prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

low opening. intro bass has some movement on it and seems like a dressed-up version of the original. beat and lead start at 0:17. the static tone to the countermelodic material is a bit tiresome - i'd love to hear some decay or movement on it. kick is also kind of blah - i don't hear sidechain, so it doesn't really pop as much as i'd expect for something like this. short break and a loop comes in for the drums at 0:59. again the kick doesn't pop, and the loop itself is kind of obvious, but there's some movement after about 30s which is needed. there's no pad through here either so the arrangement doesn't feel like it's progressing - it's the same as before, with different drums added in. the lack of change to the main instruments, like LT talks about, is also a factor here. 1:27 adds more drums but nothing else changes. same same, we need some progression to the track. even breaks in between the melodic representation can help with that - this is just hammering the melody over and over. 2:00ish is just the countermelodic instrument, and again, this is needing to be mixed up. there's a few different things in the drums but overall this is oatmeal. there's more of the same for a while, with different combinations of the same instruments doing the same thing. so a key problem here is that nothing changes. we don't get personalized melody, altered chords, new keys, new countermelodic material after the initial representation, not anything. this is a sub-one minute loop that's been stretched to over five minutes by way, way too much repetition. i'd seriously consider stripping it back to a minute at most, and then finding new ways to represent the general synthwave idea (which i think works really well, to be fair) in more unique ways. this is just too much repetition, and too much of a static nature. NO

opens with a ringy version of the opening riff, and we get a slam transition into a big hit right at 0:11. this is right on the line of clipping, straight gigasausage, and it's very old-school in the sound to me. there's an immediate fade-down to a break for a short period before another big hit at 0:34. this flaps back and forth a bunch over the next 30s, but it adds a ton of extra sfx and supporting elements in here - the adaptation to the genre is fantastic. i'd call 1:07 a payoff chorus in that it's longer than 10s, and again sounds good. the breakdown at 1:40 is longer than i expected given the length of the track, but the transition at 2:04 is great and i loved the stutter focus at the end. lots of variety throughout. i wouldn't have minded letting the end hang instead of cut, but it's a functional ending. this is fun! i wasn't sure at first because it felt pretty true to the midi at first, but there's loads of supporting material. fun track. YES

opens with some beautiful descending arpeggiated action, and settles into a 12/8 feel before starting with the Terra melody (really the main theme of the game in various forms). i really appreciate the space added to the melodic representation. the ascending blocks in the left hand are nice too. at 1:25 we get the melodic represented an octave up, which i think is a good choice as you move away from the left hand block for a bit each time - a nice break. about two minutes in we get the Ceremony of Gods section, which has some stacked/blocked chords in a way that feels very chant-like - neat idea. there's a quick transition to the Terra theme complete with a fun new landing chord in here, and then the track moves out on An Irrevocable Past as an ending vehicle. it'd be easy to believe that these were all the same piece of music originally. the transitions are seamless and the performance is excellent as expected. this is a layup, excellent work. YES

