prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

when the drums come in on this one, the hats are heavily swung (practically in triplet but not quite) while the arp is actually doing triplets and rest of the drums are switching between standard eighths and some semblance of swing. this is intensely distracting to me and is almost enough for me to reject it by itself. it feels like a wobbly dance. i can barely focus on the rest of the song. it literally took five or six listens to get past that and listen to the melodic content. there's a break from the drums at 0:59, and the piano does some expansion of the B theme. the eventual tempo-sync'd synths that come in are really nice, perfect timbres. the drums are back in at 1:47 and the hats are fixed although still strangely loud in the mix. there's some fun expansion and playing with time in here. this transitions suddenly into a much faster tempo section that's more ensemble based, and features some slick piano solo chops. the bridge at 3:15 is great and does a nice job connecting these two sections together. there's an extended tension-building section, and then we're suddenly back to the intro's progression - this is kind of awkward here. 4:14 to the end is a neat little groove on the A section, and then it just ends. this is a pretty awesome adaptation overall of the snowball theme. it is not perfect - the ending is nonexistent, there's some awkward transition points, and the section from 0:15 through 0:57 is rough enough to make me just not listen - but there is some really joyous soloing and exciting realization going on in several other sections. if the hats were simplified in that first section, i think i'd be good at that point, and i do think that's a quick fix to just remove some ghost notes. i'll call this conditional based on that. YES CONDITIONAL

this waveform looks like it belongs in a pot of beer in the parking lot of Lambeau Field before a Packers game. initial synths are vanilla but immediately recognizable as quoting the theme of the original. the melody comes in at 0:26 with a particularly percussive synth, and there's a ton of verb going on through this. there's a shift at 0:44 to the B theme, and the melodic content comes in soon after. this also is drenched in verb - the backing synths are pretty loud throughout. once this B theme is done, it's been about 1:45 and there's not really much beyond adapting it to the style - little that i can hear that's new. the track goes through the A theme again in a row and then the B theme again in a row - i don't hear anything new, so this is essentially just repeating the first 1:45 or so. at 3:20 it starts the A theme again and i still don't hear anything different. so it sounds like this is just repeating the same content over and over again with no changes to the underlying work. there's a fadeout and it's done. this has way too much repetition to pass as-is. less than half the song is the first iteration of the (imo not arranged enough) loop. separately, the synths are fairly vanilla throughout, and there's no lfo on the leads or anything to keep it interesting. additionally, the drums are pretty vanilla in what they're playing too. lastly, i found the mastering to be way blown out - it's super noisy and the reverb tails are really loud, so it's tons of stuff in your face with no room to breathe. there's definitely some points where it's clipping as well. i think this needs some time in the cooker. you've got a few neat ideas but this needs significant expansion of the arrangement, more creativity on the synthesis side, and better mixing and mastering. NO

initial piano and pads hit have a really neat lower-fi vibe, and the drums, bass, and eventual vox reinforce that. nat's voice is perfect for something like this. there's some really nice swells in here like at 1:10 where the flow just carries you along. the song grooves through a few up and down sections from a dynamic perspective, and finally hits a real break at about 1:57 for a few seconds where the beat drops. the guitar in the subsequent section sounds great, and when it's layered with nat's voice both sound even better. the end isn't really prepped but it does a good job of settling down, and it's done. this is great. i really like the mixing approach actually, i think that the muzzy softness of it is calming. what a great track. YES

the initial transition from block chords to the melodic content was really nice. there's some nice ensemble elements right off the bat too. the press rolls in the snare at 0:35 were a nice touch. a few runs felt a little mechanical (like at 0:45), but it's nice piano work. there's some flute work at 1:15 that's really excellent. it's not clear to me if it's improv or written to sound like it, but it's nice either way. some more ensemble work at 1:51 - excellent dynamic work in this section. 2:35 is a bit of a shift, but continues to use the melodic material in new ways, and the ensemble work is blended really well here. there's a crescendo that you don't really realize is happening until you're there, and then it's done. this is a lovely little piece. great ensemble work and keys especially. nice job. YES

