Zelda 3 - Select floor

[Dafydd]

Heheh. Someone requested this a while back. Tell me what you think and what I can do to improve it. It doesn't sound very authentic yet... and I haven't worked a more than like 2 hours on it... and I'm aware of the dissonances and oddities a little here and there. Still trying to figure out if it's because I screwed up when I copied it down ear-to-midi or if it's because of the bassline or the melody I added.

So, suggestions on how to make this more elevator music-like?

http://phytrepighlet.googlepages.com/zeldafile.mp3

EDIT: I've edited the volume levels a little and changed the way the guitar plays. Still need a better guitar sound. And to fix the dissonances.

[Dunther]

Uhuh...Cute remix

[Dafydd]

I guess "cute" will do for now. It's a rather cute song to begin with.

[Decoy Octopus]

- The percussions are a bit overbearing.

- I actually like the "dirty" flute.

- The song doesn't really go anywhere. It's 2:17 of the same... and then it fades out. I would say you need to work on creating a distinctive beginning, middle, and end. There needs to be some sort of climax.

[cobaltstarfire]

- The song doesn't really go anywhere. It's 2:17 of the same... and then it fades out. I would say you need to work on creating a distinctive beginning, middle, and end. There needs to be some sort of climax.

It wouldn't be elevator music if it actualy went somewhere. It would be nice for it to atleast have an end though. I think giveing it a climax would ruin the elevator music part of it though.

Anyway on the song, uh the cheesyness burns...

As far as being like elevator music goes, it fits the bill pretty nicely.

I also think the flute does fine with this peice, the woodblock could probably be quieter though, it seems to stick out like a sore thumb.

[Dafydd]

Yep, volume levels are a bit phrt right now. Thanks for the comments.

[Dafydd]

OMG. This is like... well, listen to the SMB3 soundtrack (in Super Mario All-Stars). There's a song there that sounds almost exactly like this mix... hahah

[Blackwinged Saron]

OMG. This is like... well, listen to the SMB3 soundtrack (in Super Mario All-Stars). There's a song there that sounds almost exactly like this mix... hahah

Indeed, world 3 FTW!!! i love this mix, it's just great to have playing in the background while i do whatever, ya know. very cool. and elevator music rules for sure.

[Dafydd]

World 3, you say? Ok, I wasn't sure which one. Well, glad you like my mix

[Red Shadow]

i can imagine myself picking out a couple shirts in some kind of sears commercial with this playing in the background

nice

[Dafydd]

Glad to hear it.

[Monobrow]

Haha, I love this... Fun little piece, really.

RS13 is correct.

I could also imagine this as the background for a geico caveman commercial.

[Dafydd]

Eheheh... I just had DarkeSword listen to this and he pretty much grinded it... as usual... It'll probably be another few years before I make anything worthy of being submitted to OCR at the rate I'm going. Oh well.

[Monobrow]

Too bad, it really is a genre piece, but I guess it's not what they are looking for. There's always VGMix, (if they ever dfasfdf come out with 3)

I will keep this in my favorite WIPs folder :J

[Dafydd]

It's not that it's not what they're looking for, I don't think, it just isn't good enough. Me and the judges panel set the bar rather differently, that's all. Until I start demanding the same level of quality from my mixes as they do, I can't make something that they'd consider good enough. It's too bad VGMix is taking so long - sometimes you would find very nice mixes there that had some quality issues which made them unfit for OCR, but that I enjoyed listening to all the same.

[Villainelle]

Don't forget Remix:ThaSauce!

I like this piece--you already know it lacks polish, but it's fun and enjoyable for what it is. Creativity is a huge asset, man. You can gradually learn the skills to polish up and refine your vision, but creativity is hard to fake. Keep at it.

[Dafydd]

Thasauce is probably where my mixes will end up, if I ever start finishing them. You don't really get the same kind of exposure though - I would guess most people who have mixes there would prefer to have them on OCR if they could choose. This is where the community is, where the big guys play ball, you know? VGMix has some truly incredible mixes, the likes of which I can't find here, but they also have some really bad ones.

[Dr. Rod]

I cant see why this wouldnt make it at least to the panel......it sounds good, is definitely unique, and is of good quality (not MIDIish). I would suggest you submit it and see what the judges have to say about it.

[Dafydd]

You know, one of the things he told me was "get better samples". And that's what the other judges told me, when I asked them about another mix I was working on, too... I'm using Reason - which is pretty expensive software. If their samples aren't good enough, well... I'm gonna have to live with not having good enough samples. I'm not buying some $1,000 sample pack just to get my stuff on OCR Of course, even I can say these samples aren't excellent, but they certainly don't make my ears sore either. It would be interesting to submit it just to see what else they have to say, but I'd feel silly submitting something that even I didn't expect to pass. That would just be wasting their time. Also, the song isn't even half-finished yet.

[Red Shadow]

work on production since it seems that youve pretty well got melodic stuff down

and you dont have to spend money to get good samples

[Villainelle]

"Get better samples" is one of those generic comments like... "the synths sound generic." It probably has more to do with HOW you're using the samples, what effects are on them, how you write the parts and use different articulations/velocity layers/etc., than the samples themselves. And Reason's included library is pretty decent, so...

[Dr. Rod]

I use Reason too, and one thing that may help you is to tweak your samples some as far at the attack, delay, etc. You may not necessarilly need a brand new sample (IMO reason has some nice ones to start with) as much as editing the samples to a quality suitable for your mix. In my current mix, the people i showed this to all said quality was an issue until I tweaked a few of my subtractor devices........what devices have u been using?

[Dafydd]

Er... I used pretty much every one of the devices... I understand that my samples could be used better, I just disliked "get better samples". I just really, really, really suck at production. I haven't a clue about anything regarding mastering, mixing, balancing, equalizing and all that. All I hear is "this sounds good" and "this sounds bad". I can never put my finger on what should be done to improve things. But even I agree this song is unpolished. The thing is, even if I was happy with it, I doubt it would be up to their standards. Heh.

[Dr. Rod]

Believe me man, I know exactly how u feel. I just found out what panning was like a week ago, lol. And I do agree that the standards on here have gotten really, really, really high, but that doesnt mean you wont get there. Your mix already has creativity and fluidity, which puts you a cut above most remixes that get submitted. If EQing and samples are your main issues, u dont have too far to go to make this OC material : ) Just try and get as much feedback as you can so you'll know what to do to get this on the front page.

And I use Reason 3.0 too. If you need any advice on some of its functions/effects, Im LightningRT on AIM.

[DarkeSword]

You know, one of the things he told me was "get better samples". And that's what the other judges told me, when I asked them about another mix I was working on, too... I'm using Reason - which is pretty expensive software. If their samples aren't good enough, well... I'm gonna have to live with not having good enough samples. I'm not buying some $1,000 sample pack just to get my stuff on OCR Of course, even I can say these samples aren't excellent, but they certainly don't make my ears sore either. It would be interesting to submit it just to see what else they have to say, but I'd feel silly submitting something that even I didn't expect to pass. That would just be wasting their time. Also, the song isn't even half-finished yet.

Oh please, don't use the can't-afford-samples argument. That's such a cop out. I use free sounds almost exclusively.

And my biggest problem was with your approach to the piece. I dislike it when people are so quick to write off certain kinds of music as "elevator music," especially bossa nova and certain kinds of smooth jazz. The ideas you have are good, but like I said before, don't pigeonhole yourself into vapidity just to fit some ill-defined concept like "elevator music." Expand, explore, and adapt. Good genre adaptations have always been welcomed at OCR.