prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

this was a fun concert live. beat hits pretty quickly, and the clavinet is perfect for this style. it's got a nice tight shuffle right away, and it's immediately recognizable as the original. the switch to cymbals at 0:31 is nice. i wouldn't have minded if the lead line coming into the eponymous "snake eater" line at 0:55 was more in front. there's a solo section after this, and i really like the lyrical approach that you took to it. 1:30 goes right back to the tune, and trucks through a more stylized version of the melodic lead. there's a bit of an outro starting at 2:13, and it's done. i couldn't help but wish there was a bit of a drop section at 1:30 to help stretch the track out a bit, but what's here is fun and fresh. an easy vote =) YES

notably louder in the right ear until the kit comes in, and that's a pretty sharp tone to be isolated like that. tone overall is super bass heavy and boomy in the lows a lot. the kick and bass in the opening have a ton of presence on the fundamental. vocals are very sharp - formant has been overly boosted and they are more piercing than i'd like. at the prechorus at 0:45, i lose the lead line in the harmonies - that needs to be doubled and separately brought up. there's a bit of a break/transition at 1:10, and then it kicks back up at 1:18. the prosody on the third line "promised to not leave you there" is a bit weird as you sit on 'to' instead of a more important word. we get another chorus section with a too-quiet lead right after, but i like the backing elements a lot here. back to the verse at 1:57, and again the prosody is a bit weird through here as the sustained words are usually not important words. the fast change to 'pain and blame' is confusing too. there's a fast transition to a quick break before we're back to the prechorus section again. the subsequent chorus at 2:48 is again a nice sound, and the lead seems a bit stronger this time around so that's good. there's some solos to play us out, before a big drop at 3:23 quotes some of the opening before a final chord to finish it. this is a neat concept, and you've clearly got a good idea on how to frame and shape a track like this - it flows nicely throughout, there's some fun hooks, and you don't let the backing elements become boring, which is great. i think my main issues are with the mix being very boomy while the vocals are very sharp in some sections (edit: this is the same issue i had with the chorus on your SH remix that recently got posted), and separately the prosody in several sections is not very smooth. i didn't see the original comments from DoD, so i don't have context on why this track placed where it did. i think mostly your singing tone is good (it gets nasally and pointed once and a while, but overall sounds nice), and issues there are more with the EQing of the voice parts. this isn't there yet. i certainly don't think it needs a different singer - just some updates to the mix, and maybe settling some words a bit more. NO

these originals sound bonkers, so strap in, i guess. opens with washing-machine sounds and string stabs that resolves into a found-music beat pattern. the 'lead' instrument here is super interesting - i love the timbral variations over time, particularly the squawking, distorted edge on the tone. the original's maj7 jump is immediately recognizable, and the little variations like the 'miss' at 0:45 are a nice touch. 0:54 switches to a much more broad feel, almost like a hand-pan and pads, with a lot of outside fx and nicely handled bird sfx. i like the verb on these as it does indeed make it sound like a cave, it's surprisingly nuanced. and making a melodic, calming progression out of the nonsense that is MANTICORE is impressive. the same beat as the beginning comes back around 1:15 and starts to fade in - i wouldn't have minded some more variation there at this point - and there's some washes of color to make it progressively more creepy. the beat comes closer and closer until at 1:55 the original progression is back in our face with the original evil duck synth. we do get some variations to the beat pattern which is nice, and then the fireworks which apparently are a story element. 2:28 brings in FLAMES and includes a lot of additional sfx here as well. it progresses through that a bit before a sudden, harsh fall-off, and it's done. well, it's a ride, all right. the arrangement is just what i expected given the artist - a surprisingly clever and nuanced approach to a track nobody was going to listen to twice - and it features a ton of fun sound design and interesting, unique little bits to keep it special. the work on reverbs especially is particularly impressive. YES