filtro intro is great. sounds so good. and the initial hit sounds great too. i believe, if i'm not mistaken, that the synth work at 0:43 is the terra theme in a diminished chord instead of minor, with the last part inverted. it's essentially the same elements that show up at 1:12, but with a vertically inverted element. the shift at 1:38 is great, tons of extra energy from the 16th patterns here. the section at 2:17 is cleverly done. there's a bit of a break at 2:32 and it's back into a new beat at 2:35 for a bit before some sfx bring us through to a big break section with some rich pads and synced leads at 3:23. 4:23 brings us to the last major section, mostly Terra-heavy, and then it's done with some kicks. i wouldn't mind a final hit given that this isn't necessarily a club version that's going to be mixed in, but what's here is fine. this is excellent. i have no concerns about source usage. superb job. YES

i love wind ensembles, so i'm excited for this one. right off the bat, i noticed the clarinet is consistently sharp at 0:13, and at least a little closed in timbre (my teacher always used to talk about visualizing a golf ball in your throat to open up your tone). there is also not a lot of overlap in the articulations - the clarinet is more legato, the bassoon doesn't use a lot of clear articulations at all (outside a few times where it's quite stuffy and choppy unintentionally), whereas the tenor's articulations are quite choppy. future arrangements should probably be more focused on correlating articulations (likely right on the page). lucas's is indeed pretty honky throughout, so i'm going to actively not talk about that so i don't take up the entire writeup. there's some lovely overlapping lines in the writing - for example 1:12 into the flute and clarinet. the shift in tone at 2:04 is also well-timed and nicely done, giving a clean break from some of the more active elements before this. the entrance at 2:51 is particularly rough, but the subsequent resolution is nice to hear if still not quite in tune. one thing i'd actively consider going forward since it's impossible to do what you'd normally do with an in-person ensemble and work on intonation on each chord - consider using pitch-adjusting software to fix intonation on sustains especially. keep in mind not every interval lands directly on 0 ct each time (major thirds are -13c, perfect 5ths are +5c, b7s are -24c, etc), but i think that would help a lot of the intonation issues i'm seeing. it's so hard to catch where everyone is in a chord on their own so some artificial assistance may be required. winds are particularly suited to pitch correction since they're "push buttons, receive bacon" for the most part when it comes to pitch - they hit a note and stay there outside of vibrato. this is a fun little work that's got some really nice interplay between the parts. i think that the tenor performance unfortunately pulls it down, but overall there's some really neat demonstrative writing in this. nice job. YES

agree with MW that we need a render that doesn't start with a loop point. intro is immediately recognizable despite the extra layering. i particularly liked the way the harmonies at 0:36 sounded. 0:55's tonal shift is really fun (tbh sounded like something from Shang-Chi). the drums got a bit stale after a few repetitions, but they shift up at 1:30 and again at 1:50 so that's a good choice. there's a few funky notes in between the bass and backing arp at 2:03 that i think is related to sustain overlaps. there's a shift again at 2:24, and it's a nice break for a bit. we get a recap of the tuvan section with some new synths under it, and then the descending theme in the flute. it's nice that these are similar but clearly not the same as earlier sections. at about 3:45 the track starts to wind down, and the last 30 seconds or so are some really nice ambience. this is essentially a rubber stamp. i loved it, great job! YES

quiet master. interesting drums to start. keys in at 0:15 and they don't sound very realistic. agree with chimpa that there are a lot of conflicting notes throughout, mostly in the backing pad which sounds like it has extra harmonics. i don't know what the pad is doing throughout actually, and most of the time it sounds wrong. the bass has some questionable stuff too and a ton of harmonics which make it tough to hear what fundamental pitch it's playing. this pretty much just does the same thing as the first 1:30 or so over and over. i think the initial drum groove is neat, and the variety of synths you use is fun, but overall there isn't much connected from section to section. the overall discordant sound palette is also a big problem and would need to be corrected. it also needs an ending. NO

