Emunator

Yeah, I listened to this back in the workshop and thought the arrangement checked out, and I still do. The drums don't always sound perfect to me, but on the whole I think we can all agree that all of the writing here is solid, and that it's a good enough take on the sources to pass OCR's bar. The glitching is all pretty tasteful and all of it integral to the song as a whole. The piano sample is super-weak, and it's actually a bit of a sore spot for me as a listener... a more full-sounding sample would really suit you better. But alas, it's definitely not a dealbreaker. So really, the production quality is the only issue in contention. I see where Vig is coming from, and a part of me wants to agree with that. However, after a ton of listens, I just don't feel like any of the sounds are really suffering all that much from the compression. Everything is still coming through clearly and my ears don't feel like they've been completely steamrolled after listening to this... at least, not nearly as bad as Jesse's saying. I'm okay with this as it is here, but I wouldn't be opposed if other judges wanted to go conditional on the compression either. YES

Fair enough. This was one of my earliest votes and after talking with you tonight I completely understand why my reasoning wasn't kosher with what's expected of the panel, and the distinction between a YES (conditional) and a NO (resub) in the first place. My apologies. Changing my vote to YES but if we can get a few of these issues addressed, that'd be cool too. I suppose at the end of the day, none of the issues are really bothering me enough to try and force a fix on any of them, so I'm not even going to go conditional here now that I've had some time to think about it.

The intro definitely gave me some high hopes for a cool atmospheric track, but unfortunately once the bulk of the mix kicks in there's just not much going on. It's a really sparse, stripped down arrangement that doesn't feel complete in its current form. As mentioned earlier, pretty much all of the samples have a very flat, dry quality to them. The piano sample is definitely the worst offender, it sounds like you'd need to outright replace at least that, if not other sounds in the mix as well. My suggestion, if you want to fix this up, would be to work on adding in some more layers/instruments/ambiances to build up more texture to your soundscape, drum lines, and instruments. All of it just feels very insufficient at this point, though you do have some nice stuff that you're working with so far. This would be a good one to bring to the Workshop forums if you're looking for some more detailed one-on-one critiquing! NO

Oh yeah, this is good stuff Jaka! Really good adaptation while still keeping your signature orchestral style in hand. I really appreciate your ability to diversify within your own genre and hope that other artists can learn from this example and not just tread the same water over and over with their remixes. After reading what OA and Deia had to say, I actually do agree that you could have done some more work to increase the dynamics of the mix overall and maybe make certain elements stand out more clearly. That said, I think with an arrangement that's THIS creative, fun, and interpretive, it's pretty easy to tell which way it should swing. Good work mate YES

I could pretty much quote OA's vote verbatim, this has all the makings of a solid rock remix that should do a lot to please all the Golden Sun fans out there. Some of the synth choices felt like they didn't quite jive with the soundscape, such as the one that plays a quick riff between the two guitar solos, but ehh, it does boil down to a matter of personal taste. The strings get buried beneath the rhythm guitars, which are also lacking some meat in the high ranges and are boosted too much in the lows/low-mids. Again, minor issues that don't affect the song's passability overall. The arrangement's just on the good side of conservative IMO, with the little solos and extra added riffs pushing it over the edge. I'd like to hear some more personalization in the future for a mix in this style, but what's there works thanks to some really creative changeups and adaptations to different styles within the mix. Overall, this mix is pretty well-executed, and I'm happy with how it sounds. Props for including things like synth, acoustic, and piano breaks to give this a little more character. YES

Yeah, this is campy as all hell bro. That said, I actually enjoyed it more than I expected to like a song labeled as black metal. I wasn't sure what to think of what you'd done to the melody, just judging from the intro, but once the drums finally came in, it felt a lot more natural. It's actually a pretty decent representation of the genre, as I understand it, and you've adapted the original tune nicely to it in a way that will probably appeal to metal fans, but also in a way that keeps it accessible to everyone else too. I'm impressed, sir. This is one of your better sounding metal mixes to date, I think. YES

Wow dude, why don't I remember this from Harmony of a Hunter? It's pretty great, and I agree with you that the Prologue is one of the most powerful progressions in video game music history. Good job expanding on it with some really cinematic sound choices that fix great with the electronic textures. There's also some distortion/clipping going on at :54 with the flute lead, at 1:54 - 2:13-ish in the drums, and again much more significantly in the ending, among other places. Really, after re-listening, it's kind of all over the track. I can actually explain the sharp cutoff, since this seems to be lifted straight from the Harmony of a Hunter album, which was gapless playback-enabled. Still would be nice to get a fix on, as well as the other issues mentioned... perhaps even tone down the synth flute in the high ranges just a tad? Very cool though, the arrangement and production is killer aside from a few of these issues. Much stronger track than I apparently gave it credit for when I listened to the album, I guess! Just get that clipping/the ending issue under control, and this'll be a winner! YES (conditional on clipping/distortion/ending)

