Sir_NutS

I quite enjoyed this one. Sure, it's pretty vanilla at times, and I can see the arp getting on some people's nerves, but I do like when some hooks are used to ground an arrangement as long as the arrangement is dynamic to compensate. I think I mirror most of Nutritious' thoughts on this one except for that, so I don't have much to add to his vote, except that some improvements could've been made in some of the vanilla instrumentation and drum sequencing but it's not something that drags it under the bar for me either. YES

Definitely a western vibe going on here, though not a complete commitment into that theme, as most of the adaptation is on the very soft ballad side, and that works pretty well. The brasses are sequenced well, and I particularly enjoyed the guitar and the nice twang it had. The flute is a nice touch and along with the guitar is what sometimes pulls the mood to western for me. I have a couple things in mind that could've been improved, first the obvious dissonance around 1:50, which I would really like to see fixed, and also I found the initial whistle+organ section to be way too slow, I think the point would've been made just as well with a slightly higher bpm there. I would be more than fine if this gets to the frontpage but it the off section need to be addressed. YES

This is really solid, the guitar performances are excellent, and man do I love me some sync lead soloing. The general structure and feel is pretty close to the original but there are additions that serve as a bit of an upgrade arrangement-wise, and there's plenty of soloing to go around. I would've liked a bit more interpretation though. On the production side of things everything is solid for the most part with a few exceptions on the busy sections getting a bit messy frequency-wise, but overall definitely over the bar. As others have pointed out, the off-key section sticks out and really irked me right away. This needs to be fixed, and since I don't have any other qualms with this I'll set it as a conditional post on this section being changed. YES (Conditional on fixing the off section)

I was ready to pass this from the first minute, but as the track went on a nagging issue became more apparent: This started to become a problem where the strings come right to the front and are try to carry the melody, but the chorus is probably like this every time it's on. It's a lovely arrangement, and I don't even have an issue with the wetness of the mix, it's a nice touch and most importantly it doesn't really muddles the mix too much as to make me want it toned down. If it is toned down I wouldn't mind it either, I feel its more of a stylistic choice that has not much effect on the production quality. But the string envelopes are a much bigger issue to me. The samples themselves don't sound like they're of low quality so they're definitely workable, just need to be humanized further. This is a very tough one. Can't come with a verdict after a few listens, although I'm leaning towards a very borderline yes. I will revisit later. Revisit 7/27: I'm still not happy with exactly the same things I pointed out before. The choirs at around 1:40 are very rough, and the strings suffer from the same envelope issues. It really irks me, but thankfully it's not something that's pervasive through the track. I like the choirs more when they're used as low hums. I don't think Ms. Tripp achieved the full potential this track could've reached, but I think as a whole it just barely edges over the bar due to the lovely arrangement and ambiance. I hope that in future subs instruments are given a more detailed treatment to make them intricate and more realistic. This is as borderline as it gets for me. YES (borderline)

Golly gee willikers, these chugs! the guitar work is excellent here, and the interpretation is really awesome. Tons of variations on the original motifs as well as original content without failing to provide context from the source. 2:34 is a great example of this, the original melody is modified without losing familiarity. Excellent work all around, my only nitpick would be that the mix could've been just a tiny bit brighter, and that I didn't dig the false ends and stop after the 3 minute mark, but they do bring some pacing changes which are welcomed. Up to the front page with this one! YES

I wasn't part of the original evaluation, nor have I listened to it so I guess I'll bring a fresh approach here. First thing to be addressed is the vocal SFX. I will admit I'm a fan of using narrations or vocal clips in my own music to add flavor and context, but I think they are a bit too much here. From what I can gather there used to be more prevalent in the previous version. In this version I think the usage is borderline, as in, I think they could be pushed back and removed further but they're not so prevalent as to take over what should be more important (the arrangement behind them). Speaking of the arrangement, I thought it was pretty sweet, the melodies and performances are a strong point, very jazzy, yet chill and freeform. I didn't take as much issue with the more crowded sections, and I really enjoyed the arrangement, even if I never heard the BOTW soundtrack before. Production is pretty solid for the most part, clean and warm in most places. I believe the vocal sfx will be a big point on contention in people's mind (and youtube comments!) if this gets posted, but this is the artist's vision for the track and the amount of sfx and whether they are enough or too much is now so borderline I think it will come down to preference. I would still like to point out to listeners to look beyond them as there's a very solid and enjoyable arrangement behind. YES

I definitely wasn't expecting a chiptune-inspired remix with this one, but it worked very well. The transitions between sources was handled transparently as well. I think there was enough variety in the arrangement as well, the triplets-based groove at 1:30 was a nice change of pace, and the ending glitching was a great touch. The production was lo-fi and gritty without sounding noisy, and I think the elements that aren't quite lo-fi fit very well with the rest. Overall pretty solid entry, off to the front page with you! YES

