prophetik music Judges ⚖️

February 14

opens with some sweeping autopanned pads, and we get some percussion before the bass comes in at the 30s mark. i didn't expect it to be triplets so that was fun. the kick doesn't really have much punch to it, nor do i hear any sidechaining around the kick in the pads. the drop at 0:45 to allow the bass to speak out more allows for some more space in the mix which i like. 1:00 is the first full demonstration of the melodic material, and i like the contrast of the gliding, smooth synth to the much more angular bass instrument.

this continues to repeat the descending melodic line and slowly add complexity around it - first in the form of a choir pad and then a more rhythmic element. each of these are volumized a bit loud compared to the melodic concept although i like what they're saying (1:50 was nice). 2:00 appears to be the first time that we don't get anything really new, and it makes me realize that this is like a minute straight of the same everything without even a fill, and that's a long time to do the same thing in a straight line. varying up the melodic material a bit or doing some soloing over the top would have added a lot here, but instead it's just very repetitious.

there's a hard cut at 2:30 to just the bass line for almost 20s - again, probably too long doing the same thing without changes - and then we get a time signature change to 4/4 and a melodic focus to the second half of the melodic content at 2:52. this feels much more plodding - maybe it's the longer snare with the hard cut on it that makes me feel that. the subsequent bass groove at 3:10 was really confusing at first - it really feels like you've got two basslines playing at the same time and glide set on the instrument. the significant volume jumps and random sfx elements dropping in out didn't sound intentional at all despite it obviously being so, and i didn't care for that at all.

3:45 we get some pads that are aggressively autopanned, and eventually get the melodic material from the A section back, and this time there's a lot more customization to what it's saying, which i like a lot. it still feels fairly repetitive due to the lack of variety in the drums and backing elements in this entire section.

at 5:00 there's a sudden shift to a different feel, and it becomes obvious that this is the outro. it's not particularly connected to the rest of the work.

overall this feels like three minutes of music scraped over five plus minutes of bread. there's a lot of padding and repetitiveness in here, and the lack of changes or even drum fills within each major section seems to be a huge miss. the individual textures are really fun - like 1:30 is a great sound and so is 4:05ish - but there's so much around them that just plods or is part of a minute-long build to the part we want to hear. trimming out the cruft and then doing a better job of balancing elements within each section would make for a much more complete package. similarly, that entire first half of the track could desperately use some more personalization. you've got the same descending riff for over a minute in a row without ever doing anything unique with it, with the same drums underneath and many of the same backing elements underneath the entire time as well. that's just too long to be doing the same thing. making it more unique will help so much with making it not sound repetitious.

trim out the excess and make it more Norvak and less bobby prince, and we're in business.

NO

February 13

opens with some next-room kicks and bass, and builds up some percussive elements over time until 0:31 when we get the nightmare battle theme with pulsing bass underneath. there is little adaptation on this initial presentation - it's almost exactly from the original. there's a transition at 1:16 and it's into the middle of Final Battle, i think. this is mostly based around the middle section with the descending chord progression, but in 4 instead of whatever the original was in. i found the brass bit at 1:46 to be a bit strident.

there's a recap of Nightmare Battle at 2:07 with some wind fish bits interspersed and the game over theme making a cameo at 2:38. 2:40's ganon's message, i think? in the organ, and subsequently some bits of light dungeon, i think. there's a few small bits of the miniboss battle lead at the end, and it fades out over the course of maybe 15 seconds.

the section from 0:31 to 1:14 and again from 2:07 to 2:23 are, to my ear, straight from nightmare battle with a very small amount of blurbles added in to mix it up and some bass/drum. the chips even sound mostly the same. that's approaching dealbreaker territory right there. the opening 30s are just a bass/kick buildup, as well, so that's a sizeable chunk of the remix that isn't really arrangement. most of the other track callouts except for Final Battle were just cameos, but the adaptation of Final Battle was way more involved, although i'd have liked it if more of the actual track was included.

from a mixing and mastering standpoint, i felt that most of the time each instrument was clearly balanced and spoke well, with the exception of the organ stacks being way loud compared to everything else. that felt like it was volumized for the quieter section with no automation to balance it. there's also a lot of sub-40hz content that just served to fill up the mix instead of give it a booty, i'd have liked to see more rolloff in the lower freqs. the overall dynamics are varied however and there's a good shape to the track.

i don't think i can pass this with the amount of material cribbed straight out of Nightmare Battle. if there was even the slightest bit of variation in what was represented there - maybe adding some alternative patterns in the bass around transition points, or personalizing the 'lead' part - then i'd be ok with this and it'd be a pass. or even if it was only like 20 seconds. but it's like a quarter of the song depending on where you put the start and end points.

i think it's a bop! add more metatron to the nightmare battle section and i'm good with it. it's probably a ten-minute fix for someone of your caliber if you want to do it.

NO

February 12

opens with fast hats and some quick backing stabs. we get some bass at 0:11 and the beat at 0:22, and it sounds great as expected (i had to check, i forgot about his post back in 2023!). the opening section of the original in minor makes for a surprisingly sinister lead bit. there's a big build before the main melody hits at 0:57. this is a break section, and then we get it again in as part of a bigger section right after. i can hear the volume automation there to make the melody pop through and it works great =)

another break at 1:52, this time keys-driven with the B theme as the focus. i know this is a common sound but i like how bright these keys are to cut through. another big build and we get the existing chord line under those keys. some of the keys conflict a bit (2:22, 2:27) with that bassline, but overall this is a nice palate-cleanser section. there's some jamming on the chord progression and the C theme for a bit until we get to the last big break at 3:02.

we get the spurs at 3:26 for the last big band section, and the C theme is the star here - again, surprisingly dark with this chord progression. the acid line you talked about really is nice to keep it moving in here. similar to many other tracks of this genre, there's not really an ending, which is a bit of a bummer - i'd at least have liked to end on a root chord.

this is what it says on the label - fast, intense, with a surprising amount of adaptation contained in the chord progression and how the track is broken up. excellent work.

