Hemophiliac

Welcome, and congratulations on the first post I really like this arrangement, it's very strong and a solid interpretation. Hand percussion throughout the piece is fantastic. 2:54 I was not expecting Song of Storms suddenly, but it works. Production is mostly clean (only did a quick headphone listen). Where you may run into problems is realism with the violin. Attack on some of the notes sound a bit behind. Aside from the violin, this is a strong creative arrangement. Plenty of the original is there with both subtle changes as well as your own take. Should you choose to submit, I suspect this would have a solid chance to pass.

Ask yourself this: "Does it need to have a cadence?" It's not a requirement for a loop to have a cadence. Don't be concerned with including something unless you want to or need to (such as a requirement from a director). Your transition at 0:40 works for me. The thing that I thought was strange was a fade-in at the beginning, doesn't work for me on a boss tune. (Unless that's just that way for WIP purposes).

Cool, thanks for sharing. I still feel the same. There were definite improvements made from the first version, but you can go even further!

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Evaluation: This is a fantastic arrangement, your additions and variations on the original theme are lovely. Also the soundscape is fantastic. I went back and found the judges decision so I could get an idea of what was going on. As I have no context and have not heard that version I will do my best to give feedback on a standalone basis. The drums are mechanical at times as was noted by the judges previously, but not a deal breaker. I personally did not really see lacking low end except for the kick drum. Could use a boost in the low end with EQ or use a different kick sample. I would recommend a general boost on the kick and bass somewhere around the 55-85Hz range to beef this up and fill the spectrum up. How much to boost and how much Q and what frequency i'll leave up to you. It does not take away from the ambient nature of the track to do this, it adds a fullness that strengthens the parts that are above it. After all, a house cannot stand without a strong foundation! When the guitar returns at 3:09 felt loud and sudden. This is REALLY CLOSE and those are two minor nitpicks that should be able to be fixed easily, once you do that I think you're ready to resub. For now i'm going to return it to wip on those two easy fixes (guitar return and bass boost)

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Congratulations on your first remix and welcome to the forums. Evaluation: I want to start out with the arrangement, the original is about 0:17 seconds long before the loop. You've managed to develop it a little bit using orchestration, which is what the original does passing the melody from different parts. That's a good way to write for an orchestra. From 0:08-0:16 the adding of each part brings a nice crescendo to a fuller moment when everything plays together. 1:02-1:10 is a nice interpretation and new material to bring us back around the melody. 1:23-1:33 and 1:46-1:50 more good interpretation and act as good bridges to get to the next part. 1:54-2:00 I like how you trade the melody back and forth between the trumpets and trombone sections. Having the strings play occasional pizzicato arpeggios is a nice addition that helps fill out the top end some. The snare part writing is very good and very fitting of the style you're going for here. The production is where some issues arise. 1:18-1:24 and 2:08-end the lead trumpet has a strange phasing/chorusing effect on it and feels out of place for an orchestral track. Much of the supporting parts feel buried underneath the much louder leads and need to be balanced up when compared to the lead trumpets. I know getting realistic samples of real instruments can be difficult, but there are things you can do to help even though they may not be the highest quality samples. Adding some humanization to where the notes land on the beat as well as varying up the velocities/loudness of the notes will help with that. This is a great first remix with a lot of potential for even more. It's not quite ready for submission as is. The arrangement is solid and I found it to be the strongest part of the piece. Work on the humanization and the realism of the samples and you could be on your way.

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Evaluation: Well well well, this is a rad track. I did go back and find the judge's decision to see more about what they were saying despite not have hearing the previous version. Here is my breakdown on source usage: 0:01-0:46 source 0:47-0:54 source 0:55-1:25 multiple sources 1:26-2:33 multiple sources with variation and additions on each repeat 2:38-2:41 source interpretation **2:42-3:19 original material inspired by sources** 3:20-4:03 interpreted source 4:04-4:11 original build 4:12-4:26 source 4:27-4:36 source 276 seconds total 183 seconds of source without interpretation 229 seconds with interpretation This should be enough usage to get you over that hump that was mentioned previously. I do notice that things return or loop a few times, but you do vary up each return so that it's not the exact same thing playing again (which is good). I.e. Adding a different instrument, rhythm, or melodic variation. You manage to keep the arrangement fresh and it changes right when it needs to, especially with a 10 second source to utilize. Production is solid throughout. My only nitpick is 2:27-2:33 gets a bit too busy to really be clear with all of the parts going on at the same time. Considering it was just a quick spot of that it's not a deal breaker for me, just would like to point it out as it could lead to issues if there was more. Overall, very nice track. I dug this quite a bit, and would love to see this passing. Good luck on your resub!

