Emunator   Judges ⚖️

Larry, I think the Super Mario Bros. 3 source usage can be found in the rhythm guitars in the mix at :58 and 1:42, derived from :21 in the source. It's a liberal connection but I feel it's worth noting. Not that I would have had an issue with source usage on this mix regardless (there's plenty of it even discounting the SMB3 usage) but I definitely see where he got that from. This is a very strong submission that is carried by the strength of the arrangement, performances, and diverse instrumentation. You make use of some unconventional synth patches that aren't often heard in arrangements of this style, which layer nicely with the more traditional metal instruments. It keeps this sounding quirky and original in the spirit of the source tunes, while still hitting hard when it needs to. The muddiness that Larry points out is noticeable, but I don't feel as strongly about it to make a real issue of it. The drums and synths definitely could stand to be punchier, mixing-wise, but overall the balance is there and the mud is never so bad that it obscures anything important. There's room for you to improve on your mixing skills on future submissions but at the end of the day this gets the job done for me! YES

Really exceptional take on a fantastic source, this shows a tremendous amount of growth beyond your previous arrangements... not that your previous solo piano takes were bad by any means. However, the subtle use of ambiance and effects that helps highlight and support (but never overshadow) your performance really sets this apart from your past work and makes it so memorable. Excellent work!

Remix: https://soundcloud.com/emunator/moonlight-meditations-secret Hey all, I've been hard at work extending/revising/wrapping up many of my old remixes right now, but in the meantime, I wanted to post something older that I never shared here before. This was recorded around a year ago in one take, 100% improvised, so there's an inherent degree of roughness/sloppiness to the performance because I was coming up with chords, melodies, and arrangement as I played. I was in a dark place for most of the 2nd half of 2013, and this was the one of the only real pieces of music I was able to produce that year. I feel like it channeled a lot of the melancholy that I was feeling at the time, and ended up being very cathartic to record. Throw this on late at night and enjoy the vibes, hopefully it's not too boring! I promise I'll have more new music incoming soon!

Definitive? Pssh. You're missing two of your recent Sonic Zone tracks, which is actually the main reason I checked this out - because I don't have those downloaded to my HD yet! Also, not sure if this counts, but your bootleg remix of Banana Revolution from the DKC3 bonus disc isn't on here either

Remix: Laguna Tides (Besaid Island) Hey all, it's been a while since I've poked my head in here! I've had this remix cooking for a while, working on it in chunks during what little spare time I have left in my life... At this point I feel like it's far enough along to share for some feedback What I've got here is a semi-developed skeleton that's still lacking in detail work, but I think is pretty far along in terms of sound design. I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks - there's a couple of aspects of this WIP that I'm really proud of! Some things I still need to touch on: - Expanding the piano/pad chords throughout the song to make everything more lush - Adding variation to the drum loops - Some sort of lead instrument/synth solo in the last section - Additional sound design throughout the song, but especially during the intro - Other variations throughout the song Thanks in advance for listening, I'm excited to post something here again... it's been forever!

I loved the spontaneous Mitch Hedberg recitations in the elevator

Ahhh, you caught me! I was definitely trying to mimic Mum's style here. Green Grass of Tunnel is one of my favorite songs and I thought that style fit so perfectly with Stickerbush Symphony. And regarding the e-piano, I specifically selected that for the bass because it got such clean chords and I could work with the harmonies more than I could with a regular bass. That said, when I hear the phrase "sigur ros-esque electric bass," it makes me reconsider that choice... Hopefully gonna have some progress on this soon! Thanks everybody for taking the time to listen/comment!

I'm floored by your unique interpretation of the Marble Zone theme, your phrasing and performance is nothing short of incredible. Ace production here, nothing unexpected there I've been a huge fan of your last 2 submissions and this one lives up to the reputation you've set for yourself. Submit this! I'm not listening with the most critical ear right now, but I love what I'm hearing. Good to see you posting more work!

