Liontamer

As far the arrangement, it felt too liberal to me, but that may just be me wanting to have heard something more melodious; if you could timestamp how you arranged the theme from section to section, that would have been helpful. I did like the contrast in energy compared to the source. Not feeling the bright brass synth either, which definitely gets old over the long run. Way, WAY too much copy-pasta of the writing going on like MindWanderer timestamped. Dynamically, this felt very flat aside from some very brief dropoffs, and the overall groove and energy levels were too repetitive. I also felt the 2:27-3:10 section felt relatively atonal, so I'm not sure the key change there worked. Keep at it on this one, James, but you'll need much more variation and development of the ideas here so that it doesn't drag. NO

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I didn't label you dumb, I labeled "it", i.e. hating vocal mixes, dumb. It's dumb. I'm glad you clarified you don't feel that way; that's good, because it would be a dumb POV.

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It's dumb to just hate vocal mixes. Words are allowed.

I'll just note that Rebecca has lost some project files in the past and this one is older. So, though I don't know for sure on this one, keep in mind there may not be the possibility to revise this.

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The stiffness of the sequencing's almost a take-it-or-leave-it thing, because it really successfully apes the style of the actual FF9 soundtrack, which I immediately noticed as well. That said, a fair amount of the instrumentation sounds so similar to the source, so the arrangement would really have to stand out in some other way, which it doesn't as far as melodic interpretation. The additive original part-writing, while always a positive in your works, isn't enough to carry the day here. I agree with the others that the track's very static and lacks dynamic contrast, even accounting for a purposefully narrow dynamic curve, so it's dinged on that level, but that may be case where the vision of the artist doesn't fit with the bar here. As a piece of BGM, it works great, Rebecca; it sounds to me like holding fairly fast to the source tune was likely the point of this one, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But as a transformative arrangement and looking at it from the bar here, it's certainly not there yet as far as the level of interpretation. No harm in submitting this one though, and I always look forward to your future submission. Love your work, and I know we'll hear more great stuff from you. Like Gario said, your older work shows how far you've come. NO

I never quit, I just don't have free time for console gaming. People got kids/work/hobbies. But iPhone games still count, so Pokemanz GO! and Tap My Katamari are my current go-to's.

Dunno why the clarinet was farther back in the soundfield to start, but OK. Good arrangement concept as far as adapting it for jazz, Alex, but adjust the mixing to bring the instruments further forward in the soundfield and also add some high-end clarity to this. MindWanderer's got you on the brief copy-pasta aspects of this re: the chorus. Agreed with the other NOs though that the mechanical/stilted timing to pretty much all of the parts kills this dead, especially for a piece that's only 2:17-long. For short pieces, you really need everything clicking on all cylinders, so besides the already creative arrangement, you need solid production, realistic enough performance dynamics, and no cut-and-paste repetition. Good start, but polish this up further if you're interested. If not, no worries, and I hope you submit more, because your arrangement sensibilities are in the right direction.

Why u panel dis? I'm not even gonna listen. YES ... OK, wait... [hey lissens] OK, great! YES

I do wish the synths were more sophisticated, but that's not a big deal. The core beats were super repetitive, so I wish the beats got more varied somehow, even in subtle ways; but the way the lyrical delivery never was repetitive helped the track not drag out too much (though it did drag). The mixing of the lyrics was solid but felt like it had too much high end and could have been pulled back just a little; totally no big deal, just a personal taste thing, and the recording & performance were both excellent. Besides the mixing sounding too squeaky clean, you've definitely got the classic 70s-80s hip hop aesthetic in mind with this, albeit with more swearing (hey, hey!). The source returned in the background as a quiet, distorted line at 1:04-1:43 & 2:02-2:40, but it's SO quiet and marginalized, so it's difficult to count that as a meaningful connection. Even on headphones, it's way too quiet. If you bump that up in some way, either in volume or with another synth chorused with it, then I'd be behind this. That's literally the only update I'd like to see with this, to ensure the source tune usage truly dominated the arrangement. The track was 4:15-long, so I needed to hear "Demon Seed" overtly used during at least 127.5 seconds of the arrangement for the obvious source tune usage to be over 50% and "dominate" the arrangement per the Arrangement standards. overt: :00-45, 1:43-2:02, 3:18-3:55.5 = 101.5 seconds or 39.8% overt source usage quiet: 1:04.75-1:43, 2:02-2:40 = 76.25 seconds or 29.9% (very) quiet source usage TL;DR - Beats are repetitive, but the rest of this is strong and we should post this in some form. The "Demon Seed" melody usage from 1:04-1:43 & 2:02-2:40 was so quiet that it may as well have not been there, so please use that more audibly, but watch that that line doesn't sound abrasive if you would just bump it up in volume. Great work otherwise, Isaac! If this passes as is, I won't die, but I feel you marginalized the "Demon Seed" theme for too long here. If you're willing to vary up the beats some as well, that's cool too, but not necessary IMO. Let's please get this posted in some form! NO (refine/resubmit)

Cool to hear a source similar to "Tifa's Theme." I don't go in thinking someone can get a 2:08-long piece passed, and just hope it isn't repetitive and underdeveloped. No worries on that from AJ though. It's melodically straightforward, but beautifully fleshed out. Subtle stuff, but love that dropoff at 1:13 for that understated dynamic contrast before picking back up at 1:31. Didn't hear anything potentially dissonant, just noting. Lovely work, AJ! Please keep 'em coming! YES

All set, @TSori. Email me if you need help getting into your account, since the password matchs the oldest one now.