YES

February 12

the quality of the samples for each isn't good enough, but we can review the arrangement at least. opens with some flutter tonguing in the flute on a sustain before the other members of the trio come in. the trumpet's the lead instrument initially, and i like the articulation and personalization of the trumpet part. the three instruments are all pretty centered which makes it hard to tell them apart. there's a wrong note at 0:46, and again in the trill at 1:01. the backing trumpet part at 1:08 isn't really idiomatic to the instrument (be better in the flute actually). it's over very quickly.

there's a lot of interesting arrangement ideas throughout, so that's good. what's here however isn't really enough (we usually require at least two minutes, and considering the opening, this is less than 1:40). i'd encourage you to find ways to extend the arrangement that aren't just looping between the A and B themes from the original. similarly, finding more ways to make this yours - chord changes, more variety in the backing elements that aren't the same as what's in the original - would be a big help with extending the overall duration. from a technical perspective, you're doing a nice job with the instruments that you have, but anytime you're working with something so exposed, instrument quality becomes paramount. i couldn't hear enough of the flute to tell, but the violin and trumpet both don't sound particularly realistic despite a lot of attention paid to attacks and cutoffs. separately, i like the combination of violin, flute, and trumpet, but in general the trumpet overpowers everything else (as expected), and the scoring and range of the other two instruments doesn't help that. finding a way to balance your three instruments (whatever they wind up being) is very important in a small ensemble like this.

this is a surprisingly good arrangement given the duration, but it's definitely not there yet.

NO

February 10

opens with a fun flourish and then hits the groove right away. i don't really hear the bass instrument a ton but there's a lot of kick off the bat, and the kick's tone is pretty blah. there's a nice break right at 0:30 that's the melodic material right through - the vibe here reminds me a lot of the music for a puzzle game i'm playing right now, Tents and Trees. picks up at 0:54 with a descending pattern that mimics the ending of the original but i don't think is directly related to what it does. bridge section has some fun crunch in a few chords.

1:30 gets back to the melodic material in the solos, although it's not 1:1. there's an extended set of the descending chromaticism to end the track, and then it's done.

so, the 900lb hedgehog in the room - is there enough source? i hear source from 0:00-0:05 directly, the chord progression at 0:05 is the same initially, and there's some instrumentation elements that map over (like the bass is close to but not exactly the original), so i'll call it 0:05-0:17. 0:30-0:53 for sure. 1:30-1:58 from the solo is pretty close. and the end section is all good, 2:22-2:45 (with 2:45 being the end of the track). that's 90/165 seconds, which is definitely over. so we're good there.

the mix pops nice although i'd like the bass instrument to be more forward given that there's not a lot of unique instruments in the mix. i think that the adaptation feels great too - there's a lot of customization to the melody, which is needed since the original is only 25s long - and there's a lot of unique stuff that i didn't expect, like the chromatic ending. this is a fun one, nice work.

YES

February 7

opens with some heavily filtered and effected synths handling the initial arpeggio. i like the shift in tempo as i think the slower tempo gives it more gravitas. there's some beefy bass synths and taiko used as well - the buzz on that bass synth is fantastic, i love it. the slower tempo allows for some more space in the articulated lines in the background too which is nice. the mix is pretty noisy with all the edge on the different synths chosen, and the bass's first overtone around 100hz is very boosted which makes it dense down low.

there's a bit of a falloff/break and then we get another repetition of the initial arp and chord progression at 0:59. this sounds to my ears very similar to 0:23 but there's some subtle differences in the chord progression as it goes on. this probably could have been trimmed a bit so that we get to the melodic material that comes in at 1:35. there's a very loud and resonant pad through here that's crushing most of the background elements. the melody's in a bell-like pad that doesn't seem to have much ring to it so it's a little hard to trace as well.

2:33's really the first significant shift in the background elements for the entire track, and we get some high strings that have been brutalized. this progresses through to an outro that is mostly the initial arpeggiated instrument's release sustain automating back, and it's done.

i really like the initial presentation of the arrangement - the buzzy bass, the heavily effected arpeggio, and eventually the limited percussion that comes in. i think it sounds pretty over-loud initially, but if anything that accentuates how distorted the elements are. but then it didn't do anything for several minutes =( there's no dynamic variation, and the extremely loud and pushed mix just accentuates that by crushing any possible dynamic contrast into sameness. it feels heavily compressed. i also found that by the 1:35 mark as we were getting close to the actual melody showing up that my ear was getting tired of the same bass, arp, and percussion elements since they'd played for nearly that entire time in a row. that was a golden opportunity to mix up the instrumentation a bit or at least freshen up the rhythmic elements of what was playing, but it's more of the same, and that doesn't change the entire rest of the piece.

i like this concept a lot overall. i love that you managed to wait for 90s before bringing in any melodic elements and you focused so much on the backing elements so much. i love the highly complex effecting on the arpeggio and the bass's edge to the tone. however, even when the track isn't being repetitive (like the slight changes in chords between the first main phrase at 0:22 and the second at 1:00), it feels repetitive because nothing ever changes until halfway through the piece, and the balance at that point is way off.

it's definitely possible i'm making perfect the enemy of good here, but i think that the mashed mix and lack of dynamics combined with a highly repetitive background (when that's what's carrying the work due to a lack of melodic content) puts this in the not-quite-there-yet range. i don't think it needs much to be stellar.

