MindWanderer

I've been mulling this one over for quite some time now. I think the source connection is technically enough to meet our standards, but it does so at the cost of being static and repetitive. There's a nice break in the center, but most of it is mellow riffs over that rainstick and the flute-like source notes. It's a good concept to start off with, but the original ideas that are present here aren't enough to make an entire remix out of. To extend the metaphor, a crutch isn't just a support, but can also hold you back. To get this to work, I think you'll have to go further afield and get more adventurous with how you adapt the source material. NO

I can't do much here except echo everything Gario and LT said. "Minimal and skeletal" exactly describes my own #1 concern. This feels like an early WIP where some of the instruments simply haven't been added in yet. I think this source can be fleshed out into a full ReMix, but it'll take quite a bit more work on top of what you have here. NO

The plot is based on Castlevania III, so the spellcasting woman should be Sypha Belmades.

Clearly you have never played any games that had to be loaded from cassette tape.

Unfortunately, Gario's right. This is some great work coming from Trism, and he's clearly come a long way in the time I've known him on the forums here, but that repetitiveness is a real killer. That last section in particular is nearly a minute and a half of basically the same thing, and it's something we heard plenty of back at 2:03-2:57. I also caught what sounded like unintentional dissonance with the backing arp at around 5:17. I feel like this is really close--the general idea is great, production is on point, and with the exceptions of those subtle off-kilter arps, there's nothing in here that's bad in isolation. Come back to this and insert some new ideas at 2:13 or at least 2:36, and again no later than about 4:53, in place of the repeated sections there. There's a good amount of source representation here, so you can afford to give some of it up in favor of original writing if you liked--a synth solo is what comes to my mind--or just riff on what you have in a different way. NO (resubmit)

Gario hits a number of excellent criticisms, and I'll add a few more of my own. The overall soundscape feels quite empty, mainly due to the lack of bass. The bass guitar is extremely quiet and used sparingly, to the point I didn't even notice there was one for quite some time, and the same is true for the kick drum. The melodic treatment is very conservative, mostly just rehashing the source. There are a few original moments, mainly the intro and conclusion, but not many. Since the accompaniment is indistinct, there's little to make this a unique, distinct arrangement And again, because the accompaniment doesn't stand out, the bulk of the arrangement sounds very same-y. The whole range from 0:28-2:45 is very similar sonically, and would benefit from some variety to keep the listener interested. Bringing up the accompaniment may be enough to fix that, but you can consider adding breakdowns, solos, etc. to break things up a little. NO

I'm not quite as happy about this as my colleagues are, but it's still a massive improvement. It still drones on within a fairly limited soundscape for the bulk of its length, and there are still some balance issues (the organ is nearly inaudible in most places, for instance). But the glaring production issues have been dealt with, and the lead work is just as entertaining as it was the first time around. I'm okay giving this a YES

Yeah, many of those games rely on players dying once to various obstacles, remembering where they are and what their patterns are, and anticipating their movements the next time they get there. Castlevania is the classic example, since Simon moves slowly, attacks slowly, is super vulnerable on stairs, and can't alter his momentum in mid-air at all. Mega Man 1 isn't the worst of them, with several notable exceptions (Yellow Devil). Battletoads is virtually nothing but memorization.

*Raises hand* The second one was much, much easier than the first. I never did beat the first game, although I did get to the end, because a friend of mine showed me how he did it: use Jump & Slash on the third-to-last boss, die, repeat the whole last world to bring Jump & Slash to the second-to-last boss, repeat. I never played the third, but apparently the two different localizations are vastly different in difficulty, with one being the easiest of the three games and the other being on par with the first one.

