prophetik music

ambient opening. first big pile of crunch at 0:25 is nice and it continues to creak in and out for a while. there's some plucks that sound like the intro arp in the original around 0:42. the extreme clipping is making my eyes twitch - there are ways to get distorted and beat-up textures without just cranking it past the 0.0 mark. there's a beat that comes in around 1:31, alongside some other percs. there's a melodic element that comes in at 1:47. i like the distorted tone on it, but don't like how blown out this area is as it loses a lot of depth of tone. there's a lot of low mid content below maybe 200hz that's probably unneeded and is causing it to be really cluttered. i agree with chimpa that this section is slow-burn but not in a good way - since there's zero dynamics possible with the overblown backing elements, there needs to be either melodic or rhythmic elements to keep interest. there's little to no rhythmic elements through the entire song that aren't repeated for the entire breadth of the track, and there's little melodic elements that aren't present in the original. there's some piano that comes in around 2:55, and then some sustains and sfx to finish it for the last 40 seconds or so. a gritty, lo-res texture works very well for this original. ultimately, though, this is a pretty boring remix. the slow tempo is a good choice imo but the lack of dynamics (or really even contrast), interesting rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic elements, and even basic elements of mastering really shoot this one down. there's simply not enough to hold interest for 4+ minutes, and what's there for those four minutes is gritty in a bad way and so blown out that you can't actually hear what's going on most of the time. to be clear: i'd love for a heavy, slow-burn industrial mix of this track, as i think it fits perfectly. just turning up all your mastering channels to +6db isn't how to do that though. it's hard to make something sound dirty and covered in rust, and i think this is what you were going for - it just needs more attention to mastering to make those channels sound like that without just cranking them up so the master clips. NO

Game: Flowstone Saga Song: To The Ruin Mastering by Chimpazilla! She rocks! OA put out a call to folks to do remixes of the soundtrack for this game as a promo situation. I personally thing OA is the best thing since sliced bread, so I jumped on the opportunity right away. I listened through the OST a few times and this was one of the songs that stuck out to me. I liked the rhythmic elements and how they added energy to a slower track. I also liked the bridge section, which reminded me of the Beauty and the Beast score =) I probably haven't done a remix that wasn't a requested thing of me since the Chrono Cross project, so it's been several years. I am nowhere near as fast as I used to be, and historically the act of grinding through that lack of familiarity has been a real difficult thing for me to overcome. I had already told OA I'd do a track, though, and shame is a powerful motivator, so I pushed through and made something that I'm proud of. Then Chimpazilla took my stems (eventually, after several technical missteps on my side and some render glitches) and made the track sound awesome. This is primarily Omnisphere and Addictive Drums, with some Gladiator for a few of the leads. I used whatever older version of FL Studio was still on my computer. I did get midis of the parts from OA but used them as guidelines only due to how FL imported and quantized the files (ie. not well). This might be the last track I do on my discrete music PC...my poor i7-870 was struggling to handle all the processing-heavy verby leads.

phasing ping pong pad to start, and a fun whistle synth. kick comes in at 0:33 with some hats, and then the rest of the kit at 0:47. nice synthy drumkit. melody doesn't actually come in until spartan time, and it's accompanied by some guitar chugs. sounds like the time signature changes around 1:45, and then we get a double-time section that adds a lot more energy. i like the idea of changing time sigs in here since the melodic material is unique but repetitive, so this helps mix it up a lot. beat drops out at about 2:49 or so, and we're left with a pretty unique pad and some strummed guitars. the melody's back at 3:49 in the guitar (which sounds just a touch ahead throughout this section) until we're in an extended outro. my primary concern here is the use of source. there's a lot that relies on the chord progression. i heard clear melody from 1:18-1:48, 2:19-2:49, and 3:49-4:20. the outro section from 4:27 through the end at 5:03 is the tail of the melodic material, i think, so i can count that if i'm feeling charitable. that's only 42% source, so it comes down to if i'd be comfortable counting the extended chord progression patterns, switching between the Em, Cm, A, and whatever B chord that is. the original is primarily between Em and Cm. for example, the middle section from 1:48 to 2:19 would count if we just looked at those chord progressions, and that'd squeak by. i think i'm comfortable including that particular section in the breakdown given that it's the same timing (ie. not switching faster and going to other chords) as the original. that'd give me enough there. with that in mind, i think this a pretty neat idea. i like the concept of switching time signatures in a song where the original has a clock ticking, and i think the execution overall sounds solid. nice work. YES

