m68030

Aside from the questionable grammer in the letter... I'm still trying to link up the piano part with the dance part other than a bass line... Is he saying this is a midi rip with his own stuff over it? Some neat dancy drum/bass stuff going on near the end, but that middle drum/bass/piano section makes me a little iffy feeling. I think the piano section in the middle which is basically flat out from the game kind of disqualifies this. NO

1:30 long? That's almost too short no matter how awesome it might be. There is some neat percussion stuff going on, but the arrangement itself otherwise is pretty straight forward directly the original as best as I can tell. The samples themself are pretty neat, but.. it's just the original with a new drum track and different samples. Way too short. NO

Yeah, the synths used here just don't fit in together. The drums are sort of neat but still way too loop-based. NO

Wow. Sample quality is a serious issue here above all else. The arrangement isn't doing much for me either. Just lots of stuff need to be addressed here.. NO

There's definatly neat stuff going on here in the minimalism department, but it's just sort of not going much of anywhere.. I'm a sucker for minimalism, and I dig the softness of it, so I'll give it a YES because I'm sure i'll be outvoted.

Torn torn torn torn... I do like the arrangement, but the sonic quality of it leaves something to be desired. It just sounds muddy in alot of places where it could really be shining. This is a very sad NO that I give it because I'd like to see this track again in maybe a few weeks where it's been tightened up and beefed out. It could easily be posted as is right now and people would love it, but I think it's really close to being much better with some closer attention to mastering of it.

Something about the distant sound of the guitar/drums is rather appealing to me. I rather enjoy the layering of various elements in the guitar... something we sadly don't see a lot of here in the guitar tracks we get. Neat to have some music from a game and a system never available to the general public as well... Nothing really rubbing me too terribly the wrong way here. Sure I'd like the guitar to be a little more meaty, but i still think it works well.. YES

The question of what key certain parts of this is in should be addressed. Past that I think all that needs to be said has been. NO

Ack... bad sample loop points Ok.. letse.cx.. Sounds like there is some distortion or clipping going on in the low end.. sounds like compression artifacting on the bass or some of the drums. Speaking of the drums, they are really dominating alot of the dynamic range. There are a few neat sections where stuff comes back in, but past that there is almost no development or building... it just seems like I've heard all there is to hear in this track after about 30 seconds. Sure, it'd work as background music or something, but if you're going to make such a dancehappy track, it's going to need a good bit more to show for itself. NO

Yeah.. it's just too simplistic. The excessive volume compression just makes me want to turn down my volume even more, not catch my attention. I'm not digging the excessive phaser/flanging effects. Really could use more dynamic variation and more complexity in the arrangement. NO

Well until we get an original for comparison I'll treat this as though it isn't too close and say that it's a neat little dance track. Not so many layers as to cloud whats going on, but not so simple that it's boring. I wasn't too thrilled with the actual theme ITSELF, but the remix is at least executed decently. I was a little irritated with the excessive stereo separation in some of the instruments though. Overall, I would call this a nice clean dance track. YES

Has sort of an Circus Contraption charm to it in the ickiness of it all, but the closeness to the original kills it for me. NO

Yeah, the loss of pitch in the few bass low notes is kinda making me frown. Also noting that the encoder has fouled up the time recognition in Winamp.. might want to re-encode that for better compatability. .....fucking music of my groin lyrics... Anyway.. Now that the melody has kicked in, i'm noting that it smells alot like my groin... I'm sure a few people would enjoy it, but the vast majority are just going to be left going "Oh, another zelda mix." I'm not really understanding the point of this track.. the combination of the house/club bass and piano, strings, etc just confuses me.. Sure it works musically, by stylistically what's the point? I dunno, I'm just not hearing anything really outstanding here execpt for some nice clean instruments. NO

I'd say YES to both the Koudelka and SimCity track.

