The Vodoú Queen

That also works lol.

Unsure how mine broke though. ...Guess this PRC especially is super cursed for me. ?

https://www.bandlab.com/vodouqueenxiii/redial-9c12e152 That's a direct link to the song on my Bandlab account, even though it's slightly updated and remastered. Same song basically though. Just was fixing some niggles from the version I submitted to PRC.

I hadn't forgotten, lol... ---- 1) 'Benny Rikashi and the Puffoons' – Souperion Pros: This is a beautiful remix of the source. Everything melts and melds right in. Well-coordinated and organic. Love it. I'm not usually one into Bluegrass / Country, but I liked this a lot. Especially the creative addition @ 1:44, that kind of turned the song into a pirate jig, a la Pirates of the Caribbean. Really cool. There's so much variety here! Also, loved the ending. Critique: Disappointed there's no dueling banjos. Also, half-expected a hurdy-gurdy or accordion to come outta nowhere in some parts. The song really didn't need it, but it was just a weird expectation on my part, especially when it began to build up to the end. I'd honestly be a nick-picky SOB if I sat here trying to find “issues” to critique on here. In reality, I can't really think of any, and on first listen-through, I was very satisfied with the finished product. Excellent job! Never thought I'd actually super enjoy a Country song for once. xD 2) 'Beats Rikashi' – TheVideoGamer Pros: I'm kinda glad and taken aback that you went the truer path of 1:1 remix this time around, aside it being the MnP standard. Usually, you'd do something much more hardcore, whether or not your tune is in keeping with the MIDI completely or not. Major props there, going outside your usual mould. Like Wassup's, I like the bombastic, cheery atmosphere in this piece. It's great to hear. Love the percussion! I think it could've had some steel hanging drums in it somewhere, since you mentioned you were trying for a Caribbean / Jamaican party, or rather, marching band vibe. The swinging synths really provoked that feeling, but yeah, good stuff. Critique: Thought the bass was a bit too..."bassy"? The reverb and volume on it, I mean... Sorry—I know what you were trying to go for but it was overwhelming from the get-go. The drums are extremely loud, too. I had my headphone volume down to < 20% and it was still kinda overmuch. Again, I get what you're going for, but balance is key I suppose. Wasn't feeling the ending, apologies, but this composition is not bad at all for something not generally “in your wheelhouse.” I enjoyed it nonetheless. :3 --BONUS-- + 'Fairwinds Festival' – Wassup Thunder Pros: Really love the happy-go-lucky, playful atmosphere you made with the song. Had a similar cadence and feel to the 'Millennial Fair' song from Chrono Trigger. It was a real joy to listen to. The strings were a wonderful addition halfway through the song, and rounding it all up with the bells / chimes at the end was fabulous. It was loud, but never felt “too” loud throughout. It felt just right for the mood you were trying to express and set. Excellent work with sound balancing, as far as I can hear. Critique: To be honest, there wasn't really much in the song I could hear or pick out that was specifically problematic. The instruments seemed fairly well-balanced between the lot, and nothing really swamped or stomped on any other track used in the composition. I think my only major concern was the lack of a discernable fore, middle, and background between instruments. A lot of it was very “in-your-face” / foreground-related, with no midground and a bit of back (the drums and percussion.) Having a few of the lighter instruments maybe more in-between things might've helped, but I wouldn't want to take too much away from the loudness and bombasticness of the song, when it's supposed to be very uplifting and joyous. Great work, though!

Have you tried: https://freesound.org/ ? It's where I get a lot of my SFX now for my songs, (like the phone sounds from the previous round's work.) Dunno if it'd help. If not, this might do as well: https://www.myinstants.com/index/ca/ If nothing else, maybe find a siren sound on YouTube and convert it to a .mp3

