Gario

Honestly, I've heard plenty of this genre to know that much of this is standard death metal fare - sweet complicated guitar work and incomprehensable growls that make more sense the more you listen to them. I agree with Mindwander on some of the vocals being mixed too far behind the guitars. It's so much better at 1:57 when they take center stage, but even what we have elsewhere is plenty postable on OCR; I can still hear and understand the lyrics when they're more behind the mix, just oddly mixed. Overall this is exactly what I'd imagine if someone said "Death Metal Mole Knight", and I'm more than happy to see this where it belongs. YES

A Bravely Second remix? Where did this come from? Didn't you know that this soundtrack isn't supposed to exist, according to popular opinion on the internet because it's not composed by Revo? Memes aside, I actually really do enjoy a lot of what Bravely Second had to offer in it's OST, even if it doesn't have the same character as the original, so I'm happy to see something fresh coming from the series much maligned (and wrongly so, might I add) direct sequel. The source is really quite the slick piano solo, and this is a very solid reinterpretation of that source, with those rich synths and live guitar performances. No question that this is the source, and with the open chords in the beginning and solo starting at 2:29 (not to mention, y'know, that this is transforming a piano solo to an 80's style synthwave reinterpretation, of course) there's no doubt that there's plenty of interpretation going on, here. I hear some critique on the guitar performances, and I'll concur that the lead does sound stiff, almost plodding. I'll also add that there is a hint of hesitation in the lead, as well. Neither of these items sink the arrangement, but they're things you can tighten up in any arrangement moving forward. The other arrangement critique on the solo is something that I concur with - there are a few sour notes in there, which prophetik did a fantastic job isolating. It's only three notes that really stand out as unacceptable (at 2:30, 2:35, and 2:41), the rest aren't nearly as offensive (even if I do agree with everything prophetik says about it). Overall this is a pretty solid arrangement on our hands. Is it perfect? Nah, there's some tightening up in the guitar that could help elevate it, and the solo had a few notes that I'd be better without, but I don't think these send this arrangement below the bar. Nice work! YES

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

Wow, this thing slams onto the scene, doesn't it? Gotta respect the Birdly opening into the Queen's theme, they blend perfectly (shouldn't be a surprise since the Queen's theme makes short, motivic cameos in the smart race track, as well). It's pedal to the metal all the way through, but it doesn't ever get boring in the slightest - it keeps ya guessing all throughout the track, with all those cameo themes. Definitely keeps it's own identity consistent throughout, with that Birdly theme really acting like the glue to keep it all together. There's an argument to be made that the piano section at the end doesn't quite fit and sounds more like a different song starting, but honestly it doesn't bother me. Did I mention this is loud? This is LOUD. There's a lot going on in the background of this track which gets lost in the mix - did anyone even notice the fantastic trumpet work going on in the background at 0:55, for example? I sure didn't until going back in the arrangement. It would've been to this track's benefit to remix this so that every element is salient in the arrangement (I should know, I have the same issues in my own, as DjP once called it, maximalist music), but there's certainly an appeal to having the elements in the front really blasting in the front of the mix, too. You gain some, but you lose some, too, and I think what was lost is a shame. Not that I think that means this shouldn't be on the front page, because it definitely should be on the front page. When the biggest complaint is that we can't hear all the cool shit going on in the background as well as we'd like, that's not necessarily a bad issue to have. Nice work! YES

@Chimpazilla Could be the typical "Amp stuff" that you're talking about that I'm hearing as less than intentional, many of the notes when they hit buzz and sound almost distant which when layered over the heavy reverb, which hits me as wrong. I could be incorrect calling it a mistake, though looking at the waveform those hits are really smashed against the limiter. I stand by my judgment particularly because that reverb is really oversaturated, but I could see your point that it might be something more stylistic that I'm hearing negatively.

