Hemophiliac

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Definitely a good choice to contribute to the Christmas album with this source. Getting a "snow is falling vibe" from it, and that will fit perfectly. Evaluation: First thing I notice out the gates is the very blurry background pad + the reverb on one of the instruments (not sure which) are overlapping and creating background muddiness. Contrast the very wet sound of the background pads and other instruments to the drums. The drums sound very dry in comparison. There's got to be a way where you can meet in the middle between those elements so they don't feel so separate from one another. 1:19 and 1:28, possible clipping there. It might be the electric piano/bell type sound. I'd recommend adding some bigger drum fills at the end of some of the phrases. My thought on that is there could be more variation to the drums. Right now it sounds like mostly same loop every two bars for the A sections. We get a nice change-up in the middle section, 1:30-1:53 (I like how the bass takes the lead here). 2:08-2:11 is the kind of fill I was looking for earlier, but it quickly returns to the same loop again after it. It was a small injection of energy there that really helps in changing up the flow. The source has some really cool brass lines in there too, would be really neat to hear some of that line appearing somewhere. (If I missed it, please let me know!)

6.5 years since the last track...too long, give us more! The detailed synth work and interplay of variation on rhythm is superb. Very enjoyable, and it's gonna be tough to get this earworm out of my head. The chip arps are a particular stand-out for me as they seem to come out of nowhere, but feel like they belong. This track would not be the same without them. Awesome work!

He's talking about the chords build upon those scale degrees in the parallel minor key, not the scale. Don't think about the key of F major. He's only talking about the keys of G major and G minor. So each time he shows a chord symbol at the top of the staff he's indicating what chord it is not the key. So a chord built upon the third scale degree of G minor is Bb major. If you build a chord on the seventh scale degree of G minor you get F major. He's making an assumption about "generic" sound based on his own experiences. When notes and chords are "borrowed" from relative major and minor keys, it's usually done to change color or add interest. The composer chose to do these things to achieve a sound more interesting than using just G major. I hope that helps in your understanding.

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The short staccato background strings and the drums are feeling dry and need more reverb. 0:46-0:58 i'm hearing some notes (I'm thinking in the vocal line) is not meshing with the other parts. After we get through that they work well. Aside from that the arrangement is strong, and pretty close to ready. I feel like we talked about this one on discord before? PS: The video works well with the track.

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So, even still I really like the atmosphere you've created in this track. I really like the addition of the soft muted trumpet and saxophone lines. The track still feels very full and muddy. A few suggestions on how to improve that: using EQ, cut the low frequencies out from instruments that are higher in pitch, and cut the high frequencies from instruments that are low in pitch. Adding a EQ or using EQ on your reverb to remove the lows. I like to cut the lows below 450-500Hz out on the reverb. I'm glad you improved the compression from the previous percussion, much improved there. Things that could take this track to the next level: Automating filter sweeps or other effects on the low end or pads to keep movement going when there isn't as much going on above it. Give some more variation in the drum pattern and the main arp that continues through most of the song (not bad as is now, just suggesting there could be more still) Still again suggesting to get a quieter or less busy section, something to contrast. 1:36-2:21 is a good example of this because our ears get a break from the continuous arps. Also a good spot for making some filter automation or effects automation stand out. In summary I'd like to see the muddiness cleaned up, and something else to take the track to the next level in the next version. Really cool and I look forward to hearing more

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Would the teams be randomized or would participants need to form them ourselves?

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Kudos. Overall much cleaner than previous version, EQ on the individual tracks is always the way to go. It's like using a sword or guillotine to perform a surgery when you should have used a laser or scalpel. Evaluation: At this point the only real gripe I have is the strange panning. Lots are panned really wide, and while it does create lots of space; I'm feeling disoriented by the amount of things moving left and right. It's just too far left and too far right, come back closer to center. Also there's a lot of instruments that seem to have a ping-pong effect on them, not sure if it's a delay or just automated panning. Personally feel that it's just too much and my ear gets pretty tired of it quickly. Still don't have any problem with the arrangement, though i'm noticing a couple tiny changes from last time as well as some more expanded drum fills. I can't say that the changes in the synths will appease the judge's comments from the previous version (it still feels like a throwback to the early 2000s to me). Maybe add some automated effects on the leads at the end of phrases to spice them up a bit? It does sound like you went for a semi-vibrato-like effect at the end of some phrases, but it's hard to make out. I am hearing the flanging and sweeping on the pads in the background. It's close. Fix up the panning. Consider more synth variation/automation.

