Rexy   Judges ⚖️

This arrangement is cute and charming. It starts with a subtraction on the A section, only focusing on the piano and occasionally some strings - then at 0:33 the drums and bass join, and the strings become more lively. From there, the structure is A into a variation on A and then B, and the second set at 1:31 also differs. The A section allowed the whole band to play the source straight, the variation added a square synth and some double-time chord use, then the B section went into four-on-the-floor drums, fast-moving piano climbs, and the eventual writer-stated anime cameo that I can not pinpoint. And then it ends with adapting the A section into a sudden minor key finish, with hardly any fanfare. As things stand, you've understood how to interpret the source to make it feel like yourself, and yet it still echoes a lot of the original's bounce and playfulness, which is a good thing. Looking at the prior critique of the "silence" at 1:05, I see that you're trying to go for a fun reverse effect, though it sounded like it didn't start properly until the end of that measure and sharply rose for the end of the following one. Try experimenting with an earlier start for the reverse fade to fill in more audio space. It's not essential, but it's nice to have as a change, so go with what you feel sounds right. As for the production side, the soundscape is drier than Lake Valor during the Team Galactic takeover. Combined with the choice of more techno-sounding percussion and mechanical piano writing, the overall presentation of the track feels cheap and inorganic. I'm in favor of experimenting with different types of reverb to shape up the stage, particularly on anything that isn't a kick drum or bass, and looking into the velocity shaping on the keys to give them a more convincing performance. The nature of the source and the overall adaptation mean I don't have problems with the strict timings of your notation. But any other type of humanization, whether changing velocities, note lengths, or anything else, can go a long way. This track is one of those that I'd like to see resubmitted with more focus on humanization and some reverb sound shaping. I see potential here, and if this does become a debut posted work with revision, that would be a great first impression. Keep at it. NO (resubmit)

Well, this differs from all of the Dragon Quest submissions I've heard from you - an arrangement of Terra for a small chamber ensemble. This adaptation for trumpet, violin, and what sounds like a very low-pitched flute made it a quick single-loop adaptation and a return to the A section for its ending. It's a valid approach, and arrangements under two minutes had been possible on the site before - but for that to work, one expects to hear more complicated techniques relating to arrangement and presentation. In this case, adding more to the arrangement would benefit it far more in its current state. As it is, I have heard three VSTs with considerably too much reverb for a chamber setup. As Brad outlined above, the current staging of your instrumentation can't carry this alone despite your attention to articulations. One idea is to ask for live performers for works like this - but with your history of repeated revisions of rejected works, something like this requires considerably more patience and perseverance. Should you stick with your current loadout, it'll be a good idea to think of the natural ranges of your chosen instruments and figure out what would be your best option for writing it - it's not wise to go for something with a wide range for the sake of having a wide range, to switch note spectrums several times as you've done with your violin. Even instrument sets based around a theme - like all strings, all winds, all brass, etc - would make it so much easier to figure out which virtual performer gets to emphasize what part, and it could be easier for you to figure out how to add more to the arrangement side of things. It's not a bad start, Eric, but I definitely want to hear more. Further arrangement and a more concise direction for your instrument presentation would greatly benefit this, and with all the ideas given here, it's all up to you to figure out the latter. Keep up the effort. NO

Your sound palette has those familiar Synthwave tropes - the driving beat, the synthetic drums and bass, and the choice of backing synths all work together to bring the genre alive. Do note that at 0:32, you used the same patch to provide both a riff and the melody, and their identical tone and stereo placement make it hard to distinguish them. Did you mean to use a different-sounding patch for the melody there and at 1:51? If not, think about clarity for your instrument parts if you haven't done so already - like where they can be in the stereo field, additional layers if needed, or any separation via EQ tweaks. Aside from the clash of two patches, it's not overly chaotic in its current state. Source-wise, this track discarded the first 53 seconds and used that as the foundation - that entire stretch that anchored itself in that original E Minor key. Then, what followed was one loop through almost the remainder of the source, a simple breakdown, and a near-copy-paste of that previous loop before using the source's conclusion for the ending. You got the right idea with adding the pulsing rhythm synth at 1:41, but there's still more to do - Brad has already mentioned some amazing ideas for changing things up in the second half and adding more variations to the drum writing to keep making it feel fresh. A "theme and variations" approach to arrangement is fine, but I do want to hear those variations. :) I am all in favor of more synthwave, especially Stardew synthwave - and I see something special in this rough cut. I would love to hear another version with the copy-pasta problem addressed first and foremost, with further thought taken to drum variation and the dual patch issue. Do take advantage of the workshop on the Forums and Discord - help is but a mouse click away. NO (resubmit)

