Nutritious

Pretty OST choices. Like the opening with the acoustic guitar. Beautiful playing. Somewhat conservative for the first main section of the song, but I wouldn't go as far to call it a straight cover. There's not a ton of variation on the melody, but quite a bit more going on the backing parts to differentiate this mix from the OST. Agreed on the copy-pasta crits previously mentioned above. :58 could've used some variation from the previous material and the ending felt a bit lazy with the rehash. Production overall sounds pretty solid. I didn't even notice the hiss until Larry pointed it out, so it's not a big deal to me. This is close with a bit more arrangement development it should be golden. MindWanderer hazing +1? NO resubmit, please

Sim City is an OST of utter nostalga for me. I really need to do some remixin on it. Catchy start to the mix. Probably could've had a more developed intro, but what's here works. Liking the groove. Mixing felt a bit odd to me - like some of the leads were sitting in a weird mid-range distance in the mix, rather than upfront. Minor nitpick, though. Super good arrangement work on this short source. Very creative take on the original that expands it enough to warrant the full mix treatment. It sort of sounds like a TV show theme from the 70's. Another minor issue: ending clip or static effect cuts suddenly at the end. I agree with Gario that some more dynamic contrast in the mix would be nice as it keeps a relatively flat energy level. However, overall, it's a solid mix and fun listen. YES

I can see both sides on this one. Nice, though short, arrangement. Some sequencing issues present with realism (mostly in strings as mentioned). It gets more exposed in places like :40 - :49 with the short note runs and cutoffs. I get you're going for the abrupt note cutoffs, but it may be a bit too stark. Lengthening the tails a tad could help a lot. Soundscape sounds a bit muddy. EQ in some higher register instruments could come down in the 200-500 range to cut down a bit of the clutter. Minor issue, though I thought I'd mention it. Like I said, it's short, but does have development and good writing. I'd like to hear more arrangement work, but it's not necessary for getting above the bar. I'd like to hear another pass on some production detail work with realism and if possible getting a bit more clarity out of the mixing. NO resubmit, please

Until you get 3 Torbs on your team vs 3 D.VAs on king of the hill like I did the one time I tried this game mode.

Nice write-up and info - this is the first time I've run across most of the above. I've been seriously considering FL Studio mobile for iOS so I can sketch out ideas and import the projects to my pc. What I haven't seriously considered is full production via my mobile device. Pretty impressive.

I don't do a ton of editing, but have always used and liked Adobe Premiere. I bought the Elements version of it and it's done everything I've needed thus far. As far as screen capture, there are quite a few options out there these days. If you haven't yet, check out OBS (open broadcaster software). It's free, can do both streaming and capturing to file and is highly customizable. You can set it to record a specific window, put in overlays, record audio from mic, and record webcam footage.

I was on the fence on this one at the beginning. The first half of this mix follows essentially the same progression, flow, and even instrumentation to the original track. I do hear the subtle changes introduced, but these feel secondary to the song as a whole. It feels not so much a sound upgrade as a recreation of the original track in many respects. It isn't until around the 2-minute mark until we get meaningful variation on the original. After that point, though, the track switches gears and we get a lot more interpretation and personalization for the remainder. On the whole, it's a very nice sounding track. No major production issues that I heard, though I agree volume could come up and there were some minor sequencing issues on the strings in the faster note runs. There's definitely more room to explore on the arrangement side in the first two minutes, but the second half pushes it just over the bar for me on the arrangement side. YES (borderline)

Pretty much co-signing with the comments above. Cool cover, but not interpretive enough for what OCR is aiming for. I'll add :30 (and 1:15 later) sounded like the tempo got lost and felt messy. May want to metronome for parts when the beat drops out to make sure you stay on beat. Great guitar chops on display and well produced fo sho. Would love to hear more from you. NO

This is some serious dedication.

