Hemophiliac

I did not hear the previous version so I'm coming in clean to this. There's a lot of good stuff going on it here, however; there are some things holding it back. The reverse guitar or mandolin as an intro was very cool. All of the background additions such as the piano and the arps are the real strengths of the piece. These additions really make it your own! The vibe is so cool and really drips of loving nostalgia. What is the biggest problem is the distortion, and it's prevalent throughout. Wither it's intentional or unintentional it's too much. Some of it is giving a lovely warmth to the track and gives a feeling of nostalgia, but there is too much and it's making it feel blown out. I'm not saying remove it, but rather reduce the amounts of distortion so it's not completely saturated with it. The low end is very muddy and is also contributing to the heavy distortion too. The boominess of the kick/bass just keeps smashing in more when it the track can only fit so much. More exaggerated humanization in the piano would also help to add to the nostalgia-vibe that you seem to be going for. As right now it's fairly blocky and the velocities are very similar from note-to-note aside from the rolls. Later on the track does have some meandering and noodling about, but this was not a breaking-point for me. This really has a lot of awesome potential, and right now it's close but it needs at least another look to deal with the wash of distortion. NO (resubmit)

This is great, the vocals are given all the spotlight. Meanwhile, the supporting structure around it them are very present without over-taking the vocals. Aside from the strong vocal performance, the subtle background stuff are the highlights for me. The opening background organ, the mallet-like synth at 0:41, and the piano counterpoint at the end of the track are all so perfect and well fitting. As if they were always meant to be the way they are. Sometimes I hear arrangements that feel like major improvements on their sources, this is an example of such. It goes so many more places then the original by changing leads around and adding vocals and original lyrics. People might not be familiar with the source, but boy is this will stand alone just as a good track by itself. The only thing that threw me for a brief moment was the early key change at 1:12. It didn't seem like you had said everything in that first key before departing. Modulation to the new key wasn't jarring, I just wasn't expecting that sort of color change so early. In the end, any change to prevent stagnation is a good thing and I think that it works. Very strong work from the both of you Kris and Aaron. YES

This is great. Tons of personalization everywhere all while still keeping the source front and center and easily recognizable. Speaking of the source, it's all kinds of crazy...in a good way. Tons going on and themes weaving in and out of each other. The production is clean and clear throughout as well, great job not letting the piano get buried any time it shows up. I particularly liked how the intro from the source plays into your intro as well. Great contrast between the full sound and guitars vs. the small chippy-synths. If I were to have one gripe with this (and it's not even really a gripe), it's that most sections end and go to another one without much transition. More overlap of parts could make them smoother, but as is now; it's not even jarring or flow-breaking. They are just changes, and as any good song does; they come at the right times. Easy YES

This is a really cool source, melancholic, dark, and contemplative. Very interesting concept to go from that to darksynth/synthwave. I have to applaud the mood because that was nailed, very cool. To date this is one of your best produced tracks Lucas. Kicks are clear, the bass doesn't step on them, and those big synth stabs are super cool. I'm really struggling to connect the the source to the arrangement much, even with the breakdown and many listens on my own without it. I too also got bits and pieces but they don't feel like they are the dominant focus. I agree with prophetik in that a chord progression is difficult to say, "oh that's what I remember from that source". Generally that's not what a listener latches onto. Unfortunately more dominant and identifiable source would be needed for me to give this a pass. It's a bummer, Lucas; because it's a really awesome track and is one of your best produced to date. NO

This has a very interesting meditative quality that I could find myself zoning out to. That is up until it turns into a full band sound later on in the track. Once we get there it's letting all of it's repressed energy out! I quite enjoy the drone and the long build up of energy through the piece. The arrangement is lovely, and Snowman/In Winters is represented plenty once we get to it in the glockenspiel at 0:46. When we get to 3:23 and the drums really show us their true colors, everything gets very overblown and squashed by compression. Lightening the compression would have prevented the overblown sound, but still kept the energy going. The pattern that was wrote for them could add more energy by itself without having to compromise the mixdown. That's also due to the fact that the drum part was much sparser until then. With that said, the moment is fairly brief and does not take away from my enjoyment of the track. If the whole track was like that I don't think I could pass it, but it's brief. Slow burn, cool track man. YES

