Mega Man: The Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet 2013

[Zerothemaster]

I'm trying to do my best!

which means specifically trying to not suck balls.

and thus not being too experimental. That gets me in troublez.

but yayyyyyy the moon

[Garpocalypse]

Of course, but this is art, not food. With art you should try a bit harder (imho).

I agree, just illustrating what the common youtube perusing egg muncher may possibly be thinking.

Anyways I liked the listening party. If Darke is able to get the mixes up shall we make the listening party time around 8pm EST every sunday?

[KingTiger]

Guys.... I am intimidated to make my entry because it was gonna have live guitars... I don't want to be discriminated against or anything...

noooo do teh guitarz

remember what we've all been saying... "be true to yourself" and what not... and besides you yourself said you want to make music for yourself as a "vol. 2" of splash woman ish.

[MindWanderer]

If you don't like egg salad, You don't care about how good that one kind of egg salad is supposed to be ...'cause you don't like egg salad!

I dunno... I think food is a little different. I can't tell good wine from bad wine, because when I drink the stuff, all I can taste is tannins and alcohol. The stuff I don't like is too overwhelming for me to even detect anything else. But I can tell good rap from bad rap, even though I hate rap: it still has meter and rhythm, the vocalist still has to have good timbre and it's even possible to be off-key. You never get to a point of sensory overload with music, unless your EQ is screwed up, and that's a valid point of critique.

[Zerothemaster]

I dunno... I think food is a little different. I can't tell good wine from bad wine, because when I drink the stuff, all I can taste is tannins and alcohol. The stuff I don't like is too overwhelming for me to even detect anything else. But I can tell good rap from bad rap, even though I hate rap: it still has meter and rhythm, the vocalist still has to have good timbre and it's even possible to be off-key. You never get to a point of sensory overload with music, unless your EQ is screwed up, and that's a valid point of critique.

you can overload the musical senses, it just takes skill

[KingTiger]

you can overload the musical senses, it just takes skill

WTF O.O

I mean, I love me some 20th century compositions but this is nuts.

And yes, I've heard some other stuff that has overloaded my musical capacities but it does take quite a bit of work

EDIT: Ooh I like this one:

by the same composer.

[Ethan Rex]

NEED MOAR REVIEWS

Trism: I can't seem to pin down a key in parts of this. Bass is too big and static (try varying the cutoff lfo). Some interesting soundscape effects that I like here. Transitions need work.

timeaus: Things start off with pretty subtle. Not digging the met/stick click sample, it sounds like the default FL Met. Sounds are pretty neat, wish there was a bit more energy in the first refrain. Neat synths, everything sounds nice production wise. Chip arp sounds like it comes in a little early/note transitions are a little slow.

SuperiorX: Things build a groove energy quick, instrumentation is perfect. Breakdowns change pace and keep things interesting. Source usage is clever. Groove on funky soul brotha.

Sterling Ortiz: Also hard to pin down a key. bass is too bassy and static, and the organ needs some heavy humanization. try to incorporate transitions to convey transfer of musical ideas. soundscape needs to be filled out more. tempo wanders.

Sir Nuts: Nice intro, instrumentation is nice here. vocoder and vocals sound a bit muddy, and the pulse lead was a little thin; i wish it was layered with something a bit thicker and maybe an octave down. Source usage is nice.

PH: Nice atmosphere right away; this sounds like a synth naruto track. Drums are rockin like always. The flute is detuned a little much in spots, and i wish the synths hit a bit harder when they came in. The part with the DD lead around 2:16 could've used a bit more width/thickness in the bass sections, and the strings could use some more humanization. Chip breakdown is a good change-up.

ParahSailin: Cool ideas, but it comes across as two different ideas instead of one single cohesive ideas. Everything is really muddy, use EQ to cut overlapping frequencies and create a cleaner mix. Bass is written too low in the Nitro man sections.

