Sir_NutS

Wow that phaser intro is out of control. I think the intro drags on for longer than it should (around 1 min). Don't get me wrong, it's cool but those moving frequencies need to be tamed a bit, perhaps with some compression to level those wild amplitude variations. The sound design in this song is ok, but the mixing could be better, it gets quite busy in some sections such as 01:18, and a lot of instruments are fighting for attention. The synth at 0:57 feels like it has some sub frequencies that could be filtered out with a high pass to clear up some low end. The piano feels mechanical and lacks humanization. I think the arrangement suffers from lack of focus. The structure is very liberal and that's not always a bad thing but the lack of something to hold everything together makes the track feel like a lot of meandering about without clear purpose. Main sections like 1:18 don't really have something to call the attention to, when I think this could be a good oportunity to create some sort of chorus section. The main Rusty Ruin hook disappears around 1:44 and after that there are a lot of new hooks and melodies introduced and forgotten without much relation to the other sections. The Rusty Ruin hook comes back sporadically around 3:12 but it's not prevalent enough to give the structure the coherence its lacking, imo. The ending comes up unannounced and feels pretty uneventful. Overall this is not bad, but not that good either. I wasn't feeling the arrangement here, and other judges may disagree but I think the structure lacks focus. Fixing structure is much harder than fixing production issues, but I would like to hear a new version of this with a clear focus and direction, as some of the ideas presented were interesting in their own, but as a whole it didn't feel very coherent. NO (Resubmit)

I'm glad I'm not the only one going for underremixed games. This is a very fun arrangement, lighthearted and uplifting, recommended!

This song seems to be very popular among he remixing crowd. Production here seems hit and miss. Some really interesting effects, loved the small details in the synths, and the filtering and pitch bending tricks used. Drum sequencing is very interesting at some points, but for most of the time the song feels very empty and barebones, i think the soundscape could've been much fuller sounding, there's tons of empty space. The drums tended to get behind the synths a bit too much for me. Some synths such as the lead 1:05 felt like they weren't cutting through the mix enough. The arrangement was also hit and miss. There is some interpretation going but there's also quite a lot of repetition throughout. The transitions weren't well excecuted, such as at 1:45 (where the arrangement loses coherence for a while as well), and 2:31 where a better job could've been done with the transition to the big section that follows. Overall some good ideas that need polish to bring the execution up to par. NO (Resubmit)

No time for intros, right into it, I like the way you think. The song is very close to the original. The background chords are replaced with arpeggios but for the most part the drums, bass and leads follow the original rather closely. The mix is balanced, the selection of sounds is fitting although not super rich, so not many qualms on the production side. I think the arrangement feels rather repetitive for a relatively short song. The song is begging for that guitar lead to be used in an awesome soloing section where some new material is introduced. But it's limited to playing the original lead melody with almost no variation. The drums are nice and bring power to the song but they feel on autopilot whenever they're playing, I feel like some fills accents could help it feel less stale. The ending is abrupt and uneventful. I enjoyed this but to get a pass it needs work in the issues mentioned above. This is not far from the bar so I recommend giving it the push it needs. NO (Resubmit)

Medley alright. I don't think the sources were blended together well. The track didn't feel cohesive as a whole, just a collection of themes strung together... so I guess the track name is fitting. The humanization overall is very weak for the most part, as instrument envelopes are very rigid and lacking human character and articulation. Some sections feel very mechanical such as 1:31. Source usage is very evident because the song sticks very close to the originals. Some sections worked better than others, such as around the 6 minute mark when the sources are intertwined and play off each other, but I feel even these sections could've been improved with respect to the performances. Overall this is lacking in the areas mentioned above, humanization, structure and interpretation. It's not very far off the bar so a rework is doable. NO (Resubmit)

Great and clean production. Listening now, I think the track could've used a higher tempo, but it's got plenty of energy as it is. The transition at 02:30 seemed to break the flow a little, but overall there's not much to nitpick here. Source usage seems plenty to me, as well as original material added to arrangement. Solid Track with very clean aesthetics. YES

