halc

I'd do this.

I think we could make this work? ;D

just gonna leave this here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-1tcOcTDps

that kick and snare (during the chilled out sections) are really weak and flimsy, and the sequencing is all really rigid and without any changes to velocity, this is especially noticeable in the cymbal parts. the writing is good overall, and the rest of the song is pretty well done. the arrangement was straightforward but well-executed, and I wasn't bothered by repetition. classy stuff. anyway, I think I'd be willing to go conditional on beefing up the kick and snare, particularly in the more chill intro/outro, they're just not holding their weight among the rest of this mix. I'd like to see the sequencing humanized a bit as well, but I don't think it detracted enough from the song enough as to call it a dealbreaker.. a few easy tweaks, even just to the velocities, would make a nice difference though. YES(conditional on kick/snare fix)

I wish there was more of a bass presence, the drums are really the only thing occupying the low end. definitely a unique soundscape you have here though, this track is a joy to listen to. very epic when the violin breaks out at 2:20. great work here, overall. YES

very well done arrangement here, using the wily theme as a foundation of the mix w/ a more liberal treatment of elec man sprinkled on, with some nice sounds to match. love all the fast arpeggios. the overall song feels a bit overcompressed, and it's causing some minor pumping/dips in the EQ if I'm hearing things correctly, I suppose it could be your sidechain though. pretty competent stuff here man, not gonna complain. a solid first sub! YES

sharing a lot of the same concerns as previous judges; guitar sample, rigid sax sequencing, and general conservativeness in regards to the actual composition. I don't think this is too far below the bar but it has the potential to really rock out. hope to hear a resubmission sometime. NO(resub)

sounded pretty solid to me, certainly nothing to add to what the other J's have already said. nice work here. YES

yeah, nice job, again. YES

I'm on board with the YES's here, I thought this was really well arranged and performed. I'd love to get a cleaner mixdown, which hopefully won't be an issue, but I think I'd be okay with this even if we absolutely couldn't.. I definitely don't see this as a NO though. gonna lay down a conditional since I'm in support of the Oji's request for mixing/balance tweaks. YES(conditional on mixing)

gotta pretty much ditto this vote. I actually might go as far as to say the mixing was more problematic than the spastic arrangement, for me. personally I'd say to let this one be and move on, as it might require quite a bit of work on both the arrangement & production in order to get enough J's on board to pass this. of course, I'm not trying to discourage a resub, this song definitely shows some chops, but I think that time would be better applied working on new stuff. NO

that piano is definitely mixed way too far forward, couple with the delays it just dominates the soundscape whenever its playing, and like Emu pointed out there is some distortion at times. the rest of the elements were mixed better, but all the long, pulsing reverbs and delays weren't doing the soundscape any favors. heh, 2:24 just struck a total tears for fears vibe with me, love it. anyway, also as mentioned, a lot of your synth and percussion sounds are default/vanilla sounding. hopefully this isn't coming off as too negative, because I also enjoyed this mix (wasn't familar with the original sub, but it's definitely nice to see people revisiting stuff after a few years ), and the arrangement was a fresh take on the oft-mixed Brinstar, but unfortunately this one still needs some work on the mixing end of things. NO(resub)

nice soundscape going on here, though the bass dominated just a bit. the performance wasn't entirely consistent so there are some points where it is okay and others where I feel it is too loud. overall though, solid playing, sounds, and mixing. the arrangement however feels dragged out to me. it's a nice direction to take a very pretty source no doubt, but the lack of sonic variation made it feel repetitive, and I felt some percussion or something of the sort really would have given the track some momentum/backbone. lots of potential here, but this still feels a bit underdeveloped, imo. NO(resub)

FUNKY! no comment. keep being awesome. ;D YES

ah, mr. wheeler. a name a recognize (and not because I'm related to it [which for the record, I am not] ). so, magix music maker huh? I remember getting that for $5 on PS2, all it had was a bunch of premade loops and a really shitty midi editor with some crappy GM sounds. granted the software has probably come along a bit over the years, this is pretty impressive all things considered. and I commend you for putting up with horrible software crashes and failures, a bit of reality I'm sure we've all had to deal with at one point or another. anyway, on to the arrangement itself. it's a nice treatment of the source, and sorta moves from conservative to liberal as the song progresses, quite tastefully though. really liked the treatment of the melody around 2:40-3:15-ish. overall, there's some nice compositional ideas and embellishments here. the production ain't too bad, but there are definitely some issues that add up. here's the stuff that bugged me: -percussion at the beginning seemed really repressed -there's not a very strong low end to the mix, and the soundscape overall feels sparse, like theres still some room to fill. despite this, the balance between instruments gets a little muddy at times causing the sounds to bleed together a bit (particular the sections with lots of high-mid activity, such as the section around 3:45, and the low end during 5:32). -the articulation/sequencing on the trumpet could be cleaner. -lastly, some concerns with the (sampled?) electric guitar.. but I'll leave that for someone who knows the first thing about it. overall, this is a nice arrangement, and has promise as an OC mix, but it needs some more polish to put it over the bar. keep at it! NO(resub)