what a dope original! never heard it and it's awesome. starts out with some pretty static tones, but the beat comes in at 0:11. initial writing is pretty faithful to the original. the drums aren't quite what i expected given the original sound concept. the bass is pretty active and the lead is very basic initially. there's a recap at 1:06 and some repeated material (everything from there to 1:24 outside of adding the ascending arp flourishes in a few places). the following section is also very similar to the original outside of a few added flourishes. there's another repeat at 2:00 and then it repeats the opening section and fades out. i like the concept here! i think there's a bit too much repetition for a piece that's only 2:10. i think the style survives the genre adaptation pretty well, though, so that's fun! i think there just needs to be more arrangement here - less ANARCHY TAKAPON and more Nuac. i'd also like to hear the drum mixing bring the drums out, assuming you're willing to use modern mastering tools and you aren't explicitly going for a GB-realistic sound. NO

oh man, i just love darren korb's compositional style. thanks for giving me a reminder to listen to all of his soundtracks today. opens with some highly filtered pads that have a lot of motion on them, which is fun. there's some tempo-synced elements that come in at 0:30 - very patient opening - and some piano. beat comes in at 1:05 in a way that i didn't expect, which is fun. bass is highly filtered, almost sounds like it's next door vs. in the room with us. piano performance has some jazz elements in how the melodic material is rendered which is nice. 2:05 is a new feel, between the new beat and the really effected wind synth (i can't really describe it). that's out quick though, because it's soon after into a much more ethereal section noodling with that wind synth and sustained rain sfx. beat is back at 3:01 and this is a cleaner soundscape, focusing on the keys. the subtle tempo-synced gated synth in the background is nice. the drums and backing elements fade down over time, leaving just the keys and bass eventually. and that's a wrap. this is a great adaptation of a really fun original. i was very curious how you'd be able to replicate what is essentially a guitar groove with some big string swoops with what you opened with, but this is definitely a super interpretive arrangement of a motif-driven original. your arrangement is just full of space, which i think is a really neat parallel to the game itself. excellent work. YES

track appears to be intentionally limited to -3.5db. initial vibe is much more upbeat. bass is surprisingly high. there's some fun bitcrushing effects right off the bat. the first real break section at 0:34 hits nice with the orchestral element there. this kind of trucks through on autopilot until 1:18 (nice break going into this section) when the beat drops and it goes to a very rich interstellar-style orchestration. i like the tempo-synced synth there to keep it moving. after ridley peeks through the bookshelf at his past self, he apparently learns guitar - i liked the change in style here, it's a good change and was needed by this point. the theremin lead is too resonant up top and cuts hard through the mix, but other than that i liked the idea. there's a short break, then some breaks, then at 2:18 we get some intentional detuning around some of the synths alongside some glitchiness. it's a fun idea that visualizes the title. this escalates until 2:57 when we get more theremin lead and orchestration, which fades out over time. this is a nice trail-off. the orchestration comes back with more rich chord blocks at 3:10, and eventually picks back up with the guitar as well. guitar sounded notably dry here, but other than that i liked this again. the theremin lead here is filtered a bit and it's nowhere near as resonant as before. there's a lot of noise going on starting around 4:24 - are you riding a crash cymbal? is that what that is? - but it is still fairly clear what's going on. there's a final big hit, we get more interstellar orchestral chord stacks and rhythmic synth, and then it's done with a tape stop. we seem to have gotten a ton of this original in the remix bin over the last few months. it's been great to see how different they all are. this is no different - i think the highly technical dnb alongside the big cinematic scoring elements works great. kudos on continuing to do different stuff and not stick with a single vibe. YES

