Palpable

Congrats, prophet! You two look so happy together in those pictures. Brings a slight warmness to my cold heart.

I love that opening harp and synth, and it gives the impression that this song is going to be amazing. It has so much energy in it. Those drums are a little too muddy to really match the quality of the intro, and choir a little too cheesy. Oh well. I enjoyed the song nonetheless. This would be a cool song to hear redone.

Hahaha, I had forgotten about the music from this game. That stupid intro. I really like what you're trying to do here, DJP, with the little salsa flourishes on the guitar and drums. The chords of the original lend themselves very well to this sort of rendition. If it was less stiff and more live-sounding, it'd be fantastic.

This song is all about those pitch-bending synths. It's a very unusual sound that lends the song a memorable hook. The rest is sort of MIDI-ish, true, but I like that I can find something cool in every one of these old mixes I go back through.

Wow, great style. Not much flow to speak of, but some very cool individual sections. The programming on that bass at 1:30 is insane, it sounds like it's leaving trails across the soundfield, burrowing into your ear. Cool drums, cool guitar, and all the static effects generate a lot of tension. It sounds like the full audio to some sci-fi action movie, not just the soundtrack.

I waffled back and forth on this call, but decided I'm going with Larry and 'Ili. The mix is very short, and I think for such a mix to pass, it really has to be close to perfect. I too thought 1:28-1:43 was very cramped (even for this busy a mix). The ending, which repeats the piano figure for the umpteenth time seemed like an abrupt, unfitting way to end the song. The notes should at least decrescendo or slow down, if they don't change. In fact, throughout the song, slight volume changes and grace notes would help that figure not sound so repetitive. They don't need to be big changes. I think with basically everything else you've got, it's sounding great. I love the way the song kicks into action from note 1, and the sheer variety of segments. There's a lot of action for 2 minutes of song. Production is tight, groove excellent. I'd love to say yes to this one, but I think there's just a couple things holding it back. NO (resubmit)

Well, I'm not sleeping tonight.

Very cool song with a lot going on in it. Perhaps I just like the style of throwing a bunch of different instruments into a pot, and then trying to make sense of it (my own remixes are often constructed that way). The bass is a little ear-killing, but otherwise, I think it has a solid groove. Wouldn't have minded hearing another minute or two of it.

For all I've seen you on the boards, Brandon, I somehow never listened to one of your mixes until today. They were all released in that two-and-a-half year break I took from the site. This is an incredible song, without a doubt one of the best ReMixes I've ever heard. The playing and arrangement are so moving and well-executed; the tempo changes seamless. The song moves unpredictably yet after you hear each part, you know that that is how it should have gone. It's really just stunning.

This is exactly what I want to see on a resubmit. I feel like you fixed basically every problem we listed on the last submission. The basic groove is retained from the last version with all sorts of bells and whistles thrown in. I love the added drum fills and processing which give the song a lot more direction, the increased dynamics between sections, the new strings and hi-hats, and especially the slowdown section, which emphasizes the original melody more. The slowdown was a very good way to spice things up while incorporating the source more. I think it shows how much effort you put into this since the last version, and that effort is appreciated. YES

I really wasn't feeling this track the way the rest of you were, but first, the positives. I think from an interpretation standpoint, it was well thought out. The short source is only modified slightly, keeping the harp, but a lot of other instruments are added as it proceeds, as well as some playful effects. The set of instruments was well-chosen, and there was a lot of creativity shown, starting with such a short melody. I wasn't a fan of how aimless it was. I lost the rhythm a few times and I think it could have used less rhythmic complexity. Also, contributing to that loss of rhythm was how some notes were emphasized seemingly randomly; I felt that disjointedness that DS mentioned. Production was where I thought this really needed work. The harshness of the harp didn't bother me, actually, but I thought there was definitely a balancing issue with it. It was much louder than the other instruments at times. Check out 2:28 for an example. In places, other instruments and effects jump out too much as well, and I didn't get an overall sense of cohesiveness, that the instruments sat together well. The drums at 1:57 have a strange quality that I find it hard to put my finger on, but they stick out. It's possible again that they are just too loud in comparison to the other instruments. zircon also mentioned some timing issues - I noticed them at 1:12, 1:36, and 3:11, and possibly more. Lastly, starting at 2:50 it sounds like there's some weird static in the background for ten seconds or so, almost like clipping. I don't think these are the biggest production issues in the world, but like I mentioned, I thought the arrangement had some problems too. Taken together, I'm not comfortable passing this one. I think if my production concerns were addressed, particularly the balancing, I would be fine with it. Although I realize this is a resubmit, I'd like to see those things cleared up before giving this the OK. NO (resubmit)

