The Vodoú Queen

Note: I don't believe I can produce an unbiased vote due to this being on an album I'm directing, but I will drop my thoughts on this regardless.
This is a track that Voduo and I worked through quite a bit, so I know all of the iterations that it went through. It's biggest strength throughout was it's daring use of SFX to compliment the source, and the variety of harmonizations used through the mountain source. There is a little clashing between the minor harmonies and major melody sometimes, but in this stage it more or less adds flavor and doesn't detract from the enjoyment I get from the track.
The production is clean, though I do hear the lack of the lowest end (anything below 50hz) upon relistening with some fresh ears. That could be solved by giving the instruments acting as the bass and kick some bass EQ balancing, since it's not *lowpassed* from what I can see in a spectrum analyzer, just lacking in that area. That'd solve both the lack of presence the bass has on neutral headphones and the overall soundscape issue this has. I wouldn't mind handing it back to her with that critique in mind, but I also do believe that it's in a state that's good enough at least for the album and possibly for the site; I'd not have accepted this track as finished otherwise.
I'd likely give this a YES, even if I wasn't biased in favor of the track to begin with.

I am remiss in not getting around to this one sooner, having been chimp-signaled!  I know proph and I discussed this in the Discords but I failed to vote.  So, now I will.
Right off the bat, I see that the peak max is hitting 1.7db so something has happened on the mastering side, either a limiter fail or a failure to limit.  I don't hear any over-compression artifacts, but I wonder if YouTube encoding/compression will cause artifacts on a file that goes over 0db.  I just don't know.
This song feels overstuffed to me, like there are too many elements, and too many varied ideas and sounds happening at the same time.  Nothing is clashing dealbreakingly, but it just kind of feels like too much stuff, too much of the time.  I feel like there is so much going on that nothing is coming through very clearly, the mixing is muddled.  It is hard to get a super clean mix with this many elements. 
As others have pointed out, the bass lacks presence.  I agree this would probably be solved by EQing the lowest frequencies out of all elements other than kick and bass; really nothing should be playing below 150-200-ish Hz other than kick and bass.  Also, sidechaining should be used so that when the kick hits, it isn't conflicting with the bass (or anything else) which causes frequencies to dogpile, which reduces mastering headroom.  I'm not hearing much sidechaining in the mix, if any?  I sidechain everything in my mixes, not so much for effect as for mixing clarity.
The bass playing from 2:34-3:02 does not sound good at all.  The patch is playing a full octave below what it is capable of playing, and I can hear it groaning under the strain.  That section is cool, but it needs a bass that can play those low/sub notes to support it.  At 3:38, the bass has a similar problem; it sounds like it is trying to keep up but just can't hit those low notes, and it feels uncomfortable.
I do love the vibe and energy of this track!  I recognize some of my own earlier efforts in this mix however, back when I wanted to throw too many competing ideas in together.  Sometimes it makes sense to go through and remove things when that happens, and focus on the elements you really want in the mix, and make them shine.
Reading through the preceding votes, everyone digs this arrangement, and I do too!  But there are tons of critiques and suggestions given regarding the sound choices and mixing.  I can understand voting YES to put this track on OCR, but I am going to say that some of these issues should be cleared up first.  If this passes, it will be one of those tracks the artist looks back on a few years from now and says "oof."  
At a minimum, please make sure your master is limited at 0db.  Also, please go through and EQ things so that nothing is playing in the low end (below 150Hz at the very least) other than your kick and bass.  Replace bass patches that aren't able to carry the low notes.  Do some sidechaining to avoid things competing whenever the kick hits.  When this is mixed better, as everyone else is saying, this will be a tremendously good track.
NO (resubmit, borderline)
 
 

