zircon

While I agree that the source melody isn't instantly recognizable, the progression, mood, and instrumentation certainly bring it to mind. The sudden swell at 1:36 or so was a little unexpected, though, and I think the percussion that comes in there is somewhat grating. The strings feel sort of cold and harsh rather than soft and musical, too. The piano also is a bit sharp rather than warm. On the other hand, the choir, and the guitar-like instrument sound great. I noticed some clipping towards the end as well; please watch that. My thoughts on the production overall is that the high end is too present; the mix almost hurts the ears over time because everything is so cutting. Go easier on the EQ, or if you're not already using them, use them to bring down the highly accentuated high end. I really liked the feel of the first part of the mix, before 1:36, in terms of mixing; the volume shouldn't have gotten so much louder. Anyway, as far as arrangement goes, this definitely is NOT a cover, but like I said, the original can be gleaned. I certainly would not mind more of the melodic source used, and perhaps a tighter overall arrangement since it seems like similar ideas and motifs are repeated over and over towards the second half of the structure. I think that would be my major problem with this mix - it doesn't really go anywhere after awhile. The percussive style doesn't change much, and no significant changes are made to key, tempo, instrumentation, etc. Rethinking this element of the mix would be a good idea. You could probably cut out at least a minute without losing any ideas currently. Overall - I like some of the stuff going on here (particularly the lead instrument and how its played), but I think there are some structural as well as production problems that should be addressed. Refine and resubmit. NO

This is on the quiet side, like Larry said, but nothing a slight adjustment to your volume knob won't fix (better to have that then clipping problems). Aside from this, the production values were good. I think the arrangement was quirky, but well-done overall. Considering the length, the introduction could have probably been a little shorter or less minimal; I felt it was on the sparse side. Nonetheless, that certainly doesn't detract from the overall mix all that much. Transitions were cool, too - good job on those. I don't have a lot to say on this one because it's simply a great mix that meets the standard easily. Awesome. YES

Quick note - the artist said that this is a revision of his remix of the same theme. Having heard both (the original is on VGmix under the name david dude 22), I think the original remix is way better, and there are a lot less issues there. Dunno what you guys want to do about this: want me to ask the mixer whether he wants us to judge that version?

In the mixer, in the upper left menu, click "Enable smart disable for all" or something like that. It'll significantly reduce your CPU load. Also, set your buffers higher. ~2048ms is a comfortable amount, if you ask me. Finally, pick up new ASIO drivers like asio4all - better ASIO = more CPU efficiency.

This is another tough one for me. There are some strong aspects that stand out, but also areas that just fall short of the standard. I generally like the level of interepretation - solid amounts of variation and original material. The originals came through loud and clear without overpowering the unique Jivemaster element. But at the same time, as a bunch of the other judges mentioned, it seems like maybe 3 or 4 minutes of ideas stretched over 6+ minutes. I think the mix could really be shortened down without losing the bulk of the cool ideas going on. It almost felt to me like 3:46 could have led to an ending, as the preceding section was built up well. The current ending is definitely lackluster and doesn't do the mix justice. Production aspects are a mixed bag. The base timbres of a lot of the sounds aren't bad, but because of all the reverb, they sound mushy and duller than they should. Use different reverb settings for different elements. For instance, the pizzicato strings (which are decent at best, might look for a different sample there) could use a fair amount of reverb, but synths don't need as much. You could also replace a lot of the reverb with delays to create a spacious effect without muddying up the mix all that much. Also, there's sort of a lack of high end outside of the drums throughout the mix. Applying distortion, overdrive, and especially equalization can really help to brighten up certain sounds, provided you don't go overboard and make them too harsh. The 128kbps encoding contributes to the lack of brightness as well; this can be fixed by using VBR instead, which will keep the size down while preserving more frequency data. I really like the percussive stuff in terms of sequencing and timbres, though the hihats/cymbals strike me as too loud in comparison to the kick and snare, which both get sort of lost in the wall of sound. Also, several of the synths simply sound too similar, such as the lead early on playing the Lava Reef theme and the "WEEEoooow" resonant synth. Try varying up the synth sounds a little more to make things more diverse and interesting. Overall: this definitely isn't a bad mix, and I have no doubt it would have passed two years ago or so. As is, however, some parts of it just don't meet our standard. I recommend spending more time with it - tightening the arrangement, working on the production a bit more, and changing the final mastering to give a brighter sound. NO but resubmit!