opens with some tempo-synced elements that apes the opening chord progression, and then at 0:18 we get the arp pattern that's in the strings in the original. there's an interesting feel at 0:18 - the backing arp sounds strings-adjacent, and the big verby drums and timpani give it an orchestral newage feel, but the lead synths are very spacey and different. the bit of glide on the lead that comes in at 0:53 is nice. there's a bit of a break at 1:31 - still highly rhythmic and tempo-synced, but not any percs for a bit. the strings pulsing in the background again are nice - the interplay between real and synthetic elements is fun. the escalation element in the stop-and-go at 2:27 is really nice. there's a change in the feel at 2:41, and suddenly we're two instead of three for a little bit. there's a feel of wonder and anticipation in this section, which is interesting and i can't really quantify. accelerating towards and then reaching the 'peak' of this section and feeling the beat drop out from underneath at 3:18 is reminiscent of cody sailing over the waterfall in marahute's arms in the beginning of Rescuers Down Under (one of my favorite animated films). the subsequent section transitions into a slow letdown around 3:50 - almost as if we can't get to that height again, and we know it - and then builds itself back up on the other side over the course of the next minute to a peak at 4:50. this section doesn't quite have the verve and impact as i expected given the complex build-up, but it's a nice cozy payoff section for the last minute of the piece. one last chord, and some fade, and we're done. this is outstanding. the work evokes a sense of yearning among other emotions - really superb realization throughout. i particularly appreciated the nuance in the pacing and in the volumization between each section - there's loads of extra attention paid to ensure that each element is just in the right place for each section, regardless of where it's being used. the track sounds fantastic. excellent work. YES

micro mages WAS a no, originally. you passed on a resub. opens with a whoosh that isn't in the source (but is only 0.25s long, so i'll allow it 😂), and then gets right to the source. there's a fun, bouncy feel to the bass writing, and the sidechain is crisp and significant. lead writing at 0:32 is great - tons of personalization. the sfx clip right after it is a bit loud, but i love the hard drop into the band sound at 0:49, and i absolutely love the super-heavy sidechain, reminiscent of the post-chorus Titanium sound. there's some bass growls in there that are a fun addition, and we hit the first break at 1:18. this is pretty long and does some unexpected stuff, like the fakeout build into 2:05. we do finally get the last payoff chorus at 2:21, complete with some organic grass-fed bass wubulation. more exciting is the altered chord progression and subsequent key change so it's not just playing through it in a straight line again. excellent use of an escalation mechanic in the last few seconds of the track. there's some more sfx and some keys to play us off, keyboard cat, and we're done. a delightful track. i think the sfx are too loud each time they come up, but that's really my only complaint. i like the arrangement, the song's scope and form, the execution, and the wrap. nice work. this is an instant favorite. YES

opens with some big washes of sound. this immediately reminded me of 800% justin bieber, actually - the super-wet strung out chords sound a lot like a paulstretch demo. the chords sound reasonably in line initially , although a few points are aurally confusing (like whatever's happening at 1:36). there's a break for the 'movements', and then we get into a new timbre and approach - again with the chords in the washes, but with broken chords in the piano outlining the harpsichord's part in the original at a slower speed. there's some really delightful little sparkles in these more restrained brushstrokes which are super interesting. the chord structure again gets dense by the fifth and sixth chord - i still don't really know what's going on there - but when it clears up, the chord movement is more obvious. the piano really goes off into some weird places by the end of this section and i found that to be pretty confusing (like the last chord, the piano's notes all sound like they're non-chord tones...but it's the resolution chord of the piece). i initially felt that the chordal patterns were too far apart from the original and as a result were academic. but after intentionally going along and only playing the core of each chord and then clicking to the next, i found that my original inclination was wrong - this is the original's chord structure (albeit not as clear as it could have been), and my original thoughts were due to not being able to correlate them due to the long tails and openings on each chord. so i do actually think there's enough source here, although the piano element does its best to confuse things. with that settled, i think that the vehicle here is dramatic and unique - the broad washes of sound are beautiful and cold, and remind me very much of looking out a window at a winter landscape. i 100% can understand if the other judges aren't into this, but i think what's here passes the letter of the law around source usage. with that in mind, then i definitely think this passes. YES

