DaMonz

Let me start by saying that I think your remix is a great improvement over the source material. I would have a hard time making a fun arrangement out of that source, to be honest. Although, I have to agree that the inconsistent soundscape and the disjointed arrangement structure are deal-breaking. Kris and Mike have pretty much said all that needed to be said, and I think you should look into every single aspect of the feedback they have given you to try and improve your track. You have good ideas, but you need to work on meshing these ideas together in a more cohesive manner. Be very mindful of mixing details with the levels and reverb of embellishments to make sure the atmosphere you're creating makes sense. Also, work on creating transitions between different sections of the arrangement, like smoothing in or smoothing out some parts to make the whole piece flow better. I think you're on the right track, but you need to keep working on your writing and mixing skills (and the Workshop boards are a great place for that). Keep at it! NO

Well, this is an easy pass for sure! Beautiful soundscape for the whole duration, and nice progression in the arrangement. I will add that I'm not a fan of how the piano was handled, I think it could have used some more humanization, in my opinion. But this is amazing overall and should definitely be posted. YES

Yes, this is definitely a LOT of fun! I really like it, it immediately made me smile for the whole duration! It's a great adaptation idea, and a lovely arrangement! I have to agree about the mechanical interpretation bringing this under the bar, though. In my opinion, the mandolin is the only deal-breaker. Since it's so prominent, the mechanical interpretation is very apparent and doesn't suit the piece at all. Other than that, though, I really liked the backing parts! I was particularly impressed by the banjo and fiddle. This is nice work, but that mandolin definitely needs a rework. I really hope you will look into it and send it back, because this is awesome otherwise! Looking forward to hear more from you! NO (resubmit, please!)

Okay, first of all, I really really like this! The arrangement is brilliant, I love the story you're telling through this track. The overall structure makes a lot of sense, with the nice contrasts between the calmer and the more intense parts. I personally think the sound design is great overall, I really like the mixing of the electronic elements with the guitars. There's a lot to love in here, the energy of the faster sections is very satisfying. Even got a little shiver from one of those. I have to agree that the production could use work, though. The deal breaker, in my opinion, is the way the drums are being handled. They definitely lack the presence needed to complement the high-energy sections. These same sections also have a lot going on, and there's a bit of fighting for space which could also be improved. Some transitions are abrupt, and smoothing them out would also help. I'd have also liked a bit more focus on the melodies, which would make the arrangement even better and would probably eliminate the repetitiveness issue mentioned by Deia. Please rework that production, I love this! NO (resubmit)

Very nice! Sehr gut! Très bien! Etc. etc. I especially liked the subtleties in the backing harmonies, super clever work there. Sound design, arrangement, production, source usage... It's all easily over the bar. YES

First off, this is a lot of fun! I really like the mood, the adaptation to this style works really well with this source. I agree about the mix being muddy, which could probably be helped a lot by toning down the reverb, especially in the lows, and by sidechaining the bass and kick, although I believe that going down the sidechain route is also a design choice that could alter your vision of the track. For this reason, I encourage you to only do it if you personally like the effect it will have. The arrangement is what's really breaking the deal for me, though. It's almost there, but I agree it starts to feel too copy-pasty after a while. I also thought that the voice samples were overused. Finally, I didn't think the stiff piano was an issue at all, I think it's appropriate here. This is close, please don't give up! I'd love to hear an improved version. NO (resubmit)

Woohoo! I hope my feedback will be helpful to y'all, and that you won't hate me *that* much for it!

I agree that this is on the right track, but that it's not quite there yet. I agree with Deia and Mike on pretty much all points. You've got a good basis for the arrangement, there's a structure and there are enough elements to be able to build a nice soundscape, which could be improved a lot with better production. I'm not hearing that much conflicting in specific frequency ranges, although the bass is undefined mostly because of the wetness caused by the overall reverb and the effects applied on the bass (is that chorus? It's unclear). The balance is weird, and the drums especially could use some beefing up in the mix. Some velocity work wouldn't hurt either. More humanization work is definitely needed on the vibraphone and violin, and more expressivity in the overall writing would certainly help. Other than that, I agree that the track does get stale after a while because of the same pattern and energy level used throughout. Putting some sort of breakdown or bridge of some kind would definitely go a long way. Bottom line: good start, but the weak production and repetitive arrangement drag this down a lot. I also encourage you to hit up the WIP boards if you want some more advice. Best of luck! NO

