Hemophiliac

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Welcome to the forums! Evaluation: This has a nice mellow texture that I could put on and enjoy as a background track. The hang drum in the track is very nice choice for this. 1:44-1:57 is GREAT expansion on the melody. I usually don't hear people doing even this much interpretation at only 1 year into making music. Good job! Guitar is a nice choice to play the lead, and have it strum out some backing chords. The problem here is the realism of the guitar. The velocities and performance of the rhythm aren't varied and give a unrealistic feeling. Change up the velocities so they aren't identical to each other, and maybe move some of the notes around so they don't fall perfectly on each beat. Also it sounds like a few of the notes might be cut-off sooner than they were expecting to. The balance (volume/mixing on parts) could use some adjustment as some parts are louder than others. Drums could use more presence in the mix. Quick fade-out ending is weak and leaves something to be desired. In summary: Production and realism needs work, arrangement is promising (but could go further still), and ending is not ideal.

Gear does help some, but the skills and experience are more important. It takes time to experiment and improve. These skills don't happen overnight. Another key skill is using your ears critically. Knowing what works and what doesn't takes time to develop. Try things...if they don't work, oh well; move on and try something else. With all that being said, don't neglect the arrangement side of things either. Both are equally important when it comes to putting together a track. We all have potential, and again; it just takes time to get there.

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Evaluation: Yeah, this is muddy and imbalanced. The bass is much too big and takes up most of the space, covering up the other parts too much. Balance amongst the parts should be worked on to bring more parity between them, let them work together and not fight with each other. After the introduction, the source melody should be brought out more too so that the listener does have a better grasp on what they are hearing. I'm not sure how I feel about the high synth that's noodling about on top of everything. It's definitely occupying the right space for it, the part just feels random and not adding much to propel the track forward. As a listener you definitely notice it going away at 2:42. Helped with fatigue. Structurally, there could be a break in the middle with a contrasting feel to help separate the track and give it more momentum to keep it moving forward. Book-ending the beginning and endings can work, and this could work better if the ending doesn't happen so suddenly. That's also aside the fade-out, it doesn't work very well. I suggest ending at 3:22 instead, that spot actually feels like it could be a more natural ending. What I like is the mellow feeling the interpretation has compared to the original. Slowing the tempo really helped to bring out more ideas and gives space for you to explore your own take.

Can you post the source please? That way I can check it out and see about getting you an evaluation.

Cool. The bass is mixed too loud. I kept thinking while listening, bari-sax would be really neat in this. Arrangement is strong. Really just needs better balancing amongst parts.

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Evaluation: Arrangement is not super exciting with very little interpretation of the source melody. The changes are mostly with the background bass and arp. The structure is solid with an ABA form. The ending doesn't fly because it sounds incomplete. A cut at 2:28 would probably better serve the end instead of having a few hi-hat hits after that beat. It's an incomplete measure and feels awkward. I recommend adding more/further variation to the repeated section (1:24-2:07). That way you can take this arrangement to the next level and it is a more fulfilling recapitulation. I appreciate that you have some filter modulation on your synths to keep them moving and interesting. 0:40 cymbal hit lands on a beat ahead of where it feels it should be. This also represents other transitions in the track that are covered up by a loud kick/bass drum or cymbal crash, they could be changed to be more interesting. 0:41 guitar/pluck is not realistic sounding, possibly because of the delay and the higher "string-noise" it has. The biggest issue is the production and instrument selection. Like your previous track this also feels very much like it was produced in the early 2000s. I don't know if you're using presets or creating your own synths, but updating these will help because they feel generic. The two biggest offenders are the background arp that starts at 0:08 (filter modulation on this is good, it's just a generic synth), and the 2:13 plucked synth (with this one in particular it's strange to introduce a new instrument right at the end right before ending). The low frequencies are muddy and have a lot going on, definitely need to be cleaned up. Make sure you're adding EQ to cut high frequencies on bassy instruments and cut low frequencies on high instruments or leads so that they make room for each other. During the repeat section 1:24-2:07 I'm noticing the kick has a lot of top-end clickiness, that should be cleaned up. I don't hear this as much during the initial statement (0:00-0:40) Sounds like there is a limiter on the main channel for the mix and it's attenuating the peaks often. Turn down everything and you won't need to have the peaks get clipped and the sound won't be smashed as much.

Where's the jamspace boys? Tsori says, "It's gonna be in the forest at the Green Glade" There's so much to like here. The groove while simple is very infectious. Trumpet is pristine and so elegant. You really nailed the Herb Alpert feel here. I'm glad you tightened up the track after the initial sub, the improvements make it flow nicely and don't distract from enjoyment. Such a fun arrangement, and I can't stop looping this!

