Digital Coma

Delayed strings was a neat idea, but it gets old fast. Bassline synth is cool too, but panning from left to right gets tiring as well. Drumloop is either used or not used. This is a case of getting excited over good effects and overusing them. The guitar and organ come in strong and completely dominate the field of sound. Chord progression of the original isn't played with much. Ending is a big dot dot dot. Decent ideas, but not a great result. NO

I hear no off-notes. Anyway, my problem with this mix is that it's stale from beginning to end. Lead never changes. Base progression remains the same. Drumloop repeats and does nothing new. The bass is cool, but it should be far more prominent for such an uppity song. The piano B section is fresh, but it's not enough. Frankly, if it weren't for the energy of the drums, I would find this a dull listen for the most part. Like jogging in place. NO

Simple, slow, and sparse, especially when the guitar and piano are each left lonesome. Guitar introduced before the beat is strange and sounds like a mistake. Not too much to say; I like his Dark Cloud mix more, but this works well enough for what it is. YES

The shameless shoutouts and stupid lyrics are silly and fun; this started off as a BEERmix, afterall. I agree that the problem with the vocals is that the effects applied are stagnant throughout the mix and become tiresome. This is also pretty short for following a similar structure to the original. Neither melody or progression have been altered much. Tough call. The beats are good, the piano and ornamentation work, and it's no mean feat to rearrange a song professionally produced without limitations. But I'm voting NO because I don't want to see a trend towards earcandy remakes (industry grade remixes) begin on OCR.

I think it's safe to say Coop has no plans to make any progress on the sound quality front, huh?

OWA done right for once. I'm impressed with Trenthian's compositions, they manage genuine 'listenability' without pristine execution. There is much good stuff going on in this symph-tronic choir rock piece; keep it up. YES

I hear similarities to Linkin Park, not that their music is really a benchmark for anything. This is an arrangement of the Hymn theme that I can appreciate regardless of sample sound quality. The original's choir vocals are used sparingly and not saturated throughout the mix, melancholic piano chords do some good harmony, and the drums and turntables are simultaneously mean and light. As I see it, the major achievement in the details is the understating of the turntables; they could have easily dominated the track and soured it. Gating and key change later on are handled very well, as well as fading-out on the FFX motif. Good job. YES

I do like the simple bend on the last note of the intro progression, but reduced tempo, bathroom-grade reverb, and several extra notes on top of verbatim melody do not make for a rearrangement. Less effects and more composition, please. Oh, and calling the ending 'cheesy' may be personal taste, but describing it as 'abrupt and incongruous' is totally objective (and earns you SAT points). NO

Hyrule dance mix. Not good, but not bad enough for the rejection letter. Where does it go? Where else? The panel!!! This is listenable on some level, but completely mediocre. NO

I had high hopes early on. After repeat^infinity and apparently arrangement issues as well, this clearly earns a spot on the coveted OCR judges decisions board. NO OVERRIDE

On second thought, that doesn't sound much like the mix. OH WELL WIN OR LOSE IT'S HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME CAN'T SAY I DIDN'T TRY OK

I would say more, but I'd be reiterating. I'll just repeat the NO

Case closed - this submission is notated too similarly to the source midi found. A tracklist I found mentioned a professionally arranged track with nearly the same title and time as this one. If that happened to be authored by the submitter: sorry, we're looking for rearrangements. NO

Healthy variety of sounds, good beats, and decent development: all of which would make a cool mix without the drumwork spazzing into fits alongside disjointed melodic movement and shoddy structure. This is very much cluttered; not too much in the way of finesse. The drumloops seem to be used to impress rather than facilitate. I have a strong feeling that this would have almost been fine for what it is if the mixer didn't overreach himself with crazy percussion. NO

BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN: So, YES

DuckTales, the ultimate source in fuzzy musical confectionery - great arrangement to finish out the year. Best wishes for 2004 on this site and beyond.

Ok, I'm up to 1:10 and everything is rocking; good layer-ups, introduction to beat, sexy rhythm. Gotta love the rowdy drums and bassline. A little original section comes next and is quickly replaced again by source melody. I keep listening for these little alterations (harmony, counterpoint) snuck in here and there like complimentary vanilla wafers, and I say to myself, "hey, the NES tune is like six measures long and this guy's managed to expand upon it to make beautifully simple electro pop within four minutes." This does repeat and is faithful to the original melody, yes, but what more can you really do while trying to bear resemblance to the chiptune? We do need to keep in mind just what is being mixed here. If anything, it should have ended at the 3:00 mark without looping and fading out. I do think this is what we're looking for - I'm voting my gut. YES

wuts with the gay vocals do u think ur Rammstein or sumthin stupid goth shit u kno i maek bettar musik than u so give up n stop tryin ur just jealous i give u a NO!!~ (Moderation Edit: YES)

There is little enjoyment to be had from listening to an average piano arrangement coupled with mediocre sequencing. NO

This is as borderline as a submission gets. I'm listening to a mix with a transplant in style and simplification of the original. Gone are the intricate drumwork and lead chord progression, replaced by mediocre synths in unison and basic harmony. The few original sections are appreciated, but they're not enough to hold back the dumbed-down composition from a rejection. Although there is more variation present than in other examples of "trancification", the syphoning of excellence from the original just makes a shallow mix. NO

Quinn Fox's last two submissions had come a long way from his older ones in terms of production, so it's definitely disheartening to take a step backwards and hear a dated recording job. As the mix goes on it becomes progressively easier to accept the ridiculous reverb (which I assume is partly cover a la N64 fog), yet it pains me that this arrangement would be so much more enjoyable without it. As it stands, it still makes the cut. YES

Agreed on all counts. I know the Ecco games hardly had any melodic elements to begin with, but that's where original ideas come in! Keep this and use it as a foundation for more layering, more neato wow effects, more rhythmic-oriented intervals; just more. Let the mix end slowly and demurely instead of like a light switch. Really ambient sound like this should last long enough to space out to. Almost there! NO

'Have you forgot' works perfectly fine as a colloquialism, so stfu judgefgt. Suspicion arises as I hear random stab synths and vocal clips thrown into the mix for the hell of it. Actually, this entire mix seems to be for the hell of it. It's heterogeneous to the point where I'm unable to recognize the source material. The grim electro bits are too sparse to stand alone (with or without vocals), which makes up the bulk of the piece. The sequenced piano sounds too stiff for my liking, but is a welcome addition. Again, the arrangement is a mish-mash of ideas. When you've eaten out at a restaurant, have you ever stirred together all the different drinks everyone ordered along with whatever else was on the table? Conceptually interesting, but ultimately not enjoyable. NO

If I had a real big expensive subwoofer, I would be saying to myself now, "Man, I have this real big expensive subwoofer (real big, expensive too) FOR NOUGHT", and then I'd play some Fleetwood Mac. I'd say that even without one, but anyway. Is there any excuse to not take advantage of the full spectrum of sound? Those khz you keep hearing about are around for a reason! Perhaps this flawed mixdown was submitted in error. But I digress; besides a lack of bass, this remix features very limited drums, unoriginality, and repetition, thereby not working well as a rock track. NO

Notation trouble, mixing trouble, composition trouble. Not good. Carnival-ish, which is conceptually neat, but that's mostly attributed to thin leads following bad sequencing. You need more than a couple patterns in disarray and disjointed drums to classify this as house, I'm afraid. I like the frivolous instrumentation, but you've gotta work at arrangement... and an ending. NO