Jivemaster

A bit of a mixed bag this one. Agree with the others that the vocals are quite good here. I didn't enjoy them as much initially in the intro (they didn't fit as well for me - possibly due to the musical accompaniment in that section). I personally think the intro would work better without vox. Once the first verse kicked in it flowed well and the chorus was particularly well done. I believe the quality of the vocals pushed a lot of attention to the flaws in some of the sound design, exposing the more generic sound of most of the synths (which don't vary in sound too greatly), and the ok-but-not-stellar guitar tone. I also agree that some of the parts were quite dry and could do with some more reverb. I do however appreciate that most parts were clearly audible on the mixing side of things. The other issue here is the arrangement. I got strong cover vibes from this mix - there were some additional things thrown in (the break at 1:34 was a nice surprise) but it was mostly a modernisation of the original. I will say however that past tracks heavily relying on vocals to bring the required originality have passed on occasion, but I would always encourage people to take things a little further and have some more fun with the source. Not a major strike for me, with the exception that I felt the synth and (and to a lesser extent guitar parts) were lacking in variation - I do think these parts could've been stronger. I think this track is close but needs some more polish on the production side, primarily the sound design. While I'd like to see some additional work in the arrangement - it's mostly covered, but if revisiting I would appreciate some work in varying up your synths. NO

Like the overall sound scape of this one, nice production value you have here on your instruments and sound layout. Production wise, there aren't too many issues here, there are some slightly sharp high frequencies here and there but nothing too major. There is also a tiny amount of audible distortion from compression in the busier portions (most noticeable on your drums). Your biggest issue here is your arrangement, which doesn't progress much from its starting point. I can appreciate you wanting you to pay strong homage to the original track, but we need more you in this mix - some original exploration of the original source tune to new territory is required and would fit in well here. I would start by varying up some of the things you've already got going here (in particular, your drums) and work on weaving some original ideas in. You pretty much have the sound, lets hear you take this further. NO

Some interesting ideas here, but these are mostly clouded by some mixing and arrangement issues that need to be sorted before this mix could be considered for OCR. I've summarised a few of the main issues below: The wobbly synths are lacking a bit in upper frequencies and feel like they're wobbling out of tempo compared to the rest of the mix, which became disorientating over time. I would consider brightening up these synths a bit, varying their progressions/parameters more over time, and aligning the wubs better with the track tempo. As the others have mentioned, your sub is pretty big and frequency consuming. You could certainly roll some of that off without causing any issues with power. When the drums, bass and synths are going simultaneously, there is some low end muddyness and frequency collisions going on which is messing with the audibility of your parts. Consider rolling back some of the unneeded frequencies in some of the parts. If you have portions of the mix that must share frequency space, use alternate EQ notches or reconsider if those parts are actually needed. Drums are heavy hitting, but not overly varied. I found the arrangement to be fairly similar throughout. While I did appreciate the minimal nature of the track, and enjoyed the change in pace near the centre of the track, I feel more could've been done to vary up the arrangement to reduce repetitiveness. A minor point, the outro drums starting at 3:50 and continuing to the end of the track went on for a bit too long IMO, exacerbated by them running the same 4 bar pattern over and over. I concur with the crits the other judges have made here and in particular, want to reiterate Deia's recommendation about the importance of remixers checking other OCR mixes to get a more informed idea of what gets posted and working to meet those standards. So far it's a NO

Great choice of sources, love the twinkly intro. Straight away I'm hearing a number of piercing highs, which can be heard mainly in your crash cymbals and the guitar. This alone IMO is breaks the quality of your mix. There is also some over compression (mostly on the drums). Your mixing otherwise is fairly strong - most parts are audible and equally heard, which would've been difficult with a busy piece like this. Well done there. I appreciated the small original bits and pieces you've thrown into this arrangement. Like the other judges, I would've liked to hear a bit more you in this mix, but your main problem for me here is the highs. If you can sort them out with some EQ and/or low pass filters you'll be in a better place. NO

Great use of the sonic soundscape, effectively panned instruments and mixing that complements all parts. I very much appreciate the changes in tone across this piece, combining the difference sources seamlessly - and you've done this well in such a short timeframe, it actually left me wanting more. That's really the only fault I have with this one - I wish it was longer. YES

