Liontamer

http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiIyMzU2IjtpOjE7aToxMTM4MzI1OTA5O2k6MjtpOjM7fQ== - Level01.mid Says level 1 in the MIDI pack I found, but no matter. I'm feeling the intro; it has a nice, different sound to it than anything else we get around here. I see the harp's FF7 influence and the similarites to backing of the Raptor source. The thick kicks also coming in at :16 were a nice touch. Distorted percussion enters at :34, and sounds alright; going for another groove-based mix, I see. I think the distorted percussion is alright, but wears thin after a while. Maybe do something else similar to change it up. Finally got some vocals and the nylon acoustic guitar sample playing the source melody into the picture at 1:07 after that lengthy buildup. Your vocals (badass) sound nice and ethereal, but feel a little too far in the background, subjectively speaking. I'd like to see a way to make the vocals feel a bit more in the forefront, but it's not a hit against it. It seems to work well here, but I think placing them in the front would make the listener focus on those rather than the groove, ultimately making the groove feel less potentially repetitive. Very minimal section at 1:42 provides some contrast, but could stand to be filled out with another subtle element or two before the next section at 1:58. 1:58 sems to repeat 1:07's section with the vocals replaced by a synth piano lead. I'm liking the piano synth at 1:58, one of the few times where a non-realistic sound works fairly well on account of the effects involved. I probably would have went for a slightly thicker or airier sound, as it sounds a little thin for being in the forefront. Very subtle change in the feel moving into the next section at 2:32, though admittedly it didn't feel like the track was hitting any new territory; string sample playing at 2:33 was soft and in the background but lacked a little meat on it. Noticed a subtle bit of extra fuzz show up at 2:47 when the next voice clip was used. Very minor and almost negligible, but could stand to be fixed. 2:48 basically repeats 1:07 with a bit more intensity and some swirly pad stuff, though it didn't feel very different. I liked the arrangement a lot. The "You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet" usage in here was an intelligent touch given the similarites with the source's background, and you did a nice job of interpreting most of the instrumental parts of the MIDI. I feel bad that this can't be worked on any further with the source files being corrupted, but I feel like this could use some more complexity as opposed to the (somewhat) simplistic texture and overly subtle evolution of this groove. But barring that, extending the track and providing that substance via more variation and additional writing ideas would work just as well if the overall energy level remains like this the whole way through. The arrangement ideas are pretty sweet, but beyond that I feel there needs to be more development/evolution as well in whatever form that may be. The beats here felt like they were in cruise control and didn't really vary/develop. The arrangement also felt the same way in that the additions you made to repeated sections after 1:58 were too subtle (IMO) to compensate for repeating the same beat patterns. The sounds do a fairly good job of filling the space but some of the sounds/samples feel a bit thin and make the texture feel that way as well. Somewhat along the same concerns I had with po! & Joshua Morse's "Watermelon Flava", but that managed to pass so my opinion my be the minority. Shit, this would have been an easy resubmit if this in fact doesn't make it. :'-( Best of luck on the rest of the vote, bro. NO (borderline/resubmit/sorry that it's corrupted)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/kss.rsn - "Dynablade Area 2" (kss-17.spc) I be feelin' it, then...not so much. I feel like it's a case where you only needed to refine what was already in place, yet you needlessly complicated your revisions. Intro is still icy hot, and everything is still hot going into 1:35. Feeling some of the instrumental additions in there from 1:35-1:56, with what I guess is that ELP dealy. I like how the low-quality drum distortion got taken out at 1:57, good move there. 2:17-3:01's freestyle-ish section though was a no-go. The writing there seemed VERY lacking in form, and felt frantic without direction at points (2:29-2:51). The crazy hats didn't create a good texture, IMO. Better stuff after 3:01 though when the hats were toned down, though the change in percussion patterns at 3:23 made things feel a bit plodding and empty to me. Could sound a bit more complex even though you're going for a relaxed finish. Otherwise, I liked the bassline and other elements going on. Aside from the steel drums (which are fine; still pretty synthetic sounding, but clearly nothing make-or-break), the sections that worked had a very relaxed and somewhat organic feel. If you still feel like working on this further, Paul, I think you have a very nice set of criticisms here that'll really solidify this, so don't be discouraged. If this is going to be subbed again, get lots of feedback from top guys (nag for it if needed) before you hit "Send". NO (refine/resubmit)