Panning's odd right from the get-go. Yeah, on headphones, this is all too wide, and the elements here all just sound lossy, and I can't explain why. Absolutely bizarre to have the track mixed this way, then have it finish saying "Reset" and having it centered and clear. :-D This'll seem like I'm disgusted or felt this was really poor mixing; in 22 years of evaluating VGM arrangements, I've never, not even once, heard a track mixed in this way and can't explain why it sounds like this. Whatever approach was taken, it doesn't create some kind of synergy in the overall stereo combination, it actually saps color & personality from it, and I'm unsure if it's just from panning wideness. I haven't read any other decisions before making mine, but I'm hoping a musician J can spell out how panning should work and what approach works best to create noticeable tilt on either side while not sounding so lossy and lacking clarity. A minor thing, but the snaps at 4:34 were too loud. Looking at Chimpazilla's comments now, I wasn't bothered by too much going on, just whatever frequency cuts or panning decisions ended up harming the clarity.  
This may even sound fine on monitors/speakers, but I'm primarily a headphone listener and the way this has been mixed sounds lossy, imbalanced, and lacks clarity. I'm a NO strictly on production, but enthusiastically on board with this otherwise; writing-wise, this is the coolest Lufia arrangement I've ever heard, flat out pro-grade Japanese official arrangement album energy, and I can understand YESing it. The sound design's otherwise creative (chips at 2:06 were cool; nice gradual rise & fall in the lil' vocal bits from 3:01-3:28), I love the textures and dynamics, the beats are impactful, and the arrangement is fire. I'm hoping some sort of switches can be flipped to undo this overall effect and restore some sheen and sharpness to this.
NO (resubmit)

The story and journey are the great strengths of this track. I especially like how you’ve brought the Battle Theme 1 as the “B section” that starts at 3:01 and then builds back up to a recapitulation of Towering Mountain.  The main source however is the Towering Mountain theme and it’s the one that the majority of this is built on. There are some nice contrasting sections that have less going on so when we get back to the full sections they really feel big. For me a highlight of contrast is the switch to longer bass notes at 2:34, coming from the shorter length notes makes these ones feel much more impactful (that might even be a different bass sound too?)  The arrangement's structurally well put together and my only gripe with the arrangement is that the ending does lose a bit of energy as it comes to a close. Maybe the ending could have been shortened some to help keep some of that energy, start it out very quiet and have a long crescendo until the final reset, or some crazy effects build up?
There are some production issues that do need to be mentioned.  The bass is lacking presence and the mids are scooped out making the top end feel hot.  You could bring the mids up and the highs down, as this is the area they generally sit in.  That could help to give the melody more clarity. Those imbalances are there, but they aren't so off to me that it takes away from my listening to it.  I get swept up in the cacophony and hold on for the wild ride hoping that it's not going to reset on me and start over. 
YES (borderline)

Any track with this many borderline votes already is going to be a challenge, so I'm going to do my best to approach this objectively without the weight of my own expectations or previous feedback I've given on Queen's other tracks.
We start off with a pretty good soundscape but the mixing is very puzzling - I don't feel like there's much substance in the low end throughout much of the track outside of the kick drums, or the basses that are present are so low that they actually don't come through at all to the human ear. Make sure that you're selecting your basses strategically based on which patches work with the range that you're writing in, and keep an eye on where your bass fundamental is falling. Adding in upper harmonics by layering in other patches (being careful to cut out the lower frequencies from all but your sub, so you don't encounter phase cancellation issues) or by adding saturation to your existing bass can also help that bass come through audibly. Human hearing can span from 20Hz-20kHz, but in reality if your bass only exists down in those lowest registers, or it's not mixed properly, it's not going to be heard by most listeners on most setups, and I think that's what's happening here.
The stereo spread is also problematic, and I'm definitely in agreement with Liontamer that it's sort of intangible and probably can't be diagnosed without looking at your project file. That said, it feels imbalanced at multiple points, and I also suspect that there might be bass elements like your kick/synths/snares that are panned off to the side. As a general rule of thumb, you want your low end presence to be pretty much mono, and the higher up the frequency range you go, the more you can pan to the sides without causing issues. This is where you'll need to use your tools to analyze what's going on on your bus and master level to see if things are generally balanced - currently, it feels like they're not.
I also need to echo the overall balance issues that I've brought up on previous submissions and I'll say again here - you have so many great ideas but you can't have them all fighting for attention and retain that same impact. 2:55 is a great example of this - you have so much going on and so many effects that the big supersaw has to be cranked up so loud just to cut through, and that's not really the approach you want to take. 4:48 also suffers from this - some of your synths are awash with so much reverb and effects, not to mention being a heavily-harmonic synth from the start, that they leave no room for anything else. If you compare this to melodic dubstep tracks by artists like Seven Lions, for example, they use supersaws to great effect, but there's almost nothing else going on when those synths are present. Dropping out other elements through gain reduction, cutting layers, or sidechain ducking to make room for what you really want to highlight is a much better move than simply increasing the volume on your synths even further.
All that said, your arrangement is really good here. There's a ton of compelling effects and sounds, and like many of your other pieces, you have a wealth of great ideas that you brought to the table. I actually find the arrangement to be pretty coherent and strong, even compared to your usual tracks - the use of chiptune sounds is well integrated, and the drum writing is strong too. On a fundamental level, if I'm not looking at production quality, this is a pass every day of the week, but the overall listening experience feels unpolished in a way that ultimately has a negative impact on my listening experience.
I want to stress this - this one is absolutely salvageable and I think would take significantly less work to polish than many of your other tracks that haven't passed. I don't think this is a lost cause, but after a lot of contemplation, I think this needs another round of polish to sand off the harsh edges and achieve a better balanced mix, so that your wonderful arrangement can shine.
NO (resubmit!)

