Emunator

Wow, I never would have picked up on that, but you're exactly right. Overall, I think Shariq completely hit the mark on this and I have pretty much nothing to do here but cosign his opinion. None of the leads really grab my attention, and the lack of dynamics in your percussion makes the arrangement drag. I think the strength in this track lies in the way you've adapted the original sources... you've got some promising ideas, but the production is messy and there's definitely a lack of direction throughout the mix. I don't mean to come off as discouraging, but I think you need to develop your production/sound design skills more before resubmitting again... with the proper polish this track could definitely shine, but as it is, it feels a long way off. Good luck NO

I'm loving this already from the first few seconds, excellent vibes coming through here! This track feels like a showcase of a bunch of different jazzy leads jamming over some Shadow Man-inspired chords. None of the leads ever gets too crazy, but for a chilled out jazz jam approach, I'd say this mix does exactly what you'd expect, and does it well What's the deal with the lead at :18, though? The sample there is pretty weak and the levels are WAY too low! That's the kind of thing that I want to go YES (conditional) on, because I really feel like it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise-solid mix. The piano sample also sounds flimsy and a little dry, but that's not as distracting. I would love to see that brief lead get fixed up before posting, but since we can't go conditional on that thing anymore, I guess I don't really think it's worth holding this up if that couldn't be fixed, for whatever reason. Still, on a personal note, FIX IT! Nice work overall! YES

I think Palpable's production treatment definitely helped out the sound quality here compared to the old version, and let me reiterate: there's some really fantastic parts of this arrangement that I just love, and overall it's a pretty intelligent fusion of the two source tunes that's enjoyable to listen to. However, I still feel like the quality of the sequencing is holding this back. There's something about the performance/writing on the right hand melodies that feels very mechanical at times, regardless of the production fixes. There's stretches of the song where everything sounds cool, like :27-:37 or 2:04-2:17, but then you get to points like :55-:59, 1:33-1:51, or 4:16-4:18 where the realism just breaks for me as a listener. I can't tell if it's purely a sequencing issue (I'm taking a guess here, honestly, since you never mention whether this is a live performance or a sequenced piece, but I'm reasonably confident in my assessment here...) or if the rhythms on the left and right hands aren't lining up exactly, but at points like that, I can tell something doesn't sound right. There's some really complex melodies and rhythms going on that, for lack of a better word, just sound clunky. This next part isn't a dealbreaker, per se, but I thought it was worth pointing out because nobody else has really mentioned it... I thought that, at over 5 minutes, the arrangement was stretched pretty far and there was a lack of direction overall. Each of the individual melodic ideas you touch on are solid, but the overall flow of the piece feels somewhat random. I think the lack of expression in the piano sample used doesn't help this, either. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that, based on the previous votes, I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't feel like this piece is totally clicking, even with the revisions. I love a lot of the ideas here, but compared to most of the recent piano mixes posted to the site, this still feels deficient in a couple of ways. Your track shows a lot of competence and merit overall, so good luck with the vote either way! It's just not up to my bar yet, personally. NO

Hah, funny you mention "infinite looping..." Without giving too much away, I will say that the GBA disc of the album is designed so that the gapless playback not only works between the tracks themselves, but also between the end of the last track and the beginning of the first track You'll see how we pulled it off when the album drops, but that little bit of continuity is something I'm pretty proud of!

Feels like a spiritual successor to Ben Brigg's Tal Tal Mountain remix. Love it

Honestly, I have no idea It'll be out when it's out. I don't think I've thought this through nearly as much as you have.

Yo can we not derail this with Kickstarter drama? Pretty please? As for the release date question, I won't speak to that definitively, solely because every previous time I've said anything about when we're planning to release, we've ended up being way off the mark. I don't necessarily have any reason to expect that to happen this time around, but you never know and I'd rather not raise expectations at this point. The best laid plans of mice and men... But dammit, I'm trying my best to get this released soon, and I know the rest of staff is doing the same

Piranha Plant's Lullaby is the most difficult source to remix ever -__- I spent the last 6 hours coming up with a really killer soundscape and instrument set and getting the production settled, but... figuring out how to work with the chord progression/time signature is fucking challenging. Hopefully I'll figure this out soon, I *really* like where this is going...

