Liontamer

This'll happen one day. I've made some good progress. Also, for the next torrent update, I'll be including Release Date, as well as Artist Sort Order for the few artists whose handles begin with A, An, or The.

Melodically, it's too conservative, IMO, but if the arrangement were personalized in other ways beyond the adaptation to the chippy instrument set and new (though repetitive) beats, then it would have a chance; that's just my one opinion, but I think a vote on this as is would be "it's a good listen, but too close to the original without some other changes/additions to help it stand apart more from the original" At 2 1/2 minutes long, i.e. when it's on the shorter side, it's important that the track pretty much always stands apart from the original in some meaningful way; if it were longer, it'd have more time to start conservatively but then branch off into other more creative/interpretive directions. That's just looking at it from the OCR standards perspective. In any situation, it's a fun de-make, and the chippy sound is awesome.

Pretty unique approach to this theme; every time you think you've heard it all with "Aquatic Ambiance," you get something like this. The way the source tune was referenced throughout was very creative, IMO, with lots of subtle plays to the melody and main motifs, but other instruments getting in references to it as well while doing their own thing. The piano's got a blocky quality to it that would be nicer if that wasn't the case, but it was serviceable and the piano sound had enough of a tail to it where it had some body. Gario's not wrong to criticize it, but his votes hinges on the sound being more problematic than I thought it was. The sax programming at 2:36-3:27 also could have been problematic -- the effect on it made a unique sound that was disarming at first -- but, instead, it offers something distinct to the sound. Nice job layering it with the synth at 3:08 as well. Dynamically, there could have been more distinct drops in the energy, but what's here still works within a narrower dynamic curve. Smooth beats and a novel way to personalize the theme. Nice work, Damon! YES

There are some limitations in the realism of the piano resonance, but it's minor in the big picture. Now this strong arrangement is sounding solid. I was one of the Js who heard the previous version, so I'm proud to say you did a great job pulling this one up, Guillaume! Thank you for revisiting it. YES

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U lazy.

Opened up pretty quiet, so we'll see where this goes dynamically. The arrangement was pretty straightforward for the first 2:45 or so; while it's personalized, it could be moreso. The glassy accents had some odd notes from 1:26-1:39. The gradual transition to "Stickerbush Symphony" at 2:36 was noticed, but it still didn't feel substantive enough to not sound like a big break in the flow of the arrangement. Also, the treatment of "Stickerbush Symphony" will have to be even more interpretive, just because the "Forest Interlude" section felt so straightforward. Not sure what instrument that was at 3:35, but it sounded flimsy. Texturally, this sounded pretty empty from 3:28-4:16. Even when percussion work came in at 4:16, the other string and woodwind instrumentation had a thin, uncanny valley feel to it all; it's serviceable, but pretty exposed, IMO. I don't feel like the textures in the "Stickerbush Symphony" feel cohesive or full, so that hurts the second half. I'm a NO (resubmit) for now, but would really be interested in the musician Js' points of view to help better inform me on why this doesn't gel in the second half. EDIT (3/24): Thanks to Gario for weighing in after I asked. There's a lot of positives in terms of adapting the instrumentation and adding some new writing into the picture. I appreciate his POV, particularly calling the "Stickerbush Symphony" a pointilistic approach and noting how the string swells there obscured other instruments; particularly for the second half, I felt like balance of the instruments took focus away from the melody, something that her Chrono Cross sub was criticized for and I didn't agree with, but would argue is the case in areas here. All that said, I still don't feel the execution of this clicks. The bridge between the two themes (2:36-3:08) was clearly purposeful but still felt superficial and disconnected; maybe if the transition hadn't been an extended wind-down of the first theme, then an extended rebuild of the second, the composition would have felt more unified. I've usually defended Rebecca's medley structures, but for this it felt like two separate arrangements were very simply put one after the other. And I felt the instrumentation was stiff through more of the track, which wasn't a dealbreaker in of itself, but added to the count of smaller issues adding up. So it's not to be obstinate, and I wouldn't have a problem with being outvoted, but I'm still not feeling I'm missing something yet. EDIT (3/27): I'm not schizophrenic, I just had the volume too low. I'm listening more and more, and Gario's swayed me. I'm better appreciating all of the new writing accompanying the source, and, with the volume boosted up some, I hear the fullness of the textures in the second half more and can appreciate the "pointilism" of the instrumentation more. There's still the issue of the uncanny valley of sorts with the string and woodwind timing, but it's not a dealbreaker. I think the switch between the two themes still didn't work all the way, but I listened through the piece a ton more times, and with acclimation it works enough that I'll let it go. The main thing pushing me over is better appreciating the intricacies of Rebecca's well-written additions giving a different character to the piece. YES