Gonna keep this concise if I can. You’ve listed James Landino, Dj Cutman (and his GameChops label), and some other VGM stalwarts as influences. Good taste. What they all have in common is an ability to take simple melodies and execute a REALLY tight blend of production and arrangement to put out the product they do. Actually, with Cutman and a lot of GameChops releases, it’s less arrangement and more just market-savvy packaging. Regardless, they all have a way of using a specific, targeted sound set and high production value to achieve their goals. 
 
This, however, is all over the map. Is this song a tight EDM track? It shouldn’t meander the way it does, never settling on an identity. Is it an experimental jam? Lean into it but don’t expect to have mass appeal. Sounds have been selected that don’t complement each other or have a clear cut goal and that hurts the stated aim of this song. It’s presenting itself as one thing but is fundamentally not that thing.
 
There’s a lot of other specific, actionable feedback already given (instrument selection, mixing, etc) so I’m going to stay high-level and say that if your goal is to sound like modern commercial VGM/EDM remixes, you’ll need to drastically simplify your approach and then polish it to a mirror sheen. FOCUS on just a few elements to showcase, and everything else should support those elements. 
 
If this song passes the panel, cool. It’s got some neat ideas and goes on a journey, even if it seems to detour too often. My vote is due to clumsy, over complicated execution of what should be much simpler.
 
NO

Okay, so, this arrangement is awesome. Personally I don't care if you're trying to fill the shoes of the references you named, and I'm not going to judge whether or not it passes the bar based on whether or not you hit a target. I think this is a great interpretation with a lot of really fun interesting things going on.   But I am going to no it because of the mixing. If you ARE going to go for this hybrid EDM thing, the sound has to be full and vast, with a lot more punch and substance. Right now, I feel like we're really missing a lot of the bottom half, almost like you carved it out intentionally in mastering, since it seems to be missing in all of the instruments, not just the ones that should be providing that bottom end. This arrangement has so much power, but it's hamstrung by the way you put it all together. I don't care too much about the panning, but I do care about the way that it's taking a lot of incredible instrumentation and sucking the life out of it with EQ.    My issue with giving feedback is that I am not entirely certain how to do it because it's SO busy and there's SO much going on in SO many places that I can't really pick out specific things for you to add foundation to, but I would start with the kicks and the bassline. Also, watch how many times you're stacking pads, and watch how they're EQed as well. I hear several of them stacked on top of each other, so what that does is skew the curve to the right, and suddenly we're missing a lot of stuff.   This is a really great arrangement, I know this can be incredible with a little bit of work!   NO (resubmit!)

A judge's aim isn't to identify whether it hit the artist's brief or not—which Flexstyle touched upon—but actually whether it hit the site standards. And on a creative level, I like what you did with it. Yes, it has a more simplistic approach with some interpretive variations on the primary source and the battle theme's usage as a bridge—but in this case, simplicity works.
To break it down even more, you put the opening notes of the melody on the gated synths at 0:14, overlaid it with the melody, and kept it this way throughout the build that ended at 0:54. You then got the melody at complete focus at 1:08 with the half-time drums, changing to four-on-the-floor kicks and gates at 1:24 and repeating both ideas with different synth layers from 1:38 onwards. The cute 8-bit break at 2:06 turned to more of that half-time sound when interpreting the primary source's second half. At the other side of the battle theme at 3:38, most of your second interpretation had no percussion and more of those Mega Drive-style bells for a more spacious finish, give or take a brief section at 3:51 that briefly went back to that initial main source presentation. I am also okay with how your bass and pad (try to) work together, and it doesn't detract from your overall vision, either.
So, while that checks out, the production, on the other hand, still needs some work. Yes, I love your choice of effects and overall sound design, so that should be fine, but the mastering still needs work. As previously mentioned, there's no low end here, and the bass, in particular, is trying so hard to poke out from the rest of the instrumentation. Chimpazilla mentioned an excellent technique for doing EQ cuts on other instrumentation to get it to shine through, in addition to side chains when necessary. The little bits of bass I am hearing are trying to push through the sub-frequencies, which would typically rumble under an actual present bass at a higher octave and get the subwoofer to really work, if anything at all.
It makes sense to mention EQ cuts on other instruments because when you're writing several dozen stem projects like this one, it makes sense for you to understand where your fundamental frequencies (aka pitches) and harmonics are so you can choose what you want to emphasize/minimize and EQ the rest of your instruments around your cuts and gains. It'll no longer be a case of piling up a lot of virtual performers on the same pile on a stage and more of squeezing them neatly for the sake of performance.
Angelique, this is a creative idea, and I am all for this submission, making it onto OC Remix. However, it needs another mixdown pass before I feel confident about its inclusion. Again, don't give up, and keep being you. :-)