thank you for being willing to accept feedback! not everyone always is and it's refreshing to see someone be willing to step back and try something different. opens with some chips and fuzzy guitar. percussive elements and bass come in soon after, although they're pretty hard to hear. there's some interesting filtering on the percs, but the bass is nearly unable to be heard. the chips and guitar are in unison for most of the first thirty seconds, but we do finally hear stuff 'hit' at 0:38, and the band sound is together at 0:43. the full band sounds pretty bass-lite still, and is dominated by the crash cymbals and the middle-range chip sounds. there's a more intense rhythm section at 1:15, where the guitar is more audible, but the bass content is still really lacking. the fuzzy guitar is such a unique choice for this section - i keep wondering what a heavier distortion would sound like. there's a big break at 1:57, with a lot of call and response in the guitar. there's some real intonation issues that are highlighted by this section. this is followed by a more rhythmic section with heavily automated drums for a moment before a band section that has all sorts of more complex drum patterns in it - there's some really fun drum writing in here - and eventually introduces the main melodic line over top. this repeats for a bit before we get to a resolution, and it's done. from a mix perspective, there's a ton of sub-40hz content throughout this, which is a part of why the bass sounds so quiet throughout. trimming out most of the stuff under maybe 50hz would help a lot...you don't need 11hz at -24db =) beyond that, a lot of the not-chip choices of instrumentation really lack punch. like, the entire section at 0:59 is super intense, and the writing is complex and interesting, but it sounds like it's being played back on a cell phone - there's so little body to the sound. from a performance perspective, the guitar being out of tune throughout is rough. it's very noticeable every time the instrument is on a sustain - the big chord at 0:40, the descending line at 1:03, the riffs at 1:18, and especially the sustains that occur from 1:56 through the end in both the rhythmic sections and the lead/solo sections. that's not as easy of a fix unfortunately as changing some EQs, but it's tough to listen to in those spots. i still think the arrangement is fun! i think that there's a lot of technical stuff holding this back from being a really great chiprock tune. NO

opens with an interesting done/plectral combo - almost sounds like a sitar. beat comes in at 0:16 alongside some really interesting percussive elements. it starts to resolve into an actual beat alongside some starry pads over time - some really interesting ideas in the patience of developing it. there's a few weird notes in the lead at 1:01 that are not delay artifacts to my ears, they're just wrong notes. the melody comes back at 1:05 in a few places, but the big feel at 1:20 is really nice. it's a fairly thin texture, but there's a lot of range used in the instrumentation, which i appreciate. the super downtempo feel is really good. the lead at 1:01 comes back in here eventually around the two minute mark, and this time around it fits the chords better. there's a shift at 2:24 as we get into the second part of the original. the shift to sharper-edged synths after all those bells and blurbs was surprising, but i like the significant feel change. i also like the original material here and think it helps flesh out the rest of the track nicely. this all serves as a pick-up into 3:12 where we're essentially moving at twice of the speed that we were originally. the bass element here is nice, but i'd have liked hearing some of the other elements be changed up here too help support the bigger feel of this section. there's a big drop off at 4:15, and we're into the outro material. i like the bookending that's done here with the percussive elements. this is a really unexpected representation of the original! there's a really great shape to this track, and the natural build that you've built in works really well. i don't care for the couple of bad notes at 1:01, but that's probably my only real issue with this track - the rest is just personal preference. nice work. YES

opens with some drums and what sounds like a keyboard for the bass. drums don't really have much body. there's an organ blurb, and then the first section of melodic material starts at 0:19. it's heavily modified as noted, and there's some harmony added that doesn't quite fit the chords (mirrored fifths doesn't really work most of the time for harmonies). there's similarly some stuff happening in the organ backing that also doesn't quite fit. we hit a break at 0:50 and there's some extra percussion added before an organ break and build up. i liked the lead in this section, and would have liked for it to be more forward and have more body to it. 1:52's got some funky notes in there - sounds like some chromatic progression that doesn't quite land. this continues through the next several sets of chords - sounds like not all of the chord changes are vertically lined up as much as they could be. this noodles through the melody some more and then it's done. this is an interesting concept. most earthbound remixes usually have some level of funkiness to them - undoubtedly brought about by the weirdness of the game - and so a single-synth track is a fun idea. i think however that this needs both more going on (most of the track is just bass/drums, lead, and a backing element or two at most) and it needs more refinement in what it's doing. there's a lot of what i'd call wrong notes as opposed to quirky progressions in the harmonic accompaniment, and what most of the instruments are saying is bland or looped a lot - like the drum patterns and backing organ. freshening that up alongside a more robust approach to mastering that'll add some body to the individual instruments would help a ton. separately i felt that the arrangement was pretty meandering, and lacked direction in a few spots. being more intentional with your representation of the original would help a lot. NO

