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Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2011


DarkeSword
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Alright, review for all the tracks time, awesome.

Sting Operation: Sexy. I really like the style in this one - the snappy... fingers, the synth trumpet, the chiptune integration - it all clicks well with me. First one I listened to, and it ended up with my first place vote.

Air Man in a G String: Don't worry, Will, I got the baroque reference in the title (though for some reason I missed the not-so-innocent reference until someone brought it to light, for some reason). Overall, it's very much signature Willrock in terms of arrangement and production - got that retro-synth going, and some clever transitions to boot. The production was a bit on the light side of the sound spectrum, imho, but that's more of a stylistic/aesthetic choice than anything else - nothing wrong with that.

unto dust: Liked the mix of guitar & synths in this one - heavy and delicate all at once. The arrangement was pretty innovative in this mix (one of the more interesting arrangements, in my opinion). The guitar sounds a little like it's clipping when it chugs, but otherwise the production is pretty good on this one. I can't vote for you, though, so you don't get my vote :P.

Running with Scissors: Neko on a bad day is most other people on a good day. A lot of filler in here (I'm hearing a lot of MM3 select your robot master theme, in particular), arrangement-wise, and it more-or-less presents everything in a slideshow 'Wily-then-Cutman' manner, but all of the stuff that is there is awesome. Some of the ways the themes are altered are pretty sweet (Cut Man, in particular), and the guitar work is awesome. I really liked this one, actually.

Power Outage: Hmm... kind of a lose arrangement (in a rhythmic sense). Your voice isn't bad (a little off in one or two spots), but the dry recording doesn't mesh with the rest of the track at all. Reverb is a good thing for vocals, in at least some amount. The arrangement was a bit broken up, for my tastes, as well.

Tripping Through: Awesome beat; was really feeling this one for a while. In the middle there, though, it starts tripping up on itself... a lot of dissonance that I'm not feeling, at all (like at 1:29, for example). This would've easily been a contender for any of my top three, but those spots that really grate against my ears really push this one down.

Topsy Turvy: Love Top Man. Clever antecedent/consequent method of introducing the Wily theme in there, and awesome style choices overall. I thought you'd have a hard time with Top Man's theme, but you made it progress so damn naturally with the theme. Awesome, awesome work.

Riding the Avalanche: Nice epic orchestral take on it. I think that it's a little light on it's feet, in the lower range, but it's admittedly difficult to get real deep sounds in orchestral arrangements like this. For what it is, I think it works wonderfully.

Electric Sleep: Kept thinking the title was 'Electric Sheep' and was listening for Sheep Man's theme (which never appeared). This was a really chill, atmospheric arrangement that I loved. Unfortunately, though, the instrumentation really got to me - those high pitched synths really, really hurt my ears. I can't get through the whole thing, in fact. It's a shame, because I really like this one, otherwise.

Solidity: Very phat beat's goin' here. I like Crystal Man's theme, and was looking forward to this. I feel that the beat could lay low every once in a while, though - after hearing four-to-the-floor for four minutes, my ears want to hear something else. Cool sound design choices otherwise, though.

A great match, overall. I enjoyed all of this quite a bit. :-D

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Electric Sleep: Kept thinking the title was 'Electric Sheep' and was listening for Sheep Man's theme (which never appeared).

I think quite a few people are thinking that lol. Speaking of Sheep Man, I think Brandon should make a death metal Sheep Man mix sometime in the future with lyrics that revolve around how Sheep Man comes in the night to help put you to sleep... permanently :smile:

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It's not just you. I did the same, and I saw at least one vote for Electric Sheep. The Blade Runner reference is too obvious, I think.

False, I've never even seen the movie. "Electric" refers to Elec Man + instrumentation, "Sleep" refers to the soundscapes being so chill. So I wouldn't say the Blade Runner reference is too obvious since it isn't a Blade Runner reference at all.

