Hemophiliac

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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.

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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.

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Evaluation: First off, let me apologize in taking so much time to get back. I really wanted to familiarize myself with the source as best as I could, because I have not heard it before. To me, this is a tough source to work with because there's not much going on melodically for the listener to hook onto. 0:14 breakbeats over the original bass synth + chord stab pattern (0:00-0:21 in the source). Feels like a loop that is used here rather than new part writing. Structurally very much the same as the source so far. 1:57 bigger hits come in as well as more low end and a lot of mud is added to the track. Before 1:57, it was fine and the bass wasn't taking up too much space. 4:09-4:38 that was a good decision to drop the beat here and let our ears have a rest. When it does come back at 4:38 we get more of the same rhythm pattern. More variation!! 4:38 when the higher synth comes in I feel like it's supposed to carry a lot of weight and signal a more climatic part of the song, but it doesn't feel as impactful as it seems it should be. You do add and subtract the layers at good points in the song. Just when I'm starting to get tired of hearing the same thing it changes, good job there. To me this sounds more like the traditional usage of the word remix, where the levels are changed on an existing track. Looking for arrangement and creative additions here. Things like changing the genre, chord progression, bass pattern, and adding solos (and more) could all work in making a track your own. Overall there needs to be more significant changes to the feel of the track to make it more distinguishable and your own thing. Right now the style is very close to the source, and needs something to make it more distinguishable as yours. Also look at the low end muddiness and see if that could be cleaned up.

Thank you very much. Now, of those which 1 track would you like me to evaluate and which source is it from the OST?

Could you please give me more information on what i'm looking at here? The OST you posted shows 16 sources, and your arrangement is one long (57 minute!! ?) audio track. Are there multiple sources used? Would it be possible to get a source breakdown?

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Evaluation: The very first thing I'm noticing is a lot of attenuation by a limiter/compressor on the peaks, as well as distortion. I think you should reduce the volume of everything and slowly bring them back up until the loudest point of the track isn't getting reduced by the limiter/compressor. The the low end has a lot of presence and (I think) the kick and/or bass could probably reduce some of the 150-200Hz range to make more space for the rest of the parts with an EQ. I really like the Vangelis-esque vibe you have going on, very cool. Shinra could play an analog to the Tyrell Corporation from Blade Runner. I'm just a sucker for 80s styled anything. Aside from the arp, I'm not hearing any reference to Memories of Green. Unless it's in the muted sax that starts at 3:24, I'm not catching any. 2:14 Trumpet works well for me as a nice transition, would be cool to hear more of the trumpet after that in a quieter section. I do like the sound of the sax (3:24), and it's usage; but it's buried in the mix and difficult to really hear what it's doing. You'll want to bring that out more and reduce the stuff around it so it has space to be present. That's even if it's supposed to be a background element. While not the worst as is, the drums could use more variation in their patterns.

[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!

Evaluation: So I'm assuming the export error also cut something off at the beginning because it feels like it comes in halfway through a note of something. 1:00-1:38 really needs a melodic variation to separate it from being a direct repeat of 0:12-0:41. 1:39 Transition is abrupt and feels like it needs another two beats before transition made to the bridge. If i'm counting right, this is a measure of 2/4 and the rest of the piece is 4/4. I suggest just keeping the time as 4/4 and add two beats to that measure and it should help make the transition less awkward and sudden. It is the right time to bridge to the next section, but it's just cut short. I do like the 1:58 transition back to the head. In terms of production, I'm barely hearing the kick in much of the mix and sometimes not at all. Also feeling an imbalance in the stereo field, more on the right then the left. Double tracked guitars should be left and write more then the other stuff. Other stuff should be much closer to center. Reverb on the sax feels like a lot more then the rest of the parts in the track, definitely want to get closer to the other parts so it doesn't stand out with so much verb. 2:29-2:32 a couple notes in that phrase (on sax) not gelling with me.

Posted on discord for my claim.

Really enjoy the textures created on this one. Each time you return to the beginning of the loop, I like that you are making it feel like you're increasing the fullness or intensity in some way. Just be careful that it doesn't get too big on each return, I kept thinking you might get some artifacts of compression or clipping in those spots because it gets much louder and fuller. Consider adding some modulation to the pads ie automating a filter sweep or using an LFO to control some of the parameters of the synth to add more movement to the instrument. As far as the arrangement goes, it's structurally very close to the source tune. Next time, consider adding a bit more of yourself to the track. Maybe it could be a new original countermelody or new original section of the song. Maybe it could be a variation in the rhythm of the melody? Try something and see what happens, something magical could come from it!