DarkSim

What a great couple of source tunes! Thanks for bringing them to my attention! They do work well together, and the direction you've chosen to take them is perfect as well - transitioning to an EDM take is a great way to keep the energy levels high. At times, I was reminded of the Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack, so good job getting the feel right for the genre. For the most part, I liked your sound design and synth choices, however the left-panned background bell sound at the beginning has too much detune on it for my taste. It's playing 3 notes, and the first of those (e.g. 0:00, 0:04, 0:08, 0:12 etc.) seems to clash with the other instruments. I also have a big issue with the drums, the main offender being the almost inaudible snare. There's a very thin clap sound, with not much else to it. I think I can hear some filter automation on it during the build at 1:45, but it's too quiet to hear easily. The hi-hats are also super thin, which might not be a problem if the snare had more body to it. I like the looseness to the swing of them, and you might want to consider adding some open hat hits to spice up the groove in places as well. The kick hits hard, and I'm not hearing much sidechaining (if any), so I'd suggest experimenting with some sidechaining - certainly on the low frequencies. You could probably dial back the kick a few dB with the addition of a sidechain, and free up some more headroom. Finally, you've got a fadeout ending! Not necessarily a problem, but BOTH sources have nice, resolved endings, and I was disappointed to hear a fadeout at the end of this ReMix - especially as it's just under 3 minutes long. I reckon you could do better with that, and give this track a proper finale! As it stands though, it's a really fun and enjoyable ReMix. I'd love to hear this one given some improvements and sent back. NO (resubmit)

I'm gonna pop the judging criteria in here to help me break this one down: Changing the structure of the source. Implementing multiple sources into the structure. Altering the overall atmosphere or "tone" of the track. Changing the genre of the source. Adapting the melodies and/or textures over different harmonies. Altering the themes, melodies, or textures of the source. Changing the rhythms. Altering the beat pattern. Changing the tempo(s). Utilize different meter(s). Adding new material. I can't see much of an argument for any of these being significantly fulfilled for this one. Structure - both are quite ponderous, relying more on texture and atmosphere. If you're going to lean on this, though, sound design better be top notch, which it's not. There's a full minute of white noise at the end of the track that doesn't add to the 'nature' feel at all! I think it's supposed to be a waterfall, but quite what it's supposed to add here I'm not sure. It's got no high-end, so it sounds like a waterfall that's downstream, and out of sight. N/A Atmosphere and tone is the same Genre, same Like MW notes, the melody has been altered, albeit subtractively Some different textures in percussion and, but nothing significant Not significantly, and as proph notes, that drum sound goes 'bu-bum, bu-bum, bum' for ages without changing up N/A Same tempo Same meter Not a great deal of added material, and specifically the waterfall sound is a huge miss for me NO

Well, this is certainly the most intense ‘menu music’ I’ve ever heard! Pretty hard drum ’n’ bass here, with emphasis on the bass. I’m glad the other judges already covered the timestamping, because this is a very out-of-the-box arrangement that’s almost unrecognisable from the source. This remix really goes hard for the most part, with punchy kick and snares, gnarly bass, and some of the most distorted leads to cut through it all. Where it stood out to me, however, was the section from 2:34. The vocal pads lead into a more mellow snare sound, with some gorgeous bells panned around the space. Props to the sound design for managing to somehow blend all that with a heavily distorted lead at 2:57. This lead allows the piece to segue back into heavier territory with what I call the ‘cheese grater’ synth at 3:20. Listen to that swirling, snarling bass as well - another highlight. One pretty big nitpick I had with this was the percussion sequencing. For drum ’n’ bass, I’d expect a little more attention to the drums. The same kick and snare pattern can be heard for the entire first 1:30, with the odd drop out, and after the break section in the middle, although the snare sound is switched up, the pattern between the kick and snare remains the same. The hi-hats also have a very repetitive pattern that’s used throughout the track. Fills could be improved at key transitions such as 1:31, and a little more sample variety wouldn’t go amiss either. Despite the fairly straightforward drum programming, it's a pass from me. Great middle section and sumptuous bass give the ears a good tickling. YES

Sometimes a ReMix has a title which bears little or no resemblance to the music itself, but ‘Hypervigilance’ perfectly describes this piece. The slow pace and sparse instrumentation helps the listener focus on each individual sound at different points. Combined with excellent sound design, you have these moments of tension which are punctuated by new stimuli that draw your attention, as if scanning a horizon for new threats. It’s a very well thought-out creative process here, and the execution matches the ambition. The idea of near and far is subtle, but feeds into the overall theme of the track. Those very hard-hitting and erratic kicks to open up felt like a soldier’s heart skipping beats as they prepare to embark on a high-risk mission. Use of filters, distortion, and bitcrushing are evident throughout, but perhaps my favourite is the guitar that comes in at 2:05. It’s got such a grittiness to it, and the timbre fits the piece perfectly. The lead at 3:25 is also excellent, adding more higher frequencies and reverb to give it its own distinct character. If I were to find one nitpick with this, it’d be the kick sound at the beginning. I know what you were going for by compressing the impact sounds, however I think the transient on this particular sample could be shaped better to provide a more interesting overall sound. I’m also in agreement with proph and MW about the beginning and end being too long, but as a package I found it very cinematic and surprisingly visual - probably due to the amount of ‘filling in’ my brain was doing whilst listening. Certainly a cerebral experience, able to evoke paranoia and those feelings of mortal terror you so explicitly tried to conjure. Job done! YES

