prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

intro is the initial bassline in a few instruments. i like the drums here, they're very fitting for the style. 0:31's a big shift in style but the synth line fits this backing set really nice. there's a quick break and then the sax has the melody for a bit. guitar here is pretty loud and drowns the drums a touch. there's not a lot in the backing parts to hold interest either here. then 1:53 is a huge shift in style that doesn't sound super prepared, and the drums here are hard to hear. 2:12 is a recap of the first verse with some extra spice on the melodic line in the guitar, and the following section is the same as the original chorus initially, but then gets a solo to dress it up. after the solo is some more exploration around the intro bassline, and a recap of the intro, and we're done. this is a solid adaptation of the fates theme! it's kind of a spacey theme with a lot of disparate parts, and i think this is a similar remix in that you've got several different pieces that all come together to make a decent whole. i definitely think you nailed the style, and while there's a few times where instruments get buried, overall i think it sounds like what you'd expect for the style. nice job. this is fun. YES

opens with some pingpong backing synths and a nice sweep effect that's fitting given the source material's locale. beat drops at 0:25. the snare's reminiscent of a sonar ping and the verb and backing synths also are reminiscent of water, so again this is a really cool idea for how to relate the source to the mix. the original's melody is honestly really beautiful and fitting into the synth sweeps is really nice. there's a break at 1:39 and the Prelude-like arpeggios layered in here are nice, as the variety of leads used in this section. contrasting one with high reverb to one without it is a nice choice. the beat comes back in at 2:28 alongside a bit more buzz in the synths which is a nice change to dress it up a bit. 3:17 is a bit of a recap of the last line of the melody before we're on the downside of the work. there's a solid outro and then it's done. there's some static on the fadeout that just stops so that'll need a quick fade applied before we release this. this is an easy vote. the synth work is impeccable as expected, the beat is great, and the adaptation is really smooth. excellent work. YES

Artist Name: MkVaff While I was coming up with some ideas for more recent arrangements, I re-listened to the original Ecco the Dolphin soundtrack. It had some interesting music, but then I remembered that the game had a sequel on Genesis that I never had the chance to play. After checking out the music in "The Tides of Time," I was very impressed with several of the tracks, and I was surprised by the overall complexity and quality of some of the songs on the track list. The music for the "Two Tides" stage in particular jumped out to me as having a solid, laid-back beat and some great synth sections. I incorporated elements of trap music for this remix, as I wanted it to have a chill, moody, "underground" feel to it. Some of the Ecco music is pretty epic and dramatic, so I added some brassy synths in the later melody to add some excitement and to incorporate some of the "bigger" feeling of some of the songs in the Genesis Ecco soundtracks. While I've recently covered some classics from Zelda, Chrono Trigger, and the Final Fantasy series, I decided to submit this particular piece because it seemed like such a hidden gem from a soundtrack that I don't often hear in discussions compared to the more popular games that are known for their music. It was my very first time actually listening to the music from The Tides of Time, and I wanted to highlight some of the interesting, excellent material in that soundtrack. Hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis / MD)

