Liontamer

Seemingly a non sequitur intro; not recognizing anything for a while until the melody at :59, but there's lots of runway here, and the string-like lead sounds OK, like it's blended with chiptune. Abrupt change in the SFX at 1:10; doesn't sound good when it's jumpy like that. Lone synth at 1:23 sounds awesome as hell, like VRC7 chiptune stuff, then it's joined by another line at 1:37. The sample voices are cheesy to me; not offensive, but not fully cohesive. The piano line's VERY stiff though. In contrast, the VRC7-like line had a vibrato-like effect on it that humanized it (rather than sounding like inhuman sustains for each individual note). That said, I really like the tone there of that chippy lead, and there's lots of room for expansion and variations. Wait, hold up. :'-( After the (abrupt) change in instrumentation at 2:42, things fell apart, IMO. Brass sample was very exposed as unrealistic coupled with a spooky-line that doesn't really mix with the gravity of the sampled voice work, then adding in some lonely-sounding kicks, then a change to a very mechanical-sounding organ line at 3:03 and some bizarre FM-synth writing around 3:08 that was kind of atonal. Sleigh bells added at 3:20, huh? Then very robotic-sounding organ and drums that both needed to sound denser at 3:28 and this texture is scattershot. Then a bubbly, brighter FM line's brought in at 3:39, then some castanets at 3:51 with machine gun triggering on them (no velocity variations) that exposes the sample, and just none of the sound design has synergy, no flow, no direction. Not sure what part that it coming in at 4:06, but the timing on that's also very quantized and devoid of any fluidity. At 5:01, I'm digging the more understated instrumentation, but once it gets louder and more involved. I also liked the electronic string sound from 5:15-5:24. Back to overly quantized writing at 5:43. Some sort of blippy percussion stuff added at 6:18 that doesn't have synergy with the string stabs, which aren't particularly melodious. Choir at 6:35 adds a lot of mud, not a lot of direction. Whatever buzzing line was introduced at 7:12 just cluttered up the soundscape; if it's meant to sound distorted, OK, but it comes off as messing up the texture rather than adding any stylistic flavor to it. The organ like at 8:05 seems like it's doubled by some sort of weird robovox-type lines, I'm not sure. Not sure what can be done here. Past a point, I didn't hone in on how well the voice clips fit because there's so much that's not working that it didn't need to be focused on. I can see why prophetik said they're overkill. Same for the source usage; I ultimately didn't need to track it or even grok it because it was a moot point due to these other issues. Even if this wasn't so stiffly timed, the instrumentation doesn't click or mesh together either. It really doesn't matter what the genre is, it can't be in state of musical rigor where everything sounds quantized, otherwise it's a non-starter. The only difficulty in offering this feedback is the possibility that it's taken on a personal level as opposed to assessing this piece of music. It's always offered in the attempt to lift you up to a higher skill level instead of tear you down. You often have good ideas, and have had plenty of arrangements you've helmed approved. I stand by the strong praise for your Lufia II album track, which was awesome. It'll sound like I think you shouldn't or can't make good music; it's a matter of understanding where your weaknesses are and instead actively playing to your strengths. To me, it feels like some of your work very much needs needs a governor in the form of a co-arranger/co-pilot focused on musicality, production, and cohesion. And, as I've said before to HoboKa, I don't believe your current pitch perception is where it needs to be to effectively executive very interpretive arrangement concepts; to stay effective, color more in the lines with melodically conservative approaches, and make your instrumentation, ornamentations, and sound design be the primary ways you personalize your arrangements. In the meantime, spend more time on your pitch perception, and study up on how to make sequenced music sound more fluid. NO

Lots of room to get expansive and varied with this theme, so I'm interested to hear what direction Mike takes it in. Hell yeah, speeding it up's a nice touch, and taking it in an electronic direction; I'm down with this. And there it is at :30, some original countermelodic writing gets added in, then starts ramping up at :48. Yep, this is all a logical path to go down, I'm glad to hear Mike execute it so well. Bigger stylistic shift at 1:27 that sounds cool, but as soon as I was worried that the source tune would get deprioritized, the stuttering pattern faded back in at 1:47 following the chord progression, then the theme itself quietly started again at 2:06 and then featured more prominently at 2:26. This is a really fun theme, so I liked getting constantly hit with new and creative textural variations. 3:23 moved over into the effected vox sounds once again and was purely original composition, then the stuttering progression came back at 4:02 and the straightforward melody theme returned at 4:41 for the close. Knew this would be good; Mike is awesome! YES

