prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

This haunting tune has been on my mind since '92. It appears in exactly one place, a single room you don't need to be in for more than a minute or two - but I'd often linger just to listen. Had to make an arrangement of it for my newest album of video game remixes - it was, in fact, the whole reason I decided to embark on the project. Hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Game: Zelda: A Link to the Past Source: Church (aka Sanctuary) YT:

opens with sfx and a lush bed of synths and guitar strums. there's a funky note at 0:28 for an instant that's pretty noticeable. big build with percussive elements into 0:39, and the lead's variances are a nice callback to the particularly funky first chord of the original and how iconic that warble is. that lead is exploring the initial arpeggio from the original without the echo on it. bass sounds a touch stilted on some attacks in this area, particularly at 0:59 for about the next ten seconds. percussion in here is surprisingly high up in the freq range too, it's noisier than i'd expect given the rich, dense background and how sustained everything is. there's a break at 0:59 and there's some exploration of the chord progression, and subsequently a recording from Genesis - and then we get the big bang (sorry!!!) at 1:42 when everything comes in. this is still focusing primarily on the arpeggio section and not on the 'chorus' from the original or the b theme. there's another drop at 2:23 for sfx, and then a big blow at 3:03 (love that tom fill!). a great guitar solo to soar over the top of the framework that's been put down so far. this is definitely the highlight of the track. the falling action after is primarily focused around sfx, and that becomes the primary sound until the end. so my main concern here is the volume of original content. i hear some easy correlations at 0:39-0:59 and 1:42-2:22, but i'm missing other obvious correlations that may be represented in the chords. i'll check with emu for a breakdown since i'm out of time to do it myself right now. ? edit 3/6: i don't hear the opening chords mapping to 0:08. i don't hear a backing arp at 0:20. i had already accounted for the synth at 0:39. at 1:00, it sounds like you're stating that the descending maj7 arpeggios are from the main arp theme, and i see where that's coming from, so i'm ok with that. i don't hear the chiptune arp at 1:20 at all. 1:42 i already accounted for. 2:42 i don't correlate or hear at all. 3:03 i still don't hear either. i don't hear a chiptune synth at 3:43. that 80/267. so that's a no-go unless i'm using the wrong file or something - i don't hear most of these at all even on repeated listens. NO edit 3/7: the section at 0:20 is clear isolated, but it doesn't actually sound pitched in-situ. it sounds percussive. so i still won't count that, because there's no point where i can pick it out as being pitched. if it was louder, i could probably hear the pitches, and then be able to count it. the first time i can hear the pitches is for about 2s at 3:53. i'm willing to assume that i'm missing the opening chords due to the detuning in the original - i'd have a hard time mapping them by hand now as it is. however, even if i counted this, i'm still not to 50% - i'm at 112/267. the backing on the solo is a bit too much of a stretch for me given i can't really hear any of it. i think this is still a no =/ if someone else wants to point out some other correlation i'm missing, great - but this not close enough right now. i think it'd be easy to find 20s here and there if emu wanted to adjust something, and then it'd be good for me, but as it is, no. edit 4/22: updated mix sounds a ton better in general, but also brings the main clicky arp way more forward so i can find it a lot easier. this allays my concerns about source usage while also dealing with a few nits in the levels that i had before. this is good enough for me. fourth listen's the charm, i guess! YES

oh, look, a goofball arrangement! i wonder whose idea this is...oh, right. opens with a nice flourish and some crocodile isle in a major key to start off, with some announcer noise in the background. the cheesy choir and accordion right after are hilariously on-point in style. i wouldn't have minded a bit more clarity there there. the switch to 3 at 1:29 complete with the same cricket sfx that we've all used for two decades was excellent. the bad onions line and what followed is unintelligible unfortunately. we goofball our way through a few more themes, have some more announcer nonsense, and some boat sfx that unsurprisingly sounds like flatulence to end it off. this isn't perfect but it's absolutely good enough. it's goofy, which mirrors a lot of elements in the games, and it does a fun job of exploring different themes while aping a culturally relevant theme park ride. nice work. YES