Good points made by Chimp above, which I find basically agreeing with here. I will add a few other thoughts: Liking the various instruments being used here. Violin lead at the start has a thin tone and is panned pretty far left. Centering it up and trying to get a bit more body to it would help. It doesn't have the most realistic attack between each note, but I think it can work. I will agree the synths sound out of place among the very organic background track. Not to say that lead synths can't work in this context, but I'd agree that replacing it with something less flang-y/warbly and more straightforward could help. Would like to hear more development on the arrangement side as this follows closely with both melodic writing and with similar backing instrumentation as the original. Cool atmosphere here and I like the approach. This doesn't feel too far away. NO resubmit, please

Off the bat, sounds like a rendering issue with the initial note cutoff. I've hit this with FL studio before and it can be avoided by moving out the entire song a beat or so on the timeline. From the beginning, the piano is sounding really rigid. Very in-your-face intensity on many of the instruments. The backing pads are pretty loud, the EP synths are pretty loud (there's some resonance in the 2khz range on the early bell synth). Later, the saw lead also layers on, so the soundfield ends up getting cluttered. Try and see if you can rebalance to push some of the supporting parts to the background so there's not as much competition for space. Scaling back some of the reverb could help in this regard as well. Really like the groove once the drums come in, unfortunately it doesn't stick around long in either case. This is the point where the song felt like it was gaining steam, but soon drops for a breakdown 8 bars in or so. Felt like beat sections could've been developed further and with some variation on the core drum pattern. Vocal synth at 1:25 has a really slow attack which makes it sound like it's behind the beat. May want to see if you can tighten it up. Though it's over 3 minutes, it felt shorter due to repetition of the themes. 1:37 is essentially a rehash of the intro section. 2:12 is another repeat of the earlier drum section, but with an added lead later on. Ending felt a bit sudden, like the end of an unfinished WIP TBH. Definitely more room for expansion on the arrangement ideas as well as some cleanup on the production side. I do like the approach and feel there's a lot of potential here. NO resubmit, please

Nice atmosphere you've established here. Production sounds super solid. Nice work on the arrangement side as well with incorporating the themes. Agreed on the coins sounding like...coins. It works still, but just sayin. Nice use of bass and percussion to bring up the energy level around the 2:30 mark. The dynamics were spot on in this mix. Not much else to say except YES

Yeah, as said before the very start of the track sounds like it's cut off. I've had this happen with FL Studio before and my solution was to shift the whole mix forward a bar to prevent it. If that happens to be what you're using, see if that'll fix it. Hmm, this is quite loud and piercing. The mix is pushed pretty hard against the limiter, but the sounds that seem to be emphasized the most are around the 2-4K ish range which makes this one fatiguing on the ear. Sounds used are a bit of a mixed bag. The organ and voice sound pretty good sample-wise, but the bass sounds pretty lo-fi fakey and the strings aren't really cutting it with realism (though with some reverb to mesh them in, they could work better). Drums aren't super awesome fantastic, but could work with some TLC on how they're processed (see below). The various parts sound pretty dry and therefore unconnected. The drums in particular seem to occupy their own space, irregardless of the rest of the parts, making them sound disconnected and pasted-on. Try re-balancing the track to tame some of those piercing parts and using some tasteful reverb to mesh things better together. Arrangement is fantastic and I love the concept. You've chosen a really ambitious approach, which I applaud. Unfortunately, the production needs to come up quite a ways to match it. NO resubmit, please

I feel like every Dark Souls remix I've judged is for this theme (maybe I've only judged two, though, who knows!). Definitely needs a mastering pass to bring this up to normal listening levels as it's very quiet. Cool ideas with the reverse piano(?) sound. Over halfway in now and it's clear the ideas have played out and the track has gotten quite repetitive at this point. There isn't much variation in the track other than parts gradually entering in and then leaving. Not much of an ending either as the track eventually devolves to the reverse piano part and abruptly stops. This feels more like a proof of concept than a finished remix, TBH. It needs quite a bit more arrangement development beyond this core idea - both in expanding on more ideas and varying up individual part-writing (like the beat, which basically stays on autopilot for the length of the track). I'd add the beat feels a bit pasted on top (especially the snap-type snare sound). Once you do bring levels up, you'll likely need to push them back a bit to gel with the rest of the mix. Cool base here that can definitely be expanded on. NO resubmit, please