NO

February 7

in listening to this entire thing with an open mind, i do hear where there's a few specific thematic references to the original track (1:05, 2:21 for example). there's also some highly transformative sections, like the repeated descending section in the bass line that occurs several places (example: 2:06), which i wouldn't have tabbed being from this without knowing the context but understand where you came from after reading it. however, most of the track isn't recognizable in the slightest. this isn't a matter of not understanding the serial representation of the set you're using as far as i can tell - it's just that most of this is unintelligible. what's the point of speaking in tongues if there's no one to interpret?

there's some genuinely interesting ideas in here - 3:31 for example is a pretty ripping take on the initial descending melodic line, with the frenetic sfx in the background and the very fast (if extremely repetitive) drums. but there's no usage of song form anywhere in this, there's no real synth design, and for the most part the master is "same volume for everything throughout". it's more reminiscent of the Undertale flowey fight's inanity, but that was far more defined and intentional than this is. this comes across as wild musings more than an intentionally crafted work.

ultimately this falls short of several elements of the submission standards, but 4.3. the most:

Quote

3. The source material must be identifiable and dominant.

While interpretation and original additions are encouraged, arrangement must not modify the source material beyond recognition.

The amount of arranged source material must be substantial enough to be recognized.

sorry, but this isn't something that we can post here.

NO OVERRIDE

February 6

will did such a good job with this theme. it always felt a lot to me like the music that's used in the Victory at Sea documentaries i watched as a teenager.

opens with the silly hyper-jingoistic loudspeaker notifications and the descending motif in a few synths. the beat drops at 0:33 and the guitar is an immediate highlight - i almost wish it was fuller and more in-front so i could hear it more. there's loads of stuff coming in and out in this opening section which is nice. first break is at 1:29 and features a lot of really fun vocal clips that really fit the style well.

2:18 is a new section with more of a beat focus initially. i admit in this section i miss the strong chord movement of the original, but i understand the genre generally doesn't have a ton of chord changes. the section that started at 3:28 kind of mirrors the original in that it starts to back off the intensity and allow the melody to carry it a bit. there's some more sfx and it's done.

this is, as expected, a great adaptation of a great theme. the mix is tight and the loudspeaker sfx are just ridiculous enough to fit into over-the-top neofascist tone of the game, although i wish there'd been a comment about citizenship in there. there's a few points where i felt like i'd rather have had more beef in the melodic line, but the overall style here meshes well and does a good job navigating a lot of different soundscapes while feeling like a singular whole. nice work.

YES

edit: 3/6: i heard this several weeks ago but never put my updated response in here. the boosted guitar is a huge positive here, and several other synth leads are also brought up to give them more body. 3:30 is an example of a spot that sounds a lot stronger now. nice work! this is way stronger now.

January 29

i've owned risk of rain for over a decade but never listened to the OST - clearly i've been missing out.

opens with some percs and guitar chords. when the bass comes in, it's in the same range as the guitar, which is problematic from a clarity standpoint. there's also a heavy delay effect on it, which is a fun sound, but makes it tough to hear the differences between the two instruments. some EQ work there could help, as could changing the voicing of the guitar chords. bass line occasionally gets out of time a bit, as does the lead riff at 0:48.

track coasts a bit until we get some new chords around the minute mark, and then the fast section at 1:14. i like the intensity in the drums here for sure, but the rhythm guitar sounds super flat and indistinct. it's hard to really hear anything that's going on, and the very simple guitar lead with no intensity increase from the earlier section doesn't help much either.

the track goes through a quiet section and a fast section again, and then back to the B section of the slower section. there's some sound choices here that i don't think work - everything's very indistinct and dull. there's a short rhythmic section to end it, and it's done.

there's a real early darren korb vibe going on here. if i heard this song while playing Bastion as it is right now, i'd think it was mixed poorly, but it wouldn't have stood out. but i like the rhythmic focus alongside the groove. i think right now none of the instruments sound good in terms of mix - the drums are lacking punch, the bass's delay effect and EQing make it unclear, the rhythm guitar parts are super indistinct and poorly mixed (at least double-track them!), and the lead guitar sounds very blase and simple. some better EQing and some padding instrumentation would do wonders to fill out what's going on, as well as probably changing the octave that the rhythm guitar parts are based around so it's not clashing with the bass. beyond that, you'll want to identify ways to add more ear candy to the arrangement. right now it's very straightforward in that each instrument never really changes what it's doing. personalizing the arrangement more with drum fills, interstitial riffs in the lead guitar, etc. will help a lot with making the arrangement feel like it's progressing and moving somewhere instead of standing still.

i really dig the vibe, but tbh it sounds too garagey and more like a scratch or demo track right now. a cleaner mix and a more fleshed-out arrangement will really help a lot.

NO

January 29

Instruments used were electronic drums and electric guitars & basses. All instruments were played & recorded live by me. No sequencing was used.

Some potentially questionable aspects of the song were deliberate stylistic choices. I have my suspicions about what may need to be changed or improved, but for now I'll let the music speak for itself. I welcome any questions, criticism, advice, and other feedback.

Games & Sources

Original Track: Tropic of Capricorn --

Original Composer: Chris Cristodolou2024

Game Details: Risk of Rain, 2013. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_of_Rain

Game Soundtrack: https://chrischristodoulou.bandcamp.com/album/risk-of-rain

January 27

opens with a big wall of synths and most notably a really unique snare sound. there's no real movement on the synths or anything and they're pretty static, although they do follow the chord progression. a bit of a shuffle works into the beat around the 0:27 mark. melodic material enters in the bass at 0:44, and around here i noticed that the drums feel like they're using the same few tom fills every four and eight bars. this is really obvious in this section because of how static the background is. we do get some more fuzz on the lead synth over time and i like that movement and change a lot - but the drums doing the same thing the whole time really becomes obvious and irritating after a while.

there's some offbeat material coming in around 2:05 and that's a nice little added touch. i think there was more room for movement and interstitial stuff between 0:44 and 2:30 or so when the initial melodic material reaches the peak but i did like the big change to the synth over time. there's a bridge with some gated stuff, and then it builds into a big melodic section at 2:55. the drums here lack some punch but i like the synth lead and the fuzz on everything.

i sort of assumed this track was coming to a close here and then realized there was another three minutes of material! so the change at 3:38 was welcome. again the drums are on autopilot which is really irritating once you notice it. this section goes on longer than i'd expect it given how repetitive the melodic material.

