Hemophiliac

As the two previous judges have mentioned, the arrangement on this is not at all the issue here. I like the conservative approach with minor additions throughout. The arrangement itself is very pleasant and I could listen to this on loop with more work put into it. The interplay between the guitar and the piano is very pleasant, however; the guitar is mixed behind the piano and is tougher to focus on with the piano being much more forward. I don't love the vox but it's possible to get by with this sample. As a vocalist myself, I'm always bothered when I hear forte timbre being applied softly through samples. It just sounds unnatural. Unfortunately, the humanization of all of the parts is the drawback here. With only 3 parts, they are exposed and it makes it easier to hear when things aren't as realistic sounding as they could be. If you don't want to get live performances, that's fine. You'll just need to spend a lot of time working on the fine details of performance to sound more in line with a human performance. Now, I'm not saying things are robotic here, but they certainly could be improved. 2:33-2:56 in particular (in the piano) stood out as it seems no pedaling was utilized here. Exaggerate what you've already put in as well as adding more human rhythm/velocity variation will go a long way to improving this. Just not quite passed the finish line yet. NO (resubmit)

I have to echo what the two previous votes have said on their points, I agree with them. The leads are often much too bright and forward, really making a harsh unpleasant tone to listen to for long periods. A few things that I want to add: 0:37 shakuhachi-like instrument enters and it's very dry and present. 3:07-4:20 there are many notes during this section that just sound wrong. Something is dissonant and not in a pleasant way, at times it just sounds like the shakuhachi/flute is playing in a different key entirely. Many transitions and direct modulations don't feel prepared and as a listener you're jarred from section to section. The overall macro-structure of the song is fine, and there's a journey taken and a story told. There just needs to have a lot of work done to improve the detail work and production. After 3:07 think about what's the most important part of the arrangement and have that be the focus. Not only are there a lot of parts going on, but the balance between parts is off. As the lead is much louder and forward then the other parts. This whole section is brickwalled too, give the listener some breathing room here to be able to process everything that's going on. Prophetik mentioned side-chaining for this section, and I'm not hearing any being used here. It would definitely help clean up this section some with minimal effort. The ending after 6:23 having an echo-like coda that fades to nothing is much quieter than the section proceeding it, I honestly thought I had something else accidentally playing in the background at the same time. I do like that some attention has been given to the articulations on the leads with some glissandos as well as shaping of phrases with dynamics and crescendos/decrescendos. However, the actual instruments used are still feeling unrealistic. This can be helped some with better application of reverb on them and pushing them back into the mix so that they aren't forward and as present. When something stands out as much as these leads it's easy to hear their imperfections, easier to get away with less realism when it is pushed back into the mix. NO

While this is a fun and peppy throwback track, as this sounds like something you'd hear from the early 2000s. However, it's very much a cover with a genre adaption. We're looking more for Magna Romagna's flavors and spices applied to it. Genre adaption is a start at doing this, but you would need to do more than just that. It could be melodic interpretation, adding original sections, or changing the time signature. Those are just a few suggestions, and certainly doesn't cover all possibilities. What you've got here isn't bad at all, just not what we're looking for in a passing arrangement. If you need assistance with those ideas or how to interpret the source more, I recommend utilizing the workshop on the forums to get feedback or join the Discord and do the same in the #workshop channel there. Again, this isn't a bad start at all; the potential is there. It just needs more of your own development and interpretation of the source. NO (resubmit)

Care to elaborate? Not much being mentioned here...

This is a fun, but highly conservative arrangement. Going dnb isn't a bad call, but when you're working with loops like this you need to give some variety or variation with them. You drop out the drums at good times such as 0:41. Keeping the same loop over and over gets old very fast, so changing it up or slicing it goes a long way to keeping the track moving and avoiding becoming static. The ending is awkward as the final transition at 2:09 is abrupt to get us bookended to the opening bass loop, and then it has a very quick fade-out to close it. Nothing wrong with book-ending the track, it's just the sudden transition back and the quick fade. A more definitive ending would be ideal considering it is such a short track. I'm not sure if that is the original source instrument lead in the background or a synth that is very close to it, but I would suggest to make that not as similar to avoid the confusion of it possibly being just the original in the back. Some of the other synth choices aren't ideal, but I don't want to criticize those too much as that can be an artistic choice and they don't impact my decision on this track in particular. I agree with Prophetik that we need more of Radixerus' takes and inspiration to take this to the next level. Let's hear what you bring to it aside from the drum loops. That could be in the form of melodic changes, harmonic changes, or maybe a brand new section that's completely original. Those are just a few examples (but not all) of how one could bring your own looks to a track. If you feel you need more help in that department I'd recommend posting in the workshop or joining the discord seeking feedback on there. NO

