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Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2011

DarkeSword

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Helios42 Newbie

Helios42

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Posted

Whew, haven't listened to any of this weeks mixes yet. Time to fix that!

Won't have time for as many listenes as I'm used to, though.

EDIT:

HOLY CRAP I'm 2 songs in and I already want to vote for those two! You know what this means? THIS VOTE IS GOING TO BE SO OUTRAGEOUSLY DIFFICULT!!!

It hurts soooooo gooood!

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Phonetic Hero Newbie

Phonetic Hero

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This song IS shaping up. A bit more slowly than I'd like, but it's going, and it will be excellent when the time comes to submit.

Also, I am drinking caffeine for the first time in two weeks. This helps.

Damn near every time I write, I drink a monster... it does help. K maybe not EVERY time I write, but when I get back from class, take a nap, and get back up to lay some shit down, those things really come into play

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Phonetic Hero Newbie

Phonetic Hero

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Posted

Oh and hey it's review tiemz

Hornet of Legend - Reminds me of Legend of Mana. Really cool, and I also love harpsichord, and I'm glad that you didn't make any weird velocity or volume changes with it, since it's not possible on the actual instrument. Sounds real Gaelic and stuff, kudos for taking a risk and making it work.

On a side note, can't wait for Lime of the Season. If you end up kicking anyone off and need a filler...

Blast Counter - Starts of nice and thick sounding, but it takes a little long to get into the meat for my tastes... I do like the bassline that was added for the Wily stage segment. The dubstep stuff sounds really vanilla and weird, like I can't tell where the hell the timing is supposed to be because the filtering is so strange. It sounds like someone used a high speed camera to capture that sound your lips make when you go "ppppppppppppp" and then slowed it down to go with music. Also wasn't a fan of the medley "A then B" structure... didn't feel very cohesive as a piece of music. But, it was much more interpretive than you're previous piece, which made the different sections sorta fun to listen to.

Dr. Wiwwy, Polarized - I sincerely hope the name is a reference to the hilarious voice acting from MM8 :D Intro is badassss, that's some good synth modding. I'm jealous. I can't really critique anything here... the atmosphere is great, and I love hard-hitting electronic music, if you guys couldn't tell. The chips are used really well, and they feel really modern, which is weird but cool. Awesome man

Proud Warrior of a Forgotten Kingdom - Pretty short dude. I like the harp though... I'm a sucker for harp. The harmonies are cool. Not much to say, because there's not much there for me to talk about ha

Bring the Heat - Cool piano intro but could certainly use more humanization. The chords and intervals get this weird double stop effect (sorry, I'm a percussionist, not sure how else to explain this sort of phenomenon :P ), which is the result of the notes starting at exactly the same time. Also, sequencing strings is really difficult, especially when they're as exposed as you have them. I really like the ideas presented, but the articulations sound pretty odd, especially the attacks.

Tower Power Boogie - Lots of piano this round. This one's sweet, although I have to wonder if the name is appropriate since it feels like something in the old west. Something like "Spark Man Hits the Saloon" would've been more fitting imo haha. Anyway, I think I read that you used a midi controller to record this right? Cool. There are a couple timing issues, which don't really bother me for the most part actually, because of the style. But, there's that first run that sounds a bit off; the ending one is fine for me because of the gradually changing tempo. I picture the inebriated piano player just getting too far ahead of himself and drunkenly thinking "aw fuck it" :D

Shining Groove - Shining groove indeed. BUT, that cymbal dome really gets on my nerves after a bit, and the drums as a whole get pretty of aurally exhausting after a while, especially between the domes and the snare. The bass playing is pretty sweet, but gets to feeling like unnecessary filler material in some spots. The interp plays is pretty safe, especially on Wily's end, but the arranging of the sources keeps it from getting too stale. The domes though... what is this, I don't even, they're so shrill, I'm turning it off :P

The Fall - Love the vocals. Starting to hate the style... Sorry dude (and Sir_nutS :D ) but 80's music doesn't have that nostalgia for me as it does for a lot of people, since I'm a 90's kid. Some of it actually sounds borderline hilarious to me. That shorty bass gets pounded into my brain and kinda starts bugging me after a while. BUT, there's a lot of stuff I enjoy in this mix. The vocal processing is awesome, the drum work is awesome, and the general atmosphere is great. I really enjoy the vocal harmonies, really good stuff.

