Digital Coma

Nice sounds, oodles of bass, basic drumbeat, and very very very repetitious. Well, uh… the "transition" at 2:00 was some way to break things up. Sorry, these samples aren't going to carry this one through for me. The backbone, being the progression, just doesn't hold its own. NO

Mm... wailing guitars heard through the venue of a distinctive garage riff sound; reminds me of much of Uniracers soundtrack. The remotely-reverbed mixing job seems controversial, but I enjoy it stylistically. Arrangement is carried through well without needing an overbearing power-rock melody; instead, it's rockin' Muzak. Well-played and well-done, I say. YES

I am loving the applied sounds, but as the mixer himself said, this is a very strict interpretation, and unacceptably so. NO

After reading some of these comments, I was expecting this mix to have the sound quality of a hemophiliac undergoing colonoscopy. Seriously, I see very little wrong with the mixing job here. As for the low-fi NES nature of the drums: Usually I'm not too impressed by direct in-game sampling, but I'm of the opinion that the original NES drums are VERY tastefully used and harmonically balance well with the deep bassline and wafting leads. With an imaginative interpretation and thoughtful development, there is obvious talent behind this that should not go unnoticed simply because of a lack of gigasamples and whatnot. YES

The intro totally puts me off; makes me feel like I'm playing the game rather than listening to music. More importantly, if I'm not mistaken, the majority (maybe all) of these sounds are sampled directly from DK64, which does not impress me. Besides this lack of discretion, the background hiss is rather annoying, and the orchestral arrangement seems haphazard and hurried. Not sure how it could be salvaged. NO

These strings are annoyingly cut short and are in need of a longer release. The hats are overbearing, drumline overpowers the melody, and the synth brass lead is coarse. No real bassline. Notation is sketchy in a few parts, mixing is raw and muddy. What this is is a very repetitive arrangement of a 15 second long theme that drags on uncomfortably for three minutes. NO

Yes, appealing rhythmic variations are present, but the core progression is still unchanged, even with the new time signature. The simple accompaniment does help, though. Dynamics sorely need to be touched up; live recordings need to be EQ’d too! The few minor flubs are all the more noticeable since this is so short. Peacock on the balcony! Pretty average piano piece; take more liberties with the source and flesh it out. NO

Thanks for submitting something small enough to reasonably download with the wonderful one rupee per minute dial-up here in the land of cobras and cows. Ok, this is really short, even for what’s supposed to be ska. Haven’t heard the original, so if this is an mp3 copy, midi rip, or just plain note-for-note, then I’m probably wasting my time, but whatever. What little arrangement there is contains a slightly catchy, albeit very repetitive tune playing on a really well-varied array of instruments. I guess that’s ska enough. Some annoyances are the out-of-tune pick acoustic, overpowered strings, simple harmony… well, nice bends on the electric guitar. Great instrumentation, melodically catchy, but an extremely repetitive progression that only swaps leads, especially unforgiving given that this is only a minute-some long. My one-year old cousin likes it, but that unfortunately is not a valid verdict NO

Transformants - yeah, if you're thinking hallucinogens; brevity - not likely! With all atmospheric pieces must come a sense of planned cohesion, an evolving narration of sounds. This has definitely got that, including an array of heavily processed frets, breaths, vocals, well-strummed guitar, and other oddities. Love the heart-beat ending, though a longer fade-out may have been appropriate. A very spooky twist on the original; an ambient track that attracts curiosity of the enigmatic. YES

Sweet & sparkly synths and liberal use of stereo delay feedback make for a great lead sound at the beginning and pretty decent orchestral samples follow, except for the dry strings. Kudos on the flute/chorals. However, there are two clear problems here. 1) The drumline simply loops without any real movement and quickly becomes boring 2) No real rearrangement to speak of; it's note-for-note for the majority of the mix and different only in the breaks and order of progression patterns Basically, this is pretty flesh on a brittle skeleton. Satisfactory variation can be difficult to carry-out, especially with an original track of this caliber, but it's the first step that must be taken when remixing. NO