i voted on this way back in 2022, and primarily had issues with a bunch of notes that were crunchy. tbh i don't remember it much. opens with some stutter synths and pads, and we get some percs to help it build in. the bass hits at 0:27, and i agree with joe - it sounds nice. the smooth lead is a fun feel, and there's a quirky repeated note in the background that's doing fun stuff. i wouldn't mind if the bass tone was a bit more sustained. the snare at 0:55 is indeed a bit big, but tbh i think it actually needs more reverb, not less (and make it quieter, yes) so it feels more sustained alongside all these other verby synths. the melodic material there is the first that we've heard, and it's fairly straightforward. there's a continued reliance on viio chords as outlined in the ascending skip section of the melody, and it still doesn't sound right. this is something i called out in my last review of the track - i'll try and spell it out more carefully here. the chord at 0:58.5 is a G# fully diminished (G# B D F, also called G#o or vii o in this key), and the bass playing something that sounds like an E. the detuning on the bass might be causing this, but overall, the real issue is that you're putting an E in the bass next to an F in the chord. you should probably just make this an E7 (E in bass, and E G# B D above it), and let the F in the melody be a passing tone (or move it around so it fits). this is an issue every time it comes around. after the melodic section, we get some ascending patterns around 1:22 in the lead. this is a lot of the same lead tone in a row, and may have been better served with a different tone here. and then, at 1:36, you use the same lead tone to do some fanfares (but lower than the other ascending line). this is nearly impossible to distinguish and just sounds overlapping and confusing. the following section at 1:50 is, in contrast, a nice change due to the new lead and feel there. i think you could have moved away from the echoed, gated, chippy backing synth as well, to help reinforce the difference. there's a fun little break, and at 2:18 we're into a new feel. again, the issue of the G# dim is back, and it's worse here. every time that chord comes around, it sounds like there's obvious dissonance. that needs to be fixed before anything could be posted. there's a short outro section in ep, and it's done. it's a little sudden, and maybe could have been prepped or fleshed out a bit more. this is a fun track, and i like the feel. the dissonance is still an issue and this cannot pass with it in there. i'd be happy to help you identify and fix it if you'd like - i suspect it's an easy thing to find. beyond that, the layering at 1:36 needs to be shifted around so it's able to be differentiated - probably by moving one of the parts to a different instrument. i think that snare could use some love too - i didn't mind it near as much as joe, but it does need a more natural reverb tail on it (and to be turned down) so it fits into the instrumentation better. i don't think there's an issue with the 808, as that's endemic to the style. i do agree with joe that the arrangement overall is fun and enjoyable, we just need to fix a few things and then it's ready for primetime. NO

we reviewed this on the 6/18 NO SHOW. we all really enjoyed this. particularly i enjoyed the bass and flute elements - felt the flute really fit perfectly, and xander did a great job with it. i'll admit i thought that 0:47 was gonna be in 7/8 when i heard it first =) the shape of the track is great, and there's excellent energy throughout both in the arrangement and in the performances. i wish there was more of an ending, but that's a personal preference. i'm not going to do a full writeup since you can listen to the live show, but this is an easy vote for me. YES

we reviewed this on the 6/18 NO SHOW. in general, we all felt that this was too light on arrangement. there's little in the instrumentation (besides the percs/vocal elements) that isn't already in the original. there's some fun percussive elements, and i actually really thought that the vocal clips fit this song better than some of your others, but the arrangement made it a moot point. we gave some more in-depth notes on the show itself. i noted some copypasta in the backing elements as well. overall, this needs more of you, and less of mitsuda. NO

we reviewed this one on the 6/18 NO SHOW. i think this is a really fun arrangement! i really enjoyed the piano playing, and especially the tenor tone when it came in. i felt that the alto part sounds very thin and muffled throughout - this is a recording issue, and probably necessitates a re-record. we'd require similar re-records on a vocal part, for example, that had the same level of thinness and muffled/distorted tone (4:14's a great example, but it's throughout). there's a few points where the alto's pitchy too so that'd help that as well. separately, i felt that the tenor solo really didn't work in a lot of places - i think the overall shape of the solo was nice, but there's several points where the tenor's sitting on tones that don't fit the chord below it, and it's crunchy. tbh i'd recommend writing a solo (or a framework of one) and then using that. to be clear - i love the concept and adaptation. i think if the alto was re-recording playing the exact same notes with a touch of pitch correction, and if the tenor solo was a bit more on-key, this would be an easy pass. NO

gonna chime in because i really enjoyed this one. we did this on the 6/18 NO SHOW. this has a fantastic overall shape to it. i really appreciate the payoff section, like i talked about on the show, but separately also really enjoyed the build. i think the toms early on are too loud, and i thought that the bottles sound a bit funky next to the claps due to their attacks (and then later when they're popping in and out of the texture before the big transition), but those are nitpicks. this is fantastic. nice work. YES