this is a fun idea - i like name-based puns for remix genre adaptations. what's here is pretty upbeat and honestly an enjoyable concept. unfortunately, this is what we'd classify a cover - replacing instruments in the original with either new sounds or something that was performed live but not really updated at all. the performances are great, and i do like your instrument choices! but this doesn't meet our arrangement guidelines, specifically section 4.2 which calls out this situation directly. beyond that, from a mix perspective, there's no room sound nor is there really a complete job of volumization throughout, so the mix is uneven and doesn't sound as natural as it could with more attention there. this doesn't change though that this is a fun representation of the original! everything with your distorted lead is great, especially 0:41, and like i said i really like the concept. i'm sure this would get a bunch of listens on YouTube, for example, which doesn't have anywhere near as stringent of submission standards around arrangement. but for it to work here, we'd need more Orsi and less Nobuo in the arrangement. NO

this original is outrageous! how have i never heard this before? what a bop. opens with the guitar being just a touch ahead of the drums - would really prefer to hear the lead sit back into the pocket a bit more. there's some fun stuff going on in the far outsides of the ears here - lot of panned content. i don't hear much of a bass in the intro. the track picks up and gets to the meat and potatoes at 0:27. the lead part is performed great - love all the detail on the lead, tons of vibrato and accoutrement going on. i also appreciate how much the backing parts aren't just on autopilot - there's tons of fills in the drums and in the rhythm guitar, the amount of stuff that's coordinated is great, and it doesn't sit on the same patterns for any length of time. there's a half-time drop at 2:31 which is appropriately evil-sounding. the big fat stacks playing tritone patterns and the chugs at 3:08 sound like something off of DT's Systematic Chaos album. there's a big screaming solo and then some drum work at 3:54 before the requisite acoustic guitar break at 4:05. we get one last big blow at 4:31, and it's worth the wait with the intensity being cranked up to 11. a few last chords and it's done. quite literally my only complaint is that i don't hear a ton of bass guitar (probably because you faked it tbh). the writing is great, the performance is superb - one of the better guitar performances i've heard this year in judging, and the drum writing is excellent as well - and the mix is clean. excellent work, really enjoyable track. YES

opens with the keys. they feel a little low-poly - guessing that's part of the recording described in the description. drums come in at 0:09, and they're pretty straightforward. melody comes in at 0:18. there's a very active bassline underneath. piano underneath is lovely. the drums are pretty rote - they don't change much outside of specific fill sections, and the panning is pretty harsh (there's a weird cymbal effect and the snare both hard in the left ear). there's a nice pause at 0:42 in the melodic line, and it progresses then through the last half of the line before a short pause. keys are back in at 1:07 and we get a more chromatic version of the melodic material. the lead's nicely velocitized through here. there's some wooble on the leads starting at about 1:55 that's not my cup of tea, but is tastefully done. 2:17's another recap of the opening keys, and the opening drum loop joins it for a bit before a probably-too-long break and subsequently a recap of the opening section. this is copy-paste from 0:18 for over a minute, and doesn't really hit an ending as much as just a sustain in the keys on the last chord. there's no crossfade on the end and so there's about 15 seconds of sustain to nothing there. i think this concept - piano-driven backing elements played live, ballad drums, and a reactive arrangement that includes some nice space to let fun parts ring out - is a great one. i really like the piano playing as well throughout, although i would love to hear more variety in some of the repeated sections. speaking of repetition - the drums have some nice fills, but the in-between stuff is autopilot and very noticeable given how loud the drums are throughout. additionally, the last minute plus being repeated is both obvious and disappointing - you've got this great piano riff to start it off, so why not mix it up and add some different chords or patterns under it? lastly, the instrumentation doesn't really fit together, in that the keys have a bit of room sound on them, but nothing else does. it all feels very dry, and so the sequenced instruments really stick out next to the more organic piano. i really like the concept. i think that paying more attention to what the drums are saying so that they don't repeat so much, avoiding repetition in the arrangement throughout, and spending more time with the mix to bring the drums back, make the piano sparkle more, and adding some room sound throughout will make for a much stronger track overall. getting a somewhat more prepared ending would be great too - you certainly don't need to end on a root chord, but making it more obvious you're preparing for the end would help prepare the listener as well. NO

