In theory, we're supposed to judge every ReMix in a vacuum and completely ignore any knowledge about the artist, what he/she is capable of, etc.
That's a great goal, and we strive towards it, but it is sometimes difficult.
Case in point: this submission. We know Brandon is capable of great things, but something is very wrong here... even if this had been submitted under a pseudonym, with zero biases involved, I can safely say that the criticisms would have been the same. The production here is muddy, details get lost, and while the arrangement is *nice*, it's not inventive enough (nor would ANY arrangement potentially be) to turn a blind eye to the whole thing teetering on the brink of incoherence. I dig the idea of an orchestral rock arrangement of this theme, but somewhere on the road to that dream, things got compressed/mastered to hell, with none of the individual parts playing nice with one another. It's a hard genre to mix because of the twin terrors of getting the rock/metal mastering down and THEN getting the orchestral bits down and THEN making sure they complement one another, but it NEEDS to be done well. I've heard Brandon do it well, too.
I wouldn't approve this mix if it were from an unfamiliar artist, and thus I won't approve it from Brandon, either.
NO