prophetik music

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

Hi OCR! Here is a piano arrangement of « Batallia Down » and « Rabao » from FFXI and one extension. I’m a big fan of Mizuta’s work on this universe. After some tests on Batallia’s theme, I’ve thought I could get sthg interesting. Rabao well marry with Batallia, by similar harmony and rhythm. So, I’ve integrated some elements of this theme. Overall, the arrangement came naturally. The main difficulty was to find the good tempo. Indeed, first half with Batallia was thought much slower; and Rabao faster. I’ve reduced the difference to the minimum, but I’ve kept a minor variation of tempo at the transition. I’m not accustomed to play in this style; this arrangement was fun to make :) Enjoy! Guillaume BREAKDOWN Part 1 0’00 : intro Batallia 0 -> 0’34 Part 2 0’20 : Batallia 0’34 -> 2’00 a) 0’20 soft b) 0’50 more rhythm Part 3 1’23 : Batallia 2’00 -> 2’30 Part 4 1’49 : Rabao 0->1’00 & 1’00 -> 1’50 A little faster Transition 2’34 : Batallia 0 -> 0’34 Part 5 2’45 : Batallia 2’30 -> 3’40 More distant to the original, rhythm and harmony variation. And an “improvisation” at 3’10 on these harmonies. Part 6 3’23 : Batallia 2’00 -> 2’30 Arpeggios, harmony variation First tempo Part 7 3’52 outro : Batallia 0 -> 0’34 Similar as intro, but with chord more developed Games & Sources Remixer name: Bluelighter Real Name: Guillaume SAUMANDE Mail: guillaume.saumande@hotmail.com ID forum: 21840 Game & Songs: Final Fantasy XI & Batallia Downs Final Fantasy XI Rise of the Zilart & Rabao Composer: Naoshi Mizuta

opens with a half-time rendition of the melody. 0:22's where it kind of starts to get kicking. the synth guitar isn't super realistic but i like the idea, i think it feels fun. there's another time shift at 0:38 where it's in half-time, and we get another rendition of the first few bars of the start of the melody (pretty sure that's the same as the first time). there's some transitional material, and it runs through the same stuff as the first time through in the same order with the same fills and everything. there's a bit of change on the final ten seconds or so, a few chords to end it, and it's done. this is really short! it's like a minute of music repeated. i don't think there's enough adaptation here to fulfill our guidelines around depth of arrangement. i think the idea's fun - Mario Kart tracks are all so energetic, so i think this is a great idea for an adaptation - i just think that nowhere near enough has been done to make it yours instead of the original composer. from a mix perspective, the rhythm guitar instrument and bass are competing for the same area and it sounds muddy as a result. along those lines, the synth guitar doesn't really stick the landing either in the rhythm guitar department or in the lead. i think that a little more attention there would be needed (and a little less fast vibrato) before that gets closer to par. fun sound test idea! needs some more cooking before it's ready. i recommend the workshop forum or the workshop discord channel. NO

opening is pretty similar to the original. the lead flute never takes a break - their poor lungs! - and there's none of the fun articulations the original has, so that's a bummer. right ear's a bit heavy initially due to where the instruments inhabit the soundstage. there's some more instruments coming in at 0:28 - typical scoring rhythmic elements in the violins and brass. it gets a bit muddy in here with all of the sustains, and this trucks through the melody again a few times before reaching a break at 1:24. the break is a big shift and it's a neat idea - there's a lot more patience and interpretation with the melody here, and the execution is suitably styled so that it fits. we also finally get a section without the melody line at 2:07 or so when the harpsichord analog comes in alongside the bass instrument doing the same pizz from most of the rest of the track. the same violin rhythmic motion and the same brass swells from before come back in (really sounds the same when A/Bing it), and then the same melodic material in the same instrument comes in at 2:59 again. so there's a lot of repetition coming out of the first minute or so. the voice line gets layered in as well for a bit. the ending is just a ritard and then it's done, there's no sustain or wrapping action. i think there's some really fun ideas here. obvious the general concept works well - you've got some scoring elements alongside the very singable melody, you've got a neat bridge section that's very earthy and period appropriate, and the track has a good shape to it. i think however that having almost half if not more of the track being repeated from the earlier section, when that earlier section was highly repetitive as well, is not a great choice. there's not a ton of personalization on the melodic representation in that first or last third either. i think for this to pass, you need the second half not to be a direct copy of the first section. you may wish also to change the melodic representation so that it's not just solid sustains forever, which isn't particularly realistic. you also may wish to do some more work so that each instrument doesn't play exactly the same thing throughout (the bass pizz for example). NO

we talked about this internally and ultimately made the decision to reject this due to the format (six discrete tracks that transition into each other). we've had a few of these where it's a full EP or album submitted as a whole and done this as well. if you'd like to submit your individual tracks, please separate them with normal start/end points and submit them separately. Seven Songs for 7th Saga is an example of this. NO OVERRIDE