Theme kicks in at :28 after an original extended intro. Nicely expanded into light orchestration with lots of ornamentation. Nice turn at 1:11 just varying the instrumentation of the theme and then weaving it with other original writing dancing around it. Good switch at 1:32 into the strings handling the lead (note transition from 1:51-1:52 exposed the sample, but it's an overall solid sound given some reasonable body). Dropoff at 2:00, then "Song of Healing" showed up for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from 2:09-2:16 before shifting back into the main source for further variations accented by denser strings underneath adding more tension. As always, Rebecca nicely presents loads of textural variations to play around with the source material, and it's a tried and true tactic for an engaging arrangement that lets you witness and subsequently enjoy the versatility of a VGM theme. Strong as always! YES

Artist Name: RebeccaETripp For many, the first moments of entering the Dark World in Link to the Past were nothing short of astonishing. I wanted to recapture something of the mystery, danger, adventure, vulnerability, and promise of renewal found only within the otherworld. Games & Sources Link to the Past - Silly Pink Rabbit aka Bunny

You definitely want this to go in some personalized, expansive directions, especially since this reconstructs some of the original's instrumentation. The sound quality's a bit denser compared to the source and then a basic beat comes in at :47, and now the soundscape's too loud and cramped, IMO, with the bassline barely registering for example. As soon as the synth arrived at 1:51, I was "Alright, now let's hear where it goes", so it might be a case where the latter 2/3rds is more interpretive. At 2:42, the electric guitar samples definitely feel tacked on, though it's well-performed; wished they weren't mixed in there in such a muddy way. The source also isn't going anywhere new aside from the guitar samples on top. Some organ-like keyboard stuff at 3:44, but it feels more disconnected than the electric guitar lines did (and those felt that way too). Then some sax & trumpet at 4:22, well-performed (though there's some sort of audio deformation at 4:43), but this also feels disconnected from the overall track. The various sampled lines seem cool in a vacuum, but there's no synergy there, so 2:42-on feels like vamping without direction and the overall level of interpretation feels notable but limited. Obviously, one gets more used to the flow of the extended sampled instrumentation lines upon repeated listens, so maybe the disjointedness is overstated in others' eyes. I'm feeling like without the extended drop-ins of these sample library segments, the overall expansiveness and development of this concept is limited. Maybe the added lines are integrated well enough that that's not a problem? To me, that's not the case, but I could understand being willing to consider that POV. Leaning NO and would need to be pursuaded, but I'm actually gonna see what others think about this first. ? EDIT (2/7/25): Yeah, revisiting this now, this just isn't a developed arrangement. There's too much leaning on the sampled instrumental lines, which feel stapled on top and not well-integrated, to provide the differences from the source to the arrangement in the latter half. This has nice heft compared to the original, but does feel like a cover with beats + sampled add-ons. I'm not expecting a revisit on this one due to being from way back, but anything that could add more interpretation while feeling fully integrated would help this stand apart beyond the beef-ups in the instrumentation. NO

The track's 3:57-long, so I needed to hear the source theme used for at least 118.5 seconds for the source to be dominant in the arrangement: 0:04-0:58 (w/gaps), 1:06-1:34 (w/gaps), 1:47-1:58, 2:28-2:40, 2:42-3:09 (w/gaps), 3:09-3:14, 3:16-3:22, 3:24-3:28, 3:30-3:31 OR 109 seconds (w/gaps) + 39 uninterrupted seconds Thankfully didn't need to get granular with the stopwatching! The source tune's in use most of the way, it's just different rhythms. It's viable source usage, though I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it like this. Maybe personal preference, but the source tune is so basic that altering the rhythms AND making it more pointilist-style with the notes AND having it be second fiddle to the spoken word makes the source arrangement feel more marginalized than I'd prefer. From :35-on in the source, there were sustained notes following the chord progression that would have functioned nicely as an anchor here. Even for the big finish at 3:40-3:54, that would have been a perfect place to have the melody be played straight but aggressively. None of that factors into my decision. Anyway, those crits make me no different than any other VGM arrangement scene fan who doesn't get their itch scratched. I'm just a couch potato yellin' out plays, so no tears for lil' old me. :-D Lush opening. Vocals from :31-:45 had some delay on 'em but overall felt pretty untreated and like they were amateur/unpolished. Some flat spots in the vocals that came and went [:38 ("alone"), :42 ("with you")]. Once more layering and effects came in at :45, everything else sounded more stylized, spacious, and solid. The vocal delivery from 2:00-2:35 was definitely my favorite part, especially the swagger at the "height you won't summit..." area; such smart lyrics the whole way though, but this was my favorite little piece. Just listening to it like it was an original work, divorced from "Starjump", I enjoy it on that level more. :-) Despite griping about the arrangement approach not using the source in the way I'd prefer, it's definitely there and it's a creative concept piece regardless. Cool way to tribute the Madeline/Badeline internal dialogue from Celeste and take an extended journey in this personality battle within oneself! YES