Not a bad start. There are a couple things here which really need to be done to get things past the mark, but I feel they're certainly achievable. This will echo much what the judges have already said. The track overall is lacking in bass - pretty much all instruments have had their low end high pass filtered out. This isn't actually a bad place to be in though, as adding/restoring bass IMO is far easier than removing it. Consider the following: I think you could replace your kick and snare with something with a lot more low end so they stand out more. At the moment they are mostly little pops and don't portray the sense of power that the mix is going for when the guitars come in. You could really bring your bass out more and have it occupy the lower frequency range to make everything more beefed up. Your guitars had a decent enough tone but could do with some low end. However, I would hold off on this before implementing the above because you may not need to touch them. The stiff sequencing in your synths doesn't worry me as much because I saw them as intended to be chiptune to the grid, but you could do something there to vary it up including playing with your velocities and perhaps tweaking the patches over time. I think otherwise the arrangement is fairly passable but you do need to work on your overall mixing and bass levels to get it closer where it needs to be. Further tweaks may be needed after getting more bass into the track but play it by ear. So far it's a NO

I assure you even though @Sir_NutS labels himself as a noob, he is in fact not @DarkeSword the controller looks great, I wouldn't mind grabbing that as I'm a controller guy (even for PC games - I main a controller in BF4 and Battlefront). I have been learning on a stick currently which does make things feel more "arcadey" and immersive for me, but I have a long way to go to even beating other rookies consistently. I actually got worse since I started lol. I haven't touched a casual or ranked since my great losing streak after the first week of play, I've instead just been training my ass off and trying my hand at survival. The game still lacks modes to teach newcomers (I'm not a newcomer to fighters I'm just bad at them ). Something which teaches you the basics through to advanced combos for your character would be really welcome and make it easier to train instead of setting up recordings for a dummy in training mode all the time. Some earlier SF's like SF EX plus Alpha had training programs for each character where it took you from the simple moves through to combos and linking super moves into those combos - this would be great to see and I think this might be what the challenge mode is that's coming in March (I could be mistaken). An arcade mode would be a welcome addition for people who enjoy single player, as it helps you to learn the match-up basics. Survival I guess could be considered the replacement at the moment but it's not set up great - most of the opponents are dummies right up until the last 5-10% (especially on normal). Currently I resort to fighting a level 5-6 CPU in training with all recharges off.

Great production here Brandon - lots of changes in pace and mood throughout the mix, creative arrangement choices and clever integration of orchestral and guitar elements. Sections felt like they changed just when needed, and each part felt well mixed while maintaining a bit of a raw feel. The breakdown at the outro was welcome and well executed. While I would've liked some more clarity on the drums, they are hardly deal breaking. YES

Beth you're certainly progressing as an artist with every track. Vocals in this mix are quite solid, and with some great use of effects to change certain sections up. You also make decent use of sound placement in the stereo field. Your synth sounds have a light touch to them, but fit into the mix well. A couple of challenges here. The main beat stuck out as being repeaty in this, and the shuffling percussion hat/tamb sound felt a little sharp frequency wise (not quite piercing, but certainly a bit strong in the highs and would benefit with some EQ). I do think the sounds here could be refined and varied a bit more so it doesn't feel like they're on loop repeat. I agree with Deia that the backing is quite similar all the way though and doesn't evolve as much as it should, and could do with some creative tweaks to strengthen the arrangement side. The mix maintains a fairly steady vibe throughout and when it gets to the end, finishes pretty quickly, giving it that feeling of not having a discernible intro and outro. I didn't have many issues with the vocal parts, they're were soft but performed well for the most part, but I can understand where Deia is coming from with regards to their volume and the ability to recognise them. I don't think these need an overhaul but it would be nice if they were clearer (perhaps all that's needed here is to pull back on the effects a bit to let more of the clean vocal though). I believe this would work with some arrangement and mix tweaking. Certainly potential here, and I'd love to see you work on this a little more and resub. NO

Nice production. I agree with the other judges here that this feels too close to the original. You have some great sounds and articulations in the guitar, but I feel the small nuances that set this apart are too subtle on the arrangement side to bring this out of cover territory. Don't get me wrong, your version sounds better than the original, but I think more needs to be done here in your arrangement to pass. Would love to hear you take this further. NO

As with the others, I'm enjoying the atmosphere you have going on here. The guitars are one of the primary challenges you have with this mix. Dry tone aside, they are simply too dominant and mixed too loud compared to the rest of the track elements. The ambient backing parts sometimes feel out of time with the rhythm of the rest of the piece, which was distracting. Your drums also have a difficult time maintaining relevance and need to be bumped up, as they're lost in the mix. Arrangement wise I think this needs more direction. The same guitar ideas are used throughout, and the mix doesn't progress past these initial ideas. There also doesn't feel like there is any discernible outro to this piece. This is a shame because there are some great sounds here but the arrangement needs to be refined, tightened up and mixed appropriately. NO

