djpretzel Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 This track can be found at... After a couple of weeks of extra work, and a previously 'unfinished' version of this released at VGmix called 'Slick Uniforms,' I present the FINAL version to OCR as 'Boss Uniform.' I've been listening to tons of modern jazz lately, and this song is certainly inspired by it; most of my music HAS been since 'Smooth Alexander.' But I've tried even harder this time to get that smoooooth, head-bobbing, foot-tapping sound going, yet keeping enough planetary squeaks and pads to give it that distant, starry Phantasy Star feeling, as if on another planet... I'm rather proud of this, as it's the best product to come from my new music software, and it represents my favorite gaming series rather well, I believe. Please enjoy! Quinn Fox Imagine yourself elsewhere... quinn.50g.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 Clean, spacey, groovy. Very nice. The whole texture is really great. Synths, pads, piano and strings all work really well together. The arrangement is a bit empty at parts, but there's still substance there. I like it. This is a no-brainer for me. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protricity Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 GOD DAMNIT YOU USED THAT GETARIDE REASON DRUMLOOP I HATE SO MUCH I really like this song, but god damnit make your own drums. NO I don't respect a song that doesn't have its own drums even if the end result is good. You still cheated to get there on a website that requests rearrangement. Rearrangement on all fronts, including percussion. Btw, big fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted November 4, 2004 Share Posted November 4, 2004 www.zophar.net/gym/ps2.rar - Mystery This does sound like Phantasy star style with some jazzyness, without a doubt, but it will be blatantly obvious to anyone who uses reason that you've used some of the drumloops as your main beat. Granted, you have changed it up a little, but it is still an issue, due to that loop being so unique, and not to everyone's taste. I do like all the other elements of this mix, sweet chords, nice use of reverb. The lead really reminds me of Phantasy Star Online. With this skill level I do think perhaps you should have done your own drums? Love the bit at 1.42 when the texture suddenly got really thick, this is quite a dynamic mix which is a huge plus. Big change compared to the original, can hardly recognise it, but the melody is there. Despite that dastardly drumloop, this is some good stuff. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 5, 2004 Share Posted November 5, 2004 http://www.zophar.net/gym/ps2.rar - "Mystery" I felt this was a tough one to vote on. The final mixdown was too low in volume overall. Make it louder, bro. It lost something being this muted, and for some reason "Slick Uniforms" was louder in volume. Quinn's gonna hate all of the comparisons with Slick Uniforms, as I admitted that I liked that one much better, but the dynamics and contrast here seemed a lot flatter, while the sounds themselves (particularly the drums) also seemed not as sharp, despite the claim that Boss sounds cleaner. I heard more reverb here, but the sound wasn't cleaner than Slick. I think in going for a more melancholy direction here as compared to Slick, a lot of the cooler textures such as the very cool ambient, swirling pads you used, and the bassline you used didn't come through enough to really bolster the track. The production & mixdown took a big hit compared to Slick but remains strong enough to pass. The percussion was very relaxed but could have used some more variation. And while I'm not a mixer and am admittedly ignorant of most default loop/sample usage, I easily recognized the Reason GetaRide drumloop from BenCousins' Metal Gear Solid 2 "Big Shell West Bristol". I'm not as "WTF, BOLD CAPS" as Prot was about that, as I've heard default drumloops used well before, but there's definitely got to be more effort thrown into the percussion work to express your personal flair here instead of working with more default level stuff. From 1:41-2:02, when the chorus was much more upbeat, that was certainly an opportunity to get a bit more expressive and creative with the percussion work, and then go laid back once that was over. Default samples & drumloop stuff aren't necessarily NO-able on their own but belie a lack of creativity which certainly drives a submission more towards NO territory. I'm interested in hearing others' takes on this. Judges come down on that kind of stuff in order to encourage more thorough ideas that typically lead to a stronger product. Excellent way to come out at 2:02 by placing the synth of the source tune's countermelody in a more prominent position relative to the piano handling the melody. Very nice change there that kept things from getting repetitive on that level of the arrangement. Good close with the two light pianos from 2:43 onward towards the finish. The lone 3 piano notes from 3:24-3:27 felt really extraneous. I'd rather they weren't added on like that compared to Slick, but it wasn't much of an issue. The level of sharpness and clarity of the production was lacking compared to Quinn's other posted mixes as there was too much reverb here, and I would have preferred the percussion to have more creatvity considering the default drumloop issues Prot had. Overall, I really enjoyed the arrangement, though personally I'm a fan of Slick Uniforms more, since the transposing of the track downward made this not as upbeat. I'll have the same issue if and when CastleVania 2 "Modern Problems" & NiGHTS "Something Beautiful" come over here, since I admittedly didn't like how the transposing changed the feel in each of those tracks from their WIP counterparts. In the future, the volume levels for future submissions need to be much louder, and the mixdown needs to have more attention paid to it in order to hit the direct post route so we don't have to bother listening to it. Frankly, it took more thought that I felt it should have to pass this. Like Prot said though, I'm a big fan as well. That didn't affect my vote, but like I've told you in the past, Quinn, if I actually had to pick a favorite mixer, you'd be it. I think this needed a bit more time put into it, but the end result here was over the bar. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayLightning Posted November 5, 2004 Share Posted November 5, 2004 I know the source material well and I had no trouble spotting the arrangement. It's a really cool arrangement overall. It certainly helps to have good source material and you take advantage of that. Instrumentation quality and usage is slick throughout and works very well with the vibe. I still thought there were some grave mixing, mastering and volume and dynamics issues. It simply is not even as good as previous quinn mixes comparitively in this respect it's not as good. I agree with prot about the drumloop, it is used here kind of wholesale without chopping, editing, mangling and not as much attention was paid here that Quinn normally does. But for a nongroove based mix, I don't think we can reject it on those grounds. Still the arrangement is good, if not a bit simplistic in composition and production. Atmospheric music can take advantage of more complexity to create more interesting ambiance. But I don't think it matches quinn's works from last year. Still a capable and nice mix, and a yes. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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