Get your writeups finished! The project release is LITERALLY hinging on you doing this, we have every single other thing done and as soon as you get me those remaining track writeups, we can release! ___THEOPHANY STOP READING BELOW THIS LINE____ Ok, none of that is true.

Haha, glad to hear I apparently captured the essence of the game with this Shamefully, I've never played any Kingdom Hearts games so I guess I just got lucky there! Thanks for the comments all!

Glad to hear nobody's forgotten about this promise that will still be delivered upon Final prep is going great, I've got some more clerical work to do and the trailer/website still need to be finished but we're VERY close to wrapped up with the project. More news to come soon!

I'd definitely suggest finishing up OoT before actually releasing any Majora's Mask material. It might be a good idea for you to get a head-start on MM if you're definitely planning on tackling it at some point in the future, so you have some content built up ahead of time, but I think it would be kind of crazy to try and manage updating both projects at the same time. Also, weekly, consistent updates are best IMO. It gives people something to look forward to while still leaving enough space between releases that you don't burn yourself out. Just my two cents though. Been loving the output of this project so far, I can't wait to see where else you go with some of the more ambient tracks later in the OST!

Hey all, here's a mix I started working on but never got around to posting. It's a little more on the coverish side of things, probably not OCR submittable at this state of expansion and honestly I don't know where else to go with this anyway. It was more just an attempt to try out a few new sounds I got and work on my production workflow a bit more. All of the additional harmonies on the bell/oboe were improvised. It came out sounding pretty pleasant though so I figured I'd post it. Remix: http://soundcloud.com/emunator/kingdom-hearts-dearly-beloved Source: Enjoy!

Not much to say on this one. I can't say it's my favorite style, but you definitely blended the sources really seamlessly into your usual faux-chiptune style and kept the energy up throughout the song. Great soloing and synth choices throughout the track. It's pretty hyperactive and spastic but it works. Your production aesthetic is instantly recognizable here. My biggest critique here would be the transitions throughout the song, they just felt weak and not very inspired. What you have works, but I think in the future you could take a few more risks in that department and make your transitions between sections more energetic and engaging. YES

I'm catching Winnie the Pooh vibes from some of the instrumentation here Very relaxing and nostalgic. I feel like your orchestrations are so different from what I'm used to hearing, every sample has a very raw sound with a lot of personality to it. This is pretty much in the same boat as your Kakariko sub; fairly conservative, a little sloppy, but full of life and personality that far outweighs any of the issues that may exist. Love the second half when you start getting a little more expansive. YES

This is superlative. I don't think I properly appreciated just how timeless and classic this mix was until I read DJP's glowing writeup, and I must have listened to this at least a dozen times before that. However, after listening with a fresh perspective, I realized just how seamlessly Mordi has blended the source tune with his own original writing, and how absolutely flawless the production is... I'm really glad I've come around to love this as much as I do now Excellent job guys.

Vocal medleys definitely seem to be your niche, Mansoor You absolutely excel at creating consistent, memorable, and nostalgic arrangements time after time that I struggle to find any critical problems with. Production-wise, I'd say this is some of your strongest work to date. It still has a few of the minor issues that have been brought up with your previous works (some bland lead synths, and some unrealistic sequenced instruments such as the flute) but again, it's never been a dealbreaker in the past and I don't see why it would suddenly be one now. The length of the mix is justified thanks to some extended solo sections and a good variety of vocal parts, I don't feel like any of this suffers from copy/paste abuse. Claire also gives an absolutely fantastic performance here. The recording quality feels a little bit underwhelming but the raw talent here is incredibly obvious, and it fits perfectly into the backing track. No complaints here. I hope both of you continue to share your talents with the community for a long time to come, you're fast becoming one of my all-time favorite collab pairs! YES

