prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

classic original track here. let's hear it. i like the concept. the intro is real atmospheric. there's some great tone and it sounds great. the chugs are also really meaty and heavy, which is fun, but it's at the expense of most everything else. i realize this is a stylistic choice, but it's real muddy sounding. i've heard a lot of really heavy stuff that isn't nearly as clogged as this is. the background instrumentation isn't particularly interesting either - if it's not exactly the same as the original it's pretty close, and the leads in the guitars are less leads and more color tones on top of the AK47s in the rhythm guitars. i'm sounding negative and it's not intentional. i do love metal arrangements of classic game tunes, and there frankly isn't much going on in the original outside the driving rhythm that keeps it moving forward and making you feel the urgency of the mission in-game. i do think that the arrangement here is enough, but it's borderline at best - there's not a ton of originality outside of the transition to the metal ensemble. the mastering is heavy to the ultramax, and that's actually to the detriment of the overall track since you're just totally overwhelming what could be some very powerful drums. however you can still hear everything at least a little, so it's not like the mastering is destroying the mix, just not enhancing it like it could. i'm pretty torn on this one. i need to wait on it a bit before i vote. ??? edit: the rhythm guitars are just too loud. the balance is not good enough. the last third or so is particularly egregious. gonna call it. NO

whoa, what a style change. arrangement is clear and over the top in terms of fulfilling the guidelines. there's a ton of attention paid to ensemble work here. i especially liked the call and response portion early on. a common issue we find with jazz tracks is that it'll be a great adaptation of the head and then ten minutes of ramen before we get back to the melodic content, and that's not the case here. there's a ton of examples of melodic content throughout, and it's showing through in the solo work. a few of the solos are a little less directed than you might want but overall the quality's high and the instrumentalists do a nice job playing their instruments and recording them in a way that sounds decent. props to the soprano sax player making the palm E at 2:43 sound like a real note that was in tune and not a death screech. i did find the piano playing to be pretty blah after a while, but that's fine because it's way in the back and was essentially just a fancy rhythmic pad for the duration of the song. the production is definitely a bit of a sticking point. the live instruments themselves all sound pretty good, and the spacing is done well. i like what the bass is playing, but found it very difficult to hear - the tone is much more of a rock sound vs. a brighter, dry sound i'd expect to hear from an electric bass playing jazz. i'd recommend listening to pastorius or some of those guys to get an idea of just how bright and alive a jazz bass tone should be. you can barely here this one ultimately, and that's too bad since it's playing some real fun stuff. the drums are definitely too roomy as well, and don't fit into the soundscape defined by everything else. you kept them back more though which was needed. ultimately i think the productions good enough, but a more realistic mastering of the drums, and some clarification on the bass would have really helped it out a lot. this is a fun track with great ideas. the mastering of the backing parts isn't great but the overall track is fun and quickly recognizable as the original. great job here. YES

this game is without question one of the funniest game dev stories i've ever heard. the idea that Wisdom Tree was going to do a Hellraiser game is by itself so silly, and the actual story/gameplay of S3NA is equally silly. wolfenstein means carl the camel, with sleeper watermelons. like what? the intro is so huge, i love it. guitars and bass sound great throughout, meaty without being cheesy or feeling fake. the drums are solid and do a good job of keeping it moving without allowing what's ultimately a slower song to drag. the super-lowered vox are a funny adaptation of the 'original' (as in, the Bible) that isn't too obnoxious. in terms of arrangement, the original doesn't have much at all beyond the initial riff represented in the guitar chugs and a bit of sustained lines up higher. this track does a nice job with expanding what's there in a stylistically interesting way without ever getting very far from the original. i wouldn't say that there's a lot of exploration here, but what is here is enough, and there's a clear progression throughout the song that continues to add energy and build towards a solid ending. this sounds great. i look forward to seeing dave's writeup on this one =) YES

wow, this just sounds fantastic. i love the fat vibe going on throughout. it really fills up the soundscape. the constant varied breaks every 4-8 bars is great too, just a ton of attention paid to each section. the energy throughout is also great and i love how it keeps pushing forward. honestly this is just a great mix and everything i want to say is echoing what the others have said. nice work. YES

