jnWake   Judges ⚖️

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

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

I voted on part 1 yesterday, so it feels right to vote on part 2 now! Anyway, we begin with Vah Medoh, this section is calm and has a slow build-up. There's some Ballad of the Windfish cameos I think? We transition to the next tune pretty smoothly, but the 2 sections feel very disconnected still. At 2:12 you begin doing the transition to City of the Sky with some cameos of another tune from Link's Awakening and arpeggios quite reminiscent of the Final Fantasy prelude. It's a pretty cool transition to a source that's basically just chords. After a while we move to Astral Observatory (kinda reaching with the sky connection here), with kind of a non-transition to be honest. A cute flute transition leads to the Rito themes which are beautifully played Honestly, I think most of my comments from part 1 apply here. Every section is beautifully performed, but I wish there was more of a connective tissue between sections. It doesn't feel there's any overaching structure in the arrangement, we simply move from one source to the next, there's no tension/release or anything of the sort. Vah Medoh feels like a build-up but there's no pay-off. I understand this is a medley but I wish there was a bit more to it. That said, it does conform to OCR's standards since the transitions are great for the most part. Production is still awesome, everything sounds beautiful. Just like on the previous section, the exaggerated panning can be odd. Overall, another easy pass! YES

Whew this is a long track. I love the "wind/sky theme" for a medley. I'll go for a smaller breakdown than usual here: We begin with Wind Waker's "Title Theme". Beautiful interpretation, very close to the original in arrangement. However, I love how it sounds, every performance is excellent and everything is very well mixed. I'll agree with proph on the choir sample's quality standing out in a bad way among such pretty sounding instruments. After "Title Theme" ends there's a bit of silence and a non-transition "Wind's Requiem", which does transition more naturally to BotW's "Sheikah Tower". Once again, cover seems close to the original in terms of arrangement but it sounds great. "Wind Temple Phase 1" gets introduced around 3:32, very good transition here again. There's some slight tuning clashes on those sections where there's big chords (like 4:10), but nothing dealbreaker. We then move to WW's "Wind Temple", another well handled transition. Some unisons (like 5:00) sound a bit weird. Other judges have mentioned panning and I'll agree that it feels odd at times, it's very noticeable in this section IMO, with the choir for example. We finally move to "Palace of Winds" in a very seamless way. I'd say this final 2 sections are my favorite, as they're more dynamic. I don't feel the end sounds unnatural at all. On arrangement, this is an interesting piece. Several of the sources are covered very faithfully, but they're well adapted to this wind focused ensemble and most of the transitions are really good. If anything, I'm only missing some connective elements present throughout the track so that it feels less like several sources one after the other. On production this is awesome, every instrument sounds great and is very easy to hear on the mix. Only nitpick would be the exaggerated panning at times. Overall, this is an easy pass, good arrangement, production and performances! YES

Original is indeed a very chill piece! Your take begins with a piano/pad combo doing the main chord progression at a faster pace. I enjoy the sound of this combo. At 0:14 the main flute melody is played on a synth, I think adapting the track to a faster pace sounds great so far... However, we eventually reach 0:27 and all balance is lost. A drumkit enters at an insanely loud volume and completely drowns everything else, with the LUFS reaching -5 (which is extremely loud), and there's even clipping on my DAW. Even the waveform looks kinda silly here: As far as I can tell, the background keeps the same parts from the intro here. There's a breakdown around 0:52 with a fairly intense snare for some reason, then a build-up and more loud drums at 1:08. I dig the rhytm idea here. There's been a recurrent synth arpeggio on this percussion sections that sounds off-tune/off-key, unsure since it's hard to hear. 1:33 has a similar break to 0:52 and at 1:43 the main melody returns and then the drums return at 1:57. We then repeat the break and build-up of 0:52 but there's a fake-out and at 2:41 we get the percussion "pay-off" again. As before, the overwhelming volume doesn't make it that enjoyable... At 3:07 the track ends abruptly, with even the tail of the sounds cutting off abruptly. In terms of arrangement this is fairly basic, I really like the idea of speeding up the original but you kinda exhaust all your tricks in the first 25 seconds. There's definitely space for chord progression variations or incorporating more of the source's melodies. I like the idea behind some of the percussion breakdowns as well, but I don't think they're enough to sell the arrangement alone. Production is, however, the main issue here. The track is extremely unbalanced, with the percussion being so loud that it makes the track very hard to listen to, even clipping at some points. It's hard to critique the mix behind this unbalanced approach but I'd take a look at the higher frequencies since the mix sounds shrill (but this may simply be a consequence of the loudness). Overall, while I think there are good ideas behind this, the production is not enough for this to pass. First, look at balancing the percussion with the rest of the track. Second, check if there are ways to make the arrangement more interesting as right now it's way too simple. NO

