The Orichalcon

I like your sound Cyan. Listening through this without listening to the sources just yet, you have a very crisp and clear style that you've utilised here. The synths aren't too complex, but the techniques used are creative and always refreshing. Above all, they're enjoyable to listen to. The drums do their job perfectly. The hi-hats didn't bother me too much, they're quiet but they provide a little complexity to the background of the mix. Good snare and kick combo gives it an electronic feel without being overbearing. I can see what you've done with the sewer surfin' source in the beginning of the mix, it's hidden but I think it's a valid remix attribute. I'll agree that it's a liberal arrangement, but it seems to be more of an embellishment on the source rather than simply going off and doing your own thing. I think what you've done here is creative and sounds great. One thing that doesn't work in favour of the mix though is the lack of any evolution. After 3 minutes or so, the piece starts to get old, without utilising any really original ideas or beats. I think this would have been better if it had been 1 minute or so shorter in length. That way you could have worked on a proper ending rather than just stopping. That being said, this is still a pass from me. YES

Tunnel mix. Very muddy in the bass end. Everything is so reverby that it sounds like it's being played down a long tunnel. The fake guitar is grungey, you've done well getting it to sound that way, but you can still tell it's fake (Not as bad as fake guitar in other mixes that have passed before mind you.) The problem here is the mix doesn't evolve anywhere. The drums sounds pretty close to the drums from the game, so I'm making an assumption that they're samples from there. It's pretty much just creative work with the drums over throughout the mix, with the FL Slayer and Boobass changing around it every now and then. If I knew what the source was, I wouldn't be surprised if it sounded almost identical to this but with better instruments and production. If you need to drown your instruments in reverb in order to make them sound good, then you need to find better instruments. NO

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=75823 Source: http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiIyMzU2IjtpOjE7aToxMTM4MzI1OTA5O2k6MjtpOjM7fQ== - Level01.mid Tried building a climax, but doesn't work for this style of piece. I decided to get rid of the call to "wake up" halfway through the mix and just let it evolve naturally and serenely through the second half of the mix. I kicked up the strings another level about 3 minutes in and boosted the bass since I thought it sounded flat last time. The vocals are a tad louder since some mentioned that they were subdued last time. They're intentionally subdued in the second half of the mix, they're supposed to take a background role there, where-as they're a focal point in the first half.

The doom movie has nothing to do with this project, talk about it elsewhere. Roe, I removed you from the songs since you missed both deadlines. If you make a piece, PM it to me and I'll see about re-adding you.

10. I played E1M7 from doom on the piano and mixed it up a little.

This is quite simply put awful. Since the link to the source isn't working, I can't No Override this, but I think it probably should be. It's this one "aah" sample repeating over and over with a simple beat and a sharp synth dotting along in the background. According to a write-up on the site there, you just ripped the "aah" sample from the source. NO

This is a step away from your normal mixing style. It sits on a fairly mellow tone for most of the mix, occasionally ducking into some heavier sections with CPacaud's guitar and drums. But it's always when you're not expecting it. The harpsichord in the beginning is a big issue for me. It sounds very fake (MIDI), which in turn makes the woodwind accompanying it sound fake as well. The strings that come in sound a little bloaty for the light tone you've set with the harpsichord too. Not sure if that's all really working together. When the guitar comes in at 0:54 we get a very noticeable transition from fake to real. And this section sounds so much better. The guitar is very mellow here, and the backing all fits together nicely. This section is pristine and put together well. The strings fit this section a lot smoother too. That being said, the sound of the piece up to the point where the guitar starts it's heavy part at 2:21 is very empty. When the guitar comes in, it's a good tone, but from 2:30 the background sounds very empty. There's the rhythm guitar, some funky leads, tinny sounding drums and a not-so-bassy bassline too. The strings and light guitar section comes back in at 2:58, so we only get 37 seconds of the heavy stuff before we're on our way out of the mix too. I'm not sure what to say about this one. There's a very noticeable chasm between real and fake regarding the instruments, which is never a good thing. The mix is otherwise fairly void of complexity, which is all right during the quieter sections, but makes the guitar section fall rather short. I think this one could use some tidying up, making sure to get the soundfonts and such to sound as realistic as possible to go better with the guitar. NO

Bug me on IRC until you do get one. I keep forjestings.

