Mega Man X: The Grand Maverick Remix Battle 2012

[Phonetic Hero]

Ummm wait what? Is anyone else just downloading Round 3 off of the link for Round 4? Or am I just... idk, stupid, crazy, etc.

Got it to work, but had to copy the link address and change the 3 to a 4

EDIT: Awesome stuff Jason! Closing in on last minute of track: "Yeah that was pretty sweet! I'll just let this trail off an-ZOMFG!" Literally jumped while your track was playing on my headphones. Great mix dude

DOUBLT EDIT: Also, while I'm here, I'd like to point out who did what in my track. I spent all week trying to come up with the main arrangement, with the first minute coming out on last Sunday and then getting stuck all week until Thursday night. FINALLY finished it, and shipped it off to Omni at about 6 AM Friday morning after an all-nighter, apparently forgetting the link in the process, and re-sending at about 7:30 PM on Friday after I got off work. I did all the main arrangement, the chippy stuff (including outtro drums), lots of the orchestration, piano, and a couple other things. Omni-Psyence did ALL the percussion and effects except for the chippy outtro drums, and a load of additional orchestration (all the upfront trumpets, horns, some strings, an additional orchestral ensemble). He absolutely nailed it, and I'm really happy with the resulting track. It was a ton of fun, and I'm really really grateful to him for working under such horrible time constraints because of me Wish I'd have come up with something earlier to do a better mixdown, but oh well. I love the track regardless

Volt Catfish is hidden throughout in lots of chord progressions for the most part. If anyone needs a source breakdown, let me know, but I'm feeling lazy and tapped out at the moment, so I'm not gonna right away. Hope y'all enjoy! Good luck Jason!

Edited October 22, 2012 by Phonetic Hero

[Bahamut]

No need for reviews with this worthy matchup I think. I like what both of you bring to the table here, but Phonetic Hero's track is more polished. I really like the touches to PH's mix here.

[shadow24]

Mr. Darke. I believe Pete is correct. Something is up with the download link.

It is pointing to round 3.

Everyone try this link. http://darkesword.com/gmrb2012/GMRB2012X4.zip

[Omni-Psyence]

Yeah you just need to change the 3 to a 4 in the link itself. In other news, I was really glad to be part of this track. It's hot fire, watch out kids!

[DarkeSword]

Fixed it.

[Sir_NutS]

Well I'm just coming down from the nastiest virus I've had in ages. Kept me in bed for 2 days and feeling like crap for more than a week. What else could happen in this compo? geez.

Anyhoo I'll do my best to deliver a solid track by the end of the week, starting today. I only lost 3 days so it's not too bad.

[Theory of N]

Well I'm just coming down from the nastiest virus I've had in ages. Kept me in bed for 2 days and feeling like crap for more than a week. What else could happen in this compo? geez.

Anyhoo I'll do my best to deliver a solid track by the end of the week, starting today. I only lost 3 days so it's not too bad.

It's okay, I haven't started yet either. I've been so busy I forgot about this for a few days D:

[Jason Covenant]

So.....we're allowed to collab in these compos? Would it be ok, say, if I asked Robbie to supply some vocals for a track in a future compo, or maybe a group of people? How many people can we have on a team?

Sir Nuts and Theory of N, if either of you want a quick master for your tracks, I can turn around a track in 2 hours tops. Would be my pleasure to help out. (Assuming that this is allowed.)

I really dug the arrangement PH, and Omni those horns sound phenomenal. I think this is easily your best work to date PH. It reminds me of the AOE3 ost. Although, honestly, I couldn't really hear Volt Catfish in it at all. I've heard Volt Catfish hundreds of times, so you'd think I would. You said it was in the chords, so I paid close attention to them and still couldn't find it. Perhaps part of the problem with using most of the chords in Volt Catfish is that they're very simple and undistinguished, so if you make even one change, they can quickly become unrecognizable.

