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Got around to submitting my track today since I wont have any time available tomorrow to work on music. It was definitely tricky finding a way to work the two sources together given how different the mood and feel of them are but I reached a decent compromise I think. Excited to hear the rest of the tunes this coming round.

2018's Mega Man Compo-of-some-sort Round 1 Rage Reviews! Razor Wind Very nice use of the themes and sound fx! Great Energy throughout and the mixing is solid! Only nitpick I can make is that the ending is a VERY abrupt one note cadence with almost no decrease in energy in the phrase before it to signal the end of the remix! Great listen! Most competent use of the stereo field in the round i'd say! NEXT!! Digital Redemption Listened to this over and over trying to pick out metal man's theme but for the life of me i'm not hearing it! NEXT!! Dopamine Great Rhythm Guitar tone! Only dig is that the lead is on the overly fuzzy side for my tastes! Themes are recognizable! Awesome remix! Why you don't do more Dwelling of Duels compos is beyond me! :/ NEXT!! Fire Truck Right off the bat that bass is really bottom heavy and unrecognizable in the mix! I'm afraid to hook up my subwoofer cuz i'm worried it's gonna be all subs....! Themes are recognizable so good work on keeping things familiar! Biggest issue for me is that there is no real use of stereo throughout the entire remix! By that I mean no expansion/contraction which was omnipresent in Razor Wind! For the most part good work! ...NEXT!! Thunder Crash Bass hangs slightly to the left which was off putting until I realized a few seconds in you were going for a live jazz band on a stage kinda thing. Nice work on selling that! Actually... is it a live band?! Surely a week is too short a time to detail such great humanization on all of these instruments...! Great remix! Regardless If you were able to write AND get a band together to practice this OR detail this much interpersonal energy with midi in a week is a real accomplishment!! ...Unless you are just a very competent keyboard player! NEXT!!! Crash of the Tornado Very funky! Dig the use of the strings throughout even if they could use some more detailing! Enjoyed this mix. Get back to me in a decade I might be able to vote on this matchup then! NEXXXTTT!!! Empty Desires Ah Shademan, my source for the first mega man comp I did back in the day. Allright I'm going to get real here. No gratuitous exclamation point use. Good that you subbed your WIP in the end. Only crit isthat outside of some really thick mud you had a very nice vibe going for what you had. Sort of reminds me of DJP's Marble Zone remix. what's it called... Love Hurts i think? If you do finish this send me the link because I'd like to hear what this ends up being. Drill Bits Very well developed remix! But it fades out...! And it only has one bass...!!! You know you need to layer those things right?!! NEXT!!

I know I'm going to lose but at least I got some constructive criticism. I'm not going to give up remixing but rather step up my game. How can I make my soundscapes better/less thin? Also I'm aware my signature Trance style isn't for everyone but I'm going to improve, not change myself completely.

please never let this die

Y tho?

My remix and remake of of Lake Floria, from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Based on Dr. Pez's guitar cover. This piece never actually really stood out to me in the game, however, I heard Dr. Pez's cover of it a few years ago and it's stuck with me ever since. Hope you can enjoy my take on it and find it relaxing! -Juke

You've got a knack for making really beautiful orchestral pieces! I love how romantic sounding this one is.

