Hemophiliac   Judges ⚖️

So I actually can't hear the kick on this at all, and I usually can make out the kick in a buried mess. It's only during the sparsest section when everything drops out that I can hear it. So it definitely needs to have space carved out for it, also a little bit of beater sound could also help it cut through some too. I have to say I felt a bit disappointed when the intro finished and we get the proper start of the piece at 0:30. The intro is a lush, fantastic, 80s feeling that sets the tone too well. I was expecting this fullness to continue, but the break happens and then the rest of the parts felt thin in comparison to the intro. Also I'm confused as to what the mood is supposed to be. Is it silly or ominous and dark? To me the lightness and short sounding synths feel more light and silly than dark. The opening gave me a different vibe than that. Structurally I feel the piece is in a decent spot, it tells a story, but it lacks dynamics and feels fairly static. Drum variations and range of dynamics are missing from this, again making this feel lacking the finishing salt on top of a fresh delicious brownie. That polish and lack of cohesion is preventing it from crossing the finish line. I can live the lack of dynamics but the sound design and buried kick are the things that stand out to me the most. NO

This is sweet, despite the game killing an entire genre for me as a kid. That's another subject though. The source has some very memorable parts to it being as sparse as it is. I like the fullness you've given the track to fill everything in, and take away that sparseness. It was a great choice to make it your own this way. For me the fullness is borderline as much as some of the lower frequency elements do layer in and blend together rather than be separately disparate. For example the bass, low piano, and kick drum are all in a very similar space. I couldn't tell there was a piano until much dropped out around 2:40. Maybe it was just playing there only, but I couldn't tell otherwise. Loved the 2:18 change, this was an excellent time to vary the vibe and get to the other melodic content from the source. There was a couple instances of clipping noted, but I didn't hear any audible artifacts. Interestingly, the clipping was just under 20kHz. Anyways, the arrangement is great and a very fitting inclusion to the unofficial Halloween album. Really enjoyed this. YES

What a calming and chill source. It's really cool to hear the energy injected into your version, pixeltea. While this is fairly conservative structurally there's expansion in the supporting parts. I also greatly appreciate the broader range of dynamics added to the piece. The source is relatively flat, but this covers soft and loud, big and small. Some of the samples aren't handled the best and leave something to be desired in terms of realism but what's here is good enough. More attention to detailed humanization would go a long way, especially in the solo instruments like violin (at 1:46 panned to the left), and also with the brass which just felt like a lower quality sample. The other thing I have to mention is the fade-out ending. Here it works fine, but it is disappointing to not have a more definitive and emotional payoff at the end of a dynamic track like this. I think what's here is fine, and is enjoyable despite a few short-comings that could be thought about for any future work or submissions. YES

Fantastic round 1. Very impressed with what came out. Looking forward to the future rounds.

First one is "Bowser is Pissed" by PriZm https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01328 The second is "The Mother Is in Control" by Revolver Project https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01420 Both from OCR, both from 2005!

Took me quite a few listens to catch the usage of CV3 in this. I wasn't sure where it was being used. That's because the rhythm on the melody used is way different than the source. That kind of change up is cool, however the phrasing doesn't feel very fitting. The backing parts seem to be ending their section or phrase but the melody over the top continues on. Prophetik put it well when he said, more intentionality with the phrasing would help a lot. The chromaticism in the lead also conflicts with the backing parts at times. This leads to some awkward changes for it. You'll want to be careful with using such a chromatic line while the backing stays relatively the same. Either the melody or backing needs to adapt to adjust to the other. There's something odd going on with the snare reverb. Either the snare is panned left or the reverb is bouncing after the initial hit to the opposite side or there's an attempt at gated reverb and it's not quite working 100%. Not sure what it is, but something about it sounds strange and slightly off. Consider automating the vibrato on the synth lead so it's not just going all the time, let the note hit and then let the vibrato come in after. Just like a pop singer would do. That would really give live to the leads. How it is now is fine, but just a note for leveling up in the future. Overall the concept is sweet and I enjoy it, but the small details are preventing this from being so much more. NO

Rubber-stamping this in agreement with the others here: Lofi is more than just a general "sound". You want to focus on maximizing what's there while remaining as minimal as possible. What's here feels like a short-cut on the general idea of what lofi is. Seems like an EQ applied on the master to cut the highs and roll off some of the low end too. This arrangement also needs more personalization too other than a slower tempo. The background elements are static and repetitive. Change things up from time to time, introduce new sections, new instruments, anything. To me this is a work-in-progress concept still, and not a finished and polished idea yet. NO