Here's my feedback... Sorry, again, for the delay... ---- 1) 'Cave Explorer' - MarcusG Pros: * Really like the thumping beat and percussion. * The slightly dragging piano worked very well with the bass and beat. It felt like someone was adding a smooth layer of chocolate on some rocky road ice cream filled with peanuts and almonds--funky, crunchy, and delicious to hear. * For a composition piece that you whipped up last minute before work, you did quite a bit of work, and it all meshed together nicely. Well done and big props. Critique: * Wish there was some added percussion to the synth bass and the echoey sustain / pad behind the melody as part of the harmony line. Perhaps like some added shakers or a tamb or two--something ultimately light that won't take away from the soft beat, but would add a bit more layering to the song... * Unsure if it'd work, but perhaps another kind of piano (or other string instrument) working the melody along with your dragged piano in the second half of the song? Might've been an interesting addition. Don't want too many instruments, but having another one that dragged slightly behind the piano to give the song a reverb effect could've been worked in. * Otherwise, for what it is and how long you worked on it, it's fantastic. Keep up the good work. 2) 'Coral Calamity' - Souperion Pros: * I like the spooky vibe with the shrieking stringwork and creepy organ. Didn't think 'Coral Caves' could have that kind of genre bend to it, but it's nice and very original. * Like some others have mentioned, it sounded very much like a remix of the song made for a boss fight (e.g. similar to how DK 64 and Conker's Bad Fur Day did it, where the level music tended to also be the boss music, remixed and twisted, [in hindsight, many Rareware games did that back in the SNES & N64 days...].) I enjoyed the shift @ 2:30 to the lighter tones as well. * To go along with that, your play on the dark and light-sides of the song, and incorporating different sounds and instruments between the two, especially around @ 3:20 where they started flowing in and out and meshing together, really, really worked. Was a lot of good interplay within the composition. Great stuff. Critique: * The heavy metal drum beats worked for me in the song, however the guitar at the beginning didn't (between 0:00 and 0:20 or so). It sounded too messy. Unsure of whether its the EQ or any possible add- ons to the sound (like a fuzz amp, etc) that caused it, but the dirty chord riffs just was a bit too haphazard. It sounded better with the surrounding melody and harmony and drumworks later on, but standing out on its own unsupported was weird for me, sorry. * Besides the slightly "sloppy" start, as you put it, the song is pretty tight-knit and well-meshed as it goes on. Just wished the guitar in the beginning had a better, cleaner sound quality. * This was a very close round for me in who I picked as well, to be honest. Your creativity for this was great. ❤️ 3) 'Reef Meditation with Monkeys' - Wassup Thunder Pros: * The little percs and blips from the very beginning seemed so playful, so cute, and so you. Loved 'em, and put a neat spin on the source! * For a composition that isn't your usual either Rock or Eurobeat vibe, it's very well done, smooth, and relaxing to listen to. The conga drum rolls and clavs / castanets were a nice touch as well. * Real fine jungle beat that I'm sure the monkeys and cavemen out there would love. I especially loved the bit from 2:50 onwards. I almost didn't notice the vocal choir in there either, but on subsequent listen-throughs I picked up on it, and it was a treat as well. Fitted very well with the rest of the soundscape. Critique: * I wasn't a real big fan of the "chicka-chicka" shaker sound in the background from 0:00 - 1:00. It stood out to me way more than it probably should have as a background piece. It might've been me, but my ears trained to it almost immediately, instead of focusing in on those sweet foreground and midground instruments. * The bass @ 1:00 seemed a little flat to me, and odd. Maybe it was the type of bass sound used, like a weird arpy / synthy sound, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly. Perhaps it just stood out a lot compared to the rest of the soundscape. Unsure what I'd replace it with insofar as other synths or arps... Maybe something that sounded more like an upright bass rather than a synth bass. Hmm... * Otherwise, great stuff. That flute, piano and pad(s) were, mmmah *kiss*. --BONUS-- + 'Ape on the Dancefloor' - TheVideoGamer Pros: * Ah, another one of your excellent pieces of craftsmanship in the art of Breakbeat and/or Rave tracks. ❤️ You never cease to amaze, (and I'm not being sarcastic with that, genuinely, it's always lovely to hear your work). * This round surely showed a dichotomy between "simplistic" compositions versus "complex" compositions, like yours, and either one is some real good shit. The additional complexities added to the rather oversimplified source was done with some expertise and care. I liked basically every add-on. * The beat was on-par, my man. Keep doing you. Critique: * I think the only downsides I had with this remix was the arp used for the main melody of the tune (I think it's some kind of arp anyways). It was a bit too shrill, and kind of swamped the rest of the piece. Not a whole lot, but enough to have caught my attention more than once even after a few listen-overs. * Had a smiliar issue with the bassline (starting @ 1:35). Just the way it hit me (maybe it was my headphones???) Felt "SHARP", and stabby, atop of shrill. Sharp and stabby is mostly fine, but the volume could've been dialed like a few decibels, in real small notches...like 0.-- etc kind of notches. It's no biggie, just again one of those things that kept with me as I listened. Also, didn't like the wobbly pad @ 1:57 - 2:15, at all...sorry. * Great variety, great changes, great song. Keep up the good work and the creativity.

Congrats, Marcus. Well earned. Gonna be honest on this one and say I don't agree fully with the tally up, because Gamer and I rushed it, but Marcus did very well for a song he also rushed up before work, so I'll call it even, lol. See people next round. I may sit this one out, but I'll at least try to give constructive feedback where I can. Also, thanks Bund for allowing my vote in and again, sorry for the lateness. It won't happen again, cause it's unfair to other people TBH... Sorry again. And Marcus, again, super fab job. ❤️ Really did love what you composed despite on short notice and really want to get my feedback up ASAP to show that.

That's fine, I guess. Ten seconds really isn't ideal, no, lol, cause something is bound to get the short end of the stick, but it is what it is now. Real life happens. Don't worry about it.

If the voting tally isn't too late, here's at least my votes: 1) Cave Explorer - MarcusG 2) Reef Meditation - Wassup Thunder 3) Coral Calamity - Souperion

@everyone: Sorry I had no idea that the voting was today. I thought it was tomorrow. My bad, I'll try to post up my feedback tomorrow. @TheVideoGamer I know you were in a rush but I'm very confused with your feedback for me. Maybe you'll elaborate further but my song is 90% Coral Caves...? Everything bar the pads and bassline was Coral Cave related. Pads and bassline were Redial, unless it felt more that way because of the phone SFX...? Sorry, yeah I'm super confused as to how it seemed to have more Redial than the primary source.

