prophetik music

opens with classical guitar. this isn't particularly realistic nor does it attempt to sound idiomatic, but does fit the original's style. this entire first section through 0:42 is, to my ears, direct from the midi. we then get a great variations sections that focuses on the eighth-two sixteenth pattern, then steps down through the circle of fifths in a descending pattern. this section is awesome from an arrangement perspective! i love the variations concept here. 1:07 returns to the midi and goes almost completely straight from the midi again, and we get a repeat of the previous variations section from 0:42. 2:14 is a new section that's essentially 0:42 in major, which is a fun turn of idea. there's a repeated fanfare section to end it on a cadence, and we're done. this is a really fun idea! i can't imagine that this isn't doable with performers - it'd just take a bit of patience learning to arrange it, but it should be eminently doable with live artists. that'd fix my number one issue here, which is that it doesn't sound real at all. you do a lot more with dynamics than i'd have expected, but ultimately the lack of idiomatic playing makes it pretty clear. separately, the arrangement has great ideas but isn't ready for primetime yet. the repetition of the first minute or so in its entirety is too much copypasta, first of all, and the inclusion of the original midi for the first 40ish seconds with no changes is probably a standards violation right there. if you were to instead add some countermelodic or contrapunctal elements to that first 40s, then change it up further when you repeat the first minute (both the theme and the variation), that'd be more than enough arrangement for me! but as is it's not enough. this is such a fun idea! i'd love to hear it with a more realistic depiction of classical guitar and a more involved arrangement. NO

can definitely see how these themes fit together. opens with the chord progression from A Truth Revealed in some very fake choir samples, but quickly fleshes out the arpeggio with some better writing. the guitars come in with some elements of Zanarkand before shifting to the KH2 track. there's a much more active lead guitar part through this entire section than i've heard in the past from you, and i can't say that i think it's a positive development. the counterpoint part in the guitar seems needlessly complex and isn't really doing melodic stuff most of the time, so it's hard to pin down what it's playing around. for example, at 1:55 it's clearly outlining the Zanarkand theme, but it's hard to clarify that because nothing's actually playing the melodic line. this gradually builds in intensity until we're at full-on blastbeat at 2:29. this section is more in keeping with how you've represented themes in the last and this is more approachable and consumable. there's a bit break at about the 3:00 mark, and the chords from Truth Revealed come in. there's still a reliance on the choir samples here, but they're written much better so they're more listenable. there's a chord change at the end that is kind of awkward at about 4:07, and the time changes into a triple meter here as well. there's some creative chord work in here that doesn't sound 100% in line with itself, and i will admit it's hard to keep track of what's happening here. this needs more clarity in the writing. 5:20 opens up the beat to 5, which is an interesting idea, and then explores more of the melodic elements in this new time. 6:13 or so goes back to the intro for some of the ensemble work there, and it noodles around until we get a complete drop at 7:06 for the ending. overall this is a lot more uneven of an arrangement than past remixes have been. it's much harder to track the melodic material through the very complex chord elements you've added, and i found myself straining even in sections that were clearly FFX (which is an OST i know very well) to identify what was going on where. i think the idea makes a lot of sense, but in execution there's major sections where i just have no idea what's going on, and the added contrapunctal work in the lead guitar in several sections just sounds needlessly complex. i think this one needs some more work to clarify the harmonic backdrop and improve the clarity of the arrangement. NO

really wide panning right off the bat, with virtually no room verb/sound on the guitars. drums are pretty far back in the mix and don't have any body to them. they're playing fun stuff but i just can't hear the kick at all. bass is essentially unable to be heard as well. you've got a ton of mud in the 100-200hz area that needs to be EQed out, mostly in the lower guitars. scooping them harder will help a lot. overall a lot of EQ is needed. the track doesn't technically clip but it's clear that it's right up against the line repeatedly, that's something else that should be addressed so that it's not the guitars pushing it there but rather a combination of elements. the arrangement is also too short. there's not really a ton here aside from the adaptation to the style. we require more transformative arrangement than what's shown here - adding more of your own flourish to the track will help a lot, as will finding ways to extend the duration of the track without having it just be repeated material done the exact same way. there's not even an ending here, which could have helped extend it. i think that DoD's environment would help a lot to up your mastering game. the workshop discord/forums here also would help a lot for identifying how to get more meat out of your guitars and drums and better balance the individual parts. NO

