Vig

The samples are hurting in some places more than others...the strings in particular. also it sometimes sounds to me like the melody just keeps repeating and repeating. difficult to break seeing as the original is only 16 bars long (plus bridge). however the arrangement gets more and more interesting as the song goes, and the performance is excellent, great voicings, chord choices, etc. wish the samples were better, and i think it could benefit from a bit of original material in between the (very numerous) verses. YES

not bad, the two problems that stick out for me are 1. oversimplified chord progression. after the second phrase of the melody, you switch back to the first chord instead of going to the third. sounds lame. 2. simple arrangement. follows the melody rather predictably, the rhythm section is incredibly repetitive. particularly the bassline and that retriggered saw pad. NO

mono!!~ some of the intervals on the left hand are too close together and they sound muddy. aside from this, the biggest problem is that the arrangement is predictable. there are no unconventional rhythms...it's fairly predictable arpeggiated 8th notes. make it more rhythmically interesting and watch your range. NO

MONO OUCH the arrangement isnt bad, if a bit plodding. but you really need to stereofy. NO

this mix has a number of things going for it. some of the riffs are pretty cool. here's what's going against it: the instruments are generic and similar. (saw pad vs saw lead, etc). the instruments arent particularly subtle or interesting. the leads are monotonous, and the pads are boring. the passages are cool, but very repetitive and monotonous. they are also rather separated. there's little continuity between them. the section around 3:30 has lots of really bad dissonances between the pads and the lead. the chord progression just doesnt make any sense. so NO

okay...first of all..the intro has absolutely nothing to do with the body of the track. the body of the track is waaaay too repetitive. the track is generally thin, with only a few instruments playing at a time. but ow it's SOOOO repetitive. NO BTW: naming this track after benzos is entirely inappropriate. Benzos are relaxants.

dont we vote on this remix every year? still sounds like generic trance that just happens to have schala over it. The foundation of the song isnt bad..definitely generic and not terribly creative, but it's not bad. but really schala is just slapped on. playing the melody at double speed doesnt sound...good. but that's just subjective. It's time to expand your bag of tricks. NO

... ... Holy crap. NO

woah...the intro...those drum fills sound ridiculously out of place. as the song starts, the piano parts are too fast. the whole song sounds manic, and there's no dynamic break. the whole song sounds maybe 30 bpm too fast. disjointed and akward. NO

this is very straightforward....very little subtlety. everything about it is pretty generic, and nothing about it is particularly creative. more creativity please. NO

The track sounds very thin...sounds like there's more high end than winamp would suggest. 1:30 drums come in...uuugly. the samples arent good, and they arent well processed. serious mixing and EQ need to happen before anything else. NO

damn, i wrote a vote and lost it due to my own distractability. the gyst of it is that the sounds are generally very dry and thin. on top of that the arrangement is rather repetitive. there are some decent ideas here, but better execution is needed to pass. NO

not bad, although not very subtle. There is a lot of rhythmic repetition. most of the instruments play a repetitive groove under the melody. i'd like to hear each part have a more living role in the song. the larger problem is the medleytits or whatever. the songs are decently composed, but there's virtually no development on any of them. NO

who the hell is shane? odd that the bass is panned left. This isnt one of my favorite shnabubula tracks; i dont think it's as texturally rich as some of his other pieces. However the arrangement is undeniably sophisticated and enjoyable, and the chops are very tight. good stuff as usual. although perhaps "usual" isnt a word that appropriately describes sam. YES

what i remember about the warcraft soundtrack is that it wasnt terribly memorable. i know this track. the synths are a little too grainy and too simple. there are about a million saw waves at some points. a lot of the time the mix relies on a melody and the beat. thicken it out. NO

very interesting. live harp sticks out, but not in a bad way. The intro is actually very sweet. I love it up to :30, when it gets way too bare. the piano is too dry, the shaker thing is too dry, and the performance sounds sloppy. This is a consistent problem. Everything is dry. clippage at 1:45. I really like the live mishmash instrumentation you have here. Tighten up the performance, mix it a little more smoothly, and fill out the sound in some places. NO

From the beginning this is sounding underthought and oversimplified. :34 OUCH note in the strings, repeated a few bars later. the turnaround starting around 1:00 is pretty cool, the song becomes more dynamic at this point. The drums are consistently quite...out of place, in my opinion. The composition and dynamics of the song get consistently better as the song progresses. It actually has me interested, although the ending is quite weak. I'd say the first thing to do with this is seriously rethink the drums. they are akward and too busy most of the time. The second thing is to choose slightly more interesting or contrasting instruments. what you are using all has lots of verb, and a relatively simple sound. mix it up. but the composition is quite good at this point. good job. NO

First off, the synths you use are fantastic. really rich sounds. The atmosphere created is very enjoyable. The problem with this mix, as Larry Oil says, is that the arrangement is rather conservative. there's really nothing new going on aside from the beat, and the structure follows the original very closely. you've got a great atmosphere and instrumentation, use that to your advantage and build off it, making the mix more complex and original. NO

This is hot stuff. I dont mind the sax at all, in fact, the phrasing is pretty damn good. the groove is tight, the production is super-crisp. The solos stand out, the arrangement is always presenting something new. altogether a very well-constructed piece. YES

This arrangement is very dense. Lots going on, lots of well-executed transitions. A little rough around the edges, but the core of the track is solid. Unfortunately very little to do with the original. NO

Wow...that string lead is very loud. too loud. It just sounds harsh right now, and it exposes the weakness of the sample. Later around 2:30 the sample sounds really bad because it doesnt have a fast enough attack for the part it's playing. When the strings and the guitar are playing similar parts, the guitar is drowned out. I'm also not thrilled about the drums. They are kept in the background, and the rock groove doesnt fit so well with the more mellow instrumentation. The drums sound like an afterthought. I'd consider doing something simpler with the drums, like using a hand drum sample and keeping it simple. The arrangement is pretty good; I feel like it could be a minute or two shorter. It's pretty good; Mainly those few mechanical things need fixing. NO

Reminder to all judges that you arent supposed to fall through a song unless you think it has a decent chance of passing. with that in mind, i dont know which dance genre this falls under, as the beat jumps in and out randomly. the bells are spastic yet repetitive. as is the arrangement. the saxophone is performed sloppily, and holy crap is it out of tune. the arrangement realy goes nowhere. NO

the guitar intro is terrible. weak sound and very sloppy. it sounds especially bad compared to the rest of the song, which sounds significantly better. The rest of the song is very solid. The vocals are cool with me, the arrangement is simple but solid. this is perfectly acceptable pop-rock or "adult contemporary", or whatever the crap they call it. NO for the love of god get rid of or fix the intro.

there's a constant state of distortion on this mix. it's terrible. i guess it's mostly on the guitar. drop the levelz plz. the performance is pretty cool, the arrangement could be more liberal. please mix the instruments better. NO

not bad for a first mix. the drums need to be changed sometimes. and/or built on more. at this point, the only instrument that is actually playing different notes is the string section. and this is playing a different note only every 10 seconds or so. it's okay to have such a slow progression, but you really need to put something else on top of the strings, like perhaps a soloist. it doesnt need to be obtrusive, but it needs something going on to keep my interest. also, the sections are really akward the way they are completely separated. NO