I know' date=' I know. I can [i']tell just by listening that it truly is his work. It's just one of those things that's almost too awesome to be true. You guys must've been stoked when you got that one. I wasn't on staff at the time, but no doubt. Protricity in particular felt his own material just didn't compare. LOL

I'm glad you've bothered to actually check Soule's own homepage.

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=68612

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 107 "Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World" The arrangement is still pretty good, just to say that from the start. Still like that intro. The string on lead at :16 was a bit too synthetic-sounding but was alright; nothing detracting in a major way. Accompaniment that joined in at :40 sounded lo-fi though. There's a rather dull feel to the production for the whole thing for some reason; seems to really lack polish. The acoustic guitar synth had some good moments, but was hit or miss in the human quality of the performance. The percussion still doesn't really mesh well for some sections, in this case :40-1:09, but I really liked the more subdued role they took from 1:09 to 1:37. Full section from 1:39-2:25 sounds pretty cluttered and seems to lack the right balance among the instruments. Without some solid-sounding percussion to provide a foundation for the track, things seemed somewhat empty until 2:02. It inadvertently prevented everything from sounded grounded and cohesive. Things felt a bit loose, but it got a bit better with more listens. Good stuff at 2:50 focusing on the acoustic guitar strumming. I was actually feeling the slowdown here. Things were gradually building up with the instrumentation starting from 3:06, though I couldn't help feel that by 3:32, things were getting somewhat cluttered going for the big finish. The string lead just got REALLY loud (with some piercing notes at 3:45, 3:57, 4:20 & 4:22), with the whole thing just sounding very swamped. I said last time around "Feels like the piano, strings, drums and acoustic are sometimes fighting for the same space, rather than complementing each other, especially during the last section", and that's still the case for the ending IMO, as well as some busier sections earlier on. For busy areas where the string lead is in play, the acoustic guitar is buried way in the back rather than complimenting the lead as seems to be the intent. But I thought this was an improvement over last time in at least creating a better texture with the instrumentation involved. The overall package was more cohesive than last time, but the sound balance is still makes things sound a bit murky and messy. Each resub has been going in the right direction though. Getting 2 YESs last time, I could see things possibly going its way this time; this could be the culmination of some hard work and practical application of past criticisms. If the sound balance could be cleaned up here to allow the instruments to work well the whole way through and sound less messy, I could YES this easily, but until then have to go borderline NO.

