prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

will need a new name if it passes. the file name implies the name is "Surfacing Again", maybe that's it. opens with a filtered synth that opens up over time as guitar and choir elements are added over time. the guitar initially sounds really sketchy but i like the tone once it opens up a bit. the beat drops at 0:44 and the feel is much different at this point - the transition here is very surprising. the snare sounds overly filtered, like it's in another room, and the kit as a whole doesn't sound like it's in the same room as the melodic elements. i like how tight the kit is though, especially with a funkier feel from the lead synth. there's a transitional section with the drums on autopilot, and we get some interestingly modified chant elements before we get a new melodic section at 1:53 with a 404 bass doing some fun things. this section is pretty empty - there's not a lot going on in the background behind the lead for most of it, and it makes it hard to focus on the melody since the other elements are in the foreground as a result. separately, at this point the drums have been doing the same pattern for nearly two minutes, and it becomes painfully obvious when there's nothing else there to distract. there's another chant break before we get a recap of 0:43 at 3:05. this sounds very similar to the first time around - it's not quite copypasta, but it's pretty close outside of a few tertiary elements. by around 3:23 i assumed it was going to start wrapping, but it went through the A melodic theme a second time (this is straight copy from 3:05), then did it two more times with a rising synth added each time. that's a lot of repetition. the build at the end of the fourth time through was nice though, i liked the guitar element coming in. there's a hard drop after the fourth time through and a bit of bass element as an outro. i think this is a fun track overall! i really like the vibe of the main chorus that you initially show at 0:43. i think it could definitely use some more variation in how that's presented each time, since you're using it so often, and i think also having fewer choruses at the end would help prevent it from feeling samey. speaking of samey - the drums need a lot of variation added. what's here now is obviously a loop very quickly. some attention to ensure that they're in the 'same' airspace as the rest of the instruments would help too - right now the reverbs are very different and it makes it clear they're not in the same place. lastly, i think that identifying a way to make some of the sections called out above to be less empty would help too. i think this definitely has legs! i think the workshop on the forums or discord would be a great way to dress up some more elements here. NO

original is just fantastic. starts with an audio artifact. fades in with rain sfx and pads. the lead starts to emerge from the texture around 0:39, and we get some percussive elements after this at 0:55. it's a really lofi texture - lots of hard pumping on the compressor, wide brushes of sound, and it's pretty heavy in the left ear. there's a break at 1:32 (is that cylindrum i hear?), and we get some fun textural elements with the pvc instrument that eventually gives way to a nice glidey lead playing the electric guitar lead from the original. 3:27's another break, with the keys roughly outlining the original's chords at 1:00 or so. this builds additively - i particularly liked the clicky EP that eventually comes in - and eventually gets to a big blow at 5:01. there's a ton going on here but it sounds good and it's a really fun feel. the original doesn't have a ton of melodic content throughout, and what little there is doesn't seem to show up much at all in this remix. it sounds super dope! this is easily one of my favorite submissions of the last month or two. but i don't hear much direct representation of the original outside the chord progression sometimes. with that in mind, i can't pass it as-is, unless something is revealed to me that i missed. NO edit 9/3: i got a more defined breakdown from the artist. the opening section through 1:34 does indeed follow the rough shape of the melody, but not enough that i'd call it an arrangement of it - more that it's inspired by it. similarly, the cylindrum stuff at roughly 2:00 is shaped similar to the piano part but doesn't appear to be aping the actual notes - it's almost as if it's just the harmony part and the melody's muted. the section at 2:12 is closer to the original and more familiar. the section at 5:01 is also closer and more able to be picked out. this breakdown doesn't balance out to be half the track being from the game - or, rather closer enough for me to call it that. still a NO from me. edit 12/11: coming back to this with fresh ears. i hear more source this time around. thanks to larry for the extra timestamps. i think this is close enough that what's here is over the line. so i'll change my vote. YES

updated thread name based on artist suggestion in submission thread - prophetik Jazz Jackrabbit 2 has a fond place in my heart from my childhood, with this track in particular being one of my all time favorites. I was inspired to make a remix by Allan Zax's remix of the same track. What started as a small project turned into a full reimagination of the track 1: The intro sequence up until the 1st "solo" (0:00 - 1:34 in the remix) is based off 0:40 - 1:00 in the original 2: The 1st solo (1:34 - 2:12 in the remix) is based off the same piano melody starting at 1:00 - 1:19 in the original 3: The 1st "drop" section (2:12 - 3:27 in the remix) is based off the guitar melody and chord progression at 1:19 - 2:00 in the original, and also incorporates the 1st melody as a sub-melody 4: The section between 3:27 - 5:01 in the remix is largely original and follows the overall chord progression 5: The 2nd "drop" section (5:01 - 6:44 in the remix) has the melody from 2:05 - 2:25 in the orignal layered over the melodies from the 1st "drop" Games & Sources A remix of Dark Groove (part 1) from Jazz Jackrabbit 2, composed by Alexander Brandon, Sean Hiller and Bryan Rudge. Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is a 2D side-scrolling platformer produced by Epic MegaGames in 1998.

