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Pokémanz Route 1 New Age Jazz *NO MOAR COMMENTS*


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Hehe, okay, I've posted quite a few mixes recently- however this is kinda the one I'm in to at the moment. So I'm about half way through and it occoured to me that this might be a bit too liberal... Is it? Basically I've used the Route 1 theme and that Marching/Walking about theme too (y'know where you get taken to the Gym in Pewter City?), however it's been heavily interpreted. Also I'm a bit stuck for ideas, if you've got any please say.

So, for source we've got this and this.

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Hey, this sounds really cool! I really like the groove on this one. I do think the arrangement here is too libral for ocr though, I'm only hearing fragments of either theme. You can DEFINITELY weasel the rest of the themes into both of these though. First off, on the rt 1 theme, you only ever use the first three notes of the riff. You should try to find a way to get the rest of that in there (F# F# G F# F# G E). Also, as cheesy as it is in the source, anyway that you can convey the change from I to V (D major to A major) will help. Also, getting that thing at :14 from the source will help too. I heard a LITTLE bit of the B section at :17 of the source, but i had to listen SUPER carefully. There could definitely be more of that. 1:10 of your track was a really creative way of utilizing the accompaniment, I liked that.

I also noticed that there really wasn't much harmonic variation. I think you could get some more source out by incorperating a B section, or a bridge of some sort which would employ a different chord progression and would highlight a different aspect of the source.

On the production side, things sound too soft to me overall. the drums sound GREAT!! Maybe bring out the snare a LITTLE more, to emphasize 2 and 4 a bit more? But I'm find with how they sound now. Your instrument choices sound really good to me too. Everything sounds a little too distant to me though, I would love to have this a little more in my face. So yeah, bring everything forward a bit more.

More than anything else, this track needs better source usage to be a good fit on ocr. Based on what I've heard so far, I know you can be really creative about this. But remember, according to the sub standards,

3. The source material must be identifiable and dominant.

Therefore as creative as you are with your source usage, the listener needs to be able to easily discern that this is a pokemanz track. On my first listen, before I listened to the source, this track did not jump out at me at all as a POKEMAN track. And I've played that game over and over, I definitely know both of those themes well. You def need to increase the quantity of source in the track, and I think at points you can make it a little more obvious. But doing this will also help lengthen your track a little bit, and give it a bit more substance. It sounds really great so far, good luck!

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Thanks very much for the comments! And DrumUltimA- thanks a lot! ^w^ Working on your suggestions now actually, good advice. I think I wanna push this to the boundries of liberal but still acceptable (as the source isn't exactly exciting stuff harmonically). Couple of things I wanna point out:

You should try to find a way to get the rest of that in there (F# F# G F# F# G E). Also, as cheesy as it is in the source, anyway that you can convey the change from I to V (D major to A major) will help.

That is actually in there, at :26 we get a Bb9+6/C (or something crazy- it's been transposed up 6 semitones) to a FM79+6 (which is really a VII to a IV cadence) but as it's the same interval as I V, I use the source in question because it fits. I think the thing that throws the listener off is the extra "C, E, G G G" section breaking up the source. (It's not those notes but I couldn't think of a way of explaining it).

I also noticed that there really wasn't much harmonic variation.

Hrm. Damn it- you're right. I'm in C for the whole thing- wait *counts up six semitones* F. Anyway, thanks for your feedback there, I've done most of your suggested changes/additions now anyway. (Oh, and glad you liked the drums! ^o^) This should be submission ready soon!

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cool man. I'm totally down with the idea of pushing the boundaries of liberal, trust me ;) Just make sure you make it super clear what you're doing! Also, as much as I hate to admit it, the 50% rule is a good one to follow. Some of the judges (aka larry) will blast you for source usage if it's under 50%. So make sure you account for everything you do!

Good luck, can't wait to hear the next version :)

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this is absolutely ridic, dude. the harmonic modulations are flooring me

the only thing holding it back from being accepted imo is a point drumultima already addressed: source usage. i think if you manage to cheese in more of the melody it'll bump it up past 50% and you'll be in the green. terrific soloing and sexcellent groove though, im really digging this track

please finish this up and sub soon!

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Thanks guys, it's awesome you're digging this! ^o^ It's a tiny, tiny update. Basically I've messed about with the EQ a lil', tried to give it more 'presence' overall and put in a few melodic changes. The drums have been altered to DrumUltima's will, I also changed the rhythms a bit and from :36 to :49 we get the complete second section of Route 1.

However,it's harder than you think to get more source in! Seriously I have written so many extra parts to this it's annoying; none of them seem to fit. Adding in an extra section kinda ruins the flow. I can fit "Route 10" into it quite nicely actually, however will adding more source add to the 50% or just generate more problems?

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Thanks guys, it's awesome you're digging this! ^o^ It's a tiny, tiny update. Basically I've messed about with the EQ a lil', tried to give it more 'presence' overall and put in a few melodic changes. The drums have been altered to DrumUltima's will, I also changed the rhythms a bit and from :36 to :49 we get the complete second section of Route 1.

