Emunator

Hahaha, I love the little coin noise in the intro, that's fun. After reading Larry's comments on this mix and another mix that was nearly rejected for being too coverish, I'm pretty much ok with signing off here, as well. There's a great deal of personalization in the performances alone, and having so many performers on the track creates moments where performers can go off and do their own thing briefly to freshen things up, so ultimately this is far enough from the source to pass it. There's some flubs in the beginning where the timing doesn't sound quite right, but fortunately as you go on your performances sync up better and it sounds like there's more confidence across the board. Good stuff, I very much enjoyed this YES

Sweet, it makes me incredibly happy to change my vote here too. YES

I've heard it through judging channels, and omgggggg. I'll be straight up in saying that I'm generally not a huge fan of brutal metal, but I can't stop listening to your mix. It definitely ranks up there with my favorite metal songs of all-time, and I have no doubt that people will appreciate the work you've done dude

Don't do that Mike, I don't think the version I gave you ended up being final by any stretch. Larry did a whole new encode because I suck

Ahahahaha, this is adorable ♥ The intro totally reminds me of Slowpoke Shuffle, the soloing is clearly WillRock-esque and I'd straight-up call you a liar if you said you weren't pulling influence from his style from time to time halc influence is also evident in the section with the chiptune drums, Shades of Red perhaps? In all seriousness though, this is really solid and enjoyable. You keep the soundscape somewhat minimalist but with some very cool details going on with your background synths as well that are barely audible. The whole thing feels VERY Pokémon-esque and doesn't squander the potential of the source tune. R/S/E was so underrated in terms of its soundtrack and overall atmosphere, but you seem to be one of the few who "gets it." Keep it up dude, I can't find much fault here! YES

Well, the drums are sounding a lot better than I remembered, and that was probably the weakest point of the song for me last time I heard it and with TGH's help and the improved production quality it's definitely passable now. I still feel like your poor-quality samples are bringing down the quality of your songs overall, despite some very strong writing and improved production, I would look into what kinds of upgrade packs or even a totally new workstation that you could get your hands on, if GarageBand is too much of a limitation. It's possible to make OCR-level material GarageBand but upgrading to a more powerful DAW, or even something like Reason would likely help out your craft immensely. Just my personal opinion though, go with what you're comfortable with. The arrangement is still very meandering and I'm surprised it's taken me this long to notice it, but at the same time I find myself digging the approach all the same. Taking a pretty basic melody and going almost constantly back and forth between soloing and source is chaotic and somewhat unconventional, but it lets you showcase your lead-writing talent in a very unique way, and I don't think the approach lessens my enjoyment of the remix to the point where I'd NO it. It's a close call at the end of the day but I'm willing to go in your favor. You've put a huge amount of effort to fixing this up and even though you've still got a long way to go in terms of reaching professional production standards, I think this could hold its own in OCR's catalog. Good luck, keep improving! YES (borderline)

Yo, where the leads at? This is a pretty unique take on the theme, I would have never expected something like this to work stylistically, but before I can really even say anything about this, the fact remains that there's no solid lead in the song for almost 2 minutes It helps that Song of Storms has one of the most memorable chord progressions EVER, but the fact that you don't directly reference the Song of Storms melody once, except for the brief piano intro, is a problem There's a few things I guess MIGHT be leads, but they're so quiet I can't even tell. Overall, your master feels kind of bass-heavy to me, though maybe it's just imbalanced due to the issue I brought up in the last paragraph. I can't really tell for sure. The ragtime piano in the intro/outro could also be brought up in volume, even though it's meant to feel distant from the rest of the track it still seems unnecessarily quiet here. The style here is right, and for the most part I think your instrumentation/writing is solid, it's definitely personalized enough and very fun and groovy. It just drags for the first few minutes without any dominant melody to latch onto. I'd like to hear this one back with that issue addressed NO (resubmit!)

