Gario

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

I'm not going to lie, if I saw this on the panel today I'd probably reject it for a whole host of reasons. However, it was a different time back then, and I'm damn glad for it because it's still one of my favorite ReMixes on the site. It rips a lot wholesale from the source, but then pulls the source out to reveal all the cool things in the background that was added the whole time - a great example of subtractive arranging that emphasizes what was added in the first place. Also the song just sounds damn cool the whole time it was doing it, which you gotta give it props for that. Old OCR is still good OCR, and I'm glad the site does nothing to hide it's roots, especially when the roots are often as good as this.

Okay, yeah, Tornado of Souls is like the Megadeth guitar solo, it's pretty fantastic. ... well, studio solo, anyway, I was always more partial to his Rude Awakening version of She-Wolf, that shit is insane. Also you gotta give Dave credit as one of the few bands where he changes the heck out of his songs and just makes them better in every aspect in his live performances, that shit ain't easy to do. Also off topic but dat drum solo, man...

Literally my favorite track from the album, with a great arrangement, good production (and intentional glitching), and some really beautiful vocals to tie it all together. I can hear what others are saying about the glitching, but I had no problem hearing their intentional nature, especially considering the source and FF8 story it's tied to. Perhaps we should consider whether we account for that in our judgments (since not everyone will be familiar with the source game), but it makes good sense with that in mind and honestly would detract from the intent of the arrangement if removed. No complaints from me, would be fantastic to see it on the front page. YES

Alright, the final due date has passed, there will be no more tracks accepted for this album. I am working on putting together the final package for review for the staff this week. Thanks for the additional support from members like Voodoo Queen, bLiNd, and Bunnylord (aka TimComposer) for producing some final tracks for everyone to enjoy!

Honestly I don't think I have anything to add to this. It's a cool arrangement of a great source, and it's well recorded with performances that are good enough overall. Put 'er up on the front page. YES

Keeping this short, the performances and arrangement are great, but the production quality is holding this back like the others have said. Metal does tend to have pretty hot mastering, but this is much too far. Lower your levels and let off on the limiter so that there's more breathing room for the track. It's plenty loud already, it doesn't need to be hitting the limiter so hard all the time - there are moments where the arrangement is just crackling from the amount it's hitting the limiters like at 2:12, which is unacceptable. Bring those levels down and clean up the production on this and we'll be good to go. NO

Sounds heavily like a sound upgrade in the beginning, much as others have said, but I think it diverges from the source plenty past the one minute mark - would've marked this as too conservative if it had gone down the "Source but with some added elements" route that it was going down but even just the material from 1:37 - 3:13 is plenty personalized and interpretive for OCR's bar, in my humble opinion. Overall the arrangement sounds pretty gorgeous, and I really do dig them choral clusters in much of the arrangement. I'll echo that the ending choral section doesn't sound appropriate - would've appreciated a version that cuts that out entirely. It sounds great, but it doesn't tie very well to the rest of the arrangement. I was really leaning toward passing this - I actually really like this arrangement overall - but that ending just does not work, and it's long enough of a section to bring the arrangement down. I'd be alright with even just ending the arrangement at 3:13 and letting it ring out, though an actual ending would be a better fix overall. Otherwise I think this is great, but I just can't let that ending slide. NO

This track is in a funny spot. On the one hand the blending of sources is great, and the instrumentation is fairly high quality stuff. My concern with this arrangement is that the mixing doesn't seem to highlight elements like it should. The square texture is clear and easy to hear, the lead at 0:20 - 0:40 is nearly impossible to parse, and throughout the song it's difficult to tell what my ear is supposed to hold onto (with the exception of that square texture - kept focusing on that one). I don't mind the drums - they sound almost like they're in a small venue or garage but I like em' - but the overall unfocused nature of the mix is making this difficult for me to follow, and I imagine the same would also apply to folk who are less familiar with the source like me. I think the mixing needs another pass before we can put this up on the front page, so be sure to remix the leads so folk can follow them better while mixing down the textures so they remain in supportive positions in the mix. NO

