Emunator

Love this theme, it really lends itself well to the anthemic metal style you chose here. I love your lead tone and performances across the board. Production sounded quite nice to my ears, not overcompressed with a lot of room to clearly hear every part of the song. Unfortunately I'm not hearing much interpretation in terms of melody or structure from the original - while it's true that there's a level of expressiveness and intensity added in the rhythm guitars, lead performance and drumwork, this does not do much to differentiate itself from the sources, either. I could see how some judges might find that sufficient enough to make this work as a ReMix, but I feel like the level of personal interpretation on the original is not quite sufficient here. A couple of other nitpicks - the strings in your intro sound SUPER fake and completely lacking in articulation, and don't really get this track off to a good start. Also, there's a weird fadeout on your synth at :09 that sounds awkward on headphones... that buzzy synth needs a longer, smoother decay so it doesn't drop out of the soundfield so suddenly. Lastly, your fadeout ending sounds lazy and inconclusive, I would have loved to see a more climactic, definitive closure to the track. I can see how this one might swing either way, because your performance and metal adaptation is one of the better ones I've heard recently, but I personally don't think there's enough rearrangement or interpretation from the original to make this work by OCR standards. Solid track either way, though! NO

In your submission letter, you mention that this was created in the span of a few hours, and unfortunately it shows here. There's a solid arrangement underneath this, but there doesn't appear to be much effort put into making your instruments sound like they're actually played by human performers, which is critical for an orchestral arrangement. Not to put you down, but I really think you need to devote more time to polishing and fine tuning your orchestral arrangements in the future, because this sounds very rushed and underwhelming to me. I know I've heard more expressive, refined arrangements from you in the past, so keep at it! This one's not doing it for me, though. NO

Haha, your influences are , you did an excellent job emulating and expanding upon this style. I've been going back and forth on this a lot... the other judges make a very valid point regarding your sequencing and overall repetition. I expect this will likely get kicked back for a resubmission, but I'm going to go against the grain here because I think it's fully enjoyable in its current form. I know that a lot of synthwave artists utilize rigid synths with little to no articulation, which makes me feel that the way this was written was a deliberate stylistic choice, and not a oversight. On the one hand, I can imagine how amazing this would sound if the synth guitar was replaced with a more emotive, live guitar performance. However, I actually feel like the leads are genre-appropriate and have a very pleasant tone that doesn't detract from the rock-solid foundation you've built beneath it. I've listened to this about a dozen times now, and I only find myself enjoying it more and more with each listen. I gotta go with my gut here. If this does ultimately get rejected, PLEASE RESUBMIT! This is a really, really good arrangement. Best of luck either way! YES

Some of the criticisms that Kristina brought up definitely irked me a bit - the length of this track coupled with the overly-catchy nature of the original melody really grated on me over time. I think this would have been better off being about a minute to a minute-and-a-half shorter, but that may come down to personal taste, on some level. That said, I appreciate the lengths you went to keep the details varied throughout the song, there's a lot of wonderful personalized tweaks keeping this fresh. You have a ton of great ideas laid out here, and the production is only slightly flawed and more than does justice to the arrangement at the end of the day. Definitely not my favorite mix from you, but I admire what you did here and I have no real problem signing off on this! Good to see you submitting again. YES

Thanks to Chimp for the detailed breakdown, it definitely helped make this vote a bit easier! Yeah, I'm digging this.. The relentless hyper-D&B isn't my favorite style, but you executed it with a lot of finesse and managed to pull off the glitching and insane melodic wankery with a good amount of tact. Mixing is super-clean, which must have been very hard to achieve here, but you did good. I think this track was designed to melt faces and it does a pretty good job accomplishing that - not much more I can say! YES

