Gario

Hello, mostly dealing with a mental breakdown with mounting pressures of work and... well, bullshit, all through last year. I'm trying to ease back into the swing of things but it takes time. Sorry that the progress of an album relies on the back of someone who is, let's just say, mentally exhausted. The Lufia album is something I need a lot of mental energy to work through, which I've been recovering slowly but surely. Not that fair to most of the good folk who worked on it, but I'm only human at the end of the day. ... also, is this the first time I posted in the public forums in a year? Sheesh, things must've been rough.

This is a nice, conservative little arrangement you've got going on, here. It follows the source quite closely, but there's enough personal charm and interpretation here and there to where I think the arrangement would work well on OCR. It's got a minimalistic opening with a really cool section at 1:38 where the source textures get some room to breath - it breaks the track up really well, in fact. The mixing on this track leaves something to be desired, though. The lead gets buried behind the backing bassline and textures starting from 0:14, and it really doesn't let up for the entire track. There are moments like 0:45 where the square texture spikes in volume and shoots to the very front of the mix, where it really doesn't belong. Bass and textures should be there to support the leads in songs like this rather than overpower them. There are a few places where the notes went sour, too, like at 1:31 (something in the background clashes with the melody line), but primarily there is a lead note at 0:47 & 1:29 that sounds a half step lower than the source. If that's intentional then it doesn't sound bad, per se, but considering how conservative the rest of the source it I'm not sure if this was the intent. At 2:40 there's a lot of dead air; you could cut everything past that point and lose nothing, so I suggest you do so. I like the direction this track takes, but the mixing is too distracting for me to give it the YES vote. Balance the mix better so that the bass doesn't drown your lead and that square texture doesn't overpower the song at intermittent moments and we can see where to take it from there. Also take a look at some of those notes in there and make sure that this is what you want, and fix any sour notes that arise from your decisions. NO

Hey, another Reason mouse-only, makes-his-own-synths brother in arms, here; it's rough out there, but we do what we can. Alright, so to start I think it's a fabulous idea to take that underground texture, flip the key of the source, and re-arrange the harmonies under the familiar melody of the track. Funny enough, it now sounds more like the castle OST because of the change to minor (every song is a variation of the same theme in that game), but I get where you were coming from regardless. The flip to double time and switching the instruments in the second half of the arrangement was also an excellent idea, and breathed quite a bit of life into the track to keep people's attention throughout. The instruments used, while not an issue on their own, tend to overcrowd the mid range of the arrangement, so the mix is muddy as a result (which also makes it more difficult than it should be to hear the melody throughout), with the pads and melodic saw that play together being particularly guilty of crowding the same area at 0:34 - 0:45, which gets better when it enters another octave; it could've probably been in that register the entire time without losing too much contrast, and would sit better in the EQ register. The 25% duty square that comes in at 1:54 also crowds the same range, though because it's timbre is so much more distinct it comes through the mix better regardless. There's one other issue that hurts this one, and that's the amount of repetition that goes on from 1:54 to 2:39. The theme & counterpoint, while being a neat variation of the source, essentially repeats four times over the same harmonies established prior. This track is a pretty short arrangement, and while I enjoy the theme you built it doesn't merit direct repetition like that. Give the listener something more to listen to over that section - some more variation, something different - and you'll better hold their attention to the end. The fade out ending is a little anti-climatic, as well, though I don't think it hurts the track enough to put much weight on it. I think this is an enjoyable little arrangement, but the repetition does hold it back, for me. Give that section something more for the listeners to grasp and I'd give it my blessing. The midrange could be better handled by shifting an instrument or two around, too, though that's not the primary issue holding this one back. Enjoyed it, glad to see a brother Reason mouse user, so I hope to see it come back to us with the minor necessary adjustments necessary to bring it over the top. NO