Man, Earthbound has some WEIRD music. It's hard enough to listen to, much less arrange in an interesting and enjoyable way. Even considering that, I think Mazedude has done a good job in his work on this mix. The original is ridiculously sparse and dissonant; the ReMix, less so, with some more.. pleasant additions and variations. It's tough to listen to at times, and I don't think I'd object if changes were made to some of the chords to make 'em sound just a little more natural, somehow. Production values were great all around - I don't feel the need to speak about those. This is very difficult to judge because the source is so random and unstructured, and thus, the rearrangement will have some degree of that. However.. there's solid sound quality and a quality interpretation, despite it's highly unorthodox execution. Shnabubula will have some company now. YES

Kinda hard to judge something without the original on hand, but whatever. I agree with Gray that the sounds are muddy. That is because a lot of the song elements reside in the low to low-mid frequencies. Apply some EQ, distortion, and crisp reverb or delay to the higher sounds in order to get them to fill up more of the frequency spectrum. At the same time, try to soften the lower end with EQ and removal of reverb if you have any. Doing both of these things, and possibly adding some high end percussion/harmony instruments will really help the sound overall. On a side note, you don't have to encode so high either. In terms of the timbre of the sounds, I think you could spend a little more time tweaking stuff. The drums are really pretty subdued. The bassdrum, for lack of a better word, just 'plops' rather than delivering a nice 'kick' sound. Maybe it's because it's meshing with the acoustic bass poorly - it's hard to tell. Cut off the end of the kick or layer some acoustic bass drum samples in order to give it a tighter sound. Don't forget some compression too. The snare/claps don't sound bad, but they could use some compression and maybe light distortion to get a 'thwap' and a bite sound. Sounds like you were going for that, so just keep experimenting with ways to bring the groove out more. The synths sound really basic and bland, like the FL 3xOsc presets. You definitely want to head over to www.kvr-vst.com and www.patcharena.com to grab some new stuff right away. Again, I can't really talk about arrangement. It seems kind of sparse at times. Rather than repeat the drumline, you could mess with it using panning, lofi, flanging, phasing, or filtering. Or, if you don't want to do that, add and remove layers quickly to liven things up. Overall, not a bad effort, but still needs work. NO

I'm in agreement with my fellow judges. To restate and to add my own opinions: The sounds are fairly weak throughout. The synths in particular could use some work. Go easier on the effects like flanging/phasing and panning, and don't detune the sounds so much - instead, concentrate on making interesting sounds to begin with, and then add effects sparingly. As Liontamer said, the Remixing and WIP forums are a good place to start to get help here. The drum sounds are also pretty bad. You need to buff up your samples in this area or at least use the ones you have better; layer some ethnic percussion or hihat lines, vary the bassdrum, layer snares, use compression/reverb/distortion.. basically anything to make the sounds come to life and really set down a groove, rather than just plod along. Aside from the technical aspect, the arrangement is on the weak side. It does display elements of the original, but its either too close to it, or far out. Try to find a balance when you're rearranging the tune. For instance, take the melody and change the rhythm, or take the progression and use snippets of the melody spliced with your own melody, vary the notes slightly, change the tempo or change keys, etc. There are lots of things you can do to make a mix fresh and exciting. As is, your interpretation is very repetitive and at times disconnected. Keep working at it. NO

