jnWake   Judges ⚖️

Hell yeah Mega Man ZX! Begins with a slower take on the main motif of the original, the timing at 0:13 is a bit weird, feels like you rushed for the last note. Anyway, at 0:15 we move into a rock version of the same idea. 0:30 we get the first verse, source material is used as backing for your original melodies. Love the singing, the small touches like that slightly rougher tone at 0:40 are awesome. Your tone kinda reminds me of the singer of prog. metal band Andromeda at times. There's a repeat of 0:15 and 0:30. I haven't mentioned production yet but it's mostly because everything sounds great, nice guitar tone and all is appropiately punchy. At 1:07 we get the chorus, with yet another take on source material. The faster runs on the vocals feel a bit forced on the pronunciation but nothing dealbreaker. 1:23 brings some needed variation with a different melody and a calmer vibe without much chugs. Some nice vocal focus at 1:43, it's hard to enunciate properly while singing so high! There's some repeats of earlier material and a killer solo before we return to the 1:23 section at 2:50. Switch-up at 3:13 was lovely, the deeper tone and calm vibe are a welcome change. There's a chorus repeat and then we repeat the section from 0:15, now with moar epic vocal layering. Outro comes a bit later, not much to say there. On arrangement this is great, you took a pretty simple source without that much material and managed to squeeze a lot of variety from it. There's like 3-4 different takes on the same chords and all feel different enough to make this sound exciting for the whole duration. Well done! On production this is also great, everything sounds punchy and clear. Not many notes, only thing I was wondering at times is if maybe doing some small tweaks to the stereo mix (like, cuts on the side EQ of the vocals) would give the guitar a little bit more bite and presence. Overall, I really like this! "Green Grass Gradation" is a Mega Man franchise classic and your take is great. I understand proph's concerns about the prosody/pronunciation but they aren't a big deal to me. I do agree about the note at 2:06, it's worth a check. In any case, this is an easy pass for me! YES

Ah, such a classic tune, definitely one of the best classic Mega Man tunes. Quick note before starting the breakdown, this seems to be mastered with a -6dB peak for some reason, we don't ask for that here so you can go ahead with a standard master aiming higher! Begins with piano doing a slightly sadder (less blues-ish) interpretation of the source's intro, lovely. Sound quality immediately catches my ears, it sounds very muffled and some notes are hard to discern (there's a left hand arpeggio around 0:04 where the left hand is basically mud). In a fun swerve the band joins in at 0:13, I really like that change since I was expecting a full piano solo rendition of the intro but instead we get an energetic feel quicker than the original. Sadly, the mix keeps sounding muffled, like proph mentions above there's a lot of content in the lower frequencies and few in the higher ones (you can easily check this with an EQ plugin and I'd recommend having a reference track to compare). After a small break we get the guitar lead at 0:30, I like how it sounds, I was expecing something bad given your write-up but I think it sounds great. Anyway, we get some source melodies on guitar after a few bars, I really like the mood you created here, it's emotional but hopeful. At 1:10 there's a repetition of the main melody on different instruments and at 1:24 a small piano break followed by a quick build-up and then a guitar solo. Still enjoying the guitar work a ton, although there's parts where the lead guitar randomly decreases in volume for no apparent reason. Another repeat of the main melody at 2:09. There seems to be some sort of glitch at 2:29 and at 2:36 I'm pretty sure there's some artifacts, is it possible you actually rendered this at very low quality for some reason? Anyway, near 2:52 we move to another piano break and the track quickly ends. I think the outro could've had a few more bars of development as it feels sudden (and you can let the final note ring longer!). On arrangement I really like this! Maybe it's my bias but piano driven rock is such a mood. You did a great job adding your own touch to a well loved original and ended up with a cool take. Not much notes from me on this, except for maybe developing the end a little more. On production, however, this really needs more work. It sounds muffled and low quality, and the mix itself is also muddy. The rhytm guitars are completely buried on the mix for example. It's usually tough to balance piano with guitars thanks to some overlapping frequencies but it's definitely possible to make it work. There's also a few glitches and audio artifacts that should be fixed. Sadly, while I love the arrangement the production is way below the standards at the moment. Please hit the #workshop channel on OCR's Discord because I need a polished version of this remix to exist! NO

Like seph, I hadn't heard the source before, surely a banger. Anyway, this begins with a clav doing the main chord progression and is quickly joined by bass and percussion. Immediately noticeable is the low volume of the master. At 0:15 we move to the first melody of the source, played pretty straight from the source, although the bass line is different. On that note, bass is very overpowering on the mix, should be tamed with EQ, especially on the low-mid range. As a probable consequence the kick ends up being quiet on the mix. At 0:30 we move to the second melody of the source, once again played very straight. In your take, thanks to the electric piano, there's a bigger focus on the chords but I can't shake the feeling that the remix is very very similar to the original so far. 0:47 introduces the third section of the source and my feelings don't change, bigger focus on chords but still sounds pretty close to the original. Next we repeat the intro and move into a piano solo. Nice writing here. We then get an organ solo, it's less exciting than the piano one IMO but it's still fun. At 1:37 we return to the third melody and we get a couple repeats of the intro until the track ends. On arrangement, I feel this one is extremely close to the original. While you put more emphasis on the actual chords on the writing, changing the very dynamic bassline from the source into a (still dynamic) bass line that marks the chords clearly, the end result isn't a big transformation. The solos are appreciated as a change-up but IMO more should be done to clearly set this apart from the source. On production there's a couple issues. Most obvious is the mastering, the track is very quiet. Mix also needs a refinement, especially on bass/drums. A track like this needs a punchy drumline with clear kick and snare (this one manages to cut through the mix but I agree with proph that it's very heavy on the fundamental). For bass I'd advise some taming of the mids in general (especially the lower ones) and would also suggest some love in higher freqs, maybe some distortion, saturation, whatever. Overall, I think this one isn't ready yet. While I think it's enjoyable and it has fun aspects (like the solos), the arrangement is IMO generally too close to the source and the production needs polish in the bass/drums department. NO

