Another Corridor of Time track

[Gario]

Sure, why not? Seems to be the flavor of the month, so I decided to join in. Slowing down from my normal frantic musical pacing, this one is a pretty minimalistic & chill 9-bit remix (can't say if it's '9-bit' enough, but I love that genre name). I haven't posted anything in a good while, now, so may as well.

http://www.box.net/shared/nxibqfiok2

If you hear some Nespus influence on this one, I'll admit in some way's I'm blatantly ripping him off, but what can I say? His mix was freakin' awesome. I don't care, and neither should you (seriously, though, check his mix out, too - it rocks).

Crits? Gushing praise? Tell me that there are too many of these mixes around? I'm happy with any any feedback, so post away.

[hewhoisiam]

I deny your request for gushing praise and fill this space with meaningless ramble instead! (aka all my opinions)

You again with the chip tunes stuff! WhatamIadowiththis?!

The 'record skipping' section in the middle is kinda neat, but I wanna hear just a touch of the melody over the top of it. Yeah I can hear the chords in there, but still, as is it's too empty for my taste.

Now, it is a fake-ie drums set and I know that's what you're going for. But the fake snare is fake weak. Needs some fake strength. Bass too. I'm not hearing much kick drum in the lows. Drums could use a bit of variation in the transitions and stuff. Of course, I'm crazy so...

<Insert mandatory 'too short' comment here>

There's actually a high screech sound that offends me. Needs some EQ to make it more mellow. Sounds almost like it's being used as a sound effect in places. But it's too high and scratchy/squeaky for it's own good. (all in the right ear if that helps you find it)

That be nuff fer now.

-H

[Gario]

Don't worry, not everything I do is chiptunage extravaganza. Just some of the stuff that I've posted here (Laguuuuuuna!!1! By the way, saw your version on R:TS - neat name btw, stinky ). This song just felt like it needed the 9-bit revamp, to me (considering the 8-bit sounded so awesome, making it 9-bit would be even more so).

Drums will certainly have a little more strength (I haven't separated the snare/bass/everything else channels at all, yet), but only a little. I'm not trying to have a driving drum track in this one; I tend to have that in virtually all my tracks, so I'm taking a short, short break so I can do something different. Drums need variation, for sure, since it's all copy/pasta, atm. All in the plan, man.

I know the squeak sound you're talking about. I use it all the time, and it always seems to bug someone. I dunno, I just like it, for some reason. Always have. I might tone it down a bit, but not much since it helps balance the crunchy sounds that occur in the left ear.

It's too short 'cause it's not finished, bro. It'll probably clock at about 4+ minutes, when it's said and done (which could be in a day or two, really).

[hewhoisiam]

I've been out of the loop for a while, girl and all that. Good news is when they dump your ass you have a lot of free time. When I'm off this binge, expect me to get back into it full swing. But yeah, that's why I have only been trollin' of late.

Anyways, the squeak sound isn't a bad idea in and of itself. It just needs some extreme high end EQ so it's not painful. I should add: I recently upgraded my headphones that I usually use to some Grado Labs 225s, so my high ends are really clear and vivid, it might not be this way for everyone. (I recently got onto Blue Magic of all people, so >.>)

Me? I suck at panning, I actually need to get off my ass and spend an hour or so with the EQ on my drum kit on my current project, but havn't had the drive for a few days. I got like 3:00, it's just pulling hairs tryin to get that last little bit of length and then work on structure.

Anwyays, keep up the good work.

-H

[Gario]

The track has been updated, for those interested. Almost done, just need to write the end. There's some heat on the upper-mids that I will fix later, so no need to point it out (unless you want to, of course, but I already know 'bout it).

Hope your girl troubles aren't gettin' you down, Hewhoisiam.

[hewhoisiam]

Meh, I'll live Thanks for the concern tho.

<upper mids> While you're right about the heat. I want to add that I like the sound, the bells is a nice choice. Just like you said tho, needs a touch of werk.

at 3:18 I want to hear a slight bit of a reverb/echo type effect there. That sudden drop off just into the static is okay. But I think it COULD be amazing with just a ghost of the last second before. Just my opinion there, but as is it seems just to not flow very well.

