DarkeSword

You really need to learn how to use those detache strings better man. They sound ridiculously mechanical and dry. Also, this whole thing is kind of loud. Lacks balance. Arrangement is pretty in your face for a lot of the first half. Low strings are still pervasively loud though; they're droning. Lots of mastering issues. NO

Bleh, you shouldn't have used your laptop! There's this annoying ringing sound when the mid-range notes play! Aside from that I'm having a really really difficult time hearing Kakariko Village in this song. Maybe there's too much variation? It's unrecognizable. I can't find it. The piano playing is really awesome though. NO

Is it just me or does this sound like Magus's Theme? Anyway, its a no brainer here. Nice beats with a really chill, spooky soundscape. This piece has a great flow; the sections weave together really nicely. Good transitions. YES

I like it! Pretty good variation throughout the piece. Nice change-ups. Guitar could sound a bit cleaner (more high end?) but that's more of a personal gripe. Nice playing, nice balance, nice arrangement. Nice work. YES

OMG ITS CODA!! DUDE!! You didn't tell me you submitted a mix to OCR. Meh, well. As for the mix, I'm gonna have to say NO, because you said it yourself, it's a MIDI, and even though you tweaked it, the production still doesn't cut it. Also, the arrangement of the original Megaman theme along with the Battle Network music feels really disjointed and doesn't work at all. Transitions need lots of work. Anyway, I've been telling you for years you should get better music software. I've heard your other stuff; you're a talented guy. It's time to make the jump, dude.

Groovy. Nice use of delay on the violin. It fills up the soundscape without filling my ears in a bad way. Sounds really mesh well together. That lead that comes in around 1:30 is kind of annoying. Really annoying. Oh good it went away. Violin stuff is really nice; great texture. I wish there was some more variation in this piece, but it's good enough and there's a nice soundscape. YES (borderline)

http://www.djpretzel.com/ocrjudge/upload/102%20Vana'diel%20March.psf2 This mix is about 2 minutes of extremely uninteresting original material followed by a sped up version of the original with a different syncopated continuo line underneath. Not much in the way of arrangement at all, and the sounds are very similar to the in-game sounds. NO

http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~agashlin/usf/sets/lozmmusf.zip - 124 Majora's Mask - Final Hours.miniusf It seems to me that this mix is really based on the original thematic material written for the mix, rather than the original; however the original is just chords and a whooshy atmosphere, so I'm not sure what to say. Without the original piano, it's not much aside from the original with sound effects. The original piano works, but it seems to me that this isn't so much a remix of Majora's Mask but a song inspired by Majora's Mask. It's alright, but not really the kind of arrangement OCR looks for. Someone might disagree with me. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/jackkung.zip - I can't find the source song. Kind of loud there bro. Really buzzy distortion is killing that synthy lead in the opening parts. The guitar is alright, but the whole mix needs to be toned back a little, and I'd go for a less repetitive arrangement. Some variation would be nice too; it's in your face the whole time. NO

That's not the Zelda main theme; it's the Legend theme from Wind Waker. Okay, there it is. The melody is really way too quiet, and that hand percussion drumloop is way too loud and really repetitive. That deep hit sound you keep using is annoying after the first...two times. In sum, the melody is too damn quiet throughout the piece, and those percussion loops are overused. Not much substance to the arrangement at all. Pretty weak overall. NO

Piano is dry when it comes in; doesn't really fit in the soundscape at all. The electric piano sound is way too repetitive. When you finally bring the source tune in, it's ridiculously short, dry, and mechanical. NO

Just want to jump in here and say that Miles Davis wasn't the one who wrote/played Take Five, which Cinco de Chocobo was loosely based on; it was Paul Desmond, the sax player for the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

3/8 time? 3/4 dude. Anyway, time sig interpretation! I love this kind of stuff, and you did a pretty good job here. Unfortunately Larry's right about the fact that it just repeats 3 times. Also add the fact that the sounds aren't that good, and it leads me to a NO. Work more on developing new ideas in the subsequent iterations, and get some better samples! Rework and Resub plz. (Also, you don't go to a Symphony, so that word usage in the title is wrong as far as I know )