I have no idea why of all themes in Pokémon you decided to transform the classical sounding piano intro to Cynthia's battle into a brazilian jam. While not an expert in brazilian music, as a fellow south american I am very familiar to a lot of the sounds in here. Anyway, this begins with some voice samples doing the chords of the section after the source's intro, soon joined by a slow percussion. At 0:32 a synth-ish accordion thing plays the section before the source's loop and the loop continues on a piano. At 1:10 we return to the accordion part before a break at 1:19 and then basically a full loop on accordion. Up to this point, source treatment is very conservative to the point I'm even wondering if it's just a MIDI of the source on the accordion sample. Luckily things change at 1:59 and the track starts becoming more unique, doing a lot of exploration of the chords from the source, first as arpeggios on accordion then as notes on wind instruments. Around 3:00 we move to some nice traditional rhytm and then at 3:33 we get some original material for a bit I believe until around 4:22 which repeats previous parts for a bit before a new take on source ideas at 4:30. I really like the source variation on this section, it sounds fresh and fun. At 5:35 a rhytmic break/build-up takes place and we return to a section similar to 4:22 in a bit but with fun harmonies. After a "Garchoooooompiii" we get a very unique take on the source at 6:40 on a slower rhytm, we then get some arpeggios on a sample that reminded me of the Castle theme from SMW. We continue for a bit until ~7:35, where the track slowly takes more of an electronic tone. There's some really cool arpeggios here played on various synths. I really like the change in mood for this section, helps justify the length of this remix. At 8:40 we get another very nice section with a steady rhytms and cool arpeggios. My only criticism of this part is that there's absolutely no build up to the ending and, in fact, the track simply ends out of nowhere, kind of a shame after almost 10 minutes! On arrangement this is (mostly) great, taking a tune like the original and modifying into a brazilian style is a really unique and fun idea. As I noted on the write-up, the first 2 minutes are the least interesting part, with the only noteworthy thing being the brazilian percussion. However, the remaining 7 minutes contain a lot of really cool takes on the source material and flow well. Most of the arrangement is clearly based on the source with only around 1 minute being original (3:33-4:22). On production I have a few notes. First, bass is very low on the mix, I understand it's not the focus but more presence would help the soundscape IMO. Second is that the drums sound very artificial, I don't know if it's the samples themselves or the way you processed them but I'd love for them to sound more natural. Overall, this is a very unique and cool take on a classic Pokémon tune. As proph said, production could use some polish but it still sounds good and the arrangement's a ton of fun. YES EDIT (18/09) Upon further checks by the judges team it seems this is AI generated (which actually would explain some of my notes in the write up). Sadly, that means my vote now changes to a rejection as we don’t allow that here. NO

Begins with some pretty electric piano lines for the first 40 seconds or so. Nice sounds on the piano and the pads. At 0:40 we get the classic arpeggio from the original plus some frantic percussion as the piano fades away. There's a pad doing some ethereal crunchy chords and other effects as well. Small break at 1:20 and after a build-up we get the main melody of the source at 1:40, once again backed by frantic percussion and a very wobbly bass. The chords are so ethereal (with some quite spicy) and the bass so wobbly that it's hard to make much sense of the harmony here. For this section the kick's also more aggressive, in a way that gets distracting. At 2:16 we move into the second melody from the source on another break from the percussion. A percussion with a very odd sounding snare enters a bit after and then at 2:55 we return to the main melody, now with an additional melody playing on synths. On this section to me it feels like everyone is playing their part but not really interacting, the bass seems to be doing its own thing, the 2 melodies aren't really harmonizing each other... There's another break at 3:33 with a return of the intro piano. A new build-up starts at 3:53 and around 4:11 we get another repeat of the main melody section, with minor differences from the previous ones. On arrangement, this is an interesting combination. Taking the calm melodies from Corridors of Time and pairing them with a frantic percussion and bass behind creates quite a contrast. There's also an array of crunchy chords on the backing pads that amplify the contrast, like taking something familiar and putting all this weird stuff on top. On a personal note the combination didn't hit at all times for me, the extreme wobbliness of the bass makes it very hard to understand what notes it's playing, making me mostly confused. Similarly, the additional melody added at 2:55 didn't really do it for me. That said, I think you had a goal in mind and nailed it. Besides from that, there's a definite issue with length/repetition, from 2:55 until the end we basically repeat earlier musical ideas without much variation, I think closing at around 3:53 would've been perfect. On production I don't have too many notes, there's some odd picks for kick and snare in a couple sections but I don't think I can call that an objective negative. Similarly, the percussion seems way too upfront compared to the rest of the soundscape to me but that may be part of the intended contrast. I'll note, though, that with the track's length and the repetitive drum patterns the kick becomes grating to my ears by the end. Overall, this is something definitely out of my wheelhouse but I can respect the intent behind it, you created an interesting blend of sounds. However, I have issues with how repetitive it is (impacting both arrangement and production) and there's parts of the soundscape (mainly the wobbly and unclear bass) that could get extra polish. NO