i didn't vote on the original but did listen to it, and voted on the resub. my complaints were around the over-simplification of the track (ie. not enough to call it a remix) as well as some technical issues. interesting sfx elements in the opening, outlining the chord structure of the original. keys and an original-adjacent bass element playing the arpeggiated opening section, in one of the minor modes. i like the approach at 1:29 with the very nice higher keys. separately, this entire opening section through 2:15 has some timing elements that are mildly irritating to me - the keys and bass synth aren't always in sync. 2:15 or so has some much larger chords that really stick out of the mix. they filled up the soundscape a lot but didn't feel much louder - lot of mids there. there's some pretty strings after this that do some fun ideas to outline the melodic structure. there's some timing stuff in here that's a little confusing to my ears. there's a reversed cymbal hit at 3:15 that does a superb job transitioning into a last runthrough of the melody before we're done. i think there's a lot to like about this track. there's a fullness of character that wasn't in the last two versions, and most of the issues i had with those have been alleviated. nice work. YES

opens with a fairly dry piano that's more in the left ear. flute comes in at 0:17 and really feels like it's in a different place - totally dry and doesn't fit the piano at all. there's some drums and other elements that come in at 0:32, as well as static and a choir. the overall feel is still very dry despite the big drum and choir tones. melody comes back in at 0:45. there's some fun arp stuff going on in the right ear, and some rhythmic static elements that are probably too panned in the left. taiko and choir comes back in at 1:03, and this feels like more of the same that we've heard up to this point. we get some new material at 1:34 with a more synthy lead (sounds like it's played exactly as the original does). it's hard to hear the exact notes being played here. there's a bit shift at 2:00 on the button, with a very treble-driven drumset coming in. there's a lot of the same here - same taiko, same lead still - but there's some fun new elements like the guitar coming in. i like the idea of the drumset but it's very treble-heavy and not pleasant to listen to. this continues on a bit of a loop for a bit until it hits 3:22, and then the same piano and static elements play us out. you've got some really neat ideas going on here. i like very much the layering of organic (piano, choir, taiko) elements with electronic (the hyper-compressed drums, the static, the mellotron flute). there's a very specific feel being evoked and that's hard to do. overall though there's not much delta on this piece. you've got the same piano being played the entire time, the same mellotron lead playing the same stuff the whole time, same taiko, similar ideas with the static in the left ear, etc. there's a nice shift at 2:00 but it becomes clear quickly that this shift is still doing the same thing overall, just with mildly different window dressing. i'd love to hear more focus on the guitar, on shifting away from the elements that drove the first minute, and expand out a bit from the original method you used to represent it. from a technical perspective, the track is panned very widely, and that's hard to listen to especially on headphones. the taikos are also completely crushing anything in the 100hz range so the low end is pretty dirty. there's more balance later in the track which i think sounds better, but reducing some of the super-high content overall and especially in the left ear (there's a spike around 3khz that's really bright to me) would also help. i think you've got a lot of good ideas here! i'd love to hear more development and less reuse of the same elements over and over for nearly four minutes. i'd also like to hear a bit more attention paid to EQing of various elements to help notch them in next to one another. but you've got good bones here. the workshop forum and discord channel would be a ton of help fleshing this out, i think. NO

such a creepy original. opens with some very verby, quiet piano playing the arpeggio. there's some new bass and chordal content as well. melodic material comes in right away in a very delayed glide lead with some nice envelope on it. some (again, very wet) percussive elements come in at 0:36. the long tails on every synth start to bite you a bit at 0:45 as the chromaticism in the melodic line get banged up against the sustained chord elements. there's a bit of a break at 1:05, and we get most of what we already heard again. this isn't quite copypasta but it does sound like the same patterns in FL were used again in slightly different timings. bass instrument drops by maybe 1:46 for a bit, and then we get the descending chord pattern once more as an outro. there's no real ending, the patterns just end and there's some natural fade from the reverb. i think this is an interesting idea! lavender town wasn't particularly gloomy in game, but it's a neat aesthetic to attempt here. unfortunately there's not much arrangement going on that i can hear - it's mostly the original melody and arpeggio played straight through with the descending line in the bass. beyond that, most of the synths sound dull rather than creepy or engaging, and the track overall is pretty short to demonstrate the level of transformative arrangement we normally look for in remixes. i'd encourage you to take the time to really expand on the interesting chromatic elements that this track provides - that is, to include more leocb in the arrangement and less masuda - and to then find some new ways to represent them within the track. this definitely is a great start! i think you'd find a lot of help in the workshop forum or the workshop discord channel as well to find ways to expand this. NO

Artist Name: leocb I remade the base tone and melody on FL Mobile, mixed and changed the instruments to make it as gloomy as I possibly could. This is my first submission, feel free to reach out if I missed something. Hope you like it! Games & Sources Original composition based on Pokemon Red/Blue Lavender Town.

