big giant circles

I'm a bit ambivalent as well, I suppose. Generally, that means I'm likely to fall on the side of favoring the mix, and in an effort to not ramble on and on, that's what I'll do here. I don't mind the sparse feel, there seemed to be enough going on to keep the mix interesting enough. Like Shariq mentioned, I was most disappointed in the mediocre bass writing. Heck, it felt like the bass wasn't even really a firm presence in the mix until like 1:43, which is kind of weak. And then the part itself was kind of dull, really. Oh well, all in all, the mix is nothing short of enjoyable, regardless, and despite the less-than-stellar bass, I felt like it's a nice tribute to Fear Factory. YES (borderline)

Anybody else hear the Sagat theme cameo there in the middle? This is pretty unique and fun stuff. I think pretty much all of the KK Slider stuff really isn't meant to be taken too seriously, likewise with this mix. It's a pretty fun take on a kind of goofy theme. I'm being a bit lazy here, I'll admit, but as long as OA is vouching that the stopwatch is satisfied, then I'll pass off on this. Entertaining, quirky, lighthearted stuff. SURE

If you're talking about the Kompakt version of Colossus (this one), then yes. I don't even bother using any of the Kompakt instruments in Kompakt. I just load them straight into Kontakt 4 and they all work fine.

to what end?

This is the most ridiculous and unnecessary celebration ever. Everyone knows that all Swedes are immortal. Well, I guess I'll say it anyway. Happy bday!

Gotta be honest, I'm really not feeling this at all. IRC convo: So anyway, hope my directness isn't mistaken for unnecessary harshness, but this mix is definitely not where it ought to be. There's no need for the reverb on the acoustic kit, it sounds awkward and clutters up an otherwise fairly sparse mix. The crashes are too overbearing. The lead portasynth texture just didn't really rub me the right way either. The piano is really rigid. And the default FL loop just didn't really sound like it fit very well. I guess the arrangement is alright from a sketch perspective, but honestly, this doesn't really sound like a finished product to me. And the ending was extremely sudden and weak, IMO. There would need to be quite a lot done to this to get it above the bar, honestly, so much so I just don't even know what to get into specifically as far as making suggestions. The mix is most lacking in clarity and crispness from a mixing standpoint, and the choice of instrumentation and plugins/textures leaves quite a bit to be desired. Chalk it up to learning, honestly. I've never heard the prior versions, not to sound pessimistic, but quite honestly, instead of trying to salvage, it may be time to just move on here. Definitely confused by your vote, Larry. You've NO'd subs that were way more solid than this one. NO

I think I'd prefer a week or two after NYE. also, I'd enjoy a spring/summertime MAGfest as well.

yep And this, folks, is why OA is the man. Not the slightest bit phased by any douche-baggery. OA, if nature permitted it, we'd have man-babies. <3 Also, despite loudness/compression issues, it remains a pretty rockin' track.

give 'em to José dude! especially the TGIF wave and Mazedude impression

So I'm taking the afternoon off from snowboarding, I guess I'll go ahead and post some thoughts now: HIGHLIGHTS (in no particular order, and overlooking many, I'm sure) -Uh, simply being there -Seeing familiar faces -Meeting new faces -Rocking out some classic 90's with Harmony in the hotel room -The concerts -FINALLY saw the One Ups live. They rock! -Chicken Balls for Smash Brothers were quite tastey -OCR panel went really well, I thought -APPLE JUICE, FOR HALF PRICE! -TGIF Tradition still holds! -Flik is as funny IRL as he is online. Still waiting for those .gifs -Hanging out with my buddy Josh, and his friend Lauren. And that they were kind enough to let me freeze on the floor of their hotel room one night -Hanging out with Dave and Anna, always a treat. -Picture with Jon St John. That guy is awesome. -When I would introduce myself, and a couple people would say "holy crap, you're BGC??? Wow!" quite humbling and awesome. -Glad Mazedude made it back. My resolve to learn real capoeira someday is even more firm, now. -Glad Joe Cam made it, even though we barely got to hang. -Glad many others made it who I wasn't sure would. -What I feel was a VERY productive OCR staff/judges meeting -Blake's panel on music production/licencing/etc. Fun, enlightening, and entertaining. LOWLIGHTS: -Parking generally made me go FFFFFFFF -Hotel being over-booked, and we lost the OCR staffroom. So my lodging arrangements got sort of thrown out of alignment. But no biggie. I think that was the main cause of next point, though. -Felt largely disconnected from M8, compared to past MAGs. I guess it's because I had to commute, or participate in various planning/etc events, I missed a LOT of the panels/events that I really wanted to see. -My camera isn't working properly, so I maybe got like 5-6 pictures I think. Boooo. -I froze every time I went outside. -I didn't really get to see/do the Jamspace thing. The one night I was in there, I was soooo tired, I couldn't hardly think straight. I went to bed shortly after. -Had a plan to record a certain musician for an OCR collab, brought my gear and everything, but the schedule just didn't allow it this year. -I was a founding member of the OCR-IHOP tradition, and that's yet ANOTHER thing I missed out on this year. -Lots of people (probably too many to list) that I REALLY wanted to hang out with (more or even at all), but didn't have the opportunity. If you're wondering if you're on that list, trust me, you are. Anyway, in summary, this was a great MAGfest. I can't say I liked it any less than my previous two, but I definitely didn't have enough hours in the day to accomplish/attend even half of what I wanted to. The addition of new faces/friends always reinforces my satisfaction in attending as well. Will definitely do everything in my power to return for M9. *edit* At the expense of sounding sappy (I don't really care ) Jenner's post made me all warm and fuzzy. I love to see when 1st-time-MAGfest-ers go and are so amazed how naturally everyone gets along without really having to put on any faces or anything