Done.

This might help: https://yt1s.com/youtube-to-mp3/en13 Doesn't compress too badly, TBH. I used it recently for my Battle Garegga remix in yanking some of the Cowboy Bebop samples from YT (since I couldn't find them elsewhere).

I'll try my hand at it. ??

Entry in. Beautiful source as usual, @Souperion ❤️

Voted.

God I love the music from said composer... Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Xenogears has some of the most unique, iconic and beautiful songs in the VG sphere. Reminds me that I should actually play through Xenogears. I own it and some of the Xenosaga series, but never went back to complete either. Last big RPG games I slogged through was Baten Kaitos and Legend of Dragoon (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge* for more MnP obscure source ideas. ) I want to ask the question tho, before I get ahead of myself in my remix composition. I know it's MnP--but is it viable and OK to use a secondary source with the primary source? It's for midground / background affect and purpose. "Bond of Sea and Flame" is still going to be the main melody, with not much bending or change outside of it. If not, I'll just take the hit on voting I guess. This opportunity is too good to pass up with the other source I found...

Yeah I get it now. Feels like a song they'd definitely use in the show, but hey, at least I understood the homage to episodes 12 and 13. XD Nonetheless, hope I made my remix a little bit interesting with connecting the songs and episodes together.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but was this song (well it's alter-ego, "Jupiter Jazz") used in the show Cowboy Bebop? It feels like it was at some point for one of the chase scenes, and not just happenstance be the title of episodes 12 and 13, also called 'Jupiter Jazz'. ...I swear when I YT'd it and listened to the Underground Resistance / Galaxy 2 Galaxy version, I had heard it in the show before, but I am unsure. It's been literal years since I've seen it, TBF. And to clarify--whether it is or not--what I mean in my song blurb is that I incorporated some Bebop fun stuff into it. ^^ Unsure if the song was actually used in the show, but based on its namesake, thought I'd do a couple of nods to the show and episodes themselves, based from the same name of the alternate track.

Mine's in.

Yeah, sorry... I guess in hindsight it's a bit of everything, huh. Has a bit of Trap, and a bit of Trip-Hop. ...So now I'm unsure what to even call it, haha. It's ok. Now I understand what you meant. It is a bit fast for Hip-Hop (132 bpm I listed it as.) So yeah you're probably right, it may be more-so House or Trap with Rap elements than anything. I would guess the heavy use of sampling plus the vinyl DJ scratching and breaks made it real Breakbeat-y. Oh well, was kind of me playing around with a lot of different aspects of the said genres, so it's a chimera. Haha. There's never anything wrong with asking. XD Thanks again for the props, and it's always good getting to know minds of like music tastes and knowledge. :3 Congrats Soup.

Hey guys, I'll be getting to doing the critiques later on tonight, depending on how the evening goes. But I also figured I should answer something: @TheVideoGamer AFAIK, FWIW, "Hip-Hop" is basically an umbrella term for a type of music, what I'd call the 'supergenre'. Breakbeat, Trip-Hop, some form of House, etc, I'd call 'sub-genres', that fall under the umbrella of Hip-Hop or Rap. Guess it just depends on what elements are emphasized in the song and "stand out" that gives it differing aspects to conform to one sub-genre or the other. IDK, you could argue it one way or another, cause it's somewhat subjective, but yeah--I realize and am aware that the song came out more like a House track than straight-up classic Hip-Hop. I wasn't trying to go for heavier elements like Old Skool (ex. the song "Jump" by Kris Kross), with the whiny, string-sound synth / arp and deep 808 bass 'boom-boom', lol. Song has too much percussion play, so yeah, it probably does err more on Breakbeat, like it's comin' straight outta Jet-Set Radio--but I did say that the genre was also Trip-Hop / Rap. "Adding a rap acapella" to it had nothing to do with my determination of its genre. Not saying any of this to slap down your comment, or be like "you're wrong", but for clarification. ^_^; Not pulling the "I'm Black so haha I know better" card either, (even though I am African-American and female, if people weren't aware.) Am always willing to learn more about music, but I did kinda grow up with this stuff (Rap and Hip-Hop, I mean)... xD My folks played "Straight Outta' Compton" (N.W.A.) as much as "Crazy Train" (Ozzy Osbourne) or "So What" (Miles Davis)...so I guess take it as whatever. Mostly (with) a grain of salt. xP

Mine's in, last minute slide-in again, lol. I had a lot of severe EQ issues.... :/ And not enough time to rectify them all, so now the song's cut by two tracks in the composition and it makes me very sad. :'(

Got mine in, although it might be a little bit...unorthodox... ^^;

Voted.

Ooo...my mom used to play and absolutely loved Tetris Attack (the Yoshi-themed one). I still own it. Would be interesting to try my hand at splicing an old 80s girl-pop song with this. ...Hmmmm...