Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2011

[DarkeSword]

Voting is live. Information is in the first post. I decided to go PRC-style top-three. We have a social group, so make sure you head over there to cast your vote. Also, let's keep the reviews OUT OF THE VOTING THREAD. Post your reviews here in the main thread.

Remember, if you are one of the contestants in this competition, leave your team's remix out of your rankings. As long as you vote, you'll get a first place vote for your team's remix. Make sure to post your team's name in your vote so I can give you your voting bonus.

[Rexy]

So in regards to the mixer assignment, we still need to know who's playing for the Blue Bomber Brotherhood this week. Does anyone know who's stepping up for them?

[Sir_NutS]

I voted, Here's a short review on each one:

She's a squirter: I loved this one but sadly we can only vote for 3 so i had to leave it out. It's very brave to go and try something you aren't familiar with and I think the end result was very good.

Don't make me cut you: My favorite of the bunch, the chipstep style was awesome and I think i could identify who did what in the song. Very complex production and arrangement, but very likeable at the same time.

Double Doctors: Another good tune, loved the changes in the song and the fast pace, but sadly I don't think gemini man and the wily theme fit each other very well, but you managed to pull off a good song.

The Knight who said ROCK!: I voted for this one. Loved the arrangement and the 80's heavy metal feel with the synth keyboard melodies.

Burn the Castle: Not much to say about this one except that is pure awesomeness and i loved every second of it. Mega Man rock done right.

The Last of the Clan very soothing and pleasant remix I liked it a lot. Again I could only vote for 3 songs but this is definitely one of my favorites from the round.

Two Minds without a single Thought I thought the length and timing issues killed an otherwise good idea. The Wily theme didn't receive much variation either.

Dubious Brother: Fun little track with a very catchy rhythm. Looks like we went for the same simple-yet-catchy approach to this but ended up with very different results.

Under Construction: This was another fun track but it lacked a bit more work. More variation on the melodies and instruments, but I liked how it kept switching grooves from time to time.

[Sir_NutS]

So in regards to the mixer assignment, we still need to know who's playing for the Blue Bomber Brotherhood this week. Does anyone know who's stepping up for them?

Still waiting on Prophetik to get back to us. Gario is ready to go at it this week in any case.

[Gario]

I'm giving it until tonight for him to get online. If no answer by then I'll take the track.

EDIT: Just got word - I'm taking this round down, all.

[Phonetic Hero]

Now that we've got things figgerred out, let the trash talking commence:

CHARGE MAN GONNA RUN A TRAIN ON YA'LL BISCUIT HEADS!!

[Bahamut]

Thanks for the mixes everyone in the competition! Here's my cursory thoughts:

She's a Squirter - Brandon incorporating chiptunes? Intriguing mix in some ways, although I feel there's something missing here. Pretty good though!

Don't Make Me Cut You - oh shit. This mix starts off with some big bass (is this the dubstep that everyone keeps talking about nowadays?). The latter part of the song is where it really gets interesting, shifting completely into something different. It really gives you an appetite for something more though.

Totally Rad Winter - nice melody here, but I would've liked to see more come of it

Double Doctors - Some nice things going on but...that ending sucks!

The Knight Who Says ROCK! - Rocking

AMT - More rock! Something bothers me about the synth used as the melody after the guitar takes a break in the beginning (and is used later on as well).

The Last of the Clan - Nice song, pretty relaxed & pulls it well.

Two Minds Without a Single Thought - some nice ideas here, but timing issues hurt it a lot.

Dubious Brother - I could see this mix being played at a club. Not much else for me to say, it's solid stuff.

Under Construction - that synth needs more snazz to it! The lower end synth needs some work too. I like the ideas here, especially when it gets to the latter half.

I wish I could vote for more than 3. Was surprised by what everyone put out!