Source breakdown: 0:00 - 0:30 - Intro (0:00 - 0:08 in source - mostly the bassline) 0:31 - 1:07 - Verse (0:08 - 0:24 in source - mostly the lead) 1:15 - 1:53 - Chorus (0:25 - 0:41 in source - mostly the lead) 1:54 - 2:12 - Bridge (0:41 - 1:08 - this is a bit obscured) 2:13 - 2:35 - Verse 2 (Same as Verse 1) 2:36 - 3:14 - Chorus 2 (Same as Chorus 1 but a solo that's all original) 3:15 - 3:36 - Post-Chorus (Bassline again baby!) 3:37 - 4:06 - Outro (Same as Intro) Roster: Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement, Saxes, Mix Mattmatatt - Guitars ImAFutureGuitarHero - Drums jnWake - Keys Ivan Hakštok - Bass Once upon a time, Larry told me I needed to take more time cooking my tracks. Well, the early bones of this work-in-progress happened the same month I did Tyrano's Stash and only 10 months later I revisited it for Dwelling of Duels Free Month (Placed 10th!). How do you like that Larry?! HUH?! HUH?! Jokes aside (especially since it was some early bones), one thing that really has helped my process is separating each part of the process into a different chunk. I spent a good deal of time cooking up the arrangement, then working with performers/my own part, then mixing it at the end. But let's start back at the beginning I knew I wanted to cover some Chrono Cross for free month. I think I had some other ideas, but something was really tackling me to do a song in the style of the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. This arrangement is pretty inspired by their song Surf's Up. I roped ImAFutureGuitarHero and Cory Johnson from Tyrano's Stash. I wanted to get Mattmatatt handling some of the guitars both cause he's an awesome friend, and he rips as a guitar player AND does a lot of psychedelic/weird sound design-y stuff. jnWake and Hakštok had to be there because they love Chrono Cross, but I also know jnWake was going to be on Tyrano's Stash (there was some miscommunication) so I had to make up for that. Cory had to drop out, but we still had a blast putting this together. After all the instruments came through, I got to mixing. I could've settled for not making it very loud, but this was the first track I really got into the weaves of it with mastering and loudness. I remember I got some feedback for Cucco's Feathers about mastering and didn't really understand it at the time (and to think that was just 2 months ago...). It was frustrating to not really get it at the time, but taking some time away from that project and focusing on another one (Yes, I'll get the resub soon!) has REALLY helped me. Me going into the group chat with the first version of the master saying "I might've made this track too loud" and my friends reassuring me that -13 LUFS wasn't that loud, followed by showing how my reference track (Surf's Up) was -7.8 LUFS sent me down a whole rabbit hole. I think this track is around -8-9 LUFS? Oh the pursuit of making more psychedelic rock. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy. Both Judges and listeners. We poured a lot of chaos and love into this one! Edit: Before I forget, I must explain funny lengthy title. "FATE has no forgiveness for those who dare stand against it." is from the Game Over screen of Chrono Cross. I love this quote because it's a double entendre. It talks about how both FATE (the character) and Fate (development of a person's events being beyond their control). This might be my favorite Game Over screen. Definitely in my top 5. Games & Sources FATES - Chrono Cross

Previous decisions: original, resub 1 Really appreciated the last round of feedback. Song gets to the point a lot faster, removed 2-3 minutes of trash. Heavily revised the second half: added a bridge and dovetailed some of the elements of the bridge into the final hook. Redid all of the reverb, I think it's at least an improvement. Added a xylophone and some strings. Thanks. Games & Sources Theme of Tikal

# Cover Track Information Title: Until the Very End Arranger: Chromatic Apparatus MixingEngineer: Chromatic Apparatus Performers: Cello: Chromatic Apparatus Harp: Chromatic Apparatus ArrangementNotes: | This arrangement of "On the Beach at Dusk" is meant to mirror the arc of Explorers of Sky in microcosm. The main game starts and ends on the beach, with the tumultuous, emotional moment dividing the two. There are two harps and four cellos (live recordings) performing in this piece with additional sound effects. The opening section (0:00-1:33) takes the original theme and reduces it to the two harps, with the celli providing an occasional bed of sound for the harps to float on. 1:33-1:55 is the storm, with the celli in tremolo and a single harp improvising on the atmosphere. From 1:55 onward the storm abates, the key rises a whole step, and, with buoyed spirits, the celli take their turn with the theme. It starts with a solo cello playing the main motive, and picks up more celli along the way. 2:39, the celli slowly convert to pizzicato (think rain drops), and we end, hearing the ocean surf on the beach. EquipmentNotes: | - Cello - 2007 Romanian "Euro Standard Antique", finished at Peter Paul Prier & Sons - 2xAKG C414 (mid-side configuration) - Harp - RHarp Merlin 35-string Lever Harp - Mono mix of two mics: AKG C414 (exterior mic), Bartlett Cello Mic (taped inside harp) - Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen 3 interface - Mixed in Studio One 6.5.1.96553 - Sound effects (freesound.org) - shore.aif by FranCirujeda | License: Creative Commons 0 - Cloudburst n Thunder 1.wav by chimerical | License: Creative Commons 0 - Thunder Storm Nonstop Thunder by hargissssound | License: Creative Commons 0 Games & Sources # Source Track Information Game: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky ReleaseDate: 2009-04-18 Developer: Chunsoft Publisher: The Pokémon Company / Nintendo SourceAlbum: N/A (no official album exists); In-game Jukebox SourceTrack: Title: On the Beach at Dusk Disc: N/A Track: 4 Composers: - Arata Iiyoshi - Hideki Sakamoto - Keisuke Ito - Ken-ichi Saito - Yoshihiro Maeda Links: - YouTube:

starts out with some block chords that feel pretty out of time. took a second to wrap my head around that. the initial pattern (1 3 5 1) matches the pattern of the melodic line (la, do la mi, do, la) in a chorded fashion, and then we see it in retrograde (la mi do la). again at 0:37 we see a very slow version of the motif (clearer example: 0:58.5-1:04.5). this is an example of fragmentation, another motivic arrangement technique. the underlying rhythmic pattern is used regularly (1 note, 3 notes, 1 note, 1 note) as well. it continues to be spread out and weird and gets longer and longer in note value until 2:03. the remixer tones back the filter opening at 2:04 for one last motivic representation (this time with the rhythm normal but the notes in retrograde) before playing it straighter at 2:19. mister hu then hits the patch randomizer for the next several instances of this motif. there's some chordal changes, like at 3:27, but overall this is pretty straight in representation. this took a few listens to really understand what was going on, but once i recognized how the remixer boiled the motif down to component parts (the basic rhythm content, the ascending pattern following the minor i chord), then i started recognizing the different set theory techniques used to represent it. there are quite a few sections where this analysis is more tenuous than others - most of the part from 1:24-2:02 is not immediately recognizable even in the perspective of the aforementioned analysis, so that's something to consider. additionally at least some of this may venture "beyond recognition" (standards 4.3.) into graduate-level sound design class final-project inaccessibility. however, i do believe what's here - particularly in the first and last thirds of the piece - is recognizable enough knowing the source material and understanding how to listen to it. i'm willing to pass this, but i 100% understand if others aren't. this isn't a casual listening piece and the place for such a piece on OCR is understandably debatable, especially considering the above quoted element of the standards. YES

this will need a new name if it passes, as we don't allow remix names that are just the name of the original track. also, given that we don't allow any sampled audio regardless of source from square enix owned games (square enix currently owns the rights to chrono trigger) means that this is a no-go with the given samples. i'll still review it, but we can't post it even if it passes in its current state. opening has some sfx (naughty naughty!) alongside a very thin, airy pad playing the SotF arpeggio. i like the transitional effect into 0:26. the lead here is nice as well, and the beat is appropriately chill. there's a significant amount of pumping (i don't think it's sidechain unless everything except the kick is sidechained) which is notable and doesn't sound great. there's a break that features the Schala arpeggio (and eventually the melodic material when the beat comes back in). there's not much going on in this section that's not from the original track, but some brass stabs come in near the end which keeps it from being a palette swap from the original. it goes through the Schala arpeggio a bit before ending without an ending. i think this would be fairly close if i had to vote on it fo rillz, given the pumping in the limiter and the lack of original content in the second half. short tracks are hard to have enough transformative arrangement to really get themselves over the bar without everything firing on all cylinders. that said, the inclusion of sampled effects makes this a moot point. they'd have to be changed before i could vote in earnest. NO

starts out with hand pan and a really neat keyboard tone. bass comes in at 0:54 and gives a lot more body to the mix, as the drums are particularly treble-heavy on this one. 1:25 is a bit of a break with a pretty big high at 1:32 - i can hear the airiness you're talking about here. the cello comes in soon after and it's a lot better balanced in this one to my ears than in 'a dream'. there's a bit of a shift towards more rhythmic elements at 2:23 - i really like the arpeggiating synth in the background. it continues to convey that airiness you mentioned really well, especially alongside the tone of the lead here. a piano comes in and takes over the lead and it's a bit quiet next to the beat. this trucks along until another shift at 3:56 where the cello comes back in. cello is a bit loud here compared to the backing elements but the soaring lines are undeniably beautiful as before. there's an air of finality at 5:00 as the cello fades out, and the rest is outro and settling down. the tempo shift at 5:20 was really nice. another success, in my book. you definitely achieved what you were trying to do, and the breadth of approach shown here within a fairly narrow style is really interesting. excellent work. YES

cello up front is strikingly beautiful. what playing. the understated synth work initially really underpins (no pun intended) the cello part well. beat comes in at 0:45. the patience that your keys have is really nice - it fits very well into the groove. cello's back at 1:15 and i love the tone (although it might be just a touch loud there). bass tone in the next section is neat as it jumps around and adds some agility to the arrangement. beat pulls back a bit at 2:01 and lets the cello take lead again, then another section of more active bass work mirrored in the vibes. the build into the high at 3:02 is really nice. after that it's downhill to the finish - the drums glitch themselves out, there's another beautiful sustain with the cello, and then one more broken chord to finish it. this is, as expected, superb. the cello work really puts it over the top. excellent job. YES