So I'm peeping the revised version without the vocals. I'll say that I preferred the vocals being in there as they created some nice contrast/variation in the arrangement. Not having them admittedly takes away some of the personality of the track and makes it feel like it has fewer ideas. Frank hooked Gray up with a clip of just the "I wanna lay ya down" section and I still thought that the delivery on "fiiine" sounded odd IMO, but it worked a lot better when I heard the whole clip apart from the rest of the track. Part of the reason I thought "fiiiine" sounded out of place like that was because the resolution of that line (Frank later singing "girrrl") was buried by the traffic SFX and, ironically enough, the "www.DiggiDis.com" mention. Later on with the second use of those vocals, the track completely faded out before "girl", again making it feel unresolved. Just calling it like I see it. I still had issue with that one vocal part last time around, but listening to the old version again from :44-1:06 & 1:50-2:11, I have no issues there and I have no qualms on admitting that my original criticisms there were offbase. The rhythms felt a little loose at first, and I can understand why it was hitting me wrong, but listening to the mix again with fresh ears, everything there is nice, funky, and well-constructed. I let this mix marinate in my head before it even went on the panel, since I had it earlier, so I want to make it clear that I don't sit here making impulsive or biased decisions on stuff this creative and obviously well-made. But like Shnabubula's FF9 "Hunter's Community Chest" over a year ago, I'll readily admit my first conclusion was wrong. I'm stubborn but not close-minded or willing to let a vote of mine stand that I don't agree with. Out of 1,000 votes, this is I believe only the 5th one I've ever felt was originally a mistake. Feel free to ask me what the others were sometime! Onto the revised mix, while some may understandably have an issue with the significantly left-panned piano to open things up, I liked how Frank used :20-:22 to fade into the more balanced stereo sound. It provided some nice contrast moving to the next section that wasn't present at all in the first version. I have to say, I didn't have issue with the production on this the first time around, but this revised cut actually sounds much stronger on account of more distinction among the various instrumentation like Gray mentioned. For example, the bassline and percussion have much more presence and both give off more energy. Listening to parts like the percussion from 2:12-2:35, everything sounds more balanced, and that's something apparent throughout the whole of the track. I thought the piano note at 3:42 could have trailed off a bit longer, but that's just a minor issue which I point out because it was the very end. The arrangement was definitely very solid and a great genre piece, and the production is even further improved when IMO it didn't have to be. I liked it before, and I'm glad this was deliberated further, for Frank's benefit. While I would have liked the vocal sections to remain in there, Frank still has an improved product thanks to these revisions. "I have sinned." [/Jimmy Swaggart] YES

Out of all the things though to complain about though, why is the mention of "DiggiDis.com" so taboo? While we're at it, let's make weed take out the mention of "VGMix 2.0" in Niggaz 4 Life because it's somehow "tacky and cheap". Let Frank leave the URL in there. With the way it's blended into the track, it's not slapping anyone in the face. It's meant to be a tongue-in-cheek reference anyway. If he said "OCReMix.org" in the same manner, I doubt anyone would be asking him to take it out because it wouldn't seem so jarring, and I think the urging for Frank to do so here is a mistake.

2 months on the panel, let's not CONTINUE leaving Steve hanging like this. It's disrespectful.

How about y'all shutup and stop fighting? We need to agree that the podcast ladies are phone sexy in their own vocal-related way. Not that anyone actually competes with mine..."GIANTSQUID"

Can't snag a source on such a recent game, but the main issue I had was how very minimal this sounded. Not that writing or instrumental complexity is a strict requirement, but the texture here was very thin and the instrumentation, try as it might, doesn't have the body or carry the weight needed to make things sound strong. The percussion in particular was very tepid and basic. At 2:21 when you bring in the 1931 Dracula movie sample, I can just hear others complaining that the track relied too strongly on the sampling and not enough on the music for those areas, which go even more minimalistic with the instrumentation for a time. Just listening to the amount of compositional ideas here, there just isn't enough variation or depth here to justify 4:45-worth of music. I'm sure you'll do bigger and better things with Reason in time given more experience, but this would need a lot more ideas and a lot of fleshing out of the sounds to have a chance. The substance isn't there. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/ecco1gym.rar - 17 "Ocean" I liked the relaxed atmosphere, though it did sound a little bit too busy. Obviously part of the watery feel this was meant to connote, I still couldn't help feel that the rhythm guitars cluttered the soundfield a little bit. Nothing impactful, but the patterns continued ad nauseum and couldn't retain the interest. The synching up of all of the parts never felt glaringly off, but at the same didn't gel as much as I felt it could have. Perhaps simply pulling back the volume a little bit on some of the non-melodic material would help. Sounded like there was some sort of minor flub at 1:12. By your own admission at VGMix, the arrangement here is pretty liberal, enough so that I didn't really make any connection between this and the source material. I'm sure it's there but it's not readily observable. Even barring that, the melodic portion of the arrangement is underdeveloped. For a slowly paced, ethereal track such as this, I'm hard-pressed to believe a 2:46-long mix can say enough and provide a comprehensive enough arrangement to pass, but you or anyone else are more than welcome to work towards discrediting that. And as alluded to earlier, pretty much all of the background instrumentation repeats ad infinitum which lost my interest. It was hard to keep it, when I could go to any part of the track and it was basically the same thing. If you can extend the track, make the melodic content more overtly recognizable as Ecco's source material, and create variation, this would bring a lot more to the table. Still a good track, Mike, and you also deserve credit for putting your work to the great cause of wildlife preservation. I hope to hear more from you on the panel in the future and encourage you to improve as you keep participating in Dwelling of Duels. NO

