Leaderboard

Definitely quirky! I think the highlights for me were the copious uses of funny fx like at 1:40 with the phone and the... flexitone?? This ride was a little trippy, a little bit of a throwback, and a little weird. Maybe that was the point.

I have also done some preliminary tests using an onion instead of a potato and it shows great promise. Because the onion (unlike the potato) consists of concentric rings, it is possible to stab it just the right way with 1/4" instrument cables such that the tips occupy the same ring and conduct along that ring selectively. The membrane that exists within the interstitial space between onion rings acts somewhat like an insulator such that the sleeve(s) of the cable are able to ground together without interrupting the signal of the tip as much as the potato. Future recordings using 3 electric guitars as a microphone will incorporate both the potato for its natural distortion and amplification qualities, as well as the onion for its tonal quality. And I do love good quality onion rings...

Much improved Mel! This has a lot more of your personality cutting through in all the details and texture, I have no reservations now. Your arrangement always took two sources that were a natural fit and gave them space to bounce off of each other, but now the sound design and detail work makes it feel all the more special and cared for. YES

The drum beat is still repetitive, but it is mixed better so the trap hats aren't so loud and prominent. The drum beat itself sounds groovier with the extra kick hits added. The balancing of instruments is much better here, and the sound design is improved quite a bit, this soundscape sounds full and luscious. I love the vocal clips in the breakdown section, nice addition, it adds emotion to the piece (I'm a sucker for well-used vocal clips). There is a wash of distortion over the soundscape during a good portion of this mix that I'm not a fan of, but it adds movement to the atmosphere of the piece, and it is not a dealbreaker for me (I predict Larry will complain about this!). The mixing still isn't perfect, but this is a significant improvement and I'm happy to pass it now. YES

my previous vote on this primarily focused around the mastering issues and that there wasn't enough unique perspective on each track (ie. the focus was more on the original's positives instead of the arrangement's positives). i don't remember how the piece sounded though, it was too long ago. opens with filtered arps coming in - i like the wind sounds coming in here. the bass comes in with a martial feel around 0:12, and i think that the lead and countermelodic instrument have some nice movement on them. i can hear the schala arp behind it too which is a fun precursor. drums and other stuff that comes in at 0:36 is also neat. the hornet-adjacent lead add is a neat idea - having it have such a short sustain is a positive so it doesn't take up the entire soundscape. there's some subtle gating that starts 0:53 that i think is intentional and not limiter pumping - if so it should be a bit more obvious so that it's clear it's not unintentional. it's a cool effect. there's a break right at the 1:00 minute mark that functions as a nice dovetail. schala theme comes in at 1:18. the beat here is nice and reminiscent of the ethnic percs that are throughout CT's soundtrack, and the constant varying of elements helps the slower tempo and schala's slower pace of the melody. there's another cool transition involving gating, and we're into some VO stuff. 2:30 is the return of the Terra b theme, this section felt a little lacking in direction. i didn't like all of the countermelodic elements (some are not quite voiced well enough to feel normal), and the turbo-pan thing going on was a little much on headphones. i also felt it was lacking energy coming out of the VO break, at least partially because the bass was often not on the root. 3:03 brings back schala (and the iconic ascending harp scale) - initially pretty low energy still, but quickly escalating via a variety of percussive and synth elements. i don't know if stacking the bass with the melody works in this section, but it's an interesting change. after this is the outro, which wanders a bit through the schala arp until it hits the final notes, and then it's done. this is a vast improvement over the last version. there's a ton of variety and added content here from when i last heard it, and the mix is a lot better too. i think it lacks a bit of energy in the back half and wanders a bit more, but i love the feel of the first half and the overall track does a great job navigating these two monumental originals. great work. YES