jnWake   Judges ⚖️

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

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.

Another DoD month an... wait, this track isn't from DoD! First time I submit something unrelated to the Duel in uh... probably 10 years or so... Anyway, this track comes from the "A Stop on the Route - Piano Tribute to the Pokémon Series" album by the VGM Pianists collective (which I happen to be a part of) and that you can listen to here (https://open.spotify.com/album/6lA0QMJAKHbv6hKgX4OC6x). It's a piano solo, which also makes it my first submission of this kind! Source covered is "Lake" from the 4th generation of Pokémon games, a chill theme with some fun chords. Given the nature of the arrangement I'll refrain from doing a long source breakdown since it's evident for the most part. I hope you enjoy my first true attempt at a piano arrangement! Games & Sources

Wasn't expecting a source like that from Doom 2! Anyway, this begins with a pad playing around some notes with a background sweep. Seems to be either B or E minor. Around 0:18 we get a kick hitting on all beats but we get a quick (maybe a little jarring?) change-up intro triplets around 0:30. Now there's a clear Em-Bm progression, which is featured on the source. I like the pad here. Chords die around 0:48 and we keep with a steady B on bass for a bit but there's now a "snare". There's some neat touches of sound design on the percussion. At 1:00 we finally get the main melody from the track with some small variations in how the melody's played (plus some slightly different chords). Pads and hats fill the soundscape at 1:15 and at 1:32 we get some more elements into the mix. There's a repeat then and I'm now noticing that the percussion has been doing basically the exact same loop (which is very short) for over a minute. Around 2:30 we reach a break with a solo synth bass doing some triplets and then at 2:50 there's a big transition into a completely different section, featuring the second main melody from the source. We're now in standard 8ths and the beat here is really cool... However, around 3:10 we're back into a triplet feel with a synth bass riff of sorts and then a little later back in a straight 8ths feel with some pads. Main melody returns around 4:01 and there's a solo of sorts at 4:30. Finally, there's another break at 5:00 for a section without percussion and a few ominous chords 'til the track ends. On the arrangement side, I'm torn. I really like the variations you did of the source material, melodies were kept very similar to the originals but you did fun stuff with the chords. However, the structure of the arrangement is a bit all over the place. It's cohesive (arguably repetitive) for the first half but from 2:30 to ~4:00 it feels very unfocused, changing between ideas without much direction. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of cool ideas in here but this feels like a collection of ideas more than one arrangement. On production I don't have many comments, I think you did a great job there. Maybe my only nitpick would be that the kick in the first section (around 0:18) is too aggressive for the soundscape, very clicky when there's basically nothing else going on so it sounds jarring. Besides from that I liked the production, a lot of fun sound design touches and nice synth samples for the most part (arguably, the least exciting sample is, ironically, the one doing the main melodies). I'm torn here because I really like how this sounds and there's a lot of cool ideas, but I feel the arrangement needs some refinement, the first section (0:00 to 2:50) could be trimmed down a little and the sections between (2:50 to 4:01) could get a little more time to breathe and develop. NO

Begins with the source's intro modified into more of a harmonic minor feel and some electronic percussion. There's a classic electronic snare roll transition and at 0:10 a bass and a lead enter for a few more seconds of build-up. We go full rave around 0:20. I'll be honest here, the clap sample isn't doing it for me, the soundscape feels very empty here. There's a small change around 0:45 into another snare build-up and at 0:56 the first main melody of the source hits, practically unchanged from what I can tell. After another snare build-up the rest of the band joins in for an additional repetition. At 1:42 we get a simple C-G#-B# transition into a piano section (seems to be based on 0:36-0:48 from the source but it's very liberal in that case), which is followed by yet another snare build-up. A synth takes up the main melody here, which I can't recognize from the source honestly. 3:02 introduces a new section, now on C minor. We begin with a fun synth and percussion combo (different samples from before, which creates a nice change of mood). A piano melody joins at 3:13, based on the source section at 1:00. After a snare transition we hit rave mode again around 3:23, this part sounds great. At 3:59 we transition into a new section that quotes the section from the source at 0:48. Somewhat fittingly, the track ends with a snare roll. On arrangement, there's a lot of interesting stuff in here. I like how you modified the intro melody to give it a darker sound. In terms of source usage this seems very clear to me, except for the section from 1:42 to 3:02. Still, even if that was original there's more than enough source in here. I have some nitpicks though, mostly with percussion. As you may have noted from the write-up above, there's A LOT of snare roll transitions, I understand they're typical of the genre but there are surely more ways you can do a build-up transition. I do appreciate that a few times you left a small silence after the snare roll, adding a bit of variety. Similarly, and I may concede this one as personal preference, there's a lot of repetition in rhytm here, with the kick hitting on each beat for what feels like 90% of the track. On production I think this is solid but I don't think the claps cut it as a percussion element since they get lost in the mix most of the time. As other comments, I feel this could use some extra compression/limiting on the master, it's fairly quiet for the genre and there's some small volume bumps due to SFX that'd be cool to iron out. Finally, although the kick is definitely present I feel it could get a bump in the <100Hz range, I'm missing that sweet low end bump from it (bass is eating most of that space). Overall, this is a solid electronic piece. I have some qualms about the arrangement and minor production nitpicks but I feel this is above the bar. YES