2 extremely different sources, it'll be interesting to see how you mix 'em... Track starting like a cowboy theme wasn't what I expected! The SoR bass line as a slower moody riff works great and the chords from EO2 work great as a trade-off. We return to SoR with a mass of guitars and then vocals enter as we alternate between the previous 2 sections. I really like the vocal delivery although I'd like the vocals themselves to be louder/more present, they get a tad drowned in the mix. There's moments like 2:08 where I'd like the vocals to explode but they just don't (maybe there's heavy compression on the vocal bus?). At 2:08 we get the pay-off of the previous 2 minutes with the SoR riff now delivered on heavy guitars and accompanied by a (loud) organ. I'm noticing at this point that the mastering is strange as it's not peaking too high (which a test on a DAW quickly confirms). We get another verse at 2:35 and then a guitar focused section at 3:00. I love the feel here but the mix is busy, maybe with more panning of the pieces it'd be easy to hear everything clearly. Interesting break at 3:57, a much needed variation to justify the length of the track! The guitar swells are a very cool idea. There's a drum transition, a cool nood to the SoR source and we repeat a previous section until the track ends. On arrangement this is really cool, you grabbed 2 sources with completely different moods and feels and created a blend that has its also completely different mood and feel! Like proph said, there's a lot of swagger in here and it's really fun to listen to. Source usage is present throughout the entire track, so no issues there. I also feel SoR takes the main spot, thanks to how prominent the bass riff is on the arrangement. On production this is generally great, drums sound great as do guitars and bass. I have some relatively minor qualms with the production tho, mainly on the mastering. Despite the rocking mood, the track generally feels quiet and I think it'd benefit from some extra compression/limiting on the master. Second is that the track is a bit heavy on the mids and could use some more highs as it currently ends up not sounding as crisp and punchy as one'd like. I made some quick EQ/limiting adjustments on my end as a test and I really liked how it sounded, but this is nowhere near a dealbreaker. Overall, a really cool arrangement with solid production. My nitpicks are just that, this is an easy vote. YES

Collabers: minusworld. Jabo on bass. Ronin Op F on strings. TSori on trumpet. My entry from DoD's "DS/3DS" month. Somehow, Fire Emblem Awakening was a fresh game on DoD (and here too?! insanity) so as soon as the theme was announced I knew I had to cover it. Choosing a track to cover was tough but I eventually settled for "Don't Speak Her Name", one of the most dramatic tunes from the game. Without spoiling much it deals with the anger and grief of the main character after a big event, so the original song moves a lot between heroic and sad moods. For my cover I wanted to heighten this duality by doing a "dramatic metal" take. I think my cover is more straightforward than my usual stuff since I went for a different approach this time. Before the source breakdown, I wanted to thank my collabers! As usual, minusworld absolutely crushes it on guitar, especially on leads. Jabo does an awesome job on bass. Ronin and TSori both bring the arrangement to life with their performances, much better than using orchestral VSTs! Anyway, time for source breakdown: 0:00-0:40: Based on the source's intro, I went for a heavy mood right away to represent the "anger". The part at 0:21 introduces melodies that will appear many times during the track. 0:42-1:24: Slow section based on 0:25-0:54 from the source, attempts to represent "grief" with the calmer mood. I added some small SFX for the transitions. The piano line is loosely based on the melody that the acoustic guitar plays. 1:25-1:59: We return to metal after a guitar transition. This is based on 0:54-1:34 from the source, same key changes and all. 2:00-2:15: Based on 1:34-1:54, this is kind of an heroic theme, even in a moment grief they must keep fighting! I inserted some funny guitar riffs so that minus and Jabo couldn't relax. 2:15-2:57: Based on 1:57-2:42, just like the original I do a calm take and then an upbeat one but I added an extra key change because why not. 2:57-3:12: A big build-up, this part and the release are from my favorite from the original (build-up is 2:42-2:59). 3:12-3:38: Maybe the climax of the track for me, the chord at 3:00 on the source I've always felt is extremely powerful and every cover I found online plays it as just another chord so on my take I wanted to really highlight, hence the silence and minus' clean run on the lead. He really nailed the emotion on this section. Based on 3:00-3:12. 3:38-4:06: There's a brief calm after the climax and the theme from 3:22 plays on piano and then on guitar. Then the strings play the line from 3:28 (beautiful chord progression in the original here). 4:07-4:40: However, war continues! This section is based on 3:48-4:07 from the source, I tried expanding it and making it more dramatic and tense. There's cameos of previous melodies on guitar and trumpet. minus and Jabo "loved" playing some of the riffs. 4:41-4:56: Repeat of the heroic theme from 2:00-2:15. 4:46-5:30: Based on the melody from 3:38-3:47. First on piano and then on guitar with an ascending chord progression for extra drama. 5:30-end: Repeat of the intro. Hope you enjoy! This was a very hard track to balance... Games & Sources Source: "Don't Speak Her Name"

Definitely remember this one from DoD, "Krook's March" is also one of my favorite tracks from DKC2 although I'd have never expected a cover like this! Begins with a clock ticking and a guitar riff/chords, with a tone that sounds fairly sharp (probably heavy around 2kHz). At 0:08 the source usage and direction becomes clear, it's now on a major key! At 0:10 the classic low strings riff from the originals plays on guitar, it sounds rocking and I dig the tone. At 0:19 we get piano and strings turning this into a very happy mood. Vocals appear at 0:27, they're kind of buried in the mix. 0:44 we move to a second verse, here the bass at times has a clacking sound that's distracting. I love how the changes to the source sound at 0:53. Another riff from the source at 1:01, the calmer mood helps the vocals stand out more but they're still fairly low volume. 1:18 we have a pre-chorus, the bass clacking keeps being distracting and we get a nice build up to the chorus! And what a chorus it is, I absolutely love it. After the chorus we repeat the intro, the first verse and we repeat the 0:53 and 1:01 sections (with some extra elements). There's another pre-chorus and another chorus after. At 3:05 we have a guitar lead/solo and then a repeat of the riff at 0:10 but with only bass and that eventually leads to the outro. On arrangement this is simply top notch, taking such a dramatic and tense source and turning into a happy anthem is just genious. The chorus is simply lovely. There's absolutely no question about source usage either. Production is, as previous judges have noted, the main talking point. Vocals, which should be the highlight of the soundscape, simply aren't standing out enough. As an ESL I'm not often trying to understand what people sing so I don't mind if I can't understand the words at all times but I'd definitely love the vocals being louder. My main other gripe is the bass, there's a weird clacking on its sound that I find extremely distracting. Overall, this is a really great arrangement that has some issues on production. For my vote I'm gonna side with those on the YES side since, while I feel there's definite potential to improve the mix, I also think it's above the "hobbyist" bar. YES