always loved dorian when it's not just used as 'weird minor'. starts with piano and sfx, and the ascending scale comes in after a bit. the beat comes in alongside the initial melodic content at 0:37. it's a nice groove, i think 'electro chill' is a good term. the leads used in this section (both the first one and the one at 1:03) remind me a lot of FFX's remastered soundtrack. 1:29 is a bit of a shift, and the detuned lead does some more agile stuff (i didn't care for how this sounded on this lead) before the beat comes back at 1:53. 2:19's a big shift. the same detuned lead is used here, which at this point it's getting a little tired. the vocal pads are nice, and i like the percussive elements used when they come in. the track is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the melodic material overall, and that especially shows up here. after this we get an extended outro and it's done. the tail on this is pretty long (there's fading elements after the last hit for at least five seconds) and probably should be trimmed down. this is straightforward but solid. the arrangement is more in the vibe and instrumentation than the notes. i'd have loved to see more going on in terms of personalizing the melodic material, but what's here sounds good. i particularly like the different pad elements used throughout. YES

i have never heard this original and it's hilarious. and it's the main theme! sometimes nintendo still manages to capture their old magic. big funky beat to start out. there's some sfx but it takes a while to get to some of the material of the original. i didn't notice anything that was close to luigi until 0:39, and more realistically 0:59. i do like the space in this entire no-beat section, there's a lot of air in the compositional concepts. the main theme over the beat is great - what a weird lead, it works great. the ghosty lead right after it is fun too. there's a drum break section starting at 1:56 through 2:14, and then we get some noodly spooky stuff until the main theme comes back at 2:34. this is probably my favorite part of the remix. i agree the whistle is indeed iMpReSsiVe. sampled ending and we're done. what a fun idea! and well-realized. my main concern was that there was enough actual remix material in here since much of the remix was open beats without much melodic content. i recognized material from 0:59 to 1:56 and 2:14 to 3:13, which is about 57%. so we're good there. with that in mind, this is definitely a pass. super fun take on a silly original, and there's a lot of interesting ideas in the drum work throughout. excellent job. YES

starts out with some very ambient hits at range, and slowly starts to build the descending motif from the original. there's a lot of orchestral elements being used, which is nice. i'll note that there's a lot of sustained chords and that's not great orchestral arranging. it's not common that the entire brass section will play block chords. more movement in here would be a goal. there's a big hit at 1:16 with some guitars and orchestral taikos, and now some choir. there's a lot of audible clipping in here. this is where all those block chords become a problem - they're just clogging up the mid range so you can't put other stuff in here. there's also what sounds like mostly copy/paste for each section with one more thing added on top each time. for example the same choir scoring and presentation is used over and over - this is noticeable and becomes irritating pretty early on. at the 3:00 mark there's some slick soloing going but i can't hear anything. everything needs to be turned down by, like, half, and then use a compression and limiting chain to dress it up rather than relying on raw volume to make stuff sound powerful. by about 3:45 i can no longer hear any backing elements. it's just the bass, the taikos, and the lead solo instruments. everything else is just a mash. i can 100% get the idea of having lots of neat ideas and wanting to layer them on top of one another. i tend to be a very additive composer myself. however, after a certain point, there's just too much going on and it all loses impact as a result. that's what you've got going on most of this. if you removed half - literally half - of the compositional elements you've got going on here, i think you'd have a far more impactful (and easier to mix/master) track. i think there's a ton of great stuff here. it's just inaudible and everything's stepping on everything else's toes. trim it way back, reduce the volume a ton, remove all the sustained layering, and see what you get on the other side as a result. if you don't believe me about the clipping, this is by far the most clipping instances i've ever seen in a submission in the panel: NO