Out of curiosity, why doesn't anyone ever pick any of the other tracks from RD to remix? "Dream shore" seems to be the only thing anyone ever chooses to do. There's plenty of other good music on the soundtrack, c'mon! Anyway. On to the mix itself. I'm not really impressed with the sounds or the arrangement here. Really basic, dry drums under what's almost a cover of the original(s). Even the instrumentation is preserved (the bells). Be a little more adventurous, here. I like that you tried to vary up the drums and use processing, but the sounds themselves aren't all that great. Try to use effects like compression, reverb, and delay to liven up stuff; also, hit the Remixing forum and scout around there to look for more ways to beef up your sounds. The whole mix is also a little muddy and quiet. Try to adjust the volume levels and use compression/limiting to bring everything up to comfortable levels without getting too loud. Then, you can use equalizers and other effects to separate the elements more so that they don't mush together so much. As for arrangement, just DO MORE! It's short, uninteresting, and adds almost nothing to the originals. What you need to do is make the ReMix your own creation. Add more original sections, play with the melody and harmony, change the progression or build off the progression, vary the rhythm or the notes, and so on and so forth. NO

I'm impressed that the remixer here was able to turn such a minimal amount of source into something actually interesting. Without question, I think the arrangement is great; it's got a strong structure, and doesn't veer far away from the original (or its general feel). However, the production/execution is somewhat problematic. The sounds border on general MIDI in quality, for one thing, and I know that there are better free samples out there - I also know these sounds could be better used. For one thing, it's not a good idea to sequence fast string runs with samples like these, because it really sounds bad when you do. Consider getting a new sample for the faster runs, changing the sequence to something less 'machine gun', or simply getting a new instrument to play the run. The synth timbres are pretty dull and bland; they have little to no processing and no automation to make them sound any better. Spend a bit more time on the synth parts to make them interesting, and/or check kvr-vst.com and patcharena.com to get some new sounds in that area. The guitar that comes in later is also pretty weak. You should put some extra distortion and EQ on it to give it 'bite', layer it with a synth guitar, get another guitar sound, or some combination of the three. As is, it sounds flat and blatantly artificial. Finally, I think a lot more could have been done with percussion. Considering the mood and tone of the mix, you could focus a bit more on ethnic percussion or at least up the volume on the parts you have now. Also, the 'main' drum pattern is not much more than a placeholder, playing a simple rhythm on what sounds to be a GM-quality acoustic kit. Pick up some new drum samples at hammersound.net or look for "nskit" by Natural Studios to breathe some life into your acoustic drumkit parts. Judiciously adding compression can make the pattern stronger too. In short, good arrangement ideas, but falls short in the production area. Work on that and resubmit. NO

This is an interesting change from your Ys mix.. and I'm glad to see that you've restored some of the production 'sparkle' I felt was lacking on that other one. In fact, the production quality of this track in general is very good. All effects are used tastefully, and the EQing really makes all the parts flow without getting too muddy. I honestly don't have a gripe with the instruments like the violin, sax, and piano, or their sequencing. Sure, they might not pass for human, but is that the point? This mix is a big fusion of genres already, so having some parts showing their synthetic nature really doesn't bother me. The sax, vox, and marcato strings were particularly well used, in fact. My only complaint in regard to the mix's execution is that the drums sometimes felt too rigid and march-like, somewhat out of context with the very chill nature of the rest of the song. I guess I would have liked to see a more flowing groove of some sort. The arrangement was strong overall, representing the original well while still having original sections and variation. No problems there, though the ending kinda caught me by surprise. Overall, I think this is a great mix, and I have few complaints. Good job! YES

This is great stuff, guys! Keep it up

I love this mix, as my vote shows. Just wanted to add, though, that there's a reason you may have heard the vocals before; the multisample is from the most popular choral/vocal library on the planet, "Symphony of Voices". It comes with some very distinctive samples, such as this solo soprano (which I have used myself on a few songs).