I promised I wouldn't take so long to get back to ya'll again ;) And with ANOTHER Lena Raine remix too. Here's a remix of Starjump from Celeste, which was originally created for and featured on GameGrooves' G-Sides: A Nerdcore Tribute to Celeste! I produced it & wrote and performed the vocals, and all vibraphone parts were played by SQORE! About the Remix: The thematic heart of Celeste is the struggle of self - coming to terms with all aspects of you in order to grow as a person. In the game, our hero Madeline has her darkest and most intrusive thoughts made flesh - taunting, mocking, and sabotaging her journey up the mountain. This track remixes Starjump, which happens during the Chapter 6 Intro cut scene. There, Madeline meets with her antagonist ~Badeline~ overlooking the Northern Lights & calmly (and misguidedly) expresses the need to move on from this side of herself. This enrages Badeline, who even breaks through the game's dialogue window to sneeringly mock her, saying: "you think you can just leave me behind?" This track was built out entirely from the themes of this cutscene. It takes the POV of Badeline - the bad habits, the intrusive thoughts, the addictions, (whatever part of you that you wish could just vanish from the equation) - in that moment where you THINK you've overcome them. You haven't. It's a bit of a dark song - and the parallels to toxic, abusive relationships are intentional. It's also a bit of a silly song, theatrical and evolving and hopefully fun to listen to~ Enjoy! Lyrics: Leave Me Behind I guess this is it. I guess we’re through. Now that you’ve seen me alone. Now that you’ve seen me with you. I can be ok with this. I think I have to be. You will go away a bit. That’s cool. That’s cool. That’s cool with me. Cruel. You think you can just leave me behind? That’s unfortunate. I don’t think so. Nice try. You should just lay down and [die]. Let entanglement strangle your “rise and shine” away again. See, you and me? We’re intertwined. A knot. A friend forever and ever inside. Forever cruel inside. It doesn’t add up. You know it makes sense. Every year you blame me. You should blame yourself. You’ve been holding me at a Height you won’t summit, right? We both plummet though life. There’s no cushion. it’s tight and soul crushing. inside is so cozy, always rosy, never stress. never lonely. Why would you go? Cruel. You think you can just leave me behind? That’s adorable. I don’t think so. Nice try. You should just lay down and [die]. Let entanglement strangle your “rise and shine” away again. See, you and me? We’re intertwined. A knot. A friend forever and ever inside. You think you can just leave me behind? Games & Sources Celeste - Starjump (music) Celeste - Chapter 6 Cutscene (lyrical motif / theme)

