prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

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

opens with some super chippy arpeggios and some broad bass elements. the iconic metroid motif comes in pretty quickly as does some really spacey drums. there's a shift from minor to major at 0:52 as the melodic material changes over to the B section of the original (really the actual melody of the title theme). this is surprisingly uplifting in scope and scoring. there's a break at 1:28 that starts to feel more foreboding as it goes along. this shifts to the Tallon overworld theme at 1:44. this section is way more atmospheric and focused on feel, but it quickly transitions back to a more intense electro feel at 2:03, and then further at 2:14. there's some interesting expansion of the concept by overlaying the earlier arpeggiated elements from the intro in new chords over the Tallon theme. the B theme of the title theme music comes back at 2:55. this is similar scoring to the earlier section at 0:52 but with a new lead for at least part of it. 3:29 brings back the original metroid motif for a bit as falling action, and hits a final big chord to finish it off. from a technical perspective, i found that the instruments all spoke clearly and weren't covered up. the drums and bass felt meaningful and weren't lacking power, and the leads were well-chosen. i wouldn't have minded a bit more movement on some of the main instruments overall, but what's here definitely sounds fine and does what it needs to. the arrangement's solid and the mix is good. this is an easy one. nice work. YES

opens with a very conservative arrangement of Sky Islands, there's a lot more space in between each vignette of chords than i'd expect. i think i'd call this section more of a recontextualization than an arrangement given the very straight-line adaptation to the instrumentation. it quickly moves into the skydiving theme from TotK, and the transition is great, as is the shift of the descending riffs to start on the downbeat rather than ending there. the violas for carrying the sustained line are also a good choice. the articulated descending sections drag a touch starting at 2:29, understandably given the tempo. the faster handoffs you wrote in later help allay that. The Skies has a big cinematic intro, and that's represented in this arrangement as well (albeit with less bravura). this source occupies the largest subsection of this track, and it's also without question the most vibrant in terms of source vibe and arrangement scoring. the transition into Island in the Sky is pretty solid also, which is fun since it's from the same game. the presence of whatever plectral instrument you're using for the original's guitar was kind of a surprise since it's so non-idiomatic to the orchestral setting you're using - really expected the harp there! cuckoo shack is a funny source to include in this, and the way you handled the octave jump (among other elements) is a cute idea. i don't think that the aerophone that you're using for the lead here works because of how obviously artificial it sounds compared to other instruments in the arrangement, but that's a nitpick. the last source is Flute Boy, and this is beautifully handled. ocarina for the lead is great here. there's a little bit of outro material, and then the set is done. as expected, this is a straightforward and enjoyable arrangement that does what it says on the box. i wish it had more dynamic contrast outside the middle two minutes or so, but it's a great approach to a thematic concept. YES

opens with some light arpeggiated synths. i like the subtle bass element that comes in after a bit. the melodic content comes in and feels very newage at 0:13 - the super shimmery synths and faster tempo is a really different feel. i really was certain the kick at 0:38 was going to bring in a 12/8 feel after the first two beats. the bass drop right before the lead stacks come in is really fun. and when you finally set the beat and it's 2x the tempo we thought, that's a really exciting moment. 1:17 brings in a new lead with a lot of delay body on it, which is a neat sound as well. i particularly like the stutter pad that's behind it in this section. there's some more sculptor's peak right after this (the lead has less body so this section feels a little less, but i think that's unintentional), and then we get back to morning haze for a while. there's a hard drop at 2:34, and we get a bit of a break for a bit. the arpeggiated element that comes in after this is a nice palate cleanser before we get into the next section of sculptor's peak again. the beat drops for a bit, and then we get a big hit of morning haze (sounds like a dispensary thing) at 4:09 as a big final blow after a key change. there's some outro percussive elements, and it's done. this is great! the originals have a lot of character to them, and you managed to up the intensity without losing that character. it's a really fun approach with a load of interesting synth choices. excellent work. YES

