Emunator

This is deeply ambitious and very well well executed, brimming with atmosphere and personality without foregoing the vibe of your original source material. We had a conversation over Discord at one point where you were questioning what your strong suits were as a remixer, and I'd argue this arrangement exemplifies so many of the things that make you stand out as an artist. You are a very talented arranger and know how to synthesize many disparate ideas into something that actually flows and takes you through a journey. You have a gift for throwing everything at the wall in the name of ambition and experimentation and making it stick. You play nice with collaborators and know how to come in with a clear vision that others can actually work with. You are bold and brave - there's really no other way to pull off something this grand without a good amount of fearlessness. All of it comes together to make something that's extremely satisfying from start to finish, even if there are some technical wrinkles in the execution. Bravo!! YES

Just a quick cosign to close this out - the vocals registered as rough when I first listened to this in the inbox and upon further scrutiny, they need some TLC in terms of pitch correction and the way they sit in the mix. I agree that the vocals feel more natural during the heavy parts, and the last chorus sounds especially powerful when you start hitting the high notes. Other judges have already covered what needs to be done here. Additionally, I want to suggest revisiting the mixing on your drums/bass/guitar, right now it just doesn't seem to match the punch that you're going for. The kick feels like it's lacking punch and has too much bass, and the snare feels like it's had the high frequencies scooped out to the point where it barely cuts through, especially in the final section. It just feels weak. The rhythm guitars often feel like they get buried in the mix. Without hearing your stems, it sounds like you've got a lot of frequencies building up in the low-mids/mid ranges that is causing a lot of masking, and I'm not always sure that the instruments that should be standing out are actually cutting through. I would suggest looking at the dominant/fundamental frequencies for each of these instruments and making complementary EQ cuts/boosts depending on what you want to cut through. These can be relatively surgical and minimal, following the same advice that Chimpazilla suggested. This will do a world of good for the clarity of your mix. Not there yet, but there's a lot of promise and heart and I would really love to hear a resubmission! NO (resubmit)

Credits: Emunator: arrangement, sequencing, piano, mixing Chimpazilla: additional mixing, mastering Name: Infinite Collapse Game: Final Fantasy 8 (primary), Final Fantasy 4 (secondary) Sources: Compression of Time, The Red Wings Comments: This is my round 2 entry for Darkesword's Game Set Mash!! competition. Once again, I had 1 week to take a source of my choosing (in this case, Compression of Time) and create a mashup with a source chosen by the opposing team. I used this as another opportunity to do an arrangement in a style that I've always wanted to tackle; the resulting effort was a direct homage to Jon Hopkins, one of my all-time favorite producers and a huge personal inspiration in the way he approaches sound design. I feel that anything pertaining to Jon Hopkins requires a bit of context, since his music is not the most immediately accessible. Typically, his songs are very long explorations of an extremely simple chord progression, frequently only 1 or 2 chords for the entire duration. Nearly all of the development is accomplished through sound design and subtle evolution as the arrangement progresses. He makes heavy use of distortion and glitch effects juxtaposed with beautiful melodic tones in a way that is paradoxically beautiful and visceral. The two tracks I found myself referencing most during the creation process were "Everything Connected" and "Feel First Life". With these references in mind, I basically threw as much against the wall as I could possibly within the span of 1 week, and I'm extraordinarily proud of the results. While I mostly want to let the arrangement speak for itself (preferably enjoyed on a nice pair of headphones or a big booming subwoofer,) I did want to particularly highlight the transition section from 3:27-4:16, which was a monumental task in and of itself to get to work smoothly. I automated tempo, reverb and delay on the master chain, and even added some random automation to the master swing levels on all sequenced instruments to introduce some off-kilter polyrhythms before diving back into the final chorus. I wanted this transition to feel like being sucked into a black hole and being split apart into atoms, and then being spat out and gradually falling back together again. The whole song is written as an endless loop, starting off with a singular piano note and building up to infinity before collapsing back down to that same singular note. Who knows if any of this will translate to a pleasant listening experience, but everything about this was very deliberate - hopefully you find something to like here! ... or maybe I spoke too soon. In revisiting this with some fresh ears and some outside help from Chimpazilla, it turns out that my original mix/master WAS too heavy on the needless distortion and was pretty painful to listen to. So she helped me get a fresh coat of paint on this one by walking through the project file with me track-by-track, and then helping with some additional mixing and a fresh master that sounds LOADS cleaner without sacrificing any of the grit Reference Tracks:

Stealth updating to remove an audio clip in the middle of the song that wasn't sitting right. Shouldn't fundamentally change anything here but posting for transparency in case anyone's downloaded the earlier version or if Larry wants to revisit.