Please. It's the melody by itself on a grating high synth with sustained pads in the background playing over some beats. And it repeats. Needs harmony, countermelody, variation, and development. NO

Ridiculously dry sound in that opening man. Percussion and melodic ideas need to balance out more; there's too much kick 'n bass in here. Also, all of these leads need some more reverb or delay or something. They sound dry as hell. Everything sounds underproduced and amateurish. Needs a wider, more expansive feel, without a doubt. Arrangement is pretty good, but it's a bit short and it repeats. More ideas! NO

Whoa I love that trippy gating in the beginning. Nice balanced soundscape too. Percussion is so awesome haha. Nice; this has me dancing in my seat at this very moment. Awesome variation. Totally groovy. YES

Sounds like an 80s renegade cop movie scene where the one maverick police officer who got his badge taken away is walking through the alleys of the shiny wet city streets with the steam coming out of the sewers etc etc. Evocative to say the least, however, why the heck does it end so early? Sounds like a short clip of what will eventually be a longer mix. 1:35 doesn't cut it, especially when its such a slow mellow song. NO

Whoa, I happen to have what I think is the first version of this song. Anyway, the piano is really bright and doesn't fit the mood of the song at all. Something darker would fit the soundscape much better; also, it's quite mechanical sounding. Needs more humanization as a piano mix for OCR. Arrangement is pretty good, but not enough to pull the mechanical piano past the bar. NO

That intro is corny as hell man. Robot voice is so out of place. Anyway, as for the rest of the mix, what exactly am I supposed to be listening to here? There are strings and arpeggiating synths, but I'm not exactly sure where the melody is, because you don't make it apparent at all. There's a really messy, incohesive sound with stuff going on everywhere. I don't know what to listen to as a listener. Needs more focus! Feels sparse, like Zircon said. I would work on fixing that with more mid/low range stuff; tone back the continuo synth, come up with more material, and work on making percussion more interesting. NO

I wish that beat would change up more often. It gets repetitive continuing like that throughout the song. Chrono Trigger is totally extraneous here, although it's the highlight of the track, because that's the point where the percussion changes up and really interacts with the rest of the elements in the mix. Plus we get much stronger melodic elements at that point. Unfortunately it's so shortlived. I wish this was just a Chrono Trigger mix of that song. Other than that, it's a nice groove based track, but I feel it really lacks energy, and the repetitive percussion is killing it; I would up the melodic parts and bring down the percussion, because right now the percussive elements overpower whatever melodic elements you have. NO (rework/resub)

Wow phased piano with slow strings trying to play syncopated lines way up high. Nothing to balance it out on the low end, and it's ridiculously repetitive. Oh yeah, random percussion that doesn't fit into the soundscape at all. NO

I hate to compare to already posted mixes, but seriously, this sounds nearly identical to Kick My Axe. Like Larry said, it's been done, and it's been done better. This piece is pretty messy in the guitar performance, and the recording and overall mastering sounds really muffled. Sorry, but NO.

A little too much reverb on the percussion. Anyway, I like the texture throughout. Nice, chill atmostphere with some subdued synthwork. Flute solo stuff is not bad at all, though sometimes there are some weird timing issues with the swinging rhythms. Pretty cool arrangement with a solid sound. I like it. YES

Man I played this game so damn much years back. Not bad in itself, but it really paled in comparison to every other Mario platformer out there. Plus the 2 1/2D storybook graphics looked like total shit. Anyway! The mix. Yeah. Not bad arrangement at all; a bit repetitive though; then again, there's not much to the source material. Sounds suck though. Piano is too bright and mechanical for this kind of texture, and the strings are fakey as hell. Needs better samples and better mastering. NO (resubmit)

There is something decidedly mechanical about this whole piece, which makes everything come off as lifeless and robotic. It's most likely the fact that all of the melodic lines are pretty flatline in terms of velocity. Drums also sound very separated from the rest of the mix, particularly the open hat sound. Bassline should be more defined too. The arrangement is not bad, but it feels like it's plodding along and doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. NO