Liontamer

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 114 "Breezy" Where's the variation in the percussion? Like Dan says, bring some more in there with some fills. The additions don't have to be anything that isn't subtle. As it stands, these snapping drum shots, along with the hat patterns and whatever that low-note synth is on support starting at :36, are always the same. No problem here with the arpeggios or vox, but we'll see if anyone else has a problem with 'em. Liking the pads as well. This is simply one of those tracks that has a good genere idea for an arrangement, but then doesn't quite realize the potential of the idea. The ending was pretty sudden/uneventful/I-ran-out-of-ideas-ish as well. Lengthen it out a bit and fashion a more satisfying resolution. Interesting spin on "Breezy", Dan, but it needs a bit more to it to keep things a bit more varied. Hook it up with some more varied percussion so you're not on cruise conrol there along with a real ending for a YES. If you do in fact go for a resubmission, be sure to PM a judge about it. I'd like to see you go for one. NO (revise & resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff1.zip - Tracks 12 & 14 These bros summed it up. Yeah, I thought it was pretty interesting how the volume changed per section, rather than per note. Unorthodox approach (i.e. seriously, don't do that). Either get a more natural feel through more attention to the velocities or go about playing it live, like you mentioned, Ryan. If you indeed do go through with it, make sure to PM a judge about your resubmission. The arrangement itself is where it needs to be. NO (live = YES)

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/zelda.zip - Tracks 31, 47 & 64 Thanks for providing the source tune information. I hate digging through the GBS of this game. Not a bad vibe initially, Jeff. (I refuse to acknowledge "JefF," as that handle is really really bad.) The sounds are a bit dull, but are ok, going for a sad energy almost. They could probably be more expressive without sacrificing the motif here, but it's not a big deal. The wind sounds and reverb did give good imagery based on the mix title though. (Ironically enough, I looked at the submission letter after that sentence, and there you go.) The overall volume could have been a bit louder but was alright as well, but again, you're going for a dreamscape style, so it works. The development and progression done for the track are rather minimal. There was a decent switch to a minimal groove at 2:06. It lasted 9 seconds. The light percussion work barely changed up, and after some overall repetitious work with just a piano briefly joining in, you transposed the melody up a couple of steps at 2:50, which wasn't exactly creating anything interesting. The arrangement was way too conservative. Take it in more interesting places. Like I've said about other submissions, you can't just pick a good style to handle the source material in but subsequently get boring with the arrangement. Needs more variation in the beats, more creativity/variation in the arrangement, and some noticeable dynamics since there basically were none. Keep at it though, bro; it shows promise. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Battle 1" (ct-1-12.spc) Yeah, cool idea for this theme at least. I thought the clunky whatever-it-was was pretty cool. The sounds are pretty beginner-grade, but at least decent. The drums are pretty dry. Oooh, the faux-sax at 1:01 was just terrible. As the melodic lead, it needs to be brought up more, but the sample chosen for it is really holding this back. Hitting 1:45, the arrangement gets pretty boring, as there's no real development. The belltones gets a little more active, but the brass is again low and both the bass & drumwork are disappointingly dry. The bass is so muted and dry that it contributes virtually nothing. The arrangement's still not going anywhere the whole time. We hit 3:00 and it just limps to the finish before the track abruptly cuts out at 3:19; obviously a mistake there during the encoding or upload, so that's unfortunate. Not bad at all, but it doesn't look salvageable at this level of experience or lackthereof. Better luck next crime. NO

