Emunator   Judges ⚖️

S'good. Just quickly co-signing this, absolutely beautiful arrangement and very smooth, dynamic fusion of themes. I didn't have any serious holdups about the realism of the sequencing - any small issues were literally only present for a note or two and were completely mitigated by the rest of the track. Quality piano work, I really liked that section. Source usage checks out, and your arrangement of the themes removes any concerns about "medley-itis" Lovely work. YES

Super borderline call, I can see why this split the panel. I will start by saying that this is bar-none HoboKa's best solo attempt to date. There are still some lingering issues that have plagued his past subs - most notably, the sequencing and unrealistic/dry or poorly mixed instruments (choir sounds fake, organ sounds rigid and dry) bring this down a notch. However, I found that the areas you improved on (exciting drum samples and sequencing, the way you built up dramatic tension) carried more weight than the problematic parts issues. There were some legitimately cool moments in this track, such as the final choir pitch bend, that were just awesome and really kept me engaged with the remix. In this case, the good edges out the not-so-good. I'm happy to co-sign with your first official solo mixpost - your progress hasn't exactly been meteoric over the years, but the small improvements you've made over time seem to have finally helped your execution catch up to your ambition. I admire the effort you've put into constantly improving your craft, I think you made a few big leaps here that really impressed me. YES

New version up - I still dig it and think it's very much postable. My YES vote stands.

Very cool approach, I love the downtempo, heavily-sidechained synth action. It reminds me of a chiptune-rich version of Com Truise or Tycho. Your production is ace, the bassline sits perfectly in the mix and there's plenty of effects and unique fills/melodic content going on to keep my attention throughout the nearly 6-and-a-half-minute runtime. I love the big breakdown right before the 3 minute mark, and the very dramatic resurgence back into the track a little later on. There's a ton to love here. One of my big critiques is with the stagnancy of your lead sounds. Every lead melody is played by the exact same chiptune synth patch, which gets tiresome. While I do appreciate that you processed and sequenced each riff differently to add some variation, I can't help but feel that this would have been better with more variation in sound choices. From 4:22 - 5:02, you got a little more personalized with the melody writing but to be honest, it felt a little shoehorned and awkward, the writing just didn't flow naturally. Did any other judges feel this way too? I'm not sure how I feel about this track yet - the production is really on-point in my opinion and the track is very competently arranged, but the lead melodies feel like a weak point due to patch choice and the actual writing. Will revisit this later. EDIT: After listening again and getting some second opinions, I feel more confident in my gut impression that this could use another pass of revisions to introduce some more variation to the lead and change the original melody modulations to feel more natural. Good luck, I'd love to see this come through again! It's pretty close. NO (resubmit!)

Contact Info: ReMixer name: ManKarate Real Name: Jan Zarate Website: Soundcloud Name of game: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Name of arrangement: Healing Over Time Name of individual songs arranged(and links): Song of Healing, Song of Time

Trevor told me yesterday that the band's mixing engineer is actually working on a new mixdown of this to fix some of the issues I mentioned, so stay tuned for an update!

Not bad, not bad... The production is a little rough around the edges, I think you could have done with a little less-dramatic panning, and balanced your lead volumes a bit better (compare the lead guitar at :34 to the saxophones that surround it, for example) and the drums felt like they had too much of the highs scooped out and end up sounding timid. The hardpanning is a personal nuisance but you always have something else in the other ear to balance it out, so it's not painful to listen to or anything. It's clear that this is more of a "trial run" mix when you guys were just getting your footing, because I've already heard a lot of improvement with your most recent mixes. All complaints aside, though, I actually love what you've brought to the table here. The wide variety of lead instruments and keyboard patches that adorn the arrangement give it a lot of texture and hold my attention. The solos are great across the board, but the guitar solo at 2:40 was definitely a highlight. The saxophones seem dominant in the track but at the same time, it didn't feel like a "sax w/ accompaniment" mix either - each band member got a chance to shine. There's nothing groundbreaking going on here, per se, but it's a very solid cover that I think people will enjoy in spite of its flaws. YES