Interestingly, the event was held in a hotel on Great America Pkwy :). Was good to meet some new people and hang out for a while. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay later for the concerts or the following hang-out day. It does look like the groundwork is being laid for a possibly 2007 August-ish MAGWest, which would be awesome for those of us who've never been to the main deal.

I certainly hope he's not still trying to solve this issue 7 years later

MAGwest 2016 Is anyone else going this weekend? As I understand it, it's sort-of a precursor to the planned MAGWest 2017.

Team Nope (Overwatch FTW)

That underground BGM mix @ :27 is hotness.

Great feel and tons of character from the get-go here. I didn't hear the old version, but currently the lead guitar still sounds a bit thin with a lot of emphasis on the high end without a lot of body. Minor crit, that. Really liking the loose feel of this and the lazy chord changes. Organ solo was a bit bland compared to the rest of the track IMO. Nice backing drum work that may not get a lot of attention because of how far in the background it is. Slowing down of the arrangement was a great call and works really well. Great stuff (shocker!). YES

Agreed on the strings crits on the overly slow attack and lack of realism. The strings sound a lot better later with the stabs to me. Rebalancing of the whole track would be very welcome so the guitars & drums don't completely overpower the backing stuff going on. I like the direction here. Performances sound good. Interesting arrangement as well. I'm not sure I'm hearing overcompression here as mentioned, but as I mentioned prior getting the levels to the point where you can get a more clear sound from the strings and other backing parts without losing TOO much energy from guitars and drums would make this a pass for me. NO resubmit, please

I've heard an orchestral rendition of the FF4 Prologue theme several times on NPR. No link unfortunately.

Consider it done!

Just gonna say, listening to this source I can definitely see it being a Stevo/Andrew remix pick. Great arrangement work and performances. Great contrast throughout in energy and instruments used. The speedup felt slightly sudden to me, but it works. Nitpick alert: a couple odd sounding note choices around 4:24 on lead guitar. Mastering feels a bit hot to me. It sounds like some audio squashing on the low end due to overcompression (when kick, bass, and open hihat hit all at the same time). Not calling it a dealbreaker, but it does bug me as I listen. If everything else wasn't so strong, I could see myself sending this back for some level tweaks. That said, the rest of the track clicks in pretty much every other way. Good stuff, guys. YES

Off the bat, the mix sounds murky, frequency-wise. There's a lot of low end fighting for space, some mid-range elements, but not much in the high end. :38 did sound off-kilter to me a bit, note-wise. Even as the song progresses, it still irks me a bit every time this lead note hits. It didn't seem to bother the other J's as much, so take it with a grain of salt. However, the high synth lead that starts at :38 is really shrill and doesn't have a strong, interesting timbre. I'd really recommend replacing it. Piano throughout felt both dry and rigidly sequenced. It's gives sections like 3:00 a disjointed feeling with the piano sticking out so much like that. Could really use some velocity variation - especially on the bigger note jumps - and some EQ/verb/something to help it blend a bit better. Overall, despite not covering the full frequency range, the mix sounds cluttered to me. The background pads are taking up too much mid-range room and cluttering things up. They'd probably be better served occupying a higher frequency and toning down the mid-range freqs. They don't always seem to be properly following the chords of the leads at times, so may want to look at that (like whenever the main melody line kicks in, they just sound like conflicting noise to me). I think an overall mixing rework to better balance the frequency ranges would help here. Really liking your arrangement work here. Great ideas on display. Interesting use of transitions and switch-ups to keep the listener interested. Some production tightening up will go a long way here. Good luck to you. NO resubmit, please