This felt restrained to start, but there's some really cool arrangement of the theme and some really fun synth patches (love that flute!) The fun here is all in the rhythmic changeups that are emblematic of big room, I found so many different rhythms to latch onto as I was listening to this. I definitely agree that this is one of your most successful outings to date, and it's really gratifying to see the small ways you've improved your craft without necessarily straying too far from the Pixel Pirates formula! I felt like the kick didn't have quite enough beef - it might be because it's pitched up so high and has relatively little sub presence. A little more compression and maybe saturation might have helped, but it's totally functional in its current state! YES

Haha, this is actually my biggest criticism of this track. The execution here is quite solid - I feel like there is room for more incidental textures/foley sounds/ambiance/ear candy throughout the track, but there's plenty of personalization and sound design going on to make this your own and pay homage to that classic Vangelis sound. Great choice of source material to apply this sound palette to, as well. Loved this on the album, this is a very easy YES

I was a fan of your original polka submission but the live performers and mixing assistance ramp this up a whole another level. I also feel like the arrangement here is even stronger in the way that you transformed such a dramatic piece of boss music into... well, this. You really didn't hold back any punches (or belches) here. It feels like a fully-realized vision of what you've been doing for a while now and I'm really happy to see you get here! YES

Damn, the rhythms on this thing are nuts across the board. The sound design here feels very Yu-Gi-Oh! to me before even listening to the source. The 2:55 changeup will be YMMV for listeners but I for one loved it. The piano at the very end serves as a great coda to wind things down after 4 minutes of insanity. I love this, it's a fantastic showcase of a lot of ideas that are neatly tied together despite a very chaotic presentation. YES

I've been bouncing back and forth on this one but I definitely hear the cello following the contour of the source. I think there's a level of subjectivity when we get into territory like this, but I am okay with counting that toward the overall source usage tally because the rest of the source is more overtly connected to the original, so it feels more like a supplemental connection on top of something overt rather than the only connection. If the entire arrangement hinged on such a loose connection throughout its full duration, it would possibly be a different story, but in this specific context, I'm okay with it. This is definitely just my personal subjective feelings but instead of relying purely on stopwatching, I feel like it's important to take into consideration the context in which the source is used. H36T, I think these passes would be a lot cleaner if your source usage was integrated a little more evenly throughout the arrangement, rather than large chunks of source bookended by completely original writing, but at the end of the day that can still be a valid arrangement technique and I think it works effectively here. YES

This title had me cracking up. I actually didn't find this to be too cluttered, abrasive, or poorly mixed - the balance felt appropriate for the genre and all of that wonderful ear candy you put into the arrangement is clearly audible. Transitions are snappy, the synth design is totally cohesive, bypassing the limitations of chiptune while fully embodying the spirit of the style. This reminds me of some classic 2010's-era OCReMixes from artists like Ben Briggs, Tepid, or Rayza in an incredibly nostalgic way. Easy pass from me, good stuff guys! YES

Hahaha, I was struggling to figure out what source this was at first, but once the lead flute came in, it was such an epiphany. That's actually genius, I don't know how you came up with this. Really brilliant adaptation. The backing instrumentation ranges from serviceable (the piano) to pretty darn good (the drums.) At the end of the day though, the lead flute really sells this concept. The only reservation I have is the overblown notes at :57 and 1:45 - for lack of a better explanation, they sound like they are mixed in a completely different space and much louder than the rest of the flute recording. I feel like there might be something at play with the recording quality, almost like it's getting blown out compared to the rest of the notes, but I can't quite be sure. Maybe another judge with more instrument knowledge ( @prophetik music? ) could elaborate on what's happening, or maybe just complaining about how a flute is supposed to sound. Either way, this is seriously radical and I'm unreserved about passing it in its current form. Good stuff mate! YES

