Palpable

I only heard source in this in the following places: 0:09-1:00, 1:32-1:56, 2:31-3:06, 4:32-4:57. I suspect there's more I'm missing, but as it turns out it's not gonna affect my vote. This is an unorthodox remix in some ways, which is a double-edged sword. I don't think I've heard a remix with these kinds of style changes mid-song. The mix of sparse guitar and strings with some ambient backgrounds and a drum machine clap was also unique. The guitar playing is excellent and expressive, and though the timing between the guitar and the other instruments got off at times, it gave this a live feel. But it's very easy to turn those things around on you. The many style changes made this feel segmented and not of one piece, and sometimes directionless too. The loose playing/sequencing was too sloppy at times. Also, there's no way around criticizing the violin, the stiffness of it really detracts from the song. I don't think it's passable in the state its in and I'm not sure what it would take for me to pass it. The violin and the loose playing are not that hard to fix. The segmented issue is a hard thing to fix, and it would take you really examining how to give this song more direction, possibly excising some sections from this. Whatever you choose to do, good luck with your future music. NO

OA's right: a creepy track like this isn't what comes to mind when I think of Dennis. While watching that youtube video with the source tune, I kept thinking, "make the kid rounder and give him a mustache and this is the Addams Family for SNES". The gameplay is similar. There's a lot to like in this arrangement. Production is solid, the new melodies compliment the old, there's a good flow, and you personalized the track. On that basis alone, I think it's passable. I do agree with some of the criticisms that the track leans static. The breakdown should have done something more drastic, like cut the syncopated pads, bring in some FX, and overdrive the drums, maybe. Because of how similar it was to the high-gear sections, it sounded pretty samey. But I'm cool passing this - keep it in mind next time! YES

Haha, very fun. It's great seeing underrepresented styles and underrepresented games getting love. The arrangement and the sequencing makes up for some slight mixing problems you acknowledged. The drums sounded kind of hollow to me and a heavier kit would have filled in those lower regions better. This is fiiiiiiiiiiine work. YES

Pretty easy YES for me. The percussion in this is awesome, blending the game FX with more standard drum samples. It's a really sprightly arrangement. I should note that Will sold himself a little short on source usage - the background melody at 0:04 in the source is used and modified in the riff sections. 2:33-2:48 is also something I'd count, those chords are unmistakable. Another humdinger from Will! YES

It gets good when he tries to sing along.

Awesome stuff, this was enjoyable start to finish. I love the little flourishes: a piano twinkle here, a conga fill there; this must have taken forever to sequence. The instrument quality is a weakness, the brass especially. That brass never sounds as punchy as it should, but it usually gets layered with drums, piano, and your lead - it's acceptable. I think it weren't for the detailed sequencing, I wouldn't be passing this, but that plus the incredible writing and solid mixing/FX made up for the sample deficiencies. YES

I am all in favor of people stepping outside their comfort zones, and this was a successful venture for sure. The laidback, jazzy atmosphere is a great match. Very enjoyable. The only thing that bothered me a little was the stereo delay on some of the elements, particularly with the drums. I kept hearing the left side more than the right. We'll see if the fourth vote thinks this is an issue; if not, I'm happy to drop it. YES

What an evocative arrangement - when I listened to this, I couldn't help but close my eyes and lose myself in it. Case you were wondering, I pictured that scene from Avatar with the glowing seeds in the trees. I only read your description after the fact, but your scene fits too! The Mass Effect soundtrack really lends itself to this kind of "put more stuff on top of the original track" approach. Give us more music, Tyler! YES

Blast from the past, I don't think I've heard this source since renting the game back in '94, but I remember it very well. Good song choice. Gotta say that this wasn't working that well for me, even besides the lead guitar tone issue that was mentioned (which makes the song sound like it's clipping). On the positive side, the arrangement is good, I like the interplay between the bells and guitars, and the 1:47 section was a highlight. But the execution didn't sell the rock/orchestral type blend. The drum kit sounded like a studio recording while the orchestral elements sounded like a cathedral hall. They needed to meet at some halfway point. The machine-gun kick drumming also seemed to take up a lot of the space and there was a big gap where the bass should have been, so I thought there were mixing issues there too. If I were you and you haven't done this already, I'd compare this to some professional symphonic metal songs and try to get the balances right. For me, this is not as easy a pass as DA and OA make it out to be. NO (resubmit)

I can tell you put effort into this in dynamics and sound design, but it's still too similar to the original, following it almost exactly. Since you stretched it to 4+ minutes, it gets pretty repetitive. In addition, the effects on the lead are very distracting and the snare could be brought up in the mix. NO

This is awesome. This will get used as a mix title at some point, when the time is right. Thanks for the wishes, everyone! We've been getting some momentum lately in clearing the queue, so I'm gonna try to continue that today. As well as spend time with loved ones and eat cake. I've got a mix waiting to be posted, and I'm in the process of working on my first rock mix. As someone who's done almost nothing but electronic music, it's a slow process for me, but I think in the end, you guys will like it.

