Harmony

lol, you can't call your own attempt commendable. You've gotta let someone else do that

Good work Mike. The build up through 1:39 was very dynamic and the drop in momentum to the intro of the source at 1:40 worked to the song’s credit. In the context of a remix however, a 1:40 intro with a classic paint-by-numbers trance intro that has little to do with the source is not going to cut it. Considering that the source itself is repetitive and not very melodic, every available second of this mix needs to be used for expansion and reinterpretation. After 1:40 I simply hear the theme repeated at the same tempo, in the same key, from a few various synths. We’d love to hear more of your own style here Mike so more original melody or something to break the standard monotony would be great. Man that 909 snare fill starting at 2:05 is really plain. Why not layer it with something or EQ it so we can’t tell it’s just the default 909? In general though, I don’t have a problem with many of the synths. They’re generic but most of them fit the style. Unfortunately even if you’re the best chef in the world, if you use generic ingredients to bake a cake, you end up with a generic cake. NO

Exactly. In the past I’ve been jumped on for calling a mix “generic trance,” but this is not necessarily a bad thing in general. Good generic trance can be good but it’s going to be hard to pass anything like it because by definition it requires little creativity on the part of the mixer. That being said, this mix is pretty blah. Take 2:28-2:42 and 4:32-4:58 for example. The muffled bass and relatively weak kick alone are not interesting enough to justify 40 seconds of solo time. I would have also liked to hear some more interesting drumwork. What's here isn't bad but it feels very repetitive. The lead synths aren't too terrible and I think with more creative FX processing and the right supporting elements, they could be cool. Needs more spice: Creative EQ work on the drums/bass, more engaging percussion sequencing, more elements in sparse sections, some dynamic contrast (even given the genre), and a pinch of paprika couldn’t hurt. Keep working at it. NO

Very nicely done Evinid. Production and performance of the live instruments is good, especially that hella smooth bass. I do hear the track hiss cutout around 2:39 so don’t forget to fade the live instrument clips to prevent this from being as obvious. Good quality drum samples and although somewhat repetitive, the fluid sequencing has a good groove that allows it not to seem as such. The snare and toms could use some reverb. The intro is strange. The first e. piano chord at 0:08 isn’t in the same key as the rest of the melody which makes for an awkward entrance of the bass. Change that chord to something more relevant to the rest of the piece and you’ll have a pretty chill intro. Breakdown at 1:37 is cool but I could have gone for a different lead synth. Something more acoustic (maybe a return of the e. piano from the intro) would have been nice. The transition out of this section at 2:39 is ok but seems too sparse. That bass solo was nice though. As much as I’m digging the performance and production, the arrangement is where this suffers. The melody is played pretty much straight from the source and the backing groove isn’t expansive enough to give it arrangement cool points. As Larry mentioned, the arrangement picked up towards the end but never really developed much. Where was that flute for the first half of the mix man? I hear the bass/pad chord mismatch that Jesse mentioned. Bring that bass note up a half step. Done. Not particularly noteworthy really. Very enjoyable and I’ll be keeping this version but I hope that you can find some time to work on expanding the interpretation of the original and submit a reworked version. NO (Please Resubmit)

Why am I loving this old-timey prospector source tune so much? Good stuff. Some of the pieces in this mix are nice. The drum loop has potential, there’s some limited yet purposeful panning of the lead synth at 0:14-0:55, and some attempts have been made at applying some interesting effects like the flange on the synths. There’s also a really expansive pad that I like that comes in at 0:41. As a whole though this mix comes out sounding pretty flat and underdeveloped. Beef up your sounds with some selectively applied EQ, better separation of some of the background elements and possibly a compressor or other effect on the drum loop. I’m with the other judges on the arrangement. For a source tune that I really enjoyed, this didn’t seem like much of an improvement and in many parts, the source tune was lost altogether. This is a fun mix but needs a good amount of work for it to really take off. Hit the WIP forum for more feedback and keep working at it. NO

