Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Way too conservative to start; this was just a reinstrumentation, albeit a pleasant one. The acoustic guitar sample at :27 won't fool anyone due to being in the uncanny valley with its timing, but the tone is great; once you added in other parts, the guitar sample was less exposed. Just before the 2-minute mark, we get into something more interpretive just by the addition of the drumwork as well as the bassline. For the bassline though, it was well-written (taken from the source, of course), but way too quiet; it barely registered as a indistinct buzz. It's a subtle part in the source tune, but too subtle in your version; make it stand out some more, but also get interpretive/creative with the part-writing there to help personalize your approach more. At 1:54, I see what MindWanderer's saying about the electric guitar sample, but the tone of it was unique enough IMO that it didn't have to sound like a traditional electric guitar; that said, it could have been mixed in louder to have more presence. 3:25's chorus did have an additional line added in and some subtle drum variation later on at 3:51, but was essentially a cut-and-paste, so that was a drag, and the arrangement felt underdeveloped overall despite going in the right direction for the last 3 minutes. I agreed with MW that this arrangement was too conservative. That said, you could lop off most of the first 2 minutes and not lose anything. If you have the remaining 3 minutes, but also continue adding/swapping in other different instruments, and adding in more of your own original writing ideas, this is relatively conservative, but maybe 70% of the way there in terms of making it. There's a lot to like here, Arman, and you have a good base here. Please consider resubmitting this. NO (resubmit)

Aside from changing the rhythms a bit, Kyle, this was extremely straightforward and ultimately repetitive; once you hear the rhythmic changes to the melody, that's the only interpretation you hear without any further variations. Very anti-climactic addition of that countermelodic line at :59; if you're looking for a super-close cover, that's all good, but since we're looking for more interpretation, that was a pretty bland approach. Then repeating it at 1:29 was another drag; the track's relatively slowly paced, so when you wholesale repeat bars at this tempo and with textures this thin, it's pretty boring. Dropoff at 2:00 led to SA's smoove sax work, but the beats behind that were just thin and plodding; the texture gradually thicken up at 2:15 and emerging more at 2:26, but the overall pattern is still so straightforward and plain. The beats here didn't add any movement, and as soon as I was thinking that, something more substantive came in at 2:46, which was a good, albeit late, addition. The finish was just more of the same stuff from the opening. Sorry that I can't be more positive on this, because it's a classic theme and a great choice, plus Andrew's sax contribution was strong. But right now there's really bland beats, barebones textures, and a plodding arrangement; there's some development, but not enough. You don't have to get crazy and wild with the level of interpretation, but there's not ENOUGH variation/personalization of the theme, and dynamically this is too flat. You can keep SA's sax performance intact but figure out other ways to further develop this concept. NO

Gonna have to get more specific than that. What's specifically happening when you try to download? What browser and OS are you using?

Well, in terms of the sound palette, it was somewhat vanilla/plain, but ultimately the instrumentation was serviceable and pleasing. That said, there were a lot of brief areas where deviations from the melodies led to some clashing notes and harmonizations; not sure why that happened, but we can’t roll with that at all. Arrangement-wise, this was extremely plodding and stagnant; there’s very little dynamic contrast, the sequencing was extremely rigid, and the textures were pretty thin and basic. Even when “Vampire Killer” repeated for the final third, it was just a tiny bit more intense but otherwise it was functionally a cut-and-paste without meaningful variation. The CV3 “Beginning” section wasn’t inherently a bad idea, but also didn’t have any synergy or flow with the “Vampire Killer” sections. Sorry to not have much positive I can say, Thiago. This just needs more attention to detail, more humanization, more variation, more dynamic contrast, and more interpretation beyond this genre adaptation. NO

Rubber stamp, and a big welcome back to Nick/Saiko. Great personalization of the theme, giving it a big presence while maintaining the core C64 sound palette. YES

Not sure why the melodic lead at both :17 and 1:55 is so quiet, but it's barely audible, plus that and the countermelody are pretty rigid/stilted with their timing. There's a lot of freestyling going on from 40.5-1:11 at a steady pace, following by comping over the backing writing of the source until 1:38 brings back the source tune's build via strings and later guitar. These sections were good overall, but there's a flatness to the synth timing/programming that drags the piece down and doesn't contrast well with the more organic-sounding parts. In terms of the dynamics, the percussion patterns felt too repetitive and also dragged this piece down, which is surprising given that it's only 2:28-long. On the plus side, the bass writing, while subtle, was well done throughout. Weird fadeout at 2:19, which dropped precipitously right at the start of the bar and sounded like a mistake as a result; that should be tweaked for a more gradual fade. To summarize, place the synth handling the melody more prominently, and add more dynamic contrast to the piece. You don't need to increase the tempo, and I want to be clear that I'm not implying this is being dinged for slowing the theme down, but the way this is presented here ultimately is plodding; some different/varied snares or changing other backing parts may help, but something needs to be tweaked with the writing or parts to keep this engaging throughout. I've enjoyed your work for years on YouTube, so don't be discouraged here if this doesn't make it as is. We'll see what other judges say, but this can certainly be refined into something to make the front page. It's a very solid base here. NO (resubmit)