What a delicate, measured approach! Really beautiful palette of melodic instruments combined with a lot of fun percussion and synths that give this a propulsive bounce. Mixing is clean and samples are very well sequenced, although I do agree with proph that a touch more master compression would make this sound a little fuller. The fusion of themes at the core of the arrangement is handled well, and of course the Prelude cameo is never NOT going to be welcomed! Welcome aboard, stranger! Good to have you back YES

I definitely had my reservations about this during the first thirty seconds - the piano sample felt heavily compressed, bright, and not the highest quality sample, and there wasn’t much more going on with the instrumentation so we’re left with a very exposed soundscape playing some very simplistic lines. Once the vocals come in though, I’m getting on board, and with that lush chord at 1:30 I’m totally buying what you’re selling! There’s a great dynamic curve to your arrangement and some moments where the lead guitars and vocals just sound massive. This arrangement really rewards patience and demonstrates a great understanding of what makes The Secret Song such an effective arrangement. There’s a few balance issues between instruments that other judges alluded to that I will also second. The intro piano feels too loud, the guitar leads are a hair too loud, and there are moments that the lead vocals dip too low in the mix and don’t cut through as much as they ought to. None of this amounts to a dealbreaker by any stretch. If there’s one thing I could suggest based on this and other submissions of yours I’ve listened to recently, maybe look into a new piano sample library or ease off on the compression when playing right hand melodies. I feel like that sample sticks out like a sore thumb here, especially when it’s not supported by ensemble instrumentation. In lieu of a whole new sample library, I have another possible recommendation to try - I will often have two different signal chains for my melodies and chords when writing with piano in a dense mix, so that you’re not compromising the lushness of your chords but also maintaining more dynamics in your melodies and not slamming so hard against the compressor. Just some ideas to consider that might help what I perceive to be a weak point in many of your mixes Let’s go! YES

This is a super easy vote. It’s absolutely stunning in terms of performance, harmonies, and instrumentation, and the mixing is fantastic as well. I don’t have much to add to the play-by-plays that other judges have laid out, but I fully agree with the accolades and think this is one of your most successful arrangements to date, Logan! Bravo YES

Right off the bat, we’re met with some really lush complementary guitar, synth, and saxophone tones that all play well together. There’s a lot of breathing room in the mix despite the number of instruments and sounds present in the mix - nothing ever feels like it’s competing for space. JayC did a wicked good job on the mix, as did all of the instrumental collaborators. I can absolutely hear the King Gizz influence here in terms of both tonality and the complex arrangement that takes a scenic route filled with numerous detours that come out of nowhere, but never feel unwelcome. Rad stuff guys! YES

Count me as one of the judges who’s generally on board with H36T’s style of arrangement, so it’s no surprise that I found myself really enjoying this on multiple fronts. The original writing fits seamlessly into the vibe of the original, even if it is segmented rather discretely into “original” and “cover” sections. 2:07 is a particular moment that really caught my eye, when the low strings harmonize with the cello line. The new drum groove toward the second half of the track leads to some really interesting rhythms. There’s enough moments where your original additions and sound design elevate this beyond just being a cover in my book. Couple of nitpicks - I loved the tone of the cello and the expressiveness on the sample, but when it was super exposed starting at :31, the legato transitions felt a little choppy. Not as big of a deal once the supporting instrumentation came in to pad things out. I understand why you settled on a fade-out ending, but this one felt particularly weak. Even dropping the drums out and letting the instrumentation fade naturally on a slower curve would have been fine, but this just happens too abruptly. Overall, I’m sold here despite a few non-mission-critical reservations. Keep ‘em coming! YES

