Palpable

Yeah I'm also bummed we don't have any Incredible Machine remixes, there were some catchy songs from that game. Euro is one of the more repetitive ones from the original game and sadly, I didn't think you did much to make it less repetitive. The drums are nifty, but they stay so static. In fact, the entire song is pretty much just adding layer after layer with little in the way of surprise or dynamics. It sounds pretty good, but it's way too straightforward. NO

Good job with including such a variety of sounds in this without it sounding too ragtag. The transitions are good and it didn't sound like a bunch of sections pasted together. Good dynamics and overall song flow. This was a fine collab. The snare tone didn't quite fit the song - I think something heavier would have sounded better - but that was a very minor nitpick. PALP'S STAMP OF APPROVAL

Cool arrangement. I was a little bummed that the first section held to the original so closely (and at a slower tempo too, it bordered on sounding sluggish), but starting with the acoustic section and after, it's pretty tight. Nice variety of drums to add dynamics to the early sections. The acoustic build-up section works really nicely, though the playing could have been tighter there. Song goes on a little long and the melody gets tiresome by the end - I would have condensed the last 30 seconds. This sounds like a pass to me, but I would have liked the rhythm guitars to sound a little more stereo-separated, they were competing with the lead guitar at times. They were a little dry too. Just some things to keep in mind next time assuming you get the last vote you need on this - nice work! YES

I heard a lot of the same problems that OA and DA did. The dryness was pretty apparent in places, especially the end of the song. Some more reverb would have been nice to gel it together. The piano was mechanical and a weak link next to the guitars and drums. One thing they didn't mention that I took issue with was the transitions. You've got a couple (1:44, 3:12) that sound like the start of new songs. There's also a mixing issue at 1:44 because the new section is a fair bit louder than the last. Those kinds of things really make a track less fun to listen to. This is a borderline NO. The arrangement is good, the production is just a hair under the bar. I would normally call this a conditional YES but with two NO votes, it's better to just let you iron these out and send it back, especially because the fixes are easy. We'll try to fast track your next version. NO (resubmit)

No policy for it, but what you suggest goes against the "every 3 weeks" rule we just mentioned, plus it involves us having to formally judge every remix on your album. A better way to do it is to ask one of us or the workshop moderators if we can give you quick recommendations on the songs most likely to pass. If everyone is busy, guess those songs for yourself and submit 'em every 3 weeks. Of course, you could just try to make the album an official OCR album...

There are many people on this site (including you, I believe) that are capable of making a passable song within a few days. It's not a quality issue. The point of the 3 week spacing is so that we're not inundated with 20 submissions by the same person. It's unfair to other remixers if we have to spend time judging all those remixes when there are other submissions to be heard.

Meteo resubmitted this with very minor production changes. Though he asked for it to be removed from the queue, we conferred and decided to let him resubmit this with the caveat that pulling a sub after it has already been panelled and voted on won't be allowed in the future. This is ready to be posted now.

I think there's some source you guys may have missed, from the similar Morrowind theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWuNf4gxwuM): 1:05-1:16 3:47-4:00 These put this song just under 50% by Deia's counting, but I wasn't able to hear 0:00-0:17 in either source. Are you counting this as a liberal take on the opening of the Oblivion theme? I'm not sure I'd count that... In any case, maybe we should ask for a breakdown from Scott or have someone more familiar with the soundtracks take another listen. There might be more we're missing.

The mix mostly follows the structure and melody of the original, but the attention to dynamics and playing techniques put your stamp on it, and the solo section adds some original spice. Put another way, this mix sings. Sure there could be more instrument separation, more reverb to glue it together, and maybe better balance (the backing guitars sometimes overpower the lead) but these were all minor issues - otherwise, this is hard to knock. Sounds like a pass, let's hear more! YES

Great opening atmosphere and I liked the drum programming/loop usage. This was a well-executed song concept. Unfortunately, the song was very similar to the original except in style, and the main melody repeated way too often even though you changed up the instrument it played on. There just wasn't enough there to compensate for how much the melody was used verbatim. This is one of those songs that would really benefit from an original section and some melody variations. The large dynamic range leaps got tiresome (one would have been fine) and I think you could have done more to smooth the transitions. No drastic overhaul necessary, just some minor variations to make this more interesting and maybe less dynamic range. Excellent candidate for resubmission. NO (resubmit)

Surprised DOA felt the source was lacking in this. I realize the melody isn't there that often, but because the 8-note melody and variation used at 0:51 in the source is used practically throughout this whole arrangement, and somewhat prominently, I didn't have an issue feeling connection to the source. I guess there are submissions where I am the one feeling like the source is being marginalized, but not in this case. This arrangement was pretty cool. Nothing too out there, but solid expansion of some of the elements of the original. I liked the ideas though the execution was off at times. Some elements were too loud and sometimes the articulations were too stiff (the lead at 2:14). The strings didn't sound very realistic, drums and guitar could have been improved though the weaknesses were masked. I also think the arrangement was on the too-busy side; there are parts where you get hit with too much stuff (2:14 and later on). Transitions were also abrupt. Overall, abrupt transition + uneven mixing and articulations = needed to sound smoother. A lot of those issues are easy fixes, and I think this is close to a pass. I guess since you have two judges telling you to make the source more prominent, you may want to see if you can use more source as well. NO (resubmit)

I like the general ideas involved here and I think the sound design is actually pretty cool. I wouldn't say this is a sound downgrade necessarily, since it does some rearrangement and doesn't resemble the original's sounds, but I would say it's chippy enough that you ignore some aspects of the production process. It's very dry, the sounds are more basic than what we typically accept. By that standard, we'll have to pass on this. I think you could probably keep some chiptune elements while making the backing track a little more naturally produced, making some heavy industrial drums or something. It's a fine tune that is outside the scope of what we take. NO