Robot Lounge - Superb execution, first of all. I said it once, but I'll say it again - Damn Amph, smooth really is the name of the game here. Props to C7 for nailing the key sigs, I know that shit's tough (I wrote a Super Metroid marching opener and got to listen to how shitty the intro sounded (especially on the trumpets' end) because of the Eb minor key sig :D ). Not many complaints, this one's easy to sit back and enjoy. Great work.

Wily's Bubble Bath - I accidentally my all the smoothness in this playlist... Oops, I /b/tarded. This keeps the groove right on going, and I dig it. Nice modding of the Wily part to fit 1 bar instead of taking up 2 (or a half instead of 1, depending on your tempo choice). Really like the dance-y, almost European feeling of the whole thing with the sidechained bass and stuff. The vibes bugged me at first, because the grace note velocity wasn't quite low enough to make it feel natural, but I pretty much forgot about it after about the 3rd run through and just enjoyed it. Good work Hardman (pronounced like a last name, e.g. "Silverman")

Planes, Trains, and Auto 'n' Beat - zomfg another movie reference get a life loser lol

Seriously though, I hate typing this thing as much as everyone else... if you voted for me, thanks, but I sincerely apologize for the 10 second pain in the ass. WITTY THO, RITE?!

Combustive Implosion - The name give ms a hankering to blow something up using flash bomb. In real life. I like this one a lot. The drums are fitting, although honestly it's pretty easy to identify the FL defaults, and it bothers me, perhaps a little more than it should. I like the saturated soundscape; loads of delay and reverb to go around. Synths were all well chosen, and the high hat slicing is kewl. I don't understand why people hate on Grenade Man's theme so often... I love all the music in Mega Man 8 (except maybe Clown Man, but his stage is stupid too). Good choice, and good work, except for that (non existent) ending

S'all I got

pH

Edit: wow LOTS of emoticons... enjoy 'em :P:D :D :D P :P:):P:):D D: D:

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shadow24 Newbie

shadow24

Posted
Posted

This thread seems dead :( Time to attempt some defibrillator action and incite a flame war. There were so many good mixes this round too. Here are my unprofessional critiques. Take them with a grain of salt too.

Blast Counter

The dub step stuff in the background doesn't seem like it meshes well with the rest of the instrumentation even though its fairly soft. Song is slower to get going and transitions slowly between sections. Not a bad thing though. I think this mix would have benefited from some more drastic change up. Seemed too safe to me. Instrument selection is well chosen. I really enjoy the effects for the intro and outro. Very cool idea :)

Bring the Heat

Seems a little bland with just the piano at the start. Maybe layer some other melodies softer behind it to spice things up. Some type of percussion effects might help too. Outro fade out is OK I guess. The actual melody throughout the song is well done. I really think layering would make this song vastly more intriguing.

Combustive Explosion

I really dig the chill vibe this song gives off. The volume and echo effects are expertly applied and truly make this piece shine. The melodies are fluidly interwoven. I think you lucked out since both themes seemed to fit the chill mood. Kudos to your remixing abilities. Looking forward to more of your music. Great style.

Dr. Wiwwy, Polarized

Instrumentation choice is a bit on the slightly shrill side. I commend you on blending both themes so well. Seems like the sources aren't a very good fit. The melody and transitions in your music always keep me interested. Great work!

The Fall

Voice work is truly amazing. Wish I could sing that well. Music wise I think greater variation and change ups throughout the song could make it better. I guess it the style you chose in which case it works well. Voice = wonderful -> Music = more variation.... I'm being too hard on everyone... This was made in a week after all. With that thought this is a wonderful mix. I couldn't make anything this good in a week lol.

Hornet of Legend

Has an uplifting simple Celtic feel :) Great idea to stylize the music this way. Makes it stand out in a great way. Themes are blended very well. Makes me think of "How to Train Your Dragon" for whatever reason :) The song evokes a kind of playful learning atmosphere. Great job!

Planes, Trains, and Auto 'n' Beat

The faster pace of the background sorta messes with me throughout the song. It can easily distract you from the main melody which I think is a bad thing. I listened to the song a lot to try and figure out the good and bad points. Maybe making the main melody more pronounced and toning down the rest of the music would help. I can't pin point what makes me agitated in the song. I think it feels like the music accompanying the melody forcefully rushes it and it detracts from the overall piece. I'll stop digging any deeper in my hole now... Still its an interesting song.