starts off with a chippy bass tone and a solid kick. the arpeggiated octave bass is a tie to the original right away. melodic elements right away are in the sidechained lead. big build into 0:57's hit. this section is pretty loud but the limiter's doing what it's supposed to, so while it's heavily squished it isn't clipping. there's another drop right after this at 1:31 that is welcome after how wall-to-wall the previous section was, and the bass here is fun. there's another build up - 1:58-2:11 sound like the same as the earlier section, but there's a different (and also good) build into 2:21's big hit. the melody here's clear again and it's a different set of backing elements from the last time that this came around, so that's good. elements drop out after the 3:00 mark in order and then it's done. this is a solid take. the super-heavy sections at 0:57 and 2:21 may not be everyone's cup of tea, but i think they sound fine and i'm able to pick out the parts going on, so i think that's pretty well done. it's certainly an adaptive take on the original and it's got good energy. nice work. YES

Artist Name: CJthemusicdude I got new headphones! :D Games & Sources Streets of Rage (Genesis) - Beatnik on the Ship

a sixth version! this family has a lot of sisters. opens with some arpeggiating bass, an EP, and kit. the snare sounds doesn't have much tone to it, it's mostly just static. the melodic content comes in quickly and is handed off between two synths - the latter entry has a lot of really high content frequency-wise and is a bit tough to both listen to and tell what it's doing. there's a short break at 0:33 and it's back to the same synths as before doing the melodic material from before. we hit another break in the beat at 0:58, and there's a stutter hornet synth used as a lead in this quieter section. i don't know if the high-energy vibe that a stuttered saw like this adds fits this section too well. there's a build into 1:23 and then it's back to melodic content. there's more personalization here initially which is nice. 1:47's the same as earlier at 0:33 but with drums this time, and then we get one more recap of the melodic material before there's a big fall. what's left is an outro over some deep pads. the drums specifically sound really lacking. the snare is not only just static, but it also lacks punch which is an important part of an edm track's momentum. better samples are available for free all over the place and would really improve this, as well as increasing the volume of the snare a bit so it sticks out of the mix more. similarly, if there are hats, i can't hear them, and if there are cymbals used as transitional elements, i didn't notice them throughout. lastly the kick has a deep electro beater tone, which can work, but it doesn't have any bass to it that i can hear. a quick freq analysis shows that the bass peaks very highly at 70hz or so and there's just zilch underneath it, either in the bass instrument or the kick. i'd expect to her a fundamental in the 35-40hz range based on that tone, so layering the kick with something that's got more sub bass content (that's trimmed to ensure it doesn't go below that 30-35hz range and clog stuff up) would give it a lot more guts. the stutter synth used throughout as a melodic element really doesn't fit the vibe overall. stutter synths are used in other tracks to drive energy and provide a rhythmic element that's not just the boom tiss of the drums. that's not how this this used - this track has a heavy focus on melodic material, and so while the backing elements work just fine with that stutter tone, the lead doesn't really work in my opinion. a gliding synth that lets you really play with the attack and release elements would fit what you're going for more, i believe. all of your leads are very reverb-heavy, but the bass, drums, and backing synths have very little verb on them. this (along with some of the odder synth choices) serves to make the backing elements feel separate from the lead elements. taming the fade and the tail of the reverb would help a lot in terms of making them feel more adjacent. is your reverb on a send or is it individually applied to leads? a send that you can send everything to to some extent would help normalize the sound stage and make it feel more cohesive. i don't think this is there yet! but you're in it for the long haul, clearly, so hopefully some more focused feedback in this judging thread combined with you interacting with the workshop on the discord or in the forum should help. NO

Although this is the intro track for my Hollow Knight EP, it was the last one to get made. I knew from the start that I wanted to open the album with this source, but I wondered for a very long time about how I should approach it. I played around with a bunch of different ideas for a while, which pretty much all didn't feel right. This included a very strange take on gypsy jazz, which probably could have worked, but the stars just weren't aligned for it. The big determining factor which completely nailed down the track's vision was the idea of inviting my mom Christine to participate once again in my remixing shenanigans with her cello, which I'm very glad she accepted! With that settled, the arrangement basically wrote itself and the track was finished in a flash. I wanted to stay fairly close to the original in the sense that I wanted to preserve the sweet blend of coziness and mystery that I get from it, and I feel like the cello performance completely nailed it. Also, Sébastien (Trainbeat) told me he didn't want credit on this track, but he handled all of the recording studio engineering and setting up the charts for Christine, which the world needs to know!! Huge, huge thanks to both of them for their invaluable help once again! Games & Sources

