DarkSim

Gorgeous pads at the start, lovely sound design throughout, although I wasn't entirely sold on the double-time section in the middle. Regardless, I love this kinda stuff so let's have more synthwave on OCR please!

No problem dude, that's what these boards are here for, and you've gone about things the right way - getting as far as you can with some promising tracks before posting for critique, and most importantly, being open to some constructive criticism! I wouldn't go so far as to say this is the final version just yet, though. As far as arrangement goes, I think it's pretty solid. Not much else needs doing to it - I really like your new ending. Try and let that delay ring out for a few more seconds just for the full effect. I'm not very good with music theory, so maybe someone else can weigh in on this, but as you go into the first "verse" at 1:00, those house plucks are playing a chord that sounds a little off-key for the melody. Might want to take a look at that and just try switching up some notes and seeing if it sounds more natural. On the mastering side, I can hear you've ramped up the compressor gain between versions 2 and 3 - do you notice the difference when you hear them side by side? Version 2 for me sounds better because it's not being pushed so hard. The treble in the opening synth is much harsher in version 3, whereas it's fine in version 2. The kick in V3 is being pushed too hard in the low end there, and beginning to muddy things up, and the bass sounds less warm and more flabby. All these things are caused by compressor gains, so it's a very easy fix, but it's important to realise how compressors affect the qualities of the sound, rather than just how they make them louder. Having large gains on the master compressor only works if you already have a very tight mix, with everything sitting in its own space (in stereo and also mid/side). One good thing about having the gains high in the mastering is that it highlights mixing problems! I mentioned the kick before, but I think it could definitely do with a bit more EQing to make it sound cleaner. Listen to the parts where it plays on its own such as 0:14 and 2:41. There's a sort of thumping sound after the initial hit - that's the tail of the transient being compressed and making it sound almost like a reverb. Listening back to V2, I can hear it there but it's much less audible. A little more EQ reduction on the high end of the lead synth would also make it sound a little more pleasing to the ear (more like V2). But hey, I'm going into such detail because it seems like it's getting much better each time. See how far you've brought it in 2 days? Why stop now when you're making such good progress? I'd say make a few changes, then don't listen to it for a couple of days (it's tough, I know!). Come back to it with fresh ears and see if you think it needs more work, then post again once you're happy.

Hey, definitely a big improvement! I really like the final transition up to 3:11, that sounds great, and it's a nice switch up from the first one at 1:00. Mixing sounds really clean with the synths. The clap sound could maybe do with a little less reverb and also a slight drop in volume. Either that, or layer it up with another sound and/or some velocity changes so that it doesn't always sound exactly the same. That bass still sounds nice, but I would like it a little bit louder in the mix so I can really appreciate it! Finally, try and work out a neater way to end the track, maybe let your own creativity shine a little more here, and come up with something unique for a big finish. How do you feel when you listen to the two different versions? Are you much happier with the second one? I certainly am, keep at it.

That bass arp is super nice, and the kick hits hard, but for me the rest of the mix lacks punch, and feels a little washed out. Could definitely do with more dramatic EQ shaping to let things sit in the mix better. The trance saw at 2:03 is really nice though. The reverb piano sound is ok by itself during the break, if a little vanilla-sounding, but gets lost when the track gets busier. That gated pad could be treated a little nicer in the break with the filter sweep, to help it transition to when the bass kicks back in. Overall a really nice arrangement, and I dig the sound choices. Towards the end from 5:14 when you have the bass, kick, hats and trance saws it sounds best. Try and use that section to polish your mix, then sit the other instrumentation within that where necessary elsewhere in the arrangement.

Hey, welcome to the forums! What an awesome tune, I wasn't familiar with the source before, but thanks for bringing it to my attention. I love the way you've chosen to remix this one too, with some cool vocal chops and that super funky bassline. There are a few issues with the mixing, I'd say - it sounds like you've got some clipping in places, especially where that orchestral hit sample plays. Did you sample it from the original source? I listened to the original and that sample itself is a little noisy, so it sounds like the resample has been pushed too hard and is introducing a bit too much noise. You can clearly hear it at the end, 4:07, but it's throughout the track. The bass sounds really clean, but it's a little prominent in the mix for my taste from 1:23-1:49. The slight phasing from 1:50 sounds cool, and helps the bass sit a little better in the mix I feel. Listening to the source tune afterwards, I felt that the levels were much more balanced, and the mix felt nicer as a result. It's probably just a case of dialling back your bass a few dB and it'll sit much better. Other than that, really cool remix with lots of energy. May be too conservative for OCR's standards if you were thinking of submitting it, but it's a jam regardless

Man, you always look so chill on the guitar... when are we gonna see you open that baby up for an epic solo?!