I have used stuff from freesounds in my remixes, so yes.

This is a sound upgrade, there's almost no interpretation to this. No hate to people who like doing that kind of thing, but it's not what OCR is about. The production could have been better here too. The bass blended into the low synth and the song maintained the same spartan feel of the original. If you want to keep that desolate, I'd recommend using more complex or more realistic sounds. NO

The genre change was an inspired choice - this translates well to rock, which wouldn't have occured to me. Good playing, nice drum programming. Unfortunately, there's almost no rearrangement here apart from dynamics like the guitar muting. Also the repetition is too much, there needs to be something differentiating the two halves of this. Though sequencing was good, the drum sounds weren't that great, and the snare sounded way too much like a drum machine. Guitar tone was also a little rough, but that was the least of the problems. Nothing else to say about this except that it needs more work. NO

I didn't help Amy with this one too much apart from telling her I liked the direction it was going in and adding one fill, so I think I can judge it objectively. I love the buildup of the song, starting with some very basic melodies pulled from the original, and by the end, morphing into a far more complex interplay of flute and guitar with heavier drums. While there's a lot of layer change-ups in the drums, it might have been cool to hear more volume adjustment and ghost notes so that the playing was more humanized. The live guitar and flute add a lot and the drums aren't quite at that level of realism. Regardless, this is a really enjoyable, laidback blend of the two themes. YES

It's hard not to admire the effort involved in making a song like this. In fact, it's hard to look at this from any angle besides THIS SONG IS FUN AS HELL. But since that's my job, I guess I should. There's some mixing problems with this. The backing vocals and the electric guitar are totally buried, the soundscape is generally crowded. I think more EQ work could been done for sure. There's some timing problems too - the most noticeable is when Luiza falls behind the beat, which might be more a problem with lining things up in the production stage. I also think at moments there's too much going on, like when multiple instruments are playing melody-like passages. It gets overwhelming. In spite of all this, I'd say this is still a pass. This is not an easy song to make and though this isn't a live recording, I think it compares in playing and production to other live recordings we have. Avaris did a good job getting instruments to show up when they needed to, and you still get the sense that a band is playing this song. Plus, Luiza pwned the vocals. YES

The guitar rockage and synths were combined in a really interesting way, and though it started conservatively, I think enough was done to make it stand apart from the original songs. You threw in little details that made me smile. Guitar playing wasn't perfect, but it was solid. The first big issue is that the song sounds like a medley and not one single piece of work, which is one of our submission criteria. The intro was the most egregious section and this would have been a stronger song without it. It didn't have the same style as what followed it, and was generally out-of-place. Even the later sections sounded pasted together, though it was hard to fault any individual section. The second big issue is the production. There's a lot going on at any given moment and nothing has the space it needs to stand out as an individual element. I also heard some static, which I'm not sure was the guitar or something else, but it made this kind of irritating to listen to. Try to spend more time with balancing levels and using EQ; compare to professional songs if necessary. This might be tough to turn into a passable remix because of the first issue, but I liked what I heard here, and it'd be great to hear more. If you can hone your production, you could make some really cool stuff. NO

Yes it's still a planned upgrade for Mr. Pretzel, but alas, he is a busy man.

Not sure I'd call the source terrible as much as wtf. It sounds like it's being played on the wrong RPM or something. And there are some really questionable notes buried in there too. Strangely, though I can tell the piano is stiff, it wasn't much of a issue to me. I thought the whole song worked and I liked the atmosphere and style. Upbeat but relaxed, the kind of stuff you hear in lobbies or on hold. Loved when the drums picked up after the first break. Source usage was a concern to me, there seemed to be a lot of liberties taken. I was hearing the melody from 0:00-0:02 in the source used on the piano at three places, and then some liberal variations on the source 0:09-0:10 melody. Counting the entire sections of liberal variations (0:39-1:09, 2:10-2:40) and those three piano sections puts this over 50% (105/185 seconds), but those 8-beat variations are pretty much your own thing after the first 2 or 4 beats. Half counting those sections (which is generous) put this pretty low. I'll hold off my vote until someone can double-check the source usage, but it's looking like a NO. EDIT: Deia's breakdown looks like mine except that I wouldn't count the last 8 seconds and there's a few more seconds I shifted here and there, putting it at 84/185, or 45.4%. Because of the loose connection of the variations, I'm going NO. Also, I don't think there's any chord progressions in common with the original, they sounded entirely new. NO