definitely more of a darkwave approach than the original. there's no real intro - this is into the melodic content right off the bat. instrumentation is clearly more retro intentionally. the opening minute plus is just the same melodic ideas repeated with some added complexity each time in the backing elements. we get the 'chorus' themes at about 1:13 in a really odd lead that's got some attack modulation on it that makes it feel a little late. this continues to repeat for a while - we're at nearly two and a half minutes of this loop now, i think this is six or seven times through - and we finally get a break in the beat at 2:25. most of the synth elements are the same here and this is just a matter of dynamics. there's finally something different at 2:50 when some of the backing elements start to loop and we get some build elements into the big hit at 3:14. drums are double-time here, and there's some slightly changed backing elements. i liked the acid bass here a lot, and there's a lot of space in the backgrounds in between some of the rhythms which i really liked a lot. this section feels a lot peppier. at about 4:03 the beat backs off and we're back to coasting through the earlier soundscape towards an outro. there's one last chord and that's it. this is a lot of repetition. you've got a few synth lines playing literally the entire course of the song with hardly any changes throughout. that's just too much repetition. the layering build you've got through the first two minutes plus can work, but you need to be very judicious about how you're bringing in elements, what those elements are, and how you focus on them. leaving your synths on autopilot and not even automating volume to bring elements in and out of the texture, let alone automating some movement on really base-level synths, just results in a cluttered texture that feels like we've heard it before. the track is essentially one 24s loop that is initially a bit deconstructed and then repeated a lot. the change at 3:15 was great and really mixed it up, but you need a lot more of that level of change for this to not feel like a sound demo. there's not even an intro or a real ending. from a mix perspective, most of the elements are clear, although i noticed that the voiceover is buried quite a bit (boosting the formant of that audio clip would help it cut). also i noticed that there's not a lot of content over like 1k pretty quickly - this is a very dark, gloomy mix from a freq perspective. i think that works stylistically, but it makes the few elements that do have content up there stand out a lot. balancing that out might make for a more cohesive track. i would need to hear more arrangement and less repetition before i'd be willing to pass this. NO

nice wall of sound up front. the blues riff that forms the basis for the bassline of the course themes sounds really neat next to the really heavy background. there's a bass guitar transition right off the bat, and the vibe at 0:32 really felt like the Terran tracks from StarCraft 1 with how angular the drums and guitar are. i agree that going with Course Selection right away helps a lot. we get a big kick at 1:26 into the main part of the track, the Stage 1 and 2 tracks, and these are more straightforward. there's a much bigger section at 2:35 that's pretty intense, and it drops off right away into a half-time section for a bit to mix it up before hitting the short outro. the track ends fast enough that it's surprising and i think i'd have rather had that be a bit more settled. overall this is a fun romp through several themes from a classic game. i was not initially expecting it to be as cohesive of a medley based on the number of tracks and the length, but it does a nice job outlining the music and adding some new flair to it. YES

opens with some stacked fifths pad and an interesting filter sweep sfx. i agree that the initial lead doesn't punch through at all, there's gotta be something on it to make it pop. there's a little movement on the drums which i like pitch-wise in a few of the fills, but i did notice that the same snare fill got used several times before the 1:00 mark. there's a nice break at 0:50, well-timed, and i liked the smaller kit there for a bit. around this point i really felt like the lead was a placeholder and was waiting for the real instrument to come in - it just doesn't sound strong enough to be a lead at all. there's a fade transition at 1:08 that i really didn't care for - reminded me of the sample tracks i used to hear on myspace =P i'm too trained to assume fadeouts are endings, it felt strange as a transitional element. 1:09's got a neat rising element which was fun to hear. still no change to the lead by here, and there is not much going on from a pad perspective on this section so it feels a bit empty. i liked the rhythm of the percussive elements matching the melody, that was fun. 1:28's got some more updates on drums which was fun to hear, and there's some playing with sample duration in here too which was a neat change. 1:58's a recap of some of the earlier material with some new ear candy to catch, and then we get some descending action at 2:19. introducing new harmonic material right at the end of the track and then fading without a resolution or prep might not be the best idea - at the very least, providing a more clear closing point to the track would help a lot. i love to see you branching out! i think that, like gario said, a big element to change would be to beef up the initial saw lead that's used throughout, and to focus on setting the soundscape up better (being careful about pad usage, consistent verb usage, and spacing within the freq range throughout). i'd also point out that there's not really a strong direction throughout the piece - it feels like a bunch of disparate parts. identifying a way to pin everything together better and lead from section to section would help a lot, i think. NO

