Hemophiliac   Judges ⚖️

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!)

Quite enjoyed the loose and raw quality of this. The slightly slower tempo is giving me more sultry vibes then whimsy that the original has. GotW shines as always. Getting the blown air in there, sounds lovely in a rainstorm of winds. I have to also echo what Prophetik said about bringing in the original Legend of Zelda theme, I was not expecting it but it was a good break from the rest of Kass's Theme and added melodic variation when it was needed. Great interpretation and lovely work pushing the source even further then what I come to expect from Rebecca. Walked that balancing act very well. YES

I really hope this doesn't come off as offensive in any way, but the best way I can describe this is silly but fun. The audio clips throughout enhance rather then detract from the piece. I will say, that last one is Game of Thrones, and I will not forget the Hound wanting his chickens. I felt like Captain America in the Avengers when I heard that, "I understood that reference". The beat is great and carries the piece. I found the layering of the low piano notes into the bass worked very well. When we do get to 1:45 it is more distinct from the first time through with a slightly different synth setup, and more accented kicks. I would like to see more melodic embellishment during your recapitulations as has been an issue with previous works, but there's enough here that it didn't become an issue with me. For future works, make sure you're putting a master limiter on because your max is +0.6, and there is clipping. Not hearing any distortion because of it, so it's a non-factor. Is this what we get if you somehow managed to kill a cucco in Zelda? You get Zombie Chicken? YES

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

I'm the type who likes vanilla ice cream, and this is about as vanilla as synthwave you can get. Enjoyable and you know what to expect. It ticks all the boxes for it, side-chained bass, playing a fairly static-straightforward rhythm. Simple beat accenting 2 and 4 with the snares. Swirling, slightly detuned pads (thankfully not nearly as much as the Diablo track). Even though those things are typical, they work well together. The source melody is represented faithfully with a conservative approach. I like the sound design on the pads because while they are similar in timbre to the original, they are fuller, have more modulation + expression on them, and are more featured in the arrangement. My gripe here would be to reduce the side-chaining to allow it to be more transparent in it's effect. This doesn't go too far in it's usage as it doesn't become pumping or in-you-face with how heavily it attenuates the bass on each kick. 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

So I actually think the Environmental Mystery part is actually playing as a fast piano ostinato throughout most of the track. It's just buried under all of the guitar/bass/drum chaos all on top of it. Piano/synth just doesn't cut as hard or as powerfully as any of those other parts. Can't hear the kick very much unless it's double pedaling between other notes or during the intro where there is less going on. Actually the splash/china/crash are just so much louder then the rest of the kit, that kick really needs to come through more especially in this genre. 0:55-1:10 is also just chaos and I have no idea what I'm supposed to focus on there as a listener, but you whip (with a whip sound?) us out of it back to sanity. This just barely squeaks by for me, and I feel like I'm in the same boat as Chimpazilla on this one. The mixdown certainly has problems, but the arrangement is tremendous. Also need to highlight the awesome performances from pixelseph and Cyril. The arrangement is good enough to pass despite some flaws in production. YES

Dark, creepy, mysterious and an atmosphere that can put you into a trance while listening. Loved the reversed choir as an intro and outro, it's a unique sound for sure. Production is awesome, and sound design is very lush from top to bottom. The Labyrinth (Depths) is there almost the whole way through, hard to miss it. You really did a fantastic job of adding to something so minimal and keep it familiar and in the forefront of the track. Excellent 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

Arrangement is solid, production is ace, guitar is great, and the drum writing is impressive (especially the double pedaling towards the end of track). I really like the inclusion of the organ as well. The only thing I didn't like about that was the for the dropping into another lower octave such as 1:05-1:08. It's in that crunchy/low contributes to an unclear mix range. I get the idea of changing octaves as a means to change up the melody (which is good), but it's just the range it goes to is not as nice. Though, in the end it doesn't affect my vote as it's a minor gripe. YES

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

Piano trio you say? This is a helluva piano performance from David Russell. 100% steals the show and shines brightly through everything. Lucas really gave David a lot of space to do his thing and run wild between fragments of the source. If this were being played live in a lounge where people were eating appetizers and drinking coffee, the bass and the drums would get their chance to shine as well with some solos. That would have derailed this into too far from the source had that happened though. Lucas keeps the source as the main anchor throughout the piece, and the piano gets an elastic tether that snaps us back to the source right when David is gonna go too far away. I'm in agreement with Prophetik on both fronts about the drums and bass. Drums definitely sound like some overheads only, and that causes the kick to be nearly lost. The pocket and groove established by Louie is fantastic and the piano really locks in with it after a while. Some of the bass motion doesn't quite feel like the right time to be moving when it should be more static, and vice versa. Should have been more locked into the strong beat 2 like the snare is establishing. The other thing that I though was unusual but not a deal breaker to me was the piano being a bit to the right in the stereo space compared to the other parts. That all said, this is fun and stellar performance from David Russell and a solid arrangement. YES

When I heard this for the first time during the GSM voting period, I nearly jumped out of my seat when it started. I could not believe how well this adapted The Gorillaz, but also managed to intertwine both Metroid Prime and CV3. The singing fits this stylistically like a glove, perfect; kudos. The production is absolutely pristine, I expect nothing less from RID-LEY. At first glance there might not seem like a ton of source in there, but it's ALL over the place. It's just camouflaged as The Gorillaz. Absolutely fantastic work. YES