zykO

don't stir still waters...

hahaha already some shittalkin' goin on nice

haha not you leon and i was referring to the waste of my BREATH. not a waste of yours... and you can't credibly qualify whether or not it was a waste of breath to he who breathed it. first of all, i was under the impression that you and i came to a common understanding about the subject. while it is still in my regular daily vocabulary, i do not record music that glorifies it because i have come to see it as bad influence regardless of what i mean by it. doesn't mean i concede my stance... i still think blowing this up in this context is a joke but i was convinced you and i clearly discussed this. right now, we got a new cat who feels its necessary to play malcolm x to a community of videogame geeks show us "kids" how to rap without the hubbub that prevades rap? who are you, KRS-one? gimme a break, guy... i've dropped hotter shit than you ever will without uttering the word nigga. come on, man - i thought we were through with this.

jayt11: so you do realize that it is fundamentally holier-than-thou to say "I'M BLACK, I DON'T SAY NIGGA AND THEREFORE NIETHER SHOULD YOU" man, you may be like only the 5th brotha in the community, but you aren't the 5th brotha in the world and you aren't exactly preaching any message that wasn't already attempted by 3 of the other 4 brothas in this community before you and has been preached by many a brotha over the years so here's my response to you: Get that "it wouldn't be the same as making a song called 'crackaz 4 life'" bullshit out of my face. if you can't see the value of self-expression beyond what you deem a "thinly veiled message", explaining it to you would be the same waste of breath the last four times was. thank you for listening, anyways

first of all, who are you? secondly, like larry pointed out, that filtered synth is really irritating after a while and sounds tacky. the rest of this is vicious i am totally digging the groove and the parts of this that don't have that filtered synth rambling through it are great. the synth work, otherwise, is killer YES

well shit no it isn't the crispest, best flute performance but it doesn't kill the track. its shaky but still leads the listener into the body of the music with a sort of frantic urgency. i do not know if this was the creative intent or strictly a byproduct of the performance but it works i agree with vig. this feels rushed and messy. that said, there is plenty of good music here and none of the detracting points are enough to reject it. YES

really weird really cool the arrangement is great. plenty of ideas that go all over the place. i am most impressed by the pacing of the different sections... you transition very nicely from one idea to the next. i think what really dunks this through the hoop is how this still has that zelda dungeon music feel to it. it is like a cross between zelda and luigi's mansion. like navigating a haunted, urban dungeon. somewhere down the street... but in a different WORLD! you know? 1makes2, you're good. i like this a lot YES

oh yum this is groovy like a movie, baby! the song is well written, the mood is tweaked, and the vocoder is great. makke's stuff is always fun for me and i love this no less i cannot fault this. YES

there are parts of this that are entertaining but not enough of this is engaging to warrant this much enthusiasm towards it. ambertrance was considerably better than this, i think i don't have a problem with being a blunt trance interpretation but i want to want to dance - the arrangement wouldn't normally bother me as much, as i am a fan of simplicity, but the instrumentation and production are so average that i feel left to qualify the arrangement and in that scenario, its simplicity does not help it NO

yumm, this is very scrumptious it possesses so many different textures to it; i love that! you are gritty and grimy for a stretch, then you drop into a very spacey urban groove. very mario and very not... all at once: you've effectively done what vg arranging is all about i'm not gonna disagree on the production issues zircon is having with it. at times, it gets too muddy because you have so much shit goin on that individual parts get mushed up together. then there's how it opens up into the spacious section around 1.35 still, the arrangement and work here is far too sophisticated and entertaining to overlook. this really is great. YES

oh yea i'll be there, too

i never had a complaint. this is even better. YES

i actually really liked this right off the bat. i think my problem with the drums is that sometimes it gets too busy. the piano part is very gentle and insiduous... and then there are these insane drumfills going with it for such stark contrast i'm digging the atmosphere, witout a doubt. very chill even with the drums. i disagree with vig on this one. i think this varies up quite nicely. when the pads come in, i'm expecting this thing to go somewhere new and it does. the only noticeable problem with this transition is the drums. the drums ought to have shifted and switched up right then and there. instead they are the same, at this point, tired groove. the piano is great and i just think that you could have done so much more with the drums. i'm going to yes this instantly if you can give me better drums underneath the pads and into the section that plays what is essentially the bridge from the source. have it then morph into the original drumwork underneath the piano part and you got a winner. NO wit a little dash of yes

i heard this when it was first baked. it is a beast. one of the things i love about house is that he is not a limited one trick pony; i have always respected and admired his true ability to create without boundary and this track was, at one point, the penultimate display of that. his electronic work in it is just as challenging and aggressive as the guitar work. this was such a clear winner in the DoD that month and was so hard to peg because of how competent the non-guitar stuff was. the guitar is great, the arrangement is intelligently ambitious when it needs to be, the synth work is fantastic, the mastering, mixing and production are all where they ought to be. triumph for the guitar! YES

i'm really conflicted on this for a couple of obvious reasons. for one, i love the original track and of course love shael and more importantly, am a very gimmicky sort of fella and love live tracks even if they aren't really live () but here we have a real live track and that is an instant winner in my book. does it sound distant ? of course - but its live. not everything about OCR has to be studio-produced. not only that... not everything has to always be about how it sounds. it can, at timse, simply be about what it is about. and this is about live videogame music, intimate, real and natural. count it. YES