I'm not really feeling Vig's critiques on the arrangement here, it feels plenty sophisticated all the way throughout the arrangement. It doesn't feel sequenced to me at all The section with the Zelda's Lullaby cameo was so cool. Overall this arrangement just leaves me with a very warm feeling of joy, and I really appreciate a piano arrangement that can evoke a feeling rather than just... existing for the sake of existing. That's what helps this one stand out against the multitude of other piano mixes that are currently on the panel and on the site in general. The piano sound itself doesn't sound as clean as the most recent thing I've heard Rexy render, there seems to be a lot of frequency-related distortion going on. Talk with her again and see if she can't work the same magic here that she did with her Crash Bandicoot mix. If not, it's still cool as-is. YES (not conditional, but still contact Rexy and see if it's possible to fix the potential distortion/sound quality issues.)

I had no problem hearing the source usage in here, but the problem I had (and I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet) is that the leads are so wet and pushed back that they don't stand out in the mix nearly as much as they need to. I respect the creative decision of having a more obscured sound to your lead instruments, and in this case it sounds nice, but when the source connection is already super-liberal, the parts where the original melodies ARE being used need to be more audible. Fixing this up would probably be good anyway, just from a musical standpoint. Aside from that, I'm definitely good with this. It's by far one of your most unique soundscapes and chord progressions, and it's really sticking out in my mind and making me want to listen to it more Since this already has 2 YES votes, I'll spare the trouble of a split vote and just see if we can get that lead issue touched up a bit. If that's fixed, I'm good to go. YES (conditional on reverb/levels of lead synths)

This is a really neat arrangement, but like the other judges said, it could definitely have been improved with a bit more restraint on the performance/volume to give this a much greater sense of dynamics. The transition at 1:55 really needs to be smoothed out though, that should be a simple timing fix though. That said, I'm in the same camp with Deia and OA in thinking that this is still above the bar in its current form except for that one sloppy transition. It's a great take on the theme that, despite its faults, still manages to be extremely enjoyable and endearing. YES (conditional on 1:55 fix)

Holy shit. Pardon my french, but that sounds GORGEOUS. So glad we decided to track her down and get this fixed, I'm much more comfortable with the song now. YESSSS

Hah, this is definitely the most fun arrangement I've heard from you yet, dude. It's gonna be a very close call though, since it still does suffer from a lot of the same issues as your other submissions that I've judged. The biggest one here is simply a lack of unique sounds - you're working with the most generic bread-and-butter synths all the way through, and when you take away the vocals there's just not that much going on. They're reasonably well-produced, but the backing track is kind of sparse and very simplistic. Some more unique synth sounds with more articulation and personality would really serve this track well, I think. Aside from that, it's a pretty repetitive track too, I'm hearing a lot of the same fills and transitions used multiple times, which does work to an extent with the song structure you're working with, but it still stands out as an issue to me. Lastly, the vocals aren't too bad, but there's a few lyrics that just flow so awkwardly, like "ice cream man" in the second verse or a few other lines that are adapted to that same tune. It's little things like that where the lyrics don't quite sync up to the melody that bother me as a listener and make this feel too amateurish. I've probably been pretty harsh on this, but I actually think the storytelling concept is rather neat. It's got a very cutesy OHC-esque charm to it. But I don't think it's quite ready to be posted in this form. Hope you're willing to retouch this one a bit if it doesn't end up passing NO (resubmit!)

I've been a fan of this song from the beginning and actually thought it should have been a pass much earlier on in the submissions process. That said, having critiqued this song every step of the way from its inception, I can vouch for the fact that he's put an insane amount of effort into polishing every last corner of this mix and I do feel like it shows through. The drums are thankfully no longer a weak-link in the mix, although curiously, I still feel that there's somewhat of a synthetic sound to the piano now that wasn't present before. I suppose if you dig deep enough, you can find weak spots in the mix but I personally feel like that would just be nitpicking at this point. To me, it's an extremely expansive take on a very simple, "filler" source tune that takes it just about every direction it can be taken while still maintaining a nice sense of flow and direction and not feeling too much like a simple medley of ideas. I have been involved in the process of critiquing this track heavily so my opinion may be slightly biased, and I would really rather step aside and let the people who voted NO on the last submission have a chance to speak their peace. However, if this lingers for too much longer and nobody chimes in, this track has my YES.