Well, this is definitely different... Begins with a warm pad of sounds doing the main 2 chords of the source, each chord lasting around 15-16 seconds. Soundscape is sparse but there seems to be a lot of intention in how the sound changes during each chord. We continue with more chords from the source, although some of them are pretty modified (like 1:11 and 1:36 onwards). As a random fact, the chords and how they evolve kind of remind me of the Protoss Themes from Starcraft 1. Some of the chords are very intense and even overwhelming (around 2:30 especially), but it's an interesting sound. At 3:33 the pads and pianos become clearer and the main melody from the source can be heard (played veeery slow on piano). I really like the sound effects you added here, like some sparse reversed piano notes (I believe). Chord at 4:44 is haunting, here the melody gets a bit liberal but the chord progression is clearly identifiable. We continue on the same vibe until the end, which I must admit felt a little disappointing as there wasn't much of a resolution on the final notes. This is a very interesting piece and can be mostly described as ambient since it moves very slow, letting almost every chord and note breathe for a while. With this in mind, arrangement does it work, changing from peaceful chords to tense ones, driving the need for resolution. Source usage is mostly chords, which is something we have questioned in the past for other remixes, but in this particular case the source is, in fact, mostly chords, so it's acceptable. Production also serves the track's purpose, there's not many elements so there's no need for a complex mix. However, you nailed the sound design, I find the description of how you achieved the track pretty cool in fact. Overall, a very unique piece! As Larry said, definitely not for everyone and I can already predict some hating on YouTube but it's something that deserves to be on the site. YES

Begins with a drum loop and a synth bass riff. I can see what you mean by "80s" feel in the description but I'm not sure I'm getting those vibes necessarily, especially as 80s music tends to be big on room and space while this sounds quite dry. At 0:10 an organ plays the organ break from the source and is then followed by a synth string-ish sample playing the A melody. The melody gets harmonized at 0:34 and, as proph pointed out, some of the notes in the harmonized sound a tad off, although if I'm being honest they don't bother me much. There's a percussion break around 0:50 and the extra samples have a ton more reverb, making my earlier point on dryness more evident. At 0:58 a new section begins and eventually the organ melody returns and we have something of an organ solo for a little bit until it's joined my a synth melody. I liked how you had the snare return at 1:35 for a burst energy and a smart transition. Around 1:37 a new bass riff begins, joined once again by the organ melody. There's some notes and variations that sound odd in here, like 1:52 (and its repetitions). B melody plays here on synth and then, over more or less backing, C melody plays on organ until the track ends. On arrangement, this has some fun ideas, changing the track into something more rhytmically upbeat is cool. That said, there's a fair amount of repetition in percussion/bass writing, with basically 3 riffs (0:00-0:50 is one, 0:58-1:37 is the second and 1:38 'till the end for the last one) for the entire track, each getting repeated a lot (second one at least changes with the chord progression though). Some of the harmonies play notes out of the key and the 3rd riff plays some odd notes here and there, but I'm honestly not as bothered as proph was by this. Generally, I enjoyed the arrangement. Production is for me the main sticking point as the sounds are for the most part very basic. As an example, the organ has very little modulation, which is a staple of the instrument. Leads are similarly very vanilla with no modulation. Bass sample(s) is also very basic, I love synth basses but there's more you can out of the sound on the production side to make it shine. Drums are also a little basic, the snare sound is a little cheap but I think it's usable if you at least add more 80s appropiate reverb, the kick however is too bright, it needs more oomph on the lower frequencies. Overall, while this is a fun arrangement it could use extra polish on the production side. I don't think you need to outright replace all your samples, but work on adding more life to the writing through articulations on organs/leads and see how you can make bass/drums shine on production. NO

Wild World title theme is so pretty... Begins with a piano doing the chords from the intro and is soon joined by a percussion. Sound quality does a bit of a disservice to the track early, as the piano sounds low quality and the drum samples aren't great. Particularly, the snare sounds too snappy for the mood of this track, I'd imagine a warmer sound for this. Main melody enters around 0:19 on the marimba/epiano combo while the regular piano does the guitar arpeggios from the original. Source treatment seems very straightforward here and actually reminds me of the Smash Bros. Brawl cover of the theme, although yours is slower than the Smash take. Small moment to relax at 0:42 and then we continue with the B melody. Around 1:08 a second loop begins and there's a solo by the duo starting after a few repetitions of the intro. Drums doing double kick fills near 2:03 it's a little funny. 2:18 has another loop begin and there's a tease of a big change around 2:38 but we return to the main melody (there's a similar tease around 3:04). Track ends kinda suddenly on 3:23 with a lingering piano chord and I dunno why the track extends to 3:53 after it. On arrangement, you took the chill original and gave it a small burst of energy with the new instrumentation, but you didn't do particularly big changes to how it plays. Melodies and chords are kept almost intact and although that is a valid approach it makes me question if it's enough for OCR. I also feel the structure of the arrangement is rather repetitive and not particularly exciting, being basically ABABAB with the second AB being a little different as it has a solo instead of the regular melody. On production I'd say this has some shortcomings but is generally fine. I like the sound of the epiano/combo but the piano and drums leave a bit to be desired. I can tolerate the piano as the low quality nature gives it some warm characteristic but the drums don't really fit the tracks vibe, especially the snare. Overall, I think this isn't there yet, particularly I think the arrangement could be developed more to add more of your own touch and also avoid repetitiveness. I like the chill but slightly energetic vibe you went for though, so there's potential here. NO

