prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

interesting concept. opening is drums and then an unholy scream from the depths of hell, which is apparently a guitar? i see where the doom influence showed up. the synth lead is huge and i love it, just a big mass of sound with this eldritch abomination under it playing 'chords'. the ambient section is a creative way to use the melodic material. it's tenuous but i'm tying the background kick and the octave jumps in the bass to the A elements of the airship theme. there's a big build through 2:13, and then we get to the koopa kid theme. this is again a more tenuous relationship but it's also metal af so i'm good here. the more rhythmic elements are great contrast to the beginning and the ambient section, and the goofy transition at 2:55 into the triple section at 2:58 is great. speaking of which, the recap of the airship theme is superb. what an incredible moment that is. after some more A theme from airship, we get some more drum bangs and it's done. this is really interesting! the connection to the originals is certainly there, although it takes some listening to wipe all the dirt off your windshield before it's obvious. the extra time spend fooling with the guitar tone certainly paid off as well as it sounds ridiculous. this is a great job. nice work. YES

neat original! i didn't vote on the first decision. comments about the soundscape and verb application above apply to me too. percussion across the board doesn't sound like it's in the same world as the synths but the toms are particularly dry. the rest of the verb is like 10x longer than i'd expect too, the tail's super long - i actually think this is more the problem than the percs, since in a vacuum later the percs do have some room tone. the chords that come in at 1:08 are neat, but i wish they'd come in earlier. the lead at 1:22 has such a long tail that it takes a while to fade, and it's moving stepwise in Gm. that wouldn't be too big a deal except the third chord in the short background chorded instrument is a flatted II chord, and so at 1:24 it puts an Ab major chord under an A in the lead line. it's definitely a bit crunchy but wasn't a super big deal to me since the chorded element is so short. the percussion here and the bass writing is actually pretty fun, and i like the call and response through this section. it feels like there isn't quite enough there though - another instrument is needed somewhere where it won't compete with what's happening. this repeats over a few times and then we get a breakdown at 2:17. this was needed by here so it's well-timed. the same issue that was described above happens at 2:30 except this time it's the bass and the lead, and this is more noticeable since the soundscape is emptier. the same riff in the lead and the same lead riff are used here repeatedly, and it's not until almost 3:15 that we get anything new. this is a perfect section to really change up the vibe or instrumentation, coming out of the break, and staying the same is tiring from an auditory perspective. the track felt like it was approaching the end after 3:45 and then it goes for another minute doing the same thing, no solo or anything to mix it up. this is too much repetition - we're talking five minutes of bread and only three minutes of butter. trimming this back a lot would help a ton. so this is a very long rubber stamp. consider changing up the notes that conflict, take some more time to trim back the arrangement to just be the best parts and not also a ton of fat along the edges, flesh out the bass and percs writing for later in the track, and consider how you can continue to iterate what the song's saying throughout so it's not so repetitive. also consider toning back the synth reverb's tail and normalize the soundscape a bit so that it's not so diverse. NO

i don't know a single person who thought bravely default's ost wasn't outrageous. there's some incredible tracks in this ost. starts with some sfx and then immediately really leans into the lofi super-modulated sound almost instantly. it almost sounds to me like this is the original sampled but it's hard to confirm that (material is from 0:59 in LoRF). the melodic material is almost completely lost at 0:21 while a clicky sound is most of the soundscape, and this persists until 1:25, which is a significant portion of the piece. we then get a recap of the initial stuff from 0:06 that appears to be an exact copy. 1:40 appears to be that same copy with the section at 0:21 layered on top of it. this layered approach of copied material persists until the end of the piece. there's a fade-out and it's done. whether or not this is directly sampled and detuned from the original, well over half the piece is copy-paste from earlier in the track, so this isn't going to get a vote from me. it's a cool idea for a single loop and then it's obvious what's going on, and it just keeps repeating until the end. unfortunately that doesn't satisfy our requirements for transformative arrangement. there needs to be more development than just repeating two sound clips. NO