opens with a fun filtered violin/ebow and keys, and some percussive elements. as the filter gets pulled back, we get some super tight guitars and ensemble percussion. the lead at 0:46 carries the melodic material, and the band starts to fill out more at 1:00. there's a really tight vibe to the entire first section, with the whole band feeling really close and in front, and i love the sound. there's a break at 1:43, and i really liked the lush feel of the strings here. there's some winds as well that start to really hit nicely as well in here as we get more of a jazz orchestra vibe. joe's an outrageously good player so the horns just sound fantastic. 2:40's another pause in the action for a bit. 3:00 starts the Bold version of the track, i think, and we get an electric guitar carrying the melodic material with the entire orchestra trucking along behind to provide backing material. i like the soli feel of the sax parts in here especially. i almost think the lead guitar here could have been a touch louder and more in front - but i love the backing parts so much i don't mind =) 3:42's got a breakdown feel with the tom groove in the drums, and the whole orchestra hitting the lead parts. it's almost too busy in here at this point, but it's right on the edge so it's just really fun instead. there's a really slick bass riff into 4:10's more intense breakdown, and we get some soloing around what sounds like a persian scale for a bit with a ton of intensifying elements behind. i did a stankface on the end of the solo at 4:36, what a riff! coming out of that we get the B theme from the main body of the piece in the strings with a fantastic countermelodic thing in the saxes behind it. this is so dense in here and i'm here for it, it sounds fantastic despite everything going on. 5:10 we are reminded who's playing bass, and there's a great full-ensemble tutti section. i'm running out of superlatives so i'm gonna stop there. joe rips off a fantastic solo at 5:40 that any pro player would be happy with, and we hit the falling action at 6:04. really like the violin solo in here too. there's one last lick in the strings and we're done. this is the best remix i've heard in a year. i can't believe you're giving it to us for free. YES

opens with some stacked chords in the strings, and some piano outlining the opening main lick in the original. the strings are very dynamic, which is a cool effect, but both it and the piano don't have any room tone on them which makes it hard to place them aurally. additionally, the piano's playing isn't particularly idiomatic given the dancey tone and complete lack of velocitization on the individual notes. in short, every note shouldn't sound exactly the same volume - there should be some variation as you go up and down those riffs. beat comes in at 0:30, along with more sustains in the strings. again, nothing really has reverb, and the additional layered melodic material that comes in at 0:48 is too quiet relative to everything else (ducking your sustained strings below that melodic material would help a lot. the kit is playing catchy stuff, but admittedly i found the clicky, psy-like kick and spit snare to not be fitting the keys and strings quite as well as i'd hoped. this is a dynamic section though with a lot of movement, and i think that sounds pretty cool. there's a surprisingly long silence transition (this is probably 2x too long, but it's a really cool idea), and we're into the 3-3-2 section of the original. this is less mixed-meter-feeling than the original, and imo feels more settled than the original as well. i like what the piano's doing in here - it just doesn't sound real, unfortunately. there's a recap of the A section that starts around 1:31 and again layers in the lead part, but we then get a synth lead around the two minute mark that's a nice freshening of the atmosphere a bit - i'd love to hear other instruments doing stuff in here too, so it's not such a static texture. there's another recap of the A material with some interesting panning concepts for a bit, and track maneuvers towards the ending fairly quickly after that. there's not much of an ending - i think a hard stop ending like you do could work, but you'd need to mute the synth lead's delay so that it doesn't keep going after the last chord. the overall lack of reverb is an issue here - the soundscape sounds hyper-artificial because of that - and the velocitization on the keys is an issue especially near the end with the very fast runs you've got there. i also wasn't a huge fan of what felt like copy/paste for the A material each time it came around - some more variance there would have been great. your rhythm-heavy approach would have worked great for adding some altered chords in there, in my opinion. lastly, i didn't care for the kick and snare tones - the other instruments were more traditional (even the synth lead is a simple one), and the tone of those instruments i'd relate more to psytrance or something that's less dynamic than this in soundscape. i love the concept though! there's some really fun stuff going on here. if you get us a version with a more realistic piano performance, some shaping of the sound stage via reverb, and more cohesive instrumentation, this'd be an easy pass. NO