The stereo field is very wide on this, at the same time that keeps things very clean and separate. I like the passing of the melody between the violin and guitar. That feels so appropriate for a theme of love. They are finishing each other's sentences in an elegant way, as if they are two people who have known each other for so long. Great performance, very simple structure. Original intro leads us in and there's some embellishment on melody that anchors this in your own personalization. My main complaint is the ending. It's a loop that just goes to fade very quickly. I would have preferred something more concrete, but what's here is fine. YES

I want to start off by saying thanks for sharing this source and arranging it, it's beautiful. With this, I have no qualms with the source usage. It's well represented and the additional line movement from the secondary parts is plenty of personalization. I really enjoy the folk-nature of this piece and I like the instrument selection, they all work very well together. The tiple in particular is awesome. The drums sound very dry to me, and the snare in particular stands out as being in a strange place in the mix due it's dryness. The flute is where I'm having issue reconciling the piece. 1:16, 1:22, and 2:34 all have moments where the flute is playing a note outside of the chord being played in those moments. While they are generally moving towards a chord tone after, they do land on a strong beat and this causes an accent to them making them stand out to me. It's really only these 3 moments that stood out to me in the whole piece. Other moments of dissonance or motion like this did not bother me as much. I'm going to let this sit for a few days and come back to it and see if those awkward notes stand out as much to me, and hear some other thoughts on this before I make my decision. ? Edit 10/27: I've listened to this again, and the flute notes do still really stand out to me. I see how everyone else has voted on this, and that's fine we can disagree on how this one lands. Yes this has a "live" feel, but those notes happen too many times and stand out a too much to me. If I'm wrong and this passes that's fine, but I need to stick to my guns on this one. NO

Well, I have to admit I actually enjoy the vibe of this quite a lot. Also the pumping is on point and just right. I do like the synth choices and sound design. Nice, mellow vibe. The simple beat fits nicely. There's multiple spots of dissonance that don't feel intentional or don't make sense. I'm not going to timestamp because it's pretty much throughout the whole piece. Detuning might have a little to do with it, but feels more along the lines of notes that don't fit. I'm hearing audible crackling or artifacts in the second half 1:42 is when it starts and throughout the section. Limiter is working as it's not actually exceeding 0, but the peaks are cut enough to hear a crackle from it. So, the dissonance and crackling did it in. I could see myself flipping around if those are addressed, as I liked the overall approach and song layout. NO

This was my submission to Dwelling Of Duels' Fresh Month 2025. I've been on a break for a while but I knew I wanted to come back with an entry different than my usual tropical electric guitar styling. One thing that I've been wanting to do more is making more music with my tiple, which is a Colombian 12 string instrument that it like a smaller guitar with 4 courses of three strings. The Colombian tiple is known particularly for playing pasillos and bambucos, which are based 3/4 or 6/8 time. For Fresh Month, I wanted to make a track inspired by traditional pasillos but including violin and using my Coda EDC flute (which is basically an ocarina) and my cajon to go for a fully live feel using the tools I've got on hands. I got on VGLS to find something from a game I've played before and found that, somehow, there was a Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons sheet on the website. I played Brothers a long while ago and really dug it (been meaning to replay it now that it has actual co-op play) so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to represent a less known game with a virtually unheard genre in VGM. I took the melody of the theme song and treated it like a species counterpoint exercise to create the voices for the violin, ocarina and bass. My biggest challenge for this piece was the violin; I've only been playing for about 5 years but I've been feeling more comfortable with it that I wanted it to be a part of this track. I do wish that I had an acoustic violin available but my point for this track was to use the tools available to me at the moment and I like how it all came together. Games & Sources Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons Main Theme :