I haven't submitted any of my own remixes in over 3 years now, but I have been slaving away at this track on a semi-regular basis since December 2011, trying to get it to a point where I'm happy with it. It's come a long way, and admittedly after such a long gestation period, there are some areas where I'm still not totally satisfied, but at some point you have to call it a day and say "I've done enough." This likely isn't the last time I'll touch Phendrana Drifts... there's really so much content to be pulled from the original, I can't possibly fit all of my ideas into one remix! Stylistically, this plays similar to my previous submission, Footloose Falls, by incorporating a house/electronic groove into an ambient/ethnic foundation, but this time I tried to flesh this out into a longer, more diverse arrangement that covered a lot more territory. This includes an extended ambient intro, solo guitar outro, and a cameo section from Super Metroid, integrating the bassline and a brief melody from 'Brinstar: Plant Overgrowth Area' during one of the breakdowns. BIG PROPS to Ergosonic for coming through at the 11th hour to provide live recordings so you all don't have to listen to my crappy sampled guitars He's such a talented guitarist and it's always a pleasure working with him. I've gotten endless feedback from the likes of Flexstyle, Chimpazilla (sorry I still left in the crash cymbal that you hate so much!) Radiowar, Theophany, DjjD, timaeus, Phonetic Hero, Will, DaMonz... and so many others. You guys rock. It feels good to put this track behind me after so many years, hopefully it's up to par! I promise to try and ramp up my musical output in the coming years. Sources: - Phendrana Drifts (Deep Space Area) - Phendrana Drifts - Brinstar

Definitely one of my favorite remixes to be posted recently. I love that Shaun has broken out and experimented with different styles and approaches lately, but at the same time it's always such a treat to hear a return-to-form such as this. You're so good at this style

Hey dude, thanks for all the feedback you've been doling out on the workshop forums! I checked out your soundcloud and you've got a lot of really cool, diverse pieces in there. Hoping to hear a lot more from you in the future! What DAW are you using to produce? Overall this feels about 95% there, in my opinion. Mixing is sounding beefy and genre-appropriate (as far as I can tell - I'm not listening on my judging headphones at the moment) and your guitar tone kicks. Great rhythm guitars and drumwork, no complaints there. The only real issue I have is with the leads, I feel like you held back on that aspect of the track. 2:46 - 3:33 is one place that jumps out at me as needing some additional melodic flair on the lead guitar. You had some cool stuff going on for the first part of the song, but it feels like you missed an opportunity to get a bit wild and interpretive with the source material during this section. The ending also came just a bit abruptly for my tastes, I think if you were to submit this, getting a cleaner fade to let everything decay naturally would be awesome. Love what you've got regardless of the critiques, but I feel like you could have pushed this just a bit further to make that last section more awesome!

I love this so much It reminds me so much of some of Bladiator's old piano remixes. I can't believe there aren't more remixes of Kirby 64 out there, this perfectly captures the bubbly, quirky nature of the game. Your piano performance and arrangement skills are enviable!

I approve! Sorry I had to be a dick in the judge thread; like I said your mix sounded awesome on its own, nothing against you or your musicianship, but I feel a lot more comfortable about passing this new version with regards to the OCR standards. GG Lemon! Love it

I like the concept a lot here - I've wanted to remix Aquatic Ambiance in a trappy/futurebeats style myself and I think you're off to a fantastic start. Cool treatment of the source and lots of cool rhythmic modulations to keep it fresh. The biggest problem is how unrelenting the bass is. It's dominating the soundfield a lot right now - if you adjust the volume slightly, EQ out some of the mids/highs but keep the low-end of the bass, I think it might strike a more natural balance. I think Michael also brought up an interesting point about the delay, and I totally agree - some sort of salient riff to establish more of a rhythm would make this a lot more interesting and well-paced. I'm gonna be honest too and say that the sound effects and chanting toward the end felt mostly superfluous and didn't really add much to the track for me. Others may feel differently but I just wasn't digging that part Really liking the breakdown at 1:17-1:40, that sounds pleasant to my ears. Overall liking what you've got going here, but the trap bass definitely needs to be revisited to achieve a better balance with the track overall. Will keep an eye on this thread!

