Emunator

Yeah, super strong vibe from the rip. There's a ton of energy present here, I feel the Babymetal influence even though this is definitely more synth heavy. I don't think this necessarily needs to be reinventing the wheel with the backing track but I don't disagree that it feels autopiloty all the same. The lead guitar ramps up the energy significantly when it's present, and those moments are definitely a highlight for me. It does, however, feel jarring because it highlights how much is missing from the other parts of the arrangement. I wish there was more variety and ear candy during the bulk of the arrangement to make the disparity between the guitar solo and the rest of the song less staggering. Vocally, I don't have any gripes with the concept, but the mixing isn't really bringing them front and center, but also has them too prominent to pass as a backing element. They're existing in limbo that feels more distracting, so I would recommend either carving out some space in the backing elements so that the vocal can be more present, via EQ cuts or sidechain ducking, or embrace the vocals as more of a rhythmic textural element and mix accordingly. Right now it's in a weird middle ground that's not entirely working. Echoing the drum critique too - it's not terrible but a touch more presence and punch would help this feel more balanced. I appreciate the concept of the gating at 2:37/3:04, but I do hear a bit of a pop as it disengages on the last beat... it doesn't feel like it's quite timed right and maybe needs the slightest fade out on the volume envelope, or a timing adjustment. I don't disagree with Chimpazilla about using something different for the ending transition. There's a lot to like here, and it's definitely put together competently but there's a bit of a "death by a thousand cuts" feeling where a number of elements that only feel 75-80% locked in are adding up to a result that's not reaching its full potential yet. It can definitely get there, though! NO (resub)

I couldn't have said it better than Prophetik did, so I'll keep this brief in agreement. There's some lovely synth tones and a solid foundation here. When you got more expressive with your solo around the 3 minute mark, things really came alive! It's abundantly clear that you've got the chops to make a bangin' synth ballad based on that section alone, but I think this track needs some trimming for length, and further development on the backing elements that make up the bulk of the song. When you're working at such a slow tempo, you've got to find smaller ways to add that flair through drum fills, texture, or one-off riffs that keep things engaging throughout the duration. There's absolutely a passable track here, but it's not there yet! NO

The track is 404'd now but I happened to have it downloaded from a previous judging session - in the future, if you're using the upload function, please make sure that you don't do anything to move it until it's done! I do feel like there's some meaningful progress made on this iteration, but unfortunately the balance is still terribly skewed toward the high frequencies in a way that's very unpleasant. Are you using any sort of monitoring software like SPAN to look at the frequency distribution in your mix and check your overall loudness levels? Even if you don't have the most ideal listening setup or can't afford a perfectly treated room or expensive pair of headphones, you can compensate for this by using reference tracks from professional sources that you trust are well-produced and you like the way they sound. I start nearly every project like this, and keep a downloaded copy of reference track(s) in my project file at all times so I can see if I'm on target in terms of frequency balance and loudness. The mixing and mastering is unfortunately still a dealbreaker and is going to require some further learning on your part to get the actual mix sounding right. Here's one possible resource that might help: I admire your persistence! There's still some learning and adjustment that needs to happen before this is sounding ready for primetime. NO

This is an easy close-out. I have no idea what was going on with the first version that was holding it back, but nothing seems to have made its way into version 2. This isn't nearly as sophisticated as some of your more recent work, and I'm sure some of that can be attributed to writing and sound design decisions that were made with 10 years less experience, but in spite of its simplicity, your production quality and the performances (actually, I just read the original submission letter and the vocals were apparently done with some sort of plugin? Never would have guessed this wasn't a collab!) bring it all together now. Better late than never! YES

Yeah, just hopping in for a quick co-sign with the judges above - this is a very interesting sound design experiment and I would encourage you to keep trying things like this, but it doesn't come together into a listenable final result for a couple of reasons that have already been broken down. I'd love to see you take some of these ideas and really work on the songwriting and production components behind it, but as it stands, this feels like an experiment that needs a lot more time workshopping before it's ready to stand alone as a solo piece. NO

Quick co-sign with Brad - this is surprisingly well produced, mixed, and mastered, but the arrangement hews a little too close to the original material for how short of an arrangement this is. There's a TON of potential here and the good news is that your production is already solid, I wouldn't suggest changing much about that at all. But the arrangement itself needs to differentiate itself more from the source material and/or add some more interpretive components to the mix. If you can do that, you'll have an easy winner here! NO (resubmit)

