Emunator

I hate to say this, but this mix just feels really generic to me :\ The arrangement and the transitions are pretty cookie-cutter trance. It's not to say you're lacking in detail necessarily, and your cool ambiance work and sfx were not lost on me (I actually thought the intro had some cool ideas but just ran a little too long) but when you get into the meat of the track it's just pretty plain. The synth choices across the board, the beat, and a lot of other elements are stretched pretty thin throughout the mix and end up sounding pretty repetitive. I may be unnecessarily hating on this mix, which is by all accounts pretty solid and, despite some repetitiveness and some sections that were longer than necessary, might be technically above the standards, but I just wasn't really feeling this one Sorry guys. NO

Yeah, there's nothing mindblowing about the arrangement or production here but I definitely think it's good enough, despite the slightly-annoying lead synths. You've got some cool sound design in your breakdowns that I enjoyed. Great drum writing here, I always like your snare sounds particularly Not bad man, keep sending stuff our way, you're improving! YES

I can sign off on your source usage breakdown as well, the drums that you're referencing are definitely unique enough to be recognizable in your remix as a direct source reference, and the other melodic parts work in your favor. I'm not really even gonna talk about the production/arrangement as it's pretty clearly over the bar, you've got some awesome processing, effects, and transitions that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to. The fact that the actual mix is so strong doesn't really have any direct bearing on whether or not the source usage is acceptable, but I'm glad it checks out for me because this is a really strong submission. Keep it up Brent! YES

Yep, pretty much OA and Deia nailed it. The arrangement's pretty much of a cover and overall, it's lacking in personalization. The performances are cool but your song pretty much goes through the motions and doesn't throw anything memorable into the mix to really make it your own. In addition, I wasn't really thrilled with a lot of your guitar tones or the mixing, some of the leads were really buried into the mix and the rhythm guitars are really encroaching on everything else. What you've got rocks pretty hard as a straight cover song, but that's not what OCR is looking for, sorry NO

Something about the mixing on this sounds just a little bit off, like there's some sort of hole in the frequencies in some point. I'd like to hear a slightly more fleshed out soundscape for this, and it's actually a pretty conservative remix, but overall there's a lot of strong positive aspects that push this way over. The prog rock elements are well executed and give this track a dose of personalization, you've really grasped onto some of the most memorable moments from the source and made them more pronounced in your remix (the bassline sounds really awesome in this context, particularly) and your koto lines rock hard Good song man, I'm definitely comfortable passing this. YES

Yeah, this is a pretty straightforward call. I really enjoyed your work off of Harmony of a Hunter, you've got a very expressive, dynamic playing style and your songs are produced just fine. Keep sending stuff our way man! YES

This is actually a pretty borderline call for me, I do personally like your lead writing, and you do a good job changing things up in your soundscape so that no single synth takes too much time in the limelight. I'm with Deia though, the arrangement feels pretty bland and I think it's got a lot to do with the generic/repetitive bassline. This is gonna sound vague, but I think you need to do more with the patterns you've got and change up your progression at some point so it doesn't grow stale. Production issues: your rides are way too up-front, the snare has a muffled sound to it (too much on the EQ cuts, maybe?) and in general your drums don't feel like they've got the same level of stereo width as your synths, which makes for a bit of an odd listening experience. The drums are all confined to the center and don't have the same kind of expansive, enveloping feel that the rest of your sounds have. That's a relatively minor issue in the big picture and I'm not sure if it's something any other judges would even notice, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway. This has a neat vibe and, while I'm not really blown away by any of your synth choices or the arrangement, this was an enjoyable listen that didn't feel like it quite lifted off the ground. See what you can do to bring your arrangement up to the next level and iron out some production issues, and I think this'll be good. NO (resubmit!)

Sounds really quiet unmastered, we should definitely get Flexstyle's mastered album version in here if Brad is okay with using that instead. This is a really surprisingly good track in a style that I've never heard proph tackle before, but it works great for the source. I can sort of tell that this one was rushed, there's lots of sections that seem directly copied/pasted, but there's plenty of solos and jazzy supporting instrumentation that dances around the melodies to keep things interesting. I don't have any serious problems with the fadeout ending here, even though it's admittedly a rather weak choice. For a 2-hour remix, this honestly feels pretty damn polished to me. It's not spotless, on both the arrangement and production side of things, but it definitely gets the job done as far as I'm concerned. I've done a timestamp check and can definitely hear all the source there used frequently (the B-melody from the source is played around :52 on the sax [i'm going by the album version so this timestamp may be a few seconds off, give or take] a bit in the background, but still audible enough to count) but if someone needs a specific breakdown I can certainly oblige. It's more than obvious enough for me to go ahead and pass this, though. Really fun arrangement, not at all what I was expecting when I went to Brad asking about this track but I think this will really sit well with listeners. YES