Electric Sleep: Kept thinking the title was 'Electric Sheep' and was listening for Sheep Man's theme (which never appeared). This was a really chill, atmospheric arrangement that I loved. Unfortunately, though, the instrumentation really got to me - those high pitched synths really, really hurt my ears. I can't get through the whole thing, in fact. It's a shame, because I really like this one, otherwise.

Yeah :/ I had those synths mixed properly, but I hadn't rendered an mp3 of that version yet. Somehow, the last several versions of the project file were deleted -- still 100% baffled as to how that happened -- and I ran out of time to re-mix it, thus I had to submit a somewhat unpolished, older version. I'd recommend finishing it :P kinda sucks, too, because I was kinda banking on this compo as a means to legitimize myself to the community being that I'm so new, and I'm getting basically no votes here. I'm going to assume it's just because of the mixing issue so that I don't get too demotivated...

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Yeah :/ I had those synths mixed properly, but I hadn't rendered an mp3 of that version yet. Somehow, the last several versions of the project file were deleted -- still 100% baffled as to how that happened -- and I ran out of time to re-mix it, thus I had to submit a somewhat unpolished, older version. I'd recommend finishing it :P kinda sucks, too, because I was kinda banking on this compo as a means to legitimize myself to the community being that I'm so new, and I'm getting basically no votes here. I'm going to assume it's just because of the mixing issue so that I don't get too demotivated...

You still have one or two more remixes to submit for the compo, so be sure to knock us dead in the coming rounds.

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Running with Scissors: Neko on a bad day is most other people on a good day. A lot of filler in here (I'm hearing a lot of MM3 select your robot master theme, in particular), arrangement-wise, and it more-or-less presents everything in a slideshow 'Wily-then-Cutman' manner, but all of the stuff that is there is awesome. Some of the ways the themes are altered are pretty sweet (Cut Man, in particular), and the guitar work is awesome. I really liked this one, actually.

Yeah, about that stage select... I was just jamming to the song trying to come up with a suitable backing riff. I played that and thought "hey this sounds badass, I wonder what it's from". It wasn't until later that I even realized it was another MM song.

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You still have one or two more remixes to submit for the compo, so be sure to knock us dead in the coming rounds.

I'll try my best, but this next round will be iffy given all my lab project deadlines and final exams for school. That said, I'll be god damned if I don't produce at least one front-page postable mix for you people (yeah, I said it) out of all of this.

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False, I've never even seen the movie. "Electric" refers to Elec Man + instrumentation, "Sleep" refers to the soundscapes being so chill. So I wouldn't say the Blade Runner reference is too obvious since it isn't a Blade Runner reference at all.
Sorry, I'm really not making myself clear lately. I mean that, for those of us to whom "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" means something, we automatically read "Electric Sheep" when we see "Electric Sleep."
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Ughhhh, this was by far the hardest round to pick just 3 songs to vote for. I easily could have voted for like 6-7 of these. Anywho, here's my track impressions:

Sting Operation: I love the chill, jazzy vibe of this song. I'm not a big fan of sampled brass, as it rarely sounds good, but you did a pretty good job of utilizing the synth brass here. Overall I don't really have anything bad to say, I really enjoyed this song.

Air Man in a G String: Classic Willrock here. Air Man does seem more present than the WIly theme throughout, but eh I'm not complaining. Nice guitar work and synths. Everything seems right in place here.

unto dust: I love the opening guitar riffs that appear throughout the track, it really keeps things moving forward. The lead synth has some really interesting modulation on it too, it makes for a unique blend. The guitar and percussion sound a bit muffled or too compressed, but I don't think it detracts from the song overall too much. I really enjoyed this track too! The super quick fade-out ending was a little anticlimactic IMO tho.

Running with Scissors: Sweeeeet. I don't know what Nekofrog was talking about when he said this song sucked. The switchup at 1:30 was pretty cool and kept things interesting.

