Liontamer

@zykO ! @Clem ! @Vig ! @Palpable !

Didn't recognize any Zelda from the intro, but did recognize the rabbit theme at :52. There's definitely some uncanny valley stuff going on with the brass and string articulations, especially the strings where things sound thin and not quite realistic. For example, I thought the brass from 1:43-2:31 & 2:34-3:02 sounded pretty flat. The added vox at 2:34 was a nice touch to help mask those issues, where neither it nor the brass sounded mega-realistic, but together they masked each other's issues some. The percussion was a highlight though, and 3:03 had good airy mallet percussion to fill out the soundfield. I think the arrangement's creative and otherwise fine, and it's possible some of the other Js wouldn't have a big enough problem with the sample realism. I felt, however, that this needs one more pass on the realism of the brass, strings, and piano, in that order of importance/necessity. I'm not a musician, so I have no choice but to leave it to other judges to better articulate the production issues there, but it's a very good start, Dallen, with a solid arrangement that mainly needs some production TLC. In particular, if the brass work had more body and realism, this would be much more of an easy call. Good work so far, though! NO (resubmit)

@Jivemaster @Sir_NutS: Lyrics?

Pretty sweet! There were a couple of brief moments where the note movements of the choir were blocky and exposed, but they were minor enough that I didn't feel the need to timestamp it. I'll just note for anyone that cares about the difference that the arrangement is mostly "Fi's Lament/Gratitude," but refers to the original variation of "Fi's Theme" from 2:03-2:59, which is apparent from the wind lead and steadier rhythm of the notes. Beautiful work from Rebecca here! YES EDIT (5/18): djp caught issues that OA agreed on as dealbreakers. I didn't agree that it pulled this down to NO, but wanted to elaborate on them: :38 - there's a very brief, but off piano note; not a huge deal :33-:42 - it's faint, so a listener could miss it, but there's a low & quiet droning note that resonates in the background that sounds off-key 1:22-1:25 - it's again faint, but there's a second low & quiet droning note that resonates in the background that sounds off-key

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The 1:32 section was a weak point for me, because the soundscape got muddy but in reality there wasn't much of anything going on. The texture was different, and then energy gradually escalated, but the rhythm and tempo were the same as the previous sections, and there wasn't anything new going on melodically. At 1:44, the drum work came back in to fill things out a bit better. At 2:05, it sounded like there was light distortion and/or clipping from the brass. Good changeup on the instrumentation at 2:28 with the dropoff going to the piano and Eastern winds. Despite being 3 minutes, it really felt melodically underdeveloped, which is my main dealbreaker. It's close though. I felt the melody being so repetitive and relatively the same energy pushed me down to NO more than any production choices. That said, while I didn't take big issue with much of what Gario did on the production, his comments on the attacks of your instruments and the copy-pasta nature of the drums are detail work items that separate the vets from the up-and-comers; pay particular attention to his feedback. I'm definitely seeing how the crux of the arrangement is about keeping the source melody intact and then changing the instrument textures and intensity to achieve dynamic contrast, and this IS going in the right direction. However, myself and others agree there should be some additional variation in the arrangement to push it over the top; that doesn't mean some sort of drastic changes for the sake of having changes, but any sort of new melodic, drum, rhythm, tempo, and/or textural variations could be enough to get this over the top. I'm not borderline on my vote, but I'd say this piece was about 85% of the way there; it just needs that extra bit of effort. Very good start, Adric, and if this doesn't make it as is, definitely be willing to tweak this some more and resubmit it; would love to have this on the site in some form. NO (resubmit)

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Besides a more creative arrangement title, I actually would like to see more length and variation to the arrangement, given how structurally close to the source tune it is, but I'm on the same overall wavelength as Deia in terms of this personalizing the theme well for the genre. That said, she's absolutely right on the sequencing and articulation critiques. Everything indeed sounded dry and mechanical; this needs humanization badly. Until that's in place (and done well), it wouldn't make it on production quality grounds. This is a good start in terms of the arrangement, but the production needs TLC and, frankly, more experience. I hope we hear more from you though, because you already show great potential with this cover. NO

Stilted opening with the lead at :13; the timing really shouldn't be that blocky, but the overall instrumentation and textures are OK. The lyrics are unintelligible, but that's not a criticism. Fun way to reduce the "Never Gonna Give You Up" lyrics. Definitely with Deia that the theme transitions were effective, and I dug the energy once things picked up more at 1:35. Sounds like you had fun with this one, Jorrith! YES

@Clem: Any chance you'd be willing to revisit this one?