we covered this one extensively on the 6/18 NO SHOW. my big highs on this one were the guitars coming in at 1:00, some of the synth choices, most of what the drums are saying conceptually, and the bass tone at the end. my big negatives here were the lack of humanization in the drums, the overall lack of direction to the arrangement (it just kind of sits in the same place for a long time and needs more dynamic contrast throughout, especially in the drums), and that it feels right now like far too much repetition throughout (this could easily be >60s shorter). i'm not going to do a huge writeup as we went over it in detail in the live show. i definitely think what you've got here is a great framework. some more attention to the arrangement's shape and possibly getting away from the arp as the main element for a time in the middle will make that last third a lot more impactful. NO

Its a bird! Its a plane! Its another PS1 RPG!!! Someone on discord talked about specialists and people who focus on certain kind of games and styles and well, maybe that's me. I will reach out my little tendrils sooner or later but when I heard about the live Judge NO Show? I was like, I HAVE to get one in there lol. While not guaranteed or anything, this was also close enough that I'm fine with it out of my hands anyway. But to that point really, I also don't mind this out of my hands because I was finished this song a long time ago! That's because this song was made backwards lol. I finished the second half first as just something vibin for my tiny YT channel and myself. I liked it so much I didn't wanna touch it ya know? But i also wanted to do this song for OCR at some point....but I already did it in a way I love....but I dont wanna change it either! Arggh whats a musician to do?! Oh, I'll just add a looong intro and then fuse the two! That'll work....right? Lol, who knows and the two sides came together in a way I'm happy with, but lets be real honest here. This song is essentially three loops. Loop A, Loop B, and Loop B2 if you will. I think...it could be fair to say the song could, for some, overstay its welcome. But man I vibe with it so much, I had to do it twice haha. B2 is a bit different in small ways and as is my calling card at this point, has a vox over top. I think I said this before in another sub but i used to be self-conscious about that but now I embrace it! Anyway, almost done here. On the composition side I have consistently been weak in my percussion but I wanted to try and be free and spicy but it could be too...messy in the beginning. However, the back end is a lot more conventional (for me). Which makes sense because the two were made at different times. From a production standpoint, I tried to make the two sides sound similar enough so it wasnt jarring when things changed. I think its okay but I am biased. Also...every time I think about the percussion sounds fine to me it sounds weak to others so uh, im curious how that works out this time. Anyway, thanks as always and much love. Until next time. Games & Sources Source: Sailing ~ Another World Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda

opens with a clock ticking away, and some various struck metals. there's a descending note pattern used here that appears to be a major scale for most of it - i think this is supposed to be the chord pattern but stripped down a bit. this fades into insect and swamp sfx at about 1:50, and we get some mallet work outlining the chord structure from the original. it's a tenuous connection at best as it's a pretty basic bassline that's followed. the later section of this does outline the chords more and is more recognizable. around 3:53, we transition into some wind sfx, and as part of that we get one of the first recognizable representations of the melodic material, in the glock. this is a very straightforward representation of it. the next transition is at 6:10, and is highlighted by the usage of the hand pan (one of my personal favorite instruments). this is again a fairly basic representation of the material, and isn't really transformed much beyond getting it into the instrument. next transition is around 8:10, and there's some really fun instruments used here - the lithophone concept is really neat. this version of the melodic material is much more stretched out and patient, and there's a little more interpretation in how it's being represented. the clock comes back at 10:40, for a bit at least, and then explores the long-delay nature of singing bowls (or really any metallophone). the part that is in 'harmony' is interesting due to the intense harmonics that metallophones feature, as well as the long delay to the tone. this is the last section. as it was going, i was concerned about source usage - the first section didn't use much at all, and the second's was limited to just the descending scalar pattern, which wasn't really enough to count. so the more significant usage on the final four sections is appreciated. i don't have a problem with source usage overall. so the next question is - does this count as enough arrangement? the sections that feature the original material are played in a very straightforward method, and there's little of what we describe in the standards as arrangement demonstrated here. and past arrangements of LXE have had me asking this question as well. after listening to it a bit, i think that the different sound palettes that are represented here are where the arrangement is - that is, the soundscapes created are the arrangement, not necessarily the notes themselves - similar to how pointillism is just dots until you look at the whole canvas. so, while it's certainly a bit of a stretch, yeah, i think this does enough. and the representation of the instruments and sfx is superb - you feel they're in the room with you - so that element is more than enough. what a unique concept. i like it more and more. YES

