR forum...considering doing a review of the best ones I've found.
  21. LAME VBR is comparable to OGG for quality:filesize. And the patent ownership hasn't been used for anything evil yet, although the recent court rulings are dismaying, I admit. But it's just fearmongering to tout patents as reason to avoid the MP3 format. We'll be done with lossy compression anyway by the time they manage to corrupt it. Sorry, I like OGG too, but MP3 is the clear winner this round (by way of its prevalence of support in consumer electronics), and the next round is lossless IMO. If your remix gets accepted, you could just post a link to an OGG version in your review thread. Other remixers have done that for alternate versions of their songs. Anyway, your mix! Nice crisp sounds. The arrangement keeps moving and skipping from idea to idea, which is both good and bad. I won't belabor that. The lack of real percussion was a bit disconcerting, though, when paired with prominent synth sequences (and teasing snippets of guitar! moar prz). I also think the texture of the song is on the barren side - there could be a lot more going on to fill it out. A drum track would go a long way towards that, but if you're trying to stick to the orchestral side of electro-orchestral, just some additional instrumentation here and there. You could stand to lower the volume on both the guitar and that pulsing bass synth from the first half of the song. I like the bells section that closes this WIP. If you slowly bring in the electro-orchestral stuff again on top of that for a huge climactic part...that would be truly awesome. And again, moar geetar prz. Good stuff, keep at it.
  22. Kanthos, thanks very much for the in-depth critique! I agree completely with your suggestions. The bass is indeed really confined; it was a quick pattern I wrote when starting, and then got lazy and just left it as-is for the entirety of the song. And yeah, listening to this again, I feel like the chanting section really needs something to top it off as you mentioned. If this gets rejected, they're things I'll incorporate when I go back and try to refine it. Appreciate your comments.
  23. Yup, as above, this arrangement is smokin'. Excellent energy, nice flow. It rocks, sir. Those fake guitars are painfully fake, though. The rhythm parts especially make me cringe. If you don't find someone to record the guitar parts for you, spend a LOT of time humanizing them as much as you can. This arrangement deserves it. You may not be able to emulate a real performance convincingly, but you can do a lot to take the awkward edge off. I'm thinking of recent tracks I've heard by folks like Miszou, zircon etc. who use guitar samples and/or synth guitars, and pull it off very well. Do it! This is too good not to lavish with care.
  24. Hi Ultimate, welcome to OCR. This starts off too strong, there's no build up. It sounds a little chaotic overall, partly because of that filtered sweeping synth...thing, which doesn't add much to the composition IMO. The cymbal crashes seem kind of randomly placed, instead of deliberately for dramatic effect. Everything is muddy and hard to distinguish. The synth toms don't seem to fit with the rest of the mix, at least not with how often you use them. And beneath all this, it sticks pretty closely to the original source, without really engaging my attention with any of the traditional dance music staples: build ups, drops, change-ups, breakdowns etc. The tempo change at 1:46 was unexpected and interesting. What comes afterwards shows you interpreting the source more than in the first half of the song, at least. I'm not sure how much I liked it, but I can appreciate that you were trying to interpret the source there. You need to do that more often throughout the entire mix if you are trying to meet OCR's standards. I think you should go back and work on pacing this song more deliberately, and being more liberal with your rearrangement of the source. The old Shadowgate remix "DeathRave" by Nines managed to take a very simple, repetitive source tune and turn it into a decent 5-minute dance anthem. It's not as refined as the current remixes being released, but it has a solid structure, good sense of pacing, etc.
  25. Agreed with Scarlet. This is very funky. Awesome vibe going on. Keep going with it, and fill out the space more with additional sounds and sequences. Also, while this has a nice groove, be aware of the overall structure of the song - it seems to just groove without really going anywhere till the end. More variation in the drums and some supporting chords or sweeps of sound could change that. Good stuff, you're definitely improving man.
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