prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

opens with some stacked chords in the strings, and some piano outlining the opening main lick in the original. the strings are very dynamic, which is a cool effect, but both it and the piano don't have any room tone on them which makes it hard to place them aurally. additionally, the piano's playing isn't particularly idiomatic given the dancey tone and complete lack of velocitization on the individual notes. in short, every note shouldn't sound exactly the same volume - there should be some variation as you go up and down those riffs. beat comes in at 0:30, along with more sustains in the strings. again, nothing really has reverb, and the additional layered melodic material that comes in at 0:48 is too quiet relative to everything else (ducking your sustained strings below that melodic material would help a lot. the kit is playing catchy stuff, but admittedly i found the clicky, psy-like kick and spit snare to not be fitting the keys and strings quite as well as i'd hoped. this is a dynamic section though with a lot of movement, and i think that sounds pretty cool. there's a surprisingly long silence transition (this is probably 2x too long, but it's a really cool idea), and we're into the 3-3-2 section of the original. this is less mixed-meter-feeling than the original, and imo feels more settled than the original as well. i like what the piano's doing in here - it just doesn't sound real, unfortunately. there's a recap of the A section that starts around 1:31 and again layers in the lead part, but we then get a synth lead around the two minute mark that's a nice freshening of the atmosphere a bit - i'd love to hear other instruments doing stuff in here too, so it's not such a static texture. there's another recap of the A material with some interesting panning concepts for a bit, and track maneuvers towards the ending fairly quickly after that. there's not much of an ending - i think a hard stop ending like you do could work, but you'd need to mute the synth lead's delay so that it doesn't keep going after the last chord. the overall lack of reverb is an issue here - the soundscape sounds hyper-artificial because of that - and the velocitization on the keys is an issue especially near the end with the very fast runs you've got there. i also wasn't a huge fan of what felt like copy/paste for the A material each time it came around - some more variance there would have been great. your rhythm-heavy approach would have worked great for adding some altered chords in there, in my opinion. lastly, i didn't care for the kick and snare tones - the other instruments were more traditional (even the synth lead is a simple one), and the tone of those instruments i'd relate more to psytrance or something that's less dynamic than this in soundscape. i love the concept though! there's some really fun stuff going on here. if you get us a version with a more realistic piano performance, some shaping of the sound stage via reverb, and more cohesive instrumentation, this'd be an easy pass. NO

opens with synth toms and a pulsing, driving beat centered around the chord progression outlined by the original's opening elements. there's a bit of melody at 0:32, but it's hard to hear to under the existing arpeggiating instrument. there's a break at 0:52 that admittedly sounds like something out of chrono trigger for a bit. i noticed here that the drums were pretty auto-pilot for a while both in terms of what they were playing and the fills being used. starting at 1:12 we get the melodic line from the original around the 2:10 mark for a bit. there's a break in the beat right after this for a bit, and then we get a copypasta of 0:22 (this sounds 1:1 to my ears, right down to the too-quiet melodic line) and then later of 0:52, and then 1:12 as well. so that's a lot of completely repeated material. 2:51 is some new material from the original for a few seconds, and then the track kind of peters out - no fill into the ending, no chord resolution, and the instruments seem to stop at different times. i think this one isn't quite done yet. first of all, it's just over three minutes, and more than a minute of that is a direct copy from earlier in the song. that's too much clear repetition - do something different! this can be as simple as mixing up your leads, changing a few chords, adding some countermelodic material, or updating the backing elements. along those lines, i found the drums to be extremely basic and same-y, even for a style that usually uses a base loop for most of a song. mixing up the drum fills so they're not rote and altering the beat for the middle a bit will make returning to it later that much more impactful. another issue is the not-ending is a real letdown. lastly, i'll call out that the melodic material at 0:32 isn't really audible, and it'd be great to get that bigger so that the correlation is more obvious. i do think this has legs for sure! i love synthwave versions of winter themes, i think there's something about the nature of the synth tones usually used for this that fit really well. i'd love to hear this with some more variation to the track and some extra ear candy in your approach. the workshop would be a great place to get some other feedback as well. NO