I've taken into consideration what Vinnie and Shariq are saying here, but honestly when I listen to this I hear the connection right away. It's definitely adapted into a totally off-the-wall style that I didn't see coming, but I'm hearing it in abundance, albeit a little bit modified from time to time. It's a pretty abstract approach but it works for me. Production-wise, everything that the other judges have said rings true (I really don't like that acid arp, it feels really out of place, and the flute is a bit of a weak link) but I'm honestly enjoying this one. I'm co-signing with the YES's on this one, in spite of the creative liberties that had to be taken with the melody, I still hear the connection to the original. YES

I'm absolutely loving the first minute of this, the textures are very exotic and unique, it reminds me of something I'd see on a BBC nature documentary soundtrack for this first part. This is all pretty good as far as I'm concerned. I'm feeling what you're doing with the slow-build, but by about the 1:45 mark I feel like you could probably be doing more with the soundscape. When the more aggressive drums/bass come in, I'm a little underwhelmed by the overall mixing - the chromatic percussion still sounds fantastic, but the drums are starting to sound noticeably hollow. A more dominant bass drum to fill out those low frequencies would be very nice here. By 3:14 though, you're starting to lose me. The concept is EXCELLENT but as the other judges have said things start to get too cramped and busy. I know what you're going for with the piano but it sounds too dissonant and loud, and ultimately ends up being more of a distracting element in those sections. As I listen to this, I'm finding SO much that I like about it, and honestly I want to pass it just because of the sheer uniqueness of what you've done. The instrument choices suits my tastes perfectly, but ultimately I find myself agreeing with the naysayers here that this is just a little bit too ambitious at times, and ends up missing the mark on several points. You're 90% of the way there, but I think you need to ease up on the instrumentation in some of the busier sections, trim down the length a bit to omit or fix some of the problematic sections that have been mentioned by myself and other judges, and I think you'll have a really damn memorable mix here. I will be very sad if this one doesn't come back to the panel in the future NO (PLEASE resubmit!)

I'm with Larry, but just a little bit more reserved. It's true that this is a pretty straightforward, conservative take that doesn't necessarily tread any new ground that we haven't already heard, but I have to commend you on the very well-conceived, well-sequenced, and well-produced mix here. To be honest, I truly enjoyed listening to this piece just in a bubble, but it took me a few listens to pick out all of the little nuances that you added to the melody to help personalize it and bring it up to OCR's bar... however, they definitely add up in your favor, and I think at the end of the day this is a great example of a well-executed conservative remix that people will enjoy. YES

Ayyy... I hate to be a downer but there's small little timing errors ALL OVER this performance and it's really bringing it down for me as well. I love the arrangement and all of the various cameos, but I think you really need to scrutinize the flow of your performance, figure out where the problems lie, and remedy it with either a re-recording or by making the minor tweaks to the MIDI data itself. I had few problems with the piano tone itself but the performance here is very disjointed due to the uneven timing. Send this one back our way! NO (resub!)

Right off the bat, my interest is definitely captured with your energetic and lively writing. Even though things stay relatively simple, and there's not very many instruments going at once, the overall balance/levels sounds pretty pleasing. Fun transitions all across the board, you really cover a TON of ground before the track is over. Very cool hybrid style, I don't have much to say here but what I'm hearing definitely sounds over the bar to me. Had a lot of fun listening to this! YES

Wow, yeah, I definitely hear what Cain and Vinnie are pointing out here. Compression is way out of control here. Tone it down and resub this puppy, cause your arrangement is great. NO (resub!)

I really love this source tune and you guys couldn't have picked a better way to adapt it. I absolutely adore the very nostalgic, reminiscent mood, and I feel like every single instrument in the mix is truly contributing something memorable to the mix. I agree that there's a certain level of sloppiness in the way the live performances were stuck together in the mix, sometimes the timing between instruments feels off, and in other sections (like the outro) the writing just feels straight-up clunky. However, those moments are all fleeting and don't impact the song overall. This could have used a bit more TLC on the little details but it's still a very good remix as it is. YES