That bassline is killing things here. Yeah, the source bass is doing the repetitive distorted near-drone thing but that shouldn’t have been carried over to the mix. I must also stress that the random ascending buzzy synth that we first hear at 0:30 is not cool. It could have been worked into the mix in a creative way but the way it’s used here is similar to the original which is far from a good thing. In general the synths were too buzzy to extend throughout the entire mix as they did. Some of the cooler parts of the mix were where smoother instruments join the party (1:31, 3:27,…) The beats didn’t carry much momentum. Try not to overwhelm the drum track with so much snare work. I think the best percussion in the mix comes at 3:27 when the elements are more sparse and it is much easier to feel the rhythm. Tempo changes were ok but overdone. It would have been an amazing thing to hear a great arrangement of this source so I’ll say good effort. For now, keep working at it. NO

Whoa I like a lot of the ideas on the drum track. There’s some really trick stuff going on with the hi-hats/snares (0:46-0:53, 3:07-3:19), we’ve got tight cuts (0:53, 1:19, 4:00,…) and plenty of percussive variety throughout. The percussion is also well integrated with the melodic elements which helps them make the arrangement spicy. Some of the percussion is bass heavy for my tastes but it’s not completely overwhelming. The sparse section from 0:27-0:53 I thought was strange and worked only marginally well at introducing the rest of the track. Some sections aren’t quite there yet. I’ve been waiting to hear some Wy0StarFox guitar but the live guitar is too far back and gets swallowed by the bass which is too loud (also at 1:47-2:27, 2:40-3:06) and isn’t that good of a sample. Also, the harmony at 2:55, around 3:31, and a few other places is odd. I’d solo two or three elements at a time and make sure the harmonies that are created are the ones that you’re after and are also pleasing. Production in general is loud, high and muddy. All of these problems can probably be fixed with global EQ but more individual attention to the track levels, the high frequencies on the percussion and the combined lows of the strings, kick and bass would be a much better approach to fixing this mix’s mastering. This is a good effort but I think a rework/resub would be the best call here. Keep working at it. NO (Please Resubmit)

The mastering is done relatively well here. This mix has a nice full sound to it that can elude a lot of first-time mixers. Production in general is pretty plain though as has already been said. With a track whose melody changes very little like this, a lot more engaging processing is required to keep things interesting. The bg synth with the cut/res sweep that starts at about 0:22 and returns later on is good example of type of thing that a lot of the other elements need to give them some depth. The source tune “Battle with the MetaKnight” has some interesting panning/FX to inspire you, so take a closer listen then open up the FX bag-o-tricks and go wild…tastefully wild of course. Good idea layering the synth guitar with other synths but I think Zircon is right that it might be good to swap that lead guitar for something else. Expressively, the guitar is pretty flat and a lot of processing would be required to spice it up. The kicks are dreadfully weak when they are exposed at 2:21. For a section like that where a solid low foundation is what you’re after either up the low EQ on them, add an effect that will thicken them up (reverb for example) or simply bring up the volume. I hear the two sources but I don’t think that they are arranged particularly well. I feel like I’m missing the best parts of each source like the really cool lead synth from “Battle with MetaKnight” and the break down of “Taking Over the Halberd” which if included (in a more complete form than is already done) would introduce a more interesting chord structure in your mix and kill some of the monotony. Not bad but a good amount of tweaking and arrangement still needs to be done to make this track shine. Keep working at it. NO

I agree with what’s already been mentioned in terms of arrangement. There are some nice melodic additions here but not enough to support 5:25. I can’t say that it’s repetitive because there’s a good amount of variety throughout, but there are no major changes that prevent the mix from feeling like its dragging. In addition to more dramatic melodic/dynamic changes you might also work on improving the simple 3-note bassline that’s present throughout much of the mix (0:00-1:02, 2:32-3:36,…) Also consider making some element(s) of the percussion a little more steady. The beat is really groovy and rich but it feels choppy and doesn’t seem to gather any momentum to carry me through the piece. A steady quarter-note ride or an eight-note closed hi-hat might help. I would tone down the lows on this mix by decreasing the volume of the kick and possibly the bass. Very nice guitar work but I would also knock out some of its lows. These fixes would help the soundfield to sound less muffled and cluttered. The pizz strings seem very dry to me, especially in their appearance at 2:53 when they aren’t masked by anything. However, combined with the brass swells and the rhythmic birds, I like the variety that they create in the mix. All-in-all, good stuff with a good beat and a chill vibe. Just work on the arrangement issues mentioned, clean up the production and presto! Great mix. NO