I remember this one from DoD! Deserved medal for sure. Begins, as your breakdown says, with "Solo Sortie". There's heavy guitars and dark synths right from the start. Right away this is pretty loud, ranging around -9 LUFS. Drums seem a tad overcompressed but they still sound good. Love the guitar tone, the riff at 0:15 sounds really good. A synth lead enters around 0:27, it sounds great but it gets buried in the mix a little (especially around 0:44), maybe it'd be a good idea to automate the rhytm guitars to duck when leads are playing (or layer the leads an octave above). At 1:08 we reach the B section and my feelings are the same, sounds rocking but the leads get lost. Source usage so far is quite conservative, but the adaptation to metal adds personalization. At 1:42 we move to "Counterattack '91". We keep on kinda the same style, heavy rocking guitars with dope synths on top. Like the first source, this one is covered very faithfully. At 2:24 we reach "As Wet as a Fish", I appreciate the chord progression making the transition smoother around 2:22-2:23. We go a bit slower on this section, although the drums are still very compressed and the rhytm guitars very loud, it'd have been a nice spot for a change of sound palette. At 3:08 we move to "A Submerging Titan", a smooth transition despite not much build-up. I like how the introduction of the new riff is on "build-up" mode, makes it pay-off nicely at 3:23 (are there guitars and synths layered here? I love the tone). Finally the synth lead shines here! 3:53 introduces "Dream of a Labyrinth" seamlessly, nice job there. The riff here sounds great on guitar. Around 4:39 we move to the next source: "Return of the Creature". It's a sudden transition this time. Gotta be honest here, I really dislike how the toms sound, they're insanely sharp and sound like if someone was getting slapped. Luckily they don't last long and we move to a simpler, more enjoyable beat. I can't find much new to say here, this section keeps the same elements as most of the track. In any case, at 5:55 we move to the final source: "To the Next Zone". The triumphant mood is an appropiate send-off for a long track! On production this is top notch. I have some minor nitpicks about drum compression and the volume of the rhytm guitars but this is, no doubt, above OCR's production requirement. That said, I do wish the mix wasn't so hot all the time, it can get tiring. Arrangement will be the main point of contention for this one. As per the submission standards: "Your submission must have a strong focus and direction. Medleys must sound like a single song, not multiple songs pasted together". Is this achieved here? Most transitions are solid and don't feel jarring, which is a plus. Genre is consistent among the entire piece, another plus. If anything, the main minus I have here is that there are no recurring themes to glue the arrangement as a more cohesive whole. OCReMix has posted medleys similar to this one in that sense, like the famous Unsealed. I also wish the arrangement had more variety in sound palette, the synth samples are basically the same for the entire thing and there's no real break in the entire track, with the slowest section still having strong distorted guitars in your face. Overall, this is an amazing track! Rocking and powerful, well produced and although the arrangement is a medley I think it sounds cohesive enough to meet the criteria, as the transitions are mostly well handled. That said, for future medleys it'd be cool to introduce some form of recurring theme to glue the arrangement even better. YES