The Chase sounds like something out of FFXII. Mad Luca just sounds like nonsense randomizer stuff. opens with some vox and heavy bass. dnb percs and bass woobles come in fairly quickly. there's some melody from The Chase here, and the feel is more filtered and restrained initially. 0:48 continues to be a rising build, and there's some fun filtering work in here. i admit i kept asking "where's the drop?!", and then when we hit it, it's the Mad Luca theme. that wasn't quite the payoff i wanted! the synth choice for the source content is pretty weak and so i felt it lost a lot of drive here. it noodled through the Luca theme, and we get something a bit more beat-driven to hang onto at 1:35. except not, because this continues to noodle all over. from an energy management perspective, this section goes on for way too long...but finally does get back to the The Chase at about 2:27 (i liked the Chase rising line in the background right before this). the mix trucks through The Chase's melodic material, and there's a lot of variety in the instrumentation and ways that it's being represented, which i like. there's a big drop at 3:24 (literally), and the beat drives alongside some vox for a short while before it's done. i think that the dnb sections of this are really well-handled. there's a lot of variety in what's playing, the feel is energetic and never quite delivers on the payoff, which is a neat concept. i think the Mad Luca section is at least twice as long as it should be from an overall song perspective - like, we get it, you can do weird time signatures in a style defined by 4x4, but you never asked if you should do weird time signatures in a style defined by 4x4. lastly i found the ending a little too disconnected from the main body of the work. i get the concept of using a different timbre as an outro/ending section, but think it should be closer to the bass falloff - like, having it playing by 3:30 i think would feel better (having the hats playing behind the bass falloff) to help string those together. i think the mix sounds really solid, and the automation on the drums throughout is impressive. i just don't get throwing away all the goodwill generated in the first minute plus to wander around in randomizer town for another minute plus. NO

opens with keys, bass, and some limited drums. the keys in particular don't really speak very well and it's hard to hear what they're doing. everything's pretty slammed - especially the bass and kick are causing other instruments like the cymbals to distort audibly. melodic material comes in at 0:34. same drums from the intro are underneath. this trucks along through the A and B themes (the more smooth melody and the arpeggiated section), there's some fills and new patterns at 1:43 which is nice, although the instrumentation is staying the same here. at 2:08 the first drum groove is back, and the honestly the feel here is pretty hip with whatever the plectral instrument is behind the keys. the drums are just so bland. melody comes back at 2:43 way up high - this would have been a perfect chance to mix up the lead with something else. it goes through the melody the same that the last several passes have done, which feels tiresome at this point. the mix goes through the same A/B pattern that second time, there's a bridge-like section that i can't hear what the melodic material is, and then that bridge section turns out to be the outro and repeats several times copy-paste style until a fadeout occurs. this has some moments! there's definitely a fun feel to it in several spots. right now the mix is really blown and hard to hear, so that's a problem. and separately, the arrangement has some nice bits, but overall it's the same thing twice through and then an outro. i'd like to hear some use of dynamics (ie. breaks in the beat), a more logical song form, and less repetition. NO