Some of the percussion work sounds like early 90s throwback R&B and I’m really digging its deceptively simple style accented by tons of FX and subtle variety (such as the introduction of the ride at 1:30). Whereas the source is completely repetitive, the theme driven sections of this mix morph and evolve allowing a lot of really cool creative stuff to be packed into 2:51. I agree that some of the additive elements, especially near the beginning, didn’t work as well as they could have, even given the “weird” groove that the mix is after. The pitch bends on the organs and synths were interesting but there were points when I felt that the dissonance didn’t work to the tracks credit (0:11, 0:22, 0:25). After 0:30 though I thought everything was spot on. The lead elements all occupied very clear places on the soundstage which made for enjoyable and intentional harmony clashes. In addition we have seamless transitions to much more traditional melodic sections with some slick cross-panned synths that still manage to hold remnants of the source’s off-the-beaten-melodic-path vibe (1:20, 2:26). IMO, the lead at 2:06-2:26 is amazingly groovetastic and works wonders with the feel of the source. Fade-out on a 2:51 track was a letdown I must say. I was looking for a dissonant auditory assault for the end so my expectations may be getting the best of me. I feel that the additions to the source in the form of creative expansion of the rather sparse original elements, coupled with superb execution and plenty of original melodies justifies the close adherence to the source structure. Great work Mazedude. YES

Oh snap, first ReMix project featured on VGDJ and remixers are dropping left and right. What up wit dat!?

Lovin' the remixer interviews. Hope you guys are able to get a lot more of those for the upcoming shows. #002

Firstly, that’s a great submission e-mail. From the interesting inspiration section to the arrangement breakdown, the e-mail gets a YES. Moving to the mix, I agree that 4/4 to 5/4 can be a difficult transition sometimes. Thematically I think the switch has been pulled of relatively well. The major distractions IMO are the sloppy performance and the muddy mixing. Jesse’s comments on the performance weren’t overblown. Certainly don’t 100% quantize everything, but use some discretion as to what needs to be quantized and by how much. The muddiness is really easy to fix with a little equalizer and levels work. The toms in the drum solo at 3:06 are a good example of an element that needs some of it’s low EQ taken out. The bass is the major element that needs to be kept in check, especially during it’s brief solo at 3:44, but it’s not helped by the piano which is lacking mid-high frequencies. I like the piano sample though. It’s very Take-Fiveish. Cool concept and I hope that after a little more practice and some time in the WIP and ReMixing forums the Mega Man bosses can get together again and really jazz it up. NO

This is gonna be a NO based on lack of arrangement. Although you can get all kinds of help in the ReMixing and WIP forums I’ll mention here that the levels are not well managed in many sections. In general, the lead synths are too far back in the mix. Because of the overwhelming bass, 2:57-3:10 sounded like I was listening to the mix on a radio station with lots of static. 4:05-5:26 the bass completely drowns out the other much more interesting elements. There are similar problems with 5:26-5:47 except there, the drums do a good portion of the drowning-out. Get a handle on the levels and practice creative arrangement and you’ll turn out much better work. NO

Not much to add to what the other judges have said. The sample quality, production and level of arrangement aren't strong enough to support this repetitive of a mix. Summarily: needs lots of spice. Stop by the WIP and ReMixing forums for some helpful arrangement and sample processing advice and keep working at it. NO

