Proven Paradox

I think this is the right place to post this; a thousand pardons if this should be elsewhere. I would like to upload some OC Remix tracks to Grooveshark. Not to claim them as my own of course, I'm just tired of having my stuff from OCR separate from streaming sites I typically use. Is this okay to do? If so, is there any kind of protocol for it? I see that OCR already has some presence on Grooveshark, but it's missing most of the site's content. I'd guess that's some individual user posting stuff? Thanks in advance for any clarification.

Am I the only one who was incredibly disappointed with that sexy, sexy saxophone faded out for the piano? A Staffroll/Protoman remix of JUST THAT would totally make my day. This... doesn't really do it for me beyond that. If the volume was balanced, perhaps I'd still want this, but as-is, it sounds like the singer is just mumbling most of the time.

Hm. While halc's latest submission had me thinking about Kirby, this mix reminds me of Super Mario RPG. Anyway. This one kind of goes back and forth for me: there are sections I was really getting into and others that I didn't like. I dunno, maybe I just don't have the screech tolerance to listen to electronica anymore? It used to be one of my favorite genres, but I seem to be falling out with it more and more lately. The squealy sound that comes on around 2:50 kills it for me: I was on the fence about this mix before that, but that just sounds terrible to me. That said, this was overall cool enough that once I've got a good bit of time on my hands, I'mma check out Project Chaos.

Does this remind anyone else of Kirby: Canvas Curse? Or maybe I'm thinking Kirby's Dreamland 3? I'm definitely getting a hella "Kirby" feeling from this. I mean that as a compliment. Overall, a pleasant listen, but in the long term it's just not my thing. I get the sense its appeal would decrease rapidly with multiple listens for me.

I already commented on this on the YouTube posting, but there's a lot to say about this mix and the character limit on YouTube comments doesn't allow me to do this proper justice. First of all, the music is great. Really breathtaking work on the instrumentation. Your guitar-work is divine, and the flute at the end sealed the deal. My only serious complaint on music is the breakdown at ~3:20. It's really sudden and kind of out of place. It's executed well so this complaint isn't TOO loud, but it needed some transition time. It felt kind of like I tripped and fell into another remix. A GOOD remix, but it was sudden and unexpected. And, if I may be allowed to indulge in a bit of nit-picking, the puzzle-solved sound at ~4:27 seems a bit crammed in. But not terribly so. The voice work, I am less sold on. Firstly, the lyrics are perfect, and I would love to see more song-writing from you. That's not the problem: the glaring weakpoint on this otherwise indestructible monolith of a mix is the vocals. The way the track is written, it really, really needs two different voices singing, because your voice seems to be straining really hard to hit some of the high notes, and not quite getting there. Don't get me wrong: when you get it right, you get it really right. The fifth verse ("now on this new day, a cold wind blows...", ~2:25) works great as is and was the point that this track went from "pretty okay" to "actually quite good." You drive it home on verse seven ("within the belly of the beast, son...", ~4:30). At that point the only appropriate response is to throw a fist into the air and shout "hell yeah!" (I did not actually do this, but I wanted to.) But then there are the parts where it doesn't work in a big way because your voice doesn't quite get the note called for. Just about any time the word "legend" comes up in the lyrics is a really good example of this. This happens mostly at the beginning of the track. The voice breaking in verse 2, on the word "stone" made me wince when I first listened to this. I think these points are really begging for a woman's voice. This could have made a great duet: I'm no composer, but instinctively I think this kind of song could have some great weaving effects with two voices. (Or maybe three: get a baritone in there to belt out the super manly verses!) Overall it's still good, but it brushes close to perfection that I find myself judging it harshly simply because with a few tweaks it could actually reach it.

This is a pleasant little track, but I don't think I'll be putting it on my playlist for further listening. It had me going around 1:15 when it started building into something that I thought I would really enjoy, but then it just petered out at 1:45. Then suddenly at 2:00 it's going again. Then it's tired out at 2:30 again. In general this piece kind of jerks me around; the tempo switches are sudden and the transition seems clunky. It's a good piece and well executed, but the composition could be better I think. Leading into the transitions a little more would be a major improvement, I think.

