Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2011

[SuperiorX]

Here's a music video fer mine (if any of you are into that kind of thing):

I was afraid to click on this link, given your track's title name

Under Construction - For a second I thought this might actually be a piano solo, haha. Some Genesis-y synths and various instruments make an eclectic but interesting soundscape. I really like the rhythm changeups you have in this- they add a lot of flair and add an unpredictable nature to the song (in a good way). The arp'd synth from the original put into piano here is particularly cool.

Funny, I actually thought about making this a piano solo piece. I'm good with piano arrangements and improv sections from a solo standpoint, but I don't know if I could pull off an entire song. I'm really interested to see what everyone thinks of my mix. I'm definitely not as accomplished as most of you guys here, but I feel like I've improved a lot recently, even within this past week, so I'm viewing this as sort of a measuring stick on my progress. So any and all feedback is highly appreciated.

I'm really digging these tunes so far. @Main Finger, I love the laughing Wily voice clips in your song. Fits well with the theme and it's hilarious. I'll post some more feedback once I've had time to digest everyone's mixes. Great stuff!

[AMT]

I wish I agreed, but my one experience with the WIP forums was less then decent. :/ I couldn't really tell if everyone hated me or if I was just overreacting :/

Well in that case, PM or AIM me with your next song and I'll help however I can

[Helios42]

Ah, quite a good line up. I have my first and second picks lined up from the first listen. It'll take a little longer to settle on my 3rd, but I have it down to about 3. I'll be ready for whatever the voting rules entail.

I thought this was quite the good start. The first round is always a little tough because no one knows exactly what to shoot for in terms of mixing balance. Considering that, it was quite great! Got some cool mixes out of this one.

[SuperiorX]

Unless Rozo usurps power, I'll be mixing this week. SO XCVULIGNSEFOINUSDVCLNKJXZNEDRFGLIUNSDVGING EXCITED!!111!! Normally I don't like remixing stuff that already gets a lot of attention, but hot damn, Charge Man and Wily make quite the gay couple

Rock it hard son.

I wish I agreed, but my one experience with the WIP forums was less then decent. :/ I couldn't really tell if everyone hated me or if I was just overreacting :/

I think in general, most people in the WIP forums have good intentions. The people that you will really improve from are the ones that most often leave brutally honest feedback. You may think they're being mean, but if everyone says "oh hai good trakz" then you're never going to improve. Unless someone comes out and says "wow you suck", then I wouldn't take it personal. Just continue to experiment, gather feedback, and keep working to improve!

[Zerothemaster]

I think in general, most people in the WIP forums have good intentions. The people that you will really improve from are the ones that most often leave brutally honest feedback. You may think they're being mean, but if everyone says "oh hai good trakz" then you're never going to improve. Unless someone comes out and says "wow you suck", then I wouldn't take it personal. Just continue to experiment, gather feedback, and keep working to improve!

True, I do tend to take things personally WAY too often (the first symptom of noobishness), so I tend to take things hard :/

Sometime I do wonder if they couldn't be just a bit nicer tho. Just me. There was, um, quite the discussion about that in my topic. And now I'm scared to go back.

And I haven't had anything to put there anywho. Except one track that no one noticed.

[SuperiorX]

Ben... is the voice clip in your song saying "Snake Man's on a train?". Because that would be epically hilarious. And if so I would hope that is somehow a reference to Long Train Runnin' by the Doobie Brothers, given your title is "Dubious Brothers". If you confirm this, I think I've have to vote your track #1

[Zerothemaster]

Ben... is the voice clip in your song saying "Snake Man's on a train?". Because that would be epically hilarious. And if so I would hope that is somehow a reference to Long Train Runnin' by the Doobie Brothers, given your title is "Dubious Brothers". If you confirm this, I think I've have to vote your track #1

I thought it said "Snake Man's on my trail".

But I also interpreted it as "Egg Man's on my trail" and "Blade Man's on my trail", so I might not be the best source.

[AMT]

Just try to take everything objectively- if something sounds bad, it's not because you suck or because you're a bad person or something stupid like that, it's because you haven't developed the skills necessary to make it sound good yet. By taking the advice and implementing it, you'll develop those skills over time.

edit: I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THESE MONKEY FIGHTIN' SNAKES ON THIS MONDAY TO FRIDAY TRAIN

[Sir_NutS]

AMAZING start. I'm absolutely loving these. Specially surprised with the rock mixes that KICKED ME RIGHT IN THE FACE. We can never have enough Mega Man Rock.