Smooth chippy intro. Your drop at the beginning was very nice, and as the song progressed I enjoyed the funky vibe this gave off, with your keys and things like that. You have a nice mix of different elements playing, and some great instrument changes between drops. I don't have any real problems with arrangement. Nice use of bit crushing and other effects for transitions. I will reaffirm Kristina's comments on this be fairly heavily compressed. It's not to breaking point as far as the sound quality goes (in terms of it isn't distorting anything), but it's making it's way there. I think the song would be more enjoyable if the compression was relaxed, but as I don't have any other major problems with this mix, and there's no distortion coming from your harsh dynamics, this might do. YES (borderline)

A bit of a tough one for me here. As far as arrangement goes, I can hear and appreciate the additional elements you've brought to the table compared to the original track, which must have been challenging considering the original is almost as minimal as it gets. With regards to your synth tones - I did find some of the sounds you created a little conflicting to me tempo wise as the rate in which they were panning/droning felt out of sync to the overall tempo. This is ok to do, but when you have a track like this with such minimal percussion to keep that beat, your song then pretty much relies upon your synths to keep that tempo, and because that tempo isn't being kept, things feel a little off the grid. Your sound design overall is quite nice and I enjoy the tones you have constructed on that level. You did begin to verge a bit on too many simultaneous elements, with parts like the drones beginning to step on other parts, but I felt it didn't hit breaking point. I certainly wouldn't have added more though. I did like the evolution of your sounds, but I personally felt it took a long time for them to evolve into something, and it didn't help that the overall song was too reliant on this technique. I think I'm with the others on this one, in the sense that we have a mix of good ideas here that while slowly evolving, do not quite lead anywhere. I can't think of any advice on how to achieve a more evolving progression with this, considering you have such little source material to work with, and the more extra stuff you add the less it'd feel like the original. Overall though, with the above crits, I feel this is still a NO

Straight up, I find the placement of your instruments in the stereo space to be very strange, everything is panned to the right hand side, with only some ambience heading to the left channel. This actually prompted me to make sure I hadn't accidentally hard panned my headphones by mistake. For any kind of production, you need to try and centre things like your kick and bass, as bass frequencies carry a lot of weight and can offset your stereo field easily if panned. Your supporting tracks and leads should then be equally spread across the stereo spectrum. Otherwise your mixing was ok, but I can't fully tell with everything panned in this fashion, as the parts are sitting on top of each other. On the arrangement side, the minimal nature you have going here seems to work ok, and I honestly don't mind what you have going on here. I will say things felt very repeaty by the mid way mark. Some of this is due to the mood and pace of the track staying steady throughout, which is ok (sometimes) - but I feel more changes are needed in the arrangement to sustain the length, even if it's just some changes to notes here and there. Still some work to be done for sure, focus on your mixing, get the parts spread across the stereo space and work on strengthening your arrangement with some further variation. NO

Enjoyed the opening sfx and buildup, a solid start. The first thing that stuck out to me on the production front was the snare/clap around 0:40 lacking a bit in low end, but it doesn't get used for long so didn't have much of a negative impact. However the snare which takes over for the rest of the track from 0:50 onwards was even lighter, very thin, and mostly splash, to the point where it's almost hidden amongst the background elements. I was actually waiting for the moment when the actual snare was going to hit but realised this was it. The kick drum being relatively loud in comparison exposed this further, which overall made the rhythm of your track not feel right. I also agree with Emu that your leads tend to be a bit quiet and could do with being louder. This aside, your use of stereo space is well done, and I enjoyed the overall placement and mixing of your other elements for the most part. Arrangement wise you progress well and change things up pretty regularly by dropping parts in and out and switching to something new as needed, and the use of one off dialogue excerpts worked well. One thing - you have a number of dissonant tones throughout the mix, which while adding to the mood of the track, some are more out there than others. In particular the part at 2:20 had notes I felt were a bit too clashy which I feel broke that mood, almost feeling like a mistake than intentional. Otherwise I enjoyed your work with the source here. I like the ideas here, however the snare does concern me enough that I feel it needs another pass. I know that might sound silly but to me, it harms the overall quality of the track. If we could get a fix for that, I'd be happy. But you may not need to, we'll see what the other judges say. NO