Opens up pretty conservatively (definitely sounds like the source audio itself being sampled), and then some vox lines are the main additive component. The soundscape has good energy, though the sounds around :23, :34, :39, and :45 sounded lossy or distorted somehow, kind of a low quality feel to it, like it was a low bitrate encoding. No connection to the source that I can make out. Anyway, more good energy at 1:08 with the beats coming in; the pattern is mixed in a way that prevents it from being easily and immediately identified, but it's the "1-2-3 4, 1-2-3 4, 1-2-3" timing/pattern taken right from :00-:55 of the source. The electrosynth lead stuff is just so much louder by comparison though, so it's being drowned out; the mixing makes it a viable criticism to say it's not a "dominant" enough referencing of the source material relative to our submissions standards, so I would make that component louder. By 2:05, I was wondering where this would evolve into something else because the build felt overlong; not a dealbreaker, just a personal preference thing, as this feels like a well-constructed piece of music. Beats dropped off at 2:16 for a more synth-focused section until the beats returned at 2:39, where the lead feels like it lacks high-end sharpness, not that that would be a dealbreaker. Good transition at 3:25. From 3:25-on, I wasn't recognizing anything arranging the source, though this was good original writing, arranging/interpreting past original compositional ideas Seveneyes included. As far as source tune usage, this was hard to wrap my head around, so I could be undercounting this by a lot and am happy to be corrected. The track was 5:32-long, so I needed to be able to identify source usage for at least 166 seconds. I didn't count the direct audio sampling of the source from the first 20 seconds because that wasn't arrangement, just an FYI. 1:08-1:29, 1:31-1:52 (beat pattern, :00-:55 of source); 1:54-2:15 (barely audible beat pattern), 2:17-2:28 (:06-:11 of source, two notes repeated twice), 2:39-3:25 (:31-:55 of source, with beat pattern from :00 of source underneath until 3:02) = 120 seconds or 36.14% overt source usage Alright, let's summarize. As a standalone track, well-developed compositionally, good dynamics, creative sound design. You're already got something here that easily clears the production bar here. IMO, the mixing could stand to be cleaner/brighter; maybe it's a stylistic thing, but there's a lack of high-end clarity that makes it not ideal, just nothing that would make me be close to saying NO on a production level. I agreed with prophetik on not needing the sampled intro, but as long as the track arranged the source tune in a dominant and identifiable way, I wouldn't care about a few moments of the directly sampled audio being in there. Our Submissions Standards say "The source material must be identifiable and dominant", so I look for arranged source material to make up over 50% of the length of the arrangement. If we're missing something on the arrangement side, definitely clarify with timestamps how section A in the original is referenced in section B of the arrangement, and I'd be glad to revisit this. As best as I can make out though, this doesn't reference the source tune enough in the arrangement. Of course, don't change the track into something you don't want it to be just to fit the Standards here. What's there is strong though, so if you'd be willing to revisit this, there's plenty of ways to get this above 50% source usage. Hope to hear more from you, there's definitely a spot waiting for you on the front page, Alex! NO (resubmit)

Wish it had composer credits!

What the heyyull did I just hear? 4 days??? Man, you had to have cheated somehow. Probably AI'ed all these "collaborators". :-P Seriously though, a bit more cramped than I'd prefer, but that's a spicy musical chimera y'all got there. :-D YES

Some rumbling to start, eh? Oh shit, some carnival-style stuff fading in... sets an interesting mood, I'll give it that. Cool idea for this intro. Stays pretty steady as I'm about 2:00 in, but it's a heck of a transformation. Some subtle changes around 2:26 with some light strings added in; could argue this doesn't develop enough by the halfway point, but we'll see. At 3:00, the glassy warbling was briefly becoming piericng. The SFX of fireworks and a crowd around 3:16 wasn't mixed in poorly, but felt stapled in and didn't provide any synergy; feels more like random audio came on a pop-up ad in my web browser, it's that disjointed. Anyway, at 4:00, things quickly got subtractive and went back around to the rumbling audio SFX as a bookend. Wish it did more, sure, and the interruption by fireworks was poorly integrated, IMO. None of that makes me say it requires further work from Rebecca. It's a mood piece and it works. :-) I didn't read the submission comments before voting, but I dig and appreciate the inspiration and concept. Heady stuff, this music thang. :-) YES

Opening sounded a little odd with the higher strings feeling out of place, but it was brief; the tremolo later was a nice bit of tension. Oh shit, rocking it out at :31, OK. Didn't like the guitar being so much in my right headphone. I'll live, but the panning doesn't need to be this wide. Wish the mixing had more high-end clarity, but not a big deal by any means. Lots of darkness with the 1:28-1:44 section, though the brass arguably shouldn't have been so subdued; it's fine serving as something to pad the background at times, and it stands out more in other segments. Love the overall forcefulness here. Aside from wanting more high-end clarity, this sounds like an epic arranged version for a New Game+ battle for where the difficulty's been ramped WAY up! Great pressure-cookin', tension-ridden energy from TheMan, Zach & Shea! YES