I don't think the orch hits -- which I'm not even sure are sampled, but could be -- sounded as questionable as some of the extensive non-VGM lyrics sampling. I'll take a closer listen, and we'll also get some other opinions on it.

Yep. He smells.

Nice opening with the bells as well, as going for the light orchestral approach; it's not structurally transformative, but very well adapted For the first minute, everything shaped up nicely. I agreed with Deia about the sour note at 1:51; it's not a huge deal, but it should be tweaked if possible to make the support writing work with Jeff's note there and prevent the dissonance. The dropoff at 2:13 actually felt like an opportunity to do something a bit more dynamic with the composition, but that's just a personal taste thing; that said, I really enjoyed the percussion in the background from 2:20-2:45 as well as the chromatic percussion transition (though there was light crackling/distortion from 2:48-2:49). Again at 3:13, there was another chance to do something more drastic with the dynamics or sound palette; this goes the more understated route. Also, until fuller instrumentation came in at 3:43, the harpsichord timing feels exposed as too rigid, something that was an issue for me throughout (timing), but not as much as it was there. Dynamically, there could be more going on, but within a flatter dynamic curve, there's actually a good deal going on with subtle textural changes throughout the piece. It actually feels very much like a piece of in-game BGM maintaining a fixed energy level all while fashioning contrast through those restraints. I think Palpable's right on his NO in the sense that it feels more like a personal preference leaning to me as well; there's indeed more I myself would like to see from this piece -- and I hadn't read the previous votes before writing mine -- but I believe the arrangement's genre interpretation, subtle instrument/textural changes, and overall clean production had more than enough going correctly that this should be a pass. No big issues here, and I enjoyed the approach. Good job, bros! YES

@Gario Do you mean at 2:56, the wind/howling and bubbling noises? I'm not familiar with the game's SFX. Please verify. Also, if removing the SFX would make it a YES, then IMO you should go conditional YES. But either way, I'll contact the artist about the SFX.

Yeah, screenshot it; could just be you.

There's something somewhat hollow in the texture, most noticeably at :56 and then with the Weapon Factory melody at 1:07. I also thought the kick was too upfront yet thin and didn't gel with the other instrumentation, but nothing that was a big detraction. What's here is full enough, and by 1:41 when things filled out more, there was actually a small bit of mud. Nice changeup of the texture of 2:04 to more of a spacey feel that works very well; I really love how the main source here has been transformed. The beat at 3:12's too thin; needs some meat on the bones and perhaps a different tone entirely. The synth at 3:34 handling the Culex/FF fight is something I've heard from Justin a lot, so I'm used to the sound, but the way it's sequenced feels way too stiff; it's an electric guitar synth, and maybe everyone doesn't need it to sound more humanized, but the lead's timing felt too blocky there for the final minute. Some more padding without creating mud would do wonders for the overall sound and fullness of this, but what's here is strong and the arrangement's excellent, particularly the effective time sig shift of 13/8 to 4/4. YES

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Quick check to understand the source usage: Mass Effect 1 Theme - :01-:33, 1:45.5-1:55.75 = 42.25 seconds Mass Effect 3 "Leaving Earth" - :17-:27, :28.75-:30.75, :33.5-:37 = 15.5 seconds Mass Effect 3 "An End, Once and for All" (1:15, 1:38 with strings) - 1:13-1:44.5 = 33.5 seconds Checks out. Brilliant, seamless weaving of these themes. The ME1 main theme is easy to overlook without it being expressly pointed out, so I appreciated that. Nice job, Paul, and welcome aboard! YES

I didn't feel a lava vibe from this (though it's not like the source tune is that way either), so I'm interested in what prompted the title. This source first got put on my radar by Sine's excellent ReMix, "Seeking Heat," so I'm glad to hear it again with a fresh spin from Emery. I was enjoying this from the start, but when things picked up at 1:06, I fell in love with the sound palette here; really nice stuff. The EP used for the comping from 1:18-1:43 reminded me of ella guro's work. When the main beats dropped out at 1:43-2:07, I initially lost my place in terms of the timing of the piece, but once I heard it the third time, I was fine; that said, I could see some people complaining about being bucked off the horse, so to speak. Small thing, but the string accents from 2:33 were my favorite part of the textures getting denser again. Weird note at 2:51 that I didn't think worked, but it's quick and does resolve alright, so no big deal. 3:20 until the finish got even more expansive with original writing on top of the source tune, which is basically the additive approach Sine took for part of his mix, and one that makes a lot of sense. Everything works nicely here, Emery; great mixing that never sounds too dense or muddy, with part-writing that I can really appreciate. Nice sound upgrade to the source along with strong integration of original comping. YES

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