big drums right up front, with a big 80s sound to the band sound overall, driven by the bass and the bell synth. snare is really loud up front. there's a nice rhythm guitar underpinning it, and the lead has a good tone, love the vibrato. hits a break at 1:25 and has some synthax pick up the lead. later guitar comes in and that's well-played. harmonized melodic content at 2:05 was nice. drums drop again at 2:16 and the track relies on the bass for a bit to keep it moving, then the fm keys. sax comes back when everything's back in for a solo opportunity. this would have been a nice time to mix up the bass line up a bit, but the energy's still there and it's a good solo. it also sets us nicely onto the outro which is well-handled. this is a lay-up. there are a few elements of the mastering i'd have liked to hear modified - namely turning that snare down a touch - but overall this is a solid rendition of the classic original. i particularly liked the keys that you used in some of the quieter parts to keep it moving, and the solo trailoff into the outro. nice work. YES

yeah, opening is a direct sample with some sfx. 0:19 brings in a trap style beat and bass, with the original melodic material over top in a mostly unaltered state to my ears. i like the bassline, especially at the bridge section. the hats get a little weird around 0:45 - sounds like there's a shaker and a hat in there in the same range. solo sounds good over the top but it's drowned by the backing instrumentation most of the time. was that liquid instruments used to do the solo? there's an odd sustained organ tone at the end, some more sampled material for a few seconds, and then it's done. this needs more arrangement unfortunately. it's already very short - it's pretty hard to pass the arrangement guidelines with a track that's under two minutes, and this has a solo for half the song - and there's not a lot to differentiate it from the original already. separately, using sampled audio in general is a nono, even more when it's 15% of the track (a few seconds is one thing, but this is a measurable percentage). lastly, from a mixing perspective, your elements are mostly all over the place. there's no intentionality that i can hear around what instruments are louder than others at different points in the song. i'd highly recommend revisiting each element and ensuring that it's placed appropriately in the soundscape rather than leaving them all at the same mixer volume setting the entire track. NO

the initial sound quality is an instant no regardless of arrangement elements, so let's address that first. the track is super blown out - there's no reason for orchestral samples to be so massively sausage-ized on the waveform. all of these instruments need to be turned down by half if not more, and i'd recommend turning off your limiter and compression chain before doing initial mixing to ensure that you're not compensating for blowing the ends off of the main with your inputs. once you've got that covered, then you can slowly add back in the mastering chain to top it off. from an arrangement perspective, i think the initial concept is interesting. you've got a broader, more interesting sound palette, but it quickly grows stale as the only change is the addition of the synth lead eventually. i'd recommend either leaning more into the orchestral element and doing more part-writing (so it's not just lead, stabs, timpani, and string pad) on individual instruments, or else lead into the synthy element where that kind of sustained pad works well and flex some creative sound design muscles. either way, this is too simple of an arrangement right now, and larry's right about the loop and ending cutoff. we need more transformative arrangement to be something that can sit on the site. NO

yeah unfortunately this is essentially a cover using chiptunes. we require transformative arrangement here at ocremix - that is, sound swaps aren't enough. in a demake like this, i'd expect to hear updated rhythmic elements, new chords, a more personalized instance of the melodic line, changed time signatures, etc. what's here right now is mostly concernedape's work, and it's just being played by new instruments. that's fine with youtube and some other services but it's not what we do here. i love the idea though! i'm a huge fan of demakes. that track is a good example of the type of arrangement we look for here, and emulating (no pun intended) ben's expansion of the original theme would be a great way to proceed here. NO

would need a real title if it passed. this is a pretty basic original - just the bass riff and the whistle synth - so i'd need to see some pretty transformative elements to make this pass the bar. to my ears, there isn't much arrangement here at all - this sounds essentially like you've taken the existing parts (even some of the drum lines) and put better sounds on them. i think the better sounds sound better! but there's nowhere near the transformative arrangement we require as part of 4.2 in the submission standards. NO