For x = 1 to 20 step 1 print x". YES" next

I think those extra notes are there because the core of this track is a lead, a bass, and some drums. without those extra notes suddenly there is a rather large hole. Sure, there are some neat sounds and effects and what not, and the cheezycliche oldmovie sample is kinda cute, but overall does this really do anything specifically new with the theme? We've heard this done a dozen other times before by other people. Yes, there are parts of this mix that just sound fantastic, and there are others that just don't even seem like they should be part of this track. Sure, parts of it are well done, but without any substantial development, and a slightly questionable take on the melody, I'm hearing a lot of really cool patches being used in a mix that we've heard done so many other times that without a substantial 'hook', it gets lost in the whitewash of whats been done before. Nice quality synths, but past that it doesn't do anything for me. NO

Yeah, I actually kinda like this one... it's a little weird, sure, but some neat sounds going on here. However that EQing problem that he mentioned really does make what could be a pretty tight little track feel sloppy and weighed down. The drums could use a hair more compression, especially on the bass drum. The 'cavern' feel is there with some of the more airy reverbish stuff, but that lead could be brought out alot more with some proper attention to the bandwidth of the ear... there's just too much stuff going on in the same section of the spectrum. Despite these technical gripes, it's a neat little track, though I'd really like to hear it cleaned up a bit more. So although I think it could be better, it's got my vote. YES

Well it sounds clean and all, but there's nothing that jumps out and grabs my attention... and that ending was rather weak sounding. NO

Ehh.. I dunno, I can hardly hear anything but that hat and the snare... i mean seriously.. i cannot hear midrange in this unless i turn it up and then the hat is hurting my ears.. and why just fade this out? It just seemed to drag on for so long, and it's only 3 minutes long. I just think this could be done much better. NO

Wow. that's pretty damn quirky right there. At :30, this is already got a NO vote, based on what I've scanned of the other judging results. So.. feedback.. hm. Drums are painfully static. Changes in dynamics and rythym would make a big difference. The synths used are a crime against digital audio... I dont even know what to say about the arragement.... I'm suprised this is even on the judging forums. This seems like a form rejection letter submition to me. NO

I dunno. I'm a little torn here. That bass line just seems really too hard for my tastes, and it still feels a little empty. This just seems way too short for me though. It doesn't really do more than restate the original melody with a few different neat instruments. Enjoyed listening to it, but I don't think it's ocr material NO

I can only imagine the low-pass is suppose to be like we're underwater or something.... i just can't imagine why someone would write a dance track and try to be amazingly symbolic with their psycho-accoustical image. Neat idea.. but this just isn't mastered well. NO

well despite the fact that i do think that guitar and drum loop are some neat little nuggets of please use this somewhere else more effectivly, the blatent use of either the flat out original or something so close to it just is rubbing me the wrong way. also.. that guitar seems a little in need of tuning. I dunno, this seems like a neat little idea, but it just feels flat as-is now. That's a rather brutal guitar sound, and I'd love to hear it put somewhere with a bit more energy behind it. This theme has always been pretty brooding, and this feels like it wants to break into something faster, but cant because of the restraint of the song. Torn, but sitting on a NO. Saddens me though, cause I feel alot of potential here. I hope that Quake remix I saw over on the WIP boards gets fleshed out more and we see it here soon. (: edit: Just wanted to expand on a few things I said-- I wouldn't call the guitar mediocre, like Vig said, I rather thought it was a pretty cool sound... but without more a more stylistic approach to the melody, it just becomes flat sounding. But if there was any question about a reason NOT to post this, the use of the original SPC in the begining drove the nail in it. If that were re-created in an original style and then developed over the course of the song, then we'de have some nice asskicking going on.

1:45.... still waiting.... god, is it only two minutes in? Oh wait.. something happened.. Oh neat a key change.... But seriously, i'm being a little rude... There are a few neat sections here and there and all, but there's just not enough to justify it being as long as it is... and it's not that long... That lead just isn't doing anything for me either.. feels sloppy or something.. There are a few neat pads and all in the background, but overall, i'm just left very bored and feeling unrewarded for having listened to the entire thing. NO and dont just fade it out!

So sad seeing this little gem sitting on the bottom of the review boards... maybe a bump will get it a little more attention (: and how can you not love that title?