Pretty much my thoughts on this one. The piano velocities can be an issue at times, and I think more could've been done to add subtlety to the performance, but the transformation and changes on the melody lines carried by it is what mostly makes this remix unique. I was fine with the arrangement's dynamics, I think the energy levels drop/rise enough throughout the track, which is very chill in nature and doesn't really need huge peaks and cliffs in mood. On the production side things are clear, while the mix has a bit of a cold and dry feel to it sometimes, it's not something that brings the whole thing down for me. The sax section was... not very good. The tremolo was a bit excessive IMO, but the sax has a very short stay here. Overall I think this is close but over the bar for me. YES (borderline)

I remember listening to this when McVaffe released it, I thought it was pretty nifty but also, as the other Js have noted, quite static. The arrangement itself evolves slightly over time and the writing of the parts is not a straight copy paste of sections, there is variation in the performances, but it does feels like this mix glides through with a very linear, constant energy level and it gets a bit boring by the end, which is a bit of a letdown since older MV's remixes were simple but fun to listen to repeatedly. I feel that the different parts that make up this arrangement feel repetitive at times and are reused too much, although never reused in the same exact way. On the production side things are clean and punchy, and I have no issue with the sound palette here. Overall, I say MV's production is up to date and his arrangement skills are still good, but this mix isn't as fun to listen to as what I was accustomed to. Fun may be subjective though, as this mix is technically sound, I still I think it inches over the bar due to the pros outweighing the cons. YES (borderline)

This works fairly well. Some parts sound pretty cheesy, I think for this adaptation perhaps a different key would've benefited the tone of the arrangement, but in the end it might be subjective. Regardless of tone, the changes made to the original score to make it fit a jazzy adaptation are on point. The samples aren't extremely realistic but they get the job done and I can hear that a good amount of effort went into detailing the performances. The production is ok, though I feel that it's a bit on the quiet side and sometimes, due to the dynamics of the instruments, some lead performances kind of mesh into the background too much, such as the trumpet in the first section. The addition of the phased chords near the end was pretty sweet, loved it. YES

Ah, I was looking for a word to describe this but Deia beat me to it: Intimate. Gotta say, after having reviewed quite a few tracks from Bluelighter by now, this is a very nice change of pace. If there are production issues on this one, none jump out at me as something major. The mix isn't very bright, but it is clean and warm, and that's quite alright for this style. The performances are great here, I loved Amaterasu's performance in particular, which was very dynamic and cozy-feeling while also exuding just a bit of sadness and nostalgia. The arrangement complements the performances in its execution, and is very rich in flavor while also holding back things from being too complex in order to keep it all light. The only (subjective) stain in an otherwise excellent offering is the fade-out ending. YES

Definitely quite a few things to sort through here. The initial brass performances seem intentionally bad, but at 2:14.. I'm not so sure. The intonations are still pitchy and I think the intention was to convey a bit of dissonance and confusion there which is perfectly ok, but at the same time the (apparently) normal brass playing in the background is swelling with the same envelope on every note and is very problematic. Is that intentional? not sure. I will assume the wild variations in velocity are also intentional here, but I'm not so sure about the articulations. The strings are another area of contention as they also suffer from some articulation issues that have been pointed out above, making them sound very amateur-ish specially around the minute mark. Some vocal notes on the soloist sound very fake as well. The arrangement on the other hand is very well handled, and dynamics are very detailed which I enjoyed. The track is constantly evolving, and ends in quite a softer, blissful tone compared to the fierce, madness-peppered start. Both sources are represented well and weaved together expertly. I'm in quite a bind here, some of the issues are pretty obvious and up-front, and not knowing what was intentional and what was not is not easy to tell. I am leaning towards the fact that Rebecca has shown proficiency and know-how regarding this genre/style in the past and so the choices made are stylistically on purpose, but others are very obviously not so. I have to also consider the well-crafted arrangement, which is by itself over the bar. I think I'm leaning towards a borderline pass here. I will however make a note to revisit this later, not setting this one in stone yet. YES (borderline)

Very 2000s Nu-metal, this one. The rapping sections were pretty weak in my opinion, but the chorus was very strong. The arrangement and structure are pretty good here, this sounds like a single you would hear at the peak of the nu-metal popularity, though an expressive guitar solo is not something you often heard in the style, here it's a very nice inclusion. Even the lyrics are similar to the often sad/emotive themes and tropes in the genre. I see Larry shows some reservations with the production, and I do too. The dual arpeggios and different effects going on in some points make for a rather cluttered background. However, I think the mix as a whole is strong enough to go above the bar, even though it could have been cleaned up a bit. YES