good to see you again, zack. opens with some interesting aleatoric bits and some keys and strings into a first real hit at 0:13. acoustic guitar as the lead sounds stellar as expected. strings do a nice job supporting the lead part. there's some really nice pacing with the opening section - the slow build is really handled well. drums come in at 1:09 on the second iteration of the theme. drums might be a bit extra in this early section, and more notably the snare especially seems to be bigger than i'd expect - it cuts through a lot. there's a bit of a break and we get a new lead instrument at 1:47. snare and cymbals continue to feel a bit bright here. the string swell at 2:09 is really nice. there's an extended drop and build after this, and the backing elements at 2:30 really start to come up to play - i love the strings in there at 2:46. we finally get the electric guitar we were all expecting at 2:55 - that's a great payoff. there's a nice guitar solo starting at 3:11 - a few different lead tones in here, and i like them all. we finish up the melody line, and there's a bit of falling action to finish it out. the ending swipe gets cut a bit and i don't know if that's intentional. this is, as expected, a beautiful rendition of a beautiful theme. i love the song's overall structure and how you build towards the big payoff solo section. excellent work. YES

opening sure sounds sampled from civ vi's audio. the strings and percs add a lot to the work - actually sounds a lot like the medieval version of the civ vi original. 1:06 is the first hit of the bomberman '93 track, and it starts in an inauspicious manner - with an enormously clipping power hit. there's some funky organ alongside the the flute and percs, but the whole thing is hitting the limiter visibly in the waveform. we get some korb-esque guitar at 1:20 that would have sounded right at home on the Bastion soundtrack, and the organ (which sounds hand-played and not quantized) has a really earthy quality to it that i really like alongside the very robust lower strings. there's a bit of a break at 2:31, where the melody slows down and it's more a focus on a slower feel in the melody. there's some interesting expansion in here. there's an actual break at 3:30, and some noodles to navigate the space before the guitar beat starts back up. this noodles around before a more intense ensemble section at 4:45 that is right on the edge of being too loud. this functions as a full recap before the outro which starts at 5:20. we get an extended section of strings here, very slowly navigating the modal scale some more for over a minute before it's really done. this is a fun ride! it's too loud for me personally, but i only hear clipping in that one first spot at 1:06. the rhythmic focus and really strong melodic basis carry it well though. fix that clip and i'm on board. CONDITIONAL (1:06 clip) edit 6/27: it's still crunchy, but the updated version doesn't literally explode at 1:06. so i think this is probably good enough. YES

opens with some very verby piano outlining a b7 chord, and picks up with a second less-verby piano soon after. very patient, quiet start - which then gets obliterated by a really wild bass or cello bow sfx alongside some obligatory-for-H36T vocal clips. 0:47 brings in a cello in countermelodic fashion alongside a piano carrying the melody. i admittedly didn't care for this piano's tone - it's very bright and dancey, and your earlier pianos felt much more fitting for this style. there's a big shift at 1:07 - we get some percussive elements, and notably some panning electronic burbles. this transition was sudden and it took a second to make some sense. the cello and some choir comes back in soon after the percs hit and outline the chord structure for a bit. there's an interesting off-beat plectral instrument that carries the initial few notes of the melody that comes in at 1:35 and bounces around. we finally get back to the melodic material at 1:54 with a bigger, fuller texture featuring some more percussive elements and the choir carrying the lead. there's a specific cymbal scrape which kept getting used every few bars that started to be a little grating by this time. there's some big brass swells as well which are great - really liked the extra texture from them. they're quite panned though so my ears felt pretty unbalanced through here. 2:34 is a big shift, much more intense, with lots of big stacks in the orchestration. there's no one element carrying the melody through this section, but the men's voices carrying the last part and swelling up from the bottom sounds great. there's a non-sequitur ending with some vocal clips and the choir instrument from before, and it's done. any track with a long start and tail that aren't source requires a bit of check on the timestamps, and this one's fine - there's at least the source's chord progression with melodic snippets for most of the middle two and a half minutes out of around three and a half minutes, so we're good there. i'd have preferred a more balanced soundscape with less panning, and a few adjustments to the instrumentation, but this is an interesting take on the manoria cathedral theme. i liked the intentional effort to not focus on just hammering through the melody repeatedly, since the short track already has a fairly repetitive structure anyways. there's a lot of variety here and the time you spent making it unique shows through clearly. YES