Mr. L: Bass is too big and bassy in the beginning. Arrangement needs more voices to provide musical complexity. Snare needs more fundamental.

KgZ: Intro provides energy. transitions from chill man to moliarty work well, I like the chord work on the moliarty section around :45. My only complaint is that the arrangement seems to repeat after the breakdown at 1:16. I have no problem with repeating musical ideas, I just wish there was more significant additions to the second section.

Hakstock: Rockin energy here. Piano can be brought out a bit. Breakdowns work really well in changing things up but keeping energy. Sources are combined vertically and well, which is great props. Kick needs more punch, and the drum writing is very static in general (mix up them patterns son!)

GLL: Dat sub bass. Nice gated synth in the intro, but i wish there was more energy in the first refrain. Ideas work well but stagnate a bit quickly before moving on to the next thing (maybe i'm just impatient). Chip thing keeps things sounding interesting. Source usage is hard to pick out at times, but is interp'd well.

Esperado: Soundscape is really interesting here; there are some ambient noises that give this piece an Earthboundy vibe at times. In general, soundscape sounds bare and needs more/thicker voices. Transition between sources is a bit awkward.

ectogemia: Everything is well placed in terms of sound. Intro tends to linger a bit before the horns come in. Scratches are super 90s and rockin, but can be overused especially in the thicker sections. Muted Trumpet sounds really nice. Transition to the outro seems a bit sudden at first listen, but after a couple times sounds fine.

Listening to my track I realize I need some thicker low mid sounds to fill out the soundscape, as well as some better mixing to make the track a bit louder. I'm definitely proud of the writing on this one, which is why I'm not digging all the people saying that they skip around. I know I do when I first get the tracks, but I give each track a single listen start to end at least once; I know when I wrote this track, I tried to build a specific architecture that only made sense when listened to start to end.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Ethan Rex

[Brandon Strader]

This is the most I'm gonna share until my song is released

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13741915/wips/mm10_poowips2.mp3

It's poo wip #2

[KingTiger]

This is the most I'm gonna share until my song is released

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13741915/wips/mm10_poowips2.mp3

It's poo wip #2

DUDE this is the best poo I've ever heard

this poo is real clean

srsly though the mixing is great and i love the way it feels and i love the gtr

[timaeus222]

timaeus: Things start off with pretty subtle. Not digging the met/stick click sample, it sounds like the default FL Met. Sounds are pretty neat, wish there was a bit more energy in the first refrain. Neat synths, everything sounds nice production wise. Chip arp sounds like it comes in a little early/note transitions are a little slow.

It's an 808 rim shot, and it's fun to use. It fits into the 90s retro funk electro style I was going with.

I don't get why there "isn't" enough energy in the first "refrain". The drums are pretty powerful IMO, and I might be the only one who slowed down the last four notes in the first iteration of the first Darkwing Duck section to fit into four jazzy chords.

I don't get what you mean at all with the C64 arp. The wording is unclear.

[Zerothemaster]

WTF O.O

I mean, I love me some 20th century compositions but this is nuts.

And yes, I've heard some other stuff that has overloaded my musical capacities but it does take quite a bit of work

EDIT: Ooh I like this one:

by the same composer.

Ligeti is wack. A lot of his stuff was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey (without his permission lol). He also made this:

which is one of my favorites.

sounds kinda like dkc

[Ethan Rex]

It's an 808 rim shot, and it's fun to use. It fits into the 90s retro funk electro style I was going with.

I don't get why there "isn't" enough energy in the first "refrain". The drums are pretty powerful IMO, and I might be the only one who slowed down the last four notes in the first iteration of the first Darkwing Duck section to fit into four jazzy chords.

I don't get what you mean at all with the C64 arp. The wording is unclear.

I'm sure the 808 is just fine with the style, I was just pointing out that it's also really similar to the FL Met sound, which made me dislike the sample choice.