Artist Name: Hitrison This song was made in Ableton Live, and attempted to keep some of the ambient feel with the main ostinato being played on piano, but most tracks I work on end up being a bit noisy and/or intense and this is no exception. There were no samples from the game or any other media in the song, but I did use Sonic Bloom's Mellotron (https://sonicbloom.net/free-mellotron-live-pack-bundle-10-packs/) pack for the main melody flute and choir as well as some Taiko drum samples (https://www.subaqueousmusic.com/free-taiko-drum-rack/), and I recorded a few guitar tracks: an ambient noise track in the background (basically just rattled a bracelet on the headstock of my telecaster) and a melody track in the second half. The first half of the track is an ominous buildup, and the second half a trebly explosion. Games & Sources The song is "Lower Brinstar" from Super Metroid, composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano. It's a somewhat slow, almost minimalist ambient piece.

there is a version in the submission comments from 4/13. make sure you're listening to that version. @MindWanderer @Chimpazilla just fyi as this is from after your votes.

several seconds of silence to trim off the beginning. opening is a really delicate synth arp and pad with some cinematic orchestral celli. the iconic whistle lead is represented at 0:17, and there's a synth bass in there under the celli as well. we get a beat at 0:31 and some more cinematic orchestra stabs. there's no rolloff here so there's some mud down bottom that's a little distracting. lead here is played by a flute, and is played as the original is with no personalization. i hear the ghuzeng in this section at 1:25 but it's not particularly idiomatic - it's used in a western method through here with no multi-articulations and no vibrato, so it's basically a steel harp or piano here. there's a few of the pitch wiggles at the end of phrases though which is a nice add. there's a falloff at 1:49 that isn't particularly prepared, and we get the same feel as back at 0:31 for a bit. the same flute lead section as back at 0:47 plays with the ghuzeng from 1:25 layered on top. this felt pretty copy/paste until the riff at 2:28, and continued feeling like that after this section until 2:48. there's a very patient outro after this section. i liked the more atmospheric feel of this outro. overall i think there's a lot of repetition in the last half of the piece. virtually everything between 1:53 and 2:47 is repeated content with no changes outside of a two-second descending riff in the ghuzeng. that's too much. i like the overall feel of the track, and the groove you have going is a neat idea. hearing no personalization on either major melody line along so much repetition, however, is tough. i'd love to hear more BronxTaco shining through on most of this track. it feels like all the best parts are cribbed exactly from the original. i think your instrument choice overall is neat, and i'd love to hear you explore that more - just like you do in lower brinstar in the game! adding more personalization and breadth to your approach will only improve your arrangement here. i feel like this is really close, and i understand if other judges don't feel the repetition is as big of a deal. for me to pass it, i'd want to hear more personalization throughout, and for that repeated section to not be a straight copy of the previous section. change some instrumentation, add some new countermelodic material, mix up the chords a bit, change your approach a bit, just do something so 30% of the song isn't the same as another part. NO

track has about 2db of headroom. starts fairly simply, between the bass, countermelodic element/pad, drums, and lead. there's some eventual arp movement added and extra chordal elements, and it then shifts back down to a simpler layout before looping. this is, unfortunately, not really what we do in this community much. we do have a lot of chiptune arrangements! but this is very straightforward, with few changes to the original outside of some very minimal added countermelodic elements. this does not demonstrate transformative arrangement, and is closer to a cover. beyond that, it's only really about 1:11 of music before it loops, and that's nowhere near enough material length-wise to pass our bar. i would encourage you to read our submission standards and review what kind of stuff in general we put on the site. this has some interesting ideas! but it'd need to be fleshed out a lot more and probably would need some post processing to make it less grating in the lead before it'd be something that we'd consider. NO

starts out with some light drums, and clarinet and bass clarinet come in pretty quickly. they're well played and it's a fun primary idea for the track. clarinet tone is a bit stringy, and doesn't seem helped by the mic or lack of room sound. bass clarinet is more fleshed out and has a great tone, but also isn't really helped by the mic or lack of room sound. for the clarinet especially, make sure you've got enough mouthpiece in your mouth, that your reed is doing you favors in terms of hardness, and that you're really trying to keep your teeth and throat open enough to allow for the proper resonance (especially on sustains it sounds like you're clenching your teeth a bit). flutes come in at 0:29 and are both better mic'd and playing some really fun countermelodic content. they're a bit loud in the mix relative to the other elements - flutes are always hard to mix because they cut through so easily. the b section arrives at 0:53 with a lot of sustains in the clarinet that emphasize the aforementioned tone issue. there's a ton of fun window dressing here though especially in the bass clarinet. flute takes the lead at 1:16 and the singing tone really carries this nicely. this is an opportunity for volumization though, as the flute really is a lot louder than everything here. bringing the flute a bit back (counterintuitively) relative to the other elements will help it not crush everything when it gets into power range in the middle of the upper octave. i really like the clarinet countermelodic content here too, your tone fits into the backing elements really nicely. flute carries the B melody at 1:41 and there's again some fun turns of phrase by the clarinet. the bass clarinet gets lost in here a bit because it's up in the upper registers and so doesn't have the bite that was helping it cut through down lower. there's a final hit and we're done. overall this is a really fun arrangement! i really love the different countermelodic elements throughout. i really wasn't sure how i'd feel about a track that was just winds and drums, but the bass clarinet really does a great job staying active and keeping the lower end handled. this is a great adaptation, nitpicks aside, and is definitely over our bar. nice work. YES