NO (resubmit)

Love me some Lufia 2. One of the few OSTs out there where I'm legitimately happy to a remix of literally any track on there. And it's a huge OST.
Really fun idea. I definitely grok that trauma of resetting the puzzle over and over again. Although not sure about the "pro gamer move" reference. This is a long track, but varied to an impressive extent; no danger of this wearing out its welcome.
I agree with proph that both the individual synths and the track as a whole are missing some soundscape. Bass presence is ridiculously weak, like cheap audio cassette player quality. Those poor kicks are trying to hard to break through, when they're there at all, and there often isn't an instrument at all that I would label "bass." And the sound design is very late '90s/early-2000s; synths these days generally have more complex timbre.
I'm extremely ambivalent about this. On one hand, the production is not at the level we normally look for. I can't remember the last time I've even considered YESing a track with this little low end. But the arrangement is so much fun and filled with so much obvious passion. I'm 100% with proph that in a perfect world, we'd get a version of this that was EQed properly and had more sophisticated sound design. Such a track would be one of my favorites on the whole site. But if it's a question of having this version on the site or not, I'm still going to lean on the side of
YES (borderline)

lot of sfx and tempo-synced stuff to start, in particular a lot of panning elements. most of the first 45s are heavier in my left ear. i don't think that's intentional. there's a significant build into 0:55, and the first big hit of everything at 0:55 also sounds a bit weird - the bass peaks at like 70hz instead of 30-35hz like i'd expect. is there a filter on this that's cutting out subbass content there? there's also a big notch around 350hz and i can kind of hear the scooped mids there. paging resident primate @Chimpazilla for help with what i'm hearing. apes together strong.
the flourish at 1:08 that's mirrored in a lower instrument is a neat idea. there's a break at 1:23 or so that again has a lot of tempo-synced stuff going on, and especially the swooping effect got a little irritating after the first few times i heard it. the beat comes back after that and quickly goes back to the tempo-synced quieter stuff - some very fast transitions there.
there's an interlude with chips at 2:07 that again sounds hollow with whatever filter's on it, and a half-time section after that that i really dig, and then another half-time section that's different and i dig that a lot. this is a great break section, still featuring some of the tempo-synced stuff but really shifting the vibe a lot. the heavily distorted synth that comes in at 2:55 was >9000x louder than i expected and was probably too much. the following trap-adjacent (pitfall?) section with the funky hats is again a neat change in style. it's very busy and probably could use a bit of trimming down/volumizing down stuff that's less important (just a little, this part is honestly real close).
there's a big build into 3:38 that really subverts expectations with the drop. nice use of the vocal clip to further that subversion. eventually it picks back up at 3:50 and goes through the melodic content from Towering Mountain. the transition out of that section (or lack of one) is pretty jarring. the following perc-less pad section loses a lot of energy fast, and the following detuned bell vibe is pretty minimal and felt like it lost some direction. i did like the shifts to chords that were added to that melodic snippet. i admit that i would have been very fine with a short outro after the section ending at 4:05 - the last section is very different and there's not a ton tying it to the first 80% of the track.
i think that there's a lot of little things here that, if corrected, would result in a really ridiculously great track. i am particularly interested to see if we can figure out why the opening sounds like it's missing part of the freq range. that said, it's a really fun listen and does some super creative stuff with musical elements and especially with synth effects, although the mastering needs work. i think this track has a place on the site, if not now, then eventually.
 
