Palpable

I wasn't really feeling this conceptually. The intro was definitely too long (it doesn't get going until 2:55!) and the sounds you used didn't really cohere. The main section and intro sounded like Jumpstyle, and other parts of it were very atmospheric. I don't think this can't work, but it would require more subtlety in the way you transition. I felt the song was also too repetitive and was sort of just one big build-up and then break-down. There wasn't enough detail for such a lengthy song, and the speed-ups and slowdowns didn't help - in fact, I thought they took too long and did too little. Some accompanying melodies and more varied beats would add a lot to this song. Production is not bad. The reverb is too high, even when it's trying to be airy. I also think your synth lead is a little generic and something more atypical could work better in trying to create a unique texture. Your incorporation of the sampled source was a nice touch, but like Larry, I think the best usage was the last one. Decent ideas here, but this has a long way to go. Keep improving your skills, NeoS. NO

Final plan: we're swinging by and picking up Xerol on Friday night. Should be getting to Philly pretty late, around 11 PM. Sorry there's not enough room at the apartment for you on Friday, Kulaman, but we'll catch you on Saturday?

Feeling this version over the last version. An improvement both in the writing and producing. Good changes in melody and chords at 1:18-1:45 and 3:02-3:29. But this still has a fair number of problems you'll have to fix. The delay on the intro is a little much and the melody is hard to make out. At 0:22 the drums sounded too upfront, and they still sound a little low-quality. Overall, they may even have too much reverb now. The kick at 0:50 definitely shouldn't have that much reverb on it; it muddies the soundscape. 1:18 was a strange transition because of how the strings fade out. The lead at 2:15 is a little overpowering and it doesn't sit as well as previous leads. It probably needs some of its lower, competing frequencies toned down. I think the biggest problem is that the piece is muddy and needs EQ for separation and less reverb/delay on certain parts. I also thought that the beats got a little old by the end, possibly because the same samples are used for most of the song. At 1:32, it might have been cool to hear new samples to go with that new drum pattern. Some volume changes in your percussion patterns would make this sound less bland, i.e. not having every hi-hat play at exactly the same volume. Some samples are also a little loud, like the percussive clicks starting at 0:44. Try comparing your drums to a similar song to get a better sense of where the levels should be. What you have is good, but it can be tightened up. This is coming together, Sreyas, and I'd like to see you stick with it, if you're still up for it. NO (resubmit)

Whoops, Dave was planning to do the hotel thing Saturday, not Friday. So that means the Kulaman plan won't exactly work. But talking to Dave it sounds like he is ok with us picking up Xerol and just having three in the back. Xerol, I'm sending you a PM about our plans. When we've got everything figured out, I'll let everyone know what we decide.

Talking to djp last night it sounded like he and Anna wanted to get a hotel on Friday night. That would leave room for Kulaman, if he were to bring Xerol. Let's let Dave confirm though. In case there isn't room at Jill/Andy's apartment for Kulaman, my car can physically take five, but it would be a very uncomfortable ride for those in the back. It's not a big car. I'm personally ok with it, but I'll be driving. I don't want to speak on behalf of those I've already promised I'm taking, i.e. Dave and Anna, whether they'd be ok with it. Sorry for the miscommunications but yesterday Dave seemed as confused as me that we were supposed to be taking Xerol. I think this plan got decided without us. Thanks for offering your car up, Kulaman.

I'm not sure how it got decided that djp and I were carpooling with you, Xerol, but my car can't seat 5 people and all our stuff comfortably for three hours. So I won't be able to give you a ride. Is it possible you can still drive, or catch a ride from someone else?

Played the hell out of Mega Man 2, 3 and X. Just incredibly fun games. After a while, I started trying to do the bosses in weird order to make the games more interesting. Pretty recently I did a Mega Man 2 speed run on difficult against some friends and won by about ten minutes.

Nice take on this classic theme, modifying the chords and jazzing it up. The lead instrument entering at 0:34 sounded a little cheesy at first, but I think as the song went on, it grew on me, reminding me of the early synths that got used in 70's music. It's a great atmosphere, very dream-like. Good improvisations too. I noticed that the end of the song has eight seconds of silence. Let's chop that off before posting this. I probably would've scaled back the reverb on the drums to give them a crisper sound. Like Anso said, the bass drum especially takes up a lot of space with that reverb. I also wouldn't have mind more variations in the hi-hat pattern. Otherwise, just chill, solid stuff. Would have loved to hear another minute of it. YES (conditional on ending fix)

