Nutritious

Right off the bat, the synths & samples are sounding pretty simplistic/basic, and that you're relying on effects to try and get some more interest out of them. In some cases here it works, but others (for example the panning lead around 1:00 Drums lack the presence they need to really drive the track. 1:31 is probably my favorite part and sounds like it has the potential to be a very strong section, but the lead sounds distant and washed out and the sound field doesn't sound properly filled out. Very cool bass writing here, though it could use a boost as well. Parts are sounding out of balance in the next part at 1:46 with loud sustained notes drowning other parts out. Overall, try to get parts balanced with melodic portions in front of backing parts, more presence on the drums (compression maybe?), and fill out the soundscape where things get sparse (intro, :55, 1:33, to a lesser extent 2:00). Sounds like the low-mids could use some love here. Cool writing and arrangement, but some production work needed. NO resubmit, please

My precious thread

You just need to use the backwards long jump! Or, as I like to call it, the bum rush. Also, we have a green light, folks!

Quick tips: -First off, this is essentially a cover of the forest theme with a DNB beat. Would need quite a bit more personalzation to meet OCR's arrangment criteria. I do hear where you made a change later to introduce the zeal theme for a moment, but far more is needed from an arrangement perspective. -Beat sounds very cool, however, it stays on the same rhythm pattern for the vast majority of the track. Some variation within the beat, fills, etc would definitely help. -More minor issue: some of the instruments are a bit piercing in the high frequencies. For example, the plucked synth that starts at :25 (especially the loud note at :48 ). At the very least, tone down some of the higher frequency levels. -Another minor point: I'm not super stoked about the bass sample you're using. It's not bad, just it sounds a bit off to me on the higher notes for some reason. Overall good base here TBH. Good luck to you.

Great votes above by Vinnie and Kristina. There are a ton of great performances here, but the mixing is really the biggest thing holding this back. Drums are really subdued in the soundfield and the various elements are competing for the performance spotlight. With how busy the performances are, it's going to be a big challenge getting everything to mesh together without stepping on each other's toes, but I think it's achievable. I'll just add that in general, the mix sounds a bit on the quiet side. Given that it deals with organic instruments, I'm not saying you should squash the crap out of it. Consider looking at drum compression first to get the kit to the appropriate level, then overall mastering compression to get decent saturation without losing the nice dynamic curve you have here. This mix is super cool and I'd love to hear it on the site. So, here's hoping you can get a tightened up version back here soon. NO resubmit please

Off the bat, things are sounding imbalanced to me. The glitchy percussion is pretty loud and a bit grating, while the backing melodic elements are subdued. Next changeup at :29, has the stabbing elements seeming too loud in comparison to sustained notes (though, indeed those should remain in the back, they're just buried) and the melody line. Beyond that, this isn't quite sounding like a cohesive song which the widely varied sections. Vinnie makes a good point on digging further into the sequencing to improve individual parts. I think, to a lesser extent, stronger transitions could also help. There weren't any that stuck out as really bad to me, but I think they become especially important when you have the larger contrast between sections as you have here. There's a lot of good stuff here, I think it just needs to be tightened up further. NO resubmit, please

Really nice atmosphere you've created here. Clearly, the mixer has paid a lot of attention to detail in the sequencing work as he's really done a great job handling delicate parts of the track. Arrangement is a bit on the conservative side, focusing on additive filler elements and counter melodic parts for personalizing it. Some of the sustained notes got a little stale in the last third of the track as they're holding out long notes without much dynamic contract. Something to look at for the future. It seemed a bit short until I looked at the clock: 4:20. I guess it just FELT short lol. Good stuff, nice listen. YES

So what you're saying is the man cave has been relegated to the attic?

Drums (esp snare) sound like they got the low/low mids gutted out of them. It could be style preference, but I think it would be far more effective with better presence in those registers. Guitars make for a nice backing pattern, letting the synths keep the focus for much of the work. Nice synth choices here. Drum writing was really well varied to keep it fresh and interesting. Great arrangement. Solid stuff. YES

Gonna second Vig's opinion on the extended intro. I'll add that I'm hearing some sequencing issues with overlapping notes on solo instruments. Beat and many orchestral elements (like brass, some solo stuff) sound quite dry, despite the overall washed-out sound of the track. This needs a good amount of work on the overall balance to achieve clarity between parts. It gets harder to critique individual parts in sections because of the sheer amount of noise present in many of the sections. Instrument quality is a mixed bag. Some of the orchestral elements sound good, but some have pretty fakey sounding vibrato (like in the intro where they are exposed). Lead synth at 3:27 sounds awfully bland in that low register. Consider trying a higher octave (it sounds better at 3:46) and layering another lead or something to give it a bit more character and/or cutting presence. On the other hand, the guitar parts seem like they'd sound good if given room to shine out. Cool sounds at the 2:15 transition. Stuff like this establishes the mood well. Arrangement is clear and well executed. It plays it pretty close to the vest with the source treatments, but there's plenty on the additive side to make it your own. Good base here. IMO you really need to focus on your production to help this out. NO resubmit, please

Wow, guys, these are fantastic! Very impressed.