this was a fun concert live. beat hits pretty quickly, and the clavinet is perfect for this style. it's got a nice tight shuffle right away, and it's immediately recognizable as the original. the switch to cymbals at 0:31 is nice. i wouldn't have minded if the lead line coming into the eponymous "snake eater" line at 0:55 was more in front. there's a solo section after this, and i really like the lyrical approach that you took to it. 1:30 goes right back to the tune, and trucks through a more stylized version of the melodic lead. there's a bit of an outro starting at 2:13, and it's done. i couldn't help but wish there was a bit of a drop section at 1:30 to help stretch the track out a bit, but what's here is fun and fresh. an easy vote =) YES

notably louder in the right ear until the kit comes in, and that's a pretty sharp tone to be isolated like that. tone overall is super bass heavy and boomy in the lows a lot. the kick and bass in the opening have a ton of presence on the fundamental. vocals are very sharp - formant has been overly boosted and they are more piercing than i'd like. at the prechorus at 0:45, i lose the lead line in the harmonies - that needs to be doubled and separately brought up. there's a bit of a break/transition at 1:10, and then it kicks back up at 1:18. the prosody on the third line "promised to not leave you there" is a bit weird as you sit on 'to' instead of a more important word. we get another chorus section with a too-quiet lead right after, but i like the backing elements a lot here. back to the verse at 1:57, and again the prosody is a bit weird through here as the sustained words are usually not important words. the fast change to 'pain and blame' is confusing too. there's a fast transition to a quick break before we're back to the prechorus section again. the subsequent chorus at 2:48 is again a nice sound, and the lead seems a bit stronger this time around so that's good. there's some solos to play us out, before a big drop at 3:23 quotes some of the opening before a final chord to finish it. this is a neat concept, and you've clearly got a good idea on how to frame and shape a track like this - it flows nicely throughout, there's some fun hooks, and you don't let the backing elements become boring, which is great. i think my main issues are with the mix being very boomy while the vocals are very sharp in some sections (edit: this is the same issue i had with the chorus on your SH remix that recently got posted), and separately the prosody in several sections is not very smooth. i didn't see the original comments from DoD, so i don't have context on why this track placed where it did. i think mostly your singing tone is good (it gets nasally and pointed once and a while, but overall sounds nice), and issues there are more with the EQing of the voice parts. this isn't there yet. i certainly don't think it needs a different singer - just some updates to the mix, and maybe settling some words a bit more. NO