I'm gonna keep this pretty short because it's pretty clear to me that the production here is above the bar and the source usage definitely checks out to me as well. It's plenty personalized thanks to some really delicate, creative supporting instrumentation and variations on the melody. Cute concept too! I love it when you do these kinds of arrangements, it's really cool to hear the thought process that goes into them, as well! Keep it up, Jaka! YES

Talk about a slow-burner! This track starts off very humbly with some very subtle instrumentation that sets the mood nicely, and when the vocals come in for the first time there's not much else going on, so you can really focus on the vocalist. The accompaniment gradually builds up in a very subtle-yet-dramatic fashion. The Gerudo Valley interludes throughout the track offer a really great contrast to the vocal sections and allow for more adventurous melodies to take the stage briefly, I'm actually surprised at how well those work. The vocals are beautiful in their own right and carry the track most of the way, but having some instrumental sections is a very smart choice, IMO. I can see how some might view this as too minimal on the instrumentation, but what I see here is a very deliberate, dramatic mix that plays well off of contrast and dynamics to really accentuate the great vocal performance. Arrangement-wise, the vocals are pretty much the same as the ones in the source, which is a bit of a gift and a curse. On the one hand, I'm impressed with how well Sabrina was able to hold up against the professional vocalist on the source, her voice sounds really great here and the mixing is spot-on. However, it does push your remix dangerously into conservative territory. At the end of the day, the stripped-down approach works for me and the inclusion of the more personalized Gerudo Valley tracks pushes this over the edge, though I would have felt a LOT more comfortable passing it if there was more arrangement on the Nier sections. I still really enjoyed the remix and think this is definitely one you should be proud of, regardless of how the vote goes, but you've got my vote! YES (borderline)

Your intro is pretty conservative, and in fact I feel like the plucked string sample is a bit of a step down from the one used in the source Overall, the intro here just isn't catching my attention, it seems like a straight cover of the source without very many changes or upgrades to the sound quality aside from some expanded ambiance (which is a nice touch.) Once the tempo change kicks in after the 2 minute mark, things start to get a little more original and personalized. I like the treatment of the bassline, that's a pretty neat touch. However, by that point you've already lots me as a listener. I would highly suggest trimming down that opening section significantly as well as rewriting parts of it to make it more of an arrangement and less of a straight cover. The electronic section afterward is definitely a step in the right direction as far as personalization goes, but it too suffers from being overlong and repetitive. In fact, aside from a little bit of original soloing that happens as you're fading out, it feels like you're pretty much just looping the same few bars over and over for the duration of the track. Simply put, you're gonna need a lot more content to add contrast to the material that you've already got. You've got a few ideas but they need to evolve as the track goes on, and the rest of your instrumentation needs to build around that, too. Hit the workshop forums for some solid arrangement and production advice, I think that'd do you good They're very helpful there and can offer a lot of specific advice on how to structure your mixes and expand the ideas you've got. NO

Right off the bat your mix sounds very muddy. You're throwing way too much reverb on your instruments and so nothing is sounding very distinct overall. This is probably most noticeable with the drums, which are actually very nicely written. Ease back on the reverb overall so you can focus on bringing key elements of the soundscape to the front and making the rest of them more audible, as well. It sounds like the whole second half of your song is missing a lead. I can see that being a stylistic choice but going that long with just the backing track loses my attention as a listener. Arrangement-wise, this is pretty conservative and doesn't deviate much from the original melodies at all. I like how you changed up some of the rhythms on the backing synths, that's a good start to personalizing this but it's going to need some original writing and variations on the existing melodies to really be a good fit for OCR's standards. Keep submitting stuff, you've got some great sounds here but your arrangement needs to be more personalized to be posted. NO

I'm definitely in agreement with OA that the first melody line you bring in isn't really working for me, either. It feels slightly detuned and just too rigid for me. The rigidity is present in a lot of the remix, to the point where everything feels like it's quantized exactly to the beat, so your melody lines feel static and unexpressive. See what you can do to tweak your leads to feel a little bit more humanized and varied in terms of rhythm and performance. The same advice applies to your bass and drums, which also suffer from very robotic timing. The bassline gets really muddy and indistinct at points like 2:04, I don't think the sample you're using is cut out for that kind of writing :\ Overall, there need to be more dynamics in the velocities and timing for your instruments across the board, an overhaul on that front would definitely make this sound a lot more expressive. OA's really good with this style of music so you should definitely get in touch with him and see what he can do to help, since the way you've fused the themes here is really inspired and works well with the saccharine synthpop soundscape you're working with. I think with a lot of polishing and attention to detail, you could get this up to the bar, so do what you've gotta to make it happen NO (resubmit)

Yeah, I was listening to this and was pretty afraid that it was just too close of a cover to count, and it seems that holds true Your performances are awesome and really bump up the energy of the source, but it's not for OCR. I do have a suggestion though, and that would be to really turn down your rhythm guitars to give all of your leads/drums/bass more room to breathe, they're really pushing hard and make this mix very harsh on the ears. Enjoyable stuff though! NO