Synthwave is my jam, so it's always nice to hear a ReMix done in this style. Great job on converting the source tune from 3/4 to 4/4, it gives it a whole different character, and the high tempo injects a lot of urgency into the piece. A couple of points to consider in this one - firstly, the bass. You mention that you took extra care with the sound design on this, and I can hear the subtle chorusing that you mentioned, however I felt there was a little more you could have done to help it stand out. A subtle sidechain with a 1/4 note bounce works wonders on these 1/16th arpeggiated basslines. Also, I'm not sure if you're already notching out the dominant kick frequency, but it looks like your kick has a peak at around 47Hz and your bass gets in and amongst it quite often. Adding a small reduction in your bass EQ at 47Hz will help mitigate some of the muddiness that is creeping in there. Also while we're on it, I'd say to tune your kick sample up or down a semitone. It's sitting at F# right now, and it may sound nicer at F or G. Tuning drum samples is definitely worth experimenting with! The synth at 1:51 sounds too exposed on its own, and it's also not the most interesting synth you could have chosen there. The real guitar towards the end was a nice addition, although it sounded to me like the high-cut was taking away too much of the instrument's character. I did like how it slowly faded into the bass though. Overall it was an enjoyable listen, although not without points for improvement. It's a yes from me, but hopefully there's a few things you can take on board for next time. Thanks! YES

Two things Germany does well are sausage and heavy industry. “Mellow” Sonic serves us a hefty helping of both here, and I’m loving it. Right off the bat, the soundscape is HUGE. It’s packed with detail, and instantly sets the scene, transporting us to some kind of deep space mining colony. It’s crunchy, it’s robotic, it’s metallic, it’s vast, and all these elements combine to create a wonderfully rough texture that pulses with energy. Whilst I do love the texture and intensity of the first minute and a half, however, you’ve got to know when to give the listener a break. A real break, that is, and drop out that sub bass rumble that’s sitting at 37Hz for almost the entire first 3 minutes. I’m all for some heavy sub, especially in a mix like this that embraces the chaos, but at 1:55 the dynamics would really improve by dropping the bass out. Not only that, but the real climax of the track at 2:34 would be markedly improved by bringing back the bass energy at this point. The larger break at 3:15 is more than welcome, although we do get some more bass rumbling in there after just a few seconds of respite. The synth arps are really well designed and varied - there’s an almost atonal, metallic one, a digital-sounding one, an acid one, and a nice spacey sine-wave one. Tons of detail in the design and implementation, it’s just a shame that my overall impression was that my ears hurt! This is honestly super close for me, but at times the bass is outright rumbling (see 1:55, 3:22), and it does become unpleasant over such a long track. That’s not to take anything away from what is otherwise a very impressive offering, and I’d love to see the bass reined in and this resubmitted. NO (resubmit)

The intro grabbed my attention immediately - that sweet synth with a bit of reverb on it playing simple chords in a syncopated fashion sets up an awesome groove with real bounce to it. The arrangement kept my attention throughout the piece, and it wasn’t until I played the Brinstar tune that I realised there were two sources! Absolutely amazing integration of the Brinstar theme, so hats off to you there. After the intro though, things start getting a bit sketchy. The bass is huge in the sub frequencies, and whilst that doesn’t create muddiness per se, it does introduce a lot of acoustic energy that doesn’t add to the arrangement, and can fatigue the listener’s ears. A simple EQ low-cut can help here. Use visual EQ if your headphones aren’t picking up sub frequencies. Proph and MW have mentioned some production improvements that could be made, and I’ll also suggest some sidechaining - particularly if you’re going with such a prominent bass and groove-based track. Groove could also be improved a lot with some more interesting percussion - I don’t hear much more than a kick, snare and closed hi-hat. I did enjoy the pitch shifting on the snare for the build at 2:20, that was really nice. There’s some glitching/fast hats towards the end too, but that’s about it for variation. Synths too could use some more TLC - they all sound very ‘preset’, and whilst I praised the intro synth for being attention-grabbing, there was nothing else that really caught my attention during the rest of the track. Try adding some more personalisation and points of difference to them. For example, the half-tempo section at 0:46 is a great arrangement choice, but the hoover-type lead synth lacks any kind of variation. Try experimenting with filter envelopes or LFOs and see if you can create some more unique sounds. It’s great that you’re getting back into making music after a decade, and this is a fantastic way to start! I’ve no doubt this would benefit massively from some sound design upgrades and new techniques, and I look forward to hearing it again after you’ve given it another pass. NO (resubmit)