there's a fill that kinda sounds like dragging your finger down the keyboard like a gliss, and then a neat bridge that features a lot of gated elements. i think there was some opportunity here to really get different with the synth work, but it stays fairly static in the section itself. 5:03 brings in some organ, but again it's just going through the chord progression and doesn't add a ton during the section.

we get the gliss tom fill again, and a bit of a callback to the opening in the chords. the snare here is super echoey as a transitional element and while i didn't care for the sound i did like the use of it to hallmark a change.

my issues here are twofold. one is that it's a very long track but doesn't really have a lot of content. each major section feels like it could have been halved in terms of time and it'd make it a much more succinct statement overall. my second issue ties into this and that's that there's not a lot movement in each section. there's a lot of autopilot drums and repeated fills, and usually what you hear in the first few seconds of a section is what you're going to hear for the next 30s+. that's boring =( the overall static nature of the arrangement method really is highlighted in how repetitive the melodic material is - if it'd been a more active line with more chords, it wouldn't have been obvious, but the original's super repetitive as it is.

i think overall the track sounds good and i can hear what's going on. for the most part, the synth choices are fine (although i don't like the reliance on choices with no or very limited movement over sustains). and i like the pop of the drums, i just wish they had more power to them in a few places.

i'd need to see a lot more complexity to each section - or a significant trimming of it - before this would be at the bar for me.

NO

January 27

Yet another remix of DOOM. I'm submitting 1 or 2 more remixes from the series in the upcoming weeks since I haven't seen any of these and a new Doom game is coming in May 15th of this year, I hope this date can be taken in consideration for OCR release pipeline if this or other of my arrangements are accepted. I already saw "Dark Toxin" was accepted. Thanks guys!

For this one I fixed the tempo at 88BPM (the original is almost the same) The genre is an Industrial Rock/Dark Synth mood that really fits the pace of the song maybe even some mid tempo at the last quarter of the track. Think about a blend between Rammstein (without the guitars), Powerglove, and Rezz but less aggressive. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Games & Sources

Doom II. Robert C. Prince. - The Demon's Dead (1994)

January 23

Quote

I also wanted to learn more about FL Studio, mixing and mastering, and how to use my Native Instruments samples better. I'm still struggling a bit, but I think I am making good progress.

i would actually say exactly the same thing about where i am right now as a musician =)

opens with some arpeggiated elements and the concept of a beat. we start getting the funkiness that i associate with damon's music soon after. 0:22 has some other instrumentation coming in - there's some really fun filtered attacks on a lot of these synths and that causes some neat soundscapes to pop up here and there. melody starts in a woody vibe sound at 0:44, and it's a little far back and to the left so it's harder to hear. reducing the vibrato on it too will help it pop forward in the mix more - kind of like the wind instrument that comes in after it (i think i have that vst also, it's a classic!). this section's a touch loud, i think, and everything feels a bit squeezed but just a bit.

fun fill going into the drop at 1:50, and this leads into another recap of the melodic material. 2:15 brings in the B theme, and the transition here is a little sudden. this might have been an opportunity to change up the drums some more. 2:58's another transition, this time to a more muted feel as the track starts to wind down. some sound design here or even a cymbal on the transition would have helped. the ending is similarly unprepared and just kind of happens, which is a real bummer as i think it really would have benefitted from a real ending.

it's fun hearing how damon's style has changed over the years, and also hearing what's stayed the same. i really like the focus on fun drums and unique textures. the lack of an ending is a big deal for me, but i think what else is here is enough to carry this over the bar.

YES

2/2 edit: adding in some more transitional elements and a real ending makes this so much better. bravo. still a yes but much stronger.

January 23

the limit on length is to prevent someone from submitting a 25-minute EP in continuous form. 7 minutes isn't a hard limit - i think we have a 13-minute remix? it's just hard to write long tracks well, so we generally advise against it.

opens with some harp and very light textures. i appreciate how much time is taken and the amount of rubato - i'd still have loved for the harp parts to be live so they've got more push-pull, but what's here is nuanced and carefully rendered. the texture at 1:21 is really nice. still surprising how well musescore does for representing the instrumentation when care is taken with it. there's a chord at 1:51 that i can't visualize what's going on, but the subsequent resolution is really nice (albeit a touch long). 2:18 again demonstrates really nice patience with the approach and has some really great scoring and voicing.

3:07 has a huge orchestral crescendo that lasts a solid 20s - again, great job with the scoring to avoid sustain-itis and make the notes being played all matter. there's some really fun chord structures in here as well. i'm also struck how you've managed to go like five minutes without really touching the actual iconic elements of the theme, and it's still so obvious what you're arranging.

6:08 is where you really dig in the spurs and get after the melodic line we've all been waiting for. the timpani here are pretty boomy, and 6:28's chord is a bit sketchy with what's put in the lower voices. and finally, after over seven minutes, we finally get the recognizable melody line. there's a hard dynamic cut at 7:22 that's pretty obviously artificial. we get a final resolution and sustain, and it's done.

this is superbly handled and excellently scored - easily the best example of proper orchestral scoring i've heard in months. extremely enjoyable approach. there's some nitpicks here and there, but within the scope of the work this is easily over the bar. nice job.

YES

Jonpon · January 22

opens with some wide synths. the kick rhythm is a little confusing as there's no beat here to hang your hat on, so it's not clear where the down beat is initially. the melody comes in at 0:24, and you're right, it is questionable. polytonality is a technique i recognize, but it really doesn't work here - it just sounds off-key outright.

0:49 is where the track seems to be more settled. there's a recap of the beginning with some low synth blurbs at 1:13, and those synths kind of step on each other since they're all in the same freq range. the beat picks up at 1:38 and this has a pretty neat vibe once it gets trucking. i'll admit i don't really hear the original in this section.