Remixer(s): Emunator feat. Gamer of the Winds, Sirenstar Name: Black Ice Mire Game: Metroid Prime 2 (primary), Super Metroid (cameo) Sources: Torvus Bog, Prologue (Super Metroid) Credits: Emunator: arrangement, sequencing, production, mastering Gamer of the Winds: alto flute Sirenstar: Additional vocals (intro and outro) Additional Contributions: Chimpazilla: Additional mixing, mastering Zack Parrish: Vocal processing Comments: I'm finally closing the loop on another arrangement that's been stagnating for WAY longer than it ever should have. I started remixing this in 2015 and, over the course of the next 8 years, put about 65 hours toward finishing it and ultimately not getting very far from where I started. I was locked in loop mode for years and unsure of how to actually transform it into a complete musical statement. In 2023, I finally broke through that creative wall and started making rapid progress. The concept is pretty simple - what if Torvus Bog was done in the style of Phendrana Drifts? I've always found the Metroid Prime series to be one of the most technically impressive, atmospheric game soundtracks, and way ahead of its time in terms of sound design, so I challenged myself to capture the magic of those textures and sounds with my own tools. The bulk of the sound design was built in Omnisphere. I also chopped up some drumloops from the original sample pack called Uncivilised Grooves that Kenji Yamamoto used heavily in the original score to really give it that authentic Metroid Prime industrial organic vibe. Lastly, I employed a copious amount of Shaperbox 3, a new plugin I recently purchased which helped add a rhythmic pulse to everything from the bassline to the iconic Prime sine lead. I'm not saying that you can always just throw money at shiny new plugins to get over creative block, but in this case... that's pretty much what happened. What started as a sound design experiment really started to come together in 2023 with some help from Theophany, who helped me workshop the track and gave me some pointers on how to make my bass way less boring (check out his own Torvus Bog remix that he released earlier this year that I tried really hard not to consciously rip off as I was finishing this!) Gamer of the Winds and Sirenstar also contributed some wonderful live elements, adding additional air and organic texture to the soundscape that I couldn't have pulled off on my own. Extra shoutouts to Chipmazilla for your help with getting the mix and master sounding great, and to Zack for lending his Melodyne skills as well. Thank you all for helping me get this one to the finish line!

Remixer(s): Emunator feat. Pixels & Paradiddles, Hemophiliac Name: The Parallax Effect Game: Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 9 [I think FF6 should probably be the primary source here] Sources: Edgar and Sabin's Theme (FF6), Palace of Memories (FF9) Credits: Emunator: arrangement, synths, piano (from :12-:30), sequenced drums, mixing, mastering Pixels & Paradiddles: lead guitar & rhythm guitar (Seph), live kit drums (Josh) Hemophiliac: Piano (from 0:00-0:11 and 3:18-3:26) Chimpazilla: final mixing and mastering Comments: This track is my submission for the first round of Darkesword's Game Set Mash!! remix competition. I've never participated in an OCR competition before, but since three of my creative goals in 2023 are embracing collaboration, trying new styles, and actually finishing things... this felt like an ideal way to help me achieve those goals. And boy, did it help me check all three boxes in record time. I've never produced synthwave style before, and I've also never mixed with live electric guitar either (I have infinitely more respect for anyone who mixes distorted guitars with any other instrumentation, it is NOT easy!) My vision for this track can be summed up as "a 150mph police chase at night in the year 2070," inspired by artists like The Midnight and Carpenter Brut and their mix of rock and metal elements with retro synths and neon-tinged atmospherics. The triumphantly bold melodies from Edgar & Sabin's theme fused so naturally with the crystalline beauty and sparse riffs from Palace of Memories. Josh and Seph laid down some absolutely incredible rhythm and lead guitars that really glued the track together and amped up the drama tenfold. Hemophiliac's piano contributions to the intro and outro set the mood perfectly and fit like a glove with the vision I had. Massive shoutouts to my whole team - Pixels & Paradiddles, Hemophiliac, and H36T, who wasn't featured on this mix but still contributed advice and support along the way - there was no chance of this coming together without y'all. The spirit of collaboration is alive and well! Also, Chimpazilla was absolutely instrumental in helping me polish up the mixing post-competition and getting this to really shine!