Mmm, this is my favorite source from one of my favorite OST's, and you did it justice. The vocals sounded great, backed against the source material very well. The vocals sounded like they meandered wherever they wanted without many motifs or connecting material to itself or the source (the only recognizable recurring element seemed to be a leap of a fifth that the vocals tend to open each phrase with, which is nice), though they sounded very pretty while doing so. It's more of a backing part with excellent line work brought to the front, with the more focused elements from the source being pushed into the background. Folk who want the source to be front and center might miss out, but I don't mind more original material being up front. That being said, it would work even better if the original vocal work was more structured as a melody line with flourish rather than accompaniment if it's going to be up front and center. The overall mixing and production is great on this, with the one snag being the collection of instruments at 2:23; the static, the bass, and everything else really was too overpowering for the overall arrangement and made things hard to hear. Honestly mostly nitpicks, though; this is a fantastic arrangement of a favorite source of mine. I'll be happy to see this on the front page. YES

Source is there, it flows well, and the arrangement is ecclectic - vocals, choir, brass, all sorts of stuff to compliment the metal that ties all these disparate elements together. It's a very cool arrangement of a lot of classic Golden Axe sources, and I love it. The production doesn't have artifacts from mastering, though the mixing could've used some TLC to make some of those ecclectic elements pop out better. The rhythm guitar in particular is pretty overpowering throughout the arrangement which doesn't give you much room to mix anything else to the front when needed, which is disappointing. I think it'd be criminal to make perfection the enemy of good here, though: there's a fun and fantastic arrangement with good recordings and good production values aside from the mixing imperfections. I think this is plenty fine for an OCR post - nice work! YES

dah, i use reason but yes GENNY is pretty darn cool, ngl

Oh shit it's a PsyNES arrangement, haven't had my hands on one of these in a while. I can certainly hear some of that signature psytrance style in this, but it's definitely an older track of yours. Not bad at all, can just tell your style evolved since this one hit the shelves. Anyway, keeping it short, the arrangement sounds good save for the clashing that MW pointed out. I agree with him, the SFX sound too close to notes so it just sounds like wrong notes slamming the listened, so it'd be best to just remove it or replace it with a more tonally neutral SFX. It's a simple arrangement, but we don't need every OCR post to be incredibly interpretive, the style and presentation is good enough for that. The production is... well, it's loud, and it's got a lot of post production on it that's causing issues down the road. When things are simple (kick, lead, arp, bass) the loud mastering + limiters sound great, and they only get better when there is even less (like at 1:45 when it's just kick and bass), but the moment the soundscape sounds more complex or instruments start sharing the same EQ range like the texture and lead at 2:08 there just isn't any room for you to make space. If you need to bring all that post production into play to many the sound nice and fat I understand, but you also have to work knowing that everything is going to be deeply compressed at the end. If you have a lead you want people to follow you need to make sure textures or overtones from other instruments or the bass don't take up the same EQ range, or else it'll be hell to be able to parse the lead. Most of the track gets away with the post production because the lead is more complex so it can bleed through, but at 2:08 it's a bad combination of a less complex / less overtone-rich synth (basically a square) in the same range as the texture, so it becomes hard to hear that lead through the textures. You'll need to fine tune your mix at moments where your lead is drown by similar ranged textures or put that lead or texture in a different register. Heck, a less busy texture would also help; that arp is basically used throughout the arrangement so it could use a little variety anyway. But yeah, from 2:08 - 2:52 and 3:05 - 3:33 the arrangement doesn't have any clarity, and those SFX at 1:03 don't work well. Either look to see if the post production loudness is necessary, or remix (not ReMix, haha) the arrangement in the areas that are causing issues so that there is better clarity in the arrangement. Wish I could give more pointed advice, but it's an issue with many different solutions that would impact the arrangement differently so I hope you find the one that is right for your arrangement. NO