I don't have the best ears for this sort of thing, so I showed it to someone I know that has very good ears, Willrock. He couldn't find any source either, except for the subtle arp that comes in at 3:37 and fades out shortly after. After he pointed it out to me, I could definitely hear that it was Volt Catfish. I guess I didn't check the very end to see if source was being introduced there. I believe you when you say that Volt Catfish is used throughout the song, but you're going to have to have to point it out to me. I'm sure that once you do, I'll be able to hear it. So yea, a source breakdown would be good.

In case anyone is having similar trouble with my mix, here's a source breakdown:

Source: Volt Catfish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hln_pyBFFiA

The bassline at the beginning of my track is the same as the bassline from the beginning of Volt Catfish. The melody at :07 in my mix is from the melody at the beginning of Volt Catfish as well. And the triplet-arp that fades in from a reverb wash, starting at 1:03, is from the triplet-arp at :23 in Volt Catfish.

Source: Shieldner Sheldon:

Like always, I used my opponent's source to create most of the dominant themes of my mix. The string melody that comes in at 2:01 in my mix is from the bells at the very beginning of Shieldner Sheldon. The melody at :33 in my mix is from :58 in Shieldner Sheldon.

P.S. Sir Nuts, sorry to hear about your sickness. I'm glad you're getting better in time to finish something. It would suck to have to drop out due to an illness.

[Phonetic Hero]

I really dug the arrangement PH, and Omni those horns sound phenomenal. I think this is easily your best work to date PH. It reminds me of the AOE3 ost. Although, honestly, I couldn't really hear Volt Catfish in it at all. I've heard Volt Catfish hundreds of times, so you'd think I would. You said it was in the chords, so I paid close attention to them and still couldn't find it. Perhaps part of the problem with using most of the chords in Volt Catfish is that they're very simple and undistinguished, so if you make even one change, they can quickly become unrecognizable.

I don't have the best ears for this sort of thing, so I showed it to someone I know that has very good ears, Willrock. He couldn't find any source either, except for the subtle arp that comes in at 3:37 and fades out shortly after. After he pointed it out to me, I could definitely hear that it was Volt Catfish. I guess I didn't check the very end to see if source was being introduced there. I believe you when you say that Volt Catfish is used throughout the song, but you're going to have to have to point it out to me. I'm sure that once you do, I'll be able to hear it. So yea, a source breakdown would be good.

Hey man, thanks a lot! I'm glad you dug it, that means a lot. As far as source goes, here's where the Catfish is:

There was a bit in the beginning, though it got buried (fine with me though, it was already a bit interpreted, and as you said, interp in simple chords makes it hard to distinguish).

At 0:51, there's a chippy arp that kicks things off with the Catfish intro progression. I guess in the source this isn't really a progression, but 3 notes of the same chord arpeggiated over one chord FOR A LONG FUCKING TIME (one of the reasons I hate the source). So instead, I turned it into a progression, with a bar for each note instead of just 2 beats. Then filled out the chords how I saw fit, added suspensions etc.

At 0:54 - 1:24, the chords are all Catfish; try checking my horns. The progression is dolled up a bit and a little longer, but it's still there (although the phrasing in the source is AABA, whereas in this it's just ABAB). You might've been listening to the arps or the piano harmony, which just play to the progression; there's no source there, just original frill to fill things out

At 2:23, the same thing happens. The chords are in the horns, with the piano harmony over top, although this time it's harder to pick out (gets easier at 2:46) and uses the same progression all the way to about 3:23.

And then, as you mentioned, at about 3:36 to the end is that Catfish arp part interpreted a bit

The rest is either Sheldon or original; but that's a pretty good ~2:00 of Catfish. I apologize for not pointing it out sooner, I was just blitzed after that day.

EDIT: OH, also, I'll be PMing you in a bit about *other business*, Jason

Edited October 23, 2012 by Phonetic Hero

[DarkeSword]

So.....we're allowed to collab in these compos? Would it be ok, say, if I asked Robbie to supply some vocals for a track in a future compo, or maybe a group of people? How many people can we have on a team?

...

You know what, I didn't even notice that until just now.