Yeah, this is not an easy song to get a handle on, but after listening a few times, I feel ok with my decision. The source doesn't come in strongly until 1:35. I caught one quick quote of it before that, but for the most part the intro is all atmosphere that's not tied to Golden Sun. The 1:36-2:29 section used source, but felt very meandering. I didn't think this section was structured very well, and when it started changing chords it seemed random. Then there's another original section before the source is used fairly conservatively in the second half. Honestly, I thought the first half was pretty lackluster and directionless compared to the second half, which accomplished the whole ambient Lemuria thing much better. 4:45 was a beautiful section but again, barely tied to the Lemuria theme and didn't flow that well. Sorry, not really feeling this one, though I will understand if it passes. Production could have been a little better, but it's got a very nice sound and it uses the Lemuria melody in several places. I didn't timestamp it but it may be close to 50%. I just thought the way in which the Lemuria melody was used wasn't interesting enough, the song didn't have a good flow, and was too directionless even for ambient. NO

I like the sparse airy mood and some of the arrangement ideas within. But this has a general MIDI sound that's not doing it many favors. The drums are really tepid and there's a lot of space in this mix, they should be much beefier. Cool fills though. The lead sound is also pretty thin, though sometimes you can get away with that if there's enough else going on (which there wasn't here). The sequencing in this song is really square and some more sophistication there would have helped. Finally, thirding that the repetition is a dealbreaker and the second half should have done more to distinguish itself. There's a lot of ways in which you can improve this. NO (resubmit)

This only takes off for me at the 1:03 mark - before that there's not enough going on detail-wise to really justify the vast expanses of nothing. The early sections with just kick and snare are really empty. The way the intro was written was also weird, with the harder snare entering out-of-the-blue for one hit. But the arpeggios really fill things out and when the drums come in with full force at 1:22, this sounds pretty cool and the rest of the song is stronger. I would have moved that moment earlier, or maybe played with the hi-hats instead of the kick/snare combo in the intro. Unfortunately, production is a problem throughout. The drums sound pretty far back in the mix, while many of the synths are thin and hang front. It didn't sound like it was all in the same space. The pad synth, the one that starts the song, also took up a lot of your space and it would have been better to pull that back. Texturally this could have been more intricate as well. Oh and yes, CENTER that lead if it's not gonna be balanced, it's distracting otherwise. Hopefully these comments get your mixing moving in the right direction, there's potential in this song. NO (resubmit)

Love the intro, that's a great way to get the listener amped up for a song. Unfortunately, past that, I wasn't quite as enamored with this song as my fellow judges. 0:26-1:00 was pretty neat if not that different from the original, but 1:01-1:28 was a weak section with the strings sounding fake and the lead not standing out much. The remaining sections had some cool ideas, though the compression cramped them down and dulled their impact. This was especially a problem in the last section of the song, the buildup there wasn't felt. You might need some EQ clean-up, probably in the pads. I also think the beat could have been tweaked, both the kick and snare are pretty dull without much high-end. I can picture a snare with more bite to it really bringing out the energy in this track. Finally, one small issue - the transition at 1:55 wasn't that great. It kind of came out of nowhere. Overall, the ideas are stronger than the execution but there are some issues on both ends. Nothing here is major, but a few minor issues in conjunction make me want to push for a resubmit. This has a good chance of getting my vote with even some of those things fixed, and who knows - with two YESes so far, you may get the go ahead anyway. NO (resubmit)

I found the track to be quite repetitive though the textures you've got in place are interesting. There are some cool individual moments mixed in there too. I think part of the problem with this is that, in addition to the repetition, it stays in one gear and holds at the same level of fullness. Even the Daft Punk songs that have the beat going the entire song usually do something more in the way of dynamics. I also will agree with OA that the track was a little dry, and it may have helped to have some element be more upfront; it comes off as kind of background-y. There's a lot of cool stuff in place, but some issues to iron out. This is a great candidate for resubmit, if you feel up to messing with it. NO (resubmit)

I'll echo the criticisms of the samples and articulations, that's pretty much the only thing holding this back for me. The backing parts are entirely new so there's a lot of personalization to this. I liked the arrangement quite a bit. There could have been more dynamic contrast, but that's a minor concern next to the other issues. Work on making the production as good as the arrangement. NO (resubmit)

This is my favorite Rozovian song too, and winter is absolutely captured in this. diotrans and I drove up to NY last winter for the holidays, listening to the OverClocked Christmas album. Even though this song is not that Christmas-y, it perfectly fit the drive. Maybe a little long, but it's one of those tracks where he keeps a good thing going and it doesn't overstay its welcome.

I think you have to consent to the same policy with project tracks that you do with submitting remixes, so technically djp can post whatever he wants. For the initial flood, he picks a variety of tracks to showcase the album. After that, we only post tracks that people submitted that pass.

I've started e-mailing people when I mark their sub as a DP candidate, since like you said, we get e-mails asking what happened. (And I think the other inbox handlers have started doing that too; if not, I'll get on their cases.) It's a little harder to keep a DP list up to date with the system we have but it could be done. I personally think it's kind of cool to have some surprise in terms of what gets posted.

There's no mandate on what we have to vote on first. I try to vote in order, but I give some preference to resubmits and split decisions. Sometimes I only have time for a quick vote, so I'll do one where I know the source.

Wow, I never saw this thread, unfortunately. Is it too late to do a sign up, Josh? If you do more artists for the mainstream category, Flickerfall would love to volunteer.

Yep, that's what I look like IRL too. Oh except in my sig or artist profile picture or any FB pictures.