Mega Man X: The Grand Maverick Remix Battle 2012

[Bahamut]

Critiques! I apologize if these come off as harsh, I'm too tired to butter them up with details about positives (just ran 12 miles) - I may update them with more detail later in the week.

Superior X - Vicious Liquids (Rainy Turtloid vs. Shieldner Sheldon)

Pretty straightforward take on Rainy Turtloid here. I don't hear Shieldner Sheldon here, unless it's some unmemorable part used near the end of the song in order to emphasize the beatdown. The drums are plain & underutilized. Song needs to change up its tempo, too static here. Almost the whole second half of the song feels aimless to me - would be better to cut most of that out.

Phonetic Hero - Shell Bros (Shieldner Sheldon vs. Rainy Turtloid)

Production sounds messy here - lots of crowding in the mids & possible overcompression? The section with the delayed stutters sounds weird to me - needs more force behind the music before the stutters. Pretty brief cameo of Rainy Turtloid here.

Tuberz McGee - Snail-Gator Jive #5 (Wheel Gator vs. Crystal Snail)

Song has a disjointed feel to it - sax sounds too mechanical/rigid, could use some humanization. Synth could use some work too. Mixing gets too crowded near the end.

Jakesnke17 - Sluggish Revolution (Crystal Snail vs. Wheel Gator)

Snare could use some work, mechanical & tinny sounding. Instrumentation is a little thin.

AMT - A Good Question (Flame Stag vs. Blizzard Wolfang)

Vocals! Sounds overcompressed though, the guitars & vocals lack clarity. Song could use some more meat in the arrangement too.

Mr. L - Blizzard (Blizzard Wolfang vs. Flame Stag)

Drums could use some working, especially that snare - sticks out. Instrumentation is too thin - needs another instrument or few to help round things out and give a bigger sound. Song could also be longer.

BlackPanther - Lone Journey (Blast Hornet vs. Vanishing Gungaroo)

Wait what, that's it? Man...I was hoping for more and it just ends. Strings could use some work to sound less sample-like. Song is too quiet, drums are mixed too far forward IMO.

Cash and Change - Ostriches Flying Over The Crescent Moon (Overdrive Ostrich vs. Crescent Grizzly)

Interesting approach here. Synths need some work here, something about them in some areas sound...too thin perhaps? I can't quite put my finger on it.

urdailywater - and what Comes around, will stay down (Frost Walrus vs. Optic Sunflower)

ladyWildfire - kuwangawanga (Boomer Kuwanger vs. Magna Centipede)

Little mixing issues here and there. The bass on the dub elements could be a little lower/stronger I feel, would probably have a bigger effect. Bass beat a little before 4:30 sounds underwhelming.

Benjamin Briggs - Beetle Brawl (Magna Centipede vs. Boomer Kuwanger)

I was wondering when the chiptune would creep in. The string synth is kinda meh. I'm probably in the minority, but this style doesn't get me really pumped in the biggest votable battle of the bracket (sorry Ben).

Also I'd like to take the time to post that if you haven't heard Washudoll's Boomer Kuwanger from Maverick Rising,

! Having a tough time deciding this battle, I feel wildfire has the stronger composition but Ben has a much more polished song. I'll come back to this later on in the week.

Prophecy - Vector Point Engineering Volt Buffalo (Volt Catfish vs. Blizzard Buffalo)

Oh wow. Only 1 minute but I might have had to vote for this anyway. Good lord!

[Phonetic Hero]

Phonetic Hero - Shell Bros (Shieldner Sheldon vs. Rainy Turtloid)

Production sounds messy here - lots of crowding in the mids & possible overcompression? The section with the delayed stutters sounds weird to me - needs more force behind the music before the stutters. Pretty brief cameo of Rainy Turtloid here.

:36-2:06 is Turtloid. 1:30/3:36 = roughly 43%. That's... not that brief

[ectogemia]

I just succeeded in creating a groove I have long wanted to pull off. And it sounds...amazing.

Sorry, Ecto.

That's cool, because I'm writing a really intense metal track with a fantastic intro and flawlessly produced drums.

Crab > Chameleon.

[SuperiorX]

Superior X - Vicious Liquids (Rainy Turtloid vs. Shieldner Sheldon)

Pretty straightforward take on Rainy Turtloid here. I don't hear Shieldner Sheldon here, unless it's some unmemorable part used near the end of the song in order to emphasize the beatdown. The drums are plain & underutilized. Song needs to change up its tempo, too static here. Almost the whole second half of the song feels aimless to me - would be better to cut most of that out.

The intro is from the Shieldner Sheldon intro. The new melody at 1:15 is built around the Sheldon B melody (a bit liberal tho yes), and the entire 1:30 - 2:22 is built around Sheldon B & C melody parts. Then 2:24 - end is that Sheldon intro melody part again.

[ProjectSpam]

ProjectSpam! Prepare to be.... mildly inconvenienced!

No, Trism -- it is YOU who shall be mildly inconvenienced!!!

The battle is ON! (Best of luck; these themes are quite different!)

[Bahamut]

I had a pretty tough time telling, and I'm very familiar with those sources. Listened multiple times to the mixes too.

[Nabeel Ansari]

flawlessly produced drums.

We'll see.

[Ivan Hakštok]

An idea came to me while I was eating and I already have made my 1-minute intro! Woohoo!