i forgot how much i hated the voice sfx in malo mart, thanks for getting that stuck in my head again. percs and some eerie strings to start, and some really fun sfx and percussive elements come in soon after. the beat at 0:16 is fantastic, i love how heavy it is. the various super-verby elements on top fit in really nice, and make the malo mart melodic material - still in major - sound so weird. from a theory perspective, the actual melodic material really doesn't fit the chordal elements much, but that helps make it feel more unsettling. the lead used for the melodic material might be a little too bright for the texture, but that's probably more personal preference than anything. there's a drop at 1:21, and we get a lot of sfx and vocal clips to keep things moving. there's loads of malo mart in the background of this whole section as well. it drops even further and layers in some Wormtongue-esque vocals after the 2:10 mark. the panning "sell it to me" clip is appropriately weird. we even get laughing children, because kids are creepy and strange. this transitions to an oddly happy rendition of malo mart around the 3:10 mark, while keeping the weird sfx and backing elements going at the same time. i think the idea here was the contrast being unsettling, and i get that, but felt it lost a little of the dark vibe here for a bit. this fades out to some great horror sfx and a musicbox, and it's done. this is wild and not at all what i expected from our main monkey mix matriarch. the contrast throughout is really unique and interesting, and of course the track sounds excellent in terms of the master. i think this'd be a great october mixpost for sure. Y̵̭̆̅E̵̢̩͑̀̿̈́S̴̢̲̩̘͌͌̓̕͜͜

opens with a significant unpitched swoop that builds to an initial wash of colors and theme. the melodic material that comes in after 0:30 is nicely patient and doesn't rely on percussive elements to move forward, which is a nice change. the beat hits at 0:59 and is a nice vibe. the 808 conga sound that repeats at the end of every bar sticks out a bit to me, but i really like some of the other elements, like the wobbly vibes used for the melodic material here. there's a fun choppy transition at 1:57, and the following section is pretty obfuscated. there's some melody in there but it's really hard to hear, might be actually too quiet. the transition at 2:26 is unexpected, but the feel after is really fun - the glidey trumpet lead here with the heavy kick is a really interesting combination. 2:57 is a significant drop - there's like 30s of noodles here before it gets back to more than one thing in the texture. i'm surprised how much i didn't mind the dropoff, actually - i really expected to find it to be too long of nothing going on, but the patience again won me over. i would have minded if it was louder though, as the dynamic contrast is pretty huge. harmonizing the glider synth is a really clever idea to ramp it up a touch. big build into 4:03, and we get another low-key driving beat here (now with chippy arps). the toms that come in around 4:32 were a little forward and out of the texture for me (and the hats that came after felt really loud). once everything came together and we had the actual full beat together at 5:02, it felt better, but i still felt the hats were a touch loud. there's some building elements through this until we get another shift that winds up being the last. i felt that the more unpitched ending - basically everything after 6:00 - to be a bit of a let-down after you'd successfully built so many other clever textures throughout that tied so well to the original. it didn't feel as connected to the rest of the piece as most of the other things you'd done throughout. overall this is a really interesting ride. there's a ton of maturity in the textures you're building here, as expected, and the mix is super tight to help make it all pop. there's a few things i wish had gone differently, but as a whole i think this is superb. YES

nasty bass pad to start, and all sorts of heavy guitar screams that crawl right under my skin. loads of bass in there. the first riff really hits at 0:19. there's a ton going on right off the bat, so the mix keeping everything audible is pretty impressive. track rips through the A and B themes pretty quickly before we get some Algorithm-esque glitched metal complete with 90s era sfx before the B theme comes back in. this jumps into the C theme at 1:30 almost immediately. this is a fast transition and i wouldn't have minded more of a fill or something to get into it. it steps further back at 1:43 for a chippy interlude before smashing the "guitar riff" button on the transition back into the A section, this time featuring loads of synth elements. the backing guitar is hard to hear here (it's gated, right? the gate might be a touch too tight). beat drops for a few seconds before we get to the requisite crazy solo at 2:31 that pays no respect whatsoever to western musical theory. there's some dueling here for a bit, and we get one more break at 2:57 before the final big blow is in. i liked the recontextualizing of the B theme at 3:09 to mix it up one last time before the end. ending elements are again very Algorithm-esque, although the fadeout was a cop-out - i really expected it to just glitch out with all the fun stuff you were doing there. this is a really fun track! the original's pretty wild, so there's a lot of what could normally be called exploratory stuff here but instead just kinda goes with the flow. it's a pretty dark mix, but the different elements are all audible easily and the arrangement is great. excellent work. YES