Wow, this is a pretty cool arrangement of such a short track, and the production/performances are pretty spot on, to boot. It is a short track, though - very short, at 0:53 - so while there's no hard rule against this the rule of thumb to follow is to make sure the song sounds like a completed idea without any fluff. For a track of such length there is quite a bit of repeated material that pads the length a little bit (0:00 - 0:06 & 0:07 - 0:13, 0:13 - 0:19 & 0:19 - 0:25). I understand the approach, and normally wouldn't be this picky on thematic repetitions that are so short, but considering the length of the song in it's entirety this is more than 25% of the track dedicated to directly repeated material. That isn't to say that to "fix" this you should add variation or whatnot to sections like that - by design, those short repetitions make the theme sound more established and defined. This simply demonstrates the downside of providing such a short track - because the arrangement spends so much relative time establishing the source, the listener is led to expect something more substantial from the arrangement rather than having the track flame out at 0:53. This track feels like a great idea that isn't quite finished yet - the material in the middle of the track sounded like a fantastic expansion of the source, and to be honest the track sounds like it could really build off of such arrangement ideas into something that sounds more fulfilling (which if you add to this arrangement I'd love to see it back here). For what it's worth I enjoyed the heck out of it regardless, even if I was looking for more given what was here. Keep at it, and hopefully this doesn't discourage you since you've got some real arranging and performing chops on display here! NO

Wow, this sounds like a metal arrangement heavily influenced by the "Halloween" franchise, holy shit I am digging this style. Setting the arrangement to the swing of 6/8 rather than the 3/4 the source is set to is a nice touch, too - you can often get a lot of creative mileage out of that alone. Whatever mixing issues were present in the prior seems to have been fixed, since I can hear everything just fine in this, and it all sounds very well balanced. The ending is a little strange, but that could very well be personal preference on my end. This is pretty great, let's get it up on the front page. YES

Deus Ex, what a classic soundtrack, with this being one of the real gems of the soundtrack. Been playing it again lately, too - can't really help it, it's a classic. This one does sound like it ripped the theme from the MIDI file that's on vgmusic.com. While I normally don't mind as long as it's merely used as a springboard to something more personal (as you've used it for here), the MIDI gets a lot of the arrangement simply incorrect, ranging from the classic bassline being out of sync with the rest of the track to the backing textures simply being about a 4th lower than they should be. It's distracting, unfortunately - I suggest listening to the Youtube source and seeing if matching your elements to the source improves your track in any way. Distracting as that can be, the bigger concern is the production on this. When the pads and other instruments come in on the track, the mix gets quite crowded and suffers from some limiting issues. The mix needs to be overall lowered so that the limiter isn't hit quite so hard when everything comes together, and the pads holding the thematic elements need to be backed off in the mix so that the other cool and interesting instruments have some room to breath in the mix. There are some really cool elements in this track (like when the space opens up for that cool texture at 1:32 - that gave me some chills), but the production holds this track back from the front page. While I think the source is recognizable as it stands, I would also suggest listening to the original source and seeing if that bassline could be adjusted so that it better matches the source (mostly so that it doesn't sound off rhythm throughout the track). Nice work, hope to see it in here again with some adjustments. NO

Very clean, very elegant. the arrangement is minimalistic, but that's not to say that it's straight forward - there's a lot of subtractive changes that make for some nice, interpretive arranging. The backing instruments (like the pads & light percussion) certainly add some depth to the track overall, in nice, subtle ways. Production is solid, too, so how about we get another solid Rebecca piece on here? YES

Chrono Trigger, Zeal, but it's not... a Zeal remix? Tricky! Ooo, this is pretty smooth - I like the soundscape on this one, and the arrangement does some nice trickery with the texture by making that backing arp set to double time - gives the arrangement a nice kick. The arrangement is fairly clean, too, with a nice mix to top things off in the production department. The largest risk this arrangement runs the risk of getting static with many of the elements of the track being used for significant stretches of the track, but there's some decent effort taken to break up the overall arrangement so that the instruments and textures don't wear their welcome out. There's still only so much that can be done with Schala so it still feels a hair long in my humble opinion, but that's not something I'll knock. The only criticism that I can really lay down is that the ending sounds a bit abrupt. Could be intentional, but considering how wet the instruments sound throughout this could've benefitted from letting the instruments ring out for a beat longer. Otherwise, pretty solid stuff, could use a home on the front page. YES

This is a rough one, and not an easy YES or NO. The arrangement is good, and there are some really cool drops that elevate the arrangement for me (like at 3:04, with that particularly flavorful final boss theme in there), but on the other hand the mix is definitely too heavy in the mids for quite a bit of time (from 0:50 - 1:27 & 2:50 - 3:00). They're important, defining lines, to boot, so you can really feel the impact of how much is lost in the mix. In particular, the issue is that the texture, leads, and counterpoints all have a similar type of distortion that ends up cluttering the mids (as was suggested by others), so even the simple removal of some of the effects on the backing instruments when the melody comes in would improve this issue significantly. Barring that, decreasing the distortion on some of these elements and/or lowering the levels of the texture would also be a good solution to this. I would love to push this through, but I don't think I can get past the problematic mixing and clashing. Fix those issues and it'd be a quick YES from me. NO