hoooooooo boy. i'm going to start off with saying that there's not enough arrangement or interpretation here to call this a remix. so it's going to get NO'd from that. the arrangement is essentially two or three times through the melody with some background movement. it has no supporting structure to prop that up, and it isn't transformational enough by itself to stand on its own. so that's not there. this is an extremely explorational arrangement that features some great technique-driven composition, and isn't afraid of really settling into the story behind the music. i really like the significant attention paid to rhythmic elements throughout - you've got a ton of interesting polyrhythms in here with how you're layering duple and triple meter alongside the deconstructive/detuning elements. it makes for a track that feels really thrown together at first but then comes together on repeated listenings. i also really like the hyper-compressed sharper synths that come in right at 1:00. it's a huge contrast to the supersaw you're using for the main body of the mix and it adds a lot of vibrancy to the sound. the entire 'big' section is pretty interesting and i love the sfx and timbres you're able to pull out of everything. sitting on the fake static at 1:55 is also a pretty big leap of faith as well but i really enjoyed the timbral changes throughout to the ending section. my biggest complaint is that it just isn't long enough. if this was ten minutes long (yes, ten!), and featured some more transformational arrangement, while still maintaining the cyclical identity you talk about in your intro writeup, this is probably a yes from me. the level of exploration and development shown in barely three minutes is great. i think that really, really pressing into the identity you have created here and using a level of subtractive arrangement that you see in, like, strobe (deadmau5) with your instrumentation would make something so incredibly unique and moving. as it is, the arrangement precludes me from OKing it. but there's a lot of opportunity here. NO

you can add at least steam, xbl, and psn to your OCR account as well.

i'd love to participate. these have always been fun.

love the backstory, really fun idea. very creative. i love this source since it's one of the first original tracks i ever remixed. the intro is really atmospheric, and i like the feel of how latent the energy is. i think the synth stacks lend a lot of power to that section. the addition of distortion over time is a fun idea too. the transition to metal was handled fine and the melody is still apparent. the mastering in this section is clear and sounds good. next a shift to 12/8 and electronica. you continue to play with the melody here, which is fun, and i like the detuning to keep it weird. i found the three-step feel to be a nice shift as well to make it more yours. and then a vintage The Algorithm funky stylistic transition, utilizing both distorted kick and a time change to clearly delineate between the sections without making it take too long. i love this transition, it's really well handled and does a good job getting back to the balls of the arrangement without dawdling in transitional territory. 2:56 onward is just a rip-roaring power-metal tribute to what's honestly a really intense and driving theme despite the quiet dynamic of the original. bringing in some sustains in the guitar at 3:26 is a great idea (that i used in Facies Templum fifteen years ago!) to add interest to a source that doesn't have much of a melody. 4:13's gating (obviously post) is another big Algorithm shoutout, and i like that you didn't gate the drums too, but let them ring. the ending is kind of sudden but i like the fadeout into glitches again. it kinda just ends, but the nature of the original doesn't naturally lend itself to anything other than a fadeout so i don't think it's as egregious as it could be. this is a great track in a technical, asymmetrical style that i think really fits VGM as a whole. there's little in terms of melodic content that this original track brings on its own, so the work that's done here really demonstrates and emphasizes the underlying movement and force that makes this original so interesting. YES

@Liontamer @Gario @MindWanderer Please take another look at this one!

oh snap! i love that you fixed your music by expanding your diet of synths to be more nutritious and less empty calories! that joke was a bit of a stretch. intro is super epic. i'm a sucker for gated synths, and i love the build and interplay between the glide synth and the tutti strings. the track continues to build for over a minute and a half before we hear the actual melody, and then we get the beat finally. the beat and bass sound real good, but the rhythm guitars are obviously sampled as is the lead. this is really showcased at 2:21ish where the rhythm guitars sound really artificial, notably in how they're gated. the breakdown at 3:00 is nicely timed and executed. i really like the combo of faster strings and synth that's used to transition back to the chorus at 3:09 onward. the solo at 3:22 is solid, if obviously sequenced. it's a shame we can't get live guitar on this, as the energy would be face-melting. the ending is an interesting fadeout that ends on a V and does a pretty good job bringing down the energy without just ending. the mastering throughout is real clean. i can hear each instrument without a problem and the orchestral parts cut through where they're supposed to. overall this is a fun track with a lot of energy and a nice take on a good original track. i would love to hear live guitars, but it's not enough to hold this one back. YES

oh, that's a nice vibe when everything comes in at 0:28. the crunchy synths are fun to hear. there's some significant subbass going on too which is also really smooth. i didn't feel like the background or bass competed with the leads, so that might be more speaker/headphone dependent. it is significant so bass-boosted headphones would probably bark a lot at that. like jive i really like the digital glitchiness, and i think it adds a lot to listen to on subsequent listens. the drums are indeed fairly straightforward, it doesn't sound there's a lot of consistent change-up there but they're doing what's needed to keep it moving. i did really like at 2:45 when it really got big. this is an easy vote. the track oozes interesting things to hear alongside a good adaptation of the original. nice work. ending is a cutoff so that does need to get fixed, easy enough. YES (conditional on fixing ending) edit: updated ending is a go. YES

