Nutritious

I'm surprised you haven't had any comments for this mix yet. Very cool soundscape you've put together here. Liking the atmospheric build up to start things out. Overall concept is solid. I'm a little concerned with the flow in the first half. It sounds like it's building to something for the first 1:10, but never gets there, because it breaks down with a (very cool, admittedly) LP filter. It does catch a groove at 1:35. Personally, I think this would be a ton more effective if you keep your beginning build until either :47 or 1:10, then at that point, sudennly bring in a much more in your face, meatier dnb kit, underpinned with some sub bass to fill out the low end. You could then have the LP filter breakdown and continue from there. I could totally help with that if it's something you want, but I don't want to tell you how to write your track . Not sure I'm sold on the strength synth lead at 1:57. It's got a lot of verb, too, which makes things a bit messy.

Yup, Slider's open. Brandon was successful in contacting Ben when I have failed . Looking forward to hearing some wips, guys.

I haven't OFFICIALLY opened Slider yet, but it's highly likely to open up. I have a pretty far along wip from Halc/Ben, but I haven't been able to get a hold of them since they hit an arrangement wall quite a long time ago. No genre restrictions, as long as it fits within OCR arrangement guidelines.

So, there's been a ton of interest in the past few days in the File Select track. The way I'm running it is if someone sends me a wip that is sizing up to project standards, I'll mark the track as claimed. Also, Piranha Plant Lullaby is now available. EDIT: Of course a collab would be fine, long as you can get me a wip up to snuff

Though to be fair, I was surprised to see my initial (super horrible terrible) wip get released on that project without being consulted first. :/

Man, this brings back memories. I'll echo the *feels old* sentiment. I used to loop the Space Armada in the background sometimes when working on something cause it's so epic. Matter of fact, I think I'll do so right....now.

Yeah, see if you can replace that piano sample, because it sounds a bit detuned, like a saloon piano, which obviously doesn't fit the style of the track. Not really sure that clap sample really fits either for a heavy rock track. I think there is generally an issue of sonic spacing here because some of the parts seem washed-out in reverb or sounding distant & quiet. I think simply cutting back on reverb and balancing the parts a little better could clean up the mix quite a bit. On the positive end, the guitar playing was very cool. Sections like 2:19 sounded very cool with the epiano, guitars, and driving drums, & backing pads. As Vinnie mentioned, this is definitely on the conservative side, but you've brought some personalization throughout to your mix. Overall, I don't think this is too far from passing. Tighten things up and hit us again with an update. NO resubmit, please

I'm liking the pacing of this track guys. It continues to evolve throughout in interesting ways, which keeps things fresh throughout. You were very creative with partwriting and the arrangement is fantastic. Things do start to get a little over-busy in places like 1:30 - 1:45, so be careful to not let backing parts interfere with your leads. Have to say I'm not a big fan of that oboe lead. The dynamics of it sound a bit flat at times and it sounds like it's lacking body in the sound. Still, it gets the job done. String stabs sounded a bit dry to me as well. Overall, though, production is over the bar. Nice job guys. YES

Yup, Palp nailed it here. The main issue I'm hearing here is unrealistic/rigid sequencing. That cello solo lead has a really unrealstic sounding vibrato as well. I think you need to replace the sample if it's going to be featured so prominently. See what you can do to vary up boxy block chord writing in the backing parts as well as smooth out attacks/releases so they don't sound so rigid. Definitely not bad for your first orchestral work, but still a ways to go. NO resubmit, please

I didn't hear the first version, so just commenting on what's in front of me. I'm hearing all the above opinions in both the strengths and weaknesses of this track. Lots of cool arrangement ides here, guitars sound great, arrangement keeps moving forward in an interesting way. On the other hand, this has clutter problems in a significant portion of the track (see Larry's timestamps), which are really hurting those sections. IMO, the main culprit is the chromatic percussiony loop that's a bit a-tonal. It's too loud - interfering with the melodic portions of the track, and sounds pasted-on and unrelated to the rest of what's going on. Plucked lead for Chun Li's theme is overpowered by guitars and auxillary elements. It's possible that rebalancing the mixing could mitigate the above issues, but it's hard to say without hearing it. I really want to say yes to this one because of the strengths cited above. I just don't feel like I can roll with the mixing/clutter as it is though. As a remixer, personally I'd like to have another go at it. NO resubmit, please

