Nutritious

From the start, the sequencing feels pretty rigid, especially with the piano hitting the same hard timbre repeatedly (though I hear the volume varies a bit). Choir that comes in later also has some rigid note changes. Balancing feels a bit off to me, like the various elements don't quite exist in the same space and volume needs to be balanced a bit more. When vocals kick in, the overall volume jumps quite a bit and the backing elements & melody from the original get pretty buried. Part of it also is there is a mix of really dry elements that are quiet, but then you have loud vocals which have delay on them (and are quite a bit louder) and guitars and drums, which sideline everything else. Arrangement-wise, this is interesting as the backing non-rock elements are almost verbatum to the OST, but the vocals, drums, & guitar are original additions. I like the energy you've brought to it, especially with some of the faster, harmonized vocal runs, but I feel it needs more development of the backing source parts to bring some more personalization to the track beyond layering stuff on top. Great start here and tons of potential. NO resubmit, please

Gonna echo the comments on balance here. The lead gets really buried throughout by other elements, especially the rhythm guitars. I'm also not sure about the effects & tone on the initial lead guitar. Sounds like all the distortion and delay(?) is making it even harder for it to cut through the sound. 3:17 gets really busy with the constant kick drum hits along with the cymbals and loud RGuitars. Both some volume balancing and cutting some freqs from rhythm guitars (and maybe others) should help make more space. Arrangement sounds pretty straightforward and nicely handled through 1:38. After that, as with my fellow j's, I can't place what it's connecting to source-wise until 3:17 & again nothing after 3:55. If we're missing something, feel free to let us know. Would like to hear this one come back. NO resubmit, please

I like the atmosphere establish as it opens up. Good energy when things kick in. Transitions felt a bit weak in a couple places. Specifically, 1:37 seemed to have a half drum fill and quick sfx before jumping right to the next section. Also, at 2:28 with the sudden bass drop and loss of energy. 2:57 also sounded awkward to me as well, like another half-done transition. Mixing is an issue with me. The track starts out pretty quiet, with the lead being somewhat in the background. Then suddenly there are some high pitched, piercing (at least on my phones) sfx, which was really jarring for me. Also, volume level seemed to increase quite a bit when the beats & other elements kick in, with the main elements around the 1 minute mark getting totally buried by the beats/bass. It gets better with the new synth lead being able to cut through, though. A/Bing with other stuff the overall level seems high once it gets loud, but that could just be me grandpa-ing. Would take a second opinion on that part first. Arrangement is clear on the connections and melodies are used really creatively with some unexpected timing changes. Nitpitck: piano at end sounded somewhat dry and didn't leave a great last impression to me to wrap it up. I get that it could be the intention, but it seems rushed IMO. I think this is close (and I would be fine if it passed), but I'd like to hear a bit better balanced track overall - not that I'm against dynamics, but it seemed a bit too much between the intro and main body. Some nitpick stuff would be nice to get polished like the transitions and piano too. NO resubmit, please

Yeah, gonna co-sign with DA/LT here. Very creative mix here. Great performances and sequencing. The mutli-vocal harmonies are super cool when they come in - I especially liked the 3:38 section. Nitpicking, the "softer" vocals before the transition at 2:01 felt very hesitant. I can understand if it's a bit high for your range, but it would sound better IMO if you can manage to sing it with a bit more confidence. I feel like this is really close to passing as-is. Getting the vocals to sit better within the mix would definitely put it over the top for me. NO resubmit, please

Man, old school Mega Man tunes are so ridiculously catchy. OK, I love me some D'N'B so diving right in. Off the bat, the overall mix didn't sound too loud as much as a bit out of balance. It sounds like some of the sub/low freqs are heavy compared to the higher end. Personally, I'd drop a bit in the sub range, and give it a bit more airy feel in the upper registers (even the bass can have have more mids/mid-high as opposed to all low), which should should give other elements like the kick a bit more room. Liking the energy here. I didn't mind the SFX so much, though it is pretty lopsided with a lot in the intro and nothing later. I agree with MW that it could be cool to maybe tone them down a bit at the start and use the sfx that compliment the other parts later. Nitpicks: phaser effect at 2:58 felt a bit tacked-on just for the sake of making it a transition. Also agreeing with MW on the repetition. We're getting some wholesale copy-pasta for decent chunks of what's here (he didn't even mention parts 2:28). Would love to hear more variation, not only in writing, but maybe a more diverse palette and perhaps also some drum variation (could half-time, alter the kick/snare 2-step pattern, etc). There's a lot of great stuff here for sure and it's a fun listen. Would love to hear it polished a bit more to really shine. NO resubmit, please

