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Mega Man X: The Grand Maverick Remix Battle 2012


DarkeSword
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I wish it was integrated a little better with Blaze Heatnix
Hard as hell to integrate these two themes, but this does an excellent job. As much as I admire T of N's approach, and as much as I want Heatnix to get knocked out of the compo, I think I have to hand it to Gario for mainly this reason.
Doesn't seem quite as well integrated as Unfazed

The whole integration of Sting Chameleon is more symbolic than literal. The E. Piano is representative of SC and the Synth lead is Blaze Heatnix. It starts out as just a BH remix but SC gradually "infiltrates" the BH theme hence the "INTRUDER DETECTED" followed immediately by E. Piano solo off of the SC theme (with the intro BH motif underneath, representing the presence of BH (danger)) and the title "Stealth Chameleon".

I guess it's not really implemented in a traditional sense but I can assure you, quite a bit of thought went into the implementation of both themes.

Edited by Theory of N
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It seems production is knocking me out. Oh well...

Anyway, comments!

Stealth Chameleon - Very nice song. I love how you turned Blaze Heatnix's metal song into a chill electronic poppy song. Use of Sting Chameleon is good, even if Heatnix is clearly used more than Chameleon. My only criticism is that the lead synth for the first sections is a bit dry.

Unfazed - Cool song too. Sources are blended more clearly here than in ToN's track. I don't really have any criticism to make...

Voting is very hard on this battle...

I Am Terror - Interesting song, especially after your round 1 mix! A shame that Metal Man couldn't manage to finish his song. I like this one.

Knowledge Representation - Production is nice. I'm not that fond of the piano sample used at the intro, sounds a bit fake. Other than that, source usage is fine. Arrangement is a bit repetitive but that kind of fits well with the style chosen. Fade out ending is the weakest part of the song.

Superconductivity - That's mine! I essentially went for a progressive metal/rock arrangement, similar (but slower) than my previous entry.

Seahorses, FOREVEH - Odd intro... Storm Eagle's melody sounds funny with the samples used. Song picks up at about 1:10. The samples kind of bring it down and it is very short.

Drifter - Odd mix too! Quite a strange battle here... Section beggining at 1:07 has a weird tone. Overall, an interesting sound but production brings it down.

It seems Toxic Seahorse wasn't an easy song to mix.

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Here are my short reviews. I'll start with the previous round because i couldn't review or vote for it because of the technical difficulties I had:

X Round 2:

Benjamin Briggs vs Jason Covenant: First, whats with you two using your names instead of the old nicknames now? Is that a thing you do after you get old? I'm turning 30 next week so I'll stop being Sir_NutS and start going for Michael Molina then. :D Anyhoo! Nice yaya bass from BB, love that bitcrushing shit. Insteresting mix of instruments through the song, certainly makes it feel unique. Jason's song, as always, is huge and epic yet somehow pretty catchy. That chorus playing the magma centipede theme is the highlight of the song for me, that sounds like it belongs in a mega man movie. Amazing stuff, and really hard to pick a winner because both songs were so good.

Blackpanther: drums are baws, dub bass could've used more work to fit in with the sub. Nice arrangement overall.

Mr. L vs Phonetic Hero: Lovely piano intro in mr L's. Arrangement gets a bit odd after a while, when the stacatto strings come in. Sweet arrangement overall. PH's song goes the other way and pulls a glitch hop on us. Loved the ambience, and the use of both songs. This was a close one for me, as there parts of Mr. L's song I found lovely, but I would've gone with PH in the end.

Cash and Change: The boomtiss is strong with this one. A bit dissonant at parts, nothing too bad imo. I might have heard some clipping at some point, but maybe it was just me. Overdrive Ostrich seems like a pretty hard song to mix in this style.

Zero Round 2:

Theory of N vs Gario : More funky stuff from ToN, I think I've said before how much I dig copious amounts of funk poured onto the bass, and this one got its fair share of it. Arrangement follows that line, and overall was a very good song to listen to, keeping this one. Gario brings its own kind of funk with a jerky groove and a bucketful of arpeggios. Very hard choice with this one. Going with ToN.

Hakstok: nice work on that panned/delayed synth in the intro. I liked the drumstep, and you managed to fit plenty of both songs there. The beat could've used some breaks as it feels a bit loopy.

jnWake: funny we both started with a piano section. The song really felt very progressive rock at the start, but I think the part with the synth and the guitar chords at :50 sounds a bit dissonant and lacks a bit of coherence. The song regains its cool after that, but falls in the same trap at around the 2 min mark. I loved the break it sounds much nicer and the arrangement there is pretty nice. Overall you did a much better job than me including the two themes, even if I had finished what i had in mind with my song, but the parts that included the first section of Chill Penguin's theme really drag the mix down.

TheRexAsaurous vs ProjectSpam: Dat LCD soundsystem bass. The tempo change could've been handled better. Pretty short. ProjectSpam's instrumentation on the drums is a a pretty interesting choice. Overall a pretty strange song that feels pretty mysterious. I think I'll go with you for originality this time.

About my own song: Obviously, incomplete. Murphy played a dirty trick on me this round, Overall I was happy with what I had so far, but I could've implemented more of both songs in the mix. The fadeout ending was there because I literally had no time to include a proper one (I submitted like 15 mins before the deadline). I was planning for this song to be around 5 mins long and I had another chill penguin section planned but oh well.

I found interesting on MindWanderer's comments about how he find it surprising that I did this style. Well, a few years ago I was known precisely for doing this kind of stuff around here, but I dropped it for years because I started to get bored of it and also because people began to expect that from me, and it makes me happy to know that it worked!