However,it's harder than you think to get more source in! Seriously I have written so many extra parts to this it's annoying; none of them seem to fit. Adding in an extra section kinda ruins the flow. I can fit "Route 10" into it quite nicely actually, however will adding more source add to the 50% or just generate more problems?

img.php?fid=239

I like what you've done on the production end! As a piece of music this is really great, I do want you to understand that. But I'm almost positive that if you were to submit this, the judges would blast you for source usage. I know it can be hard to drastically adjust something that you get as attatched to as a piece of music, but I'm pretty sure that's what you'd have to do here. The B section of the rt 1 theme is much more present this time around, which is good. Lemme do a breakdown:

:22-:36 modified rt 1 theme

:36-40 rt 1 b section

:43-:47 rt 1 b section

:50-:53 walking theme

:56-1:10 modified rt 1 theme

1:10-1:22 modified rt 1 accompaniment

1:50-1:54 walking theme

I didn't count the stuff at 1:37 as source because, even though it sounds inspired by the source, I don't think it's similar enough. So 15 seconds of pure source content, 40 seconds of modified source theme. That's less than a minute of source on a 2 minute remix, with most of it being heavily modified. A little harmonic/melodic/rhythmic variation on a source melody isn't going to keep it from counting, but I think considering how simple the source is that you're using, there's a very fine line between altering something and writing something original. Also, I still think this could be longer--more explicit moments of source means more time you can have to do whatever you want.

Production values have definitely improved. I still think the drums can be louder. Snappleman once told me that the loudest tracks in a mix of driving music should be the kick and the snare. Take that as you will of course, but if the snare and kick are louder, it will make the music move faster.

I want to reiterate that this is an EXCELLENT piece of music, and my criticisms apply to OCR only. You can try finding a way to make the source more present, or just leave it as it is. I don't think this will pass if submitted though, just because of the source usage. Don't let that bum you out though, if you really feel like you can't add any more source to this there's nothing wrong with that--it's your music, it should sound the way you want :)

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I want to reiterate that this is an EXCELLENT piece of music, and my criticisms apply to OCR only. You can try finding a way to make the source more present, or just leave it as it is. I don't think this will pass if submitted though, just because of the source usage. Don't let that bum you out though, if you really feel like you can't add any more source to this there's nothing wrong with that--it's your music, it should sound the way you want :)

Don't worry, I completely understand what you're saying. Yeah it is my music, but I was unsure on whether or not it would make OCR so you're right to criticize! I changed a few more things production-wise (drums most noticably) however the biggest addition is the final climatic section focusing on the "Walking Theme". Also I've slipped in a reference to route 10 which should bump up the explicit source some more. Seems to end nicer too actually.

The only problem I have is that I'm not too sure on the overall production of the final sections now I've worked on it so long... After you've worked on a mix for a while everything just seems to sound 'messy'. I should really wait 'till the morning to post this so I can check the EQ afresh, but forget it, I might as well do it now. If there's anything glaringly wrong, put it down to doing this a half three in the morning. ^___^

(Oh yeah, sorry to sound really picky Drumultima- you've helped me a lot here but:

1:10-1:22 modified rt 1 accompaniment

It's not, it's section B of the "Walking Theme". Just so y'know!)

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It's very cohesive. Me like.

Thanks dude. I really tried to make the new section blend... ^o^ Just calculated new source usuage anyhow-

:22-:36 Modified Route 1, A Section

:36-:48 Route 1, B Section

:50-:53 Guidepost A Section

:56-1:10 Modified Route 1, A Section

1:10-1:22 Guidepost B Section

1:58-2:03 Route 10 B Section

2:05-2:39 Guidepost A Section

Which gives me about 1:38 of source... (Did I get that right?!) Is that enough? I know if you remove fade-in/outs and the intro it's well over 50%, but will they still treat this as too liberal?

img.php?fid=246

(Oh yeah, as for the name, it's the japanese equivalent of the move rain dance. Unfortunately the OCR hosting thing doesn't show Japanese characters- it's this: あまごい or amagoi)

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nice! I really like what you did with the end! Very cool. Definitely helps with the source usage.

As far as eq goes, I don't hear anything that sounds particularly bad or messy. The only thing I might change is your main snare drum sound--perhaps something a little tighter. The one you have now is good, but it's a little low and floppy for my tastes in this style. Another thing I'm noticing is that there isn't much panning in you mix--I hear the drums pan a lot, but most of the other instruments are pretty much centered in the mix. Maybe mess around with that a bit?

The source usage may still be a little too libral, but now I think you have a fighting chance. Good luck man!

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Okay, just subbed it. Made a few little changes. Hey DrumUltimA- wanna say thanks very much, you helped me out a lot dude. Of course thanks to everyone who commented too!

(Oh and Halc, the only reason I updated it with every post was because I view the last comment first- in my ignorance I assumed everyone else did. I'll make sure to leave it in the first post next time.)

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  • 1 month later...

Seems your filehost nuked it, so I can't comment.

Try to host a streamable version somewhere that won't delete your files automatically after X days/weeks. Youtube is actually quite good for this, now that their sound quality issues are sorted.

Incidentally, I was always fairly sure the route 1 music in Pokemon was copied from somewhere else...

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  • 4 weeks later...
what's the status on this? accepted/denied?

i'm dyinnnnnnnnnnn hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Well if he subbed it on 7/23 it's not even anywhere close to the judges queue yet. I submitted a song on May 29th and they're just now up to May 27th submissions.

10 days without an update in the judges decisions and it's 3 days away from mine in the queue, now THATs killing me!

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