opens with a backbeat feel. off-beat guitar is a little loud, as is the eventually melodica (??) lead. not having a pad here to fill out the chords makes it feel a bit empty in the early section. there's also a good bit of panning so the lead and organ that comes in later is a little wider than expected. there's a bit of a drum break at 0:41, and that goes right into the air theme at 0:55. that same lead finally stops playing at 1:08 and its nice to hear something else for a bit. i really didn't care for the tone of the melodica lead and it just kept going with no real break. there's a recap of the water island theme and the organ continues to do interesting things in the background. 1:35 is a shift in the drums and organ - sounds like the organ gets a chance to do a bit of a solo - and then we have a second recap of the water island theme (this is, i think, copied directly from 2:01). there's a fade-out and it's done. i think there's a lot going on here that's good. i like the overall vibe of the arrangement - i think you are pretty close to nailing the backbeat-style chill feel. i also like the use of drums and bass overall. i think the drums have a lot of copied patterns and could use a bit of variance once and a while, and i definitely found the melodica lead to be grating and over-loud - i can't help but wonder what it'd sound like with a different lead used for part or all of those sections. separately, i thought that there is a general lack of anything to help ground the chords for each section - a light pad would do wonders to help clean that up. lastly, mixing up the presentation of the water theme that's repeated several times (add some personalization each time!) and the countermelodic content behind it would be a great choice. i think this is fun, and pretty close. there's a few things to fix and then i think it's there. NO

opens with a really dense soundscape - tons in the low mids, so it's hard to hear what's going on. the guitar/synth stuff is great, well-played. i liked the extra panning elements that showed up on the second time through the melodic material. 1:01's arpeggiated stuff is pretty excellent, and emphasizing the uprising countermelody there from the original is the right choice. there's a lighter section at 1:24 with some nice long-tail reverb doing some neat stuff. there's some call and response solo work for the last thirty seconds and then it's done. the drums spend most of the song doing one of two loops which is a disappointing choice - there's a ton of room for clever writing there and it wasn't taken advantage of. the mastering is also pretty dense throughout even after the synths and lead guitar come in - the bass synth is overwhelmingly loud, fairly high all considering, and then there's some spikes in the low mids that cause it to feel very dense (the rhythm guitar or synth, whatever that is, that's probably the culprit). i think that this is pretty straightforward, but there's a lot of little flourishes and fun elements added outside the solo work that makes this great. i wish the mastering was better but this is good enough to pass as-is. if it gets conditional'd or NO'd, i'd say that it needs some more arrangement in the drums and backing elements so it's not so repetitive there, and needs another mixing pass (at least turn down the bass synth and give it some attack so it's not so oofy). YES

hey, just a side note to a point mentioned in the writeup - i know some of us judges are more available than others, but we're always willing to talk further if you've got questions about why something landed the way it did. just message us and we'll be happy to help. most of the time =) i'm also going to be honest and say i don't like my previous vote much. i was not clear about what needed to be done and that's on me. i had some specific suggestions that i didn't write down for whatever reason and that's not good enough from me. opening run through the chord progression is a lot better on this one, through like 0:47. piano feels good and the saturation feels more comfortable than it did before. drums feel better as well if i'm remembering correctly. 1:09's transition is nice. the kicks here are a little confusing due to where they're falling initially, but when more drum bits come in it's easier to track them. 1:35 has some nice keys licks. i don't remember the vox stuff at 1:59 but i really like it. stylistically that fits really well, although i'd expect more grit on them based on the rest of the instruments. ending is fine imo, i get it based on the style and the old-record vibe that's going on throughout. me being an old head would in general prefer a normal ending of some kind but that's personal preference. this is a great track. it may not be 100% on brand with what you're trying to ape, but it's a straightforward and fun arrangement, showcasing less is more from an instrumental side. thanks for taking the time to rework this. YES