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Just getting started on my track, I haven't had much spare time to play video games lately, so I've jumped at the chance this week and have gotten engrossed in Final Fantasy Tactics (what an OST!). This one is going to be something a little different again, hope you guys are as pumped for the finished product as I am

Actually I take that back, it's sort of a combination of different and honing a previous style. Lots of new synthesis and production techniques though... Bring it BP! :D

EDIT: Also, the tabla and waterfones are my new love

Edited by Phonetic Hero
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Sorry guys, it's been a busy week and...

lol jk

Kind of. I got up at 2 AM on Friday to work on the track, it started coming along reeeaall nice. Then I had to work for 5 hours, then I had a 3.5 hour rehearsal, then I got called into my other job to work ANOTHER 5 hours (ending at 12, then driving me and another drumliner back to L-Town an hour away), then I had to be up at 4 AM to board a bus to Manhattan for the KU/K-State game, then I had to PLAY the KU/K-State game, then I went to bed around 7 PM yesterday intending to be up and at em by 3 AM today, and slept through my alarms till 8. The good news is, I'm fired up and killing the second half of my tune. HOPEfully I'll be able to do everything with it that I want to. It's looking good, just saying it'll be rushed, so I'm getting a preemptive apology in if there's any lack of quality on my end, but there shouldn't be ;)

EDIT: Oh, and I have to drive that same drumline buddy back to Overland Park (an hour away) for work somewhere between now and the deadline. Wish me luck!

Edited by Phonetic Hero
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Sorry guys, it's been a busy week and...

lol jk

Kind of. I got up at 2 AM on Friday to work on the track, it started coming along reeeaall nice. Then I had to work for 5 hours, then I had a 3.5 hour rehearsal, then I got called into my other job to work ANOTHER 5 hours (ending at 12, then driving me and another drumliner back to L-Town an hour away), then I had to be up at 4 AM to board a bus to Manhattan for the KU/K-State game, then I had to PLAY the KU/K-State game, then I went to bed around 7 PM yesterday intending to be up and at em by 3 AM today, and slept through my alarms till 8. The good news is, I'm fired up and killing the second half of my tune. HOPEfully I'll be able to do everything with it that I want to. It's looking good, just saying it'll be rushed, so I'm getting a preemptive apology in if there's any lack of quality on my end, but there shouldn't be ;)

EDIT: Oh, and I have to drive that same drumline buddy back to Overland Park (an hour away) for work somewhere between now and the deadline. Wish me luck!

Lookin forward to hearin what you got!

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Well my mix is in. I was going to claim to be dropping out, then say just kidding...but PH beat me to the punch. And like PH, I also ended up doing mine at the last minute. I think this may be some sort of personal record for most-last-minute-entry. That's probably why it came out so weird...lulz. Looking forward to hearing everyone's entries.

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LOL Covenant did you use the same vocal samples that Star Salzman did in one of his mixes?!

EDIT: Seems that the FFT soundtrack has influenced me more than a little, now that I gave my track a few hour break in between listens. Also, source breakdown-

0:00 to 0:21 - Interp on a PSO source progression

0:22 to 0:52 - Interp on Blast Hornet (intro arps + melody A)

0:52 to 1:13 - Sheldon melody B, lightly interpreted (appears at :31 in the source)

1:13 to 1:33 - Back to Hornet melody A

1:30 to 1:45 - Interp on a different PSO source, with a Hornet quote at 1:42

1:45 to 1:56 - Sheldon intro arps

1:56 to 2:17 - PSO source 2 melody, WHICH (for the first segment) IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS SHIELD SHELDON'S INTRO ARPS ZOMFG!!!!!!!111!!!!1 I even added an extra note dip to help identify it during the second phrase. This was a huge chub-generator for me, because the sources that I was using as style inspiration actually ended up fitting absolutely perfectly with the Mega Man sources. I'm just sorry/disappointed that I biffed some of the arrangement around it in my haste :P

2:17 to 2:48 - Segment focusing on progression to propel the piece forward, which utilized some Hornet quotes in a low sine not meant to be accentuated (though I did bury them a bit far without realizing it till now)

2:48 to 2:59 - Hornet melody B utilized in the strings with additional harmonies in the sine and a Blast Hornet bass part in the 4th bar of certain segments

3:11 to End - conglomeration of Sheldon arps (high sine) with Hornet quotes/additional harmonies sprinkled in (lower sine) and that same bass part from the BH source (accented at 3:28 )

Edited by Phonetic Hero
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Random thoughts for this round:

Cash and Change - Ostrich and Catfish Eggs (Overdrive Ostrich vs. Volt Catfish)

Everything sounds too mechanical, and too thin. Interesting idea here though. Actually, the guitar, bass, and that lead synth kinda remind me of Mega Man Zero music.

Prophecy - Vector Point Engineering Volt Ostrich (Volt Catfish vs. Overdrive Ostrich)

Well, there are consistent song titles at least. For such an odd arrangement, this is pretty nice.

BlackPanther - Stinging Peril (Blast Hornet vs. Shieldner Sheldon)

Those drums could use some work! That lead synth could use some more snazz to it too, I think I could feel this more if the groove aspect was focused more I think.

Phonetic Hero - A Hornet and a Clam (Shieldner Sheldon vs. Blast Hornet)

There are some areas where the combination of instrumentation seems to clash in a minor fashion to me, most notably around the beginning. Nice song overall though.

As usual, thanks to all of the participants!

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