Hey, saw you posted about the same time as me, so I thought I'd leave some thoughts. Nice orchestral samples here. Processing is nice and clean. Repeated patterns are sequenced a bit rigidly though, mainly because it's a straight-up repeated pattern and the instruments are a bit dry. A touch of hall reverb wouldn't hurt I think and varying up velocities or writing a bit more in the intro. Nice woodwind lead sequencing, though the grace notes came off as artificial. A little more reverb wetness couldn't hurt here either - or perhaps on the orchestral samples as a whole. Kick drum is a bit "thuddy" and doesn't have a lot of punch to it. I'd recommend boosting the mids/high-mids just a bit so it doesn't sound so bassy. Straight up repeats of the piano part & velocities isn't really helping realism factor either. Varying note velocities would help here. Actually, this whole thing makes me think of Mannheim Steamroller in a sense (which is a good thing), and they don't go for a "realistic sound" per se. So in a sense I guess it depends on what you're going for here. Overall, this is very pretty and very well executed. Looking forward to seeing this one when it's subbed. Good luck to you. EDIT: Just realized I hadn't commented on the arrangement side of things. About to head to bed, so can't really go into depth, but on first blush this strikes me as being on the conservative side of things. Just something to think about.

Just whipped this together tonight for fun tonight to get the creative juices flowing. Not really planning on taking it anywhere, but thought you guys might wanna hear the sketch. http://nutritious.oceansend.com/Salamander_2.mp3

Yeah, I agree mixing is a big issue on this track. To be honest, it sounds like during mastering you eq'd down a lot of the mid/mid-low frequencies, making the instruments sound thinner. As mentioned, drums lack body and, while well-written, didn't feel like they were cohesive with the rest of the track yet. Possibly because they do sound really thin, and perhaps a bit too dry. I don't really share the same concern about the leads as Larry. I think if things are mixed/eq'd more effectively, they'll be fine. There's lots to like here, but I don't think it's quite ready. You're close though, don't give up. NO resub, please

Like Larry, my immediate thought once hearing the intro was the piano was way thin and mechanically sequenced. Beat is also really robotic sounding with the constant hihat pattern and lack of velocity or timbre changes. You seem to understand how to bring your own personalizations to the track, but the production has a ways to go TBH. Don't feel bad, though, this is better than my first attempt for sure. I'll echo LT in recommending you check out the workshop forums for some additional help during the development of your tracks and hit us up again when you feel ready. NO

Hey this is really cool. Nice use of a variety of chippy sounds, backed up by solid punk performance & production. As mentioned before, the arrangement is a fairly straight-up take on the themes, but with lots extra details, embellishments, & personal touches. One note: there some pretty audible recording hiss during the last few seconds of the track that a noise gate could easily get rid of. I can live with it, though. YES

Really liking the concept of an electro-pop take on the Unatco theme. I'm a big deus ex fan what can I say . Wasn't really digging the crash cymbal hits spread throughout the track. I think it's a combination of overuse as well as the tone of it just sticking out in a bad way over the track. Synths seemed to clash at 1:13, both in writing and in tone. If you're going to have another lead on counter-melody, I'd recommend giving it a contrasting texture to the melodic lead to better avoid clashing. Love the bass work, love the synth toms. I don't think the leads bugged me in context. I mean, in ye olde synthpop, fairly flat lead tones were the norm, so I don't really have a problem with them. I'd cut back a bit on the reverb decay of the backing pad-ish synths parts and maybe simplify the writing as well - it just is making things sound messy in this section. Low end got really messy towards the end of the track. I'm on my mixing headphones, which give really good low-end response, so I'm hearing a lot of stuff in the 20-40hz range from 2:30 on. Each one of those big hits on the downbeats has a lot of sub clutter, which is fighting with the bass synth. It gets worse at 3:42, when you introduce another bass part. I'd roll off the low end freqs from the hits at the very least to help clean this up. I know I gave a lot of crits above, but I really like the concept and direction you're taking this. Totally digging the creative ways you utilized various themes from the original, so I'm really hoping you bring this one back soon. NOresubmit, please