#shamelessselfpaneling Artist: Sir_NutS, Injury Name of the games arranged: Donkey Kong Land Name of the arrangement: Another World of Dreams Name of the individual songs arranged: 'Ancient Beaver Bop' Links to originals: I made this remix for one of the very earliest PRC rounds more than a decade ago. It was a stylistic tribute to Robert Miles, who sadly passed away very recently. His music was a great inspiration for me when I started to learn how to make music, and really very few people can claim they have been a major driving force, even called creator of a whole genre. Needless to say, this is a Dream Trance remix that I tried to make as close as I could to Miles' style within the constraint of the source. However, this is not the same remix I made so long ago. That remix was, although solid on the arrangement side, imo, very lacking on the production department, pretty understandable given how old it was. The original Reason project is literally unusable as I only have a read-only rps file left, so I had to remake everything but the arrangement from scratch using completely new tools on Bitwig. I think I managed to reproduce the custom sounds I created back in the day very closely while bringing the production up to standards, and then I tweaked the arrangement even more and changed quite a few things. I still wasn't very happy with it, so I asked Injury to provide those signature, breathy and dreamy vocals found in these type of songs. Her contribution elevated the track to something I can be proud of now, even if I stick to some basic tenets and cliches of the genre. My only regret is that the original arrangement didn't leave much space for her to really let out melodically. Enjoy!

This. I didn't take as much issue as Gario with the harmonies, they aren't too complex for the most part, but they are effective, and the strong point in this track, in my opinion, it's the storytelling and the quite daunting task of taking so many sources and condensing them into a 3 minutes arrangement at have it make sense, and be very enjoyable as well. YES

The sidechain is just too much. On the other hand, the arrangement is pretty awesome. But the heavy sidechain permeates the entirety of the track and is just distracting as hell. This kind of heavy sidechaining works in some EDM genres because it's mostly used on stuff with little melodic content, so actual melodies aren't being obscured, but the beginning of chords, arpeggios and the like are, which creates a neat groove effect. I don't think that has the same effect here, and this just sounds like no care was put listening to what the sidechain was actually doing to the music. The release is too long, the ratio of compression is too high. You can get away with much smaller values for these parameters and still make your drums come through clearly, which is the whole point. Specially since in a modern dnb track your drums are short and snappy anyways. The track is also very compressed, you can clearly hear the overly long compression release tail in action at 2:08, the difference in volume is VERY noticeable and distracting, as well as when it kicks back at 2:19. Not very natural sounding. Sidechain rants aside, like I said, the arrangement is pretty solid, the guitar performance is a highlight. I found the hat sequence to get somewhat intelligible at some points which caused it to create this scratchy effect over the beat that sounds mostly like just noise and not actual instruments. I enjoyed the changes throughout the track, the piano break, the switch to the shuffled rhythm, all good stuff. I will be voting NO on this one for now but I will listen again on my best setup and see if things are as bad on the production side as I'm hearing now. NO (for now)

I'm all up for this. It's hilarious, the choice of synths seems more like a stylistic choice than amateurish, and the vocalist is spitting hot fire. This is some classic Hip Hop goodness going on here, but the rapping style reminds me of prodigy's diesel power. Isaac knows when to switch cadence and when to stay on a fixed groove, he backing beat may be a bit repetitive at times, but the vocal rhythm is not, and that's what good Hip Hop is about. I hear Kris' complains about the un-processed vocals, but I think there is some processing on them, I hear some compression an eq at least, and I don't feel like they need a lot of processing given the style chosen. They come out strong and clear on my side. I think this is a case of weak production vs strong performance and execution. I think the latter wins, but not by much. Also I'm a damn skeleton. Bullshit!. YES

I wasn't part of the previous review, but this sounds pretty ok to me, kinda reminds me of some of the slower Celtic Frost songs. I wasn't completely sold on the vocals, even though they are guttural they should have some degree of intelligibility, and I wasn't having an easy time trying to discern them. I have no idea what kind of game The Cat Lady is, but I wouldn't relate this type of metal (or even the source's style) to that, so this is right off the left field for me. It was a neat surprise as this mix does a good job delivering on what it promises. There was some tasty dissonance in the original that is seemingly being avoided in this remix, which is a bit sad for me since I love that stuff!. Either way, I think this is over the bar. Up you go. YES