opens with some great EPs and organ. there's a really organic feel to this due to the timing being pretty loose initially. i'd recognize that chapman anywhere - one of my favorite sounds in Trillian! - and some fun bell elements. we get a beat at 0:43 and the melodic material to the fore. this is a really deep, low representation of the chorus material which is fun. there's a point at 0:58 where the melody is on an A and the bassline is on a Db, which is a little weird-sounding but is supported by the chord structure. there's a break right at 1:05 to recap the opening a bit. the sweeps through here are really nice. this builds up through some fun flute-adjacent noodles to the melody again at 1:49. i like the shift at 2:11 to a more upbeat feel as well, as we'd kind of done the other stuff for a while now. there's again some funky chord structures at 2:19 - i'm not going to analyze them since they sound roughly correct to my ear, but they're funny as a transitional element! we get through some original material as a transitional element. there's a half-time groove here that i didn't see coming but really like, and it builds into 3:15 where we get some taikos or toms alongside the main melodic snippet. this floats through a bit more of that snippet and then it's done. what a fun track! there's all sorts of interesting ear candy going on in here as i listen. you do a great job taking a fun and straightforward original and exploring some really varied elements. YES

Artist Name: timaeus222 Ah, National Park... a truly iconic theme I had hesitated to do for years. I was actually re-playing Pokémon Crystal recently in July 2024, but using the game mod called Polished Crystal, which had quality-of-life changes, but also a few custom mini-stories, added evolutions, and convenient map changes. My team towards the end was Dunsparce, Gliscor, Houndoom, Ampharos, Sylveon, and Suicune. Since it was probably my 4th playthrough at this point, I had some fun with it by going into the Memory Viewer and hacking the hexadecimal code to make my favorite team members shiny and to optimize their DVs and natures. *gasp* Yes, essentially created my own manual cheat codes. :-) That playthrough, ectogemia's prior take, as well as the fact that downtempo is my least-appreciated genre on my phone, inspired me to arrange 'National Park' this way. In terms of workflow, I convinced myself to just write things out and fix them later, finishing this in about 18 hours across 3 weeks. Something that had always slowed me down is just refining production a ton before I wrote more, but it's been less problematic lately! While downtempo isn't the furthest stretch from the original, I strived to be as creative as possible through new chord progressions and inner voice movement (such as 1:21 - 1:26, 2:02 - 2:08, and 2:24 - 2:27), and just achieving harmonic clarity and precision. The simplicity of the original offered room for more colorful chords. I'm also pretty proud of the original section at 2:32 - 3:16, as I did not think it was in the same key as what I had earlier, but then it lined up really well with the iconic descending motif at 3:15, adjusted to the new, brighter mode. The central instruments were electric pianos (3ee's Zebra2 presets), acoustic piano (4Front TruePianos), gamelan bells (ISW Resonance: Emotional Mallets), and the Chapman Stick (Spectrasonics Trilian), amongst the usual Zebra2 synth palette, some ISW Juggernaut sweeps/impacts, a few ambient impacts from ISW Celestia. The title is pretty simple - National Park is known as 'a spacious and beautiful park', so I called it Spacious Beauty. Hope you enjoy, sit back, and relax! :-) Extra Info: Source Breakdown: 0:00.00 - 0:43.12 = Source [0:00.00 - 0:09.60] (National Park chords with noodling) 0:43.12 - 1:05:13 = Source [0:09.60 - 0:28.70] (National Park "chorus") 1:05.13 - 1:48.60 = Source [0:00.00 - 0:09.60] (National Park chords with noodling + chord changes + melodic flute) 1:48:60 - 2:09.91 = Source [0:09.60 - 0:28.70] (National Park "chorus" + chord changes / new inner voice movement) 2:09.91 - 2:31.74 = Source [0:56.49 - 1:16.44] (National Park "bridge" + chord changes) 3:15.89 - 4:00.57 = Source [0:09.60 - 0:28.70] (National Park descending motif in same key, with new mode + new chords) 43.12 + 22.01 + 43.47 + 21.31 + 21.83 + 44.68 = 196.42/242.60 = 80.96% source Games & Sources Pokémon Crystal - 'National Park':