Remixer(s): Emunator feat. Gamer of the Winds, Shea's Violin, Lucas Guimaraes Name: Binary Stars Game: Super Metroid, Secret of Mana Sources: Brinstar Red Soil Area, The Dark Star Credits: Emunator: arrangement, orchestration, piano, mixing, mastering Gamer of the Winds: alto flute, shinobue Shea's Violin: solo violin Lucas Guimaraes: backing vocals, rhythm guitar Comments: This remix was created for the August 2023 Pixel Mixers "Two Songs,Two Series" remix competition, though the roots of this concept really date back much further than that. Ever since I started arranging video game music, these two themes have been perpetually stuck in my head as possible source material, but I never found an approach that stuck. My hard drive is littered with half-baked takes on both themes spanning the past decade that never went anywhere. It seemed fitting that the first arrangement I managed to complete is a fusion of both! All things said, this track came together in 6 days, which I think is a personal record for fastest start-to-finish time on any remix I've submitted thus far. I took major inspiration from the soundtracks to Hollow Knight and the Ori series, both of which feature lush, intimate orchestration that heavily relies on solo performances and small ensembles, combined with unique instruments from all around the world that aren't typically featured in an orchestral setting. It was a challenge writing an arrangement that featured a huge instrumental range while always maintaining ample room to breathe and never feeling overstuffed. The cast of collaborators really brought this concept to life for me. Greg is an absolute rockstar on winds and has already helped me on several other arrangements (and certainly many more to come) coming in clutch with performances and improvisation on both the alto flute and shinobue. Shea's Violin is a new collaborator who also delivered a beautifully rendered solo violin line that tracked my section string arrangement, as well as original soloing during the outro. Lucas heard this WIP and offered to lay down some guitar tracks and a massive vocal stack at 1:36 - these little extra details really helped flesh out the texture of the track overall. I'm so grateful to all three of you for your contributions!! As for the title, there's several levels going on. In astronomy, binary stars are two stars bound in orbit by each others' gravitational pull that are perceived as a single entity to the human eye. In a sense, these two sources felt intertwined to the point where they practically morphed together in my mind. The arrangement itself frequently uses call and response between the two themes played on different instruments, occasionally playing motifs from both at the same time. Also, there's the serendipitous fact that both sources happen to have "star" in their name!

@Liontamer Kris hammered out a new master this morning that's a little softer and helped tame some of the harsh frequencies in the highs. The project file originated before this new computer build so it's dicey if I'll be able to make any mixing changes, but hopefully this sounds better to your ears! Updated in the first post.

This is a really tightly-written ensemble, and the performances across the board are solid! That organ solo is particularly nuts, but all of the performers here are pulling their weight. The drums aren't mixed perfectly, and there's other minor quibbles that have been correctly identified, but considering how much you have going on in the mix, everything is still clear and identifiable at the right times. This is a clear and easy pass! YES

Ahhh, I have to say this new version sounds objectively worse. I'm not sure what happened but there's now MAJOR distortion artifacts all over the track; basically any time that the guitars are chugging, this sounds like mud. Would you be willing to share an unmastered version of this with some headroom so I could try to determine if these issues are happening during the mixing or mastering phase? I'm not a mastering expert by any means but it sounds like you basically ran your old master through a second mastering chain and it's just crushing against the limiter. Still a no from me, but I'm 100% confident we can workshop this to a passable state!

Quick co-sign on this. Solo piano is extremely hard to pull off in a consistently compelling way - there needs to be something special to the arrangement, performance, or sound design, and unfortunately I feel like there are parts of this that just fundamentally don't hold up in any of those categories. The arrangement, as Brad mentioned, is meandering on a macro scale and doesn't seem to have a very deliberate dynamic curve in mind, and frequently jumps between ideas that don't flow together cleanly. The performance is unfortunately sloppy, especially during the first minutes where everything is played staccato. This writing also leaves the soundscape feeling barren at many points, which just highlights the timing issues more. I felt like this was at its most successful during the last 45 seconds, when the left hand was playing more lush chords and the rhythms felt tighter. I really admire the ambition here, and I have no doubt that y'all could get a piano remix up to the bar, but I think I agree with my fellow judges that this particular arrangement isn't it NO

I'd like to put my interest in for this too on the PSX side!

Sorry about the delay on this one - when I was evaluating this in the inbox, I couldn't figure out which source you were remixing and I never followed up on my email. I'm glad Larry was able to get it sorted out! This is an easy rubber stamp from me - you picked a quirky source tune and ramped up that quality even further. The live performances really breathe life into this in a way that sampled instruments might have fallen short with, and definitely puts this over the edge for me. YES