Lofi and Vaporwave are 2 genres I’ve listened to a lot the past few years, and combining the two of them was an inspired choice for this source. It fits perfectly. The opening malleted instrument has a wonderful timbre that takes me back to the Machinarium soundtrack, particularly a track called Mr. Handagote, which is one of my all-time favourite VGM pieces. Great job on the sound design there! Unfortunately, the ‘Lofi hiss’ seems very narrow in the mids and sounds quite uninteresting, slightly detracting from the otherwise excellent synths and sound design. This hiss crops up again around the 2-2:30 mark. I’d have liked it to be filtered more carefully, or some other noise generation method used that sounded more random. Some vinyl distortion would have worked well, or some wider noise with notch filters, possibly tied to LFOs for some subtle movement. Some other mixing issues are the bass and the kick - MW’s mentioned that the kick was a dealbreaker for him, but for me I didn’t find it too egregious. The bass on the other hand, was too loud for my taste in this genre. It’s not a dealbreaker, although I would have liked to hear some kind of automation on it, such as a sidechain, to give some more subtle variation to it. As it is, the long sustained notes sound like they’re droning. Now, I have to say, I really loved the rhythmic playfulness you showed in this track. I listened before I read your writeup and was intrigued by the timing on the auxiliary percussion (heavily-reverbed rim shot?) from 3:21 onwards. Thankfully you mentioned this in the writeup, as I would have struggled to nail down the quintuplets, but this was an inspired choice. I felt like the unusually-timed percussion could have been more pronounced in the mix, if only to be able to hear it (and figure out what’s going on) better, but I think by keeping it subtle, you’ve actually added a teasing sense of mystery. By playing with the timing in this way, it kept me engaged throughout the final minute, which otherwise would have been largely repetitive. The ending feels rushed, which is a bit of a shame. The bass in particular goes from very loud to silent almost instantly, which is noticeable after such a chill track. Despite the few issues I had with this track, however, there’s enough high-quality material here to carry it over the bar. I certainly enjoyed listening to it very much, so good luck with the rest of the panel! YES

I enjoyed this track a lot! It’s a catchy hook, although by about the 4 minute mark I caught myself checking how long was left, as it was starting to feel too repetitive. To my surprise, there were 2 minutes to go! Thankfully, the section from 4:08 came to save the day, although I think if you’re going to have such a different part of the source used in a track like this, it’s really got to come in sooner. You could probably bring it in a good 2 minutes earlier, but considering it’s such a big change, why not give the lead synth the support it deserves? It’s a pretty weak transition with just a short noise riser, and the synth has no support for a while except for the percussion, which make both stand out as fairly basic. I much prefer when the arpeggiated bass comes in at 4:32. It reminds me of Love Missile F1-11 by Sigue Sigue Sputnik (yes that’s a real band… and song). Good 80s vibes there. Production could use a few tweaks - I found the saw pad too loud in the mix, particularly for the level of distortion/detune applied. This can be heard particularly from 5:16-5:52, as it started to grate on me after being present for so long at once. Lack of sidechaining mentioned above by Kris, and I see you use Ableton, which is great because it’s really quick and easy to get a cool sounding sidechain going in Live. Look up a tutorial on YouTube and you’ll use one in every track you ever make from now on - I know I do! Drum samples could do with a review, too - start with the 4:08 section and work outwards from there. I really dig this take on the theme. Take on board some of the advice from the panel, and I’d love to hear this one again with some cleaner production and more interesting sound design. NO (resubmit)

I’ve been trying to review this track all week and listening at least once every day. It’s a tough one! On the one hand there are some nice elements to it - the electric guitar has a great tone, particularly the intro chords. They sound really nice both without, and then with, the distortion on them. The drum samples are decent, and sequenced well, and the whole ‘band’ sounds like some teenagers having a jam in their garage. On the other, the arrangement is almost incidental - there’s no clear direction and it does just sound like different sections put together. The ending is the worst example of this - it’s a repeated section from 1:05-1:22, without anything to close out the song, or even allude to the song finishing at all! The electric guitar gets quite loose in places, but I can get behind that if there’s a good melody or hook to keep me interested, but unfortunately with this source and arrangement, nothing really shines in terms of melody. It’s mostly due to the source tune, however even though the melody isn’t particularly catchy, the arrangement could have been used to highlight the source better by swelling up to some chorus sections, then using the breaks to lower the energy again. As it is, the track’s dynamics are very flat, which makes it feel like it’s all one continuous flow. The classical guitar section sounded OK, although by using the same drum kit sounds as the electric guitar, it felt too similar. Also, whether it was the recording or the mixing, it sounded like the classical guitar had too much of the high-end filtered out. I appreciated the lead guitar melody/solo change-up at 1:48, although that did repeat itself immediately, which was a shame. There was an opportunity there to get a little more creative and bring something more memorable to the track. Overall I feel like it’s still a work in progress, especially with that ending. The track is called ‘Beacon of Hope’, which I get is from the ‘Lighthouse’ source, but it doesn’t sound too much like a hopeful track at the moment. If you do revisit it, try and use some more dynamics and arrangement techniques to highlight sections, and really build to an ending that evokes hopefulness and light. NO