opens with foley and voiceover elements, As Is Tradition for a VQ track. i don't know where the melodic material happening behind the voiceovers comes from. some more elements come in around 1:50 and there's some keyboard elements that are lacking in velocitization, but there's some interesting textures being used here as more and more orchestral elements come in. there's a transition around 2:40ish with some horns, and they don't sound great - really blatty and far away, i think there's some extra processing on them that's causing them to sound more distant and lacking in attack than you'd expect. there's a hard shift at 3:03 to the organ as a lead instrument. there's a bass with some attack modulation on it, and a few other elements added in like some strings and bells as a percussive element. this instrumentation doesn't blend at all with the prior section, it lacks intensity as compared to the original and what's been brewing in this remix so far, and i honestly am having trouble mapping it to the original as more than just the chord structure if even that. the chords that enter with the vordt theme also feel transformed beyond where their relationship to the original is not apparent. most of these instruments have a lot of bass content as well and they've overlapping a lot (an issue i run into with organ often). this noodles through the chord progression, continues to feel muddy and indirect with motion, and then hits a big section of falling action at 4:56. 5:42 is the Holy Blade section. the representation here again feels like there's no clear direction for a while, with the instrumentation kind of all doing its own thing and not coming together to a cohesive thing until 6:20. i can hear the adaptation of the Holy Blade descending riff here much clearer, which is good. the original's intensity and verve isn't present, which is kind of an interesting albeit confusing correlation against the fairly intense vocal lines and speed increase at the 7 minute mark. the entire section starting around 7:20 is probably the most cohesive section you've got in the entire piece, but i'd say that also it's still rife with similar issues as before, like the big buzzy bass instrument taking up a ton of frequency range and a lead that's hard to hear what's going on, and overall it's wandering instead of feeling like it's got a driving melodic element that's leading it. there's a sudden break and then the end comes out of nowhere. overall i don't care for most of the direction of the work at all. i feel it's way more focused on the voiceover than on the music in the first several minutes and a few significant chunks after that (like between a quarter and a third of the track feels voiceover-driven). separately i feel it wanders throughout without focus on a melodic element or even a timbral element - there's no direction, and so it's hard to keep track of what's going on. the majority of the work, it's not clear where the music is coming from - it's either so heavily transformed or reduced that i can't map it. lastly, in several sections including the organ part at 3:03 and the holy blade section, there's a lot of overlapping elements in similar frequency ranges, so it's hard to understand aurally what's going on where. i'd be remiss to say that i just don't get a lot of the dynamics and 'story' of the work overall. there's some neat building action through the first few minutes, but the release of that energy is...the horn section around 2:40, which doesn't use it at all. then there's another big build into the organ section, and that almost immediately disperses the build into a chordal exploration that i had trouble identifying where it comes from. similarly, the end of this section falls off almost immediately into a big voiceover-focused section that actually has no music playing for several seconds in it. the shape and macro direction of the work is not clear. these are not easy fixes. i think that making the correlations to the originals in the earlier sections will make the volume (and volume) of the voiceovers more palatable, even if i think most of them are gross-sounding (not a horror fan, sorry). i think that really taking a critical eye to the organ section at 3:03 and EQing and/or changing instrumentation and instrument ranges so as to avoid some of the overlapping freqs will make that section easier on the ears. i also think that taking a look at the sections where the references to the original are basically just chord changes (long sections, like the two minutes after the organ comes in, or most of the minute before that) with very modified moving lines above them, and finding ways to tie those clearly and directly to the original will help a lot. lastly, finding ways to more consistently handle the builds and releases of the energy you build up in some of these sections would help immensely. i kept feeling let down when builds and ensemble crescendos didn't go anywhere - it happens four or five times at least throughout the work. it's going to sound like i didn't enjoy much of this at all. to be honest, i didn't! but it's not required for me to enjoy the piece in order to critique the technical and arrangement elements. right now the scope and vision feels too big. i think overall that this needs a lot of transformative work to reign in the wilder bits and focus it more, so as to be more effective at conveying what you're trying to convey. right now it's a wildly imaginative, visionary, probably over-extending attempt. NO