this is an awesome original. never heard of this game at all. opens with classical guitar strums and a few arpeggios outlined. the arpeggios - or, close enough - from the source starts at 0:12, and they're not super clean and rush a touch, but they're really organic and feel very real in my ears which is a nice feel. 0:41 brings in some melodic material, and this feel is really nice when everything's in time. there's a bit of a break at 1:16, and then we get into the riffing again at 1:27. this again gets off in time really pretty bad (1:27 is so rushed in so many places) and doesn't get back on until in the solo itself. i liked the solo section and especially the double-strumming at 1:56, very idiomatic. there's one more chunk of melody, one impressively in-time riff section in octaves, and it's done. this is a fun one! i love the stylistic reinterpretation. and there's some great feel to it, it sounds like something you'd hear special from a busker. the timing elements though are too obvious to ignore, and i feel like they aren't super complicated to correct, either. punching in some improved cuts and especially one of the shaker will improve the quality of this track tremendously, and wouldn't require any change to the mix itself. tracks this thin in terms of instrumentation need their other aspects to be rock-solid, and this just isn't there yet. NO

over 4db of headroom. opens with a nice filtered synth fade-in, and similarly a lead that's initially very filtered and fades in. there's the first real hit of everything at 0:29, and it's a nice sound - bass has a lot of space as does the arp. percussion comes in around 0:47 and it's very simple. however, up to this point, we're just hearing what made asgore good - if anything, there's less here than the original. there's the first real break at 1:05, and it's also still pretty much straight from the original - just slowed down with some nice synth choices being made. picks up at 1:26, and again, the vibe is nice, but there's nothing to my ear that's different from what instruments do in the original. there's a funky note at 1:44 that comes around a few more times after that. 2:05's shift is again a really nice texture - i love all the space in the synths. there's a filtered section after this as well, before a drop at 3:02. we get another run-through of the melodic material, and then a non-ending (not even a hard cut). that's a real bummer to end it. gorilla in the room - i don't think there's enough arrangement here. i think that the synthwave vibe is really well-crafted, and the synth choices are great - but the asgore elements sound lifted in whole from the original, right down to the heavy delay on the lead track. there's so little noga project in terms of arrangement. if you'd personalized the melody line, or added harmonies, or updated chords, then i'd say this was great and ready to go since the mix sounds great. but what's here isn't enough arrangement. i think making it more yours would be so simple and easy! and then it'd be an easy yes vote. until then, though, i can't pass this. separately, the lack of an ending is real bogus. even just landing on a chord would be enough, or doing a few bars of beat and bass before it drops. but what's here is almost worse than a hardstop ending because there's still some delay and verb elements hanging on, so it just sounds like you didn't render it right. NO

opens with a variety of dnb tropes. the big hit starts at 0:45, and it's an absolute jimmy dean factory. we don't really hear the melodic material from the original until 1:29. this sounds like a straight rip from 1:43 in the above video initially but then does eventually appear to add a few layers to it. what's here is the same instrument to my ears, though, and it doesn't really mix it up much outside of a few twangs. there's a big break at 2:14, and then the material from 0:23 comes back and the track goes through that stuff again. i didn't really confirm if it was an exact copy from earlier, but it's close enough that it doesn't matter. once it goes through that, there's a fadeout on some radio fx, and it's done. there's nowhere near enough comix zone in this to meet the 50% expectation - in short, this is a dnb track with a bit of comix zone in it, not a comix zone remix. reminds me of this one actually, complete with saucy larry. while i think the track is fun to listen to, it unfortunately doesn't meet our requirements for a preponderance of source material - in short, it needs more vgm referenced (and arranged) in order to be a fit for our site. i'm sure it'll do well on youtube though, it's an enjoyable track. NO

fun original. opens with sfx and some radio samples that eventually turn into a beat around the 0:25 point. this builds in various ways around the riff that plays in the background of the original in the panflute throughout most of the original, before a significant falling action at 0:58. there's more sfx and eventually the melody's represented in the long-delay synth lead. beat's back in at 1:17, but this really feels like it's noodling around a lot here. the beat's very forward as compared to the other elements, and the texture keeps changing significantly without really sticking to anything long enough to really feel settled. we go through several feels in maybe 30s before we get back to the melodic material around 1:50-1:55ish. the very light bell-like lead doesn't really feel supported by the intense, powerful kick, and whatever comes in at 2:07 totally crushes everything else because it's in the same range as the kick. there's a transition at 2:16, and again the pounding bass element is totally overwhelming as compared to the other elements which are all much lighter in timbre. the variety of transformations applied to the overall sound though is really interesting, especially around the 2:50-2:55 area. the pounding bass persists in the drop at 3:04, and then finally drops at 3:23 when the choir elements come in. there's tons of transformative elements here and this is a really neat section. i personally felt that the tapestop effect and subsequent pitch transformation after the 3:54 slam transition lost a lot of energy from a song form perspective. there's one more build back up to 4:14, and loads of overlapping elements to build up intensity again until we hit the outro material at 4:32, and that's that. there's some really cool concepts here. i feel overall the package is a little more tiktok-brain scattered than it probably needs to be, but a lot of the overall timbres you arrive at are really interesting and have tons of interesting stuff to say when you stay there for more than a few seconds. the balance has some times where it's out of sorts, and the mix might cause some folks to stumble a bit. but i think what's here is an interesting and transformative arrangement, and i think that the mix is good enough to not drag it under the bar. i will admit it took a few listens to get there for me. YES