Seemed source-light to me, so here's my timestamps: 0:00-0:16 (source intro, heavily transformed but recognizable) 0:36-0:54 (chord progression only, I'm not counting this) 0:55-1:52 (straightforward) 2:18-2:43 (reminiscent of the source, but both meter and notes are changed substantially, so I'm not counting this either) 2:44-3:02 (chord progression only, again not counting this) 3:03-3:46 (straightforward, but nearly identical to the first 2/3 of 0:55-1:52 until the end) Total: 116/231 seconds = 50.2% Cutting it awfully close there, and it's worth noting that nearly half of that source usage (1:33-1:52 and 3:03-3:38) is repetition. And on top of that, these sections are exactly the ones that Gario, correctly, had concerns about regarding the production. I'll add that I wasn't a fan of the production in 2:18-2:31 (machine-gun drums burying the melody) or 2:31-2:41 (generally just mushy) either. There's a lot here that works, and I like the approach much more than I thought I would. But I personally feel that the production and arrangement are each borderline at best, and combined, that's enough to send this back. I'd be okay with the arrangement if there was more usage of the source that wasn't just a repetition of other sections, and the instrumentation really does need to be separated more. NO (resubmit)

Straightforward stuff here, but it works. I'm more than a little tired of the Invincibility theme being tossed into the middle of Mario Kart arrangements, but other than that, the arrangement is conservative but effective. The differences in performance and timbre between the first and second half made up for the repetition that was there, and the ending was clever. Great stuff! YES

Oh yeah, those pizzicato strings are super dry and sterile. The other tenor strings in the intro are dry, too; less so, but still problematically. Nearly two minutes of intro is an awful lot, but you do use it as a bookend, and there's a brief piano section in the middle, so it at least doesn't seem like two songs stuck together. But it's such a dramatic contrast between the sections that it's really jarring when the Eurobeat kicks in. I think this would be better as two songs, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker as-is. The dynamic contrast is really strong, and I can't set my volume to a point where I can hear the intro and conclusion well without it being painfully loud during the middle. You have about 5 dB of headroom in those sections, so bringing up the volume there would be much appreciated. It's actually pretty impressive how clear the sounds are during the Eurobeat section despite being smashed up against the limiter virtually the whole time, though the bass does get swallowed during the busiest sections. I have very mixed feelings about this. The middle section is pretty solid, and the piano work is very nice but the dryness of those strings is a severe drawback, and the quietness of the intro and conclusion is a problem for my listening comfort. I'll mull this over, listen a few more times, and put down a vote later. Update: All right, I'm back. I can live with the dry violins, but not the difference in volume between sections. That should be a simple enough fix, though. I'd recommend both making the piano/strings section louder and the Eurobeat section quieter. They don't have to be the same overall volume, but they need to be at least in the same comfort range. YES-Conditional (on adjusting volume)

Yeah, this is pretty solid stuff. The breakdown was really helpful, so thanks for that. Some of those source uses are subtle enough that I'm not sure I'd give them credit, but there's plenty to spare to hit 50%. If I were to really nitpick, I'd say that the sidechaining is a little over the top, on the verge of being a little distracting, and that the horns from 1:43-1:59 sound fake and are somewhat buried. That's all I got, though. Nice work, as usual. YES

Gario has this spot-on, I think. I have a few crits to add to his, though. The sanctuary section takes quite a bit of time to build up. The loop that starts at 1:14 in particular seems extraneous, adding nothing to the existing textures, and then the one at 1:43 is subtractive rather than additive, other than the riser. Adding some engaging percussion, particularly if you add it halfway through each loop instead of at the start, would help hold the listeners' interest. The castle section is a little less authentic synthwave and a little more chiptunes with reverb, so there's an aesthetic clash with the first half. I'd have another look at that pulse lead and maybe choose something else. Otherwise, I love the concept, and I actually really like the idea of using Sanctuary as the build-up to Castle, but that build-up has to follow through in terms of balance and energy. Other than the pulse wave, the lead and bass synths are great, and I'd love to see a revision of this on the front page. NO (resubmit)

I mostly agree with Gario: it's a great concept, a clever arrangement, and an excellent performance. My one big gripe would be with the lengthy breaks at 0:41-0:47, 2:17-2:21, and 2:48-2:51, and the abrupt transition at 4:02, which break up the arrangement into distinct sections. However, each section is based on the same melody, and there's a thematic progression in addition to the consistent instrumentation. It's definitely more like a mini-suite than a single song, but we've passed arrangements like that before. Otherwise, this is fun and different, a good addition to the album as well as our front page. YES

So three features that really should have been there all along and don't really encourage anyone who's finished the game to come back to it. One monster rush mode, which personally I find boring. And Hard Mode... (shrug). Might be OK for people who really want to play the whole game again, or who played through haphazardly the first time, but it also sounds like the low-rank enemies (the red bokoblins and moblins and the green lizalfos) are simply omitted from the game. If anything, if I'd already bought the season pass or was committed to doing so, I'd flatly put down the game I'm playing right now and come back with the expansion for the "full" experience. But most likely I just won't buy it. Maybe if it goes on sale in a couple of years (unlikely but possible, Nintendo does do it occasionally).