several db of headroom. opens with the piano part straight from the original (same tempo, key, etc). a voice synth comes in instead of a cello and does roughly the same as what's in the original initially, but there's some nice movement around 0:40 or so. i think the instrument sounds a lot better in the higher ranges than it does in the lower ranges. a guitar comes in at 0:50 and does some more improvisatory material. around here, i really started to notice the fakeness of the piano part - many of the rolled chords have too much tension on them (the last note is too late), and meanwhile the left hand is just robotically plunking through the bassline without ever having any changes to velocity. the guitar work overall is pretty solid but it's clearly not live either. the track continues to comp through the chords until we get to a more upbeat transition into 2:26, and a switch to a triple feel. the singer tone here is a little confusing next to the piano given that it should be way stronger given where the singer's singing in 'her' range, and the piano's much louder than the voice part. the lack of velocitization through these running passages is even more noticeable in the keys - just very robotic. it goes through the A portion of the theme one more time and is done. i think this is a nice take from an arrangement standpoint on this theme. you do a lot to flesh it out over time, although i think there's probably too much straight from the original in the opening 30-40s. i like your combination of instruments as well - i agree that the idea of the singer is nice, but i'm not sure the execution is there. same with the guitar and keys, honestly - this track is screaming for live performers, and i think you'd be able to find them in the community easily. that's not to say that live is required to be posted of course - but the robotic nature of the performance for all three elements is a huge issue, and that's a relatively easy fix. this is a neat idea! i think it needs more time in the cooker. i think spending some time really carefully velocitizing the piano part, and maybe getting some help on the other elements, will really pay off. NO

I started with stating the piano melody pretty much verbatim. I wanted to establish the track so the listener would know exactly which piece from the game was being arranged. I began to change things up when the vocalist came in, and from there the piece becomes more fluid. The feel stays the same, but the progressions begin to change up as the guitar improvises over top. The piano begins to get more varied and complex as the piece progresses until reaching the climax. This was the main reason I decided to change from a cello to a singer, because I wanted to up the drama here. The piece ends with a restatement of the original tune, to tie it all up with a bow. Games & Sources Game: Xenogears Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda Source track: Lost... Broken Shards Youtube link:

link went missing somehow so here it is: corridors of time has been on my 'want to remix' list for years. as have many that have heard it, i was entranced when i was listening to it playing the game in my youth. the image of the floating islands of Zeal with this music playing behind it is so iconic to me. my children recently played through chrono trigger on their own (my daughter's almost done with her NG+ now actually!) and it's been so exciting to see them really engage with the game world and especially the game's music. hearing various themes plunked out on the piano in varying degrees of completeness has been a joy, and when they asked me to find tracks from the OST so they could listen to them, this was the first one i pulled up. one of the key things i try to do with a remix (especially when it's in a similar style as the original) is to focus on finding a new way to state what's already there. in this case, that meant proceeding in a triple meter (6/8), focusing on some sound design elements (especially the bells to start it, i am proud of what i made there), and not getting in the way of the beautiful melodic line while still finding some fun ways to highlight and change elements of that same line. most of my songs lately have been very A/B where the opening is more chill and the ending is a different genre and more intense, and this is no exception - i started with a very floaty new-age vibe focused around light synths and hand pan, and ended with a messy postrock-inspired texture. there's very short snippets of frog's theme and wind scene (two tracks my kids just love from this game) in the middle and at the very end of the track. i think putting them together like that showcases just how similar so many of the game's chord progressions and musical concepts are. this is again done in fl studio with omnisphere and addictive drums 2 as my primary tools. Games & Sources

opens with a synthy bass bouncing around on the opening's bassline. there's a really horrible sound effect that hurt my ears at 0:05 and a rough saw bass comes in right after as a drum loop fades in. the original starts playing - it might even be the original audio? - in the background and it's honestly pretty hard to hear it over the drums and the bass riff. there's another transition at 0:41 and the drums drop for a bit, which is good - the track wanted a breather for a moment here. again the original audio sounds like it's playing in the background behind some additional synths that are layering. drums are back in by 0:55 and we truck through the second part of the melodic line. there's a bass riff break, and the bass fades out by 1:36 for the same melodic material by the instrument that sounds like the original audio. This trucks through that material until it hits a small outro that looks like a mouse ate some of it, and then it's done. it sounds like this is the original game audio with a drumloop and a few layered synths on top. unfortunately that's not enough arrangement for our site based on the submission standards unfortunately. however, the concept - upscaling some of the synth elements, adding drums, and putting a break in the middle for a solo or something - definitely has legs! you'd need to do a lot to personalize it and make it more radixerus and less masayuki nagao, but i definitely think you can make something work there. i'd encourage you to ditch the original game audio and find your own voice and synths to replicate this, and then bring it to the workshop on the forums or the discord and talk through some ideas there. NO

I've wanted to put something on OCremix since i was 8 years old listening to my dad play them in the car. Now i finally feel like i have something worthy of this place. I also have this on soundcloud and youtube, and even newgrounds, on my associated accounts there. Games & Sources Mecha Green Hill, from Sonic Chaos. https://ocremix.org/song/25923/mecha-green-hill-zone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbwVPuXFDo8