Gotta agree, that lead synth makes this fall short overall. I don't think the sound jives well with the rest of the instrumentation, and the sequencing is unexpressive. Your rhythm guitars are pretty beastly, but it suffers from the same problem I hear in a LOT of metal mixes - the lead is almost completely buried because the rest of it is so loud and compressed. This mix is also very static in terms of instrumentation... not much to be found in the way of breakdowns or instrumental changeups. This feels underdeveloped, like it just needs a couple additional ideas/variations to make this feel less stale. I'd like to see this spend a bit of additional time in the incubator and have it sent back to us! NO (resub)

Excellent, I loved your last two submissions - you have an excellent way with massive genre fusions, and the source is interesting, so let's see where you take this... This really lives up to the expectations set by your past few mixes! I think you raised your personal bar for incorporating so many disparate elements into one track without it being a total mess. In fact, this is quite cohesive and well-arranged all-around. Electronic drums, traditional orchestral instrumentation, funk bass, ethnic flutes/vocals, metal guitar... I don't know how you pulled it off but it all fits quite nicely! Source is plenty present but expanded and elaborated upon in many ways. No issue there! My only real complaint with this mix is that the big moments never seem to have as much impact as they could. This rides a comfortable dynamic level for most of the track, and although the writing itself has plenty of peaks and valleys, the mixing falls just a little bit flat. Not a big deal to me in the grand scheme of things, but I thought it was worth mentioning to see if anyone else might be able to elaborate on that, if they feel it's an issue. Additionally, some of the sequenced instruments (the ethnic flute :54 and the lead synth at 1:49) are getting buried in the mix and sound slightly muddled. This is a pretty easy call for me on the merit of the arrangement, but there is room for improvement. Naturally, with an arrangement this ambitious and dense, not everything is going to click 100%, but what you got right more than makes up for any shortcomings in my opinion. Good luck with the rest of the vote! YES

Nice source selection! I haven't heard anything from Sonic Lost World, but this is nice. I know this is going to sound like I'm coming down hard on you, but this seems to play to your strengths, but ultimately falls prey to the same issues that many of your previous submissions have had. I'll do a quick breakdown of some thoughts on this track, both positive and negative: +You've got a great ear for arranging and mixing multiple source tunes together. On an arrangement level, I feel like this is a pass. Sources are present but mixed well with original writing. +You always have a wide range of instruments that keeps your tracks sounding fresh -The whole intro sounds tinny, lacking in any low frequencies. This part should sound a lot more lush - try layering in a deeper pad or sub bass, and replacing your flute sample, which just isn't working here. -The bass seems... not so bassy? Can't tell if it's a sample issue or how you EQ'd it, but it sounds weak. -Overall, this just seems rigidly sequenced. The e-piano Green Hill section at 2:24 is a very noticeable example where everything is hard-quantized to the grid, and doesn't have the expressiveness needed for such an exposed solo section. Not sure what to say here, there's still a lot of mixing issues that you need to address. The arrangement is ace but as a whole I think you still have some kinks to work out before this can pass the bar. NO (resubmit!)

I absolutely 100% concur with all of the critiques Deia gave. I don't think there's much more I can offer in terms of feedback on the arrangement itself. I strongly suggest taking this to the WIP forums to brush up on production/synthesis tips to help improve your production. In addition, I would recommend listening to any one of these mixes (4 separate links there) that I randomly selected from the past few years that are in a similar style to yours, so you can get an idea for how the OCR quality bar has shifted in the years since your previously-submitted mixes were posted. There has been a shift in expectations and unfortunately, I don't think this submission, as it is, meets the production/arrangement standards as they stand today. Good luck! NO

You're killing me here... I LOVE how this sounds in a bubble, and the transition to swing was really unexpected and fun, but the first half of the song is pretty much verbatim from the source. I actually synced your remix and the source in two separate windows and sure enough, they fit almost perfectly. The shuffle rhythm helps personalize it, but by that point I feel like too much of the runtime has been spent treading through cover-territory. The straightforward chiptune sound pallet works just fine here, but when your instrument selection is ALSO so close to the source tune, I just don't think there's enough personalization to meet OCR standards. Love your work Ben, but I don't think this is gonna cut it for me. NO

