GrayLightning

Hmm, wasn't digging the intro. I'd personally prefer to use a neat gating effect on something of that nature. This sounds like a psuedo machine gun effect of samples without any velocity layers/round robin or alternation samples. Not a huge deal though. Vig wasn't kidding, those bells are ugly and yes quite a mess. After that we get into a fairly straight forward arrangement of the theme with very little addition. Understandable to a degree as the melody is really fantastic and it's very hard to expand on that without being too liberal. I like the effects processing in this mix though, the segue to the guitar section was neat. Also larry, the 3:08 brass section isn't really blatty. That's the way a lot of trumpet ensembles sound in the lower register. Needs more arrangement expansion overall. The mix is generally put together nicely though. Hope to see more from you with more attention paid to the particulars. NO

Pretty much covered already by the other judges, so I'm gonna be glib here. Straight forward arrangement, basic production values. I think the synths generally are basic and uninteresting with some exceptions. Really dug the section at 2:20 area, the synths and grooves in that region really hooked me. I think you need to use less reverb and delays for music of this genre especially. It will cut down on the lofi aspects of the mix. Keep at it, this is probably the first mix of yours that I remember. There's a lot of promise here and I certainly want to hear more from you. I'll be listening to this one though, it's a fun listen, regardless of the aspects of technical related issues. NO

Solid all around. I do agree to a degree with some of larry's reservations, but ultimately I do like the arrangement, and the production values are certainly above average. I hear the production downfalls, but it's not too bad and barely noticeable. I'm inclined to pass this without asking for a resubmit. I thought the ending was rather bad though. Nice work overall. YES

This is one of my favorite NES themes ever. It's good to see people trying to mix material from this brilliant game. Liontamer's complaints stem from one issue, it's because the mix is overprocessed. This is a perfect example of using too much reverb and delay. The quality of the samples suffers from overprocessing whether they be compression, reverb, delay, eq - certainly to lesser degrees with more and more expensive processing hardware/software. To be honest, the quality of the processing isn't too good either. It sounds like cheap reverb. There are good free reverbs available for PC - like Ambience to name a few. The arrangement itself is too straight forward. It's a basic genre translation with a few ideas expanded on. I'd like to hear more expansion made in the structure. But ultimately, this sounds like you just need to get more experience. Keep at it, this was a fun effort, but sadly not really up to the bar at this point. Keep working at it and improve yourself, I'd like to hear more material mixed from this game. NO though.

Hate to be really brief here, but the previous votes really do cover the majority of issues here. Those drums are so out of place and overly contrasting to the other material. They don't really fit at all in my view. They really do sound like two different pieces of music played together. NO

I agree with larry about the muddy issues. I don't think it's a huge problem though. I don't agree with the assesment that the samples are weak. They're fine, and the huge reverb is awesome, but some tweaking can work to the mixes benefit. The arrangement is hot. Drums/perc do need to be brought up, it sounds like you're using pitch shifting or other heavy effects processing on them. Thus they do lose some of their transient power during that processing. If you have any transient modification tools that is one option. Another is to layer these same elements with the same unprocessed signal at a lower level just to give it back that attack. I think you can lower the reverb slightly, and do some eqing to make space for the everpresent lower end here to give it some more space. The piano is a good example of mud. It's all middle range. I'd like to see some EQ work done there at the 1k, 5-8k and 10 k ranges to give it a little more shimmer, just a little... Love all the percussive stuff overall too. I'm very tempted to YES this as it is, but I'd like some tweaks done first to push me off the fence. Please resubmit, very borderline NO.

This is tough, since the source material is so sparse. It's pretty much an atmospheric/cinematic source material without anything really going on. I don't really see anyway of arranging it without going a very very liberal route. So within this context, I'm not put off by the arrangement values of this mix. I agree compositionally it's very repetitive and lacking any contrasts, not necessarily dynamics. But as mentioned earlier, this has no builds or drop offs. I see this as a problem with arranging this source material more than anything else though. The lack of builds, is an issue, but by the same time, a lot of electronica music is pretty much like this too. I think for me the main issue here is the lack of melody, it's just repeating the same progression/arp over and over, in addition I think the synth design/processing is rather basic. It's an above average trance/electronica piece, but ultimately too basic and without any hooks that is so necessary in this type of music...I am left looking for more. NO Patrick especially, please keep it up. I know you've been trying for a while now. I don't want to see you give up, as I feel you are on the brink there. Just keep at it and don't get demotivated. You'll get a mix posted at one point. Just keep at it. Hope to hear more from you.