opening piano is appropriately muted. the harmonic strings are a nice idea. this section appears to be cribbed directly from TSoM. there's some cello that comes in at 0:30. it's not a great sample quality, but it's being used well here. some more articulations here (and the space that comes from articulations) would be nice. there's orchestral strings at 0:59, and again the sample quality isn't great. there's a bit of sustain-itis going on in the upper strings - it's hard to hear the melody underneath the huge sustains, so both some volumization and maybe some more creative part-writing there would be helpful. 1:32 we get a significant vibe change (this maybe could have been set up better). the ostinado mentioned above at 1:45 comes in, followed by female choir. most of the instruments in here have a swelling quality to them that's common in lower-tier samples, so it's hard to hear where some of the notes start and end as a result. there's a very frenetic build to 2:57 where the madrigal theme comes back. the solo cello being so much louder in the middle range than the entire orchestra is a little confusing from an auditory perspective. there's some better partwriting this time around, which is great. 3:50 is a recap of the madrigal theme one last time, and it's done. this is a really interesting arrangement that's unfortunately let down by sample quality throughout. you've got some really stellar concepts here - the combination of themes, the partwriting at 3:23 is great, and the underlying story of the game influencing the arrangement is super fun. from a quality perspective though this just isn't there, which is sad because clearly a lot of work went into making what you had go this far. i would love to hear you work with someone who can realize this more fully, because it'd be a highlight of the catalog if that was done. NO

this whole ost is really striking, just like the game. piotr musial is superb. the sustained string harmonics about a third of the way through are so eerie. starts with some plucks and sfx. the violin almost sounds straight out of the game. piano isn't quite in time and has a wrong note right off the bat. big hit at 0:33 with a bit of a beat and what sounds like hammers. it picks up at 0:58 and i essentially can't hear anything but the beat and the piano at this point. it's not a particularly idiomatic piano performance either. there's some more sfx at 1:24 of a speech with similar percussive elements under it - again the percussion is so loud i can't hear anything else. the percs drop off at 2:04. it's still just the strings playing roughly what's in the original track the same way, and piano mirroring it. there's a false crescendo in some really nice rhythmic strings at the very end and then a hard cut to the piano. i think this is a neat idea, but i can't hear anything for the middle half of the piece. it's just too loud. this needs a significant revolumization across the board, especially around the percussive elements which are just way too loud. that whole section is super boomy, and some EQing especially on the big boom fx you're using will help lighten the sonic load there while still keeping it punchy. separately the piano overall sounds like it's just perpetually at 127 velocity and machine-guns several times. there needs to be a lot of attention paid to the piano to make it more realistic in the performance because right now it does not sound realistic at all. all that said i really like the concept. there's some really need ideas here in terms of the instrumentation and your approach, and a lot that ties into the game in interesting ways. it's hard to realize that though with the mixing all over the place. spend some time EQing out extra stuff, turn everything down quite a bit, and then use compression to keep it feeling strong. NO

writeup is hilarious =) really funky opening. tons of modulation on the keys and i'm here for it. bass patch is great, just a little bit of grit. percussion initially is really stylistically accurate as well. 1:14 has some fun guitar stuff and some new percussive elements which is nice. bass work there is clever. there's a drop at 1:36 and it goes to just pads. we start to get some hint of the dirt that's about to hit and it builds up to 1:59 which has both a tempo change and a big style change. 2:10 was great, i love the way you sit back in the groove so far for this one. there's a final bass hit at 2:51 and then it's just growling its way out the door after that. there's some fun new textures brought around just in that last bit. it ends on a V which is a bit unsatisfactory but works fine. this is an easy vote, as expected. excellent work between the two of you. YES