Why do we keep paneling Jaka's stuff? This is seriously awesome, fantastic production and arrangement, the dissonance is used extremely tastefully and doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the overall piece. I really like how you utilized the percussion, you nailed an extremely powerful sound that's sparingly used to great effect. So much cool stuff going on here, I'm constantly impressed by how each of your mixes has such a different mood and feel to it... I don't think I've ever heard the same thing out of you twice and that's the biggest compliment I can give to someone who's remixing in one of the most popular genres out there. The little ethnic instruments and the off-kilter piano adds some real character to the track. Serious respect for you Jaka This is a track I'm sure to not forget anytime soon! YES

Some cool stuff going on here, your performance brings a lot of energy to the source that I didn't know could be harnessed from it, but thanks to the addition of the choir you still retain the eerie mood of the original, too. I'm picking up some Dragonforce/Stratovarius/speed metal vibes from some of the performances here, which is a blast from the past for me as a listener but it's cool Production-wise, the whole mix is really cramped and quiet. The drums are the only thing peaking your waveform and the rest of the guitars and other sounds are not utilizing any of the extra headroom that you've still got left in your overall master. I think this would benefit from a full remaster to get some more loudness out of this mix and better utilize your compression so that the drums aren't the only thing benefiting from it. In addition, your kick sound is very boomy, I'd recommend treating it with EQ to bring some more of the mids/highs up and perhaps tone down the low freqs slightly so your kick has more presence. The same advice could also apply to your snare. Arrangement-wise, you keep it pretty straightforward without going too far off the beaten path, though you do have a decent amount of personalizations on the classic melody. Slightly changing up the way you present the melodies every once and a while is a nice touch and definitely makes this a lot better suited for OCRemix's standards. However, I think the bigger issue is how static your soundscape is - right from the start, you showcase choir, drums, bass, and guitar and stick with that same combination doing pretty much the same thing (except for your lead guitar) for the entire duration of the remix, never introducing anything new to change up your textures. Throw in something, a breakdown with clean guitars, some extra non-rock instrumentation, or a more distinct solo section... whatever you want that can spice this up some! The harmonizing guitar part that comes in at 1:39 (forgive me, I'm not sure what the technical term for this kind of effect is) sounds really cool and definitely helps with the aforementioned static arrangement, but frankly I think you overplayed it here. I think the effect would be a lot greater if you didn't use the same technique for the leads for the rest of the whole song, and saved it for key moments. I suppose this is more of a personal preference issue, but it's something that noticeably impacted my enjoyment of the song as a listener so maybe you'll find the feedback useful. Lots of stuff to mull over for this mix, I wouldn't have rambled on this long if I didn't think it had potential though so I hope you take the feedback to heart and send this back our way after giving it some TLC Some of the rock-oriented judges like OA might be able to give you some more personalized, helpful feedback on how to get this up to the bar. Good luck dude! NO (resubmit)

I'm not gonna beat around the bush here, this judgment basically boils down to whether or not the unrealistic sequencing/instruments (which I've discussed at great length with Will during the development and he knows my feelings on it, even if we disagree in the end ) is enough to counteract a friggin STELLAR arrangement. The violin in particular is the most noticeable offender, when it makes those fast glissandos (?) in the last section, but at the same time you can tell that Will's put a lot of time into tweaking his articulations so they at least sound pleasant to the ears, even if anyone could tell it's not a real violin. Piano sounds a little sour when it hits the highest notes at high velocities, nothing much to worry about though. Production is pretty great, you've got a warm, deep orchestral soundscape that's well-accented by atmospheric elements like choirs and cellos that help bring out the beauty of your writing. No complaints here Arrangement is where this really shines for me. I can see how some might cry medley-itis here, but personally I think the clever melding of multiple sources into the one section works wonders. The way you take versatile chord progressions and modify various memorable Zelda tunes to fit them is indicative of some great writing ability on your part, Will Very solid stuff here, I don't have any issues at all. So yeah, the sequencing is an issue unfortunately and it's not one I can just ignore. There's so much strength in every other aspect of this track though that I think it's good enough to pass as-is, and the positives outweigh the only really noticeable weakness. Good luck with the vote Will, I'd really like to see this on the front page some day YES