Hey, that is a nice source selection After a while of listening to the intro, I was liking the feel you had going on but wasn't sure where it was going. This is definitely a very slow, additive track that takes its time going where it's going. It's deliberate though, and the gradual buildup and eventual climax actually reminds me a lot of post-rock artists like Sigur Ros, in a way. It's a really pleasant upgrade that, when coupled with some great guitar performances and soothing ambiances, takes some very repetitive, conservative melodies and expands them into something great This'll be a keeper on my playlist for sure <3 YES

This mix does a really great job of taking a sugary-sweet ballad and pulling out the inner-sorrow from the original melodies and turning it into something much more emotional. Great use of sound effects to set the atmosphere, though when you're working with such a minimalist soundscape, I'd suggest bumping up your ambiance a bit during certain sections just to fill the space. Your beats are sufficiently phat, and they keep the mix moving nicely. Synth choices are all pretty basic but complement the light atmospherics and piano base very well. No qualms there Arrangement-wise, I agree that this drags to an extent. You could have probably trimmed a little bit of fat to shorten the arrangement slightly, but it's still a very enjoyable ride. The original writing/soloing meshes well with the melodies and progression of the original so that the source is not always immediately present, but remains a dominating influence at all times, anyway. Just another nitpick, your piano notes often feel like they're being played just a little bit too forcefully, I'd recommend experimenting more with softer notes for the bulk of your melodies, you might find that it results in a more pleasant sound. Just a suggestion for future reference though This is good stuff man, definitely something I'm looking forward to seeing on the front page! YES

As a first-time listener of the track, I do have to say that the intro wasn't instilling very much confidence. It felt very blocky and stiff, and could have benefited a lot from some very low, grumbling sustained notes to get a more massive sound out of those stabs. The blockiness/stiffness of some of the instruments isn't nearly as apparent when you've got a lot more layers going on, though, so keep that in mind when writing with instruments where you can't necessarily pull off perfectly humanized articulations - don't leave them exposed That said, after that point things definitely picked up. The arrangement is a slow burner and I do feel like it took a while for me to really get into it, but fortunately your sample quality is strong and for the most part, the articulations are realistic. There's some really powerful moments to this arrangement and, while I feel like it never climaxes into anything in particular, it's still a pretty good, albeit conservative, take on the Dark World theme. I'm cool with it, even though there's parts that could be tightened up overall. Good work YES

Sorry guys, I'm not nearly as sold on this one. The issues with the intro has already been covered, so I'm not going to dwell on that, but the chord choices and the rigidness of both the e-piano and the hi-hats hurt. I'm not gonna beat much around the bush, that just doesn't sound good on the ears I think you can get away with using the e-piano with those chords later in the mix but when it's super-exposed in the intro and then a few other points later in the song, it just sounds rough and borderline-dissonant to me. Once the leads come in, things go a lot smoother, but I still feel like you've got a lot of stuff going on and, thanks to your super-phat kick, not a lot of room to work with. A lot of the time you've got 3 or 4 melodies playing simultaneously in the higher registers along with all of your other instrumentation, and it's all panned toward the center. The new writing is solid and really fills things in and helps this stand out as an Ice Cap mix, but you've just got a cramped soundscape going on, so it's rare that anything actually stands out. Some panning tweaks, easing off of the kick slightly in the mix, or repurposing some of the leads to play during some of the less-crowded sections are all ways to get around this issue. Either that, or you can just cut down on the number of lines you've got playing at once. Aside from that, another issue I'm noticing is the lack of drumfills. I hate to be this harsh on a track that is actually a pretty solid arrangement, but I'm hearing literally only one drum pattern in this entire song. Even with a track like this where you've gotta maintain a steady beat, it's important to have breakdowns where the kick either takes a breather, and also to use drum fills to aid with your transitions between sections to make them more interesting. I'd take a listen to some professional-level dance/club tracks and pay attention to what the kick/percussion is doing, and I think you'll be able to pull some inspiration that will help you change things up with your loops. In all seriousness, you've got some great pieces to work with. All of the lead writing rocks hard and I can see why that alone might warrant a YES from some of the other judges, but for me I feel like the foundation that this track is built on needs to be stronger so that all of the good stuff in the mix can shine better. tl;dr version: Variations in your drum patterns, particularly with your kick so there's more fills/transitions/breaks, use panning or simplify your writing to make your leads more clear and dominant, and fix up your intro somehow. You can definitely do it, I wanna hear this one again, but as it is it's definitely not above my bar. NO (resub)