We need more new jack swing! Severely under represented genre with VGM. This is a fun track with excellently sung vocals by Alvic. I'm also a sucker for well used orch hits! For me there's two major issues and one less so. One, the arrangement is too conservative and close to the original source. Now, you've nailed the genre adaption, but it's still too close. The second major issue is the drums don't have enough variation and are stuck and static on the same pattern for most of the track. Nothing wrong with the pattern itself as it feels very appropriate for the genre. It just doesn't change or have parts added or subtracted as the song progresses. Give us some variety to change things up and give a sense of progression aside from section changes. For me the minor issue is the lack of weight in the bass, and that could be because it's quieter then the other parts. Compression might help bring it out and give it the beef I think of when I think of that particular 90s sound. The other production feels mostly solid to me, the vocal processing was handled very well in particular. The fadeout ending isn't great but it doesn't bother me either. Wish I could give this the nod, but the closeness to the source and autopilot drums kept this playboy out of the club. NO

This is really begging for more development and expansion. As of right now this is mostly an orchestration of parts rather then a fully realized ReMix. The dynamics are fantastic and I'm so glad to hear the gamut of soft to loud here. The samples and production are handled well enough for them to not be an issue in what would pass this. The issue comes down to the arrangement. It's conservative and doesn't take us far away from that source much. At 1:28 it barely feels like the idea is executed before it's done. For me to pass this I would need to see more of your own expansion on the theme and/or some creative interpretation of the melodic material. This sounds good, but there's not enough material to feel fully developed. NO

This is tough. It's gonna sound like I don't like this, which is not the case I do enjoy the concept a lot. I can really get behind the idea of an ambient/chill track, I love putting these on and just zoning out. This one just feels incomplete without more to it. It feels like a mostly polished sketch of something greater. Now, I'm not saying this needs percussion to be successful because that's the first thing that came to mind. Rather, this needs more to it. More ear candy, more subtle background parts, more dynamics, more modulation...anything. It could be this chill and ambient without percussion but you would need to find a way to add in subtle background substance to give this more forward momentum. As it is right now it's feeling more static. It does have some growth/modulation/dynamics to some parts, but I think it needs to be more exaggerated to make it work better. I am hearing the connection to the source in and I feel like that aspect is done fine. I also want to echo the sound design comments that Prophetik pointed out. Because things are more sparse the attacks will really stand out, as well as the amp noise on the guitar. So again, great concept, just needing some small clean up on sound design, and some more subtle background things. NO (resubmit)

Have to start out by saying the intro is very cool. I love it when something starts out with simple sounds and morphs them into more of the identity of the track. Nice work going from chip to guitar smoothly as that can be difficult to pull off. This one is wild, both in good and bad ways. The wild energy is to your benefit, the panning on the other hand is unusual and very wide at times. The wideness of the panning combined with the dryness of the instruments is creating a lot of empty space and texture. Liontamer identified the same and noted the spots where this was the biggest issue. When everything is playing together, it has a fullness that is alright, but when it's only an element or two together it feels too texturally sparse for me. The source is there on this, but it feels more interpretive then straight up conservative as Chimpazilla was suggesting. More direct reference to the melody would've been nice but not a requirement. I like the performance and interpretation, but the mixing, panning, and sparseness were arsenic and rat poison to me. There's definitely something to this energy though, and I'm bummed that I have to give this a NO

I'm in agreement with my fellow J's on this one. The arrangement itself on a macro level is good and I enjoy listening to this one. The part that needs improvement is the production and mixdown. From 0:00-1:25 everything works for me, and sounds pretty good. At 1:26 a slightly different bass synth enters and takes up a lot of the space. It's got a bunch of high-end on it that crowds out the other parts from being balanced with it, some top end reduction with EQ could help to tame it. I agree with Emunator about side-chaining as well. It isn't required to have some to clean it up, but it would really help in creating a lot of space and helping to lessen the muddiness. There is some general part imbalance during the upbeat sections where I'm not sure what the focus is supposed to be because of the size of the bass. I like how both sources are incorporated and how the overall flow of the piece works very well. The production is what is holding it back unfortunately. This would be the kind of piece that could benefit from some feedback in the workshop if you need more suggestions on how to clean up the balance between parts or reduce muddiness. NO (resubmit)