There's two ways of looking at this mix, one is the way liontamer did. But frankly, I don't think he listens to a lot of slow piano solo music. I can see where he's coming from though. Personally, I think the voicings and left hand needs to be ornamented more, as does your performance. I think pieces of this nature need strings or pads in the background to play supporting roles in terms of harmony and texture. The production is generally fine. There's nothing really bad going on here. Not superlative, but it's solid. My main qualm here is sometimes your stronger passages are too over the top. the f, ff, fff layers are a bit out of place in my view. While I appreciate the dynamic contrasts here, I still think it's particularly sharp. I think there's good arrangement going on here, but at other times it's also too straight forward in my view. I'd like to see more variation in the left hand, and more variation in terms of the arrangement concepts. Personally I really like this. It's very emotive and dramatic, within the context of its pensiveness. But it's still not there yet in my opinion. Keep working at it, you have a lot of potential. Borderline NO.

My friend, all you are doing is boosting my ego. For you to compliment my knowledge was previously unheard. He was being sarcastic. Don't let your ego get too inflated just yet.

You generally did succeed in your intended purpose. However, our guidelines dictate something that adds more creative and personal flair infused in the arrangements. This is too straight laced. I wouldn't necessarily say this is a stripped down version - the mixer's intended purpose, is shall we say, different. Though ultimately I think this is way too lacking in several fronts, I'm afraid. Too bland an approach, too repetitive, and the production values are simply plain. Look into more effective synth design, effects processing. I know you're going for the classic 90s sound, and that's fine, but you have to supplement that with something really catchy. This feels like an upgrade/side grade to the original, but more repetitive. I suggest you use our WIP/Completed forum to get further forum goer feedback before submitting in the future. NO

I'm enjoying a lot of the arrangement ideas and the orchestration is quite good in general. The ritardandos are handled very nicely too! The samples are ok. I think the strings are the weakest, especially during the stacatto/detache passages. Like JJT said, the samples are painfully dry. Strings, woodwinds, and brass need more reverb at different levels. They're too upfront and reverb would help the realism factor. I do appreciate that you're trying to simulate stage depth, and I personally love percussion way back in the hall/stage for orchestral mixes, but this is so overboard. It's almost like you have an orchestra a few feet away, then the percussion section is like 100 times (exaggeration) further behind. The spacing is just odd. I'd push the other elements a bit further back and push the percussion forward (from the current state). Also this does need some EQing work. It's very dull sounding. Concentrate on the 5000-10000 hz range, a small boost at 16000 would help, if done minimally. Additionally I thought the ending was very abrupt. This definitely has a lot of potential and I too strongly recommend resubmitting, but this needs a lot of polish before you consider doing so. NO for now.

Yeah, sorry bro, but this is too straight up a take on the original. There's very little personal ideas brought to the table here. I do like the rhythm changes, but the whole concept needs quite an overhaul in terms of the structure of the composition, the harmonic/melodic additions. Drum and bass line is way too simple as well. Production values, especially for an electronica mix are very basic. No attention paid to synth design, automation, effects processing makes for a bland synth/boom-tss mix. The end result is a "beginner-ish" submission. It's actually quite good for a first submission, but really, this is a very long ways off from something that would pass OCR at this stage. I highly recommend you visit our WIP and Completed forum to get forum goer feedback before/more personal experience before submitting next time. NO/Override

Conservative approach of the source tune, too conservative. I don't know how much more constantly to say this with the mixes we get. This needs much, much more arrangement. Make the mix your own. Consider expanding the melody, harmony, changing the structure - play with the theme. Try to incorporate at least 30-40% new ideas into the mix interspersed throughout (for starters). You seem to have gotten more and more comfortable as the source went on, but by then it was too little too late. The mix is too repetitive from a compositional level. I also thought the transition to the orchestral section was way too abrupt. The same issue holds for the transition at around 4:00 to the new section. Production in general is basic as well. There's not much going on here in synth design, or processing to make the mix stand out. There are good ideas displayed here and there, some of the synths are actually cool, like around the late 3 minute mark, but they were few and far between. Most of the mix had a lot of sloppy moments, and without any kind of production value going on for it that is so critical in this type of electronica hybrid mix...the mix just results in untapped potential. This needs a lot of work. I want to see you submit and improve more. You have the ideas in place, but you just need to focus on bring all these elements together cohesively. Keep practicing and keep reading/participating in the remixing/WIP forums. NO

