The Orichalcon

Yes people. DJ Redlight is a MALE. I love this mix, one of my favourites from DJR. Its soft synth work is most enjoyable to listen to. Keep 'em coming Ash.

10 piece jazz group? This should be interesting. Sax that comes in at 0:30 is way too loud, tone it down to more comfortable levels. Piano is pretty good when it comes in. The synthy thing making the notes in the background is distracting, I'd slap a little reverb on that and tone it down. The guitar that comes in is pretty funky, the way it sounds isn't too good, but the way it's played in that jazz style is cool. We break out into the main section after 1:30, sounds pretty good. It's loud, could probably afford to be a little quieter, but otherwise I'm loving the power. The guitar that comes in at 1:47 as larry said is drowning everything out. The arrangement in this is seriously good. The piano is so groovy as it dances around in the background, the brass sections are played well. The production is what's killing this. The volume balancing needs a lot of work, just tweak everything until it's at a comfortable level. I too would love to see this resubmitted, as this is too good for the site to miss out on. NO

First time I've heard the soundtrack for this game. I really dislike the original piece for this remix, so here's hoping Tim's improved upon the very annoying source. Initial thoughts, your drums need work. These are very basic sounding drums that just don't work for a rock sound. This kind of mix works with a room reverb on the drums to give them a much meatier sound, you need to compress them to make them sound more powerful. The actual programming of the drums isn't too bad, though you could alternate the snare hits a bit and be more creative, get that rock sound going. Remember, the drums are what drive the beat of the piece, if you can't get them going then the rest of the mix will sound flat. The arrangement is pretty good in this situation. The original was annoying as hell, and this remix has made it much more pleasing to listen to. The production is what's killing this. The mix sounds flat, it needs to be mastered a lot better, bringing that guitar out. Vig is the resident expert on guitar playing. I enjoyed the guitarwork in this quite solidly. It's a little sloppy, but it's nothing too distracting for me. The mix could afford to go for a bit longer too, working on really punching out that rock sound and you'd have a great rock song here, the potential is there. NO (Resubmit)

The way this remix opened did give a feel that there were good things to come. The way the beat comes in is pretty cool too. The beat from 0:38 is a little quiet, and the snare hits sound a little basic. The whiney lo-fi synth from the beginning comes back in around 1:16. After the build-up, I would have expected something a little more pleasant to listen to, in order to compliment the piano pretty mellow background you have going. The mix is pretty quiet overall. You need to beef up the beats just a tad and offer more break sections so they're not so repetative. Kill that whiney lead-sample and bring in a more pleasant instrument to listen to. Sequence some guitar, put in a flute, try a sax, anything but that thing. The piano was nice to listen to as a backing, nothing needs changing there. The arrangement of the source could use a little more creativity. Since this is pretty much a workaround of the melody, using the same style sample for the lead as the original source used. Bringing in a different instrument and fiddling around with the lead to add some original takes on the theme would fix this up no problem. I could see this piece being much more enjoyable to listen to if these things were taken care of. It's one of the better mixes, and I'd love to see it resubmitted. NO. Resubmit.

Drums in this are a little basic. The beat and snare patterns are repetative, and the sound of them is dry, could use a little extra mixing up. The harpsichord thing playing the rhythm chords in the background can be summarised as repetative too, could use some switching up, or at least edit the patterns a bit so it's not so repetative. Overall the quality is good. The instrumentation fits together pretty fluently, it's just the choice of instruments and the dry sound following them that's dragging this piece down. The 80's synth that comes in at 2:17 sounds all right, could be a bit sharper though. As Vig and Larry covered, there's plenty of room here for more creativity with the arrangement. Rather than taking repetative phrases from the original and looping them over and over in the piece, such as the harpsichord in this, you have room to edit them around and come up with less.. basic phrases. Not too bad, but not quite there. NO