First of all, the arrangement is beautiful. There's a bit of repetition, and some re-using of blocks in the backing parts, but I don't feel like that's a big deal here. Overall, I think the progression is very interesting, and tells a beautiful story. There's a lot of creativity, and the source is still very easily recognizable throughout. As the others said, this is noticeably sampled, but the humanization is really great overall, in my opinion. I especially liked the appoggiaturas and vibratos in the flute, they helped a lot, were tasteful, and not overdone. The guitar sequencing is also excellent. The production could be improved, which is especially noticeable when the timpani hit, as they seem to take too much space and seem to break the balance. Overall, the nitpicks aren't enough to bring this below the bar, in my opinion. I think this is great work that can definitely be posted. YES

There's a lot to love here. The intro is awesome and sets the mood very well. The style suits this track very nicely. Although, I agree that both the arrangement and production would require some fixing in order to bring this over the bar. In my opinion, the production is the biggest offender. This feels very compressed, and offers very little dynamic contrast throughout. The drums have a nice punch, but it seems to me like they may be eating up the space of other instruments. In any case, the balance is off-putting, especially between the two main synth leads. The melody feels very far out, and the "backing" arp-y synth is louder and more centered although its writing feels more like an accompaniment. Also, the whole mix feels quite muddy, and I suspect this might be coming from the wetness all over the place. There's a lot of reverb, and I think you should at least try EQ'ing out most of the lows/low-mids of your reverb patches. This would probably be an easy first step to help figuring out how to balance things correctly with your track. Then watch that compression, and try to rework the levels so that everything has its assigned place. The arrangement is cool and contains some neat ideas, but I agree that some more variation would go a long way. The drum fills starting around 2:20 onwards are a good step in that direction. The solo at the end is okay, the noodling doesn't bother me as much, but I think the rest of the track should back it up a bit more so it doesn't feel so exposed. Maybe changing some elements in the backing track would help it have more impact, like by hyping up the drums somehow, switching the sound design of some backing elements, etc. I think this shows great potential, but the imbalance in the mix, and the muddiness are definite deal-breakers. I think the arrangement should also be improved, and would definitely be a big plus. Best of luck! NO (resubmit)

This is repetitive alright, but I don't think it's a problem here. Production is unusual, especially for the genre because there is basically no bass at all except for the bass drum, but I think things are clear enough for this to be over the bar. This balance sounds like an acceptable design choice to me. The guitar in the background keeps the atmosphere (and source) present throughout, and nothing seems to overpower anything. Also, I didn't have any problem at all with the guitar's sound, and I don't even think it's sampled. I wouldn't be surprised if you told me this was performed, honestly. I don't think anything takes this below the bar. Although, this is 128kbps, which doesn't comply with the encoding requirements. If this passes, please send a 192kbps version. YES (conditional on encoding)

This is definitely creative and shows a lot of potential. The arrangement has a good flow overall, it's quite evident that you put a lot of work in structuring the arrangement. It's a very slow progression, but I think that's an acceptable design choice here and makes for an interesting journey. Some parts have particularly interesting ideas (I really liked the section around 6:39, very nice sound on those arps, and the subtle marcato strings to back them are well-mixed). Some parts, though, I think could use some more work in the creative department (for example, the breakdown at 4:23 takes a *lot* of time before anything significant happens again, I strongly suggest exploring some detail work to keep things interesting). I also think most of the melodies could use more personalization, especially because of the organic feel of the instruments. I have to agree about the humanization problems, especially on the pan flute and trumpet. The glock and piano definitely need some more attention to the velocities. I also agree that the bass takes too much space, and should be toned down. I recommend following Chimpazilla's advice. I think you have a good concept, and a good creative potential. I hope you will use all the feedback we have provided for you in order to hone your skills. I look forward to hearing a revised version of this remix! Bottom line: Good concept, interesting arrangement structure, but the humanization and mixing problems are deal-breaking. I also suggest adding more detail work to the 4:23 section. NO (resubmit)

This is amazing! You really have a gift for creating engaging atmospheres. There's so much attention to detail in all parts, it's insane. Every instrument is handled with a lot of taste, and the SFX are beautifully placed and contribute incredibly well to the ambiance. The way the structure keeps flowing in multiple directions kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire duration. The subtle shifts in the harmonies are super clever. The sudden drop of energy around 2:38 was a nice, refreshing surprise. And when things pick up around 4:25... Wow! (Also, source definitely isn't a problem.) Truly amazing. YES