Greg knows what's up. Iron Maiden-like vocals, yes, but this is also as Helloween as it gets. YES

wow, what a fun arrangement. I'll admit, I'm not 100% sold on this. The mix here is pretty questionable, with a very noticeable lack of low end, bassdrum almost disappearing from the mix, the bass lacking any body, and rhythm guitars that take over the mix almost completely. Doing some A/B with already posted remixes in this style brings the difference in mix balance pretty clearly (even more if you load up your visualizer like i did). There are other nagging issues for me here, such as a left-panned cymbal hit that is often offbeat and really sticks out from the rest of the beat, as if it didn't belong there, plus a very crowded mid-high space, though that's mostly due to the overly-dominant rhythm guitars. The arrangement is very good, and indeed has some new ideas, but the production is just not over the bar at all and drags the rest of the song down with it, imo. NO (resubmit)

I found myself entranced by some of the sections where you just explored the original progressions, so much detailing and originality there. I think those are the very same sections Deia found that went too long, but to me they were hypnotizing. I sat here in the snobbiest pose you could think of just savoring all the melodic layers. The change in signature is just awesome. I'll admit it felt off on the first listen as I'm perhaps too accustomed to the original cadence. I don't find too many issues with humanization and the performances, they aren't perfect but they are good. I felt some of the dynamics in some spots could've been more pronounced, such as some long attacks on a couple legato sections that I think could've started quieter. A bigger issue for me was how some instruments felt a bit thin, like some brasses, that lacked body and were just a bit strident in character. In general, I feel the mix could've had more body and bottom end to it. I didn't find the issues were that many or too pronounced to take away from such an intricate and well-executed arrangement. YES

Well, as someone unfamiliar with this soundtrack, I too am having a hard time making the connections. I can hear some connections to Ramza's theme, but even those are pretty interpretative. I didn't take as much issue with the rhythm guitar's balance, although admittedly they could be toned down slightly, it didn't obscure the other elements too much. I actually found some of the continuous cymbal hits did obscure some elements instead. Other than that, I could hear the different elements fairly well. I do have issues with the guitars though, and it's just how static they are. They should be providing energy and drive to the track, but the long sustained chords that go on and on really do nothing for the song. In the sections where there's some dynamism added to the guitars, you can feel how the song instantly gains personality and gets interesting (i.e. 1:22). But for the most part it feels like the guitars are just on autopilot for very long sections of the song. I wasn't a huge fan of the offbeat rhythm used with the woodwinds either, didn't feel very natural to me, specially since you have other woodwinds playing melodies on top of that. Not sure about the vocals brought in later... I don't know how they are supposed to fit thematically into this one. I think this is a good start for an interesting take on these themes, Ryan. But it's not quite there yet. I would like more interesting guitars rhythms that don't feel on autopilot, some trimming out of long-winded sections that don't seem to provide much connection to the sources, and perhaps some re-writing so the connection to your sources is more noticeable. If you want to keep things very interpretative I would suggest providing some breakdown or just pointers on how to spot the sources for us plebs who have never heard the FFT ost before (though I think the other js have heard it before and still had issues making a connection). NO (resubmit)

I don't think the guitar will fool anyone with the performance, as it's a bit stiff at some points, but the processing on it is really sweet, as well as the melody lines it plays. The synth leads and the piano were soft and very sweet, I quite liked the textures used for these, sure they are rather simple but they have a very nice tone that complements this track perfectly. The drum sequencing is simple but effective, and I never felt the track was on auto-pilot. There's a lot of re-arrangement here, even though we can hear the original in the underlying progression and sometimes just plainly in the synth leads. This is another one for our OCR Chill remixes youtube playlist. YES

Yeah, this sounds pretty vanilla and dry. Gario and Larry nailed the issues well here, the drum groove is as basic as it gets, and though later is filtered out, I think it doesn't do enough to keep things fresh. The original did more with the drum writing to keep things in line with the arrangement, even. Ending was a bit sudden but, it could've worked in a better crafted song. The mix though, has this sense of emptiness even though it does have enough elements to fill up a track, it just needs some kind of padding or reverb to fill up the gaps. The bass also felt very bland to me. I think this needs several production passes to get it over the bar, bringing the whole mix together with sounds that sound less cheesy and fill up the spectrum more, and with more intricate drum sequencing/detailing. NO

This is pretty great. Beefy, epic drums add tons of energy and a larger-than-life feel to an already epic arrangement. Guitars are chunky and solos are simple, but in a track like this you don't need to go Yngwie on them. Great ambience that really brings this nordic feeling to it. The beefy parts with the synth bass and big drums have a very Mick Gordon feel to them, really chunky and huge. Some of the melodies here remind me of metroid prime for some reason. Unless the rest of the tracks in this album are of an insane quality this will definitely be a highlight. YES