Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Folding@Home has also been doing protein folds for COVID-19 research as well, so if you've dorpped off, now's a great time to get back to running the program on your computers, folks!

The bowed string articulations definitely aren't the best/most realistic, but they're serviceable enough. Rebecca always does a good job fleshing out her orchestrations and giving them plenty of character and textural variation. There's some dynamic contrast in play, but until 2:41's shift into a winddown phase, the overall energy level was flatter than it should have been despite the constant instrumental changes; playing more with tempo or rhythmic variations could have helped there. Yeesh, there's no ending though, with a very sudden cut-off at 3:24 that would need to get fixed so that it properly tails off. On headphones, I'm also hearing some very light static/pops (e.g. :20-:29, 1:22-1:25, 1:40-1:48 [big pop at 1:48], 2:15-2:18. 2:43-2:48, 2:56-2:59) all over the place that would need to be removed before we could roll with this. YES (conditional on fixing ending and pops) EDIT (7/23): /listens to fixed version Cool. Pops fixed. Ending's not totally cut off, but still fades out too quickly. Bah. YES

Yeah, I could have gone for something more melodically interpretive, but the personalization of the theme was handled nicely, so there's no issues re: the arrangement. Really smooth usage of the Gaster theme at 1:29; that's really the first time I've heard it sound mysterious yet positive as opposed to scary; beautiful touch. Not a fan of the exposed keyboard at 1:59; it's a purposeful aesthetic but still doesn't really sound good. However, it's only a dozen seconds, so we'll live. The soundscape did come off cluttered, but not in a dealbreaking way. I liked hearing that grimy backing synth adding some flavor to things throughout. The core beats ultimately ended up feeling too repetitive, but there was dynamic contrast via dropoffs, and the instrumentation & textures did change around enough to make up for the thump/clap beats dragging out. Agreed with the ending being flat and sounding like a jumpy transition to an underwhelming fadeout. Overall, Erick, the beat-writing and mixing could have been tweaked, but what here gets it done in a fun way! Count it! YES

Thanks a lot for the source usage breakdown, which made this super easy to evaluate for arrangement. Fun stuff the whole way through with fun production choices throughout. Nice, spacious soundscape, and a dynamic and fun arrangement! YES

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Takes some time to build up. I actually thought the percussion was OMG TOO PHAT and should have been pulled back to give the soundscape more clarity and sharpness. The lead's not bad, but during the quieter parts, it's arguably too static and basic-sounding and could use more ear candy (not just the good countermelodic material) to pad out the textures. It fills out quite a bit in the second half though. I'd say this is still capably developed and gets by, but it's more of a borderline case because I felt the first half (from :40-on) was actually a little too basic with the writing and textures, and the production's too crowded. If this didn't make it, I wouldn't be upset, but not because I don't enjoy and respect what's been done here. This could be developed further and has obvious room for improvement, but it's still solid. YES (borderline)

Contact Info ReMixer name: Just Coffee Real name: Gian Descallar Email Address: Website: justcoffee.bandcamp.com User ID: 32271 Submission Info Game: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Arrangement Name: Together Again Songs arranged: K.K. Love Song My comments: Always take care when time travelling. Hello OCR, here's my 80's take on Animal Crossing's K.K. Love Song by K.K. Slider. For this track, I try to carry those feelings of fondness, remembrance, longing, and reunion that I feel are present in the original. I had a particular story in mind involving the Time Travel mechanic in Animal Crossing games wherein you could potentially lose a villager if you used it too much to advance in the game outside of its normal time-based progression. The original itself is very minimal in structure and I've decided to maintain it but give it a bigger retrowave energy. From the intro, there are two leads that might not sound quite 80s but I used them to represent the player character and the villager and to add a little narrative in the song. It's been a while since my last submission and I hope I haven't rusted too hard. Still, I present this work as it is to the panel for criticism and feedback, to which I always look forward to receiving. Peace! -Coffee

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I'm slammed with work.

