halc

omg, I remember hearing this as like a 30 second wip.. did not realize it was finished. extremely competent arranging going on here, and with good samples and production to boot. though I agree that the balance just seemed a little off, like there was more space you could have filled in the soundscape at points, and the melodies could have been brought forward a bit. really captures the mood of the game and original song well though. though they were used somewhat liberally at times, I didn't have any trouble recognizing the melodies. epic stuff, definitely a pass imo. cut off at the end bugs me though, if we could get a fix, that would be nice. nice work. YES

instruments and samples at play here are vanilla, but the balance is alright. the kick and bass could both use a boost. piano, strings, brass, all the articulations and sequencing is mechanical. you need to humanize the timing and velocities more to get 'em sounding more realistic. arrangement is conservative but you've made some nice changes to the structure and melodies. I felt the mix dragged on for a bit too long, and the drums were on autopilot and could use some more variation, but for the most part I was okay with it. gotta get some better samples/humanization in there, but it wouldn't hurt to trim some repetition out of the arrangement too. NO(resub)

hehe, the Penultimate influence here is obvious. I like that little Ars Nova reference, clever. balance is just a little off here, I felt that your low end hogged the soundscape just a bit at times, but the mix was nice and punchy. I would have liked the bass to have a little less 'baaoow' and more 'thwack', but that's just me. awesome source tunes. your arrangement felt a little reserved in the way it used them, but they were nicely blended and adapted to the style. sweet change-up to 6/8 in the last two measures, liked the bitcrushing there too. seems pretty solid to me, your production is definitely improving with each of your subs. nice work. YES

nah, you just have excellent taste in music.

I wasn't crazy about the sound design, but the balancing is pretty good and the mastering is nice and punchy. I like the way you meshed the two sources.. they actually have somewhat similar intros despite being in different keys. the drums were kinda on autopilot until the breakdown, so the four on the floor section that came after was a welcome change. could have used some more variation in the actual percussion sounds used throughout the track as well. the intro was pretty long, but there was a lot of good evolution and build up to the first melody, so it wasn't a big deal to me. solid production+arrangement gets my vote. YES

yeah, you're overdoing it a bit with the glitch in the intro, I'm cool with the song starting all mangled, but you should keep it brief, and more concise. it just sounds like random stuff until the drums kick in. at 2:09 it's a little better because there's some actual music going on beneath it, but I still think it should have been a little less prominent. otherwise, the song is pretty solid. nice blend of sounds. I think your lead could have been brought up a touch more. your bass could have been a little bassier too. nice basslines by the way. how many times can I say bass? BASS. yeah, arrangement is tight.. took me a long time for me to figure it out though. given the fun 6/4 meter in the original, I wouldn't have expected a mix to convert it to plain old 4/4, but you've done it really well, not to mention all the harmonic expansion on top of that, doing other neat things like using a bassline from the source as a melody, etc. very smart arrangement. if I have one complaint about this song, it's that the soundscape is fairly similar for most of the mix, uses the same lead the whole time, etc. it could afford to evolve a bit more. the ending wasn't anything too special either. but ultimately I'm enjoying this mix thoroughly. hope to see you submit some more mixes in the future! YES

3/4, actually. glad you liked!

to give just a little more info on the mix itself, this is the first time I actually utilized sidechaining/'gain pumping', which is what creates the pumping/fading effect on the bass and various other instruments. if I switch it off, the whole mix instantly becomes a nasty brickwalled mess of sounds. fun stuff. ;D

probably my favorite off the album, discounting AeroZ's tune. really intimate, heartwarming arrangement here; as always, Stevo and avaris make a great combo, with Stevo's excellent performances and avaris' squeaky-clean production. excellent stuff.

I generally LOVE most of Mattias' stuff, but to be honest this one I wasn't digging so much at first. funny he should mention Claustrophobia in his writeup, as that's probably the only other song of his I somewhat disliked. unlike that mix though, this one has really grown on me. definitely a sucker for the pizzacato and all of anosou's assorted bell sounds. the true brilliance of this mix shines through in its concept, and I feel this track represents it's respective job theme better than any other track on Wind. nice work, you swedish piece of man-sex-love <3

I could hear the source inflected in the melody entering at :33 and 2:00, but it was pretty loose. when the actual source riff is playing, its way far in the background. something about the string sample or articulation at 1:19 was bugging me, though I can't really place my finger on why, so my apologies for being completely unhelpful in that regard. it's probably just me. otherwise the production and performances were solid, but ultimately this needs to be more overt with the source in order to pass. NO(resub)

