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Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2011


DarkeSword
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Just going to justify my top 3 this week:

  1. Red Chamomile: Best melodic integration of the two themes, IMHO. There's something slightly jarring about the drums, mainly in 0:03 to 0:18, but overall this felt like perhaps the most polished and planned piece this week.
  2. Air-Cossacks!: Definitely not Will's best work, but apparently his "shit" is still pretty good. Good use of both sources, decent integration, good variety.
  3. Villainous Revelry: A real challenge, integrating these two very different themes. The beat gets a little old, but the melody is pleasant and the production value is high.

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Red Chamomile: Best melodic integration of the two themes, IMHO. There's something slightly jarring about the drums, mainly in 0:03 to 0:18, but overall this felt like perhaps the most polished and planned piece this week.

Ah, I might answer this query about the drums.

A lot of the writing was mostly inspired by a random comment from Brandon when in conversation with him a few weeks back, puzzled over arrangement preferences. I thought people were looking closer to straight covers, but he somehow countered that by thinking they were looking for "gay covers" instead. :lol:

Taking that to consideration, the drum writing style throughout the track was mainly based on the playing of Roger Taylor from Queen (see what I did there?), mostly looking over at their repetoire from the early 1970s. So it might explain the more erratic style being going for here.

Otherwise, thank you for your support, and we're glad you enjoyed the track :D

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Ah, I might answer this query about the drums.

A lot of the writing was mostly inspired by a random comment from Brandon when in conversation with him a few weeks back, puzzled over arrangement preferences. I thought people were looking closer to straight covers, but he somehow countered that by thinking they were looking for "gay covers" instead. :lol:

Taking that to consideration, the drum writing style throughout the track was mainly based on the playing of Roger Taylor from Queen (see what I did there?), mostly looking over at their repetoire from the early 1970s. So it might explain the more erratic style being going for here.

Otherwise, thank you for your support, and we're glad you enjoyed the track :D

I didn't realize they were gay drums and I even re-recorded some of them, though pretty close to what you had. I must be gay too.

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edit: ya'll people be takin' forever to vote this week.

Okee, time for more stream of consciousness reviewing:

Red Chamomile -- Right away, for whatever reason, the instruments don't sound cohesive, and the piano chords are too quiet. The string+flute+acoustic guitar section is gorgeous and segues into the more upbeat part quite well. The arrangement is totally badass throughout, but the mixing leaves a lot to be desired. The synth solo had some weird pitch LFO'ing. Regardless, I really enjoyed listening to it, and it was a very well composed piece of music!

Air-Cossacks! -- I see what you meant. This didn't turn out so hot :/ The synths sound thin and corny for the most part. 1:20 is VERY quiet relative to the rest of the mix. There's some minor panning issues, too, like at 1:35 with that synth carrying the lead being panned awkwardly to the right. Things get awesome around 1:52 and 2:02 with some sweet solos with plenty of colorful melodic embellishments. Otherwise, this wasn't my favorite :(((((9999999999999

twenty-six alpha -- sweet intro and ensuing instrumentation choices. the percussion felt a little weak. the rhythms going on with all the exotic instruments were all really interesting. good choice carrying that same rhythm on to the square bass later. my only complaint, and it's a big one, is that there was a distinct lack of variety. that's not a bad thing necessarily, but things seemed to plod along at points. still, it was a great listen and a great arrangement.

Standing On Top -- Weird, I actually kinda like the vocals in this one. The drop at 0:57 is awesome in its subtlety, and the kick and bass are mixed perfectly. The autotuning is obvious; not sure if that was intentional. My god, you have ridiculously awesome production quality. I want my music to sound that clear :(TEACH ME. I really have no complaints, and considering I don't like vocals in my music, that's a big compliment. I can't picture this remix without vocals. I also can't picture it outside my top 3.