Sorry for the submission spam! I promise this is the last one for some time :) City of Tears, the "destination" of my Hollow Knight EP, and the reference for its cover art! In a way, for this entire project, I wanted to make it so that the whole point of it is to "reach" this moment. It was such a powerful moment in the game for me, where I felt that this is truly where everything "opens up". I felt like everything before the City of Tears was some kind of prologue, an introduction to the game. The mood is all dark and gloomy both through the visuals and the music, as you're trying to figure out what you're even doing there in the first place, traversing tight and damp caves and tunnels. Then you reach the City. It feels so vast and grand and refreshing, and its music reflects that incredibly well. So, I tried my best to have my remix capture that feeling of grandeur, and of taking a deep breath of fresh air after a long trek through mud and dirt. For this one, a big part of the sound design was made super easy thanks to Reason's Objekt synth, which I purchased specifically for making this album. I definitely recommend it for anyone using Reason, it's amazing! The cherry (hoho) on top though, is once again my mom Christine's astounding cello playing. It makes such a gigantic difference, to be able to have such a heartfelt and powerful performance. There's no way I can ever fully express my gratitude! And again, huge thanks to Sébastien (Trainbeat) for providing session-ready charts and for the studio engineering expertise! Games & Sources

prophetik note: this is version six, i believe. here's the previous five. v5 v4 v3 v2 v1 Alright, another attempt, and I think I did better this time. I imported a reference track directly into my DAW so I could AB faster. The reference track I used was MkVaff's Vega theme Pulse mix. I chose that file because it has a similar "spanish gypsy" feel to it, IMO. I tightened up the velocities and timings on some of the parts; I had received advice on humanizing, but then was told on the judges' decision that the timing was "scattershot", so I brought things to a more on grid state. I also added some very slight panning to the call and response parts in the first half. I added a "mud removing" eq to each individual track, and also eliminated the rather aggressive compression I had on my instrument busses. Instead, I put a multi band compressor with gentle attack and knee on the master, and it's only doing about 1 to 3 db gain reduction per band, before going to a lookahead limiter that's also only doing between 1 to 3 db (depending on where you are in the track). I eschewed using Ozone, and instead went totally by ear with the reference track. Again, thanks for the consideration, and thanks for your patience;) Audiomancer Games & Sources Original Above.

This remix simply titled "Secret of the Forest" is a mashup of Secret of the Forest and Schala's theme from Chrono Trigger! I had a lot of fun making this one and decided to go with a trap/wave style for the remix. Hope you like it ~ This remix was released on my EP "Whisper Tree" in 2020: Games & Sources The intro of this song also samples sounds from the game files including menu buttons, various in-game fx and the opening clock ticking sound!

Artist Name: Michael Hudak Tried not to overthink the arrangement here, and instead poured everything into the sound design. This is partially because the source tune is very short, making a potential remix fairly repetitive, at least without inserting a half-dozen different solos into it. The whole thing is played in free-time on one Europa combinator patch called "Antiformant Juno Voices" - Europa is one of Reason's wavetable synth plugins (similar to Serum, I think), with seemingly hundreds of different parameters to automate. And automate them I did. At length. Lots of envelopes and filters opening slowly as the song progresses, with tons of flourishes about, some subtle and some not. I wanted a washy kind of sound at the climax without it getting extra harsh. My definition of "harsh" is...harsher than a lot of people's though, so hopefully it's just on the cusp of being offensive without going over the edge. There are some send effects here and there, but for the most part I wanted to wring everything out of the synth itself (including the ocarina sound at 2:34, which I found accidentally from modifying the wave shape of one of Europa's engines). The source melody is very simple. At first I played a turned-around version starting at 0:37 and going to 2:00. After that, it's played straight until the end of the song, including a washed-out, reversed section the close it out. Huge thanks, as usual. - Mike Games & Sources Game: Zelda - Ocarina of Time (Koji Kondo composing) Source: Requiem of Spirit (YT link)