Maybe I’m just on drugs, or maybe it’s easier for me to hear because I played this game a LOT back when I was younger, but I’m actually swinging the opposite way on this. I feel like Timaeus did a great job keeping the source recognizable, (if not directly intact) throughout almost all of the song. I think this is due to the way he introduced the melody in plain and simple fashion, but then gradually began to modulate and add grace notes as the song developed. This helps put the original tune in the listener’s mind and then ease them into some of the more liberal interpretations, which I think is a totally valid approach. Call me crazy, but this little experiment is actually working for me! By this point I shouldn’t even need to mention production or sound design – it’s most clearly on-point here as it is with every one of his Timaeus’ submissions, but the jazzy hip-hop vibe resonated especially well with me. I want to take a minute to revisit this vote from a few years ago – if that track was passable, then I think a very strong case can be made for this one, as well. Obviously it was a highly-contested split vote and this is a different track with a different judges panel, but it might provide a relevant precedent here. Good luck with the rest of the vote! YES

I have to side with OA/DA on this one… you’ve made some very good strides with this track already but I don’t feel like it’s been sufficiently developed compared to the original source. The string writing that you’ve added is gorgeous and emotive, and a great starting point, but for an arrangement that’s only 2:30 long that basically retreads the same melodies from the source without much variation, this feels undercooked. There’s a lot of potential to build on your arrangement and inject a little more of yourself into the writing, but between the short length and the general conservativeness of it, I don’t believe it's quite ready. If this submission does end up being rejected, PLEASE resubmit – you’ve got some incredible building blocks in place, and the strings/choir writing is particularly exquisite. Good luck either way! NO (please resubmit!)

Compared to the mangling that Mazedude did to this source years back, this track seems downright normal by comparison. However, compared to the source you went a long way to adapt a very challenging source into actual engaging arrangement with dynamics and change-ups. Kristina is right, this would sound right at home in the actual game OST. Production here is fine, it’s hard to go wrong with the classic chip tune pallet you’re utilizing, but where this REALLY shines on the arrangement front. I’m not sure how you found the inspiration to work with this source but the end result is great! YES

A little less celtic, a little more ethereal… I love how you stripped down the source to its bones and reconstructed it into a more nebulous, ambient piece that feels complete despite not having a very clearly defined structure. Very pretty textures and production make this a pleasure to listen to. Your sequencing still has room for improvement… It’s unfortunate that the flute lead in your track isn’t as expressive as the one in the source, the harp arpeggios get somewhat mechanical, and although it’s clear you put a lot of effort into humanizing the choir, it still stands out as a little dry and obviously-fake when it hits the higher registers. That said, this is a dramatic improvement over most of your previous submissions and I think this is over the bar. More than anything, it makes me incredibly excited for your future submissions, you’ve obviously stepped up your game and I can't wait to see where you go from here! YES

This is a super-creative arrangement with an awesome dynamic curve that does a great job expanding on the source. I loved Portrait of Ruin and remember this song fondly from long hours of grinding to 100% complete the game This remix gets a lot right - your sound choices are cohesive and unique, and you utilize a lot of ambitious processing/LFO envelopes on your leads to give them personality without sounding randomly shoehorned in. The beats are well-crafted and produced, and the fills/transitions work great. There’s a few areas for improvement, but in my book, your creativity triumphs here. Now onto the critiques. The string lead at :32 was very weirdly sequenced and didn’t give me a lot of confidence at first, but luckily they seem to have a quicker attack when they’re re-introduced later in the song. Not the strongest point in the soundscape but I didn’t find it distracting anywhere other than in the intro. At 2:24, that lead is mixed too quietly and again suffers from strange attack/sequencing issues. I could have done without the vocal effects personally, just because they sound so lossy when they’re ripped from the game and they were mixed in very loudly. To me, they stuck out like a sore thumb, but your mileage may vary. Overall, you got a lot more right than you missed the mark on, this is really growing on me with repeat listens and I think it’s good enough to publish in its current form. (vote changed below)

Moody, evocative performance. Song of Storms is such a melodically-flexible tune, and I’m always impressed by the different directions that remixers take it. Your guitar tone and overall cadence are very appropriate for the mood you’re aiming for, the deep bass notes carry a lot of emotional impact and the strings and rain sfx add some additional texture to complement your solo performance. Aside from some minimal performance sloppiness and some repetitiveness (that’s somewhat inherent in covering a 20 second-long source,) I think you did a wonderful job creating a simple, fresh, and satisfying arrangement. Welcome aboard! YES