2:27's lead synth doesn't really make a ton of sense to the rest of what's going on around this section, and it's so highly embellished i definitely wouldn't have caught that it's a reference to the opening without calling it out. right after the main riff here, the track just continues hammering that one note for a pretty long time without significant adds. the melody comes back finally - again, pretty heavily ornamented - and then gets some weird notes around the 3:28 point before the track is suddenly done.

so right off the bat - i think that the arrangement has legs. you've got some really creative concept work behind each part of the track (to be honest, probably too much - if a book is needed to understand a 4-minute piece, you're not doing enough as the arranger). there's a lot of padding that can be trimmed, and you need to work on transitions and the opening sections so that they're approachable and understandable.

that said, the instrumentation isn't close to being there. if this is supposed to be using some retro sound chip, ok, but evaluating this as a pickup piece of music, the audio quality isn't up to par. there's buckets of free stuff that's better across the board out there, and separately there's a lot of mixology you can do to get better sounds out of the instruments you're choosing.

i think that some serious time in the workshop discord would help a ton on this, and i think that some time spent finding ways to get better sound quality from all of your instruments is helpful too. you can do nostalgic with real synths and make it sound like a modern song still.

NO

January 22

really strikingly beautiful scoring on this original.

opening broken chords make sense given the nature of the original. the additional left hand movement at 1:01 is really nice as well. the transition at 1:33 was a little clumsy, but i see where it came from the original. we get the vocal line at 1:52 with a similar backing rhythm and voicing to the opening. there's a fuller section that covers the culmination of the exciting part from the original.

after this, we start to get into some recap material. at this point we've gone through the song mostly in a straight line, so i liked that this is starting to recap and explore a bit more. the big hit at 3:39 is rich and initially well-voiced, but it does emphasize that this track probably needs a bit of dynamic compression so that it's not such a huge range. i did not care for how basic the backing line was at 3:53 and felt that should have had more interesting rhythms or voicings given the amount of space in this section.

4:20's the last big blow of the piece, and this also isn't super exciting in what's being played until the big culmination at the end of it - again, i'd have liked to hear either a more complex line than just some chords being comped, or some adaptation of melodic material in there. after this is a very delicate representation of the melody with a beautiful set of arpeggios to back it, and then it's done.

the original is really stellar with a beautiful melody line, and you do a great job relaying that throughout. i would have liked to hear a bit more complexity and care with the harmonic accompaniment in a few places, but what's here is well-handled. nice work.

YES

January 21

Hi OCR,

Here is a piano arrangement of the song theme of Last Story, composed by Nobuo UEMATSU. I’ve discovered this OST by curiosity about composer on his works, after his collaboration on the Final Fantasy series. I was really touched by this song, so emotional and sad.

I’ve tried to respect this in my arrangement, alternating some soft parts and flights, but keeping restrain in the whole piece.

I wanted to announce the main melodic line from the first notes (with some variation on the melody). The following part is based on the intro (part 2). Thought for a string orchestra with long notes, it wasn’t evident to adapt in piano. I’ve taken some liberties with this part to give a piano playing more natural.

After that, the song starts with the real melody and a rhythm clearer. It was more natural to play this in piano.

Enjoy!

Guillaume

Breakdown

Part 1: 0'00 soft (Toberu Mono 1’12 -> 1’50 )
Part 2: 0'30 (TM 0’00 -> 0’50 )
- A) 0’30 Soft
- B) 1’00 Arpeggios
- C) 1’33 (TM 0’50->1’12)
Part 3 :1’52 (TM 1’12 -> 1’50)
- A) 1’52 : Soft
- B) 2’19 : Rhythm

Part 4: 2'44 More animated (TM 1’50 -> 2’20)

Part 5: 3'18 (TM 1’12 -> 1’50)
- A) 3’18 : Arpeggios
- B) 3’40 : Rhythm
Part 6: 3'50 Culminant point of the piece (TM 2’20 -> 3’00)
Part 7: 4'20 Rhythm (TM 3’00 -> 3’30)
Part 8: 4’50 Soft (TM 2’20 -> 3’00)

Games & Sources

Real Name: Guillaume SAUMANDE

Game & Songs: Last Story & Toberu Mono (The Flying One)

Composer: Nobuo UEMATSU

January 21

To put it simply, the entire "Dovahkiin" theme is cut in various parts and remodelled in several ways between the instruments (just like in the first part but in a more complex way), while still using the harp to pay homage to the original guitar transcription by Harry Murrell, as cited in my last Skyrim submission.

To maintain coherence with the guitar arrangement, I'll post the link to the video again and reference the exact minute and second to explain which part I'm reworking with the orchestra.

This ReMix begins at the 1:05 mark in Harry's video, this time with a lighter, calmer, and more soothing version. Thanks to the combination of oboe, clarinet, and bassoon in an expressive "conversation" with the harp, the various melodic cells from the theme are imitated and intertwined.

We then arrive at the 1:34 mark in Harry's video. In my version, while the harp echoes Harry's guitar, the strings and choir in pianissimo help convey the emotion that specific segment evoked in me. The next section takes a different approach:
Inspired by the passage between 1:49 and 2:13 in the video, this time the violins take the lead with the main theme, while the rest of the orchestra gradually builds a more dramatic and intense effect. Personally, I really like this moment, as Harry's corresponding arrangement is as beautiful and nostalgic as it is limited by the expressiveness and dynamics of the classical guitar.

A brief — but intentional — silence introduces what would have been the third part. To merge the two parts seamlessly, I cut out a solo harp section of approximately 30 seconds that simply replicated what Harry played between the same mark that inspired the previous section (1:49 to 2:13).

The third part begins with an almost astral-like hiccup conversation between winds and the choir/strings. This merges and develops into yet another hopeful reimagining of the theme, resolving in D major and adding vibrant color before transitioning to the final climactic buildup (Harry's 2:13 to 2:40). This first section is also thought as a "re-building section" after the "crushing drama" that came before the silence.

The "grand finale" is an attempt to orchestrate Harry's ending with as much energy and power as possible.

I truly hope you all like this.