Oh, come off it now; you did great with the tools you had. It really does hold up even today - the suppressed intro into the more texturally rich material is still something I find as great as I found it back in the day. Also, dat 'Bionic Electronica' part was always really cool (though it makes me question why you never liked vocal samples in MY music, lol - I read the old judgments, buster!). At worst, this track could've mixed a few of the lead fake orchestra parts a little more to the front of the mix, but this is a thirteen year old track; I don't think I could say anything you don't already know by now! Still one of my favorites on the site, so y'all should be giving it more love!

Huh, Parasite Eve? Definitely not a soundtrack you hear everyday. If I recall correctly, didn't this game series share the same composer as for the Kingdom Hearts series, Yoko Shimomura? Interesting game to pick from, for sure.

Man, I hate this arrangement, lol. I love the fact that it's on OCR - there needs to be more music on here that challenges my tastes.

As Rexy said, the vocals are kickin', as usual, with some slick lyrics and well timed samples to compliment them. The production is clean, as well, and with the sampling in the background it's not hard to find how this connects to the source. However, that leads to a bit of a problem: the primary way that we can identify that this is a SoR2 ReMix is the sampling, which is a bit of a no-no on OCR. I think it's safe to call this a violation of this rule: It's a particularly fabulous case of this broken rule (with excellent rapping and a few instruments sampled on top, for flair), but I think it still falls well within this rule violation. When it comes to sampling, it's not strictly forbidden, but if one can't make the source connection significantly enough without the literal source sampling to fall back on, then it hardly becomes one's own arrangement of a track and instead one's accompaniment to the original source. I like this - plenty to love with the rapping and production quality - but I don't think this is something that OCR can post. Great work, and look forward to more coming from you, as usual, even if this particular track won't likely be posted. NO

Oh, it's great to see this one on the boards again; I really enjoyed the atmosphere that this one brought with it, even in it's first iteration, so let's see what how this develops from that foundation. I'm hearing a few pads being brought in to break up the soundscape, from time to time, which is good (especially when they alone support the source at 3:28 - excellent drop of instruments there, by the way). The repeat from prior now really feels like it has a reason to be in this track, so my initial concern of repetition is definitely covered. I was on board before, but I agree that an overall stronger piece has come back to us in the end, which is great. Awesome work! YES

Alright, everyone, this is NOT a drill - this album is OFFICIALLY in the Review stage! It's actually happening. I am not joking. Get excite.

Oh, a Yakuza remix - I'm glad that we're finally getting some on here. I only got into the series recently (and by "get into it" I mean watch my fiance enjoy the heck out of it, lol). Some choice tunes on there, to boot, so let's see what we've got here. Following from what others have said, the strength of this track is definitely the production values, with it's variety of effects, gating, clean samples, etc., that really comes to life when it all comes together. I personally have no issue with the loud mixing - if you're able to pump the levels that high without sacrificing quality then I say go for it. The arrangement isn't spectacular, but it does some legwork to keep things interesting throughout a good chunk of the arrangement (often utilizing subtractive arranging to keep things moving while feeling distinct enough to not get boring). There's some copy-pasta of 0:07-1:00 at 1:06 - 1:59, which now that I've timestamped it I can easily see Chimp's point on that. A third of the piece being a direct repeat of what happened prior can drag a piece down considerably. It's a close call, and I was leaning closer to passing it before, but I don't think I can justify a third of the track being a repeat of prior material now that I see it. Either give us a reason to listen to the repeated material (with flourishes or by playing with expectations), or remove the padding & add something more substantial to the piece. It's a great track otherwise so I do hope you revisit this! NO

It's slightly held up at a choke point - namely me. I had the tracks spread across two computers, so it was giving me grief. That should be resolved now, so the review should be happening quite soon. Your track passed the panel, by the way, so there will be no problem with it passing the album review. Nice work on that one, by the way - it was a great little track!