my original vote had issues around the need for volumization, some drum EQ work, repetition, and some sections that were lacking in energy. opening still feels light on the bass and kick, and the snare is a touch loud even when everything's playing, but it's not as bad as it was in the last mix. the vibe is still really fun. i think the guitar part at 1:25 is new, right? that's nice to have something else happening there. there's some sfx in the recap at 1:49 too which is fun. i'm noticing the instances where the drum parts are not quite in line more this time around. 2:35's still kind of static with the marimba octaves - i wish we could get something simple alongside that to make it less static. overall, i think my main mix complaints from last time - the very loud rhythm guitar and the weird-feeling drums - are a lot better than last time around. i think the levels throughout are much more balanced, and i think there's some added content that wasn't there before. i don't think this is perfect, but it's much improved overall, and i think this is probably good enough to get it over the line. if it isn't, i'd focus more on helping the overall feel of the track not to feel like there's too much repetition, and getting more dynamics overall in the work. YES

original decision Arrangement: Mel Decision Bass: darmock Guitars: Siolfor the Jackal All percussion: DeLuxDolemite This arrangement was created for Dwelling of Duels' Party month in September 2024, and got 9th place out of 24 tracks. This was my first month participating in DoD. I had a bit of trouble figuring out what to arrange—some of my first choices didn't fit all the criteria—and fell back on the first Mario Party on N64, since I'd recently played that with a friend. Yoshi's Tropical Island is a jam, and got me inspired to dive in the prompt. While it's a fairly conservative arrangement, I've taken a more laid-back approach to the piece's beach vibes. This is the kind of party where you sit back and relax with a piña colada in hand or bust out the grill. Collaboration, not competition, you know? I've subbed the steel drums for guitars performed by Siolfor the Jackal, added some additional movement to the bass, performed by darmock, and added a bunch of additional percussion including a full drum kit part, all of which was performed by DeLuxDolemite. DeLuxDolemite also improvised a conga solo for the piece. In place of some of the default percussion from the song, I subbed in some samples from Mario Paint and Yoshi's Story. With the guitars, bass, and percussion, I did more processing of live instruments for this track than I have on any previous track and learned a lot about mixing everything. The drum kit was especially a learning experience; instead of working on one or two midi tracks, I have audio tracks for each section of the kit. This piece also inspired me to go out and buy some additional percussion instruments so I can play some myself in future arrangements. In fact, I've already recorded some for the next DoD prompt. :) I focused on redoing the mix from scratch for the resub, paying close attention to how the rhythm guitar and drums to address judge feedback. I also added a few spots with steel drums to reinforce the marimba per @pixelseph’s suggestion. Games & Sources "Yoshi's Tropical Island" from Mario Party 1, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda

@Liontamer @Emunator updated version in first post with slightly reduced high freqs on shaker. enough?

opens with a much slower and relaxed vibe than the original, for sure. melody comes in at 0:19 and there's some fun altered/extended chords in there that i don't remember from the original. this is definitely a city pop feel, i agree there. i appreciate the tight tone of the drums as well. there's a recap of 0:19 at 0:57 (it does sound exactly the same for maybe 20s), and some altered chords for the second half of the A section in the vibes. there's a bit of a break, and then we're into the B section at 1:35. there's some wooble on the leads here that's a neat idea - i didn't notice it in the earlier section. this section kind of just trucks through the material before getting back to the A side as fast as possible, at 1:54. it's a little noodly there, but the track finds where it's going when it gets back to the A material. around here i started wanting a bit of a break, and while we get a bit of one with yet another copypasta of the second half of the A section from earlier at 2:32. and then more copypasta - 3:00 is 1:35 again, with some changes on the second half of that section. 3:29's a recap of the opening, and this is also copypasta. this block repeats for a while and then fades out. so most of the second half of the track is repeated exactly =( i think this is a nice idea, and i like the execution of it in terms of synth choices and instrumentation. it's a real nice vibe. but the repeated material is excessive. one or two sections repeated is one thing, but this is half the piece. i think it's fine to repeat concepts as long as you're mixing up the next time it comes around - however that's not what's happening here. get me some variety! and then i'll be very happy to pass this. NO

Hey guys, This is my version of Sakura's theme from SFA2, which is a bit of a fan favorite track if I am not mistaken. The point of departure here was, like my previous submission, using sounds similar to (or inspired by) the og CPS-2 board, but I took a song in a very different direction than the original: it's slower and a bit more wistful. In retrospect, I think it sounds a bit like City Pop ballads? Games & Sources Stage Sakura - Street Fighter Alpha 2