This was a cool concept. The track did have dynamic contrast and textural difference throughout, but the relatively static beats and overall loudness actually made the track seem less dynamic than the writing intended. Agreed with MW on the weakness of the fadeout ending in this case, which is something that normally doesn't bother me, and I agreed with everyone calling out the off-key moments. I wish the mixing were sharper/cleaner, and I've heard plenty of synthwave like that, but the strength of the arrangement carries it. Welcome aboard, Ernesto! YES (borderline)

With the extended intro & outro and occasional gaps in the source usage, I timestamped this just to be sure the OoT sources dominated the arrangement, but it was more than half a minute over what I'd need for a minimum, so fair play there. I didn't mind the arrangement approach at all, and the interplay between the vocals and ocarina was a perfectly fine concept; no problems at all there, and I didn't feel at all like the lyrics were half-hearted or half-finished. The breathy, whispering style is an interesting approach, although the vocals should have been sharper and not as lossy-sounding. As far as the extended intro/outro, especially everything from 3:50-on essentially being a low-key winddown, I didn't mind any of that. Quiet or not, there were source references from 3:48.5-3:57, 4:41.75-4:47, 4:53.25-5:01 & 5:05.5-5:35 during the final two minutes, so the track's still serving as an arrangement even when it's underplayed. Criticizing the final section is just needless nitpicking in terms of what's permissible here. As a judge, as long as the source material is adequately referenced, the production is reasonable, the arrangement is interpretive, and the writing and structure are cohesive, I don't care what else you do and I welcome the unorthodox. This concept and structure of this track, whether in a vacuum or as a Zelda arrangement, are completely fine & allowable, and don't need to be meddled with. The real dealbreaker is that I heard all sorts of issues (e.g. light pops/crackles/deformations/air blowing) with Rebecca's vocals (or David's ocarina) and have no earthly idea how they survived into this render. I mean, even in the buildup, you hear air disturbing the mic at :from :15-:17 and again from :38-:40. There are unwanted sounds all over the place. There's just not enough care and attention put into handling this at all. Unfortunately, it may mean that Rebecca's vocals would need to be re-recorded, if all of these problems can't be eliminated. Too bad though, because I would vote YES if the constant artifact issues weren't littered all over. Great concept, Rebecca; see how many of the smaller audio issues interfering with the live recordings can be eliminated (or re-record the vocals) and holler back. NO (refine/resubmit)

Will keep it short and sweet. Soundscape was cramped and felt like things could have been cleaned up some. The first 1:30 was more of a super-close cover, but the sections afterward with extended soloing over the foundation of the source tune, followed by more interpretive arrangement and more substantial backing writing and textural differences afterward thankfully put this on solid ground in terms of the needed interpretation. Love it and glad to have Power Drift represented! Nice work, guys! YES

The soundscape quickly got cramped at :11 as more elements were added. I like the concept of the arrangement though, which on that level is a pass; this had good variations in instrumentation and textures that prevented the track from ever being repetitive. The synergy with these parts (orch strings, vox, electric guitar, drumkit especially the snare) didn't fully click together, but works well enough that I think it can get by from some folks' POV. I thought this the mixing of the different instruments could use some tweaks to not let the soundscape sound so muddy, but will leave it to the musicians Js to elaborate on. For me, that snappy snare stuck out like a sore thumb and was too loud in many places (e.g. 1:12-1:16). The vox sounded slightly behind the beat, but that wasn't a huge deal. The ending also cut off a few seconds early, so we would need a fixed version if this passed. This was a brief track, only 2:20 long, so everything really needs to be clicking for me to be comfortable getting behind it. Very awesome stuff so far, Ernesto. Maybe I'm being too tough, but I think it just needs some production tweaks to push it over the top, and the arrangement and part-writing themselves wouldn't need to be touched in any way, IMO. We'll see where the other votes fall, but good luck with the rest of the vote, and this definitely deserves to be posted in some form. I think if this got posted as is, Ernesto would listen to this later with more experience under his belt and hear himself how this could sound sharper and more balanced. NO (resubmit)

