Sir_NutS

This is super fun to listen to. Bubbly and sugary synths. The disco beat is kinda constant but there are fills and changes throughout, I didn't feel it was on autopilot. Production is clean and pleasant, but the leads have a tendency to being forced to the background by the harmonies and drums. The groove is funky and makes me bob my head to it for sure. The adaptation to the disco/funky style works but then again, the original was very much like that. My only gripe with this is that there isn't much of a remix in there. It takes the original and repeats it twice (3 times if you count the last minute). Some harmonies are changed but the structure is mostly the same. The last minute is, mostly, just the backing harmonies and beat playing the same progression we've already heard, only this time without a lead. It's a very groovy section but there really isn't much there and it feels like an over-extended wind down to the end. I actually don't feel that this is too far from making it. A few structure changes would've done it for me, maybe a new section, something to make this remix more of your take on it. Also, I don't think the last minute is adding much value to the remix. I definitely want to hear this again in a more developed form so please consider giving it another pass with more arrangement ideas and send it back. NO (resubmit)

Not a bad sub, but I think it falls a bit short. Production-wise things are clean, helped by the arrangement not being overly deep, but that lack of depth hinders it quite a bit. The drums are basic in the sense that there aren't that many percussive elements there however there are many sections where you change things up, sometimes you go half-time, sometimes you try interesting rolls and fills, so overall I think you did a lot with what you had but adding more depth there wouldn't hurt. The textures aren't overly interesting, sometimes they do their job (I think the sidechained supersaws were alright) but sometimes they feel flat. As an example I think the pulse wave leads are bland and don't seem to have a lot of articulations or performance techniques applied to them. If you listen to the original leads there's a loooot going on with the articulations and performance techniques there, I would advise to take a closer look at how the original makes that lead interesting. There are some issues that are more related to energy management here, as 1:15 feels like it's intended to be a drop but it falls very, very short of having any impact. Maybe it's meant as a breakdown, but this section is followed by another breakdown at around 1:44 which is confusing. Either the drop at 1:15 needs to have a lot more impact or you need to get rid of the section so you don't have two consecutive breakdowns. The ending is super disappointing and doesn't resolve into anything. The arrangement is really not that different from the original in both style and substance. I think you could do more to separate your take from the original. As of right now I don't think this makes it but you're not really too far from something that could make the frontpage, however this definitely needs more work. NO

I'm not super familiar with the CC soundtrack, so this is mostly new for me. I don't think I can add much to this since the others have explained very well the strengths of this remix and I mostly concur with the other Js, I'll just mention that this could've used a bump in volume as usual. It's a well-organized track, with each part having its time in the spotlight, with some performance issues with the voice library used, I felt the sequencing there was a bit too stiff. The arrangement was solid but it really didn't blow me away, however there's enough arrangement here to make it. The production is clean. As a whole this is just a solid track that should be in OCR's library. EDIT: Is it possible that we can reach Rebbeca for a bump in volume? the more I listen to this, the more I'm feeling this should be a Conditional instead. YES

Agree on this, it's a very safe remix. I really, really would've liked to hear some kind of expansion over the original or an original section... but even tho it's very close, it's not really a carbon copy although most of the originality is due to the soloing. The mastering is so-so, yes the elements can mostly be heard (I do hear some mud in there) but I don't think the mixdown is as clear as it could be. Like Larry I found some sections overly cramped specially with all the guitars and synth harmonies. The performances are pretty good in here, and overall this is pretty solid outside of the things I mentioned before which aren't as bad as I may be presenting them as in my vote. The track is going at almost breakneck speed but doesn't feel jumbled or chaotic, this could fit in a 90's arcade shoot-em-up just fine, without the racing sounds which honestly I found more cheesy than charming. Overall, this is a thumbs-up from me. YES

@Emunator I think there might be something wrong with your setup, I'm not seeing any clipping on my end, and the RMS value is much lower It's true that the track is too compressed, although even when it's this compressed I can distinguish most elements, however it did give me listening fatigue after a couple of minutes for sure. The arrangement is super good here, with some sections following the original pretty close while others (i.e. the whole last section) divert quite a bit and bring more interpretation to the table. It feels like there's not a moment where things are left on auto-pilot, binging new ideas or small change in the details to change things up. Production-wise, besides the overcompression some bitcrushing effects get slightly annoying here, but those don't last too long. Even with the high compression, I think this makes it. Like I said the mix is surprisingly clear to my ears, although the compression can be a bit tiring, the arrangement and mix clarity makes up for the bad things. I would be ok with sending it back for a more relaxed Master but I think I'm ok with this. YES (borderline)