No qualms here. 1. YES 2. YES 3. YES 4. YES 5. YES 6. YES 7. YES 8. YES 9. YES 10. YES 11. YES 12. YES 13. YES 14. YES 15. YES 16. YES 17. YES 18. YES 19. YES 20. YES yadda yadda yadda 21. http://remix.overclocked.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR00666 Robocop_CPC_Zone_OC_ReMix.mp3 Reason: Uses original very extensively. However, both drums, bassline, and later synths are additions. NO: Agreed; borderline controversial, but not bad enough 22. http://remix.overclocked.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR00185 Final_Fantasy_7_OneWingedTechno_OC_ReMix.mp3 Reason: Apparently a MIDI rip. Also, quality issues regardless. YES: Toss it 23. YES - NO THANKS 24. YES

Ah, Corneria, thy music is as sweet as wine. Not that hardcore omg leet stuff that burns the tongue, but the kind that tickles and tantalizes one's taste buds before slipping easily down the throat, like a waft of forgotten dreams... ... As you can see, it warms my heart to finally be able to pass a Corneria mix, though without flying colors and 21-gun salute. There seems to be so much potential left out from the original that was not capitalized upon; I'd have loved to see a maximalist rather than a "mediumalist" electro-rock take on the theme, expanding upon each and every chord, harmony, and rhythm. I am beginning to realize that my own irrational vision for a Corneria mix is crowding out any possible contenders, and because of this, it took repeated listenings for me to receive the full effect of the song. Technically speaking, the only real flaw that I can make out here is the muffled, mega-reverbed bass that blankets the soundscape like a dampener at a high volume; everything else is spiffy, such as doubling up on the synth lead for the initial chords, using church-bells as a break, and gating effects on the transition to the stage-clear passage. Therefore, recognizing the ample creativity and skill that went into this medley and ignoring emotional attachment: YES

Well, the introing out-of-sync slap bass could be attributed to one of either three things: an esoteric attempt at syncopation, a result of some sort of technical difficulty and/or carelessness. I only bother to wonder because everything else musically-wise that follows is a classy harmonic showcase of some real jazz knowledge; mutually accommodating instrumentation, silky smooth rhythms, and sassy soloing, my only beef being the stagnant drums. Most of the apparent flaws do seem to be attributed to technicalities, such as use of soundfonts and recording: static drums used as a stand-alone during the breaks, overly loud chimes at 2:46 during the piano solo, and the timing issue as mentioned. Still, the arrangement really is remarkable once it gets on its feet, and in face of this, the flukes are forgivable. YES

This is a tough case of dealing with a pretty decent mix doing some neat tricks that's based off of a superbly immaculate track. Let's put aside the original for a moment and focus on what's done here: Standard house synths and saws flying along some interesting harmonic lines and sweet programmed beats. The delay effect is a bit overused, but quite cool while it's fresh and not stand-alone (2:54). Blatant repetition of the key progression while the neat bits are happening all around it; pretty obviously stylistic in this genre, though it suggests a lack of imagination. I wouldn't say the dissonance is disagreeable at all, but I do think it would have been better served with more dramatic dichotomy between the melodic lead and the bassline and a tighter hook in the lower frequencies. You can't be penalized simply for attempting a mix of a great original, but you can be for not taking it in a different direction far and high enough. Many of these synths really are all too alike, which contributes to the bad vibes one can get in the more dissonant areas. And the real key word is (as clichéd as it's beginning to sound) variation. There's just not enough of it, especially noticeable when derived from a sonically HQ song. All too often I see mixes with a lot of potential that are passed off as "minimalist" simply because they are made with FL and manage to stick to basic, generic sounds and a simple progression that never seems to leave square one. Coincidence or not, that's your call, but my advice is to break out your comfort zone by varying your soundset and letting loose with some wild musicality, which I believe you are capable of. NO for now, I encourage a resubmit with all of our ideas taken into consideration.

DJ Ikronix informed me that this submission is no longer hosted and that he is withdrawing it.

Neat instrumentation; however, regardless of how legitimate of a mix this is, I'm going to go ahead and give it a NO due to a painfully synthetic guitar font whose sequenced notes are irritatingly quantized, repetition of the core melodic progression to the point of droning, and poor out-of-place drums. The tune's full potential has not been visibly (aurally) realized with this flaky orchestral execution.

