djpretzel Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 This was my submission for PRC 26. Mega Man 7- Shade Man. I heard someone else submit something with a shitty synthetic sax and everyone was like"That sounds really good" So i put this thing together and played a real sax. I only did a few takes of the sax part, and its mostly improv, but the melody and stuff are still there throughout the sax part. For the piano part and bass part, I took some of the main parts of the original and reworked the rythems and style, but kept the basic structuring the same. I thought this sounded ok, and a couple people seemed to like it, but I came in like 12th place or something with only 5 votes, and I got people pretty much flaming me on how bad it was. Not just saying stuff like "This doesnt sound good", they where saying stuff like "This sucks balls you asshole" I thought it was pretty original and creative, but several people seemed to hate it. I just dont see how they can flame me on how bad my song was, but give nothing but love for almost midi rips with repetative drum loops, random/cheesy sound effects, out of context vocals, and singing that makes Terminator's rap skills sound not too bad. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was an ass in the forums and was acting arrogant and saying mine was the best. After all, my file name was "My_sax_playing_is _superior_to_other_mixes.mp3" . Or it might be that my song really did sound as terrible as some said it was. But still, I did get at least 5 people that liked it and said it was pretty awsome, so its ok. Even if just 1 person likes the song, it was all worth it. At least it is a great improvment compared to my past submissions to both here and to vgmix. I really dont know if this is any good or not, half the people say "This is awsome", but the other half says "This sucks balls !!! This sounds like someone punching a cat!!!" (that was TO that said that. I would try to say something in response about how he sucks at wrighting music, but he didnt write any music for his submission; he chose instead to fill his with crappy talking and noises.) I cant get these tag things to work. I put them in, but when I upload to my webspace, they dont show up. Song Name- You Left Me in the Shade Remixer- The Anti-Jazz (formerly Koelsch1) Game -Mega Man 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 great source material...please dont butcher it.. so. first the sax, because it's the lead instrument. sometimes it sounds okay, but when you deviate from the melody, your phrasing is pretty much non-existent. you just play these trilly runs without any regard for rhythm, where you want the phrase to end up, or how to get there. it sounds like you're just mashing keys. okay, onto the rhythm section. everything is completely bathed in reverb. the sax is mixed way too loud. the drums are spastic, they have these little rhythmic farts where they will miss an eighth note, and other times play these ridiculous 16th note fills that are completely akward. same problems with the piano. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/mm7.rsn - "Shademan" (mm7-14a.spc) Everything is mastered pretty low here; bring the overall levels up. The sax work is a little too sedate to be expressive. The piano work starting from :19-:36 is awkward on several occasions, as well as the sax, which seems to not be grounded in any sort of melody or sensible progression of notes. I could point to other time references, but the story remains the same. The sax and piano generally aren't cohesive in the sequencing. Everything sounds altered for the sake of being altered but with no real form of structure. The last 30 seconds or so of sax work in particular was just too random. You don't call yourself The Anti-Jazz for nothing. The bass is alright, but the percussion work is also really repetitive and dry. Add some variation and presence to the percussion, bring up the overall levels, and add some much-needed form. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Wow that drum sequencing is horrible. Your crash cymbal sample keeps cutting itself for some reason. Ride cymbal swinging sounds so square. Improvisation is incoherent and random. I can see what you're trying to do, but you're not doing a very good job. Vigilante said it best; you sound like you're just mashing keys. Charlie Parker without the logic, and even that's being generous. The song is experimental, and I know that you're trying to break the mold, but I don't think it works. The arrangement bounces around, and there's no logical progression between ideas. Even free jazz has some kind of underlying order in all the chaos. This piece doesn't show much in the way of development. I can skip around the mix and it sounds like the same thing at every single point. Drums are badly sequenced, piano is splashy, and nothing really locks together rhythmically or texturally. It sounds like each part is being played in a separate room, and then someone came and spliced it all together later. NO Also, since you chose to bring it up, I'm choosing to respond. Keep in mind, this has absolutely no bearing on the vote I just cast: What's with the rant? I realize you're frustrated because you're a sax player, and you see mixes like mine that use fake sax get posted, and because people flame your music and you when you don't think you deserve it, but in a