I remember watching that 8BMT a while ago, that second source is indeed quite insane. "The Chase" is an absolute banger though. Anyway, this begins with a classic dnb pad sound quickly joined by the G#-A repeating notes from "The Chase" and a very standard electronic drumbeat. At 0:25, the first melody from "The Chase" plays with some pads and SFX. Around 0:47 we move to the next section from "The Chase", which focuses on a D chord, creating tension. I love the percussion work in here, adding some chaos. There's a quick build-up with a classic swelling sound as we move to the next section: "Mad Luca"! It's kind of a rough transition tbh, mostly because (I think) it begins on B and there's no harmonic preparation for the key change. Now, "Mad Luca" is a completely whack track so it feels a little odd to be calling out the key change but it makes the transition even more jarring than it should. In any case, from 1:11 we start covering "Mad Luca" territory and it's honestly almost impossible to accurately describe what's happening... I like how there's a lot of interplay between different synths during this section, and I also quite enjoy the percussion work here, switching from "nonsense" to having a regular beat for a few bars. We return to "The Chase" around 2:26 in a transition that's surprisingly natural. This riff works well on the dnb style. Then there's a reprise from the 0:25 melody and around 3:03 a reprise of 2:26 with more melodies (just like how it plays on the source). There's a fake-out ending at 3:25 and after that a 40 seconds or so section that honestly doesn't really add much IMO, just a beat and a reprise of the intro pad and voice clip. On arrangement I think this is great. The first minute is a nice build-up to lead into the "Mad Luca" section. I'll disagree with prophetik here, the length of the section doesn't bother me at all and I think the chaos of it, the constant changing of synths and never having a constant beat is a really cool effect. The transition back to "The Chase" is also great so that helps. Main nitpicks in terms of arrangement would be the transition to "Mad Luca" and the final section which, honestly, I'd cut. On production this is great, I have almost no nitpicks. IMO you absolutely nailed the dnb style and I dig the synth choices. If I were to nitpick anything, I think there's some SFX that get a bit wild on volume at times, but it's absolutely not a dealbreaker. Overall, I really like this! Arrangement is fun, production is great. Source treatment is generally conservative but the genre switch is transformative enough for this to fit OCR IMO. I'd love if the track ended at 3:25 instead of the additional ~40 seconds, but I won't reject the track for that! YES

Starts with some pretty piano and strings. As a random comment, the style here reminds me a lot of an artist from Dwelling of Duels called valence (https://www.dwellingofduels.net/artists/valence/). The strings sound very washed out, it fits the mood you went for but it may be a little too much. Regarding the samples themselves, there's times when the attack between notes sounds odd and unnatural (0:19 for example), I'm not sure if there's much you can do about it but I wanted to point it out. Anyway, the arrangement for the first minute or so is very conservative, as far as I can tell it's identical to the source (with the exception of the added strings), even if played slower. Around 1:20 we get a choir added and you added some nice extra melodies for the loop transition. At 1:37 we get a repeat of the loop, now with the extra choir, wind lines on top and some modifications on the piano line. At 2:20 we get the B theme from the source again and a lot of the personalization is gone since it's back to being a very straight cover. There's some cool counterpoints on the strings though. After this second loop is done the track ends. K, so arrangement will be the main thing here. You noted it on the write-up and both me and prophetik above noted it on the reviews... this is very conservative. You changed the instrumentation, which is always nice, but the melodies, chords and structure are almost untouched (except for the transition between loops). I think there is definitely space to differentiate this more, you did a nice job in the section between 1:37 and 2:20 but I don't feel that's enough to clear OCR's bar. Personally, I'd recommend you to work on the structure of the track, right now it's "just" 2 loops of the source that don't really go anywhere. Try to imagine the track having a direction with build-ups and breaks, maybe the piano stops for a section and that changes the dynamics, I dunno, there's many things you could do without changing the soul of the remix. On production this is fine, the piano sounds pretty and everything is easy to hear but the orchestral samples are only passable. If there's any chance to get collabers on board it'd be awesome but, of course, that isn't a dealbreaker. That said, I'd take a look at how you're processing reverb, some samples sound very washed out and unnatural, like the strings and choir. Overall, while this is a pretty take on the source and has some nice sounding additional elements it's too conservative for OCR at the moment. I'd love to hear a new take with extra personalization or a more original structure. NO

