Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

As I listened to the extended speech intro, it was obvious the mixing wasn't ideal, especially around :34 where the voices were more buried. When the synth lead finally arrived at 1:15, it had such a muddy feel to it; where's the high-end clarity? When Gario mentioned later voice clips being buried and the sound being washed out, the bad omen already sounded right from the beginning that this would be a potential problem. I also agreed with Gario on the drums being weak. While the kick has presence, the core pattern was too plodding overall, which dragged this piece down. I didn't time out the source usage in the arrangement, so I can't definitively speak to that, but I do know the theme and recognize it, so I'm not too concerned on that. It's mainly the production that's jacked, along with the beats lacking sophistication. If you can strengthen those aspects, Nemix, this would be in much better shape. NO

The track was 3:56-long, so I needed at least 118 seconds of overt source usage somewhere within the piece for the source material to be dominant per the Standards: :03-24, :26-1:11.25, 2:33.5-3:48.5 = 141.25 seconds or 59.8% The 3-note progression of the stuttering beat pattern here (D...B-C, first at :03, more easily heard at :07) is explicitly derived from the beat pattern of the source; it's present and heard in the MSX version, but sounds more obvious in the NES version (:00-:03 of that version). Thanks to that backing pattern, the arrangement's pretty anchored in the source usage, even when the melody's not in play, so it checked out just fine for me. I'm not sure why Jorito linked the SCV4 version of "Vampire Killer," as that pattern's not a part of it. But it is in the MSX version, so his classification of the mix being from that game makes sense. There was some muddy mixing here that ends up obscuring the softer synth lines referencing the "Vampire Killer" melody (e.g. the softer lead synths during :25-:55). I would have liked another pass at the mixing to clarify things, but it wasn't a dealbreaker for me. The speech clip didn't do anything for me, but it was well integrated, especially the original writing and ambiance behind the voice clip. Fun dub-wub elements from 1:48-2:18 leading into that final synth build toward "Vampire Killer" returning at 2:33. At 2:56, I would have liked to have heard something different with the arrangement, which finally happened at 3:11 with the electric guitar doubling the chorus; nice touch there to finish with something high energy and different before the winddown. The electric guitar synth sequencing wasn't the best, but that was almost completely mitigated by layering it with the electrosynth and downplaying the need for it to sound realistic. There could be some production things tightened up, and I see why Chimpa went borderline, but it wasn't a huge enough deal for me to go NO on when the arrangement was strong; the production improvements would just be a "nice to have." I really enjoyed Jorrith's take on a classic theme here! YES

Nice job giving this a more pensive feel for the introduction. The move into light electric guitar was unexpected and arguably not the greatest combination with the woodwind stuff, but it clicks enough. Also, props on improving your guitar sequencing and articulations for this piece, which aren't perfect, but were a major, major hole in your game for some of your very old submissions. I wasn't bothered by the panning on headphones at all. Mixing-wise, this wasn't the clearest piece, but the individual elements were discernible and the overall balance was pleasant. With the arrangement, I'm glad Chimpa analyzed things so closely. I wasn't put off by the structural closeness, and thought Alex did a great job with transposing the theme, changing the instrumentation, and adding in comfortably fitting accent instrumentation to change the overall flavor of the theme. Nothing set off any red flags here. Nice interpretation, Alex, and awesome to see another side of your arrangements. Let's go! YES

OK, the different sound to the "Weird Opponent"theme got my attention; it's arguably a (purposeful) barebones sound that doesn't quite fill out the soundscape enough, but ultimately isn't problematic there as long as the arrangement is well-developed. Feeling repetitive at :58 with the main verse again, so I would have liked more pronounced variation there, as well as for the chorus at 1:19; there were some additional elements added in for the second iteration, but the feel was still very copy-pasta. Abrupt but interesting transition at 1:41 to "Buzz Buzz's Prophecy"; that section sounded nice, though was basically a well-done sound upgrade. I thought this did a good job personalizing the sound, but the interpretation of "Battle Against a Weird Opponent" -- while going well in the right direction with the arrangement -- felt too limited due to the cut-and-paste job of the second iteration (:58-1:41). If this were about making a next-gen remake of a theme to plug into EarthBound, this would fit nicely. I wouldn't have an issue if this passed as is, but I believed this needed some additional development and/or more substantial variations. Good stuff so far, Nick. If this doesn't make it as is, I think you have the arrangement skills to add a bit more creativity to the "Weird Opponent" part of the arrangement. I also would have liked to hear something more interpretive with the "Buzz Buzz's Prophecy" section, but it's not a dealbreaker. Definitely don't be discouraged if this doesn't make it; I like your style, and you'll only get better and get some mixes posted if you keep at it. NO (resubmit)