Very original and fun take. Eino's stuff used to be a bit rough around the edges production-wise but this sounds pretty clean to me, although the mix balance could have used another pass imo, as some leads don't pop up as much as I would like. I feel some more harmonic content in the mids could've helped fill the mix a bit more but there's nothing wrong perse with what we have here. That said, the ending didn't work for me, it's too abrupt and lacks resolution. It's the worst part of the whole thing by far imo, and takes quite a few points off of what would be a solid entry. The arrangement and adaptation are pretty awesome here, really kudos Eino I can't see myself turning this clowny tune into something actually listenable and enjoyable. Adaptation here is by far the song's biggest asset, really well done. Overall, I am not as on board on this one as Larry and Bev, as some of the mix imperfections and the... honestly bad ending turned me off a bit, but I think it's still good enough to have on the frontpage, but it only just makes it. YES (borderline)

Oh yes this is dope. Warm synths are the name of the game here and I love them. Strong synthwave vibes, clean and powerful mix. Arrangement wise this checks out, as the original is expanded on and most prominently, perfectly adapted to this style. Nothing here feels on autopilot, even the nuances on the filter changes for the synths, or the changes in pace accentuated by the drums changing to half time as necessary. Full of substance and flavor, a thoroughly enjoyable ride. YES

I agree with Brad, which in turn makes me agree with Wes (Welcome back dude!). I think the arrangement lacks a bit of substance. As mentioned above, it's a short track that didn't get much time to develop, and if you take into account that the last part is mostly just an arpeggio fading out... it's not substantial enough imo. The mixing is not ideal either here, some elements are hard to hear or are clashing with others mixing-wise. The mix feels a tad claustrophobic. The performances are a highlight here, as I think the arrangement is well performed and some emotion can be felt breaking through the arrangement, but I don't think it's enough. I would have liked the arrangement to have more meat to it and a cleaner mix. We have short mixes on the site but they usually use that short time well to present a breadth of creative ideas from the artist(s) involved. I don't think this is bad but it's not there yet either. NO (resubmit)

I did vote on the original sub. I had an issue with the mastering obviously but I also had some other issues with the production, mainly the lack of lows and power in the drums. How does this resub fare? Well, there are lows now, a ton I'd say, but it's mainly the sub bass doing the work there. I do think the track is now too sub-heavy, but it's not as bad as to be a reason for rejection. The track feels a lot more open now due to the proper compression levels. I still think the arrangement is solid, and outside of the uber-sub I don't think there are huge issues, there are still some things I don't like, like some of the distorted synths sounding a bit hollow still, but I can't deny that now this track is over the bar. YES

I never played any of the originals for more than 10 minutes or so but I enjoyed SoR4 a lot, possibly the best beat'em up I've played. I beat it with all the SoR4 characters, but I don't enjoy playing with the old, retro characters. Good stuff overall.

Some nice 80s electro pop groove here. Getting some subtle Kraftwerk vibes with some of the synths, specifically reminds me of "Telephone call". Sadly this one is not as enjoyable of an experience, the synths and drums are snappy and warm sounding but the soundscape is pretty barren. It's missing something, maybe lyrics, maybe another harmony or pads, but it sounds way too empty at times. I wasn't a fan of the voice clips, they're not meshing well with the mix, as they aren't clean enough and the background noise is a harsh contrast to the minimal arrangement and clean mix. There's some attention to detail here if you look hard enough, some inflections in a few elements, for example some bass pith bending here and there, but it's all very subtle and not enough imo. The ending was a bit sudden. This just needs something more. NO

Sequencing feels very robotic, which is bad if you're using these instruments. The guitar in particular sounds very artificial in the way it's being played and also the sample itself, while the sax is not trying to hide it's artificial nature at all. One good thing I can say about the sound design/palette here is that I did like the background pads and overall ambiance. The mix seems clean enough for me. There are other sequencing oddities, like how at 2:14 the drums seem to be in a whole different groove than the rest of the track. Arrangement-wise I found the format a bit odd as well, it's creative but the final "lap" seems all over the place arrangement-wise. It tries to give that feeling of urgency of a final lap but I don't think it's quite there in the energy levels needed for that. The ending is just not good. I don't think the overall quality is there with this one. NO

For all the effort you took to add impact to the song, I think the climax sections lack a lot of power. This is partly due to the mastering which seems botched by bad limiter settings: Not something you want to see Also the synths feel pretty flat even though they are distorted, which in theory should give a lot of character but somehow they sound a bit... hollow. The drums sound big in the sense that they have pretty long tails but they are not impactful, possibly due to lack of lows during the drop. Actually the whole mix is lacking lows, as the kick is pretty muffled and the bass lacks character. the last drop around 3:10 tried to go with the big sound with the constant sub and all but still feels pretty lacking and the drums are disappearing in the mix. I think some kind of sidechaining would help a ton in cleaning up these messy sections and bringing up those impactful drum hits you want. In addition the distortion used is making the synths sound brittle and overly digital instead of beefy and full of character, i would try with a different distortion type or unit. Overall too many issues to see this in the front page for now, but the arrangement was solid so if you up your production game I can see this making it. NO