Kick felt really subby and reverberating without much high end presence at all - I'd try equing down some lows on it and either up some of the highs or Totally agree with Larry's comment about things feeling off-key at times. It seemed to happen the most when you were transitioning between sources, like at 1:16, 1:28-1:38. Also, I can see what he's saying about the synth leads being out of place - I think it's mainly because this otherwise comes off as a low key, jazzy arrangement, but with some aggressive synth leads that are kind've non-sequitur. You mentioned this was originally made as a mockup to show the other performers, and honestly, it still strikes me as sounding like one. Needs a lot of polish to get over the bar IMO. Hope this doesn't come off as too much of a downer, though, and I look forward to hearing the live version of this. NO

Update: Bowser's Road is now complete! It's pretty rockin' high energy, I think you guys will like it. One step closer...

Oooh, I really like the energy of this track. Yeah, transitions are definitely problematic. 1:57 was CLOSE, but didn't feel like it brought up the energy quite enough leading into the change. For the drop-out transitions, you could also try automating a low pass or high pass filter to get a more interesting fade down 2:50's filter effect felt a bit gimmicky to me and didn't seem to really add to the track. It's an interesting idea, it just didn't sound like it was executed right. Yes, liten to Palp: brighten that guitar to cut through more! Don't get me wrong, what you have here is very cool, it just hasn't quite reached its potential. I hope you take the opportunity to make some fixes with so much feedback in this thread. Don't get discouraged, it really is almost there. NO resubmit, please

Tough call here for sure. It definitely suffers from some clunky sequencing and balance is off at places between parts. TBH, I wasn't feeling this for the first :45. At that point, though, the parts started flowing more naturally together. Watch your levels as well, because it sounds like a bit of distortion is just starting to creep in on the louder parts (like transitions with cymbal rolls). I don't disagree with the NO votes by any means - there is a lot of unrealized potential here I think - but overall I think it get's the job done and the stronger sections outweigh the weaknesses of the mix. YES (borderline)

Yeah, I agree with Vig. The various parts are really out of balance in the mix. Things like timpani, harp, & auxilliary percussion are far too loud, drowning out more melodic items. Sounds like a lot of clipping/distortion from pushing the mix levels too high. Several parts get pretty repetative after a while as things like the backing strings and snare stay on the same pattern for a very long time. Which is a shame, because underneath the production & other issues, there is some cool writing and ideas going on. You clearly have a knack for this sort of thing, but your production work needs to catch up with your creativity . Good luck, keep at it. NO

So we had a discussion about this in judgechat. While this bugs me a bit as a listener, from a judging perspective I can roll with it. YES

Rumor has it he's holding the finished album hostage until Tim starts composing for VG again.

Yeah, definitely good energy here and cool ideas. I've been listening to this track on and off the past week or so, and there's one thing that's continued to bother me throughout. There seems to be a gap between the end of one measure and the following measure after each 8 beat phrase. The gap sometimes doesn't seem to be present at all, but sometimes it seems to be pretty obvious to me - almost like the loops utilized don't quite match the tempo of the track and so there's a missing gap. I can't tell if this is an intentional effect or not, because there is some glitching in the beats to break things up, but I get the feeling it's not. Some examples where it's more obvious, at least to my ears: :36 - :41, 1:04 - 1:24 (gets progressively worse here), 2:50 - 3:10, 3:32 - 3:43 (coincides with glitching effect) I'd like to hold off rendering judgement until someone else can comment on what I'm hearing.

Yeah, I can feel both the no and yes camps here. It's a cool track for sure, which shines best when it doesn't get too busy. When everything's kicking together, things get quite muddy. I think the main culprit is the low end freqs with the kick and bass synth battling each other and/or what Fish said. Overall, this needs better sound separation for sure, both in EQing and mixing levels. To be fair, I really like the track as a whole. I love the lo-fi nature of the sounds. Besides the mixing/clutter, I'm down with this. If we can get a cleaned-up version, I'm down with this for sure. NO def resubmit