*PROJECT - OCR TIMESHIFT ALBUM* COLLABORATORS: gravitygauntlet - ADDITIONAL LAYERED SYNTHS, DRUMS & COMPOSITIONAL VSTI Rad Decision - ARRANGEMENT TRANSPOSITION TO F#M; ADDITIONAL SPOOKY SFX JSABlixer - ADDITIONAL GAMEBOY TRANSITIONAL SFX . . .Bloodborne Kart, anyone? :D Taking "Ol' Skool" VGM leitmotif into the modern age, this remix of Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 sources is the love-child of my immense passion and intrigue for the SoulsBorne-series of games created by FromSoft, fused with the games of my generation that SoulsBorne may take influence from (i.e. Castlevania). I felt it appropriate for the TimeShift album to give these sources a sort of..."vintage coat of paint", with the delicately curated soundscape and design, to make it feel as if "this is Souls-like, but--" GameBoy Advance or Nintendo 64; and it has felt like such a wonderful way to showcase and marry the concept of time (by honoring both a NEW and an OLD game franchise), and how both have, and still does, shape my being, my pursuits and my life. At 36 years of age (at the time of writing this), I've lived long enough to see the span of video games grow and flourish across *so many* different genres, eras and consoles, and *still* witness and enjoy them to this day. This goes for OverClocked ReMix as well, as both a site and a purveyor of the finest quality VGM remixes--having had built a library of them and skulked around the site for decades at this point, (practically since its inception, back when I was in late-junior high / early-high school!) Being able to meld my adoration for the old and the new within this has been a blessing, an honor and a joy, and I hope others will cast aside their weak flesh and join us Beasts of the Old Blood for the danse macabre of merriment on this dark-lit moon night. <3 This song is not only in dedication to OCRemix's 25th Anniversary celebration, but to...someone special and personal, who is extremely and very dear to me. . . He got me into the SoulsBorne series years ago, we've shared lots of fun times in general together since meeting on Final Fantasy XIV and sharing in our mutual love of both franchises, and hopefully many more to come. Ten plus years knowing him, and so many more of me knowing about OCRemix. I am so thankful to have become a part of this community and the VGM-sphere as a whole. This is my gift to everyone in it, however-- -- Kaz, this one's for you, with my deepest, heartfelt love and respect. Cheers everybody, enjoy, and a big thank you to all who listen to this song now and forevermore. Big hugs and shout-out to EVERYONE as well who were involved in the TimeShift project Discord, collaborated with me on this, or just lent ears for feedback and helped out. Y'all are the true all-stars and champions here. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart. # SUMMARY OF THE REMIX: A hauntingly 'jovial' church ceremony and dance -- this remix has seemingly turned from an overtly horror-trope-y, slow death requiem march/choral mass to a more German classical opera/French Baroque, stately Castlevania 64-style arrangement, by changing it from the Dm -> Bm of the original main source (Ludwig's boss themes) into F#m. My hope is the wonderful mixture of realistic cinematic instrumentation and percussion as the bedrock / foundation, with the very modern Hip-Hop / R&B spin and structure on a chiptune platter of cherries on top are both saucy and unique for the sources used. One other note--besides SFX and atmospheres used, and the VO, *everything presented here* in the remix arrangement was hand-written by me via MIDI piano roll. Not a SINGLE line of drums or beat or instrumentation is a loop of some kind unless I made it from scratch. :) This will also be my first mix in actually writing CCs on MIDI lines for orchestral dynamics and expression. :D So, indeed, onwards and upwards. <3 A big thank you to those in the Discord chat who helped me to learn how to do it. REMIX INFLUENCES & INSPIRATIONS: 1980s Slasher Flicks (Halloween & Nightmare on Elm Street, specifically--you can hear it in the Intro's keyboards/piano, chiptune and staccato/spiccato strings hitting the fast bouncy plucks as countermelodies/counterharmonies to the mains @ 2:19) Phantom of the Opera (e.g. the pipe organs) Hammer Horror (Dracula, specifically--lines and FX of VO utilizes Francis Ford Coppola's 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' [1992] dialogue and wolf howls @ 5:21) Castlevania (N64/GBA-era: examples - 1, 2, 3, 4) Goosebumps / Are You Afraid of the Dark? (90s references & vibes) Old 1930s-50s radio plays, cinematics and horror/sci-fi dramas (e.g. War of the Worlds, hence the voice acting and VO FX) Black Violin # SOURCES USED AND THEIR PARTS (EVERY SOURCE TRANSPOSED FROM Dm/Bm TO F#m, BY COURTESY AND HELP OF RAD DECISION): Main Source - Ludwig - Accursed & Holy Blade: [P1] 00:00 - 04:18 / [Transition & Interlude for Boss Cutscene] 03:03 - 04:18 = Ludwig the Accursed; [P2] 04:19 - End = Ludwig the Holy Blade Father Gascoigne Boss Theme (utilizing the horn and bass stabs that start around 00:20) Cleric Beast / Vicar Amelia Boss Theme (utilizing the choir lines starting @ 00:15) Vordt of the Boreal Valley Boss Theme (utilizing the choir lines starting @ 01:48) SOURCE & REFERENCE BREAKDOWN: 00:00 - 02:42 = Modified / expanded version of Ludwig the Accursed's first few bars of its melody line and chords, stretched to become the intro and building operatic landscape for the piece 01:24 - 02:05 = FATHER GASCOIGNE bass stabs w/ Ludwig solo violin & chiptune melody 02:19 - 02:42 = repeated pulsing arp piano & string hits [spicc & stacc] are reminiscent of and take inspiration directly from the theme of the movie Halloween; the sound palette of the keyboard synth hits & chiptune plink-plonk are a reflection of the same motif used in the original Nightmare on Elm Street theme 02:32 - 03:03 = FATHER GASCOIGNE rising horn section present as a transition assist 03:04 - 05:41 = LUDWIG THE ACCURSED, in full 03:52 - 04:34 = VORDT OF THE BOREAL VALLEY choir present (from Phase 2 of his original boss fight source); starts out being heard by the soft choir synth growing louder and louder, and then becomes the organs, timpani & percs (marimbas, xylophones & hand bell hits) as part of the larger swelling, ebb and flow orchestra set; other instruments, tubular bells and chimes continue the remainder of LUDWIG THE ACCURSED up until the source's transitional break 04:56 - 05:42 = LUDWIG'S cutscene / transition Interlude 05:24 - 05:42 = CLERIC BEAST choir present; crescendos in-behind the Dracula lines, and the rising tension, chattering strings as part of the LUDWIG transition into Phase 2, HOLY BLADE 05:42 - END = LUDWIG THE HOLY BLADE, in full [switches up to a brief +3 semitones up / Minor Key Change @ 08:33-34 - 08:48] 07:36 - 08:05 & 08:12 - 08:52 = CLERIC BEAST choir chords return as the trancey, pulsating, zappy synth stings, which are paired with the synth choirs as part of the finale ---- * NOTE -- ALL VOs [except the Dracula VA insert] COME FROM BLOODBORNE AND ITS DLC, THE OLD HUNTERS, BY THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS - Micolash--Host of the Nightmare, Vicar Amelia, Father Gascoigne the Hunter and Ludwig the Accursed. ** Instrumentals were layered with gravity's own VSTi renders, playing similar MIDI content; Rad Decision assisted with adding ghostly, haunting winds and howls, as well as key transposition duties; you can hear JSA's contributions towards the end of the remix, where underneath Ludwig's dialogue are GameBoy noise/static sweeps and crunch paired with the scary, rising strings and other accompaniment as part of the transition to a faster BPM. Games & Sources BLOODBORNE - THE OLD HUNTERS Original Soundtrack; Tracks 4 & 5 - Ludwig, The Holy Blade & Ludwig, The Accursed; Artist(s): SIE Sound Team / Ryan Amon, Tsukasa Saitoh, Michael Wandmacher, Yuka Kitamura, Cris Velasco & Nobuyoshi Suzuki; Release Date: 2015; Label: Sony / Bandai Namco BLOODBORNE Original Soundtrack; Track 4 - The Hunter [Father Gascoigne] & Track 5 - Cleric Beast [Vicar Amelia]; Artist(s): SIE Sound Team / Ryan Amon, Tsukasa Saitoh, Michael Wandmacher, Yuka Kitamura, Cris Velasco & Nobuyoshi Suzuki; Release Date: 2015; Label: Sony / Bandai Namco DARK SOULS 3 Original Soundtrack; Track 6 - Vordt of the Boreal Valley; Artist(s): Nobuyoshi Suzuki and Yuka Kitamura; Release Date: 2016; Label: Sony / Bandai Namco