This kinda feels like it ends in the middle of an idea to me. I keep expecting just a few more notes to finish it off. Then again, I'm crazy...

Hope that helps

-H

[Gario]

Alright, here's an update. A bit late, but oh well.

Zeal Feels Good

Take a listen. Give me feedback, if needed. Love it, 'cause it's a feel good piece. The cutoff ending is on purpose, by the way - it's sort of reminiscent of the beginning, as if the listener pulled the needle before the track played again.

I don't know if I want to put this one on OCR, but it's crossing my mind.

EDIT: It's over 8mbs, I know. I'll downgrade the kbps a bit if I decide to submit it.

[hewhoisiam]

ZOMG! OVER 8 MEGS!

Erhm, anyways, I seem to be a day or so late on this. Let the drunken-rambling-review commence...

This thing has just got a good solid groove that I like. It's carried over from the source well (that's one of the high points for me in it) Groovability, A word I'm now patenting.

There is still that high squeak in there that you love and I hate. But it's a preference thing. On a semi-related side note, those high bells are right there. They're just high enough to be interesting and just low enough to hot hurt the ears. A fine balancing act there.

I think the transition at 3:08 needs to be changed. To me, what you have feels like the song is ending, and it shouldn't. I think it's because it's so abrupt. In my mind I see the static -old record playing- thing you used in the intro there BEFORE the abrupt cut off. And peeling away instruments a few at a time. You can do that quickly and get a nice effect without the abruptness of what you have now. I also see bringing in an EQ effect working really well.

Honestly, I wanna work an EQ into my current project that has the feeling of in-ear headphones being removed from the ear. Is neat stuff. That is, if I get off my ass and do it

@3:27 I feel like this is missing some bass. It has a little bit, but I kinda want a pad sound filling that frequency just a little bit so it's not SO huge at 4:04 when the real synth bass comes in. This is kinda a preference thing, and there are other spots in here that have the same sort of 'where is the bass?' feel. It's less that there's something wrong, and more that it seems like it could be smoother.

The ending I feel just kinda lingers. 5:18+ is just too long for what it is. I get bored with it, since it's already a long song. Also, the presentation for it is very minimal, it gives a real -THE SONG IS ENDING- vibe... but then at the very very end of that (which was too long imho) you bring back that pad from the intro which is kinda a work up into the song with that long delay. It just doesn't work for me the way presented. Of course, preference, and I'm crazy, so...

Hope that helps. ALSO! WHY ISN'T YOUR NAME ON THE FRONT PAGE YET!?

EDIT: And why aren't you getting more review love?!

[orlouge82]

I don't have much to add over what's already been said, but I think it's good enough as is to add to my iTunes playlist, so nice job!

[WillRock]

OMG NOT ANOTHER ZEAL MIX.

That aside, pretty good stuff what you got so far man. I think its a generally solid mix with some quirks.

You got a good style going that is reminiscent of halc. You have some good variations on the source that work well and some generally nice and creative ideas that make this one really nice to listen to.

A few things that stand out to me that should be fixed tho:

The sine lead which carries the melody at 0:30ish is pretty strong in the mids, bring down the EQ around 500-1Khz so it doesn't sound so piercing.

The volume gating at 1:00 is a nice idea but the execution leaves alot to be desired, it just throws me off completely, it almost sounds like the track pauses before each beat for a split second to me, throws off my sense of timing. Nice idea, but that bit needs work. You have some quite nice synths, but some of them leave something to be desired in the sound design department (like that bell lead at 1:50ish), altho I can fly with the fact that its a stylistic choice. The sawtooth writing at 2:35 is awesome as hell, but the leads get lost in the mix as the sawtooth gets louder. I'd suggest EQing the sawtooth to make more room for the lead to breath

The transition at 3:09 is rather abrupt, I'd try and ease that slightly.

The only other issue I have is that things get slightly muddy the busier the track gets, and it does go on a little (I started to lose interest after the 5 minute mark)

The ending is cool but it seems to cut off abruptly, was expecting it to sort fade out longer.