-SupremoMusico400

Games & Sources

Since the first part was accepted by the OC judges as "Dragonborn Symphony", I decided to name this one "Dragonborn Symphony 2".

The source material remains the same, and the composition process hasn’t changed either. I merged the two parts using Shotcut, exporting the two MP3 files of my original work from Musescore 4 and then combining them in the video/audio editing software I just mentioned. From there, I cut and exported the final file to WAV format.

I genuinely don’t want this to come across as superficial work. However, my life circumstances don’t allow me the time to delve into audio editing and mixing. To be honest, I’m again relying on Musescore 4 and its soundpacks to be sufficient for this kind of project.

Staying on the "honest" note: yes, the piece is 8 minutes and 48 seconds long. I realize it’s almost two minutes over the limit, and I apologize for that. However, I couldn’t bring myself to cut more than the harp solo I referenced in the other section. Doing so would have left me dissatisfied with my own work, and that would have made me reluctant to share it with anyone until I could rework it to my liking.

I noticed that Musescore gave me some problems with what I believe to be the horns at a certain point, and there's a buzzing sound of some sort which I couldn't find out how to fix.

I couldn't manage to upload the file directly into the site, so I use google drive again, with a link for you to access it at anytime.

-SM400

Part 2 - YouTube

Part 3 - YouTube

January 21

The original idea for turning this into a battle theme was based on the first "tutorial" style battle in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, where you are in the school yard and proceed to have a turn-based snowball fight to learn the basics. By adding in some higher ends with the use of analog generators and additional samples, I wanted to bring a more nostalgic wintry feel that's accentuated in certain sections and more subtle in others.

My track 0:00, source track n/a
Since this is a battle theme conversion, I wanted to convey a build-up of tension similar to that of the first 17 seconds of the [REF1] adaptation with a bit of an industrial energy, given we might be stretching the boundaries a little to provide them with basic augmented reality. Battle preparations, taking their places on the field outside Seventh Heaven. Unrelated to the source material but it helps convey the additional discordance that is being introduced.

My track 0:24, source track 0:13

The first reference to the main motif in Barret's theme, using the same notes as the original but with less separation between them. This could be considered to be one of the most contentious points of this track but after much contemplation, I do feel that this off-key mix of the lead and rhythm sections compliments everything that comes after it in my submission. The first 37 seconds from [REF3] has a great build-up and was one of the main inspirations behind bringing together the same tones of Barret's Theme while also introducing some discordance and disparity between the notes. Reducing the time between the notes also accentuates this greatly.

You could consider it as a warming up phase of the battle - participants haven't really found their footing yet and are fumbling a few of their throws. You can't expect to perform perfectly from the very start and "feel the flow" as a certain character would say, referencing a previous comment about "Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL".

My track 0:49, source track 0:39

This is my interpretation of a more traditional upbeat JRPG progression - possibly something you'd see on the Super Nintendo in a game like Chrono Trigger with those organ samples. I do enjoy making some interesting transitions to other similar styles where possible, without ruining the cohesion too much. I hope that it doesn't jarring when dancing between multiple ideas within a single track such as this. In this instance, I think the transitions do make sense and it's something that I continue to explore within compositions and arrangements such as these.

My track 1:13, source track n/a

0:49-1:10 from [REF3] showed that I wanted to have a classic lull in proceedings - something to begin building the tensions once again as I feel that is particularly important when it comes to battle themes as opposed to general area or town tracks. Music from the Halo and Spyro the Dragon franchises showed me how important that was when it came to the works composed by O'Donnell/Salvatori and Copeland respectively. Having something that constantly "all-out" constantly active would be far too much for the listener and it's almost impossible to keep up that level of activity without losing what really makes your track sing, introducing too much repetition or adding melodies for the sake of it. I do enjoy employing negative space where possible - less applicable with battle themes but very much underappreciated in atmospheric tracks too.

My track 1:38, source track 1:05, 1:27

The middle of the track also serves as the very meat of the experience - what I feel really makes this a battle theme. The contrast between the high notes once again and that lower-pitched lead along with a slightly more "active" bassline are what brings this entire sequence together. There is still a slight mix of hopeful yet combative energy coming from this. Maybe it's the determination that is such an important trait of being a member of Avalanche, never to give up regardless of one's position however bleak it may look.

It also makes a callback to the very end of the loop during those overlapping lead chords which I think works particularly well and isn't overpowering. The repositioning of this element of the source track allows us to add our own interpretation of an outro.

In the second half of this section, the complexity is reduced and the higher notes are removed, allowing for a more natural progression to the following section - a second lull in proceedings.

My track 2:27, source track 0:00

A cheeky little callback to the very beginning of the source material. A chance to cement a wintry feeling by introducing a clean high-pitch square instrument with a touch of reverb. Also a chance to dance around the keyboard a little too! I beefed up the bass too by introducing a low guitar sample which adds a nice counterpoint to the especially higher octave blips from that square. While it references the beginning of Barret's theme, it also vaguely resembles that of the lower notes included in the main motif but this may have been by design from Uematsu-san.

My track 3:01, source track 0:13

The second callback to the main motif in Barret's theme, this time without the disparity between the lead notes and the bass/chord tones to convey a culmination of everything that's happened up to this point. It's getting to the end of the skirmish and everyone's ready to battle one more round to see who is victorious! Also including an additional slightly heavier counterpoint to the lead instrument to really drive home that upbeat energy at this point.

My track: 3:26, source track n/a

"Wait, what's that in the distance - is that part of the simulation or are those people really running in fear towards our location?" A harsh reminder that yes, this is still the Sector 7 slums and some things have or will never change. One minute, you can experience utter joy but at any moment, that euphoria can be stripped from you entirely, leaving nothing but the reality of your existence. Shinra still know about your location and things won't stay the same forever - for better or for worse.