Some time last year Ronald Poe was noodling on a remix of The Chase, and that conversation made me think about how fun (read: ridiculous) it would be to mash up that song, which plays during the Luca Blight group boss battle fights, with Mad Luca, which plays during your 1:1 duel with Luca Blight, one of the main villains of Suikoden II. Luca Blight is the prince who slaughters a brigade of his own child soldiers, blaming it on a neighboring kingdom as an excuse to break a peace treaty. He only gets worse from there, personally slaughtering innocents by the hundreds and laughing about it. I wanted to arrange something that showcases his evil. Musically, I was inspired by artists like Sub Focus and Camo & Krooked. The Chase is a banger and felt like it lended itself to drum & bass, but Mad Luca is just absolute musical insanity. (Appropriately, given the character.) MIDI of The Chase existed, but as far as I could tell, nobody had attempted to transcribed Mad Luca before. I was in luck, however; I suggested it on 8BMT's patreon and he included it in a video on Odd Time Signatures, which meant he also made the transcription available to subscribers. (I'd recommend watching the videos, it's a really good breakdown of the source.) The cacophony of time signature changes made the idea of trying to do a really integrated mashup complicated, so I opted to use Mad Luca for the break, trying to show Luca Blight's descent into madness through the arrangement. Then I circled back to the B section of The Chase to bring it all home. It's not an entirely traditional arrangement because the break is more of a mental breakdown, but I think it provides the necessary whiplash to express just how bananas Luca Blight is. As always, thanks to the great community in #workshop on Discord for their reviews and critiques. Games & Sources Game: Suikoden II Composer: Miki Higashino 🔹 🔹 🔹 The Chase: 0:00 – 1:11, 2:28 – end, with some motifs sprinkled through the middle section 🔹 🔹 🔹 Mad Luca: 1:11 – 2:28

this reminds me of something i'd hear on echoes. i don't think it makes sense to do a timing walkthrough on this, so i'll summarize. the timbral expansion here is significant and reflective of other heavily adapted arrangements we've had in the past. i appreciated the use of the entire sound stage throughout, and the willingness to explore elements that in general we don't see explored (mostly timing elements, a 180-degree soundstage, and some phase concepts). i agree with chimpa that the arrangement is fine and we don't need timestamps - in fact, had the chords been altogether different but consisting of the same pattern and roughly the same function, i'd still have said it was OK. i think that this is an excellent example of a style that we don't see near enough, given the volume of ambient/non-melodic tracks on popular soundtracks. i would have loved even more messiness and exploration in the first half, to be honest. but what's here is great and i appreciate it a lot. YES

4+db of headroom. opens with some very verb-heavy strings and piano. the piano appears to be playing the harpsichord part directly, and the cello and vin initially mirror the melody line before fleshing out a bit of harmony. it goes right into the B theme, and adds choir at 1:20. this is appropriately subtle when it's added. the arrangement opens up at 1:27 which is nice, and i like the additional windchimes and subsequent wind instruments. it trucks through the A and B theme again and then it's done. to my ear, the original plays throughout in the piano (or very close to it). there's certainly some additional orchestration, and tbh the choir elements are tastefully done. i think my main issue here is that there's very little H36T in the arrangement. layering in some additional parts is nice, and the counterpoint in several sections is pretty. i don't however get the vibe that this is ever more than the original. in comparing to some other orchestrated/choral arrangements (Rebecca's stuff for example), there's far more time spent in part-writing and making there be more than just the original driving it. the lack of dynamics in most spots (there's some orchestral crescendos, but very little individual dynamics, and the keys sound like there's zero velocity adjustments on them) combined with the solo instruments not being particularly realistic doesn't help either. i think if the first eighty seconds weren't so close to the original, this would be a borderline pass for me. as it is, the opening's just too close to the original, and the overall form is very rigid and straight out of the original as well. for something so simple in its approach, i'd want to hear more flexibility and depth of arrangement than what's represented here. getting away from the original midi in the piano would be a big help there, and expanding your tonal vocabulary with altered chords, modified phrasing, personalization of the melody line, and dynamics to give the natural shape of the melody more verve would help immensely. NO

