prophetik music

gets right into it. there's a lot of finger noise on the bass, particularly the attack, which is partially cool to hear how organic it is and partially distracting. the vibes are spare in their application - almost too much so! i'd love to hear more! - and there's a few sections where they don't line up with the bass (like the riff at 2:00). there's some copy going on in the vibes to my ear around the :50-1:00 mark and again at 1:55-2:05. the vibes don't have much velocitization to my ear at all - i don't hear many attacks that aren't exactly the same as the previous entries. there's also some notes that are not idiomatic (like 1:49 and each time that pattern occurs before in the track). i'm with LT. it's a creative arrangement that is uncanny-valley and has some technical missteps that are unfortunate. i'd love to hear a slightly more fleshed-out version that features more attention to the vibes realism and bass attack variation. i think the clever interplay is great though and i think this is over the bar, i just wish that more was done with it. YES

chill pads to start. there's some panning FM bells and ballad drums that come in next, and the bass is there at 0:43. this is a longer intro than i'd expect to hear overall, and i didn't care for how overtone-heavy the FM bells were. the clean electric guitar that comes in next is nice, but the muted stuff that's panning is a touch ahead of the beat and really distracting given how important groove is to this style. the melodic content - really more of a motif initially - finally comes in at 1:25. the 16th hats here are a good idea to keep it different from the opening. the mixing here is a little mid-heavy (i think you've got a lot in the 250hz range to my ear, some notch EQing will help). the b portion of the melody is at 1:50 and the guitar work here is simple but effective. there's a break at 2:10 and that's well-timed. 2:29 has a guitar solo that sounds regularly a fourth off of the correct key - there's a lot of tones that don't quite fit. for example, you've got a G-A-Bm chord progression, and the first part of the riff hits an F over the G (G isn't a 7 chord here), a G over the A chord (again, not a 7), and settles on an A over the Bm chord (again, not a 7 chord), then plays A G# F# E over a Bm chord (Bm does not have a G#, the G# bites against the earlier G chord) and settles on an E - the 4th of Bm, not a natural landing tone - over that Bm. it ends better though and that resolution is really nice. 2:51 is a nice lead break with a smooth synth taking the melodic content. there's some more heavy rhythm guitar in the next run of the B theme and the guitar lead comes back for a last run through. the panning FM bells come back for a bit and the pads fade us out. this is honestly really close. i think the arrangement is pretty conservative - the original does a lot more with the melodic progression that wouldn't really fit into a synthwave track, so i get deconstructing it like this. the style is pretty solid - larry said deliberate and i think that's an apt term to describe the feel. i like layering in the guitar where you did as well. i don't think the solo sits well at all until the last few notes, and there's another sour note note at 2:24 that's a half-step off - i can't help but wonder if it could be fixed in post-processing rather than re-recording it. i also really didn't care for the muted panned guitar elements that came in a few times and weren't really on the beat. i'm not comfortable passing this. i'm going to reach out and see if we can't work out the solo though because if that's fixed i can definitely see this passing. NO edit: 4/12: we worked together to fix the solo. it's above the bar now for me!. YES

starts out with some great keys. drums and bass are in almost immediately. drums sound really muted, especially the kick is almost not audible and the toms sound pretty rough. sounds like an overhead mic only was used and the toms don't really speak through that as the other instruments do - i'm curious if it's possible to pull some of the tone of those not-cymbals out with very specific EQ notches. bass tone is also bland - there's little top-end to it and it doesn't speak well over the drum elements in the same range. keys are the spotlight here. i really appreciate the varying levels of dynamics that are represented here, and there's a hard groove that the drums are laying down that the piano really settles into. bass isn't quite as settled into the pocket 100% of the time (any time there's repeated notes or a running section, it speeds up a bit down the stretch). keys riff at 1:46 is pretty silly great. there's some interesting falling action at 2:45 as part of a recap before it's the ending. the last chord took a second or two longer than expected to hit, and it's done. this is an interesting one. i really don't care for the quality of the drum recording or the bass tone, but the keys are really solid. there's a good amount of solo material here, but there's clearly a preponderance of the A section of the main theme at least so there's no concern of the arrangement. what i can hear of the drums especially is a really clean, clear pocket that's well-used by the keys to establish a really solid groove. i think overall requiring a drummer to have a multi-mic setup to be able to accurately record a jazz kit isn't required to have a passing grade on a great arrangement, so this is a yes from me. YES