wow, that's a wild original. i remembered it being nuts but not that nuts. right off the bat, i'm wondering - where is the beef? i hear a kick, but only the bass has any body. i checked the frequency analysis and sure enough, there's no rolloff - so all the work that the kick is doing is lost. the bottom end is mostly not there as a result. this isn't passable as-is with this mastering issue, so i'll evaluate the rest of it still but this is definitely a dealbreaker. the sidechaining is nice and i like the synth bass tone. i also hear audio artifacts right off the bat (0:02, again at 0:07 twice, 0:17...). there's a build to something at 0:29 that sounds like it's probably from the original track, but i honestly don't know where this comes from in the original. there are several notes in this riff that aren't in the key you're playing in either - to my ears, i hear an A and F# in there and the keys are (i think) Abm and Bb, so neither of those pitches fit either. it doesn't sound dissonant in a positive way (like the A at the beginning of the riff next to the Ab/G#), it just sounds incorrect, so adjusting those so the line still makes sense but they aren't obviously incorrect is a must. we get a break at 0:43 with a nice long-lfo 404, and then the melodic material comes in at 0:51. 1:20's melodic material sounds like it's roughly outlining 0:25's bass instrument in the original, and the bassline at 1:49 is the descending lick that comes in a few times in the original as well. we get to an autopilot section at 2:00 for a bit, and a piano comes with some material at 2:11 that again has some notes that don't fit the key at all towards the end of each phrase. you really need to either change what the instrument is saying or change the underlying key to make it fit, as right now it just sounds incorrect. there's a big break starting at 2:25 that lasts for a long time - this is a nice break from the driving beat that most of the song has. we get back into it at 3:09 and there's a nice slow lead that i like a lot here. this is supposed to be distortion world, and i hear some adjacent content but i don't hear the melodic material spelled out at all. the ending section is fairly sudden at 3:36, and then it's subtractive to the end. this unfortunately needs a significant mastering pass before we could really evaluate it. i'd say that, in general, i found the synths you chose to be fairly bog-standard - i'd love to hear more verve especially in the leads. the bassline options were nice overall and i enjoyed what they were saying. from an arrangement standpoint, i heard very little from the original tracks so i'm hoping my request for a breakdown will be fulfilled - right now, i hear very little Battle! or Distortion World offhand, but i am probably missing something. as i said at the beginning, this wasn't passable in the current state without significant mastering work. the arrangement is holding it back for me as well right now - there's too many parts that have what sound like wrong notes or original content for what our site accepts. NO edit: we got a basic breakdown from the artist. i still can't hear specifics for the sections they defined. i think this needs to be less interpretive. i just don't hear any pokemon in here hardly at all. still a no.

heyo ocr, i'm lookink54. i do whatever genre i feel like doing but i tend to specialize in metal genres. i also tend to specialize in remixes of songs made for fanmade undertale aus, which isn't really something that would go here on ocr, but i do have a small-ish backcatalog of stuff that isn't, so i'll probably be remastering some of those songs over the next few months to submit here. this song is a remaster of something i made in january 2024. i had heard a trance remix of xion's theme from kingdom hearts 358/2 days made by a fellow called Luanna (https://pokemonmegamix.bandcamp.com/track/kingdom-hearts-358-2-days-xions-theme-trance-remix) that i liked so much that i decided i wanted to try to make trance myself. i decided to make it a remix of giratina's theme because it's sort of a theme that i've used to gauge my skills over the years, as i've remixed it about five times at this point and i've put my all into every one. this remix is no exception. i also threw in a bit of the distortion world theme because it was kinda just a perfect fit. fun fact: almost every single synth in this song is a preset from a free vst called Pneuma Pro. it was made by a fellow called Ronan Fed, who has sadly disappeared off the face of the earth and taken his plugins with him. you can still find it if you look hard enough though (or if you ask me xd). the only thing besides the drums and effects that isn't from Pneuma Pro is the siren thingy at 2:54, that's from a free vst called virtuaDub, made by Halley Labs, which you can find on their site https://msx.horse/ct.php. Games & Sources Original song 1: Battle! (Giratina) from Pokemon Platinum, made by Hitomi Sato, Go Ichinose, and Junichi Masuda (https://vgmdb.net/album/33367) Original song 2: Distortion World by Hitomi Sato and Junichi Masuda 0:00 - 0:28 is original 0:28 - 2:25 is Battle! Giratina, with a semi-original melody appearing at 2:10 2:25 - 3:08 is original, with an edited melody from Battle! Giratina appearing at 2:39 3:08 - 3:38 is Distortion World everything after 3:38 is original.

opens with broad pads, some plucks, and the melodic material carried first by a synth and then a nice bell tone that fades in alongside a synth. the beat drops at 0:34. it's pretty boomy here, and the kick doesn't have much beef to it. it trucks through the melodic material in order in roughly the same tempo, the synths don't change much, there's no real arrangement besides the genre adaptation, and there's no ending, just a static buzz. this is unfortunately not enough arrangement for what we normally accept at this site. this is a cover - which is fine, there's a huge market on YouTube for this kind of thing! - but it doesn't fulfill our standards for arrangement depth or breadth unfortunately. i'd expect to hear more adaptation of the melodic or harmonic material, chord changes, added solos or extra content, etc. before i'd consider this arrangement. it's also pretty short and it's hard to have transformative writing in that amount of time! please review our submission standards, particularly the arrangement section, before submitting again. thanks for sending this in! we hope you want to submit again in the future =) NO