Yeah, your introduction riff is really promising, it's got a lot of attitude and personality to it However, the transition between that intro and the rest of the song was pretty rough and didn't flow, I think it would suit you to gradually build off of that introductory riff instead of just dropping all of your momentum and starting new when the lead melody comes in. Overall, your arrangement is lacking in structure; it feels a lot more like a bunch of semi-linked patterns and sections arranged in a fairly random order. I think that integrating some of the other parts of the source that you didn't really use in your remix to create more distinct breakdowns/buildups/solo sections would give this a lot more direction. On top of that, I don't feel like your supporting writing really quite captures the same level of funkiness as the primary riff that this all seems to be based around. I think you should take another look at this and see if you can't come up with more creative, personalized takes on the melodies and drums that work more in sync with the main hook. You've got a good base for your track, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the rest of it feels like it's just cut and pasted from the original song, more or less, and it's not grabbing my attention :\ I think the funky bassline is so good that it alone warrants coming back to this track, but I think it would need a bit of an overhaul to craft a more focused, directed arrangement and make the rest of your melodies more personalized and unique. I would definitely like to see this again, though! NO (resubmit)

I was really impressed by the quality of the piano performance in the intro here. I can't even tell if it was sequenced or performed live, so props on that The transition into the trance part of the mix didn't feel very inspired and certainly not seamless, but it's serviceable at least. I wouldn't mind hearing something a bit more creative done there though. For the most part I think you've got a good handle on the mixing side of things here. There's a few nitpicks I've got in that area, though, that would definitely be good to hit up if you want to go for a resubmission (in the event that this doesn't pass.) At 3:06, your synth writing is really cool, but the mixing is too up-front for it to be a background element but too muddy and indistinct from all of the resonance/reverb to really function as a lead synth, either. Figure out what you're trying to do there and adjust your mixing accordingly Overall, your leads could stand to come up in volume a bit, it feels like they're competing with that repeating background pattern that goes throughout almost the whole song when the pattern should be taking more of a backseat role to the new material being brought in. My bigger qualms here though are that you simply have too much repetition and not enough substance after a certain point, and it's too conservative overall. Too much of the remix is based on the same loop that first shows up at :31. I think you've got a lot of potential with the sounds you've chosen and the already-passable production quality, but your arrangement definitely needs to either be trimmed down, or mixed with more unique variations. The unique solos and transitions that you've already got included in the mix sound really good, but there needs to be more of that so that the remix doesn't play so closely to the original and doesn't rely so much on the same repeating loops to flesh out your remix. If you can rework your arrangement to cut out some of the fat and make the melodies/loops more personalized and less conservative, this could be a very good addition to OCR's catalog. Your production's already there for the most part, and you've got some great sound choices that work great for the classic source, but the arrangement itself needs some work in my opinion. NO (resubmit!)

Wow, this has changed up a lot since the first album version. I do kind of miss the chiptune intro you used to have, but this new one works too. I'm pretty much with Deia, this is definitely good enough to pass as-is, though I'm finding the beginning of the mix underwhelming in terms of interpretation and instrumentation, but it definitely works its way up there and by the time the track was done, I was really feeling it I'd like to hear this trimmed down on the first half to cut out some of the more filler-ish material so that the second half could come in sooner, but it's not a conditional vote by any means. What you've got here is good stuff. YES

haha, yeah it was cool seeing how many of you guys had reddit accounts too

Very cool take on the source, I like how the solos blend pretty seamlessly with the original source usage. Some awesome performances/writing, especially on the piano and guitar. The bagpipes didn't sit well with me when they took a role in the backing instrumentation, though I thought it was okay as a lead. Either way, it's a stylistic thing that I'm not sure I'd hold against Luiza here. The issue I had with the bass being missing is fortunately rectified here, so... sounds good to me! It's a little weird but it makes perfect sense for the source and definitely feels above the bar to me. YES

Same deal here, I'll be sure to patronize future albums from you guys when I have more money but right now, 10 dollars for 17 albums is pretty much unbeatable and I'm so happy with all the tunes I've got to listen to now Thanks you guys for taking a risk on this to bring us some awesome music, I'm glad to be able to pick up a lot of these CDs finally!

I'm still hearing it :\

Hey dude just wanted to stop by and say this is cool

So, for my resubmission I'll make sure to remove the part of the song where I ask you to vote on my mix. I wasn't sure if that part was really gelling with the rest of the mix. My bad, bro. NO (resub)

New version addresses most of my issues, something still sounds off about the tuning on the violin but I'm no expert here when it comes to analyzing the tuning of an instrument. Changing my vote to a YES unless someone with better pitch has an issue with the violin. Good shit.