opens with sfx and gets a beat around 0:13. a few ripley quotes (ridley? ripley?) and we're into a big, expansive, wide brinstar vibe with a ton of tempo-synced elements and fat pads. drum work is really nice, especially right before 1:15. 1:30 finally shows some castlevania - what a perfect dovetail there, and then following it with the organ and choir with the same drum concepts over it is great. 2:09 is a vibe change (admittedly i didn't see it going there!) and there is a ton of sfx in this section, as well as some really wild genre changes going on. 2:35 onward has some sections that feel very empty - by design, but it's almost too much - and then it hihats through to a filtered outro and it's done. this is easy. arrangement is just fantastic as expected - the two themes really work well together, and the realization is fantastic. from a mixing perspective, the wildly different elements all fit together well and are mastered appropriately. great work. YES

opens with wet pads and some fun rhythmic pad elements. there's a beefy fifths pad at 0:20 that i really like. rhythmic elements come in at 0:38 and we get some ridley/macarena stabs (now i will never unhear that, thanks, i hate it). it's a lot meaner than the original macarena which i like a lot - there's a really strong vibe that shows through well here. the beat drops in just before the first minute mark and this whole section sounds great. there's a big break at 1:37, and we get another rhythmic vibe at 1:55. the mad forest elements are there but it's really stretched out - it took me a bit to make the correlation between the different chunks of melodic material and where they match up. there's a big break with some fun voice clips, and then we get a party-next-door style build into 3:12. this is mask-off macarena and it's such a great beat. this trucks through a bit of the vox elements and then is done. what an easy vote. this has a killer vibe throughout, it's super creative in the arrangement and influences, and it never gets stale. the mix sounds great and beefy. excellent work. YES

opens with a really dense soundscape - tons in the low mids, so it's hard to hear what's going on. the guitar/synth stuff is great, well-played. i liked the extra panning elements that showed up on the second time through the melodic material. 1:01's arpeggiated stuff is pretty excellent, and emphasizing the uprising countermelody there from the original is the right choice. there's a lighter section at 1:24 with some nice long-tail reverb doing some neat stuff. there's some call and response solo work for the last thirty seconds and then it's done. the drums spend most of the song doing one of two loops which is a disappointing choice - there's a ton of room for clever writing there and it wasn't taken advantage of. the mastering is also pretty dense throughout even after the synths and lead guitar come in - the bass synth is overwhelmingly loud, fairly high all considering, and then there's some spikes in the low mids that cause it to feel very dense (the rhythm guitar or synth, whatever that is, that's probably the culprit). i think that this is pretty straightforward, but there's a lot of little flourishes and fun elements added outside the solo work that makes this great. i wish the mastering was better but this is good enough to pass as-is. if it gets conditional'd or NO'd, i'd say that it needs some more arrangement in the drums and backing elements so it's not so repetitive there, and needs another mixing pass (at least turn down the bass synth and give it some attack so it's not so oofy). YES

hey, just a side note to a point mentioned in the writeup - i know some of us judges are more available than others, but we're always willing to talk further if you've got questions about why something landed the way it did. just message us and we'll be happy to help. most of the time =) i'm also going to be honest and say i don't like my previous vote much. i was not clear about what needed to be done and that's on me. i had some specific suggestions that i didn't write down for whatever reason and that's not good enough from me. opening run through the chord progression is a lot better on this one, through like 0:47. piano feels good and the saturation feels more comfortable than it did before. drums feel better as well if i'm remembering correctly. 1:09's transition is nice. the kicks here are a little confusing due to where they're falling initially, but when more drum bits come in it's easier to track them. 1:35 has some nice keys licks. i don't remember the vox stuff at 1:59 but i really like it. stylistically that fits really well, although i'd expect more grit on them based on the rest of the instruments. ending is fine imo, i get it based on the style and the old-record vibe that's going on throughout. me being an old head would in general prefer a normal ending of some kind but that's personal preference. this is a great track. it may not be 100% on brand with what you're trying to ape, but it's a straightforward and fun arrangement, showcasing less is more from an instrumental side. thanks for taking the time to rework this. YES

