big giant circles

becuz u smell. not liek larry tho but u stil smell.

It's a pretty borderline call IMO. I'm not sure I'd go so far to say there's humanization, I mean, the sheet music (if you follow it in the youtube vid in the sub email) shows which notes are accented, etc, and since the left hand doesn't seem to change at all as far as I could tell, coupled with the panning, I'm just thinking it could be fairly quickly readjusted as a quick resub. If either of you two blokes would like to give Kento a shout and see if he'd like to tweak, I could change to a borderline YES.

This does seem literally liberal, but I think it's a good example of a track that maintains the feel and connection to it's source tune(s) without literally and immediately citing them. The whole thing still screams "modernized/funkified SoM" to me. And it's in that gritty, lo-fi, superbly-sequenced and moving style that only Ziwtra can pull off so affluently. The samples might bug some people, and even I was initially thinking "man, even for Renoise, maybe a better string sample might help, but by the time the mix was fully on it's feet and moving along, I realized I not only didn't mind, but it fit in beautifully with the corresponding textures and instruments. Again, I think it's important in some cases to not analyze something like "Hey, those don't sound like real strings" and simply realize that it's just an instrument that's selected to give a particular vibe or effect. And again, they fit the context like a glove. I'm so thrilled Young still finds time to make music. YES

Bah, tough call. I'm thinking I'm going to go with Vig and Anso, it does seem a bit too quantized and mechanical to pass as human performance, and the panning definitely strengthens that likelihood. Not that there is ANYTHING at all wrong with sequencing a solo piano piece, but we generally do like you do do what you can to humanize it just a little. Alter some velocities, mainly, maybe even manually adjust the exactness of certain notes if you're feeling ambitious. The arrangement is fun and catchy, I'm pretty OK with it really. I'd say this is a very borderline call, and if we can get a quick resub where it doesn't sound quite so right-edged and robotic, I'd pass this in a heartbeat. RESUBMIT!

Alright, I've been listening to this for the past hour and talking about it in IRC, and I've spent many many many more listens over the past couple months. As far as I can tell, the arrangement seems like it would check out. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that there's just too many other quirks. I'm not going to spend too much time here, mainly just listing my primary concerns, in no particular order. -The length. Somewhere between 4-5 minutes, I was about ready for the mix to be winding down. When 5:08 came back in with a fury, I kept thinking "Haven't I heard this already?" And then realized I still had 3+ minutes left to go. -The ending. Just doens't seem like a natural fit for the track. Not sure else how to put that. -The lead vocals. I'm so sorry, I don't know how else to say this, they just did not sound good to me. The intonation seemed a little off and there was a lot of scooping. Furthermore, they seemed a bit dry/underprocessed and just generally didn't fit the song very well. I realize that last part is kind of iffy ground, since this song is hard to categorize anyway. But I suppose that brings me to my next point. -The style. Talking with Vinnie on this, we both agree that we're typically inclined to be more sympathetic to songs that go against the norm and take a risk for the sake of presenting something new. Unfortunately, I think this track is just too ambitious for its own good. At the risk of sounding like a douche, the word "trainwreck" did in fact come up several times from various people (both judges and non-judges alike) when discussing the juxtaposition of styles and timbres here. Not much more I can offer on that, really -The production. Don't mean this as a slight against Andy, I think he did as well as he could with what he had to work with, but honestly, I think there's just 10 feet worth of substance crammed into 1 foot, so to speak. I can make out the thumpy bass, and the screaming, and about half of the orchestration, but the rest tends to jumble together as almost a kind of pink noise during the really busy parts. All in all, I do appreciate the efforts here, it's still a remarkably impressive remix in it's own rights. Sounds like there's lots of great performances/programming involved on numerous levels, but overall the mashup of so many styles and elements is not all that different from an epic song being played on the stereo, while another equally epic song is being played on the TV, and yet another is blasting over the computer. Sorry guys NO Not to sound like I'm making an excuse for such a late vote, but on top of trying to catch up on older submissions, I literally spent hours listening to this track over the past couple months, trying really hard to find every reasons to justify giving the track a YES, but I feel like I waited as long as I thought was fair.