Don't be afraid to program your own beats using samples and MIDI, then you can have greater control over the fills. You can then EQ out some of the loop and layer it so it's not as prominent, but still adds texture. Or, you could slice up your existing loop, and experiment with snare fills, reversing cymbals, or quick hat fills. This is quicker in the short term, but gives you a bit less control than using MIDI sequencing (unless you slice your loop into individual components and then use those to program it with MIDI). I use all the above techniques, and to keep things even more interesting, sometimes you can add breaks with completely different percussion, different kicks, etc. Drum programming might seem daunting at first, but once you get into it, it's really rewarding!

Well I don't know the original source, but that was a beautiful arrangement regardless

Hey, welcome to the forums Electro house is always a good place to start with a remix, right?! I like the groove and the sidechaining here, the plucks are nice, as are the descending arp fills like at 0:06 and throughout. Some nice filter sweeps on your lead, too. The drum loop is a bit tiring after a while - you've mixed it up with some claps and shakers to try and switch it up a bit which is good, but I think overall there's still a bit of an imbalance with the mixing, and you could try and add in a few more interesting fills to the percussion to help your transitions. The bass sounds great actually - personally I like a little more mid frequency in mine, but yours sounds nice and warm, and not too muddy. Overall it's an enjoyable track! Nothing too adventurous, but definitely a good starting point for your remixing career

There's so much detail in this track that it needs a few listens to be fully appreciated. I love the vocal chops at 1:06, and the confidence to use dynamics so well throughout the piece. There are parts that are very sparse, and then there's that huge finish. Very nice work indeed.

What a huge sound! So much going on here, but the mix is clear in all the right places, with really cohesive sound design. Love the guitar solo at 3:14, that was a pretty surprising addition, and probably my favourite part of the track. мне нравится - I like it!

Hey there, welcome back to the forums! So, what have we here? A string and brass arrangement with some bombastic rock drums and a little flute. Firstly, I wouldn't mark this as ready for review - see the stickied post here: The reason I say this is because it's very short, and doesn't appear to have an ending! It just... stops. You'll need to expand the arrangement much more to have a shot at being posted on the front page. Right off the bat your samples sound way too exposed to stand up by themselves, especially the staccato brass. Once things get going, it's not so obvious. Consider reworking the intro so that your samples aren't so exposed. The break at 0:39 sounds pretty well mixed. The drums sound like they're sitting back a little too much in the mix, so maybe experiment with some EQ on them and different types of reverb to make them a little clearer. The exception is those hats in the intro that are too exposed again, and the way they're mixed makes them sound like they're not in the same room as the other instruments, so try experimenting with reverb. The over-exposure of multiple elements at the beginning suggests to me an issue with your mastering. Watch out for the gain on your master compressor! Keep practicing and learning new things, there are some good ideas here, but it is a long way from being finished.

Beautiful arrangement! It's a tough ask to try and remake a source using sampled instruments which is already performed by a real orchestra, and is already a waltz, but you've pretty much nailed it. Only things that jumped out at me were some odd timings at 6:24 on the drum (tad too early) and 6:32 for the melody (sounded a little late then rushed to catch up - could just be too low velocity on the first note). Extremely minor though, in what is an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable listen.

This is an absolutely mad remix, going through at least 3 distinct styles and yet still seemingly naturally progressing between each one. I'm not listening on headphones, but didn't notice any glaring problems, so I'll trust timaeus' ears to say you're probably in a good position to submit as it is. Well done for getting it this far!

I'm finding it hard to hear past that bass synth - it's got some issues with muddying the low end that become really clear during the breaks when it's not playing, and the mix sounds a lot better. I like the arrangement and instrumentation otherwise, with those cool FM synths, but that bass is making it really tough to appreciate the rest of the track. Some of the tapestop effects (00:27 for example) are a little too jarring to my taste - I feel like they interrupt the groove a little much.