track starts with some vocaloid elements over an orchestral backing part. i should admit i really didn't like this combo and it was an immediate turn-off for me. there's some kick and synths that come in soon after this and the track drives forward with a much more energetic edm feel. the melodic line comes in at 0:46 and it's quite loud compared to what's going on behind it, but overall has a Final Countdown kind of feel through here. the strings that get layered in eventually are really nice too. there's a break at 1:24 for a bit, and then the vocaloid parts come back in at 1:30. they sound much less out of place among the synthy elements of this section vs. the first part. there's a shift in the beat pattern at 1:57, which is a nice change, and the lead here is doing some fun stuff and has some nice vibrato on it. it's a touch shrill but i like how it cuts through. 2:28 brings back the first lead for some call and response work, and does some noodling around the melodic content. the glide on that first lead is nice and it shows here well. there's a significant climax at 3:48 and it drops off for a final (extended) build. the additional use of strings through this last section was nice and left me wishing there were more orchestral elements earlier in the work. 4:52 is the last big gasp (i wish this hit was a touch longer!), and then we just get a short fadeout of one of the backing synths. my personal feelings about the use of the synth voice aside, this is a fun track with a lot of energy. there's a great natural shape to the work, and a preponderance of source so no concerns there. part of me wished for a punchier mastering on the overall track to really get into the kick groove, but the way it is now really works nicely to keep it moving. nice work. YES

nearly 3dba of headroom. kick drum right off the bat sounds really weird - essentially no drum sound, just the beater without any bass. there's some sfx and the descending arpeggio in the background, and it does this for over a minute. there's some guitar that comes in at 1:05, and it doesn't appear to have any verb or room tone on it initially as compared to the backing parts. it's also much louder relative to what's in the background. this continues in the same slow, intense method until 2:05 or so. at 2:09 it switches to double time and is primarily a rhythm guitar pattern with some other stuff underneath, but the guitar crushes everything in terms of volume. there's some piano doing stuff that sounds reminiscent of the original but it's honestly hard to hear. this continues until 2:48 when it's back to being the original tempo. there's some guitar noodles above some synthy noodles, until we get a riding pattern from the guitar again at 3:18. this builds to a silence break before a brickwall transition at 3:55. the section at 3:55 continues to be all guitar. there's still no bass instrument let alone any bass tone in the kick, so it's still a bit top-heavy. it chugs through until it drops to half-time again at 4:28. it stays in this lower-energy groove until the track's end at 5:32. there's no real resolution there either, it just kind of ends. i think this track needs quite a bit of work still. i think the underlying concept - a patient, slow yet intense, expansive approach to the motivic elements of the original using heavier guitars - is definitely something that could work! there's some cool ideas here. however it's balanced very poorly throughout and there is a lot of noodling instead of intentional motivic development, so it's hard to really hear the original consistently. fixing the mastering of the individual instruments and adding a bass presence would also help ground the chords you're using which will subsequently help root what's going on in the original. NO edit 11/9: my vote will not change.

as with the other submissions i've heard from you, this is a fun idea! flute performance is appropriately charismatic in articulation and performance. i agree it's hard to hear and needs some compression on that channel specifically to control the natural variances in range vs. projection. the dulcimer combines well with the bass choice as well. 1:59 is a half-diminished vii7/V chord (flute and bass both playing a B#, melody plays F# G# A B under it), so it's technically not wrong. i think it's going to sound funky no matter what without the D# to flesh out the chord, so if you're not willing to do something there to add that into your melody line, it might not really work. as with a few of your other arrangements, this arrangement quickly runs out of legs. finding ways to extend your tracks beyond the "this is a cool idea but it's real short" stage would be great from a compositional technique standpoint for you. the repeating drums and the main instrument (in this case, dulcimer) doing pretty much the same thing for the whole song with no overarching dynamic shape is something that's come up before, and working through expanding that would be a huge benefit for future compositions. i agree with the other judges that the flute's range makes it hard to hear a lot, that there's some funky notes that don't sound right as-is, and that it doesn't quite have enough material and expansion of the themes to make this good yet. Some revisions would do a lot to improve the track. NO