my original complaints were around the security hall theme usage, volumization, and the last minute or so. let's see what's changed. the security hall section is 100% better and still sounds like the original despite being significantly different from a note perspective. so that's great. i think the saws in the section at 1:34 is still too loud but it's much better than it was before. the ending is significantly better than it was before - there's more thought into what's where and how it dovetails together, which is great. i like the callbacks to earlier sections as well, it really ties the piece together. you did the things that i said would earn a positive vote from me, so here it is =) YES

interesting idea for a track here. there's a weird timing thing in the accordion right off the bat,and some timing around 0:13 that's a little off. but i love the entrance of the guitar, and the subsequent folk elements and how they balance into everything. i think there's more than enough arrangement here throughout even discounting the solo (which is awesome!). overall, there's some timing elements that come up here and there - usually guitars rushing and settling back in after a few seconds. the drums are pretty straightforward and you can only really hear the kick and snare, but that's not unexpected for the style. that said, the mastering is pretty consistent and i can always hear what i'm supposed to be hearing, so i think that this is easily over the bar. YES

this is a real weird one. there was a lot that i liked, like the guitar solo and the way that you used the source. i also liked the different percussion ideas you had going on. the main body of the track felt really dry, though, like it was missing a part. this was really noticeable to me at around 0:38ish and subsequently around the 1:00 mark. it's a complaint we've had on other tracks you've done too. the ending was weird, like jivemaster said, but it wasn't a problem, just very different and unexpected. i think ultimately while this really isn't my style of music, it's competent and does a nice job of carrying the melody and doing interesting things in your ears. so i think this one's a pass. YES

wow - this is another really fascinating aural journey. i really enjoyed the treatment. another excellent example of pushing the boundaries of what a track on this site can be. i love the piano tone throughout - it's so very intimate and delicate, which really carries the effecting by being so contrasting. i also appreciate the variety of effects used - i heard at least five distinct and unique effecting techniques used, and they all were used in a thoughtful manner (especially the consistent reversed piano, it adds so much depth to each line). the addition of your ancestor reading was such an interesting idea as well - very creative, and reminds me a lot of a lot of post-rock stuff i've heard recently, notably We Lost The Sea's Challenger part 2 - A Swan Song off of their Departure Songs album. if i'm complaining about anything, it's that your ancestor's voice is too quiet. overall you do a great job balancing a track that naturally is going to be hard to balance due to the way that your glitchy stuff shows on an RMS monitor, but i'd say that section is quieter than i'd expect. this is a remarkable track. i can't wait to see what you do next. YES

one of my favorites from the original sound track. looking forward to this. this has so many fun ideas going on. i like the transition to more of a gospel/house band style, and obviously that's a fun organ solo (side note: it's just the slightest bit ahead of the beat! sequenced or not, sit back on the beat for this style to make it pop more). the brass sound solid although to me at least it's pretty clear they're sequenced, and i liked the vocalizations and how they're used. that said, this is not enough arrangement to pass the guidelines. i'll post a whole bunch of it here to clarify why. so, first off, the track is about 2:35 long. it runs through the original chord structure at the same tempo with mostly the same instruments in the same order twice, and then ends with the loop point played at the end and everything. now, it sounds boss while it's doing that - don't get me wrong! but the only arrangement being done here is changing some instrumentation (melody to keyboards, strings to brass) and the (super-slick) solo. now, yes, solos are listed above, but it's supposed to be a combination of those elements, and having a third of the song be a solo isn't enough. from a mastering perspective, i liked the sound but felt the drums were a bit too loud throughout. i didn't mind the delay bass at all as a shout-out to the original, but maybe add some filter to the high end of the delay to give it a different timbre than the original and make it clearer which is which. overall i love the idea here but i can't pass it. there's simply nowhere near enough arrangement to get it over the bar. adding in some interpretation in the melodic content, some harmonies that weren't there before, some more creative chord choices...anything would add a lot to this. right now it's a cover, and we unfortunately don't accept covers here. NO