breakdown is highly appreciated. i love the timelessness of the opening sections. it initially sounds like it's going to be in time and then just immediately falls off the rails. it's clearly immediately heavily influenced by vaporwave sensibilities (ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣＳ) with the tiktok-brain switching of styles and ideas every few seconds. there's some really wild elements to this that are so far afield from the original that i can't imagine how you got there, and i'm so glad you did. combining the sound design with some of the traditional music theory techniques (like the diminution of the rhythm at 0:58, or the tapestop effects straight out of 1950s french musique concrete at 1:14) is just so fun. the breadth of innovation here is impressive. i just hope the acid wasn't too expensive. YES

"The real "mystery" is why the hell we picked this source in the first place." i admit i was wondering who in their right mind would pick EM of all tracks. it doesn't even have a triad that exists in western music theory for the entire piece. how do you arrange that? opens with some piano noodling and lucas repeating the phrase "environmental mystery" :< and then moves into a really nice loose jazz feel. guitar is sublime. the bass and drum writing is also excellent. i was amazed to hear you actually lean into the EM augmented triad by expanding it into a broken chord and then adding a 5 to ape lydian mode. what an excellent idea to make this into a real track. emu, if i had to suggest anything about your piano playing, i'd say to lean more into avoiding the I and V of any given chord. the bass is there to handle where the root of the chord. piano should be focusing more on the color tones (which is why jazz has such weird chords) throughout. what you did here is fine and does a nice job carrying the harmonic basis for everything else, but there's a lot of room for some really fun voicings if you unpin your left pinky from the root of every chord. there's a nice break at about 2:02 with some call and response before we get a big drums-driven shout section. again the drums here are just so good. there's an ensemble section immediately after this, and then we get some side-by-side work in the piano and guitar to the outro. what a great take on two diametrically opposed tracks. this works really well all the way through as an interpretive and ensemble-heavy approach to two tracks that don't really have much in common at all. i'd have thought the drums were live if i wasn't told they were programmed, and the keys and guitar really carry the track. excellent job. YES

some really beautiful winds to start the track. really well-handled part-writing. vocals start at 0:22. there's some room sound here, but the singing is skillful. in general, watch that you don't combine vowels ("I soar I fly" was more "I so rai fly"). there's a bit of phasing on the vocals as well which i think is a combination of pitch correction and the verb chosen, it's kind of a weird effect - watch that you're not removing all pitch drift from a sustain, it can cause some audible artifacts if you do. second verse features some backing vocal elements which is really nicely handled. they're pretty loud and should really be turned down quite a bit, but they're performed well and do a good job of mixing up what'd be a repetitious verse. bridge was clearly punched in and sounds different. there's a resonant ring to this particular recording as well which is a bit distracting. the range displayed is really impressive though - excellent work keeping good diction all the way down to the bottom of the line. there's again some really nice winds for the transition. around here i realized that the drums are both very, very basic and the piano part is also very, very repetitive. there's little of the fills and unique elements that you'd expect to hear from the piano especially. the balance in verse 4 is a bit off as the backing organ is pretty loud relative to what's going on in the foreground as is the snare, but it sounds great when the strings come in and the harmonic elements are all firing at 3:23. the octaves sound great here. the big payoff chord at 3:50 is awesome and feels so short - i wanted more! =) there's an instrumental bridge after this with some interesting different new synths. the prelude synth was a fun idea but really needed some room verb on it so it didn't sound so far out of the mix, and there's some strings in the right ear that are panned a little far. overall the solo here is great though and builds nicely into 5:07. last big run-through of the chorus section at 5:07 is a great payoff chorus and sounds really nice. the pitch correction on the last word at 5:50 was pretty obvious - that might have been an opportunity for a better recording vs. fixing what was there. the rest of the track is outro. i liked the wordless section to finish it but may have wanted that to be a bit quieter, and to have a more consistent cutoff on the notes. this is a great arrangement! what a fun adaptation of such a timeless, beautiful original. ladyreemz does a great job with all of the various harmonic elements throughout, outside of a few nitpicks. marc, the arrangement is excellent and you do a great job of keeping the arrangement moving and creative throughout, nitpicks aside. what a great addition this will make to the site. YES