Lyrics again, mostly for my own reference. Lyrics: Prayer *Zeromus* (Choir) *Madness, shrouding the light Opening wounds that have nothing inside, Sealed within, eternal night, Lunarian blood pulls like the tides* (Ahhh! Zeromus! Ahhh! Zeromus!) *Cycling entropy, choking decay Contagion rot as the mind melts away* Take this moment, Into reflection, And remember your path We believe in you, Supporting your trials, Please hear our distant prayers for you *Spiraling in further towards me at last, Destroying your future, erasing your past* Together, we'll fight for our world, And protect it from this fiend (Fire from within) We must prevail *Let me teach you how to suffer, My hate is supreme, And you will not stop me!* (Essence born of hate) Never we will lay down to, Your sick and twisted lunacy (Cleansing bloodstained wings) *Life will cease when all is destroyed, I will bring the end, So come and meet your fate!* (Deep beyond Hell's gates) We must bring this dawn, A new hope must become *There is no hope* United we are strong, Our prayers will overcome *Haha, nothing can defeat me* And with the havoc that you have wrought, That's brought the dark that tested our hearts, *There's no escape* We won't let you bring eternal night, Zeromus, we won't go without a fight! *If you're so eager, then come and die! Die! Die! Die! Die!* Show your true self *Everything is now for me, I will make you beg and plead, Hehe, everything is now for me! Just die! Just perish! Haha, die!!!* (Growing stillness in the heavens, Darkness deeper than the night, Forcing all to flee or perish, No one leaves this place alive, Come within now, desolation, Mirror surface bathed in black, Endless silence through the terror, Perfect hope begins to crack Ahhh! Zeromus! Ahhh! Zeromus!) *Spiraling in further towards me at last, Destroying your future erasing your past* Together, we'll fight for our world, And protect it from this fiend (Fire from within) We must prevail *Let me teach you how to suffer, My hate is supreme, And you will not stop me!* (Essence born of hate) Never we will lay down to, Your sick and twisted lunacy (Cleansing bloodstained wings) *Life will cease when all is destroyed, I will bring the end, So come and meet your fate!* (Deep beyond Hell's gates) We must bring this dawn, A new hope must become *There is no hope...* United we are strong, Our prayers will overcome *...nothing can defeat me...* And with the havoc that you have wrought, That's brought the dark that tested our hearts, *There is no escape!* We won't let you bring eternal night, Zeromus, we won't go without a fight! *If you're so eager, then come and...GAH!!*

I think Jake might be a half brother to Beatdrop and Tefnek. When the beat dropped ~:50 man, it instantly pumped me up. I'm only half way through the song, and I'm toe-tapping hardcore. Really phenomenal electronic take on a source that I wouldn't expect for it, honestly. I love it when people just surprise you in such a way. Unexpected is really awesome sometimes, and this is such a time. It's loud, but everything sounds *clean*. I say it that way because naturally there's some sick-dirty textures in here that demand your attention and then rape it (I mean that in a good way.) I suppose if I only had one gripe, I did get a little tired of the lead porta-synth, almost kind of a hoover sound. But that's pretty minor. Awesome song Jake, hope to hear more soon! YES

These are essentially my thoughts. RESUB

Can we leave all this case-study nonsense out of it? If people want to debate over the psychology involved in playing video games or getting achievements, just make another thread for it.

I don't really have anything to add that Vinnie or Andrew didn't already cover, so I won't. NO

Something as central to the mix as the piano really shouldn't be panned right. Wasn't a fan of the clap at 2:32, felt a little too dry and thin. Also, the volume seems pushed a little hot here, sounds like there's some audible clipping/overcompression going on quite a bit. Mostly on the piano, but I can hear it on the left side as well. The tambourine could use some velocity detail, instead of just coming in hard and staying there. Actually, you guys need to spend more time automating the volumes of pretty much all your instruments. Those knobs? Tweak them. Use them. By fading certain things in and especially out at the right times, you'll give your mix more dynamic contrast, and more emotional power. And even with an electronic mix, it will help it sound less rigid and mechanical. When things just come in and then drop out abruptly (like the tambourine at 4:14, or the strings at 4:41) it just sounds pretty amateur. As for the arrangement, I'd suggest shortening your mix if you plan on resubmitting. I feel like the song can probably say what it needs to say in 4-5 minutes tops. And also, it wouldn't hurt to find a way to be a little more direct when referencing the melody of the original source tune. Try tweaking that, lower the master volume a bit before rendering, and learn to automate individual volumes and panning, and you'll have a much better second run. Thanks for the submission, keep at it! NO

can we get some more votes please?