triplet vibe is a good one to start out. the darker backing elements really draw out the feel of the original track too. starting with the B theme is a surprising choice but works pretty well as a prep element.0:51 is where the original starts. hats are a touch bright but only a little. i liked the doubling in the melodic line that starts at 1:42. 2:27 is the B theme again, with a bit of a thinner backing vibe than the A section. there's a second where both melodic elements are competing which is a nice idea too. there's a bit of an altered arp near the end for the last 30s or so and then it's done. this is really close on the arrangement side to being too conservative for me. there is essentially nothing changed here from the original except the placement of the opening 50s and one note in the arp for 30s at the end. there's a lot of window dressing added on top which i'm counting as elements of the arrangement or else it wouldn't get there. obviously the mastering is dope and the synthesis work is superb, and that carries it for me. YES

the waveform diff overall on this one is drastic. also LT this wasn't samples from the original, it's just a very similar synth that was used. starts out with some ambience (assuming this is the sampled element?) and some accelerating piano over time. the piano sounds intentionally filtered. the arp's in the piano, and the lead is a similar tone to the original. the kick starts as a more muted version and then has another kick with more beater added in later. the lead is 1:1 from the original. when the rest of the beat comes in at 1:18, it sounds to me like the track is currently the ongoing ambience, the beat, piano playing some chords and the arp, and the lead. that's pretty sparse compared to the complexity of the original. there's a break at 2:12 with no kick for a bit, but it's back within 15 seconds and we get the B theme for a bit. there's a stutter synth here that i didn't notice before, and that's a nice change. at 2:55 the beat's done for the piece (another 1.5 minutes!). the lead synth appears to truck through the rest of the melodic material in order with the piano under it, and then finish on some more ambient swells. from an arrangement perspective, i like the idea of giving the main body of the melody some more rhythm in the form of percussion. beyond that, there's not much here that isn't lena raine. we need more arrangement than this. section 4.2 in our standards talks about significant arrangement - another word that's used a lot is transformative. this doesn't have that, so it's a nonstarter right there. frim a mixing perspective, the kick is wildly louder than anything else in the track, it's not even close. the spectrum analysis shows a solid wall from 35-60hz, no cutoff below that and nothing close to it above it - that's too much. beyond that, the entire mix feels very muted and quiet due to not having any headroom from the kicks. likely this was mixed on low-bass-response headphones and that's why there's such a crazy difference there - this desperately needs another pass at mixing it on something with accurate response and then subsequently needs some compression to balance it. beyond that, sidechaining at least the ambience and the backing elements under the kick a bit would help with the pressure as well. i'd suggest really committing to the arrangement first. make something that's distinctly Metris's take on lena's work rather than just taking her work and adding pads behind it. change up the melody a bit, play with chords, update and add new textures that are critical to the work and not window dressing, change the tempo, etc. and then come back and get the workshop's view on it to see how it's going. right now this isn't passable. NO

track has >5db of headroom and little dynamic contrast at first glance. would need a new name if it passes as well. at first glance, this appears to be a palette swap. the notes appear to be pretty close to 1:1 outside of no drums. the synthesis concepts are interesting, but i'll note that the choices actually are a net negative overall for the work - the lead's quieter than the arpeggiating synth since the arp is so much brighter than the lead, as opposed to the opposite in the original, and the long release pads mean that there's some overlap on faster chord progressions. it also has no ending - it starts to fade out, but doesn't quite before it just stops. this is not enough arrangement for our site, unfortunately. i think there's a real place for something with interesting juno-type synthesis here, but per 4.2 of our standards we need transformative arrangement. this is a cover and we don't take those unfortunately. NO