i'm going to actually do a vote on this rather than just drooling like my fellow judges opens with some super interesting ensemble goofball arpeggiated chord stuff. i like the ensemble here. we get some melodic content at 0:24, with an eclectic combination of instruments. the guitar's a little not in the mix compared to the rest here. when the beat comes in at 0:36, i can definitely see the J Damashii comparison. the vibe is excellent, guitar especially. imo the drums here are sticking out of the mix more than i'd expect, but the brass and strings are just so great. the flute is indeed too quiet when it comes in after 1:00. this trucks along until 1:25 when we get some delicious rhodes stuff. rhodes is quiet and brass is a bit loud here. there's a drop at 1:56 and the vibe/celeste/bell thing is doing some really fun stuff here. when the melody comes back in at 2:06, the flute's again a bit quiet. there's a funky note in the background at 2:11 in the strings - sounds like the strings are playing a Bb when the flute's playing an A (i think that's supposed to be a predominant to the Ab chord that comes after it, so i'd assume it's supposed to be a fully diminished 7 chord...so, the flute's playing a B double flat, technically). it happens again at 2:22, Bb next to B double flat, but closer so it bites even more. there's a big drop at 2:30 and the string work there is nice. overall energy is much lower here. there's some delightful percussion through this as well. 3:11 is a guitar lead section and i love the tone. it's mixed a little quiet, so when it goes lower all i can hear are sustains in the background. 3:50 has a lovely string tune that is straight out of a disney movie. this functions as an extended outro. there's some guitar notes here that are a bit out of tune. it settles down nicely into a final sustain and it's done. this is a great track! it's super thematic and the style is nailed pretty much across the board. those crunchy notes are unfortunate and i'd love to see them fixed before release, and there's a few times that the lead is stuck behind the (admittedly usually pretty interesting) backing parts. overall though this is a superb work and clearly represents a ton of work. nice job. YES but plz fix those notes

my original vote centered around the mixing and mastering elements, or lack thereof. opening is a lot better mixed, although there's still a surprising amount of extra-low content in the freq analysis. the instruments sound much more together than i remember the original sounding. sustain at 0:31 is a little questionable - didn't notice that the first time around. i also don't remember noticing that the flute doesn't use much vibrato - i think that's a mistake, vibrato helps a lot to hide intonation issues. bendir at 0:39 is still a little dry and in the fore, especially compared to the flute. the swell at 1:07 into the trombone lead is gorgeous. drums sound a lot better this time around. there's still a lot of beater tone on the kick, and the bass is a bit overstated for the context, but it sounds a lot more a part of the ensemble this time around. i didn't remember the fake decrescendo at 2:37, but i can't say i care for that as much - i think the timbral reduction you did naturally there was enough. the recap as an outro sounds beautiful. the last chord maybe could have come a bit sooner. i think this is a lot better overall. the arrangement as a whole is still really fun - there's great interweaving of the lead instruments, the piano work is excellent, and the ensemble works better in ear than it may on paper (flute and trombone is a surprising combo!). i think this still isn't perfect but that's fine, it's over the bar this time around. YES

agree with Flex. this isn't "a little repetitive", it's half a track. if anything, it being jordan is why i gave it a ? at first when he resubbed the second version.

i like your description of the theme. i agree very much with it. starts with some sustained pads and tempo-synced stuff. there's a neat bass that comes in at 0:29 and this builds up to 0:57 when we get the first big hit in the kick. to my ear, the theme doesn't really come in until 1:16, but i like the approach there. there's a short building section without lead until 2:15 when the strings come in. there's some doubling at 2:33, and the melody comes back at 2:51. there's a drop at 3:31, and the mix goes through the chord progression of the original twice more, and then it's done. my concern here is the source usage. the track is 4:09 long, and i only recognize the melodic content from 1:16-1:54 and 2:51-3:31 - about 30% of the work. the chord progression of the original is used from 1:54-2:2:51 and 3:31-4:07, so it'd hinge on if that counts or not. i think so, since in the past we've used chord progressions that were unique (which this is, it's not something generic) and used earlier in the remix so as to establish that progression. so, with that said, i'm all about this. i love the way you play with time - the initial pattern in the kicks that's in 4/4 but is kind of 7+9 is great. i also like the anticipatory chord movement, moving on the last half-beat of the measure. it keeps it moving forward despite the lower-key approach overall. i think the string work also adds a lot. this is a fun listen with a great realization. YES