With a Hamauzu source so minimal, there are a lot of places you can go; this mainly distinguishes itself from the original by subtracting the backing strings and adding other organic-sounding parts in Rebecca's new age arsenal to fill up the space and present a different feel to the theme underneath and around the base pattern and melody. The soundscape turned into mud at 1:09 until about 1:32; yeah, definitely revisit the mixing on this so things don't get flooded when you introduce some denser parts. 2:10 was a point where the woodwind came in to add more textural depth for a little bit. Hard to really evaluate the track as anything but a background piece, not that that's a problem; some sources aren't heavy on melody, and that's OK. I enjoyed Rebecca's spin on it! YES

The drumkit (especially towards the finish from 2:52-on) sounded very exposed and stilted. This was another example like "A Very Mario Christmas" where the arrangement concept is sound, yet -- not knowing what parts were performed live or not -- the execution sounded very rigid and not as expressive and smooth as it should. The execution is close to the bar here, but ultimately falls short. If you can spice up some of the drum writing and adjust some levels for the parts that the other judges alluded to, that would be great. For me, Reuben, this was just too static-sounding of a performance, and that's what drags it down for me. Definitely don't be discouraged; this was a really good foundation here where the core of the arrangement doesn't need to be touched at all to get it above the bar. Would love to hear a tweaked version of this back in the submission inbox. NO (resubmit)

I like how close the opening percussion and female vox sound on headphones; pretty cool placement. The track does feel more static due to the slower tempo, but let's see where this goes. Lanayru theme comes in at 1:13, I see how it fits with Brinstar, but can't say the synergy is quite there. I hear how some parts are slightly behind the beat as well, though that didn't bother me a lot. This has so much potential, but I agree with MW and proph that the overall piece is too static. Even when you have subtle dynamic contrast due to the leads changing around some, that's going to be undermined by the backing ultimately droning on and making the track feel stale after a while. It's basically the same pattern from :04 all the way to 2:47, then back again at 3:21 for the close. The tempo being slow isn't inherently a problem, just to be clear, but they're right that the backing patterns plod. NO (resubmit)

The instrumentation strains credibility sometimes, with the piano being the worst offender given how thin/flat/exposed it can sound. IMO, that part needs more realism to it, and I'd feel this was good to go. Otherwise, very cool and otherwise vibrant arrangement approach that packed a lot of evolution within a short time frame. Perhaps I'm being too tough in my production criticism on the piano/keyboard, we'll see, but IMO when you have such a short piece, everything really needs to be close to clicking on all cylinders. NO (refine/resubmit)

I was right. I don't mind Luke Juke adding a little more spice to the picture now, of course. YES

Opens up pretty conservatively, not just structure but overall tone as well (only more electronic), but let's see where this goes. I thought 1:17 was a point where more needed to be going on melodically or dynamically. This was pretty flat even when other melodic sections came in, e.g. 1:39; even where something melodious is there, it's not positioned in a way to focus on it. The levels of the different parts would need to be re-balanced to give this more to focus on. In a vacuum, this is a nice-sounding cover, Marc, but it doesn't really stand apart enough from the original in structure and tone/instrumentation to differentiate itself. That's not inherently a bad thing, but we are looking for more in terms of arrangement & interpretation. NO

Word, just need to get a version with the ending intact. Always loved this! A track with energy that brings a smile to your face. YES (conditional)

This was a solid orchestration approach. It's a melodically conservative approach, but totally works with what we're looking for with interpretation. 2:13-onward being a cut-and-paste was lame, but the arrangement was interpretive enough, so it's not enough for me to NO this in combination with the other issues. There's a lack of clarity here that meaningfully dings this, but the muddiness does somewhat mitigate the realism issues with the choir vox, so you're left with a mixed bag on the production. Yeah, the vox would need to be fixed at 1:16 for that flubbed syllable, at the very least. I see where MW's coming from on needing the vox to be fixed up; it's kind of like how some people hear noticeable AutoTune and it kills things for them. All I really need to be fixed before posting would be the vox at 1:16. Tweaking things after 2:13 with some additional subtle differences in the writing would be nice as well, and another EQ pass would be nice to have. YES (conditional) EDIT (5/6): Since the source files are gone and none of the issues can be addressed, the one vox issue along with the smaller issues unfortunately has me tipped to NO.

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