No, you're actually not allowed to collab with outside people in these compos. I'm sure I've said that somewhere once, but since it's not explicitly stated in the rules, I suppose PH thought it was okay.

Two options here:

1) Let it go and let the voting continue as is.

2) Disqualify Phonetic Hero and give Prophecy the win.

Not really sure what to do here, since the rule about collaborating is not actually explicitly stated. I'll make sure to do it in future compos, but for now, let me get some community feedback before I make a decision.

What do you guys think?

[Benjamin Briggs]

I think you should let the voting go on normally, since like you said, it was never explicitly stated in the rules.

[Jamphibious]

Well as you said it wasn't explicitly stated, plus the last competition was the Sonic compo and lots of collabs did happen. Granted most were from people within the compo who were eliminated, but I'm fairly certain there were a few people from outside involved which didn't seem to cause any fuss (Xarnax and DiGiValentine each did some vocals, C7 did some trumpet, and Sir Jordanius brought in a few for one of his tracks). Since that's the last compo we've had and it wasn't against the rules then its fresh in the mind, plus it wasn't stated that it was against the rules this time, so I'd say its fair game.

[Phonetic Hero]

Shit, I thought it was cool in the WWRR too, I remember specifically asking for that one. I've never actually been in any of the Mega Man compos other than the WCRG; I guess I just assumed, since it was allowed in the last Darke compo, and the Sonic compo was rife with them. Though I guess the WWRR was something very different, and not solely for OCR, and the Sonic compo wasn't run by Darke.

Sorry guys (especially to Proph), didn't realize! Do whatever you see fit, either way is cool with me. Not looking to cause any drama, seriously, if anyone thinks I should be DQ'd, just speak up. I'll gladly step down if I did something I wasn't supposed to

Edited October 24, 2012 by Phonetic Hero

[WillRock]

Well that was the point of the WCRG - so we could do collabs. Darke has mentioned it before (I remember reading it).

My suggestion is that we keep voting open, because there is no need to provoke drama, and its not exactly fair on Phonetic Hero if he didn't know. However, I think its only fair to at least allow collabs till the end of this compo. From there, put it in the rules for later compos whether they are allowed or not in the first post, so there is no confusion later on.

[orlouge82]

My suggestion is that we keep voting open, because there is no need to provoke drama, and its not exactly fair on Phonetic Hero if he didn't know. However, I think its only fair to at least allow collabs till the end of this compo. From there, put it in the rules for later compos whether they are allowed or not in the first post, so there is no confusion later on.

What he said

[Jason Covenant]

Two options here:

1) Let it go and let the voting continue as is.

2) Disqualify Phonetic Hero and give Prophecy the win.

I'm not a fan of either option. PH didn't know collabbing wasn't allowed, so it'd suck if he got disqualified for it, especially considering the mix is something of a milestone for him. On the other hand, it doesn't seem fair for one to play by the rules and not collab, while the opponent does. Had I been allowed to collab as well, I would've asked GLL to lay down one of those sweet piano solos he treated us with in the Street Fighter compo, or asked Robbie for some of his angelic vocal goodness. I think the end result would've been a funner, and much better mix.

So how about a suggestion for a third option: A do-over.

We'd go again after Sir Nuts and Theory of N. The week after that could be the final round. Remixing the two themes together again might be redundant, so perhaps we could switch it up and only remix our opponent's themes. There's plenty I didn't use in Shieldner Sheldon, so it shouldn't be a problem for me. I know PH was having trouble with Volt Catfish earlier, but he says he was able to use it throughout his current mix, so it shouldn't be a problem for him either. Darkesword could also pick different themes for us to remix if he wants. Basically, a do-over with some changes for a fresh start.

I think that's the fairest approach, although it would mean more work for myself PH, and Darkesword. If you guys are up for it, I am. (Besides, more muzak 4 da pplz.)

Well that was the point of the WCRG - so we could do collabs. Darke has mentioned it before (I remember reading it).

Right, that's what I thought too.

I think its only fair to at least allow collabs till the end of this compo.