opens with just drums, before we get an FMy bass and some distorted drum elements. it was a touch confusing what was going on in the drums at first, but once the more electronic/effected elements came in, it was more clear what was going on. coming in fresh, the opening drums sound strange due to the effecting on them, but they do fit better once i have context. melodic material comes in at 0:16. i like the distortion on the melody line, and i like the little harmonic shouts in each ear when they come in. i don't like that it's pretty static of a sound with no lfo or delta on sustained notes. there's some backing elements here - bells and an organ maybe? - and they're very oofy and heavily verbed while the lead, drums, and bass don't have any verb that i can hear. those backing elements really feel surprisingly dense. being in the same range as the melody doesn't help, and when they go lower for the second part of that first melodic phrase, it sounds very dull and congealed. the cymbals throughout this section are also essentially just static - the part at 0:30 is actually kind of shrill. mixing up the lead at 0:49 is a good idea - it has some delay on it and sounds so different simply because of that bit of effecting. it also doesn't have anything that helps the sustains sound less grating, which is disappointing. 1:20's a recap of the melody. 1:30's the same as 0:49 to my ears, outside the panning of the melodic blurbs, but there's some minor added harmonic elements on the back half that help it not be completely copied. 1:50's a big dropoff - i wouldn't have minded a more gradual falloff there. the bells in this next section are nice but the hard panning felt a little weird in headphones. at 2:16, animal got tired of the slow dancing at Fozzywig's Annual Christmas Party and kicks it off for a bit, but after one pass, it's back to being quiet again with another hard transition for a bit before it builds back up for one last blow. at 3:01, we've got (i think) the fourth time we've had the melody in the same instrument coming in with the same ascending line. luckily this time there's some changed elements in the melodic representation, but this would have been a great chance to mix it up and not do the same sound again. there's the ascending single chord bit and it's done. the different background synths end at different times, which i'm not sure was intentional. for a track that's 3:30, it's surprising that the texture is the same for almost three of those minutes. the loose, heavily reverbed organ and bells in the background alongside the very not-verby lead, bass, and drums never changes. combined with the lead never really changing after that first change at 0:49 makes for a very static soundscape, and it got tiresome after a while. the melody's always in the same range, it's almost always represented the same way with only minor changes until the very last time, it always has the same chords, and while the backing drums do mix it up and do some neat stuff, the rest of the arrangement feels like it's missing some development. i liked the concept of the quieter sections to help give the band sound punch when it comes back, but in my opinion the first break comes too late (feels like it should be at least 30s earlier in the mix), and the transitions in and out of each section are very abrupt. the energy management feels lacking as a result. some transitional elements would help a lot to manage that, as would giving those transitions a bit of time to breathe. i think you've got some really interesting ideas here, and there's obviously a lot of craft that's gone into the drum work especially. a set of backing elements that more closely fits the soundscape, some more intentional and careful transitions, and more attention paid throughout to making the melody line unique and different each time it's played (via instrumentation, lfo on the synths, altered chord work, more personalization, changing ranges...) would really move the needle on this one. as it is right now, it feels like you're close but not there yet. NO

For the Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon album project. When reviewing the Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon soundtrack, this track immediately stood out as a bop. Of all the tracks, it resonated with me the most as a drummer. I already loved the original drum part, so it felt like the perfect choice for the "drum kit" highlight on the album. I started with a basic arrangement, honing in on the drums. To emphasize their presence in the remix, I decided to feature both an acoustic and electronic kit—using ML Drums for the acoustic elements and crafting my own electronic kit from chip drum samples and sound effects. After several iterations of the drum parts, I asked @paradiddlesjosh for feedback on MIDI programming and articulation, refining the feel to make it as realistic as possible. With the drum tracks starting to lock in, I moved to refining the rest of the arrangement around them. The energy felt a bit one-note, so I experimented with softer, dreamier sections to add contrast and break up the loop. This also gave me a chance to explore different drum textures and the full range of a kit. Once everything was in place, I fine-tuned the mix to really make the drum parts shine, with valuable feedback from members of the OCR community. Games & Sources Game: Panel de Pon / Tetris Attack Song: Lip's theme / Demo

opens with some muted pads and some snippets of the melody. the beat comes in at 0:27 and it's overwhelmingly loud - i can't hear anything but the loop and the arp synth that doesn't appear to be matching the chords. the first break is at 0:56, and it's more of a drop and build than a break. the following drum beat is again way louder than everything, and it's again fairly repetitive. 1:32 is the next drop, and i'm noticing we haven't really actually seen any melodic material by this point - there's a few very simple bloops and blurbs that might sound adjacent to some of the melodic material, but i haven't heard anything that actually states the melody. there's another way over-loud drum section - very close to 0:27's section - one more break and build cycle, and then a last big shout chorus that's more of a hardstyle feel. from an overarching perspective, while this roughly follows the original's chord structure, i heard nothing of the original's melodic or harmonic elements. so that's a no there. separately, the balance in each section is way, way off - you could easily turn all of the percussion down by half, bring your overall volume up, and the drums would still be really big and punchy and probably too loud. this one needs some workshopping to balance out the parts and inject more of the original into the track. i like the idea - the original's very chill, so a big dancey version would be really fun! - but what's here isn't it yet. NO

