Emunator

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.

This reminds me of this classic DOOM remix in a very, very good way. The vocal clip integration is very similar in terms of content and quality, and for me I'm not bothered by it at all. I have no problem paying attention to both the vocals and the atmosphere, and in fact I feel like the lines chosen actually really work really well to accentuate different sections of the remix. I'd have really liked to hear some more melodic source usage in the intro, probably something based off of the guitar riff from The Back Hall in a very minimal, ambient form. The first part of the mix is connected by the chords, but it's not really something I'd pick up on, it sounds more like any random song from a horror game/film soundtrack, and not something inseparably bound to the Amnesia in particular. To your credit though, the vocal clips really help pick up the slack left by the liberal arrangement, and while I can't strictly count those samples as source usage, per se, as a listener it does help. Also, what's the deal with the ending? I'd love to get some context on why you chose that approach - as it is, it just sounds a little poorly chosen and non-musical. The production, sound design, and instrument choices is all stellar here, I have no complaints. It all sounds very good to my ears, in a very disturbing way. I really want to pass the mix on these grounds alone, but between the liberalness of the sources, and the lack of a decent ending, I'm inclined to send this back. PLEASE RESUBMIT THIS, I really want to hear this posted. It's one of the coolest mixes I've heard in my time as a judge and I like it a lot. I'll pass this if you can work in a bit more source integration (doesn't even have to be completely dominant) and fix the ending, as I had no problem with the vocal clips at all. Good luck man! NO (please resubmit!)

As much as I appreciate the attempt here, I have to agree that it's just not quite working yet. Under closer scrutiny, the violin and flute leads definitely feel thin and not very humanized, either, like they're playing out of their range. I personally don't have a problem with the dissonant chord progression, I think for the most part what you've got works and when you've got those deep strings and strummed acoustic guitar in the latter half of the song, it sounds fantastic. But I would also like to see if there's anything you can do to polish up how the chords and the melody work together a little bit more before this comes through. NO (borderline, please resubmit!)

I'm almost entirely in the same boat as Drew here - there's some really cool textural stuff going on here, but it's a bit washed out and cramped, not much is cutting through. None of the samples are bad, but nothing's jumping out and really wowing me either. I think you've got all the pieces in place for this to be a really nice remix, you wouldn't have to change up the arrangement much at all, but just do what you can to work a bit more personalized, interesting sounds/writing in there to make this song your own, and clean up your soudnscape. It's a close call and there's a lot of great stuff going on here, but I'm not quite sold on it yet. NO (resubmit!)

Right off the bat, the piano strikes me as very mechanical, even in the revised version. There's no flow to the performance, it sounds more like a series of notes exactly the same length being played in succession with some changes in velocity... You're on the right track, but it's way too mechanical. Listen to the timing in particular and see if you can't modify it to get a more flowing, humanized performance out of that sample. Similar humanization issues are also present in your pizzacato strings. The metal work is pretty solid for the most part and perhaps the most engaging part of the track, but it kind of comes and goes out of nowhere without much transition the first time. The second time you lead into the metal section it works much better Really cool guitar soloing/speed-picking at the end. I'm with Justin on the lead violin, it's definitely not bad and the articulation is nice, but it still has a very tinny quality. 3:04 brings a very noticeable cutoff where the different sections of the track don't flow quite right. Polish that up if you can. Random nitpick: at around :35 and then again for much of the song, what's the deal with the gated/phased white noise in the right ear? See if you can find out what this is and This is a killer arrangement dude, but it's not quite doing it for me yet on the production side of things. I'd like to hear a full-blown revamp of some of the robotic melody lines and touchups on some of the other elements of the song before this passes. NO (resubmit!)

For being mixed on a pair of 5 dollar headphones, this is not bad at all. The arrangement and performance is extremely solid as I've come to expect, although I am hearing some sloppiness with the clean guitar/synth/bass about 3/4ths through the song. Despite some issues with the lead being a bit buried, it's not nearly enough to swing this vote in the negative direction. I really like what I'm hearing here The ending is weaksauce, I'd like to have heard a much more drawn out fadeout with some soloing going on if that's the direction you wanted to take it, but meh. It's not a dealbreaker. YES

The sequencing here is a tad mechanical, I agree, but the writing itself is very dynamic and musical, so it doesn't have as bad of a robotic feel overall. Sometimes the sounds feel a little bit stock-ish/generic, and things like the acoustic guitar in particular don't sound very good at all, but at the end the really creative melodies and arrangement trumps all. I'm down with this, it's got a very old school vibe but I hope people will appreciate that for what it's worth YES

I'm not hearing the overcompression as much as everyone else, but I do get the feeling that this could still use a nice coat of polish first. At 1:52, the beeping sfx really tread on whatever lead instrument you've got going on there (I think it's a synth,) and it just makes things sound awkward. At least do some panning work there so that the two sounds there aren't stepping on each other as much. The organ sound that appears at 2:38 is written a little too low for my tastes, it just doesn't carry the song as a lead IMO. The drumwork throughout the song wasn't really amazing me, but it's serviceable at least. Your snare sound in particular isn't really very inspiring. Personally, when you're jamming out to the Introduction theme on guitar, it would be really nice to have a harmonizing part to give that classic theme a bit more of an epic feel. Right now, it's slightly underwhelming to me. Compound this with the other issues that Larry brought up, and the sloppiness on the instrumentals, and I feel like this isn't quite ready. I may be in the minority but this seems like a really cool arrangement that is brought down by a lot of nitpicky things that aren't a big deal on their own. However, when you add them all together, it does hurt my enjoyment of the track and I don't think it's nearly as strong as it could be. NO (resubmit!)