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Yeah, similar issues as the GoldenEye mix, but moreso. The hats here sounded abrasive, and the organ & choir writing were often atonal. The synth lead handling "Port Town" at :48 was also too shrill; I thought it was a poor choice of lead sound and it combined poorly with the choir, which itself sounded lo-fi and muddy. Dunno what was up with the synth comping-style from 1:33-2:05, but it wasn't musical. This was a more interpretive arrangement compared to the GoldenEye submission, but everything was messy here in terms of execution. It's poorly written and poorly produced, but we've all got to start somewhere. What's important, Xavier, is that you keep an open ear to critical feedback and stay relentless in self-improvement. Make use of the Workshop forums to solicit track feedback but also ask production questions; you need help in particular with pleasing combinations of sounds. NO

I agreed with the sequencing being very mechanical -- especially the piano -- and the drums and organ being very plodding and static. The guitar work is cool, but sounded lossy and distant. Texturally, the instruments aren't properly balanced amongst one another, so you have the guitar sounding pushed back when it should be the lead, while the rest of the sequenced instrumentation sounds thin and exposed. The sequenced instruments also didn't demonstrate creativity in the arrangement, as they followed the part-writing of the source tune so closely. The guitar demonstrates an effort to personalize the presentation of the theme, but not much else. I disagreed on the SFX/voice clips; I thought they ended up sounding tacky, but if everything else had been clicking, it possibly wouldn't have been a big deal. Keep at it with music, Xavier, and use the forums resources here and/or elsewhere to develop yourself. NO EDIT (5/23): Gario's also right that the arrangement uses a lot of the James Bond theme that's part of the source tune (e.g. :38-1:32), which disqualifies the arrangement as incorporating too much of a non-VGM composition.

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For a 3:24-long track, I needed need 102 seconds of overt source usage for the source to be dominant in the arrangement. :27-1:38, 1:49.75-2:10, 2:21.25-2:24, 2:42.25-2:59.75 = 113.25 seconds or 55.5% As far as source usage, there were some more tenuous connections after 2:24 when the piece focused on soloing, so it was actually closer than one would think. Luckily, the string backing from 2:42-2:59 was derived from the backing strings of :15-:18 of the source (then :28-:31 of the source for that last flourish), so that put the source usage over the top. Just impeccable arrangement and musicianship all-around, and an amazing take on "Judgement Day," there's nothing else to say. Nice work from this collective within the Materia Collective! YES

Opened up pretty creatively, taking the theme into a more militaristic orchestral approach. We'll see where it goes. Interesting drop-off at :56 shifting to the harp, then a clap groove starting up at 1:15; didn't expect that. The phasing effect from 1:34-1:39's not executed well -- it sounds more like unintentional ducking -- but that luckily didn't last long. Actually, no, the ducking continues all throughout the new set of beats up until 2:15, jeez then again after the brief beatdrop until 2:35. The way the lead synth ducks from 2:17-2:32 sounds brutal; if this was intentional, it's not working the way you want it to. That definitely needs to be fixed. Jeez, then AGAIN with the lead ducking at 2:53 because of those kicks. The harps and strings are just being pushed back every kick. Well, the ducking was already a dealbreaker, but you need to find out what's going on with that, because it's pretty persistant throughout the track. Arrangement-wise, this also ended up disappointing. It started off promising in the sense that a lot of creative ideas and pivots occurred with the writing, and things are definitely interpretive and creative with the handling of the source tune. But then after the groove built up at 1:41, we basically heard that same core groove and pattern at the same relative energy level for the rest of the 3+ minutes, and the ideas became very static and repetitive. You are varying up the leads and textures some during that period, so I'm not trying to undersell what's there, but the overall dynamics of the piece flattened out pretty much after that. A decent & promising base, but you'll need to eliminate the constant ducking, and also introduce more dynamics and/or instrumental variation of the groove in whatever ways you can after the dance groove starts. NO