Shit, thoughts go out to Juan, I hope he'll be able to heal up in the long-run. Glad your end of the project, Andy, will still be ok.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ed.rsn - "The Battle of the Island in the Void" (a.k.a "The Memory of the Last War") [ed-02.spc] & "The Island in the Void" (a.k.a. "The Fortress of Doom" [ed-30.spc] [production whore]There were some less critical production issues that could be looked at. The overall feel here (aside from when the percussion is too plain) is good. I'm feeling that grungy style although I think there could stand to be more separation between the various instruments. They can mush together to an extent, but some of the fuller sections sounded way too crowded. From 1:25-1:40, the supporting guitar and synth doubling in the background were really straining to be heard, and even then the lead/melody wasn't cutting through the soundfield either. Same with 2:28 or any other particularly full section. Everything's too cluttered in the mid-range, making it a little too difficult to pick out and subsequently appreciate the details you put into the instrumentation. It may not bother anyone else, I dunno, but I feel this would sound all the better with some more distinction among the various parts. It can still sound dense and strong without this level of clutter.[/production whore] I get that out the way to then talk about the arrangement/writing. Not really feeling the intro, but that's a just a personal thing; not a bad idea at all, IMO. It's different and I do like that about it. Geetar action starts at :17. I thought the drums and hats starting at :28 sounded too plain, dragging down the rest of the track for a significant portion. Some of the changeups in the complexity of the drums made things feel hot and cold. You'd briefly have some very exciting stuff going on with the percussion, then kill the creativity with stuff that comes across like placeholder material. Areas like :27-1:50, 2:11-2:20 & 2:27-3:10 felt lacking in the foundation of the track as a result. I felt the arrangement was pretty good. This is typical of Mike's style where he does a great job weaving original sections and ideas with the source material, doing so well enough that most people unfamiliar with the source material wouldn't be able to point out where Lufia passages end and original ones begin. It's a testament to his skill on that level, a skill which becomes more and more bankable as he submits more and more material. So while I have no problems with this being passed, and might catch flak from others, I need much more creativity with the percussion writing from :27-1:50 & 2:27-3:10 (more important), and a bit more separation in the instrumentation so things don't sound too indistinct in this otherwise powerful and grungy soundfield (less important). Once you spice that up, I'm solid on a YES. Nice work so far, Mike. NO (borderline/easy resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Dark World" (loz3-12.spc) The overall feel is rather unique compared to other material on the site, but once again it's just sloppily put together. I'm not sure where the peaks are here, but tracks is too much on the loud side. Once the hand drums really faded in to a strong volume at :23 they got loud and made the entire soundfield a mess until :35. The brass at :35 for the next section with the Dark World melody reference sounded a bit lower-fi (made up a word!) than the previous section for some reason. Watch the abrasive treble levels from :48-:51 and 1:18-1:21. Keyboard at 1:01 was very mechanical sounding, but reasonably buried in the back even if it stuck out too much to me. No transition whatsoever at 1:31, which was very weak and sounded a lot more abrupt than any of the other transitions here. Guitar was lo-fi and panned hard left from 1:31-1:39 for no good reason; don't do that so drastically when it's the only instrument in play. Soundfield started to get noticeably cluttered after 1:39, as the texture was pretty lacking to me. Some of the guitar strumming didn't even seem to lock together correctly with the other instruments. Then at 2:09 with some beats brought in, everything sounded extremely cluttered and indistinct with no sense of direction in the writing and no sense of the instruments working as a team. Top it off with that terrible ending with 0 closure at 2:50 and I'm left shaking my head. The arrangement as a whole isn't a bad idea, and the way most of the passages shift around could work, but this just isn't well put together. You have something that relies on the usage of assorted "exotic" sounds rather then the effective piecing together of arrangement ideas and said sounds. NO