Basic percussion introducing, then we get to some really LOUD percussion at 0:20, and an even LOUDER kick beat rolls its way in. I'm really not liking the snare/clap used on the off beats in this. The kick is all right. The backing-synthwork sounds all right as well lead in. Finally the source comes in after about 2 minutes, and it's not brought in subtley either. It's just suddenly there. You could have at least filtered it in and given us something clever and trancey to be awed by. We keep plodding away towards the end with things changing subtley around. The beat just keeps on pounding away. On the whole, there's nothing really wrong with the mix so to say. The sounds fit together snuggly. The production is all right, nothing too bad besides the LOUDNESS of the drums compared to the rest of the mix. It's just too generic, nothing special here to be awed by. If you compare it to other trance tracks, the beats and the overall sound of the mix just don't rise to the occasion. The mix is too long as well and could afford to be refined back to 3-4 minutes. NO

This sounded like a pretty cool idea. The drums and especially the cymbals are way too loud. The rhythm guitar is too loud as well, the bass as a result from that is drowning the mix as well, making it all muddy. That jump at 1:46 as mentioned before is really bad. it just cuts out and then we jump to a little light acoustic guitar work for 20 seconds. The potential is there. This is a pretty cool idea for a mix. But the production is really shoddy, I'd really recommend visiting around the forums and getting help on how to refine your sound, 'cause you could have some good stuff pumping out judging by the ideas in this mix. NO

Source: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/sony/ps1/bonds.mid - Bonds of Sea and Flames That electric snare is the stuff right there. Great choice. The kick could be a little less scratchy. The overall quality of the mix is pretty good. The rhodes/EP in the background get a little overbearing towards the middle of the mix, they're drowning out the lead. The overall sound of the mix is pretty flowing and smooth, no real issues beyond what's already mentioned. The arrangement is pretty good too. You've taken a chill style of mix and represented it well. Like Vig said though, the mix keeps the flat and low sound throughout the entire 4 and a half minutes. It needs to build up somewhere to give the mix some dynamics. The lead chosen was good, but it needs to switch up to something else that isn't a synth on occasion to give a bit of variety to what we're listening to. There are some good breaks in here, and a lot of clever ideas that are mixed up well. With a bit of extra work on the sound and dynamics of the mix, you could have a very enjoyable site-worthy mix going right here. If you're willing to try adding some more things to the mix and giving it that extra edge, then this would be a more than welcome resub. NO

Thankyou for providing the source. First thing that stands out for me here is how the rhythm to this piece is rather loud when compared to the lead in the start of the mix. In terms of production, that's the only really nagging thing standing out to me. The hat hits later on are sharp and a little overbearing as well. The beats in general are very nice, though I think the snare/clap is a little blunt and dull for the set. The synths used are all right too. The bassline is a little basic, hitting on every offbeat. The arrangement here is the interesting part. The mix feels dysfunctional, like nothing is really fitting together terribly well. The leads put an interesting spin on the source material, and it's referred to enough that it's not a problem. The mix just doesn't feel cohesive, as in nothing really jumps out to grab your attention. While the lead used in the middle of the piece up to the end sounds nice, it doesn't sound like it's fitting in with the instruments around it, and rather just hitting random notes to stay in key with the bassline. It's an interesting sound, good quality, but it's too dysfunctional to work for me. Like mixing lego with blocko, doesn't quite fit together. NO

Source: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/sfa2dan.mid - Dan First up, piano is a little loud. Not that it really matters in this case. It's played out well, it's the kind of loud you want. This is pretty cool, excellent groove going (OMG GRUUV BIAS!!1) The fiddle is definitely the stuff. Nice choice of instrumentation. I'm not really familiar with this style of mix. Bass, beat, rhodes, fiddle and piano. There's nothing else in there, but it all fits together nicely. The rhodes sound nice. and the fiddle works well as the lead. Everything is balanced, no production issues. The arrangement is clever, a good jump from the upbeat source to a funky groove like this. Not much else to say really. This just works, it's fun to listen to, has all the right stuff. YES Edit: Piano fixed, no issues now. Great mix guys.