not a lot to add to whats already been mentioned, and I agree with a lot of the critiques. the song is pretty sparse throughout, there are some generic/fakey sounds, and some of the sequencing/articulations could be cleaned up. this is on the right track, but it needs another coat of polish to really shine bright. NO(resub)

ah, WCRG tracks hitting the panel already. a reminder that we have 0 in the inbox and a billion to vote on. ;D really smooth textures here, very pleasing to the ears. probably the most solidly produced piece I've heard from you yet, with a nice arrangement to boot. a broader sonic pallete may have lended some nice results, but you've taken some simple sounds and made a nicely sophisticated soundscape with them. nice work here, man. YES

your probably saying that with a hint of sarcasm, but for the record that is a bad generalization, dubstep is more about the two step beat (ala 'dub'/reggae music, with the primary beats on 1 and 3 of each measure). wubs aren't exclusive to dubstep, but they're so prevalent nowadays that people just lump the two together. just like anything with synths is "techno". but yeah, I'd still probably classify most of this as dubstep before anything else, aside from the sax section in the middle. very interesting integration of the acoustic elements. nice arrangement, nice sounds, overall pretty good stuff. YES

interesting arrangement, I agree. sounds and sequencing overall aren't too bad, however I have a few specifics. the string stabs sound fakey, maybe try finding a different sample; it's not so much an issue when they're not exposed like they are in the intro. your first lead feels really repressed, and could afford to be brought forward a bit. also, the string lead at 1:16; perhaps making the backing more interesting there would make the sample feel a bit less exposed. I actually thought the drums were pretty thin myself, and could have been more present. there were some odd grooves that contradicted what the instruments were doing on certain beats, but overall I thought the writing and sounds were okay, they just need to give the mix a little more backbone. overall, a very promising song, but there are a lot of easy fixes that would really push this over the bar. NO(resub)

I don't have any issue with the arrangement. sure, there's no repetition, but it just kinda feels like a progressive electronic/hip-hop tune. the transitions were fine and the song flowed just fine imo, so I'm down with this as far as arrangement is concerned. production wise this was fine, but not up to djmystix's normal standard imo. the acoustic guitar stuff was really nicely done though. the overall soundscape just felt kinda sparse, and static. I agree that stuff could have changed up some more, but oh well. it's pretty good. YES

great sounds/processing, and a nice take on the themes. I have to agree that the melodic focus in this needs to be fixed. the song is beautiful, but the fact that the melodies are so repressed just makes it feel kinda dragged out, like I'm listening to four and a half minutes of string chords and piano arpeggios. let your leads drive the arrangement. NO(resub)

really really groovy arrangement here, not something I'd expect. however I felt that the production was problematic; very first off, the master gain seems really really quiet. sounds are well chosen, but the overall soundscape feels sparse. the mix just has way too much headroom imo. a lot of your instruments (rhodes, porta-synths, etc) have some hi-passing or eq giving them that radio/phone sound (a nice effect), I just can't help but feel that this is just too reserved at the moment. the slap bass is really the only thing cutting through the arrangement (though I agree the low end could use a tad more juice). lots of little things add up to a NO from me unfortunately, but the arrangement gets my praises; definitely hope to see this on the site in some form or another eventually. best of luck with the rest of the vote. NO(resub)

never heard the original sub, so this is a new track for me. definitely agree with Deia's crit on the hard piano articulations, I was thinking that right off the bat. the overall soundscape feels sparse; the arrangement is understandably minimal, but the first half the the song felt like it needed more juice. 2:23, interestingly minimal drop there, I like it though. however there wasn't much to keep that section interesting until it changed again at 3:25. like Deia said, the repetition here is holding this one back a bit. not too far off, but I have to agree that this needs a few fixes before I can comfortably pass it. NO(resub)

the synth stuff at the beginning wasn't too interesting.. very simple, unerprocessed tones (not that such a thing can't be done right). things got a lot better when the guitars kicked in, and I agree that metal is a great direction to take this source, but arrangement wise unfortunately what you have is too much of a cover for OCR consideration. production, though a bit sparse was alright overall (master gain seemed pretty low) so I look forward to hearing some more expansive arrangements from you in the future. NO

not much to add here, the other J's have covered the bases pretty well. that said I think this is a solid piece of work and some of your most well-produced yet; I'd probably pass this is if weren't for arrangement concerns, which I seem to agree with here. perhaps a breakdown is in order. extremely close call here, gonna close this one out instead of holding up the vote; take one more once-over at this one and send it back our way. NO(borderline, please resub)