Absolutely pleased with this turnout.

[Phonetic Hero]

I wish I agreed, but my one experience with the WIP forums was less then decent. :/ I couldn't really tell if everyone hated me or if I was just overreacting :/

I actually remember this, and I think I commented... and yeah, that dude came off pretty harsh. Underneath I think he was trying to help, but in maybe not the greatest way. But seriously dude, the WIP forums are fantastic. I've learned SO much from everyone. To give you some perspective, I've only been working with FL Studio for like, not even 6 months, so pretty much EVERYTHING I've learned about production was from people in the WIP forums (still not great at it, but it's coming... be dilligent!) after fumbling through the steps (and probably missing a few along the way) of teaching myself how to sequence, integrate effects, deal with the mixer, etc. It's a lot to absorb, but if you really have a desire to get better, it can be done with some focus and good old fashioned brain exercise. Classical training (music theory and stuff like that) helps a lot too, if you have access to it

[Emunator]

Ben... is the voice clip in your song saying "Snake Man's on a train?". Because that would be epically hilarious. And if so I would hope that is somehow a reference to Long Train Runnin' by the Doobie Brothers, given your title is "Dubious Brothers". If you confirm this, I think I've have to vote your track #1

I can confirm on behalf of Ben (and I'm serious here, not just grubbing for team votes ) that the sample is from the Doobie Brothers (chipmunkified) saying "Snake Man's on my t®ail!"

[AkumajoBelmont]

Phew, just got home from work... and about to start listening to all the tracks. I could be egh-site.

[Chernabogue]

Going to download those pretty mixes!

[Rexy]

"She's a Squirter?" Really? The remix title's aren't supposed to be rated G?

Haha, I even had that kind of thought when listening to the track's progress during Brandon's last day of working on it. IRC quotation time:

<Brandon> I think it is done :3

<Rexy> see, that's what happens when things are knuckled down :3

<Rexy> looks like splash woman is going to storm the castle through the catwalk

(30 minutes later, Brandon then gave the track a name)

<Rexy> okay, let's rephrase that

<Rexy> splash woman is storming

<Rexy> the wily 10-1 castle stage

<Rexy> down a catwalk

<Rexy> possibly topless

<Brandon> haw

Anyway, will check the tracks out throughout the day. May even be a good distraction from my own progress this week too

[Magellanic]

Just finished listening to all the mixes. There are so many good tunes. Dubious Brother really made me smile. I'm gonna find it really tough voting on this round (rules permitting).

The Knight who says ROCK! - Rock indeed! You and I were thinking similarly and I really like your take on it- The bit at 1:59 particularly brings some nice atmosphere to the song. Your guitar playing is awesome- my only gripe is that the rhythm guitars could have been a little beefier. Other than that it's solid and I really like the integration between the two sources.

Definitely on the same wavelength there in regard to approach. Lovin' your version. The mix between metal and electronica is just AWESOME. Your comments on my mix are really encouraging, so I really appreciate it. I've not really done a mix where rock is the main focus before and so I'm trying to find my way with it production-wise. I thought it was a bit of a risk but in the end I was just like "screw it, let's experiment".

[Brandon Strader]

Haha, I even had that kind of thought when listening to the track's progress during Brandon's last day of working on it. IRC quotation time:

Anyway, will check the tracks out throughout the day. May even be a good distraction from my own progress this week too

She's underscribing it, she was listening live over ustream, it was pretty awesome.

And back in the day when DarkeSword was running the Grand Robot Master Remix Battle, I was going to make this mix and give it this name when I went up against Hylian Lemon, it didn't work out that way and I always felt that this mix needed to be made so that's why I claimed Splash Woman again so things turned out purty good methinks. :3

[Bahamut]

A little offtopic but I feel like I should add to this.

True, I do tend to take things personally WAY too often (the first symptom of noobishness), so I tend to take things hard :/

Sometime I do wonder if they couldn't be just a bit nicer tho. Just me. There was, um, quite the discussion about that in my topic. And now I'm scared to go back.

And I haven't had anything to put there anywho. Except one track that no one noticed.