i can definitely see the PT influence right away on this one. i just played the game so the theme is very familiar to me as well. switching from the faster, more urgent verse to the broad half-time chorus is straight off of every single PT album, especially when layered with the strings in the transition back to the verse. great job getting the style down. i like the intensity at 1:30 switching the acoustic guitar riff to electric. 2:30 is the start of the moon theme - i admit i was wondering how you'd work this in, but this is probably the best way to make it work. there's a heavy emphasis on effecting voices here, and while i can't make out what's being said, someone else may be able to. this doesn't overstay its welcome in the scope of the overall work so i'm good with such a disjointed sfx break. 3:47 is the leshy theme. vocals are a bit more exposed here due to the range, but i can definitely hear your influences here as well. i liked the way that you played with time a few times here to keep it not quite what you expect. the anesthetize reference at 5:14 is great, and within the scope of a 7+ minute work i don't mind some development that's original at all. 6:17 is a much more (initially) straightforward blow through the leshy theme again. the vocal lines and harmonies here are great, your voice sounds the best in the track here. it's shorter than i'd have expected for this section. 7:17 is kind of where the track hits the outro, and it's done quickly after that. even a bigger fill going into the final hit would have been great. also i'd love to have heard the djentier version to be honest! this track kinda doesn't have enough gristle to really fit the cabin's gameplay. this is, of course, great. the mixing is fantastic throughout - you could say that the vocals are a bit quiet in spots, but this is very fitting the style of the influencing tracks so i think it works great. i think the lyrics work well and don't sound too contrived. the themes from the game are interwoven throughout as well. excellent job. YES

opens with acoustic and vocals. there's a bit of pitchiness but the vibrato on the first sustain is beautiful. drums and pads come in at 0:15 and it's kind of a lower vibe here. it builds into 0:33 where the vocals come in for the first time. vocals are obviously low but sound great. guitars are a bit loud here compared to the female vocals when they're lower (before 1:00). the drums under the refrain were a little too complex for what's going on over them in my opinion. the lyrics didn't flow very well on the last line of the refrain either. vent's entry is as expected. there's some pitchiness (chill, through, stings, re in remind). there are some oddly pronounced words as well (through). that said, as usual cyril's tone is super dope (the first two lines are very nice). the unison that comes after this was a bit rough - i only can hear cyril most of it, but there's more pitchiness in here too. unisons are the hardest interval to tune so that's not unexpected. there's a bit of a break right after it with some great bass work, and it builds up into a solo section. there's a few funky notes in here but overall it's a fun solo that has a great shape. there's another unison section that's better balanced and tuned after this. it would have been really nice to hear this section harmonized rather than unison, but the execution's fine. the last two lines of the combined section before the refrain (and the demons/but they wither) are probably my favorite part of the track. the track ends suddenly after the unison refrain. overall i think this is probably over the bar. i think that there's some execution missteps on the lyrics and vocal recordings, but the band sound overall is great and the track overall has some great highs and a good shape. when the track works, it works really well. YES

very short remix. i agree that the keys overall sit on the front of the beat and so feel a bit not quite right. i think the verby...shaker? maybe? sounds kind of weird too next to the very dry drums and fairly dry piano. i also agree that the tone is overcompressed overall (feels really blown out tbh) and the drums are super loud compared to everything else. the overall soundscape is very spare - it's piano, shaker, drums, and a very minimal bass, and some sfx - and as a result the mechanical-sounding piano's doing a lot of lifting. the ending is imo worse than a solid cutoff - it's very obvious the shaker's a loop with how it's handled and separately there's no preparation or arrival point. i find the piano's ideas to be pretty fun! i like the use of sfx here as well, i think it fits in well. i like the very minimal bass usage. however, when a track is both short and lacking in variety of instruments, each of those instruments needs to absolutely nail it. the drums are overly loud and under-effected especially for the genre - it's hard to call something lofi hiphop when it's both very clean and lacking in filters, and also doesn't ever lean on hiphop tropes for the drum sequencing. the piano, as mentioned before, is on the very front of the beat all the time and so feels like it's rushing (delay your entire piano part by a ms or two and it'll magically fall into the pocket). the shaker's super wet and it doesn't fit at all next to the semidry piano and very dry drums. and, overall, it's heavily compressed, which would work if there was more pad work going on or some other elements to flesh out the harmonic backing, but right now just emphasizes the wrong stuff too much. in general, i've found LXE's remixes to be undercooked. they tend to have very creative ideas in a few things, and everything else is just autopilot to fill in behind that. they're loop heavy and often have no endings. they tend to be very short. this is more of the same. it sounds fine as-is. but at just over two minutes, every part needs to be sparklingly perfect. this isn't there yet. NO