would need a new title if passed Magna Romagna, the brainchild of Simone Gennari ("Genna") and Davide Genchi ("Enki"), is an Italian electronic dance music duo with deep roots in the Italo Disco and Italodance traditions of Emilia Romagna. The duo first connected on Gigi D'Agostino's fan forum, bonding over their shared love for electronic music. In 2004, they officially formed Magna Romagna, named after the region that inspired their sound and memories. Their music is heavily influenced by the iconic Gigi D'Agostino, with whom they've shared tracks that received widespread praise. Magna Romagna's sound captures the essence of the 80s and 90s Italian dance scene, especially the vibrant nightlife of Rimini. The duo also produces under the name "Moto Remoto" for their harder Slowstyle tracks and have launched a label under the same name. While they’ve slowed down in recent years, Magna Romagna continues to create music, with more EPs planned for release soon. Their first official release is a testament to their enduring passion for the genre that brought them together. Games & Sources Original theme by Jean-François Freitas. Another World (also known as Out of This World), is an iconic cinematic platform game created by Eric Chahi and released in 1991. Originally released on platforms like the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS, Another World took players on an unforgettable journey with Lester Knight Chaykin, a young physicist who finds himself in a mysterious alien world after a lab experiment goes wrong. The game is celebrated for its unique art style, innovative gameplay, and emotional storytelling, which have influenced countless games since its release.

i loved this soundtrack when i played the game, and i still listen to it occasionally. it's a fantastic example of electro-orchestral scoring. the glitch effects are particularly impressive. and the game is dope too! opens with sustains and some glock. this opening section isn't the most realistic-sounding samples. the arps at 0:26 are immediately recognizable, and layering in the horns at 0:37 is nice. the chromaticism introduced with the element at 0:50 is a hallmark of the original soundtrack overall, and it's fun how you were able to weave it into some of the other aggressive movement going on. 1:57's a lot more agitato, and while your samples can't quite handle what the low winds are trying to do, it's a fun concept. there's a lot of intentional dissonance not only at 2:30 but for several of the following sections as well. after all that noise, we get a much lighter representation of the chromaticism from before, and a few plucks to end it. this is a very ambitious arrangement - i admit i've wanted to arrange something from Remember Me for years but find the breadth of the original tracks intimidating. you cram a lot of clever adaptation elements into a very short package. the realization of this arrangement isn't super clean due to sample issues, but what's here is handled well considering those shortcomings., and is recognizable and interesting. nice work. YES

i've always found this original to be interesting. opening section is adjacent to the original initially, but at around 0:28 we start to get the ascending synth line that makes this section feel like the A theme from the original. the metals sound works surprisingly well to map to the rhythmic element. there's a hard transition at 1:10 to just guitars for the keys element of the B theme. there's a heavily rhythmic bass line added under this to give it more structure, and eventually some really heavy guitars in a polyrhythmic package to give it some harmonic elements. voice comes in at 2:13. i love how non-rhythmic the vocals are compared to the backing elements, what a fun contrast. the verse is so fitting to the words as well. the chorus is a lot rougher - from what i can hear, the verse is adding some notes to the bassline but roughly following that shape. i can hear the piano elements there and that's not a problem. the second verse is handled a lot lighter than the first, and then we have a section that's kind of transitional with the opening wide synth under it. the 'prog breakdown' felt pretty disconnected from the rest of the song. what's more, i didn't feel that this part (up to the solo at 5:22) really added a ton to the song. i haven't listened to TesseracT, so this might be an inspiration thing, but it really didn't make much sense in context to the rest of the song. after the solos we get the alt chorus, which is a fun soaring melodic line. i'm wondering if you could have adapted one of the other CC themes here, but i understand why you wanted to bring in original material to help finish it up. immediately following this section is an outro that has some of the metals and the intro synth tones, but nothing else from the original that i can hear. i find recognizable source from 0:05-1:51, 2:13-3:59 (the chorus is quite tentative, it's hard mapping that to anything), and 4:02-4:25. the track is 6:47 (407 seconds), so i need 204s to have enough. the above timestamps are 240s, which does put us over 50% - as long as you count the chorus, which not everyone will. i found that connection to be tenuous. in terms of realization, this track sounds great and executes on a fun concept. the vocals work well with the backing elements, the guitars sound great, the drums and bass consistently speak through the mix well, and the added synth and percussive elements work within the mix well. i found the arrangement on the verse sections to be more effective than the chorus, and like i said before i didn't care for the prog break at all. i think more could have been done on the melodic line in the remix as well to cleave closer to the original's melodic motifs throughout, which would have helped make the connections more obvious. ultimately though i think this is above the bar and an enjoyable take on one of the tbh weirder themes in the original. YES