(Project Track for the Lufia 2 Album) It's been a while, no time like the present to submit this track (along with one other contribution to the Lufia project of mine). This is one of my oldest arrangements to post on OCR (with only the Bionic Commando track I contributed being older by a few months), having started work on it in... 2009. Yes, this is an old one, but it's still to this day one of my favorites, and honestly I can hardly wait to finally show this one off to folk. Got the idea from one of Tyler Heath & Zircon's old Chrono Trigger arrangements (When All Hope has Faded), thought the blend of Orchestra and synths was an idea worth expanding on. Today that's not exactly novel, but back then I didn't hear too many folk blending it like that so I wanted to take a crack at it myself, using synth mixing techniques like gating to samples folk more often try to make as realistic as they can. The arrangement was finished well over a decade ago, but it took a long time for my production skills to catch up with the idea. Samples probably didn't age all that well (Reason heads may recognize Orkester's supremacy in this arrangement), but they work plenty well enough for this arrangement's purpose. In fact outside of the Triangle wave being pulled from Super Audio Kart and the kick being created in Vital most of the instruments are from what was freely available in Reason 5, just remixed (in the traditional sense of the word) and polished to a shine over a decade. There really is something lost when someone gains experience, learning what works and what doesn't, since this arrangement goes places that I probably wouldn't go today that I still really enjoy. I do hope to unlearn some of my tendancies to play it safe someday to get back to some of my weirder, more experimental roots, but in the meantime we've got this ReMix to enjoy! Games & Sources Game: Lufia 2 Source: Theme of Tower

Lucas Guimaraes - Synths (most of em), mix, drums jnWake - Synths, Piano, Synth Bass, Mastering 0:00-0:22 - I tease the main melody a bit here 0:22-0:44 - Main Melody (the very intro of the song) 0:45-1:30 - Main Melody continues 1:30-1:53 - teasing the main melody 1:53-2:16 - background synth plays the main melody 2:16-2:40 - background synth plays 1:06 2:40-3:01 - original solo mostly lol 3:06-end - Main Melody again I think that should be more than enough sources, but jnWake and I would be glad to clarify anything. Diving into this one more... (I'm not gonna leave you hanging like I did with Death's Last Dance) So first, the idea. It was Fresh Month on DoD. I recruited jnWake with the pitch that we would not win any medals, but we would win people's hearts. when I gave him a more detailed pitch of the track, which was basically taking this track and making it chill, similar to HOME's Resonance he was like "I have no idea how you're gonna do it but sure". I got working as quickly as I could. For the arrangement, it's almost similar to Resonance in structure, but we opted for, well, a lot of creative liberties. About the only thing that stayed from it was the main synth, and even that's arguable, as it's playing different notes and in a bit of a different rhythm. Having the template helped, as it made sure I didn't make the arrangement too long (looking at you, Do Re Dedede). I felt pretty good about what I handed off to jnWake before I headed off to Shaky Knees. Looking back, I felt better about how much I gave him after I left break. Initially, he was going to replace some synths, but instead only the bass got replaced (my bass is still in there as a sub bass, haha) and he ended up adding some awesome solo's. I've lately been going for a "Less is more" approach with my sound lately, but this really works in its own way. It's chill enough to still play on in the background, but it's... not really like any other chillwave/chillsynth I've heard out there and I'm really proud of that. edit: For the mix, I bounced a couple of versions and jn encouraged me to push it louder. It might be a lil crunchy, but honestly, it works. I always love it when someone else masters for me or I master for them. And of course, the song title. I was thinking of giving this a serious name, but then I looked at most of my tracks and realized that I never do the joke names. I said to jnWake "I'm half tempted to call this "this is not home resonance"" and he was like "lol we should do it" and I was like "...yeah, actually". It's not home resonance, but it's our little small take on one of the most iconic Synth/Vapor/Chillwave songs. Hope you all enjoy! Games & Sources

Absolutely lovely. A loose and extended improvisation intro is a nice way to ease the listener in before the proper Guile theme enters. 2:52 really liked the octave displacement here and jumping up to the higher register. Great way to signal the end is coming. Total classic, way to bring it back to some of your early days with stuff like Cutman Sonata. Excellent performance, great arrangement; MkVaff. What more can you ask for? YES

Zach's characteristic low-end supplemented with a driving synth bass with cinematic gestures above it are perfect in this soon to be classic take on Corridors of Time and Schala's theme. The mood is both dark and foreboding, but elegant and introspective at the same time. The major highlight for me is the subtleness in the part-writing. The source themes are always present, but if you listen closely to the parts that surround them you will find something new on each listening. The final minute in particular brings the close harmony in the strings, which I'm a huge sucker for. I know I've told you this before, but those sweet color-tensions once again remind me of how much your part writing and orchestration is like James Horner, but also your own at the same time. This is a slam dunk. YES