It should be noted Mullenkamp that if you don't have issue with zyko, especially regarding this mix, then your entire post regarding the self-degredation of blacks is rather off-topic. So just understand that when you post something like that directly in the ReView thread, even when you preface it as off-topic, it's bound to be interpreted as you having issues directly related to this ReMix. In any case, it's really best to keep discussion focused on the ReMix, and take any broader issues to the Politics, Philosophy & Religion forum.

Guild Wars is used in the first half, and World of Warcraft in the second half. The database only has the capability of associating a ReMix with one specific game.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/sd2.rsn - "Give Love Its Rightful Time" (sd2-34.spc) Intro synth had a somewhat creepy feel, while the piano sounded mechanical but had that downplayed with some effective reverb and delay. Some very basic and rigid-sounding beats came in at :45 and the way you timed the hat pattern made it sound off every time it loops, due to the intensity being the same on every hit. The drums meanwhile sounded too basic, as well as dry and out of place contrasted with the airy piano. I was glad when they exited at 1:40 to make way for a quieter section. The synth bassline coming in at 2:01 didn't really fit the texture here either in my opinion. Drums and hats returned at 2:37 sounding lo-fi for some reason. The patterns were really repetitive and boring and could use variation to spice it up, not to mention more attention made to make the performance sound human. With the foundations of the track sequenced so rigidly, there's no feeling here and it just drags down the other elements. Synth crept in at 3:01 with some original writing heading toward the finish. I didn't feel the sound choice there fit the track either. Weird overall, considering you felt this came out the way you wanted it to, as I really didn't think the sounds created a smooth flow or pleasing texture. Arrangement was pretty simple and didn't really explore the source material beyond slowing it down and appyling some ethereal effects. As such, it felt melodically underdeveloped and could use more ideas. Applying more complexity and creativity to your supporting instrumentation will only help you. This isn't terrible, Matt, but needs a ton of work. I'd work on this futher not even to try and get it passed here, but to push yourself into realizing more of your concept's potential. Keep improving, bro. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/femblem.zip - Track 3 Not a bad sounding arrangement of the source material transposed to piano and small orchestration, but it sounds awfully cookie cutter with the sounds. Probably just a result of hearing these samples too many times, as they were perfectly reasonable albeit noticeably synthetic-sounding, but I'd be lying if I said this sounded special. A second iteration of the source melody came at 1:24 with some minor instrumentation changes, most notably the brass synth on support. Not sure what was up with 1:46 as the transition to the chorus was beyond bad and really hurt the flow of the track. Chorus again at 1:48 with more stuff in play, but the overall feel here is too samey, making the arrangement sound underdeveloped. And there was still 1 minute left, so not a good sign. Pretty much went "verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse" with little meaningful deviation from the formula. I appreciate the subtle changes in the instrumentation from verse to verse, but that wasn't enough. Finally got more personal flair with the melody at 2:11, though it was relatively brief and minor. Play around with things a bit more. The effort is there and the results are alright. The arrangement is just underdeveloped, and, like you said in your e-mail, simple. To me it's too simple, as the piano and pizz strings don't different themselves enough from the feel of the NSF. I felt like this was clearly in the right direction in an expansionist sense, but needs more personalization if the arrangement is going to be this straightforward. You'd be better served developing more ideas for this track. Promising start, Steve. I look forward to hearing future works. NO

You'd only recommend? Asking permission is more of a MUST. Even if you're the administrator of a network of computers you absolutely should ask whoever owns those boxen for permission. Ask them in person. And get the consent written, signed, and dated on paper and file it in a safe place. Seriously. I recall a story about an administrator getting sued and/or fired for installing SETI@Home on several computers he administered without proof of permission to do so. The statement (understandably) looks unclear, but he's not using the word recommend in the loose sense you're implying. He really meant it as "I'd recommend asking permission in order to install the program in screensaver mode on a workplace network and have it process WU's for Team OCREMIX."

