Geoffrey Taucer

I'm not currently, but only due to my current living situation. As soon as I live in a place where I can get my studio set up again, I will DEFINITELY be remixing again.

EVAL: Production is stellar. The instruments sound great, and you got the reverb exactly right. Arrangement is mostly strong; I can imagine some of the judges complaining of medley-itis, but I don't think that's enough to hold the track back.

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Holy shit, this is nice. HOLY SHIT IT HAS DOBRO! NOW IT'S EVEN NICER! Loving this, and definitely going to grab your album!

I know I've already said this in a few places, but I just want to whole-heartedly endorse Prophetik-built computers. I got one from him about 8 years ago, and I'm still using it (albeit with a few upgrades made in the years since).

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Always love me some Chrono Trigger! Alright, here goes: EVAL: Piano at the beginning is nice, though I'd back off on the reverb. The tambourines in the background seem out of place, and also a bit heavy on the reverb. The distorted organ is an intriguing choice for the chords here; my first thought was that it was some wierd power-chord samples, but a closer listen makes it clear that this is something much more interesting. Jury's still out on whether I like it. The transition afterward (starting around 0:30) feels too acoustically busy, and has nothing melodically or rhythmically interesting, and so as a listener I don't know what my ears are supposed to be focusing on. At 0:50, things are getting a bit better. I like the bass tone. Some dischordant parts in the background synths, particularly at 1:07, but I feel like that might be intentional. At 1:18 we're back to the more rock-ish stuff. The distorted organ is sounding great here! The lead synth seems a bit mid-heavy, and I think the melody might work better an octave higher, or with a synth that fills in the high-end more. The Guitar-ish section after this is a bit too loose for my liking, and it also feels a bit out of place; bringing in a guitar for just this section detracts from the novelty of the guitar-less rock approach you've established thus far in the mix, while not really bringing enough to the table in and of itself. The chord progression sounds weird, particularly at 2:10; would love to get some thoughts on why that chord doesn't sound right from somebody with more knowledge of music theory, but all I can say is it just sounds like the wrong chord for the progression. Section at 2:13 sounds fine to me, other than that crash cymbal that you're hitting each quarter at what sounds to me like the exact same velocity. Vary up the velocity on that a bit more. Otherwise I like this section. The Key transition at 2:37 sounds a bit odd (again, somebody with more knowledge of theory than I have could probably provide further insight), but I quite like the rhythmic changeup. The toms in the next section (starting at 2:51) are excessive, and this is make all the worse by the samples sounding too thin. Other instruments sounds decent, though as earlier the reverb is too heavy for my liking. The brief organ run at 3:18 is cool, but the kick drum is too repetitive in the section immediately after. Some really cool stuff going on, but there are too many flaws for this to be sub ready. It has excessive reverb, repetitive percussion, and some jarring chord transitions. I'd also look for ways to shorten the intro and outro.

EVAL: Reading through Gario's earlier review, everything he liked about your earlier edition of this arrangement holds true to me in this one. The synths feel a bit heavy and harsh at some points, and the compression is a bit heavy, but I get the impression that this is intentional. It makes the mix a bit tiring to listen to on headphones, but damn would I love to hear this one blasting over a good set of speakers with quality subwoofers. Bass mostly sounds fine (if a bit tiring) to me, for the first section the mix, but there is still some odd dropouts later in the track. 1:32, 1:48, and 2:48 sound suddenly empty in the low-end. I love the ending. To me this one's borderline, but I'm leaning towards a YES. It does feel heavy and overcompressed, and the bass dropouts are odd, but both seem like deliberate stylistic choices. Good luck!

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Since this mix is a couple years old now and as far as I'm aware nobody has found the easter egg: The demonic chanting, when played backwards, says "You found the secret message. Have a cookie!"

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Wow, we've let this one go way too long without an evaluation! Sorry about that! Anyway, here goes: EVAL: Arrangement: The vox are.... well, they're cheesy as hell, but they were cheesy in the original, so I can't really fault them for it. The soundscape feels a bit too sparse for most of the mix. The lead synth is a bit too harsh to be used as extensively as you are without anything else going on. IMO, a sound that harsh can work fine in short bits, but gets tiring when it continues as long as this one does. The choppy section starting at 1:15 is kind of cool, but still a bit too sparse and a bit too reliant on the synth I mentioned earlier; it would work fine if that harsh synth hadn't had so much presence earlier in the mix, but by this point my ears already feel tired from it. Percussion needs more variation. The vox at 2:16 hit (and sustain) a wrong note, or perhaps they're off-key, or something I'm not sure what but that sustained note sounds way off. This whole vocal sections sounds out of key, but that one note is particularly jarring. Having a vocal line this exposed is a bold move and can be cool when pulled off successfully; but here it is not pulled off successfully, and the vocal performance just isn't of a quality that can stand this exposed in a mix, I'm sorry to say. Even later in the mix, when the vox are less exposed, I'm still hearing some jarring wrong notes. I love the synth line starting at 3:53 Production: The whole mix feels overcompressed, and too heavy in the high end, with not enough going on in the low end. The drums especially sound thin and mechanical. The verdict: not sub-ready. The synth tones and mastering are too harsh and tiring to the ears, there are too many wrong notes in the vocals, and the mix is too sparse in the mid and low range.