opens with a pretty fat bass and kick, and the basic four-note motif in a higher synth. a secondary bass element comes in on the off-beat (really feels like it could have used some quant to shuffle that farther back in the beat) soon after. there's some more lfo sfx, and then we get a very interesting synth at 1:27 with a wild attack on it. we get a bit of a break at 2:07 - the bass line is still going, but the rest of the track is dropped - and soon after transition back into another additive building section. the bassline's getting a little tiresome by this point so i wouldn't have minded a shift in that break. this builds up with a variety of elements, mostly metallic-feeling, and at 3:24 hits the big blow of the track. i would have loved to hear more new stuff in here, maybe something that's more explorative of the four-note motif, but at least there's some chordal shifting in what's going on. 4:42's the beginning of the end, and we get one last representation of the motif through the chord progression before it's done on a slow, distorted sustain. i really like the rhythmic focus to the track. there's no way you were going to write some orchestral etude off of the limited melodic content of the original, so focusing on the rhythmic elements of it and translating them in various ways is a nice idea. i think we could have used some more variation in the middle third of the track, but overall this does some neat stuff and explores new areas in the original. YES

opens with some sweeping leads. there's some distortion on them initially that's nice. there's a hard cut to beat at 0:26 with a very overtone-y bass, and soon after we get the descending motif again. i liked the gated effects on the wind synth at 1:05. the next forty seconds or so are mostly exploring textures with similar synths that we've already heard in different combinations - there's not a lot of direction to it, and by maybe 2:00 it starts to feel like we've heard things before even if we haven't heard that specific combination at that point. 2:31's got some burbling synths in the background that are pretty neat. it trucks through a bit more material before it very suddenly just ends with zero prep, just a short fadeout on a sustain. i think i have two main critiques with this track. first is that all the elements by themselves are interesting, but many of them don't really feel like they fit next to each other consistently. for example, the left-ear burbling synth that we first hear at 0:56 playing a single note for a bit comes back repeatedly, and each time it feels like it's not in the mix at all. it either has too much reverb next to the kit and bass (1:19) or like it's too dry when next to some of the other very swooshy, reverb-heavy leads (2:31). similar statement about the hats and some of the white-noise percussion. the second issue i have is that we hear, like, eight synths throughout the entire track, and they all play one thing, and that's it. they're brought in using different combinations, there's lots of variation in them individually, and there is to my ear no section that's exactly the same, but it all feels the same because we've heard everything by a minute and a half in and then it's just different combinations until the non-ending. honestly this one is pretty close despite those critiques and the entire lack of an ending. i like the synths you're using and think that they're doing interesting things individually - i just don't feel this is cohesive enough to really track overall. the lack of a focus on melodic material or a general dynamic shape to the song also hurts it. i'd love to hear another version with a stronger, more directed vision, both in the aesthetic and effecting of the synths and in the use of melody and dynamics to pull together the track. NO

immediately recognizable opening, even with the cimbalom. the track feels very early PC with the vocal patch, which is a fun coincidence. it's a very spare atmosphere you've created here - often only a few individual notes playing at any given time, and a surprising amount of unison up front in the couple of instruments you're using. 0:50 brings in some more activity, and the cimbalom really works well for this realization. 1:18 adds in the choirs in unison with the low strings, and i like the idea but think the execution isn't quite there. it's just too robotic in the cimbalom and doesn't sound particularly realistic in the strings/choir. the cimbalom-only section after this has some more velocitization on it which is nice, but it's audible where the velocity pattern repeats. the subsequent building section at 1:57 is nice, but the partwriting is pretty simplistic in here and heavily weighted towards my left ear. there's a wrong note in the bass at 2:21, and a few (probably but not sure) notes that aren't in the key soon after in the middle voices. this shifts to a new section at 2:35 and how consistently the cimbalom has been hammering away at roughly the same volume and attack speed throughout the song becomes more noticeable in here. the lack of true velocity changes (particularly to more quiet tones) is starting to grate by this part. there's some intense building action until the big hit at 3:26, and this section sounds pretty exciting. it's also very muddy and boomy due to the orchestral toms being used. there's some neat evocative feels in here but overall the use of heavy unisons and no part-writing in the supporting lines really kills the energy for me. it ends with a kangling note that is cut off, and it's done. this is a really neat idea! i think there's definitely legs in the arrangement - the combination of old-world instruments is a really neat one. i think first off that there's a lot of room for partwriting that isn't just unison strings and choir layered, especially with the richness of the chords uelman uses throughout. separately, i think that there's a lot more room for nuance in all the instruments - most of them feel like they stay in the same middle range of velocities, and there's no dynamics in the instruments as a result. a track that is so intentionally sparse in instrumentation needs to then be super careful in how it uses those instruments, and i don't track that here. i think this is a great one to bring to the workshop or a wip review and have some folks talk about how to flesh it out a bit more without losing the feel. right now though i don't think this one's where it needs to be just yet. NO