Too bad I won't be at home the entire Monday in order to continue working on it, but at least I'll have plenty of time to listen to this round's remixes in my car

[ad.mixx]

urdailywater - and what Comes around, will stay down (Frost Walrus vs. Optic Sunflower)

I see you didn't put anything on mine for some reason, but I'll fill it in for you.

"Repetition, repetition, oh, and more repetition."

Figured it was better than leaving the track unfinished though. I still like the end result, and will post it here if I decide to work on it anymore.

edit: oh my gosh didn't even realize how crowded this track is. geeze this is bad.

Edited September 10, 2012 by urdailywater

[Lucavi00]

I don't know how I feel about these Kuwanger songs. They are pretty evenly matched but my bias is towards whoever can advance Kuwanger to the 2nd round and beyond.

HOLY BALL SACKS THAT PROPHECY TRACK

Edited September 10, 2012 by Lucavi00

[AMT]

Nice entries, everyone! Really sad to see so many drops, though Standout tracks for me were definitely both Kuwangers (such a tough vote) and Jason's unfinished Earthbound reference. Stoked for the next round for sure!

[DarkeSword]

Inadvertently made voting threads for non-battles. Those threads are gone now. There should only be 4 battles to vote on this round.

Edit: I agree on Prophecy's track. Had to check 2-3 times to make sure I had the whole wave file.

Edited September 10, 2012 by DarkeSword

[Cash]

Cash and Change - Ostriches Flying Over The Crescent Moon (Overdrive Ostrich vs. Crescent Grizzly)

Interesting approach here. Synths need some work here, something about them in some areas sound...too thin perhaps? I can't quite put my finger on it.

I agree, the synths were sounding odd in a few places, but I didn't have time to fix them.

[Mr. L]

Awesome entries, everyone!

Freakin' hard votes all around.

And props to AMT for a way better job on all three criteria and just an awesome remix.

EDIT: Thanks for the comments, Bahamut. I didn't realize about that snare until it was too late. As for song length, I couldn't really think of anymore; once I got to a little over 3 minutes -- no more ideas.

Edited September 10, 2012 by Mr. L

[ad.mixx]

Listening to them all,

just realized my opponent didn't get a track in. That sucks

Prophecy, finish your track! Not only is it awesome, but that name is too good.

Might try and post mini reviews later this week if it's not too busy.

[Bahamut]

I see you didn't put anything on mine for some reason, but I'll fill it in for you.

"Repetition, repetition, oh, and more repetition."

Figured it was better than leaving the track unfinished though. I still like the end result, and will post it here if I decide to work on it anymore.

edit: oh my gosh didn't even realize how crowded this track is. geeze this is bad.

I listened to it a few times, but I couldn't come up with anything at that moment. I'll try to come up with something on another day.

[Zerothemaster]

I have made about a minute of stuff already

and I have no clue what I'm doing

Actually structuring a breakbeat? screw that, I'm just gonna randomly place stuff in fl

[KyleJCrb]

I just wanted to say that I approve of Nana being one of the sig badges for this round. She is by far and away my favorite navigator in the series.

[Zerothemaster]

I can't tell if my 5 minutes of music is full of badassery... or just assery.

Um... Can I ask people to give it a listen to tell how crap it is and perhaps how to make it less crap? Or is that against the rules?

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

Alright, here's a new version of my sig idea, attempting to match the visual scheme:

And for what a Zero one would look like:

Any comments or critiques let me know; once they're good, I'll set to work churning out a full set.

[Troyificus]

Alright, here's a new version of my sig idea, attempting to match the visual scheme:

And for what a Zero one would look like:

Any comments or critiques let me know; once they're good, I'll set to work churning out a full set.

I'd say the backgrounds are too empty with just the block of colour, maybe take one of the cityscape backgrounds from one of the game levels and overlay the bracket colour over the top?

[MindWanderer]

I'd say the backgrounds are too empty with just the block of colour, maybe take one of the cityscape backgrounds from one of the game levels and overlay the bracket colour over the top?

That wouldn't be too consistent with the badges DS made. But given how much wider these are, they could use a little extra somethin' somethin', maybe some alternating swooshes up and down? And the Zero one needs a higher contrast between the red and the orange.

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

And the Zero one needs a higher contrast between the red and the orange.

I was kind of thinking that too; the problem is finding that sweet spot where the orange is high-contrast without just being yellow. I'll play around with it a bit more and see if I can nail it once all the details are set.

I also had the same thought about the city backgrounds not necessarily fitting, but just for the sake of argument here's an example (which actually kind of works, I think):

Edited September 10, 2012 by Dark_T_Zeratul

[Troyificus]

I was kind of thinking that too; the problem is finding that sweet spot where the orange is high-contrast without just being yellow. I'll play around with it a bit more and see if I can nail it once all the details are set.

I also had the same thought about the city backgrounds not necessarily fitting, but just for the sake of argument here's an example (which actually kind of works, I think):

Hmmm, it seems to work with red one better than the blue.

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

Alright, I think I tweaked it enough so that the city stands out a bit more without looking too purple. I guess in the end it'll be up to what Darke prefers, though.

Ultimately, adjusting the colors is the easy part. Any thoughts on the other elements?

Edited September 10, 2012 by Dark_T_Zeratul