Nice ideas showcased so far. Overall I enjoy the progression, changes in pace and the varied sections you have across the mix. Arrangement is fine with no real issues. I feel the guitar is the weakest link in your mix when it comes to the first half of the track. It doesn't vary in playing much and the chosen tone is quite thin, making it more exposed in the mix. That said it really picks up at 2:13 and is much more complementary to the mix with some rockin soloing, which was a great surprise. I feel this progression works as is and makes the song build up nicely as it goes along, but the guitar would benefit from being brought out more. You also need to work on your clarity a bit so that your parts are more audible. Your have a busy stereo space which works, but some parts are stepping on others, and your bass is a bit muddy. I recommend some mixing tweaks to open up that space to remove some of the cloudiness. I also thought your drums were a bit quiet for my tastes. I think you're very close with this one. Work on your mixing and you should be good to go. NO

A very upbeat track, with a strange overall sound about it. I am slightly stuck for words by the mixing on this one as it's hard to describe what's going on initially. Originally hearing the lofi textures I thought things would eventually peel away and become clearer, however the track keeps the same tone throughout. Firstly, I feel all the parts in your mix are occupying too much mid and low-mid range, with the highs unnecessarily tapered/filtered off and some unnecessary EQ carves in the low end parts which combined are making things feel hollow. This coupled with a lot of distortion is what I believe is causing the mix's "coming out of a speaker" type effect and making the instruments fight for sonic space. If this is purposeful, I feel the effect is overused and shouldn't be used for an entire mix. Reverb also seems to be applied at contrasting levels, with some parts feeling more boomy while other parts like the leads are dry and stick out. Finally, the mix sounds a little crushed due to too much compression on the mix - it would be great if this could be relaxed a bit so the track can breathe. Arrangement wise I didn't think things varied up an awful lot from the original, and lot of parts play similar melodies throughout the duration. I think further development on the arrangement could be done to splash some extra originality across the mix. This is not a bad start, but I do think the mixing first and foremost needs some further attention, and time would be well spent on strengthening the arrangement. NO

I'm enjoying the atmosphere you have created here. A good choice of instruments, and a great take on the original. I could recognise the source immediately, while your original riffing and melodies bring complementary elements to the mix that fit in well. There is a lot of original material scattered throughout the mix, including a number of instrument/set changes. It almost feels like a DJ mix of sorts, where different sounds and rhythms are introduced and changed over time. This for me added a lot of variety to the track but seems to have come at a cost, as the overall mix sits on a fine edge of original elements verses appropriate source usage. I concur with Wes that the musical elements starting at 1:40ish are a little low in volume, with the vocal sample being the most prominent. The parts here could've been brought up louder to fit into the mix more. The bass at 2:30 onward was also quite loud compared to the rest of the mix. Other than that, I did not have any major mixing concerns. Overall I'm with the others here on their votes and think a little more work can be done to align this more strongly to the source, along with a few mixing alterations. You're awfully close though. NO (borderline)

I remember receiving an excited gtalk message early last year from Mike about a mix he was working on and confusingly being asked to record the phrase "Soviet Cosmonaut", which I captured while standing in my kitchen. Great to see the track finally posted, one of Mike's strongest IMO. 10/10

There are some nice ideas here which are overshadowed by your production and arrangement decisions. As your mix stands, there is not enough breathing room for any of your parts, and they're all fighting for attention. I had to turn my volume down to judge your mix, just so I could make out the different parts. Push down your overall mix volume. I highly recommend sitting down and redoing your mixing (levels and EQ) from scratch so that each part is audible and sits where it needs to in the mix. If you're having trouble with this, go by the "always cut, never boost" mentality - if you feel a part should be louder than everything else, drop your volume on the other parts *instead* of reaching for the volume control of the part you want louder, otherwise before you know it you'll be boosting the volume of the next part you want louder, and then next part and so on and be back to where you started. There is a distinct lack of clarity in your mix which I believe is also caused by your reverb. I would seriously consider dialling this back to more subtle levels. If you want an overly ambient sound, consider washing that reverb over a single element and leave the other bits with a lesser reverb. The continuous use of the same sound effects over and over reduces their effectiveness and makes things sound repetitive (like the choir). Use these kinds of elements more sparingly across your track and consider tweaking the sound of these a bit each time they play. Your mix felt like it had the same energy the whole way through, and then abruptly ended without a noticeable outro. Consider breaking things down and building them up again as your mix progress. A great way to tackle an outro if you're having problems is to peel back a few instrument layers over time and change the mood of your sequencing to make things feel like their winding down. Definitely some work to be done to get this over the mark, in particular I would concentrate on the mixing first and foremost, once you're comfortable with your sound work on your arrangement. I certainly recommend hitting the workshop if you haven't already. NO

