GrayLightning

Where's the love for synth guitar? I didn't think it was that bad. I grew up on synth guitar music so maybe I like it more than others. It sounds has a distinct korg electric guitar sound. Some parts are really nice. This has a very japanese/80s rock style going for it with the rock kit, guitar and synth bells. This is a nice mix and I'm borderline, but ultimately I think it does need more escalation and expansion and more arrangement. Right now it doesn't sound like too much of an arrangement and genre change over the original. I suggest you post this in the WIP/Completed forums, there will be a group of people that will enjoy this. NO

Interesting mix. I like the style this is going for. But this mix is very incomplete. Minimalistic/ambient mixes are much more complex than what's presented here. Transition points are a little messy here. For this kind of style you need to include something more than what's sounding like drums/perc, string pad and bass. Lack of instrumentation and layers makes the mix sound very empty. A mix of this nature needs more effects processing, layers and instrumentation. Work on giving this mix some kind of dynamics and direction. I hope you do more with this. As it stands it just sounds incomplete and lacking. NO

I remember hearing this months ago, around when dshu submitted it and I thought it was OC material. Quality solo piano arrangement by dhsu. There is just a beautiful drifting quality to this mix. My only minor complaint comes in the middle section with the sudden fast notes. It really breaks up the mood of this mix and in my opinion sounds very akward. Good stuff. YES

The panning especially in the beginning is giving me a headache. There's something moving back and forth between the left and right side. This is fairly generic for the genre in my opinion. The latter half is much more solid than the first half at least. But this isn't ready just yet. I feel this drags on too. Pretty nice but needs more work in the concept, mixing and arrangement areas. NO

This is pretty nice, but as noted by the previous votes this feels like it's repeating the same thing throughout the mix. This needs more instrumentation, variation and more attention paid to the drumwork. There's nothing really wrong with this mix, but there just isn't a lot that makes it stand out either. NO

After several more listens I'm going to no this on the grounds that this just needs more. There's very little attention paid to the melody in my opinion. The first half of the mix feels like a lot of pads and sound fx. More layers and instrumentation along with the pads would help here. The intro is a bit cheesy with the delayed doots. Very solid second half of the mix. Needs a bit more work, NO

This is fantastic. String bends however aren't. I completely agree with vig and prot on this one. This is a bit too short as the ideas aren't completely realized here. Great job so far, but please work on this one more, as it feels incomplete right now. I think this would get a fast-track status if you decided to resubmit. a sad NO, for now

I agree with what Vig said, but I don't know about this one. Some parts are really good, some parts are a bit underwhelming. I'll have to come back to this later.

Vig and prot pretty much summed up my thoughts here. I thought the mix was fairly cluttered as well. Which is a shame, since the ideas and concepts here are pretty cool. I like the sound effects usage as well. Needs more work overall to make the mix less repetitive. I also agree the ending is a little out there. I hope to hear more from you in the near future. Please work on more melodic sections next time. NO

I love the idea behind this, but there's some execution problems here. The lead is too quiet, and there's some mixing problems here. The volume levels of the different instruments is very messed up. Better attention paid to these aspects, as well as mastering would yield significantly better results. Right now everything but the lead sounds so thick, while the lead sounds so thin. Making for an unbalanced sound. Slightly too bottom heavy also. Some eq work is in order as well. Also I think this is too loud. Everything is constantly loud. At least, make the pads a bit softer and change in dynamics. This isn't pop music. Let your music breath. Please work on this a little more and consider resubmitting, I enjoy the concepts and style of this mix. NO

Some parts of this sound really nice. But it's so very repetitive. I enjoyed the first minute or two the most, but right after that, everything sounded the same. I don't really care for those distorted sounding drums. It feels out of place with the soft strings and choir. Nice mix for the most part, but this needs more development and attention paid to make this more interesting. Given the repetitive nature of the mix, it drags on too long. NO

The lead guitar kills this mix. It's not only hollow, but also piercing. It is very thin as others have mentioned. The result is a lead that's very unappealing to listen to. The rest of the mix is pretty nice, but incomplete. There's not enough going on other than the lead, bass and drums. There's no middle frequencies. This needs more compositional work with harmony and some eq work. I do like a number of sections of this mix, especially in the first two minutes *except the bad lead*. Fun idea, but the presentation is very much incomplete. This needs recomposition, remixing and remastering. NO

In reason it's in edit - preferences - audio.

Mine's set at 7ms. I could go to 3ms, but I'd rather go with a balance of reliability and speed.