Proud Warrior of a Forgotten Kingdom

I really like this song even though it isn't very long. Doesn't seem finished with fairly sudden end. Maybe you ran out of time? It would be great if you spent some more time on it outside the competition. Seems like it could blossom into a very nice piece :)

Robot Lounge

You really nailed the chilled out vibe :) I think the main instrument for shadow man's theme towards the beginning could be switched out for another one. Seemed a bit "Meh". Later on it fits well. Trumpet solo sounded really good. Themes were blended well. Ending could be made more grandiose. Excellent mix as the result of a one week stint. Please polish it a bit more and submit it :)

Shining Groove

This had a similar feel to Phonetic's. Background music / beat seems to rush the main melody and detract from the song. Can't be helped I guess. Source themes weren't exactly a match made in heaven lol. Cymbals? seems overused. Instrument choices don't seem to mesh with each other as well as other mixes. Still this is a descent song. Themes were mixed okay.

Tower Power Boogie

Like the old west style throughout :) Cool idea. Seems like your mix could use some more layering of alternate blended ad-libbed melodies. Maybe some occasional light percussion. Song was a bit short. Shaker and some old west whistling could be good additions to the song. Maybe add some wind blowing through the desert sound effects. Please continue to expand on this song and submit it. It has great potential!

Wily's Bubble Bath

Mellow vibe fits Effervescence's theme well :) I like the lounge style. You could swing in a hammock and sip on an Arnold Palmer in the summer breeze. Good stuff. Song's length is just right too. Soft intro and fade out outro work well. Well done Guitarzan

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Helios42 Newbie

Helios42

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Posted

Oh man, do I feel behind. I've had a really busy week, I don't know how you mixers manage. You are all my beloved heroes!

I haven't been able to comb through everything that's been said since I haven't been paying attention, and I'm low on time, so I'm sorry if I say anything that's been covered in already extravegent detail. I'm squeezing in at the last minute, or at least the last minute to give the level of detail I want in voting.

Before I cut to the chase though, I do have something to mention.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU GUYS EXPECT ME TO PICK THREE OF THESE!?!?!?!?

All of them have merits, but in different ways. The comparison is really hard. I'm going to say this right now. I wish I could vote for ALL of you. I can't though, so no hard feelings. I have to try to pick the best out of this exceedingly good bunch, so I've got to look and think about it hard. In no way, shap, or form, does that mean that I did not enjoy any of these. AMAZING job everyone.

As a side note; Wily 8-2 was one of those tunes I recognize, have on my ipod (since I have a fairly complete MM soundtrack on there). Only had 8 plays. I thought it was good, and catchy, but didn't really stand out to me. I absolutely love what everyone did with it!

Also, another side note. I am exuberantly happy right now. I don't know if this is why I have such a positive view of all the songs, but I think it is effecting how giddy I am right now. I just had my first first date, and it was a massive success. I know, I know, I'm late and almost everyone has this feeling at some point in their life. But what's important is that I'm feeling on top of the world right now, and listening to these afterwards has made me inexpressably fantastic feeling :)

Ok, now, I'm going to try to sort out my feelings for these pieces.

Hornet of Legend - Celtic from a LoZ guy. I C WUT U DID THAR Wind Waker. YOU ARE MY HERO!!! YOU WERE ALREADY MY HERO. BUT YOU ARE LIKE MY SUPER DUPER AWESOME HERO. Amazing concept and great execution. As it started, I noted that the celtic applied very well to Wily 8, and was amazingly excited to hear Celtic Hornet Man in full detail. Those expectations were exceeded. On a more in depth look. 0:38 - 0:55 was just spectacular. 1:20 - 1:50 was so cool; very fluid and masterfully done. Especially 1:37 - 1:50. The follow up was amazing. Great job with combining the themes. The 2:18 - 2:54 section was where I realized the WW connection consciously, but I know for a fact it was there from the beginning even if I didn't know that I knew it.

At this point, I knew this voting was going to be tough.

Blast Counter - I was interested to see where the start was leading, as it was kind of empty. 0:38 shaped it up a little. At 0:45 we're lookin' good. Then 1:00 strikes, and it's feeling awesome. Where I listened to that part, it felt very novel and good. Doesn't take a lot of risks there, but doesn't need to. It's got dubstep following it.

The dubstep works really well for this, and it isn't overdone/hard on the ears like a lot of dubstep. There are places where it almost gets too much, and those might be polished up a little. But overall a solid piece. I thought the section from 2:35 - 3:20 was particularly hard hitting. Other than the polish, I would almost recommend more combining of the themes outside of the dubstep arrangement. But I really could go either way on that. So I'll put it out there for you to consider, but it's certainly not something that's missing in the piece. Oh, and the last second was weird, might want to eliminate it or make it fit better.