[WillRock]

Burn The Castle - I've noticed this one has got quite a few 1st place votes and I can see why. Immensely enjoyable stuff, perhaps the track I enjoyed the most out of the whole compo, with the exception of my first vote. However, Production issues brought this one down for me. For the record, this one deserves a special mention, because this track so narrowly missed my vote... broke my heart to do it

Double Doctors - Main Finger put together some class remixes last time, and he's carrying on the trend here. Overall a solid piece of work, and for the most part this was awesome stuff. Pretty decent production, and the arrangement was cool, but it has to be said, I thought doubling gemini man's theme was a cool idea that didn't work out so well at the tempo it was... it felt rushed and unnatural. Also, I can't say I liked the use of the sample... it made me think a little too much of some shitty youtube poop videos for my liking.

Good mix

Dubious Brother - aww man I'm digging wily's theme in here. Another mix that broke my heart not to put it in the top 3 but that goes to show just how solid all these tracks were this round. There was an awesome arrangement going on here, and the production was fine... it has quirks but nothing that detracts from the music.

I thought the use of the sample was cool, but it did borderline annoying for me, can't understand why tho... sorry ben, I know you dig that sample!

Overall, awesome work.

The Knight who says ROCK! - This mix is AWESOME. I love the combination of synths and guitars, and the synth samples are good enough for me to dig. The mixing is ever so slightly off, and the arrangement seems a little standard to me, but the enjoyability factor here is mega. Got my second place vote

The Last of the Clan - I thought the intro was pretty funny

This mix gets thumbs up for the production skills, and the attention to detail on the different sounds really adds to the character of this mix. Pretty different stuff but its executed very very well. Got my third place vote

She's a Squirter - Pretty strong stuff from brandon here, yet another mix I was forced to leave out of the top 3... broke my heart once again. Really cool mix overall here, really creative use of the synths overall, a successful blend of different styles. The production wasn't all there, but that was overshadowed by an epic arrangement. Great job!

Totally Rad Winter - 80's! Gotta get my first place vote right? OF COURSE IT DOES. Not to say I voted blindly, the production and arrangement while neither are perfect, are both pretty damn good overall. Looking forward to more! 1st place vote.

Two Minds Without A Single Thought - I commend you for taking such a hard to remix source. Its evident that this mix isn't quite as strong as the others, but it gets props for trying something ambitious with an ambitious source

Under Construction - No this isn't the mix from sound of speed. DAT BASS. I dig it, don't ask me why, but that bass is epic. The production is a little rough around the edges but overall this is solid stuff. Nice work.

And yeah... this has had a very consistant and stupidly tough voting round. Usually the first rounds of these compos, people are just getting into it... well you know what, if this is you guys warming up, I'm fucking excited about later rounds, I mean god DAYM.

Excellent stuff all round

[Nutritious]

She's a squirter - Quite a surprising take from Brandon given his previous work. Loved the gritty square bass and downtempo chippy/synthy action. Various SFX from NES games were a bit non-sequitur but they work. I wasn't a big fan of the snare as it seemed to stick out over everything, but minor crit there. Nice track dude.

Don't make me cut you - I helped too!

Totally Rad Winter - Without looking, I knew this was Sir_Nuts track from the start. It's nice to have your signature style, eh . You know Michael's stuff is going to be solid dancable electronica and this doesn't disappoint. I thought the synth leads were a highlight here (maybe not 1:30, which fell a bit flat, but besides that). Wish you were mixing more dude, great track.

Double Doctors - Wow dude, love the intro - totally hooks you there. I've heard good things about this Main Finger guy and he doesn't disappoint. I personally could've done without the voice sample, but it thankfully doesn't stick around too long. Solid old-school sounding d'n'b here with the upright bass morphing to a more gritty bass synth. Half time at 1:40 was a great touch.

The Knight who says ROCK! - Analog sounding intro synths piqued my interest and the ensuing rock doesn't let me down. This is such a fun track, you can't help but like it. Great combination of synths and metal. Rock mixing could use a little work, but that's something to aim toward for the future. Don't forget your drummer at 1:52, I'm sure he'd like to change things up once in a while . Nice work Lidawg, keep it up dude.