these originals sound bonkers, so strap in, i guess. opens with washing-machine sounds and string stabs that resolves into a found-music beat pattern. the 'lead' instrument here is super interesting - i love the timbral variations over time, particularly the squawking, distorted edge on the tone. the original's maj7 jump is immediately recognizable, and the little variations like the 'miss' at 0:45 are a nice touch. 0:54 switches to a much more broad feel, almost like a hand-pan and pads, with a lot of outside fx and nicely handled bird sfx. i like the verb on these as it does indeed make it sound like a cave, it's surprisingly nuanced. and making a melodic, calming progression out of the nonsense that is MANTICORE is impressive. the same beat as the beginning comes back around 1:15 and starts to fade in - i wouldn't have minded some more variation there at this point - and there's some washes of color to make it progressively more creepy. the beat comes closer and closer until at 1:55 the original progression is back in our face with the original evil duck synth. we do get some variations to the beat pattern which is nice, and then the fireworks which apparently are a story element. 2:28 brings in FLAMES and includes a lot of additional sfx here as well. it progresses through that a bit before a sudden, harsh fall-off, and it's done. well, it's a ride, all right. the arrangement is just what i expected given the artist - a surprisingly clever and nuanced approach to a track nobody was going to listen to twice - and it features a ton of fun sound design and interesting, unique little bits to keep it special. the work on reverbs especially is particularly impressive. YES

opens with some tempo-synced elements that apes the opening chord progression, and then at 0:18 we get the arp pattern that's in the strings in the original. there's an interesting feel at 0:18 - the backing arp sounds strings-adjacent, and the big verby drums and timpani give it an orchestral newage feel, but the lead synths are very spacey and different. the bit of glide on the lead that comes in at 0:53 is nice. there's a bit of a break at 1:31 - still highly rhythmic and tempo-synced, but not any percs for a bit. the strings pulsing in the background again are nice - the interplay between real and synthetic elements is fun. the escalation element in the stop-and-go at 2:27 is really nice. there's a change in the feel at 2:41, and suddenly we're two instead of three for a little bit. there's a feel of wonder and anticipation in this section, which is interesting and i can't really quantify. accelerating towards and then reaching the 'peak' of this section and feeling the beat drop out from underneath at 3:18 is reminiscent of cody sailing over the waterfall in marahute's arms in the beginning of Rescuers Down Under (one of my favorite animated films). the subsequent section transitions into a slow letdown around 3:50 - almost as if we can't get to that height again, and we know it - and then builds itself back up on the other side over the course of the next minute to a peak at 4:50. this section doesn't quite have the verve and impact as i expected given the complex build-up, but it's a nice cozy payoff section for the last minute of the piece. one last chord, and some fade, and we're done. this is outstanding. the work evokes a sense of yearning among other emotions - really superb realization throughout. i particularly appreciated the nuance in the pacing and in the volumization between each section - there's loads of extra attention paid to ensure that each element is just in the right place for each section, regardless of where it's being used. the track sounds fantastic. excellent work. YES

micro mages WAS a no, originally. you passed on a resub. opens with a whoosh that isn't in the source (but is only 0.25s long, so i'll allow it 😂), and then gets right to the source. there's a fun, bouncy feel to the bass writing, and the sidechain is crisp and significant. lead writing at 0:32 is great - tons of personalization. the sfx clip right after it is a bit loud, but i love the hard drop into the band sound at 0:49, and i absolutely love the super-heavy sidechain, reminiscent of the post-chorus Titanium sound. there's some bass growls in there that are a fun addition, and we hit the first break at 1:18. this is pretty long and does some unexpected stuff, like the fakeout build into 2:05. we do finally get the last payoff chorus at 2:21, complete with some organic grass-fed bass wubulation. more exciting is the altered chord progression and subsequent key change so it's not just playing through it in a straight line again. excellent use of an escalation mechanic in the last few seconds of the track. there's some more sfx and some keys to play us off, keyboard cat, and we're done. a delightful track. i think the sfx are too loud each time they come up, but that's really my only complaint. i like the arrangement, the song's scope and form, the execution, and the wrap. nice work. this is an instant favorite. YES