This track's issues are obvious, it's too static and repetitive. But calling it a midi rip is definitely wrong, there's interpretation here, and detailing put into the performances and sequencing of the main instruments too. I loved the cello that appears around 2:46 and I think the dynamics and articulations on it are pretty cool. The two tracks fit perfectly together as well, the concept works for me, it just needed a bit more variation with the backing elements. There IS variation, but it's too subtle. Even though the track is repetitive, I don't think it overstays its welcome for too long. I actually don't think this is a bad track at all. But I need to mull over it for a while, I'll leave my comments for now.

This is one of those signature tracks from this OST. The track starts very conservative, but it does expand over the original enough, only not necesarily through the main lead section. I did like the lo-fi sections although they sound a touch too distorted for their own good. On the good side the arrangement doesn't feel like it's copy-pasting, it feels like some thought went into each section. Nice Djent adaptation as well, which is a bit of a culprit when it comes to the lack of highs. Yes the track quotes the original melody almost verbatim but outside of that there's work done with the structure and the sections in-between the main melody. I do think the Js that voted NO have a point in this being on the conservative side. I do think it makes it but it's not as clear-cut as Larry puts it, specially considering the mix could be cleaned up further. I do think it's enough but only just. YES (borderline)

This remix is a bit frustrating to listen to. There are many really neat ideas here but the execution is lacking and the mix balance is off. It's frustrating because underneath the issues lies a nice remix indeed. The intro is not very good, the piano is not the greatest and the performance is not expressive enough, could be less mechanical. The switch to the next section shows a sharp difference in volume, though not as bad as later on. I'll be honest until this point I thought this mix would be super vanilla, but 0:19 brings a whole new mood to the song. I think placing the piano melody verbatim on top of your beautiful harmonies was a mistake, and I would've preferred to hear some expansion and exploration instead. Around the first minute comes the first huge jump in volume. Some beautiful ambiance and pad usage in this section. The sax sounds ok to me for the most part but it does have some weird intonations, such as sudden cuts after long swelling legato notes. After the sax section is over we encounter the other big issue with this remix, it's very static and repetitive. Also very long while not a lot of stuff is being introduced/explored. It goes on and on on mostly rehashing the same ideas until it ends around 6 minutes in. This is not a bad song, outside of the volume disparity throughout the mix, the production was pretty clean and the sound palette was pleasant and interesting. But the issues with volume, repetition and lack of interpretation bring the track down below the bar. NO

Not a bad arrangement, but this definitely sounds like it's pretty old. The samples aren't the best (that piano...) and the arrangement can get a bit repetitive, though since this is a Hardcore remix, that comes with the genre. Still, the production is not quite there for current OCR. The mix sounds a bit barren and unbalanced as well. The buildups work ok, but the actual drops are pretty weak. I think a modern revision of this song could make it, there are a lot of catchy ideas here and the genre is represented extremely well, but that's it. I'll like to add that this is pretty impressive-sounding for a tracker song in the late 90s tho. NO

Unsurprisingly this is a very good, very well-crafted arrangement. Tim does a very good job when he's mixing different sources (guess those Darkesword compos paid off!) and the source breakdown is always appreciated. There are some sections that get a little too busy but it doesn't detract from the arrangement. Production is very clean as always. Really loved the piano on this one, it's very detailed but it doesn't try to take over the leads, and it's very fun to follow it. I thought the segue into scars of time around the second minute was flawless too. This track has a lot of Future Bass elements (and structure) too, just a bit on the mellower side. Sorry I don't have that much else to say, it's just a very well produced and arranged track, and we're used to getting that from Tim. I guess that's more of a compliment! YES

This adaptation is pretty great. I think a lot of people will have a hard time linking it to the source but it's definitely there, it's just heavily transformed. I liked the adaptation and arrangement a lot here, really nice work there. The production is the big issue with this one IMO. The kontakt factory library is pretty obviously fake sounding, but not so as to become laughable, and it's obvious that a good amount of effort went into changing articulations and dynamics to make the most of it. I still think it's not enough sadly, but contrasted against the beautiful adaptation, I'm not sure if it makes the bar. Leaning towards a NO here but I'll come back to this at a later time with fresh ears. EDIT 27/02/2020 : Just to finish my vote, I listened once again and I believe this is still VERY borderline. I won't stop this from getting posted as the other Js have already voted this in, and my only issue was the production.