Source: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/Cs_bonus.mid - Bonus Level After having a listen through the soundtrack on vgmusic for Cool Spot, there's some cool music in this game, no pun intended. Okay let's clear this one up quickly. Fake sounding guitar, immense ammounts of unintentional distortion and clipping. In terms of production, there's precious little attention gone into making this piece enjoyable to listen to. In terms of arrangement, it's hard to tell among all the noise, but it sounded pretty close to the source material, I could at least hear the theme in there. Not that it really matters, since there's no chance that this mix is going to pass. Good choice of game though. NO

Sources: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/clock.mid - Don't Cry, Jennifer http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/Evil_Church.mid - Evil Church http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/kerosene.mid - Kerosene http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/Mary.mid - Looking for Mrs. Mary Okay after listening through the various sources, it's easy to see that they all use a recurring theme which is simply changed around a little from source to source. This remix attempts to go down a grunge rock path in remixing this source. The sound we get isn't bad in a sense, it's pretty grungy, however the problem here is that it sounds so fake. You need to get a real guitarist in for this type of hardcore mix and really pound out that live guitar sound. The drums sound too prominent, they need to be crunchier and be buried in the mix a little more, dropping the pitch on drums can give them the length and tone that you'd want in this kind of mix, that way the snare isn't so sharp and distracting. The choir pads used at the beginning of the mix sound pretty good, but I'd give them a little more reverb or delay so they're still audible when the guitar jabs in every second bar. The arrangement is pretty apparent after listening through the sources. You can hear the theme clearly through the remix, and it's mixed up quite well to bring in the elements of each piece. No complaints here. Overall, it's a great idea which I think could work will if given the proper attention to quality and detail. If you're willing to put the time and effort into it. You could get a good grunge-rock remix out of this, it just needs that live sound to give it that proper edge. NO

Over-reliance on reverb here. Everything has reverb on it from what I can tell. Generally groove beats don't need such a wet reverb on them. My main issue the extreme over-reliance on the strings as the main instrument in every part of the mix. It's used as the lead in the main groove sections as well as the jabs backing the piano up in the interlaying sections. As far as I can tell there's no work on changing the volume/velocities of the string notes, they're all playing at the same level all the way through the mix. There's dissonance with some of those brass jabs too backing up the strings in some sections (for example 1:27) It sounds like they're hitting the wrong note or it's just not a very precise soundfont. Overall, the mix is basically the same 40 seconds repeated over and over for 5 minutes. A groove in the middle of the mix isn't enough to save a complete lack of arrangement throughout the mix. Since you're new to the site, you can get help with remixing and getting a feel for the standards of the site in the ReMixing forum. Also available is the Work in progress forum where you can post remixes you're working on and get feedback from the forum members. Welcome to the site, do stick around. This particular remix however is still a long way off from making it in terms of the quality and arrangement we're after. NO

That initial panning and filter effect on the piano, I'm not too sure about. It might have worked once or twice, but it's a very slow build up to the meat of the piece. You add a very thin lead at 0:35 and bring in light hi-hat hits soon after, the mix begins its major build up after a whopping 1:52 and when we should have built up to a really meaty section, we instead get a break from the beat. The mix pretty much continues this jabby synth and basic beat with thin synths playing in the mid-foreground up until the end. The quality of the mix is all right in that nothing is too loud, no clipping or unnecessary distortion. The problem here is everything sounds too flat, and there are no major changes for the entire mix. The beat is rather basic in itself, consisting mainly of the hihat hits and a very soft kick and snare hit. As Vig said, this one needs a better buildup, a more refined sound, and certainly more work with the dynamics. Rather than a long and continuously repetative sounding mix that doesn't go anywhere, this type of mix needs to build up to something that will really grab the listeners attention. NO

As has been said, this mix has some very nice beats, which is expected from Prophecy. Beyond the choir pads playing in the background, there's not much else substance to this really. The vocals are nice, well mixed in. It almost has an enigma sound to it. But it needs something more. I'd suggest bringing in maybe an accoustic guitar, or something else sharp that can play the main melody, or at least parts of it earlier in the mix to keep this mix interesting all the way through. The arrangement when compared to the original is pretty well done, it's a nice leap from the haunted-mansion style waltz of the original over to the eastern sounding remix you have going here. It does need a little more adhesion to the source though, and I think bringing in some extra backing for the duration of the mix (like an accoustic guitar) would really give this mix an edge. Treat us all to a favour and give this one a little more attention to push it into that real eastern sound that makes these types of mixes so addictive to listen to. The production is great, the sound is great, it just needs that little bit extra. NO for now. Resubmit please.