Hey there, I am back after some time away from the community. This track was made quite some time ago but was unfinished before I left for the ether of a salaryman's life. I think I was looking for inspiration before deciding to become active again and while appreciating the Tokyo skyline, I heard this song and it reminded me of some characters, as well as some details about their lives and the trauma they went through. A line from a character in the game during when this song is played killed me. So I had to finish the job. I'm not sure what Nobuo wanted to capture in this song but...whatever it was, I think he finished the job too. As far as what I wanted to capture, well, I remember Hemo or someone commenting that they liked it but maybe felt it could have more in the middle and end. Originally after the beginning it was all choir and piano. I found it tough to add to honestly because whatever I did always felt like it was suffocating the song rather than breathing life into it. I think I both found what felt right both instrumentation wise and balance. Still not perfect, especially in terms of automation and the like but I learned a lot about balancing different solo instruments competing for space and time. Especially with such a big verby, ethereal sound coming from the choir and piano. I like how it ended up and while I think this is overall conservative, the adornments add a ton of character that makes it, to my ears, stand on its own as opposed to a cover. As I've learned so far in my journey here, not everything needs to be avant garde. Anywho, I'm always here to learn more so I am curious what others have to say. Until next time. Games & Sources Final Fantasy VII - Other Side of the Mountain

my last vote centered around the oppressive feel of the mix and the limited sound palette, as well as some of the extended sections with a minimal amount of stuff going on. opens with some nice creepy arps and some woobly pads around the lavender town arpeggio. melody is there right away in some lower synths, and there's some sfx and a slow build into when it all hits at 0:56. the kick and bass have more punch this time than the last time i listened. the melody is carried by a distorted synth that feels kind of bland initially. there's a break with just some bass and snare at the 1:33 mark, and then another build (very similar but not quite to the first one) into a big bass triplet/gallop section. the track still feels kind of empty through here as it's primarily [bass and drums] and [arp] and [lead], and there aren't really a lot of other things to fill up the middle of the soundscape. there's a big style change at 2:25, led by a new bass groove, but it only lasts a few seconds. the subsequent break has a lot more body to it than it did the first time around, and the build has a lot more verve. i'd have liked a different kick fill than the last two. 3:13 is back to a similar feel as before - and, most damningly, it continues to use the same five or six elements. it's the same reversed arp tone, the same sweeps, the same lead tone, and the same bass riff as what started at 2:25. there's only so far you can stretch the same few things, no matter how much rhythmic variation you give each element - it really just sounds like you're alternating previous loops. 4:15 brings back the rising aleatoric sound with some heavily gated pad synths carrying the melody, but they're hard to hear. there's some subtractive elements for the ending, and it's done. it again cuts off hard instead of having a true fade. i think that, from a mastering perspective, this is a lot more listenable now. it's still loud and aggressive, and that makes sense from a stylistic perspective. my issue is that at no point does it actually feel upbeat and intense. all of the lead choices are very bland, and the lack of variety of sound choices behind those leads really makes it feel very rinse and repeat. separately, there's rarely a time where i feel the soundscape is filled out - i'm pretty sure there are pads going, but i rarely can tell they're there, and there's such a huge divide between the high arp sound (that never ever goes away) and the bass/kit that it's hard to connect them. i do think it's possible to use five instruments over a five-minute song and make it work. this track isn't doing that - there's enough variety in what's being said, but who's saying it becomes stale quickly. if you trim back some of the repetition (this track could probably be 3.5 minutes max pretty easily), and then focus on more intently crafting your soundscape and your lead choices especially, i think you'd have a much stronger track overall. NO