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/dq1.zip - Track 5 The intro's not too bad. Oh jeez, what a bootleg-sounding cutoff at :19 moving into the next section. Goes from hiss to silence; no good. Anyway we get into the meat of the arrangement at :20 with some overly sparse and default-y instrumentation. :42 brings the vocals back in (along with the lite hiss). Man, these vocals are so naked initially. It's not until 1:03 that you employed some delay. Hahaha, the Ari Asulin-grade slap bass sample of death and despair comes in at 1:46 sounding completely devoid of body and realism. Again, the instrumentation is the obvious weak point. Can't understand how you thought this empty stuff was enough. 5:25-long of this drags on quite badly, as the sounds are thin and plain, and the track plods and plods as the structure is repetitive and boring in the long-run. The verses you have need to have something to do with the source tune, as your instrumentation is 4 or 5 basic-as-hell synths that don't fill out the soundfield whatsoever. It's what, an e-piano, pizz strings, snapping beat, slap bass, and that toybox sound? As a mere listener, I don't expect to identify them correctly, but the fact that someone else could possibly count the number of sounds/ideas in play on one hand generally doesn't speak well for the track. The point is they collectively sound way too beginner-ish, and hardly adequate in terms of arranging the source material, which is too simple and straightforward. During the verses, Dragon Warrior's music feels like an afterthought, as you could take out the e-piano and, *poof*, no remix. Looking at something comparably paced the same way as your track, listen and compare to how many ideas are in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Memories Frozen in Time" and how it sounds fuller and more developed even with simple instrumentation. At least during the chorus you harmonized the vocals for some more meat to them, and they're also synched up pretty nicely. Your singing voice isn't strong in any way. It's obviously to the detriment of the track, as with such simple sounds everyone's gonna hone in on the vocals instead. Improving your vocals only comes with practice and training so please keep at it so your performance matches your ambition. To sum it up, you need to add more instrumentation (and instrumentation that actually has body and can form a nice texture), actually rearrange the source material, improve your vocal delivery, and give your vocals more depth via more effects to downplay any weaknesses in the delivery. Use the ReMixing forum to find some better sounds for yourself and inquire about producing vocal tracks, and use the Works forum for feedback from fans who can point out issues before you submit more material. NO