I already thought that your arrangement was over the bar last version, but this is something else. Like Endless Skies, there's a ton of variation and stays compelling for six minutes. Nice shifts in notes at 1:28 to match the original chords, great breakdowns and build-ups, and I love the new drum change-up at 3:06. That part seemed zircon-esque to me for some reason. I don't think anyone can level the cookie-cutter criticism at this song anymore. Production is spot-on except for a couple places. I think the game dialogue is a little loud, and the strings that enter at 3:26 cover up a lot of soundfield but they aren't there that long. Minor stuff. My real problem with the last version was the liberalness. Here's my new breakdown: 0:00-0:12 original 0:13-0:42 heavily modified version of the opening riff 0:43-1:10 modified version of the opening riff 1:11-2:10 pulls from chorus riff 2:11-3:47 original 3:48-5:28 pulls from chorus riff 5:29-5:35 original 5:36-6:04 heavily modified version of the opening riff Though I didn't write out my breakdown last time, the parts I weren't feeling were the heavily modified versions of the opening riff. It altered the riff past the point of being recognized IMO. In this version, even taking those out you're at just a little over 50%. I think that combined with the much improved arrangement and production makes this a solid YES for me. Thanks for coming back to this one, Jonathan. YES

Happy birthday dude! You're the glue holding the gears of this place together.

There are certain styles that are difficult to make remixes in, not necessarily because we are against those styles, but more that our standards have some conflict with the style. Obviously something chiptune-sounding is going to have to really good to pass, and probably incorporate effects that were impossible to do on the original VG systems. Avant-garde can be tough because it has to incorporate the source recognizably. Anything very repetitive would probably get NOed, even though there is plenty of popular music that is very repetitive. I can see using preset-y trance synths as a valid criticism on those terms. Sure, there's tons of trance out there that uses synths like that, but our standards have a small conflict. I like to leave it as a judgment call.

If you've got transportation and lodging figured out, I'm sure we'd all be happy to meet new faces. The more the merrier.

Wasn't really feeling this one as much as your recent subs, Alex. The sections that stuck to the source really highlighted how unmelodic your original writing was. I gave you some advice in your other Chrono Trigger sub. Transition at 2:17 was abrupt. For the most part though, I liked your instrument choices, and I thought the shifting of the starting beat of the source at 3:05 was interesting. The other judges might kill me for this, but I also liked the dissonant chord you added at 1:50 (I'm probably as big a proponent of dissonance as you'll find on the panel). I should stress that your dissonant writing usually works against you, and I think you should develop a better melodic ear so you can decide when it's right to use dissonance. String writing started very mechanically, but as the song went on, it became less of an issue. I also thought the panning got strange at 1:22, very overpowering in the right ear. Maybe it was just that the volume levels of the strings fluctuated unnaturally. Like I said at the start, this isn't one of your stronger recent subs and I'd say focus your efforts on your other songs. NO

Really nice concept but your execution is a little off. Texture is very thin. Leads need to be doubled or thicker instruments need to be used. The brass was pretty-fake sounding, so I wouldn't mind that being changed entirely. The saw-wave sounds dry and might have benefitted from some delay or reverb to make it take up more room. Like Larry said, the song is too short to have it repeat ground. Would have been cool to see some parts just focusing on the bassline or new instruments, maybe playing with some dub effects. I did like your drums and the piano delay was a cool touch. I think this could be something really cool, but it will take a lot of work on your part, Jeremy. I hope you give it another look. NO

I like your moods, Alex. This had a cool 80's Depeche Mode industrial vibe that was quite different from the original but fitting to the context in the game. Your Castlevania 4 sub had a nice mood too and I think this is becoming your biggest strength. Like some of your previous submissions, the original writing doesn't sound very melodic. The other thing that perhaps we've never mentioned is that your writing is not very lyrical. Sometimes the notes are melodically correct but the phrase has awkward jumps or starts at a weird beat in a measure. Sometimes the phrase never really stops! Maybe try experimenting with shorter phrases first. It could help you to start simple, like Cain said. Mixing was off. The drums should have been a lot louder and set a strong beat for the song - instead, they kind of just glided along. The whole song also sounded a little compressed, which took away some of the power. NO

Definitely a cool first sub. I liked the effects on the instruments and the overall mood was chill. Sweet bass. I would have liked to see you mess with the melody more rather than just changing the backing parts. You did have some cool runs on the lead, and more in that vein would be nice to hear. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing more change in texture - perhaps a break with some new instruments or more detail in the parts. The song felt a little static. The fadeout was an easy way to end it, and I thought it wasn't used that smoothly here. I agree that it was too lo-fi. I tend to think lo-fi instruments work best paired with high-quality ones for contrast. Otherwise, it can sound cheap. Maybe consider keeping the drums lo-fi while making the synths shine a little more. Hope you come back to this one, Stian, I can really imagine it becoming something great. NO (resubmit)