uninspiring original. it sounds like this is using a keyboard that's got a synth guitar patch and recorded on a cell phone. i can hear the buttons being pressed pretty clearly. either way it's just two minutes of meandering noodling that doesn't really relate to anything that's in the original. if indeed the right audio was uploaded, it's not anything for the game. this doesn't appear to relate to the game, and it doesn't meet most if any of our standards around sound quality, arrangement, or execution. NO OVERRIDE

this is a -6dba version for the album master, so it'll need to be amplified before OCR mixpost if it passes. opens with a chippy arp outlining the initial chords and some pads. by 0:21 we're starting to hear strings and some hints of melodic material. 0:40 is a shift towards a new vibe but still with some of the same elements still going, until we get the first big hit at 1:01. there's a big hole around 300hz in this section so it sounds a bit hollow, but i like the heavy percussion and the lead tone. percussion quickly proves to be a loop though. there's a hard cut for the B section to a different feel, again with a percussion loop below some fun lead synths. the A theme returns at 2:01 with chips and some sfx on the instruments before a return to the original vibe from 1:01 - this sounds like a straight copy from that earlier section. there's a subtractive outro with some filtering on the percussive elements and then it's done without landing on the final chord. this is a fun energetic take on the original! you've got several distinct vibes throughout that i think are really solid. i don't think this is quite there yet though. the hollow feel to the first big section at 1:01 i think is easily fixed with some pads or a tweak to your EQs. the repetition at 2:01 was disappointing given how short the track is - maybe add in some countermelody there, or mix up the lead a bit? lastly both percussion loops being heavily used and never sliced and changed up even during fills was a disappointment - just a little shift here or there would be enough to really add even more energy to those sections. i think those are easy changes if you choose to make them! and that'll result in a much stronger track overall. NO

i played a ton of worms armageddon hotseat-style with friends back in the day. i recognized the '98 version right away. opens with a ton of gun sfx (trigger warning?) and strings outlining the initial arp that's in both versions of the game. drums, piano, and bass comes in soon after and are pretty peppy. the voiceover is solid - i like the pitch of it, it fits well into the overall feel alongside the strings. the chorus at 1:29 got a chuckle - the original worms singing in wormsong were similarly silly, so i get the idea but it still sounds so weird next to the more serious background. guitar solo into the big ritard was nice too - may have been a bit bright for the texture. i like the break after the solo, as a palate cleanser before the much more intense second half. this is a neat homage to the differences between the original wormsong and the '98 version. 2:36's transition is great, and of course the more intense backing guitar and other elements here sound great. the voiceover's a little more cluttered here - a bit more formant in the voiceover would probably have been enough to ensure it cut through enough. drums in this section are also a bit rote through maybe 3:55 or so. i liked the brass in the background, but found the guitar to be a bit treble-heavy through here, and it's hard to hear much outside of the rhythm guitar in this section. i liked the reference to the holy hand grenade and the outro sfx as well. this is a great idea and a fun track! there's some great elements in here that reference some of the more entertaining parts of the game. i appreciate the variety of styles you've got represented here in different measures as well. aside from some of the volumization and EQ notes, i think this sounds really solid from start to finish. certainly the arrangement is great. excellent work. YES edit 1/29: comments about the mixdown and plosives are correct on re-listen. lack of punch is notable and a problem. the voiceover probably needs the formant boosted in the heavier sections to help it speak. NO

wall of sound to start. big, intense opening focusing on the rising chord pattern right off the bat. the drums sound pretty weak through all of this. 0:32's use of the arpeggio element was a nice idea. melody hits at 0:47 and is in half-time, which is an idea i like given how great the melody is - lets us hear it more! there's loads of stuff going on in the background and in the drums through this whole first representation of the melody. following section with the rising arpeggiated element is a clever analogy for the track's title and topic. 2:32 is a big shift in feel. this might have been an opportunity to let the track breathe without the electric as the lead for a bit, but i like the harmonics and spacier feel in this section. there's a slam transition at 3:24 and it's appropriately intense as it builds back to another representation of the melody at 4:10. this trucks through some variations on the melodic material (i liked the hard drop at 5:02) for a bit before transitioning into outro material. one more ascent to the peak of the arpeggio - and then there's a fadeout? or something? but it still ends, so the fadeout is kind of confusing. this is a super fun track to listen to! i really appreciate your willingness to get into the melody and mix it up instead of just playing it through. for such a long track, you keep the feel pretty similar throughout but it doesn't ever get boring or tiresome. that's a challenge and you did a great job with it. one of the things i wanted to go through and check was source usage, since we only get the melody a few times in six minutes, but the original's rising action and arpeggio elements are represented throughout and are easily able to be mapped, so i've got no concern about source usage. my main concern here (outside of the fake fadeout ending - you don't need a fade there at all!) is that the mixing is kind of messy. there's a ton of sub-40hz content, and to my ears the rhythm guitar is crushing the drums and bass quite a bit. the kick is very clicky, which helps the beater tone to cut through, but it doesn't have much beef to it, and the rest of the drums sound pretty weak. before this passed, i'd want to get those drums taken care of so they don't sound so anemic. some more attention to some very intentional eq on the hats and snare especially should help, as well as being more careful with what's on the low end of your rhythm guitar and bass instrument, should help out a ton with giving the drums room to do their thing. i love this track! don't let it disappear, there's definitely a place on this site for this. NO