Since it’s been brought up, this mix sounds like it has the makings of a fugue, having distinct thematic introduction and development, but there are plenty of deviations from the classical norms. That says nothing of my feelings on this mix however as I enjoyed it for the most part. I’m not so opposed to the pedal drone at 2:18. I think it’s the dry and uninteresting way that the drone section concludes that leaves it feeling disjointed from the rest of the mix and in the end, unnecessary. Arrangement was marginal at best. Some of the original sections were wonderful (1:20-1:29, 2:53-end) but the thematic sections did not achieve any great level of creative rearrangement. At any rate I agree with Gray that the audio glitches on the organ sample need to be cleaned up before this one passes. Hopefully that's not too big of a problem. Consider what’s been suggested, clean it up and send it back. NO (Please Resubmit)

Interesting intro. IMO, the key changes from 0:12-0:28 were simplistic (marching up the A-minor scale) and served as a pretty poor indicator of the beautiful chord progressions and key changes that followed with the rest of the mix. When the same progression returns later it works because there are more elements to create plenty of interesting harmonies. However like Larry, I’m inclined to appreciate the intro for its rearrangement of the chord progression rather than the main melody. After 1:37 I enjoy how the main melodies of the source gradually make their way into the mix. The guitar and the piano work well together at 3:30-4:07 and the subtle percussion that enters at 4:07 is a nice touch that helps the gradual build that occurs throughout the song. The delayed piano notes at 4:03, 5:37 don’t work as well in this mix as they do in the source. It’s something of a distraction for me but the dissonance is resolved soon enough. From 5:05 through the end things start coming unglued. The “guitar player” sounds tired and the harmonies in places are marginal and this is the major contributor to the borderline status of my vote. This was a pleasant listen and for the most part I feel that the length was justified by the arrangement of the source through the first 1:37 followed by a good build to a pleasant resolution. I wish the encoding were a little better as well. Borderline YES

The arrangement ideas and many of the sounds are pretty nice for midi quality stuff. I especially like the flute sequencing from 2:30-end. However, the problems that have already been mentioned are keeping this mix from shining. After the key change at 1:30 the chromatic percussion repeatedly hits bad notes in addition to clashing with the music box sample which hits all of its notes. As Gray mentioned, the choir attacks should be more gradual. If you can’t physically change them (as if you’re only using basic midi editing capabilities) then you might try building attacks by having each choir note be a series of notes of the same pitch that gradually increase in velocity from zero to the final note velocity. This might not work on the faster choir sections but it would certainly eliminate the mechanical choir sounds at 1:23 for example. Hit the ReMixing and WIP forums for more help Slightly repetitive but it’s not detrimental to this short mix. Good midi grade mix but put in some work to take it beyond the limitations of the medium. NO

Not bad but it’s not very engaging. As things are, the intro synths don’t have much life at all and are in dire need of some spicier processing. The beat that comes in at 0:54 is ok, but again it’s flat and it also varies very little throughout the rest of the track. The pitch bends on the lead synth starting at 1:28 bring some much needed captivating energy to the mix. Unfortunately, after their introduction they simply repeat along with many of other elements of this mix. Sounds like FL defaults for the most part (Sytrus perhaps?), which isn't necessarily bad but I agree with Israfel; a little practice and you should be good Chrispy. This is a nice first effort though. You shouldn't forget the WIP forum for helpful mixing advice and you also shouldn't forget to keep working at it. NO

Individual elements, like the pads and the synth with the theme at 1:04 are really nice and have plenty of potential but the mixing, processing and arrangement is sloppy in general. The bass and the drums are absolutely dry (and quiet) which doesn’t mesh well with the reverbed and delayed synths. The lead synth at 1:19 is either off-tempo or pulls an awkward transition, pads at 2:00 and 2:33 play some odd notes, and there’s a classic midi note cutoff at 2:14. That last one really bothers me because I know that had you listened to this song as much as you should before submitting it you would have caught that and other slip ups. Interpretation isn’t really there either as most of what I hear is the original with something of a beat behind it. This needs plenty of remixing care and a lot of spice. The WIP and ReMixing forums are certainly great places to start so don’t be discouraged and keep working at it. NO

Enjoyable listen and an interesting atmospheric take on the source but as has already been said, the sparse elements really don’t gel like they should and as a result, the arrangement suffers. A few sound quality issues also work against this mix. The shrill violin (0:47, 2:42,…) wouldn’t seem as harsh if it meshed well with the other darker instruments like the piano. Here it is totally out of place. Also, although I can’t identify the problem sample, the abrupt cutoff of the sample’s static is distracting at points like 0:08, 1:48-2:36. Good work but needs polishing to get it to shine. NO

