GrayLightning

I agree with the complaints about this mix. Especially at times when the soundfield is a bit sparse, the drums' transient energy really cuts through this mix. I wish the drums were more subtle in this case, and like zircon said, less busy. But indeed Vig pointed out they do sound good. TO is so good at this sort of stuff, even though I disagree with the choices he made, I appreciate the talent and skill he does with these sorts of grooves. The piano and guitar work is nicely done, nothing flashy but nice. I like the string additions, but I wish there were supplemental pads going on in the background to thicken up the supporting material, as well as to soften the strength of the drums. I agree the ending is wtf level. Sorry, but this is one of the most unresolved endings I've heard in a while on the panel. Note, unresolved endings can work, depending on the context, but here it just sounds cheap. Still, this is a nicely arranged and executed mix. While I have reservations, the combination of tepid and TO's work does sound good. Borderline YES

There's a lot of excellent ideas going on here. But at times I felt the instrumentation and composition were very thin and sparse. It almost felt like there were only 3-4 elements at play here. Half of the mix almost sounds like you turned on an arpeggiator, threw in some beats and melody and rinse and repeat. I know this may not be the case, but it felt and sounded like that. I think this needs more tweaking, more instrumentation, more supporting material, more relevance to the source tune and finally development (whether that's through dynamics, instrument/synth changes, change of texture, tempo, compositional work or all of the above - something!) This is compounded by the feeling of monotony, due to the lack of evolution or textural change. I love the bass work though. NO

Great soundtrack selection. Crystalis is one of the most underrated ones and I wish more people would mix from this soundtrack. Unfortunately, you chose a bland source, but that's beside the point. The panning is indeed extreme and very wide. In many orchestral set-ups pianos are at the extreme sides so I'm willing to let that issue slide. Personally I prefer my pianos closer to center unless it's burried in a large mix. When there's not much going on, on headphones the extreme nature of the panning can be difficult to listen to. There is indeed a lot of crackling in the 20-30 second range, but it's fairly subtle on my side and not a dealbreaker. This would need to be addressed in my opinion. I like the arrangement concept and ideas, but I felt the ideas were underdeveloped. The orchestration and instrumentation didn't help either. It's very thin and sparse sounding. The melody line with the piano up top is so thin and plinky sounding. I would double that an octave lower to at least give it a little depth or use another sample. The supporting instrumentation and harmonies are in general very thin as well, aside when the piano left hand comes into play. The piano performance is also very robotic. I would work on making it sound less midi-like by making the timing of the notes a little more loose and free-flowing. At least edit the notes by mouse if that's possible to make it less perfect. Also this could do with more velocity tweaking in that regard, to give it more depth as well. Production in general is bland. This needs better samples or production work (better reverb design and eqing) to make these sounds shine. Above average with potential, but at this point, it just falls far short in both the arrangement and production categories. Keep it up there's promise here, I'd like to hear more. It's a NO though.

I have the same reservations brought up by the NO group, and honestly, I don't like this mix one bit. I'll never listen to this one again. It's one of CP's least polished mixes... However, the arrangement is creative and the production, flawed as it is, is certainly passable and of good quality. While I don't like this mix personally, I think it's above the bar. I can't deny the capable combination of the arrangement and production. I did like the section in the 3 minute mark though. Smooth stuff! Solid overall and a YES from me.

Wonderful intro. Very ethereal and dreamlike, I didn't think it was too drawn out personally. My one issue with the intro is there tended to be too much fx processing - when the signal is treated that much, it tends to become lo-fi-ish. After the intro the mix tended to get simpler and more and more conservative in terms of additions and ideas incorporated to the mix. I'd like to hear some more liberties taken with the melody, the harmony or the structure. I think this can benefit from more more instrumentation playing the chords too, maybe a pad to sit in between the melody, the beats and the background fx. After the introduction section, I think the next 5 minutes could be compacted and more focused, it's a fairly long piece. As the other judges said, the execution has a number of pros to be proud of, but the concept and arrangement elements do need to be expanded on with more personalization, direction and polish. Keep working at it, you have an interesting and unique ideas presented here and I'm looking forward to hearing more of your works and progress.

I agree with Vig for the most part. I think the arrangement here though subtle and simple are nicely thought-out. The samples are good, but the production, mixing and mastering is bland. I don't agree with the tambourine being that loud. Listen to any london or media ventures production - they can be this loud. There are plenty of genres where the tambourines can be this dominant as well. In this case, I think it works fine. But while I agree with Vig, the underdeveloped qualities of the mix nag at me a bit. I'd like to hear some more. Tough one as I'm borderline, but NO.

To think Jon almost didn't submit this! I told him he should, once he fixed the clipping issues and as that is done with... Jon is consistently probably one of my favorite pianists in the scene. His style is so organic. My only beef here is the performance flubs, but they add a sort of realistic charm to the piece. I wish that aspect was a little more clinical though. But overall, I enjoyed this one a lot. Superb arrangement, nice production, and inspite of some flubs, extremely capable performance. Ending was a little abrupt though. Also this just might be my overall favorite fzero arrangement to date. YES

I thought this project initially had a lot of rocky roads, but it has really come through. Lots of great strong material. I was particularly impressed with the Malcos/RTF collabs - their chun li mix in particular. I thought this should have been the headlining track of the project for OCR. Superb stuff. Also enjoyed malcos' solo work like the dhalsim mix. You've really grown in the last year and have polished your mixes more than they used to be. Congrats especially to Shael and Malcos for the work in this project, you guys really got this one through.

Fair enough shael. Great stuff. Congratulations all around.

The mix itself is very good, as to be expected of Vurez. But I do not see how this falls into the vision that Shael initially stated that this should be urban, electronic, beat oriented. In the SF2 site it says "The arrangements contained herein have been designed to be evocative of dark, pseudo-romanticized urban imagery: abandoned playgrounds and crowded street markets; back-alley block parties and hole-in-the-wall bar dives, scenes that are, I hope, befitting of a tribute to one of the most iconic games in arcade history." I'm a little confused on how this mix from a genre perspective was found acceptable, but txai's was not - irrespective to the difference of quality between the two. I listened to pretty much all the mixes of the project yesterday though and thought Shael and Malcos did an otherwise great job with the project. The Malcos and RTF collabs in particular were delicious. Congrats to those involved.

I'm now using the sig Doulifée made. Thanks! It looks great.

Thanks Doulifée. I'll take you up your offer and I'll pm you details soon, once I find some kind of background for it.