umm, while i agree with larry and shariq on the NO, i don't agree as to why the instruments here are terrible. i think they may be servicable but i'm questioning how uncomfortable these synths sound inside my head. it isn't the worst electronica i've heard by any stretch of the imagination but it also isn't very fluid and it certainly doesn't do enough from an arrangement perspective to save it NO

this is quite good. the acoustic guitar is very nice. the arrangement is simple and to the point but very creative. the stutters are an issue because they eventually get obnoxious. while i understand the choice to use them, they rely on their ability as a changeup. after stuttering for so long, it becomes too prominent and is jarring. i still don't think that is enough to reject and i won't reject on that basis the drums just need a little more punch and the bass needs to hit a bit harder and you got yourself a winner backbone. i still really like this a lot. the way you structure the whole thing is very creative. this is inflicted with the minamilist bug but i don't think it is detrimental to the track. you got a very creative, weird earthworm jim track. YES

yes and it certainly sounds as though the encoding is going to be the thorn in everybody's feet so sad this is. the track is awesome. the feel of it is really good and it rocks through and through. the lyrics are pretty awesome too but i think they benefit greatly from the vocals which are even more awesome. the guitar parts are great some of the mix is very dry, primarily the guitar leads. i know this is stylistic because there is no doubt about this being well put together and presented. i think i'm losing a lot of the mix from just the encoding. that is unfortunate because this arrangement is insanely good - the whole deal around 2:50 is just brilliant. we need more of this sort of shit. i'm all into the lo-fi sound, trust me, but this is being hurt by something completely and entirely unrelated to the kickass arrangement, performance and vision of this track one of the best videogame remixes i've heard in a long time. just get us that damn encoding! TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF FUTILITY

this is basically what is being said already and i'm in concurrence. this is great and experimental for most of the way into the intro and once you hit the body of the track, it starts to really shit on itself. the idea, groove and arrangement rock. the drums are terrible. period. sounds like a robot snapping its fingers. the bassline is rad but drive it more, buddy. the leads are badfuckinass but they are not strong enough to make up for the general blandness of the mix. this is a major resub candidate. i am loving the groove on it but it needs those drums to come out. and maybe a live guitar, too because that synth guitar is just irritating with the volume phasing in and out like that. but that is a stylistic qualm. like i said. it is missing so much meat but it is close. NO resub

i agree with something shariq said about this sounding like the instruments were all recorded in separate places and thrown together in the mix. it is too spacious and not in a good way... it does not benefit from it the way that an atmosphere might. that said, the track is badass. the sax is, as usual, sweet as fuck and savage. the bassline is phat but i don't really like how it has no bite; the bassline itself is what is begging for the bite, not me. it's written with edge but performed with none. the drums are of course rad but we knew it would be before pressing play. all in all, the arrangement is a funk/jazz tour de force... mostly careening between solo instruments while exploring the groove. however, by definition, a groove ought to groove you and while i love this, i am not grooving and it is an entirely mixing issue. the bassline and the drums ought to be so snug together in the soundfield. there are times when the two are so distant that the listener is spread thin between them. i know this is painstaking for resub/resub/resub but believe me it is worth it. i want to see this posted because i really love it but i cannot be a lone yes vote when there is significant attention given by others as well to a certain issue. if i genuinely disagreed with what is being said about the bass and the mix, then i'd have no qualms yessing it. otherwise, please resubmit it again. NO

i'm gonna agree and suggest we stop being sample whores. this is great stuff. like pixietricks said, jared knows what he's doing and you can hear it throughout this brilliant arrangement. it is unfortunate that orchestral mixes are always suffering from bad samples because, for example, brass is so difficult to sample and there aren't many good brass out there. we can't fault the piece on being orchestral but we can laud it for being very well written from an arrangement standpoint, this is spot-on. it is well-written... builds up right when it ought to and then rolls with the energy very nicely. after a spell of the marching, military music, it segues into a triumphant close that is both climactic and conclusive. this is good writing and arranging. very creative. no question about it. the samples do bug at times but i don't see how they are bad enough to drag this down, either. good shit, jared YES

haha while you guys tug on each other's penises, i'm a get down to the nitty gritty here. haha, i want to give you bonus points for remixing space cadet fuckin pinball, man. you're nuts. unfortunately, the mix is, like you said yourself, very close to the original in terms of arrangement. the insturmentation is nice and i dig the atmosphere (and those little sound effects) but try to add a little more flavor to it. otherwise, haha this is hilariously fun NO resub

pixietricks: what about the rest of the song? did the vocals play the only role in your decision? ------------ the piano is intriguing due to a nice arrangement as the song plods along. note though that i do say plod and that is precisely what the song does. i don't like how the pianos sound muddy in the mix. there aren't any lyrics to this, right? cuz i can't understand a thing you're saying. everyonce in a while i hear a word i recognize and am reminded you aren't singing in a different language. i'm not criticizing the singing, unlike other vocal experts, but it might be a helpful to work on your lyrical enunciation. like larry said, the recording on the vocals is a problem - i mean it is very ghetto (yes i don't use big fancy terms)... did you record through a computer mic in a parking structure? the good attributes are plentiful. it is driving, it is beautiful, the voice is real and unrefined, and the source is fantastic. what it needs is a new EQ, enunciation on vocals, and better recording. some slight changes, also, in momentum like a pitcher would changes speed in an at bat will freshen it up nicely my least favorite kind of vote: refine/resubmit NO

though a largely insignificant matter, is there an unspoken rule that a track requires tom work? or is this just a drummer talking?

can a guitarist offer some input please? ok. YES there.