opening is indeed adjacent but not quite the same as the intro. that ascending string riff into the melody line is pretty recognizable though! 7/8 for 0:29 is a revelation, i love that change - it emphasizes the already heavily rhythmic approach of the original. i liked the backing feel of the solo especially, and felt that was very Metropolis in feel at least initially. 1:46's new chord progression made a lot of sense and sounds great, especially when it gets harmonized. i wouldn't have minded a bit of vibrato on the lead guitar for a few of these sustains. 2:37's transition was surprising but does make some sense based on how the Terran campaign's music works. the sustains on the initial keys made it sound a bit cheesy, but it quickly settles into a better feel. this section overall feels a little less baked - the bass guitar is kind of far in the back and hard to hear, some of the synths are a little thin, the texture at 3:07 is fine but the lead's pretty light. i liked the solo line over it, especially starting at 3:30. 3:36's transition and backing parts are a bit on autopilot in the drums, and the guitar isn't quite as big as i'd have expected for this section, but i like the transition into the 4:07 section, and that section does a great job of providing some different textures that we haven't really felt. there's a jump into 4:22 as the tempo picks up, and then there's an outro section recapping the 7/8 section from before. what a fun arrangement overall! the track is so obviously Starcraft that it was very easy to grab onto the arrangement elements and just enjoy the total package. from a mix perspective, my biggest complaint is that i felt that the drums lacked some punch throughout. i would have liked a more present kit, i think, and a more dense kick especially. but the track still rocks and this is absolutely not a dealbreaker. excellent work exploring a classic track. YES

opens with some moving clarinet, and that moving line quickly passes between each part. this unfortunately highlights the difficulty in chamber music that's remote - it's so hard to truly pass off lines like this in an even fashion, although you do a decent job here. 0:35's sustains are a nice change. the repeated notes under those sustains really needed more intentional dynamics in the performance. there's another recap of the moving lines moving around with 'pizz' underneath them, and this sounded similar to the opening but voiced differently. there's a few obvious mistakes in the bassoon line at 1:22, although admittedly that's a tough range. i really liked the passing-off of the phrasing at 1:27. the following section has some more counterpoint which is nice. i'd have loved to hear even more interweaving of parts here, and especially some more dimensionality - spreading out the ranges a bit to fill in the chords instead of having everything so tight would have really added space. the chorale section at 2:09 is another space i'd have loved to hear with more range on the parts. shifting to ensemble articulation at 2:23 was really nice too. i wasn't as big a fan of the subsequent silence in the sax solo - it loses some energy and then tries to get right back into it, and loses something in the process. there's some more consistently moving counterpoint for a few more seconds, and then we get one last chord and it's done. from an execution standpoint, the arrangement is overall really solid. i appreciated the contextual changes between the articulated elements and the more sustained sections. there's enough repetition of concepts to hold onto without being overly repetitive, and there's a nice payoff at 2:09 with the chorale (although i'd have liked to hear more range explored on the instruments there). from a performance standpoint, i found the alto to be both too present in the mix and too sharp a tone as compared to the other instruments - a touch of EQ to tone down the edge on it would have really helped it mesh better with the other instruments. intonation across the board is fine but not stellar, and timing is pretty darn good considering the recording method. i think this is definitely a good representation of the medium and the original. performance is pretty good considering it wasn't done in-person and the arrangement has a lot of good contrast. nice work. YES