My track: 3:35, source track n/a

The question remains - is Avalanche able to prevent Shinra from dropping the plate that exists above Sector 7's entirety? Instead of looping around to close off the track, I wanted to leave a question for the listener to ponder as a small cliffhanger. A very short and minor reference for the ending sequence 0:44-0:54 from [REF2] helped to shape this. While it doesn't carry the same sense of "almost" impending destruction or loss, it is still somewhat unnerving.

Video references:
[REF1] 壱番魔晄炉 Battle Edit (Mako Reactor 1 - Battle Edit) Reference
[REF2] Dead End (Final Fantasy VIII) Reference
[REF3] 忍びの末裔 Battle Edit (Descendant of Shinobi - Battle Edit) Reference

Games & Sources

Source track: Barret's Theme (Final Fantasy VII)

In a way, I think Barret's theme from Final Fantasy VII has been associated with the beginning of the game, almost a part of the tutorial if you will. The original track is very friendly and upbeat which I feel matches the energy of the start of the game - a successful raid on the Mako Reactor and Cloud, along with the friends in Avalanche, has safely made it back to the (currently) safe slums.

They are a very close-knit group whom I believe would definitely enjoy playing competitive sports and other games outside with each other, especially with the younger generation like Barret's daughter Marlene. Now, I know that the Sector 7 Slums are part of the Midgar undercity and many of those residents would never see the light of the surface but if it ever did snow outside Seventh Heaven, this would be the battle theme that played while both teams attempted to pelt each other with compressed snow. Maybe some snow was able to be miraculously preserved with Mako energy after shipping it in from the Icicle Inn from the northern continent or with all their technological advances, a simulation could be developed that converts a small area into a playing field, much like the augmented reality duels from the "Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL" anime. I know, it's a bit of a reach with it being the slums but I would feel that a close unit like Avalanche might put together some funds for something like this for the younger generation, especially given Barret's relationship with his daughter Marlene. He's just a big old softie with a tough outer shell for sure.

As the original theme is more a summation of Barret Wallace's overall character, I wanted to skew it towards a battle theme with additional instrumentation and more traditional percussive beat. To do this, I wanted to take some additional inspiration from Nobuo Uematsu's recent arrangements for FF7R. There were two tracks that really stood out for me that take an original area theme and turns them into an incredible battle theme, coined the "Battle Edit" - "Descendant of Shinobi" and "Mako Reactor 1" from Final Fantasy VII Remake.

The adaptations from Uematsu-san were what inspired me to try doing something along the same lines. They are an absolute masterstroke in how to turn a cheerful, slower-paced track into something incredibly hype-inducing and combative in nature.

January 21

Hey everyone! It has been a while. I hope all is well.

Due to some big changes in my career, my focus shifted a bit from making music for the past a couple of years, so I have been relatively quiet on the forums. I wanted to return with a new and improved style, so I took some time to read over comments and feedback from previous WIPs and posted songs, and really tried to figure out what I'm lacking in comparison to other remixers (A LOT). I also wanted to learn more about FL Studio, mixing and mastering, and how to use my Native Instruments samples better. I'm still struggling a bit, but I think I am making good progress.

Now, as far as my remix is concerned, I have been having trouble trying to decide exactly what genre this mix would fall under. Maybe, chillhop(ish)? I really don't know... I just make music that feels right, ya know?

I made 3 different versions of this particular remix, and I think this version is my favorite one. Though, this is a remix of a Sonic Frontiers song, it was actually inspired by the "Rusty Ruins" track from Sonic 3D Blast (Sega Saturn ver.) and one of my older remixes that was posted waaaaay back in the day, "Day & Night."

In previous remixes, I struggled making my music sound natural and non-robotic, so this time around, I focused on adding more variation to note velocities and timing. I still suck at playing my midi keyboard, but I decided to keep some of the minor mistakes and imperfections in the mix, and move away from grid-based composing.

I hope you all enjoy the song! Thanks.

Games & Sources

Sonic Frontiers - Theme of Koko:

proph note: this is the same thing for almost 2min and then has a B section at 1:54 that i almost missed

January 16

track has at least 4.5db of overhead, probably more if compression is used.

opening chords are beautifully voiced. the G# there is certainly a choice. i really like the playing with time that you're doing around the 20s mark, but it becomes tough to hang your hat on a rhythm initially as it's too out of time. i like the 3v2 idea though and when you're more specific about the timing (like closer to the 1:00 mark) it's a lot easier to understand what's going on in the left hand.

bar 16 feels really nice after the uncertainty of the opening section. that left hand voicing at bar 19 in beat two sounds weird even with the break you put in with the pedal - i think the G# and D next to each other with no E until halfway through the broken chord makes it hard to catch the chord structure initially. bar 20 though is worth the price of admission - that's straight out of an Uematsu FF piano arrangement, just beautiful. and repeating it at a lower dynamic really gives two perspectives on the same section, i really like that.

at 27, nice job in the performance emphasizing the sustains over the noodles getting cooked underneath. we get a recap at 33, some really nice descending elements for a bit, and a heavily embellished broken chord to finish it.

this is a beautiful arrangement! full of character, just like the original. there's a few points where academically i see what you did that don't quite sound right to me, but overall i love the concept and perspective. and the performance is very moving with a lot of patience. excellent job.

YES

January 16

Sheet music for reference:

10 years ago my first OcRemix was posted - it was a piano solo arrangement of the love theme from Earthbound - I thought I'd mark the occasion by submitting an arrangement of the love theme from Earthbound's sequel! It's another personal favourite and something I'm glad I finally got around to covering.

The source usage is pretty straight forward - I'll consider the original material to be made up of 2 sections, and A theme (starting from 0:00 in the source) and B theme (starting from 0:50). My remix has a short introduction, with the A theme coming in at about 0:30 (bar 8 in the score). It's a fairly straightforward, unembellished statement of the theme, but set over a bed of quiet descending triplets in the left hand (I'm sort of emulating the start of Mahler's famous adagietto here). There are some minor reharmonizations and twists on the melody here, which transitions to the B theme at bar 16. The texture is a bit thicker here with chords in the right hand and a busier 16th note rhythm in the left, with some ornamental high notes filling the spaces between the melody. It builds back up to the a repeat of the A theme in bar 20. After this climax, it breaks down for a couple measures with some soft 4/6 polyrhythms that continue to weave in and around the repeat of the B theme. After revisiting the original setting of the A theme briefly from bar 33, the piece ends with a quiet arpeggio.