Yeah, the drums are getting lost behind the guitars for sure here - especially the snare. Lead guitar has an almost shrill tone that could be tamed a bit either by adjusting the effects or a bit of EQ work. Odd volume drop off when lead #2 takes over, only to be overpowered again by lead #1. On the positive side, there's some great arrangement ideas. Drum writing is really well executed. Overall, try to clean up the mixing to get the parts balanced and this should be good to go. NO resubmit, please

I really don't have much to add. This is a very nicely executed track and good arrangement ideas. Really seamlessly incorporated multiple themes to a cohesive track. Vig makes a good point on the overall dynamic curve. I am a vampire and Pretty exciting stuff to listen to. Love it. YES Noone's gonna get that joke

Vinnie really nails the issues here. Samples are quite nice, it's just the way they're being sequenced and how they are presented in the soundfield that is causing issues. I won't rehash his specific crits, but add that some of the percussion instruments (glock, orch chimes) were very dry and completely upfront in the mix, which would be the opposite of what you'd expect in an orchestra setting - even a non-live setting (I would think). The drum percussion (taikos) sounded fine to me though. Also, regarding 1:57 - 2:33 (and to a lesser extent all the way to the ending), you've got what's meant to be the climactic part of the mix in the key change of the main melody. Problem is, neither the backing brass nor lead strings change anything except the key. There's no real dynamic curve and no additional instrument support to drive the action. This leaves the whole section sounding flat and not really generating much excitement. Arrangement is well thought out and executed. No qualms there. With some production love this will be a nice addition to the front page. NO resubmit please

Good crits from DA here. I'll add that the drums feel very robotic here due to the repeated snare hits being at the same timbre/velocity level. Parts feel out of balance with the guitars really overpowering everything else. Gonna echo that the chords at 2:10 - 2:36 need to be looked at & corrected. In case you're not familiar with the OCR Submission Standards, we're looking for a degree of arrangement from the remixer. There's nothing wrong with covers, it's just not what we're looking for here. This track sticks very close to the original source, so additional personalization would be needed to be accepted. Good base here though. You've clearly got the skills, so there's no reason you wouldn't be able to either fix this one up or another track for posting. Good luck to you. NO resubmit, please

Yeah, it's loud, but wow the VIBES man. This track is sick. I don't even know what to type. Great arrangement, great mix. YES

Opening is a bit thin, but I understand what you're going for here. Part balancing felt a bit off as a whole. The beat is quite prominent (as it should be), but the sustained filler elements feel too weak in comparison. It undermines the wall of sound effect that this type if DNB is known for and feels like unrealized potential. Now that I think of it, this may actually be just as much a mastering compression issue, rather than just a mixing problem. It sounds like it's missing that "glue" at the end of the process that tames the beat a bit and brings up the other elements to fill everything out. On the positive end, very solid beat work here. Good use of synths and very creative changeups and progressions throughout. Great writing on the lead synths. Solid arrangement, though I'm not hearing a lot of Sky Tower in there (I'm probably missing something). I hadn't heard these before and they're quite catchy. I'm not going to hold this back for what is quite possibly me being too picky about the nuances of my favorite genre. Still, just to put it out there, I would love to take a crack at mastering the track if the mixer wanted. YES

Quite the beautiful arrangement here. Nice use of instrumentation and good dynamics. Drums felt a bit repetatively sequenced, though they were relegated to the background for the mix. I think the kit could've been brought forward a bit more and variation within each section would've helped the realism factor. Andrew's point on the woodwinds is valid, but I didn't feel it was enough of an issue to be a dealbreaker for me. I guess it this could be considered a mix that features several soloists that are heard above the rest of the group. Fakey brass stuck out a bit briefly at 4:11, which is odd considering the quality of samples utilized here. Fadeout There is room for improvement here, but there's a lot of good stuff as well. We'll see what the other J's have to say, but for me it's a YES

Listening to both versions, there's definite improvement on the overcompression/loudness front. I'd argue v2 is still a bit on the loud side and could come down a bit, but at least the distortion is reduced by quite a bit (still hearing a bit on big crashes and brief louder portions). Cool progression here with the mix keeping things fresh. A great display of a plethora of sounds in his pallette. Whoah, wait a sec. I just hit 3:54 with the violin lead and it's actually sounding louder in v2 than v1 (possibly because it's not being squashed by other parts that were previously louder). It's piercing at points and is causing bad overcompression/distortion whenever the cymbals hit. I'd like to let it slide, but the section is nearly a minute long and, added up with the scattered distortion issues elsewhere is keeping me from giving this a nod. Personally, I really love what you're doing here. This type of mix is def my cup of tea. However, while pulling things back helped for the updated version, it wasn't done to a great enough degree IMO. The other J's may be cool with it, though, so we'll see. NO resubmit, please