I dunno, I just don't like mixer handles with numbers at the end. Sounds incredibly n00by & AOL-ish. Well, despite trying, I'm not gonna successfully scour 3 different Metal Gear Solid soundtracks to find the source tunes. That's what I get for not playing 'em. Next time, detail which themes you mixed. If we don't have the source tunes, and you look like you could be YESed, you only hold up the process for yourself. In any case, I can only iterate that the sound balance is absolutely awful. Everything from 1:16-1:28 & 4:04-5:18 is an absolute mess on the production. Couldn't you tell that this sounded too crowded? There was generally too much vox and especially reverbed strings in the forefront here instead of your melodic components. If the supporting instruments drastically drown out the lead instruments, you will get NOed. The transition to piano at 1:52 is so chipper and compared to what was in place before, which was a darker, brooding buildup with suspenseful vox. You might want to see if there's a way to make that change in feel less abrupt, or at least explain why you went that route instead of going the "I won't tell you anything until I'm posted" route. Believe me, I want the info behind the creation of the track now, rather than later. The synth electric guitar coming in at 3:34 and the other at 3:52 handling the melody are absolutely generic and bootleg. They provide terrible contrast with the rest of the more orchestral/psuedo-realistic sounds here, and you flat-out need to find something that sounds better there. The vox notes from 3:34-3:52 sound incredibly unnatural moving from note to note as well. The track seems to be decent, even though the ending is incredibly abrupt. If you can fix the production on it, you'll have much more of a shot, but I'll be scrutanizing the arrangement and the source tunes heavily if it looks like it has a chance. Keep at it, but for the love of Jesus (happy birthday, Jesus!), please achieve the right sound balance. The fondations here sound good, so you could definitely make it if you reasessed the overall presentation. NO (drastically refine & resubmit)

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "New Continent" (ff6-301.spc), "Catastrophe" (ff6-302.spc), Dancing Mad (part 2) [ff6-s-06.spc] & "The Fierce Battle" (ff6-303.spc) Looked forward to this one. I played it back on VGF40 and kept it knowing it'd hit the panel sooner rather than later. Thanks a lot for the time breakdowns, Chris. You lengthy & medley submitters oughta take note of stuff like this when you submit. Good variation on the distortion that intros "New Continent" itself to harken back to the original. Cool stuff with the offbeat modulating synth underneath the lead guitar from :21-:58. Things segued into some more freeform arrangement work done over the skeleton of the source from 1:03-1:57, and I liked the fact that you brought that kind of section in fairly early on, especially for a 5:14 rock remix track where keeping the arrangement too conservative could easily get stale. The vibe remained good from 2:16-2:36 (yep, nice Dancing Mad reference thrown in), before going into some more liberal, almost shred-style work from 2:37-3:14. I was itching for a change in the drums (a little too basic and beatkeeping for my tastes) before some more creative stuff finally showed up at 3:04 for the next ten seconds to close that section strongly. Moving ahead a bit, I liked the sound of the guitar (almost a shrill wailing) handling the chorus from 3:57-4:29. The last bit of guitar work from 4:41-5:11 initially was awkward, but it didn't sound out of place to me upon further listens. The last couple of seconds and the quick fadeout reminded me of zyko's sound, which is always a plus in my book! Props to Christian for a very well-done arrangement, featuring some nice brief references to other FF6 tracks, as well as Marc-André for some good solo work that the rock enthusiasts will be feeling. Not to say Christian's own guitar skills are shabby, because they're certainly not; they were definitely a highlight on their own here. The constant tradeoffs between conservative and liberal arrangement, along with the quick usage of additional themes was a perfect formula if you will. This'll definitely become a favorite around here. YES