i love the energy right off the bat. and joe's right, it sounds pretty clean. it's just too close to the original for OCR. the submission standards talk about doing more than reassigning instruments. i'll note there's also some significant copy/paste going on through the middle of the work and when it nears the ending, and the last note is clipped instead of crossfading. i need to admit though that i really dig the vibe! i think it works great. there just needs to be more you and less original for it to fit onto the site. NO

opens with musicbox and some long-tail pad effects. eventually we get some guitar, and the melodic material shows up around 0:36. lots of lush pads underneath - i appreciate that they're moving on time and not too late. there's some personalization of the melody in the following verse, and we start to get some percussive elements too. 1:31 fleshes out the soundscape a bit with keys and a fretless bass, and 2:00 brings in a synth lead. this keeps trucking through the mabe melody without really ever going to a break, and explores a few more personalized versions of the melodic material before ending on a bit of a cliffhanger. this does what it says on the box - it's a very chill arrangement of the mabe theme, exploring a few textures without ever really getting too far afield. there's a few times where the mix is a little dense (like when the fretless first comes in), but overall this does what it's supposed to and doesn't get outside the lines. i think what's here is fine. YES

feels pretty forward right off the bat. the drums sound really forward (adding a touch of wet verb and pulling back the dry would help a lot), and once we get into around the 0:10 mark it really sounds like there's some crunch there. joe's right, though, the vibe is excellent. i think what's going on at 0:54 is some long-tail lead notes clashing against what the keys are doing in the back (is the keys delay effect on there? you may want to turn it off). there's some distortion on the bass tone at 1:57 - i don't think that's intentional, and that's the crunchy feeling i was mentioning earlier. 2:50's fun, but like joe said, the mix feels messy. turning everything down a touch and then fixing the spacial definition of the kit and the EQ range of the bass will make for a much stronger overall feel without losing the tight band sound. i basically just repeated what joe said, but i agree wholeheartedly - tighter mix and this will be an all-timer. excellent, fun arrangement. NO

big drums and guitars right off the bat. this is pretty much a cover for the first minute or so, with most of the representation sounding similar to the original but with new instrumentation. the second half doesn't quite go in the same order, but much of the sections are repeated in various order, and then it's done pretty quickly. what's here is fun! but it doesn't appear to have enough arrangement to qualify as not being a cover, especially given the original's already kind of proggy. i'd need to hear more adaptation - realistically, much more, given how in-depth the genre usually goes - before i'd consider this. as a note, i can't hear much bass guitar in this master either. NO

opens with synth toms and a pulsing, driving beat centered around the chord progression outlined by the original's opening elements. there's a bit of melody at 0:32, but it's hard to hear to under the existing arpeggiating instrument. there's a break at 0:52 that admittedly sounds like something out of chrono trigger for a bit. i noticed here that the drums were pretty auto-pilot for a while both in terms of what they were playing and the fills being used. starting at 1:12 we get the melodic line from the original around the 2:10 mark for a bit. there's a break in the beat right after this for a bit, and then we get a copypasta of 0:22 (this sounds 1:1 to my ears, right down to the too-quiet melodic line) and then later of 0:52, and then 1:12 as well. so that's a lot of completely repeated material. 2:51 is some new material from the original for a few seconds, and then the track kind of peters out - no fill into the ending, no chord resolution, and the instruments seem to stop at different times. i think this one isn't quite done yet. first of all, it's just over three minutes, and more than a minute of that is a direct copy from earlier in the song. that's too much clear repetition - do something different! this can be as simple as mixing up your leads, changing a few chords, adding some countermelodic material, or updating the backing elements. along those lines, i found the drums to be extremely basic and same-y, even for a style that usually uses a base loop for most of a song. mixing up the drum fills so they're not rote and altering the beat for the middle a bit will make returning to it later that much more impactful. another issue is the not-ending is a real letdown. lastly, i'll call out that the melodic material at 0:32 isn't really audible, and it'd be great to get that bigger so that the correlation is more obvious. i do think this has legs for sure! i love synthwave versions of winter themes, i think there's something about the nature of the synth tones usually used for this that fit really well. i'd love to hear this with some more variation to the track and some extra ear candy in your approach. the workshop would be a great place to get some other feedback as well. NO