I have to say I feel like you improved on the original of Link Between Worlds "Ice Ruins". The original has a very grating and super bright quality to it, and you've removed that and created mystery instead of a harsh chill. "Lake Hylia" from Twilight Princess has been warmed up with lower-range violins and violas, and high-range cellos. Weaving between each different source is done very well as they are meshed in a way to really cover their transitions. The percussion really helps with that as well. Two technical issues that bother me here are the wide panning of instruments and the close positioning of the percussion. In an orchestral context, the percussion is positioned in the back unless there is a featured percussion performer or a featured part of the piece. In this case, they are playing a rhythm and support role so it doesn't feel close to the listener. Varying the amount of wet/dry on the reverb for them can help to push them forward or back. As prophetik also mentioned, there's hardly any dynamic contrast or much change in the chiaroscuro of soft and strong. In such a long piece, it would really help to keep the piece progressing and moving with more changes in dynamic. Arrangement is great, but I find myself left wanting greater emotion and more things expressed other then "mystical" and "mystery". YES

This is the kind of track that is produced so well, that it makes you want to turn up the volume. This is prime example of anti-loudness war in a modern genre. Kudos on that front. Spoopyhop? Trippyhaunt? I dunno what to call it, but it's all kinds of good. Arrangement is fantastic and dripping in personalization and creative ear candy. My personal highlight of the arrangement is the background arp that kicks in 1:48 during the B section of the original source. Auto-panning this makes it like a ghost that is sneaking back and forth going playing tricks on you. What more can I say, this is great. YES

Absolutely love this, incredible performances. Hollow was one of my favorite parts of Remake and it fit in so well. Structurally very close to Hollow and feels very conservative because of that, but after multiple listens I started picking up the very subtle nods to the other tracks (Prelude and Dear to the Heart). That's just due to the nature of harp inside of a rock/metal tune that's more full and heavy. The countermelody writing is excellent, and fits in so subtle that it lets multiple listens have huge repeat value. I'll definitely be listening to this one again and again. Fantastic lock-in on the vocal harmony, almost too perfect. If you used pitch correction at all, I'd say you could probably even lighten it some to keep a little bit of rawness in there. Amazing! YES

There's a lot to like here, and I'm so glad you worked on this as much as you did over the last...I dunno...year? I remember how close the sound design was to feeling like an upgraded version of the Sega chip. With that said, the sound design here is so cool. FM-grit mixed with industrial sound effects and a constant beat. Hydraulic Beat is a fitting name. I have to echo what Chimpazilla said about the drums, they really need more variation throughout. Patterns and fills both changing up slightly go a long way to making a track move forward without feeling repetitive. I'd also like to echo what was being said about the sub-bass content. You have got to roll off those lows completely. The real highlights are the textural changes throughout the piece, they carry the arrangement. YES

I loved this arrangement from the first version you showed me when it was randomly started up during Magfest in Jan. The whole idea worked out great, because the total concept is awesome. It's really awesome to have heard your arrangements mature and develop so much in the last few years. Unfortunately the execution of the production and programming of the parts are holding this back. Now, I'm not saying everything in here is bad because there's some really cool little details that I did notice that do help with the realism. For example, triggering and using vibrato in the longer notes in the guitar, and sliding into notes. Those definitely help to give a human and realistic feel. I'm not getting the sense that the parts are blending together in the mix, they feel like they are separate elements that happen to be playing the track. Some in the same room, others maybe in another venue entirely. The kick also has a very round bassy tone in this as well that makes it hard to make out in the mix too. Prophetik said this as well, and I really want to emphasize that you do not need live instruments to pass, but even just getting the guitars live here would go so far in helping with everything on this. Again, arrangement and vibe is incredible but I can't pass this in the current state with the mixing and realism being rough. NO (resubmit!)

There's amazing restraint and contrast in this piece. If more metal was like this I'd listen to it on a regular basis. When everything is heavy, nothing is. So giving a great contrast between heavy and more ambient contrasting sections really allows this to develop and creates weight with the heavy sections. 3:14 feels like the section caught the compressor and got squashed some. The distortion on the lead vocals here is interesting. With everything being full-out here it causes the vocals to be buried some and the distortion on them makes it even tougher to understand what's being said. I don't have a huge issue with it because it's done for effect, and goes by pretty quickly. I personally would have preferred a clearer vocal in the mix, but that does not sway my vote because it is sung well. All of the drones are very cool, and the cello line fits in very well with the rest of the textures too. For me it came down to usage of source, and it took me many listens to familiarize myself because it's a longer source, but it's there plenty within the arrangement. Also 5:28, I love the close and crunchy vocal harmony. YES

Surprised this doesn't have more votes yet. Man, this is a fun throwback. And it's weird to call this a throwback, simply because it's "tracker-style". Chris is so good with trackers and the arrangement is fantastic. 1:08 was a great time to change things up (including key) and take a different direction for a while. Good break from the semi-chaos of the original here. The flying bass runs are awesome, and really embellish the original very well. No complaints from me. Easy, YES