The new approach to how you separate your right and left hands definitely leaves you with a sparser soundscape that's not always completely filled out, but definitely brings a delicate, gentle quality to the performance. I think for a very simple source like this, it works very well and the piano adaptation was a brilliant idea, as it lets keep the playful melodies intact while doing a lot of expansion on the left hand and with some melodic wankery from time to time Some of the right-hand riffs in the intro felt loose in the performance, and this feeling of improv-ishness and loose timing pervaded throughout the rest of the song. It's nothing that isn't present in your other mixes that have passed the panel or been released on projects, and as you continue to refine your craft and gain even more confidence with your performances, that'll naturally become less prevalent, but it's still something to watch for. I am a fan of the improvised sound of the performance (whether or not it actually was one ) though, personally. Once you hit the sections with the strings/bells and the left hand writing becomes more active, your timing issues clears up a ton and the performance feels more cohesive and flowing. None of this amounts to a dealbreaker in my opinion, but I thought it was worth saying. Production-wise, I gotta say this is sounding a lot cleaner and less noisy than a lot of your previous submissions, which is a great sign! The string articulations are not fantastic and they don't do anything spectacular in terms of writing, but their addition is a welcome one as they add just a bit of texture to the ending. Source usage here is still a little iffy, I'm hearing a LOT of connections but I'm having a hard time grasping how much of that is actual source usage and how much of it is original writing that just happens to fit really well. I've checked back and forth between the source and your remix and because of how many added notes you throw in to each repetition of the theme and how dynamic your performance is, doing a stopwatch breakdown would be pointless. I'm hearing it more than enough to give you the benefit for the doubt here, but I would like for anyone else voting here to corroborate that. Good stuff man YES

Oh my gooooood post rock <3 After judging your last submission, I knew you had some solid guitar playing chops but I wasn't expecting them to be applied in such a unique and expressive way. But, for the record, I was totally floored when I first listened to this, just as a listener. Then afterward, when I listened to the original and saw how you pulled from the riffs and the dark, brooding mood of the source to craft a remix that's melodically identical, but at the same time very expansive, it blew my mind. Your drums sound noticeably dry and bland/uninteresting compared to some of the post rock I'm used to listening to, I think throwing more compression on your drums and EQing some of the individual kit pieces slightly differently would allow them to have more presence in the mix. Honestly though, they're not much of an issue in the big picture, the rest of the mix is extremely strong. Your guitars/bass are very atmospheric but also clean and distinct, this is about as good of processing as I've heard from some professional bands in the genre, and that's pretty hard to do. The remix boils down to being pretty conservative/repetitive just because it relies on the same few riffs played over and over again. I do think you could have done more with the buildup to when the distortion guitars come in so that they worked in more naturally, or possibly even came up with a modified B-version of the riff, but you've got an interesting approach to this source by keeping a constant loop that you build up around and personalize through textures and progression instead of melodies, and I do feel like that's a viable method of remixing as far as OCR's standards are concerned. I can see how some judges might find problems with the repetitiveness here, but I'm sold on it. Good luck with the rest of the vote YES

Honestly I've had this one downloaded and looping ever since the moment it showed up on the judges panel. It's a pretty minimalist take on Zeal, but you can tell that everything here is very intentional and deliberate, and your simple soundscape and textures are just plain beautiful. I'm rarely this floored by a mix that's this simple in its execution, but I guess that's a sign that Shaun is doing-it-right and has really gotten the hang of his craft. Great work dude YES

( - Better source link) As a shameless fan of not just Animal Crossing, but also the soundtrack (haters gonna hate) I'm definitely familiar with this soundtrack and was very excited to see a remix of this particular theme, which has always held a really special place in my heart. However, I hate to say it but I can barely hear the original in your mix at all What it boils down to is a few sparsely-used melodic riffs, and then some of the chords/riffs from the original slowed down to around half-time and used throughout the song. None of it jumps out at me and screams "Animal Crossing" unfortunately. I really appreciate the time you put into crafting a unique and personalized concept for your song, that wasn't lost on me at all, but I'm not hearing enough source or enough development here to pass OCR's bar. NO

You know, you bring up an excellent point and I do feel like I was a little unfair with my vote here. As much as I still stand by everything I said and wish I could hear the concept more fleshed out, I agree that it was a bit out of line to reject the track on those grounds. My apologies. YES

ohwut?