What a strange source... Begins with a voice clip and the main arpeggio from the source on synths. There's fun sound design here as the initial synth sample, which is a bit percussive, is quickly joined by a very fuzzy one. At 0:12, bass and percussion join, creating an oppressive rhytm. Around 0:27 we get the sax melody on a quiet synth that's kinda buried in the soundscape. At 0:55 there's a small break before we continue with the same buzzy arpeggio + buzzy bass + heavy percussion mood. At 1:33 we get another melody and there's a snare added to the percussion. It's kind of a weak snare but it does fit, although it could be beefier. At 1:35 a buzzy pad synth joins the background and takes over the soundscape, it's super loud. Around 2:17 there's another stop in the rhytm, more similar to what we had on the 0:12 section, until that exact section repeats. At 2:31 we get a very random cut for a "nuclear weapon" voice clip that leads into a section with more buzzy synth pads doing a heavy melody. We then return to the intro arpeggio and the track ends. On arrangement I dig this, I like how you transformed the somewhat jazzy source into a very oppressive synth piece, which is a good use of the odd chords in the original. The track flows well IMO, having a few breaks here and there so that it's not constantly in your face (conceptually at least). It's a challenging source to cover and you did well IMO. On production I feel more mixed. On the positive side, I really like your synth work, there's a lot of great sounds in here and clearly a lot of effort putting into how they evolve. Now, there's 2 main issues IMO. First is that the track has very little variation in volume. Most of the track seems to hover around the same level, which lessens the impact of the small breaks you put in some sections (like 0:55 and 2:17). Second is that there's some elements that take over the mix at times, like the bass at 0:27 (completely burying the lead) and the buzzy pad string at 1:35. Overall, this is an interesting remix. The arrangement and production have a harsh mood that I really like, but the lack of dynamics and issues with some samples make me feel more mixed about it. After several listens and pondering my decision, I'm gonna reject this, hoping that there's a chance for you to revisit the mix/master (for more dynamics) and, especially, tame that synth pad around 1:35, it's very grating on the ears. NO

Long one! I'll try to make a shorter breakdown. Begins with a harp plus some winds in B minor doing the motifs from the beginning of the piece until a soft choir joins. It keeps building up and creating some tension until 0:57 where the focus moves to strings. I like that you don't rush to things and let the chords rest, even those with more tension. My only nitpick here is that it feels it should get louder on the biggest chords, it feels like it's going to somewhere grand but it kinda stops middleway. Around 2:17, after the string chords, we reach a new section with winds+strings. It's fairly quiet. Around 3:20 there's a big increase in volume with brass, flute and more. It gets a little muddy until we reach another rest at 4:20 approximately. Like before, we have some slowly evolving strings and eventually some percussion that hints at something to come. At 6:03 there's a volume increase as the harp returns, we then get some brass and some nice dissonant chords around 6:32, things continue to increase and then... a pause? Neat! We stop for a few seconds and the main melody finally kicks in around 7:05. I was expecting it to be more epic honestly, maybe a more lively percussion or something like that, other than the new melody it felt like it kept the same vibe than what came before, which was a bit disappointing after such a cool build-up. Climax lasts around a minute and then the volume starts to decrease until we resolve in E major. K, on arrangement this is fantastic. The writing of the orchestra is really cool, a lot of awesome chords and moving parts. To be completely honest I do feel some of the build-ups are too long, especially because the track starts slow, builds-up until a rest and then does this at least 2 more times, so by the third long build-up I did feel some tiredness. I also felt the final climax could've been more grandiose, it's fine as it is but the writing was hinting at something even bigger. On production I don't have that many comments, the programming sounds great and, because of that, the orchestra sounds lively. There's that issue at 7:22 pointed out above but, although it definitely sounds weird, it doesn't bother me that much. Maybe my main nitpick would be the overall loudness of the piece, the only part of the track that is truly loud is the climax at 7 minutes in, before that the track is generally very quiet, even on the crescendos. It could definitely use a bump in the master. Overall though, this is very well written piece that sounds great. I have some nitpicks about the arrangement and production but nothing that comes close to putting this below the bar. YES