opens with some big washes of sound. this immediately reminded me of 800% justin bieber, actually - the super-wet strung out chords sound a lot like a paulstretch demo. the chords sound reasonably in line initially , although a few points are aurally confusing (like whatever's happening at 1:36). there's a break for the 'movements', and then we get into a new timbre and approach - again with the chords in the washes, but with broken chords in the piano outlining the harpsichord's part in the original at a slower speed. there's some really delightful little sparkles in these more restrained brushstrokes which are super interesting. the chord structure again gets dense by the fifth and sixth chord - i still don't really know what's going on there - but when it clears up, the chord movement is more obvious. the piano really goes off into some weird places by the end of this section and i found that to be pretty confusing (like the last chord, the piano's notes all sound like they're non-chord tones...but it's the resolution chord of the piece). i initially felt that the chordal patterns were too far apart from the original and as a result were academic. but after intentionally going along and only playing the core of each chord and then clicking to the next, i found that my original inclination was wrong - this is the original's chord structure (albeit not as clear as it could have been), and my original thoughts were due to not being able to correlate them due to the long tails and openings on each chord. so i do actually think there's enough source here, although the piano element does its best to confuse things. with that settled, i think that the vehicle here is dramatic and unique - the broad washes of sound are beautiful and cold, and remind me very much of looking out a window at a winter landscape. i 100% can understand if the other judges aren't into this, but i think what's here passes the letter of the law around source usage. with that in mind, then i definitely think this passes. YES

thank you for being willing to accept feedback! not everyone always is and it's refreshing to see someone be willing to step back and try something different. opens with some chips and fuzzy guitar. percussive elements and bass come in soon after, although they're pretty hard to hear. there's some interesting filtering on the percs, but the bass is nearly unable to be heard. the chips and guitar are in unison for most of the first thirty seconds, but we do finally hear stuff 'hit' at 0:38, and the band sound is together at 0:43. the full band sounds pretty bass-lite still, and is dominated by the crash cymbals and the middle-range chip sounds. there's a more intense rhythm section at 1:15, where the guitar is more audible, but the bass content is still really lacking. the fuzzy guitar is such a unique choice for this section - i keep wondering what a heavier distortion would sound like. there's a big break at 1:57, with a lot of call and response in the guitar. there's some real intonation issues that are highlighted by this section. this is followed by a more rhythmic section with heavily automated drums for a moment before a band section that has all sorts of more complex drum patterns in it - there's some really fun drum writing in here - and eventually introduces the main melodic line over top. this repeats for a bit before we get to a resolution, and it's done. from a mix perspective, there's a ton of sub-40hz content throughout this, which is a part of why the bass sounds so quiet throughout. trimming out most of the stuff under maybe 50hz would help a lot...you don't need 11hz at -24db =) beyond that, a lot of the not-chip choices of instrumentation really lack punch. like, the entire section at 0:59 is super intense, and the writing is complex and interesting, but it sounds like it's being played back on a cell phone - there's so little body to the sound. from a performance perspective, the guitar being out of tune throughout is rough. it's very noticeable every time the instrument is on a sustain - the big chord at 0:40, the descending line at 1:03, the riffs at 1:18, and especially the sustains that occur from 1:56 through the end in both the rhythmic sections and the lead/solo sections. that's not as easy of a fix unfortunately as changing some EQs, but it's tough to listen to in those spots. i still think the arrangement is fun! i think that there's a lot of technical stuff holding this back from being a really great chiprock tune. NO

opens with an interesting done/plectral combo - almost sounds like a sitar. beat comes in at 0:16 alongside some really interesting percussive elements. it starts to resolve into an actual beat alongside some starry pads over time - some really interesting ideas in the patience of developing it. there's a few weird notes in the lead at 1:01 that are not delay artifacts to my ears, they're just wrong notes. the melody comes back at 1:05 in a few places, but the big feel at 1:20 is really nice. it's a fairly thin texture, but there's a lot of range used in the instrumentation, which i appreciate. the super downtempo feel is really good. the lead at 1:01 comes back in here eventually around the two minute mark, and this time around it fits the chords better. there's a shift at 2:24 as we get into the second part of the original. the shift to sharper-edged synths after all those bells and blurbs was surprising, but i like the significant feel change. i also like the original material here and think it helps flesh out the rest of the track nicely. this all serves as a pick-up into 3:12 where we're essentially moving at twice of the speed that we were originally. the bass element here is nice, but i'd have liked hearing some of the other elements be changed up here too help support the bigger feel of this section. there's a big drop off at 4:15, and we're into the outro material. i like the bookending that's done here with the percussive elements. this is a really unexpected representation of the original! there's a really great shape to this track, and the natural build that you've built in works really well. i don't care for the couple of bad notes at 1:01, but that's probably my only real issue with this track - the rest is just personal preference. nice work. YES

