Malcos

If I'm not mistaken, on the soundtrack this is known as 'Use your head'. Nice guitar! This is a very original take on the source production wise - the cut up acoustic guitar and low-fi drums (this is how low-fi drums should be done) work well together. The stutter bits are great. This can be somewhat minimalistic, but the instruments used still fill up the soundscape. YES

The first thing I noticed was the unrealistic 3 note run down at 0.05, which a violin player wouldn't really do. We know you're playing it on a keyboard, but still. Superb chord progressions, that is definitely the strong point of this mix. This is a lot of expansion on the original, and I like the dynamics that have been put into it. Composition wise (apart from those 3 notes at the beginning), this is great. The only two main issues for me are the production quality and sounds (which the remixer already pointed out). It's a shame you weren't using Reason 3, as I know the hall string patch would have worked very well here indeed. I also feel that the reverb is a bit on the dry side, although that is personal taste. I'm unsure as to whether this will get 4 yes votes, but here is one. If this doesn't pass, get the school orchestra recording and submit that. YES

Thanks for the feedback guys, glad you're enjoying the album. I just used Reason for this album. I've got Sonar as well, but I only use it when I'm recording vocals. I've got sound engineering qualifications, but my keyboard stuff is all self-taught.

The arrangement doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I like the use of ambient sounds, they are used well here, although some eq to shelve off some of the low frequencies would have prevented it from sounding so muddy in parts. The piano in the beginning spoils it for me - as Liontamer said, very plinky plonky; I think the piano used near the end of this mix is of much better quality and would work better with the other ambient instrumentation. As the mix begins to pick up, I can hear parts where it is ducking, as though too much compression has been used, and it's even more pronounced once the kick comes in. Overall, I find myself in complete agreement with what has already been said. Not bad at all, but some more work on the arrangement and mastering of this is needed. NO

Arrangement has been done well, however it's the production and mixing that is the issue here. The mixing is quite off, especially at points like 0.28. Every instrument needs to have it's own place, and everything sounds terribly muddled up here; my ears don't agree with a lot of the instrument and octave choices, the flutes in particular at the end were hurting my ears. Keep working on it, not bad for a first submission. I agree with Liontamer in that the WIP forums would be a good place to get feedback from. Work on your mixing, panning and eq techniques. NO

One of the longest subs ever recieved that's for sure. Good ideas in this mix, but the production needs some more work to fully realise the ideas. It took me a little while to catch on to the intro, because it's a completely different rhythm to the original melody. But that's just me. The drumwork was very washy, and reverby without the power (especially in the kick), that it could have had. Pads and other instruments gave a good atmospheric feel, particularly the 'second phase'; although to reiterate, the kick could have used more of a kick, if that makes any sense. Kick at 5.00 is very quiet - this section is very original, I can hardly hear an hydrocity in there at all. I think overall, a little more recognisable hydrocity, and some more powerful beats would definitely push this in the right direction. I'd love to see a resubmission of this one. NO Plz resbmit

There really should be a special notice about this, I've said this so many times. Icecap zone is a very popular tune, and we have very good mixes of it on this site. Any remixes of this tune submitted to OC would have to be very exceptional indeed to pass. The piano that joins the synth sound in the intro is somewhat dry compared to the rest of the instruments. Perhaps some reverb/delay to make it blend in would have created a more cohesive sound. The drums are quite weak and unremarkable given the rest of the sounds - almost cheap GM soundset like. The transpose at 1.58 was a little premature, due to the fact that the tune hadn't really changed much previous to that point. Quite repetitive overall, with another transpose towards the end of the song - the transposes don't hide the fact that the arrangement needs a lot more originality in it to make it more interesting. NO

Not an easy one to judge. The style, although minimal, works as a whole, although the synths are rather simplistic. While that may be a tribute to the source, the fact that the drum samples aren't exactly stellar means that the sound quality teeters on borderline no territory, with only the arrangement to bring it up. The arrangement does add some elements which make it an upgrade from the original, but it is only that. With this sound quality, an arrangement that really took the source to new places would have made me say yey, but the re-arrangement factor is minimal here. NO

Well there is a little program you can experiment with, I've had some limited success with it. In the past I've used the results to take out most of the instrumental elements of the song, and then combime it with a version that I'd manually eq'ed. Just mess around with it, see what you come up with: http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/audio/vremover.htm

Sexellent, the transpose actually makes sense now, and addition of the vocals makes it sound even more epic. HELL YES

The first thing I noticed about this is that the string sample that opens the mix up isn't constant and so you can hear where it's being looped. The bassline that comes in at 1.03 sounds good, but just a little muddy, especially with the other additions at 1.18 and 1.27. The beat works very well, although it is just a repeating loop - it would really make the mix more engaging if in sections like 2.44-3.26, where there isn't much going on melodically, the beat was more varied on each bar to keep the groove flowing. I think that this needs a little more work in terms of mixing and processing - I would sound great for the beat to be compressed and sounding nice and tight. The breakdown was needed and expected, good work there. Overall, the string patches are not sweet enough imo to be used on their own in an orchestral style. The re-arrangement factor is just enough, although to re-iterate, section 2.44-3.26 could do with some rhythmic mixup to add interest. I really like this idea, very similar to the techno big beat style remixes that have been done of the Mission Impossible and James Bond themes. Needs some more work, but I would love to see a resub of this. NO Plz resubmit

Thanks for the responses guys! He ended up getting the Samson C01U, but at least I had some alternatives to offer him.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah the strings are Orkester, I try to layer them when I can, makes them sound fatter.

