djpretzel Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Well, I was going to apologize profusely for bothering you with this for the umpteenth time, but if the records are right, this will only be my second in 5 significant renditions. I'm also headed off broadband for 3 months, making this quite a nice time to have a judging-related hiatus. By the time I realized this, I couldn't quite give myself solid WIP time, but the mix has been through 3 WIP revisions since I last tried, and I did actually get enough feedback to make minor improvements even in a couple days, so I'm not terribly concerned. The premise, in its current evolution, is a more acoustic take on Zero's birth, life, death and resurrection, a la X1 & X2. It's a splice, as artistically as I have yet managed, of the X1 Zero conversation & action themes and the X2 Zero action theme, backed up by snatches of the cliffside credits theme from X1 and a hint of MM1 boss arpeggio. It would be thrilling if RN makes it in now, but it's not like my record's behind me. At very least I'd hope to get some prioritized list of what to keep and what to drop (you can skip "#1- samples that don't make my ears bleed", but considering how long I've been tackling that precise problem, some concrete sample suggestions could be immensely useful) Tchah. Stupid self-fulfilling prophecies. Anyhoo- Mix: Red Nostalgia Game: MegaMan X (various, but mainly 1) Mixer: seanstar And recently resurrected straight from '02 as a history lesson on the mix, or perhaps just for the next BEER: A little "I helped DJP" would be great, but hey, judging is judging. - sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protricity Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 I believe I heard this song a long time ago in its early stages. My issues with this song are as follows: Awkward tempo changes happening all the time. Song does not deviate from original much, though it does expand on the notation a bit. Instruments are dry and unfulfilling. Its not so much the sample/instrument choice as how they were used. Even the worst samples could be used well. Sequencing is borderline amateur. Just a lot of messy notes here and there. I do like how the song follows zero's story through the good (not sucky) mmx games. Will need to be more than that though. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny B Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 It's nice to see a mixer attempt a track with a broad, epic scope and a cinematic flair. No beef with the sectional arrangement side of this. Nice feeling of an intro flowing into a rockin' ditty. The sound quality, however, is substandard all of the way through. The acoustic guitar is very boomy and muddy. Many sections seem unfinished, such as 1:40. It feels like the main groove just got cut off, with effects reverbed and delayed over the change. Then a crazy warbly synth comes in to segue into probably the best section of the mix, the piano with the acoustic guitar backing. While the notes are fine, the SQ just screams SNES. At 1:21, the piano isn't necessarily OFF. It just sounds like they aren't the best notes that could have been played. Overall, I do appreciate the level of effort that seems to have gone into this, but more must be done in the realm of sound quality and transition. The songs seem pasted together with weak, SFX-laden segues, and the overall vibe is GM MIDI. Work with DSP, EQ and fluid transitions. NO -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analoq Posted July 18, 2004 Share Posted July 18, 2004 this seems like something that would've been on ocr a few years ago. the sequencing is much too absent of noticeable human-ish velocity. everything seems to have a hard attack, and that's not how people play instruments. add in the awkward tempo changes like prot mentioned and i can't really see a reason to pass this. better luck next time? no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted July 19, 2004 Share Posted July 19, 2004 the guitar is ugly, perhaps too much reverb as well. it could use some quantization. i agree with analoq's complaint about the hard velocities...it could use some humanization. the piano is a bit too harsh at 1:30. not sure how i like the tempo increase. the arrangement is kind of epic, but the sound quality falls flat. there are also some harmonic omissions or poor choices, like the dominant seventh on the piano in the first section. it's not wrong, but it's ugly as hell. also, the mix doesn't really build like it should...it just dies early. i think that's enough, don't you? NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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