prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

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.

i agree that there's a bit of flooding later on in the track when the compressor finally kicks in, and that there's a lot of dynamic contrast (arguably too much width overall, the quieter parts need some expansion). that said, this is a great example of post-rock without actually having any rock in it. it's enjoyable to listen to, accessible, recognizable as the source, and features some really fun effecting and uber-sustained synth work. it probably needs the last five seconds of silence chopped. this is an easy vote from me. i really enjoyed this. YES

jaunty little tune here - i think everyone who had an n64 played this at least a few times. so from an arrangement perspective, this is fine. there's a bunch of fun variation, it's recognizably WR64 still, and while it's a bit repetitive near the end, conceptually it's fun. there's some significant performance issues here that could be easily fixed up, although some might need a re-record to be really there. from a mastering perspective this needs a lot of work. so let's look at this from a resubmission standpoint. /edit: i wrote a bunch about the drums assuming they were live. rexy told me they weren't, so i'll update what i said and removing the advice about recording, since it's irrelevant. right off the bat, the drums feel very flat. the lack of a present kick was an issue to me, along with the very ringy, loud cymbals over the top. kit volumization and EQing is hard to do even if you've got a really standard band to accompany, so in a more sparse aural situation like this you're going to need to do some seriously careful notching of EQs to make sure that you get a snare sound that's still bright and springy without allowing it to be all snap and no body. same with your kick drum - even if you just want beater and no bass tone, you'll want to make sure that your implementation is such that you still get a clear tone that fits in the mix without being as nonexistent as it is here. the toms sound pretty good, the hats when they're used sound fine, and the snare is real dry which isn't my preference but i can see being yours, but the cymbals definitely come through very loud and the kick is essentially not there. /end edit. so next up is the bass. your bass tone is pretty consistent - guessing it's compressed in the initial chain itself? i agree that it's a very treble-light tone, and that lends to making it harder to hear. personally when i play i prefer a brighter tone so that i get more of the finger/string sound, and i find that actually fits better into a soundscape than the bass-only tone you've got going on here since it makes it easier to understand what the bass is playing. i didn't mind the higher parts, either. in terms of what it's playing, i like your rhythms, but i'd definitely stay away from playing pentatonic scales in a song that's very firmly in major. pentatonic scales feature a flat third and flat seventh - both of which do exist in a major song, but both are going to sound weird often. the first lick you play (5 4 b3 1---) is a great example of this. you're playing a minor third (G natural) against the IV chord (A major). that's gonna sound weird no matter what, since A major doesn't have a G natural in it. this comes up numerous times, but in general if you're playing in E like this song is in, don't play G naturals or D naturals unless you're borrowing chords and those are the roots (or like what you're doing at 1:10, which makes sense to have the D since it's a walking line). the whole section from 0:26 to 0:35 shows that you've got the ear to stick it for sure, so it's just a matter of changing how you're listening to the rest of the parts and fitting into them. same with the guitar leads that come in later - they're almost wholly in pentatonic scales, and it sounds very wrong next to all those nice normal major chords. it works when soloing next to power chords in a rock song but not where the individual pitches are so clearly laid out like this track. it's a fun solo and i like the concept, but you can't call a G natural next to an E major chord anything but a wrong note. the part writing for the trumpets was real fun, and i liked the interplay. there's some EQing and especially volumization that could be done to make it so that they're a little more balanced without their dynamics fluctuating so much between solo and ensemble play, but they're well-performed and fun to listen to. for the sax parts, i liked what was being played throughout. several of the little bits and bobs you popped in throughout add a lot of character, so that's really fun. there's several times where your vibrato gets wide enough that pitch was lost, and that's usually a result of not tuning with the embouchure you're going to use when playing, concert E is a hard key for the alto since there's so many notes that don't sit in-tune that are in that key, but a more controlled vibrato would do wonders for making your tone have a more full core. so that's a ton of words. ultimately i think this is a fun ditty. it has a peppy feel that drives it forward, and while the track does feel a bit repetitive by the end since it's mostly the same idea twice, it's still something i'd like to listen to again. i think that there's so many little things that'd really improve the overall feel from a performance standpoint. i also think there's a ton of mastering techniques that can be used to really make this have that professional sparkle to the sound without requiring professional gear or a special room to get it. you've got the arrangement chops to make this work - now just go back and make those revisions that will make this track take another step, and we'll go from there. NO

