Palpable

Larry covered it. Great-sounding track but too close to the original. The only thing I might suggest on the production end is toning down the bass - the heaviness of the track is compelling but feels a little overkill. Maybe just a bit to get a more rounded sound. Sorry, dude - please sub us something more interpretative! I loved your Oil Ocean mix. NO

I thought there were too many ideas going on here, even for a disjointed song like Pokey. I guess it might work if the pieces were better connected, but this played like 20 measures written by different people all pieced together. It didn't have enough cohesiveness. It also played Pokey pretty straight for a lot of it, though it got more interpretative in the second half. The section that closed it out was pretty strong. The textures were sparse, as Larry pointed out. Even in the final section which I liked a lot, the guitar floated above the other instruments. The backing parts needed to come up to round out the spectrum. Just compare the drums at 0:50 to this part - huge difference in volume. There were a number of parts like that where different mixing levels would have improved things. With problems on both sides, I don't see this one being easily fixable. I encourage you guys to submit more though, this showed promise. NO

Just listened through it, and yeah, excellent stuff. I'm a big fan of his style here, combining a variety of synths and acoustic instruments with harder drums, and occasionally his own R&B vocals. A lot of times it reminded me of Craig David, especially when guitars are in play. There's a very consistent mood, but most of the songs still stand alone, because of the choice of lead or an unusual beat. Interesting to have all the vocal songs first, then all the instrumentals, when most would have interspersed them. It gave it a side A/side B feel. That's pretty much all I got to say. Pick it up, y'all!

Very cool beat and processing, Samuel. Sound-wise, texture-wise, this is really good. I agree with Larry that the first 1:41 feels like an extended intro - there's not a whole lot going on there to progress the song. At 1:41 another part of the source gets used, but the instrument set is the same, and the impact there isn't very big. I would have loved to see different instruments used, or another octave added on to the lead, something that fills out the spectrum more and takes the song to another level. I also thought the source could have been more prominent, especially during the first half. There's a little too much cut-and-pasting too, but with a more varied arrangement, those concerns might fall away. No big complaints production-wise. What's here sounds tight, just like your Zelda mix. I'd say keep the sounds but rethink the arrangement a little. NO (resubmit)

I think Amy and I fall into the Too Lazy to Get Married category. It'll probably happen when outside forces are overwhelming enough.

Here's one, Larry: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01114/ Also this may be helpful eventually if not now: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/tags.php?tag=vocal. It hits some wordless vocal mixes but is still useful. I've tagged about 25% of the mixes so far.

Here's a recently rejected sub that was a remix of a remix. The remix isn't linked there, but we talk about what it would take to have a remix of a remix pass. It is definitely possible to do, but probably difficult.

Have a great birthday, Wes.

Great to finally see another game in the series. Can't say I was wowed by the trailer but the idea of another Golden Sun game is exciting enough. It was never a "graphic" game, anyway.

They are probably the most consistently good movie makers ever. I never saw Cars, and I haven't seen Up yet, but out of the rest only Bug's Life was average to me (but was still enjoyable). I'd probably put them as: 1. WALL-E 2. Ratatouille 3. The Incredibles 4. Toy Story 2 5. Toy Story I can't believe they have topped themselves so many times. The first half of WALL-E, up until he gets to the ship, is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. The second half is merely very good.

This had a lot of strengths to it, starting with a good concept and good writing. The martial drums gave the mix power, and I even liked the seemingly out-of-place synth. Very cinematic, it's got a summer blockbuster sound. I guess the question is whether the arrangement makes up for the shortcomings of the production, all of which Larry noted. I think it does. The piano is the worst offender, but even there, I don't feel like it ruins the piece or anything. If this ends up getting rejected, I'd love to see that fixed up (particularly the end), but this is solid work and I think it's a pass. YES

Haha I love this one. Totally in your face half the time, and then the other half of the time, there's some great breakdown stuff going on. I'm not sure which breakdown I like more - the weird bee stuff at 2:13 or the piano and super distorted drums at 2:30. Great creepy plucked strings following that too. Production is pretty good and over the bar, but I think you could have spent more time polishing it, and I could see the 4th judge knocking you for it. I would have liked the synths brought out for a more balanced sound. There's probably some EQ work you could have done to get that without sacrificing the power of the drums, though the messiness adds a little to the mood. Just something to consider next time. YES

I can pretty much just copy Anso's comments. The dissonance was fine, but where was the source in this? I heard it for about a minute, and then a lot of your own thing, which has more of an inspired by sound than anything directly referencing the source. It all transitions well, and overall I like your new writing, but I don't think the song is source enough to meet our criteria. I also enjoyed the sounds used, but the mixing drags this down. It sounds very distant and muddy, and the jump between the quiet and loud parts needs to be smoother. The quiet parts are barely audible, so they should come up some. Even if the arrangement was passable, the mixing would make this a NO, so this one ain't happening - sorry, Nathan. NO

I see you review stuff from time to time and reviews are always appreciated. Happy birthday.

Haha, that one's better than anything I've got. The most I've laughed at a game was probably Wario Ware for GC. The novelty wears off, but the first time I saw my friend get tasked with "JUMP!" and he's riding a skateboard and he doesn't jump the barrier because he doesn't have enough time to think - cracked me up so much. Happened with most of the minigames.

The clips sound great! I will pick this up soon.

Yep. I think I spent something like 75-100 lives on this level in total, first time through. I'm a little bummed we have to wait till October/November but I know FFIV is happening first, and I'm pretty excited about that one too.

Wow, nice take on it. I just picked up the album a few months back and have been living with this song a lot recently.

Repeating a couple people here, but I'd say the only thing that has changed about the remixes we post now is that we enforce a set of standards more uniformly. There are plenty of mixes from the pre-1000 era that could be posted today, but you'll also find great arrangements with so-so productions, or great near-covers, or goofy stuff that makes you smile even though it's short or repetitive. I still like a lot of that stuff, but it makes sense that over time the site would find its niche and try to perfect that, and in addition, the increasing volume of subs meant that it made sense to gradually raise the bar to devote the same attention to the ones we pass. Certainly something lost, but a lot gained. Keeping in mind that I only started submitting and lurking in 2003, I think the much more impactful change has been the ever-growing size of the site and community.

Happy birthday you crazy kid.

Created some of the finest animated gifs in the community. Happy birthday man.

This is amazing from a sound design perspective, one of the most creative I've seen on the site. Shades of Brian Eno and Mr. Bungle, though I think the connection there is more in spirit than sound. It could stand to be more cohesive structurally, but I really like it nonetheless!

There are some sections that are thin, but when the song is on full steam, like at 1:40, where the majesty of the orchestra is married to the asian instruments perfectly, this sounds like nothing I've heard on this site, and little I've heard outside the site. Great remix.

Great to see you really branching out with this one, Andy, I don't think I would have known it was you if I didn't know already. The automation on the synths is somewhat of a clue, I suppose. This also seems more focused on atmosphere and sound than your usual melodically-centered mixes, which is nice to hear too. I like it!

Probably the most polished remix I've heard from you yet, Roz. Very sophisticated, tasteful uses of synths and more traditional percussion to create a lush, spacious atmosphere. Good balance of doing your thing but keeping a tie to the source. This project is gonna be excellent. YES