opens with some nice wide synths alongside orchestral instruments. it really gets started at 0:24, and it's got a lot of little flourishes and bits of ear candy. it is very similar to the original though - same tempo, and really the same vibe, and there's nothing about the melodic execution, chord work, or any of that to pull it away from 'cover' territory. at 1:04 we get some repeated content for maybe 10s that mirrors 0:35 - and then, surprisingly, it's done, at less than 85 seconds total. this is super fun to listen to! i love the synth feel next to the orchestral elements and the track is executed competently. the trumpet swells a bit too much on sustains but that'd be my main complaint there. however it's just too short - at under 90s long, it's hard to really hear significant arrangement or development in that amount of time. this is essentially the original's content at the same speed as the original in a straight line with no real structural arrangement, just cover/adaptation elements. this is not enough breadth to convey arrangement as we describe it to my ears. if you added another minute of material, and that material wasn't all very similar to the original too, i'd be fine with a post, but as-is this is just not enough content. i love how it sounds and i just want more of it! =) NO

opening is just a weak bass, kick without any meat, and a lead that sounds like it's effectively just the original dumped in. the sfx helps but it's pretty blah throughout - there's little here that's really giving it uniqueness. it's the same 30s repeated twice, then a big kick dumped on top of the same thing (but the kick still doesn't have any beef to it) and repeated again. there's some clipping around 2:00. this needs some significant development before it'd be something we post here. i'd encourage you to work through some new ideas and mixing concepts on this, and then bring it to the workshop (on the forum or on the discord) to get some more feedback. NO

what an original! super fun. i've never heard it. very slow opening. most of the first 25s are empty, which is certainly a choice. 0:17 has some synths come in that feel a touch out of tune with the piano - sounds like their overtones are a little funky. they set my teeth on edge a bit. there's some nice rolled piano chords at 0:33, and then a shakuhachi comes in with the main melodic material. this is super breathy and doesn't mesh with the clean tone of the piano much at all - i think the tone'd work better with a much bigger section. there's some fm-y plucks that come in at 0:59 along some strings, and again those plucks are very loud and have a lot of high-pitched overtones that are hard to listen to. this section is over quickly and we're into a more rhythmically oriented section, at least in the bass, at 1:37. the chord progression here is driven by fifths in the string pad, and we get some drums and a lead tone coming in eventually as well. there's a lot of patience in this build which is nice, but the instruments lack punch and so the intensity isn't really there. there's a lot of dynamic elements though which i like a lot. after a big build and a fun reversed piano drop, we finally get the big kick/beat pattern at 3:06. this section is audio sausage and is mashed against the limiter. the bass notably isn't really audible. it doesn't sound like there's much sidechaining - i recommend sidechaining at least the bass if not also the string pads to help the mix breathe. the lead through here has some parts that sound out of tune again, and in general isn't always clearly audible over the string pad which seems backwards. we get an intensified section at 4:30, with the violin as the lead. this is well automated, but it's so dense in here that it's hard to hear a lot of the countermelodic elements you've got going on. there's a bit of a drop around 5:35, and another key change (and time change!) at 5:57, which is good since we had like two minutes straight of 4x4 and it was getting repetitive. this section is more intense still and has more complexity in the kick, and then we get an amen cadence and it's done. this entire last section - from maybe 3:06 onward - really meanders. it's hard keeping track of where we are at all - there's little clarity or phrasing, so it kind of just mushes together, and then suddenly it's done. this is a pretty audacious attempt at a banger original. you've got a lot going on from the arrangement perspective - but essentially you've got two songs here. i'd recommend finding a better way to integrate them to each other. beyond that, most of your synths or instruments lack punch - especially the percussive elements - and the instruments that are intended to be realistic are mostly not particularly realistically used, especially the string pads that are so loud throughout. i think this track has legs! there's a lot of work to do to mix everything better, get away from brickwalling the last half of the song, and making the arrangement flow together better instead of being disjointed or mushy. NO

opens with some quirky, heavily filtered instrumentation, and a beat drops at 0:27 (still under the filter) that's appropriately funky. nice hat work. the filter comes off at 0:41 and the groove becomes more apparent. there's some hinting at the melodic content, but it finally shows up in full at 0:55 in the muted trumpet. i can't help but notice there's no swing in this track, which i'd have assumed that a ragtime-influenced track would have - it became more noticeable with the offbeat-focused representation of the melodic material. even a little would have helped it sit back in the beat. there's a break at 1:22, and we get some of the b theme. there's something high going on here that's a little too much for me, but what the instruments are saying is fun. this transitions 1:43 which is a copy/paste of 1:08 - really surprising given how much uniqueness has already been represented in this track. the drums drop in the back part of this and we get a tape stop-ish around 2:10 as a transition using the C material from the original. i like how long this transitional section is - we've kinda done the same thing for a while, and anything turbo-peppy like electroswing can get grating if it's going on too long. there's the requisite VQ foley section, and we're into a new representation of the A melody. this is still pretty straight forward in how it's represented, but the backing elements have changed a ton here. there's a ton going on here, but you did a nice job layering it in instead of just throwing thirty countermelodic elements in at the same time. the A theme is repeated as a backdrop for a bunch of other exploration, and then it's done. i wouldn't have minded a more prepped ending, this is not much of one if at all. there is a lot going on here! i think from a mixing perspective, this has a lot going for it. the bass focus is a bit too low for my headphones to properly represent, but i like what i can hear, and it doesn't sound too dense throughout. i like the added elements that you've brought in, and the arrangement (aside from the copy/paste at 1:43) is vibrant and ever-changing. i think it's a little meandering in the middle, but overall this is a great approach to a goofy original that keeps the fun without losing track of the plot. nice work. YES