 
YES

Hey there.
That's a fair take, and I understand if and when people have a strong reaction to a beloved song or OST of theirs, and SeeDs/FFVIII is no exception. I'm...a bit upset by this, honestly, but you respectively are entitled to your opinion and feelings, and I'm sure you won't be the first or last in this regard. My music--as is obvious even on the Judges' Panel--is seemingly very...divisive...be it because of how I went about producing and mixing it or the composition itself. At the time, I was pretty chuffed and proud of this remix...given when it happened, the work it took, and the final result...but I'd be remiss to say that this amongst other things kind of hits me in a way where currently I have to disassociate my emotions from my logic brain...and all I can say is this:
Thank you for your honesty in the end, and all I can do is apologize that this version of the Extreme doesn't resonate with you. Quite a few of my remixes, even if or when they make it past the bar, has that issue. Perhaps it's "growing pains", as people call it. This track was a first for many things for me: 100+ track mixing, in-depth vocal mixing that isn't just ad libs here or there or chopped loops, rapping to my own musical shit, etc. By no means is any of this an excuse to have what may in fact be a...less-than-stellar remix, and people will say I'm being harsh on myself in behind your retuned review, but I digress.
It is what it is. ...I'm unsure if I'll ever come back to this and do a re-cut / deep-cut and change it drastically as I get better at this game, but again, I'm very sorry to you and anybody else who just couldn't or didn't vibe with this. I chose this track and the other sources I sewed into it because they, too, deeply resonated with me, as both a casual listener and as an artist. FF8 in particular is the dark horse / black sheep and underrated game of the series, and I chose SeeDs as my first jumping off point because at the time I felt brave enough to do so and I like the game and OST, despite its flaws, and equally my own flaws and trepidation to dare try. I...don't know. Be that as it may, I'm glad I did, I'm sad it didn't work for you, and I'll...just have to try harder and better next time.
I, and I'm sure the rest of us here, appreciate your hard work in reviewing our tracks and being real with yourself in this instance to just tell it like it is to me. I'd rather have a genuine reaction than a falsehood to my work. People doubting it and me are inevitable and I'll just...try again to pick up the pieces and continue onward. I'm not letting another creative writing or art pursuit flop happen again. . . This is about as genuine and positive I can be in this moment in response to ya. . . :) And it's not a reflection on you, but on myself in how poorly I look at my OWN work and person.
Introspection is a bitch.
Thanks again. I'll take all of your points and do what I can with them on future projects or further revisions to past ones. Take care of yourself and speak soon. o/

I have been summoned!  Honestly, I'm glad I was because my original review was weak sauce.  I couldn't really tell you the differences between this version and the one I heard originally, so this is basically a fresh review.
In my quest to review as many OCremixes as I can, I found myself defaulting to giving a positive review to each and every review.  I know how much of a difference even a small review or comment can make, and I wanted to be that positive force that encouraged others to make music!  However, I have a very long and personal relationship with the FF8 soundtrack.  And the Extreme is one of my favorite boss themes of all time.  It is a soundtrack I am deeply familiar with and I'll be completely honest, I am not a fan of this remix.  My original review was glib because I didn't say what I wanted to say.  So my apologies to you for not leaving a genuine review.  You are going to get one now though, definitely the longest review I've ever done on this site! (So far).  I will try to be as constructive as I can with this review, and keep in mind this is all subjective opinion.  I very much applaud and appreciate what you've done here and the clear care and passion you put into this.

I'll start with what I enjoy.  The transition to the spoken work/rap section from 6:00 to 6:24 was my favorite part of the track, those wood blocks were FIRE.  The rap section and the spoken word bits in general were very cool.  The intro soundscape was very enjoyable, specifically the first 30 seconds. and the usage of the FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC source was very well done.

On to my criticisms.  My first one is the pacing of the remix.  In my original review I mentioned that it uses the time well.  Upon further review, I do not think that is not the case.  Even though I think the intro is very cool, 3 minutes to ramp up into the energetic portion of the song is way too long, it could have been it's own remix and would have been great but in the context of a single remix it overstays its' welcome.  I think a good minute could have been cut from the intro.  Even though I enjoyed the rap section, it was way too short and felt very out of place, it really felt like it should be its' own remix as well.  The long length of this remix doesn't really give me a good chance to latch onto anything in particular and kind of causes the whole remix to wash over you like a fog.

My second criticism from a musical standpoint is that in the "Tension and Release" aspect of music, there was too much tension and not enough release.  To start, after the song-length intro. We get to some energetic stuff starting at 2:52.  That part was very cool, like many of the transitions in this remix.  The rhythmic chanting voices, that super cool Buzzy bass.... the strings that come in at 2:58 were weak, but not a deal-breaker... but then it just kind of... shifts to 3:04 - 3:15.  After all that build up and a cool transition it just kind of flops.  I felt musically blue-balled, and it wouldn't be the last time.