I'd say, its flawed, but its enjoyable. In its current state, I think its lacking too much polish, the arrangement and production are good, but there are some poorly executed transitions, and some unpolished mixing going on here that brings this one down slightly. I'm not positive this would pass the judges as is, but with some TLC, this should pass imo

Nice work man

[Gario]

Funny, the tracks that I have little intention to send to OCR seem to be my better tracks

I wasn't able to tell what portions were noticeable clipping-wise due to the crunchy texture I already had going, so I needed some feedback on that in particular. I can fix most of it pretty easily - I know the spots that are problematic. Same thing goes for some of the transitions + ending. I might keep the cutoff ending, though... I dunno, I think the very fact that people expect something else is precisely why I did cut it off like that.

The consensus for the middle cutoff shows that no one likes it . I guess I better do something else with it, then - I always have my NG post to preserve all the sudden cutoffs that I like

Thanks for the replies.

[Gario]

Alright, I finished it off. Here y'all go.

Zeal Feels Good

Production is seriously cleaned up in it (just compare it to the last version), and I softened some of the transitions considerably. It's still long, though (*GASP*, it's even 4 seconds longer!), but there have been some cuts to it (especially to the end). It seems to flow just fine for me, and I don't feel anything else can be cut without cutting the flow of the track, so it is what it is.

Enjoy, I've submit it. If there's any last minute changes that are needed just let me know - I use box.net, so it can STILL be changed (eat that, Tindeck users!).

[DaMonz]

Nothing to say! I really really enjoyed this!

Good luck!

[SuperiorX]

I was actually waiting for this after I read you talking about it in the GRMRB thread. I did hear the old version once, and then this new one. It does sound a bit cleaner.

I like it quite a bit. Nothing incredibly incredibly exciting going on, but it's a nice 'chill' mix and I really like some of the liberties with the melody you took on this way over-mixed theme and I particularly like some of the background harmony shenanigans going on. Hopefully the panel just doesn't see "Zeal" and hit delete

Great job.

[TGH]

Damn. I love your style so much

That modded synth. It's absolutely hypnotic....It inspires me to try to get more out of my sounds There's something about the progression that I just get lost in, and I love it so

For the section starting at 1:00, not a huge fan of the 'stopping,' although I understand the intended effect and choose not to go against artistic license here

When I focus my attention to the percussion, I realize that some of the hats can be a little distracting, particularly starting at 1:55 toward the right ear. Maybe quiet that down a bit. Everything else sounds fine to me though.

Best of luck on the panel, man, this really deserves it imo

[Gario]

Ah, good catch. Fixing the panned hat in question now.

[Zeroboros]

Ah, good catch. Fixing the panned hat in question now.

Dude you are a monster to get 8 bit music sounding like this i think it was wise for me to ask you for help with the mixing lol. but dude have you noticecd that in the intro one of your instruments kind of gets drained out by the rest?. I can still hear it but only barely before the transistion into the next part of the song.

[Gario]

I don't hear the problem you're pointing out (oh the irony lol). Could you give a time stamp please?

[Gario]

Alright, I guess there's nothing else to say about this one. I think I hear the sine pierce in one or two spots (where it stays in one spot for long periods of time, letting the reverb stack on itself a bit too much), and there's a knock that comes up from time to time due to the compression echoing on one of the instruments, but other than that I think this is as polished as it can get. Time to properly tag this thread.

Hope to see y'all on the other side of the front page

[SuperiorX]

Good luck Gario!

[Anti-Syne]

Oh man I was meant to comment on this a few days ago but got side tracked! Anyway, just thought i'd say well done, it's a great mix of sounds with a nice smooth feel, good luck with the panel!

[cvramen]

The part that starts at 4:47 and ends at 5:04 was my favorite part. Good work on that part.

I don't think this song deviates from the source material enough to be interesting (while listening, I tried to imagine the piece without the percussion). Now I know that kind of criticism isn't going to be too helpful without some suggestions, so I might look into slowing down the melody at certain parts and maybe adding some explicit 7th chords (especially in the first 50 seconds).

[Markishness]

This song beats out half the ReMixes currently on the front page, in my opinion. I really like the style choice here (especially the retro-sounding stuff). And you couldn't have chosen a better song to remix. Good luck!

[ambinate]

i'm really digging this. way chill and the sound design is great. 9-bit style twists my brain, i never have any clue how to get it to work. but this sounds great, i'd love to see it on the front page. good luck, man!