Andy's probably the closest to my own vote. I really really dig the approach, and the sheer uniqueness of this approach! Honestly, I don't think this is too far off from being accepted. May not be above the bar, but it's certainly within arms reach! Beef up the drums/perc and certainly the rock guitar section and that's probably all I'd need--I really didn't mind the conservative arrangement all that much. The brass writing is creative and quirky and very well done, I really like it, and also the other orchestral elements. RESUBMIT or I will find you and do terrible things to your lawn. (Feel free to PM me/one of the other judges, and we'll fast-track this back to the panel for a quick re-vote.) *edit* Also, I apologize for taking so long to vote on this. I thought I'd voted on all of June's submissions, and then the other day I noticed that this one some how fell under my radar. For shame, and my bad.

Eh, I think I'd have to disagree with you simply because that's how most trance I hear is. Notable ducking is common in like 95% of most trance I've heard, so I don't see how it's fair to reject a mixed based on that alone. As for it being too slammed, I felt the same way about that Langrisser II mix, and you seemed fine with the volume there, so I can't help but be a bit puzzled by your decision. I feel the strongest points perhaps worth rejecting this mix would be the conservative arrangement and/or the quietness of the lead instrumentation. Personally, I'm ok with both, but the remixer should be aware that they definitely ARE too far back and need to be a bit more frontal in the mix. Otherwise, I'll second OA that the mix sounds reasonably crisp, and I enjoyed it all the same. YES

Pretty awesome work. I agree that the mixing is off at 1:45; that percussion should be more supportive and less dominant. I really do think it brings down the mix's quality notably. Probably could have used a bit nicer string ensemble patch there at the end as well. Otherwise, piano is awesome, and the arrangement in general sounded hawt. I just wish the perc had been quieter. I agree that were it not for the mix, this would have/should have just been a direct post. YES

I like all of 'em, even #5, for pretty much the same reason you stated. It may bother some people, but then again, if they're enjoying something that they're too cheap to pay for, then I'd say that the only thing they're *entitled* to is a fair reminder that if they really like the song, they should support you for your hard work.

You can really only pull it off in Hard Rain though, since there's not that many zombies once the storm hits. The director kind of put a damper in the rushing technique in L4D2. At least, it's not nearly as easy (IMO) as it was in the first one.

Oh man, I know. In the commentary they said they decided to keep the weather changing bit to just this campaign, which disappoints me a little, considering how awesome it is. I think it's such a great addition to make it to where you can't even hear your buddies on their mics over the storm. And geez, the ATMOSPHERE, is just so amazing! This just may be my favorite campaign, but I'm not sure. They're honestly so awesome. And you know what else, no joke, the night before I played that campaign, I was just thinking to myself "You know what would be awesome? What if they had an area that was like witch central, like some cave or something that just had 30 witches sitting around or something?" Granted, this isn't quite as awesome, since there's only like 10 or so, but it's still pretty groovy that they essentially had the same idea.

wonder if that'll get quoted in the writeup...

looool. I literally laughed out loud. Also, I like getting achievements. I wish there was an option to reset your achievements once in a while just so I could get 'em again.

Dude, that is a freaking AWESOME sig.

Well then vote

*update* This happens at 8pm ET / 5pm PT tonight. You can watch on TV, or on Spike's website, and you get to pick your camera angle. Kinda cool. http://www.spike.com/event/vga2009/page/live-camera

haven't played vs yet. played through the first 2 campaigns. this game is everything I hoped it would be and more. I may cry a little.

You don't see this very often. *edit* Dammit, by the time I took the screenshot, people switched games and I just now noticed. Oh well.