Like your other Mega Man 3 submission, the synths in this are very basic. Sounds like something you might hear in the early 2000s. There are a few filter sweeps I heard in various places in the track, that's good! Now you just need to use that same idea to automate effects or parameters on the synths to give them life, add sophistication, and expression. I want to hear more expression! There's mixing problems abound with this, the leads are tough to hear at times, but also extremely bright in the high end making them unpleasant to listen to. As XPRTNovice points out the snare is very forward in the mix and cuts through tremendously. It is also very static and does not change very much at all in velocity or pattern. The main organ-like lead is difficult to hear as it's buried behind many other elements of the track. 3:03 is a strange transition. The drop out in this manner can work, but it was just into another loop of much of the same we've heard. 3:03 felt like a good opportunity to change things up and show us more of "Heel Tactics" territory then just another repeat of Top Man with the continuous kick. Arrangement-wise this is fairly conservative once we get past the intro. There is much more that can be done to make it your own other than changing up the instruments and dropping into a 4-on-the-floor beat. If you haven't already, I recommend reaching out on the workshop on the forums or Discord to get more feedback so you can refine what you're working on more. NO

This sounds and feels like a throwback to the early days of OCR. It would not be out of place to have heard this back in the early 2000s. The biggest issues are the blend of parts and the mixdown. The drums are the most present part of the mix and the melodic elements are further back. The bass could be a lot fuller. As both of the previous two votes have noted, this snare is like a laser that cuts through everything. It's the number one thing you hear and not just because of volume, but it seems to be taking up much of the frequency range as well. Structurally it's not terrible, as you do have some contrasts in texture and even have a dropout around 1:42 and 3:00 that helps to break up the repetitiveness of the track, however it quickly gets repetitive again. If you keep following a drop out to just reintroduce the instruments one at a time it will get stale. The synth choices are pretty vanilla and are lacking some sophistication, could use an update to a more modern palette. As well as taming of some of their harsher upper frequencies, such as the lead that enters at 2:08. If you do consider revising this, take another look at the sound design, try to get the parts to blend together better rather than them being so separate in the mix, and see about reducing the overall repetitiveness within each section. NO

So this is going to make it sound like I hate trance and don't like this piece. While the piece is very well produced, there is way too much repetition going on here. Multiple sections repeat completely, and the same identical main drum fill gets used over and over (0:29, 1:57, 2:12, 2:27, 3:26, 4:10). The backing synth bass/arp is a staple of trance and that going constantly is fine with me, but what's above it has gotta change up some. It could be melodic changes, instrument changes, different effects placement, etc. Anything that would distinguish it from it's first time playing. Similar to when you're having a conversation and speaking with someone and they ask you to repeat yourself, most people will change how they said it: increased volume, slow down their enunciation...you get the idea. If you're gonna say something more then once, make it unique after the first time. If there are tiny changes in these later sections, I'm not identifying them. I also agree with Chimpazilla about the bell lead at 1:14, it is very bright and could use a little rounding off on the top with EQ so it's not as harsh. I don't totally hate the sound itself, just needs some rounding of the edges. As is this track is very close and the interpretation of the source into trance was done well, I like the structure of the whole piece, and the production is clean. I just want to see more variation/changes on the repeated sections to help the track progress forward. SUPER borderline NO (resubmit)

This is going to be very well liked by many people. Combining two mega-iconic themes worked so well, so seamlessly. Using the panning throughout to keep space for the themes to work together but separately at the same time was a good idea. If the melodies were closer to center, it might have been harder to parse them as a listener. I really liked the change at 3:30 was handled very nicely, and helped inject extra energy in this final repeat. 3:01's changes here were a particularly awesome highlight for me, as this progression was an great choice to bring it home. Not a huge fan of the constant stereo ping-pong on one of the lead synths as I personally find them disorienting, but it's not making me vomit so that's it's ok What can I say, the arrangement, production, and nostalgia is off the charts and will definitely have many people swimming in the atmosphere of the woods. Excellent work. YES