The lyrics are well written and for the most part well delivered--as has been said already, the vibrato was excessive at a few points, but that doesn't break the track. ...What DOES break the track is that obnoxious squeaky synth sound. That is the most disgusting noise I've ever heard. Seriously, that is horrible! And it keeps going through the entire track! Completely ruins music that is otherwise quite good.

FFVI has an astounding soundtrack, but Martial Law is one I always felt underwhelmed by. It just faded into the background next to all of the stronger tracks, I guess. This does an excellent job of bringing it into a more epic feel, and it merges with the Serpent Trench theme well. I've heard a lot of mixes hampered by weak brass sounds, but yours sound quite good. This one's on my playlist to stay. Excellent work.

This seems like two very short remixes slammed together, and both are harmed by the force needed to get them to gel. I felt the Birth of the People section was boring and lacked direction. Meanwhile, the Northwall section is absolutely stunning. There's no real unifying force between them to justify making them a single track (other than perhaps a lack of length, which I don't think is adequate justification for the fusion here). The transition between them felt very clunky and jarring to me. In the end this one probably isn't going to stay in my playlist because the first half just doesn't do it for me. I really like the Northwall segment, but it's dragged down by the first half.

Yeah, I did a double take on the first listen. That certainly makes the track stand out. On the one hand, I like the track... on the other, I now have this recurring fear of losing my headphones while this is playing and having to explain myself. << Still. Fun times. I like it.

This is absolutely beautiful. A lot of good stuff came out of Humans + Gears, but this is easily my favorite.

This has a great atmosphere, and as mentioned by others the cinematic feel strikes me as something that would be used in a movie or game--in fact, unless you object I may use this to set the mood in a DnD game sometime. It does seem to be lacking something though--others have mentioned lack of length, but if one tries to extend a piece longer than one wants, one risks dragging things out unnecessarily instead. I think what this needs is a better conclusion--the ending left me thinking, "So, wait, that's it?" A stronger, firmer ending would've helped more than a bit more length I think (hurr hurr double entendres).

I suppose what this comes down to is a difference in preferences then. I personally have no problem with low-energy ambient pieces. I'm personally unconvinced that a strong flute or violin couldn't have held this together, but I'm not the mixer here. In the end, it's a matter of taste.

This sounds to me like two excellent pieces that fell down the stairs at the same time and were so mixed up when they finally landed that no one could untangle them. I think in this case, it's less than the sum of its parts. It's a heavy metal mix entangled with a mellow orchestral/piano driven arrangement mixed in, and they clash with each other. The transitions are jarring and the inconsistent mood is not endearing to me. Genre mixing can be done well, but I think this one misses the mark. That said, it's not -bad-. It would've been better as two (maybe three even) more cohesive tracks, but the individual components here done incredibly well. This one's going on my playlist, and I look forward to more. I just wish it weren't the mash-up it is now.

There are aspects of this piece that are just incredibly beautiful. I really like the backdrop, the fast, busy, but still light percussion that keeps the track going, the delicate layering, and just the overall feel of the piece. It captures the atmosphere of the original beautifully while adding its own spin to things at the same time. There's a lot to like here. Now, here's the big "but" that has probably been implied through the preceding praise. Forgive me if this sounds overly harsh, but the synth that starts around 1:00 and plays the melody through 2:25 sounds just... horrible to me. I literally flinched when I heard that begin, the otherwise mellow mood the song evoked shattered. That high-pitched synth is the one out-of-tune player that ruins an otherwise excellent symphony. Even when it fades out of focus and becomes part of the background after that, I can still hear it, grating on my nerves in the middle of an otherwise excellent piece. I would love to like this track; it's got so much going for it. But that was a deal breaker. Which is doubly tragic because I think if a different instrument had been chosen, this could have been beautiful. I imagine a flute or other wind-based sound taking that part--something that could harmonize and blend with the piece rather than standing out so much--would have made this one of my favorite tracks on my rather extensive OCR playlist.