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Evaluation: I'm getting early 2000s trance vibes as well as some semi-synthwave vibes as well. 1:55 the half-time is cool for a brief moment before getting back to the same vibe. Good way to break up the rhythm. Countermelodies are good throughout. Usage of the source is clear and I see how it translates to a synthwave vibe well. From 0:00 to 0:22 it does feel like a synthwave bass. After 0:23 when the percussion comes in, it feels more like trance with a sorta analog-fm-esque bass instrument. Consider using a different bass synth or changing the drum pattern to be more trance-like or more synthwave-like. Background synth pad could be fuller. Sounds like a filter automating swells on it, but the frequency of the high pass is very high making it sound paper thin. Also around 1:49 it's a bit weird to filter automate the melody, you momentarily lose a note here and it feels awkward. Structurally we are taken on a journey from start to end. Melodically we are given more continuous flow and very little break in the phrasing at all. Even trading off the melody to another instrument can help break that up as well. Production on the bass and percussion needs improvement as well (clarity/compression/eq). They should work together and not fight each other. For now, I'm returning this to WIP. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Evaluation: 1:50 Has a sudden cutoff after the swell like there's no reverb on the string crescendo. Goes straight into the next section quickly and feels odd to me because of the sudden abrupt cutoff. I suggest putting slight pause after the cutoff and some reverb for a moment of "breath" before the next section starts. From 3:15 to the end has a lot of very straight and continuous kick or low tom drum. Some more variety in the pattern wouldn't hurt. You do hit 0db at the loudest point in the song, so you're definitely pushing it with the limiter. Still love the textures and expressivity in the piece, and it builds nicely. Balance amongst the parts feels good. Take a look at those two earlier things I mentioned (should be easy quick and easy fixes) and then I think you'll be set. Great work!

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Evaluation: VMPYR KILLA Ok, for the vast majority of the track this feels incomplete. 0:00-0:36 we get Vampire Killer with the prologue dialogue from SotN on top of it. Drums are different from the original but the rest is nearly identical to the source. 0:37-3:02 it's a two part track now, only drums and bass. This may be the same bass as the source as well. There should be more parts going on here, there's no melody, no harmony (only implied harmony from the bass). 3:03-4:19 we get the melody and bass from the source with added percussion. About 55% of the track feels unfinished because it's only two parts, need to fill in that space with something. To be honest, it felt like someone would be rapping on top of that section or doing something similar to that. Fade outs are generally discouraged. They rarely work and often just leave the listener wanting more. This time it is unfulfilling. What I would encourage you to do is fill in the space and add your own take on the source. What we have here is very conservative, when we do get the source; it's same melody and bass with added original drums. I do like the instrumentation you have chosen so far and this could develop into a very cool track when you add your own spices to the track. Good luck.

Hi friend, please refrain from posting multiple tracks in one thread. With that said, which one track would you like an evaluation on at this time?

Yours is 30366. It's in address bar for your profile page.

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WOW, this is night and day improvement from the previous version. Great work cleaning that up! I really feel like the biggest improvement might have been making it mono, but nevertheless it sounds great! Ship it!

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Evaluation: 0:00-0:23 Source 0:24-0:42 Continuing the rhythm from the original here, with some of the progression of the source. 0:43-0:50 Source 0:51-1:12 Source 1:13-2:06 New material? 2:07-2:18 Source/interpretation 2:19-2:30 Progression from the source 2:31-2:52 Chord progression from the source I think 2:53-3:13 Fugue-like interpretation of source 3:20-3:42 Source passed around to multiple parts 3:43-4:04 Ending 244 total, 146 of source. There's enough there. I think the debate would be if others agree with my breakdown. I could see the 0:24-0:42, 2:19-2:30 both being considered new material by others, because it doesn't immediately stand out as being from the source. It's possible it got a bit too far from it. If you don't agree with my breakdown, I would suggest including your own breakdown on submission. At 3:14 I totally thought that we were about to get some X-Men the animated series cameo XD. The recordings are clean, and are sufficiently loud throughout. It also looks like a limiter was applied an there are a few areas that have the tops clipped off. Suggest backing off the gain a little bit before submission and you'll preserve the full dynamic without clipping those wave tops off. (0:57, 4:02 for example). Sounds complete otherwise.

[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!

Thank you for adding the source, I suspected it was that track but I'm not as familiar with DWIV so I just wanted to double check that first. Evaluation: Arrangement feels fine, don't need to comment on that. This one is tough because of the production, also I haven't heard the previous version to be able to compare after reading the judge's previous decisions. From 0:00-1:24 the sub-bass/bass is completely indistinguishable because the acid arp is covering it up so much. I could be mistaken and the sub that I'm hearing around 60-65hz there is actually a part of the acid arp, but it's hard to say without seeing the actual stems and notation. This could be due to a few different things, and it's going to be up to you to figure out what is causing this. Some thoughts as to what might be covering it up or effecting it in this way: the acid arp has a lot of stereo presence, consider making it less narrow or even mono and other parts will cut through the mix better. The acid arp could just be taking up too much of the space in the same range as the bass, moving it up an octave might remedy this (probably not recommended unless absolutely necessary). There's also a lot of headroom in the mix, it barely peaked at -6db. You definitely can bring that up for more volume. This is close to being in a good spot, and the style feels like a throwback to the 2000s; pretty cool. Like the judges said before this is very dense, and could definitely use some cleaning up (mostly the acid arp being the biggest offender). Let me know if you need any clarification.

Can you please post the source for this? Thanks!