My goal: authenticity.

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The drum programming sounded too repetitive over time, which dragged this down. Along with that, I'm not a fan of the vocal mixing, with the drums sort of smothering the lyrics instead of the singing being more upfront; it just draws more attention to the step-above-metronome feeling of the drums. Vocals ain't the best by traditional measures, but the cheese is thick with this one. Whatever vocal layering happened from 2:15-2:22, then later from 3:35-4:00 was just muddy. The bass work was particularly good, but got obscured for the most part due to the mixing. The Bowflex ad at 4:32-4:45 was fun, but the voice work should have been de-essed, so the inclusion felt sloppy. The arrangement was fun & spirited, so it carries this. That said, the mixing lacked clarity, which undermined the writing, and the drum writing droned, which left this dynamically flatter than it should have been. We don't need perfection, but I also don't think it should have been a mixed bag with the production and drums. YES

Not sure why the faux-vox at :20 was so quiet, but it meant that the melody was extremely pushed back for a bit of time. Definitely agreed with others on the dated aesthetic. The textures felt thin, and the instrumentation lacked sophistication and fullness. When the track picked up at :54, that was the height of the dynamic curve here, and the track just hovered there until the end. At only 2:09-long, everything needs to the fully clicking and needs to sound fully developed. The ending at 2:01 was abrupt and there was no real transition or flow to it, plus the track cut off before fading to 0. Just wanted to sanity check this, since I was surprised at the votes just seeing it was by Jonas, but I agreed with the others. The energy felt static, the arrangement was underdeveloped, the sounds weren't sophisticated. MindWanderer's observation that it could have been a piece from the super-earliest days of OCR was on the money. This just needs more everything; right now, it's a concept, but far from developed. NO

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Yeah, I'm actually surprised by how this stands apart from the source's sound, because after the first minute or so, I wasn't convinced I'd approve this. But due to the new instrumentation, along with the key change and some layering of certain lines, this went well in the right direction The original orchestration added in from 2:40-3:18 was also a very nice touch and combined seamlessly with the source tune. Boo on the cut-and-paste of the opening section at 3:18; I'm not mad, mind you, but it just felt like a low-effort loop point. At least at 3:45, there were some new strings, plus the addition of the delicate piano at 3:57 was good (albeit very distant) for the close. I'm more borderline than the other YES's, but through multiple smaller changes, Ben, you have enough interpretation to stand apart from "Midna in Distress." Nice work creating this more delicate version! YES (borderline)

Watching the performance video, it's so weird how this track is played in live, but the timing still feels so rigid. To me, it doesn't sound as expressive as it could be. The very mechanical-sounding drums have a decent tone, but just sound very rigidly timed right from the opening. The drum pattern, also first used at :06, was creatively written, but then just looped and barely varied over time aside from some different fills every few measures. So, when the other judges say the arrangement feels static, the rigid timing and looped nature are big reasons why. Despite the crowding pointed out by MindWanderer, the part-writing feels pretty barebones, probably because the snare stuff didn't quite fill out the background. The texture's decently filled in by the backing guitar part (which was barely audible/distinguishable, unfortunately) and then more noticeably by the added vox at 1:26. The slow tempo of the machine gun drums at 1:41 sounded odd; they're so far forward in the soundfield and crowding out the other parts. Machine gun drums are usually triggered much more rapidly and sound more intense, so this slower tempo just comes off like a lack of humanization of the drum programming instead of a stylistic choice. From 1:42-2:14, the timing of the guitar soloing area also sounded very rigid. The arrangement is fun, but at only 2:21-long, everything needs to be fully developed and clicking on all cylinders. Right now, though your leads and vox sound sweet, the timing sounds too rigid on nearly everything. You also need the backing guitar part to have more presence, need to give the instruments some more breathing room, and should vary the percussion more. Good base here, Julien, but see what else can be done to polish this up. NO (resubmit)

I'd say the stated source connection from 3:15-3:31 was very weak due to the strings and horns being so pushed to the back, but the overall source usage was strong and otherwise timed out as stated in the submission letter, so thanks to Jorrith for being helpful there. Nothing else to say but great job. The usage of the them from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" was very fleeting, so no big deal there. There was some soft clicking at 2:14 that I noticed, but could be easily overlooked as it wasn't that loud. Other than that, nice work! Without actively verifying the source tune usage in the arrangement, I wouldn't have been able to tell which sections were source vs. original writing, so great job weaving those sections together seamlessly. Y'all come back now, ya hear? YES

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