Yep, @prophetik music has the right take here, unfortunately. This is super cool and I feel like a live video of you running through this would pop off on Tiktok/Youtube Shorts, but it's not in line with our submission standards so I'm afraid this is a no. Really enjoyed the listen though regardless! NO

Artist: jnWake, Emunator Mastered by Chimpazilla K, so another DoD month ends which means another submission for OCR by me! This time, the monthly theme was "Franchise Fusion" and the requirement was to mix at least 2 games from different franchises. After pondering it for a while, I decided that a good idea would be to mix 2 themes that were popular, so that people could recognize the actual fusion of themes. I quickly chose Aquatic Ambience since it's a lovely theme and I already knew it on piano. Secret of the Forest then came naturally as another iconic chill theme from the SNES era. I had never actually noticed how similar both themes are and plenty of DoDers were surprised this idea "had never done before" (it surely has, but as far as I know there's not a particularly popular mash-up on YouTube or other websites). Anyway, so about the mix. Since the theme was fusion I made the arrangement with the idea of melding both themes together as much as possible. I even began the song using the actual soundfonts from the games. Most sections of the arrangement feature the backing of one of the tunes and the melody of the other tune on top, but I'll detail that later. Quickly after beginning the arrangement I realized having a strong sound design would be necessary for this to be a hit, so I contacted everyone's favorite judge Emunator (he describes himself that way, do not blame me!) for help on that front. My initial idea was for him to listen to the arrangement and mostly provide sound design feedback plus a few stems... BUT instead he got super motivated with the idea and added much more than that. First, instead of simply using the soundfonts like I had done he investigated the origins of the sounds and replaced some of the samples with the actual uncompressed sounds from the original synths! He also replaced some other sounds here and there, added a plethora of effects, extra drum fills and rewrote the ending part of the track... and if all that wasn't enough he even did the final mix! I had never had the pleasure of had so much work taken from me on a collaboration but it was awesome (as I may have commented before, I'm not a particularly big fan of mixing, I only do it because I have to). For the final touch, Emunator also contacted Chimpazilla to handle the master. I didn't have the chance to talk with her this time, so I'll take this opportunity to thank her for her work! As usual, now comes the source breakdown. Both sources are so popular that I'll be a little less thorough than my usual breakdown: 0:00-1:00: We begin with Aquatic Ambience's arpeggios as a tease, since the first melody that kicks in is from Secret of the Forest. Idea here is that the background (pads + arpeggios) are from DKC while the rest is from CT. Section B from Secret of Forest then follows with the same idea. 1:00-1:33: Chord progression from Section C of Secret of the Forest, melody is a variation of Aquatic Ambience's one but following the chords. 1:33-2:21: Surprise percussion! I thought it'd be fun to wait a bit before the drums enter, making the shift to a chill beat more impactful. Secret of the Forest harp and chord progression play here while the melody is from Aquatic Ambience. The combination works surprisingly well. 2:21-2:34: Aquatic Ambience arpeggios over a chord progression and melody of Secret of the Forest. 2:34-3:01: Flute solo! It can't be a song by me without a solo I guess? Chord progression is from Secret of the Forest section C. 3:01-4:04: Climax of the track, chord progression is "original", while the rest of the instrumentation has elements of both tracks. Synth is playing the melody from Secret of the Forest, while the accordion is throwing quotes from Aquatic Ambience. A fun fact (for me at least?) is that for the transition to double time I transposed the melody 1 tone below, when the usual is to transpose higher to create a burst of energy, that way I attempted to mantain the chillness of the track despite the increase of the beat. 4:04-end: A chance to relax after the climax, Aquatic Ambience's arpeggio and Secret of the Forest's main melody play and slowly fade out as the track ends. Again, thanks to Emunator and Chimpazilla for their work on this, as it'd have never been as good without them! The track ended up placing #2 in DoD, which was pretty cool. Hope you like it! Sources:

I feel like any Mazedude track with the word "Tangerine" in the title is going to be have high standards to live up to, but immediately I hear that he's up to the task. I've been diving into a bunch of retro-inspired romplers myself this past week, and it's given me a really deep appreciation for some of these quirky sounds that haven't exactly maintained their foothold in the soundscape of modern pop music. The deeply gated drums, impossibly expressive lead synths, the gurgling basslines, and... orchestra hit synths? Is that what those are? I can't even tell, all I know is that it scratches my eardrums in a way that only Mazedude can. The arrangement is respectful of the original and expands on it. I couldn't have asked for more, we're sure lucky to have you around after all these years! YES

@Liontamer Great feedback, I re-mixed the song and scraped out some of the mud and I think we're in better shape now. Check it out!