Wow, this is quite a package for a 3-minute track! We begin with some faded-in vocals and some arpeggiated guitar chords. There’s something odd about the panning of the guitar that tripped me up on listening - it shifts abruptly mid-note to be more central at 0:14 and I’m not sure why! It would have been fine to leave it panned more to the right, or slowly shift it into the middle. I also felt you could have milked the intro a bit more and let it build more dramatically before bringing the ENERGY, but I don’t blame you for wanting to get stuck in. When it really kicks off at 0:36 I’m enjoying how the guitar works with the vocal backing, however things do get very busy. The guitar sounds great, yet the mix feels quite claustrophobic at times. This is probably due to the large amount of sub-bass going on in both kick and bass. The break halfway through the track is a welcome relief - albeit brief! That kick sounds like it’s got a bit too much low-end in the sample’s transient tail. I say this because it sounds really boomy during the 1/16th sections, but at 1/32 intervals (1:22) it sounds better. If it were reverb causing the issue, you’d hear it getting worse the faster it was played, but as 1/32 sounds cleaner, I’d say it’s the transient. Might be worth reshaping that in future if you’re going to use the same kit, and shortening the tail on the kick to clean it up a bit. The percussion is sequenced well, although I do agree with Larry that the open hat is too exposed in the mix. Sounds like it’s panned too far left with not enough reverb on it so it feels like I can almost see it in my left eye. Would be nicer if it sat further back in the mix so as not to draw too much attention to itself. Bev’s on point about the snare too - it lacked some punch, but again not a dealbreaker. Onto the outro and the vocals are beautiful - again I find myself wanting another few bars out of the calmer sections of the piece just to show off these elements on their own, but alas, it’s all over. Overall I found it a largely enjoyable piece. Some excellent performances carry it, papering over some minor production flaws. The mix was on the edge of being uncomfortably busy, but just scrapes through. Other issues I had were down to personal taste, so ignoring those, this one makes the cut in my book. YES (Conditional on sample removal) Edit: Gonna change this to conditional after finding the sample used in the track. As it's an Enix game, Square Enix don't permit samples in remixes, as per judging guidelines.

The ever-prolific RebeccaETripp strikes again! I was listening to this with a Pokemon Arceus stream on mute in the background, and it seemed to fit perfectly! It’s from a Zelda game so the atmosphere is very much one of discovery met with trepidation. The arrangement supports this, as XPRTNovice notes in his previous review, by not being too bold in its direction, preferring instead to stick close to the original source. I actually liked this choice, as there is some movement to the piece, albeit subtle, reflecting perhaps a cautious nature of our adventurer. Forgetting the main melodic instrumentation for a moment, I was pleased with the supporting instrument choices as well. The bells, chimes, and ethnic sounds scattered around serve to add an element of mystery and exoticness that adds to the theme of adventure. The less well-executed parts are in the details. Other judges have noted similar qualms with the strings, and I did pick up on the boominess of those low string plucks. It sounds to me like you have too much reverb on them which is what’s making them sound like they’re ‘booming’. They are alone in the bottom register, however, so you can get away with it, but in future I would advice extra caution when choosing a similar level of reverb on low-end instruments. If there’s anything else in the mix around those frequencies, it’ll sound muddy. Another thing you could do to mitigate this is a low-cut filter on your reverb, to ensure only the initial pluck and its release contain the low-frequency content. The sustained violin notes sound lovely with the hint of vibrato, however as the piece goes on, it becomes apparent there’s little to no variation in the sample articulation. Attack, decay, sustain, release, vibrato, legato, velocity - all can be automated and these details take time to program, but can elevate your music to the next level. It will not go unnoticed! Another example is the trill at 0:42 - it’s barely audible! A little more attention here would have been appreciated, and since the trill was in the source - why not throw in one somewhere else to spice up the strings a little? Sources can inspire us in many ways, and this is a prime example of a missed opportunity. There’s an almost comically-long sustained note at the end which lasts for a full 30 seconds(!) from 3:42-4:12, and after a really chill piece of music, it brought me out of my peaceful state wondering “has my media player malfunctioned here?” It’s details like these that reoccur in many of your submissions, and I’ll reiterate that in order to grow as an artist, new methods must be incorporated into the production workflow. One can still be prolific whilst maintaining very high standards, especially with such vast amounts of specific feedback. It’s always a pleasure listening to your submissions, however there are a lot of relatively easy improvements that could be made to elevate your work far beyond where it is now. I’d love to hear how far you can go once this feedback starts to sink in! Ultimately, this one is carried over the bar by the outstanding performance from Gamer of the Winds. The natural flow of the flute serves as enough of a counterpoint to the violin, with enough variation and character for both instruments. It’s clearly a close call with the judges, but it doesn’t have to be! YES