i don't understand anything the kids are saying nowadays. opens with some wickity-wah and drum work. the melody comes in about ten seconds in, and it's oozing with vibe. the bass part especially has a lot of character. there's loads of extra little bits thrown in too which is a nice feel. transition at 0:46 is a touch out of time. i like the vocal bits - i'm surprised how well they fit into the picture actually. there's a quick fill at 1:21 and we get a bit of melodic recap. this whole section isn't copied from earlier but it's very similar - a lot of the backing elements sound very similar, and the piano flourishes especially felt really similar. 2:17's a transition into a much more open section with some key noodles and a significant vibe change. this is a fun idea to shift so hard and definitely a great time to do it. it gets into its cups a touch around 3:17 but the solo coming right after is a great idea, and i love the solo - vintage OA tone and content. i also liked the highly reactive backing parts to what was going on in the solo. the ending was right where i expected it and very much in the style by using a short phrase from the melodic material, and then it's done. this is a fun ride! the list of collaborators is superb so it's not unexpected that the track's breadth is so wide and there's so much going on. wes does a great job taking a fun, poppy original and keeping much of the same feel while fleshing out essentially every aspect of it. excellent work. YES

opens with some very active arps before a hard cut to just percussion and a muted bass. there's some very interesting effects, not the least of which is a crazy hard sidechain on the kick. there's some of the arp that the original's centered around at 0:20 but it's very far back in the mix. it noodles around a bit before we at least get the chords of the 'chorus' section at 1:00. the transitional section at 1:16 has some intentionally weird sounds, and then we get into a more straightforward representation of the opening section at 1:24 and eventually get some melody. there's a break at 1:56 before we get back into a bigger section at 2:15. this burbles through a few different representations of the melodic material. there's several interesting textures represented in here, all highly distorted (the hats sound like a typewriter, for goodness sake). there's a hard cut at 3:19, and we get some flute to play us off. the ending isn't prepped super well but it's a decent job of setting us down. i think there's some folks who will really dislike the very intentional mixing decisions made here, especially in the opening section, but i love the malformation of so many different elements. the track takes a while to get started but certainly passes the content guidelines around amount of original vs game music. i really appreciate how significantly weird it gets in several places - you weren't afraid to go there (sounds like the games) and the oddness of some of the transitions like 1:16 is really solid as a result. nice work. YES

my bad, must have overlooked it. original sounds like the opening theme in an expanded form. opening strings aren't particularly realistic in their representation - lots of swell on the attack. pizz in the bass and harp arpeggiation is nice though. clarinet carries the inital ascending melodic line, and the sustain and subsequent cutoff aren't a great sound. the oboe follows and this is more nuanced in the approach and realization. i liked the light glock below it. flute work after this is nice too. the bass clarinet lead also didn't really have a clean attack tone for the descending line. there's a bit of a break before a larger section at 1:39. this is a surprisingly sparse orchestration here - it's mostly just several sections playing in unison, with the bass still doing pizz down low and some harp/percussive elements mirroring the line as well. the voice part offers some extra color until the other winds come in after a bit but it really starts pretty spare. i wasn't a huge fan of the synth used for the voice part - the vibrato and vowel never changing feels very uncanny-valley. there's a bit of a reset before we get into the second half. there's more chord work here in this second representation of the A theme, and some more altered elements which i appreciated. this would have been easy to mail in so i appreciate the commitment to keeping it different from the opening section. i still am not a huge fan of the vocal instrument, and i think it's too loud through here. we finally get some percussion at 3:40 and i agree that the tambourine is just the right instrument for the job. we get through the B theme fairly quickly, and although there's some muddiness at 4:15 or so (is that a vibe in the left ear?), it is handled competently. there is some descending action but no real ending, just a sustain to play us off. this has some nice elements that really add to the original. i still don't care for the voice and i think that there's some over-exposed synths early on that can't quite handle what you're asking of them, but overall the arrangement is pretty and it's mixed fairly well. YES

huge, aggressive opening, with some of the original arp in the background behind some very loud guitar chugs. kick doesn't have a ton of bass content (the toms might have more) but i really like the tone of the toms and snare. the chugs sound a little sparse during the verse when they're under the lead guitar, and i don't hear the bass much at all in the opening sections. 0:49 it opens up a lot and there's a ton more backing elements and harmonic parts. it's just so loud that it's hard to hear most of them - all i can hear is the kick and the chugs/rhythm guitars most of the time. 1:20's a copy of the opening section for a bit, and then we get into another melodic section. at this point the chugs are getting tiresome since we've been hearing them so much and they aren't changing much at all. the leads are panned very wide as well which makes it hard to put them together. 2:25 the rhythm guitars finally change it up and we get some double-time work in the drums which is nice before a big break at 2:40. there's some other sfx and leads in here which is a nice change after so much hearing the same stuff. we get one more blow through the chorus at 3:12 and then it's done. there's even less than no ending - there's a few more chugs, and the synth keeps playing until the pattern ends. truly feels incomplete. this is a neat idea initially, but the chugs especially become tiresome very quickly. i like the exploration of some of the weirder elements of the original in the middle third of the piece, but there's simultaneously too much going on for the middle minute or so while also not having enough energy to drive it forward - it just gets tiresome in there. and then the ending doesn't exist at all. separately, the kick and guitars (mostly rhythm) are just so loud that you can't hear the bass, the backing synth elements, or any nuance in the leads. backing them down to make a more balanced soundscape i think would help a ton, and panning the split leads when they occur back more to the middle so they're not so far apart would help a ton to make it more cohesive in those sections. i think this has a ton of potential to be really fun. fixing some of the mixing issues and utilizing less repetition in your rhythmic elements to allow for a track with more dynamic movement so as to avoid the middle third feeling dead would be a huge positive, as would adding a real ending. NO

