Malcos

I thought this was a very good submission. The arrangement is excellent imo, albeit with a few exceptions. The transition from the acoustics back to the synthy stuff at 3.25 was good, and I expected a swell of textures at 3.47, but instead it ended up sounding quite sparse. The synthesised sounds like the 'wheow' sounding synth at 4.19 sounded less interesting than they could have, but that is a subjective point. This is definitely a pass - well produced and beautifully executed. YES

I didn't think anyone would want to now the competition is closed, but I guess I was wrong, so it's been re-linked. Yeah it's kool. I personally think the most valuable thing for the entrants is the feedback they receive. When my time comes to host the comp again I'll make sure that vocalists get as much feedback as possible. Do you guys have any ideas for the next round of the competition? I'm not sure that me and Pixie will always be able to offer prizes. Any other incentives? Is there anything that as entrants you think that would have helped you if it had been available? I'm quite disappointed that more people haven't been involved in this, not only in terms of the number of entrants, but particularly the number of votes, as this provides an opportunity for vocal development and peer feedback. Hopefully we can all put our heads together and keep this comp going for many more rounds to come!

Ok, votes are now in, I will be posting the results in about 15-16 hour's time.

Ok, I would like to apologise for creating this thread, I didn't realise it would cause such controversy. I hope that it hasn't not been deleted just because I'm a judge, because that would be unfair. I shouldn't be treated any differently to anyone else. Yes I may have broken the rules, I fully admit to my guilt.

The groove is good, but the arrangement on this could have had a lot more done to it, compared to the original. There are a lot of sections here which were just cut and paste. Strings were very wishy washy and undefined, and so took away from the tight timing of the other instruments. By the end, the drum beat had been repeated so many times it ran out of groove. Needs more work. NO

Nice piano intro. Strong solid drumbeats here, overall; however I found the guitar work to be too loud. Despite that, this is still an excellent submission. YES

In terms of production, rearrangement and all the other elements, this definitely passes the bar. However I do agree with Liontamer that a delay on the vocals could have made their performance work more with the track, as softer vocals such as this lend themselves to more processing, whereas a stronger or harsher vocal would only need minimal effects. Vocals definitely need some reverb/delay. I know it seems harsh not to pass it on this one element, but I really think that this mix is really not fullfilling it's potential by having the vocals as dry as they are. Please resub this! NO(Please resub!)

I'm in the UK so I'll have to wait till the end of this month. But man, I just keep watching the trailer over and over again. I haven't been this excited to see a movie since Matrix Reloaded. I can't wait to hear that line delivered..."This...is....SPARTA!".

I will have you know that in real life I am notoriously difficult to terminate.

Meh, worse they could do is ban me.

I think this can pass. While it is repetitive to some extent, there is enough variation built in to the mix for it to be interesting. Production and arrangement levels are above bar, however in terms of arrangement I agree with other judges that this needed some kind of breakdown or bridge section to add further interest. I will pass this, but it is borderline. YES

For those of you that didn't know, there is an OC Remix vocal competition, hosted by Pixie and I (we alternate as hosts). This is round 2, and this round is currently in the voting stage. For more info on how to listen to the entries and vote: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7382 Hopefully this will mean that we can get more votes, and more entrants to the next round!

Yeah yeah ok. I think I'll use zip next time. I pmed Smoke to ask him whether I could post in the general forum, but no reply. So I'll just post anyway.

Yeah I have to add that this is a great refill, I'm sure I'll be using a lot of these sounds for a long time to come!

Yes, I don't know how to do it - don't laugh.

Lol DUH! I didn't even give a date for the voting to end. I've set it for March 11th, I think a week should be enough. Well all the participants have already voted! I'm gonna ask one of the mods and see if it's ok to do a post in the general thread, I think this needs more public attention!

Interesting! I think I'll enter this.

Ok, got everyone's last minute versions. I'll get everything sorted out, voting will be able to start within the next 18-24 hours. All the best to the entrants. Don't forget when voting to give reasons why you have voted for those particular vocalists, and no public discussion of what tracks you liked on this thread please. I'll be editing the first post tomorrow anyway to include more information on how to vote (same system as last time for those who remember).

Ok got 4 entries thus far. I'm gonna give it about 12 hours more, then I'll be closing. Voting will start on Monday, I'll edit my first post at that time. Got some really good entries so far!

Shame that some are unable to make it at the moment. Not much time left! I have 2 entries so far...

Frenchy jazzy classicky thingy. Excellent arrangement, and the samples fit the instrumentation well. No brainer. YES

I enjoyed the intro actually. For me the main issue is one of interest. This mix has solid foundations, and the vocals and effects at the end were good. The actual meat of the track is too empty; I agree with Liontamer that the leads were out there on their own, and with perhaps more parts and more fills on the drum section, this could have been a more engaging arrangement. NO (please resub)

Yes I've used it, a friend of mine had it and I borrowed it for a while and used it in the past. Imo, there is nothing special about it at all, the orkester bank is better in most cases. I never actually used the patch instrument files from it. The rex files are useful, (used on 'fragmentation' and 'getting all worked up' in my 'back to root' album I made a few years ago), but I don't use it anymore, I can definitely do without it. I think you should get more opinions on it though, because although I use string sounds a lot, I don't do proper orchestral pieces, and perhaps it's better suited to that.

This is definitely better than the last version - it has a much better intro and is more engaging. However this is borderline for me, as there are some issues that unbalance the whole mix: *Kick is too loud imo *Some sections too full sounding, due to mixing (ie 1.24-1.36), not due to the amount/complexity of sounds. *Repetitiveness of the main melody, which was offset in the original by being lower, less frequent and having an extremely variant drumbeat. I have no qualms if this passes, but I don't think it's quite there. It's not as far from the bar as the last sub though. NO

The guitar did indeed sound very fake and distorted, but not in a nice way. The whole arrangement is much too simple, and the production quality overall is not too great. There are some nice changes to the melody here and there, but this isn't up to the OC standard. Keep working on mixing and make use of the WIP forums for peer feedback. NO