If someone gives you a criticism, try to take the useful parts and work on that - everything else is just noise. Worrying about how the criticism is levied just serves to mess with you and your response to it is exactly why you don't do so. My own experience garnering criticism was a bit of a shock to me, but I understand that's how it is. It's a mindset you have to get used to, and IMO a good approach to life. My own criticisms aren't personal when I critique a WIP/song & is completely separate from how I think of the person who made the WIP/song.

I'm going to listen to the tracks tonight! Anyone got any idea how voting is going to work?

[Magellanic]

Bahamut speaks words of pure wisdom In reponse to your question, we don't know about the voting yet. Darke said he would post up the voting rules later

[SuperiorX]

I can confirm on behalf of Ben (and I'm serious here, not just grubbing for team votes ) that the sample is from the Doobie Brothers (chipmunkified) saying "Snake Man's on my t®ail!"

LOL what? I seriously had to google that. And then I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTfxLFSXVrs. I was unfamiliar with the Doobie Brother's "Snake Man". I can seriously not describe the awesomeness of sampling this for the compo. Mad props to Ben. Snake Man is also one of my favorite robot masters and theme's of all time, so that can't hurt

[plovianx]

orlouge82: you got a sick mind, son

When there's a series of porno DVDs called "Dude, She's a Squirter!", I don't think the sexual insinuation is limited to his mind.

[Benjamin Briggs]

yeah, just to officially clarify, the vocal/guitar sample in my track is from "Snake Man" by the Doobie Brothers and the line is "snake man's on my trail"

and then later when it's chopped it kinda sounds like "shake snake man's hands" lol

[Brandon Strader]

When there's a series of porno DVDs called "Dude, She's a Squirter!", I don't think the sexual insinuation is limited to his mind.

You've got a sick mind too, mon

That falls into the category of "things none of us really needed to know"

[SuperiorX]

Ok, so here are some of my track impressions:

She's a Squirter: I've never heard you do a track in this style Brandon, and it sounds great. If this is your first attempt at a electronica/chiptune mix, then it's a damn good one. I like a lot of the effects and wobble on the bass you used as transitional pieces. This was a very enjoyable mix.

Don't Make me Cut You: Nice mix of electronic and dubstep elements here. The piece did have a really interesting soundscape and the synth solo was cool as well (Willrock?)

Totally Rad Winter: This sounds like every other Sir_NutS mix I've heard, which is a great thing! I really like the 80s synth vibe to the track. It is indeed totally rad. I think you did a great job blending the two themes together here, it seemed nearly flawless.

Double Doctors: After the slower intro, it kicks into the uptempo feel, which I really enjoy. The rhythm synced laughing Wily clips are just hilarious and somehow fit perfectly. Love it. I felt the themes could've been blended together a bit better (I hear a lot more Wily), but the overall quality of the song is great. The arpeggio synth from the Wily stage sounds pretty awesome here.

The Knight Who Says ROCK: I love the title. And indeed this knight is rocking. I haven't heard anything from you before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I really enjoyed this song though. The style seemed to fit these sources perfectly.

Burn the Castle: I like the arpeggio intro, sounds sweet. The background guitars seemed to be EQed a little weird, like they're getting lost with some of the other backing tracks, but it doesn't detract from the mix too much. I like the transition section in the middle, it's a nice change of pace, in another rockin' Mega Man mix.

The Last of the Clan: Cool change of pace track here. Totally different than the other mixes. I love the soundscape here. The chill laid back vibe, the chime-y background sound, the flute. Everything fits together really well.

Two Minds Without a Single Thought: This is a pretty ambitious track here. I probably would've tried to cut it down to the 3-4 minute mark to create a more cohesive sounding song, but I like some of the ideas you have here. I think with some more work and fixing a lot of the timing issues you'd be onto something. Keep working!

Dubious Brothers: SNAKE MAN'S ON MY TRAIL (or train, I actually like to believe it is a train). I love everything about this song. Sampled Doobie Brothers is ingenious, given they are actually saying Snake Man, which is hilarious. I love the hybrid electronic-Western vibe in the track. It makes it feel like Snake Man really is on my trail. I think this is my favorite round 1 mix. Awesome work.

Under Construction: I guess Darke wanted to save the best for last, amiright? hahahahaha. Well I won't comment on my track now cause I don't want to influence anyone. I want to hear what you guys think first.

[Obtuse]

So wonderful to hear all this great music! Keep it up everyone!

I will be stepping up to the plate for this weeks Remix.

[Chernabogue]

I'll be the representant of The Skull Men this week!