my last vote on this focused mainly on the directwave flute adaptation (i'm probably the one that was asking why it wasn't live!), and on dynamics and execution. very long strings to open the track (this might be a touch too long). vocal elements come in at 0:16, and some cinematic elements. the flute comes in at 0:32. it's a little farther back in the mix this time, to my ears. the horns at 0:54 are nice and heroic but a bit loud there. 1:01 brings in a men's choir with a very long attack and swell, which is distracting as it doesn't really imitate what we'd expect to hear from a choir. there's a nice pizz in the background, and a piano with a real dancey tone - it doesn't sound classical at all and didn't really fit. the pizz at 1:19 and again at 1:25 and 1:31 isn't idiomatic - fast pizz isn't possible, so this sounded a bit weird. vocals are again used as a transition element after this. 1:44 brings in brass and some harp, and a solo trumpet. the trumpet writing is fine, but the quality of the instrument isn't there. separately, you often pair legato and marcato articulations (for example, the pickup notes at 2:01 and 2:06), and that sounds confusing. i'd recommend normalizing your articulations more consistently (and use less stop-tongued marcato) so that it's more flowing. when the tempo is so slow, the time you spend not playing feels enormous. the flute comes back in at 2:45 for one last play-through of the melodic line, and again there's some nice backing elements here. the flute also does the very short stop-tongued marcato articulation, which again sounds confusing, and the final flourish moves fast enough that it reveals the flute's origination a bit. just jumping the octave there instead of the run would probably help cover that up. i think that the flute adaptation feels more believable for the most part this time around, outside a few nits (it's still not clear why the few minutes of recording needed for this can't be done ever - it'd be such a huge boost in musicality!). i think the vocal sample used doesn't really fit the overall feel given the persian scale it's using vs. the very standard progression by the original, but that's not a dealbreaker. i found the trumpet to be the thing that's really needing some help, and a few elements that need some tweaks, but i definitely think this is a lot closer. if this had a better trumpet sample and some of the idiomatic elements like the pizz and articulations cleaned up, i'd be on the side of passing this. NO

last time around, i was the first no in a cascade of five to flip this from 2Y to a full rejection. i didn't like the master or drums at all, and felt that the synths were pretty bland. most of the no votes centered around the phrase 'lacking verve'. opens with a big, throbbing kick and bass combo. snare has a lot more snap than last time around, and there's some other glassy synths around it to keep it moving forward. melody's in at 0:21 and there's more automation and movement on it than there was last time around. the time signature changes several times to accommodate for the noodly melody. 0:51's lead instrument is pretty blah and sticks around for a while, which is a bummer given the focus on this type of issue in the last submission. 1:16's lead combination is really interesting and different. there's a lot of chromaticism in there too, and the transition into the next section has a lot of neat stuff going on. the drums through here are pretty dull, but everything else is changing and varying a lot, which is neat. there's a big ritard into 2:00, with some sustained lower pads, and we get a significant transition to a different style entirely. the transition isn't super good but it works. this is a more straightforward synth-pop approach complete with a new chord structure. there's some synth solo for a bit, before we get some dx bells aping the opening melodic material for a bit before the track winds down in tempo. there's a last wash (no pun intended) of color on the last M7 chord and it's done. i think this is a lot more functional of a mix this time around. there's still some nits about lead choice and some of the textures here and there, and the end section isn't quite as source-y as the opening 2/3rds, but overall this is a lot better. thanks for taking the feedback and giving us back something better! YES