I've done a great deal of thinking about this track over the last couple of days and have decided to do a rare, but I feel justified, change of vote on this. My original vote was YES-borderline, which y'all can read above. For the record, I have to point out that no one asked me to reconsider my vote or attempted to change my mind. One important thing djp pointed out in our vote on Gecko Yamori's recent submission was that we've been rejecting material that looks to be about 70-80% where it ought to be. Me deciding to change my vote wasn't a case of me saying to myself "let me up my bar". Say what you will, those on and off the panel, but I think my bar is very high. What it really boils down to is that listening to this track even more has shown me some nagging issues that really hold the track back and ultimately say to me that it's not at the level it needs to be for passage. Though I liked the percussion from 3:40-4:27, the activity from 3:23-3:40 & 4:27-5:01 that was disagreeable before really didn't mesh well at all with the other instruments in play. The sound of the perc work relative to the piece as a whole was an issue brought up by others for other times. Yet I felt these were the most troublesome areas there, while other spots weren't a problem or at least as much of a problem. Also, the oboe coming in at 3:40 also didn't sit in well with the rest of the track either, and would have came across better with some reverb or effects to not have the poor sample so exposed. It shouldn't have been so loud in the forefont, and could have been pulled back a bit, especially since it detracts rather than adds to the melancholy feel that the piece is ultimately going for. Some light layering helped alleviate the problems, but going until 5:21 the oboe definitely was a weak element that became too significant of an issue for the last 2 minutes of the piece, weakening the close of the track. There were a lot of highlights to this piece, and my positives for it are still the same, so those of you who are interested should really read them above. The arrangement was excellent to me. I certainly liked how a lot of the other techniques employed came off, and disagreed with other judges on both the impact of the lack of dynamic contrast and the alleged randomness of the composition in some areas. Along with Darangen fielding comments from other people, including judges, I worked with Mike on suggestions and criticisms in order to revise the mix, so to say that it grates on me to change my vote on the mix is an understatement. I know Mike made this track for sentimental reasons, and I also disliked the artistic compromises he made with himself in order to resubmit the track, as that's nothing I feel an artist should do when attempting to revise a piece. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel that, upon even more listens, this mix falls behind on performance despite exceeding in creativity. There are other tracks of Mike's that I'm looking forward to. I thought CT "The Depths of Isolation" was too liberal for OC, but having also voted on FF6 "Forsaken World", I don't think there'll be any problems on that one. I hate to seemingly downplay the Fall of Zeal, Mike, especially since there's no chance of it being resubmitted again, but I hope the mix was at least a useful experience in immersing yourself in synth work only and providing the foundations for stronger, more balanced work of that nature in the future. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Dark World" (ff6-305.spc) Strong stuff. Much more solid than stuff like "The Fall of Zeal" to be perfectly honest. Good simple acoustic guitar work for the first minute or so. Really loved whatever instrument came in at 1:23; very haunting yet beautiful sound from what sounds like a piano, and good fadeout from it closing at 2:00 to lead into the electric guitar and percussion work at 2:03. Liking the drum shots at 2:22 & 2:29, though I would have preferred something that sounded a bit more realistic. The vox note hanging from 2:45 until 2:58 kind of pushes the boundaries of realism as well, but it's not a big deal or anything. Great metal energy working in tandem with gentler acoustic instruments, melancholy vox & sound effects. Expansive for most sections, interpretive in others, it was a pleasure to listen to and play back on VGF38. I've liked the source tune ever since OverCoat remixed it over at VGMix, and this one does a great job putting it's own spin on the theme. Excellent work, Mike. More cohesively presented than some other rejections, this was stronger material more along the lines of "From Within". YES

You read MY mind, Stephen, lemme tell you. Sorry Francis, but no matter how much time you spent on it (and I'm not saying that 100 is too much, mind you), this is just a cover medley with some basic-as-hell stuff under it. There are some decent instrumental changes, but not much beyond that. It practically doesn't get any more simplified of a remix than this. Hope you're not too discouraged by the rejection here. I'm a BIG fan of Super Mario Bros. 2 "The DarK Underground". It's one of the first mixes I ever download from OCR and one of the ones that really illustrates how you can completely take an original track and turn it into something brand new. I'm not gonna really harp on the production. You went for the sacrifice to get it under the size limit, and that's admirable, but go for VBR next time. I've seen this mix at VGMix (with a higher bitrate of course), and honestly that's really the place for it. Nonetheless, I really hope you'll continue working on game remix material, especially since I haven't heard anything from you in over two years. Good to still see you around, and I'll check out whatever else you have at your site. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman3.zip - "Shadowman Stage" (Track 9) ACK! That distortion on the geetar at :11 is purposeful but not kosher with me. Just a minor gripe. Anyway, y'all are seriously funkin' things up. I loves it! Good funk cover of the Shadowman theme that brings an energy we rarely see at this site. Excellent drum activity in the back; that was one of the highlights to be sure. I was hoping you guys would break out into some freestyle work, and there it was at 2:21. Great stuff on top of the Shadowman theme bassline that really pieced together well, including the slowdown at 3:13 to move back into the source tune coverage at 3:25. Good stuff with the organ-style keyboard doing slight variations on each iteration of the source tune during the bridge as well. Although others might focus on the general performance, I felt production was the weak point. I thought the track was too heavy on the low-end, and the lead guitar could have been louder compared to the rest of the instruments. Sloppiness on the sound balance should have been addressed with some post-production. On the arrangement side, practically everything comes together well for something that initially seems loose and unstructured, but is deceivingly cohesive. Nice energy & nice performance. I checked out your site and it looks good. Pretty unique, but memorable. Congrats on some cool shit, and I hope your fanbase gets a nice boost on account of this remix. I'll keep an eye out for your material for radio play, and good luck in the future getting your name out there inb the event this doesn't make it. Haven't seen any further game music material at your site, but I hope some additional remixes are in your future. Hot shit, boys and girls. YES