Yeah, there's some significant mixing issues here that need to be addressed. In general, the mix sounds both cluttered and largely washed out. There's a lot of competition in the mid range frequencies, causing overcompression/distortion in places like :41, 2:45, & 3:16. It's a shame too, because there's some excellent performances on display here and a very cool arrangement. There's a LOT going on in the mix here, so balancing parts is not an easy task here. I really feel like, in the state that it's in now, that a fresh mixdown from the ground up is the best way to approach this. Take all your faders to zero and bring one part in at a time until it sits at the proper level. A/B this with similiar genre mixes as well and focus on how your individual parts sound different. As Larry alluded to, it wouldn't hurt to explore having someone give you a hand with the mixing/mastering if possible in case you're hitting a wall with this one. Don't give up! NO resubmix please

Ooh, cool concept here. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is the track where I told Ivan I'd try to record an MC part introducing the band. It.... didn't turn out good, but I didn't get back to him about that, so here's my public apology for that . Love the interplay betwen the accordion and guitar. Aforementioned kick is definitely too clicky without much body. I think the kit could use a touch of reverb to sit better with the other elements. I'm not quite on board with the crowd sounds like the clapping at 2:04 and at the end, but I can understand that it's part of the concept of the mix. Nice delayed guitar work here. I hear what Kristina's saying about the bass being indistinct, but I felt the tone suited the style and concept well. Great writing from Ivan here with all the elements really working cohesively and definitely achieving something better than the sum of its parts. Just a note: since it's intended as a "live" performance, I found it a bit odd that the drums are so cleanly panned in the soundscape. Yeah I know, picky picky. Nice work, dude. YES

Really good analysis by Kristina here, which I'm finding myself nodding my head to as I'm listening. Personally, I don't think the issue is as much of the kick being too loud as the synths (not counting that nice saw bass pattern) and pads being far too weak in comparison. A good example is the lead that plays at 2:03 & 5:08. It doesn't cut through the mix at all and the slow portamento undermines its energy. The patterned saw is probably an exception to the above as I think it could work nicely in the context of other good elements. The foundation is there... literally both the kick and bass are pretty solid here. It's the melodic portions that need the most focus. NO resubmit, please

Definitely going to echo Andrew's crits on the track EQ levels. There's a lot of clutter at places like 1:38 & 2:34., partly due to the aforementioned EQ crowding and partly because of the overal balance of parts. Gotta bring forward the melodic elements and push back the supporting parts. The noise from the sustained notes + bass is just clashing over everything. Wow that lead at 2:46 is really loud in the mids. Same issue as above, just more pronounced. Really liking the style and arrangement work. Fantastic attention to detail in the drum writing. I was a little offput at first at the drum pattern at the beginning, but I think it grew on me after a while. I love the frenetic feel of the whole thing. Lots of great energy. Tons of potential here, but the EQ & balance issues are killing this. Bring back the lows, clean up the mid/mid-lows, and put the supporting instruments in their place. Bring it back here, yo! NO resubmit, please

Mmmmm, intro is nice and crunchy. Thanks to Kristina for the excellent breakdown. Very creative arrangement. Great blend of instruments here, all of them placed nicely in the soundscape. Good use of panning to really make the complex drum sections come alive (like near the end). Not much more to say here, except I'm really enjoying this take on Lindblum. YES

As mentioned, right off the bat the piano is swamped in reverb. That needs to be cut back. It's causing a lot of clutter when you have the left hand part playing alongside sustained notes like at :39. Everythings mushing together in the mid frequencies. Piano sounds pretty rigidly sequenced as well (though partially covered by the heavy reverby), so definitely look into some velocity variation to add realism and accent appropriate notes. As a matter of fact, in general, I'd say sequencing is a weak spot for the mix. I'm not hearing much variation in note velocities or part dynamics in general. I'd recommend focusing on how to improve humanization in general with your part writing to make the most of your samples: both in individual note velocity variation as well as automating the volume levels of instrument parts. As Andrew mentioned, there are some imbalances between 'wet' and 'dry' instruments here, so try to bring the effects levels of instruments to where they are a bit more consistent. Note: some notes are sounding incorrect in the chord at 2:05, 2:15, 2:25, & 2:34. Might want to look into the plucked instrument (I'm not in front of my music computer, so I can't get you the details on it). Ending wasn't bad, but could've been a little more effective if it wasn't quite that sudden. Not to say there isn't a ton of promise here. You've shown you have a good understanding song development and there's a lot of potential here with your arrangement ideas. Definitely work on your sequencing and effects production and don't hesitate to utilize the WIP forum if you haven't already. Good luck to you. NO resubmit, please