Bramble Blast - WIP 2 Sources: / Update 2/16/2015 As a few of you may know, I've been actively working on this project tirelessly for the last month, putting in a bit of work just about every day, sometimes for hours at a time. What I've got is nowhere near complete, by any means, but it is a SIGNIFICANT step up from where I was at this time last year and, at the very least, listenable enough to share. What's changed: + Added ~3 minutes of arrangement, including... - Expanded intro - Much slower build - Extended piano breakdown/solo section - New source for final "chorus" - Hot Head Bop + New instruments (piano, shakuhachi, sine lead, boy's choir, orchestral percussion) + Cleaned up production quite a bit/preliminary mastering + A bazillion tiny tweaks. What's left to go: + Drums will completely be replaced + Do something cooler in addition/in place of the first synth solo (particularly 1:01) + Expand ambiance/pad writing throughout the track, particularly in the piano breakdown + Flesh out final Hot Head Bop section (right now is just a concept/placeholder) + Figure out what to do from 3:45 - 4:24 + More interesting transitions/sfx work + Live instruments (brainstorming for vocalist and violin/viola players - any interest?) + Additional harmonies/flourishes/transitions throughout the track Please feel free to share any thoughts - keeping in mind that there's still a long way to go before I'm really satisfied with this. Hope you all enjoy, I've been working extremely hard to move this one along ==================================== 12/08/2013 WIP 1: https://soundcloud.com/emunator/donkey-kong-country-2-bramble Don't think I ever posted this one here. I'm interested in potentially picking up production on this one again. I'm very interested in any feedback on the sound choices (particularly that chiptune synth, not sure if it fits) and the drums (too hollow? Is the dBlue Glitch abuse too egregious?) Thanks for listening!

I totally forgot to drop a line in here that I'll be attending this year Can't wait to meet everybody!

This is blowing me away so far with how cohesive the album is, without relying on the same style for each song, either. Lots of newcomers coming out with some amazing work here, I'm really impressed with the first disc so far EDIT: Listened to just about all of the album (missed a few tracks here and there and the last half of disc 3) and my initial assessment stands. You guys really exceeded my expectations here! Funk Fiction's track is incredible.

Just wanted to chime in and mention that Theophany and I DO have plans for this album and definitely intend to continue it, but the timing isn't right for either of us to really give it the attention it deserves and truly see our vision to completion. I'm in my final year of college while working full-time, and Jason is pretty much the busiest mo'fo in the universe between his job, personal life, and the Majora's Mask project, so we both have a lot to clear off our plates. We've got a very definitive concept of how we want the project to play out, but we need to clear up some things in both our lives before that can really become a reality. I really can't speak for Jason on this, but if anyone is really interested in starting up a new Ocarina of Time project, we can't really stop you, and more OoT love really can't be anything but a net-positive in the long run, but we don't intend to discard or walk away from our particular vision for an Ocarina of Time remix album either. I think if another project was to be started, it would be better to just start from scratch with a different concept & vision, rather than trying to revive this particular one. However, if anyone's feeling particularly motivated, you're free to go for it and start something up. Just my two cents!

Yo, so I haven't really had time to show my face around here or the Internet in general lately (since my last update here I've stepped down from the Judges Panel, unfortunately, and really haven't been able to hang around OCR at all) but I'm settling into a new routine so I've had a little bit of time to work on music for once... I wanted to get this track off my plate so I took some time over the last few days to expand and polish the track until I can get it to a state that I'm happy with. https://soundcloud.com/emunator/sub-zero-phendrana-drifts Still some room for improvements and variation, but I'd say this is about 95%. I'm not totally content with the snare sounds and I need to work a bassline into the last section and generally flesh out the last minute or so of content before the guitar solo. Getting close though! Let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who's provided feedback up til this point, you've been incredibly helpful. This track has been a long time coming!