opens with some very defined percussive elements and some vox samples. the snare tone is a unique one. there's a lot of space in this opening. 0:16 brings in the hats and some chordal elements. there's a bit of original cribbing and then it's off to what sounds like a tracked guitar or synth right away for a bit of noodling around the melodic minor scale. 1:03 is a filtered section, feels very next-door. we get the main tonal center back at 1:18 and there's continuing to be a lot of exploration of the minor key but not much direct adaptation of the original. the first few bars are used in this section at 1:18, expanded out to fit the time signature, but it's honestly hard to recognize anything else. by 2:15ish everything sounds very much like we've heard it before, as well. for example, 2:22 is a straight copy from 1:18, and 2:37 is a copy of the section that starts at 1:18. there's a b section that starts at 2:52 and is initially more of a chorale - it's nice to get something new for a bit! this quickly transitions back to the original groove, and there's some crunchy notes as part of this layering doesn't quite line up. the track also just stops at the end of a snippet that was used earlier in the song. elephant in the room: i don't think this has enough source. the repeated Ab-G pattern in the chords is only present in the opening of the original in a non-counterpoint fashion, and that's honestly the main bit i catch here - and that's a pretty common progression. the high descending line apes the second measure of the original's chorus, and there's some sections that sound like they're straight from the original as-is (0:27 for example). i'd consider the lead at 0:31 to be adapting the first few verses of the original as well. i would consider 0:27-0:42, the backing parts at 0:47-1:00, backing at 1:24-1:46 and 1:50-2:19, and that's probably it. that's less than 90s overall so that's under 50%. i get if someone wants to use the chord progression, but given that so little of it is used and it's not particularly unique, i'm not really there. most of the main melodic concepts you'd hang your hat on in this arrangement are noodles and just exploration of the key, not actually from the original. separately, like i mentioned, there's a lot of repetition. you've got at almost 30s that's straight cribbed out from an earlier part, and there's not a lot to differentiate the individual sections aside from that. the ideas are cool! i don't think they're developed enough. the track really needs a true B section that then recapitulates back to the original idea to keep it moving, or else it needs like 45s taken from the duration. there's also a lot of opportunity to relate back more source to flesh out the arrangement itself. NO

This haunting tune has been on my mind since '92. It appears in exactly one place, a single room you don't need to be in for more than a minute or two - but I'd often linger just to listen. Had to make an arrangement of it for my newest album of video game remixes - it was, in fact, the whole reason I decided to embark on the project. Hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Game: Zelda: A Link to the Past Source: Church (aka Sanctuary) YT:

opens with keys, bass, and some limited drums. the keys in particular don't really speak very well and it's hard to hear what they're doing. everything's pretty slammed - especially the bass and kick are causing other instruments like the cymbals to distort audibly. melodic material comes in at 0:34. same drums from the intro are underneath. this trucks along through the A and B themes (the more smooth melody and the arpeggiated section), there's some fills and new patterns at 1:43 which is nice, although the instrumentation is staying the same here. at 2:08 the first drum groove is back, and the honestly the feel here is pretty hip with whatever the plectral instrument is behind the keys. the drums are just so bland. melody comes back at 2:43 way up high - this would have been a perfect chance to mix up the lead with something else. it goes through the melody the same that the last several passes have done, which feels tiresome at this point. the mix goes through the same A/B pattern that second time, there's a bridge-like section that i can't hear what the melodic material is, and then that bridge section turns out to be the outro and repeats several times copy-paste style until a fadeout occurs. this has some moments! there's definitely a fun feel to it in several spots. right now the mix is really blown and hard to hear, so that's a problem. and separately, the arrangement has some nice bits, but overall it's the same thing twice through and then an outro. i'd like to hear some use of dynamics (ie. breaks in the beat), a more logical song form, and less repetition. NO

this reminds me of something i'd hear on echoes. i don't think it makes sense to do a timing walkthrough on this, so i'll summarize. the timbral expansion here is significant and reflective of other heavily adapted arrangements we've had in the past. i appreciated the use of the entire sound stage throughout, and the willingness to explore elements that in general we don't see explored (mostly timing elements, a 180-degree soundstage, and some phase concepts). i agree with chimpa that the arrangement is fine and we don't need timestamps - in fact, had the chords been altogether different but consisting of the same pattern and roughly the same function, i'd still have said it was OK. i think that this is an excellent example of a style that we don't see near enough, given the volume of ambient/non-melodic tracks on popular soundtracks. i would have loved even more messiness and exploration in the first half, to be honest. but what's here is great and i appreciate it a lot. YES

4+db of headroom. opens with some very verb-heavy strings and piano. the piano appears to be playing the harpsichord part directly, and the cello and vin initially mirror the melody line before fleshing out a bit of harmony. it goes right into the B theme, and adds choir at 1:20. this is appropriately subtle when it's added. the arrangement opens up at 1:27 which is nice, and i like the additional windchimes and subsequent wind instruments. it trucks through the A and B theme again and then it's done. to my ear, the original plays throughout in the piano (or very close to it). there's certainly some additional orchestration, and tbh the choir elements are tastefully done. i think my main issue here is that there's very little H36T in the arrangement. layering in some additional parts is nice, and the counterpoint in several sections is pretty. i don't however get the vibe that this is ever more than the original. in comparing to some other orchestrated/choral arrangements (Rebecca's stuff for example), there's far more time spent in part-writing and making there be more than just the original driving it. the lack of dynamics in most spots (there's some orchestral crescendos, but very little individual dynamics, and the keys sound like there's zero velocity adjustments on them) combined with the solo instruments not being particularly realistic doesn't help either. i think if the first eighty seconds weren't so close to the original, this would be a borderline pass for me. as it is, the opening's just too close to the original, and the overall form is very rigid and straight out of the original as well. for something so simple in its approach, i'd want to hear more flexibility and depth of arrangement than what's represented here. getting away from the original midi in the piano would be a big help there, and expanding your tonal vocabulary with altered chords, modified phrasing, personalization of the melody line, and dynamics to give the natural shape of the melody more verve would help immensely. NO