the opening is pretty straightforward and just outlines the initial chord progression, adding in new instruments with each repetition. the filter effect at 0:50 helps break it up a bit (not sure it's needed so soon, but it's not a problem). the solo was fun and different enough, and i liked the synth work on that. the second original section at 1:39 sticks out like a sore thumb with how simple it is compared to the melody - i'd try some new content there to try and mix it up more so that it feels more like the original's compositional style. around that part i really started to feel the drums repeated patterns start to grate on me as well. i don't mind the lack of dynamic contrast as much since there is some variability there overall, but the background being essentially the same for 2:20 is not a great feature. the ending is also pretty much not there...you set it up well but then didn't actually end it. i'd avoid ending a track on anything other than a downbeat, especially one that's so rhythmic as this one is. i think overall that your arrangement is decent and i enjoyed your synth choices. the track needs more variance in the backgrounds, though, and another look at the second original section. once those are dressed up i think this is an easy vote. NO

the opening is so quiet so as to be nearly unable to be heard. yet another RET track that needs compression. admittedly it is very frustrating to continue to get tracks without even basic mastering applied. the track takes a bit to get moving, with the first real presentation of the theme at around 0:49. there's some intonation issues in the samples that are expected based on the combination of instruments - the flute and horn at 0:59, and the unison (chorused?) trumpets immediately following. combining instruments that use vibrato in the orchestral setting with instruments that don't is in general not a great idea, especially in unisons/octaves where intonation issues stick out. trumpets again sound poor at 1:20 - the sample quality for that lead instrument just isn't great and it shows when surrounded by some really well-handled background/harmonic components. with what i said above in mind, the arrangement overall is fleshed out well and lush, albeit with a very straightforward replication of the melody. the backing parts have great movement and push the melody forward. the track overall is only maybe 2:20, with some outro noodles, but goes through the melody a bit and gives some nice setting to it. overall this has some obvious sample and mastering issues and is fairly conservative melodically, but from a harmonic standpoint adds enough to get it over my bar. YES

this has at least 2db of headroom but in reality closer to 4 or 5db outside of a single spike. i'm agreeing with the other votes by kris and wes. there's some real sample issues in how parts are used, particularly the melodic lines. at 0:47 the flute and oboe grate very hard against each other due to how vibrato's being added to the flute samples. at 1:34 the bassoon is very unrealistic in the soundscape, highlighted by the front-and-center piano that comes in right after it. from an arrangement perspective...there's not much =) a lot of this is a sound upgrade or a pad added behind the very conservatively arranged melody line. once we get to maybe 2:30ish there starts to be some lusher soundscapes and more creativity applied, but it's too little too late for me. from about 2:50 onward through maybe 3:20ish it's some really beautiful orchestration that absolutely belongs on this site, but there needs to be more from the remaining 3.5 minutes to flesh it out for that to make it. a very conservative arrangement, some weird sampling issues, and a very quiet master combine to sink this one. more creativity and i'd be happy to change my vote. NO

damned is a professional arguer, don't mind him =) nice video.

yeah, the crunchiness comes from a bunch of adjacent notes that shouldn't ever sit next to each other. the big issues are in the second/sixth and third/seventh measures. top line is the melody, bottom line is what i guessed the chords were based on the bass line and some of the other blurps going on. there's an Eb next to an E (and a tri-tone away from the root, always bad), a Bb a half-step from the root, and a Db a half-step from the C (and competing with the minor nature of the chord, also really bad). then in the next measure, you've got the C right in the middle of the Bb third and D fifth, which isn't as big of a deal because it's effectively an 11th in a properly-voiced chord, but it sounds weird since it's all stacked on top of each other and there's no seventh or ninth to help get our ear there. the second/sixth measure is more egregious than the third/seventh but both are strongly dissonant. my suggestion would be to stretch some of the jumps and pitches a bit to make them fit in the shape of the original but use new notes to make them fit (ie. make the Eb an E, the Bb in the second measure a C, and the Db a D, and then live with the extra 11th in the third/seventh measure, possibly adding a seventh or a ninth in there to voice it clearer. this section was enough to NO it in my mind regardless of the rest of the piece, but i'll go through the rest since it's actually pretty fun and i liked listening to it anyways. i thought the opening was great and really set the style in my mind. the weird pitchbending synth early on was actually really fun too and i liked it more than i thought i would. the security theme is the first big melodic section so it being so weird was real bad, but the implementation/synthesis of it was great. the transition at 1:18 was a little weird without a crash or anything on the downbeat, but i liked that at this point there'd been several distinct background ideas displayed and it kept changing. around here the shaker in the right ear started to get grating since it was panned so hard and it was also louder in this section since it didn't change volume to adjust to the lighter background. the synths at 1:35 are comically loud and crush everything else, so those absolutely need to get fixed. i liked the variety of wet synths that delayed/came in after that, though, and the sfx continued to be used in an effective manner and not too often. you brought in day 2 at the perfect time - the total tonal shift was great. i appreciate that you were able to tie together such a disparate variety of sources without making them feel too broken up. the second half of the mix overall rushes a bit between ideas but it doesn't feel too broken up. i wouldn't have minded a bit more attention to tying them together but it definitely wasn't a problem. 3:45's transition was another good one, calling back to earlier in the mix while continuing to bring in new ideas. this last minute or so sounds like a big recap section, which was pretty copy-pasted. i wouldn't have minded if you'd layered a few of the sources in a bit more thoughtful manner than just pasting a few bars of each together. the ending is also very abrupt and doesn't make much sense. overall this is a pretty fun listen with a lot of fun ideas. for a positive vote from me, this needs to have the security hall section cleaned up, some volumization done, and then the last minute or so would need some arrangement work to make it flow better (and to have an ending). this is a great start on a unique track though. nice work so far. NO