Well.. I hadn't heard the original when I had first said you should submit it, or if I had, I must have been thinking of the wrong song. This IS very close. I don't think the production aspects are all that bad - the percussion is pretty cool for instance (maybe vary up the 'splash' snare a bit though), and I think most of the instruments are used and combined tastefully. There is a bit of clipping in some parts; watch your volume levels or use a compressor/limiter. Also, using EQ on the different elements of the song (eg. the synth, the piano, the winds) to emphasize/demphasize certain frequencies can help carve a space for each sound. Otherwise, I don't have much more to say than the other judges. Simply go for more rearrangement. NO

I think this is a pretty cool mix, but has some issues with both production and structure. For one thing, the sampling is a bit overused - a lot of them are so lo-fi that they just feel out of place. You might consider ambient pads instead to maintain the atmosphere you're going for. Some of the percussion seems to be off rhythm entirely at times, not sure what the deal is with that. Also, the overall mixing could use some work. The percussion tends to be loud and overbearing - particularly that tambourine. You might consider changing from an acoustic drumkit to something a bit more.. ambient in nature. Experiment with different samples and drum processing and see if you can't come up with a percussive line that isn't as intrusive. More reverb would not hurt either, used tastefully. At times, the mix also seems somewhat bare and sparse, held up only by the effects sampling. Again, I recommend putting in more pad/sustained instruments. Choirs, synths, strings, woodwinds.. experiment with sounds like that and process them with light reverb/flanging/phasing and EQ so that they fill in empty space well. Finally, some of the leads aren't that great. The string and flute samples in particular are blatantly unrealistic and dry. There are definitely some good free sounds out there, so keep looking. In terms of arrangement, I thought the interpretation factor was great. However, it did seem to drag on a bit.. perhaps because of the sections where there is nothing but ambient effects/samples. Combined with areas of sparse melody + percussion, a good chunk of the song's length is sort of 'inactive' and not all that interesting. My advice would be to keep some sort of gradual accumulation of volume or 'energy' throughout the mix, and work towards a climax. I know it seems like I've pointed out a lot of issues, but I really don't think this is a bad mix at all. Even if you implemented half of the suggestions, I think I would pass this. Keep it up. NO

Not feeling this. The concept is good - breakbeat style drums with acid synths and orchestral elements. However, hybrid genres are difficult, and this mix proves it. There are a bunch of technical problems here. I'm a bit under the weather at the moment so I can't tell whether or not there is a problem with the frequency spectrum.. however, I do know that a lot of the song elements are not jiving. For instance, the orchestral strings are not high quality (I think there are free soundfonts that are better), so the fact that they're in the front of the mix kind of brings down the whole thing. You might consider introducing other orchestral elements, or lead synths, in order to cover up the weaknesses in samples. Plenty of posted mixers have used this technique. The gating/stuttering isn't helping either, not to mention the drum patterns and samples themselves (outside of the tambs/hihats) are somewhat uninteresting and out of place. As for the arrangement, I like the structural ideas. There's progression, layering, original material, and variation. However, some of the harmonies don't quite sound right - like an accompanying synth pattern will simply not change with a chord progression, or the bass will play notes out of the key signature. These sound like somewhat minor nitpicks, and maybe they are, but in my opinion they combine together very fast and affect the mix negatively. In terms of the breakbeat drum elements.. again, I like the idea. Varying up drum patterns is a great idea for keeping a mix fresh. But this particular drumwork just sounds to me like it needs more polish, and a *little* more regularity, to fit in best. I think you have a good grasp of some fundamental concepts of remixing. Keep working on it and I'm sure you'll submit a winner sometime. NO

You don't. FL has the best and fastest drum sequencer around (the step sequencer) - I don't think it's even up for debate. Don't troll, please. This thread is for Reason help, not for inter-software arguments. As for your question: To edit the different patterns on the Redrum, use the buttons 1-8 to switch through them, and A-D to change banks. To chain them together, go into edit mode, then select the yellow button in the sequencer toolbar (between the buttons for velocity and automation). Go to the yellow track that appears, and choose a pattern from the drop-down menu. Draw it in with the pencil. Keep going with different patterns until you have things written out the way you want. I'm not trolling. I'm being completely serious. If this guy is used to the FL step sequencer, he's not going to find anything better, because FL is the only program with such an easy setup like that. I'm not saying FL is better than Reason, just answering the guy's question.