Northern Lights -- Holy improvement, Barman! Yes, Barman. I refuse to admit I made a typo. There's still much work to be done as far as thickening out the soundscape, stereoization, occasional but infrequent harmonic issues, and instrument choices, but MAN, this is much better than your first remix. In fact, it's quite good besides the production quality. Very nice work.

Eye of the Storm -- WHAAAAAAAA, a trance track under 3 minutes? OK, I'll bite. The lead around 0:30 is a little thin, and the one around 0:45 is a little quiet. I really like the harmonies going on here, and the chord progression is nice. Sounds like there are some wrong notes around 1:38. Love the gated trance chords there near the end. The arrangement is pretty solid. That final kick at the end was pretty week. Could have used a ton more reverb.

Groove, Swing, March -- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

License to Chill -- This is indeed quite chill. Chill-ING, that is. Oh-ho-hoisuck. Oh fuck, I thought someone was chasing me at 0:48. It sounded quite sparse at times and generally didn't feel like a thematically cohesive piece when comparing each individual part. Very interesting take on the themes, but it left something to be desired in its execution.

No Time for Doctors -- Great, then I might as well quit school. Oh, it's just a song title, ok, whatevz. It's too bad this is so short because I'm really enjoying what you have so far for the most part. That distorted, filtered bass gets a little tiresome after a while. And, yeah! It's short!

Villainous Revelry -- Ah, but is there any other kind of revelry? Yes. Yes, there is. I'm a huge sucker for house chords. Thank you for remembering to include them. This is the style I was considering pursuing for next week, but now I'm thinking twice... AHHH, now there's the ending I was hoping to hear in Jewbei's remix. Nicely done through and through. My only complaint would be that some of the synths sounded a little cheap, but I've been listening to a lot of professional house recently made with 'spensive synths and everything is professionally mastered and such. This sounds great, all things considered.

1. Standing on Top

2. twenty-six alpha

3. Villainous Revelry

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Standing On Top -- ... The autotuning is obvious; not sure if that was intentional. My god, you have ridiculously awesome production quality. I want my music to sound that clear :(TEACH ME.

Heh. I'd be happy to teach you a few things, if possible, just hit me up on MSN or AIM (details on my profile). Helping OCRers with production techniques seems to be my destined path these days, haha. I like helping. :-)

Also, yeah, the autotuning (actually, it was a combination of Melodyne Uno and NewTone) was blatantly obvious on purpose. I'm not a terribly good singer, but I sound passable as long as I tune the snot out of my voice. Been doing that a lot lately, trying to make a vocal-driven EP.

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Heh. I'd be happy to teach you a few things, if possible, just hit me up on MSN or AIM (details on my profile). Helping OCRers with production techniques seems to be my destined path these days, haha. I like helping. :-)

Also, yeah, the autotuning (actually, it was a combination of Melodyne Uno and NewTone) was blatantly obvious on purpose. I'm not a terribly good singer, but I sound passable as long as I tune the snot out of my voice. Been doing that a lot lately, trying to make a vocal-driven EP.

HAPPY DAY! Production is 90% of what's lacking in my game right now as my music gets more and more complex. I'll be AIMing you shortly.

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I'm having a ton of fun with this week's song. My personal goal this week is to make a song that doesn't sound at all like it came from a video game, and I think I'm doing pretty well :D

Ohh, I am intrigued!

I also just want to put this out there. When listening to any of these tournament's remixes, on of my favorite things to llisten for is how separate the themes are. I love it when the song is so cohesive that it sounds like one song to anyone who hasn't listened to vg music. Clearly, to me, there are its two separate sources, and I like being able to hear theme. But it is so great when they are made to mix together seamlessly :)

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Ohh, I am intrigued!

I also just want to put this out there. When listening to any of these tournament's remixes, on of my favorite things to llisten for is how separate the themes are. I love it when the song is so cohesive that it sounds like one song to anyone who hasn't listened to vg music. Clearly, to me, there are its two separate sources, and I like being able to hear theme. But it is so great when they are made to mix together seamlessly :)

Soooo, I take it you're going to be voting for me in that case, then? :P

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