twenty-six source tunes...!! starts with a pretty light beat with some funkish chords, and picks up quick at 0:15. the lead guitar sounds great as it filters in, especially layered with the backing synth line. the arpeggio at 0:47 is such a great idea with that clanky set of hats behind it - i love the sound. 1:22 got some snippets getting passed around and eventually lines up at 1:41 with the full band sound again. there's a wrong note in the guitar at 1:51 - wonder if that can be fixed in post - and then the texture thins out for a break for a bit. 2:13 the guitar comes back in, and the texture shifts to more sustains as opposed to the more angular opening sections. the fast arp comes back, this time with some automated panning, and it noodles through some more chord shifts until the whoile group is back in at 3:12. there continue to be a variety of effects on the iconic arp, until it drops and we get some more melodic playing on the guitar at 3:45. this plays through a bit and then it's done. the breadth of approach here is superb. there's a ton going on, as is expected, but the different timbres used and the variety of scope within the view of the work as a whole is great. excellent job. YES

at least four seconds of silence to start, and then it's absolutely slammed after that with a fade-in of all things. there is, at the jump, a lead synth, a bass synth, and the drums. drums sound like a loop as there's not much there besides a fill between sections. i don't hear anything that's not in the original in the synths outside of some embellishment of the riff at like 1:09 and 1:20. there's no pad to fill out the soundscape, essentially no personalization to the lead, the drums are on auto-pilot, the bass doesn't ever change, there's no breaks at all in the track, and there's no variety in sounds used. it does the main loop twice and then does a too-long fade-out. this needs a ton more arrangement for it to pass our arrangement standards. it's also clipping significantly in several places and needs actual mastering done as opposed to what's here. NO

can't find an original decision thread. i'll note that this is, to me, one of the most iconic final fantasy tracks of all time. it just nails the style an vibe so well. sfx to start. the lo-fi is strong in this one - it's really thin to start, but fleshes out a bit when lucas comes in. lucas's tone here is better than some other tracks, but not great. GotW's bass clarinet is fun to hear, but it's mic'd poorly - there's a lot more volume on lower pitches as the air column gets longer, indicating incorrect mic placement. there's also a completely gross unison with both instruments having bad tone as well as being wildly out of tune, and that's a deal-breaker right there especially when it could have been adjusted in audacity or something, not even expensive software. lucas picks up the B theme at about 1:15. the lack of vibrato really hurts his tone here. there's a solo section starting at about 1:46, and the shape of the solo is nice. it's still pretty honky throughout. GotW comes in and solos at 2:10, and the intonation throughout is rough, especially right at the beginning and another unison that's equally bad as before. 2:38ish the instrumentalists are done from the sound of it, and the track kind of just noodles along until it's done with some more sfx. i thought this ending highlights the thinness of the arrangement - the drums are pretty active actually, not really in style, and aside from that you've got a pad instrument and a guitar with no bass that i heard. this makes the intro and ending very thin and feel like they're missing something. i don't think this is up to our standards across the board. both lucas and GotW's performances have some notable flaws in intonation/timbre/execution, although i love the instrumentation choices and (for the most part) what they're playing. the backing part is simple to the point of too much, and the intro and outro both feel like they're missing stuff. NO

sfx until 0:22, and then some sustains for about 35s until we start to get some content. the themes shift through pretty fast, at least to my ears, but they do so in a way that doesn't feel overly medley-ish. the first several, for example, are more snippets and share instrumentation so they really feel like different aspects of the same thing. the overlapping combinations is a really key element to not making this feel like blocks of unfinished remixes mashed together. the themes really come together nicely throughout. this is an excellent arrangement job. the instrumentation choices are also fun - the obviously synthetic elements are modeled after real instruments which is a neat choice given the highly organic nature of the chosen theme. this is good stuff throughout. YES