it only placed 2nd? wes, we don't aim for silver in this family. you're not emuBEEtor, you're emunAtor. opens with washes of sound, because it's wes, but the ep and bass that come in after are delightful. the FM ep and clicky kit are very familiar sounds in this style and vibe. snare's a bit loud initially. the first chorus is also very rich and full sounding. there's a really wild hit at 1:39 that pops way out of the texture and sounds like an artifact to me. the second verse has lots more harmonic and countermelodic elements, which is a nice way to mix it up a bit. the hats at 2:23 are a touch loud in the left ear. there's a big drop at 2:50 with some sfx, and then we get the big chorus that we all wanted at 3:04. there's some real proggy elements here with how the beat and chord structure gets mixed up for several bars, and then we finally get the guitarist on his knees out in front of the band with the screaming lead that we've been waiting for. there's a ton of sfx and other stuff going on throughout this last section, and it finally all resolves a 4:23. i admit i didn't really dig the ending - the sustained choir just kind of collapsing on itself and the beat trucking for another measure or two wasn't quite the wind-down i expected after the big blow that was before it. and then it's done. this is a fun package overall. there's some nits for sure - wes can't go two bars without a static whoosh effect, a few percussive elements are a bit loud here and there, and the ending was kind of a bummer for me - but this is still a great example of how to take a really overdone song and make it super unique and your own. definitely above the bar. YES

i think it's live - it sounds like this was stereo mic'd and the low mic was over the middle of strings instead of the pillar or closer to the hammers than you'd like. i agree it's overly dense. if it's not live, then it's very strangely EQ'd, and the overall lack of room tone on it also is hurting it. we often say that the fewer instruments that are involved, the more brilliant the arrangement and technical aspects need to be. the minute or so from 0:38 that is single lines in each hand is imo too simplistic for such an extended section, and separately there's a ton of very small tempo push/pulls that are organic in nature but are just enough to make me keep thinking about the tempo instead of the actual piece. if the recording was sparkling, or the arrangement was full and rich throughout and didn't have some bare spots, i'd call it good enough. but the combination of technical and compositional issues are just enough that i'd say that this needs more to make it over the bump. NO edit 5/7: apparently it's not live, which is impressive that it aped a realistic tone so well. i've used the maverick a bunch so i'm surprised i didn't recognize it. i still think that the lack of room sound hurts it and the EQ feels really boomy and low.

what an interesting idea for this. the opening section sounds great to my uneducated ears - this is an aspect of music history i've got little experience in. i wasn't exactly expecting queen at 0:25, but hearing how the vocal fragments fit into the setting you put it in is so cool. the americana section at 0:47 is nowhere near as much a change as i expected. there's some very hard panning into the right hear that i don't care for all in the plectral instruments, but other than that this is neat. the following ocarina is great and well-performed - wish it was a touch louder actually! the subsequent violin sounds great too, there's a bit of an earthy tone to it that really fits well. the chorded instrument that comes in after at 1:43 is a little dense and doesn't sound like it's in the same room as the rest of the instruments. this comes back to the harmonica for the OT title theme, and then we finally get our first real break at 2:27. there might have been a bit too long until getting to this. it feels really nice at that point to settle a bit. the last big section has the violins aping the vocal elements at 2:50 - what a fantastic concept, i'm surprised how much that fits together. there's one last bit of native settlement 2 and it's done. that's a whole lot of ideas and themes in a row, but it feels more like folks sitting around a fire and passing the lead around in a circle, surprisingly enough. it's a really neat feel. the mix is bright and forward, and the drums in particular sound a bit over-EQ'd, especially the hats and snare, but that might be partially due to recording methods. there's a few little quibbles here and there, but this is a super fun approach that is novel and interesting. i love the leap of faith that is trying the traditional vocal methods - i'm really impressed with how it turned out. fantastic job. YES