Gario really nailed my thoughts on this one. Good performances and sequencing hampered by the mixing/mastering. I will add that the transition to the violin break at :44 sounded REALLY awkward. It either needs to transition smoothly to the new instrumentation or have a more dramatic build/sudden drop IMO. Right now it's in this unhappy medium that sounds more like an unfinished section. Also, while brief, the violin sounds super fakey with the quick note changes - almost like it's trying to sound like a synth stab? Again, it lands somewhere in the middle ground between realism and intentional stylisic fake and I don't think it's working. It's a great, creative take on the original and I like the approach. The deviation in the arrangement in the second half was nice, though it seemed to be wandering in a bit, with just the backing triplets holding down the connections for a while. It's a solid start, but some more work needed. Keep it up! NO resubmit, please

Off the bat, there's a lot of competition for space between the various parts featuring reverb and/or delay. I agree the lead feel buried at that point and the track gets too cluttered. Still, once the beat kicks in, everything clicks a lot better for me. It's got a nice groove and great vibe to it. I would've liked some more contrast in the backing parts, specifically that slow pad which essentially plays the same two chords throughout. I honestly was a bit disappointed the same issue popped back up again at 2:54, because I was really feeling on board with this one until that point. The counter melody and other elements are coming through much more clearly than the flute lead and it's not sitting well with me. Beyond the mixing issues, I'm really liking this overall. Arrangement is conservative for a while, but branches into new territory as the mix progresses. I can see both sides, but this honestly should be a straightforward mixing fix to bring down some backing elements and boost/eq/augment the flute lead, so IMO I think it should get another mixing pass first. NO (borderline) resubmit, please

Not to just echo Gario, but I'm just gonna echo Gario. Love the vibe, nice kit & beat. Agreed, though, that it's low-heavy and lacking high end clarity on any of the elements - especially the Bass which sounded overly "boomy." Also, the writing itself remains basically the same throughout, with some gradual instrument introductions and drop outs, making the whole thing feel a bit underdeveloped to me. Though I like the beat, it really needs variation in the form of fills and change-ups. GREAT start, cool song, but needs more development and some production tuning. NO resubmit, please

Just chiming in to co-sign on the comments above. Nice arrangement overall. For me personally, I'd like volume a tad bit normalized so I don't have to turn up the volume to hear the quiet sections, but I can understand the reticence to lose dynamics in orchestral pieces. Just to note, the note combinations around 1:58 - 2:08 sounded off to me. It's brief, but noticeable. Good stuff here. YES

Yeah, I'm pretty much in agreement with MW's comments above, but will try to give some additional thoughts. The intro starts out pretty interesting to set the mood. However, beyond that, the track is never able to click together. The kick sounds more like a muffled, reverbed bass drum than an electronic click, so it never cuts through and sounds out of place. I'm not big on hoover bass synths (that's the name for those, right??), but I know they can work in certain contexts, so not sure how to advise you there. The rest of the sounds, in general, sound sort of "out of the box" both with their tones and some of the effects used on them and don't work to compliment each other. I'll also second that with pushing the volume levels, the track starts getting overcompressed and distorted at times. It sounds like you're probably somewhat new to remixing, so I wanted to share a few tips that really helped me starting out: 1. Don't give up 2. *** Don't get too attached to a particular idea or remix attempt at the start - lay stuff aside and try something new. This will allow you to get more experience under your belt rather than spinning your wheels on a single song. 3. Spend some quality time on the WIP board - not only putting your songs out, but listening and analyzing other songs as well. What makes them work. You've clearly got some interesting ideas and a grasp on the basics of music making. Now it's time to hone your craft. NO