cute idea. the opening is mostly sfx with some of the intro chords underneath, and it doesn't really coalesce until about 0:41. i agree with larry that the guitars initially felt pretty dry and not really in the same space as the drums, and the bass and lead synth felt somewhere else from those two as well. i think the volumization of these parts is at least partly responsible for that as the drums are really loud compared to everything else. there's a break at 1:36 that leans on the tritone a lot (i remember other tracks in this soundtrack having a heavy emphasis on the tritone too). this noodles a bit until it really doubles down on 2:17 and everything's back in. there's some choir added in as well which made me realize that the lack of pad elements in the earlier sections is part of why they felt kind of thin. the last 25 seconds or so are mostly sfx again, and it's done. this is well-realized and a strong initial concept. i think some of the mixing could be handled differently so it wasn't so drum-heavy, and some pad work would flesh out the soundscape in a few places, but overall this is a solid job. YES

big arena feel to the drums initially, with some similarly-big and wide synths to flesh it out. 0:37 did feel particularly treble-heavy - there's a bit spike around 2.5k that you may want to cut back on a bit. around 0:54 there's a backing line that comes in and is louder than the melodic line, which isn't a positive. around the shift at 1:12, i realized that the beat (which was novel initially) hadn't really changed yet, and it was becoming a bit stale. the combined section at 1:29 works from a melodic/harmonic standpoint. there is a lot going on, though, and it's hard to keep track of what's what. you may want to pare that section back a bit to make it make more sense aurally. there's a break at 1:47 with some sfx, and then the beat's back at 2:04 with fewer extra bits, so that's a nice change. 2:24 brings in more backing elements, and this is where it starts to get overly dense again - there's just too much going on. i can mostly hear everything, but it's difficult to figure out where my ears are supposed to go. the ending section is a no from me. i get where it's coming from, but the long tail on the notes, the lack of contextualization in how it's brought in and then realized, and the suddenness of it really doesn't work, and then the track's over with a sour taste in your mouth as a result. the mixing of the parts is mostly fine, but a lot of those synths are sitting in similar frequency shelves. i'd say some more specific EQing would help a ton, as well as trimming down some of the really wild freqs that are making it feel sharp and irritating to listen to. beyond that, some attention to decluttering and the ending would also be needed. NO

you should form a group called Too Many Trevors. the comparison to the reference track is immediately recognizable - the beats feel very similar (if a little less grimy) and the plectral lead is very reminiscent. agree with larry that it's a pretty straightforward adaptation. i don't have any issue with the beat at all - it's clearly the same concept as the other track. from an arrangement perspective, there's some little personalizations here and there but it's admittedly pretty conservative. the value there is in the novelty of the adaptation, which i think is enough. from a mixing and mastering perspective, while the reference track isn't my jam, you definitely did what you set out to do, and i think that the vibe is solid. nice work. this is a neat one. YES

starts out with some sfx including the SEGA theme, which is fun. we get some chippy drums right off the bat and some heavily lfo-panned synths that sound intentionally chippy with the melody soon after, and then at 0:36 the drums come in. the beat is pretty boomy initially and is pretty 80s arena in sound with loads of reverb. there's a synth bass soon after that's also pretty 80s. the mix sits in this combo for some time until we get a new lead synth at 1:11, but this is still build - the 'real' lead synth doesn't hit until 1:25. there's some dissonance where the long-delay synths run into each other on some of the chromatic elements at the ends of phrases. the b material shows up at 1:54 (depending on where you put the b material start). the shift in drums and groove here follows the original's overall shape. after a big drum fill, we get the a material at 2:21 with a lot of new ideas, which i like. there's a fun synth solo, there's some arpeggiated backing elements, and it moves through back to the b section at about 2:50ish. this is back to being pretty close to the original. a is back at 3:31, and it is back to being pretty close to the original as well, and it again goes through to the b section. this is too much repetition, especially with how similar the realization of each of these sections is to the original, and how even the drum fills are the same for each section. after the b section is a chippy realization of the a/b themes for not quite a minute, some sfx, and it's done. overall, the sound quality really isn't there. i think the 80s vibe you're going for is a neat idea for this game especially considering the context, but the synths are generic and boring throughout and they're also overused - there's no mixing up sounds at any point. similarly, there's no real dynamics, builds, or anything to drive energy throughout. the overly repetitive nature of the remix is to blame for at least some of that - cutting out two minutes should be fairly easy and wouldn't compromise what you're doing. from an arrangement perspective, there's not much outside of the synth solo that's not already in the original. mixing up what you're doing where and personalizing it more would be a great choice. i think the workshop could really be a great resource for this. i'd recommend you spend some time talking with the folks there, either in the discord or in the forums. NO