some sfx to start. the Wish You Were Here riff fits into Balamb Garden really well, that's a clever dovetail. there's some voiceover that's fine for an extended section quoting the game which reminds me why i haven't played the game in 20 years, under which is some fun guitar work (i like the 12-string the most). the overall texture picks up a lot at 2:04 with some excellent lead guitar playing. there's an extended section from about 2:39 through 3:15 that's going through the descending B theme with some soloing over the top. the section at 3:15 wasn't familiar to my ears. there's a bigger section at 4:08 that's got some more buzz in the rhythm parts and some more virtuosic guitar playing, and the final return of the melodic material doubled with a synth lead. coming out of this big section, there's the WYWH riff again and some sustained pads going through the opening guitar elements before some sfx to end it. this is a great concept and it works really well. i appreciate the patience to really get into the solo section and to let the original with its disparate parts each have their time to do their thing. i think aping Pink Floyd's style works out great and the track doesn't rely too heavily on that concept to carry the idea. nice work. YES

bruh. initial synth hits and subsequent bass and beat are exactly what i expected. lead's got some nice distortion effects on it, it's definitely a grittier vibe to synthwave than we've heard recently. transition at 0:40 is a choice. the track kind of noodles a bit after that - i think the inconsistent beat and bass work is why, it just felt very disjointed for a while. there's a break at 1:09 where it's just pads and the really broad, buzzy lead for a bit. it cuts suddenly to the above image with a heavily detuned and filtered section from another game for a while before it suddenly pops back into the main material again at 2:06. the detuning next to the not-detuned stuff sounds pretty mind-bending for a minute and there's some other grunginess in there somewhere in another synth that's got some oddly tuned stuff going on. it trucks through the B section of the melody before a quick recap of A and then it's done quite suddenly. i need to admit i really, really don't like the middle of the song at all. synthwave is all about the constant motion and consistent driving vibe, and the section from 0:41 through 1:09 doesn't really have that at all. it feels like a bunch of disparate ideas are stuck together. the following break loses a lot of energy and is very short, and then suddenly is into the tape section which i really just don't get all. separate from the concept being really out there, it's uncomfortable to listen to something that's so detuned and only in one ear when there's an abrupt transition to it and from it. i'm running into an issue where i don't think these sections are viable but i don't see a specific element of the standards that they're violating. so i'm going to let the other judges vote first and i'll come back to this after some more thought. ??? edit 1/26: at its core, the middle section doesn't belong here. it's objectively an ill-fitting concept that's executed fine but really doesn't go with the rest. if this wasn't Hudak i'd probably already have rejected it just due to how left-field it is. the artist shouldn't matter here. So that's a NO from me as a result.

bit of a shuffle to start. the twilight theme shows right off the bat. the bass is really caged up and has a unique tone to it. there's a ton of wet sfx going on which is nice for the vibe. there's more traditional harmonic leading than i'd have expected at about 1:15, but it works fine. there's a break at 1:37 for a bit and then we're into a short recap at 1:59. there's a lot of outro material as the melodic material slowly drifts off into the aether, and it's done. this is short and sweet. mastering is definitely lush, very appropriate for the track. nice job. YES

I went through a spell of arranging and remixing VGM as an exercise in new production techniques and experimenting with new sounds. I was really into sounds from the Juno-60 which I felt meshed well with this song. The track is equal parts whimsical and sort of dystopian which fits well with the sci-fi sounds of the Juno. This song understandably gets a lot of love and the arrangement itself is pretty faithful to the original. My goal was to retain the vibe with more "modern" (but distinctly 80s) instrumentation. Artist: breadbarn Games & Sources Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996) Composer: Yoko Shimomura Original song:

Track credits: * jnWake - keys, synths * Shea's Violin - cello in Part 3 * minusworld - arrangement, production, guitars, bass, vocals, VST programming Notes First off, a note about Inscryption: If there’s a chance you will play this game, I recommend NOT LOOKING UP ANYTHING, even the OST. The track, lyrics, and links below reveal little about the game’s plot by design. Song links are to specific songs, not the whole OST. This was my entry to DoD's Horror Month, where to my surprise it won gold! I wasn’t initially planning to enter Horror Month because I rarely play horror games. I’m also nearly one year into dadhood, so entering DoD requires an arrangement to jump out at me because I don’t have time to struggle through an arrangement. But I scanned through my game library anyway and realized I played Inscryption which totally counts as horror. Inscryption’s music is very atmospheric, so I still wasn’t sure if I was going to enter, but at least I had a game. While tempting to do atmospheric/ambient for Horror Month, I generally like to arrange songs -- something with hooks and a chance of sticking in listener's memories. This usually means melody, followable song structure, etc. I asked myself “what songs have a creepyish vibe to them?” and Porcupine Tree came to mind. Inscryption music features an acoustic guitar prominently, and Fear of a Blank Planet begins with an AG riff and… the first part of the arrangement jumped out at me. I didn’t want to do a 1-to-1 mashup with Fear of a Blank Planet, but I did want to capture the vibe. I have the unfortunate curse of knowing exactly where all of my inspiration comes from, which often makes me feel like I’m just copying other people… but if you blend it all up it sounds fresh, right? …Right? Here's the list, if you find it interesting. Part 1: Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree Part 2: Hamburger Lady by Throbbing Gristle Part 3: Sorceress by Opeth, Anesthetize by Porcupine Tree, Compendium by Elder Part 4: Inmazes by VOLA. (The original thing I wrote here was much djent-ier, but I didn’t like it and toned it back.) I am the singer on this. I'm not a great singer, nor do I like to sing, but I think my voice is able to fit the "wilting" vibe. Hopefully it's not too distracting! Lyrics The lyrics are original. The public premise of the game, to quote videogamedunkey, is a deckbuilder “you play in a dark cabin with a serial killer.” I didn’t want to write lyrics about the game in order to avoid spoilers, so I did the very (un)original thing of writing about being metaphorically trapped… by yourself. Ultimately the lyrics combine my own reflections on struggling to do things that are good for me (sleep, exercise, therapy) with indirect imagery from the game in a hopefully cohesive way. An example: “Here they come again and again” - Imagery of enemy cards coming down the lane “Your sins find you again and again” - Why is it so hard to fit in a simple 30 minute walk each day? “Your choices wound again and again” - Imagery of… well if you’ve played the game, you know. Verse moonlight creeping through the haze sunlight haven’t seen in days lamplight flashing in their eyes s’alright i’m prob’bly gonna die nightmare not asleep, awake despair feel my body shake elsewhere no one looks for me my prayer divine absentee Chorus torpid eyes belie the guise don’t surmise there’s someone inside Verse haunted by’an early demise not dead i’m just hypnotized sage words barely a disguise to hide there’s no one inside hopeless nothing exciting faithless what’s there to believe graveless no rest for these bones spineless hitherto unknown Chorus 2 vapid ways earn ceaseless praise dearth betrays there’s no one inside B Verse trapped inside this prison nothing but decay No. Stand up, won’t take it I won’t waste away Ahhh Here they come again and again Your sins find you again and again Ahhh Your Choices wound again and again Again and again and again and again (Again and again and again …) Outro I I wanna feel alive I wanna feel the sun I wanna see the sky I I know I’m gonna die But I’m gonna try To live this life Chorus Gleaming eyes Lift toward the sky No disguise There’s someone inside Games & Sources Inscryption Source Map Part 1 Intro - Deathcard Cabin melody 1 Verses - Deathcard Cabin prog variation Chorus - Deathcard Cabin melody 2 (timestamp: 118s) Part 2 Moon Theme Part 3 Chugs - Leshy's theme melody 2 (timestamp: 129s) Prog Build - original Part 4 Lydian riffs - Leshy's theme melody 1 Chorus reprise Intro reprise