Not much for me to add except a rubber stamp. I thought the piano sound and performance were perfectly adequate, and the arrangement is beautifully emotive. Started off quite conservative but expanded the source in some lovely and engaging ways. Well worth a post. YES

I came out of this strongly feeling both Gario's and LT's crits of this. That opening was quite thin and weak, the piano was both mixed too far back behind the noodly bass. Additionally, the slap bass that starts at 0:05 sounds really low-fi and generic, very much out of place in this mix in terms of both sound design and environmental space, and really just kind of unpleasant to boot. The overall arrangement is pretty cool, and I have no complaints about the guitar-led sections, but the production and synth instrumentation do indeed need some work. NO (resubmit)

Yep, pretty much standard Tripp fare, which is nothing to scoff at. Overall arrangement is pretty conservative, which stands out with such a short source, but the thorough instrumentation more than makes up for it. I don't have anything else to add that Gario and LT didn't. A solid addition to Rebecca's portfolio. YES

Yep, this is pretty fantastic. There's not much to this source, so props for building it out into a full song that still clearly makes use of that source throughout. I didn't think it got excessively busy at any point--at several times, you have to choose where to focus your attention, but whatever you pay attention to, you can hear it just fine. I did think the dynamic range was a little too much, in that I found the quieter portions to be a little too quiet to hear well when I lowered the volume to the point where the louder sections weren't uncomfortably loud. It wasn't too severe, though, definitely not enough to hold this back. A great choice for the album mixflood. YES

The only reason I didn't list Battletoads is because there's no one near-impossible part. The hoverbike section was hard but not insanely hard, whether you went for the warp or not. I did beat the snake level, it was bad but not the worst, you just have to memorize the pattern. The wall-riding unicycle thing was the part I never did get past, although I also tried using cheat codes to start at the last level and could never beat that either.

Dang it, this would have been perfect for the CastleMania album. Wish I'd known this was in the pipeline. Oh well.

The April 15 check-in date has passed. Thanks everyone who submitted a WIP, and thanks also to the new signups! There's definitely been enough work to keep this project going. In fact, if all the WIPs get finished, that's probably enough for an EP quantity-wise; I'd just look for a few more to fill out the wrestling roster to make sure everyone has an opponent. Unfortunately, @WillRock and @DarkDjinn are MIA, so Death and The Creature are now available to claim. I've set the next check-in date as 3 months from now, July 15. At that time, I'd like everyone who recently signed up and hasn't given me a WIP yet (@HoboKa, @That Headband Guy, and @elenaiwilliams) to send me at least an early WIP, and everyone who's given me an early WIP (@Sbeast, Moire Effect, @ibeginwiththeendinmind, and @JonnyAtma) to send me some additional work. Thanks again to everyone! This is starting to look pretty good!

I'll echo Gario's comments here. I wouldn't say all the woodwinds are problematic, but the flute certainly is, and that's an issue given its prominence in the arrangement. But I'll also ding this on being somewhat static, with basically the same instrumentation and energy level throughout. There are some variations, but not many; almost everywhere it's flute, oboe, clarinet, usually tambourine, and occasionally harp, with the mandolin just in the intro and conclusion. It does get pretty fatiguing. And the conservatism is an issue as well. So, sorry, but I do look forward to hearing some more recent work from you! NO

I have a job and a kid and you'll pry my video games out of my cold dead hands. It might just be an hour or two a week, sometimes not even that, and a few minutes of Sentinels of the Multiverse or ALttP Randomizer on my phone, but if that's what I get, then I'll take it. My backlog of games I want to play before I die is probably long enough to last the rest of my life, even though I get more and more judicious about what I add to it.