A lot of it is Pullman's own controversial comments too. While there have been anti-religious movies that didn't get the same level of protest, Pullman has said his books are about "killing God". As Darkesword pointed out, the books themselves don't even read as that anti-Christian but with Pullman so proud of his atheism and delivering lines like that it's not a huge surprise that it's generated this much controversy. I actually really dislike how he comes off in some of his interviews.

That cymbal gets a workout, huh? It's a pretty standard take on the classic theme. I did like some of the synth choices in the song, but this thing got old pretty fast. More variation could have made it a lot better.

This is much better than I was expecting for a seven-year old mix. The drums show some great programming, and the bass locks into that groove pretty well. Unfortunately, I think it gets a bit worse after the intro, but some of the synths brought in later have a neat sound. If only this mix canned the explosions and corrected that one note in the melody (I cringe every time it comes up), this is a pretty solid tune.

I'm not familiar with Kid Koala, but the song is pretty much a dead ringer for DJ Shadow. It's a great appropriation of that sound. Very haunting and pretty, yet still fun to listen to because of all the messing with the beat. There's so much variety in the production tricks. Awesome song, man.

Larry and Shariq have covered a lot of what I have to say about the arrangement. It's too liberal. The source barely has anything to it besides that melody, and in the sections of this song that don't use it, it's almost impossible to discern that it's an arrangement of Strange Presentiment. I do like the direction and movement of the song quite a bit, and I think the original writing is good, but that's just what it is: original writing. Admittedly, I think it would be tough to rewrite this one enough so that it's acceptable on the interpretation level. Most of what kept your song interesting was the changes in chord progression and melody. There's a lot of room for improvement in the production. I think this is better served as bullets, because it's all over the map: Right from the start, the guitar has got a little too much reverb on it and it eats up a lot of the space in the song. It sounds like it might need to be recorded better (if it was recorded), or at least, EQ'd more. The keyboard in the intro sounds off rhythmically. The lead starting at 0:35 has too piercing a tone for it to be used so prominently. The instruments coming in at 1:06 eat up a lot of space. I think in general, this song very much needs more EQ and separation of parts. One trick I like to use is comparing two instruments at a time. If you solo any two instrument channels and you can't hear one of them well, something on the other should probably be cut. I think that might help you here. The drums and piano are a little too compressed and reverbed and consequently have an unnatural sound to them. Might be a problem with the samples lacking high-end too. They sound very distant. Watch for the timing of those strings around 3:04. It sounds late, because of the slow attack. There was a very small section from 3:47 to 3:55 that I think was balanced, reverbed and EQ'd well. I thought I might point this out so you would know when it's sounding right. I hope I haven't totally scared you off of this song, because I think it has a lot going for it. I really like your writing and arrangement, even if it's too liberal for OCR. I think this would be a great song to go back and rework, so that your producing matches the level of your writing. NO

Heh, basically. They should have called it "Aurora Borealis" - then we would know what it was! But seriously, I like how the title "The Golden Compass" ties the three books together. I thought the series was excellent, though the third book is a little too ambitious and unfocused. I have no freakin' clue how they will turn that one into a movie, if they are getting rid of the religious aspects of the books. The first one should make a great movie though.

The connection to the source is a close call, but I think this one just clears it. Unless I missed something, it breaks down as follows: 0:01-0:35 - keeps half the chord progression, second half is original 0:36-1:09 - keeps progression and melody 1:10-1:30 - original 1:31-2:03 - keeps half the progression 2:04-2:36 - keeps progression and melody 2:37-3:02 - original So giving half credit for the first and fourth section, it's fine. Definitely liberal though. Sometimes the source is difficult to make out. As far as the arrangement, I definitely got the early 90's ballad vibe. Aladdin and Vanessa Williams. You did a great job recreating the sound, and there's a lot of detail in the parts. I love the little counter-melodies and trills, and the closing harmonica, while clearly fake, suited the song well. They did that sort of thing in the 90's. Production was lush and clear, and the instruments have nice tones. The programming of the instruments was quite human. All in all, it was very slick work and it deserves to be heard. YES

