Chimpazilla

I agree with Andrew completely. Everything sounds great except the lead guitar, it's almost melted into the background. It needs to cut through, needs to be louder and eq'd carefully so it is distinguished from the backing guitars. You can also give the lead guitar's reverb a longer predelay (90ms or so). I also agree at least one solo section would be a fantastic addition, and the ending is really super sudden. I'd like to hear this again, though. NO (resubmit)

Sorry you had so much trouble producing this track Will, one would never know. It sounds so nice and laid back and carefree. I love it, and it's nice to hear you go outside your 80s comfort zone! Stevo, wow nice vocals! The only trouble is, I listened to this expecting to bash some bastards, and I ended up smiling and hugging them instead...

Mirby, you are the cakemaster *bows down "I'm not worthy" style* but I had to do this particular joke for Flex. I'll hand the reins back to you now!

Happy Birthday, fellow NoobJooj! Ok. So I made this thread the night before your birthday, so I could be FIRST. Childish? Nah, because:

I haven't heard the first version (can't even find it), so I'll just go by this version. I really like this arrangement. It does have a bit of a repetitive issue, the melody is mainly verbatim and simple, and a lot of the instrumentation is similar-ish, and the leads do sound just a bit generic, but there is enough personalization on the melody and lots of yummy ear candy. The high end is quite hot and piercy. Those synths are way too busy above 13-14KHz or so, ouch. Some of the higher percussion is up there, too. I LOVE the wub bass, it is simple but really well done. Could do with a touch less low mids but it's ok as-is I think. Bass writing is great. Drums are varied and also sound great. Enjoyable song! Gotta tone down that harsh high-end. It's a pass for me once that is done. NO (resubmit)

I just completed a DAMN FINE TRACK today. What did all you philosophers do, eh?

Have a happy and musical day today!

Sorry friend... I admit I got bored for a moment...

try TO craft (not try AND craft) Argle and ME (not Argle and I) Beware the grammar nazi.

You never waste time here, your replies are always short and witty (I love that tbh). And yeah if you have the ability to make music at work (or tweak or w/e), DOOOOO EEEEET.

You ARE kidding me, right? I am learning Cubase, and also attempting to learn Vienna Ensemble Pro to run inside of Cubase. Tweaking and learning routing is all I've been doing for about two weeks. But yeah, I'm doing that instead of typing about it to you guys. (oh and I'm loving it)

Now ^that^ is the first sensible thing I've seen in this thread. While you guys were spending countless hours yesterday crafting paragraphs about your processes and either patting yourselves on the back or hacking yourselves apart, some of us were actually using that time to make music.

I'm agreeing with Will here. Yeah the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events we have in this country, and the exposure certainly is worth a fortune. Also the musical performers at the Super Bowl are typically huge names and already way too rich. But I think it sets a really bad precedent for musicians. I understand Will's frustration.

Cool Egyptian mood! I like your instrument choices and quite a bit of your writing. There are some good little solos, variations and flair on the melody in some places. I like how you've integrated the main theme into the mix, too. I have to agree the drum writing sounds like a simple loop for the most part. The finger cymbals are used all the way through the track, how about switching those up for something else at some point? Some beat variation would really be nice. Starting at 2:08 you have some pretty heavy sidechaining on the pad-like synth, and without a beat to match it, it feels a bit pumpy and odd especially since it goes on for so long. There are areas where the writing is very simple and repetitive that rely on the same (or same-ish) basic melody and chord progression and simple bass patterns for a bit too long. This is a long track, maybe you could lose a few bars of the same thing for the sake of keeping the listener engaged better, or at least vary the sounds some more. For example, your glitchy intro goes on until 1:27, and the glitching loses its interest in that amount of time. You could introduce some different percussion or sweeps or effects or sfx during that time, even while keeping the writing as is, and it would be more interesting. From 3:21 all the way until the end, the arrangement and main melody are quite similar and even with the bit of personalization you've done I start to lose focus and interest. I think some more melody or beat variation and/or ear candy (sweeps, sfx) would go a long way toward breaking up the monotony. I agree the dissonant bit at the end detracts instead of adds to the mood. Lots of great stuff going for this track! This can be very cool indeed. Not quite there. NO (resubmit)

But I like "super filthy heavy nastiness." This is nasty enough. And groovy as all heck. It does get a bit repetitive in the writing, but yeah there is some nice personalization and effects. I'd love some more wub variation during the verses. But omg dat breakdown at 2:43. My only complaint on this mix is that the (extracted? wow) leads are a bit harsh and resonant, and when they are playing they obliterate the lovely upper-end bass crunch. I have to wonder if the leads are going to hurt Flexstyle's ears? I'm gonna let it slide. I dig this. YES

I agree with Andrew, the string (and brass) sustains could actually use a little humanization as well, accomplished by automating volume swells. Brass could indeed have stronger attacks. But overall, this is wow. That's some deep choir in the background, and those bass drops and growls are excellent. Nice work on this one, I love it. I'm actually not hearing any Dark World at all, but there is sure plenty of Death Mountain. YES