Hey Rebecca, welcome back! This source suits your style well, and your ‘ReMix arrangement formula’ is in full effect here once again - nothing too fancy, just a solid homage to the source. Unfortunately this ReMix lands on the ‘NO’ side for various reasons, and although it’s relatively short at under 3 minutes, I feel like it lacks the detail that would bring it over the bar for me. To begin, there’s a very fake sounding voice sample that’s used at 0:08, and I really don’t know why you chose this - it’s very dry and sticks out like a sore thumb. It doesn’t appear in the track anywhere else, so I’d suggest swapping it for something a bit warmer and softer to compliment the strings it’s playing in conjunction with. Similarly, the harpsichord panned to the right is very dry too, and stands in stark contrast to the lovely plucked strings in the left ear. The flute also sounds nice, but the brass samples (0:38) are very quiet and don’t bring the gravitas one might expect to balance out the low-end in the right ear from the strings. Speaking of panning, right from the first listen I caught a large imbalance in the stereo field which can be seen easily on a waveform view. Even if your ears are fatigued by a mix, you can always use other tools at your disposal to check things like this before a final mixdown. You can hear the main culprits for the majority of the track - the harpsichord for one, but mostly the bass in the low strings. Nothing skews the balance of a mix more than the low end. There’s a lot of acoustic energy in low frequencies, so keeping them as central as possible is key for a well-balanced stereo field. Moving on, and there are 6 cymbal hits from 1:45. The first 3 sound like there’s a high-cut filter on them, and the last 3 are played with a higher velocity that again sticks out too much. Actually, listening to it, is the filter envelope tied to velocity? Check your sampler. If so, you probably want to change that - in things like EDM/trance you might want to tie velocity to a filter so you can ramp up the energy in a build, but for this style it doesn’t work because it just sounds like the cymbal is out of place compared to not only the rest of the orchestration, but to itself. The track kind of fizzles out at the end, as other J’s have pointed out, so if you were to revisit this one, then perhaps a more satisfying resolution would be a nice addition. To summarise, I did enjoy the piece, as I always do with your submissions, but this one was plagued by imbalances. There are volume, panning, spacial and sample quality mismatches throughout the piece, which when put together, add up to a fair bit of work to get this one through. NO

There’s a lot to love about this track. The synth choices are great, blending the old with the new perfectly. The 8-bit synths instantly evoke the source, but there’s plenty of fresh instrumentation to distinguish it from a chiptune remix. It’s super high-energy, but there are a few nice short breaks in there to catch one’s breath. My favourite part comes around 1:36 with the tempo slowdown and speed-up, which is a seldom-used arrangement technique, but done with great effect here. Gating effects are also used sparingly so as not to seem overdone (just - any more would be pushing it!) Unfortunately, although I wasn’t privy to the original mix, I’d say this one is still suffering from a major bass overload. Re-plotting it with a log scale, you can see here there’s a huge peak at around 68Hz: Mixes can be bass-heavy if they’re mixed and mastered perfectly. Really though, the bass mix is way off where it should be in sub-100Hz range. It’s so muddy and booming that it detracts from the enjoyment of the rest of the track. At a guess, I’d say your headphones/speaker setup lacks the bass range to properly reproduce what your DAW is spitting out. I would suggest playing this mixdown on as many different setups as you can (stream to your TV/Hi-Fi/play in your car/borrow someone else’s headphones etc). You may be surprised at the results! I know in the past I’ve made a mix I thought was great, then when I played it in my car it sounded horrible. MindWanderer has also touched on the narrow range occupied by the percussion, and I would be inclined to agree. It’s particularly noticeable at 0:49 after a couple of false builds. This is supposed to be the big drop that brings everything in, yet it still sounds both booming and thin at the same time, due to the mixing imbalances. I understand how difficult it can be to go back to tracks almost a decade old (I’ve got a couple myself I just can’t salvage, sadly) and try to bring them up to scratch. This one still needs work on the mixing and mastering side, however you’re golden on all the other fronts. Just one final thing though - if you do decide to give this one more crack (please do!) - it’d be nice if you could extend the fadeout to last a couple of bars, instead of the sharp dropoff that it has now. Cheers! NO (resub)

What a great take on this source. It’s definitely got a cinematic upgrade, and the sound design just screams Blade Runner as soon as that pulsing bass comes in at 0:09. I’m actually not sold on the first 8 seconds of the track, but once the pads and reverb-ed sine wave get going after 0:29 it’s absolutely dripping in atmosphere. The transition to introduce the percussion at 1:35 was surprising - after a minute and a half of scene-setting, I think it could have been worked in more smoothly. You’ve also decided to filter in the snare and kick, but the hats have a different filter applied, so they sound too exposed in the mix until all the filters are opened up at 2:17. Another unusual choice that was a point of interest was the use of panning automation on the staccato arp and the low-mid arp from 2:17-2:52. The low-mid arp is on a 1-bar LFO, and the staccato on a 4-bar rotation. This is fairly unusual and stood out to my ears as a clearly intentional decision, as the automation stops for the next section. Normally I’d say it’s a pretty risky choice to pan 2 separate textures in such a way, as it could result in some imbalances when their LFOs are in sync, however given that the character of the arps was different enough, you’ve made it work here. I’m pleased that some bassier elements make it into the final section, giving it more weight and filling out the soundscape for a more epic finale. The solo was a great addition to finish off the track. That lead synth is well balanced in the mix - it can be difficult to get such a clean square wave to sit comfortably, but again you’ve pulled it off. The ending is kinda strange in that I’ve no problem with how you transition out of the final section to the outro at 5:20, it’s just those final 3 notes from 5:30-5:40 seem so unnecessary and serve to make the listener think there’s going to be more to the track. Just have that arpeggiated note at 5:29 fading out, and it’d sound much more like a natural ending. Despite a few small issues, I’d say this track is definitely good enough to pass. I enjoyed the atmosphere and aesthetic for large parts of the intro, and there were some unusual techniques, solid mixing, and good original material thrown in there to keep me interested. YES