Lost Vikings 2 is quite underrated, and honestly a fantastic source to draw from, and you certainly take it in a really cool direction. Love the style, the beats are heavy and tasty, and that change to triple time in the middle was a perfect way to break the mix up and give us much needed variety. I'm certainly hearing what the others are in the production, though: it's dense in certain EQ ranges and lacking in others. I'm less bothered by the low pass (though admit it'd be better to not pass it so much), and more affected by all the texture and lead sounding so sonically similar. It's creating an issue where the mid range of the EQ is crowded, leaving little room for the listener to distinguish what's what. The arrangement is mixed in a way that you can parse the lead, fortunately, but now it sounds much too loud and drowns everything else out. There are a few ways to approach this - changing the texture instrument so it isn't so mid heavy will give the lead some more room to breath and allow you to mix it down. You could also decrease the levels of the reverb so that it doesn't clutter the mids, as well. I'm sure there are other approaches, but something needs to be done to clean the EQ of this mix up before I can pass it. I'd really like to pass this, too, since it's a great arrangement of a highly underrated source. NO

Is this a Summoning Salt speedrun video song? It sounds a whole lot like HOME, with these delicious old school synths. The kick and snare give this it's own flavor, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like someone should be talking about the Marble Madness speed running community with this playing in the background. *ahem* The overall soundscape is gorgeous, and the arrangement does a fantastic job blending the two sources, really brightening up the "Level 2" music with the "Level 1" harmonies. The melody is at risk of being drown in this soundscape, but I'll be honest: with a soundscape this full of pads it really doesn't bother me, the melody is pretty much texture in this style anyway. Great arrangement, had nothing but a good time with this one. Hopefully others will, too. YES

Well this track certainly goes places, I'll give it that - and I generally really enjoyed where it went. I thought this would be a highly atmospheric yet relatively conservative arrangement at first, but those pad sweeps at 2:40 with that almost Metroid Prime lead in the background were both unexpected and fantastic. Production is also top notch, with a nice, rich soundscape to keep with the spirit of the source. The only point against it would be the guitar performance at 1:41 - 2:26 - there was a lot of lag where the notes landed. Some of it sounded intentional, almost rubato, but most just sounded like they landed a fraction of a beat too late. Ideally these kinds of performances could either be tightened up or the landings could be adjusted or quantized post production, but at the end of the day it doesn't sink an otherwise fantastic arrangement. And fantastic this arrangement is; the slow build-up of instruments, the rich soundscape, the sweeping pads, it all works and works very well. I think it has a home on the front page as is, regardless of my nit picks. YES

So long story short, this sounds great, with the main concern being the source usage. It was close with Larry's stopwatch, I marked the watch as such: 0:36 - 1:14, 1:49 - 2:44 93 seconds of source out of a 185 second track (the last three seconds are silent) ~50.3% source It's close, but I think it peaks over the edge (I agree with MW's method of not counting silences mid-phrase as non-source, it's counter-intuitive to count source this way musically, imo). It's right at the threshold of what I consider enough, and while I can see others' feelings on this being too liberal I think it's just over the bar to still be recognizable enough. It sounds fantastic otherwise, so I hope it can be put onto the front page. YES

The source is great and it's there, so it's a good start. A rockin' arrangement is a great place to take this, so another point in it's favor. The arrangement works pretty well, and the instruments while simple are a good combination throughout, and it has solid moments with the acoustic guitar to help break things up so it doesn't get stale - all great things about this arrangement. The issue I have with this is the overdrive rhythm guitar has no breadth. Everything is panned center, which gives it no life or body. Many guitarists work around this issue by performing the rhythm twice and panning each performance to the left and right, and I suggest giving that a shot for this arrangement as well since this really needs more thickness to the arrangement. This also leaves a nice space for your lead guitar to pierce through, which while the clarity of the lead isn't a problem in the mix it wouldn't hurt to make it clearer. The lead could also use some tightening up in the performance. There are moments where the lead slides into notes but doesn't quite make it there, like at 2:11 where the note it lands on sounds very flat. There are also minor moments throughout the lead where it doesn't quite sound like it lands on beat, like at 2:53 - 2:55 where the lead sounds like it lags the rest of the music by a fraction of a second. These things are not a big deal isolated, but they do all add up throughout the performance. The acoustic guitar sounds fantastic, by the way, I really liked that performance and recording. It's got all the things necessary to be great, but it has some tuning up to do before I could put it on the site. Make that rhythm guitar thicker, and clean up that lead guitar performance. It'll have a place saved for it on the front page until then. NO