I agree with protricity's vote. I also don't like the panning here too much. That might be an area that needs some work on too. Pretty fun mix to listen to, but it's fairly typical at times and when the loud volume issues appear from time to time, they really make the mix not as pleasing as it could be. The ending is very harsh on the ears too. Better luck next time. NO

I agree with protricity and dan. This is a fairly generic synth arrangement. There's nothing much more wrong other than the suggestions noted by the others. I found myself enjoying this mix on various moments of the mix, but it's also quite repetitive and doesn't really do anything to make itself stand out. I read from the ID tags that this is your first OC mix. It's a good start so I hope to see more from you in the future. Hopefully you spend more time with it and polishing it up. This doesn't meet the standards, so no. NO

Thanks chokster. Freemind and I have done a Battle of Olympus collaboration that revolves around a love kind of theme. We sent it in 4 months ago so hopefully we might hear something soon about it. But it's very much in the same style as this, but even more calming. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reviewed as well, freemind and I appreciate it.

I've been pondering on this one for a long time as well. I'm very borderline on this, on some days I think this mix is below the line, and on other days above. My first impression of this months ago was that it was good, more inspired compared to his previous works but lacking the normal polish we've seen from Russell. My opinions have swayed a bit back and forth since then. After requiring weeks of deliberation I agree with the ambitious display here. I am not giving bonus points for it just because it is different or an attempt at something grand. But on the other hand a fairly solid mix, especially with all the arrangement work done here, deserves recognition when something out of the norm of this nature is attempted. The solo string work is also one of the most thoughtful and flowing I think I've heard from anyone in our community. It doesn't amaze, but it is enough for me at the end of the day. So I'm going to keep the ball rolling. YES

I agree with the other comments. There's really nothing wrong with this mix, it's just very uninspired. You have a good start here, but it sounds unpolished and very generic. I like the drums though, even if they are loops. But try for some more arrangement work next time. There's not much that stands out here, so my vote is no. NO

Great to see more mixers doing things outside the cookie cutter orchestral or electronica genres that we're so used to seeing. How can you not like a mix that starts out with this magnificently, softly and emotionally? Soaring strings then enter, and definitely adds a nice touch to the mix. The brass work later on is a little abrupt, given the softness of this mix, I think a muted or at least softer brass section would have worked better. I agree with Vigilante that the flow is a little unsatisfactory, but the entire mood of this is just magical. Not amazing by technical standards, but this is just a very pleasant and feel good listen, and easily earns a yes from me. YES

This is very cool, but I think there's some problems here. I suspect this will probably pass anyway, so I'm going to have to go against the grain. The percussion and drumwork here is fantastic. But the mixing here is very cluttered. The drum and percussions drown everything. It's so loud. The melody is there, but the harmony is so often burried and slightlylacking. I think this needs a bit more polishing and resubmitting. Drums and percussion hurt my ears. It's so loud. I may have mentioned that already. Very nice mix, but lacking in execution. Sad to say NO.

Being brief must be the in thing to do for this mix. I remember hearing this while in its wip stages. I always found the end product pretty good, and even after these many months I still feel the same way. Interesting combination of reason synths, piano and drum work. Bell synths do a nice job in accentuating the melody, coupled with a very groovy bass line. Nice bass bends as well. The first half drags on a little bit, but the second half is easily the best sections of the mix. I particularly dig the section where the drums become subtle, and allowing the other sections to come more into focus. I feel the drums are at times a bit too heavy for this kind of mix. There's really nothing wrong with this mix, could have been better, and the arrangement is fairly conservative. But it's barely OC worthy, and very promising considering this is his first mix. YES

Doesn't really get any easier than this. Very groovy and enjoyable listen. Not amazing, but it does what it needs to, given this style. Great ending too. Hard to say no to this, so I'm going to say YES

This is a bit redundant. I agree the delayed strings are a nice idea, but it feels like it's playing the same thing over and over. There are nice concepts here, however the execution is lacking. For this kind of mix this needs more instrumentation and layering. I also hear very light clipping. Minor issue though. The main problem here as others have said is lack of execution, a bit of production polishing and a very abrupt ending. Not a bad mix, but doesn't stand out either. I like the direction and concept of the mix, so I hope you consider working on this more. NO

Nice mastering work by Compyfox. But I'm really borderline on this. This was a struggle to decide on. I really could have gone either way. Mixes like these are incredibly difficult to pull of. When a mix uses great choir/vocals taken from game, the question I have to ask is how reliant this arrangement is on those. To me this mix does a good job including original material under the choir. But I feel the choir is still the most dominant aspect of the mix. My other question is how would this mix sound without the ripped choir phrases? My conclusion is this mix would be a bit incomplete without those performances. Even though trenthian did a really good job mixing those up and chopping it up to fit to this. I try never to compare mixes but in this case I think it's necessary to point out Prievert's polished three years old Broken Mirror mix. Obviously the standards are much higher now. I think it's easier to create a pleasing mix *not necessarily easier on a technical level* riding on the coattails of fantastic vocal performances, especially if they carry the mix. I may be too harsh in this case. But the way I see it is, if this opinion isn't shared by the others, there's enough judges to carry this mix through with a yes. NO