the opening plucks were a little exposed, but i got what you were going for at 0:14 with the panflute and choir. it sounds really blown out though - there's definitely some distortion in my ears around a lot of this first section. i found the melody in this earlier section to be difficult to follow as well since there's no breaks, just constant flowing through lines. 1:07's a break, but it's quickly back to mostly similar textures. we do get some rhythm at 1:19 which is helpful to keep it moving forward. this section is also more reminiscent of an Enya melodic line. there's a note at 1:43 that doesn't fit. 1:58 is a somewhat new texture, with some new instrumentation, but again it feels overly dense and hard to pick out elements. the flute drops at 3:04 and the shift in texture is nice after what's mostly been a monoculture up until now. 3:34's backing arpeggios sound really neat, but there's consistently sour notes in the transitions between chords. i like the snare percussive elements. it trucks along, does the same sour note at 4:32 that was at 1:43, and then it's done. i'm apparently missing something because i don't hear metroid hardly at all in this. either it's very transformed and i'm looking past it, or it's only used in backing elements. overall i really didn't care for the vibe that this one lays out. there's a really dense cluster of instruments in the low mids that really conflicted against each other, and the heavy reverb - which i get why you used, thematically it's really fitting! - made for a soundscape where a lot of resonant stuff lived. there's definitely some distortion to my ears in the first minute or so. beyond that, i found the realization of the melodic material difficult to follow. part of this is due to it just wheedling onward with no breaks or transitional points to hold onto, and part of that is due to the very smooth and rhythmless backing elements. for this to get a passing grade from me, there'd need to be a cleaner backing texture for most of the piece with no distortion from effects layering on each other, and there'd need to be a rework of what's going on with the melodic material. i really wasn't able to follow it much at all, and from a general song form perspective there wasn't much to hang your hat on there. NO

opens with a very quiet arpeggio and then a later bass hit - the contrast there might be a bit much. castlevania is referenced right off the bat at 0:20, and then the arpeggio from Forbidden Area is nicely dovetailed into the melodic line from Metroid. pretty neat idea. there's a bit of a break at 1:13 which is a nice pause in the action. 1:28 brings the groove back in alongside some more melodic content, although the stereo split on the beat here is surprising and significant and a bit of a turnoff. there's a big swell into some chippy synths at 1:48 - hearing those alongside some of the other burbles and orchestral elements was a neat idea. this gets pretty loud and overwhelms most everything else going on until there's a transition at 2:26. there's a nice sweep lead used in this break with some cinematic swells. i continue to appreciate the simple changes to the menu select theme melody throughout this section - it's very repetitive so it's great hearing how it's being personalized. there's a big build into 3:39 where the strings take over with the Metroid melodic content. this is very cinematic and layered and sounds great, even more so when the guitar comes in on the next runthrough of the content. 4:17 is a switch to a much more rhythmic feel as the chiptunes come back and we progress through to the ending. there's one final big rush and it's done. track is, as a whole, really loud. everything is well balanced - i can always hear everything, and what's being said is worth hearing - but the bass presence especially throughout is really significant and can feel overwhelming in a few places where it's more cinematic rather than electronic. outside of that, though, i really appreciated the huge variety of things going on to focus on in any given section. there's a ton of development throughout and the remix keeps changing and shifting and evolving as you go through. this is a great track in my book. nice work. YES