Dr. Wiwwy, Polarized Oh wow, way new style. Fitting a genre to this would be hard :P 0:27 - 0:40 was awesome, desplayed the potential very well. 0:40 - 0:53: I love what you did with Magent Man here! It was followed up with some supurb mixing. That in turn, was followed by a great buildup. That buildup worked really well in getting to 2:40 - 3:10, which is just amazing. This, and the start, was the best part of this song for me. Awesome job! If I don't vote for this, it will be by a hair! I really liked how this guy worked out.

Proud Warrior of a Forgotten Kingdom - The cover of the Wily theme was amazing in here. I thought that was really well done in the start. 0:40 - 1:00 had a great mixing style, flesh this out if you can! I loved the ending, but it came too soon. I'm not usually one to make a call on shortness (1:43 is still enough time if you're good), but against the competition in this round, I'd have to say that is the major factor holding this piece back. It really could have used that extra time to explore the themes and build up to some heavy hitting segments.

Bring the Heat Really struck a creative note right off the bat. Seems like someone was paying attention to the popular response to Smooth Heat :P I think this piece follows up really well with smooth heat!

The beginning includes some epic mixing, which lends itself readily to this piece. Overall, pretty badass-feeling. 0:57 - 1:20 was awesome. 1:22 - 1:33 - some amazing heat man here. On par with Sir_Nuts' creativity with the same thing, which I touted as some of the best heat man I've heard. Seriously, great piece. It got a little consideration for my top 3, but the slight shortness was, unfortunatly, significant. A slight bit more cohesiveness and more buildup to those really awesome parts, and I think you'd have a stellar piece!

Tower Power Boogie Very powerful start. I loved the title, fit the piece very well. It gets to some pretty epic mixing of themes, worked well. Atmosphere is good, and full enough. Wouldn't hurt to add some more depth to it in places, but worked very well here. 1:18 - 1:40 is really polished, too. Again, shortness. Doesn't affect my enjoyment of the piece, I can listen to it multiple times. But it does affect the level of depth, mixing, and amazingness that can be squeezed into that time. This round really highlights that. However, I would like to emphasize, I did really enjoy the overall feel of this guy, and the mixing was very creative.

Shining Groove - I was getting used to the more chill, lounge style that Wily 8-2 lends itself to. The start of this signaled to me that I should be ready for something more. And the song delivers! 0:38 - 0:50 deviates from this epic start a little, but the flash source afterwards is built up to perfectly by it. I must say, 1:17 - 2:08 is really polished! 1:45 - 2:00 especially =D Takes some well rewarding risks. Great mixing/pure source balance. And a totally awesome ending. Definitely a contender.

The Fall Alright, so, to the best of my knowledge, it seems like the lyrics in the comment section of this get cut, so we only get a few lines of them. The lyrics tabs on my iTunes of this song's info is empty. Is there somewhere else I should be looking for those lyrics. I want them bad.

But as per usual, they aren't necessary. You've got your clear, stylish, and awesome lyrics that have clarity and depth. The start was great. I loved the 'OH, oh ohohoh" The repetition of that style was amazing. Again, very polished lyrics. Everything I've heard of you recently, from 'For You', 'Concrete Heart', and this, is a perfect example of exactly why good lyrics are SSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

I loved this one. It was really good. I can see what you mean though, that it could use a little polishing before submission. Maybe a little more on the non-lyrical front. Totally loved it, though.

Robot Loungue - This is definitely a contender for me, too. Even though I could have predicted it, Wily 8-2 and Shadow Man fit the style you did them in amazingly. Loved the soundscape. 1:22 - 1:40 was really polished. Really stylish job with the source. I loved the instrumentation, which I feel like was greatly aided by C7. All around a very solid piece that is polished.

Wily's Bubble Bath How can you never cease to surprise me with your Bubble Man. Honestly, you do something epicly new and awesome with the source every time. 1:49 - 2:29, Oh the beat! 2:30 - 3:00, Oh the mixing! So good. I'm getting really tired now, so that's about all I have on this one. Another one of theme contenders for voting...