Burn the Castle - Another solid rock track. Really liked when everything kicked in at :27. See if you can work on your mixing to get things a bit more clear (rhythm guitars) and watch those high freqs. The energy here is infections; creative change of pace with the organ breakdown to give us a breather.

The Last of the Clan - After all these high energy tracks, this one certainly stands out as taking a more laid-back approach. But Jason plays it well here. The groove at :45 is a great compliment for the etherial soundscape. I wanted to hear more work from that bassline! So much room for it to move around and really compliment the groove. Such a great mood-inducing piece here.

Two Minds Without A Single Thought - Zero is newer to the mixing scene, but he brings some very creative arrangement work to his tracks. Keep working on your track development and production and you're just going to keep getting better. I know you're nervous about your tracks, dude, but I give you props for putting your stuff out here. Keep on mixing and keep entering competitions because that's just going to make you better (that's how I got my start, actually).

Dubious Brother - This intro is insane, I love how he uses filters here. Very creative take on a source that's been mixed more than once before. I wasn't a huge fan of the voice clip, but I can see why you'd use it . Breakdown at 1:30 = yes!. Love the bass there, Briggs. Also <3 filters at 2:00.

Under Construction - Nice bass work here dude - highlight of the mix. I liked the jazz/analog hybrid vibe you brought in near the mid point. Creative props there. Mixing is a little rough, but everything is present here. Nice work Mr. SuperiorX.

[Benjamin Briggs]

thanks for all the great feedback everyone... makes me excited to polish my mix up for submission

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

So in regards to the mixer assignment, we still need to know who's playing for the Blue Bomber Brotherhood this week. Does anyone know who's stepping up for them?

Did I miss something, or have The Concrete Men also not picked someone? It's the only one missing in my playlist for this round.

EDIT: Just double-checked, and yep, I missed it. Here's the playlist for round 2:

[MindWanderer]

It's interesting to compare this to the GRMRB. There, the choice of Robot Master is almost trivial, since your opponent will always have the same sources as you. Here it's critical--a bad or difficult source can make it very hard to compete.

Fair warning: I'm a harsh critic, and I'm also not very technical when it comes to this scene, so I may have criticisms that don't necessarily reflect the OCR "standards."

1. She's a Squirter: It's catchy, but some of the SFX are a little random (a Super Mario coin?). I feel like the Wily theme, which is excellent source material, was a little squashed in the grand scheme, especially in light of a great deal of original material. However, the blending is done well most of the time, even if it's unbalanced. It's harder to blend two themes like this than it is to alternate them, and Brandon gets credit for that--enough to get my 2nd place vote.
   
2. Don't Make Me Cut You: I don't have anything close to objective to offer here. It does a fine job of blending both themes, though there's a high percentage of original content, most of which I just don't care for. The riffing on the themes also just wasn't to my taste. It's not bad, per se, but I have to place my votes elsewhere.
   
3. Totally Rad Winter: I haven't heard 80's synth like this since... well, the 80's. I actually find it odd that everyone instantly pegged this as Sir_NutS, when I associate him mostly with "Ashtar's Desires," a very different piece. Blizzard Man is one of my favorite sources, but again the Wily theme is pretty buried and highly distorted. It's also kind of repetitive; I found myself rewinding a lot because I thought I'd missed something, when really it was just that I'd heard it before.
   
4. Double Doctors: I actually thought this did a good job of integrating and balancing the two sources, but it's kind of schizophrenic. It changes tone so often that it doesn't feel like one song, more like a very good DJ trying to switch between several very different songs. There's no part of this I dislike, other than the Wily laughs, but it's hard to like as a whole. The arrangement was good enough to take my 3rd place vote, but it could have been more.
   