Power Outage: whoa! I like the chill, disjointed vibe of Spark Man theme's here. Kudos for trying out vocals too, most people can't pull it off, but you had an interesting take on them here. I couldn't really understand the modulated vocals, but it was a cool effect. It sounds like this could be really promising with some more polish.

Tripping Through: This song sounded really good and sounded like it was produced very well, my only complaint is with the arrangement. It doesn't feel like one cohesive song. All of the Wily theme is in the first half, then there's the break, and then Tornado Man's theme. I really enjoyed it, but it just feels like 2 separate songs, instead of one mix.

Topsy Turvy: I was really disappointed when my teammate Rozo didn't get Top Man (it was his top choice too) because I wanted to see what he did with the theme, but I think you more than did it justice here. This has to be my favorite mix of the round. I really like the groove, the synth choices, effects, everything just clicks. Great work man.

Riding the Avalanche: YES! Orchestration done well! Orchestral pieces are so hard to pull off because 1) either the person doesn't know how to write orchestral pieces, or 2) the samples suck. Luckily you did not fall victim to either. I love that you did your own trumpet and oboe (?) recordings. Coming from a fellow trumpet player, I love to hear some good live trumpet! My only complaint is the song is soooo short :cry:, this is an orchestration, it should be like 10 minutes long! lol. Seriously, great work here! The wind instruments, percussion, xylophone, all sound awesome.

Electric SLEEP: I really like this song too! The chill vibe and soundscape are really really interesting, and I think you blended the two themes pretty well. My only complaint, like Gario, is the high frequency synths are very very ear piercing on high volumes. I was in my car and thought my ears were going to explode. Other than that though, this thing is great! You really should fix that up after the compo, cause this was a very enjoyable piece. Another track I wish I had more votes for :/

Solidity: It was funny hearing the progressions on this song when Rozo was sending us WIPs cause the final version didn't really sound much like the first WIP we heard :) I really enjoy the beat and layering used throughout the song. The synth modulation is top-notch as well. The fade out ending was well executed too!

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Power Outage: whoa! I like the chill, disjointed vibe of Spark Man theme's here. Kudos for trying out vocals too, most people can't pull it off, but you had an interesting take on them here. I couldn't really understand the modulated vocals, but it was a cool effect. It sounds like this could be really promising with some more polish

And the non-modulated ones for good measure:

Mad man, iron-fisted genius,

With his cyber defenses,

Never saw the signs

Robot masters fated to fight

For this mind wrapped in spite,

Aching to fill the void,

No rest until the castle's destroyed.

The uprising will begin...

"No more games, no more distraction;

Time to put our plan in action.

Through the dark lairs of the gauntlet,

Crushing minions that still haunt it."

"Onward to the final stage,

Get equipped with righteous rage."

The more I listen to this, the more the production flaws glare at me. Unfortunately, with basically ZERO production background, I didn't have the time to learn and implement the techniques to fix them. Most of the criticism touches on issues I was already aware of, at least, so I know I can develop the tools with a good bit of work. Somewhere down the line I do hope to clean this up, and probably tack on an extra verse or two.

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Unfortunately, with basically ZERO production background, I didn't have the time to learn and implement the techniques to fix them

One more time from me: HIT UP THE WIP FORUMS!! I was in the same boat when I started out a few months back (late May), and I learned a bunch from people there. And it's pretty clear I still don't know everything, which is why these compos are great too. Especially when you're teamed with Rozo :D

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No I had a lot of trouble this round as well :( I hope we get enough votes in but am doubtful because of the holiday...

Yeah, it's really weird how few votes there are. At this point last week, there were over twice as many votes as there are now, and I'm sure Thanksgiving isn't going to help, either.

I just hope team members don't throw away points by not voting...

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I just hope team members don't throw away points by not voting...

Seriously. Anyone who's involved in the competition who doesn't vote is really hurting themselves and their team. My team has all voted, so we've already got 3 extra first place votes. That gives us a big advantage. Doesn't everyone else want to even the playing field? :smile:

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