submission email, we really don't need to know all that stuff. Just your name, the game and song you mixed, and a link to the file. I don't mind reading about your approach you took when writing this piece (interesting facts about production, arrangement, etc), but ranting about a the results of a remix contest isn't pertinent to your submission. Here's what I think: you have a nice tone when it comes to sax playing. And this piece also indicates that you have a good grasp of how to use your instrument. A lot of sax players even play random stuff like that so quickly without flubbing. However, I think you need to work on your songwriting and arrangement skills. Try writing and producing something more traditional, like a ballad or a latin tune; get a firm grasp on phrasing, progression, sequencing fake stuff (like drums), all that stuff. Then, go ahead and branch out to try more experimental stuff. You said that people might have flamed you because you were an ass in the forums; let me tell you, that is most likely exactly why they flamed you. If you weren't an ass, people would have given your more helpful responses, like "Here are some tips for sequencing man, good luck, you're a good sax player!" Nobody likes an asshole. So stop trying to be one all the time. It's not cool, it's not funny. You'll find that you can learn a lot here, if you just chill out and be less confrontational. Personally, I'd like to collaborate with you one day; I've got a song in the works where fakesax just won't cut it. However, there's no chance in that happening if you've got a confrontational attitude all the time. Just chill, man. Anyway, sorry for rant. Again, that had no bearing on my vote. If you took any kind of offense, I didn't mean it. I'm not trying to lecture you. The community needs more musicians who actually perform, as opposed to just compose, and wind players are hard to come by as far as our community goes. It would be to your benefit to just step back and think about working with people, instead of against them. That's all. Take care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Also, since you chose to bring it up, I'm choosing to respond. Keep in mind, this has absolutely no bearing on the vote I just cast: What's with the rant? I realize you're frustrated because you're a sax player, and you see mixes like mine that use fake sax get posted, and because people flame your music and you when you don't think you deserve it, but in a submission email, we really don't need to know all that stuff. Just your name, the game and song you mixed, and a link to the file. I don't mind reading about your approach you took when writing this piece (interesting facts about production, arrangement, etc), but ranting about a the results of a remix contest isn't pertinent to your submission. Here's what I think: you have a nice tone when it comes to sax playing. And this piece also indicates that you have a good grasp of how to use your instrument. A lot of sax players even play random stuff like that so quickly without flubbing. However, I think you need to work on your songwriting and arrangement skills. Try writing and producing something more traditional, like a ballad or a latin tune; get a firm grasp on phrasing, progression, sequencing fake stuff (like drums), all that stuff. Then, go ahead and branch out to try more experimental stuff. You said that people might have flamed you because you were an ass in the forums; let me tell you, that is most likely exactly why they flamed you. If you weren't an ass, people would have given your more helpful responses, like "Here are some tips for sequencing man, good luck, you're a good sax player!" Nobody likes an asshole. So stop trying to be one all the time. It's not cool, it's not funny. You'll find that you can learn a lot here, if you just chill out and be less confrontational. Personally, I'd like to collaborate with you one day; I've got a song in the works where fakesax just won't cut it. However, there's no chance in that happening if you've got a confrontational attitude all the time. Just chill, man. Anyway, sorry for rant. Again, that had no bearing on my vote. If you took any kind of offense, I didn't mean it. I'm not trying to lecture you. The community needs more musicians who actually perform, as opposed to just compose, and wind players are hard to come by as far as our community goes. It would be to your benefit to just step back and think about working with people, instead of against them. That's all. Take care. See, this is why I don't read the submission emails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayLightning Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 I think vigilante nailed the problems here. However, I'm not as down on this mix as the others are. The mastering is fine. If the levels of this need to be brought up, I would not go higher too much than an overall gain of 2-3 db. This needs slightly more dynamics in my opinion as well. Main problem for me is the mix didn't seem to have any clear direction. It jumped around here and there throughtout the mix. For this genre, and this style, I don't feel it works. Not bad. I hope you decide to retool this and resubmit. I'm digging some of the ideas presented, but it needs a lot more work and polish. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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