Gario

Not bad at all, you'll be hearing an update in here before the end of the month.

I would like to mention that I now have a cat called Caligula, so it's very funny to see the review call my arrangement "Caligulan". :3

Coming in as a fresh judge on this, let's see what we've got here. Interesting source, and the arrangement changes the pace of it to sound more energetic, which is pretty cool. The arrangement is interesting for the first thirty seconds, but the arrangement repeats the sections while layering more items on top of it about three times before moving on, and returns to this same section at 3:02 to close the track out. The issue this creates is a sense of repetition that while not *exactly* repeating it *feels* like it because the same instruments are doing the same thing over and over again while adding items on top, so the textures are repeating and causing the arrangement to feel dull (it's what the judges and I call a track being "too static"). If you insist on doing something like this, at the very least be willing to drop textures out and/or have different instruments fulfill the textures that are playing, that helps keep the track interesting for longer periods of time. The section at 1:50 does a lot to revitalize the arrangement, though, so an alternative is to simply have fewer iterations of the original idea, have the layering happen faster so that there isn't as much overall repetition in the arrangement. Concerning the production values, there's mud created by the pad, the long cutoff with the lead, and the oversaturation of reverb on many of the instruments. It creates a good deal of mud throughout the arrangement. As far as the simpler instruments are concerned (like the fake guitar-ish instrument used at the beginning), while they don't sink the arrangement I would consider asking yourself if they were being used as filler while you found an instrument that best complimented the overall arrangement, as often an artist might use any instrument to fill a role so they can get the music down quicker without returning to see if other instruments might sound better in the role. Something to consider, but if that's the sound you choose at the end I won't hold it against the arrangement. The static nature of the arrangement does sink this below our standards, though; it was difficult to listen to all the way through since I was getting tired by the minute mark. The bridging material in the middle provides a fantastic breath of fresh air that I enjoyed, so either make the material getting there more interesting or perhaps trim the material approaching that section so we can get to the other good stuff faster. NO

You tend to forget that this was created by HAL Laboratories until you listen to the OST, which sounds like "What if Kirby All Stars, but Medieval?"

It's bLiNd, so the production is about as good as I can expect - pretty much without blemish - and I like the central ideas and build-up that the track is based upon. I can't ignore that 0:14 - 0:55 is the same as 1:56 - 2:37, as is 1:43 - 1:56 the same as 3:25 - 3:38, with other sections having relatively subtle changes that are tricky to distinguish unless you listen to them side by side. I'm with Flexstyle, I've sent back less repetition in the past, this isn't going above and beyond the standards to ask that there my less direct repetition; there's plenty in here to build off of to make a great track, which unfortunately sounds like half of a track that got sent on repeat at the moment. NO

Welcome, hope you find a welcoming space that helps you in your craft here! If you haven't already, be sure to check out the OCR discord, as well, since a lot of members are pretty active there, as well. Hope you enjoy the space here :)

Honestly one of my favorites on the album, I've listened to this one a lot. If anyone needs a track to start with in this album, may I suggest the one with a fantastic vocalist and amazing arrangement to one of the best Nobuo Uematsu's ever made.

Holy Moley, did this revision help the track out! There's actually a lot I was missing in the original due to that drone, such as that bass guitar that holds the droning bassline (plenty to link it to the source IMO). The section from 1:09 sounds buttery smooth now, and it offers a lot of great contrast to the opening drone. It also sounds even more like the iconic track that it's paying homage to. Needless to say, the 70's flair that I loved so much before is still here in full glory, with none of the unintentional mud in the production, and the synths & instruments are still top notch. Thanks for the fix - I'm actually surprised just how much this improved the track. This went from a close NO to a "Holy crap why isn't this on the front page yet" YES - fantastic work! YES

Hey, not everything needs to be for the site, this is a cool little arrangement regardless. Loved the changes you made at 1:56, it helped keep the next pass fresh. Hope others give it a listen

Reference to MHA Vigilantes makes this an instant winner. The slick FM sounds, funky arrangement, and crisp singing helps seal the deal.

I think I hear what you mean - if some of the elements were more sidechained then there would be fewer instruments unintentionally dropping in and out due to overcompression. I think we're on the same page, here; if this was fixed with more direct and intentional sidechaining to give instruments space that'd probably help address my concerns, too.