This reminds me of early 90s Yuzo Koshiro. I really enjoyed the piano sections. They really added to the groove here. Unfortunately, looking at the big picture of the mix, to me it's too sparse and basic sounding. The percussion seems to repeat and repeat. I too also really enjoyed the 1:49-2:06 section with the string pads and harp. I'd like to hear this with a more evolved concept and direction, some more supplementary instruments to go along with the beats and bass, and finally the drums really need more attention (they feel like they keep repeating the same thing without any kind of change). Yes I know a lot dance and electronica music is like this, but there are ways of spicing things up. Adding some fx, reverses, something will help break the monotony. Above average work. Keep practicing and trying. NO

I seem to like this more than Larry and TO. I think there's some really creative stuff going on in the left hand in particular. This is without a doubt, Xerol's best mix. This to me is a marked step forward for him. There are moments here, especially with what the left hand is doing that remind me of Bladiator's style. There are some moments where the performance starts to weaken though, like at around 1:25. My favorite sections were the beginning, middle and end. In between those sections there's a lot of hit or miss. I think you need to focus on adding more tonal color and notes to supplement the left hand playing. Arrangement is probably one of the weaker elements here though. It's not as expansive or as interesting as what I'm used to hearing from you. I think you did expand some of the left hand stuff here and there, but the structure and melodic progression is fairly straightforward. The production, I don't think is as bad as the other judges cite. I think the sample is fine. But I think this does need more reverb. Which piano soundfont are you using? I can recommend a few to you in greater detail elsewhere. Agreed. Piano to piano conversions require more focus on the expansion of the composition and of the performance as well. Keep it up Xerol. I think you're really progressing in many departments. Just keep working at it. NO

This is definitely good stuff for a first submission. But I think the arrangement values are still rather conservative. There's not much done in terms of melodic, harmonic or structural expansion. The source material is very basic, so one can look at it in two ways. It'll either hamper the mixer with not much source to work with and expand on, or it'll help the mixer by giving him/her more freedom to do more expansion. This depends from case to case. Ultimately, this aspect is something that needs to be worked on. I like the classic sounds here, but the production is very basic. There's really no sophisticated or noteworthy production values going on here. I'd like to hear more short delays to add depth to the leads. Also I feel the drums are overly powerful considering the sparseness of the mix. I'd like to hear more supporting material under the lead. Even some sort of pad playing the chords would really help fill things out. Impressive first submission, but this still has a ways to go in the compositional elements and polish needed to pass. I hope you take this as encouragement to continue, as you definitely show a lot of promise. NO

I like the arrangement ideas here, but the execution to me feels too spastic. As JJT mentioned, the timing is sometimes really disjointed, lacking in performance and flow. It does have its high points though. There are moments where the flourishes are gorgeous. I'd like to hear some more dynamics in this type of piece, but that's personal taste. The production here though is too problematic for me. It sounds like it's overreverbed/recorded poorly with far mics. This explains the lofi/distant sounding piano that's lacking in any shimmer. It sounds like a wave of mud sometimes. I listen to a lot of solo piano recordings, recorded in European halls so I certainly appreciate the distance and darkness of the style, but in this case it's overboard and lacking in too much detail. I would do some liberal frequency roll offs at 200-800 hz, and do some bumps at 1K, 5K and 10K ranges to add some shimmer. But this would depend on the raw/dry original wav source at your disposal. Promising mix. Keep at it. NO