This is a sweet source, I've not heard it before. Adding drums to the final section was a cool idea, and maybe consider bringing in a light drum pattern early to help increase the energy level in a different way other then dynamics or doubling parts. Your master limiter is putting in work here, and it's not doing it in your favor. I can hear many places throughout where there is audible clipping/distortion of those peaks. This must be addressed if you plan to resubmit. 0:59 the synth vocalist comes in and is slightly behind the beat with each note. Once the sub kicks into full gear around 0:48 things start to get really full and lush, but you lose a lot of clarity because of heavy overlapping of notes or just too much reverb. From 2:58 to the end it's basically a total wash of reverb and overpacked parts. Either you need to go back and work on gain-staging out the piece with a new mixdown where the different parts aren't so loud and stepping on each others toes or start taking out parts that don't add something unique (needless doubling). Prophetik hit the nail on the head in saying that this is conservative, but not without some personalization. Plenty of orchestration choices that were not in the original as well as addition and subtraction from the arrangement as it goes. So I feel like a slow burn like this can work as an overall structure and you added your own flavors to it, kudos there. However, the production on this needs to be addressed and improved upon. NO

Rubber-stamping with Prophetik and Chimpazilla here. They've already covered the key issues (disjointed and sudden transitions, low end muddiness, and other general production for a cleaner sound). There are absolutely some positives here and those should be applauded. The soloing (aside from a couple questionable notes) and interpretation of the melody was good, and that's the thing that really makes it your own. The timing of the guitars felt solid and wasn't hearing anything out of time. I'm not a fan of the fade out ending, especially with the melody playing over it. I'd recommend to either continue on the synth arp and textures without the melody to fade out, or come up with a more definitive and solid ending. I'd also like to suggest to include the some of the synth work in the middle of the track as well, it's a little strange to book-end a track with elements that don't show up at other points in the track. This is a solid start and something that has potential to be built around, but this is not ready and needs more work. NO (resubmit)

What went good? The mood. This was successful in creating a dark and suspenseful atmosphere, that extends out for a longer period of time. As is was your initial goal you set out with. I also appreciate that the piece does have a dynamic structure to it, with it starting out quiet and ending strong. What went wrong? The execution of the production and sequencing of the parts. Also lack of focus on melody makes this wander and caused me to lose interest in it. At times this feels more like an original piece of music rather than arrangement. I occasionally pick up on fragments from the source melody, but it's not enough of an anchor. The ending also is non-existant, it just stops without a conclusion. The sequencing of the samples needs a lot of work, because most of it sounds very fake. This is achievable in numerous ways. For example, vary velocities of the notes, make sure notes next to each other don't have the exact same velocity (this is most apparent in the final section in the bass), bump the start and end times of the notes forward or back so they aren't falling perfectly on the beat, and utilize automation to add crescendos and decrescendos. There's many more things you can do as well, but that's just a few to give you an idea of where to start. Also in the final section (4:11-5:21) it gets extremely muddy with a lot of parts cluttering up the low end. The basses are super present and forward, and there are other parts written in close harmony with them contributing to the muddiness. There are also many places throughout where there are dissonances that don't feel intentional and don't work for me. Much attention is needed on the usage of the samples as well as including more anchors to the original source. NO

There are some really cool ideas here and some neat chip effects as well, that make this unique. There are a lot of really cool textural changes that you do to keep things moving with a limited palette like this. Being mono is a bummer because it takes away from the awesome space that can be created for the bigger moments like at 1:01 when you get those big chord hits and unisons. The biggest hit is the drums going into autopilot and just playing the same thing for long stretches of time without variation. Not only variation in pattern but some variation on the velocities within them. Once we get past 1:01 I don't really feel like there are any changes in the dynamics either, which makes much of the track lose it's impact later. There's a lot to like here and I enjoyed the chip-take, it's really close where it is now. It needs less repetition and more variation to get over the hump. NO

I don't care what Wave you call this, it's still a great-tsunami of awesome. The bass is thick and rich, and the portamento on it gives it so much finesse...like the ever present fog in all of Silent Hill. The effected foley/percussion in the intro gives it a creepy-yet-ethereal vibe that is just excellent. Very nice choice to bring in VQ for some brief voice-over. She fit in perfectly. As always, the production is spotless, crystal clear. Slightly disappointed by the ending, but not everything needs to be wrapped up perfectly every time. I really like how you handled the melody, you presented it in a way that I found more interesting and appealing than the original. I always consider that a major win. To develop and improve upon something existing, letting us know what it that source is, and making it your own. It's like the exact definition of what makes a ReMix on OCR. YES