To say you’ve not made much psytrance before, this is an impressive offering. The intro is super dark and atmospheric. The whispered vocal chanting sets a creepy tone, and the tension keeps building as you introduce the swirling plucked arps that build and then deconstruct themselves (both in pattern and tone) to give texture and emphasise the twisted nature of the track. It’s only when the pulsating beat comes in at the 1-minute mark that we realise this kind of dark intensity is going to be present in the whole track, and it’s not just a build. The track’s length doesn’t bother me, particularly for the genre, and each of the 3 main sections of the track are distinct. You’ve got the establishing first section, which is the longest, and serves to set the tone. The second one experiments with triplets to keep things fresh, and the final section is the busiest, to stand out as the finale. The sound design is excellent throughout, and let’s face it - it has to be to keep the listener’s interest for over 8 minutes in a traditionally repetitive genre. There’s evidence of automation absolutely everywhere, which you note in your submission email, and the effort was not in vain. I already mentioned the arps in the intro which have loads of detail, but there’s a part in the triplet middle section where you’ve got some kind of acid arp filtering in and out, then some detune increasing as the high-cut decreases, meanwhile a riser is coming in behind it. That bass riff that comes in every 8 bars after 1:07 sounds awesome, and has some really nice filter and stereo automation on it - flanging too maybe? Definitely a highlight. The importance of automation can’t be overstated really - it’s one thing to have good sound design, but in order to keep interest, those sounds must keep evolving, and continue to sound good as they do so. You’ve done a great job for the most part on this. I’m struggling to find any constructive criticism other than there were a couple of synth patches I felt could have been a bit more interesting. There’s one that is filtered in from around the 2-minute mark and persists for over a minute. It sounds like a thin pulse pluck and doesn’t work too well to my taste in quarter-notes without any layering to beef it up. Also the patch at 4:58 sounds a lot like one of the Garageband presets, so I’d have tinkered with that a bit more to get something a bit different out of it. Those are extremely minor points for improvement though on what overall I thought was a fantastic take on a pretty unremarkable couple of sources. There are tons of details in the background to keep your ears alert, and the way the sounds evolve through each section of the track ensures that it never feels too repetitive. It’s got a solid foundation in the low end, with a clear mix, and the minimalistic approach to mid/high-end content serves to keep the mix free of clutter, even though I’m sure it was tempting to add some more layers. I hope you keep experimenting with electronic genres! YES

Goodness me, this piece is beautiful. The expression in both instruments really shines, especially the sax. It's a pity the key sounds are so prominent, as I did find them distracting at times. It sounds like the mic is adding some small level of noise too. Saying that though, you could maybe record this 100 times with a cleaner, better positioned, mic and not get the same level of feeling as when two musicians are playing together in the moment and feeding off one another's energy. I'm happy to live with the suboptimal recording setup and enjoy the warmth of what's here. YES

I'm blown away by this. Listening at the 5 minute mark, I can't remember how I got here but I loved every second of the journey. The way the track evolves and progresses so effortlessly is such a skill to pull off, especially as a collaborative project. Overall it's an amazing track, but the standout part for me is the sound design on that shimmery synth that comes in at 1:00. It sounds like it's being bowed, and the increasing frequency on the modulation is handled perfectly. Absolutely sublime! Worth hitting replay just to hear that again.

Very cool source tune for this one - the ambience is certainly aquatic (wait…), and the instrumentation fits the theme. You’ve taken the source and amplified that feeling in a cinematic style, and for the most part it’s a success. A few points stood out to me as nitpicks, and there were a couple of misses in there for me. The tempo change from 2:55-3:26 goes from 75 to 95 BPM and it just feels awkward with the percussion behind it. By adding percussion during such a large tempo change over 30 seconds, it gives the impression that the percussion is dragging behind the beat, and sounded awkward to my ear. I question whether going for such a large tempo change was necessary, and if so, whether paring back the percussion until the tempo got up to speed would have been a better choice. The second miss was the false ending at 5:30. It’s already a fairly long track at this point and it felt like a natural ending point, especially with the echoey kick to punctuate it. To return and repeat the same chord progression added nothing for me. A couple of other nitpicks were the reverb on the water effects in the intro, which gave it a slightly unusual space, although perhaps that was intentional. The female vocal sounds nice although the release is too short (you can hear the almost instant cutoff at 1:06), and at 4:29 the quicker notes just sound noticeably fake. Could have used some more delicate legato/portamento on the samples there. As a whole though I’m impressed with the overhaul of the source tune on this one. It feels epic and cinematic, and maybe it’s because I just watched Moana a couple of times, but I can totally see this as the soundtrack to an ocean voyage. It’s got that spine-tingling factor of the beginning of a journey, and could also fit right in as an intro cinematic for a Civilization game. YES