Justin has a knack for nailing pretty much every issue with a mix in-depth and then finding some smaller nitpicks worth noting, too, so I'm going to echo him for the most part here. You've got a very strong concept and arrangement that's pretty enjoyable to listen to, but the clunky beat, somewhat unexpressive/odd synth choices, moments where the mix becomes overcrowded with too many different sounds going on (or, in some cases, too many similar sounds at the same time) and a handful of other nitpicky issues are all keeping this one below the bar. I think you've got an arrangement worth taking a second pass at though, I'd like to see what you can do with this! You've always got a great way of pulling totally unknown source tunes out of the blue and doing really creative stuff with them, but the production needs some help first so it can rise to the occasion NO (resubmit!)

Everything the above two judges said rings true to me, but I'd also like to add that the stiffness of your sequencing overall is also a strike against the mix. It's noticeable in your drums, a few synth melodies, but the worst offender is by far the piano, and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned so far. You need to definitely soften up the velocities on the piano, and throw in some subtle timing shifts to give your beat a little bit more groove to it. The same goes for your sine lead, which sounds like it should be using portamento, pitch bend, vibrato, etc. more than it currently is. Any one of those effects could make those small, but noticeable synth lines more interesting. Throwing some more atmospheric, slow-attack pads to fill out the soundscape here would benefit you GREATLY, I feel, and give your song a more full-bodied sound. You might want to consider some additional harmonies/counter melodies if adding a pad isn't enough to do the trick. More variations/fills on your drum beat would also help keep this mix from growing stale. Pretty cool vibe, I wasn't quite sure what was going on but when the bass came in I was feeling the song overall, it just needs more expansion/fleshing out to keep it fresh and full-sounding. NO (resubmit)

Oooohh, this is a tough one. I'm definitely sold on the strength of your arrangement right off the bat, this is a very dramatic and powerful take on the source. However, I know you finished this mix in under a day and, unfortunately that sort of shows in the mixing I'm inclined to say that simply bringing down the levels of the rhythm guitars will solve most of the issues I'm hearing, but there's a a chance that it might need more of a rebalancing job than just that, it's hard to tell at this point. Even if it isn't perfect after that though, toning down those guitars would very likely push this over my personal bar, even if it alone doesn't achieve perfection, the arrangement is extremely good and, despite a weak ending is doing a lot to help push this from a NO (resub) to a YES (conditional) in my mind. Close vote, but I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt here. Just get those guitars tamed and I think you'll be good to go. YES (conditional on rhythm guitar levels)

Some pretty sick bass work here, that's a great way to get a listener hooked right off the bat. I hear what Deia's saying, this could use a lot of melodic variation to keep my interest, but I'm recognizing that you at least took steps to change up how you present the melody, so that even though it's the same riff over and over again, you change up the octave every so often and introduce other synths on occasion. The lead writing is definitely not the strongest aspect of the track, but I'm actually inclined to say that I'm okay with it here, just by a hair. That's something to watch for in your future submissions, for sure, but I don't think I'd mind seeing this on the front page in its current form, given the strength of every other aspect of this song. YES (borderline)