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 102 "Opening - Bombing Mission" (:00-1:22), 201 "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII" (1:28-2:08), FF8 117 "Tell Me" (2:27-2:46) & 101 "The Prelude" (2:47-2:58) The intro wasn't bad, but not quite melancholy and emotive like the intention seemed to be. Just a subjective comment on the first listen, as it gets better over time. The synths aren't that hot, but do a serviceable job. Alright, we're at 1:30 and finally more noticeable things have started happening, including a swell as 1:52. At this point though, I realized the track is deliberately paced like this and it won't change. This seems to just play sections from several tracks without doing anything substantial on the arrangement. The slow pace keeps the changes from being jarring, but there's no real direction here at all. Frankly, I think the track's pretty damn cool, and I'm keeping it, but if you took out the ambiance, it's just a very drawn out, minimalist medley to me. I feel as if more original compositional ideas are needed beyond ambiance + slow renditions of several FF tracks. Maybe someone else besides me will be feeling this though. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gsf/minishcap_gsf.rar - 06 "Picori Festival" So a quick trip to GameFAQs provides the release dates for this game: Considering the latest submission e-mail from this batch was November 11th, I'm just wondering how the hell you managed to do this. A time machine?!? Anyway, it's not bad. Nonetheless, I'll sum this up in 3 points: 1. A mere reinstrumented cover 2. You didn't use "cheer samples"; you used one cheer sample twice 3. 2 minutes and 16 seconds NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 319 "Aerith's Theme" & 101 "The Prelude" A couple of the presentation ideas were similar to the FF7 Piano Collections version of the theme by Shiro Hamaguchi & Seiji Honda, such as the style of the 3 embellishing notes in each section of the chorus starting at 1:32 (found at :52 of the FF7PC track). Nothing alarming with similarities though; just had to check that angle out, though Kevin's site points out which FF pieces he arranged rather than covered. This certainly goes in a lot of places that the enjoyable but more conservative FFVII PC piece does not. Very quiet but excellent first few minutes. Great way to slowly escalate things at 1:48. Well done integration of "The Prelude" from 2:21-3:05, followed up by some excellent rearrangement of The Prelude all the way until 3:35. The abrupt/drastic change in key at 3:40 didn't work at all, but what came after that was strong. Nice activity throughout the last 3 minutes or so, before slowing things down for the dramatic finish. I'm not an FF music fan myself, but I can see how other fans could dub this as emotive. I'm interested to hear what our other piano talents like Dhsu & Bladiator have to say on this. Maybe someone can get kLuTz & MC around for comments as well. Things were conservative but still interpretive in the beginning, but picked up even more on the rearrangement department later on. Nothing much else to say, but good work. I'll certainly be checking out the other material available at your page, Kevin. (I suggest the readers out there to do the same.) Just scoping it out, I can see you're already an accomplished musician who'll achieve bigger and better things. Certainly hope to hear more from you around here. YES

http://www.outrun.org/outrun3dlastwave.mid - "Last Wave" It's not bad. Nonetheless, I'll sum this up in 3 points: 1. A mere cover 2. Everything underneath the guitar was overly simple and unengaging 3. 1 minute and 41 seconds NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 117 "Who Are You?" Now just because the original sounds "meh" doesn't mean the remix should as well. Ohhh, stuff like that sweeping synth at :14, you're hurting me. Bah, after the little swell at :27, we move into some very dry, empty, generic trance. And it just keep going like this. And let's not forget to throw in some cliched cymbal shots at :51. Finally something different and with a measure of creativity at 2:03. Um...why did the beat at 2:24 sound like Danny B's original "Orbital Resonance"? Heh. Anyway, we rinse and repeat the earlier stuff at 2:44 only with some minor additions, like the scary vox-like synth. Just plain-jane, as The Wingless would say, and uninspired throughout. Trance has the potential to be so much more than this. Keep at it, bro, and keep learning new things. Maybe it's just me associating your mixer handle with the game, but change it. That'd be like me calling myself Master Chief. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 319 "Aerith's Theme" Now seriously, what in the hell does the first 2:07 have to do with anything? That's already an instant NO. Then you just play the original with a so-so keyboard, some weak strings, some pads, and warbly trance stuff underneath it. Production from 3:21-4:55 is really poor. There's that keyboard at 5:08 again. Oy. Whatever. NO