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Eval: Arrangement: The first section is kind of samey for a bit too long; I'd cut to the next section at 0:20, instead of having the additional verse. Percussion needs more variation. I love what you did with the low synth starting around 0:30. I like the additional lead harmony coming in at 1:05, but I feel it's too little, too late; that lead riff has already gotten repetitive by this point. I think this arrangement's biggest weakness is that you keep that lead riff going the entire time with almost no variation. Granted, the original track did the same thing, but for this to stand on its own as a remix, it needs more variation. The riff is catchy as hell the first few times, but it's not enough to carry the remix all the way through. The additional lead coming in around 1:10 is good; you need more of that, and earlier in the track. As-is, the focus is on the same four-second-long riff over and over, and no matter how cool that riff may be, you need more to keep the listener's attention. Consider dropping that main riff for a section and having some sort of solo over the bass progression (which itself is pretty catchy, even without the main lead riff. Also, the track needs more rhythmic variation; other than occasionally dropping out for a verse, the percussion is essentially the same for the entire mix. The speed change-up near the end is an interesting idea, but a bit too jarring, still doesn't seem like enough variation, and doesn't really lead to anything. Production: The percussion is weak, as mentioned above, and needs more variation. I highly recommend you take a look through Zircon's percussion tips to get you started on this. Otherwise, production is fine. Some cool choices of synth sounds, I feel like I can distinctly hear everything I'm supposed to hear. I don't really have any complaints at this point beyond the percussion. Verdict: not ready to sub yet. I enjoy the synth tones, and you've got some really cool stuff going with the bass synth, but the percussion and repetitive use of the same lead riff are dealbreakers.

HAHA! This mix is so weird, so creative, so eclectic, and is everything I love about VGM and remixing. Bravo!

Not familiar with the original, but oh my cthulhu this sounds gorgeous.

I'm going to change the tag on this to "complete," since xprtnovice declared it ready to sub, but I think all three of us are of the opinion that there are still minor tweaks that could improve the mix; feel free to continue tweaking and posting updates, or go ahead and sub it to the judges. Best of luck!

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Love the changes to the ending chorus. Gonna hold off a bit on doing a formal eval; this would probably benefit from a second or third opinion from some of the other evaluators, but if none of the other workshop staff evaluates this, I'll give it another full eval in a few days. My informal opinion (after listening to it once on consumer-grade headphones while working on something in another tab) is that this is hugely improved and either ready or very close, but don't put too much weight on that until I've had a chance to give it a closer listen

Regarding the percussion: honestly, this isn't my forte, but here are my thoughts: I don't think it needs a complete overhaul, just a bit more flair and variation. As for compression, again I don't have as good an ear for this as some, but it just feels like the volume doesn't change from hit to hit. Honestly, you might be able to address this with velocity variation rather than decreasing compression, but I'd play around a bit with the compression. Do you also have some sort of tube saturation on the drums? That's what it sounds like to me, and it's a cool effect but it feels like you went just a little too strong on it. Totally get what you mean with the rythm guitars, and I can hear what you're talking about as far as them not being themain thing to fill out the bass; my biggest complaint is that they just seem to disappear in the mix. A slightly dryer mix (ie les reverb) might help this, but that might also take away from the huge spaciousness of the current mix. But overall, they don't really feel like they've found their niche. Like, they kind of fill the same place as the leads but they're not as strong, and they kind of fill the same space as the percussion but they're less punchy so.... it doesn't feel like they know where to sit in the mix. Hopefully that makes sense. Looking forward to hearing the updated version!

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EVAL: Arrangement: Recognizable, sufficiently different from the original, no objections on those grounds. Really smooth, chilled-out feel. I dig it. Vocal samples seem out of place; you've got this soothing, mellow piece, punctuated by vocal samples that don't remotely fit that feel. I like what you've done with the percussion. A more active bass part would be nice. My biggest complaint is the fadeout ending; I'm sure you could do something more interesting there. Production: If it were me, I'd bring the bass level down a touch, and back off slightly on the reverb, but neither of these is a dealbreaker. If I were a judge, I'd probably give this a borderline-yes; I could see the panel breaking in either direction on this. IF it gets a "no," my guess is that their biggest complaints will be the out-of-place vocal samples and the fadeout ending. As I said, it would be nice for the bass part to get a bit more active in some sections, but that alone probably won't be a deciding factor.

[This is an automatically generated message] I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that you'd like some more feedback, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and I'll review it again! Good luck!

Props for attempting this; a minimal, ambient piece like this can be really hard to arrange. Let's see what you manage to do with this EVAL: Arrangement: .... well, when I listened to the source, I was expecting something experimental and avant-garde, and you certainly did not disappoint. Some cool ideas, a creative and unusual approach, which shows originality while still using the source in a recognizable fashion. I'd love to see the motifs of the original come in earlier; the arrangement takes too long to get to something that is recognizable, but once you do get there, you do a good job of it. I'd also love for this to go on longer; it ends right when it's starting to get interesting. It's very minimalistic, and honestly I'm not entirely sure how to assess it on those grounds. Generally, it sounds very sparse, and the more active parts are rather discordant, but I think both of those things are intentional, and are a (largely successful) attempt to capture the creepy feel you're going for. It's daring and creative, but I'm honestly not sure how the judges panel would react to such a minimalist arrangement. The ending is also very abrupt. Production: I think it's clear that you're making your production choices deliberately weird. In some regards, it works, and in others it doesn't. The piano in particular sounds too mechanical, and could use more variation in velocity; I also think the intro needs more going on in the upper-mids, either by bringing those up in the piano, or perhaps adding some ambient noise in this range. On the whole, I don't think this would make it past the panel. I think it's just too sparse, and too.... weird, for lack of a better way of saying it. I get that this sparseness and weirdness is deliberate; this would work well as the backing track to go along with a video, but I think it's too sparse to stand as something to be listened to on its own. If you want to get this past the judges, I'd shorten the intro, and extend the track, expanding it into something a bit more active in the later sections.

[This is an automatically generated message] I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that you'd like some more feedback, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and I'll review it again! Good luck!