ambient opening. first big pile of crunch at 0:25 is nice and it continues to creak in and out for a while. there's some plucks that sound like the intro arp in the original around 0:42. the extreme clipping is making my eyes twitch - there are ways to get distorted and beat-up textures without just cranking it past the 0.0 mark. there's a beat that comes in around 1:31, alongside some other percs. there's a melodic element that comes in at 1:47. i like the distorted tone on it, but don't like how blown out this area is as it loses a lot of depth of tone. there's a lot of low mid content below maybe 200hz that's probably unneeded and is causing it to be really cluttered. i agree with chimpa that this section is slow-burn but not in a good way - since there's zero dynamics possible with the overblown backing elements, there needs to be either melodic or rhythmic elements to keep interest. there's little to no rhythmic elements through the entire song that aren't repeated for the entire breadth of the track, and there's little melodic elements that aren't present in the original. there's some piano that comes in around 2:55, and then some sustains and sfx to finish it for the last 40 seconds or so. a gritty, lo-res texture works very well for this original. ultimately, though, this is a pretty boring remix. the slow tempo is a good choice imo but the lack of dynamics (or really even contrast), interesting rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic elements, and even basic elements of mastering really shoot this one down. there's simply not enough to hold interest for 4+ minutes, and what's there for those four minutes is gritty in a bad way and so blown out that you can't actually hear what's going on most of the time. to be clear: i'd love for a heavy, slow-burn industrial mix of this track, as i think it fits perfectly. just turning up all your mastering channels to +6db isn't how to do that though. it's hard to make something sound dirty and covered in rust, and i think this is what you were going for - it just needs more attention to mastering to make those channels sound like that without just cranking them up so the master clips. NO

Game: Flowstone Saga Song: To The Ruin Mastering by Chimpazilla! She rocks! OA put out a call to folks to do remixes of the soundtrack for this game as a promo situation. I personally thing OA is the best thing since sliced bread, so I jumped on the opportunity right away. I listened through the OST a few times and this was one of the songs that stuck out to me. I liked the rhythmic elements and how they added energy to a slower track. I also liked the bridge section, which reminded me of the Beauty and the Beast score =) I probably haven't done a remix that wasn't a requested thing of me since the Chrono Cross project, so it's been several years. I am nowhere near as fast as I used to be, and historically the act of grinding through that lack of familiarity has been a real difficult thing for me to overcome. I had already told OA I'd do a track, though, and shame is a powerful motivator, so I pushed through and made something that I'm proud of. Then Chimpazilla took my stems (eventually, after several technical missteps on my side and some render glitches) and made the track sound awesome. This is primarily Omnisphere and Addictive Drums, with some Gladiator for a few of the leads. I used whatever older version of FL Studio was still on my computer. I did get midis of the parts from OA but used them as guidelines only due to how FL imported and quantized the files (ie. not well). This might be the last track I do on my discrete music PC...my poor i7-870 was struggling to handle all the processing-heavy verby leads.

phasing ping pong pad to start, and a fun whistle synth. kick comes in at 0:33 with some hats, and then the rest of the kit at 0:47. nice synthy drumkit. melody doesn't actually come in until spartan time, and it's accompanied by some guitar chugs. sounds like the time signature changes around 1:45, and then we get a double-time section that adds a lot more energy. i like the idea of changing time sigs in here since the melodic material is unique but repetitive, so this helps mix it up a lot. beat drops out at about 2:49 or so, and we're left with a pretty unique pad and some strummed guitars. the melody's back at 3:49 in the guitar (which sounds just a touch ahead throughout this section) until we're in an extended outro. my primary concern here is the use of source. there's a lot that relies on the chord progression. i heard clear melody from 1:18-1:48, 2:19-2:49, and 3:49-4:20. the outro section from 4:27 through the end at 5:03 is the tail of the melodic material, i think, so i can count that if i'm feeling charitable. that's only 42% source, so it comes down to if i'd be comfortable counting the extended chord progression patterns, switching between the Em, Cm, A, and whatever B chord that is. the original is primarily between Em and Cm. for example, the middle section from 1:48 to 2:19 would count if we just looked at those chord progressions, and that'd squeak by. i think i'm comfortable including that particular section in the breakdown given that it's the same timing (ie. not switching faster and going to other chords) as the original. that'd give me enough there. with that in mind, i think this a pretty neat idea. i like the concept of switching time signatures in a song where the original has a clock ticking, and i think the execution overall sounds solid. nice work. YES