The Main Zelda theme in the intro was pretty cool and so was the haunted-mansion vibe piano work. The jazzy section starting at 1:01 has the potential to be really nice. The drum pattern was intricate and set a great mood. That chill e. piano, the sharp rimshots, the bass and the organ definitely hit the spot as well. Unfortunately, the loud hi-hat is swallowing a lot of the other instruments, including the very timid snare. Not a bad section however and I liked the FX transition at 1:43. I’m struggling to hear the right panned synth string with the theme from 1:43-2:07. Similarly, the lead synth is way too loud from 2:12 – 3:06. All of the pad and background work is washed out and from what I hear it’s really beautiful. Also, sounds like that conga strike at 3:06 is early. The modulation on the flute at 3:49 sounds strangely cool. I likes. In general though, the velocities on the flute notes starting at 3:07 are pretty shifty. They go from a reasonable level to very quiet at seemingly random intervals which is killing me because again this laid back section has such potential, especially with the interesting bg FX and instrumentation. I’ve got similar level issues with 4:22-5:06. The lead organ and the drums dominate the other elements a little more than they should and that harp is too nice to be that far in the background. I’ve got no beef with the arrangement. Nice ambient/jazzy take on the source with a nice weird factor from the well placed FX. I’m digging the other Zelda material thrown here and there as well. My major issue is the disparate levels that I think seriously take away from what should be a very cool mix. I don’t think much work needs to be done to bring this up to par so please work on the minor issues mentioned Bev and resubmit. NO (Please Resubmit)

Good creative spin on an incredibly repetitive source. The basic melody is accounted for with plenty of original material mixed in to keep things fresh. As a matter of preference, I think the key change back to F at 2:37 is odd and not really necessary. Loved the switch up at 2:10 though. Along with transitions like 1:34, 1:54, 2:28 I think a good amount of dynamic contrast was created. Unfortunately a lot of it is masked by some of the more repetitive elements in the mix, i.e. the drums and the strings playing the theme. I’m glad that this mix is kept short and sweet but with the lack of variation in the basic drum pattern, plodding is the only word to describe the feel. Sample quality wasn’t hot but it worked to a degree. The percussion and the synth strings have that SoundBlaster default vibe to it that’s not really distracting but it could be improved upon. The piano is really shrill and could also be substituted. The bass…whoa there’s no bass! As a result I think much of the mix feels a little hollow and not as powerful as it should. Even something subtle would help. Audio glitch at 2:57 needs a-fixin’ First, work on the drum pattern variations or possibly other ideas to kill the plodding feel. Then, put a little time into improving the quality of your sounds and you should be good. NO (Please Resubmit)

Hey, I respect the effort Glen but the problems here boil down to production, arrangement and sample quality, in that order of relative importance. From 0:21-0:25 there is significant clipping. If for some reason it was intentional, there are better, cleaner ways to achieve that distorted sound. In general the song lacks punch. The bass does little except contribute to other minor areas of clipping throughout the song and there are few dynamics to speak of. A few ideas that can create more excitement and tension in your mixes are the use of volume swells, changes in pace or the addition or more interesting, powerful instruments. The drums for example are way too quiet to be effective. The arrangement was very close to the original and I don’t think that we hear much of your creativity shining through in this area Glen. It may have been forgiven if the production and sample selection/usage were a lot better. Samples were pretty basic. The choir in the intro is really odd, but not in a spooky kinda way, in a general midi kinda way. The guitar wasn’t too bad and I enjoyed the sequencing of the short strings with the pitch bends from 0:57-1:22. Be sure to check out the Sample and Soundfont Request thread in the ReMixing forum while you’re over there. Keep working at it. NO

Great first show Aurora and Rayza. Good luck with it in the future You might want to mention when the Russian ReMix Roulette mixes that you play were originally posted. For history's sake and whatnot