sfx noodling to start. remixer plays with the main theme a bit before getting into Stealthy Steps. beat comes in at 0:49 and is appropriately angular for the synths around it. bass is super FM and has some real grumble in it which is fun to hear. interesting lead comes in at 1:33 with some heavy buzz and movement to it - really liked this one. the snare's a bit bright but i get why you had it so meaty throughout. cruises through some transformations of the theme for about a minute after this section, then noodles a bit around with what sounds like a theremin. at 3:30 we get into a much more developmental/transformational section. there's some interesting chord work in here to keep it moving forward and at least one key transposition for a while. around 4:46 it starts to back off some more until we get a short recap of Stealthy Steps. it ends pretty abruptly after that. i wouldn't have minded a bit more prep going into that. this has some really interesting synth work throughout! it's muddy in spots - you forgot to roll off the sub-40hz content throughout, so there's more 5hz content than 40hz at a few places - but overall i can hear what's happening in each section and the things that are going on are interesting to listen to. this is a fun track. i'm going to conditional it simply because i believe dropping a rolloff on the main is easy, but it's definitely a pass. CONDITIONAL 3/15: updated version is cleaner down low but still has stuff happening at 10hz and below. i am still a conditional but tbh this is good enough for me to go as-is if it doesn't get fixed. 7/15: i apparently misunderstood what conditional was (that is, it's a no until fix, not yes with reservations). this is passable, i'd just prefer the low end get trimmed before release. i'm updating my vote based on this. YES

opening section has some Prelude vibes to it. 0:43's descending arpeggio is nice, and the contrast between the triplet fanfare elements and the duple left hand is a fun concept. there's a lot of patience here whereas i've always thought In Search of Light felt too fast in-game. i think that taking a bit more time gives the melodic elements more weight. 2:13's key change was nice to add some verve. bass around here was a little dense. 2:30 gets a lot louder and bolder, and trucks through some new material as well. after the big hit at 3:20, we get some layering of themes - these two fit together really nicely, and hearing the lydian harmonies of pirates ahoy against ISoL's chords is neat. after this is moves through the descending arpeggio line once more and then we get an open chord to finish it off. this is straightforward and well-done. there's some interesting adaptation done here both in dovetailing PA into ISoL, and separately with expanding a pretty straightforward fanfare theme. nice work. YES

track starts off with some sfx and some beautifully-realized harp work. if anything i wish there wasn't sfx so i could hear the tone of the harp clearer. there's some celli under it too as a pad. what a moving realization. the initial presentation of the melody is heavy on the lower strings but when it moves up higher, it really pops out of the texture. the 'storm' section starts at 1:33 and it's appropriately intense. the cello work after the storm, at 1:56 onward, is just superb. i am not an emotional listener but i truly got chills at the tight harmonic lines. i get caught writing too much sometimes. this doesn't need it. you've crafted a beautiful rendition of a great example of why EoS is one of the best pokemon soundtracks front to back. please write more arrangements of game music using this level of arranging, performing, and recording skill. YES

i wrote a bunch in the resub version of this essentially saying to trim back a lot - the tail of the reverb, the extended sections of mostly repeated material, etc. the writeup details changes that hit all the things i said, so i'm excited to hear the result. opens with some open fifths in a tight synth, the bass line, and some melodic references. beat is tight. there's a pad in the background that sounds a lot like reverb tail but isn't, and once i figured that out i think the melodic elements sound less out of place. beat gets spicier at 1:01 with the xylophone added alongside. melodic content is still focused on that first lick of the melody, but it works because there's a variety of ways you present it. 1:50 is a break, and this is a good time for it. the lead appears to be mostly in the right ear which is a little confusing, and it's pretty fuzzy so it took me a second to understand what it was saying. the ep in the background sounds like it's doing sustains which doesn't really add much other than pad noise - consider a sharper tone around that particular entry to make it clearer what it's doing. 2:31 is a downtempo section and i like the reduced instrumentation here. the 16th-note rhythmic element is nice too. would have been a good time to mix up the lead for the remainder of the track. this trucks through the melodic material a few more times until 3:26 when we get what's clearly an outro section. the pad tone at the end needs a fadeout as it just stops abruptly. overall i have a lot of nitpicks about the track. i think that the arrangement's fine although i'd not have minded hearing more of the melodic material that wasn't the initial riff that is used so much in this track. from a mixing perspective i can hear everything pretty well, and my main complaint is that the panning is a little wide. overall though i think this is over the bar. the changes you've made are in keeping with what we suggested and overall you've got a fun punchy little track that has a nice groove. YES