Hey there, I am back after some time away from the community. This track was made quite some time ago but was unfinished before I left for the ether of a salaryman's life. I think I was looking for inspiration before deciding to become active again and while appreciating the Tokyo skyline, I heard this song and it reminded me of some characters, as well as some details about their lives and the trauma they went through. A line from a character in the game during when this song is played killed me. So I had to finish the job. I'm not sure what Nobuo wanted to capture in this song but...whatever it was, I think he finished the job too. As far as what I wanted to capture, well, I remember Hemo or someone commenting that they liked it but maybe felt it could have more in the middle and end. Originally after the beginning it was all choir and piano. I found it tough to add to honestly because whatever I did always felt like it was suffocating the song rather than breathing life into it. I think I both found what felt right both instrumentation wise and balance. Still not perfect, especially in terms of automation and the like but I learned a lot about balancing different solo instruments competing for space and time. Especially with such a big verby, ethereal sound coming from the choir and piano. I like how it ended up and while I think this is overall conservative, the adornments add a ton of character that makes it, to my ears, stand on its own as opposed to a cover. As I've learned so far in my journey here, not everything needs to be avant garde. Anywho, I'm always here to learn more so I am curious what others have to say. Until next time. Games & Sources Final Fantasy VII - Other Side of the Mountain

my last vote centered around the oppressive feel of the mix and the limited sound palette, as well as some of the extended sections with a minimal amount of stuff going on. opens with some nice creepy arps and some woobly pads around the lavender town arpeggio. melody is there right away in some lower synths, and there's some sfx and a slow build into when it all hits at 0:56. the kick and bass have more punch this time than the last time i listened. the melody is carried by a distorted synth that feels kind of bland initially. there's a break with just some bass and snare at the 1:33 mark, and then another build (very similar but not quite to the first one) into a big bass triplet/gallop section. the track still feels kind of empty through here as it's primarily [bass and drums] and [arp] and [lead], and there aren't really a lot of other things to fill up the middle of the soundscape. there's a big style change at 2:25, led by a new bass groove, but it only lasts a few seconds. the subsequent break has a lot more body to it than it did the first time around, and the build has a lot more verve. i'd have liked a different kick fill than the last two. 3:13 is back to a similar feel as before - and, most damningly, it continues to use the same five or six elements. it's the same reversed arp tone, the same sweeps, the same lead tone, and the same bass riff as what started at 2:25. there's only so far you can stretch the same few things, no matter how much rhythmic variation you give each element - it really just sounds like you're alternating previous loops. 4:15 brings back the rising aleatoric sound with some heavily gated pad synths carrying the melody, but they're hard to hear. there's some subtractive elements for the ending, and it's done. it again cuts off hard instead of having a true fade. i think that, from a mastering perspective, this is a lot more listenable now. it's still loud and aggressive, and that makes sense from a stylistic perspective. my issue is that at no point does it actually feel upbeat and intense. all of the lead choices are very bland, and the lack of variety of sound choices behind those leads really makes it feel very rinse and repeat. separately, there's rarely a time where i feel the soundscape is filled out - i'm pretty sure there are pads going, but i rarely can tell they're there, and there's such a huge divide between the high arp sound (that never ever goes away) and the bass/kit that it's hard to connect them. i do think it's possible to use five instruments over a five-minute song and make it work. this track isn't doing that - there's enough variety in what's being said, but who's saying it becomes stale quickly. if you trim back some of the repetition (this track could probably be 3.5 minutes max pretty easily), and then focus on more intently crafting your soundscape and your lead choices especially, i think you'd have a much stronger track overall. NO