The sound selection for this mix is not too shabby. I like the lead tones chosen to anchor the mix; the bass tone has a nice subtle glide when not in staccato; and most of the instruments feel clean enough in the presentation. Two obvious things were louder than they should have been - the snare when in play and the organ for the Ganon sections. As usual, I back up Kris's suggestion for side-chaining, though that should also expand to having additional pads outside of the Ganon sections, also going under the side-chain effect. Anything to soften the blow of that organ would benefit it well. The arrangement also leaves a lot to think about. A simple 16-bar intro with elements getting slowly added over time is one thing, but so is hearing your Nightmare presentations with the same notation as the original and similar synth tones. Credit where credit is due for putting the Ganon fight BGM into 4/4 instead of 7/8 (there you go, Brad!), and with all the little cameos thrown in - but it veers so heavily into conservation and similar tones that it doesn't feel personalized enough. You can add some additional textures, change up backing patterns, give the main melody a personal touch, and so on - anything to make it sound less like Minako Hamano and more like you. Ultimately, I have more problems with the conservative arrangement than I do with the organ balancing, and so I can't see myself passing it until this gets further personalization and a presentation that moves further away from MIDI-rip territory. It's still a bold effort, so I hope you have the project files so you can continue working on it. NO

Brad had already hit things nail on the head, so I may as well also make this brief. I approve of the sound design decisions, the transformational slow-groove citypop direction, and the complete jazz-like chord sequence - no qualms with any of those - but all of the copy-pasta hurts it so much right now. I would suggest you take a look at these timestamps and see what else can be done to give them as much extra spice as some of the other variations. Do resub, please - we can never have too much Street Fighter rep, let alone Sakura. :-) NO

I have been hanging around with paradiddlesjosh in a voice chat while assessing this, and the buzzwords that came to mind when hearing the original was "dollar store Stone Temple Pilots" - so I'm glad to hear that a more organic pop-ballad-like route taken here. The over-arching chord structure from the original is still present, with longer instrumental breaks to allow the strings and winds to carry the guitar riff from the source. And then, of course, we've got the two vocalists carrying the whole arrangement package together, with not much done to alter notation-wise from the original - but the rock-opera-like stylization complemented all this, so I respect the ambition. Production-wise, I can give strong credit to the performances and drum programming for sure. Everything has a role to play, and under the right circumstances would stick together like glue. As of right now, though, the mixing still has some flaws. Joe's excellent breakdown on the vocal mixing is something that I agree with. There's so much focus on high-end presence for EK's vocals to the point of hearing effect artifacts when I'm not supposed to. And then, your vocal isn't as rough in comparison, but it does lose clarity when both vocal lines appear together. With its rock-opera-like approach, the backing instruments have so much going on that it's hard to separate your string section, the organ, and, on some occasions, Greg's flute. Josh's suggestion of panning that touch wider is a great idea, but don't be afraid to experiment with potential other EQ cuts as well, especially since the strings and organ cover that same frequency space here. Honestly, I love your work. However, it isn't quite ready for OCR yet—for me, it needs another mixdown pass to make it happen. I know you can do it. NO (resubmit)