opens with a pretty filtered feel to a shakuhachi and some strings, but it makes more sense when the guitars come in soon after. guitars and drums are huge volume-wise, but the strings fill in a bit and the lead is indeed a neat crunchy feel. the drums mostly are on autopilot outside of a few fills. there's some ensemble breaks for emphasis and then we're into some more copied elements, as larry calls out. i liked the half-time section at the end as a way to mix it up and help let down some of the intensity. i agree there is too much copy/paste. i'll also note that the guitars and drums are like twice as loud as they need to be to still be punchy - as it is, that's all i can hear most of the time. i think this is maybe 90s of solid material here that could easily be a three-minute banger with some more work to diversify and avoid repetition. as it is, there's too much repeated material right now. NO

BK's soundtrack is so charismatic. this track has that vibe right off the bat between the sfx and the goofy wobble lead. having the track be in a triple meter initially helps a ton to keep it swinging forward. there's a great build vibe right at 0:32 that drives it forward well into the first big beat drop at 0:46. bass and beat sound super tight in this section, i loved it (especially the triplet combo of the laugh, bass, and lead at 1:02). also, did i hear kazooie lead synths!? this just keeps getting better as it goes along. there's a bit of a break at 1:16 in feel that builds into a much more heroic fanfare-type feel at 1:30 for a bit, before we get more kazooie lead, and a choir, and all sorts of other fun interim stuff for a true break. i like the transition at 2:15 as it speeds up and goes nuts just in time for a banger of an ending chorus at 2:26. this is a straight sausage waveform and it sounds awesome, especially with the fanfare section to end it. there's a bit of a weird cut in the fade that should probably be trimmed before we post it. i love this! what a fun track. it's hard to listen to it without smiling the entire way through. there's a ton of character in this remix - just like the game, very fitting - and yet simultaneously it's not just leaning on novelty and sfx to make it through, there's a dope arrangement under it. excellent work. YES

yeah, i'm a ddrkirby truther so incoming YES OVERRIDE vote. super liquid feel once the beat comes in. agree with larry that the two representations of the melodic material simultaneously is a neat idea. 1:10's a great hit as well and feels really good. i also appreciate that you play with time constantly and mix up how you're handling the bars - often people working in mixed meter stick with a specific 2 and 3 beat combination per bar, and it sounds like you're mixing that up a lot which keeps the ear guessing. there's a drum break at 1:31 and then 1:51's a true break. well timed since it's been very frenetic until this point. the voice samples are a great way to signal the break here too, and then we're back in the sauce at 2:10 with a classic ddrkirby lead. i really liked the subtle click on the attack of this lead. the guzheng might have been a touch loud when it came in compared to everything else. after this we get into the outro action...or do we? there's a fun new vibe that's hats-driven at 3:11 for a bit, and then we're actually done. this is fantastic as expected. timmie brings the heat with this one, and the arrangement is just as good as the production. excellent work. YES

oh, i remember the other version of this. DoHS is such a terrible source. also did you listen to the Theme of Super Metroid version you linked? the first six or seven seconds i didn't expect. opens with some chips slowly chewing through the opening super metroid arp section. the initial hit at 0:47 with the kick is a nice vibe, but to me went on a bit too long doing the same thing. we do eventually get the melodic element from the track at 1:36, and i like how the arp kind of faded in near the end of that section. i was disappointed that it went back to the same vibe as 0:47 and went through that eight-bar section twice again after we'd already had a bunch of it before. 2:40 is a big transition - this is a neat effect what we get here. there's probably too much silence at 2:52 in your transition, but the sfx after it is neat. 3:28's wild - i love this section, so much creativity in how you manipulated the elements there. i believe the DoHS reference is in the big stabs at 3:30, and then the descending lines going into 4:09? that section continues to be wild, but the transition out of it is really pretty sudden, and then we just get a recap of earlier but faster. there's a recap of 0:47 but faster (it sounds exactly like the earlier section) and then it's done without any real ending. gorilla in the room - i hear very little Door of Holy Spirits in this. i'll put a note in the submission form for a breakdown but i heard very little out of one 30s section. if i'm not missing something, i'd argue there might not be enough DoHS to have it count as a source for the track. from an arrangement perspective, this is well over 5 minutes but has maybe 2:30-3:00 of content in total, and a lot of repetition. i wouldn't even mind the repetition if it wasn't very clearly copypasta when it happened. 0:47 is a ton of the same thing over and over, and then 2:09's the same thing, and so is 4:57. 1:36 is repeated at 4:43 but with the beat from 0:47 under it. there's so much straight copy throughout - in a chiptune where you can't rely on sweet synths to carry the day, the arrangement is king, and here it's just too repetitive for me. the lack of an ending doesn't help much at all either. NO