The sequencing is definitely very mechanical, especially with the strings. It sounds like it was composed on sheet music or quantized very strongly. The string progressions just rubbed me the wrong way. They were too jarring and disjointed. The woodwinds and french horn sequencing was better though. But other than that this is the most basic of orchestrations in my view. I think this would benefit from a heavier double bass as well. Notes entering were too abrupt in my view. I think if you can edit the attack of your samples that would help a lot. On the arrangement front, I thought there were good ideas here and there, but on the whole I thought the concepts and ideas brought to the table were a bit too conservative. I also hear quite a lot of questionable and in my opinion, bad notes. By the way, I do like the horn rips. Production is very lacking here. Everything sounds dry and dull as others have noted. This needs quite a bit of eq work (particularly in the 5000-10000 range), also I would widen the instrument placement, a lot of the instruments sound centered, there's not much attention paid to the reverb/soundstage placement. Everything sounds too upfront. More reverb, and back to front placement would yield much more realistic results. Keep at it, I think this is promising and has a lot of neat ideas, particularly at the end. But at this point, I feel this needs a lot of fine tuning. NO

It's really hard to give advice in this case, because frankly, the best advice that can be given is simply that you need to practice and experience more. This is a basic and formulaic approach. There are some interesting twists and turns here and there, but the composition, arrangement, sparseness, and production values leave much to be desired. I'm personally not crazy about the lead combination with the chromatic percussion + synth. I just don't feel it really blends well. Basic in all degrees. It's not bad at all. You should not be discouraged though, as I think you're making progress. It is revamped, but I still feel it falls short. Keep practicing, keep at it. NO

Cool oldschool mix. The problem here as far as OCR standards is there's not much meat in the mix. You have a lead, arp, bass, drums and not much else. It sounds pretty vacant. It's not a bad thing, it's a style of mix and genre, but as far as the guidelines we look into this just comes off as lacking in the compositional, textural departments. Production is good for the style its going for, but I thought it was a bit too thin and sharp for my taste. The synths are oldschool and don't really do much in terms of the aural/aesthetic nature of the mix. The repetition doesn't really add anything engaging to the mix in my view either. It's a nice update, but at OCR we look for more radical arrangement and creative expansion ideas. AmigaRemix and Vgmix might be better alternatives for sharing your mix. NO

There's very little arrangement ideas going on here in my opinion. It feels like an upgrade/try your hand at copying the original. I'm not saying it's a copy, but there needs to be more compositional evolution over the original. Personalize the mix, as Liontamer pointed out. I also felt this was very repetitive, the driving beat and bass and patterns were way too repetitive. Sometimes it felt like listening to a few bars, comprised minutes and minutes at a time, ever repeating with some modifications coming in with new synths here and there, then moving back into the repetitive groove. I'm not saying it's bad, but for a mix this long, my interest was starting to decrease. The production generally is ok. Nothing wrong here, but nothing that stands out either. Better effects processing and mixing would go a long way in spicing this up. This needs more evolution in my view. You have a lot of good ideas and understanding of fundamental concepts here. Your integration of the disparate pieces of instruments/synths/composition was all put together well. But now you need to focus on the meat of the mix, the polish and execution of it. NO.

I really liked the groove pattern especially in the beginning when the pads were going on and it was exposed. It sounded like a nice chill film score. But after that part it really got disjointed for me. Here you have a nice delicate atmosphere with the pads, groove and piano, then the harsh organ, synth and loud snare enters the picture. It just doesn't really mesh at all in my view. There isn't much evolution in the actual piece either, it's almost like it's segregated into a few sections that repeat with little evolution, at least during the first half. Around the 2:50 mark, gotta comment on my enjoyment of the piano section. I hear a lot of film score sensibilities with the mood, piano, pads and the groove. But again half of the mix with the organ, ugly/grating synth lead and loud snare really took away from the mix in my opinion. I would personally scrap half of the mix and completely rework on that concept to fit the stronger/better sections of the mix with more fluidity. Keep at it. Definitely an improvement over your previous submissions. Hope to hear more from you in the future. NO

I was typing this whole write up then I noticed Darkesword said the same things...scrapping the write up and to be brief, I'll agree with what Darke essentially said. The performance is at times pedestrian but it there were some jewels of a moment in there. I'd like to hear more supporting material in both composition and instrumentation. Maybe a keyboard/synth/pad - something to add a more interesting or change of texture. Not bad at all, keep working at it. At this point though, this needs quite a bit of work. NO

Actually we were discussing this project in the panel last night. Liontamer and I felt the reverb was actually too small and dry for a film score type soundtrack or this particular context. (Larry was fine with this direct quote)There are many ways to approach an orchestral mix, but in this context, more reverb and lushness is usually better.

Finally! Congrats to everyone involved in the project.