Can you please link the original source? I've been searching for it and keep finding covers or versions from the other games. I hear that it's Stones from the series but if you can please link me to the original source I can give you more accurate feedback.

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Evaluation: For starters, let me just start out by saying welcome to the community. You have very solid production values here, samples executed cleanly and mixed down well. 0:12 was that Megaman X buster charging sound effect?? I like how your beat and the bassline work together to be a cohesive unit. 1:15 is exactly where you should be going with this, excellent mini-solo and interpretation on the theme. So what's the problem? The length of the track. There's a lot to work with in the original that can be developed or expanded upon. While we do get some cool solo at 1:11-1:33, I don't feel that it's enough for a piece that's only 1:56 and is very stylistically similar to the original. You even use the orchestral hits just like in the original. In the submission standards it says section 1. Format: What could work is if you really expand out some more interpretation on the themes and ideas from the original to help extend the length more and show even more of your own take on it. It's a solid start thus far, and I look forward to seeing what you can do with it. Work on those things and check back in.

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Evaluation: I hear both sources used, and some interpretation on both with a little bit of originality thrown into this. Big checkmark! Your calmer B sections both come at lovely times. Tempted to see what happens when you really let loose and shred some crazy solos. Things I loved were the pads at the beginning and the huge 80s tom fill to get us to the source at 0:33. My only minor gripes are high end buzzing which can be tamed. Sounds like it's coming from a lead synth that's panned on the right side. The snare could use some variation in the velocities to help with it sounding more real and less sequenced (I'm guilty of this too). 0:45 glitch pause for the fill is awkward and doesn't quite work for me. Whenever you have the pads/strings going, you could really take this to the next level with some automation on them to get them to crescendo/decrescendo. Fix up those minor things and I think you're good to go. Big improvements from your previous track, nice work.

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Evaluation: Subtle development throughout in the bass and drums to the end of the song help keep it moving forward. Nice drum fills as well. Cool to see some live performance done as well. I would like to direct you to the submission standards https://ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions Under section 4. Arrangement, 2. Arrangements must be substantial and original. Aside from the bass and drums, the it's nearly the same as the original piece. You want to add something of your own to the arrangement, such has a new or modifying chord progression, adding solos, or changing genre or tempos. There are so many possibilities. The laid back approach you've given to the arrangement could work if you add some more of your own spin to the track. Maybe modify the melody or add a "B section" where you solo over the chord progression. In it's current state, I don't see this passing if submitted. With development it could turn into something nice and chill.

Evaluation: This is a fun, quirky little arrangement. Very clean execution on your production, reminds me a lot of Sixto's (Juan Medrano) early work. 0:32 lead synth that comes in is very bright, cutting some of the high frequencies with EQ could make that lead more rounded and less grating on the ears. Not a deal breaker, but you might get nitpicked on this. Also try getting some vibrato on mod wheel or automating the vibrato on the lead synth for the longer notes. 1:41, say what...detour outta nowhere lol, and back to normal at 1:44. Interesting bridge choice, and honestly confusing considering the rest of the track doesn't sound like this at all. If you want to do a complete feel change, i'd lean into it more and extend the section so that it isn't just a head scratcher. You could have easily just extended out the feel of the previous section where you dropped the bass from 1:27-1:40, which works very well as a lovely "B" section. Not saying it doesn't work as a transition, it's just compositionally a weird choice. Which brings me to my next point... 2:01 total length, very short. While this does meet the site standards for length "Between 2 and 7 minutes in length", it does leave the listener wanting a bit more. While my comments are mostly nitpicks, I do feel there is room for growth and the added quirks are added character. I know you're new to the community and I look forward to seeing more from you. Good luck if you've already submitted.