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I disagreed with MindWanderer's criticisms on the arrangement structure feeling too much like a medley in places. The theme change at 3:15 was sudden, but fine to me as the tempo and overall rhythm held in place before shifting to the dropoff 20 seconds later. Same with 2:14 changing themes while retaining the same backing writing and tempo as the glue; it just sounded like prog rock writing to me. I'm reminded of 2 particular past votes: 1) Jorito's original version of his Contra mega-collab and 2) audio fidelity's Final Fantasy IV mega-collab; in other words, this is an awesome, ambitious arrangement that's not mixed well. At :38, Ryan's vocals seemed distant, which didn't make sense, but I wanted to see where it went. Odd note as Ryan dropped down at :52 which should have been smoothed out. I think the female supporting vocals could have been mixed more forward to register in the ear better, but the combination of male and female vocals up to 1:18 combined beautifully. At 1:18-1:37, the bassline did register, but to me it was practically inaudible. The padding parts from 1:37-1:47 also might as well have not been there. The energy of the guitar work at 1:55 sounded awesome, but like the vocals at :38, the guitar leads seem far away for no apparent reason. The string accents from 2:24-2:33 were a nice writing touch, and I think them being more audible would have exposed the sample; that said, they were still buried, and it happened again from 2:52-3:12 (with the strings there feeling slightly out of sync with the lead as well). Even from 3:12, the string work sounded so soft and wasn't significantly registering in the overall texture; I hear it, but it not really contributing anything meaningful due to it being so pushed down behind everything else. I wasn't bothered at all by the vocals returning at 4:12; they were there at the beginning, so it's not any sort of surprise to hear them return. Great energy from Ryan here as well. The rock instrumentation was really muddy and indistinct though, particularly starting at 4:33 and getting worse as more parts would add in (female vocals at 4:42, machine gun drums at 4:49, big crashes at 4:51). All of the writing and energy here is amazing, but the mixing doesn't do it justice. That said, the mixing is far from ideal, but I'm with Gario that it can pass as is. You have part-writing that was obviously getting pushed back and minimized, but texturally I thought the track was clear enough to pass and is bolstered by a very strong, creative arrangement. Unlike Gario, I'd have no huge problem with this being rejected due to the mixing, so if Sir_NutS or anyone listens several times and can't go YES, I get it. But with an arrangement this strong, I can let this level of mixing go; regardless of how it fares, this really needs another pass at the mixing to shore it up, but again, I think it's serviceable enough in light of the arrangement making up for it. If the track just sounded like indistinguishable mud, it wouldn't matter how good the arrangement was. Right now, this is just a case where the supporting writing isn't totally washed out, it's just not as present and clean as it should be. YES (borderline)

I normally don't have problems with SFX, but the nature SFX opening things up seemed too loud relative to the instrumentation; not a huge deal. The recording quality or production of the vocals at :31 seems odd; not sure why it sounds so distant. The vocals were noticeably flat at 1:34 and 1:47, thought I didn't have a problem with anywhere else. The bowed string writing first used at 1:15 is 1-for-1 with the source tune, but layering the strings and making them more prominent here (compared to the source) helped to change the texture of the source. The Meat 'n Potatoes approach has been working for you, Alex. I still hope one day you get the writing chops to add your own original writing without the notes being dicey, but a melodically conservative approach always works here when you expand upon the composition. Your strengths have always been holding fast to the source composition and adding in interpretation through other means. Working with Stahalamora and doubling/chorusing some parts along with the new instrumentation have all helped present this theme in a more fleshed out way. Let's go. YES