what a dope original! never heard it and it's awesome. starts out with some pretty static tones, but the beat comes in at 0:11. initial writing is pretty faithful to the original. the drums aren't quite what i expected given the original sound concept. the bass is pretty active and the lead is very basic initially. there's a recap at 1:06 and some repeated material (everything from there to 1:24 outside of adding the ascending arp flourishes in a few places). the following section is also very similar to the original outside of a few added flourishes. there's another repeat at 2:00 and then it repeats the opening section and fades out. i like the concept here! i think there's a bit too much repetition for a piece that's only 2:10. i think the style survives the genre adaptation pretty well, though, so that's fun! i think there just needs to be more arrangement here - less ANARCHY TAKAPON and more Nuac. i'd also like to hear the drum mixing bring the drums out, assuming you're willing to use modern mastering tools and you aren't explicitly going for a GB-realistic sound. NO

oh man, i just love darren korb's compositional style. thanks for giving me a reminder to listen to all of his soundtracks today. opens with some highly filtered pads that have a lot of motion on them, which is fun. there's some tempo-synced elements that come in at 0:30 - very patient opening - and some piano. beat comes in at 1:05 in a way that i didn't expect, which is fun. bass is highly filtered, almost sounds like it's next door vs. in the room with us. piano performance has some jazz elements in how the melodic material is rendered which is nice. 2:05 is a new feel, between the new beat and the really effected wind synth (i can't really describe it). that's out quick though, because it's soon after into a much more ethereal section noodling with that wind synth and sustained rain sfx. beat is back at 3:01 and this is a cleaner soundscape, focusing on the keys. the subtle tempo-synced gated synth in the background is nice. the drums and backing elements fade down over time, leaving just the keys and bass eventually. and that's a wrap. this is a great adaptation of a really fun original. i was very curious how you'd be able to replicate what is essentially a guitar groove with some big string swoops with what you opened with, but this is definitely a super interpretive arrangement of a motif-driven original. your arrangement is just full of space, which i think is a really neat parallel to the game itself. excellent work. YES

track appears to be intentionally limited to -3.5db. initial vibe is much more upbeat. bass is surprisingly high. there's some fun bitcrushing effects right off the bat. the first real break section at 0:34 hits nice with the orchestral element there. this kind of trucks through on autopilot until 1:18 (nice break going into this section) when the beat drops and it goes to a very rich interstellar-style orchestration. i like the tempo-synced synth there to keep it moving. after ridley peeks through the bookshelf at his past self, he apparently learns guitar - i liked the change in style here, it's a good change and was needed by this point. the theremin lead is too resonant up top and cuts hard through the mix, but other than that i liked the idea. there's a short break, then some breaks, then at 2:18 we get some intentional detuning around some of the synths alongside some glitchiness. it's a fun idea that visualizes the title. this escalates until 2:57 when we get more theremin lead and orchestration, which fades out over time. this is a nice trail-off. the orchestration comes back with more rich chord blocks at 3:10, and eventually picks back up with the guitar as well. guitar sounded notably dry here, but other than that i liked this again. the theremin lead here is filtered a bit and it's nowhere near as resonant as before. there's a lot of noise going on starting around 4:24 - are you riding a crash cymbal? is that what that is? - but it is still fairly clear what's going on. there's a final big hit, we get more interstellar orchestral chord stacks and rhythmic synth, and then it's done with a tape stop. we seem to have gotten a ton of this original in the remix bin over the last few months. it's been great to see how different they all are. this is no different - i think the highly technical dnb alongside the big cinematic scoring elements works great. kudos on continuing to do different stuff and not stick with a single vibe. YES

