They’re tiny, they’re toony, and their WIPS are a little looney!
And in this report they’re invading your ears! (Hey, at least someone‘s doing their job around here.)
illustrationism – ?????? – Yellow Lounge – Piano Arrangement
(http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=97127)
Mr. Schooley is a relatively new face around OCR, but he knows what he’s doing. Having CompoSTed with him once (or twice), I was quite surprised with his work. But enough about that, on to the mix. Now, I personally have no clue what (if any) game he remixed as he doesn’t really mention a game, and nothing in the song sounds familiar to anything I’ve play (and if one of you call me stupid because it’s a Chrono whatever remix or a Final Fantasy remix, you can go F#$@ yourself cause I never played those games!!). I can’t really comment much on the mix because I’m no expert by any means on what qualifies a good piano remix. It sounds nice and it’s played nicely.
Personally, I got this kinda jazzy feeling while listening to the piano and I think having an acoustic bass and some jazz drums in the background would be so very hawt, but that’s just me. If you consider yourself a piano expert, give this guy a shout because is thread has no love =( .
KingTiger – Sonic 3 – Glorious – New Age
(http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=95929)
I would just like to start off by saying the idtag is a little messed up. You put ‘Gorious’ instead of ‘Glorious’. Now onto the mix. I like the intro pads, as they sound nice. Nothing too over the top, pretty simple. The piano comes in and after it struck 2 notes it screamed mechanical, and as it continues to play you really notice it. To say the least it sounds like FLKeys, which isn’t a bad thing mind you, but by itself it’s really really poor. Reverb, velocity changes, all that good stuff. I’d recommend perhaps looking for a nice soundfont. As the song progresses, it introduces bongos and a synth that sadly, sounds really poor. There’s no ambiance coming off of them and they’re as dry as a bone. Like stale bread, you gonna want to wash it down with a little something something.
New age is all about ebb and flow, where things move in and out smoooooothly, nicely, dream…ly. Having everything sound so mechanical and dry is what really is holding this mix back from sounding pretty awesome. I would suggest pausing from this mix and work on a simple ambiance song and use reverb, phasers, delays, and other fx to see what you can come up with. Then use what you’ve learn from that and try and apply it to your mix.
Xfactor – F-Zero (Untitled ?) – Techno? ish?
(http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=97172)
Time again to help-a-n00ber-out. His last link on his thread doesn’t work so I downloaded the link one post up. The intro is surprisingly not that bad. It has potential, it sounds like it can go somewhere. Enters an arp that sounds like it can work and a synth string that stands out a little too much. Kick kick kickkickkickkickkick and the lead synth comes in, and it just goes down hill from here. The arp/synthstring hang around and then leave abrutly. The lead synth sounds very present and the delay on it doesn’t work for me. The section also sounds very bare with only 3 sounds going at once (synth, bass, kick). At 0:44 and organ replaces the synth and it sounds a lot nicer, but the kickkickkickkickkick is still there. As the song progresses, it plays the same melody with a different synth yet again, and still kickkickkickkickkickkick. 1:52+ is a new organ sound and different melody, and still kickkickkickkickkickkick. There’s also clipping =( .
As I stated in a previous post, the remix has no genre, no direction, no climax, no originality, no style. It is just a bunch of sounds put together, there’s no real work put into it. I understand however, that Xfactor is new to the whole music scene, and that this is his first attempt at a remix. I encourage him to continue trying and using the program, learning what it has to offer, etc. Also listen to other music and note that there’s more to it then just a kick. Find a genre you like and try and make a song in that genre. You’ll start to have a better understanding of the do’s and do not do’s of music making.
And for those of you who like DJ Shadow or Boards of Canada, you may want to check out my SMRPG mix: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=97141 =)