Err, why? I don't think Sir Nuts' and Theory Of N's bout was affected by this, and the final certainly doesn't need to be. The only round affected was last week's mixing, and it's too late to allow everyone to collab, since obviously I didn't.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Jason Covenant

[SuperiorX]

Sir Nuts had a vocal collab in the GRMRB 2011, so it has happened at least once before in a non-WCRG Darke compo. The SZRC was a little different cause I said from the get-go that collabs were ok IF the participant was still the primary mixer on their song.

I agree with Will and everyone else, since it wasn't explicitly stated in the rules, I'd let it slide this time. But in the future, just make it clear if collabs are ok or not.

EDIT: just saw Jason's post... Instead of completely re doing the round, maybe just give like 1 extra week to build upon your current song? So then Jason can collab and Pete could do more touch ups on his? I dont know.

Edited October 24, 2012 by SuperiorX

[DarkeSword]

I don't really want to do a do-over with new tracks or different sources. I don't really want to disqualify anyone either, especially since it's my own fault for not being explicit with the rules.

I've looked at everyone's feedback, and I think I have something that will work out for everyone. Here's what's happening:

1. The voting stage for this week's X Bracket mixes is cancelled and we're going back into a mixing stage, which will end on November 4th.
   
2. The Zero Bracket mixing stage is also extended to end on November 4th.
   
3. Collaborations are allowed for the rest of this tournament.
   
4. Prophecy and Phonetic Hero should use the extra time to extend and/or revise their current arrangements. Please do not make brand new ones.
   

I think that's fair for everyone involved. It extends the timeline on the tournament a little bit, but it also helps line up the ends of the two brackets. I also realize that this technically gives the X Bracket folks a couple of extra days over the Zero Bracket guys, but I doubt anyone actually uses every single hour of every single available day anyway. Let's just chalk it up as lessons learned for next time.

Edited October 24, 2012 by DarkeSword

[Jason Covenant]

I was writing a really long post exploring different ideas, but then saw that Darke decided something. Btw Darke, that works for me.

Sir Nuts had a vocal collab in the GRMRB 2011,

Sir Nuts + vox? Link please...

[DarkeSword]

I was writing a really long post exploring different ideas, but then saw that Darke decided something. Btw Darke, that works for me.

Glad to see you're good with the decision. Tournaments should be fun and fair; I don't want anyone to be upset.

[Jason Covenant]

Glad to see you're good with the decision. Tournaments should be fun and fair; I don't want anyone to be upset.

Yea, exactly. I think we avoided drama this time, though it was certainly an awkward situation. I'm glad PH is such a nice and understanding guy. Not everyone remains calm when the possibility of disqualifying them comes up.

So let this be a fresh start, and I look forward to hearing the most complete version of your mix come Nov. 4, PH.

[orlouge82]

Sir Nuts + vox? Link please...

Mega Man Bracket Round 3 - "Encapsulated Heat (Heat Man vs. Bubble Man)"

I don't think Darke still has the individual round ZIPs up, so you'll have to get it from the archive here.

[DarkeSword]

This whole thing with collabs has gotten me thinking. I think I have a good idea for a rule about collabs for the next time we do a tournament.

Mega Man Bracket Round 3 - "Encapsulated Heat (Heat Man vs. Bubble Man)"

I don't think Darke still has the individual round ZIPs up, so you'll have to get it from the archive here.

I think I need to make a simple webpage where you can download the mixes individually.

[Theory of N]

The Zero Bracket mixing stage is also extended to end on November 4th.

Awesoooooome. Now I'll actually have a substantial amount of time to work on this. I still haven't started because of so much school

[Sir_NutS]

Wow, I missed all this.

I would have let this one go and not Dq PH, we've had many dropouts this compo and another autowin wouldn't have been nice.

I did use Mae's vocals in an unfinished song I submitted for the GRMRB, Like PH I thought it was ok to add other elements as long as the arrangement was mine.

EDIT: oh and I started my song yesterday, and it went towards funkiness real quick, which was surprising for me, and interesting too since I'm going against ToN this time around.