Nice lil' grandiose glow-up of the original arrangement with this opening orchestration. Vocoded vocals from :33-:40 were being suffocated; I know the original would do that sometimes for contrast, but that didn't click here. Male vocals at :40 by TheManPF are kind of bland as if they sound low effort in less processed spots ("Your girl is quite fair, oh she's an anomaly"), but the processing's OK, and they feel more stylized the rest of the way. At :56, the female vocals sound good, but the instrumental underneath feels hollow and thin; strings are extra quiet and there's some guitar that's also mixed like it's trying not to wake a sleeping baby. Clap groove from :33-1:41 is so meh; feels barren like it's just a WIP placeholder for the REAL beats that'll be worked in later. It quickly gets boring while also mixed in a way where it's louder than quieter-yet-more-interesting supporting instrumentation. Vocals from 1:48-1:56 are muffled. Again, the mixing's weird: vocals were quieter, you hear the bland clap groove more -- the xylo accents are alright. Transition section from 1:56-2:03 felt empty as well. At 2:03, the clap groove feels like a metronome, so placeholder-like. 2:48, the piano's in the uncanny valley. There's string and orch stab stuff later, but the textures just don't glue together well; a lot of the backing orchestration just feels like it's thin and incohesively, indistinctly mixed. Except for the clap groove, the writing's more sophisticated than you'd think, you just don't hear it well due to the mixing. I literally don't know shit, so I can't tell you how to fix it, but the potential's there. String accents from 3:48-4:03 feel too exposed and the lower sustains are also in the uncanny valley. Loved the brief guitar & synth soloing from 5:03-5:19. The vocals from 5:19 are arguably pushed down too much, again understanding that it's following the original arrangement, so I can live with that. The vocals are cool, both PF's and EK's, thanks to some creative and stylish effects. The integration of the numerous SMB themes is nice to take the arrangement to a conceptually higher level. I wasn't put off by the track being longer and felt the flow was fine. I'll definitely sound like I'm making the perfect the enemy of the good: it's a great concept, still needs another production TLC pass. Bland clap groove needs to be killed with fire and there's overall mixing tweaks that could clean this up and not make the backing instrumentation feel so thin, like it's an afterthought. I can definitely understand the overall strength of the concept being approved as is, and I tend to lean for ambitiousness over production. None of this is poor, and it sounds like I'm bagging on TheManPF's abilities and talent when y'all know I love his shit, including this re-ReMix concept. The overall production though (clap groove and imbalanced mixing with a hollow feel) is messy enough that I feel this could shine way more with another pass at it. Not ready yet. NO (resubmit)

Well, ain't this a relaxing theme! I appreciate you introducing me to it. :-) Alright, going for jazz, then. Saxes are extra honky. At :34, the saxes are even more exposed when they're not in unison. Yeah, the tone's not steady enough or strong enough. Piano at 1:45 sounds so blocky and the programmed drumming's OK but has an uncanny valley feeling to it in some spots that I can't better articulate. Vox at 1:53's an odd fit as well; probably just shouldn't be so robotic-sounding. The mixing of this doesn't make sense for me. I really like the organ-style part-writing, but the (well-written) bassline's more indistinct than it should be. Seems to lack some Lucas will think I hate him; the sax performances are a non-starter and only really serviceable in a sketch capacity. Sax is back at 2:43 and it's just honk-honk-honk... honkhonk honk-honk-honk. Need a sax assassin to critique you and get you refining your playing techniques. Conceptually, this is solid. This would have crushed it 20+ years ago around here, and I like what i hear in principle. However the sax performance is gonna need another pass. Another stab at the mixing would be worth it too, but if the live performances and articulations were on point with mixing like this, I would have passed this in a heartbeat. A fun arrangement, but if the saxes can't rise to the occasion as the leads, then this is hobbled, as much as I like the arrangement in a vacuum. NO (resubmit) EDIT (11/8): [/reads proph's notes now...] - YEP!