Fun source - the way it combines multiple genres and instruments and vamped on its own chord progression made it sound like a remix to me. I'd say your remix of it is a lot more straightforward, which is neither good or bad in and of itself. Good production and dynamic contrasts between sections, I liked the flow. But it was hard to call this song more than pleasant beyond that. Once you've kicked the song into high gear, it's completely unvarying from the original. Follows the melody and structure until the section that drops the melody (which sounds like a copy/paste of the first "chorus" minus the melody), with only some minor new background writing. Then a key change which doesn't change the patterns at all and a callback to the intro. Given how drastic the genre change was, the song was personalized and thought out, but it didn't seem like much effort was put into this after the first chorus. May change my mind on this based on other votes, but I'm willing to call this a borderline YES. It was enjoyable if not that creative or varied. There's a lot of ways to improve this and put it over-the-top. YES (borderline)

I listened to this one yesterday when checking out the larger project, definitely one of the best songs on the album. After a slightly unrealistic intro, the instrumentation is excellent, and this arranges the source very effectively. I think the rhythm guitars could afford to get pushed back and it was a little distracting hearing the rhythm guitars in total stereo. I would have preferred less hard panning since different notes are being played. Those are minor criticisms on an enjoyable track. YES

Wasn't feeling the intro because of the loose piano playing and weak strings. Once the guitar kicked in, this sounded better, though still not that great. The drums and accompanying synths were weaksauce and I didn't like how the drums swung but other elements did not. It made it sound like the "band" was not playing together. Overall, the guitar was the best element but nothing else was matching it. The fadeout was also in a strange place, it sounded like the song was going somewhere else when it finished. Arrangement was not bad, though the same melodies tended to get overused. There's a lot to improve here, in sequencing and production. Better samples, better separation for your sounds, more realistic sequencing. I might spend some time listening to the Unholy Wars, trying to emulate the sounds in there better. You'll develop your production senses by doing so. NO (resubmit)

When the castanets and piano both enter the picture, sometimes it kind of sounds distorted, though it seemed very minor on my headphones. Otherwise, I wasn't hearing anything... Once Guilherme gets his production ironed out, I think he'll be ready to take over OCR. Love his arrangements, this one included. Great piano run at 1:31 - little details like that make this mix soar. I don't know if I can sign off on this as is though. On the plus side, liked the woodwind (sorry, I can never tell woodwinds apart - clarinet?) and the accordian a lot. But the piano keeps playing the same thing in the same way and has a dull sound, guitar is clearly fake, percussion claps sound like a drum machine. I know what he's going for, I can almost picture people dancing to it, but the production issues keep taking me out of the picture. Yeah sorry, I don't think it's quite there. I guess Dave saying it is means something, but I felt the production needed to be better for an intimate mix like this. On his DKR mix, the not-quite-realistic production wasn't as big a deal with so many elements going on and in an electronic context. Wouldn't be disappointed if it passed, as the arrangement is quite nice. NO (resubmit)

Not an easy decision. I think I'm totally cool with the arrangement. It's a little cookie-cutter and repetitive but there's variation, some great guitar leads, solidly written if not that inspiring. The production is a bigger issue, and the overcompression did start to wear. I think that should be looked at before passing off on this, the quality of the instruments really gets degraded, which matters a lot given how the arrangement is so standard. The drums are also really generic sounds, it would have been nice to hear something more sophisticated or a change-up. Throw a reverb trail on the snare or layer it. I also think the leads would benefit from more automation. When you've got so many elements that hold the same patterns section to section, it's nice to have one instrument that does something different. Close but I think it needs more work. Even just fixing the compression and levels might be good enough. NO (resubmit)

I remember feeling that halc's Electric Flute mix was a step down from his previous stuff, but I felt this mix was more of a sidestep from his usual style. Count me as someone who likes the mumbling, reminded me of Mouse on Mars and gave the song an interesting texture. The treatment wasn't that out there, but had some cool moments and felt like a more laidback crazy than Drew's usual crazy, which is kind of interesting in itself. I liked it and see no reason not to pass it. YES