My favorite part of the original source is that epic climatic section that dives right into the somber piano/harp.  It kind of encapsulates everything that makes the Extreme such a good boss music and a great representative of Ultimicia.  However in this remix, I didn't get any of that.  I felt like I got played at 5:04 and 5:26 and once again at 8:34.  From a creative standpoint, I appreciate the subversion of the expectation, but as an enjoyer of the source, it felt incredibly unsatisfying.  

Production is a bit off as well.  Everything felt kind of flimsy.  Some of the lead synth instruments really needed some protein.  (Especially that lead that comes in at 3:58.)  The drums barely had any presence (Especially the snares) and tended to be very repetitive.  The end result is that a lot of this remix doesn't really pack any sort of punch.

Again, I hope this review doesn't discourage you.  There are things I liked about this remix and would probably like more if this remix was chopped up into more cohesive regular sized remixes.  Keep making cool music! 😄

Oh, snap!!! It's updated, @CJthemusicdude!!
Thank you so much, @Liontamer! ♡

Can't emphasis this nearly enough, this is worth more than a dozen paid online courses! Where else you gonna get tailored advice on your remixes by community veterans, judges and even the mighty LT, in live and direct? If you're enthusiastic about VGM, arrangement and music production, come hang with knowledgeable and kindhearted people, learn a thing or twenty and go home a winner. ?

Very difficult question. I will not answer with Bundeslang.
So many different styles and genres. Favorite is also a very hard term, I fill this in as personal like the most (and genre helps with this). Still (to mention one name) I go for one of the names in the beginning of the contest: Sir Nuts.
Perhaps we can do a contest/round one day (maybe a yearly free round or something like that), who knows...

That pulsating rhythm that travels through most of the remix had a very nice groove to it.  I hear that Glitch vst comin in hot at some parts!  I can't stop staring at the music visualizer for this, those dancing robots are mesmerizing.  This was a great remix, lots of fun! :)

Thank you so much for your comment, CJ! :) Unfortunately, not long after your listening to it I went back and listened myself, and it's come to my attention that this version is not the one originally attached to the e-mail submission for ESD. I had actually went back and redid the vocal mixing and production on all the other elements across the board, in the spirit of making it be beyond its album incarnation and more for the OCR front page.
...I hope at some point, some day, that updated, re-tuned version will come to light on OCR, but for the moment I'm glad you really enjoyed the album version of ESD. ^_^; If it does, I hope you revisit this tune as well. ♡

It is fixed now. Hope people enjoy it, and another big thank you to both GSM1 teams who were a part of its original creation and compositional/mixing growth. ♡

In the event anybody listens to this track before it gets fixed, the youtube video and presumably the individual download link, are for the wrong version of the track. While the track was a marvel on its own being done in a span of one week, the amount of effort Angelique put into refining it into something greater is being missed with this version. 

There's not much that can be added on top of the stellar critiques you've received so far, and I won't bore you with technical FFT analysis and stats. Imma just tell ya how I feel about the arrange, and of course take it all with a bucket of salt cuz I'm nobody and this is just my unimportant opinion. ?
It's refreshing to hear a take on 'Blizzard Buffy' that isn't the usual fast paced EDM or Metal. The 'meandering' nature of the piece is part of the charm, and I believe you've achieved a cohesive wintery aesthetic coherent with the theme of the album. The slow building intro and winding outro, on top of setting up the scene properly, also showcase an eye for worldbuilding and composition. As someone who both partake in and appreciate the work that goes into an audiodrama, I give ya props for going the extra mile and adding Buffy's stomps and groans to add context to the arrangement in a way that surely fits this 'filmscore' interpretation.
Now let's talk address the elephant in the room, 3 times heavyweight champion: Mr Glockenspiel. While a fitting instrument choice to an Xmas theme, it has been processed in a way that boosts its natural resonance beyond what a human ear is designed to contain ?. It may or may not be due to the sample itself, but I suspect toning down the salad dressing on the ol' glock would remedy this small, if pivotal inconvenience. 
One thing that would greatly help this remix stand out, especially in regard to the genre you're going for, would be to work on strengthening bridges between parts of the track. The piece as a whole proves you've got the arrangement chops to make this a hit. But each transition feels like an afterthought, almost as if you were ice skating from one part of the source to the next. It's never jarring, but if you put the same care/thought into them as you did for the intro and outro, this could truly elevate the whole song. ?
The bombastic middle section from 2:35 onwards sees the return of our favorite superhero, Captain Glockenspiel, which once again shatters my heart by dancing without a care on top of an entire orchestra that is trying its best to convey the source material. It's a bummer because you've clearly put all the stops for this part, and imho this is legitimately well done. But that repeating leitmotiv on glock should be a background dancer, not the vocaloid Diva it's trying to impersonate. I'd also push the thunderous percs back slightly, as they seem to impact overall dynamics, and to let the orchestra breathe so the source melody can properly dominate the soundscape during the fulcrum point, one of the only instance where the audience can hear your interpretation in an uninterrupted sequence.
The last section before the outro features a kick that's (I'm guessing) intentionally simulating a heartbeat and its acceleration as the piece/fight reaches its conclusion. It feels estranged and anachronistic to the rest of the conventional orchestra instruments. Also its overpowering the lows, as any Trap kick should, except in this case the sample's character is clashing with an already busy composition while trying to compensate for the orch lows you didn't write. Otherwise, that section is a wonderful way to wind down before the outro. 
All in all, this is a captivating arrangement that confidently tells its story in a brave yet understated way. It only needs a little more love to reach its full potential, and I'm confident you'll get there in no time, with all the great feedback from remixers and staff alike. Gambare VQ! ?