The lack of energy stems (in my opinion) from a lack of dynamic contrast. The intro and the main refrain at 0:17 are relatively similar in terms of musical energy; Orch stabs can have a little more velocity. Make your louds louder and your quiets quieter.

Does the C64 have a pre-programmed arpeggiator? It comes across as very mechanical. The spot I was talking about was the note change at 0:50. Writing your own arps helps make it sound more organic and fit to the piece better.

Hope that clears things up. And I dunno why you're putting quotes around words like refrain or isn't; it comes across as a little unnecessarily defensive and I hope I'm just reading into that too much.

[Sir_NutS]

I'm sure the 808 is just fine with the style, I was just pointing out that it's also really similar to the FL Met sound, which made me dislike the sample choice.

The lack of energy stems (in my opinion) from a lack of dynamic contrast. The intro and the main refrain at 0:17 are relatively similar in terms of musical energy; Orch stabs can have a little more velocity. Make your louds louder and your quiets quieter.

Does the C64 have a pre-programmed arpeggiator? It comes across as very mechanical. The spot I was talking about was the note change at 0:50. Writing your own arps helps make it sound more organic and fit to the piece better.

Hope that clears things up. And I dunno why you're putting quotes around words like refrain or isn't; it comes across as a little unnecessarily defensive and I hope I'm just reading into that too much.

uh... C64 arps are meant to sound like that, it's the staple of the C64 sound.

[Mr. L]

Mr. L: Bass is too big and bassy in the beginning. Arrangement needs more voices to provide musical complexity. Snare needs more fundamental.

Dang, I was hoping I got the bass just right this time.

My goal was a really mellow / subdued song, and I was wanting the bass to be quite prominent this time.

Jesse noted the second point you brought up, and I saw / heard what he was talking about... I just couldn't quite think of anything (in time) to add in.

So... yeah.

The snares sounded okay on my first few listens, but, hearing it again, I seems they do drown out at a couple of parts (if that's what you meant).

With that said, thanks for the review, man. I really appreciate it!

Edited August 1, 2013 by Mr. L
Redundant redundancy is redundant.

[timaeus222]

I'm sure the 808 is just fine with the style, I was just pointing out that it's also really similar to the FL Met sound, which made me dislike the sample choice.

That's because it was used as the FL Metronome sound, but it doesn't mean it's necessarily a "bad sample". Old, sure.

The lack of energy stems (in my opinion) from a lack of dynamic contrast. The intro and the main refrain at 0:17 are relatively similar in terms of musical energy; Orch stabs can have a little more velocity. Make your louds louder and your quiets quieter.

17 seconds is a little too fast to already start upping the energy so much; besides, those seconds are all one related section, so the energy should be relatively the same until 0:21. I also actually paid loads of attention to the strings section, as I've given critique before on mechanical spiccato, so I had to "back up my skills".

Does the C64 have a pre-programmed arpeggiator? It comes across as very mechanical. The spot I was talking about was the note change at 0:50. Writing your own arps helps make it sound more organic and fit to the piece better.

I guess. I was just emulating how it was used in the old Commodore 64, so however it sounded back then is however I should emulate it now.

Hope that clears things up. And I dunno why you're putting quotes around words like refrain or isn't; it comes across as a little unnecessarily defensive and I hope I'm just reading into that too much.

Sometimes when I read comments I see them using odd vocabulary that doesn't really match what something's actually called, so I was using your wording, so to speak, to stay consistent with how you said it. However, 0:21 does, in fact, have strong drums (and more drums, actually), which is why I was wondering how there seems to be not much of an energy jump between 0:17 and 0:21. Edited August 1, 2013 by timaeus222

[KingTiger]

Ligeti is wack. A lot of his stuff was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey (without his permission lol). He also made this:

which is one of my favorites.

sounds kinda like dkc

That was great. That piece reminds me of this

because it's one long bout of dissonance that when it ends with the lovely resolution it's actually really really really cool. That Joy Electric song there is actually, oddly enough, a great headache/tension remedy.