Before listening to the remix I listened to the source and wow, that's a nice way of making a track that evolves, awesome! Anyway, this begins with some simple percussion and then a guitar playing D-Bb chords (I believe, I find it a bit curious you're going for the Bb since the source goes for the dorian feel but it's still valid!). I played along on my keys and I'm pretty sure the guitar isn't properly tuned. Bass joins soon after and around 0:27 a guitar enters playing the main melody. Some notes on production here, the drumset sounds very dry and not super punchy, it struggles cutting through the mix. Bass sounds very clicky and it's way too loud, it definitely needs some compression and some EQ to tame its tone. We get a few repeats of the melody until 1:01, where we change chords and key, just like the source. I'm very curious about the chords you picked here, which I believe are D# and B. The first one fits the melody (descending D-C-A) if we think of it as major but then the B doesn't really fit and, at least to my ears, it sounds kinda wrong. At 1:13 we return to the first melody and have an increase of intensity on the drums, just like the source. Sadly, the mix here is extremely muddy and it's very hard to tell what's going on. I like the drum playing itself but the mix isn't doing it any favors. You do both versions of the melody and actually use the source's chord progression for the second one, making me more curious about the unfitting progression earlier. The madness takes a break at 1:49 with a return of the 0:27 approach but for the variation we return to the fast paced drums. Finally, at 2:25 we get the source's ending section, covered in a very faithful way and then the remix ends. On the arrangement side, I have some criticisms. One is that the first minute takes too long to build-up, with several identical repetitions from 0:27 to 1:01, you could definitely add variety there. Second are the chords on 1:01, they simply don't fit the melody well. Finally, I think the treatment of the source, outside of that particular chord change, is quite straightforward. I think some more interesting guitar writing, for both rhytm and leads, could let you craft something more unique. Production is, however, what's really putting this down. The mix is very muddy, with the bass in particular sounding extremely dirty. Sections with the fast paced drums are very chaotic and nothing really cuts through the mix. As an aside, the tuning on the guitar is definitely off. As a positive, the drum performance is sick. Overall, I dig the idea of covering this source with a standard guitar/bass/drums band, but both arrangement and production need more polish. Work on a cleaner mix, fix the guitar tuning and try adding more interesting guitar lines on a second version. NO

Opens with some synth strings and heavy bass/percussion playing a B-G-E-G progression (taken from the source) before returning to B. For some reason you left out percussion on 0:21 where a neat A# is played, I think that transition would work better with a drum fill. We then focus on a sort of drum build-up until 0:43, where the main riff of the source enters on synth bass. The sample you picked struggles to cut off at times but as the track progresses you start adding some extra fuzz that makes it clearer. Although the evolving sound is cool I think it starts way too tame and eventually becomes arguably too loud. This continues for quite a while with some extra elements added over time. We reach a break around 2:32, similar to the one in the source. Main riff returns at 2:55 on a weird lead while the bass now highlights root notes, there's some fun variations here and there with how you use the bass or how you play the main riff. At 3:38 a new layer doing the main melody is added. This section lasts until a silly tom heavy drum fill at 4:21 and we move into a new section similar to the one at 2:32 but with more active drums. At 5:07 there's some strings/synths added on top that create a cool mood. This section actually last up until the end, where the snare starts getting more and more dramatic (biiiiiig reverb) until we're done. On the production side I dig this, it's very synth heavy which is always a plus for me! There's definite work put into varying the samples over time, which is especially evident with the introduction of the bass synth. My main nitpick would have to be that drums could be punchier, especially in sections where you up the volume or presence of the bass, since the kick gets almost completely lost in those. On the arrangement side, however, I'm mixed. As something to put on the background this is quite neat as it has fun sounds, but there's too much repetition. In my description on the first paragraph you'll notice most sections last quite a while, the first bass riff lasts from 0:43 to 2:32, the repeat from 2:55 to 4:21 and the final section lasts from 4:21 to 6:16 (the end). Long sections can work if there's enough variety in the writing and I think that there's potential to improve on this front here (prophetik's comment on the drum fills is pretty important here, but there's also the option of changing the drum rhytm more often). Overall, while I do like the track's vibe and how it sounds, I really feel it could use the equivalent of a radio edit since it's just way too long without enough variety to justify it. I'd love it if you could attempt a second version since this has a ton of potential. EDIT: On a relisten, the issue with the drum patterns being very repetitive became extremely obvious. That's also something that definitely needs a revision. NO