intro is the initial bassline in a few instruments. i like the drums here, they're very fitting for the style. 0:31's a big shift in style but the synth line fits this backing set really nice. there's a quick break and then the sax has the melody for a bit. guitar here is pretty loud and drowns the drums a touch. there's not a lot in the backing parts to hold interest either here. then 1:53 is a huge shift in style that doesn't sound super prepared, and the drums here are hard to hear. 2:12 is a recap of the first verse with some extra spice on the melodic line in the guitar, and the following section is the same as the original chorus initially, but then gets a solo to dress it up. after the solo is some more exploration around the intro bassline, and a recap of the intro, and we're done. this is a solid adaptation of the fates theme! it's kind of a spacey theme with a lot of disparate parts, and i think this is a similar remix in that you've got several different pieces that all come together to make a decent whole. i definitely think you nailed the style, and while there's a few times where instruments get buried, overall i think it sounds like what you'd expect for the style. nice job. this is fun. YES

opens with some pingpong backing synths and a nice sweep effect that's fitting given the source material's locale. beat drops at 0:25. the snare's reminiscent of a sonar ping and the verb and backing synths also are reminiscent of water, so again this is a really cool idea for how to relate the source to the mix. the original's melody is honestly really beautiful and fitting into the synth sweeps is really nice. there's a break at 1:39 and the Prelude-like arpeggios layered in here are nice, as the variety of leads used in this section. contrasting one with high reverb to one without it is a nice choice. the beat comes back in at 2:28 alongside a bit more buzz in the synths which is a nice change to dress it up a bit. 3:17 is a bit of a recap of the last line of the melody before we're on the downside of the work. there's a solid outro and then it's done. there's some static on the fadeout that just stops so that'll need a quick fade applied before we release this. this is an easy vote. the synth work is impeccable as expected, the beat is great, and the adaptation is really smooth. excellent work. YES

Artist Name: MkVaff While I was coming up with some ideas for more recent arrangements, I re-listened to the original Ecco the Dolphin soundtrack. It had some interesting music, but then I remembered that the game had a sequel on Genesis that I never had the chance to play. After checking out the music in "The Tides of Time," I was very impressed with several of the tracks, and I was surprised by the overall complexity and quality of some of the songs on the track list. The music for the "Two Tides" stage in particular jumped out to me as having a solid, laid-back beat and some great synth sections. I incorporated elements of trap music for this remix, as I wanted it to have a chill, moody, "underground" feel to it. Some of the Ecco music is pretty epic and dramatic, so I added some brassy synths in the later melody to add some excitement and to incorporate some of the "bigger" feeling of some of the songs in the Genesis Ecco soundtracks. While I've recently covered some classics from Zelda, Chrono Trigger, and the Final Fantasy series, I decided to submit this particular piece because it seemed like such a hidden gem from a soundtrack that I don't often hear in discussions compared to the more popular games that are known for their music. It was my very first time actually listening to the music from The Tides of Time, and I wanted to highlight some of the interesting, excellent material in that soundtrack. Hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis / MD)