Cool original; very lush initially. Interesting opening to the arrangement, with lots of tension. Piano cameo at :20 was too bright in tone to work as transition instrumentation; totally out of place. A choral of Azmodea's vocal lines come in at :42 sounding dry and pitchy, and mixed too loudly; they chorus half-decently, but you hear a lot of wavering, and then you hear some lines drop out as others' notes hold longer, which feels sloppy and disjointed. The tone's actually not terrible, but often sounds squawky. The vocal blending at 2:08's section sounds noticeably smoother, but it's a matter of degrees because the same overall issues are still there; loud, dry, pitchy, different voices noticeably dropping at inconsistant times. Vocals ended at 2:50 and the track basically bookends with more orchestration of the source. Arrangement-wise, it's straightforward, but I could get behind this concept as interpretive enough. The instrumental's solid to me even though prophetik's critiques make sense. The vocals pull it down. I'm not sure their tone fits this piece, but it's not produced well enough (or with enough attention to detail) to bring synergy to the piece. The original has one voice, and while this doesn't need to mimick that approach, you could probably get more out of less with fewer layered voices and be able to smooth them out and/or mix and match the best segments. Agreed with proph at the potential here, Moebius, worth continuing on with it. NO (resubmit)

I've only heard the updated version in terms of forming my vote, but I did have the initial sub, so I heard the minor issues and am glad they got smoothed out. Sounds fun right off the bat. CLAPS aplenty for some spicyness! For me, the mixing felt a bit bright but I'll live. Solid instrumentation tradeoffs to keep things engaging. Hell of a fleshing out of the theme, y'all! Flute solo at 2:05 was indeed fun. Fun theme choice, good personalized execution, solid mixing where every element could be appreciated! YES

I need to better understand how the melody of the source is used here, because it's not standing out to me here. Doesn't quite feel like the original melody's being followed. There's 1:55 of the source at 1:53 of the arrangement, something that's a more overt connection. I'd say try to hit the source's melody more closely, but if I'm just deaf and not recognizing very straightforward melodic or rhythmic arranging, let a brother know. In any case, opens up with some bread and butter synths, but also a guitar line; interesting build, though I'm not optimistic on the genericness of the lead, which also has too much of a stiff sound. New lead at :43 that has a good tone, but sounds really blocky/mechanical. Same with the running line at 1:18; paired with the relatively simplistic beats, the whole thing feels too locked to grid, which undermines the energy and makes the groove feels very plodding, even though there are a number of textural changes going on that would potentially help this feel dynamic. Still needs more beat variation, textural complexity, and a less plodding feel. The boring beats drag this down, and there's too much repetition, but I like the potential. Something like Eino Keskitalo's Deus Ex arrangement "Sadevakio" is a good example of using "mechanical" sounds and fixed/steady timing yet still coming off more vibrant. Maybe another J can explain why that one has more energy to it compared to this and what techniques that entails. NO

Opens with a pretty loud pop that would need to be fixed. Nice fade-in of the source melody at :19, with a stylish lead. Good addition of the shakers at :46, which added a lot of personality. Beats added in at :54 worked so well with the padding, the textures were gradually building in a nice way, leading to the dropoff at 1:15. 1:52 hit another area of the source and the stuttered, layered leads there were a nice touch of sonic variation before going back to the previous gliding lead. Solid instrumentation/sound design, albeit somewhat cramped/muddy; seems like it's too loud but could be pulled back some. The groove is enjoyable, and I like how the source tune sections were referenced. (Thank you for the breakdown!) Not sure why proph didn't connect the parts to the arrangement, but I didn't have that same problem and thought this did a great job incorporating the source. I recognized it from :19-1:14, 1:52-3:29, 4:42-6:39, so that was way over half. Assuming that we can't get a revised version to pull back the volume some, I'd still roll with this. The pop at the beginning can also be trimmed off if there's no other version of this available, so that prevents this from getting a conditional vote. I'm good on this one; could argue that it could be slimmed down a minute or so, but that doesn't get in the way of an otherwise creative arrangement. Nice job, Inwayn! YES

Alright, sounds like a straightforward piano adaptation to start. Vox comes in at :18. Seems like it may gradually rise and take some turns. Plucked guitar joins in at :49 with original writing; not the most focused initial section until 1:11, though it then gets a little more interactive with the source arrangement. Arrangement-wise, I respect the approach, which was more additive with original writing, but also had some reasonable interplay & interpretation via the vox and guitar; proph brought up some sections feeling too straightforward, and I hear what he means, but there's no dealbreakers in going this route; nothing to touch there, IMO. The instrumentation's deep in the uncanny valley though, so I wish it had a more natural, humanized sound. It doesn't need live performers, Justin, but some production TLC for a richer tones and more fluid articulations would put this over the top for me. Definitely use the Workshop forum and/or Discord channel to see what more could be done to get some more refinements in place. NO (resubmit)