Would hold hands on a flying carpet with him. YES

Ah, I'm very familiar with this theme, I played PW64 a lot back in the days. Anyways, this theme is sweet, as well as this song. At first, the main lead seemed a bit plain to me but some effects were applied to it over time so it evolved into something more interesting. The lo-fi quality of the drums fit this song well, although they do get a bit loopy. Some variations or glitching would've fit the drum sequencing here very well. The arrangement is VERY conservative though. There's some variations in the lead melody at one point, which felt a slightly noodly, and the arpeggio near the end is a variation on the original's underlying harmony, but other than that I'm not hearing a lot of interpretation. The structure is also a little different. Overall this is a clean sounding mix with a good selection of well utilized instruments but the arrangement side is the weak point. I feel much more could've been done with the original melody but it's mostly repeated verbatim. However there IS some interpretation and a different structure and feel, so I'm willing to give this a pass but I wouldn't be surprised if other judges think otherwise. YES (Borderline)

Ouch, those levels. Right off the bat the arpeggio is very resonant around 1.5khz , you may want to make it less peaky. It's not only the arpeggios as throughout the mix it was a very common ocurrence to hear nasty peaks around the mid-highs. The overall mix feels too loud and overcompressed, to the point where I noticed some distortion going in the last busy section before the end, The pads need to be eq'd separately from the bass as they're obscuring it in the busy sections. I liked the arrangement though. Transitions weren't that great but I liked the feel and energy of the track, little details like the bending synth in the break around 2:20 gave this a lot more personality. The piano chords in the background helped give it a darker feel than the original and I liked that you tried to infuse some more melodic content into the track than what was in the original. This is a good start but the production issues are glaring and need fixing. NO (Resubmit)

This track is fun. I REALLY like it. This submission, based on arrangement and interpretation alone is a solid pass for me, however the production is heavily holding this back. The overall compression is really harsh and brings the whole mix down, the mix lacks clarity and sounds a bit muffled, which means that perhaps the different elements aren't being eq'ed well and given their own space. This mix gets very busy at times, and proper eq is important there. Some sounds I wasn't a huge fan of, such as the woodwinds in the break and the piano which sometimes sounded quite tacky. The piano melodies in the background sometimes felt a bit disconnected, although I appreciated the dissonance introduced at times. The break at 1:50 needs to be changed though, as it pales in comparison to the rest of the arrangement. The break was needed for the awesome re-introduction of the theme later, but I don't think this particular idea works, as it sounds cheesy (in a bad way) and thrown together. You may want to try to change the instrumentation and melodies used there. I did enjoy that you articulated your pulse lead very well and it doesn't sound boring. This arrangement though, it's really awesome. Your style falls squarely between Halc and Protricity, a lot of 9-bit goodness and great interpretation of the original themes, while also having sort of an industrial rock feel driving the song in the beat, guitars and general soundscape. The usage of samples from the game was hit and miss though, sometimes I thought it worked great, such as near the intro, but other times it felt cheesy, as near the break. I think they could be less exposed and loud. I really want you to take the feedback at heart and work on this for a resubmission. This is a very inventive remix and it takes the original themes into territory I hadn't seen explored before. I encourage the judges to look past the very evident production issues and check the arrangement out, it's really fun and detailed. For now though, NO (PLEASE RESUBMIT)

Final Fantasy XIV was a disaster at launch. S-E changed it and over time became one of the top 3 mmos.

V-Reversals are an extremely useful tool against rushdown. Corners are a huge deal in this game, and V-Reversal is the best option every character (except nash) has to safely reset pressure. Watch any tournament and you'll see the players using V-Reversal quite often. Nash is literally the only exception to this and even then, you see Nash players like Infiltration using VR.

Not at all. Will do!

I loved the video AND the song, lots of personality in this song. Kudos.