thank you for not making us figure out this source. i've somehow never heard it before and it's completely wild. serious DT vibes right off the bat, this sounds straight off of one of the instrumentals in Metropolis, right down to rudess playing some silly instrument on the keyboards in random breaks. the original's influence is immediately audible in the opening section. a functional melody line entering at 1:01 was a good choice - we needed something to grab onto as listeners by that point. there's a ton of great chromaticism and time changes in the next few sections but it doesn't mess with the narrative elements so that's well done. there's a huge break at 2:41 and it suddenly is far quieter and calmer. i was running out of hair to have on fire at this point so the break was welcome. 3:33's rhythmic elements and then the solo after 3:44 are just great, the solo especially has such a great shape and turn at the end. overlapping the more tonal elements of this section with some bits of the chromatic runs at the beginning is a good transitional element as well. 4:20 is just beautiful. this whole section is so good, it's a really singing line that you've written out there. having the transition be just a guitar pattern in a new tempo is again very DT, and having that lead into 5:18's distinct but angular melodic line is great. it blows through some material there until the end and ends on a high point. my only complaint across the board is that the drums are in general too quiet, and especially the kick and cymbals don't have much body. i almost missed the double kick at the end for example because there's so little presence in the kick, and the few times that the cymbals were noticeable i thought they had little presence left after being EQed to death. from an arrangement perspective, this is incredible. i don't remember the last time i heard such a transformational take on such a weird, complex original. there's all the beats you'd want in an intense track like this, both highs and lows, and it's honestly astonishing the variety that we get overall. i wish the cymbals and kick had more body to them, but overall this is absolutely way above the bar. excellent work. YES

what a stack of performers credits! excited to hear this one. percs come in at about 0:07, and we get a bass and piano groove at 0:15. more horns are in at 0:30, and we get a variety of stabs and rhythmic elements through this section the Menu theme. guitar in particular is really set into the mix well here, it's hard imo to balance an electric in a jazz stack and it's done well here. 1:25 is the next section the sax parts are more active here. drum work in here is particularly impressive. after a percussion break, there's the title material again and then the menu. i agree that the string licks could have been messy but they're well-done. the track as a whole is a lot brighter and louder in this section and it's fun to hear everyone doing their thing here after how light some of the earlier arrangement was handled. there's a final flourish and it's done. this is an interesting idea for what's essentially a melody-less remix. i think this definitely hits the mark. it's more backing track for a las vegas montage than it is standalone track, but i think that's fine given the goal here. nice job realizing the underlying potential in such an odd place. YES

wall of sound to begin. the synth stuff going on is hard to hear in the beginning. 0:41 is where the full band comes in. the arpeggio is in the lead guitar initially (a little surprising the drums didn't ape the original's rhythmic elements), and that moves into the 'melody' of the original which really isn't much of a melody. it stays balls to the wall for a while as it maneuvers through the original's theme elements. i liked how the oboe and bassoon's melodic material in the original was handled in the guitar here. we finally get a break at 2:24, really just from the beat as it's still going pretty strong. there's another tom groove coming out of this section, and we finally get a texture change when we get some harmony in the lead guitars. this guitar tone is both really loud and doesn't appear to have much room sound on it so it doesn't quite settle into the texture like the first one did. 3:27 has the melodic line in a lower octave with the faster arpeggiated line above it layered in. most of this section is recap of material from earlier without significants change to how it's presented, especially 4:00. there's a build at 4:32 and then we get one more short section of rawk before it's done. ending is a bit sudden. there's not a lot of dynamic contrast in this overall - it's pretty heavy the whole way through. that said, i think overall the mixing and mastering sounds good and only has a few nitpicks about how it's handled, and the arrangement does a decent job handling the (pretty non-melodic) source material in a way that's recognizable and isn't just a cover. so this is a pass by me. YES