The combination of Brad's initial breakdown and additional pointers demonstrated the number of liberal twists taken with that familiar Marble Zone melody. It has a funky FM-sounding groove, starting well with splicing the original bass intro and allowing for melodic transformation from 0:20 onwards. The A-section ended up fitting a reasonably straight-forward adaptation, the B-sections at 0:49 and 1:47 relied more on splicing the opening component of that melody into a transformed melody line, the solo spot at 1:16 served as a fun break, and the return to the initial A-section at 2:22 felt gradual with the bass and drums placed in. It sounds like Marble Zone, without necessarily sounding like Marble Zone - which makes little sense in writing, but please deal with it. :) Now, the mastering is definitely in the loud zone, and if it had more than the three-tone polyphony setup, it could border on sausage-fest with the instruments on hand. Thankfully, nothing sounds over-compressed or overly distorted. All tones and percussion are crystal clear, like the waters of Labyrinth Zone, and the choice of synths has as much power as that well-known Green Hill wrecking ball. I wholly respect your decision to go as bone dry as possible - yet the only thing I can nitpick over is hoping to experiment with other effects like phasing and delay to add more to the soundscape, but that is more of a matter of taste than acceptance. You made a track with the intent to make badniks (and everyone else) go dance, and it's a solid presentation all around. Nice going! YES

You put this mix together from no musical background? That's a bold effort; respect! :) When I saw "90s house" and "Dreamer" in the same post, I was ready to brace myself to hear the melodies in that style - but little would I know that all you took from the source was the opening arpeggios, and then you ran with it for five minutes. It's as valid as an arrangement approach as ever, but stretching it out into a guns-blazing track for that long, with hardly any opportunities to breakdown and build back up, makes it tiresome to listen to. I understand that you were aiming for this progressive / dream house direction, but the best advice that I can give you is to listen to a lot of commercial reference tracks of this same genre - preferably radio edits when necessary, and definitely not club mixes - and pay attention to the textures' shaping over time. You were on the right lines with textural variation, but dynamic shaping and a look into envelopes sound like the next big step. The production techniques also need improvement. The first thing I noticed was that master low-pass at 10k hz of all places. If the idea of emulating 90s House for you similarly meant emulating the average MP3 file of the era, I could understand, but the 10k+ range ideally is where your higher-toned instrumentation should go, particularly your cymbal selection and any other similarly toned sounds. However you decided to make that frequency cut, please undo it - you'll get a cleaner sound without it, and the reference tracks certainly don't have cuts like that. Similarly, Brad also mentioned the overwhelming sub-frequencies as well. I used an EQ analyzer to high-pass the file and that did take the edge off - but it's all on you to balance the rest. Assuming this is your first musical project, I would suggest balancing out all the percussion pieces and SFX first, then get the bass to sit in, then the melody, then the pads, and finally any pitched rhythm parts. Keep them all under 0dB both as individual instruments and on the master, and then you could do the rest with experimenting with your master chain and seeing what else works. Not a bad start at all. I like the vibes here, and I'm all for a trance arrangement like this to make its way onto the front page - but for this to get there, it needs more TLC in the mixing department, as well as a further look into the writing so that it doesn't drag like it's currently doing now. I'm seeing potential, so please keep at it. NO

This is one of my fave sources from the OG Streets of Rage! You've definitely hit a chord with me, no pun intended. So, obviously the arrangement is very meat and potatoes - started off as a straight-forward metal cover, though the shoutout to the SoR1 theme at 1:37-1:48, the additional strings, the guitar harmonies and the ominous closure in the final reprisal were beautifully done. Arrangement-wise, it's hit a solid direction that stayed fresh all the way through. I do love your guitar tone going into this - and considering what you said about recording your parts, downtuning it and feeding it through an amp sim, it sounds a lot like an actual 7-string, so kudos on the idea. Though, as much as I love the production-based ambition, this does have flaws. As Brad mentioned, the bass has a very awkward EQ shift that sounds like it's trying to be a Chapman Stick even though it feels too tinny to do so. I wouldn't have minded going in for an ordinary pick bass rather than the direction you're going in there, but if you're able to resolve the tinniness another way, by all means go for it. And then there's the drums. Yes, to a casual ear, these would be hard-hitting - but I noticed the machine-like constant velocities and writing. Larry already touched upon the former, but for me, what I want to emphasize is the same two-bar groove - down to the kick, snare and open hi-hat placements - getting copy-pasted with only some minor variations on fills, a couple of ride cymbal breaks (0:51-1:00 and 2:17-2:26) and the tom breakdown at 1:20-1:29. With fills also mirrored between sections and in similar places, I had come to the conclusion that this component of the track is underwhelming and needs some revision before I could see it get posted. I really want to see this track get out there, Andy. I did mention my gripes with the bass shaping and I hope you're able to address it at some point, but for me, the stale drums were the biggest dealbreaker and I hope you're able to go back into this project and vary up those grooves. Please send it back - there's never enough Streets on OCR! :) NO (resubmit)