mo.oorgan and 6 minutes, insert "Ah shit here we go again" meme but on a positive note. Anyway, we begin with some pad/SFX with "cave vibes". Actual track starts at 0:29 with a crystal-ish synth doing a slightly modified version of the source's melody. Electronic percussion sneaks in slowly and around 1:00 it turns into dnb/edm (not an expert on electronic genre names!). I'm not too sold on the lows, seems quite busy around 50-60 Hz and quite draining on the ears even. Source stays but on a minor role during this section, with some source melodies playing every few bars. We keep on a similar vibe until a cool "regular" percussion fill around 2:25 that moves us into the second source melody. I found it a bit odd that the "regular" percussion only did a fill to then disappear but I guess it's fine. Around 3:00 there's a very atmospheric break with a soft pad and a lead. 3:25 sees the return of source melodies while still keeping the same atmospheric vibe. There's an electronic percussion fill and around 4:00 we return to dnb/edm, clearly featuring the source once again. There's a prominent tom on the beat that I don't enjoy much, it sticks out a ton and plays on every single measure. We continue on the same vibe as the track progresses, with source melodies coming from a pretty piano around the 5 minute mark. At 6:00 there's a small break and then the track ends with a standard electronic fill. On arrangement this is good, definitely a lot more subdued than what I expect from mo. It's a nice and chill electronic journey, keeping mostly the same vibe for the whole duration, but there's also enough breaks and variations to keep it fresh. I think it could have easily worked as a 3 minute track but I don't mind it being 6 minutes. It's a great track to have in the background. Larry timed the source usage above so we're clear on that but I didn't have any doubts about it being enough myself, as most sections clearly feature the source and the only ones that don't are the intro SFX, the 3:00 break and the ending. Production is, as usual, stellar. I'm not a big fan of the 50-60 range on this mix but I got used to it while listening to the entire track and it's nowhere close to being a dealbreaker. Most of the samples used here sound excellent and there's a lot of cool sound design effects and transitions. Overall, a nice chill jouirney with great production and enough variety to sustain the 6 and a half minutes. YES

Ah, programmed synths, I can under- I'm gonna pretend I'm not hurt about this on my vote. Begins with a deep synth and then at 0:06 we move to an extremely low tuned guitar playing some evil tones with some SFX as a mini intro build-up. At 0:19 we continued the low tuned madness with a heavy riff, I dig the more electronic oriented drums and both guitars and (programmed) synths join the mix quickly. Outside of the synth part, things have been kept very conservative to the source in the arrangement. 0:51 introduces a new section with wah leads, fun! There's a cool SFX transition around 1:03 and we return to the 0:19 riff but you do some funky stuff with the production that sounds pretty cool. We then return to the 0:51 melody and at 1:30 transition to a electronic oriented section. Arrangement definitely stopped being conservative by now! "Maeva" cameo at 1:43 is sick and fits perfectly. There's a neat transition at 1:49 and we move to a synth focused section which feels like it came out straight out of Kirby. 2:18 is a small bass highlight. Guitar solo at 2:31 is nutty, I shouldn't be surprised by your skills by now but I still am! There's a (sigh) programmed synth solo after and at 2:56 we repeat the wah melody on acoustic before it returns to its standard wah version. 3:09 introduces a synth focused evil variation that sounds awesome. Track ends with some extremely low tuned madness and a fade out. On arrangement this is awesome, it begins following the structure and melodies of the source pretty close but after the 1 minute mark it starts to branch out a ton, featuring a different structure and several variations of the source's melodies and riffs in cool ways. I was a little lazy above to note exactly what part of the source plays on each part of your arrangement but as far as I could tell every single section of the cover is taken from "Fractalian Space" except for the "Maeva" cameo at 1:43. Production is also dope, guitar tones are (as one'd expect) great, playing is top notch and the mix is punchy and clear. Some of the synths are a little vanilla (if only you knew a synth player that would like to collab...) but nowhere close to being a dealbreaker. Overall, great job! I loved this track on its DoD debut and still love it now. YES

Sibling tracks from siblings! Fun concept. Like its sibling track, this one begins with a guitar part. At 0:25 it morphs into a new soundscape with piano and a synth that's doing one of the melodies from the source, the piano sound has Emunator written all over it haha. It builds a bit and around 0:51 we get a new section with another take on the same melody, now broken up and played with a very free timing. At 1:17 we get the second main melody from the source as we continue on this chill piano/e. piano jazzy electronic vibe. It's a very unique sound honestly. Another change at 1:43 to a different section of the source played on a nice synth string. At 2:09 we return to the 0:51 part, I haven't mentioned it until now but the sound design is great, lots of fun flourishes all over the place. Around 2:32 the track, kinda out of nowhere. I feel there could've been more effort put into making the chord progression lead into a more satisfying end. On arrangement, this is great! I love the chill jazz take on the source. Source is heavily reinterpretated and modified here, but more than recognizable. Fear Factory is a very overcovered source so getting a less direct take on it is fun. My only nitpick is the ending being sudden. On production, this is also great as you'd expect from the siblings involved. Sound design is top notch, mix is good and the samples are awesome. No notes from me! Reading the votes above I can see what Hemo's getting at but it doesn't bother me, I have no issues with the epiano performance but I'd agree that the kick at 1:20 feels off time (although I'm also assuming it's intentional). Regardless, I don't think that issue's anywhere close to a dealbreaker. Overall, awesome track. Creative take on an iconic source! YES