Wow, I like that phrase. This is an excellent arrangement. With all other factors considered, I'm going to choose to see (or rather hear) the drums as a stylistic choice - I certainly don't have a problem with them. The ending is a bit strange, with the sudden chord change, but that is nitpicking really. This will make an excellent addition to the site. YES

The strings sound quite awkward, and there are very off key parts like at 0.27 and 0.49 - the mix at times is very cluttered indeed, and notes clash quite badly, creating some off-key moments. The drum beats are very repetitive and could do with some variation, the dynamics are also quite lacking. The source has been integrated well with this new direction overall, however the production is not up to OC standard imo. NO

Well the source isn't much. From 0.10, it is obvious that the sampled ocarina sample isn't fitting in timewise. Perhaps it would have been better to get an ocarina from a soundfont? The main problem I have with this is that it doesn't expand on the original source melody at all, and just repeats it again and again. Granted, the mix is short, but it still gets very repetitive. Add some more originality to this, some personality - right now it's just cookie cutter stuff in every way. NO

http://www.malcos.co.uk/music.html Let me know what ya think.

For this style, with such long notes, the samples really have to sound very good. When working with not so good samples, the arrangement really has to be very engaging. The samples used in this mix really don't blend together and the whole thing comes over as being extremely artificial. It's a good idea, but I agree with zyko that this needs a lot more work, especially in terms of production and mixing. NO

Arrangement wise, seems only the melody was taken from the original, and I can see why! There is only one issue about this mix, but it's an important one. The low bass is very muddy, and the notes sound like they are overlapping, which really makes it sound bad. I thought the arrangement was engaging, the sound quality and production (bar the bass) was good, although I think for the length, the mp3 encode rate should have been higher, at least 160. Resubmit with tighter bass and a higher encode rate. NO

Now first of all, I know NOTHING about apple macs. My friend has a mac, and he wants to get a mic and add vocals, etc. So I'm gonna help him set up. But then I realised I had no idea if he had any sound inputs on the damn thing. He's got one of these: http://www.apple.com/imac I'd like to know if there is an interface I can get that will stream the audio through USB input, in order to give him some buying options. If not I'll just let him get a Samson C01U, the easiest and cheapest solution!

Is this allowed? Submitting two versions of the same song, and asking us to pick which one we prefer? The mastered version sounds like the unmastered version has just been made louder with a 'smiley face' eq applied to it. When you've got not so great speakers, always go with the 'car' version imo. So I'm gonna judge that one. Re-arrangement is quite minimal by OCR standards - apart from the solo part, the original theme is played here again and again. The drums get quite repetitive after the second listen through of this, and I don't personally think that the 80's sounding drums really go with the synth sounds. Nothing special makes this stand out, drums are repetitive, not much added to the source, and a very weak ending. NO

As was mentioned by the remixer in his submission, the first section is similar to the source, with some fleshing out, most notably the string parts adding extra texture to it. I thought that the transition to the piano section could have been made much smoother, the volume also dropped drastically during that time, in a way that, rather than adding to the dynamics of the piece, just sounded like it suddenly dropped off. At 2.07 the piano starts to go a bit weird for a few seconds, just suddenly changing the vibe in a way that was quite confusing, I didn't like those few seconds at all, I thought it spoiled the section. The transition from this section to the next one was a little smoother, bringing in sounds from the next section before the piano departed. Violin at 2.53 really sounded naked, I'm not sure that it should have been left on its own like that. The third movement definitely sounds very sparse compared to the rest of the mix. However, the addition of a dancy rhythm is a welcome change, I think overall the arrangement is a very interesting one. At 4.06, again the volume seems to drop off as the horns come in. Imo, if we had a crescendo, and it went from loud to quiet, then it would have added some dynamics to it. The fact that this was made with a mouse may have something to do with the fact that the velocities in this mix overall sound quite unnatural to me; the brass really doesn't come to life because of it, and the expression suffers somewhat. However, I love the chord progressions in this section and the way it was arranged. The part where it joins the original melody was great - definitely the best part of this piece. There were some very good parts of this mix, and I think it was arranged well, with original parts integrated nicely with original material. However, there were lots of issues to do with dynamics, volume and texture. I don't think this is up to the bar just yet, but I would like to see a resubmission of this. NO (plz resub)

I like this piece, it's like ambient electronica hip-hop thing. There is an element of repetitiveness to it, but then there is the progression that makes it seem deliberate, I think the arrangement is excellent. It only goes for about 3 minutes, so it definitely doesn't outstay it's welcome by any means. YES EDIT: Plus there is sub-bass, which we don't get often.

Ok lots of clicks in this recording. This is a very muddy recording, probably due to mic placement. Too much low end rumble particularly at the beginning. That brings me on to the next point, the arrangement. That dissonance in the beginning really didn't sound good - I can hear where you're putting in the bass from the source in with the melody, but it really doesn't sound good on a piano! From .38 sounds a lot better. I think to give this remix more scale and interest, you could have used more of the piano, possibly going higher for some parts ie. octave 5 and above, rather than staying in the same areas all the time, it makes the mix less dynamic and less interesting. Not up to the OCR bar for piano solos. NO

This sounded ok, quite pleasant to listen to. The thing is, we have some very good remixes of this stage already posted on the site in various styles, and as this is a popular choice for submission, our standards are very high for this particular tune. Sound production was quite good here, although nothing stood out in particular. I thought some instruments like the shakuhachi and piano could have used some more reverb, they sounded rather dry. Drums were pleasant, especially the section 1.12-1.25. However, the drum patterns overall didn't really stand out, neither did the rhythms on the other instruments. The arrangement was good, but it was a rather bread and butter, factory remix style. Quite good, but not quite up to the OC bar this time. NO