Fantastic live performances all around. Interpretation is superb with much development on small ideas from the original. Only way this could have been spicier would have been to change up the time signature more and go proggy. The off beat accents do a good job of playing with rhythm expectations enough that it feels that way anyways. I guess keeping this one more tame without crazy time sig changes makes this more accessible to listen to. Great work! YES

That's a fat bottomed mix, full of Mass. Effect of that is a more full and borderline muddy mix at times. I think some movement on those long held out bass drones would have gone a long way to both help alleviate the thickness and also propel the mix forward even more. Could have been more exaggerated crescendos/decrescendos, filter sweeps, or both even. Like Chimpazilla, I did pick up the ducking from side chaining when the kick does come in at 1:39. It's just barely enough to come through and not be obnoxious pumping. With that said though, the arrangement itself is very nice and the soundscape and sound design are very cool. Those previously mentioned issues are not detracting from my overall enjoyment or listening experience and don't have enough Mass to sink this ship. YES

Once this gets into it's meat and potatoes it's not at all what you'd expect. While the overall approach is fairly straight-forward melodically there's a ton of personalization everywhere else. 0:31 with that beat and bass coming in is awesome. 1:28-1:47 felt like something we might hear in a Bond score with that guitar line. Speaking of the guitars, fantastic performance from those. Drum and mix is much better than most of your previous works, and it was a great call to bring Emunator on to help out in that aspect. 1:48-2:58 I can barely make out the tremolo mandolin going the whole time. I suspect it would be hard to make this cut through unless you were adding distortion and saturation to help it take up more space. Makes me wonder if it's supposed to take the lead more or not. In the end the vibe wins it out for me, and the performances from Stemage and CA are strong. YES

There's one word that keeps shooting through my mind while listening to this: more. I kept hoping this would expand on the original source more while it progressed through the track. More melodic embellishment, more original material; anything to add your own personal spin on it. One tiny way you did to it was adding the syncopation to that starts at 1:27. That was a good way to really make it feel different compared to the source, because there is no syncopation in the original. 2:27 was another good example of adding to it with the repeated notes in the melody. I could easily see 1:50 as a moment where you inject more original material and depart instead of repeating again. Overall, the vibe is nice. The drums and bass work together well and don't step on each other's toes. As far as the balance and mix, instruments are pretty close to where they should be, aside from the whistle which could come up by 1-3db. In summary, more variation and less repetition. This was very close though! NO

This should have been called "Gold Harvest" because I feel like everything Ridley touches turns into gold. Extremely well put together and produced piece with personality and personalization everywhere. The quote from Aliens was a nice touch and fitting for Metroid (Ridley used Ridley, it's super effective!) As you all had mentioned this is much more Super Metroid than CV3 in this, but it's not like balance is a requirement at all. Great work wrangling all the parts and everyone together. YES

The whole concept of this piece could work well, and the Enya/New age-type vibe does come through well. However, I am in agreement with Prophetik on both points about the orchestration/part-writing being dense in the low-mids as well as the reverb being too much. Make sure the reverb has EQ cutting the lows to help it from creating mud solely from the reverb. When the pan flute first enters at 0:14, it starts to quickly sound like a flanger/chorus or distortion effect is applied on it. That kind of effect feels counter-intuitive to the smooth new age sound you're going for. This carries throughout the piece and dominates the soundscape. This really needs to be cleaned up, and the parts balanced more evenly amongst each other with possibly some low end parts reduced or cut. I appreciate that there was some thought put into the swelling of the background elements to help give them movement and energy, but the bass does get really big at times when it reaches it's fullest. I'm hearing the Metroid (something very closely resembling it) in the piano in the deep background 3:05-3:10, and then 3:11-3:30 it sounds like interpretation of that same part. Even with the timestamps, I'm not making out Metroid except for there. As is, the Castlevania parts feel much more dominant in the arrangement. Overall, more direction both in structure and melody would go a long way to keeping interest going as it does feel rather stagnant for a longer piece ~5 min. NO

While this could be a really cool idea to start out with this and expand into something more interpretative and transformative, this is not what OCR is looking for. This is too similar to the original with very little interpretation or transformation. You want to go in and see what more of your own flavors you can add to or change from the original source. Present the source in a new way. It could be anything from melodic embellishment, changing the chord progression, or changing the time signature even. There are many ways you can change it up and put your own spin on things. Or you can add completely new material to sit against the original source. Those are just a few examples of how you can do it, and there are many more ways that you can do it that I didn't mention. I'd encourage you to post in the workshop on the forums or join to the discord server to get feedback. NO