Additional ears? You got it. I'm coming in cold on this one so you're going to get all of my impressions - not saying that all of this needs to be addressed to pass a resubmission, but hopefully you can make use of the brain dump.
The intro brings some really cool flavor - the noisy distorted elements remind me of Porter Robinson's Fellow Feeling (see the 3:00 mark if you're short on time.) If you're going for random blasts of noise, I think this works - if you're trying to make it sound like footsteps stomping through, it's not giving that impression at all because every stomp is exactly the same. There's no variation in the sample and it reaches uncanny valley territory fast when you play the sample multiple times in a row. This all boils down to what you are going for here, but either way, I think some subtle variation with each repetition of the sample/layer of samples (without knowing how you actually did this) would build immersion.
Some of your orchestral elements (flute, glock) are very resonant, oftentimes peaking at their fundamental frequency between 3-6db above everything else. The bells in the intro also feel comparably dry. This will probably get ironed out in your next pass, but I'm going to point it out anyway. The orchestral sequencing sounds workable for the most part, you're getting good mileage out of your samples. It's not the best but I do think you're using them effectively for the most part - the main areas that sound really noticeably fake are the half-step chromatic runs on the strings at times like 2:48. I just don't think the big ensemble patch moves fast enough to accommodate that writing, and would recommend adjusting the lead writing to fit better within the limitations of your samples.
I also feel like the intro could use some deeper sub bass presence. It's not that the stomps aren't contributing any bass frequencies, but a big cinematic sub drop or sustained bass to accompany the stomps (see Fellow Feeling) would make this feel much more dynamic, or have some risers building up tension in the low end leading into :49.
The decision to intersperse various melodic elements (glock, harmonic strings, cello) was a good one - otherwise, this intro would be way too long. It already feels a bit lengthy as-is, but those additions help pad it out quite a bit and justify the length. However, this gets to the problem of transitions and buildup, which I think is my biggest gripe currently. There is rarely much going on to signal that we're approaching a new musical idea, so even though you have some very dramatic changes throughout your arrangement (which are quite inspired and interesting, I must add!) they come on very suddenly. Cinematic risers, fills, sweeps, etc. are a part of this equation and could definitely be used to greater effect here to bridge your gaps, but there's another element I want to touch on: the idea of movement in your part writing.
You do a great job building atmosphere and have all the makings of a very dramatic song, but there's a lack of movement on a compositional level. When cinematic music is clicking well, composition and sound design have a lot of synergy. Right now, you are doing a good job building an interesting sound palette for each individual section, but the underlying chord progression feels weak. It hovers around the tonic chord for most of the time, and even when you do have chord changes, they don't feel properly supported with anything strong in the lower frequencies. This is where a bit of music theory troubleshooting could go a long way - your melody has many opportunities for powerful chord movements that build drama and tension, especially as you lead into new sections, but you're not fully capitalizing on that potential. I don't think it would even require changing up much fundamental about the rest of the parts; just identify the chord progression you're playing and make sure that there's strong support in the bass for whatever chord/root note you're trying to play. I don't know how else to suggest addressing this without studying up on some fundamentals of music theory, but certain chords just move naturally into others and can help you allude to future changes and help transition between vastly different musical ideas in a way that feels rewarding.
I think you're running up against some of the same problems I faced before I made the decision to finally start researching music theory. I had a conceptual idea in my brain for what each section of my song was supposed to do, and could support it in terms of selecting sounds and picking grooves/effects/etc., but it boiled down to luck whether or not it worked on a fundamental composition level, and I spun my wheels trying to fix that issue with every other production tool known to man.
I think if you were to pick an area to focus on, the big orchestral section starting at 2:36 would be where I'd focus my energy most. Everything else before and after that can skate by a little easier, but when you're trying to make a big melodic orchestral statement, the fundamentals need to be strong first. Figure out what chord you're playing on each measure and map them out in sequence using just a basic patch. I find that it helps to actually just plot my chord progressions out on piano so there's no temptation to get distracted by sound design. See if the song sounds strong and compelling when it's just played on a single instrument, and go from there.