I've always felt the water level theme from DKC3 is severely underrated, glad to see you cover it! Anyway, this begins with an acoustic guitar, setting a much calmer and less menacing vibe than what I was expecting given the source. At 0:07 we get one of the main motifs from the original on a piano (I believe?) and around 0:12 we move to a more electronic vibe, there's some cool chords going in here. We get a lofi slow beat at 0:25, nice. There's some different build-ups with the melody changing to a couple different instruments and some neat sound design flourishes (Emu and Mo together was definitely going to lead to that!). 00:51 continues the trend, still keeping at the same melody over a chill backing. I love how starting at 1:16 the tone of the main synth changes slightly. Around 1:32 there's a small tease of another melody from the source but at 1:39 we return to the first melody on a more menacing chord progression and we settle on a dark mood around 1:52. Another source section is briefly represented at 2:04 and at 2:11 we finally get the "main melody" of the source. Ending is kinda sudden and it fades out too quickly IMO, I'd have let it ring for a couple more seconds (major nitpick lmao). On arrangement this is really cool, there's arguably too much focus on one musical idea but there's so much variation in sounds and backing that it doesn't matter too much. I love each individual section and the transitions are well handled. My only nit is the ending. On production this is stellar, as would be natural when you get 2 people that are so good at both at it! Love all the samples, how the sounds evolve and also the very large array of SFX you guys used for transitions and just general ear candy. Overall, easy pass! I love your particular brand of more complex and extremely well produced lofi, and it's a perfect fit for this source. YES

Starts with some beach/ocean SFX and musical elements get added around 0:19, which I believe correspond to the first flute lines from the source (before the iconic melodies!). Some voice samples from the game are layered in as we continue on a slow electronic vibe until a break at 0:57. There's a build-up here with the main Dragon Roost melody playing on a crystal-ish synth while more SFX plays on top. Around 1:17 it settles on a beat for a short bit and at 1:35 it introduces a different one. There's also a neat harp and finally at 1:57 the main melody takes the spotlight. The bass gets buried a little on this section since the low end gets a bit overwhelming to me, there's a lot of content there. At 2:17 the melody ends and we continue for a bit with the backing and the 0:19 melody getting the spotlight for a bit before the main melody repeats. Soundscape here is very busy, there's A LOT going on but, somehow, most things seem easy to hear. It's overwhelming though. 3:03 introduces a bit of much needed "peace" (relative to the earlier section) but then 3:24 actually delivers on a calm moment featuring the B section from the source. More layers come in and a wild transition moves us back into the 2:17 harp, which gets a cool detune effect as a transition around 4:05. There's another instance of the main melody taking the spotlight and then the track ends with the beach/ocean SFX from the intro. Arrangement is wild, there's plenty of different interpretations of the source and different electronic dance-ish moods in here. Generally the transitions are cool with a lot of fun sound design ideas. As a personal preference I wish it wasn't changing all the time since some sections feel they could've gotten more development. I also feel the track could have like 50% less samples/sound effects and it wouldn't lose that much, but I suppose the chaos is the intention as well! On production this is quite interesting, the sound design elements are quite well done with a lot of fun SFX usage and other techniques to create cool transitions (like the ones at 3:53 and 4:08). That said, I do feel there are several moments where it gets OVERWHELMING and there's space to make the soundscape a little easier to digest, for example the combination of a steady kick with a busy bass AND a simple bass all going on at the same time on the 1:57 section is something that could be worked on to be easier on the ears. Similarly, there's points where there's a lot of material on higher frequencies that also can be grating on the ears (for example I found the combo of high frequency stuff around 4:14 to be too much). Overall, very interesting piece! Arrangement is wild and fun and the production, while having some balance issues, does a good job of supporting the craziness with cool effects and transitions. YES

Certainly a fun idea doing a remix fully on a Yamaha RM1x! Begins with a fadeout straight into the source's intro. You use a standard beat here rather than whatever the percussion is doing on the original. That said, the drums sound quite dull with almost no punch and their writing isn't particularly varied (there's a snare fill you use A LOT during the track). Source usage is super conservative, with the remix following the original's structure with no variations until the break at 1:40. On the section around 0:55 I hear some artifacts on the track, almost as if it was clipping. Break around 1:40 is very appreciated as something fresh but then at 1:54 you bring a very high pitched sound that's honestly very annoying to hear... and it plays for a loooong time. There's some cool ideas and variations on this section but they're almost drowned by that one annoying sound. After this the arrangemet basically repeats itself and then on the end it noodles over the main riff. On arrangement this needs more work to fit OCR's standards. Outside of the section starting at 1:40 the entire remix is basically doing the source 1:1 with a different percussion. Besides from that the arrangement is extremely repetitive, overusing the main motifs of the source. As prophetik said, there's definitely space to either change up how you use the original's riffs or to simply cut the length. On production the track shows the limitations of the way it was made. Sounds are dated, most synths are very simple and unexciting. Drums lack punch and the writing doesn't help, repeating the same beats and fills for most of the track. There's some synth samples that are extremely heavy on high frequencies and get very grating, like the arpeggios on the main riff and the annoying sample at 1:54. Overall, this isn't near the bar for OCR yet. There's fun ideas here, especially on the 1:40 section, but both arrangement and production need refinement. NO