This brings back memories of raids and college days. That title music is forever ingrained in my mind. I can also hear the other themes here but they're only cameos, most of the track is just the title screen music and variations of it. 1:14 has elwynn on the flute, and 2:08 has a barren riff on the horns. Orchestration is pretty good here, and and I loved the variations, such as around 2:40 where you transformed one of the initial motifs in the original into a surprisingly catchy section, and later mixed it with a different part of the original in the high violins around 3:20. This is one of my favorite remixes of this year so far, because I love WoW music (I even use it for the D&D campaigns I DM) and because it's just a very good remix. YES

The production here seems good enough for me overall, nice guitar tones on the chugs, though I think the lead guitar could use some personality. Overall good performances, though nothing mind-blowing. The issue here is arrangement. I appreciate the work done everywhere else but the main melody, as you basically built all the harmonies and of course drums to fit the lead melodies, based on the original's harmonies, so there's some personalization there, but I would've liked to hear more out of the main lead when it comes to interpretation. Also, the song is basically the original melody repeated twice, and we definitely expect a bit more than that. Not a bad start here at all, I think if you lean a bit more into the arrangement side to make it a bit more different this will make it without too much trouble. NO (please resubmit)

uh.. is it just me, or is this mix's panning wack? like the right channel is noticeably louder. Ah, it's not just me: . you might have an issue with your setup here. Based on this I can't really pass this but I'll still offer some criticism over the rest of the track. First the track feels pretty static overall, I don't think the climaxes/breaks/buildups are managed well here, it lacks dynamic energy. The drums are pretty simplistic and kinda buried in the back. I like your brassy synth tho, pretty smooth. Also your leads are nice and have some articulations applied to them so good job with that. I feel the mix has a lot of mud, may be because of the reverb having a lot of low end content, but there's not a lot of separation frequency-wise below mids. I think the arrangement is ok, helped by the songs being already kinda similar, but I think more could be done to make a full song out of the three sources. In fact I think this is a culprit of the static nature of the arrangement, as the usual structure is not clearly defined due to having the three sources and not being properly re-structured into a single song. NO

hmm, I was about to write up my thoughts on this one but I think the Other Js summed up pretty well what's wrong with this track. That said, I don't think these issues bring down the track overall. Specially the notes near the 2:57 minute mark, they don't sound offkey to me, just sounds like an odd selection and configuration of chord + articulations. The male choir is not good that's for sure but it's only a part of the arrangement, and I don't think it's that over-present to take away from the rest of the track which is beautifully arranged and orchestrated. To me the biggest issue here that may be a reason for rejection, is the choir. The other issues I can hear get into the realm of nitpicking for me. Even then the choir doesn't play for too long (thankfully), and doesn't have that much influence in the song as a whole for me. YES (borderline)

You had me groovin since the first few notes. Funky beat and rhythm, and eps for days. I do have some issues with this track though: Production is clean enough, but I feel some of the levels are off. I.E. when the melody is intruduced at around 0:56, the levels on that piano are a bit low so it feels like it's behind all the other instruments. Most importantly, I think this track is very static and a bit too repetitive. Specially towards the second part, it repeats the melodies for way too long without much else really happening. There are a few breakdowns but it feels like the energy levels are like a flat line in this song. I think this needs more interpretation and variation to make it to the front page. It's funky and fun but not quite there yet. NO

Well this is a tough one. Better than last time, yes, but not without issues. The track feels a bit too loud right now, though I'm not sure it's on a reject-level. I think the drum pattern and repetition as a whole is a bit problematic here but given that this is going for sorta pendulum-style rendition, I don't think it's too bad here. I did like the pattern switching around 1:22 and 1:36, it helps with variation, and sounds cool. I feel this track needs slightly more bass as well. I see the cymbals are bothering some judges and I think they are a bit pronounced here. I feel like the cymbals in a pendulum-style song are usually more like a cloud of soft white noise that hovers over the mix rather than something that is constantly poking out of the mix. Anyways, I also think this could benefit from another eq/compression pass. The transients on the drums feel slightly too aggressive and I feel this mix would benefit from some peak taming overall. You want the drums to sound punchy and beefy, not too clicky. Sounds like I'm ragging on a lot of little details on this one, but I feel like these all add up to bringing this track down. This is very close and I think another pass would make it an easy pass for me, but right now it's also very close to the bar, and it's possible I'm being too nitpicky. I'll mull over this one for a bit longer. ------------- EDIT: 2/6/20 Re-listened and I think my criticism still stands. I want to hear this one again with more polish though, so please revise and resub. NO (resubmit)