Amazing sequencing, as per Vurez's usual, with a crisp, clear sound to the mix, and some quality samples. The arrangement is easily recognizable, but you've added a ton of personalization to it, and the melodies lend themselves really well to your style. I like it. keep 'em coming! YES

reviewed this in the workshop; I gotta commend you again on converting a pretty ugly source into something palatable and pleasant. the instruments at play are a little plain but theres a lot of filtering and effects keeping them interesting. the drums are the weak point here, they're just really flat and vanilla. you should bring that lead square wave out more at the end too, it was too smexeh to be so quiet like that. ;D I'm with OA on the fade in the middle; it's not inherently bad, I just don't think it was the best way of going about that transition. sorry I don't have anything more specific to say than to just polish this up a little more and send it back. I really like what you have here, and the mix is pretty enjoyable in the big picture, but a host of minor flaws bring hold it back at the moment. please resubmit this! NO(resub)

no medley-itis here, but I gotta agree that each of the sources were handled pretty conservatively. ultimately, with some nice embellishments and solos, I think the arrangement is passable, but coupled with production issues (crowding, buried drums, muddy low end), I'm leaning towards a resub. a more extensive EQ'ing could really get this sounding clearer. NO(resub)

I agree with Vinnie, the (filter?) on the choir causes it to be a little grating in the highs, and the drums need some more punch and rhythmic variation. I think you could push the bass forward a bit too.. the whole mix is just a bit to focused on the upper-mid/high frequencies. no qualms with the arrangement, you blended the sources quite naturally while maintaining that Metroid vibe. A few mixing tweaks and this would be a comfortable pass for me. NO(resub)

this is probably one of my favorite Chrono Trigger remixes; I remember being amazed by this even as just a wip. really dynamic arrangement that kinda reminds me of some of Shnabubula's original work. the live violin was a nice touch. it does get a little liberal in regards to the source, but doesn't stray too far. no issues here, this is pretty visionary stuff imo. YES

I agree with Palp on the mixing being a little unbalanced, but the quality was there, and I love the darker, moodier vibe you gave this. the first portion of the mix is definitely on the conservative side as the part-writing goes, but there were some great flourishes and variations in the second half. I enjoyed this a lot, and personally I don't think the issues add up to a NO, but it walks the line. wouldn't surprise me if other judges decide to turn this down. YES

I'm not really sure what to say about this one besides 'I like it'. really nice, upbeat arrangement, detailed part-writing, and some interesting sound design, though nothing world-shattering. nice. YES

great performance, and I was fine with the recording quality. but yeah, beyond the crazy scales in the intro, there wasn't a lot of actual arrangement going on. and others have mentioned, though enjoyable, it doesn't have a ton of momentum. NO(resub)

excellent source tune. agreed on the conservative factor, it's almost cover territory until 1:17, when the arrangement really takes off. the rest of the track has lots of good variation. excellent guitar tone and performance. I thoroughly enjoy this mix. YES

Another mix I reviewed on the workshop. The extra work you put into the improving the sax really paid off. Sounds and production are clean, maybe a touch heavy on the reverb at points, and that beat could have been fatter, but overall this is a smooth, well-constructed mix. If we could somehow get a fix without the cut-off ending, that would be cool (and if so, see if he can boost the drums a bit too). YES

I have a few balance issues here, gonna get picky with timestamps: -at :51 when the rhythms guitars change to the triplets the lead gets really buried. -1:09 is sweet. -1:24, buried again. -1:42 it gets so cluttered I actually can't make out anything except the lead. 1:59-3:02 is pretty good. -3:03 to 3:19, a little cluttered again but the breakdown at 3:20 was very welcome. cool weird glitches and reversing effects. the rest of the song after it picked back up until 5:04 I still thought was a bit cluttered, but it was really brutal and epic and the leads weren't buried. arrangement-wise this seems pretty liberal. there's some connection in the opening rhythm guitar patterns, but it's a little tenuous imo. not counting those sections, I was hearing source melodies from :38-3:19. also a nod to it in the first three notes of the solo at 4:29, but besides that, I hear no source after 3:19. by my count, this has approx. 161 seconds of source out of 324, or just slightly under 50%, but I would be more comfortable with it if you could revisit the theme again before the end of the track. borderline on arrangement, but I think the balancing issues are problematic regardless. NO(resub)

good on ya for remixing some FFT. this is actually a very conservative adaptation considering the jump in genre, most of the elements of the source are unchanged for a majority of the mix. the background patterns (sounds and sequencing) were pretty static and need to move/evolve more as the track progresses. the drums need some more bite too. the first half of the song gets pretty repetitive due to the lack of melody, and when the melody is playing, the lead string instrument isn't getting the job done. As Deia pointed out, the long attack and releases are causing the notes to bleed and sound out of time at points. this is far too close to the original, imo, but the production needs some work too. NO(resub)

Yeah, I was more than cool with this when it was on the workshop. Great source tune and arrangement, killer lead synth writing, and crisp sounds and production. It's a little light on the low end, and the percussion was a bit sparse too, but these are minor issues with an otherwise excellent mix. YES

agreed, I guess I'll live with the drops. the hats at least aren't an issue in this version, so I'll switch my conditional to a straight-up YES