Wow, color me impressed! This might be one of my favorite arrangements that I've heard since I started judging. It starts off with some ambiance that really sets up a dark, brooding mood. Over the course of the piece it goes through some very powerful crescendos - the buildups and breakdowns keep me engaged. I also like how well you've balanced your levels: the drums are punchy and thick but not overpowering and work well with the stutters/glitches that you've employed, the bass texture is rich and clean, and your rhythm guitars command attention but don't hog, either. The clean guitar section and the solo that followed blew my mind <3 The vocals were admittedly still a weak point for me, but once I treated them as just another textural instrument instead of a traditional vocal melody, it was a lot more palatable. Props for doing something unique there And now I've got 'em stuck in my head. I could gush for a while, but you get the idea. I really like all of the unique sounds, textures, and arrangement ideas that set this apart from the million other metal songs out there. The production critiques mentioned by the other judges are valid, so keep working on refining the little details. If I could throw in a nitpick, I'd say that the piano sample you're using feels really thin, like it's being played an octave too high, and the delay mucks things up somewhat. Obviously nothing that's a dealbreaker, but it's always good to watch for that stuff in your future mixes. Good work dude! YES

Yeah Andrew, check the bassline, it's been adapted into a melody line. There's definitely enough source usage in here for me to pass it I personally felt like there was some funk going on with the overall mastering on this song, I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but I have a feeling it might be a compression issue, since the waveform seems to be peaking pretty uniformly for much of the song. When it breaks down and the percussion chills out a bit, things sound a lot more like they ought to. When the percussion is ramped up, it just has a washed out feel to it that I can't quite put my finger on. That said, I still found the song to be very listenable and, while there definitely felt like there was something off, it didn't inhibit my enjoyment of the song too much. I'd like to hear from another judge or two about whether or not they're hearing the same potential issue as I am, but I'm okay with it as-is, really. YES

I'm totally fine with the arrangement on this, it sounds sufficiently expanded and personalized. That guitar solo at the end is ridiculous. However, I'm hearing a huge amount of fuzz/distortion on the drums almost all throughout the song. I can't tell if this is from my listening setup (maybe my headphone jack is wearing out) but I'm not hearing it on any other songs, so I'd like to see if anyone else is catching this. EDIT: After getting some confirmation that I'm not just hearing things, I'm definitely going to go conditional on fixing all the distortion on the drums. Unlike Larry, that's actually a dealbreaker for me; it's distracting as a listener and it just becomes more noticeable with every pass, so hopefully we can get that resolved because this arrangement kicks all kinds of ass. YES (conditional on distortion fixes)

Yaaaaay, I love this awesome theme This is pretty solid - great synth work and performances. The rhythm guitars feel a little bit thin and slightly muddy, and the drums a little bit quiet as well. Overall, the levels just feel... not quite where they should be. I'll agree with everyone else though, while it's not perfect and we'd like to hear some better leveling so all of your instruments are coming through clearly and fully, it's good enough to go this time around, too. I really like what you've done with the theme, do more stuff like this! YES

Alright guys, here's the scoop. My life just got crazy busy, I was promoted to Judge and got hired for a new job the next day. On top of that I'm still a full-time student and I'm preparing to move into my own apartment over the next few months. With finals coming up, I can already tell that I'm not going to be able to give it my all in this competition; I already dropped the ball this last week due to serious time issues and I think it's just going to get worse. So, the deal is, I'm allowed to drop out of the competition but whoever takes my place has to keep Bubble Man as their Robot Master and they must be able to stick it out through the duration of the competition. If you're interested, contact Ectogemia and chat him up and see what's up It really pains me to do this, I'm not the kind of guy who generally likes to quit these things, but after seeing how solid Ben and Nathan's entries were I felt like they deserve a teammate who can actively participate and has the time to dedicate to making a killer mix. Best of luck to everyone, I'll still be keeping up with the compo and voting and all that, but I feel like any further entries of mine will continue to be disappointing just because I don't have the time to commit to making something great. Good luck dudes <3

Yeah, I've gotta concur here. I remember hearing the same issues with this arrangement when I last checked it out, it just didn't feel quite complete. The source usage is there, but the song doesn't really feel complete, even during the times when there's some sort of lead instrument playing. There's a few synth parts in there that might fit that bill, but those are way too buried in the rhythm guitars to really help :-S Some cool atmospherics and adaptation from the source, but it's not really fleshed out enough as a standalone song to really do it for me. Also, get a clean fade on your outro. NO

Here's a fixed version Jake sent me that addresses the ending cutoff and fixes the issues that Palpable mentioned, too.