Really hoping this one is eligible for OCR. Loving the Jungle/Breakbeat vibes, and it worked so well with the source material. ♥ Keep up the good work, and good luck on it getting through if you decide to submit it. :D

Hi VQ!
I’ll be giving this one a listen in full a few times, along with re-reading the judges’ feedback, before giving you some recommendations. It may take a bit, but don’t fret! - the goal is to improve and that’s what we’re gonna do!
Will likely need to edit this space several times, so I’ll make another comment once all the thoughts are put together!
- Opening SFX set the scene. Bar 9 (around :15) is when the mallet percussion and cello enter. The cello seems to be giving a low pad/bed for the percs to lay on; the reverb here is good, though the stomp sfx bury the instruments by about 1-2dB when they occur. I would recommend dropping the volume on the stomps at this point by about 3dB and see if that doesn't open the space up more for the melodic content to come.
- Around Bar 21 (:40), we've reached the transition to the A section of Blizzard Buffalo. The cello swells up to a peak around :44, and the sustain on the peak here softens the impact of Bar 25 (:48) where the A section kicks into gear. The sustain seems to be a combination of the reverb tail and compression on the low-end; automation on the reverb (decay first, and then the reverb bus as a whole) would be my first area to tackle.
- Bar 25 (:48) has harp (or pizz strings) running an arpeggio against the chords created by the perc, cello, and added violin(s), as well as the thunder sfx in the back. The reverb here is really strong, making the articulations on the strings harder to distinguish. The instruments feel stacked on the center channel as well; I would consider spreading the percs suuuuper wide to free up some space for the arpeggio. The cello will maintain its center channel position throughout to give a solid foundation, and a slight widening of the violins will also help give some room for the arpeggio.
- Bar 41 (1:21) has a wonderful solo violin swell! This is good dynamics here! The reverb level is appropriate given the space it's filling out, however, it's worth automating the level of it down for the next section at Bar 45 (1:28) since the soundscape is about to be more dense with instruments. I would also keep the violin center here, even if you panned the violins earlier.
- Bar 45 (1:28) trades the mallet percussion for a piccolo and adds a muted piano(?), with bells at Bar 59 (1:56). The first bell strike comes in late (about 50-60ms after the rest of the orchestra) and makes its addition feel awkward until the tempo change around Bar 60 (1:58). This combined with the reverb still being too high in this section makes distinguishing the individual parts harder, just as before. Before we look at addressing the EQ of the reverb, let's see if we can't fix it by adjusting (and automating) the verb's output volume first.

Heya Seth, here's my thoughts on it so far:
 
Arrangement-wise -- right off the bat, @ ~ 00:48, the two distinct genres between your EDM and Industrial / change-up jarred me. IMO, they both work separately but not together. I think if you were to introduce your remix with the slow dance-like beat, and then rise it up to the hype / fast-paced beat, it would work better. Perhaps start with the violin, drop it for the plucky synths, and then re-introduce it later on in a sort of interlude / mixing the two genres, before the end? That might make your groove feel more fluid and coherent between the two styles employed here. Instrument/Mixing-wise -- I had no issues with your synths, really. I found them all to be nice-sounding in timbre and appropriate, even though they might be a little basic, but I am unsure if that is because these are still your stems from your original work from 2016 project, or because you had to rework/rebuild this from scratch and some of the sounds are currently placeholder. The plucky synth around 00:15 is a bit soft as well, but unsure how mixed this remix is currently...or how far in production. However, everything sounds clear, I love the vol raise and contrast you have with the additional synth playing the same melody with the plucky synth, and your bass and kick/drums are hella groovy. :)  
Hope this all helps. :D I look forward to hearing more work on this. :3 Good luck with it! o/

I only now realized I got another wooden spoon to my proud collection in the final round ?