always loved dorian when it's not just used as 'weird minor'. starts with piano and sfx, and the ascending scale comes in after a bit. the beat comes in alongside the initial melodic content at 0:37. it's a nice groove, i think 'electro chill' is a good term. the leads used in this section (both the first one and the one at 1:03) remind me a lot of FFX's remastered soundtrack. 1:29 is a bit of a shift, and the detuned lead does some more agile stuff (i didn't care for how this sounded on this lead) before the beat comes back at 1:53. 2:19's a big shift. the same detuned lead is used here, which at this point it's getting a little tired. the vocal pads are nice, and i like the percussive elements used when they come in. the track is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the melodic material overall, and that especially shows up here. after this we get an extended outro and it's done. the tail on this is pretty long (there's fading elements after the last hit for at least five seconds) and probably should be trimmed down. this is straightforward but solid. the arrangement is more in the vibe and instrumentation than the notes. i'd have loved to see more going on in terms of personalizing the melodic material, but what's here sounds good. i particularly like the different pad elements used throughout. YES

i have never heard this original and it's hilarious. and it's the main theme! sometimes nintendo still manages to capture their old magic. big funky beat to start out. there's some sfx but it takes a while to get to some of the material of the original. i didn't notice anything that was close to luigi until 0:39, and more realistically 0:59. i do like the space in this entire no-beat section, there's a lot of air in the compositional concepts. the main theme over the beat is great - what a weird lead, it works great. the ghosty lead right after it is fun too. there's a drum break section starting at 1:56 through 2:14, and then we get some noodly spooky stuff until the main theme comes back at 2:34. this is probably my favorite part of the remix. i agree the whistle is indeed iMpReSsiVe. sampled ending and we're done. what a fun idea! and well-realized. my main concern was that there was enough actual remix material in here since much of the remix was open beats without much melodic content. i recognized material from 0:59 to 1:56 and 2:14 to 3:13, which is about 57%. so we're good there. with that in mind, this is definitely a pass. super fun take on a silly original, and there's a lot of interesting ideas in the drum work throughout. excellent job. YES

starts out with some very ambient hits at range, and slowly starts to build the descending motif from the original. there's a lot of orchestral elements being used, which is nice. i'll note that there's a lot of sustained chords and that's not great orchestral arranging. it's not common that the entire brass section will play block chords. more movement in here would be a goal. there's a big hit at 1:16 with some guitars and orchestral taikos, and now some choir. there's a lot of audible clipping in here. this is where all those block chords become a problem - they're just clogging up the mid range so you can't put other stuff in here. there's also what sounds like mostly copy/paste for each section with one more thing added on top each time. for example the same choir scoring and presentation is used over and over - this is noticeable and becomes irritating pretty early on. at the 3:00 mark there's some slick soloing going but i can't hear anything. everything needs to be turned down by, like, half, and then use a compression and limiting chain to dress it up rather than relying on raw volume to make stuff sound powerful. by about 3:45 i can no longer hear any backing elements. it's just the bass, the taikos, and the lead solo instruments. everything else is just a mash. i can 100% get the idea of having lots of neat ideas and wanting to layer them on top of one another. i tend to be a very additive composer myself. however, after a certain point, there's just too much going on and it all loses impact as a result. that's what you've got going on most of this. if you removed half - literally half - of the compositional elements you've got going on here, i think you'd have a far more impactful (and easier to mix/master) track. i think there's a ton of great stuff here. it's just inaudible and everything's stepping on everything else's toes. trim it way back, reduce the volume a ton, remove all the sustained layering, and see what you get on the other side as a result. if you don't believe me about the clipping, this is by far the most clipping instances i've ever seen in a submission in the panel: NO

big drums right up front, with a big 80s sound to the band sound overall, driven by the bass and the bell synth. snare is really loud up front. there's a nice rhythm guitar underpinning it, and the lead has a good tone, love the vibrato. hits a break at 1:25 and has some synthax pick up the lead. later guitar comes in and that's well-played. harmonized melodic content at 2:05 was nice. drums drop again at 2:16 and the track relies on the bass for a bit to keep it moving, then the fm keys. sax comes back when everything's back in for a solo opportunity. this would have been a nice time to mix up the bass line up a bit, but the energy's still there and it's a good solo. it also sets us nicely onto the outro which is well-handled. this is a lay-up. there are a few elements of the mastering i'd have liked to hear modified - namely turning that snare down a touch - but overall this is a solid rendition of the classic original. i particularly liked the keys that you used in some of the quieter parts to keep it moving, and the solo trailoff into the outro. nice work. YES

