Vig

i agree with what's been said. This isnt an unenjoyable track, but it's very straighforward and very bland. the groove is constant, and there's very little expansion. we need mooooore! NO

not bad, there are certainly some interesting textures here. Unfortunately the arrangement is a little too straightforward right now. The groove (drums/bass) stay constant through the whole thing, and a lot of the time there's little else going on besides the lead. I'd like to hear this done with a bit more expansion. NO

Some solo-piano remixers fall into ruts in which their remixes are all fairly straightforward, and all sound the same. Jon has always been a leader of the pack so to speak, in part because of his ability to stay fresh and creative while sticking to solo piano. His adaptation of Big Blue is no exception, offering an original, crisply recorded and well performed interpretation. YES

This is excellent. The synth programming is raw but subtle. The production is crisp and dynamic. The arrangement is dense and well-planned. Even the ending rocks. The whole track is tighter than, well...your mom. YES

Mustin: I'm not sure what you expect...i certainly commented that the strings weren't great, and yet I hardly followed with the conclusion that due to the string sample, the track is excluded from the set of "Good Music." In fact, quite the opposite. I think this track is awesome. This is obviously not the case in all corners of the community, but here at OCR we encourage our reviewers to include not only positive, but also critical comments. For me, the string sample is one of very few minor weakness in an otherwise stellar track.

the track is cool, the guitar playing is very slick, but larry's right, the production is very rough. lots of unintended crunch. all over the place. in addition to that,the arrangement is very straightforward and repetitive, and at 2:11, that means there arent lots of ideas. NO

alright so that midi sounds like poo, and for some reason it blew my ears off, but if the sequencing is similar to the original, i'd say this remix offers quite a lot. the instrumentation is actually fairly dense, and there is a lot of countermelody/counterharmony going on among the lead instruments. Very well sequenced, I think. Considering the size of the boat, I'd say the motion in the ocean is doing an excellent job compensating. There's a significant amount of variation in the arrangement, different instruments taking lead, trading off the countermelody. And even though the track is only 2 minutes, there's a complete dynamic progression. I don't really know what else could ask for. Sure it could be longer, but there's plenty here. The Beatles have tons of songs shorter than this. I agree that the tambourine could be quieter, but i really don't see that as a significant problem. Short but solid. YES

quite an enjoyable piece, if underexplored. the link to the original isnt working for me. someone hook me up?

Thumpy at the mid-low end. more balance is needed. I guess the main problem here is that the formula is the same for the whole song. Drums and bass play the same pattern all the way through, sections repeat, and they all sound the same. Needs to be a little more varied in composition. NO

The track is actually fairly enjoyable; the percussion is well-done, and some of the string parts are interesting. However, Zelda's lullabye is tacked onto what is essentially an original piece (well..except for the vocal samples). NO

I hate to quote a Weezer T-Shirt, but if it's too loud, turn it down. The only real criticisms I'm hearing are that the instruments sometimes mush, and that some of you dont really like the guitar tone. The lead guitar does kind of bug me, and it even sounds a bit flat to me. It's probably my imagination. There is a good deal of fuzz on the track as a result of all the distortion. The mix might sound better without it, but I don't see it as a huge issue. The rhythm guitars are actually pretty cool. the gating is sweet. The drum and bass sequencing kicks ass. The arrangement is concise and interesting. The production is obviously weaker than the arrangement/concept end, but the track sounds perfectly allright. We can all imagine a few tweaks that would clearly make this mix sound better, but that's not the same as saying that the track sounds unpassable as it is. We would be WAY too picky to reject this because of minor production flaws. YES

aiee the intonation on the saxes is rough...still a trouble spot. I enjoyed the composition...I think it would work really well if the saxes were in tune with each other. oh well. some great riffs from zyko. this sounds like it's half a song. doesnt work without the rest of it. NO