This is very nice! Great energy, I love the super-tight rhythm guitars. Good mixing overall, most of the elements are well-defined, although I agree the bombastic parts (like ~1:00 and ~2:00) sounded overcrowded in the mids/highs, and the bass seemed to lack presence overall. Those are my only two issues with this track, and it's definitely still over the bar. Killer track! YES

Whoa. This is brutal all right! The arrangement is very well done, and the super low bass and guitars definitely have a healthy amount of grit. I'm also liking how the drums are sticking out even with so much going on on the frequency spectrum. I think the drums are the production highlight of your track. Although, I have to agree that the mixing of the bass and rhythm guitars are deal-breaking. As it stands, things are very blurry most of the time in the mix because of the lows and low-mids (and I'd even go up to the mids about this statement) being so heavily crowded. Everything is battling for space, and in the end no part ends up having the space it needs because of that. You should review your EQ's to carefully attribute frequency usage to your different instruments in order to clean this up. Tweaking the overall levels could probably help a bit too. If it comes to it, I also think you could *slightly* tone down the kick to get a bit more room to manage in all that low-end, but I think that should be a last resort. Bottom line: excellent arrangement, good drums, but the overcrowded lows/low-mids are deal-breaking for me. Please rework this, I'd love to hear an improved version! NO (resubmit)

First of all, this is definitely super awesome! I loved listening to this, it's beautiful. I also agree with Larry that the Zelda portion, with the dungeon track being incorporated seamlessly, and the smooth transition to Tetris, were a good example of what could make a medley acceptable to the site's Submission Standards. Although, all the other transitions are not appropriate for the OCR Submission Standards (as quoted by Larry), since they're very distinct and feel like a sequence of separate song segments. Not much more needs to be said, sadly. Although, like we all said, this is excellent, and I sincerely hope the video will get the attention it definitely deserves! NO

The source melody being present from 0:23-0:45 was nice, but I honestly wouldn't have noticed them if Deia hadn't pointed them out. I think that the melody at 1:29 is recognizable enough to be counted as source. From there, I think it's safe to say that source usage isn't an issue here! And, well, nothing is an issue here, really. I can't find anything. It's just amazing on all levels. Voice acting was an awesome touch, too. Nice work! YES

First of all, I have to agree there's little interpretation in your arrangement. The structure, the melodies, the backing elements, the mood, the textures... They pretty much all resemble those of the original tracks. There are some personalizing factors, like the guitar playing, and some subtle elements in the writing. The transition between both sources is also good, and flows quite well. Although, I really think more interpretation would be needed overall. I also thought there were some very weird timings with the drums and guitar, especially around 0:25, 0:29 and 0:39, which I think definitely should be addressed. Furthermore, I think the drum writing generally lacked energy and had very little sense of flow, which I think contributes to giving an awkward feel to the overall arrangement. I think you should look into reworking your drum grooves to try to make them feel more natural. I recommend spending some time on drummerworld.com if you'd like to have some solid references for writing drum parts. The production quality was also quite lacking. The soundscape is generally quite empty, and doesn't work with the current mixing in my opinion. Like the others said, I think the balance should be reworked, especially concerning the piano, lead guitars and drums. On the other hand, 2:27-2:45 and 3:34-3:53 were definitely the highlight of your track, and are a step in the right direction to building a fuller soundscape for your track, although the balance still isn't quite there even in those parts. Bottom line: your track needs more interpretation, and the mixing is off-putting. The drum writing should also be reworked. NO

ReMixer name: DaMonz Real name: Emery Monzerol email address: Name of the games arranged: Super Mario RPG Name of the arrangement: Floor Is Lava Name of the individual songs arranged: Barrel Volcano Links to originals: https://youtu.be/LgSwxY5cW_o *Shameless double self-post* This is my second contribution to the SMRPG album! I tried something more organic than usual. I spent lots of time humanizing the vibes, wurly and drums. And of course, I had to throw in some chips, I couldn't help it I hope you'll enjoy! P.S.: Huge thanks to Emu for providing awesome feedback as I made this!