I'm very familiar with the original tune, and I have to say, it's a difficult choice due to its speed and riff-based composition. However, I'm not hearing much of the original in this arrangement. For instance, the 'guitar' solo in the original appears to be completely left out, and that probably comprises most of the melodic material of the tune - the rest is just chord progressions. "Halfmoon", which I assume is "Taking over the Halbred" isn't really present either - the notes and rhythms don't seem correct, but it's somewhat recognizable. Production needs a lot of work. The drum pattern is just completely weak and unenergetic. There's no groove to it - it sounds like you're going to pull out some enormous beats or catchy grooves, but that never happens. You might want to upgrade your drum samples and work on sequencing a more interesting pattern - also, don't be afraid to throw effects on the drum parts. Distortion, reverb, and overdrive, all used tastefully, can really bring a snare or bass drum to life (don't overdo it though). The guitar is also pretty weak. You might consider using just a synth lead rather than this fairly low-quality sampled guitar, or layer the guitar with a new synth. A lot of the harmony sounds, such as the gated synths and the arpeggio synth, are also pretty lame. At least give them some high-end EQ to make them interesting.. but I think it would be better if you went to www.kvr-vst.com and picked up some new synths/presets from there. Getting back to the arrangement, I think it too needs work. I'm not really hearing enough source, and the progressions seem to have been ignored. There's also not much of a structure; the mix doesn't exactly go anywhere. Try to have some sort of buildup.. bring in a synth solo. Use synth automation. Bring in new drum patterns. Anything to breathe some life into the mix. Keep at it. NO

I think this lacks a bit of the technical 'sparkle' present in some of the mixer's previous works, particularly the Eternal Champions one. However, one really can't make any major complaints on the production here - everything is mixed and mastered pleasantly, and even the normally-hated FL Slayer is used well. The arrangement is interpretive and builds on the (fairly repetitive) original while simultaneously adding new, fitting elements. The vocals are superb, too. YES

You don't. FL has the best and fastest drum sequencer around (the step sequencer) - I don't think it's even up for debate.

Don't forget to check out tefnek's previous remixes; http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR01167 http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR01232 http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR01280 And also, his website (http://www.tefnek.com/) has some great originals - my favorites are "para bellum" and "damn i'm cool".

Any GIGA-compatible sampler will load GIGA files. Halion, Kontakt, Kompakt, Mach5, etc. Provided you have one of those plugins, you can use GIGA files. I personally prefer Kontakt (now Kontakt 2).

Yeah, what's up with the production here? Sounds like everything is washed out. Periodically, I can hear some cool synths and guitar patterns, but everything sounds far back and mixed together that it's hard to differentiate anything. Sounds like there's some sort of noise at all times too, like the recording wasn't very good. When the percussion comes in at 1:10, that really kind of killed the mix. I was expecting some chill acoustic stuff, but in comes some industrial type distorted drums that just get lost in the soundscape. The 'normal' drum pattern that comes in isn't very creative either - the samples are also pretty overused (I recognize them from the FL defaults). Consider grabbing something like NSkit 7 and using those samples instead. The drums just stop for no reason too, and random 'swipe' or 'swoosh' samples seem to replace it. Why? Besides the egregious production problems, the arrangement isn't all that interpretive either, as it tends to repeat rather than go anywhere. Guitar playing is good (timing could be a bit better), but you really have to flesh out a lot of your ideas here better. The ReMixing forum is a great place to go. NO

I think this is a big improvement over the original remix. My biggest problems had to do with the arrangement, not the production (which was good then, but is GREAT now), and I believe those problems have all been addressed. Oddly enough, I'm just not hearing any clutter problems, nor did the percussion stick out to me at all. The 'hot' and bright mixing style combined with some unique choices on certain instruments makes this a refreshing change from other mixes we've gotten in a similar genre. The subtle additions of backing synths, new harmonies and original sections, variation on the source.. all of this comes together for a great mix. YES

Man, why isn't this posted? It kicks some serious ASS and there is no question about that. Massive beats that don't get boring, creative breaks (eg. the acoustic guitar towards the beginning), insane synth action, and a fun arrangement. It's not all that far from the original(s) but I think there is enough original material and variation to make it pass our standard. Stellar quality all around, especially given how minimal the source is. YES