"Morning Haze" has the same (well, similar) chord progression as Toto - Burn, completely random but I wanted to point it out. Since you provided a breakdown of source usage, I'll just comment on what catches my ears. Begins with some synth arpeggios, which are joined by the main melody on a bright synth. The 2 parts don't match that well IMO, like 2 completely unrelated songs put together. At 0:38 we change into a percussion driven section where the melody is now done with some cool synth stabs. Beat changes at 1:04 into a driving 2-4 snare and it's an awesome change. The upbeat electronic synth soundscape here is awesome. We move between sources for a bit with everything sounding great. There's another break around 2:33 and we slowly build back up into a calm section for a bit. Around 4:00 there's a small tease of the intro before returning to the feel of 1:04. We then get another section similar to the intro for the end. On arrangement this is great, it starts slow and then unexpectedly moves to a quick beat. There's a good structure with a breakdown and a climax as well. Source usage is enough to meet the standards as well. My only nitpick is that the parts don't really fit that well on the first 30-40 seconds IMO. On production this is also great. Samples are generally awesome with a lot of personality and movement. All elements in the soundscape are easy to hear as well. Getting nitpicky, I think there's space for a fuller/dirtier bass sound, what you have now does its job but it could be stankier (writing could be more inspired as well, it seems to just be doing 8ths and chord roots for most of the track). Also, there's moments where the heavy reverb on most synths creates a bit of mud. Overall, almost no notes here! Awesome arrangement and production, very well done. YES

I've already reviewed the first 2 parts of this large medley and I feel most of what I already said applies here. Begins with the Sky Islands theme, it's very interesting how much you separated the chords. Outside of that it feels like a very conservative take for the most part. In previous parts of the medley the choir sample didn't bother me much but it sticks out a lot to me here. Transition to Skydiving is cool, the panning works great here. Transition to Skyward Sword is very interesting, I think I'd have liked the strings to enter a bit more subtly but the chord progression was very well done. On this section the mix feels unbalanced to my ears in terms of panning, lots of content on the right ear but not that much on the left one. Transition to Island in the Sky is perfect and this section sounds very pretty. Transition to Cuckoo Shack is also good, although this section feels more like a random interlude than a big part of the piece. After a quick Flute Boy cameo we return to Sky Islands and close. In terms of production this is excellent, performances all sound clear and the mix lets you hear everything without issue. Maybe the only issue is the quality of the choir sample and that sometimes the panning is unbalanced, but this is quite clearly way above the bar regardless. In terms of arrangement it's similar to the previous parts of the sky medley, generally conservative takes of each source all glued together by a consistent instrumentation and good transitions. I tend to prefer medleys where there's more returning themes (kinda like the final minute here) but this approach still satisfies OCR's standards. Overall, the same conclusions as previous parts of the medley hold. Personally I'd find it interesting to have the full piece as one release rather than 3 as I don't really see any particular reason to actually separate it into 3 parts. Regardless, that's just a random comment. YES

Random comment, I played on a cover of this same theme just a couple months ago: https://unknownpseudoartist.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-phantasia-a-metal-tribute-to-tales-of-phantasia. Anyway, this begins with a drum fill and then straight up double kick metal, nice! First part plays pretty much exactly like the source, until 0:17. From what I can you're using Shreddage for guitars here, it's always hard to do convincing fake guitars... I think you do a great job with them but I feel they sound too clean. One thing I've noticed on my attempts at making decent fake guitars is that real ones are always not that clean, there's more noise/reverb than what Shreddage produces. Second riff is also almost identical to the source, but the drum beat is different. Third riff (0:25) is also quite straight from the source until 0:45, there's some notes on the sampled lead that sound a bit odd (0:29, 0:32, 0:34). I do appreciate that you tried to make the best out of the's sample articulations though. For the final riff there's some small differences in timing, but it's still fairly conservative. From 1:01 onwards we don't follow the source on the same order anymore, there's a couple repetitions of riff 1, then a weird take of riff 2, then a repeat of riff 1, then a solo over riff 3 with some quotes of the first main melody. Around 1:45 riff 4 returns and for the ending we have a repeat of riff 1 with some variations over the main melody. Arrangement will be the sticking point here, as noted by the above judges. The first half is pretty much a straight cover from the source and, while the second has some variations, it still has fairly straight takes on most riffs... Besides from how conservative the arrangement is, it also lacks any sort of direction to me. Second half feels like random quotes of the previous riffs but it's not really leading anywhere. On production this is good enough to me. I have some nitpicks about the sampled guitars, they're honestly rarely as good as the real deal but they're fairly well programmed here. Drums I think could be punchier, both the kick and snare are a bit tame, they need more grit and snap so that the track's punchier. Bass is also fairly quiet except for riff 4, I'd like more of it on the mix. As chimp noted, the drums' hats are all very quiet, those really need a boost. Overall, this is a fun tune but it definitely needs more arrangement to get posted. Production is good enough IMO but there's still some adjustments that could make it even better! NO

I already voted on the first iteration so I won't make a long breakdown this time. My main issues at the time were the unbalanced volumes and the flute. Volume issues seem to have been fixed, I don't think there's anything catching my ear on that front anymore. That said, the track is overall a lot quieter now and it's arguably even too quiet, sitting at -15.66 LUFS. Now, on the flute issue... I remain skeptical sadly. I noticed some weird articulations are now removed but it still doesn't sound natural to me. One of the first examples is the very first articulation 0:33, it sounds extremely mechanical. 3:03 still sounds weird. There's some additional elements now as well. There's a piano on the background a few times which, as pointed out above, sounds completely unfitting. It's more of a ragtime honky tonk than something to use in an orchestral arrangement. I do appreciate the attempt to flesh out the background though. There's also now a trumpet lead replacing the flute on part of the second half and it has similar issues to the flute sadly. The articulation I pointed out from 0:33 seems almost copy pasted at 1:48 for example. I'll remain with my original vote for now. Production has improved on original issues but the orchestra in general could sound better. More natural attacks on most instruments would help, there's a distinct lack of proper legato which makes everything sound fake. NO