opens with some drums and what sounds like a keyboard for the bass. drums don't really have much body. there's an organ blurb, and then the first section of melodic material starts at 0:19. it's heavily modified as noted, and there's some harmony added that doesn't quite fit the chords (mirrored fifths doesn't really work most of the time for harmonies). there's similarly some stuff happening in the organ backing that also doesn't quite fit. we hit a break at 0:50 and there's some extra percussion added before an organ break and build up. i liked the lead in this section, and would have liked for it to be more forward and have more body to it. 1:52's got some funky notes in there - sounds like some chromatic progression that doesn't quite land. this continues through the next several sets of chords - sounds like not all of the chord changes are vertically lined up as much as they could be. this noodles through the melody some more and then it's done. this is an interesting concept. most earthbound remixes usually have some level of funkiness to them - undoubtedly brought about by the weirdness of the game - and so a single-synth track is a fun idea. i think however that this needs both more going on (most of the track is just bass/drums, lead, and a backing element or two at most) and it needs more refinement in what it's doing. there's a lot of what i'd call wrong notes as opposed to quirky progressions in the harmonic accompaniment, and what most of the instruments are saying is bland or looped a lot - like the drum patterns and backing organ. freshening that up alongside a more robust approach to mastering that'll add some body to the individual instruments would help a ton. separately i felt that the arrangement was pretty meandering, and lacked direction in a few spots. being more intentional with your representation of the original would help a lot. NO

this is a fun idea - i like name-based puns for remix genre adaptations. what's here is pretty upbeat and honestly an enjoyable concept. unfortunately, this is what we'd classify a cover - replacing instruments in the original with either new sounds or something that was performed live but not really updated at all. the performances are great, and i do like your instrument choices! but this doesn't meet our arrangement guidelines, specifically section 4.2 which calls out this situation directly. beyond that, from a mix perspective, there's no room sound nor is there really a complete job of volumization throughout, so the mix is uneven and doesn't sound as natural as it could with more attention there. this doesn't change though that this is a fun representation of the original! everything with your distorted lead is great, especially 0:41, and like i said i really like the concept. i'm sure this would get a bunch of listens on YouTube, for example, which doesn't have anywhere near as stringent of submission standards around arrangement. but for it to work here, we'd need more Orsi and less Nobuo in the arrangement. NO

this original is outrageous! how have i never heard this before? what a bop. opens with the guitar being just a touch ahead of the drums - would really prefer to hear the lead sit back into the pocket a bit more. there's some fun stuff going on in the far outsides of the ears here - lot of panned content. i don't hear much of a bass in the intro. the track picks up and gets to the meat and potatoes at 0:27. the lead part is performed great - love all the detail on the lead, tons of vibrato and accoutrement going on. i also appreciate how much the backing parts aren't just on autopilot - there's tons of fills in the drums and in the rhythm guitar, the amount of stuff that's coordinated is great, and it doesn't sit on the same patterns for any length of time. there's a half-time drop at 2:31 which is appropriately evil-sounding. the big fat stacks playing tritone patterns and the chugs at 3:08 sound like something off of DT's Systematic Chaos album. there's a big screaming solo and then some drum work at 3:54 before the requisite acoustic guitar break at 4:05. we get one last big blow at 4:31, and it's worth the wait with the intensity being cranked up to 11. a few last chords and it's done. quite literally my only complaint is that i don't hear a ton of bass guitar (probably because you faked it tbh). the writing is great, the performance is superb - one of the better guitar performances i've heard this year in judging, and the drum writing is excellent as well - and the mix is clean. excellent work, really enjoyable track. YES