sure, then sign me up, mang. I'll do eet.

http://waitwh.at are we talking about here? I must have missed the OP re: bag thing.

Cool read, Rich. Thanks for sharing. I'll deifnitely be dropping by every now and then.

I totally missed out on the OCR IHOP tradition... ::Shakes Fist:: DAMN YOU FATE!!

I've got a FTU, but I only use it when playing with my band, which really isn't very often lately, so I've yet to encounter any gripes with it. That definitely sounds like a bizarre issue, though. Have you hit up the M-audio support forums? http://forums.m-audio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4&order=desc They have a sticky titled "Fast Track Ultra - Device not recognized or loses connection with system". Not sure if it pertains to your particular issue, but it might be worth trudging through. Hope you get it resolved though, for sure. I like M-Audio pretty well, they've always been really good to me. Hopefully they'll take care of you.

As stated, door is always open. You're an icon to lots of us. See you in IRC.

Happy bday, Setz!

Interesting, I've not heard that before. Can you elaborate at all?

Once again, uber congrats bud! Can't wait to meet her sometime! My best to the both of you!!

haha, dude, exactly how I am. Well, there's kind of a strategy to it. You gotta remember that some of the games are on sale until Jan 3rd, so unless you like OMG GOTTA HAVE IT RIGHT THIS SECOND then it's not a bad idea to wait and see if it's going to go on the SUPER DEAL OF THE DAY list. That's kind of how I am at this point. I was on the edge about Torchlight, but then I saw it today and ba-ZING - bam, picked it up.

Ahh, fair enough then, I dig what you're getting at

I'll admit, the Red and Green "NO" votes are kind of lol to me, however it's worth noting that both Larry and I are donating at least a couple hours of our holiday to moving the queue along

Hey cool, this song lends itself pretty well to rock. I'm not sure I've heard a guitar/bass/drum version of this source tune, surprisingly Pretty great performance, and great textures! I love the switch up between the rock and the acoustic stuff. It's like "Hey, I'm at a Green Day concert! Oh wait, no I'm not, I'm on a boat in Venice watching Lady & the Tramp stroll by... Oh, cool, I'm back at the concert!" This mix has a lot of good stuff going on. Unfortunately, the things that are going to prohibit this one from getting accepted in it's current form are as follows: -The melody is literally verbatim the whole time. There's really no chance for it to build up, evolve, progress, or anything like that. The instrumentation does switch up here and there, and that's definitely a plus, however the lack of additional melodic writing and verbatim chord progressions (more or less) keep this one a little too close to what we consider a cover. There's also no intro or outro. It just jumps right into it without so much of a fill and then all we get is a fade-out. So anyway, yeah man, this is a great little track, and I hope to death that you decide to rework it and resubmit it! Throw down some soloing on that catchy little melody! Add an intro! Throw in a couple drum solos! Stuff like that. Blend some of your own melodic ideas into the mix on top of the new energy and textures that you've given it here, and it'll be golden front-page material, bro! RESUBMIT!!!!

Absolutely. Does show promise, but the quality of the instruments your using is holding this one back. Talk to somebody like Nutritious since he's done some really solid arrangements with free orchestral plugins. I don't really have anything to add. A solid beginning, but the instruments sound placeholder-ish. NO