Begins with a few percussion hits and then comes the source's intro. Right away this sounds a little off, the bass is playing static E notes while the melody (covering the higher guitar part from the source) is on C# minor. Now, E is part of the C# minor scale so it's not like it's dissonant but it sounds odd, you'd generally have the bass on the root for a riff like this (like the source does). It's of course valid to have a different approach but it needs to lead somewhere otherwise it just feels wrong. The percussion pattern is also fairly strange, with "snare" hits on 2-3-4 but not on 1, creating a beat that's not easy to follow. At 0:27 we move into a higher pace for the second part of the initial melody. The percussion pattern is even weirder than before, it's not really fitting for any kind of EDM mood. This section continues for a bit, following the source's melodies until we reach the next part of the source at 1:01. Similarly to the intro, the bass is playing D# notes that don't really fit the melodies on top. At 1:05 we get a few melodies from the source but one of them seems to have wrong notes (the one starting at 1:08 features a regular D which doesn't fit the key this cover has attempted to be in). 1:11 has the arpeggio section of the source, which inexplicably keeps the upbeat rhytm. Finally, we move to the last section from the source. The note at 1:29 (A#) seems unfitting. Finally, at 1:49 the track simply cuts-off, without a real ending. I don't want to sound mean while saying this but this cover is way below the bar at the moment. On production, the synth samples used are all very simplistic, we usually ask for a more modern sound. Percussion samples are also simplistic but, more importantly, unfitting. The "clap" you used for snare won't really work on a proper arrangement. On arrangement there are several issues. First is the fact that the bass and melodies rarely fit well together. Second is the fact that there's several wrong notes in the arrangement. I get the feeling you got hold of some MIDI files of the original and kinda slapped them together haphazardly, not taking proper care of keeping everything on the same key, which is why the move to C# minor caught me off guard at the intro, since the original is on F minor. Third is the percussion writing, if you want to make trance or any form of EDM you need a beat that's steady and easy to follow, a snare hitting on basically every quarter or 8th note is not that. Finally, for OCR standards we ask for more interpretation, this track was very conservative in regards to source usage. As prophetik said, you should give the Discord workshop a go and ask for help there, especially regarding basic arranging and production tips. NO

Heh, I remember this one from Smash Month definitely, even re-read my review from back then as preparation! Begins with some build-up, there's a low note on A while piano, strings and other stuff "noodle" on top, setting an ambience. At 0:31 Nemo starts singing, a whispery tone that sits beautifully on top of the music. There's some noise effects hard panned that I don't really enjoy much, make me think my headphones are broken! At 0:45 we get more percussion and a harmony vocal, soon joined by strings at 1:03 and some more intense percussion. There's a bit of a rest at 1:28, similar to the intro, with instruments "noodling" before a new verse kicks in around 1:55, based on another part from the source. The most interesting part here is the percussion, which has a pretty frantic snare pattern, creating a cool contrast with the soft vocals, guitar and pads. On this whole section (and the ones that come after) the bass seems extremely quiet, which is kind of a shame since I miss a note grounding the chord progression more clearly (I gave it a shot with a simple boost to the track at around 100hz and it sounds much fuller IMO). Around 2:20 we move to what I'd call the chorus of the original. Violin break hits at 3:14 with the "Love Theme". It sounds beautiful but the higher notes get a little buried in the mix. At 4:10 or so we return to "The Best is Yet to Come" with more more vocals! At 4:45 there's a cool transition by Nemo into a metal section. I love the idea behind this part but I continue feeling the bass is missing on the mix, and the kick could also be punchier. There's a lot of vocal tracks here and also a string line, so the higher end gets quite busy and it's difficult to discern everything perfectly. Still, this is a very nice climax to the track. At 5:43 there's a sudden break into a guitar line and the track ends. On the arrangement side this is fantastic, treatment of melodies and chords seems conservative but everything surrounding them is so unique that no one would say this isn't transformative enough for OCR. You did an awesome job with the general structure of the track, building up into the final climax beautifully. On production I hate to say it but I'm torn. There's definitely some really cool stuff, like your usual sound design flourishes, but I have some nitpicks about the general balance. Main one is the bass, I feel it should be much more present on the mix. The metal section, in particular, is screaming for a stronger low end (kick included this time). Second is that some of the leads get lost a few times, but this is a much smaller nitpick. Overall, excellent arrangement, top notch sound design and performances. While I think the mix could be improved (low end mostly) this is quite clearly above the bar. YES

I suppose I can clarify a question right? The piano is sampled, it's Native Instruments' "The Maverick". I didn't add too much processing, a tiny bit of EQ/Compression. I don't think this would change the votes so it seems fair to share haha.