HTTP space Many recognizable default FruityLoop samples; in fact, these may very well all be default. Not that that's a crime in and of itself, but it's certainly not very remarkable or awe-inspiring. The actual arrangement is pretty droll; simplistic, unchanging techno-drum beat under a melodically stagnant cliché synth, clocked at an unimpressive two-and-a-half-minutes. Little tricks like the lead at 2:00 are interesting but not well integrated enough to save this from mediocrity. Besides the obvious need for improvement with the composition, breathe some life into the instrumentation and try to stay away from FL defsamps. NO

Cluttered and out-of-sync instrumentation, ear-piercing high-pitched strumming, un-accentuated bass, and lackadaisical drumline, all packed into a ridiculously short arrangement. I acknowledge the guitar skills and like the sparse stereo effects, but this is simply a mediocre mixing job. NO

The chromatic loop in the original was about to give me a headache after I listened to it three times through... major chords on an upper-register clavinet with an inconspicuous bassline isn’t my idea of fun. Thankfully, this arrangement is much more enjoyable. The bell-pad lead is still high up there octave-wise, but not as much. The sudden rolls at the end of an occasional measure give this an interesting sort of start-stop, adventurous feel. The soft drums are quite common to the stock new-age style. I'd have liked to see the lead swap instruments a few more times here and there to keep the flow fresh, perhaps to one with more sonic depth, but I suppose as it is it gives the piece a sense of continuity. A brooding, spacey, and plodding mix. YES

Interesting ... concept you outlined there. Sounds like you had fun with FruityLoops and were expecting this result. NO

Great guitar work, not so great recording. This is very sticky and coarse in more than a few parts, mainly due to a lack of normalization rather than the typical rock style. If this had a kickin' drumline to boot, I'd probably have overlooked those weaknesses. But here's the problem: the ID3 comment says that this is a "complete guitar remix, excluding the percussion." Sounds to me like a work in progress, ... unless you specifically decided to leave out the drums? If this is the former case, I'd recommend you finish your mixes before submitting them; if this is the latter, I'd have to strongly disagree with the choice made. Consider a sequenced mix that contains a beautifully notated synth lead. Can that synth carry a piece that could stand alone by itself, without any accompaniment? I think not. Every noticeable element in instrumentation is as important as the rest; the end-product is only as strong as its weakest link. I feel that you do not do justice to your guitar-mix without including equally admirable percussion. NO

I wouldn't say it's particularly annoying; this is standard happy hardcore stuff. The pace is correct for the time, and it is a refreshing take on Tetris, but this sounds like only a start as it flies right by at the length it's at right now, and there seems to be much more that can be done with the theme. Stretch out the intro, add a bridge, a couple different sections, and resubmit? NO for now.

Soothing and serene; quite evocative of a dreamscape atmosphere. This does start off just as the original does, albeit with a liberal coating of delay feedback on the bell lead, but gradually grows out of its roots and fills itself out with shufflebeat percussion, backdrop chorals, and an attractive piano improv. A few jitters with the piano and a bit repetitious towards the end, but on the whole there are no noticeably staggering flaws for a mix of this length that pleasingly pays respect to its source. YES

"Star in my pants" - hah! Remixing the star theme is quite a challenge, after all, it's hardly a theme, it's more of a soundbite. Given the lack of source material, a mix would have to contain a disproportionate amount of improv versus the original melody, and this doesn't quite do that. The notes derived from the theme are very repetitive and tiresome, but the coinciding ambience and instrumentation serve well as a counterpart - they just need to be emphasized more as opposed to the piggy-back lead. The surrounding elements are quality, please work on extending them and fleshing them out as a whole, because this mix is presently lifeless. NO And in the future, please adhere to the submission guidelines when sending in a mix.

Interesting instrumentation; I don't think you need to be told again that these samples are top-notch. However, this is a very conservative interpretation of the theme; nothing new has been done here in terms of arrangement and progression. I find 1:12 - 1:20 to be the most remarkable section, try expounding on these ideas of note splicing and orchestral snare hits. Add some original sequencing, give a twist to the melody, lengthen the piece, and send it back to us. NO