Life is wonderful, thanks to oxycodone. Unfortunately this mix has not yet reached it's maximum wonderful level. There is wonder left to be fullfilled. the delay on the piano is wierd...the bass part that comes in after a minute is pretty slick, but the arrangement is underdeveloped. what's here is somewhat wierd...in fact it makes me dizzy. idunno. What would maximize the wonderful in this mix? i think maybe coming up with some sort of...gameplan...making it more of an arrangement than a bunch of shit playing all over the place. yeah. NO

piano is mechanically sequenced...dynamics please. the strings dont sound great. there's something about the attack on the lead that is fairly clunky. the changes to the melody line are in poor taste in my opinion. Some of the arrangement decisions are actually very cool, however the sample quality and mechanical sequencing hold this thang back, jack. NO

I enjoy this track, but thanks to prescription medication, for the time being i enjoy everything. Looking at the big picture first, this track suffers from medleyitis...it's segments arent related or integrated well. There's no unified direction for the track. it sounds like three separate pieces. also, the arrangements are all rather conservative. on the smaller scale, some of the partwriting is akward. Other times the partwriting sounds great. It seems like on the whole there are some great harmonic ideas that just arent executed very well. I suppose it's close to the line though. NO

and what an adventurous remix it is! I can practically see he fairies and the mages and the..orcs and whatnot prancing around looking for a good time! The arrangement is solid if concise. The biggest problem is that the sequencing is too mechanical, the pace too constant. I'm pretty sure there are more hands than two playing this piano (not that this is a problem in and of itself). The dynamics certainly arent flat, but the dynamic changes tend to be broader, section by section, rather than note by note. With a piece this demanding I would really expect to hear a few retards in there. The only retards involved here are the ones voting on the mix. NO gotta do something about the piano sequencing.

Grungy. The eq lacks high-end. Need to make the leads punchier. On the arrangement side of things...it gets tiresome because of the constant 16th notes..No ideas are developed here. There are a few melodic themes that are rotated in and out, but there's really no progress made. think in terms of dynamic and compositional escalation. NO

Alright. The arrangement/composition here is easy pass, but the eq is a serious issue. The whole track is weak in the high-end. the only high frequencies we ever get are some gritty percussions. Pianos, flutes, other leads just dont cut through like they need to. Crank up the mid-hi on those fuckers. want to see it on, but can't pass it yet. NO

the instrumentation here reminds me of a lot of the old pc tracker OSTs. subtle and effective escalation, moody and groovy. The ending leaves a lot to be desired, but other than that this is solid stuff. YES

Cheers. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this mix quite a bit, just thought that one spot just pushed it over into "too sloppy" territory. I'm glad OCR will get to hear this.

entering day 3 of oxycodone-fueled post-surgery limbo, I feel like this track is aptly comparable to my state of consciousness: it makes very little sense, but it's really quite enjoyable. I don't think it's just the drugs talking. The parts jump around wildly, but everything is bound together in a wonderfully ethereal cerebro-aquatic goo. I can't even think of anything negative to say. SEY

okay, now actually listening to the mix rather than the original: the performance is....okay. This was recorded direct from the guitar, which explains the thin and dry tone. There's no processing on the track, and hence it's MONO! A lot of the arrangement ideas are interesting, but the mix is underdeveloped. The biggest problem/s is/are that the tone is both thin and muddy (figure that shit out), and that the performance is fairly sloppy, the arrangement underdeveloped. For the production, you're gonna need at least some kind of signal processing...EQ, amp sim, whatever. get to it. NO

this song is lacking in polish. obviously teh harp dont sound great, there are occasional iffy note choices, and the guitar line at 2:20 gets a giant WTF? for "Was That Flatulence?" However, i find this mix to be well concieved and adequately delivered. Some of the guitar lines are just beautiful, and while larry described it as a bit empty at times, I dont think this is a problem, in fact i think the minimalism is a positive thing. Wish the production were tighter, but good enough, i think YES

hmm...i like the composition, but there's a lot of mud in on the left hand...the lower notes are too close together. this should not be terribly difficult to remedy. just bring up one of the parts an octave...alternately you could try raising the whole thing a few steps and see how that sounds. there are some excellent arrangement ideas here even though the ending is weak, so i'd really like to see this pass. In order fo this to happen, plzplzplz space out the bottom end. NO