Artist Name: Emunator, Hotline Sehwani Credits: Emunator: Arrangement, production, keys, mixing Hotline Sehwani: Arrangement, production, original concept, mastering Comments: Emunator: This track is one of four collaborations that Hotline Sehwani and I did for "Elden Ring: Tarnished Shadows," an album of lo-fi/chill arrangements from the Elden Ring soundtrack to celebrate the launch of the Shadows of Erdtree DLC. After a successful collaboration on our Undertale lo-fi release, we immediately jumped back in and got to work on some more. He sent me four initial demos with melodic ideas and rough instrumentation, which I then fleshed out into full songs, and passed back to Hotline for mastering. It was an extremely smooth collab process that yielded results that I'm super proud of! I hope you check out our three other collabs and the rest of the project, too! With this project, I wanted to explore the more acoustic side of lo-fi music, fusing traditional chillhop beats with a more melancholy, gothic sound palette. With Final Battle particularly, it was a challenge to transform such bombastic source material into something that respected the spirit of the original while still being something you could throw on as study music. I had to approach mixing differently than I would normally for an orchestral track, where you can confidently slam your peaks to the max.. I had to be a lot more delicate with the approach here, relying more on rhythmic variation to bring energy rather than massive sweeping orchestral statements. Arrangement-wise, we kept it short and sweet, with a rug-pull ending that is meant to mirror the experience of fighting in Elden Ring, where no matter how confident you are, you are always only one hit away from sudden death. Time to hit replay and try the battle again ;) Hotline Sehwani: Our goal for "The Final Battle" cover was to transform the triumphant battle theme into a more mellow and somber vibe. The song begins with subtle wind chimes, capturing the calm before the storm, and ends in a similar fashion. To listen to the album now on your favorite platform: https://music.hotlinesehwani.com/erts

Artist Name: Maldivir Dragonwitch This ReMix was created for the Dwelling Of Duels monthly VGM remix contest. All of the main melody lines and synth solo were performed and recorded live, as per the contest rules. I always found the original tune very melancholic and decided to go all out with a chill, deep synthwave version of it, with reharmonization. For no particular reason, at 2:49 there's a small easter egg melody from Suikoden II's Secret Village Of The Ninja.

This really shows what a difference a proper mixdown can make. This addressed every single one of my issues with the original track, allowing the dynamics of your arrangement to shine and gives every instrument and synth a spot in the limelight. There's room to breathe now, and all of the delicate ebbs and flows that you crafted carry so much more impact. The arrangement is, and always has been, brilliant, and I'm so glad to see this back again. This is exactly how you do it, bravo! YES EDIT 7/2/2024: I'm reviewing this since my effusive praise seems to be at odds with the rest of the panel. I have since gone through a calibration process in my monitors to fix a bias towards low-frequency response and a deficient high-end, and honestly, a lot of the feedback you got here reflects critiques that have been (correctly) given about my own music, so I expected to hear a much different song when I listened to this on my new setup. And while I am hearing a much heavier amount of distortion on this track than I picked up on previously, I was actually really impressed with the amount of clarity that came through. I've listened a few times and am just not feeling the fatigue that the other judges are pointing out. And I also think that we're not giving this enough roses for how creative and well-executed the sound design and arrangement are. I came into this expecting to fall in line, but I still think this is pretty squarely in the YES camp for me.