yeah, opening is a direct sample with some sfx. 0:19 brings in a trap style beat and bass, with the original melodic material over top in a mostly unaltered state to my ears. i like the bassline, especially at the bridge section. the hats get a little weird around 0:45 - sounds like there's a shaker and a hat in there in the same range. solo sounds good over the top but it's drowned by the backing instrumentation most of the time. was that liquid instruments used to do the solo? there's an odd sustained organ tone at the end, some more sampled material for a few seconds, and then it's done. this needs more arrangement unfortunately. it's already very short - it's pretty hard to pass the arrangement guidelines with a track that's under two minutes, and this has a solo for half the song - and there's not a lot to differentiate it from the original already. separately, using sampled audio in general is a nono, even more when it's 15% of the track (a few seconds is one thing, but this is a measurable percentage). lastly, from a mixing perspective, your elements are mostly all over the place. there's no intentionality that i can hear around what instruments are louder than others at different points in the song. i'd highly recommend revisiting each element and ensuring that it's placed appropriately in the soundscape rather than leaving them all at the same mixer volume setting the entire track. NO

the initial sound quality is an instant no regardless of arrangement elements, so let's address that first. the track is super blown out - there's no reason for orchestral samples to be so massively sausage-ized on the waveform. all of these instruments need to be turned down by half if not more, and i'd recommend turning off your limiter and compression chain before doing initial mixing to ensure that you're not compensating for blowing the ends off of the main with your inputs. once you've got that covered, then you can slowly add back in the mastering chain to top it off. from an arrangement perspective, i think the initial concept is interesting. you've got a broader, more interesting sound palette, but it quickly grows stale as the only change is the addition of the synth lead eventually. i'd recommend either leaning more into the orchestral element and doing more part-writing (so it's not just lead, stabs, timpani, and string pad) on individual instruments, or else lead into the synthy element where that kind of sustained pad works well and flex some creative sound design muscles. either way, this is too simple of an arrangement right now, and larry's right about the loop and ending cutoff. we need more transformative arrangement to be something that can sit on the site. NO

yeah unfortunately this is essentially a cover using chiptunes. we require transformative arrangement here at ocremix - that is, sound swaps aren't enough. in a demake like this, i'd expect to hear updated rhythmic elements, new chords, a more personalized instance of the melodic line, changed time signatures, etc. what's here right now is mostly concernedape's work, and it's just being played by new instruments. that's fine with youtube and some other services but it's not what we do here. i love the idea though! i'm a huge fan of demakes. that track is a good example of the type of arrangement we look for here, and emulating (no pun intended) ben's expansion of the original theme would be a great way to proceed here. NO

would need a real title if it passed. this is a pretty basic original - just the bass riff and the whistle synth - so i'd need to see some pretty transformative elements to make this pass the bar. to my ears, there isn't much arrangement here at all - this sounds essentially like you've taken the existing parts (even some of the drum lines) and put better sounds on them. i think the better sounds sound better! but there's nowhere near the transformative arrangement we require as part of 4.2 in the submission standards. NO

triplet vibe is a good one to start out. the darker backing elements really draw out the feel of the original track too. starting with the B theme is a surprising choice but works pretty well as a prep element.0:51 is where the original starts. hats are a touch bright but only a little. i liked the doubling in the melodic line that starts at 1:42. 2:27 is the B theme again, with a bit of a thinner backing vibe than the A section. there's a second where both melodic elements are competing which is a nice idea too. there's a bit of an altered arp near the end for the last 30s or so and then it's done. this is really close on the arrangement side to being too conservative for me. there is essentially nothing changed here from the original except the placement of the opening 50s and one note in the arp for 30s at the end. there's a lot of window dressing added on top which i'm counting as elements of the arrangement or else it wouldn't get there. obviously the mastering is dope and the synthesis work is superb, and that carries it for me. YES