"Distortion World" sounds like something Michael Hudak would arrange, and "Battle! (Giratina)", while not the same sound palette, sounds like something Shnabubula could have written, so I'm enjoying the hell out of these source tune choices. Oh snap, EDM. OK, I definitely didn't expect that at all. At :50, the lead synth's bland and not melodious at all and the timing is very robotic & blocky. Not sure the warbling bass writing works here either; it doesn't sound offkey so much as its writing just doesn't have synnergy with the rest of the music. Too bad, because the way its produced sounded pretty good, with a nice rumbling undertone to it. At 2:25, the little popping noises bouncing around the stereo field were needlessly disorienting, which could be exacerbated on headphones. Not even sure if it was just caused by a sample error. Like proph, even with the minimal breakdown, I'm not really grokking how the themes are used; would need timestamps of what sections from the sources are being referenced. It'll sound like I'm saying I need the arrangement approach to stay very conservative; it feels like whatever character the source tunes had inadvertantly got sapped out of here and didn't get replaced with anything. Ending was also super flat, just sputtering out. Definitely latent potential, so I hate to sound so critical, but it's not coming together yet besides the solid beats and bass creating some good energy. More potential on the production side than the arranging side right now, but you need both. NO

Opens up with a bright energy, so it's seeming like a decent genre cover to start. Textures start to thicken around :20, then the bass comes in at 33 and it's adding a somewhat indistinct rumble. The textures and part-writing are feeling pretty vanilla, very by the numbers. At only 2 minutes, this needed to be more dynamic and developed. Ending was super flat as well. Not poor musicianship, but in terms of the approach, too basic and plodding. Would love to hear what additional ideas could be added to put more personality into it; the potential is there, and it's such an underrated source tune. NO

Pretty thin sound palette and well into the uncanny valley for me with these articulations; it felt like the timing of everything -- the drums, the brass, the higher and lower bowed strings -- didn't have the fluidity I've heard in many of Bluelighter's other works. It's an interpretive orchestration and perhaps my bar's too high. This sounds too much to me like a mock-up though without decent enough humanization. I don't make music, so I don't know how easy or difficult it would be to refine what's here, but again, I've heard better from Bluelighter; maybe it's a matter of adding more reverb/room ambiance, something along those lines. If this doesn't pass, I hope he'd be willing to revisit this, it certainly has a place here. :-) NO (resubmit)

This one bypassed the judges panel. I hate Zach [sic], so I didn't want him to get any feedback beyond mine. :-) /s

Artist Name: TheManPF Additional artists: Zach Chapman, Shea's Violin Coming in hot from DoD's alien month, did you know there are aliens in Bloodborne? Apparently a lot of people didn't. Anyway, I've been wanting to cover this game for a long time, and Amygdala has always had one of the most badass themes in my opinion, and had it stuck in my head pretty much all year, so when this month came I went aaahhh screw it I'm just gonna do it and see what comes out. I'm going a bit back to my roots with this one, this is straight up symphonic metal, it's the genre I've done the most and I feel most comfortable in, and it's from a Fromsoft game also, of which I have had toooons of covers done in this same style for youtube a few years ago, it's been a while since I've done one of these and I think I improved my sound a lot since then, so I was interested in seeing how one of these would come out now. Zach is bringing in the fat end as always, you know he has to be here, he just has to, he's pretty much my other half now, he's also another massive sucker for Bloodborne and everything Fromsoft. Shea helped me in this one ripping some SUPERFAST violin and cello lines, this is a very orchestral and horrory track that needs those Psycho-strings to really work, so I'm glad she managed to pull it off. I did guitars and etc. Happy Halloween 2025 if this passes Lyrics: None, wtf? ): Games & Sources Game: Bloodborne Songs arranged: Amygdala (https://youtu.be/BihcP_GduOk) Original composer: Cris Velasco System: PS4 Year: 2015

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