what a weird little original. wow, that initial sound is really grating. i don't think combining heavily detuned leads with a 7-6 suspension is a good combination. the steel drum sample that's being used also doesn't really do it for me at all either. larry's right that it's a lot of the original for a while right off the bat. the section at 1:24 has more arrangement going on than the first minute and a half by far, and it's honestly still pretty tame. the synth choices really drag it down overall, but the strings larry mentioned and the glide synth were both nice. the rest of the track noodles through some combination of the elements heard by that point with different instruments dropping in and out. the track certainly doesn't need to be five minutes long, you've heard it all after under two minutes. i really strongly believe that this track is not a good one to use as a demo to play with highly detuned synths. the key element - the 7-6 suspension that's right off the bat (no pun intended) and then used throughout really doesn't play well with detuning. i also think you need a lot more arrangement elements to string a song out this long. what's here isn't near enough. beyond that, it's hard to talk about the mastering elements with how distractingly difficult it is to listen to the lead synth. NO

oddly panned in the initial few seconds. the ep that comes in at 0:14 is great, and the bass feels good under it. the initial verse's flow is solid if a tiny bit rushed. i love the interplay on the pre-chorus, and the chorus works great as a breakpoint. i thought this is particularly well-performed. there's a nice little break after the chorus before the 2nd verse comes in at 2:12. the additional energy in this verse is great, even aside from the fun vocal effecting. second chorus is great and the high note at the end of it is a great payoff. the bridge is a little sudden after the chorus - a bit of time to enjoy the high note would have been nice - but the instrumental section after is nice and the guitar solo sounds great with a great turnaround at the end. after this is another run-through of the pre-chorus and the chorus with some additional percussion. i thought the percussion elements didn't really fit the vibe of the track up to that point really at all, but they didn't overstay their welcome. there's an outro after this that works well and it's done. this is an easy vote for me. the nitpicks i mentioned don't change that the track has a nice shape, it's well-performed, and the elements are strung together nicely. nice work. YES

that really sounds like the default FL keys right off the bat for sure. i agree that at 0:30 it should have done something else - the next 30s were just stat padding. it's also odd that the initial arpeggio doesn't have something else happening to it - some freq shifts, a filter, some lfo - just something moving on it rather than being static. the initial beat sounds nice - i like that the kick is really tight, that fits the arp well. i think this section is also unnecessarily doubled and could have been half the time. lastly, whatever the bass is doing at 1:15 just sounds dissonant until 1:23 - it doesn't appear to match the chords and also appears to be shifting pitch during that time. 2:00 has some synth padding added, and this continues to be a very slow build. this is starting to be a negative as nothing's really changing within each section. a song's direction and energy level shouldn't be a ziggurat - there's a flow to it that's not really being handled here. the atonal elements of the bassline continue to show up here. we get drums and claps in at 3:00 and i don't really have a ton of opinions on the claps - larry is a clap connoisseur as you can see. we get some countermelodic material at 4:00, although it's a little hard to hear under the sidechaining and the offbeat hats. this is repeated for another minute at 5:00 which is excessive even for this the slow pace of this remix. at 6:00, the beat and arp drops out while everything else is still going. there's a filtro outro as well, but it never even really gets down to 0 - it just cuts out after a while. this is nowhere near the level of expansive arrangement we expect. you do have 6:30 of music here, but it's arguably closer to 2:30 total if you take out the padding. consider more than a sound upgrade and beat - look for new chords, new countermelodic content, new synths to carry elements of the track, variations in time signature or rhythms...anything that's going to make it more keep and less nobuo. NO