Hey man, sorry for the wait! ----- MOD REVIEW Phew, this sounds like a rather ambitious piece. Also, a mod review is generally for when you want to submit to OCR, just fyi. Summary The main things that I would keep in mind are: Each note in each instrument feels like a similar intensity, so the instruments feel robotic. Try to keep instruments playing their usual role, at least in this context. In this context, my suggestion is that, e.g. a bass should play bass, not "baritone", orchestral drums should play as orchestral drums, not rock drums, etc. Perhaps consider cutting out some parts of the arrangement, so that it flows better. I know you may be attached to some of it, but sometimes you gotta be more objective about it. There are some good things in this though: Props for writing something this long. It's hard to even think up something of this length. You have a pretty good structure, and nothing too much feels that out of place, besides the parts I mentioned. You do have drum variation, which distinguishes sections from each other. Arrangement Whenever I see a long piece like this, I consider whether the ideas still flow into each other, whether there are sufficient transitions, whether there is a dynamic progression, etc. Because I like to be able to figure out how a piece progresses, here's how my mind is trying to structure this based on what I hear. Maybe it'll help you decide what you may want to cut out, because this is quite long, with many ideas packed in, and can be condensed down. 0:00 - 0:35 = Intro 0:35 - 1:00 = Buildup/Verse (maybe?) 1:00 - 1:26 = Chorus? 1:26 - 1:46 = Slow Bridge 1:46 - 2:14 = Chorus 2 + Solo? Leads into breakdown 2:14 - 2:27 = Breakdown 2:27 - 2:41 = Big verse? 2:41 - 2:49 = ??? This doesn't feel like it fits here, because it's out of the key and sudden. 2:49 - 3:15 = Chorus 2 3:15 - 3:41 = Continuation, suggests winding down again. 3:41 - 4:15 = Dissonant proggy section? Perhaps try cutting this out to see what you think, as it seems to connect just fine without this in here, and it feels a bit out of place. 4:15 - 5:07 = Big verse again + drum variation 5:07 - 5:20 = Breakdown + more drums 5:20 - 5:34 = Chorus 2, meant to sound bigger 5:34 - 6:17 = Continuation to ending Production You seem to be fairly new at this, so it may be better if we focus on arrangement primarily. Nevertheless, I would say that most of the production weirdness is actually in the choice of sounds (in terms of what roles they are apparently playing, or doubling up on), and how robotic their note intensities are. Regarding the note intensities, they feel like they're mostly the same; an analogy is plunking on a piano with your fingers for the entire performance. They need humanization. A typical pianist would have phrasing, and in that phrasing, the note intensities have variation (randomness), and an arc (a flow or shape to it). This is hard to learn without learning an instrument in real life, but perhaps it will help to listen to how these differ: https://app.box.com/s/ndt9vz26mjhdul6sreqgkvf6eqlp2qfy (Robotic intensities) https://app.box.com/s/lr9nxha1zbg5vfcxufqqvuiz9vjnliyu (Robotic rhythm) https://app.box.com/s/pmwybgad4who5679p9xvuxdnnmqshas5 (Both) https://app.box.com/s/jjapuupib9zfypwoew1ecr31nlq8siw4 (Humanized) This probably fits better as an arrangement critique, but... it influences how you would produce it, so here are some examples of how certain instruments seem to be not playing their usual role, or seem to be playing in an uncomfortable range. 2:49 - 3:14 --- the bass seems to be playing pretty high, so it's not providing the low foundation that it typically would. 0:48 - 1:00 --- the lead there is pretty piercing, since it's playing fairly high notes, above its usual range. 1:00 - 1:24 --- the drums you are using (snare, timpani, ...) are made for orchestral music, but here they are playing the role of the double-time 1-2 kick/snare rock pattern. It is because of things like these that there is a lot of frequency clashing, particularly in the low-midrange (250 - 500 Hz or so). The range above the bass hits here, the range of the left-hand piano would hit here, rhythm guitars would hit here, etc. Lots of ways to clash, and you'd want to avoid that. Whenever the timpani plays as if it were a kick drum in a rock drum kit (0:35 - 1:26 is an example), that adds to the muddiness of the production. Besides the clutter due to instrument roles, also consider the clutter due to instrument count. I know it can be fun to keep adding and adding, but sometimes you gotta take out an instrument to leave room for another (call this competing for attention), and you gotta let the lead shine. An example of too much is 2:49 - 3:15, where everything competes for attention. ----- Conclusion Overall, unfortunately I would not believe this is going to pass the panel, if that was your plan. But it's a good starting point for improving. Good luck!

My, you've created something quite wonderful here. Where the heck were you when they were making the music for Breath of the Wild? The range of dynamics in this piece is downright poetic. You faithfully represent the source material all the way through while keeping it engaging. With little else constructive things to say, I say you have accomplished your goal of capturing the awe of a village of birdfolk nested in the mountains. Well done!

I might have fractured my rotator cuff this weekend, I could be out of commission for the competition, but I'll see if I need surgery, and I suppose I'll be ambidextrous this week in doing as much as I can! We'll have to see when voting closes as well.