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Evaluation: There's a lot to like here, even though it's "conservative" you've added quite a lot of subtlety to the track. The original is basically solo acoustic guitar after all! Love the style, and you know I'm a sucker for the choir. All of the added strings carry some very emotive work. Their new countermelodies you have added is the highlight for me. IE (1:06-1:26) is heart-wrenchingly beautiful. After the opening ends, we are introduced to a new element; choir! This is where the majority of the problems lie for me. The attack on the samples is lagging just so slightly behind the beat and it's very noticeable especially when laid next to the piano as it is. I'd suggest to try a couple things: try getting more of an accent whenever there's a reticulation of a note or move up what's there currently to line up with the piano better. The other aspect of the choir is that it sounds like it's in a different space than the other parts. The choir is pushed back in the space and the piano and strings are much closer to the front. Definitely address the humanization as you mentioned as well, can't forget that. If you want to take it to the next level, my idea would be to bring back the cello towards the end playing some more lyrical and interesting countermelody to add to the choir.

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Evaluation: Happy to see you back with another post! Your adaption feels perfect for the trance-like genre you chose here. This feels like it would be good for an updated version of the game in the early 2000s. The synths chosen are good and work well together. Structurally it works, but unfortunately is very short. It left me wanting more expansion and evolution when we get to the end. Consider adding a contrasting B section before coming back to the source again with even more variation in the melody/patterns, that could help extend this out more. Production issues to take note of: Lots of low end muddiness Volume attenuation most likely being caused by a compressor or limiter especially when the large kicks come in (Like at 0:04 and 0:16). Bass drops like 0:26 and 0:49 are also having volume attenuation (like above^). As well as not feeling as glued together in the rest of the mix like all of the other parts are. Upper synth arp isn't as clear as it could be due to the low end mud caused by the other parts. I recommend using EQ to cut the high frequencies on low (bass-range) instruments, and cut low frequencies on high (melodic) instruments. Often those ranges aren't used and just cause mud and lack of clarity when played with other parts. 0:04 when the bass synth comes in that is the "melody" from the original source, i'm not feeling like it's supposed to be the main focus my ear is supposed to follow. It's often buried in the mix. All that said, this is really cool and I enjoyed the take on the source. Definitely could make something awesome with this if you polish and refine the production issues and consider adding more to the track.

The ring modulator is taking off quite a lot of the attack. It does feel like a means to reduce sample quality which is an idea. Bitcrushing is also an option. Try delay + reverb.

Unfortunately the dropbox link isn't working or i'd have more comments. My thought that would be a huge deal aside from reverb is to add a delay. The strums of a guitar are basically the same thing as one of the chip arps. You're on the way to getting a close approximation there. Some of those old chips probably have a greater range than what you can do on guitar, but what's there now is cool.

1:56-2:06 Who likes "The Licc" I have been listening to this for years and never noticed this. XD

Nice changes! The ending is great. Although, you should definitely humanize the piano in that new ending now, it's rather stiff and velocities feel very similiar. Exaggerate the velocites some to give a more human feeling. Something that didn't occur to me before in the loud piano section 1:04-1:20 was the dryness of the piano. I think I was more concerned with the overall volume. Definitely could use a touch of reverb here, similar to how you have it in other parts of the track. Very nice work. I think you should fix up those minor issues and submit this.

[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!

The melodic changes in the first repeat are great The 1:38 transition is still not working. The biggest thing now is the drums and bass processing. Parallel processing on drums for compression would be huge. Bass compression will help beef it up. Also 2:25 cymbal hits/roll need velocity updates (aka machine gun). L/R balance is better, thank you for fixing. Also watch the organ velocities for the new melody changes in that first repeat, it gets a lot louder and it's close to a good level, it should be louder since it's lead.

First of all, welcome to the forums! Thank you for sharing the story, I hope you'll be able to create more and more with time. It's lovely to hear a first attempt from someone new that's already pretty strong as is. I like this arrangement, it has the changes I look for in a remix. 0:16-0:21 and 0:24-0:29 Has a background synth off-beat and it feels like it lands on unusual beats as well. The synth works, but where it lands feels odd to me. It comes back later at 1:54-2:02 1:04-1:20 piano is SUPER loud, definitely look at reducing that some. Look at your drum fills such as 0:47 in the snare and add some more exaggerated velocity differences into those rolls so they don't approach "machine-gun" type fills. I find this is especially important when using acoustic-style drum samples. 1:46-2:02 Nice original additions. I dig the change to half-time right before it. Ending feels sudden and comes out of nowhere. How you ended is fine, it's just sudden. If you wanted to elongate that some it could help it's suddenness. I suggest to do a slow in tempo (ritardando) into the last few chords and hold out the last chord longer. Overall, very solid arrangement; there are just a few minor production elements that should be looked at. Awesome job!

The soundcloud link seems to be not working. "This track was not found"

What's the source? The instruments sound fine together, but very basic.