When writing for acoustic instruments the arrangement will dictate the "mud". You can get away with perfect 5ths and octaves in the very low ranges, it's when you start writing harmonic intervals closer than a 5th that it can get muddy. If you want sonic clarity you just have to avoid writing close harmony in the low ranges. Considering that a violin can only play as low as G3 (on normal tuning), it's not getting into the ranges where close harmony with the cello will get very muddy. The intervals will still sound like separate instruments and not just mud. This chart has some suggestion for ranges on intervals where they can be still distinguished as two separate notes. I do find it helpful when writing for live performance, and it can also apply to writing in other genres as well, it's just a suggestion anyways. Write as though you were thinking about actual performance, not just for a DAW to playback. While this sounds better, I do think the arrangement may still be too conservative and close to the original. Good luck on your submission.

Piano trio is a lovely take for a remix. The performances generated for the strings are lovely and well executed, however; they are produced very dry. They need reverb. I expect that there will be an issue with the track passing if you already submitted it due to that. I think that the overall structure may be too close to the original for the site standards despite new part writing for the violin and cello. Despite my gripes I did enjoy this and getting the modelled strings to sound good is tough, they just need reverb for added realism.

Review: Solid, very clean. New bass parts work well. Nice prominent drumming. A few minor gripes: 0:46 the ride/hat there is very similar in velocity with each hit, feels mechanical. Also stands out a lot in the mix, you could just take a little of the brightness away with some EQ on the top end (but not a deal breaker for me). Double pedal is very clean and love to hear it. I'd change this to done, but I'd leave that up to you on making any changes with the hats/cymbols. Nice work.

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Evaluation: Welcome to the forums, and thank you for posting your track for review. First off I would like to direct your attention to the following link: https://ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions Please review this carefully to understand the submission standards. One section I would like to emphasize is under section 4: "Taking the original game audio and simply adding drum loops or using an existing MIDI file and assigning new instruments does not qualify as substantial or original arrangement." So the original is in the backing here with a new beat and piano added on top. Consider making it your own track rather than something you're adding to. With regards to the production; the kick drum is much too loud compared to the rest of the track. The piano is barely noticeable and is very mechanical with little to no humanization. When played together with the beat there's even some clipping. While this would not pass the panel now, you could develop it into something more. You did chop up the source and changed tempo, that's definitely something you could build upon. There can always be more Megaman 4 remixes around.

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Evaluation: Revisions for version posted on 1/21/22 I'm so happy you worked on this and improved what was mentioned. It's a gain for sure. So much clarity was added in the sections I mentioned from before, it really helped. And thank you for making it downloadable now, I was able to take a look at this with a spectrum analyzer and see a few problem areas. 0:54 when you bring in the hihats and metallic sounds you're getting a lot of high end frequencies in the 7,900-12,000Hz range (they get as hot as 9.5 db!) They are too forward in the mix. To my ear it sounds like the hihats that are panned to the right that are the culprit here. The same thought applies to the crash type hits at 1:12. The snare is clipping. 2:15 when the new bass part comes in to accompany the source again it's a nice addition from the previous version. However, 2:41 when you use that pattern again I'm a bit thrown off by the "skips"(2:42, 2:45, 2:47 for example) in the rhythm. To my taste I don't necessarily like it, but it's a creative decision. 3:45 return to the opening theme again so now I hear those 3 source sections that I mentioned from my previous review as A B A because of the bass pattern addition to the second repeat. Improvement! Good job. The judges will take issue with how the various sections have been copied and pasted. I did mention this in my previous review. You did add the bass to help in the second return of the source melody at 2:15. I suggest maybe on the third time you add a variation to the melody to make it a little different (that could be with the rhythm, pitches, embellishments, or even effects). Anything can help it to not sound like it's been copied and pasted. This was a big step forward and a lot of improvement was made, if you address these things you will be ready for submission.

[This is an automatically generated message] I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that it's ready for submission to OCR, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and someone will review it again. Good luck!