Source breakdown: 0:00 - 0:30 - Intro (0:00 - 0:08 in source - mostly the bassline) 0:31 - 1:07 - Verse (0:08 - 0:24 in source - mostly the lead) 1:15 - 1:53 - Chorus (0:25 - 0:41 in source - mostly the lead) 1:54 - 2:12 - Bridge (0:41 - 1:08 - this is a bit obscured) 2:13 - 2:35 - Verse 2 (Same as Verse 1) 2:36 - 3:14 - Chorus 2 (Same as Chorus 1 but a solo that's all original) 3:15 - 3:36 - Post-Chorus (Bassline again baby!) 3:37 - 4:06 - Outro (Same as Intro) Roster: Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement, Saxes, Mix Mattmatatt - Guitars ImAFutureGuitarHero - Drums jnWake - Keys Ivan Hakštok - Bass Once upon a time, Larry told me I needed to take more time cooking my tracks. Well, the early bones of this work-in-progress happened the same month I did Tyrano's Stash and only 10 months later I revisited it for Dwelling of Duels Free Month (Placed 10th!). How do you like that Larry?! HUH?! HUH?! Jokes aside (especially since it was some early bones), one thing that really has helped my process is separating each part of the process into a different chunk. I spent a good deal of time cooking up the arrangement, then working with performers/my own part, then mixing it at the end. But let's start back at the beginning I knew I wanted to cover some Chrono Cross for free month. I think I had some other ideas, but something was really tackling me to do a song in the style of the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. This arrangement is pretty inspired by their song Surf's Up. I roped ImAFutureGuitarHero and Cory Johnson from Tyrano's Stash. I wanted to get Mattmatatt handling some of the guitars both cause he's an awesome friend, and he rips as a guitar player AND does a lot of psychedelic/weird sound design-y stuff. jnWake and Hakštok had to be there because they love Chrono Cross, but I also know jnWake was going to be on Tyrano's Stash (there was some miscommunication) so I had to make up for that. Cory had to drop out, but we still had a blast putting this together. After all the instruments came through, I got to mixing. I could've settled for not making it very loud, but this was the first track I really got into the weaves of it with mastering and loudness. I remember I got some feedback for Cucco's Feathers about mastering and didn't really understand it at the time (and to think that was just 2 months ago...). It was frustrating to not really get it at the time, but taking some time away from that project and focusing on another one (Yes, I'll get the resub soon!) has REALLY helped me. Me going into the group chat with the first version of the master saying "I might've made this track too loud" and my friends reassuring me that -13 LUFS wasn't that loud, followed by showing how my reference track (Surf's Up) was -7.8 LUFS sent me down a whole rabbit hole. I think this track is around -8-9 LUFS? Oh the pursuit of making more psychedelic rock. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy. Both Judges and listeners. We poured a lot of chaos and love into this one! Edit: Before I forget, I must explain funny lengthy title. "FATE has no forgiveness for those who dare stand against it." is from the Game Over screen of Chrono Cross. I love this quote because it's a double entendre. It talks about how both FATE (the character) and Fate (development of a person's events being beyond their control). This might be my favorite Game Over screen. Definitely in my top 5. Games & Sources FATES - Chrono Cross

Previous decisions: original, resub 1 Really appreciated the last round of feedback. Song gets to the point a lot faster, removed 2-3 minutes of trash. Heavily revised the second half: added a bridge and dovetailed some of the elements of the bridge into the final hook. Redid all of the reverb, I think it's at least an improvement. Added a xylophone and some strings. Thanks. Games & Sources Theme of Tikal

# Cover Track Information Title: Until the Very End Arranger: Chromatic Apparatus MixingEngineer: Chromatic Apparatus Performers: Cello: Chromatic Apparatus Harp: Chromatic Apparatus ArrangementNotes: | This arrangement of "On the Beach at Dusk" is meant to mirror the arc of Explorers of Sky in microcosm. The main game starts and ends on the beach, with the tumultuous, emotional moment dividing the two. There are two harps and four cellos (live recordings) performing in this piece with additional sound effects. The opening section (0:00-1:33) takes the original theme and reduces it to the two harps, with the celli providing an occasional bed of sound for the harps to float on. 1:33-1:55 is the storm, with the celli in tremolo and a single harp improvising on the atmosphere. From 1:55 onward the storm abates, the key rises a whole step, and, with buoyed spirits, the celli take their turn with the theme. It starts with a solo cello playing the main motive, and picks up more celli along the way. 2:39, the celli slowly convert to pizzicato (think rain drops), and we end, hearing the ocean surf on the beach. EquipmentNotes: | - Cello - 2007 Romanian "Euro Standard Antique", finished at Peter Paul Prier & Sons - 2xAKG C414 (mid-side configuration) - Harp - RHarp Merlin 35-string Lever Harp - Mono mix of two mics: AKG C414 (exterior mic), Bartlett Cello Mic (taped inside harp) - Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen 3 interface - Mixed in Studio One 6.5.1.96553 - Sound effects (freesound.org) - shore.aif by FranCirujeda | License: Creative Commons 0 - Cloudburst n Thunder 1.wav by chimerical | License: Creative Commons 0 - Thunder Storm Nonstop Thunder by hargissssound | License: Creative Commons 0 Games & Sources # Source Track Information Game: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky ReleaseDate: 2009-04-18 Developer: Chunsoft Publisher: The Pokémon Company / Nintendo SourceAlbum: N/A (no official album exists); In-game Jukebox SourceTrack: Title: On the Beach at Dusk Disc: N/A Track: 4 Composers: - Arata Iiyoshi - Hideki Sakamoto - Keisuke Ito - Ken-ichi Saito - Yoshihiro Maeda Links: - YouTube:

starts out with some block chords that feel pretty out of time. took a second to wrap my head around that. the initial pattern (1 3 5 1) matches the pattern of the melodic line (la, do la mi, do, la) in a chorded fashion, and then we see it in retrograde (la mi do la). again at 0:37 we see a very slow version of the motif (clearer example: 0:58.5-1:04.5). this is an example of fragmentation, another motivic arrangement technique. the underlying rhythmic pattern is used regularly (1 note, 3 notes, 1 note, 1 note) as well. it continues to be spread out and weird and gets longer and longer in note value until 2:03. the remixer tones back the filter opening at 2:04 for one last motivic representation (this time with the rhythm normal but the notes in retrograde) before playing it straighter at 2:19. mister hu then hits the patch randomizer for the next several instances of this motif. there's some chordal changes, like at 3:27, but overall this is pretty straight in representation. this took a few listens to really understand what was going on, but once i recognized how the remixer boiled the motif down to component parts (the basic rhythm content, the ascending pattern following the minor i chord), then i started recognizing the different set theory techniques used to represent it. there are quite a few sections where this analysis is more tenuous than others - most of the part from 1:24-2:02 is not immediately recognizable even in the perspective of the aforementioned analysis, so that's something to consider. additionally at least some of this may venture "beyond recognition" (standards 4.3.) into graduate-level sound design class final-project inaccessibility. however, i do believe what's here - particularly in the first and last thirds of the piece - is recognizable enough knowing the source material and understanding how to listen to it. i'm willing to pass this, but i 100% understand if others aren't. this isn't a casual listening piece and the place for such a piece on OCR is understandably debatable, especially considering the above quoted element of the standards. YES

this will need a new name if it passes, as we don't allow remix names that are just the name of the original track. also, given that we don't allow any sampled audio regardless of source from square enix owned games (square enix currently owns the rights to chrono trigger) means that this is a no-go with the given samples. i'll still review it, but we can't post it even if it passes in its current state. opening has some sfx (naughty naughty!) alongside a very thin, airy pad playing the SotF arpeggio. i like the transitional effect into 0:26. the lead here is nice as well, and the beat is appropriately chill. there's a significant amount of pumping (i don't think it's sidechain unless everything except the kick is sidechained) which is notable and doesn't sound great. there's a break that features the Schala arpeggio (and eventually the melodic material when the beat comes back in). there's not much going on in this section that's not from the original track, but some brass stabs come in near the end which keeps it from being a palette swap from the original. it goes through the Schala arpeggio a bit before ending without an ending. i think this would be fairly close if i had to vote on it fo rillz, given the pumping in the limiter and the lack of original content in the second half. short tracks are hard to have enough transformative arrangement to really get themselves over the bar without everything firing on all cylinders. that said, the inclusion of sampled effects makes this a moot point. they'd have to be changed before i could vote in earnest. NO

starts off with a chippy bass tone and a solid kick. the arpeggiated octave bass is a tie to the original right away. melodic elements right away are in the sidechained lead. big build into 0:57's hit. this section is pretty loud but the limiter's doing what it's supposed to, so while it's heavily squished it isn't clipping. there's another drop right after this at 1:31 that is welcome after how wall-to-wall the previous section was, and the bass here is fun. there's another build up - 1:58-2:11 sound like the same as the earlier section, but there's a different (and also good) build into 2:21's big hit. the melody here's clear again and it's a different set of backing elements from the last time that this came around, so that's good. elements drop out after the 3:00 mark in order and then it's done. this is a solid take. the super-heavy sections at 0:57 and 2:21 may not be everyone's cup of tea, but i think they sound fine and i'm able to pick out the parts going on, so i think that's pretty well done. it's certainly an adaptive take on the original and it's got good energy. nice work. YES