Nice and short arrangement of a classic, and it's full of flavor throughout - love the overall idea behind this one. I don't mind the panning of it, there's enough going on in both ears where it balances out on headphones, but the overlimiting hurts the overall production quality; there are artifacts everywhere that just kills the quality of the lead. There's plenty of volume in this arrangement, turn down the levels so that there's less room for limiting issues. The reverb on the lead is pretty excessive, too, even for the style, so turn that down a bit, as well (that also will help with the overlimiting since that will decrease the overall levels, as well). I like it, I want to see it fixed and sent back our way since it's really quite close to being front page material. NO

Octopath love! Some great music in that OST, so it's nice to see it getting attention in here. The arrangement is decent, especially considering how limited the source material is. Most of the instruments chosen create a nice, ethereal blend with that clean guitar and those synths that remind me of Celeste, and that opening section with the panning phased pads is brilliant. The overdrive guitar at 1:18 - 1:48 and that lead are stiff, though; the guitar sounds like the same loop on repeat, and the lead synth sticks out in the mix and doesn't have the special attention to dynamics and phrasing the other instruments have. It's the lead instrument, it's very noticeable that it plods along against such well constructed textures. At 2:19 - 2:49 the lead issue isn't resolved, and now the guitar sound sounds like static in the background. The section at 3:50 sounds considerably better; while the guitar could sound more like strumming than individually picking every note (making it sound stiff) it's not bad, and the rest of the arrangement around it sounds great. The fade-out at the end lasts about two measures too long, but that's a nitpick more than anything. The production values are pretty good in this one overall, with a nice soundscape to boot. It's a close call for me; those two sections really stand out as below the par set by the rest of the arrangement, but I don't think it's enough to sink the arrangement overall. It's not perfect, but the sum of it's parts are still quite good so I'd not want to deprive the track of an OCR audience. YES

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

Note: I don't believe I can produce an unbiased vote due to this being on an album I'm directing, but I will drop my thoughts on this regardless. This is a track that Voduo and I worked through quite a bit, so I know all of the iterations that it went through. It's biggest strength throughout was it's daring use of SFX to compliment the source, and the variety of harmonizations used through the mountain source. There is a little clashing between the minor harmonies and major melody sometimes, but in this stage it more or less adds flavor and doesn't detract from the enjoyment I get from the track. The production is clean, though I do hear the lack of the lowest end (anything below 50hz) upon relistening with some fresh ears. That could be solved by giving the instruments acting as the bass and kick some bass EQ balancing, since it's not *lowpassed* from what I can see in a spectrum analyzer, just lacking in that area. That'd solve both the lack of presence the bass has on neutral headphones and the overall soundscape issue this has. I wouldn't mind handing it back to her with that critique in mind, but I also do believe that it's in a state that's good enough at least for the album and possibly for the site; I'd not have accepted this track as finished otherwise. I'd likely give this a YES, even if I wasn't biased in favor of the track to begin with.

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?"

I think it's easy to see this track's obvious strengths - the arrangement has so much fun changing up the harmonic make-up of the source, and it works deliciously well. The melody ain't changed a bit, which really emphasizes how well the arrangement works "under the hood", so to speak. It's far from a complex arrangement otherwise, and it repeats it's harmonic ideas once it's done running through them once which causes them to lose a little flavor as the track progresses, but it's a short track so it's not like it wears out it's welcome, either. The instrumentation is simple, but it works for what it is. The piano is the centerpiece of the track, being it's essentially a piano piece with some backing drums and SNES SFX, which is fine. The sequencing on the piano is acceptable for what it is - if it's not a few MIDI controller performance inputs it does a solid job of adjusting velocity to give the parts life in a believable way. The instrument choices are nothing complicated, it knows what it is and runs with it. Might've been more interesting if the arranger was willing to spice it up with other accompanying instruments, since the drums and SFX take away from it being a solo piano arrangement (and the arrangement itself would've been too repetitive had it been piano alone), but it's not bad as it is, either. I could easily see this track expand it's ideas into a more thoroughly explored arrangement, but I don't think I'd reject it just because it could have been more fleshed out. It's a short and pleasant idea, and it plays itself out and exits center stage - it does exactly what it wants to, and what it wants to do is something cool that others should be able to enjoy. YES

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.

One of these two sources are a favorite of mine (cough Unknown Lands cough), so perhaps I come in with a little bias in saying I think the arrangement was very enjoyable. The production and instrumentation was great, as well, even if the bass was a *tad* heavy for the orchestral genre. Aside from the cut-off at the end (I agree with prophetik's comment that it should've had more of a sustained tail at the end), I also think the transition between sources was abrupt and unexpected when they happened. Not at all a deal breaker, but the sources didn't really transition in a way that made great sense. I hear the source references to one another, there's blending, but the key change and source changing is very abrupt and definitely took me out of the music for a second when it happened (at 1:42, specifically, and a bit at 3:33 as well). In contrast, that opening minute handled the two sources together gracefully and naturally, so it took me out of it when it was so jarring later. That aside, fantastic arrangement and definitely worth the front page. YES

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