Artist: Everybody Man *RESUBMISSION* Previous Judges Decision Hi again! I'm back after incorporating the feedback you guys gave from my first submission. I also visited the workshop where I got some great mixing advice. I believe this has really improved since the first go-around, and I hope you guys agree! A lot of the feedback was about the loudness of everything - especially the saw arp from Short Hike overpowering the other parts and the kick pumping everything against the limiter. I followed Emunators advice in the workshop about bringing each part down to -inf db and gradually bringing them up one by one. I also revisited the filtering for each part - especially the saw which was occupying way too much of the high end. I automated the gain on a few things, especially trying to keep the saw from interfering with other parts. I also panned a handful of the parts to try to get a bit more clarity/separation. I actually put some of the flute, pluck, and piano parts from Short Hike on some really slow lfos so they kind of swirl around you as they fade in and out. Prophetik suggested sidechaining the kick - I actually had it suuuper sidechained in my first submission, which I think is why it seemed to kill everything else when it hit... I brought that down to a more reasonable level. Another issue mentioned was the runtime and abrupt ending. I'm glad you guys suggested fleshing it out more, I brought in a couple more sections from See You at the Top and I think it feels way more complete. Added bird sounds! The whippoorwill and owl you hear beginning around 2:08 are samples from Short Hike - you hear them when you boot the game and near the ending. I think they really help the listener feel like they're wandering along with the song in some magical woods or something XD. The guitar at 0:50 and the mandolin strums throughout are live recordings as well. Overall I wanted to convey the wonder of exploration I felt while playing A Short Hike mixed with the awe I felt when I heard OOT's title theme for the first time. Hope you guys like it! Source Breakdown: 0:00 - 0:17 Intro with Short Hike arp 0:18 - 0:49 Main section: Short Hike saw and Title Theme intertwined 0:50 - 1:16 B section of Title Theme with guitar and modified Short Hike saw to support 1:17 - 2:05 Main section again with more layers: piano, pluck, and flute fading in and out with Short Hike parts 2:06 - 3:15 Piano melody from Short Hike (beginning at 2:52 on the source video), this time with Title Theme's piano arps doing the support 3:16 - 3:33 Layers dropout, giving Title Theme's piano and string pad some space. There's also birds! 3:34 - 3:55 A different piano melody from Short Hike (0:37 on source video) building to climax 3:56 - 4:41 Climax/ending: main section with all layers Games & Sources This is a remix/mashup of Title Theme from Ocarina of Time and See You at the Top from A Short Hike.

Artist Name: The Vodoú Queen *RE-SUBMISSION* **Other Contributors / Credits: Zack Parrish - Mastering ALL INFO PERTAINING TO THE PREVIOUS SUBMISSION (Including the Original Remix from 'An OverClocked Christmas, v.16', the Old Version Submitted / Rejection Decision, Source Breakdown / Write-Up, and the Workshopping Process): # Hello all. . . This... I do not know how to properly express the journey and catharsis brought about in re-doing this remix over the lengthy span of time since its rejection (hell, since its inception)--however, my hope is that the differences between this version and the rejected version are as clear as night and day. It was...something, for sure. I am proud, no matter the decision, for doing a great deal of this venture solo, and learning so many new things every step of the way. And I pray for it, even though I am not a very religious person, (spiritual, yes, because damn did I feel the Spiritual Muse of Music flow through me in the last stretches of this...when, honestly, I was about to give up and throw it on the 'unsalvageable' pile.) Nothing more to say. Let Blizzard Buffalo be the Noble Creature of Snow he has always been; (yes, this is one of the very first MMX-related OCR remixes I heard of way back in the day [quite a few from Maverick Rising, I might add], and it has stuck with me so much to current day, it's possibly the impetus for creating my remix in the first place, outside of just loving the mood setting and tone of the source ever since a kid playing through X3 for the first > hundredth time.) I humbly am re-submitting this. Thank you for your time and consideration in re-judging it. Big shout out to the Sages, DJ Mokram, Emunator, and to all those who've helped me along the way for this finale, Judges included. ♥ --- REFINED LIST OF FOCUSED ON REFERENCES / INFLUENCES FOR THE REMIX: "Carol of the Bells" / "Sarajevo / Christmas Eve" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "Swan Lake" & "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker Suite)" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and; "Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. 66)" and Other Collections by Frédéric Chopin [Other Ideas and Leitmotif as References for Sound Design and Part-Writing are in the Workshop Link] Games & Sources 'The Frozen City (Blizzard Buffalo Stage Theme)' MEGA MAN X3 SOUND COLLECTION; Track 10 - Blizzard Buffalo (Frozen Buffalio) Stage; Artist(s): Kinuyo Yamashita; Release Date: 24 July 2018; Label: Capcom Sound Team