Agreed this could be definitely louder. It's not dealbreaking soft, but compared to other OCR tracks of this nature it's noticeably lower in overall volume. I do however appreciate the dynamics across this track, a lot of great soft and louder parts that really add character to the source. There is a lot of emotion captured here in the mix which owes itself to human playing. I thought the mix could've done with a little more source experimentation as well as a little more low end, but overall I'm happy with this one. YES

Your mix is certainly low in volume, and I agree with what the judges have said here. Some work needs to be done to bring your levels up to a production ready level. Your instrumentation is quite basic, with a lot of your samples sounding very midi like. It's not a must to have expensive sample packs, but using a limited number of simple samples to replace real instruments doesn't work well sonically. This coupled with your rigid sequencing makes things like your guitar sound very robotic. If you don't have better more passable samples for a particular instrument, or the ability to record the instrument yourself, it is IMO always better to reconsider your choices and perhaps work with a different lead that is easier to obtain (like a synth for example). On the arrangement side, apart from some minor personal additions you are pretty much in cover territory. While it is important to get the source usage down, you also need to balance this with some originality (which is what makes it a remix). You need to work on personalising your mix further. The track is also very short and felt like it ended abruptly. Overall I think you have the base here to build something up from, but as things stand you'd need some sizeable improvements to your production and arrangement to see this through. As always, I recommend hitting the workshop here on OCR if you haven't already for tips on how to build your mix further. NO

Quite a minimal mix this one. I will say straight off that the scratchy or vinyl sound playing for almost the first minute didn't fit in very well, and I could hear a clear loop point in it. I originally couldn't work out if this was for effect, a problem with the file or samples used, or a malfunction in my headphones. If this beginning portion is intended to sound dirty and older than the rest of the track, I would suggest going further and dabbling with a bit of distortion and/or EQ to make the "recording" sound older. Your production quality is otherwise not too bad. Arrangement wise your mix starts off pretty slowly, with a solo instrument or two playing all the way through to 1:30 where they are finally accompanied by other elements. To me this felt like a bit too long to get going. Your sequencing of your instruments is also quite rigid/to the grid for a mix that is based off "real" instruments, and this seems to kill some of the immersion here. Most parts would really benefit from some humanisation to bring in that much added realism. I will also say this doesn't stray too far from the original, and I would really like to hear some more originality peppered through the mix. For me the arrangement here is probably the thing in most need of work, along with the presentation of your instruments (in particular, the rigid sequencing). NO

Good to hear a unique take on an original source tune. I was able to get into your mix rather quickly. I must say I'm not at all familiar with the source, so had to listen a few times to see how your mix presents it. I can understand what Larry is saying with regards to this at times feeling not as explorative of the source as what it could've been. You have implemented some nice ideas into this mix, but your arrangement falls a little short in allowing them to be fully realised due to a fairly short duration. Not too much to say about the instrumentation here: I think you have done a solid job with most parts. I will say that I didn't find the usage of brass as out of place as some, but another instrument may have fit that part better. I'm terrible with "ethnic" instruments so I don't know what to suggest, but it's something to consider. Your brass is certainly the weakest link when it comes to the sounds you've used, which is exacerbated by the quality of your execution of the other parts. I did not have any major issues with your production. Really the main thing to do here is expand your original ideas further, and perhaps have a rethink if the brass is suitable for this piece. NO

Great mix of such a short source. Nice work. Straight off, I enjoyed your choice of synths in this mix, and I also appreciated the work you did with using effects and filter tweaks to keep those leads sounding fresh. On the arrangement side, I didn't have any major problems with your mix right up to the 2:30min mark. Some decent exploration of the theme was present with reasonable changes in pacing to keep interest. As the track progresses however, it's hard to not notice that some of these ideas are recycled and not really changed the second time these parts play. At 1:36, some noticeable crunch is occurring across the mix, which I think is due to your master limiter or compressor struggling with the input levels. This crunch appears to re-occur again later in the mix (at 2:50 for example). This seems to be occurring in the heavier sections of your mix where the kick really gets going - it might pay to have a look at that. You also have some low end issues to clear up which OA has already touched upon. A good start - particularly if you can fix up some of the above mentioned production issues and make some changes to your arrangement decisions later in the mix to keep the originality going, you'll be in a better place. NO