I agree with Flex on the overcompression. It sounds a bit smooshed and also all the backing stuff is the same volume as the leads and everything is competing to win the loudness war and also the frequency war. Super nice arrangement, I love it (and a great source choice). Interesting and varied sounds, drumming, and effects. Just take down the compression/limiting and rebalance/eq the instruments so they each have a bit more breathing room, and this will pass. edit 4/20/14: I have listened to the newer version multiple times over the past month, and as much as it pains me to say, I still find it overcompressed, and it still has some balance issues (sometimes the violins are too loud, the snare is too loud, kick is too loud/compressed). It is a great track other than that. I sure wish you could take one more stab at the mixing, but I understand that you can't, so sorry about that. NO (resubmit)

I hear what Andrew is saying about the chorus recap, and yeah longer would be nice, but I'm not finding it necessary. I think this is a lovely laid back take on the source and it is produced very well. I like the phasey swirly pads, and the flute lead is nice, string accents and falls are great. I wish the chimes had been a bit wider panned, other than that I'm good with it. YES

This track is VERY well mixed. Yeah, that bassy synth is dynamite. The drums ROCK and the sidechaining is perfect. The writing is leaving me flat. The writing is pretty much verbatim to the source which is generally fine... but I'm finding there are large sections that are quite empty and bland and often repetitive, for example 0:44-0:55 is super empty except for the saw, and then that saw writing is identical all the way through the buildup until 1:06. (That lead that comes next is unique, I can't say that I've heard a lead sound detune like that before, and it isn't doing much for me but that's an opinion.) Then from 1:50-2:12, wow that section is sparse, I am just sitting here waiting for it to be over. Then at 2:12, you've got some cool bass synth stuff happening (and I love the GO!s), but the same lead saw writing all the way to 2:55. At 2:55, another sparse breakdown, with that SAME writing again, all the way to 3:17. Then the detuned lead again at 3:42. And yeah the ending is a bit of a copout, it just... ends. I think this has huge potential and the mixing is excellent. For me it just needs a bit more personalization and expansion of the melodies and a bit more interest in the breakdown sections to keep my attention. NO (resubmit)

I'd just be careful on how solidly you rely on the word "objective." Again I get what you are saying (and yeah great examples!), but one's ability to even identify all the things you've listed here depends on their progress with producing and evaluating music. You could listen to the same piece a year apart and have a whole new level of "objectivity." It is a moving target. That's all I'm getting at. For a laugh:

I like the marimba, the flute and the hand drumming. I also like the nature sfx you've used. I feel like the sounds could be eq'd so each has more room to breathe. The string sample isn't great and could use humanization. The arrangement is nice enough, but it feels like the intro with those same six notes from the main theme goes on for too long, I hear that all the way until 1:35 and I think that's too long to drag that out. After that you have some good arrangement ideas but I agree with Andrew that they need more development and personalization. The ending is very abrupt. NO (resubmit)

The drumming sounds pretty much like several continuous loops. The drumming in the intro starts up in a totally unsignaled way. The loops sounds pretty good but often they don't feel like a fit with the nearly ambient background. The synths sound generic and mid-heavy, especially the square lead. That lead is used throughout the track. Some varied lead sounds and more interesting writing would really help. There is too much reverb on nearly everything. The two tempo-change sections (2:12-2:49 and 4:28-end) are an interesting idea, but the transitions are not so great, and the kick in those sections has much too long of a tail and just ends up sounding muddy. Also the writing in both those sections is identical. The heavy sidechaining and filtering as an outro is sort of odd and jarring. The ending filtered beat goes on too long and then cuts off abruptly. You have some interesting ideas but this needs quite a bit more production love. NO (resubmit)

Wow that's a lot of reverb and also delay... the low end is drowning. You'll need to lower the amounts of reverb and delay, and make sure to highpass your reverb and delay to keep mud out of them. The mix also sounds quite overcompressed, at times I really hear some serious pumping. You need to back off the gain on your master compressor and/or limiter. The track has almost no dynamic range. You'll need to do some serious eq work to make the piano sound less heavy and the strings more full, while giving all of the instruments room to breathe. Also I agree with Andrew this is basically a cover. It's a nice cover, but for OCR you'll need to do quite a bit more interpretation. NO (resubmit)

I think this is a fantastic arrangement. It could just about pass simply on the arrangement and writing, but I'm going to suggest a few fixes too. The backing strings sound terrific. The lead violin does sound a bit sequenced, but it is sequenced and humanized quite well. Having a live violin player would be amazing, but it isn't necessary, because there isn't enough lead violin in the piece to make it problematic, imo. There's a bit too much reverb overall. The piano practically disappears into the track as it also has too much delay. Many instruments have too much delay all at the same time and they conflict. I'd suggest lowering a lot of the reverbs and delays, and doing a bit more to eq the sounds apart. Also, make sure to have a good highpass setting (like no lower than 500Hz) on your reverbs and delays so you don't have reverb/delay mud. Snare could have more snap and less sizzle. Hats are a touch loud and sizzly too. Yeah, that one loud crash, eek! My biggest complaint in this track is the prevalent plucked instrument. It is so stiffly sequenced. That instrument is the type of thing I'd expect to hear played in a very humanized and emotive manner, not plucked at the same velocity and timing each time. I'm not sure that part writing in the track can be humanized, so I wonder how that would sound with something more synthy instead, maybe with the plucked instrument playing a countermelody or some backing arps or fills instead. It just sounds too clunky this way, and the instrument is quite prominent throughout the mix. So you may want to experiment with a few things. I do think this arrangement is pass-worthy and I like it a lot. Please fix it up and resubmit it! NO (resubmit)