I'm changing my vote over. After having a proper listen through, the quality of the mix is quite basic. There are plenty of clever idea's in this, and I don't want to look like I'm genre-bashing either, but as I said before this type of mix really does need to have good synthwork moving beyond the basic dry sounds to be acceptable. It's clever, and I like some of the ideas a lot, but yeah after more consideration, it's not the kind of mix that should be accepted through to the site. NO

Well, this is a very pretty piece of piano music. The production is great here. The piano sounds like it is played live in a concert hall. As would be expected from a piano piece, it has good dynamics which ensures it goes from the gentle sounding areas to to louder more pronounced notes without sounding overbearing. No issues with the production here. As far as the arrangement goes. On their own this would probably be considered too close to each source to be accepted through. But in this case, with the two source themes in mind, it's a nice work in melding the two themes together. A lovely piece to listen to, very emotional and powerful, and I'm sure the people of OCR will enjoy listening to it as well. YES

Very creative stuff with the sax in the beginning. It carries on for too long though. When we get into the meat of the orchestral section, the mix takes a step up. I think the reverb adds to the atmosphere of the piece, although it could afford to be dropped back a bit. Normally one wouldn't get away with levels like this, but this is reminding me of sitting in an auditorium listening to some creative orchestral and sax playing. In other words, I'm digging the atmosphere. The playing of the sax is top notch too. Good to see you've improved the recording quality. The arrangement is pretty simple, the various themes of the midi's played on the sax with the orchestral work backing it up and the harp playing the map music theme. Nothing really needs to change here. It's almost a yes how it is. I'd recommend fixing up the reverb problem, dropping back that intro from being so long, and you have a very creative site-worthy remix here. NO (Resubmit)

I remember listening to this a while back in #ocremix. While I'm not a fan of rap music, this sounds pretty professional. The rapping doesn't make me cringe, so it passes the TO test. Since my only real nitpicks with this are some questionable breakbeats and some americanisms in the lyrics, this is pretty much an instant pass. The quality is fine. The arrangement isn't an issue either, since the creativity here is in the rapping and the robotic voice singing the source tune. YES

Okay first of all, you're using FL Slayer. It's very hard to get FL Slayer to sound good, and unfortunately in this case, you've succumbed to the trap that most of us fall in, with the piercing subpar sound apparent as the mole on my face. Secondly, this here is way too close to the source material, it's pretty much a midi rip in the sense that the piano is identical, the guitar is following the melodyline exactly. The only other things you've added are some basic dry drums and the occasional bassline which is also following the melody line too instead of just applying the bass key. I'll direct you to the standards: Overall, not amazingly bad for your first, er.... remix. Feel free to poke around in the ReMixing forum for help with your remixing, and also I recommend posting things in the Work In Progress forum to get some feedback from other mixers on the site before submitting to the panel. NO OVERRIDE

Source: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/gameboy/PkmRB-Battle1.mid - Wild Pokemon Battle Well, majeliss. You're going to have to point out the original theme to me. I hear it in the mix from 1:37 up to 2:02. The rest just sounds like original ambience to me. Not even good ambience at that. The mix starts off with a sort of howling sound and the battle prelude melody that you hear before you get into a fight in game. Then we go into generic techno beat with jabby bassline (doesn't sound too bad) two-chord synth comes in, then we get what I like to describe as screeching noises, used in the percussion of the mix. The two-chord synth comes back in and then goes back out again. From 1:37 we hear the battle theme come in, and it sounds quite cool. Though it sounds way too much like it's take directly from the game. As quickly as the source tune came into the remix, it's back out again, never to be seen again. The screeching percussion comes back in, with the generic background ambience and jabby bassline playing in and out as usual. The two chord-synth even shows up again before the mix ends. In terms of quality, the sound is pretty good. It's basic quality, but nothing sounds bad or harsh to listen to. Even the screechy percussion was subdued so it was (slightly) listenable. The mix just needs a lot more work on the arrangement, paying much more attention to the source tune. NO