original vote Here's the original sub post: Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement Eladar - Production, Mix, Master I took this song on because, while I love Golden Sun's soundtrack, the Lighthouse themes shine high., and this was one of the last important songs that needed to be done. Sometimes, my ambition eats me alive. One of those times was this song - When making this, and even now, my composition skills far outweigh my production skills. I had enlisted someone else before to help, and we were on a tight deadline. Thankfully, Eladar swept in and was able to turn the arrangement into gold - I was extremely thankful. I'd worked with producers for electronic type tracks before, but hearing how well this duo went is wonderful. Prior to, I'd never worked with him. Honestly? Finishing it was a miracle on its own. One of the aspects I appreciate the most about being a creator? Getting to demystify the other side. There wasn't any 'magic'; just a lot of hard work and determination. A lot of that stemmed from when I was finishing my masters degree. I hope everyone enjoys! And here's some new comments: This is where the joke "Louder master plz" comes from. I feel the original voting thread was pretty divisive, and we addressed a lot of the problems and added some new stuff here and there. And I'm happy that it's resubbed. One thing that makes the resubs a bit magical(?) in their own way is getting to reconnect with people that I haven't connected with in forever. Eladar and I hadn't talked with each other in years, and it took us several months of on and off communication to sync our times to get this done. It's weird cause, at the time, I was annoyed at having to resub it for small things. But now I'm happier with this version *and* I'm happier to connect again. Hoping a lot of fellow Golden Sun fans get to enjoy this, and I hope you all enjoy! Thanks once again to Eladar. Really, him and I tag-teamed this and he def deserves as much credit as I do. I'm still surprised the original was done so quick for the album. Games & Sources Mercury Lighthouse

boy, that EO2 track is fantastic. opens with some intense strings and koto. sfx and later some guitar join the party, and the soundscape is great. synths really hit at 0:42 with the SoR2 high riff, and the kick and bass hit at 0:50. the flute riff as well sounds fantastic - i can't believe that isn't live. we get some guitar after this that appears to be outlining the EO2 chords and rising pattern - neat build effect, but it doesn't go anywhere. after a filtered break we're back to more arpeggiated elements (i think this is from EO2?) before another drop. the change here is abrupt and i wouldn't call this a particularly well-handled transition. the ep tone however is just beautiful for this (love the wet wahs in the tone). CW's voice is so low and rich in this key - the 'high' notes sound incredible. i think there are a few points where her voice is just a touch loud, and i wouldn't have minded some harmonies or countermelodic elements behind the scenes of that section as well. there's a big build with stutter synths into the 12/8 section at 3:42. i think CW's voice is too loud here, especially considering she doesn't use vibrato or have a particularly strong tone in this range - there needed to be more treatment on her voice and to have it pulled back to really make this section pop. 4:26's build with guitar work behind it is really fun. again CW's voice needs to be farther back so as to not overexpose the lack of vibrato, but i like the concept. i think this section does drag a bit by the end of it around the 4:45 mark, and something to keep it moving forward would have been great. 5:11's balance is again off - CW's sustains need to be turned way down, like half the volume they are. they compete a lot with the lead part, which i think sounds really solid (but probably could use more room tone as i can't really hear any overall, might just be because of the competing sustains in the back). the backing parts here have some fun stutter synth stuff but i definitely could have used a bit more guitar. there's no ending =( like, at all. this is an interesting one. the skill throughout on the execution, sound design, and arrangement is super clear and comes through easily. there's so much breadth to the scope and i love that. i think that the vocal treatment after 3:42 isn't at all what i'd hoped for, and i think that the big transition at 2:40 is almost different-song level of change, and i don't like the lack of ending at all. but when this track shines, it really shines. what's here is certainly over the bar, even if the ceiling for this track could be so much higher than this. YES 6/11: listening to the 5/30 new version. i think CW's vocals fit a lot better into the section at 3:42 - the higher parts have been pulled back a lot, and the countermelodic line is more balanced as a result. it sounds like possibly some more verb on the lines as well. 5:11's more balanced as well, although her voice sounds a touch muffled. either way, it's a lot better than it was and makes for a much more balanced version. thanks for taking another look! still a YES from me.