Original Decision Well I'm back, and thank you to the Judges for both being kind enough to suggest resubmitting and giving detailed feedback to action! So same story as last time, this is heavily inspired by what I'm listening to currently and right now that's Mandidextrous (Techno on My Mind) since she's in town this weekend! The other big thing that landed between last time and this is Reason 13, with an integrated sidechain tool that absolutely rocks for intuitive use, plus I discovered the Europa synthesiser rack extension (basically Serum for Reason). So with that in mind - addressing judge feedback and with a LOT of back and forth courtesy of the workshop channel on discord: - Stripped back the sausage significantly, removing the limiter and backing everything back to 0db before starting the mix again. - Added heaps of automation through the entire song to help drive build/decay elements and move the narrative along (yes it has a narrative - we arrive in Lavender Town, discover the truth of the tower, run from some ghosts and end up battling Sabrina - but did we win? At what cost?) - most significantly, totally replaced the bassline in the first section with a big filthy reese bass, cribbed from Neuro DnB. A friend dubbed it Neuro Hardcore. - added a couple extra layers of synths and relaxed out the main arp/chime sound to reduce the total overload. It's still heavy hard club music but maybe not quite so oppressive now? - this one is directly responding to Rexy and the fast triplets - added a phaser element to give that section some motion, but also rebuilt it to use a hand crafted laser effect (heavy modification of the earlier mentioned reese). In fact all of the synths have now had manual intervention to remove that "stock" feeling brought up by Liontamer. I think the end result is... Well, nowhere near what I originally intended this track to be, but it's a lot of fun to play loud and dance to (and make stinky bassface to in that middle bit 🤣), and I think it delivers on the promise of the extra long buildup at the start now. As bonus for me it mixes really well with Techno On My Mind so yay, I can play it in sets! Crossing fingers and toes, look forward to hearing back from the judges! Apologies for the external link, I still can't get the uploader to play nice. Games & Sources Pokemon Red - "Lavender Town"

my last vote was pretty flip-floppy, but ultimately i settled on the side of the crunchy chords being too much, and the repetition in the backing parts and the execution of some of the synths needed work. opens with some spacey stabs and eventually a nice meaty bass tone. melody comes in on the guitar at 0:41 (it's a bit loud initially) and then is passed to the lead synth with some rhythm guitar underneath. the first break hits at 1:22 and i especially like the tone of autopanning arp here. there's one more short recap of the melody in a middle voice at 2:02 (probably could start a touch louder) and then we get some guitar solo work. there's a bit of a bridge which works well to mix it up a bit, and then some more handing off of the melodic content before some outro content that goes on a bit longer than i'd have expected. i think this is a lot more cohesive of a package this time around. the variety of drums especially really helps each section take on a voice of its own, and the 'fixed' chord elements allow the track to speak cleaner. YES

This is a resub, original submission thread is here: Changes: - Changed the chords on the melody, as requested. - Re-Recorded the clean guitars to fit the new chords. - For the main lead synth, re-recorded the leads to be less 'stiff' and changed delay/reverb settings. - Changed the balance of the lead synths volume - Changed the low pass on the lead guitar - Re-did the bass line - Re-did the guitar solo - Changed the balance on the hi-hats - Changed a lot of the drum patterns Mix breakdown stays the same: 0:00-0:33 - slightly changed version of chord progression from source 0:41-1:22 - original source melody 1:22-1:30 - altered chord progression 1:30-2:02 - new arpeggios with different backing and variation bassline 2:02-2:11 - original source melody 2:12-2:26 - new guitar solo 2:26-2:42 - original melody 2:42-2:50 - altered chord progression from source 2:50-2:59 - new guitar 2:59-3:06 - original melody 3:06-3:31 - new arpeggios over the original chord progression 3:31-3:50 - slightly changed version of chord progression from source Games & Sources Earthbound - Twoson

not quite 5db headroom right off the bat. from an arrangement point, there is not a lot here that isn't in the original. it sounds like you basically transcribed the midi over and then put different instruments on it, and then created your own drum track. unfortunately that's not enough arrangement to fulfill 4.2. in the submission standards. notably, this line is important here: now, that said, i think that the concept (an upbeat edm take on the darkness nova) is one that has legs! but there's a lot that needs to happen here, including writing more backing elements like pads and a real bassline, using more unique sounds for your different parts instead of just a hornet lead for everything, writing a more defined and unique drum line, and then applying mastering techniques to give it more body and feel. what's here unfortunately wouldn't be enough on the technical side even if the arrangement was excellent. i suggestion you pursue some feedback in our workshop - either on the forums or in the discord (discord's more active right now). there's even live events where you can get real-time feedback from folks that you may want to pursue. what's here right now unfortunately isn't up to snuff. NO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: sorry, but this isn't something that we can post here. NO OVERRIDE

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.

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

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

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