Nice, lush arrangement here. Connections are very clear and nicely developed with the additional instrumentation throughout. Voices are well sequenced overall. A few times I felt the lead female voice stretched the realism factor a bit with some of the note changes and long sustained vibrato notes. Started to lose me a bit with the male/low voices at 2:30. They have a dull, mushy tone making that section sound crowded, though their presence was brief. I feel like they could've probably been left out of the equation in general without detracting from the arrangement. Regarding the female lead mentioned above, 2:47 especially was pushing it with the high notes being pretty exposed with unrealistic sounding note switches. This part was the weakest section for me though fortunately it was a brief one. Somewhat nitpick: flute lead at 1:37 sounded more upfront than it needed to be (to me at least) in context of a more expansive set of backing instruments. Lest this sound like an overly negative post, I'm overall really liking what I'm hearing here. The soundscape is beautiful and emotive. It's just those pesky 30 seconds in the middle :). I'd like to hear some changes on the aforementioned 2:35 - 3:05 portion, but that alone isn't pushing it below the bar for me. YES (borderline)

Ideally, I think, we'd like to avoid adding too much additional administrative-type items for staff to have to continually maintain. I feel like we'd be better spending more time on moar music & artist promotion than going back and forth with enabling ads. Also, I took it as $25 for global ads on (EDIT: not including unskippables), so waiting for times to get tight (which hopefully they don't) before turning them on seems like it would be a case of too little too late. But yeah, personally I never had an issue with enabling them on mixes in the first place - especially considering the funds fully go to, as ad revenue always has gone to, maintaining & promoting the site itself.

Honestly don't have much to add to what's already been said. The most obvious issue to me is mixing/compression as the track sounds generally bottom-heavy. Not sure if it's caused by EQ or what Jive mentioned with low-end instruments pushing the compression too hard. On the other hand, though, as Larry mentioned the levels are a bit low (esp for the genre), so I'd definitely take a look at your compression settings to get a handle on the above. Agreed also on the 1:38 notes remark, though to me it sounded like it didn't get back on track until the chord at 1:43. I hate asking for note fixes on live recordings, but there is definite clashing between the leads and backing notes. This OST is awesome and I love your arrangement ideas and the direction you've taken it. Some production tweaks and note fixes will really make this one shine. NO resubmit, please

First off, I'm in agreement on the loudness on the mastering. This track is pushing the levels pretty hard and does suffer (though not to a major degree) from overcompression and loss of clarity as a result. It's not a big enough issue from me to NO in and of itself, but simply dropping the volume to a bit more reasonable level should be an easy fix. Instruments like strings(?) at :36 sound really shrill, probably because the tone is getting crowded by other elements that are vying for space. The piano there is quite loud, but still has a mid-heavy tone. Probably could drop volume and bit and scoop some of the mids and boost some highs to let it cut without having to take up so much space and be so loud to be audible. I didn't find the transitions as much of an issue as some of the others. I intentionally listened to this prior to listening to the sources as I wanted to gauge the song's cohesiveness without knowing where one source ends and the next begins. There are a few places where they were a little weak and some others that were more abrupt, but it never felt like it pulled me out of the track. There is room for improvement here for sure (and I know you can do it, Andrew, you're a boss at arrangement ) On the positive side, there's loads of excellent writing and performances on showcase here. The song grabs the listener right off the bat and stays interesting throughout. I think with tweaks to levels and some transition adjustments this is an easy pass. NO (borderline) resubmit

I didn't hear the first sub on this, but what I'm hearing now is fantastic. Performances are excellent. Parts are very well balanced in the soundfield with good use of tasteful panning to widen things out a bit. Source usage was both clear and creative. Minor gripe, I wasn't a big fan of the way the broken record effect cuts the audio at the beginning. I totally understand it's an intentional effect and style choice, it's just that many audio cuts kinda threw me a bit on the intro. I'll second the trimming of silence (I let John know about it). Great approach, great song. YES

