Vig

Sing in tune; play together. NO

some of the leads are nice, but DS is right...it loses steam. furthermore, those crunchy guitars are missing mid and low range freqs. the form is cool, but it more or less all sounds the same. i did a test and randomly skipped to different parts of teh song...they all sounded virtually the same. that would account for the lack of steam. mix it up a bit more, etc. and beef up the sound quality NO

hmm..this isnt bad...but it has some stylistic issues. the percussion is good, but the harmony instruments leave something to be desired. the acoustic guitar patch is hurting hurting hurthing me. it's not so bad in the intro, but in later sections it sticks out. the ending is very good. i think the problem with this mix is it has a good groove, but rather than escalating as it should, it patters off then repeats. There's no tension in this remix, but the verses are dying for it to grow into some snarling funk jam. i think it's fine to have some breaks, which are thrown in with just gutiar and drums or whatever, but it's anticlimactic that it never builds. i would have the first verse you have, then make it get MORE busy and more heavy, get heavier and heavier, THEN drop everything out have that guitar interlude. the dynamic curve of this remix doesnt look like a mountain, it looks like a flat road with occasional potholes, and the mix doesnt work on the ambient or background-music level. NO. Oh yeah, and the piano solo was kinda akward sounding. tighten it up.

how is this a complaint against this remix? how is this his fault?

Ah this is much better. the beginning is still tense, although i would change those warbly synths used in the lead in the beginning. the transition right before the 2 minute mark is oh so sweet. very subtle and yet very profound. ah but what's this? the section around 3 minutes isnt so great...that brass sounds really cheap. i think this section is greatly underdeveloped. the brass is too loud and ugly, and the section dies off too fast. it ought to come to a climax, which it doesnt. then it ought to resolve. which it doesnt. feels like the whole ending is unfinished still. if it were me, i would expand on the orchestral feel of the last section and maybe use the string section to give it a march feel. then maybe throw on some completely random electric guitar from other games or something. at any rate, want to yes it, but cant yet. NO

Still a definately cool groove and a great sound. the form is much better now, the arrangement is great. except the ending. lazy fade out. this mix could be really good. it's frustrating, because there are maybe two things holding the mix back, and i can HEAR it in my head what it ought to sound like. the biggest problem is still the piano comping. i remember in the last version it was too simple...whole notes, if i recall. well now it's kinda at the other end of the spectrum. it's rhythmically repetitive and frantic. it sounds mechanical. if you care i would be happy to record a quick piano part to show you what i mean, because the mix sounds good and it's really cool. i want to hear this completely realized. not yet. NO

definately pretty close to a rip. the melody repeats with little rearrangment. Some of those chord changes are highly suspect, tho the original is pretty suspect too. The lead is grating, you ought to tone it down a bit. i'd just use a different instrument. it repeats, but it never really develops harmonically. needs some depth, via another harmony instrument. please change the lead. NO

the first half of this mix is really scattered. it's dying for some brush drums. the sound quality hurts throughout, the sax is sequenced unrealistically, as is the vibrophone later into the mix. i dont know what that instrument is supposed to be that plays the chords.. i like it's subtlety, and the chord voicings are good. but again the first half is just all over the place rhythmically. the tempo changes dont work well. might have been better with drums. once the drums come in the mix is much better. the vibe solo is sweet, although it plays faster than any vibe player i've ever heard, in some riffs. i think soundquality should be bumped up, and the first half of the remix should be more organized. give it drums or something. NO

it sounds rich, there's lots of subtlety, there's lots of texture. just really pretty solid overall. plenty of variation and all that good stuff. great percussion and vocals. lots of YES

the groove is pretty cool. this could be really good, but there are some production issues, the vox should be compressed and turned up. i cant hear them well. other than that, i think it should be longer, go into a solo or something, write a chorus, etc. close, but not yet. NO

the intro is bad. it sounds rhythmically off, the strings play wholetones, ick. so, here's the thing: the sax playing is really good. unfortunately, theres not much of a remix beneath it. it's more or less a drumloop, and a very simple rhythm section repeated underneath an admittedly kickass sax solo. this just isnt enough. gotta be more arrangement than that. NO. but if i need sax in the future, i'll know where to go.