I have to agree with everything Larry said, down to the missed opportunities to shake things up at 1:24. I also think the leads are dry and mechanically performed. There's really no subtlety in them and also no articulations. The drums are very static throughout, and the fills that are introduced don't fit very well (1:31). I think the last section starting at 2:22 that eased into the ending was the highlight of the arrangement. There are some good elements but the leads need to be infused with some soul, and the structure needs to be more focused and interesting; right now it's too static, with the same energy levels throughout. NO (resubmit)

The double mp gets him out of range so it's pretty safe, but luckily, he can't pressure much after that since he basically got out of range of any of his own moves. Just watch out for his jump afterwards.

#shamelessselfpaneling Artist: Sir_NutS feat. Jivemaster Name of the games arranged: Double Dragon 2 Name of the arrangement: Tag Team Name of the individual songs arranged: Stage 2 'At the heliport' Links to originals: Sup guys, Mike here with a new sub, this time featuring some Jivemaster goodness on the vox. I started this remix after I evaluated a remix of this song on the panel, after listening to the original I found that I liked it quite a bit, and also found it weird that I couldn't remember this song from my NES days (I guess I'm getting old) I decided to take the synthpop approach with it, it has a retro sound but not the usual style I do which is more towards spacesynth/italo; this one is definitely more pop than anything. For the arrangement I kept most motifs but expanded upon them with extra harmonies and variations, as well as some soloing. I've been incorporating more of my keyboard performances on the songs I've made in the past year and I feel I'm getting a better hang of it with each song. Or at least it's taking me less hours to learn a melody now. For this song I used my newly acquired Roland JU-06, which is a hardware synth that emulates the legendary Juno 106, one of my favorite synths of all time. I used it for the bass, chords and pads more specifically, while the leads were mostly patches I made on serum and synth1. I'm very happy with the results, and the fact that the ju-06 is so good I don't need to layer things with it anymore, it's just the single patches I created, with some mixing effects on top. All tied up on a neat Bitwig package. As pointed out at the start, this song features Jivemaster on the vocal and vocoded bits. Enjoy!

That's what I like to read, stories of confident songwriting. Anyways this is an excellent arrangement, way past our bar in regards of interpretation. The scope of this remix is huge, and the song explores a lot of territory during its long duration. I feel like the song could've been condensed further, down a minute or so, although it possible could've affected tension and flow. But I do believe it is a big longer than it should be, but that's not a deal-breaker. Leaving this vote on to finish my thoughts on source usage and production later. If those check out this is definitely a yes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK here's a rough source breakdown: 0:10-0:17 / 0:27-0:45 = Beginnings (woodwinds) 0:46-01:15 = RoCA (woodwinds) 01:16-01:46 = RoCA 2nd half (brasses) 01:52-02:20 = RoCA (strings/brass) 02:20-02:30 = RoCA (variation, woodwinds) 02:31-03:20 = RoCA (bridge arp, piano and woodwinds) 03:21-03:53 = RoCA (2nd half, Church Organ) 04:10-04:45 = RoCA (2nd section-0:55 in original. Brasses) ...That's already over 50% so we're fine. Production seems fine to me, I was worried about the levels the first time I listened, but listening again on fresh ears I hear some grit in the mix but nothing reaching distortion. The performances are well humanized and sample quality is great. Awesome arrangement with tons of variation and reinterpretation of the original! YES

The mix is very big, but thankfully clear. The main pulse lead is handled well, employing different articulations to keep it interesting. Awesome drop, and the subsequent sections keep changing things up to keep the listener interested, such as the awesome glitching around 3:19. The whole song is based around a very basic melody but it doesn't feel repetitive. TBH I'm not a big fan of mixes that push the levels up this hard, as the compression messes things up in some sections like big hits and transitions, but you managed to keep some dynamics and overall this is a very solid mix. YES

Cool ambience, this remix starts pretty straightforwards, iterating slightly on the original, but it slowly evolves into a splendid syncopated and dissonant piece full of little intricacies and tons of detailing. It's a great song to drift away by. I wasn't too keen on the upbeat drumming by the end but I see why the inclusion, to drag the listener down to a more leveled territory from the elaborate and twisted mid section. On the production I thought everything was balanced and although the track gets a bit reverb-y at times I think it fits the mood. I have a soft spot for crazy inventive arrangements and this just poked it. YES