I remember first hearing the original, and while it's meant as the sad/emotional piece, I always felt it was subpar compared to the main theme in this regard. The mood you've brought here Regarding this mix, I like the approach here a lot. Guitar sounds fantastic. Performance is solid and I like the tone a lot. One crit from me would be I'd like to hear more textural contrast between sections, instead of the constant "ooh" pads that play throughout. Drums help in this regard when they arrive. If you'd let the backing drop or change to something more subdued, it'll allow sections like the dueling guitars be even more effective and pronounced when the supporting parts come back in to join it. While it's my biggest issue with the piece, it's not a big issue overall to me, per-se. For arrangement, the source usage is never in doubt for most of the mix. It starts getting into more original territory around 4:40, but it's already established the connections prior, while still bringing plenty of creativity. Ending was quite nicely handled as well - complete with SoM-style groans. Love it. YES

Liking the atmosphere of the intro. Piano used sounds off, texture-wise, sort of dull, while still sounding brittle to me. As important of a role as it plays, I would've liked it to feature a better tone. Probably could soften the 2-4khz-ish range (it sounds like it's fighting other stuff in this range) and add a bit more highs to get it airy enough to still cut through. Probably would need to tone down some of the highs on other elements to give it some space. Mastering is a bit loud, but not overly-so. Mixing is pretty clear between parts, but could be toned-down in the highs for some of the parts. There are some piercing freqs in places, mainly caused by some backing stabby stuff - resonant backing part at 3:00 and strings/other stuff at 3:38. Also, that last note at 4:21 - ouch. When strings come in prominently, they're noticeably dry against reverbed/delayed other elements. Also, that last note cut-off at 2:11, beyond being abrupt, left a bad impression, note-wise. Personally, I'm of the opinion that "natural" instruments used in a dance setting don't have to be realistic sounding. There could be an uncanny-valley, unhappy medium argument made in this case against that, I suppose, where you need to go more robo or more humanized. I feel like I may have been ok with this if the piano didn't play such an integral part holding down the main melody, relative to sample quality/production. It's close for me, and it wouldn't bother me if it had passed. If I were Nuts, though (and I almost am! See what I did there?), I'd want another shot at this to tighten things up. NO (borderline)

Listened to this initially when Larry brought it up on Discord, but waited a bit and going at it again now with a fresh listen. Straight to the sticking point: violin mixing. While I agree it could (and should) cut through the mix better as the lead, it was still audible throughout. To me, the mixing does sound a bit too biased to the backing elements rhythm guitars, but nothing egregious enough to drop to a NO. Arrangement is super solid and clear connections. Great creativity in adaptation. I like. YES

I'm suuper borderline on this one. On one hand, it's a great arrangement of (IMO) a forgettable OST. Tons of energy behind it. Good performances, good drum writing. Overall enjoyable track. As mentioned, the mixing is killing this one for me. As the intensity builds in the song, so does the amount of crowding to the point where important elements are suffering. Note: Sounds like some flubbed notes at 1:40, though it's a brief section. I really like your take and would like to give it a pass, I just don't think I can with the mixing how it is. I can understand both sides opinions on whether or not it's a dealbreaker, but unfortunately for me it is. NO (borderline) resubmit, please

Nice, complex, lush arrangement. Pretty good balance of clarity and reverb throughout. There were a few areas that could be tweaked, like :40 glock starts stepping on the lead woodwinds a bit (percussion in general sounds a bit more forward than the rest of the elements). Some of the brass articulations had trouble with the quick note changes, especially noticeable when they were exposed at 2:11 & 2:15 - I do recognize the work trying to mitigate this with blending staccato and sustained samples (I've done the same before and it's super hard), so I don't hold it against you at all :). Initial flute note at 2:48 sounded a bit odd against the backing; same with woodwinds at 3:21. Somewhat nitpicky I know but thought I'd mention. Source is all over this and is nicely adapted to the orchestra. Good stuff. YES