Yikes! Usually, it takes me way more time to digest a Golden Sun source simply because Sakuraba writes whatever he could get away with on the chip at hand - but your decision to add in all of these different time signatures caught me by surprise and dialed up those intentions to 11. I approve of this! The source breakdown also worked out in its favor - evident use of the melodies and adaptations to the newer time signatures when necessary, and some thoughtful noodling at the tail ends. I should highlight that aspect in particular because one weakness I had sometimes heard from some of your earlier works is noodling in the wrong key or with sour notes, but here? It's chef's kiss good. The only real question I asked was why that stretch from the 2-minute mark to 2:30 sounded so melodically empty with just the pad work between source sections - but it's just highly minor of a thought. The sound selection is fun and reflective of the 80s/90s Yamaha softsynth tones, so while I understand Larry's concerns about quantization, these kinds of backing parts and the percussion needed to sound less organic to maintain a stable mix. The sweeps and envelopes on the pad at the tail ends sounded great, the guitar is clear, and this soundscape feels very fulfilling despite its moments of minimalism and my wanting to hear more arpeggios for the sake of filling a rhythm section (be careful if you go that route in the future though!). That drum kit should've had its overall reverb brought down a touch, though, or at least on the kick to make sure it didn't bleed too much into the bass - but the snare and toms still needed that verb for genre-relevant effects, so it was still a solid call nonetheless. Great prog energy, fun arrangement, solid production values - let's get this on board. YES

I'm a not-quite-first-time listener here - I heard this on GameDuels back then. I followed along with the source breakdown just fine, and with these sources brought in, I'm glad that the Knight n' Grail music provided most of the melodic anchoring - they made it much easier to follow. I am, however, going to disagree with the difficulty of following grooves as outlined further up, and that's because the groove does have a downbeat leading into the individual bars. It is tricky to anticipate when there's a change to another time signature shift, though, but it is way less of an issue when most of it is at 7/4 initially. Credit where credit is due with the soundscape - there's a great selection of dreamy pads and synth/keys that send this in a more atmospheric direction, and I am all for the ride. But mix-wise, it's not a perfect one. There is bass, but it's a very light sub-bass - and that takes more of a backseat to the various leads, which vary in panning, echo, and tone. One is a piano that is louder than the others, is hard-panned to the right side, has a high amount of reverb and a pinch of a chorus effect, and dominates over everything else. It works when cooperating with the hard-left organ and has had moments where it allowed the sweeping pads to take more of that front stage. But it's not as effective when it's eating up the soundscape around it and, therefore, adds unnecessary clutter. Now, here's the big question. Is this a dealbreaker? Surprisingly, no. The master has no issues with clipping or over-compression, and the waveform allowed for a consistent level of narrow dynamics without going the whole "waveform sausage" route. This decision is something that I can chalk up to artistic intent despite its imperfections. If it does get sent back, then I wouldn't mind the panning being tighter and some tweaked instrument balancing - but after further deliberation, I see no reason for it not to be posted as it is. We would appreciate a warning the next time you send in something that a previous iteration of the panel had last assessed, just saying. ;) YES