Begins with a pad and a fuzzy bass. One thing that catches my ear right away is the heavy reverb on everything, it's super distracting. Drums soon enter and there's kind of a weird rhytm going on at first with the snare dropping in many beats, but it's kinda cool. Trumpet enters around 0:26 with the main melody and the track settles in a more stable groove. The constrast between the trumpet and the rest is interesting, at times it feels like it's not really jelling well for some reason though. I do agree with XPRT's note on the volume, maybe it needs to stand out more. I also think the tone could have some more bite. We reach a piano break around 0:55 and then a repeat of the main melody with a synth now, it feels like it fits better this time. At 1:58 we reach the 0:58 part from the source, which is IMO its most interesting section by far. The heavy rhytmic approach of this section really highlights the awkward sound of the reverb... Trumpet returns at 2:16 for some melodies and after some neat chords we return to the main theme. Sadly the trumpet gets very lost this time, a lot of its notes are very hard to hear. The track has a bit of a fake ending at 3:15 and then a small string segue for the actual ending on a low piano note. On arrangement, this does a good job of taking the material of the source and adding your own spin. I don't have many nitpicks here really. Maybe the only would be that I'm not sold on the ending after 3:15, it feels kinda random. On production, however, I have some issues. First, however, I'm gonna mention I liked the drums, they sound punchy and clear! Now, my main issue is the reverb, it's all over the track and it's super distracting, it completely kills the vibe at many times, especially on 1:58. Second there's some balance issues, the bass is often louder than it should (made worse by the reverb) and the trumpet gets lost often and lacks bite. I think with a more balanced volume and some extra grit the trumpet would fit the soundscape much better. Overall, I'm a bit torn but I'm gonna side with proph and XPRT now. Balance is off with reverb and trumpet and that makes this track a little weird to listen to. NO

If you like randomly good soundtracks in Pokémon games, I recommend Pokémon Quest! You already took the time to make a source breakdown so I'll try to not repeat much from the description. We begin with some nice airy pads and a pretty synth lead. Percussion enters quickly with a fun groove that's kinda chill and upbeat at the same time. Drumkit sounds great here, very punchy and clear, although the hats are a bit washed out. We move to Pokémon Sleep with more interesting percussion over some nice melodies and at 1:14 we get a fun rhytmic section, I think you used less dissonant chords than the source here, a good move IMO. At 1:39 we get a change to double time that sounds really cool! Being a bit nitpicky I think this section could have extra oomph, the hats are super washed and I'm missing a sharp contrast. Something like background arpeggios or a dynamic pad/chord stabs could be a fun idea as well. After a cool chord progression we move into Aether Paradise for a bit of a break. Melody at 2:11 is a bit weird. At 2:30 things get a tad more intense, there seems to be 2 different leads competing for attention and I'm finding it hard to focus on a clear melody. Around 2:58 we slowly transition back into Eterna Forest, the chord progression at the beginning here suggests something darker coming, which caught me a bit off guard when the chill forest melody returned. There's a repeat of the Pokémon Sleep material in what almost seems like a copy/paste to me. Missed opportunity to add extra variation or maybe even a keyboard solo. At 4:30 there's variations over the double time melody from 1:39. Finally, track ends with some pretty piano stuff. On production this is excellent, almost no notes really. Percussion is punchy, samples are all high quality and everything sounds clear. We know what to expect from you after all this time! On arrangement this is mostly excellent as well, with my only gripe being the "copy pasted" repetition starting at 3:23. It'd have been fun to have some twists on the returning material, otherwise I feel the track could've easily lasted 90 seconds less without much loss. Overall, awesome job! Excellent production and a fun arrangement despite my only gripe. There's no doubt this deserves to be on the front page. YES

Begins similarly to the source, with a loud electric bass doing the low notes. Right away there's something off in the sound, I'm not sure if the bass sample is slightly out of tune but it's just not fitting correctly with the rest of the instruments. I'm fairly confident it's playing "correct" notes though... except for 0:12 where it plays a very unfitting C. At 0:13 a percussion enters but the bass is so loud that it gets buried quick. I'm still hearing the bass as being off here, but now I'm more confident it's actually playing at least some wrong notes. At 0:25 we move to the next section and my impressions are more or less the same. We change to a new section at 0:39 and now things are definitely not fitting together, the pads, bass and keys seem to be playing different songs entirely (0:44 for example is very dissonant). Fun breakdown at 0:52, would've been a neat way to introduce and keep a guitar for the rest of the arrangement. There's a repeat of the first part and then on the second one there's some sort of piano solo over the backing that I commented not fitting well together. The 0:52 breakdown repeats and then we get a repeat of the main melody over a spicy chord for the end. On arrangement, this is a fairly conservative take on the original. You got creative with the backing around 1:25 but other than that it seems very similar to the source, on spirit. Like I mentioned above, there's various spots with potentially wrong notes that should get a second look, especially the entire 0:39 section. On production, this is kinda getting ruined by the bass. It's so loud that it drowns out everything else and makes it hard to judge whether the rest of the mix works or not. From what I can tell, the piano tone seems overly bright but I'd need to recheck the mix on a more balanced version. Overall, this needs more work to get posted. As prophetik recommended, going to the Discord's workshop to get suggestions would be great. I'd focus on nailing the arrangement first, taking care of potentially wrong notes and finding out how to make the source "yours" by adding more original ideas/variations. NO