I'm a huge fan of remixing older and more obscure sources, so props to you for making an arrangement of this! I'll be a little extra critical because you've marked it for review, and I'm not an evaluator so take what I say with a pinch of salt. First off, the guitar playing is excellent and I can't fault that. The rhythm sounds really chunky and the layered panning gives a great weight to it. The lead also sounds perfect, with just enough reverb and delay to accentuate the tone whilst still keeping it crystal clear. I feel like (rightly) the guitar has been showcased as the main part to the song, however the other elements have suffered from a lack of TLC. The drums in particular sound pretty flat, and although they have a decent groove, and care has been shown in input velocities, there's nothing about them that really shines. Some more imaginative fills would have been appreciated - there are some toms in the fills in the source, and the percussion has a lot more energy. Try and bring out more punch in your percussion, and maybe experiment with some new samples if you're struggling to get that particular kit to sound better. I do like the piano break, I think that's mixed really well. The synth at 1:27 could be a little brighter maybe, but then when the guitar comes back in it sounds ok. Maybe tweak it so it sounds better when it stands on its own. Finally, it's a little short, isn't it? I was hoping for a little more artistic license towards the end there. It's pretty close to the source at the moment, but 2:07 would be the perfect time for a face-melting solo before giving the chorus one final blast, maybe with a harmony playing on the synth. You could even squeeze in a more extended piano break before the solo if you wanted. OCR is all about honouring the original tracks whilst also putting your own artistic stamp onto the track, so don't be afraid to deviate a little more from the source music. Your guitar playing looks effortless, so I know you've got more in the tank for this one. Keep that fire burning!

halc's back! I'd like to echo the previous comments on the remix, which is classic halc style but with even more accomplishment and playfulness. I love the tempo changes and the music-box ending - you gotta have fun when you're making music, right? I think it really shines through this mix that halc is back on top, and it's great to hear.

Cool cover! The vocal work is really nice, and I can hear the two different voices through the vocoder. The mixing is a little off - some things sound too quiet, some of the pads from 1:12 sound like they're clashing with other sounds (check reverb), and the drums are a bit washed out of the mix, but for a first try it's pretty impressive! What sort of feedback were you looking for?

Welcome to OCR Pretty epic introduction indeed to your work - it certainly delivers on being uplifting. I really like it! I'm not familiar with the source, but I really like what you've done here. The choir is really nicely implemented and it all sounds pretty natural. Once the piece takes off at 1:21 it's goosebumps time, and then it's a nice outro that sort of reminds me of the end of the Game of Thrones theme, stylistically at least. No complaints from me, I just wish it were longer!

Hello and welcome! Unfortunately, that link doesn't work. Try uploading to soundcloud or a file hosting site like mediafire

+1 to the pumping tuba issues. Take a look at the frequency spectrum on your tuba channel, see what its frequency range is, then scoop out those frequencies from all other channels (low-cut filters will work for most, except the kick drum which may need more delicate work). That's a better way than reducing the volume, because you avoid muddying frequencies in the first place. Low-end is notorious for muddying a mix, so pay attention to anything that has a bass component.

Ha! Neat idea. If you've got a rearrangement in mind, then go for it!

Hi there, I'm not really a rock remixer, so take what I say with a grain of salt! Good source choice for a start, it's a catchy tune. However, I feel like the tempo is a little slow and it's neither rock nor blues. Not fast enough to be rock, and not enough swing and swagger to be blues. The drums are so rigid that it highlights the timing errors in the guitar. The bass has a nice groove to it, so try and play with the swing controller on your MIDI drums to match that. For my first remix, I couldn't find the swing control so I had to manually move the MIDI notes to make it sound like a nicer groove! Much easier when the computer can do it for you. I don't know which DAW you're using, but Google will help you with a lot of MIDI and DAW questions. It's a long way off OCR standard, but if you're new to this then don't worry, you'll improve quickly if you keep tinkering with things and learning what things do.

The sounds are quite harsh, considering it's a fairly mellow arrangement. The piano right out of the gate is very jarring - definitely work on humanising and expressing that part a little more naturally, and dropping the volume in the mix. The synth in the background 00:14-00:45 sounds a bit like a bagpipe as well - not particularly pleasant to my ear. It gets much nicer from 00:47 with that trancey-style synth dripping in delay, and those nice bells, however the bagpipe soon comes back! I like the arrangement at the moment, but the sound design could be a lot better. Consider sculpting your synths more with EQ and filtering, maybe add some more voices to the synth, phasing and LFO panning/extra width to envelop the listener in the atmosphere.

Oooh, I love this! Really cool approach to making the track, and it suits the lofi genre perfectly. Your arrangement has a really nice groove, improving on the original in every way. Great mixing, too - it's a little raw, but that's part of the genre and I actually thought at first that you'd sampled the original directly, rather than covering it first. Overall a really solid, confident mix. Very impressed!