at least 4.7db headroom, possibly more outside of a spike or two. really needs some boost. i've been on a chippy kick lately, so this was a fun stylistic idea to consider. i also really enjoy devolved music (ie. realistic soundtracks in chiptune) so that's a fun idea. i liked the transition in the beginning to crossfade in your synths. i thought the initial presentation of the melody was fine, although i agree that the drums sound real bad here and throughout. there's just no beef to them at all, and i'd expect a lot more bite to the bass and drums throughout. there's some fun writing there and it's almost impossible to hear. i agree with LT that throughout the track does feel pretty light/empty. there's a lot of ideas you could flesh out or expand upon in the background and supporting parts which would give it more oomph throughout, and i think that's needed before we call this one good enough. i do think the opening and ending are great as-is though. along those lines, the supporting acoustic instruments aren't great and could use some love as well to make them sound more realistic to contrast to the synths better. from a mastering perspective, there isn't really any. this needs a leveling pass to keep some instruments from sticking out (like the sitar at 0:43) or being buried (like the drums everywhere), the drums need a clear EQ pass so you can notch in the snare and kick a little btter, and then it needs compression. i think this one's actually pretty fun overall. i like the perky synths and the ideas you flesh out throughout. i also liked the arrangement and think it's good enough at least in terms of melodic content. fill in the backing parts a bit more during the middle of the track, and fix the production, and this is a great addition to the site. NO

i dug the lofi vibe you had going, and i liked the variations and stutters you added. i'm also a sucker for multi-octave arps, and you used those a bunch too. i do think that the melody got sidelined too much, and that there was a lot more room for melodic interpretation. that'd also help lengthen the track - just over two minutes isn't bad, but it's not great either. i also agree with the other judges that the beats kind of felt the same after a while despite the fun ideas you had in a few places with stuttering or clever patterns. i noticed some wrong notes at 0:49 in the right ear lower synth. that C chord is borrowed, and needs an E natural to really sound right and lead properly into the following F chord. try and get rid of the D and Eb that's playing there. overall i like the feel, but it needs more melody and especially something to help it feel like it progresses from start to finish. dynamics can help, as can variation in your instrumentation or drum programming. right now though i don't think this hits the mark yet. NO

lmao wtf, reuben i don't know what i expected. this is, against all odds, enjoyable to listen to! it's not good yet but it's fun. starting with the eight-hundred pound elephant in the room, yes, your performances on the kazoos are solid! the pitchiness inherent to the instrument is honestly fine most of the time. there's a few times (0:57, 1:01, 1:09 for example) where it gets pretty bad, and needs to be better, but overall it's solid and close enough. one thing i would do however is normalize the differences in volume that occur when you've got one low and one high in opposite ears. you will probably need to do that via automation vs. trying to use a tool to do it for you automatically. the arrangement itself is fairly simple, and i wasn't a fan of the second half being essentially the same as the first part. i'd love to hear some more noodles here, or at least some more creative interpretation of the melodic content. i also noticed that by roughly halfway through, the repetitious background was becoming more and more noticeable. from a mastering perspective, the drums sound flat, the bass sounds very flat and lacking in treble, and the kazoos are honestly too loud overall (if you turn the master volume way down until you can barely hear it, if you don't hear a reasonable mix and just hear the lead, then it's too loud). the drums are blah enough that it's hard to even notice them in the mix. they need a a volume boost, some compression, and probably some more attention paid to EQing them so they notch into such a spare mix better. along those lines, the accordion and bass are hard to hear when the rest of the instruments are playing. some EQing can help there too. this is a clever and fun idea, and the execution is holding it back, along with some overly repetitious backgrounds. i'd love to hear more creative backing material to compliment such a fun idea, and then some real attention paid to mastering it so it's not so all over the place from instrument to instrument in terms of volume. NO