Ok this is very awesome, and VERY 666. Some synths don't sound as clear or interesting as I would like i.e. the 0:51 arpeggio, and some elements aren't eq'd very well, as the vocals at 1:43 which are very piercing . The low synth at 3:41 and the arpeggio is clashing with everything else in that section. Although it may sound like I feel there's a lot of bad stuff in the mix, it's not really the case as the production is good for the most part, but there are indeed some issues. Like Deia, I also checked the sources and I'm pretty sure source usage is ok here. The arrangement and adaptation to the genre is where this remix shines, as this could be playing in a 90's rave club without much problem. Weston kept the energy levels high throughout but without falling in the traps of repetition or tiring the listener. There's tons of natural variations and surprises throughout the track, as it keeps evolving, introducing new, high-energy stuff along the way Fun and high-energy, but not without flaws. I really wish the issues in my first paragraph weren't present, but I'm willing to pass this as is, on the grounds that it's totally awesome. BTW, there's some sampling from the game, I don't think it's a problem but if Larry could check it out that'd be great. Some stuff like the synth-orch hits SOUND like they're sampled but I don't really think they are. YES

Mix clarity wasn't perfect around the mids, and I hear the compressor effecting too much on the backings when the drums are hitting, but other than that I don't hear many issues with the productions. The mix on the backings + drums could've definitely used some cleaning up for clarity, as the busy sections really suffer under the compression and non-ideal EQing but it doesn't distract me too much from the arrangement. This arrangement feels more like an expansion on the original (which is awesome by itself) than trying to change it into something completely different. It sticks close in terms of melody and structure but there are definitely additions that made it stand on its own, and sections like 2:40 broke he mold in a natural way. Awesome performances on the soloing as well. Overall, I feel like some may take issue with the lack of clarity for the backings in some sections, but I feel this is overall past our bar. YES

Pretty much sums it up. Your goal is to annoy the fuck out of your opponent, not winning. Winning is merely a good side effect. Also Bardic I've sent you like 1000 invites u gonna come kick my ass or what.

Drums are cool, albeit a bit muffled, but there's some cool glitching up going with them, with some cool drum soloing/breaking up towards the middle. I wasn't a big fan of the other elements in the track. The marcato strings are performing very mechanically, and feel too muffled as well. This also applies to the solo violin, I think the overall sample quality and the sequencing of the performances is not good on the orchestral elements. The synth lead solo had a bit of portamento but was otherwise a very simple saw with not much articulation going for it. Regarding the arrangement it was hit and miss, the first section flows well, but the melodies in the second section after the drum breakdown (around 2:05 and on) don't fit the groove well, they feel separate from the rest of the mix harmonically. Some of the other elements such as the quick piano notes before this do work though. Overall the production issues regarding sample quality and humanization bring the mix down. There's energy and cool drum sequencing but the rest of the mix does not follow along. NO

Yeah it's yet another awesome RoeTaka Dark Souls Remix. This one is different from his usual style though, with a less straight-up symphonic approach. The focus on the piano melodies and the supporting drums give it a much more relaxed feel than his other submissions. This song however retains the high production quality that we're accustomed to from Alex now. I am however having a very hard time checking for source here. I know that the piano chords follow the original cello melody and progression, and the cello in the remix stays close to the original as well but other than that I hear a lot of original material playing on top. I think the guitar is related to the small arpeggio in the original, just much more expanded, though I'm not sure about that one. The original progression is retained throughout, so I don't think a per-second breakdown is needed because that's all that really is, but I'm not sure that is enough. At 4:35 I hear the Demon's Soul theme being introduced and it goes on towards the end. If other judges feel like the source is represented enough, I'm going to give it a pass, however I'm going to keep this one open, as the underlying progression is there in the strings (and sort of in the arpeggio?) throughout the song and the demon's soul theme is clear, but it's very hard to tell specially since there's A LOT of original material on top. EDIT: 10/20 Thanks to Damonz for the source check. this is then a clear YES