I’m finding myself aligning most with Vinnie on this vote. I’m not exactly blown away and ultimately feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential here, but it functions well enough as a standalone arrangement. The first minute of the track is a fairly straightforward treatment of Final Hours, but it sets the stage nicely for where the arrangement goes next. The treatment of the Majora Incarnate battle brought a lot of your own character to the mix. Some of those sections felt more liberal (I’d love to hear a source breakdown from someone who is really familiar with Majora Incarnate) but that actually worked in your favor in my book since the overall source usage seems to check out. Overall, this is right on the line but I think the creative interpretation introduced in the second half, as well as the excellent use of dramatic buildup and tension puts it on the right side of the fence. Nitpick time – the sfx at 1:07 was shrill and could be brought down just a tad, and the strings at 1:46 – 1:53 have some unnatural attack/decay issues. Neither of these are a huge issue in my book. YES (borderline)

Loving the intro on this one. The use of sound effects is ace, I admire how you actually integrated them rhythmically with the track instead of dumping a few one-shots over the track and calling it a day. It makes me feel truly immersed in the track. Moving onto the meat of the arrangement, this is a classic Hakstok formula that really ticks all the boxes in a very satisfying fashion. In general, I felt like the guitar work outshines the synths (but that’s pretty much what you sign up for when you bring Sixto on board – that solo was mean!) and in my opinion, it took a little too long to bring a lead instrument into the mix (it wasn’t until around 1:25 that a dominant lead entered the arena and I was definitely itching for things to progress by that point.) All in all, those are minor quibbles, and the mixing sounds much improved. I dig it! YES

Unfortunately I had the same impression when I was checking this out in the inbox, and on repeat listen I have to agree. Take this and throw it on an original album and sell it for $$$, but I'm just not hearing a tangible connection to the source, as much as I love what you've done here. NO

Kristina has a good handle on a few of the issues present with this track, but in my opinion the problems go a little further than just the mixing and variation. The sound pallet here is really cool in the way it lends more of an ethnic flavor to the track, and in all honesty I love the idea of a nighttime-sounding, downtempo Gerudo Valley interpretation. I wish I thought of it first! However, even for a chillout track, things never seem to progress or build up very substantially. The beat does ebb and flow to an extent but the actual level of excitement in the instrumentation stays almost too mellow the whole time and doesn’t build or layer as the track moves along. Experiment with layering and writing additional parts so that the track has more of a dynamic curve that follows the progression of your beat. It’s possible to write much more engaging, humanized melodies without compromising the vibe you’re going for, and right now I feel like you’re missing that mark. The production definitely could stand to be reworked, Kristina left some great feedback on that so I’m not going to re-tread much over it, but right now everything sounds very flat and quiet. You’ve got a cohesive set of samples that sound very nice together, and you’ve done a good amount to personalize the source tune to your own taste, but right now the production and the actual arrangement itself feels like it’s lacking in life. This is a strong concept and I’d love to see you expand on it. As it stands, I think it would take a lot of work back at the drawing board to flesh out this idea more fully, but I think it would be worth the time spent because, as I said, you have a great foundation here. The execution just needs to come up to par. Good luck! NO

This is a lovely adaptation of the source tune that’s very cleanly produced and adeptly performed, but unfortunately I feel like this doesn’t go much further than that. The track hews VERY closely to the source tune both in terms of style, tempo, and actual notation – Kristina correctly points out some moments of personalization but I don’t personally believe there’s enough development to set this apart from being a cover. This really is an improvement over the original song, and I love the little harp/zither enhancements throughout, so you should be proud of yourself for what you’ve created here. It’s very well done. However, in order to pass the bar, I feel that you would need to introduce some more variation from the original, especially in the 2nd half of your arrangement which is just a retread of the first half of the song. Sorry to be a downer, I enjoyed listening to this as a standalone piece but you’ll need to get a bit more interpretive with the track as a whole in order to pass OCR’s bar. Best of luck if you choose to resubmit! NO

Well, for what it's worth I had a 2 minute WIP of Fungi Forest done in a mellow orchestral style a few years ago. Probably won't go anywhere at this point but here it is!