This is a cool first remix that shows potential. Although, I'm sorry to say a lot of work needs to be done to take this over the bar. I think the biggest deal breaker here is the sound design, closely followed by the lack of interpretation. Those drum samples are very, very weak. The bass drum isn't *that* bad, but the snares have no impact at all, and the hats and cymbals sound super cheap and dry. I recommend trying to find more samples to have something to work with, and looking into sound design and production techniques such as layering and multi-band compression. The synth leads are a bit crude, but they're mostly okay. The bass is very weak, and undefined. I strongly recommend not applying effects such as delay and reverb on the bass, it very rarely has any noticeable positive effect on such low frequencies, and it contributes a lot to making the whole mix muddy and unclear. I also recommend being very cautious with applying a chorus effect on the bass, although in some rare cases I think it can work well. Rule of thumb: wet + bass = MUDDY ALERT. There are some nice ideas in here, such as the shredding at 1:43. I also think the breakdown at 2:01 is a great idea that was very poorly executed. This is mainly caused by the soundscape being so sparse, the lack of definition in the bass and the super-exposed super-cheapo open hats. You could, for example, have another synth doing the exact same pattern an octave or two over the bass to back it up, with a low-decay amp envelope to add more punch to each note. Maybe throwing in some pads in the background to flesh out the soundscape some more would have helped as well. For example. As for the lack of interpretation, I recommend taking some time to compare posted ReMixes with their source material to try to get a strong idea of how you can put more of your own originality in your arrangements. Looking forward to hearing your progress. Best of luck! NO

Not much more needs to be said here. The concept is nice, and the vocals' execution is good, but the backing track definitely needs to pack more punch. This should be MEAN, but everything has such low energy in there. You should try buffing the bass's impact (be careful though, as too much bass could make things very muddy). The distorted punches are also way too weak to be efficient. There's plenty of unused space here, don't be afraid to use it. Also, the sound design could use more attention to make your sounds more unique, and more detail work in the writing of the backing parts wouldn't hurt. And yeah, that ending is very off-putting. Good concept, but the production needs a big buff overall and the ending needs to be reworked. NO

ReMixer name: DaMonz Real name: Emery Monzerol email address: Name of the games arranged: Super Mario 64 Name of the arrangement: The Slumber of the Beast Name of the individual songs arranged: Piranha Plant's Lullaby Links to originals: https://youtu.be/Qs65jP8GI0o This is my offering to Princess Pretzel! Trying something different, once again. Looking forward to reading your comments!

Well, this is quite divisive. I agree that source is sparse, here's what I'm making of it: 0:01-0:52 - Intro chords are quite reminiscent of the source's chord sequence, enough for me to count them in 0:52-2:21 - I honestly cannot say anything in there makes the source material easily recognizable 2:21-3:31 - Source melody This means 121 seconds of source material out of 214 - 56.5%, source checks out for me. I have to say, though, that the arrangement is putting me off. This may be going in personal preference grounds here, but trying to stay as objective as possible, I'm feeling like this arrangement just isn't working. I don't think it's cohesive at all. The transitions are abrupt, there's very little flow to the piece. it's very much "Part A then Part B then Part C" with very little correlation between those parts. I also have to say that the super strong kick taking *all* the space every now and then on an irregular basis was very annoying to me. The mood is good, but even though I think source (barely) checks out, the disjointed arrangement and the space-eating kick are too much of a bother for me to pass this. NO EDIT: I feel like the new version is a very slight improvement regarding my crits on the previous revision, but I still think this lacks a great deal of cohesion, and the irregular space-eating kick is still a huge problem for me. My vote stays unchanged, sorry.

Well, this is definitely a lot of fun. I have to agree about some instruments and sections sounding more artificial than the others. I think what bothered me the most were the inconsistencies in the reverb. Some instruments sound very dry even though others have quite a lot of reverb on them. This, to me, was the biggest contributing factor to making some sections less believable than others. Some of the samples were also pretty lackluster, especially the piano, in my opinion. I did like a lot of other elements though, like the marcato strings throughout the piece, and I especially liked the legato strings at 0:48. The arrangement sticks pretty close to the original, but I think the detail work is definitely enough. I still want to mark this as borderline because of the production quality though, as the reverb inconsistencies and some of the poor samples are definitely points to address in future submissions. Overall, though, this is nice work that can definitely be posted on the site. YES (borderline)

Holy cow, the sources! I'll try to come back to double check this later for good measure, but for now I'll assume there's enough source material. I have nothing to say about the production, sounds impeccable. I agree with Mike that the arrangement does get repetitive. I think it's a valid crit, but I also think there are enough fills/breaks/flourishes to make up for that. Easy pass from me. YES