Great, cute arrangement. Love the texture here and how it's constantly morphing. Lots of tasteful effects to keep it interesting, and the sources are used in a wide variety of ways. I actually really liked the dissonant bits at 2:13 and 2:20. They seemed very intentional, a nice contrast to a highly melodic/harmonic track. My only complaint is that the track could be beefier all around, but instead, it has a clean, sparse sound. In the end, I'm not bothered. The arrangement is plenty good. YES

I thought the approach was pretty interesting too, meshing the two songs. They go over each other pretty well. This had sort of a kitchen sink feel though - sometimes the stuff you threw stuck, but more often not. The strings that Larry mentioned sounded off to me, poorly articulated. The piano too. I think some of the high octave stuff also got irritating/cloying, but I'll allow that that's more a personal preference. The biggest issue here for me is that the overall feel is just not very cohesive, even for a song that's trying to be spastic. There are a lot of sections where there's too much going on (1:57-2:10 and 3:17-3:30 are prime examples) and 3-4 instruments are vying for the lead. I think more distinction between what is taking lead at any given time would improve this immeasurably. In addition, some of the writing just isn't very melodic. Take another look at the song, Shaun, and think about our comments. The general idea here is good, but the execution could use work. NO (resubmit)

Gorgeous. YES

There's some cool ideas in this, but I think in general, it doesn't say enough. The piano figure gets very old by the end, and I really wish you had modified it a little as it went on. Otherwise, the original string writing is not bad, and the drum change-ups are cool. Like Shariq, I think this could have used a bass part to round it out. Production really needs work. Almost every sample here is too lo-fi. The distortion effects on the drums might sound alright if the samples were fuller and cleaner to begin with. As is, they sound very trebley and don't fill out the soundfield. Piano and strings articulations could use humanization, especially changes in volume. I also think overall the song needs more clarity, more use of EQ. This one would take a lot of work to pass but the overall interpretation ideas are good. I hope you try to improve your production skills (make use of those WIP forums! ) and come back to this one, or submit something else to us. NO

I feel a little like Jesse here, like we're not all listening to the same track. The arrangement was quite good, don't get me wrong, but I thought the guitars sounded very fake. The runs at 0:36 or 2:05, for example - they just sound odd to me. That sort of stuff is difficult to sequence realistically. I also thought the quality of the instruments was a problem, though it's possible with a wider reverb sound or less focus on the guitars, it might have worked. The track came across as dry and sparse. The vocals didn't fit into the soundscape, and like Jesse said, they were either badly recorded or badly EQed. I did like the addition of Dustin's vocals as a concept. Sorry if I came down on this hard, Long. It's a strong arrangement, but with all the focus on the guitars, I think it would be hard to sequence it and have it sound realistic enough. I'd strongly recommend getting someone to play the parts, if you can, like Pot Hocket or one of the acoustic guitar whizzes on the site. NO (resubmit)

The arrangement has been summed up pretty well already. Very generic sounds and structure, but good energy and a decent interpretation of the theme. I thought the intro didn't really add that much, and that it was too quiet, like zircon mentioned. The rhythmic changes in the melody were nice, but I would have liked to see some of the original writing take more of a lead role. What you have added is all background. Production was fine too, though I think things could have been a little clearer. No big problem areas anywhere though. In the end, my take on it is the same as BGC's. A couple problems here and there, but to me, no real reason why this shouldn't get passed. I'm not that excited about it but it's a good song, and I think it will have its fans. YES

Chrono Trigger is my favorite game ever (yeah, mine and half the people who frequent this place) but I hadn't seen anyone use Gaspar on the board. He's not exactly the most important character in the game but I always liked him.

This was a great interview, questions and answers both. Wright is a fascinating guy, and I was surprised he had the patience to answer the huge number of questions you threw at him. In the end, it made for a great read.

Your arrangement is not going to win any major points for originality, but I thought this was decent trance. Nice atmosphere. It has enough breakdowns and changes in lead to keep it interesting, though I wish the beat had changed up at some point. There's only so much I can listen to that over a 6 minute track. Also, no offense, but I thought the synthesized vocal section was cheesy. My big concern is with the connection to the original. The first two minutes of this had no connection I could find, since the chords were new. Afterward, your altered melody came in, and that was the only connection I found until the end. I don't think that's really enough for a track this long. The melody wears out its welcome, and if you had switched back to your original melodies, the song probably wouldn't be connected enough. I can't think of much advice to offer here, except working in more of the source, which may involve a lot of rewriting. Production was nice, I liked how the song floated along. The lead at points might have been a little too loud for the rest of the track, and I think if you took it down, you could push the entire track volume a little higher (it was a little on the low side). Whatever you decide to do with this, I think it's a fine song, but not quite right for OCR in this state. NO