ReMix:Crystalis "A Tale of the God Slayer" 5:21

Newcomer 4 Keys, aka Michael Dangremond, is my hero - at least in the category of being receptive to constructive criticism. Sometimes it's damn hard - even for even-keeled, reasonable artists with egos of average dimensions - to listen to suggestions without feeling some tinge of personal insult or skepticism about motives, accuracy, etc. I'm not gonna claim immunity, either... I'd definitely say that some of the artists submitting to OCR are better, more effective listeners than I am when it comes to incorporating feedback. That's certainly a skill I've personally been trying to work on, though more with the site itself and less with mixing these days, and I think everyone, even the most amazing, skilltacular mega-pros, can always glean something from the thoughts & opinions of others. Michael resubbed this metal/orchestral hybrid Crystalis mix three times, acting on judge comments with each iteration, and the third time was the charm. In his original, initial submission, he wrote:

"My personal tribute to one of greatest adventure RPG games on the NES (my opinion). Playing the game now leaves me stupefied at how I once beat it as a kid. Man! This game is difficult! Anyways, I hope you at least enjoy this rendition of mine. My good friend, Adam Amos provided some of the lead guitar harmonies, which I felt helped the tracking out. I am currently organizing some future tracks to submit depending how well this one does."

I think the finished track is excellent; epic even. There's a lot of attention to detail paid in the non-metal elements, from the ambient intro where it almost sounds like the track could go in an electronic direction, to some of the glitching/processing on the metal bits, to the sheer velocity & drama of the arrangement - which is effectively modulated throughout - this is a damn impressive debut. If I had to pick a single adjective, it'd be INTENSE; the soft-loud game is played well, and the brutal, metal bits are all the more electrified & powerful because of the context. Palpable writes:

"I've listened to this song a lot and helped Mike a bit with critique, and he rose to the occasion each time. This is a marked improvement over previous submissions and I'm happy to pass it. I just see Mike getting better and better at what he does and I'm looking forward to more of his work."

Ditto that - anyone who can debut this strongly & be able to incorporate feedback positively should be able to do some amazing things, and this mix is a great start. I'm hearing some really slick genre integration and that main guitar lick, especially with the FX, is legitimately face-melting. Great Crystalis mix that's benefitted from revision and shows a metric ton of potential for 4 Keys!