5. The Knight Who Says ROCK!: The guitar sounds a little off key to my ear. Nice use of the Wily theme, but this time it's the Knight Man theme that feels buried, being mainly used in the background, and then only the first stanza. I love Knight Man, so this was a little disappointing.
   
6. Burn the Castle: I don't particularly care for Pirate Man, but this was a great blending of the two themes, which wouldn't sound like they'd go well together. My one criticism would be that the Pirate Man part is arranged very little, and certainly plays more of a supporting role in this mix. But on the whole, this comes across as a challenge accepted and met. My first-place vote goes here, no contest.
   
7. The Last of the Clan: Lots of original material, which is a bit repetitive. Very little Yamato Man, which is a shame. It's a nice, rhythmic piece that feels shorter than it is, but I feel like it should have gone further. Minor nitpick: Warring samurai clans have hardly existed since the dawn of time.
   
8. Two Minds Without a Single Thought: Yeah... wacky timing, poor samples, no percussion to speak of... I can't even blame the challenging source material, especially since I can hardly hear Search Man at all. I hate to say it, but I was wishing the piece would end, and it just didn't. This sounds like it was done by someone who's worse than I know Zerothemaster is--I know he can do better, I've heard it.
   
9. Dubious Brothers: Timing is off here, too, but it's a good balance of source. Can't say I agree with the chiptune selection. Not bad but not my cuppa'.
   
10. Under Construction: Piano solo into heavy synth? It's certainly interesting. A weak percussion line hurts this a bit. Sometimes the transitions seem to flow as if part of one tune, but sometimes they seem abrupt. The ending is very abrupt, too. This feels like a work in progress that could go somewhere if SuperiorX had had more time work on it. If I were an OCR judge I'd vote No (resub), whereas some of the other entries I'd just say No. And that's worth something, though, sadly not enough to score my vote.
    

[Zerothemaster]

I know he can do better, I've heard it.

What Zerothemaster is this? I'd like to meet him :/

[ectogemia]

Fair warning: I'm a harsh critic

Holy shit, no kidding...

[MindWanderer]

Did I miss something, or have The Concrete Men also not picked someone? It's the only one missing in my playlist for this round.

EDIT: Just double-checked, and yep, I missed it. Here's the playlist for round 2:

Thanks! So on the plus side, we get Plant Man, Napalm Man, Tomahawk Man, Shadow Man, and Charge Man in the most famous stage theme of all. On the minus side, we get 4 Robot Masters from the same game as the Wily stage, all of which have been done often, and one combination of which has already been done! Being original with those will be quite the challenge.

[Zerothemaster]

Holy shit, no kidding...

Yeah, dawg.

Did you like anything?

I mean, dang, I understand ripping me apart, cuz mine sucked (btw, seriously, what Zerothemaster are you listening to that can do better than this? I vish I was that good) but tearin apart some of these other guys... i mean dang, considering that these guys had just one week and make some pretty awesome stuff in that one week... Oh well. Personal preference.

TWO QUESTIONS FOR EVERYONE

Everyone is referencing timing probs in my song... I feel idiotic, but I did not hear any... any specifics?

And also, does anyone have some tips about producing guitars? As you prolly know, my guitars were really dry, so what does one do to give it a better sounds? (you can pm me if we don't want to drag this topic way off topic )

Yeah... thanks.

[Bahamut]

I could've been pretty harsh on the mixes - I was too tired to go through them thoroughly and just gave cursory thoughts. Got back here at almost 1 am.

[Zerothemaster]

I could've been pretty harsh on the mixes - I was too tired to go through them thoroughly and just gave cursory thoughts. Got back here at almost 1 am.

I suppose I just don't know what I'm talking about and am just a little starstruck

[ectogemia]

Everyone is referencing timing probs in my song... I feel idiotic, but I did not hear any... any specifics?