neat idea for a remix. sfx and some flute to start, then oboe and harp among others come in quickly. serenade of water (or rutela, it's the same initial ascending line) is the first theme i hear, and it's realized in a moving, flowing manner that i'm assuming is influenced by the source context so that's neat. there's a notable tempo change at 1:38. flute work going into 2:39 was really nice. the percussion right after it, at 2:48 sticks out of the mix a little since it doesn't really have the same sound stage as the rest of it. there's a weird note or two at 3:32 and a few sections after it. i wondered how you'd convey the out-of-time elements of the water temple, and the live elements there really make it work. the lush orchestration continues for some time, and by this point i'm really aching for some dynamic contrast at all. the orchestration is pretty, but there's been little to hold my interest that's not just "oh, there's a theme concept there" - there's few rhythmic elements in the backing parts so the track is a lot of sustains and similar orchestration noodling around. as a backing element to a visual work, this kind of approach can work, but for a standalone piece there really needs to be some meat under all the salad. this is a typical rebecca piece, which is to say it has some beautiful orchestration, it's quiet and not fast, it doesn't have much dynamic contrast, and it competently portrays the themes represented. the themes are worked together so that transitions aren't obvious and flow smoothly. it's certainly above our bar. i appreciate the extra work done to make this much louder than previous submissions. YES

opening has a lot of presence in the pad. piano is flourishing on top and there's some neat distortion effects. there's definitely some clipping in here, especially at 0:18 where it maxed out for a few seconds. i don't hear specific clipping artifacts on these headphones but there's a lot there, it's certainly possible other setups would respond differently. beat is upbeat and the vibe is interesting between the bass tone used and the big brassy swells above it. 0:59 is a bit of a break relatively speaking, and the distorted lead used here is really interesting - the distortion grit gives is a really nice texture in the mix alongside the really clean wide pads. i noticed some clipping artifacts between 1:40 and 2:15. 2:20 adds a filter and drops off a bit, so it's a nice break from the more consistent energy earlier. there's a more consistent 4x4 beat at 2:43, and the sidechaining that comes from that is an interesting idea that's much different than what we had up until then. some kalimba/bells and a few flourishes, and we're done. this one is a harder decision than the previous one. on one hand, the arrangement is also really fun, and the synth work and realization is excellent. on the other hand, it clips a lot, and it's quite audible in some places. i think i'd prefer to see a redo of the engineering on this to keep it loud where it wants to be loud, but reduce the clipping artifacts where they're not supposed to be popping. NO edit 3/4: new version doesn't clip nearly as much and doesn't pump from the limiter either. this fixes what i wanted to be fixed. YES

thank you for the writeup. opens with some filtered piano and crackles. the shuffle starts at 0:22 and brings in some synths and some neat distortion effects. there's a wobble synth that's the melodic material at 0:57, and i like the space that you give that synth to breathe. the additional elements brought in at 1:13 are really nice as well - the countermelodic synth in particular is a nice settling saw tone. there's some fun work in the bass expanding the earlier ascending three-note motif after that which is also cool. there's a shift in feel at 1:49. i'm continuing to like the playing with time which isn't super common in this style, and the 8-bit-esque synth work is also neat too. there's some vibes work at 2:26 that's also a neat shift, again mixing up what could have been a recap section. call and response at 2:45 is also well handled and interesting. 3:19 has the piano not quanted in the same groove as the drums which is a little distracting. this section plays through a bit until we get to a dropoff where it's just the piano doing its thing to finish it off. this is a really clever adaptation of a beautiful original. i like the shuffle throughout and the ways you continue to play with time and the ascending three-note motif that you define early on in the piece. i think your choices around mixing are also successful as the different elements really come together into a complete picture without anything sticking out. excellent work. YES

opening is sfx. guitars are highly stereo separated when they come in, it's a bit distracting especially in the right ear. when the drums come in they're playing fun stuff, but they sound extremely notched into the soundscape so it's hard to hear the kick especially. the bass is the only thing in that freq range, and a glance at the spectrum analyzer confirms that in general the bass presence is way higher than i'd expect. cymbals also are pretty bright and cut through a lot. what the drums are playing is dope however. rhythmic elements in the arrangement come in at 1:30, and we get what is kind of a chorus at 1:47. 2:31 definitely sounds like a castlevania remix all of a sudden - the galloping guitars and fast drums are just straight out of 2003 OCR for me, so that's super fun, especially when we get the arpeggiated bloody tears-esque line at 2:58. the arrangement blows through some reprise material and then is done. this is a fun track! the mixing is bass-lite overall - looks like the big peak for the bass is in the 60-100hz area, and there's a surprising amount of sub-40hz content that i couldn't hear but was apparently clogging up some of the soundscape. the piece also overall just doesn't have a ton of dynamic contrast, but consistently changing up the beat and what's going on in the backing parts really helps keep it moving forward. the arrangement itself is fun and i enjoy how it continues to weave elements together as the track goes on. i think this is a great example of each of your unique talents. YES