one of the best tracks on a fantastic soundtrack. i love this track. the marcato style of the intro section was a little puzzling to me but well-executed across each instrument. there's a few chord choices i'd not have associated with this theme (D major for the start of the B section instead of Dm, using C natural as the penultimate note in the melodic line instead of C# like you do in the banjo earlier) but they don't pull away from the overall piece, so i'll call that arrangement instead of wrong notes. the entrance of all the parts sounds really great. the accordion and recorder sound great together, and earth kid does a great job mimicking your articulations while adding her own stylistic techniques. i don't like that snare or cymbals at all - both have no dynamic/velocity variance, there's a machine-gun effect for both, and they stick out very loudly when they trigger. the subsequent banjo exploration/solo part is great, although i'd have liked to hear the accordion drop back in the mix more through this section to allow the banjo to be bigger. the transition at 2:28 is quite abrupt without a fill, and the loud snare sticks out here again quite a bit. the change is great though and again the recorder performance is excellent. overall this is a pretty nice piece. there's a lot of little things that i'd love to see changed but aren't dealbreakers in their own rights (loud snare and cymbal, detrimental altered chord structure on the B section, some volumization stuff) but overall the track is an enjoyable listen and features some fun ideas that we haven't seen before for a popular track. nice work. YES

there's some fun sound design going on in here. i think i'm getting what LT is saying here - the track sounds like it's missing another part throughout, causing it to be too empty. throughout it does feel like there's at least one voice missing - usually some level of rhythmic mid-level synth that'd provide chord structure without overwhelming the soundscape. you've got drums, an active and fun bass, a lead part, but rarely anything in the middle. at 3:12 you finally added something in the middle, and it suddenly feels much fuller and more corporeal. something that functions similarly without over-energizing the opening few minutes would be welcome. from a mastering perspective, the track sounds great. there's a few questionable choices in the arrangement (I didn't get the part at 2:30 at all, for example), but overall the arrangement's fun, it's just hollow. this is close but not there. if you changed nothing besides adding another voice for the first three minutes, you'd be in a much better spot, i think, and i'd probably vote yes on that. NO

the initial presentation of Dark Star is great and features some pretty flashy whistle work. the melodica doesn't have a great tone, but it's a melodica, so whatever =) i do think the whistle's real heavy in the right ear, enough that it's tiresome after a little bit and also starts to undermine the power of the drums. the guitars are playing some fairly boring stuff but it's doable. there's not much bass that i can hear in terms of presence, and the drums are pretty repetitive. i like the adaptation of Prophecy, it's easily recognizable and well-played. it is a great break when it comes in. the breakdown at 2:30 is a great break that is well-needed by that point. you did a nice job with the whistle in the lower registers there. the new guitar rhythm/chugs here are also nice since they're a new thing we haven't heard much of at that point. the new pattern at 3:10 also from Prophecy is great and a fun adaptation. great job on the melodica parts there as well. drums had a little bit of a machine-gun effect on their attacks in the fill into the final section. the ending isn't unexpected but the whistle loses just an instant of time there and it sounds a bit weird as a result. overall this is pretty fun to listen to! i think the mastering isn't perfect but it's successful at featuring some very disparate instrumentation in a way that makes sense. i think the whistle's too loud, and ima conditional it based on that. i liked the arrangement although i wouldn't have minded a bit more attention to the drums, especially with fills when you weren't doing blastbeat or something that precludes that. YES (conditional on lowering volume of whistle in right ear)

friend of mine was looking into this and thought it might be hamauzu. i told him to post here after he dug into it more.