DarkeSword   Administrators 🎮

Another piece that nicely rocks my socks in terms of arrangement. CV fans should get a kick out of it. Love the synth stuff, and the grungy guitars. I'm afraid I gotta agree with Larry here though; there's a messy, over-compressed sound that pervades the mix, and it's especially evident when those cymbals come in at the end. Not a fan in that respect. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to say NO. BTW I'm sorry to hear about your project files. That's a terrible thing to happen to anyone.

This is pretty fun to listen to, but ultimately it's way too repetitive for the 2:51 length, which is saying something. I don't find it that interpretive either. You've got a nice intro, and there's some harmony at the end there, but you've got to do more than that. Hell the interpretive stuff you had was a lot of fun, so give it another shot and go the extra mile or two. Right now it just chugs along. The only thing that stops it from getting annoying by the time it's done is the short length. In any case, I'm not sure I can speak to the production values of this, as I'm not, by any means, an expert on recording; perhaps one of our instrumentalist Js could give you some pointers. NO Oh and just so you know, my little brother Nabeel (12 years old) heard me listening to this and let me know that he liked it.

Is it just me, or is there a harshness that pervades this whole mix? The harp in particular in the beginning feels like it's got some kind of light distortion on it, and that ends up setting the tone for the whole track. I don't know if that's intentional or the result of some wonky mastering, but it sounds very strange in a track that sounds to me like it should have a very smooth sound to it. I don't know; the arrangement seems competent enough; quite a feat expanding on such short source material, but there are a lot of points in the arrangement where I feel like the percussion and bassline are disjointed, or rhythmically complex for complexity's sake. Perhaps that's a staple of the genre? It's a minor gripe about cohesiveness, but a gripe nonetheless. I'm ambivalent on this one. Gonna wait on what other Js to chime in, but for now, call me a NO.

Wow. Pretty grand opening you've got there. I never thought of this song in terms of a sweeping orchestral piece. I really like how you've interpreted the source tune here. There's a lot of the right kind of originality; you've taken the original themes and played with them just enough. Wonderfully orchestrated. The samples aren't the most amazing, but they certainly get the job done. Nice sequencing. I think this is great, and a perfect example of the kind of interpretive work we look for here at OCR. Nice work. YES

I love this. It's an amazingly awesome combination of synth and guitar. This kicks infinite amounts of shell. COWABUNGA

You guys like to joke, but seriously, please keep it in mind if your mix has recently been rejected. If it were as simple as tweaking a few knobs to make your mix passable, we wouldn't reject it; we'd give you conditional YESes and contact you about the issues so that we could get the mix passed. Getting a mix rejected means that there are issues with it that aren't quickly fixable, even if we put the word "resub" after the big NO.

Pretty sure it's because people are resubmitting way too fast.

My point is that I'd prefer people to comment on my mix in this thread, not start posting dumb crap like you've been doing continually since your first reply. Seriously, cut it out. It's really rude.

Why are you talking about this in my release thread? Go post in ReQuests or something.

I only know Reuben through his music. I never talked to the guy, never really interacted with him. What the hell am I supposed to say? "He was a great guy?" Maybe he was, but without firsthand experience, me saying that is disingenuous. I've heard he was a great guy, so that's all I can say. How is anyone supposed to pay tribute to the other aspects of his life if they know little about it? Honestly SCG, I've noticed that you tend to get indignant and upset on other people's behalf far too much, and tend to express those feelings quite vehemently. You're overreacting and getting angry at people for no real reason. Cut it out.

Just the other day I was listening to some music and one of Reuben's pieces popped up on my playlist; I said to myself, "Wow, who did this?" I made a note to definitely check out Rueben's music. While I didn't know him personally, I do know for sure that we've lost a great artist and a great guy. I'm sorry for your loss. Reuben won't be forgotten; not by a long shot.

Just wanna throw this in: private servers, despite the massive amount of them running, are illegal, so specific info pertaining to getting onto private servers (including links) is probably not allowed on these forums.

"Gee whiz, Mr. DarkeSword! How does the Judge's queue work?" "Well Timmy, sit back and I'll tell you!" There's always a number of mixes in our private forum at any time, given the fact that we are constantly receiving submissions. Larry posts mixes to our forum from the Submissions Inbox and we sticky the threads for mixes that have been on the panel for a while (month+), and mixes that are split decisions. Once a group of mixes is on the panel, we generally judge them in whatever order we feel like. I know I personally used to try to knock out votes for mixes of songs I knew well, and would save the more obscure stuff for later when I had time to digest the source tune (this is not so much the case anymore). One thing I do do these days is go for closeout votes first. If there's a mix that's already got two NOs (a 2N mix) or three YESes (a 3Y mix), I'll hit that first to hopefully get it out of the way. In any case, there is a priority system, in that we sticky older mixes first, and we generally encourage each other to vote on those older tracks, but there's nothing specifically in place that forces us to vote on those before more recent submissions.