Planes, Trains, and Auto 'n' Beat I loved the start, which led to a great vibe from 0:53 - 1:45. Bodes very well. Having listend to all of them multiple times, I must say, 1:07 - 1:26 is the best cover on Wily 8 of this round, in my opinion. And is that saying something. 2:04 - 2:28 is also amazing. I love Charge Man in your hands. Solid source pick! And in between those two awesome sections was a perfect buildup period. 2:30 - 3:20, though different, still really fits. It captures the feel of the piece that was established all the way in the beginning. And the conclusion was grand!

Internal Combustion - Fascenating start to this one, good touch on the vibe of the Wily source. I loved the background we get from 0:58 - 1:26. Great atmosphere, it is really great to 'hear' from you again :P Overall, solid work. I think a few things could be improved. I would have liked to see the background from 0:58 - 1:26 even more expanded than it was. It was certainly looked at throughout the piece, but I feel like it's missing a cohesive developement. Other than that, the only thing I think could be improved is the ending. Great entry.

Whew. Alright, still some heavy work ahead of me, but I feel like I have the mindset to make the hard choices.

For those interested, my final contenders were: Hornet, Shadow, Magnet, Charge, Bubble, and Flash men. The creativity of Hornet of both Legend and Shining Groove was through the roof. Dr. Wiwwy, Polarized also had really great creativity, but I feel it worked better for the other two. Planes, Trains, etc. used source really well. That leaves only Shadow and Bubble man that I have to evaluate. Both are REALLY STELLAR AWESOME. But, I think in both cases, Hornet, Flash, and Charge, just hold an ever so slight edge. This may largely come from overall enjoyability, but I think it's more based on the overall depth of the song and the intricacy of the layers. Hornet, Flash, and Charge all have a really high level of depth with their source and mixing. Shadow and Bubble come exceedingly close to matching this. Magnet man too, of course.

But Hornet of Legend, Shining Groove, and Planes, Trains, and Auto 'n' Beats barely rise to the top, at least for me. I can not overemphasize how slight this is, though.

As for ordering them... Shining Groove just had such high polish... but so did the other two. Hmm, overall, though, I think Shining Groove is the overall more well established, and then Hornet of Legend. Then followed slightly by Planes, Trains, and Auto 'n' Beats.

Amazing job everyone! You made this a very tough vote!

This round was so awesome that I made a review that was over 2.000 words 8O

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WillRock Rookie

WillRock

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Posted

This is shaping up to be the most rushed and most shit track i've ever done :P

I'm contemplating subbing this tbh, I've got alot of work to do in about an hour and a half and atm it doesn't look like its worth the trouble judging how its turning out hahaha.

I SHALL DO IT FOR THE GOOD OF MY TEAMMATES HOWEVER, ANY VOTE IS WORTH IT.

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SuperiorX Newbie

SuperiorX

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Posted
looks like I'm not going to be able to sub anything... I have about a minute's worth of material recorded but just don't have the time to finish up. thought I'd be able to find the time while on vacation but I guess not. I'll be around next time though.

Even if you only have a minute, you should still sub it so your team gets the points.

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Brandon Strader Newbie

Brandon Strader

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Posted
This is shaping up to be the most rushed and most shit track i've ever done :P

I'm contemplating subbing this tbh, I've got alot of work to do in about an hour and a half and atm it doesn't look like its worth the trouble judging how its turning out hahaha.

I SHALL DO IT FOR THE GOOD OF MY TEAMMATES HOWEVER, ANY VOTE IS WORTH IT.

inb4 it's the greatest willrock song of all time, completely different from his regular work

not that your regular work isn't great

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orlouge82 Apprentice

orlouge82

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Posted
This is shaping up to be the most rushed and most shit track i've ever done :P

I'm contemplating subbing this tbh, I've got alot of work to do in about an hour and a half and atm it doesn't look like its worth the trouble judging how its turning out hahaha.

I SHALL DO IT FOR THE GOOD OF MY TEAMMATES HOWEVER, ANY VOTE IS WORTH IT.

You know what you should also do is vote. Along with...

halc

Benjamin Briggs

C7

Xarnax42

zach72

EVERYONE FROM THE BEAT BUSTERS

LuketheXjesse

Jakesnke17

EDIT: Halc just voted

EDIT 2: Silly me, I forgot the entire Dr. Light's Luminosity Legion except Lidawg who just voted.

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DarkeSword Community Regular

DarkeSword

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If it helps, of all the Wily sources I studied prior to the competition, I didn't study Cossack because technically, Cossack isn't Wily. >_> So I guess I might've stumbled a bit too, but I still tried my best regardless of not quite doing my homework.

You people always think you can get the one up on me.

You can't get the one up on DR WILY.

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