Hey, I'ma do some surgery on this one and bring it back

Heh, two 4 on the floor dance mixes of Fear Factory on the panel right now I think Gario and MW captured most of my thoughts on this with the crowding and vanilla-ish sounds used. I'll also add that despite the crowding, the overall levels and impact felt understated for the genre to me. I think with better mixing, this could be pushed to be a bit more in-your-face classic dance power. I also wasn't a big fan of the lead at 1:11, the somewhat slow attack/releases cause overlap and the tone is a bit meh to be, but fortunately it has a very short part in the mix. The lead at 1:58 was better tone-wise, but feels too tiny & centered compared to the more lush, reverbed backing instruments and heavier beats. Hmm, I didn't really even notice it the first time around, but there's another lead synth which is buried behind the other parts at 4:21. Both because of mixing issues and understated tone, it can't cut through everything else. This section in general is the weakest for me as it's supposed to be the big payoff for the track, but is cluttered and imbalanced (lead vs backing). Arrangement had clear execution on the original themes while creatively adapting and expanding parts throughout. Was nice and varied as well to keep it interesting throughout. I know I'm in the minority here, but with the mixing and the leads having significant issues in my mind, I'm not feeling like this one is quite ready to go. I was on the fence until the 4:20-5:20 section (the climax of the mix as mentioned before), which pushed it into resub territory for me. I won't mind if it gets the nod, so don't mind me if I'm just the curmudgeonly old man judge on this one. NO resub, please

Not much to add to what's been said. Beautiful and emotive writing. I do wish there was more to the middle third of the track, arrangement wise, because let's face it - Terra's been done to death. Still, the presentation is nice and well fleshed out. Production wise, I agree Rebecca's been upping her game of late. Kudos for that. Being nitpicky: -the 1:00-1:15 section sounded like the timing was off between glock and other instruments, though I suspect it was intentional. It just sounds like a mistake, rather than intentional delay. -The cymbal crashes sound a bit dry/centered/up front for normally being situated behind the orchestra. The sample's not the greatest either (dull tone and same-y for various velocity levels) and it plays a lot in the last minute or so of the track. Can't unhear it now ;). Overall, solid stuff. YEPS

Really liking the nice, full retro 80's synth bass sound providing the foundation here. Arrangement is pretty straightforward, but creatively handled nonetheless. Lead at 1:32 felt a bit hot in the mid-high range, so a small EQ scoop could be warranted. I sort of hear what's being said about guitar not quite gelling with the rest of the sounds, space-wise, though I think it's minor. What bothered me more was the interplay between the guitar and lead at 2:49, where due to writing differences between the two and part complexity, it just comes off as messy to me. 3:38 again has a similar issue. It's not quite enough to bring this one below the bar for me, but honestly it got close near the end. Overall, I'm diggin the style and production is pretty solid overall. I justreally wish there was more complimentary writing between the guitar and synths, rather than them sounding like they're stepping on each other. YES (borderline) Note: I'm still going to let the marinate for a while because I'm not a solid yes here. I want to hear how much the lead interplays bother me later with another few listens. Could still flip.

Off the bat, the tracks sounds really cluttered and washed out - probably due to the "watery" effects and various instruments playing. Beyond that, I'm having a little trouble listening through this one, because there's a very high pitched ringing that keeps fading in and out of the track and it's really piercing on my headphones. It's in the very high 14Khz+ range probably and it's killing my ability to listen to this in a normal volume level. I THOUGHT it was coming from the arpreggiated synth, but when it finally cut off near the end, it kept going (maybe it's the sweep synth, or possibly hats, I honestly don't know) . I'm not sure why others aren't hearing this (it might be the frequency response on these headphones), but it really needs to be fixed. I agree with the crits regarding bass synth/beats overpowering the other elements. That's probably part of the reason I had trouble nailing down what was causing the high pitched ringing, because elements like the arp synth & others get buried when the track gets going full bore. It's hard to tell from lower volume, but beyond the high pitched issue, the EQ balancing in general felt off to me - like too much in the mid-low range, missing mid high/high on some instruments (but obviously not missing the super-highs). I agree with repetition remarks as well. There are elements that play on repeat for long stretches of the mix, like the sweep pad, arp synths, core beat pattern. With some fixes and tweaks I could see this one rolling through for sure. Concept is solid and the arrangement is nicely handled with the battle 1 theme obvious throughout. NO Resubmit, please