Next deadline is set as May 1st. That gives people exactly two weeks. A few tracks have been completed. And a couple are very close to completion. Those of you that I've sent critique emails to, I expect you guys to submit your tracks to me by May 1st. I'll be doing a cull of the project at that point, based on whether I think your tracks will meet the project's expectations. I remind people that I'd like you all to register on Doulifee's forum and PM douli with your name. http://www.doulifee.com/phpbb/index.php

Production here is really bad. The sound of the guitar is good, but it's so muffled and in the background of the mix. Needs to be much more clear. The stuff that isn't guitar is just midi-sounding stuff. There's clipping right through the mix, and there's not much here beyond the guitar recorded over the top. Dare I say it, this would've made a good April fools mix to go alongside "Terra Fortnight Megamix" and "Bitch Ass Slut Terra" Needs a lot more work and better production to be even considered. NO

Source: http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc/ct.rar - 3-13 World Revolution I can tell this is going to be a pretty tough decision. There are some really good parts of this mix, and some really bad parts too. Let's start out with the production. For an orchestral mix, this has the perfect sound in the real climactical parts of the mix, however your transitions between sections can sound rather flat and in some cases really muddled because it's all so involved. The melodies don't really suit the transitions in other words. I think toning down some of the backing instruments in these sections would help (an example is around 2:00-2:15) The backing instruments sound out of tune to the major leading instruments. The arrangement, apart from the parts mentioned above, is stunning. This is a truly enjoyable mix to listen to in parts. Namely the last minute or so, that just blew me away. You've done a wonderful job with the source, and despite the issues I have with some sections, I think this is definately over our line, and it's a pity it didn't make the project. As one of my favourite tracks from the game, you've more than done it justice for me. I don't think there's much you can do to fix the parts that I have issues with, so I'm happy to let this pass as it is. YES

I'm confused, are you submitting more than one piece here? If so, as by our policy, only one submission at a time. Source: http://www.zophar.net/psf/FF7_psf.rar - 307 Cid's Theme Unfortunately, straight away this launches into pretty much a direct cover of the original. Almost everything is transcribed accross exactly the same, with the sections cut and pasted together in different orders. Needs more creativity than just slapping a marching beat over it in the background. Now, from 2:00 we get some original work. I can't really tell what it's meant to be from, if anything. The effects in the background sound like a funny mix of UT2004 and Star Wars. the from 3:03 we launch back into the directly covered material again. You need to be much more creative with your arrangement in order to get your mix passed. NO

Believe it or not, this is the first Zeal theme remix I've had to judge since joining the panel. Anyway, this is pretty much just a direct cover of the source. There are no variations from the normal melodies. Just a replacement of instruments and some loopy beats pasted over the top. There's some clever stuff in the background around 1:40. But it's still pretty much rip-town right the way through. NO

Programming of the grooves is pretty good. Some clever decisions with breaks and claps/hi-hats. This mix starts off rather flat, your bass synth sounds rather bland, I think it could be a little punchier in the bass and less-so in the mids. As Vig said, some pretty cool panning and stuff going on through the mix, 'specially when that Sitar thing comes in. Mostly this is just a basic fun mix. The choices of instruments and such leaves a lot to be desired in some areas. The arrangement from what I can tell sounds very clever, and with the little easter eggs (most appropriate for easter) of other songs in there, it just adds to the charm. Could be a little longer, could be a little more involved in parts. It is, after all, a very minimalistic mix. I think it passes our bar though. YES

"Lord Blazer, The Robot who Time-Travels" Just keep the full name in the actual tags, 'cause it rules.

I suppose that technically this adheres to the chiptune genre. Since Mazedude's shaped the mix around basic waveforms. However he's also added a lot of modern stuff that wouldn't be found in a chiptune, which would either reclassify it's genre, or make it a subgenre. How's "Mutated Chiptune" sound?

The acoustic (or whatever it is) guitar bothers me the most here. The strumming sounds rather robotic to me, since there's a lot of focus on the strumming it's a lot more noticeable. While it's better than most people would manage when programming guitar strums, it still sounds a little too fake to me. When the percussion came in, it sounded a little too loud compared to the rest of the song. As it went on though, it became more fitting, but I think it could be toned down so it's not so loud overall. Some parts got really overbearing as Larry pointed out. Suggestions from me would be to concentrate some more on the bass end of the piece. There's not a lot there. You focus on a lot of high end stuff like the strumming, piano, EP, violin and percussion, but there's one solitary and lonely bassline plucking away in the bottom of the mix. How about a cello? Or contrabass? It'd fill those gaps in the mix. Good arrangement. Once again it's just the production of the mix that's letting it down. Work on what some of the other judges suggestions and maybe it'll be a go on the resubmit NO

The distorted kick mixed in what that rather awful lead to start with already makes the track sound beginnerish. When your backing synth comes in, you can already tell that it has a very unfitting over-the-top distortion on it. Considering you keep that going by itself for 8 bars after the melody stops, it doesn't really work as a solo. The mix is otherwise pretty repetative, the hi-hats tap away without stopping or changing. The beats are generally the same right the way through with a few breaks. The rest of the mix is ultimately repetative. Kudos that you do have an all right sound going, it's just not quite clean and polished enough for the site's standards. NO