Done! 10char

Wow, guys. This is so far above and beyond the level of feedback I could have even hoped for. I'm honestly flattered that you all took the time to be so thorough!! I appreciate you taking the time to be as critical as you have been, it's exactly what I needed to push me forward. Just to respond to a few individual critiques and also make some notes for myself to look over later when I have time: Yeah, those heartbeat kicks were entirely inspired by your suggestion. I'm not 100% happy with my implementation though... I even got a completely different kick sample for that section, but it still stands out a bit too much. I also like the idea of adding some additional ambient percussion during that section... I've got a few sample libraries to test out, but I'm sure I can find something. And yes, definitely need something to better signal that the drop is coming - I intended for it to be a little bit startling, but obviously it's too much of a drastic shift. I'm going to try adding some filtered white noise sweeps toward the end of the intro to build up the intensity more gradually, while still having the full stop before the song drops. Ivory Italian Grand Piano, layered with a soft string pad I love it, the string resonance adds a lot of texture to the track that would definitely be noticeable if I took them away. Haha, getting some conflicting opinions here, I see. Currently I think the sidechaining that Timaeus is hearing is really just me overdoing it on the compression, because I haven't processed/mixed the choir at all yet. I agree that they are plain, I plan to remedy that with some automation and actually tweaking the velocities on each note, then turning down the overall volume. It should sit much better in the next update. Totally agreed. I haven't even touched the percussion yet, I'm just using one loop for the whole song while I develop the structure. I don't know if I will address it in this next update, but it will be taken care of before the final! Yessss. I will be adding some sort of lead to this section, not sure if it'll be a screamin' synth solo yet but I am planning to have a solo section SOMEWHERE in the track before it's done. Keep in mind, I'm still planning on extending this mix to at least 6 or 7 minutes, if I can. I've got a lot more writing ideas I haven't gotten down yet, but a solo section is definitely in the stars. I'll hit you up if I can't come up with something sufficiently awesome on my own! Good catch. I'll throw in an additional element after that transition, not sure if it'll be percussion or maybe some backing strings/choir to help the pad not feel so stale... maybe both? Will try this as well This confirms my thoughts as well, I find myself skipping the intro on repeat listens which is obviously a bad sign. I need to increase the energy of the intro during its second half to remedy this critique. Part of this is really just the style I'm trying to develop - mixing aggressive electronic percussion with extremely chill, organic soundscapes. I feel like I was successful enough with Footloose Falls on the soundscape fusion department, but I dropped the ball on the arrangement and melodic content. I'm trying to achieve the same aesthetic with a more progressive arrangement this time around. So yeah, the drums are definitely an intentional choice I do agree that adding some acoustic drums (I currently have shakers and congas but you can't hear them that well) more prominently would be worth it! I somehow didn't notice this until recently but now that I do, that melody sounds waaaaay too loud. Will be remedied in the next update, I'm going to try and get that hybrid lead (which is actually 3 patches used elsewhere in the song layered into one) to fit more naturally. Haha, you clearly put more thought into that than I did. I just used a random sample I found on my hard drive The change-up you hear at :39 is me increasing the velocities on the piano+strings, so the string component of that patch stands out more. I do need to do more to make that patch work - it's from Alchemy player which I know supports several automation parameters, I'll tweak with that and see what works! Good idea! I'll try this, thanks! The guitar will eventually be recorded live so I'll keep that in mind when I get the new stems to mix in! Agreed, you have any better ideas for the bassline? I know the writing is bland at this point but bass writing is by far my worst area. I'd love some feedback on that element particularly regarding what you think would fit. Or I'll just get Flexstyle to do the bassline again That worked well last time! Duly noted on both counts. Will address that in the next update. I wanna try it out myself first but I'm totally not opposed to collabing on this if I come up short Thanks so much for the offer, I'll let you know after I've had some time to tinker with it myself! Yeah, the arrangement isn't done yet. That's just where I left off. The guitar will also be totally redone live. This is just a placeholder to show the melodies themselves. THANKS YOU GUYS! I'll try and update this as soon as I can, I'm so excited to get going on this now that I've got some more direction on where I need to go!

Yup yup. As I said in my Judge Decision, this mix is stellar and has risen to the top of my "Most Played" remix list since I wrote that decision It's really one of my favorite mixes I've ever heard, and from one of the last people I ever expected to hear something like this from. Cheers on your return to remixing and for the amazing song that will definitely stand the test of time.

https://soundcloud.com/emunator/metroid-prime-phendrana-drifts Updated again! Still not final in any sense of the word, but it's getting closer! I'd like to get at least another minute or two of main track material in here, build up to a bigger climax and then drop out for the guitar at the end. I've got a pretty good idea of how I'm going to accomplish that. Afterward, it's all just detail work to be done.

Totally agreed with the flood of support above, this is one of the strongest debut mixes I've ever heard, and one of the most creative adaptations on this source to come across the front page in a long time. I'm extremely excited to hear more DKC music get this sort of treatment

Just wanted to chime in, I'm giving this a listen right now and I'm wholly impressed I feel like your sound reminds me more of a film score than a video game score, but either way, it's extremely high quality and memorable. Well-produced, too I'm enjoying listening to this quite a bit!

Yeah, I tried to change the title of the thread to something less misleading, but I don't have authority to do so Sorry for the confusion guys, please hold off on submitting/creating anything particularly for the project until further notice!

Yep, what Kristina said. At least for now, hold off on throwing anything together for this project. You'll hear an update from me or Theo soon.

This is some fantastic feedback you guys Thank you everybody, I will implement this when I have some time and try and figure out a way to make my chord progression more dynamic. Much appreciated <3

Mix: https://soundcloud.com/emunator/super-mario-64-file-select-wip Source: This is something I was briefly throwing together for the Super Mario 64 project before Argle snatched up the source... I'm sure he's got something far better cooking up for the album, but I wanted to share this anyway since I got a decent amount of progress on it. Structure is pretty rough, more focus on sound design and riffs here. Any thoughts are welcome!

A year has passed, and I finally had a chance to revisit this slightly. Still extremely rough and loop-y, but I added a few new elements and began to build up some structure past the 2 minute mark. Also, a guitar solo sketch at the end that I may try and work into the final product somehow. Feedback welcome https://soundcloud.com/emunator/phendrana-drifts-wip

Skrypnyk's got 2 claims on this? YUSSS. So excited to see how this turns out guys