This is really quiet..like...really quiet. Needs to be brought up overall, I think. I like your string work and the balance. There's a nice dreamy sound to this. The descending piano is tricky; there are a few times where the notes are repeated in succession with the same velocity, and that kind of breaks the downward motion of the line. I realize that may be part of the source, but you might be better served tweaking the velocities a bit. A minor gripe, but something that stuck out for me. New Age drums don't work. I don't think the kick is deep enough, and that tom sound you use sticks out too much, especially with the kind of reverb you have on them. The cymbal/tambourine/hat would be better if it weren't such a sharp sound. It cuts through the soundscape too much. The arrangement and interpretation isn't bad, though. Nice work on that. Gets to be a little aimless at times though; maybe that's characteristic of the genre? Work on the execution. NO

God these source tunes are so lo-fi. I hope someone smacked the guy who implemented these into the game upside the head. Anyway. Hm. Groovy beats, nice variation. I think the voice-clips usage is pretty neat, actually. Nice texture and synth design. Not too sure about the balance some sections; particularly 1:14, when the lead comes in, I feel like it's fighting for attention with the background wah-synth. It's a minor gripe. I'm going with YES (borderline); if any other Js have significant issues with production, I'm down with changing my vote.

Reverse cymbal is distracting and sticks out. Drums are too loud and the rhythm is awkward. There's not much balance between instruments; our pads and choir stick out too much. The string pads used as lead instruments have a really weak attack too. The arrangement is pretty aimless. I don't think you've made any effort here to find a hook from your source tune. You tried to write an "epic lullaby;" a lullaby needs to have some kind of memorable melody. This has none. I think you really need to head back to the drawing board on this. Analyze your source tunes, find the hook, and work around it. Hit up the Remixing forum and the WIP&C forum to get advice and feedback. NO

As of this moment, I'm also all caught up with the queue.

I suppose I should chime in on the revised copy? I've got NOTHING ELSE TO JUDGE, SO WHY NOT? Anyway, it's a solid piece of work and the production is cleaned up nicely. How 'bout dem trombones, eh? EH? YES

Chorused piano makes it sound like a pop version of "Walt Disney Pictures Presents: Animal Crossing: The Movie." I'm waiting for Peabo Bryson to start singing. This is a good thing. High strings sound a little shrill when coming in, but it all fits with the style and they settle into the soundscape nicely as the song progresses. Nice texture throughout, really laid back. Great harmonica stuff near the end! YES

I dunno, I'm still having the same issues with the articulations, particularly in the bass instruments. The definition is just not at the level it needs to be to really establish the kind of pulse you're looking for. The percussion is also kind of quiet throughout the piece. I'm also not too hot on your brass samples; trumpets sound blaring and start blurring together in the end. I do like the writing overall; the interpretation and movement throughout the piece is really nice. The transitions aren't the best, but they're serviceable. Andy's right about the ending though; it sounds really weak. You need stronger low end there; it sounds thin with just high strings and woodwinds. Something powerful and deep would serve you better. Anyway, still a lot of production issues. Keep at it, I guess, and if you decide not to resub, good luck with future subs. NO resub

Guitar performances totally rock my socks, so nice job there. I do think you need to interpret the source tune a little more; I like your original sections, but the don't have much to do with the source tune, do they? They're nice, but let's hear some more creative takes on the game material. Certainly not a bad piece of music, to be sure. Quite fun actually. Just needs a little more. NO, RESUB PLZ

Man, why is this not even two minutes? It's so groovy, you could add in like a guitar solo or something. Oh well. In any case I really like the interpretation and the groove; I think the production crits stand, so I'd like to see those taken care of. I do like the part where the kick starts dropping on every downbeat; a simple, subtle change that drives the song forward. Let's hear a little more of that kind of stuff. NO but resub plz

QFE. What's up with that, man? Anyway "rockin'" is definitely the word. I could definitely get into a wicked dodgeball game with this music. Great percussion work. As for the sax, it's good, but I feel like the articulations could have been more defined to help the listener get the rhythm of the melody down. Whatever; it's just a very minor gripe from a former trumpet player. Anyway, great take on the source. Energetic and fun. YES

OMG I used to play this game ALL THE TIME. The drumbeat is right on; I think the hip-hop style works. The problem is that there's no strong bassline working in tandem with the beats to provide that strong base for the song to be built on. You need something meaty down there. Anyway, :32 with the sustained brass and stabbing strings sounds really muffled. You need to EQ that to get some higher frequencies. The brass chords just aren't working; they sound too muddy. Make the chords more spread out across the octaves and turn down the volume. I like the guitar, it adds a nice flair to the soundscape, but what's the deal with it cutting out like that near the end? Sounds sloppy. This piece has a lot of mid-range sounds, but not enough high freq stuff (hence the muffliness), or enough low parts (hence the emptiness). Don't cut out your bassline so much, and try some new rhytms than just what's in the source. NO

Anyone else see this movie? I thought it was phenomenal. I grew up on Disney movies, so it's nice to see Disney poking fun at all their old clichés. Amy Adams was perfect as a misplaced Disney Princess in the real world, and her singing voice is great to boot. The music was awesome, the dialogue was hilarious, and the effects were great. Am I the only one who went to see this?