fun vibe at the start of this one. track feels like it's missing some compression and i don't hear a pad either, so the electric guitar's carrying the chord work. civla's voice fits the original's style really well. it's a touch ahead of the beat most of the time, and there's a bit of mid that could be scooped out, but i love the slow vibrato on some of the words like 'style', and the backing chord work in the vocals is perfect. coming back to the backing elements, i noticed that the electric guitar's a bit bland in tone. i would have liked to have a bit more verve on the tone. separately, there are several transitions that i felt didn't have much in the way of fills or anything (like between the first two verses). the second chorus's solo vocal part (the one doing fills, not the one doing the melody) was pretty hard to differentiate in situ. i think overall the vocals in this song are a bit loud, and there's not much you can hear there besides voices with three distinct parts going on. 2:51's a bridge section with guitar solo and some scratching. there's some fun ideas in the guitar solo, like for example the descending diminished chord riff. there's a chorus recap and then a fadeout, which normally i don't like but in this case really fits the style and how similar songs often end. this has a fun feel throughout! from an arrangement perspective this is very conservative. it's essentially the same song in an adjacent style with the same melody and several of the same major arrangement elements like the backing vocals. the best things about this remix are the vocals (which are note for note the same despite a great performance) and the melody (which is note for note the same). same chords, similar instrumentation, similar genre, somewhat lacking in a chorded element for some of the song (pad, comping piano, etc), less interesting drums and backing elements. it also has less dynamic range than the original, and feels pretty similar from start to end. from a mixing perspective, i called out a few of the issues with the vocals earlier (they're a bit dense in the mids, a bit loud as well). beyond that i think the track is mixed fairly well in that it's pretty easy to hear everything that's going on once it gets going. the first verse or two is a little thin. from a mastering perspective, the track is undercompressed to my ears and there's some density in the low mids (probably from the voice) that makes the bass not speak as well as you'd want. i might be picking here, but i feel like the lack of arrangement combined with a lot of disparate little elements on the technical side are pulling this down. if it was righteously mastered and sounded super good i'd still complain about the arrangement being so conservative, though, so i think my main concern is just that this is more of a cover than an arrangement. it's just too similar. i'd need to have seen more variation in melodic material, harmonic backing, or structure to say that this is more than that. it's still a fun song to listen! but all of the best parts are Bust-A-Move. NO

indeed starts with a bang. so much of a DT vibe on this immediately off the jump - octavarium and the astonishing both are showing up here to my ear. i really like the faster approach to the main dancing mad theme at 0:42. switching to 12/8 after that is a great idea to make those chord stabs have more impact, and it transitions back to 4/4 with those sets of three chord stabs - that's a great way to switch back and feels great in context. 2:05's a bit harder to follow, as expected. the flanged effect is nuts, it's really wild and fits kefka's laughing theme well. there's a slam transition at 2:51 to the piano for the ascending organ theme (really expected a ragtime piano tone here based on the other influences) - i didn't like that transition at all, as it felt very medleyish. the brassy lead that follows it right away too sound pretty bad, as does the organ that comes in after the ascending chord patterns. the laugh is great! what a character-filled sound. we finally get our ragtime fix at 3:31 as it gets into a solo section. the solos are excellent as expected, and while i don't think there needed to be a ton of references to the original, what's there is gravy. love the octavarium quote. 5:01's really heavy and feels very intense. the build into 5:28 is excellent and i love the prelude callout in the background of this section. this whole section is a great build into 5:50, and the switch to 12/8 is great although i really expected to have more going on in the drums here given where we are in the track at this point. there's a few notes in the right ear at 6:10 in the descending synth line that i think are not particularly in the right key. there's the intensifying chord patterns and then it's done on a non-ending, which is a bit of a disappointment. what an arrangement. this is nuts, exactly what i come back to ocr for. there's a few specific elements i didn't care for (the slam transition at 2:51, the lack of an ending, the drums are kind of boring throughout), but the highs are so high that i don't particularly care. from an execution standpoint, the guitar work is superb, and the mixing is really solid - it's very guitar-forward like the influencing track and drives forward well. i think it's not quite as punchy as i'd have liked, especially in the kick, but overall it's very solid and clear. this is a super fun addition to the catalog. great job. YES