Pretty fun synthwave adjacent villages track. Are these villages adorned with neon lights and beaches that have massive sunsets with palm tree silhouettes? Didn't really care for the lead that enters at 1:43 so much. Something about it feels odd and slightly-off to me. It's a timbre choice, so I can't knock you too much. 2:40 a more substantial transition would have helped to make this feel more prepared before the new section, but it works as is. Overall, this gets the job done and is a pretty fun throwback to another age...exactly what synthwave is going for. YES

Vocal harmony!! I want more vocal harmony in the world, thank you for giving me some here. I not expect it to come from Fisherman's Horizon, awesome :) There's some minor pitch correction throughout, but nobody is perfect all the time. It's barely there, generally only notice it on the longer held-out notes. Ladyreemz's timbre works very well with the style and fits like a glove. This arrangement is fantastic and really takes us on a journey with a lot of development and orchestration throughout. I honestly didn't realize this was 7 minutes long until after it was over and saw the time at the end. 4:07-4:20 using the prelude as a background figure was good call and allowed the next section to be prepared by introducing the synth like that. Was that a tiny racing chocobos - place your bets cameo from FF7 at 4:42-4:44?? The only nitpick I have is with the mixing of the percussion. I feel like we could've beefed up the kick and snare and let them have more presence in the mix later in the track (3:53-5:49). As they seem to sit just under everything else rather then adding more energy. The final reprise is a great payoff for the track bringing in as many elements as you did including a bigger vocal stack including Marc joining in. FANTASTIC! YES

Been hearing this one for months since TSori has been working on it during development of the project. It's been a pleasure to hear it come together. Especially when the sources are very forgettable. The 70s semi-disco vibe is so great, and the performances from top to bottom are excellent. The mix is super clean and manages to balance out all of those parts amongst each other so well. Absolute slam dunk from TSori, Flake, and crew! I hope people enjoy this one as much as I do. Get up and "Think on Your Feet"! YES

Absolutely full as others have mentioned previously, but not so full that it's muddy or a chaos of cacophony. My main criticism of this is any time there is synth elements being used they are very thin and flimsy, making them have a hard time to have any presence or cut through the dense mix. 3:12-3:27 is the clearest we can hear the synths throughout the piece. I suggest layering the synth or using saturation to help it cut through more. This is by no means any issue to me at all, I just want to make a suggestion for possible use in future works. There could have been a bigger dynamic contrast for the sparser sections, but there is at least some semblance of a contrast with slightly lighter texture during them. The arrangement is pretty standard, but gets the job done with plenty of ThePlasmas guitar goodness injected. I'd say you took a pretty forgetful source and spiced it up into something more musical and entertaining rather than filler background music. YES

So much to love here. Actually love how free flowing this is and how loose the playing/tempo is. Letting Marble Gallery be the main shell that contains everything was a wise choice, especially considering the misery that is Environmental Mystery. Speaking of...did I hear Lucas say "Environmental Mystery" and "Marble Gallery" in the intro talking? Is that like the remix version of a rapper calling out their name in a track? XD Everything is very forward into the mix, but feeling like they occupy the same room. Very clean sound, excellent work on that mixdown. I want to echo something prophetik mentioned about chord voicing on the piano in this context. You can easily remove the 1 and 5 from a chord and still retain the quality/function. The bass will often be taking that 1, and the 5 doesn't actually pull very much so it allows you to put in so much more to add color. I'd be happy to talk more with you regarding this if you'd like to. When you switch to comping it's effective in accenting and deemphasizing various implied rhythm. Though the rhythm is not the focus here, it's the atmosphere. I like how Environmental Mystery was worked in a B section because it's so dramatically different from Marble Gallery. The transition and development into bringing us into Environmental Mystery is so important in getting us ready for such a big change, great job there. It's just a huge contrast no matter how you look at it. No real complaints here at all. Would've preferred hollow body guitar sound, but that's not for me to determine what's correct. YES

What pristine performances from Medlix, Gamer of the Winds, and Steven Higbee. How the themes intertwine and pass off is relatively seamless, handled very well. Arrangement is the star. The tempo change at 1:38 really stands out. 2:01-2:30 has really lovely texture as the lushness really shines along with some small chromaticism. The dynamics are relatively flat throughout and don't stray much. In turn this feels like a slog to listen to. Even more change from high to low would help contrast, IE more bass/celli. They are there but very quiet and soft. It's all light and no darkness, with maybe a touch of mystery or suspense. That's really a creative decision and not a knock on the quality of the piece as a whole or something that must happen. In the end I love that you really let your performers shine through and the arrangement is strong. YES