Guys, I really want to like this... I think the concept behind this adaptation is very inspired, and it's clear you're talented performers, but as many times as I've listened to this and tried to wrap my head around it, it just comes across as messy to me. I feel like there's too many competing instruments and melodies that don't align with each other. There's a lot of harmonic clashing going on between the flutes, guitar, and cello. When one of the instruments is taking a break or only playing melody accents, such as in the first :45 seconds or from 1:42-2:02 are nice, if a bit rambling, because you guys are giving each other some room to breathe. Sections such as :57-1:20 or 2:49-3:04, however, sound like a huge jumble. I feel bad for saying this but there's times where it feels like I accidentally opened the track in two separate and the track is playing from separate start points. There's very little synergy going on between the many instruments and it's resulting in a lot of clashing. I think you need to scale this back in order for it to be more listenable. I want to stress that each of the individual performances were very solid and the concept was exquisite, but the execution is falling short because of how disjointed everything feels NO

First off, I'll say that this is pretty well produced and well-put-together, but I'm on the other side of the fence in thinking this is TOO cover-ish. I can tell by listening to this side-by-side with the source, which nearly the exact same length as your submission, and the two tracks progress almost perfectly in tandem. I don't feel like enough effort has been put into personalizing this or making it your own aside from the genre adaptation. Maybe there's some nuances to the arrangement that I'm not picking up on, but to me this seems too much of a straightforward cover to be suitable for OCR. I'm curious to see how the rest of this vote goes! NO

Whaddup dude? Long time, no see! This is really excellent, the mixing is a bit rougher than I'm used to hearing from you (choir is pretty loud), but it's an awesome listen nonetheless. Always a pleasure to hear some new material from you. I'd love to hear a bit more deep lows from your pads, too - the whole mix sounds like the lows got scooped out. Polish this up and you'll have a winner

Hah, reading over these votes before checking out the remix, I was wondering just how bad those oboe notes could be... yeah, there's two notes in here that sound pretty rough. If nothing else, I'd love to hear that fixed if this does end up becoming a pass because of how distracting it is. The arrangement here is quite nice, constantly evolving and adding in new elements to keep things fresh. There's a lot to appreciate on multiple listens. There are some notable production issues stemming from the level of reverb that's drenching the entire track, and some instances of slightly less-than-realistic sequencing going on, but as Mike notes, they're mitigated for the second half of the track when the instrumentation is more fleshed out. On the whole, I'd even go as far as saying that your sequencing is pretty great here for *most* of the track, aside from a few jarring exceptions. To me, the strength of your arrangement tips the scales in your favor... I'd have a much easier time rejecting this if the arrangement weren't so fantastic or if the sequencing hiccups were more consistent throughout the track, but I think even in its current form, this mix is successful in spite of its technical shortcomings. YES

Listening through, I actually don't find this as unrelenting as Shariq's saying. To me, it sounds much more like a stylistic choice than an oversight in composition, and while the percussive, plucky orchestral style really isn't a favorite of mine, I think it's really well-executed here. I'm coming in fresh on this so I don't know what the original submission sounded like, but compared to the source tune, you went well above the call of duty in adapting an instrumentally-simple source into something so expansive and adventurous. I think the production quality is a huge step up from your previous submissions that I've heard! Reading over the old decision thread, it appears that there were some issues with dynamics, but I'm definitely not hearing any of that in this version. I'm more than happy to sign off on this. YES