well, ok then. opening is definitely a stylistic mashup. love the way you took metallica's vibe and make it work with these tracks so well. at 0:46, though, this is almost straight Metallica for like 30s straight. the melodic adaptation is indeed tenuous, especially when you consider it's two bars out of hundreds in the original (admittedly they are very recognizable bars). at least the chorus is more from the Rival track. the singing works great, it's realized well, and seph does a good job with it. i'm just not sure it's not too much metallica. the transition riff is back to the final battle riff, and then another verse (same caveats as before). the bridge works well to bring together the style and original into a better combination that's more in balance of the original. there's then 30 seconds of insane solo battle, because that's literally what the originals are about, and a bunch more instrumental sections that go through various elements of the sources. the end of the false chorus section at like 3:50 was pretty hip. the track cycles back to one more verse and chorus dyad, a quick riff, and it's done. the performances here are nuts, as expected. the three main performers are among the best in the local community at doing this kind of stuff, and it shows. there's a ton of synergy in the performance, it's intense and complex without being overly meandering or relying on tropes to make it work, and it's mixed very well by xaleph as well. the arrangement concept is also great. my concern is just that the verse's connection to the original works is essentially academic. it's tough to map the vocal lines to the original, although your timestamps make it clear once you've A/B'd it. i think what's here overall is probably distinct enough from Metallica to be ok. but this is the second really fun track from you guys that's come through recently that's been very, very close to a mainstream original. you need to be careful as you're treading a line here that we (the judges) don't want to more clearly define because of how subjective it can be. YES (borderline) edit 10/25: larry's numbers make it clearer than i originally thought that this is not 'probably too much Metallica', it's just plain too much. i didn't realize it was over a quarter of the track. sorry guys, sick track, but not for here. NO

Background: This one started as a random, half-joking idea in late March or early April: what if the final battle from Pokémon Gen 1 (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow) was done like "Damage, Inc" by Metallica? In my (ParadiddlesJosh) head, this is a slam-dunk arrangement: Seph and I listened to a lot of Metallica growing up and put close to a combined 300 hours in Pokémon Red and Blue, with a considerable amount of that time overlapping. Some of the riffs are kinda similar and the vibe for the source is frenetic enough. Matt (Xaleph) asked me to collab on a Mega Man arrangement he'd put together with Ryan8bit and Zack Parrish for DOD's Mega Man month (May 2024) and I'd heard the Rocket Knights do "Flash Man" from Mega Man 2 but it's "Seek and Destroy" from Metallica's debut record, Kill 'Em All. And I won't sugarcoat it: "Flash and Destroy" sounded like a very fun shitpost. I thought, "If there's a free month, a Pokémon month, or a Game Boy month coming up, I'm pitching this bonkers Gen 1/Metallica mashup." All I needed were willing co-conspirators collaborators and some lyrics. Lo and behold, July was a free month for DOD. Seph (PixelSeph) was on board to do guitars and, with some back and forth on the lyrics, vocals. Zack was on board to do bass. Matt suggested laying in some organ to pad in behind the guitar lines. But Zack had his own main arrangement commanding most of his attention and another duelist pulled him away for a collab, so he suggested a replacement: enter Cyril the Wolf. Cyril nailed the basslines. Continuing a trend of OCR heads diving into DOD, this was submitted to Dwelling of Duels during the free month in July, where it placed 12th out of 32 entries. Credits: ParadiddlesJosh (arrangement, drum programming, add. organ programming, VST guitar programming, mixing, lyrics) PixelSeph (guitars, vocals, lyrics) Cyril the Wolf (bass) Xaleph (organ, mastering) Joo *Johnnyz* Buaes on VG Music (MIDI transcriptions) Source Usage Breakdown: Lyrics: Games & Sources Pokémon Red Version: "Final Battle! (Rival)" by Junichi Masuda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXgAj5KdAC0 "Battle! (Gym Leader)" by Junichi Masuda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJKIrqO1Zas Pokémon Gold Version: "Battle! (Gym Leader - Kanto)" by Junichi Masuda; arr. Go Ichinose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJZBLs0-mEE Inspiration: "Damage, Inc" by Metallica. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdekZoYoamE

opens with a really rich panning arpeggio that feels just a touch too bright. lead comes in at 0:13 with the beat, and it's a really nice laid-back groove. i found the original's melodic content to be very meandering, so it's tough for me to map the original to your track, but i can hear the motivic elements throughout. the wide synth lead at 1:07 is a really neat adaptation of the strings from the original and are simultaneously really big and really dense, so that's neat. we get a bit of a break around 1:35, and there's a nice build into 1:46 with a focus on the arp and some other rhythmic elements in prep for some time signature changes. this is a neat way to transition and you did a great job prepping it so it doesn't feel too weird as it's happening. there's a recap of the strings section at 2:40, and a shift back to 4/4 in prep for the outro. a few more runs through the arp, a wash of bitcrushed color, and it's done. this is a pretty smoove run through a pretty wandering original. i liked the time elements you worked in, as well as the very laid-back groove you got out of your instruments. the adaptation of the melodic line wasn't anything crazy, but it works well with the feel in both time sigs. nice work. YES