http://jadiepoo.com/dx/OST/11%20-%20The%20Synapse%20(Hong%20Kong%20Streets).mp3 - "The Synapse" First off, thanks a lot for providing us with the actual source tune link. I'm not liking how sparsely this track opens up for the 46 second intro with this flimsy loungy lead and soft kicks. The intro of the dance beats at :30 is very abrupt. This really pales in comparison with the source's own intro. Both of these issues are present again when your repeat this stuff at 3:16 (with the abrupt reemergence of the beats at 3:30). I feel like more effort was put into these beats than the melodic arrangement at times, but you can occasionally hear some decent ambient sounds in play. I say occasionally, because the dance beats are too loud over the melodic ambiance. Whatever synth enters in at 1:57 to handle more stuff from the source is a really poor choice. Sounds pretty weak moving from note to note. And again, the beats drown it out anyway. The beat pattern that started at 1:10 is pretty cool, but basically repeats ad nauseum for a couple of minutes at a time. Use subtle beat changeups throughout the track, much like how the beats at :31 & 1:10 were different from one another, but do it more often. Short and sweet, get rid of the flatter sounds here, place the "Synapse" melody (and the supporting elements) more in the forefront instead of the beats, and create more variation in the beatwork. Not a bad genre adaptation, Kirk, but it needs some more work. I'd look forward to a resubmission though. NO (revise & resubmit)

http://remix.kwed.org/sid.php/2501/Cauldron%20(subtune%201).sid - Subtune 1/1 So yeah, not bad here. Nothing that I found particularly interesting, to be perfectly honest. I think djp will be able to highlight the strengths of the track better than I can. Heh. Cute little laughing witch samples. The drums have some decent patterns going on, but aren't nonetheless fairly plain-sounding for most of the track. The straight arrangement of the source in the first half is handled fairly well. The laughing witch samples are fairly overused around the 1:22 mark. The arrangement was pretty simple until COUCOU really played around with things at 1:33. Very engaging stuff right there. The ideas at 2:02 vaguely gave me a Wizards & Warriors vibe. In fact, the whole mix did, so if you're a fan of that stuff, you may also wanna check this out. Nice ideas for the ending at 2:42 as well, closing out with the witch laugh. Not my cup of tea, but this possesses a decent vibe, nice similarities to Wizards & Warriors in the quirky style, and, most importantly, some solid arrangement ideas relative to the source tune. Kinda funny how we managed to get Halloween tracks now. YES

Pretty straightforward cover. Fairly enjoyable, but nothing new compared to other CV2 rock covers I've heard on the site. And, no, I'm not using the Minibosses as the measuring stick, but even "MiniMayhem" plays a little bit more with the theme by having some of the support instruments do some interesting embellishments. I've heard tracks with very abrupt transitions work, like Marsland Brotherhood's "Speedy Guitar" and virt's "Warrior King", but you need to at least have some sort of sound effect or something there that marks those changes. And (I hope I get past the language barrier here) please name your remix something more creative. Impressive cover, but the bar is higher than that. Bottom line, present something more interpretive and unique. NO

Here's the original MIDI that Mike provided: http://djpretzel.com/ocrjudge/upload/Israfel/Shivers-theme.mid Attempting to find something more substantial, but the vibe I'm getting is that this soundtrack is rare as hell.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Opening Theme (part 1)" (ff6-101a.spc) & "Kefka" (ff6-108.spc) Um...interesting intro using the opening theme...which got drowned out. Yeah. Anyway, starting with the usage of "Kefka" at :41, this is just rather simplified cover stuff until 2:05, and there's not enough clarity in the production end. Samples are pretty fake at times, but workable at others. Cute stuff until 2:43 with the music box work. After that we hit some nasty distortion while the brass and winds play off one another until 3:10. Not bad stuff with fuller areas like the stuff starting at 3:10 featuring the cymbal crashes, though again the production isn't hot, so the sounds could be cleaner. Whatever you decided to do at 4:10 was the absolute dealbreaker. Ridiculously overcompressed bullshit. And it goes on like this until 5:41. More of this stuff to close it out. You've gotta be fucking kidding me. Anyway, thanks for playing. Being half-Russian with half my family being Russian immigrants, this didn't sound like anything even analogous to Stalin or Russian Communism. The rest of you Js, just make sure the volume isn't too high when you listen to this. NO