Oh man, this is a really cool arrangement - much agreed with my colleagues above that the use of the sparse source throughout is great, and the nod to Pink Floyd is top notch (from my favorite album of their, no less!). The synths used are thick and rich, and just ooze with 70's distortion and flare. I do, however, have to mirror MW's comment about that pad & organ that holds that droning note throughout the entire arrangement - it's just too loud when everything else comes in and takes all the space those instruments need to stand out. I don't mind it when it's pretty much the only instrument there, but from 1:09 onward that drone needs to be mixed down a bit to give some space to the other instruments. If you want to maintain that distortion that it gets through limiting a loud signal you can achieve that effect prior to the master bus and then mix down the master. I really do like this, I just don't think I can justify it quite like this. I hope to hear a revision with this corrected soon! NO

Okay, this is just an awesome track. The samples hurt the track when they're exposed, but dayum does the metal carry this through. I don't mind the simple synths nearly as much, they compliment the arrangement well enough. As for the arrangement, everything is recognizeable, and because the sources all tend to compliment each other with similar motifs and the like it all ties together as a cohesive arrangement very well. Basically just signing off on this one, because of course it's good enough for a front page post, who are we kidding? YES

Honestly, I think this is a great little track. The idea and style is something else - medieval hip hop? - and it somehow works great with the source, and the arrangement does a fantastic job keeping things fresh throughout it's short and relatively conservative run. The flute performance is really quite charming, but it also exposes a few limits to playing flute at that range. If you don't have access to an alto flute you'll need to lighten up on other background parts in sections like 0:33 - 0:40, since it's really not possible to play flute loud enough at those ranges to rise above the accompaniment. You can also shift registers to gain some volume, but that'll probably ruin the impact you have when you do this with the flute later. The trills are also quiet at 1:33 - 1:34, but that's more likely a performance item that can be corrected by, well, being a little louder. Honestly I wanted to pass this anyway, but that sour note at 2:00 (the high flute note) needs to be fixed; it just lasts too long and is too prominent. I would suggest either raising that note by a half step or dropping it by three half steps to correct it. Please do so and take a look at the other items I discussed and send this back, because it's a pretty cool track otherwise. NO

Fun little conservative arrangement, and some fantastic yodelling, to boot. Love this game and it's soundtrack, so it's always great to hear folk tackle it. That bass, though... yeah, it is overpowering, and it's ever present from 0:16 onward. The mixing of that bass doesn't give any other instrument any room to breathe, so everything else in the mix gets drown behind it. Electronic music often has bass this loud, but it gets away with it by chaining it out of the way when necessary - in this track it is there at full force all the time. My ears actually started hurting by the end of it (not metaphorically, quite literally), and the track is only three minutes long. The track would benefit massively by decreasing the levels of that bass guitar, and it'll allow the other instruments to be mixed in such a way that they don't have to fight for the little amount of space that there is. Bass consumes so much of the spectrum, so it's important it's handled very carefully in an arrangement. EDIT (12/4): I think the bass is still a bit too strong, but this is certainly a significant improvement - more than enough to swing my vote. I won't let perfect be the enemy of great, here, since the arrangement is still great. Nice work on the fix! YES

Fun source, but then again it's Sunsoft so I'd hope that'd be expected (never played it, I might give the game a shot sometime). The arrangement starts very strong, and it does have some nice variations in the soundscape. That repeated section, though, really does grate on the ears after five repeats; I don't think I can in good conscious pass this on without that item being addressed. The form of this arrangement makes sense, but if the material just repeats it's unfair for the listener to go through the material again and again. Even the smallest amount of variance will make the sections sound interesting and fresh, because right now 33% of the track (I stopwatched it, it's 1/3 of the track) is the same repeated material. What was done with the section at 0:18 - 0:32 when it comes back at 1:32 - 1:46 is great, switch things up for that repeated section like this even once or twice will really bring this entire track together, as then even the repeats will be interesting (since listeners won't *know* it's going to repeat each time). Enjoyed it, needs some work on those repeated sections and then it'll be good for the front page. NO

Good stuff, solid source and great arrangement to go on top of it. The voice is sharp to a distracting degree at 0:40, which would be nice to fix, and the diction could be clearer so the lyrics could be discerned better, but otherwise the vocals sounded fine to me - something that might not be to everyone's taste when exposed, but that's Cyril's style so I'm hard pressed to reject a track over it. I think this is plenty fine for OCR's front page, I like it. YES