I can't remember off-hand everything that was in your mix, but I remember the drum patterns being a little irrational in that I couldn't place a downbeat or any strong counts reliably, and some of the syncopation was either unintentional or more or less jittery. Try listening to and reproducing simple drum parts. Maybe even slice some drum loops you have so you can see first-hand how typical patterns are divided.

I've never recorded anything, so I can't comment on the git-fiddle production

[Rozovian]

I'm a harsh critic

No he's not. He's critical, but not harsh. There's also loads of problems he's ignoring, admittedly not being "very technical". Really, the only track that got an all-negative review was ZTM's, which isn't too surprising considering the trainwreck it turned into... despite what I find to be a pretty interesting sound design and some decent ideas in there. ZTM, we all know you can do better, stop n00bing.

As for your rhythm problems, put a metronome or drum track to your mix. It shouldn't be hard to hear the problems then. Maybe you've got a poor sense of rhythm and need quantization and/or rhythm tracks to stay in time. If so - make use of them.

[Zerothemaster]

ZTM, we all know you can do better, stop n00bing.

I'm still bewildered as to where people get these ideas. :/ As encouraging as it is

[SuperiorX]

Under Construction - Nice bass work here dude - highlight of the mix. I liked the jazz/analog hybrid vibe you brought in near the mid point. Creative props there. Mixing is a little rough, but everything is present here. Nice work Mr. SuperiorX.

Under Construction - No this isn't the mix from sound of speed. DAT BASS. I dig it, don't ask me why, but that bass is epic. The production is a little rough around the edges but overall this is solid stuff. Nice work.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'm glad The Block Rockmen Beats like my track And yeah production is the big thing I know I need to work on. I can usually do a good arrangement, but I struggle with getting everything to sound the way I envision it. If everyone actually thinks this is pretty good, I'll throw it up in the WIP forums after the compo to get some more feedback, cause I'd really love to get this thing to a state to be submitted.

And yeah, Will, after I named my track I realized there was already another OCR track with the same name on the SOS album (which I really love). I named it "Under Construction" because Needle Man's stage is the Construction Site in MM3, so I figured it was an appropriate title

[MindWanderer]

No he's not. He's critical, but not harsh. There's also loads of problems he's ignoring, admittedly not being "very technical".

Either that or I just didn't notice them. I'm still training my ears to pick up on a lot of the things that a good critic looks for. My own submissions to the WIP forum were torn apart, largely based on things I couldn't hear even when they were pointed out to me.

If it's any consolation, ZtM, if I'd had time to enter this contest, I'm sure I'd be giving you a run for your money fighting for last place. These are a good forum to practice without having to try for OCR quality.

Also... I only just recently discovered these contests, so my ears are freshly full of High Pressure System, Shocked Quartz, The Space of Blades, Steel the Wind, Tornado Man Goes Clubbing, and Treasure Hunter--the last of which was good enough to get accepted to OCR despite having lost its bracket! I'm holding y'all up to that standard.

[Paladin]

Two Minds Without a Single Thought - For me, the most original and interesting remix. The guitar/synth combo did its job, with the guitar holding down the rocking riff whilst the synth explored the melody. The two instruments are sometimes slightly out of time with one another, but not enough for it to affect the groove IMO. It could be that you have some delay when you record audio and it doesn't quite sync with the midi. You could try manually dragging notes to align with the other instrument if out of time, I've had to do this sometimes. I like the dubstep-esque drum patterns and the kick and snare sound pretty damn good to me, but you might not have the notes snapped exactly to the beats. I'm not sure, but try snapping to 16 and it should be bang in time. Compositionally, I really enjoyed the mix.

[Starphoenix]

Hopefully you pull out a much better Searchman remix next time Zero. Really have faith you can do it. My recommendation, of course if your source is complimentary, is you push for a jazzy style. Since Searchman is kind of a jazzy piece just push that element even further. Throw in synths or whatever just try and compliment what is already there. It is a tricky source but there are avenues you can take.