Also a small note, in terms of the mix you might notice some low end fuzz and some warbling - there is a vinyl filter on the track that can be removed if it's an issue.

Games & Sources

Mother 3 - Love Theme

January 16

opens with similar orchestra and flourishes. vocals have probably a bit too much reverb and not enough formant boost, so they're hard to make out. the backing elements are frenetic and intense, which is fun. the guitars lead at about 0:39, and there's some violin in there as well. the lead into 1:02 is great, big and intense. there's an extended solo section followed by a section that's just vocals, drums, and strings. the mix overall is really hot (there's a ton of clipping identified) but it's extra loud here, and the cymbals make it so i can't really hear a lot of the vocals. there's another tonal shift at 2:00 - i really liked the shift to the persian scale as a way to mix it up, as it's been fairly straightforward throughout.

2:34's the first real dynamic shift we've had the whole track. the step back here is nice, but again when the crash starts going it's irritating and over-loud. we get a half-time section at 3:33 - would have been nice to hear the drums step back earlier, but i liked a lot when they did so that other stuff could take the fore. percs are back in at 4:17, and everything doesn't sound quite synced right away. crunchy note at 4:58. everything's back in at 5:02, and then suddenly we're in a chorale section! the layering of the parts make it hard to tell what part is what - a bit of panning and varying formant reinforcement and levels of verb would help make the individual parts clearer. this is a cool idea though.

coming out of that section at 5:35, we get what's clearly an extended build section for the Final Destination. 6:29's payoff chorus is exactly as intense as you'd expect, although the synth riffing that was really wide in the ears wasn't my favorite. it gets really loud and hard to pick stuff out by the very end, but that's a bit to be expected given the scope of the track. it ends with a phase shift to some audio from a match, which is a bit of a letdown but i get the nostalgia concept.

overall i found the cymbals to be super notched sounding and a bit shrill, especially when they were by themselves. additionally, in general, the voices had a lot of fundamental and needed a formant boost around 2.5khz to get them to pop out of the texture more. overall though i loved the arrangement - there's a lot of breadth to an original that's actually pretty straightforward. i appreciate the various ways that you keep it fresh over a 7:30+ long track. and overall i think the mix is pretty solid, it's just a few specific things i wish were different. definitely not enough to keep this back.

YES

January 15

opens with a really big distorted bassline. there's a huge fat kick that comes in right away as well, and then we get down with the phatness at 0:20 when the backing elements come in. it gets pretty dense and messy quickly - i love the opening riff and the bassline once the track gets moving individually, but they're in the same register so it gets hard to hear everything clearly. it stays dense and progresses through the chord structure for a bit until we get to 1:21 and there's a bit of a break from the bassline. at 1:42 there's some stabs and the timing on several of them is off - it's notable right away with how regimented everything else has been. this is clearly in a pattern because the same timing issues come back several times. the mix gets very over-dense again around the 2:10 mark and it's hard to really hear anything by the end of it.

2:32 is the first real break we've had, and this is really needed as the track is so oppressively mixed (honestly fitting for a doom track!). 3:02 brings in another completely sick bass tone (seriously, you've got like four in this track that are so great), and then we get a recap of the opening section (not copypasta but fairly close). the track trucks along for over a minute doing mostly the same thing, and then suddenly drops off with no beat and meanders a bit before ending suddenly without any prep.

i'm honestly pretty torn about this. on one hand, it's very over-dense and cluttered in several sections, and the timing thing at 1:42 is offputting immediately when you hear it. on the other hand, it's got some absolutely dynamite synth choices and i actually like how oppressively heavy the mixing is, as it fits the game without sounding bad - it's just super heavy, the kick especially. i'd like to hear from someone else before i call this one as i'm really on the fence about it.

?

edit 3/20: i want more things to happen in this track, like kris said. there's a very static, blocky quality to it, and it's hard to judge this without seeing all of the crazy automation and fun things each of these big synths could do. but we don't judge on potential or how close we are to attaining that potential, we just judge on what we have in front of us. this is an aggressive, forward mix with unique synths and a punchy approach. what's here is over the bar. it ain't perfect, but that's ok.

YES

January 15

opens with what i think is ~30 of a joke, and then gets into the actual arrangement, so i'll start from there.

opens with an expanded version of the dark world dungeon. there's some nice passing of the initial four-note pattern initially, and then a highly interpretive version of the dark world dungeon theme. this more outlines the chord structure and references the main riffs than it does directly arrange it - there's a lot of the original in the cello for example, but not a lot in the leading voices.

there's a rhythmic and dynamic resolution around 1:57, and it starts referencing the ascending arpeggio riff from the NES dungeon. the melodic line here is roughly the same shape as the original's melody line that eventually comes in, but it's certainly more inspired by than it is the original's material. there's some octaves here that i didn't really care for in the scoring, actually - i would have much preferred more fleshed-out chords, at least partially because it wasn't obvious to me why those notes were being emphasized with octaves.

the third section starts at 3:12 with some really fun disjointed and differently-timed ascending patterns. the cello here is overpoweringly loud for at least the first 20s or so. there's some resolution elements and it's done.

there is what i think is some unintentional phasing going on throughout. later edit: this is apparently endemic to the samples used per the remixer, so it isn't something that we can correct easily. i also don't really get the first 35s and wouldn't mind if it was just from the true start of the piece that we posted.

that said, what's here is a really interpretive and interesting take on several dungeon themes. there's a lot of complex arrangement going on here, and it's well-performed. what's here is still over my bar for execution as it's enjoyable and has a lot of depth in the performance and arrangement.

YES

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