This reminds me, for a while now I've wanted to start a thread on OCR about production found in music by popular artists (in any genre). For example, I post a song by, say, Armin van Buuren and ask people what they thought about the production; or maybe even an alt rock band or hip hop or whatever. It would be best executed if I could keep the actual artist a secret until people posted their thoughts and then I would do the big reveal, saying something like "well did you know you've been posting so many critical things about [big name artist]???"

/off topic

(Don't worry Darke, I'll post some reviews soon )

[KgZ]

Timaeus baby you don't need to defend yourself, relax guy =)

[Magnetic Ether]

This reminds me, for a while now I've wanted to start a thread on OCR about production found in music by popular artists (in any genre). For example, I post a song by, say, Armin van Buuren and ask people what they thought about the production; or maybe even an alt rock band or hip hop or whatever. It would be best executed if I could keep the actual artist a secret until people posted their thoughts and then I would do the big reveal, saying something like "well did you know you've been posting so many critical things about [big name artist]???"

I've totally thought about doing that too .

I wouldn't though.

[timaeus222]

Timaeus baby you don't need to defend yourself, relax guy =)

Dude, I'm not defending myself. I'm just setting things straight and clearing things up. Sometimes people are unfamiliar with what it is I musically write, and I kinda do have to explain it.

Edited August 1, 2013 by timaeus222

[Magnetic Ether]

I actually have no idea who to vote for. If we had five slots I could probably do it but there are too many good tracks to choose just 3...

[shadow24]

Ligeti is wack.

Yeah, not only did he overload people's musical senses but he also overloaded the organ it was played on. It actually caught on fire :/

I've totally thought about doing that too .

Oh, do this one then

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/110617565/RandomSongX.mp3

Edited August 1, 2013 by shadow24

[ParahSalin']

Ligeti is wack. A lot of his stuff was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey (without his permission lol). He also made this:

which is one of my favorites.

sounds kinda like dkc

Obviously he had some issues. Not to mention his opera called Le Grand Macabre is quite disturbing. Still he was a well known and respected contemporary composer.

[ParahSalin']

Thanks for the review, the rex. It was very helpful. I appreciate it.

[Ethan Rex]

That's because it was used as the FL Metronome sound, but it doesn't mean it's necessarily a "bad sample". Old, sure.

17 seconds is a little too fast to already start upping the energy so much; besides, those seconds are all one related section, so the energy should be relatively the same until 0:21. I also actually paid loads of attention to the strings section, as I've given critique before on mechanical spiccato, so I had to "back up my skills".

I guess. I was just emulating how it was used in the old Commodore 64, so however it sounded back then is however I should emulate it now.

Sometimes when I read comments I see them using odd vocabulary that doesn't really match what something's actually called, so I was using your wording, so to speak, to stay consistent with how you said it. However, 0:21 does, in fact, have strong drums (and more drums, actually), which is why I was wondering how there seems to be not much of an energy jump between 0:17 and 0:21.

I wasn't familiar with the C64 synth, so that's my bad on that one. There was a small energy jump and most of these complaints are nitpicks anyway, but I still wish there had been some sort or rhythm guitar or something to add a little spice.

[timaeus222]

I wasn't familiar with the C64 synth, so that's my bad on that one. There was a small energy jump and most of these complaints are nitpicks anyway, but I still wish there had been some sort or rhythm guitar or something to add a little spice.

Gotcha; I didn't want to use any rhythm guitar though, as it isn't fitting in the retro funk electro genre I was doing. I chose to go the funky route with wah EPs, spiccato strings reminiscent of the Bee Gees's "Stayin' Alive", PWM bass, and a whole lot of custom duck-like lead synths (80s acid house bass as lead, moog lead mod, and something of my own).

Edited August 1, 2013 by timaeus222