Unfortunately, I'm basically copying what Larry and Shariq have already said. I loved the arrangement. Castlevania always lends itself well to these sorts of prog metal arrangements, and this one has a lot of great ideas. Interesting harmonies, great soloing, fun dynamics. I too had a hard time hearing "Entrance Hall" or "In the Castle", but there's still plenty of connection to the other songs. The song is just too muddy though. The cymbals especially eat into the other instruments. There was also a lot of reverb on some of those synths, which made the overall song hard to hear. It just feels like it needs more clarity and bite. It's definitely a shame that you lost the sources because I don't think there's a lot of work that would need to be done, but in its current state, it's just not there. NO

Yeah, I wasn't sure which to go with. Since the problem is with the sample, I thought the work involved might be more than a simple volume increase or a clipping thing. I'll go ahead and change my vote to conditional YES.

Happy birthday Lee! Well, if you came to the States, you could drink now. Pretty sad country, huh?

I tried doing research on whether the sources are eligible. They seems fine, but I didn't get anything conclusive. They don't seem to sample any of the songs that sites have listed ARE sampled in this game. If BGC knows Aerosmith, then I think we can defer to him. Yeah, the kick is really distorted. It's very noticeable for the first 30 seconds and then less so after that as other instruments fill up that high range. There's a similar kick at 1:52 for another 30 seconds. That's a tough call, because it's not clipping, it's just a very distorted sample that really doesn't work in this context. I thought it was very distracting, and because it's used so much, it should be fixed before this passes. I also thought the lead coming in at 2:24 was cheap and too rigidly sequenced - but that only plays for about fifteen seconds; it's a much smaller problem. The production was quite good in other aspects. The majority of the leads and synths are well-programmed and there's a quite a variety of them - I think there is a lot of talent in those parts. The drums sound fine without that offending kick, like starting at 1:05. Actually, I think things really came together in that section. I had no problem with the balance in any section. Writing-wise, it's very expansive on the source and a nice interpretation. I mean, props just for taking absolutely horrible songs and making them worth listening to. Basically, if the distorted kicks get fixed, I would yes this. NO (resubmit) Edit: Changed to YES (conditional on fixing the kick)

Great vocal work - it sounds like you had a lot of fun recording this! The "time is but a fading memory" section put the biggest smile on my face, it's perfect. I wish the song didn't end so suddenly, but I guess it got me to play it again immediately afterward, huh.

This is really great stuff, the mix of guitars, subtle glitchy beats and FX, and NES synths, with the occasional woodwind thrown in. I think you really nailed that folktronica sound (sadly, that's actually the genre name). The fact that the original NES synths are so upfront does make this borderline, but the amount of processing on them means it's acceptable. I don't think anyone can accuse you of "taking the original game audio and simply adding drum loops". There's a lot of creativity shown in expanded the original material, and there are parts without the NES synths, besides. Each segment sounds very unique, yet the progression is not random either. Definitely needs a bump volume-wise, but that's a piece of cake. Also sounds like there's a pop at the very end that should be easy to take out, while you're at it. Otherwise, I loved the production. I thought the instruments interlocked well, and the processing was very fun. Besides the issue of using the original synths, I think this is an easy pass. YES (conditional on volume)

Tricky call. I admit, the first time listening through I wasn't really feeling this song. It seemed a little repetitive, and lacking in something. But the second time through, it delivered. It has a nice direction that isn't immediately apparent, a good vibe, interesting textures. It's minimalistic rather than lacking (obviously that's a judgment call, based on what I thought the song was trying to do), and the repetition isn't that bad because there's still always something capturing your attention. Definitely, more variation would enhance it, but what's here is enough. As far as the production goes, I thought the few instruments covered the spectrum well, which can be hard to do with minimalism. Some of the samples, like the weird arpeggios starting at 1:08, sounded like they were missing highs, lacking clarity. I'm not sure whether it comes down to the sample or the EQ, but it's a minor thing. There's enough action in that range to cover for it. Your interpretation is a fine one, quite entrancing as zyko mentioned, and I think it deserves to be on the site. YES