I'd argue that this might actually be more of a Super Mario Bros 3 remix with how similar the first half of the Luma theme is. For the relative lack of changing dynamics other than large dynamic jumps between sections, this has a surprising amount of emotive material in it. I think the textures you've created are good and are in the right direction overall with your personalization of the instrumentation and layering of pads/strings. I was not feeling the complete direct recap of the head at 3:43. It's not that returning to the head is not good, it's the fact that it feels copied or is very close to the same as the first time we heard it. Changing up some of it would really help change up the energy to let us know that the end is coming. It could be more melodic embellishment, increased dynamics, or adding other instrument to layer in. It could be anything as long as it changes it up and gives more of a lift to that final recapitulation. 1:17-1:40 struggles with the lead being somewhat buried in the background elements both in volume as well as it's attack being too slow for the surrounding parts. Changing it to something that has a shorter attack could help with that. Throughout the piece, there could absolutely be more movement of dynamics through modulation or automating volume on the background pads and strings. We get large dynamic jumps between some of the sections and that's fine, but within the individual sections they can grow and diminish to help them feel less static and give movement to progress things forward. The filter sweeps I occasionally hear are good touches and are examples of that, but aren't quite enough to give it the heft they need. This one isn't quite there yet, despite being a solid skeleton of a piece. The potential is there for something very nice if you can refine some of the things we all have mentioned, work on the realism of the strings, and consider sophisticating your choice of samples. Edit: Should you need more help and have questions, consider utilizing the workshop forum or joining the discord to get help there. NO

I will be hosting a community listening party on this Friday 8/28 7:30pm E/4:30pm P. https://twitch.tv/ocremix Join us as the album director TSori and the author of the book Lucas Thomas will be present to share their thoughts, and we listen through the album! https://discord.gg/ocremix?event=1278456640982483004

Wow, I was not expecting a dark and heavy take from a light and airy source. I might be hearing the chords from the source to start out with but they are so thick and heavy that I can't tell for sure what they are playing and if it is the same progression as the source. With all the heavy chugging going on I can not hear the kick, I just barely make it out. The mids have been heavily scooped out around 400Hz as Chimpazilla has pointed out. I know removing some mids from the guitars is common practice, but here I think it is a detriment here. It's caused the mix to feel both very bottom heavy and have a very hot top end at the same time. The real problem is I'm barely making out a connection to the source. I mentioned the chords earlier, but it's hard to really connect a source by it's chords. It would have been helpful to have at least one less interpreted or modified version of the melodic content from the source to help the listener make more connection to it. I can see how they could be possibly be connected, but between the rhythm, accenting, and deemphasizing certain melody notes from the original is such a strong element, that it's very hard to connect the notes without some of that included here. I think the slides in the synth were a nice touch and the overall concept of going from bright and airy to dark and heavy was a great idea and could absolutely pay off, but the execution; both in production and presenting the source needs to be much stronger. NO

Sweet huge guitars! Fantastically MASSIVE double tracked guitars. As was said previously, this is structurally conservative. However, the usage of multiple sources and solos are great at making this your own interpretation. This definitely could have had more of your own flavors and spices on this, but to me there's just enough arrangement to put this over the bar. The production is clean and all the parts are coming through cleanly. The 2:11-2:14 stutter transition was great. The transition at 3:27 could have been smoother, but that's like asking for a hot beverage to be even hotter somehow. Again, very excellent and tasteful solos from both guitar and keytar. This brings the axes to the party and everyone has a great time. YES

I too have not got far enough in the game to have heard it in context, but with the imagery described this sounds awesome. It's so cool to hear something that is so very OA and Emunator at the same time. There is so much wonder, peacefulness, and romance in this track. This is a total slow-burn build up of dynamics and energy throughout. Slowly reaching it's peak late in the track. Not much to say here, except the execution was great and this is a slam dunk. YES

I'm immediately grabbed by this as it's immediately recognizable (I've been playing the game for the last few years). That "suspense" theme is really cool and i'm glad you gave it a very recognizable opening on the guitar here, played very well by Zack. Once we get into the electronic portion it's full-force what I would expect from Xaleph. It's his signature bass and it's always so dang good. Production is fantastic and on point. Vocal harmony during "The Climb" (1:09-1:11 and during the next phrase) was a nice touch and I liked that. There could be more enunciation in the diction but I think it's fine with this style of piece. Good pitch! At 2:54 I'm hearing a return to "Suspense" theme, but with a Xaleph spin on it, great interpretation. Big fan of acoustic elements interplaying with synth and this was a great example of them working together to create something awesome. YES