Original Decision Well I'm back, and thank you to the Judges for both being kind enough to suggest resubmitting and giving detailed feedback to action! So same story as last time, this is heavily inspired by what I'm listening to currently and right now that's Mandidextrous (Techno on My Mind) since she's in town this weekend! The other big thing that landed between last time and this is Reason 13, with an integrated sidechain tool that absolutely rocks for intuitive use, plus I discovered the Europa synthesiser rack extension (basically Serum for Reason). So with that in mind - addressing judge feedback and with a LOT of back and forth courtesy of the workshop channel on discord: - Stripped back the sausage significantly, removing the limiter and backing everything back to 0db before starting the mix again. - Added heaps of automation through the entire song to help drive build/decay elements and move the narrative along (yes it has a narrative - we arrive in Lavender Town, discover the truth of the tower, run from some ghosts and end up battling Sabrina - but did we win? At what cost?) - most significantly, totally replaced the bassline in the first section with a big filthy reese bass, cribbed from Neuro DnB. A friend dubbed it Neuro Hardcore. - added a couple extra layers of synths and relaxed out the main arp/chime sound to reduce the total overload. It's still heavy hard club music but maybe not quite so oppressive now? - this one is directly responding to Rexy and the fast triplets - added a phaser element to give that section some motion, but also rebuilt it to use a hand crafted laser effect (heavy modification of the earlier mentioned reese). In fact all of the synths have now had manual intervention to remove that "stock" feeling brought up by Liontamer. I think the end result is... Well, nowhere near what I originally intended this track to be, but it's a lot of fun to play loud and dance to (and make stinky bassface to in that middle bit 🤣), and I think it delivers on the promise of the extra long buildup at the start now. As bonus for me it mixes really well with Techno On My Mind so yay, I can play it in sets! Crossing fingers and toes, look forward to hearing back from the judges! Apologies for the external link, I still can't get the uploader to play nice. Games & Sources Pokemon Red - "Lavender Town"

my last vote was pretty flip-floppy, but ultimately i settled on the side of the crunchy chords being too much, and the repetition in the backing parts and the execution of some of the synths needed work. opens with some spacey stabs and eventually a nice meaty bass tone. melody comes in on the guitar at 0:41 (it's a bit loud initially) and then is passed to the lead synth with some rhythm guitar underneath. the first break hits at 1:22 and i especially like the tone of autopanning arp here. there's one more short recap of the melody in a middle voice at 2:02 (probably could start a touch louder) and then we get some guitar solo work. there's a bit of a bridge which works well to mix it up a bit, and then some more handing off of the melodic content before some outro content that goes on a bit longer than i'd have expected. i think this is a lot more cohesive of a package this time around. the variety of drums especially really helps each section take on a voice of its own, and the 'fixed' chord elements allow the track to speak cleaner. YES

This is a resub, original submission thread is here: Changes: - Changed the chords on the melody, as requested. - Re-Recorded the clean guitars to fit the new chords. - For the main lead synth, re-recorded the leads to be less 'stiff' and changed delay/reverb settings. - Changed the balance of the lead synths volume - Changed the low pass on the lead guitar - Re-did the bass line - Re-did the guitar solo - Changed the balance on the hi-hats - Changed a lot of the drum patterns Mix breakdown stays the same: 0:00-0:33 - slightly changed version of chord progression from source 0:41-1:22 - original source melody 1:22-1:30 - altered chord progression 1:30-2:02 - new arpeggios with different backing and variation bassline 2:02-2:11 - original source melody 2:12-2:26 - new guitar solo 2:26-2:42 - original melody 2:42-2:50 - altered chord progression from source 2:50-2:59 - new guitar 2:59-3:06 - original melody 3:06-3:31 - new arpeggios over the original chord progression 3:31-3:50 - slightly changed version of chord progression from source Games & Sources Earthbound - Twoson

not quite 5db headroom right off the bat. from an arrangement point, there is not a lot here that isn't in the original. it sounds like you basically transcribed the midi over and then put different instruments on it, and then created your own drum track. unfortunately that's not enough arrangement to fulfill 4.2. in the submission standards. notably, this line is important here: now, that said, i think that the concept (an upbeat edm take on the darkness nova) is one that has legs! but there's a lot that needs to happen here, including writing more backing elements like pads and a real bassline, using more unique sounds for your different parts instead of just a hornet lead for everything, writing a more defined and unique drum line, and then applying mastering techniques to give it more body and feel. what's here unfortunately wouldn't be enough on the technical side even if the arrangement was excellent. i suggestion you pursue some feedback in our workshop - either on the forums or in the discord (discord's more active right now). there's even live events where you can get real-time feedback from folks that you may want to pursue. what's here right now unfortunately isn't up to snuff. NO