Strings from :29-:44 & 1:43-1:58 were massively exposed and I'm not sure of the point of that; it's just such a dry sound. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed timaeus and ACO just let it slide. 2:21's string writing also exposed the sample pretty badly as they came in. In any case, those are the main criticisms of an otherwise solid arrangement. [reads above] Yeah, poo on you guys for these strings. What gives? YES

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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Reinstall Winamp, then try the directions in the first post I had.

You'd possibly have to go to Preferences > Output or General Purpose (wherever the extension would be), find the Format Converter plug-in and click the "Uninstall plug-in" button.

The Winamp version doesn't matter, and I have no idea about the Converter in your context menu, because it's not something that comes up on mine; maybe you added some sort of extension/plug-in to Winamp that's not part of the default configuration.

He keeps telling you though, don't use the Format Converter interface at all. It's unintuitive, but that's not what you use. Do the instructions from my post. If you also need to do some sort of step to disable the Format Converter, then do that.

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I didn't have any problem with the source being derived somewhat from "Rock-a-bye Baby." I hear the connection, but that theme here has a different character to it and wasn't melodically similar enough. The track was 2:41-long, so I needed at least 80.5 seconds' worth of source usage for the VGM to dominate the arrangement. 30.25-37.75, 38.75-48, 50.25-57.75, 59.25-1:08.5, 1:10.25-1:28, 1:30.75-1:37.75, 1:39.5-1:50, 2:04.5-2:17, 2:18.75-2:21.75, 2:23.75-2:32 = 92 seconds or 57.14% overt source usage The Celtic harp lead at :30 & 1:30 felt mechanical, but sat reasonably enough in the soundscape due to the padding behind it. The string accompaniment added at :50 was well-done and added some good original writing to fill things out. The light percussion at 1:10 was also a nice, subtle touch. I didn't have any other issues with the instrumentation, jyst following up on MindWanderer's reaction. On the arrangement side, props for not repeating anything too much in such a short piece, and adding in good original writing ideas to compliment the source tune. You avoided some common pitfalls for a lot of submissions under 3 minutes, and really added a lot of depth to a very short and sparse original theme. Nice work! YES

The way this was mixed, I thought the percussion got completely lost during 1:14-1:28 & 1:53-2:26. Some of the highs also sounded sizzly, and I also would have liked one more pass at this mixing, but the rest of the presentation sounded solid. Nice take on this theme, adding some good intensity to it! YES

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Rather than a direct post, I'm moving this to the panel to give my feedback and criticisms. The mixing lacks highs, so there's a lossy, distant sound to this. I would have liked something more to the melodic treatment, but what's here is OK due to an effective genre adaptation with some new part-writing thrown into the mix. The original breakdown from 1:06-1:27 was OK, but the texture felt thin despite everything going on. 1:45-2:15 sounded like a cut-and-paste of :00's lead guitar with different drumming underneath. This gets by, but should have been developed further. Would love to see you explore the possibilities of longer arrangements some more with future subs, Mike, and also brighten up the soundscape a little just so all of the strong performances sound cleaner and more upfront. YES

Nope. Should be fixed the next time the site syncs with the DB.

Preferences > Output > select Nullsoft Disk Writer > Choose the directory location for the geenrated file > For "Conversion", check the Covert to Format box, then select the desired format (I'd use PCM with attributes 44.100 kHz, 16 Bit, Stereo (172kb/sec) Then play the file as you would, and Winamp will convert it to a WAV instead of playing the audio. Watch for not having the file itself play on an infinite loop or having the playlist loop.