Despite its noteriety, I couldn't find any game music format rips or MIDIs for this and haven't played the game, so I'm running without the sources. I'm assuming they're "Super Stripe" & "Final Take Off". Someone may be able to link to them, and I'm fairly sure someone else will recognize them anyway. Intro was nice and beefy. It would work pretty nicely provided the track developed well. Melody kicked in at :55, but the lead was too airy and obscured by the beats. Literally adding the lead on top of the exisiting instrumentation sounded pretty bootleg. Nice idea with the driving percussion dropped out at 1:36, although again, still not getting much direction. Wait, what the hell...? The section faded out abruptly at 1:50 and just started a new source tune. No sense of connection at all, it was only jarring and disjointed as far as the listening experience. Moving on, you had a nice idea fadin up the new source melody starting at 1:51. But when it peaked at 2:18 the whole thing sounded tremendously flooded and indistinct. Bringing the beats back in at 2:32, the whole thing sounded like a mess. Dunno if that was overcompression or what, but everything sounded terrible. You could barely hear anything besides that swamped lead until 3:26, and then it moved back to the first source tune at 3:28 with no transition AGAIN. Man, what was the hell was up with that? Anyway, I liked the pads or whatever those were forming the support playing from 3:28-3:56, but again, the melody came in and now those supporting pads were hard to distinguish underneath. Anyway, the pads dropped out at 4:23 and left the source the repeat a bit more for the finish. Just based on the lack variation, the arrangement was awfully repetitive and underdeveloped, as well as disjointed which some awful psuedo transitions, and the production was a mess with absolutely 0 polish. At some point, use some headphones to check on your material while you're mixing it. This flat-out doesn't have the creativity of your past OC ReMixes, which makes this all the more disappointing. Very hastily and sloppily put together. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Dancing Mad (part 3)" (ff6-314c.spc) Personally, I thought this sounded way too lossy/lo-fi, less than the 128kbps CBR would imply. Gotta go VBR and bump up the average bitrate as well. As zircon mentioned in his comments in your Works thread, the instruments sounds a bit cramped and tend to mush together. Boost up some higher frequencies to try and sharpen this up a bit, as right now it sorely lacks polish. Pretty swanky shit, all things considered. Yeah, this has a lot of Sam's style and pulls off most of it, only with the percussion being nicely groove oriented during the intro. I think you and Shnabubula could put out very good collaborative material. Almost negligible, but the strings seemingly faded down too quickly at :19 (and didn't at :23 when you repeated the part). :41 gets the melody in gear. Nice original synth section at 1:04 that ran a few bars too long. You could shave 8 seconds off right there, IMO. Make the transition quicker. But otherwise was a nice way to keep things moving. Was a little disappointed with 1:20 simply repeating the section at :41; could have sprinkled in some subtle variations or additions there. Nice idea at 1:52 for some more variations, but I really would not have used the same synths for the melody at 2:08, as the track was feeling too samey and stagnant as a result. zircon was right about the emptiness from 2:26-2:49. The percussion patterns and synths alone sounded too sparse. Give it a little something extra without losing the nice dynamic contrast you employed moving into 2:26. 3:03-3:15 onward did seem rather empty-sounding, and 3:15-3:25 could use some more meat on those chords playing the source. Going back to the melody section from :41 at 3:40 was kind of a downer in that I felt like I had now heard it too many times and that you needed to do something different to close it strongly. Also, the sudden finish at 3:52 did not work at all. It (arguably) worked as a transition at 2:20, but did not resolve the mix nicely at all, IMO. This is really promising stuff, Casey, and I hope you keep working on the arrangement further to eliminate some of the more empty and stagnant areas and keep it engaging for the entire 4:01, like zircon alluded to. I also think the whole things needs to sound more crisp and sharp on the production, but worry about that secondly. Very nice stuff in place so far. This has the potential to be passed with more work. NO (rework/resubmit)

1) It's already mentioned directly in the writeup. 2) The song is associated with this ReMix already, i.e. http://www.ocremix.org/detailsong.php?songid=859. That song is an arrangement of the GnG original, http://www.ocremix.org/detailsong.php?songid=831.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 306 "The Nightmare's Beginning" & 403 "The Highwind Takes to the Skies" Thanks to TO for identifying "The Nightmare's Beginning" here, as when I very briefly listened to it, I didn't hear the connection. Not a bad intro using "The Nightmare's Beginning"; fairly muddy, but I was feeling the texture overall up until the percussion came in at :44. Melody doubled up at :59. "The Highwind Takes to the Skies" arranged melody was added on top at 1:28 with a noticeable key change. The texture at that point was pretty thin, as the instrumentation was very simplistic. Drums needed to be more varied, and the bassline could stand to be given a richer sound. The drums and bassline need to form a nice solid foundation, which they don't. Stuff sounded like it was clashing from 2:38-2:56. Transition at 2:56 was non-existent. Lame ass exposed hat-pattern came in at 3:11, along with the drums and kicks by 3:26. I wouldn't built to 3:26 with the gradual addition method, as the exposed sounds were weak. Basically chugged along repeating stuff until the fadeout ended too quickly at 4:23 and left 7 seconds of silence at the end. Arrangement effort was there but too simplistic in the big picture, though it was in the right direction as the feel was very different from the source tunes. It just felt that once you get through a couple of minutes here, your ideas and sounds didn't vary and were on cruise control. The relative sparseness and blandness of the instrumentation didn't help either. Work on more creative synth design, more complex percussion writing, and more complex textures. Not bad for a beginner submission. Try and get more feedback from our unwashed masses as well. NO