I had high hopes for this track based on the opening seconds - the vocal chopping and general mood of the track was really promising. It has a very Blackmill-esque vibe, which I love a lot. I like your overall approach but ultimately this fails to click into place, primarily on the production side of things. As Kris pointed out, the glitching is haphazard and doesn't actually contribute to the flow of the track in a meaningful way. The core of your drum kit isn't working for me, either. The snares are indeed the most notable offender, but in general they just feel stiff and not totally genre appropriate. The hi-hat is also very sharp and relentless, and becomes distracting on repeat listens. That needs to be toned down. I'm trying to nail down what's making this sound so off to me, and I think maybe the lack of a prominent bassline is causing your track to feel aimless and too loosely-structured. The sections that do have a bassline use a very muddy and indistinct sound that muddles up the low frequencies without cutting through or serving as a solid foundation for the rest of your track. I appreciate the approach here but there's too many prominent elements that just don't gel together. I think you need to spend more time working in this style and hone your production techniques to get a better handle on what works and what doesn't, especially with your drum/glitch writing. NO

This remix feels like a solid starting point/proof of concept for a dance-y interpretation of the Brinstar theme, but there's a lot of things missing from this that keep it from reaching OCR's bar. First off, there's a huge lack of dynamics in this track once it picks up - you don't employ any breakdowns, beat switches, or changeups once the beat comes in, it's just a relentless 4-on-the-floor groove for the duration of the song. At almost 6 minutes long, you really need to explore other territory - this feels like a 1 minute idea copied/pasted into 6 minutes. A lot of your rhythmic synths are interesting but the mixing is also very muddy and indistinct, so most of the detail work gets lost. I can barely make out any of the secondary percussion other than the kick drum here, and your pad/bells are so resonant & delay heavy that they contribute a great deal of mud... Work with the decay times on a lot of your sounds in order to free up some space and let your sounds shine through. This needs a lot of reworking in my opinion, keep at it and experiment with new arrangement ideas to help keep things fresher and more engaging. NO

Kristina definitely drilled down into the biggest problem with this mix - to be honest, until some of the bigger synths are tamed and balanced properly, it's hard to tell how this arrangement would hold up. There's a nice remix in here somewhere, but you need a serious mixing cleanup to help bring that out in order to clean this up and give certain elements in your track the time to shine. For example, I'm hearing some really cool bass and drum writing at times but it's so muddled in reverb and drowned out by other frequencies, it doesn't feel like it's even there most of the time. It actually took me 3 listens just to realize that there was a guitar in here, it's just so busy! :\ Other than that, the string outro felt like a nice stylistic change of pace but ultimately felt underwhelming because, again, the strings were blending so much that there wasn't always much distinct melody coming through. The sample set seems to be straddling the line between 16-bit srtings and high-quality strings, which is a bit strange, but again, the muddy production is hurting this part. This is a track I would HIGHLY recommend bringing to our workshop forums, we've got some talented musicians that frequent there that can give more detailed, specific feedback on how to get this working. I'd like to see this again sometime down the line! NO

Laguna Tides (Besaid Island) So, I think it's done! Thanks a ton for the kind words and feedback from everyone Timaeus, I did take a listen to your demo and, while I'm it would have been great to work together on this, all of my previous remixes have, in some way or another, been collabs with someone else or someone has come in to render/record a part for me in the 11th hour. With this, I kinda wanted to prove to myself that I could handle a remix start to finish without any assistance Some other time, though! Thanks for the offer. Anyway, I think this has come a long way from the last WIP I posted, and even further since the first iteration that I only shared with a select few people! I've been slaving away at this for hours a day, fine tuning the details and toying with different arrangements (ended up cutting almost a minute of dead-weight from the last version,) and especially struggling over the last D&B section. I must have sat down for at least 2-3 hours every day this week trying and failing to write that synth solo, but I finally came up with something I'm happy with tonight!! Hope those little details and adjustments add up into a memorable finished product - at this point, I'm open to making some small tweaks if something sounds really bad, mixing-wise, but other than that I'm pretty happy with this! Pretty much all of this track was done with Zebra2 synths, Omnisphere (that's where the opening pad was derived from, Dustin) and various percussion/ambient samples I had lying around.