Which track do you want a second opinion on? You're correct in that I don't really have time right now to fully evaluate all the WIPs that come in but if you have particular problem tracks that are close to completion you want to send my way for opinions, feel free!

I know, I know... there are literally already 20 remixes of Schala's theme on the site. I don't think anyone's ever done it quite like this though! (There's a hearty dose of 'The Last Day of the World' too, to pair it with something a bit less-often touched.) I am considering this remix finished, but I wanted to share here anyway because I'm really proud of this track! So, last October I visited Theophany, my longtime friend and one of my favorite musicians of all time, for a weekend and we had a chance to speak at length about our music making processes. That visit gave me a huge burst of inspiration and almost immediately when I returned home from the trip, I began work on this track. It features plenty of my signature bells and pads and a heavy focus on atmosphere, as always, but I think you'll agree that this is far different from my usual style. I wanted to create something dark, brooding, and extremely dramatic to really capture the larger-than-life spirit of the Chrono Trigger storyline. I took a lot of inspiration from film scores like Inception, post-rock bands like Sigur Ros and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and of course, Theophany's own music. I've worked very hard to push my personal envelope with this track, and I feel like the last 2 minutes of the song in particular are the best thing I have created to date as a musician. Hope you enjoy! PS: Just for fun, here's a picture of my finished project file! This mix took about 30-35 hours of solid work to complete.

I've heard a couple of your submissions while I've been judging recently, Matthew. I admire the level of creativity and effort you've put into your tracks. You've got a distinct sense of atmosphere in all of your songs, and there's always a level of your own personal touch. The gritty lo-fi approach can work, but to put it bluntly your tracks all sound low-quality in a not-so-intentional way. The mixing is very compressed and muddy and indistinct, like you're overcompressing certain elements or haven't properly adjusted the levels of the instruments in your track, so you're left with a master that has very little dynamics or breathing room. For example, the guitar in this mix is almost completely indistinct even though it seems like it should be operating as a lead instrument. The beats/bass are drowning it out almost entirely. I think this might also be a factor of using low-quality samples to begin with - the choir and the timpani drums sound very low-fi to me and stick out sorely. Additionally, your tracks tend to rely very heavily on loops. While this arrangement you do employ some buildup/development over time, but the heavy reliance on the same core loops (in this case, particularly the bassline) causes the track to drag when you don't introduce much variation. I actually really like how you adapted the Main Title arpeggio into your bassline, but it doesn't change up at all throughout the song. I think this arrangement actually has some potential, and you've clearly got a good sense of style, but I don't believe your execution is quite there yet. Keep practicing and hit up the Workshop forums for more feedback and your mixing skill will catch up to your vision NO

This is exquisite! I think the artist's submission comments say it all - the source tune adapts perfectly to a classical style. The arrangement is pretty straightforward, without a lot of original writing or frills, but the performance is incredibly emotive, and introduces an even more dramatic and satisfying dynamic curve than the original. The number of solo piano submissions we receive seems to have dwindled lately, so it's especially gratifying to hear something this well-done that touches on a source from a very under-appreciated game. Bravo! I'm not listening on my normal setup at the moment, so if someone else could check the volume levels and see how that sounds, that'd be awesome. From an arrangement perspective, I think this is firing on all cylinders. YES

Yeah, I regretfully have to agree. I had a gut feeling that this was pretty liberal at first, but my silly math error made me give this the benefit of the doubt. On a repeat listen it's pretty clear that the original sections are too dominant for OCR standards, especially because there are periods of time where the track will go almost a minute or more without any callbacks to Ocarina of Time. I'm not a strict 50%-er like Larry by any means, but the source usage in this track is heavily lopsided and I can't sign off on this in good conscience, as much as I love this track. Send us a slightly-abridged radio edit version, or work some source usage in somewhere else, and I'd eagerly give it my stamp of approval. As it stands though, I've got to flip my vote. Sorry NO

Eugh... I got sloppy there - I had originally lumped the timestamps for source and non-source passages together, and when I was deleting the non-source ones I accidentally left that section in my count. I don't actually hear any source there. That puts my rough estimated usage at 45%... shit. Larry, mind doing a breakdown on your end to see if our percentages match up?