there are some interesting ideas in this mix. i think the piano works well. the intro is good. unfortunately some aspects of the mix are akward. as soon as instruments other than piano come in, it's clear that the piano is too loud. the piano is playing a rhythm line, but it's the most prominent instrument by far. the string thing playing the recognizable schala riff is quite ugly. liberties taken with the riffs and melody work well. the drums are kinda akward, when everything drops out to solo piano again, it seems like an akward thing to do. kills the momentum of the remix. the drums come back in and again sound kind of bare...the strings in the back should be an octave higher, and play more notes. more complex harmonies plz. I think the main problem with this mix is organization. there's no flow, instruments come in and drop out at seemingly random intervals. i think some nice strings could also do a lot in some sections. something to fill up the mid frequencies. NO

GM sounds are just not good enough. other than that, the mixer makes some alterations to the chord progression of the song that sound odd at best, although "completely random" is more likely. NO

definately one of the cleanest metal remixes we've heard at OCR. everything comes thru loud and clear. well recorded, well played. The arrangement is relatively straightforward but it has plenty of curveballs and variation. gripes include the rhythmic change made to the melody in the fifth bar. i just dont think it works. also i wish the guitar tone during the solo were a bit thicker. not quite so much reverb, perhaps. YES

this is not the kind of remix we accept. Videogames, PLZ NO

i thought the dynamics were decent. didnt get as soft as it could have, but the velocity values are hardly all the same. the bigger problem in my mind is that the playing is obviously sequenced and quantized. i think it would have been better with a more natural feel.

first half exactly the same as the original, minus any dynamics. i had no problem with the "original" material. seems to me it's just a piano solo. maybe one or two altered chords. there just isnt any subtlety to the remix. work on changing the velocity on the piano, and dont make any of the sections verbatim. NO

so yeah...the bass is uber-cheesy. but the groove is...uh...i think the technical term is "kickin'" and as ususal, Prot manages to make fake electric guitars sound like "not ass". sorry for all the technical terms. the solos are excellent, and the leads blend together and transition exceptionally. There are occasions when i wish the organ played more complex chords that didnt mirror the melody. the mix is dying for a good rhythm organ part. the mix does well enough without, although i tend to feel like the mix is lacking in the harmony department. comping needed. Some things i would have done differently, but on the whole it's quite solid. "YES"

those pads are far too prominent. the lead in the intro is quite grating. my overall feeling on this mix, is it's a little too...simple. it often relies on a very limited instrumentation, and there isnt enough subtlety to allow such minimalism. It's also quite repetitive with relatively little development. the end comes out of nowhere. the body feels slapped together, the intro and end seem slapped-on. needs more subtlety in the arrangement. perhaps a B section? NO

i suspected as much. think it's deserving of a NO OVERRIDE?

hmm. i'm kinda borderline on this one. i think the two-piano setup was a positive decision, i think the mix benefits from the extra hands. the first part is great. it also has little if anything to do with the original. the mix as a whole seems more creative and inspired than many of the sound-alike piano mixes from other unnamed mixers we hear. my qualm is that i think the second section might have sounded better if rather than two pianos, the mixer had used one piano and a heavy string section. Furthermore, it sounds very sequenced, and somewhat unnatural. would have been better without quantization. I dont think this adds up to no. so have a YES

there are lots of thigns that work, diverse instrumentations, good grooves. what bothers me is that it's a bit repetitive. it's 3:20 and it more or less just runs thru the form twice. i'll come back to it. Edit: so maybe it's just to happy for my tastes. i think it's an entirely solid arrangement and the recording sounds good. YES

I thought the arrangement was good, if straightforward. i think some better samples, maybe some reverb and chorus, could go a long way towards beefing up the sound. the guitar particularly hurts. NO

yeah...one of your buddies definately signed on. apart from that, the minimalist violin works, but the string section doesnt. decide whether you're gonna put more structure in or not, because the string section at the end doesnt make any sense. NO

so yeah...this certainly has some...creative elements. however i think the work done with the theme is very minimal. the track rests on the jarring percussion or whatever that is. it certainly qualifies as a unique audio creation, but musically it doesnt have anything going for it. certainly interesting, but not what OCR is looking for. NO