opens with some sweeping autopanned pads, and we get some percussion before the bass comes in at the 30s mark. i didn't expect it to be triplets so that was fun. the kick doesn't really have much punch to it, nor do i hear any sidechaining around the kick in the pads. the drop at 0:45 to allow the bass to speak out more allows for some more space in the mix which i like. 1:00 is the first full demonstration of the melodic material, and i like the contrast of the gliding, smooth synth to the much more angular bass instrument. this continues to repeat the descending melodic line and slowly add complexity around it - first in the form of a choir pad and then a more rhythmic element. each of these are volumized a bit loud compared to the melodic concept although i like what they're saying (1:50 was nice). 2:00 appears to be the first time that we don't get anything really new, and it makes me realize that this is like a minute straight of the same everything without even a fill, and that's a long time to do the same thing in a straight line. varying up the melodic material a bit or doing some soloing over the top would have added a lot here, but instead it's just very repetitious. there's a hard cut at 2:30 to just the bass line for almost 20s - again, probably too long doing the same thing without changes - and then we get a time signature change to 4/4 and a melodic focus to the second half of the melodic content at 2:52. this feels much more plodding - maybe it's the longer snare with the hard cut on it that makes me feel that. the subsequent bass groove at 3:10 was really confusing at first - it really feels like you've got two basslines playing at the same time and glide set on the instrument. the significant volume jumps and random sfx elements dropping in out didn't sound intentional at all despite it obviously being so, and i didn't care for that at all. 3:45 we get some pads that are aggressively autopanned, and eventually get the melodic material from the A section back, and this time there's a lot more customization to what it's saying, which i like a lot. it still feels fairly repetitive due to the lack of variety in the drums and backing elements in this entire section. at 5:00 there's a sudden shift to a different feel, and it becomes obvious that this is the outro. it's not particularly connected to the rest of the work. overall this feels like three minutes of music scraped over five plus minutes of bread. there's a lot of padding and repetitiveness in here, and the lack of changes or even drum fills within each major section seems to be a huge miss. the individual textures are really fun - like 1:30 is a great sound and so is 4:05ish - but there's so much around them that just plods or is part of a minute-long build to the part we want to hear. trimming out the cruft and then doing a better job of balancing elements within each section would make for a much more complete package. similarly, that entire first half of the track could desperately use some more personalization. you've got the same descending riff for over a minute in a row without ever doing anything unique with it, with the same drums underneath and many of the same backing elements underneath the entire time as well. that's just too long to be doing the same thing. making it more unique will help so much with making it not sound repetitious. trim out the excess and make it more Norvak and less bobby prince, and we're in business. NO

opens with some next-room kicks and bass, and builds up some percussive elements over time until 0:31 when we get the nightmare battle theme with pulsing bass underneath. there is little adaptation on this initial presentation - it's almost exactly from the original. there's a transition at 1:16 and it's into the middle of Final Battle, i think. this is mostly based around the middle section with the descending chord progression, but in 4 instead of whatever the original was in. i found the brass bit at 1:46 to be a bit strident. there's a recap of Nightmare Battle at 2:07 with some wind fish bits interspersed and the game over theme making a cameo at 2:38. 2:40's ganon's message, i think? in the organ, and subsequently some bits of light dungeon, i think. there's a few small bits of the miniboss battle lead at the end, and it fades out over the course of maybe 15 seconds. the section from 0:31 to 1:14 and again from 2:07 to 2:23 are, to my ear, straight from nightmare battle with a very small amount of blurbles added in to mix it up and some bass/drum. the chips even sound mostly the same. that's approaching dealbreaker territory right there. the opening 30s are just a bass/kick buildup, as well, so that's a sizeable chunk of the remix that isn't really arrangement. most of the other track callouts except for Final Battle were just cameos, but the adaptation of Final Battle was way more involved, although i'd have liked it if more of the actual track was included. from a mixing and mastering standpoint, i felt that most of the time each instrument was clearly balanced and spoke well, with the exception of the organ stacks being way loud compared to everything else. that felt like it was volumized for the quieter section with no automation to balance it. there's also a lot of sub-40hz content that just served to fill up the mix instead of give it a booty, i'd have liked to see more rolloff in the lower freqs. the overall dynamics are varied however and there's a good shape to the track. i don't think i can pass this with the amount of material cribbed straight out of Nightmare Battle. if there was even the slightest bit of variation in what was represented there - maybe adding some alternative patterns in the bass around transition points, or personalizing the 'lead' part - then i'd be ok with this and it'd be a pass. or even if it was only like 20 seconds. but it's like a quarter of the song depending on where you put the start and end points. i think it's a bop! add more metatron to the nightmare battle section and i'm good with it. it's probably a ten-minute fix for someone of your caliber if you want to do it. NO