source is insane as expected. opens with some bass and strings playing the initial riff. the bass gets a bit buried from a lead perspective under the drums when they come in, but it's still able to be heard some. guitar's just a touch behind for the first few bars that it's in. there's a quick break and we get the first real lead at 0:32. this noodles through the melodic line, and then very suddenly kicks into bloody tears mode at 1:02. the texture here is a little thin - i don't hear much at all of the bottom end on the bass, and the rhythm guitar line is mostly monophonic to my ears. it's got a bit of an Incubus Odyssey vibe which is pretty hip. coming out of this more square section is a callback to the opening riff (is it 7+8+6+9? that's so wild). there's a break for an organ-like lead to do the ascending B riff, and some interesting sfx in the backing synths. when the drums come back in, it's straight blastbeat for like 15s until it drops, and then it's just sitting on a chord with some voice sfx until it's done. i think that the mix has a few spots where it's not spot-on, but i like the approach and the variety of styles used. the original's so wild that just rendering it into something that's consumable here is probably enough and that's what you did. i think what's here is over the bar. YES

opens with synthbass, some guitar, and a descending glidey synth. it quickly picks up and gets a beat and a stuttering backing element. the beat is pretty toothless, but the concept is a neat one. some sidechain and a beefed-up kit would help a lot. the melody line comes in at 0:34 in a detuned lead, and later is doubled by the guitar line. i like the fuzzy tone on the guitar, although it feels oddly EQed. there's something in the left ear at about 1:02 where it drops in volume for a second or two (you can see it in the waveform). 1:06 is a shift to half-time. the drums here are inaudible almost entirely. the synth elements are neat, but most are fighting for the front and so sound like they're overlapping. there's some odd chord stuff at 1:33, and we get a recap of the opening beat with the descending glidey synth. there's some guitar doing the lead. i like most of what the guitar's playing, i just think the instrument is muffled and the mix is really dense in a negative way. like, at 2:40, there's this tight lead synth playing and a super-verby synth comes in over top and just dominates it, and you can't hear anything else while that's soloing. there's another break at 3:01 to half-time, same issues as before. the ending comes soon after - there really isn't one, it just cuts off after the second time through that half-time section after the weird chord thing. and that's that. i think there's some really fun ideas here! i like the sound of the guitar combined with a variety of synths, and for the most part i like your synth selection a lot. i think your drums are way too quiet relative to the rest of the mix, and the overall arrangement is fairly repetitive (it's A B A B, and while there's solo elements that mix it up, each section is repeated when it comes around again). but there's definitely legs to this idea, it's just a matter of fixing up the mix a lot and then finding a way to not make the second half's structure so similar to the first. i think there's a lot of opportunity for little differences, especially in what little of the drums i could hear. NO

fade in to start, with some pretty dull drums and big buzzy synths. the statement that this was made on a groovebox tracks (no pun intended) - the late 90s sound is right there. the whistly synth was a bit too high-pitched for me, it bothered my ears a bit. this trucks through the A theme and hits the B theme at 0:55 - on the downbeats, no less, which is a refreshing change from the original's slightly off-beat start. there's some noodling around the descending pattern that changes over time with the synths chosen, and then shifts to a bit of a chippy approach at 1:43 for a bit. the same fill keeps getting used for every transition, which is noticeable earlier but really starts to be obvious here. there's a whistle effect that comes in at 1:52, and it persists for more than a few bars and really becomes irritating after a while. there's some more build-up from the earlier drop and then it gets back to a similar vibe as the earlier representations of the A section. this feels pretty repetitive at this point, and there's still another minute left - this definitely needed a significant shift to feel different by this point, or else something else to really mix it up. one or two more repeated patterns from earlier as part of an outro, as well as a few sfx, and a fade-out finishes it off (but not before the last pattern cuts off, so we hear it just kinda end). i love the idea of a more beat-centric, energetic take on this theme! and honestly you did some fun stuff with this old hardware (it being >25 years old is nuts though). but what's here is just too repetitive even if the beat had more oomph to it. i think this needs at least a minute of repetition cut out, and some more transformative arrangement concepts brought in (at least to the second half) so it's not the same descending pattern being hammered over and over with the same fill in between sections for >4 minutes. separately, the drums really lack oomph - so maybe exporting from the RM1x and doing the drums and the mix separately would help. right now, this isn't there, but you've got some fun ideas! NO