Man, talk about oldschool. I'd whine about some of those synths being generic vanilla supersaws, but I think I'd be missing the point if I did. I like the soundscape and I think it does a lot of cool things with the source that's given, especially with those different chords beneath the source. The overall arrangement could use less reverb as everything washes out too much, but it's still easy enough to parse the instruments so it's not a debilitating issue overall. Also that ending really could've rung out some more, since it just cuts off abruptly at the end, there. Yeah, I'm vibin' with this, let's put it up. YES

This is such a cool little track! I love the variety, and the overall vibe is just tasty. So many instruments that take each other's roles, it's a great example of how to keep something fresh without changing much but the instrument combinations - solid orchestration overall. I hear the strings being a little less than realistic when they open in the beginning but when they're used to just swell big chords they sound alright overall - not nearly enough to take me out of the listening experience. The mixing is a touch crowded at a few points (like at 2:50, I think I hear some production artifacts), and I think the overall master track could've benefited from less limiting and volume, but I don't think these issues sink the arrangement. I like it, it sounds cool, let's put it up there. YES EDIT (11/04): In light of the track being cleaned up and the highs being dropped to make them less harsh I'm gonna change my vote to a... uh, stronger YES. Hurry up and post this, lol.

This is a tough one to arrange, and for the most part I think Rebecca did a good job expanding what she had to work with. The source arps when they're in the arrangement are played straight a little too much in this, so it kinda makes the arrangement sound almost repetitive while not actually being repetitive, but all things considered the arrangement kept my interest going throughout with the variety in swells and harmonies toyed with. Even for an ambient track it's too quiet, and there's really one spike in the left ear that's taking away most of the space one would have to work with raising levels (the space between 1:38 - 1:42, specifically), so if this gets tossed back I'd suggest working that swell's dynamic down so you have more sonic space to play with - no reason for it to get that loud on one ear anyway, it makes the arrangement sound needlessly imbalanced at that part. The panning doesn't bother me as much as it does others, there's plenty of overall sound that keeps the track sounding balanced enough to my ears, and while I don't think it's for everyone I think this does exactly what it was supposed to as an ambient arrangement. I think it'd be fine on the front page as is. YES

This does a pretty darn good job with the source to arrange it into something not only palatable, but downright darn good; it's a challenge to take something with so many less than tonal elements and cook up something this cool and interesting ain't easy! As far as the arrangement goes, fantastic work. The production has some issues that does hold this back, though. As others have mentioned the instruments are often stiff and inhuman (particularly the guitar and strings), though fortunately there are some instruments that sound great on this front, too (the organ and synth are pretty solid, on this front). Some of this can be hidden with some reverb to blend the instruments together in the space better (there really should be some, anyway, since it's overall much too dry atm), but the mixing exacerbates the issue quite a bit. That rhythm guitar, even if it was perfect otherwise is just mixed too most to the front and drowns the arrangement out, for the most part. This has all the pieces for a pretty great arrangement, but I agree with the others that the instrument humanization needs some work for the guitar and strings, the overall arrangement needs some reverb overall, and the mix needs to be reworked. I like what you did with the source, so I hope this helps. NO

This is a pretty cool track - the instruments chosen really do fit the overall ambience of the source. Others have commented on how cool that percussion is throughout, and I'll double that sentiment; the percussion really adds some good flavor to this arrangement overall. The synths and instruments have a sound to them together that I really haven't heard before, and it's a really cool combination, at that. The arrangement has a few structural issues that hold this back, which Prophetik does a great job outlining. Overall the same instruments are performing the same functions throughout - that pad is playing those harmony stabs, the kick holds a similar pattern throughout, the percussion has two modes outside of the end of the track (cool way to end it btw), the texture is ever present and always the texture, etc. etc.. The arrangement never feels like it goes anywhere different than you initially establish, the arrangement is too static to keep folk's attention for the whole thing. For anything longer than a minute it's important to change the make-up of the arrangement from time to time - maybe remove some instruments so that different combinations can be heard, or perhaps an instrument acting as texture can be used to hold the melody for a bit, or even a completely new instrument can come in and shake things up. Plenty of ways to break up the static quo, but at the moment I can jump almost anywhere in the arrangement on the media player and I'll not know where I am in the track - it all sounds too self similar. The production quality is interesting. I think some TLC to blending the instruments - making sure they sounded like they had similar reverb levels, some of the dynamics were better controlled, etc. - would've done this arrangement a lot of good. I kinda like it's home brew feel, personally, but I think Liontamer is correct that the production itself is a bit too rough for OCR's standards. I'm saying a lot up here but I think this is pretty close. Some tweaks to the arrangement so that it isn't as static and some care to the blending of the instruments and this would be a cool addition to OCR. Best of luck, and thanks for sending it our way! NO