While I still wasn't really a huge fan of the style, the overall result made a lot more sense to me than your "Power of Cornelia" track that I just voted on. Your rhythm guitars do their brutal thing when the melody is appropriate for the style, but you opted for more simple chord work when the melody played more prominently, which I think was an excellent choice. The vocals feel tongue in-cheek but they're well-performed and well mixed. Overall, the way you approached the instrumentation here made a lot more sense, so props to you. The ending was kind of a wtf moment but it was so calming and relaxing that I actually appreciated the contrast it provided. I'm cool with this. YES

Normally I hate to vote on things that boil down to a matter of personal taste, but I found myself agreeing with this vote almost entirely. I think the problem for me is that the rhythm guitars are tuned so low and playing such low notes that, at a lot of times, they just don't work with any sort of traditional melody at all, let alone such an uplifting one. I don't want to say this style can't work, period, but I've deliberated on this track a LOT (probably more than anything else on the panel) and I just have to go with my gut at the end of the day, since the melody and the rhythm guitars aren't gelling with me. It just feels unpleasantly atonal. Sorry Justin, it's nothing against you or your style personally, but I'm not feeling this one. Good luck with the rest of the vote. NO

(feedback directed at the original musician, mainly because I'm too lazy to fix my pronoun usage) I liked what you did with the buildup in the intro but it kind of fizzled out and didn't pay off, I appreciate the artistic concept there but I don't think it worked. Overall, the whole mix feels like it's stuck mainly in "intro mode" where things just never take off. You've got some very neat drum fills that sound very promising, but each time you transition, the energy level of the track seems to reset itself back to neutral. From about :30 - :60 it seems to reach peak energy, but past that, the track felt underdeveloped in terms of instrumentation and overall arrangement, like this is just a 2 minute clip of what could be a larger, more fully-realized concept. Some cool stuff in here though, shame the artist can't be reached. NO

Pretty cool, you're seriously channeling some Mazedude essence here and for the most part, it's working. You've picked a great source, given it your own personal touches while keeping the melodies relatively intact, etc. etc. There's only one issue I'm having here, and unfortunately it's the same one that seems to keep popping up in a lot of your remixes: sample quality. It's not an across-the-board issue here, fortunately, but your drums and a few of your synths still sound pretty wimpy. I was pretty impressed with the ambiance in your intro, but for the body of the mix a lot of your synths sound like soundfonts that are incapable of any sort of articulation, which makes a lot of your melody/supporting lines sound stiff and static. I suppose there's a quaint simplistic charm about the track the way it is, but even some basic effects like pitch bending, portamento, or a more unique sample/patch to start with would really bump your synth lines up a level. The drums are a bit more of a clear weak point though, when the kick is layered in with the electronic drum it's not so bad, but when it's exposed it's way too subdued. You need to just outright replace the snare/clap samples too, I feel like they're bringing down the track The mix overall felt just a touch too wet, other judges may disagree but I would like to hear this song with slightly lower reverb levels, too, it might help some of your sounds come through a bit clearer. All that said, this is probably my favorite song from you to date. Don't touch a thing about the arrangement, just get the production up a notch and this should be good to go! Get this one back to us stat! NO (resubmit!)

Hah, now here's something I've never heard before This is an extremely unique style that sounds like it'd be right at home in the soundtrack for a game like Wario Ware. Even though this pretty closely follows the structure of the original song, you've got a decent amount of personalization present, mainly in how you adapted the original to the much faster upbeat tempo. The adaptation is definitely the main selling point of this remix, and it really excels at taking the source and turning it into something totally different while still sounding pretty close to the original. That said, the arrangement is pretty conservative even with all things considered, which may or may not hurt you in other judges votes. However, it sounds like you're trying pretty hard to emulate the sound of a Nintendo DS game, and the weakness of the samples is kind of a sore spot as a result. The sounds you're using for the mix would work just fine as part of a soundtrack for a video game, but the guitar and sax sounds specifically are too fake-sounding for my liking as far as OCRemix production standards are concerned I think this would be really cool if you could replace or sequence those samples more realistically, and truthfully it's difficult to objectively review a mix that's in such an off-the-wall style, but it's not quite cutting it for me. Hope to see this again! NO (resubmit)