I can only imagine the nightmare of searching through that rather large soundtrack for the source. Kudos to Larry. This piece seriously lacks cohesion, much like the original ironically. But everything in this piece seems to be doing it's own thing. The percussion pounds along, the flutey synth flutters around and the other synth just bounces along in the background. Where's the actual mixing of these things? You need to make the instruments work together. Not just play around with sounds and panning until you have Dr. Who's crazy lab music theme. On a production level. The sounds you have going in some parts of the mix are pretty good by themselves. If you could figure out how to mix them into a mix properly, you might have some good sounds to go with some day. But for now, this isn't a remix, so much as a lot of crazy experimenting. Bass drum after 3:30 = way over the top. Tone that shit down, nobody likes a clipping bass drum. NO

Source: http://www.zophar.net/psf/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 106 Feelings Not Erased - 307 Time of the Dreamwatch First up. Piano playing for the first 2 minutes is wonderful. I'd be happy if you just kept the piano going to be honest. It's not too conservative, is played very well too. The piano wouldn't survive on it's own as it is though. You'd either need to extract this from the rest of the mix and embellish it to it's full extent, or fix up the second half. But as a lead up, it works very well. Unfortunately from 2:00 in, you launched into a very conservative second half remix of Time of the Dreamworld. Your drum samples are, I have to say, below average. The panning of those samples just got annoying after so long. Hearing the same repeated patterns over and over again became repetative, and they're almost identical in their programming as they were in the original. The mixing of the instruments in the second half way fairly good. The horn sounds very nice, you have a great sound going there. Unfortunately the second half is just too damn close to the source. You haven't really shown any initiative there. I'd be willing to look at this one again if it was given some proper arrangement ideas in the second half. Also if you retweaked that percussion so it was a little less annoying, and a little more original. NO

Hiss on the track is annoying, but I can live with it. Since Larry has super-batman ears, I can only imagine how it must've affected him. Put a dampener on that and you're well on your way. The mix opened up nicely. I was waiting for the strings to come in and compliment it, but it never happened. This could build into a very nice mix easily. Strumming, strings, maybe even a light beat if you have the means. The problem is the mix falls down after 1:00. You add too much all at once, it's out of time for most of the rest of the mix, and the playing is quite sloppy, doesn't sound too good together. Some questionable note combinations. the section from about 1:25 was a nice break idea. So yeah, some nice idea's. Execution needs to be a lot better though. If you can, I'd love to hear this resubmitted once you've fixed it up some more. Give it a proper ending too. NO

Good beats, great groove going there. Sounds like UT99 music. That being said, I do have some issues with choices on some of the effects throughout the mix. I feel there's an unnecessary use of reverb on some of the synth sounds which is giving a rather muddy sound to some parts of the mix. Just a nitpick on my behalf. Another is that the lead synth through parts of the mix doesn't really evolve beyond the one sound. The lead could have had some frequency changes, maybe even some velocity or panning alterations, but it stays static right the way through. The switch in the time signature was good, fit in well and was a nice break. I'm not feeling the distorted beats halfway in the mix, but they're mixed in well so nothing out of place there. Not much else to bitch about. The mix isn't making any giant leaps in musical technology, but it works as a quaint little remix of the source. (codename: Groove Bias) YES

Thanks in part to Dave accidently putting DSoP back on spotlight on the main page.

I've commented on all the tracks I've received so far. Most of them have received some heavy suggestions. Also as an announcement, Doulifee is now the co-organiser of the project. Since he's as into Doom 2 and it's music as much as I am. He'll be helping run the project as well as discuss ideas and comment on mixes. We've opened up a mixers-only section on Doulifee's forum, where you all can and should register. I'll send out more details in a mass-email. Those who haven't sent their tracks to me have roughly 30 hours from now to get their tracks in to me or they're off the project, no questions asked. I'm done chasing people down. Last bit of business. Some tracks will be opening up in the near future. If you're interested in the track, please PM me about it rather than posting in this thread. Send me a sample of your music as well.

analoq's taken the open track 25. The extended deadline has passed. I'm still waiting on pieces by Sir Nuts, RoeTaKa, Prophecy and Hemophiliac. Prophecy has spoken to me about his pieces, so I'm just waiting on him to send it to me. Sir Nuts has been having PC problems, so send your piece to me as soon as you get yourself settled. RoeTaKa has been having IP problems with OCR for some time. So I need to contact him, however Roe has mentioned that he doesn't think he can work with Evilhorde, being banned and all. So I need to contact Evilhorde about that (or Evilhorde can contact me and let me know what he thinks.) Hemo, I need you to grab me on IRC when you're next on to let me know what's going on with your piece. Everyone else, I'll get comments to you about your WIP's in short time.