Nice fade-in of the melody followed by the drop at :28; right from the get-go, this puts a lot of personality and swagger to the presentation. I liked the beats added in at 1:05 giving a little extra oomph and making the rhythm feel different despite the tempo being the same. Just a fun listen overall; even though the overall energy level's consistent, there are a lot of small yet constant subtle evolutions of the sounds and textures to keep this developing throughout. A textbook example of how to be melodically conservative yet overtly interpretive and personalized. For me, the ending cut off suddenly, so that needs to be fixed, but other than that, this is stellar from Andrew! YES

Like MindWaderer said, it's structurally conservative, but you did a very nice job personalizing the instrumentation and changing the textures, energy and dynamics compared to the original source. An understated but very beautifully done touch was the vox accent first used at 1:24, and the wind writing was excellent as well. The track does just end with a fadeout (boo!), but even that section didn't merely cut-and-paste a past section, so the variation & evolution was constant from start to finish. The only thing making it a close call vis-a-vis our Standards was the brevity, but it's meaningfully developed throughout, so I didn't have any reservations. Beautiful stuff, Eliott; welcome aboard! YES

Rhythmically, this doesn't really sound like the source tune at all, at least on a first listen. Can anyone else make sense of this one?

Yep, good energy, effects and layered part-writing throughout to present a nicely souped-up take on the source, Mike! Love your style; the power and stylishness of this arrangement works with this tune nicely. YES

Great job keeping the Magus theme in play (along with the Lavos cameos) for practically all of the arrangement. From a production standpoint, I would have liked this to sound less lossy and lacking in high end. To me, it muds together to some extent, but it's grungy and potentially more of a personal taste thing; it's certainly nothing meaningfully dinging this on a production level, and the intensity's there while the instruments & part-writing remain distinct enough. Cool, dark stuff, and we definitely don't have anything like this style of rock on the site yet. Nice work, Karlyn! YES

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The rigid timing of the electric guitar sample at :46 is already sounding like a dealbreaker; it also cuts out abruptly at 1:14 when moving over into the bowed strings, which was completely unnatural and had no decay. Right after that, the sequencing/timing of bowed string sample at 1:14-1:39 was also very robotic sounding and exposed; you have to mitigate the realism issues of the sample tone by at least humanizing the attacks/timing. More rigid timing with the wind lead at 1:39 and the bowed strings at 1:40, it's just a pervasive issue that's an emphatic dealbreaker. Also, the way the wind lead's mixed, it doesn’t even sound like it’s sharing the same room/space as the strings; instead, the winds sound stapled on top. So in short, Huy, the guitar sample isn't cutting it, and you need to humanize the timing of practically all of the instrumentation, with the acoustic guitar strums being the notable exception/outlier. Consult the Music Composition & Production forums for help on mitigating and masking realism issues with your current samples as well as exploring other instrument/sample options. Improving all of that will allow an otherwise decent arrangement concept to be better realized in terms of the production. NO (resubmit)

Nice work on this, Caleb. The soundscape was fuller and there was more variation with both the textures and the sound clip usage. Easy call now. YES

More dynamic, and that's the name of the game. I also noted how there's one line reminiscent of munky's old school Guardian Legend mix. Good job enhancing this, Jonas! YES

This is already in place via the Workshop evaluation system with the criteria you linked, not with % system, but qualitative feedback. That said, we're behind on THAT as well, with about 30 tracks to review there. Just need to keep on trucking.

Just a formality after hearing it and comparing with the source, but I could loop this all day. Nice work, Kyle & Bree! YES

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As long as you go beyond the authentic chiptune limitations and incorporate some other production choices, a track like this should be OK as far as the Submissions Standards. You may run into issues with sample realism, particularly with the choir, and I'm leaning against this in the sense of the piece not feeling dynamic enough as a standalone piece (while going well in the right direction) IMO, there's definitely notable subtle dynamic contrast within a narrower dynamic curve due to the textural changes from verse to verse and chorus to chorus, so it's there. Despite that, the track tends to feel repetitive and relatively flat for a 3-minute piece. IMO, the choruses didn't sound much different from one another. If you haven't sent it in already though, let's see what happens. I could just be an outlier.

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