Flexstyle

Sour note alert at 0:51! And 0:54. And 1:06. And anywhere that chord progression is used. Watch those backing chords (sounds like rhythm guitar and/or backing pad/keys), make sure they're in key. That needs to be fixed before getting posted. The overall arrangement is...fine. It's very conservative, and the parts are played adequately for the most part. The drums could benefit from some more nuanced part writing, and the hi hats in particular feel a bit loud to me. Guitar lead tone is also harsh in some spots, particularly when higher notes are played. Bassline is very conservative and would benefit from some syncopation at least. None of these would be dealbreakers though if it weren't for the sour notes in the chord progression. NO (resub)

The mastering issue here is that it's brickwalled like crazy, but then the master output is volume-automated turned down. Really weird. Everything sounds squished. Ease up on the master compression and let the whole thing use all its headroom with some actual dynamic range, maybe? Other Js cover good points so I'm not going to go in depth on samples, arrangement, etc. Call me a single-issue voter if you must, but I'm voting.... NO

A lot of other people have given a lot of in-depth feedback, so here's a cliff's notes version of a vote: make transitions smoother and sequence drums more realistically. As a drummer, this always bugs me -- don't just slap a few patterns together! Give some human variation even in between sections rather than just "here is loop and there is loop and smash them together." Have some fills every few bars, give me something to indicate that the next section is coming up rather than a hard transition, etc. Not this lazy "hat over rudimentary kick and snare for 16 bars" stuff. The drum mix as well would likely benefit from bringing the cymbals down and the kick and snare up. There's more issues (and some that I don't really take issue with, like for instance the overall mix is passable to me), but I'll let that be the extent of my vote for now. NO

Gah why does this have such a WEIRD overall sound? Like, the elements in the mix are all balanced reasonably well against each other, but there's a really strange mastering chain or something. I mean if I were given just the individual stems (e.g. drums, bass, synths, etc) I could probably get this over the bar in half an hour (that's an offer on the table, btw). As it is, even, it's not enough to necessarily hold it back. The rest of the song is solid -- it moves forward with purpose, sounds are neat, variation is sufficient overall. hrmmrmrmrmrmrmrmrmr, this is a really tough back and forth.... EDIT: Emu made some REALLY good, actionable points down below. In the interest of moving this one along, I'm going to go ahead and revise my vote so that it has a chance to not be a "HMMWELLMAYBE" track but rather a "GOODJOB" track. NO

Very quick vote, since there's already a lot of discussion above. - That bell lead that begins at about 1:14 is grating to the point of being a dealbreaker to me by itself. Too sharp. Lower the high harmonics (or just use another patch), lower the volume a bit, and you'll be there. - Repetition also a dealbreaker for me. I'd also say that this song would benefit from some detail work: more drum fills to keep things interesting, more melodic interpretation (aside from just straight MIDI rip status on the leads), maybe another melodic element (e.g. a pad or a countermelody or a background arp) in more places, etc. Mix and master is pretty good aside from the bell synth. Drums punch hard, bass is nice and crunchy, the rhythm section overall is pretty strong aside from the lack of variation. NO (but I'll look forward to seeing this one back again).

I'd vibe to this as background music. If your goal was just to effectively "replace background music source with BETTER background music version," you've nailed it! Not enough to be featured as a standalone song, though. It's possible to do this source as an OC ReMix, I'm sure (hey, I've got a bunch of songs interpreting shorter songs than this lol), but this isn't the approach to take for a front page feature. Proph went into the weeds so I don't feel the need to do so, but what's holding this one back is it's just too backgroundey. Good mixing, good mastering, good sound selection -- your production instincts are great! Just gotta improve the arrangement side to where this can stand as its own song. NO

It's like a warm hug for my ears. Such a rich mix, a great handling of the source, and an emotive set of performances. YES p.s. I also hate horror games so there's that too

I can see why this is getting some back-and-forth here. I think that, with some attention to detail on variations (both with the drum sequencing and with the arrangement of the melodics), this would be a pretty easy pass. Chimpa's suggestion of moving it from the mono to the stereo field would also be a big WOW moment, if that's the direction taken. It's a good suggestion but not the reason to hold it back. Overall, the song moves along well enough and the sequencing is done well enough to where I'd feel comfortable posting it. If it doesn't go through, ultimately, one extra coat of polish should do the trick. I'm not gonna be the one stopping it, though. YES

I can see why this is a split vote. Mixing issues are a bit rough for me (lotta stuff crowded into the midrange and not a lot of definition in the low or high end), and those drums...man, this would be elevated so much with a real drummer, or at least more nuanced sequencing on this one. That's kinda a big ask, though, I know. This is a good arrangement, though, and a lot of imagination is shown here. Here's the thing -- when it comes to could-go-both-ways tracks like this for me, my big X-factor is this: "Did you make it interesting, at least?" The answer here is yes. This is an ambitious arrangement that says a lot over the course of five minutes, and while there are clear mix and sequencing issues, the overall package is one that I think clears the bar -- everything in here is here for a reason, the point of the arrangement comes across despite the midrange mud, and the guitar performances are strong as well. YES

y'all way too picky with the mixing these days...this is perfectly acceptable for the genre and it's a great flip. Yeah the elements could be separated more, but the combination all works, and it gets the point across effectively. YES

y'all being babies, just turn your headphones down if the loudness is a problem because this thing slappppps. Neat source, fresh take on it, love the retro+modern sound set. ...okay, I can hear the issues in the breakdown section. Still not enough to prevent me from saying YES

Cliff notes version: this song goes on a journey for sure. Dig the groove. Not hearing the dissonance that some people are complaining about tbh. Mixed pretty well, bass thumps and beats bump. Source comes across well. I'm never bored throughout. No reason to hold it back IMO. YES

I don't think the limiting is that big a deal myself. The drums bug me, as a drummer, because they're so dry and simple. Wish we had more variation there. Heck, I'm almost about to volunteer to just track new drums myself and even do a mixdown if this thing doesn't pass, haha. I'm in Emu's boat: the vibe check passes. This song clearly communicates the original theme, it does its genre well, and while some elements could easily be improved, I don't think that holds it back enough for me to stop it. YES

I'm gonna be brief -- this is a sweet, very tasty jam session over a backing instrumental that just doesn't change very much over the course of the song. Like you had a really cool drums+bass+pads loop and then had everyone take turns soloing. I can click around the song and the bass/hats don't really change their presentation substantially. It sounds really neat. It doesn't hit what I think an OC ReMix is. There's more feedback I could give on the execution of the genre but I don't want to drag this out further. Happy to coach synthwave details via PM or something if desired. NO

See above for my exact feelings. ALSO NO (resubmit with a cooler back third pls)