http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/MI1-CD/01%20-%20Opening%20Themes%20-%20Introduction.mp3 - "Opening Themes" (just the first 1:34) Meh. Just MIDI-quality orchestration work here without any realism here to open up with the first 42 seconds. The transition into the techno/trance work is just sloppy, and the lead synths, I guess some saws or whathaveyou, are grating as hell and drowning everything else out. The cymbals, strings, and claps (and is that a cowbell in there?) just don't mesh well with the rest of the sounds. At least we moved away from that with the changeup at 3:14 into something that's mosr of a techno/orchestral hybrid (being generous here), before rinsing and repeating the techno stuff at 3:40. I guess it wasn't a form rejection given the um love and effort put into this. Well I mean, if YOU like it, I guess that's what's more important...oy. NO

http://www.queststudios.com/edmidi/kq3ed1.zip - Introduction Theme Please try and provide source tune information, so we can compare what you have to what inspired it. I know it's an old Sierra game, but try to hook it up. The source MIDI I found sucks. Try not to listen past :52 of it. Anyway, not to discredit the submitter, but I could only find the source tune for the second half beginning at 2:21 here, and that's a cover, so while I can't identify the first half of the track, it's somewhat safe to say it doesn't take many risks (otherwise it would be wholly original). The first half, up to 2:21, was actually pretty strong for MIDI work. I personally think it needs more work to make the most out of the format, but it wasn't bad. Again, I'm merely guessing this held fairly fast to whatever it was derived from, but otherwise it sounded fairly decent. From 2:21 on though, the GM sound is pretty exposed, especially on account of the woodwind carrying the source melody. Everything is incredibly thin, including the string activity way in the back at 3:37. Things just don't sound good at all. It's certainly a step up from the source tune I found (which sounds like ass, God bless it), but it's not up to par here. I've never heard Dr. Fruitcake attempt to create realistic orchestral sounds, but I'd still beg him for some tips on how to create fuller sounds. Besides, if you wanna get a MIDI grade remix on OCR, it's also gonna have to be way more interpretive with the source material than what I found, for example, in the second half here. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 105 "Dancing the Tokage" No offense, but what you thought was substantially "different" wasn't different enough at all. The new instrumentation is different sure, but the composition is around 85-90% Mitsuda's. Don't forget where the inspiration came from, sure, but it's nonetheless important here to fashion an interpretive rearrangement or at least a highly expansive arrangement. The distorted synth guitar that's occasionally used doesn't seem to mesh well with the other instruments, but that's just a subjective thing. The notes of the distorted guitar really don't sound right in their support role from 1:01-1:12. At 1:22, you just rinse and repeat what you had before. No dice. Needs to be more interpretive or substantially expansive relative to the source tune. Needs to not uncreatively retread the composition in only a 2:25 mix. Most of the structure is flat-out lifted from the original, and the tempo is the same. Nah, bro, you just gotta be more. Sorry, but if we took in every average cover, we'd be swimming in average covers. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Ruined World" (ct-2-01.spc) Congrats on taking a 70-second original and making something from absolutely nothing. By nothing, I mean that the source tune is very minimal. Just judging this mix on its own, one could be inclined to NO on the first listen based on its seeming repetitiveness. But with repeated listens and also comparing this to the original, this is quality work. 1:23-2:19 features the prominent usage of direct sampling from the original in the form of the ambient pads, and they're used a little bit beyond that at a lot lower volume. Some of the other odd percussion-like sounds (heard most prominently from 2:46-2:58) could have been sampled from or inspired by the clanging stuff from "Ruined World". I don't like how the manner of the fade-out ending ended the track on a lower note (the one starting at 5:58), but it was a minor gripe. Good arrangement ideas are here throughout. The additions and changes that are here are so subtle and simple that I admittedly had to double check that this wasn't simply retreading at times, which it isn't to be fair. The foundations are fairly basic, but, while the groove essentially remains the same, a very gradual building of ideas occurs over the course of the track. Solid work, Mike. I know you got discouraged over having 'A Terrible Fate' rejected, but I'd still encourage another resub of that (without needing to overhaul the idea). Even djp wanted to see given another go, so I'm pulling for you. Meanwhile, this was some solid progressive trance work that did a lot with a little. YES