Latest and greatest folks. Enjoy. Remixer: Garpocalypse Title: Eclipse of the Fourth Empire Source: Star Gladiator II Fade to Silence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqda6r-Q2dQ

Heads up: The artist has withdrawn the submission, so there is no need to vote on this track. Note from the artist: "Hi! I need to withdraw my Night in the Woods remix submission as soon as reasonably possible. Without going into detail, there was a incident brought to light in the indie game industry today, and at this time I no longer wish to support the creation of fan media related to this game. Thank you! <3 - Minnie"

I generally don't use their old links for the submissions (always upload onto the OCR server, just in case something like this happens), so it wouldn't have affected the link I had on here. It sounds like this is a new version, so my vote will reflect the changes between the two. Thanks for the heads up.

Mmm, lovin' the eclectic 80's sound you got going here, with a healthy blend of rock guitar and classic synths throughout (with heavier emphasis on them synths). I'm definitely a sucker for this style, especially with that rich, thick bass tying everything together. The car leaving in the beginning of a song about "parting" is a nice touch, too. I mentioned this on an early listen through on this track (though I wasn't specific; my last few weeks have been punishing at work and leaving me drained during the weekends, I do apologize), but one or two leads to punch through too much at certain points in the track. Specifically, at 0:37 - 0:38, 0:48 - 0:49 (as well as similar phrases) the lead sounds considerably loud in comparison to anything preceding and proceeding it, which makes it sound oddly out of place. It's not a frequent occurrence, but when it's there in an otherwise excellent track it's certainly distracting. Minor lead mixing issue aside (which again, my apologies for not getting back on that), I think this is a solid track for the album. Thank you so much for your participation on it! YES

I'm not sure what y'all are going on about on the repetition; it uses the same themes throughout, but the textures and orchestration gives it quite a bit of variety. For a five minute track it does quite a bit; at worst it feels like it drags past the 4 minute mark a bit by about 30 seconds, but that's not enough to earn a NO from me. It's quiet, but it does use the space when it needs to feel big; I'd chalk that up more to stylistic choice than actually being a mistake. Compressing a track like this by about 2-3dBs would go a long way in making it sound more full without hurting the quality much, though, so keep that in mind. I'll echo the issue with the choir samples sounding unnatural in this context, though, especially when they're mixed so close to the front of the mix. They don't sound terrible, per se, and when they're backing the rest of the track they blend well enough (like at 3:31 - 3:46), but when they're front and center they have an uncanny valley effect when compared to the other instruments. It could be that the other instrument just sound that much better, but it's an issue all the same. Honestly, the track overall is greater than the sum of it's parts. While I can see issues with the mixing of the choral samples and the unused headroom, these don't detract from the overall experience for this track. It honestly sounds like something from an Aladin movie soundtrack, and it sounds solid for what it is. YES

Yuuuup; gonna get moving on getting this into evaluation this weekend, so stay tuned, y'all!

It's funny; this arrangement really makes it sound like it's the soundtrack of a mill out in the middle of America - same tunage as the original that had more of a "mechanical malice" feel to it, but now it's more "Workin' eight 'til five, got some work to do in the mill". Really, it's just a cool transformation of the source. If we're looking for issues, I'd have to say the mixing is a little odd at times (like the banjo lead at 0:52 being too quiet), but overall the mixing isn't distractingly bad. With as much unconventional sampling and instruments used throughout it's actually a surprise you managed to make something cohesive at all, let alone sound this good. I'm all for this, and the fact that the title involves OSHA just makes this so much better in my books. I'm all for putting this up - great work! YES

If you weren't confident that this track would pass out arrangement muster, I think you had nothing to worry about; this does a nice job suspending harmonies and creating cool counter melodies and variations that really make it your own. It also does an excellent job keeping things fresh with the soundscape so it doesn't sound sound too monotonous, even with all of the relatively basic waveforms used throughout. That's not even to mention all the bends and effects used to really get the most out of your instruments - it's all quite good. There's one issue that impacts this arrangement, and it's not insignificant - the entire track sounds overcompressed. Lots of instruments sound like they're diving in and out of the mix (like backing rectangle wave at 1:56 getting drown out at 2:10 by that bass); it's really difficult to tell whether that was intentional or just a poor mixing job covered by the compressor. The issue is relatively subtle throughout the arrangement, but it's almost always there in some form or another. I'm on the fence on this - I could go either way. On the one hand it's a cool arrangement with a lot of energy, but on the other hand, dat overcompression, but on the other OTHER hand it's a Journey to Silius remix... I'll defer to the other judges for a little bit on this.