Throwing in some hopefully helpful clarification, I don't think I would've rejected this for it's length, but I would have certainly rejected this for it's realism, and while I probably wouldn't have considered this too repetitive for it's length I understand where the others are coming from. If changes to the material are too subtle they can easily be either missed or not really considered much of a change - the glockenspiel addition would be a good example of this. You'll hear these changes and think they make something sound different enough, but remember you're the composer/arranger - it helps to try and approach listening from an outsider's perspective or ask a friend to see if they can spot the differences. Again, I probably would have considered it enough variation, but I get where the others are coming from. Tweaks to the arrangement - added trills, delayed notes, etc. - tend to go much farther to make an otherwise repeated section sound varied, in my experience, but that's always up to the arranger to make their best judgment. Concerning the instrumentation, I believe it's less the sample quality and more the stale use of articulation that harms the arrangement's realism. It's difficult to write orchestral arrangements that sound real, because getting samples that sound real isn't enough. You need to consider how each performer would play each section and emulate that using various envelope manipulations and articulations (which a VST like Eastwest would have, I imagine). The strings in particular would not sweep into every note, for example, especially when they hold the lead (such as at 1:22) - it makes them sound quiet and unrealistic. Slurring the notes to make a phrase would be more realistic, or "Legato" if that's an option for your VST, and save the sweeps for when the strings are playing chords in the background. It's tricky to get something sounding realistic, but I think you have the samples and tools to do it, at least. As for the actual mixing, I suggest mimicking an orchestral set-up, as far as panning is concerned. Don't hard pan, but this can help give the arrangement some breathing room and help make it sound more realistic. I'm afraid I have to defer to the other judges when it comes to other mixing advice, since the dips in volume for things like the strings seemed like an articulation issue more than a mixing one, in my opinion. It doesn't sound like it was mentioned in the decisions above, but I'd also consider adding a little reverb to the guitar part to make it sound more like it's performing with the orchestra (or conversely a little less reverb from the orchestra, but that is sometimes inherent in the samples so you my not have control of that). It sounded good, just a bit separate from the rest of the instruments which makes either the guitar or orchestra sound a tad less realistic. Wouldn't be a deal breaker, but it's also something to think about. I hope this helps, and I'm sorry it didn't make it through the panel this time. NO

I didn't vote on this but the production quality is an easy bar for this being accepted, as is the cutoff ending which makes it sound incomplete. Aside from that it's very conservative, using similar instrumentation and an arrangement that only differs in how often it loops material, so that'd probably also knock this one down, too. There are tracks that I respectfully raise an eyebrow to the overall decision (every judge has their opinion, it isn't always easy to make a choice!), but with due respect this isn't one of those tracks.

I think we all love Journey to Silius, here, and this is a very cool arrangement to go along with this. The pumping electronic drums and bassline carry the arrangement very well, and the piano in the middle provides some solid breathing room and breaks up the track right when it was getting static. I enjoyed the arrangement overall. The production could use some work. In it's less dense moments it sounds fantastic, pumping with the beat, but when things get more dense (such as at 1:09, and especially at 1:50) much of the backing instrumentation gets buried behind that overcompression, with those intricate arps and such sounding like a pulsing pad. I get making music that pulses like this, but the track is arranged in a way that begs for it's individual parts to be heard. It's not *terrible*, but a lot is lost in the mastering of this one. It also feeds into the idea that the arrangement is static outside of the piano part, because while more textures and such are added throughout the arrangement no one can distinguish them from the rest of the sidechained instruments. I like it, and I can see this passing regardless since it's damn close in my book, but I think either the overcompression needs to be corrected or some of the background elements get cleaned up to better fit the style, because right now the arrangement is sidechaining all of it's textures into a static mass of pulsing sound. NO