As a DarkSim I approve of this ReMix. This track doubles down on the game's aesthetic, with some really gritty and gnarly textures, yet it's somehow also futuristic and mysterious. Superb sound design here, anchored by that pulsating beat which gives it some urgency, and fits in with the spy theme in the game. The source was instantly recognisable too, even after many years since I played the game. Great stuff, hopefully it won't be another 7 years before Perfect Dark gets some more love on OCR

The title of this mix suggested to me it was going to be a ‘Carol of the Bells’ style take on the well-known Terra’s theme. I was surprised to find that the bells were only in the background for the majority of this track, so perhaps it’s a misnomer. Title aside, it’s a very accomplished ReMix. There’s great richness and sense of space in those plucked strings to open, before a saw pad swells up and the titular bells are introduced. We’re then treated to a variation of the melody on oboe, which is incredibly sombre and unusual for a “Christmas” song, but perhaps that’s a reflection of world events the past couple of years - everything’s not been quite as it was. The next run-through of the melody is on piano, which leads into a build, filtering in a beat. It’s a pretty standard breakbeat, although when the filter is removed at 1:36, it is satisfying to hear the components come together in the mix. The violin sounds lovely here, and is that the faintest hint of a banjo in there too?! Absolute madlad. I’m a big fan of the saw synth from 1:59, with the subtle pitchbending and phasing applied during the sustained notes. It’s dripping in reverb too so it doesn’t dominate the mix, and layering it with a bell gives the sound a more detailed quality and interesting attack. Good attention to sound design there. The final 4 bars are probably the most “Christmassy” sounding of the lot, finishing it out with the pluck from the intro and some bells. The track as a whole isn’t overtly Christmassy - more like the first snow of the season than mince pies and mulled wine, but overall it’s a solid take on the theme. Nothing groundbreaking here, but everything is very solid, and a nice start to the holiday! YES

Ah, Neon X! I recognise you from the WIP boards. Glad to see you’ve been submitting some of your work to the site. So, hang on a minute - this isn’t the castle theme?! Gario notes correctly that the underlying theme in SMW is omnipresent in the soundtrack, be it the normal theme, athletic theme, underwater, underground or castle. Makes for a very cohesive soundtrack that has arguably been remixed 4 times already in the game! RIght off the bat I’m feeling this one - I love these slow, pulsating synthwave tracks, and you’ve got the feel for that down. The percussion is serviceable, although I would have liked some groovier open-hat hits in there from 0:22-0:57. The glitchy arp that’s oscillating round the space actually does a great job of layering the bass and providing more interest to the groove in lieu of some more detailed percussion. The best part of this is 0:57-1:20 where you can really hear the underground theme working well as a little bridge section. I love the chord progression here too, it fits the genre amazingly well. I’m torn over the rest of the track, because it feels like it’s an epic build but then it just ends. Why you gotta end it there, eh? We were just getting going! As the other judges have noted, I felt the 4 runs through of the melody with that pulse lead were 2 too many, and I certainly would have liked some more variation in there, especially if that’s how the track ends. I was looking through the submission guidelines for anything related to ending a track “too soon”, but alas, this does meet the submission standards for arrangement. My lingering feeling after listening to the track was that it was incomplete, however. I’m squarely in agreement with all points made by MindWanderer on this. The overall production of the track is OK - I definitely feel like you should work on adding clarity to the elements of your mixes, though. There are tons of synthwave artists out there and although this level of production meets OCR’s standards, for you to grow as an artist I would recommend working on this aspect of your game. YES

Could Funky's Flights take me somewhere tropical? Good start here

When evaluating a track, I usually listen to the mix once through first, before going in a second time and writing down quick notes as the track plays. After a few listens, I’ll take a listen to the source and hopefully hear a big improvement. My notes for this one said things like “Nice atmosphere, cohesive sound. Instrumentation good throughout. Bassoon, flute, harp and bell arp all work together. Acoustic bass and ethnic drums interesting backing”. I was a little disappointed to find out that when I listened to the source, the instrumentation was copied straight over. There’s even a little more detail in the bass in the source, with some very cool pitchbends/hammer-ons/pull-offs that I would have loved to hear translated into the ReMix in some way. It’s a real shame they’ve been omitted, as they would have helped establish more of the groove that DJP was looking for, as well as being points of interest. A common issue I have with your submissions is the spacial quality of the instruments - they often feel like they’re not playing in the same space. This can be sorted with attention to detail in the reverb on individual tracks. Rexy makes a great observation and has good advice about using a high-pass reverb on the higher-frequency instruments. Funnily enough, I’d slapped this track into Ableton and done that myself whilst listening, to see if it would help - and it does somewhat. It’s much easier to do this on the individual tracks than on the master, though. Other small nitpicks are that water SFX that sounds like it’s being poured directly into my brain (needs better spacing), and the rather quick attack on the vocal pad at 1:18 - similar to critique on your other tracks I’ve had in the past. Try blending the notes together for a more natural sound. I’m on the fence about this one, really. The embellishment of the source is conservatively yet tastefully done, and it’s very atmospheric, certainly evoking an underground journey near water. What I can’t help thinking is that you’ve sort of arrived here by accident, after borrowing the majority of the instrumentation from the source. These instruments work well together, and so it naturally sounds decent, despite the lack of polish on the overall track. That’s not necessarily a bad thing - choosing instrumentation wisely can often save you a lot of trouble mixing - but when they’re already present in the source, I would expect a bit more care to make the performances stand out. Removing the detail from the bass is one such example. It still sounds good, but there’s much more room to get creative with it. DJP notes that we should judge ReMixes in isolation, however I feel like the last few submissions I’ve evaluated from you have had the same flaws in them. Your productivity is admirable, but if you could iron out some common mistakes, then higher-quality production would become second nature, and you’d smash the bar with every submission! Of course, a lot of time has passed since you submitted these, so I’m sure you’ve already improved loads since then, and I look forward to hearing more! YES