Well, I couldn't be sure when this mix started that I wasn't just listening to the original. The acoustic guitar over this certainly is pretty. The rhodes are too, the beat as well. But from what I can tell this is pretty much just layered over the top of the original. An extension of the source tune if you will. I'm strewn on this one. This is a really well put together chill-mix. The sound is clear, the guitar is well played. The drums are basic and very loopy, but in a chill mix like this it's not an amazing issue since they're just there to keep the beat. The rhodes (or EP) are clear and make a very nice backing in the mix. When the piano comes in, it's gentle and fits in the flow of the mix. I'm going to make an assumption in this paragraph that this is entirely original composition to judge this properly. The way the flute is utilised in this is unique in that it acts as a transition between rhodes and guitar, and acts as more of a backing, where as in the source it's really the only thing that showed face beyond the strings. Since the original was basically just the pads and the flute, there wasn't much of a source really to work with. What we have here is more of a work around the source, rather than on the source, where the instruments flirt with the chords and the notation, never taking a melodic shape, but keeping with the overall sound of the mix. Your typical chillout style. Overall, this is a nice sounding mix. I'm going to have to go with my gut on this one. I wouldn't be unhappy if this passed. I don't know if it's too close to the original to be accepted through to the site. But I'm digging the sound you've brought accross here, and it sounds acceptable to me. YES for now, unless some of the other judges can make this one clearer for me.

Source: http://www.doomworld.com/music/d_read_m.mid - Endgame Music Well we have another prime example of great Mazedude music here. Great sound going here. Powerful drums, excellent synthwork on the lead to give it that groovy mazedude sound. The quality of the mix is, as usual, way above par. It's loud, and it's good loud. Yes, I can see hell trembling before the mighty mazedude as he brings destruction to their domain. Mazedude is the true doomguy. Anyway, the arrangement in this is quite similar to the source as most of mazedude's doom remixes are. Much like gothic sandy this one starts off with a harpsichord and works its way into the meat of the mix with strings, synths, groovy powerful drums, and a perfectly balanced bassline, with the usual set of peculiar sound effects worked into the percussion. There's absolutely nothing to nitpick here. This is the kind of mix I would expect to just be direct posted. YES

Hate this kind of beat. It's definitely that gabber sound, but it's such a sorry excuse for music to me. Anyway, I'm in agreeance with Larry on that generic synth lead that comes in at 0:40. It's so hissy and bland. The sound of most of the samples in this are pretty dry and basic. I think a mix like this could have used some better effects work. Since the overall sound of these "Gabber" mixes are pretty ugly, they need good synthwork and a unique sense of style to make them enjoyable to listen to. This one sounds generic to me. Overall the quality of the mix is acceptable. There's some nice panning in there on some of the synths. Nothing distorts, even though it's so cluttered. The sound effects sit neatly in the back of the mix. The little vocal clips through it are panned and pasted nicely. If it wasn't for the good overall sound of the mix, this would be an instant rejection from me. The arrangement sounds like a very smooth transition from source to happy-"hard"core to me. The usage of the source melody is apparent all the way through the remix, however the difference between the two genre's gives this mix an extra edge. There's enough creativity here to overlook the dryness of the lead and some of the other samples in this mix for me. As I said, not my type of music at all, but I can appreciate that it's certainly listenable and a good mix for it's genre. MAYBE Edit: Vote changed, check post further down.

We start out with a nice basic groove and bassline. The mix stays pretty basic most of the way through. I'm having the same trouble as Larry in that the melody is kind of quiet as it's brought in. Overall the mix is very thin. Along with the others, I'm expecting more to be happening in the mix. The pads are very quiet in the background compared to the beat. We build up a little more after 3:00. The banjo gives the mix a "Spyro the Dragon" sound in my opinion. Gives it a step up. The arrangement is, well, minimalist. There's not a lot there outside the punchy drums. But what is there is enjoyable to listen to. I'm the opposite of Larry in the sense that I feel the banjo is what ended up saving the mix. When the credits music comes in at 0:55, it's quiet but it works as a minimalist groove. Not sure what that twittering sound is in the background from 1:13, but it's strange and unique. I like it. The fadeout at the end of the mix wasn't what I was hoping for. Taking the groove out and perhaps letting the banjo or one of the other instruments take the mix to the end might have worked better. While I feel that this could have been brought out a little better, there's nothing here to really push the mix into the "no" zone. The way it's put together is enjoyable and flowing, and just sneaks over the line for a fourth yes. YES