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It's awesome to hear another sub from Erik S, who I'm a fan of. The intro is a spirited cover that's structurally close, but the different rhythm to the beats at :12 helps set it apart. By :57 with those beats coming back, I was already tired of them in the sense that they feel very auto-pilot-like; not varying them up enough has flattened out the dynamic curve of this piece a lot. Pretty flat ending at 2:36 as well. This is an awesome source tune theme, and I love Tim Folllin's work, so I love that you arranged it, but beyond the new rhythm to the beats (which later became too repetitive), there's not much interpretation to the source tune beyond a richer sound palette. I absolutely love your previous posted OC ReMix, Awesome "Game Over (Cheeze Mix)" -- it's legitmately in my personal top 5 OC ReMixes ever, so definitely don't take a NO vote as a sign of disrespect, but I think there needs to be more melodic interpretation, more drastic instrumental differences, and/or more dynamic contrast & variation in this arrangement. Right now, it's a fairly short, underdeveloped cover, and just based on your Awesome mix, I know you're capable of more creativity and development. NO

No one ever arranges this one... Good stuff with the opening adding some original string accents to compliment the good orchestration. Nice use of the mallet percussion at :32 to simulate stomping on a Dry Bones in the game. Nice transition at 1:03 with SFX to add a little tension. Some of it sounded kind of tacked on, but it integrated well-enough overall. Good original brass writing from 1:34-1:44 as well. I'm both surprised and glad that the instrumentation took some drastic turns at 1:44 to present another side of interpretation and put this on very firm ground with the creativity of the arrangement approach. Sounds like those light electric guitar chugs at 2:38 were influenced by the (Larry-named) "Monstrous Turtles!" The fadeout ending was a little weak, but on the plus side, it was introducing some new concepts even during the fade instead of retreading previous material. It's a disappointing thing in the sense that it's clear you hadn't run out of ideas yet, but what's here with this arrangement was more than adequately developed. Great stuff that's been like some other successful "Sub Castle BGM" mixes lately, i.e. starting out pretty conservative and dampening expectations, only to then fire up with very interpretive instrumentation and textures. Nice job, Orica, and welcome aboard! YES

Decent opening with a basic sounding but well-produced dance groove. The SID lead intro'ed at 1:14 doesn't cut through as the lead enough, yet it sounds somewhat shrill; I would have pulled back the beats and groove some to let the lead sound more dominant, but it's not a huge deal. That said, you have some good accompaniment thrown in from 2:07-2:22 that ends up getting lost in the shuffle due to the levels of everything else. At 2:30, I was getting tired of the main groove and clap pattern; it really needs some sort of changeup somewhere. From 2:59-3:30, there some solid original writing for the SID lead on top of the Cammy theme; again, it sounds too shrill, but the writing's solid and the mixing doesn't bother me in a huge enough way. The ending at 3:45 was weak IMO, but there was a resolution via subtraction; it did feel like you just stopped at a loop point to some extent. This gets a lot right in terms of arranging and interpreting the theme. I may be too harsh in this case, because I like the overall approach, and I won't have any big problem if this passed. But a lot like RoeTaKa's Dark Souls II 'Like a Dream,' I may end up in the minority, but I believe auto-pilot grooves like this one and the way they sap energy and dynamic contrast from an arrangement are too detrimental. There's good energy and adaptation to this genre, but 4-minutes of this groove barely changing was just too plodding for me. If this doesn't make it as is, Marc, this would just need some tweaks to the writing of the groove. You may also want to look into the potential balance and shrillness issues mentioned, but those aren't dealbreaker things, IMO. NO (resubmit)

Pretty odd choice of panning. It's a borderline dealbreaker because, while it isn't flat-out disorienting, it's still too wide on headphones. Everything also sounds very lo-fi; where's the high-end clarity? Structurally, this is all very close to the original song, and adapted well for this instrument set, but none of the part-writing is new, and and I'm not getting much out of it as far as interpretation. There was a nice 5 seconds of stuff added on from 2:07-2:12, as well as some other theme cameos in there like the main theme on bass from 2:18-2:23. There's not much of an ending once the final playthrough is done, it just wraps up immediately; try to fashion a real resolution. This is basically a nicely made, but super-close cover, Didier; it doesn't meet the arrangement creativity requirements of the standards. There needs to be much more personalization of the arrangement approach, whether that's through more distinct instrumentation, rhythm or tempo changes, and/or integrating more original part-writing or sections. Check out other arrangements of the theme to see more of what can be done, including CarboHydroM's spin, which was also a relatively close cover, but also did more interpretive things in his arrangement to give it its own feel. NO

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@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