my original vote critiqued the instrument quality, the overly repetitive nature of the arrangement, and the original section in the middle being overly exploratory. opens with brass and synth strings, and quickly brings in flute (interesting idea!) and some rock drums. 0:30 is kind of where it starts up with a more consistent groove. the bass here is honestly pretty distracting despite it just doing eighth notes - the stuttered nature of how it's being used and how loud it is feels confusing in context. the flute doesn't sound real but it does sound nice. the synth guitar sounds fine as well - obviously not real, but works fine. 1:07 brings in a rock organ alongside the other party members. i can't say i cared for that patch much. at about 1:41 there's a synth lead that comes in also and i also didn't care for this synth's tone, although i liked that it was doing. there's obviously some attempts to keep it moving and active but i found the core of the tone to be irritating. 2:19 is the final recap of the melodic material. there's an outro in the strings and bells at 2:42 and it's done. from an overall arrangement perspective, there's a real disjunct feel. there are numerous breaks in the realization that result in it feeling like it's resetting or restarting over and over again, and combining that with the very recognizable and arguably overused initial riff and the very bog-standard drums outside of a few fills made it feel more repetitious than it probably actually is. this is aside from the fact that nothing sounds particularly realistic - there's a lot of idiomatic usage, but the sound quality just isn't there. i think this is definitely an improvement but not there yet. NO

heavily compressed beat. the brickwall limiter on this is significant. we get some bass and instrumentation around the 30 second mark, and there's not a lot of volumizing going on, just a lot of layering stuff on top, so it's pretty dense-sounding. the chorded version of Toad's voice clips is a funny idea but admittedly wasn't immediately clear what it was. melodic material finally hits at 1:02, and it sounds fine. there's a stutter synth in the background that combined with the melodic material makes a fast-panning sound that is confusing on headphones. 1:32's section with the strings made me realize there's not much in the lower register outside of the bass - it sounds a little hollow there. beat drops at 1:48 for a bit and then it's back in going through the main riff from the melody. 2:28 sounds like the start of the end as things start to drop. it subtracts through a few lines of the melody riff and then it's done. i think what LT's talking about is that, even at the biggest part of the arrangement, you've got the beat, the melody, the bass, and a single mono synth stuttering as a filler pad. i don't hear an actual pad filling out the soundscape, and it makes it feel very open as a result. that can be a positive for some tracks, but i feel it's not as positive here. i also think that there's a heavy reliance on the first few bars of the melody over and over again - 1:48 until the end at almost 3:00 is essentially just repeating that line over and over with no variation or alterations outside passing it through a few different leads. there's a lot more to the melody than the initial riff, and it's also ok to not have the melody playing 24/7 in a track. you were patient in the intro, so it's clearly something you can do - i think there's just a little too much of it at the end. i think LT's call of "lots of little things adding up" makes sense to me. the mastering is very loud, the panning effect is hard to listen to, the lack of a pad, the constant usage of the main riff - all of those aren't deal-breakers but definitely sum up to more than they are individually. i think that there's a great, fun, bouncy track here that's pretty close, and some simple adjustments would make for a far stronger track overall. NO

very fitting stylistic adaptation here, as the emphasis on the diminished fifth really fits the pentatonic scale that a lot of jazz is built around. the beat and bass sound cribbed straight out of various other songs in the style so that's on point. i liked the string machine slide at 0:46, and overall your leads between the ep and guitar sound solid (the guitar lead is a bit stilted but only a little bit). i agree that this is too short as it is. i'm pretty firm about the two-minute unwritten rule usually unless something really blows me away, and the slower tempo here makes that difficult to eclipse. there are a few times it sounds like you explore alternate chords under the melodic material - i'd recommend doing that some more as a method for adding some time on the clock here. similarly, even slightly varying the backing guitar chords could make a real difference in the vibe of a particular section and allow for some more exploration. NO