I don’t listen to enough reggae. There’s a digital radio station I can get on my TV called Reggae Starz, and whenever I put it on there are always some bangers. More reggae on OCR can only be a good thing! Of course, when the song has ‘Reggae’ in the title, I’m expecting a few things. It’s gotta have a good off-beat rhythm, plenty of delay feedback on the percussion hits/fills, and hopefully some vocals! We get off to a pretty lacklustre start - those hi-hats are really thin, establishing the groove but not really carrying it all that well. The volume is also pretty high, considering it’s such high frequency, which is exposing it when the other instrumentation comes in. Adding the off-beat rhythm is an organ, which works for me and starts to fill out the soundscape. It’s not until the brass comes in at 0:32 that the groove really feels good and the track starts to get going. Honestly I would have probably started the track here and not missed the first 30 seconds. The addition of vocal textures is a great choice, and just when I thought some lead vocals might come in, the energy drops right back down to a strange bass section. The bass interplay from 0:53-1:14 was very strange when listening on headphones. I didn’t understand your choice to hard-pan one of the basses to the right while the other is in the middle, however listening to the source after the ReMix made everything become clear: it’s a direct copy of the source. The subtle velocity decrease throughout this section indicates to me that you’ve probably used a MIDI to base your track around, which is fine, but you have to take a more critical approach when rearranging a track from a MIDI. Why has the original composer done it this way? How could I improve it and put my stamp on it? This section doesn’t work in your ReMix for 2 reasons: the first is the hard-panning of the bass. I don’t know why Nobuo Uematsu chose to hard-pan one of his basses in this section, and who am I to question him, but there’s a reason it’s rarely done, especially in reggae. The bass is anchoring your downbeat, so on the off-beat you want the rhythm. Panning this ‘rhythm bass’ to the right throws off not only the balance of the track, but also the groove, which is the primary factor you want to emphasise in reggae. I think it would have been a great opportunity to switch up the off-beat section here with some staccato guitar chords dripping in reverb and a long decay on the delay, as is common in the genre. The other reason this bass break doesn’t work is the attack and release on the bass. They’re too long, so the notes are bleeding into each other. If you play this section in mono, the issue presents itself very easily. Listen to the original and hear how the attack is much shorter, allowing for the bass rhythm to be heard more clearly. Actually, listening in mono helped me to identify a 3rd major issue with this section, and that’s a strange low-frequency artefact that sounds like someone bouncing a basketball. It’s possibly some delay on the bass in the centre that’s playing off-beat and becomes very discordant - generally you don’t want delay on your bass because it can bleed into other notes where you don’t want it and cause clashes. Moving on from the bass break, we get into the real meat and potatoes of the track. I gotta say, I love this part! The vocal “Heyyyyy!” sounds great, and it leads into an awesome organ solo. The section from 1:51-2:11 is my favourite, with those filtered vocals. The soundscape is filled out nicely, and it sounds like a great base for a reggae track! Unfortunately, it’s over all too soon and we get a copy-paste rerun of the bass break at 2:12 until the end of the track. There’s a nice percussion fill at 2:32 that sounds very reggae-ish, and although it’s also in at 1:14, I’d have liked to hear more fills of this sort, perhaps with some more delay feedback to let it ring through a bar. At such a short length, with the same tempo and ABAB structure as the source, I’d expect significant upgrades throughout the track for this one, and sadly only half the track is up to scratch. The bass sections seem like a straight MIDI rip and aren’t up to standard when it comes to production. They’d need a significant rework if you were going to keep them as B sections. There’s some real quality here in that 1:14-2:11 section, however, which is a good foundation to revisit this track from. I’d love to hear some vocals in the A sections as it’s a reggae track, or maybe you could go in a slightly different direction and take inspiration from a track like Voodoo, Roots ’n Grog and crack out some more epic solos on different instruments to match your organ one. I hope to hear a rework of this again, if you’re prepared to revamp the troublesome parts. NO