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i think larry pretty much summed it up. this is, unfortunately, a remix of darangen's piece. the guitar performance is solid but outside of the performance, this lacks in too many areas to bear the entire burden. i think the "high-tech space rock" sound that you're referring to is pretty accurate and is very reminiscent of satch's style of musings. but what ultimately messes it all up is that there are too many references to darangen's interpretation of this. in fact, it feels as though you took his arrangement and felt that you could play better guitar on it, scratched the vocal parts and then ran through a barrage of posessed satriani arpeggios. as a remix of a remix, its a very good one but an OCR submission it does not make. it reminds me of when marty friedman recorded 4 or 5 instrumental remixes of megadeth tracks off of the cryptic writings album. the songs were essentially exactly the same underneath but they replaced dave mustaine's vocals with marty's guitar. a great idea but ultimately not bringing anything to the table but a personal showcase. you can play, brother. write your own arrangement NO

i'm not sure this track works. we can blame that on the original being kinda of whacky and sparse. the original itself has no true direction and the arrangement falls into the same pitfall... it is got some pretty good ideas but the overall effect is that it doesn't really do much with the original but borrow a couple of ideas and go on a stagnant tangent, hardly developing past slowing down ridiculously early on (love the dense distortion) and then speeding up at the end and while these parts are cool, they do not save this sinking ship that lies in between. sorry but no dice. NO

eh, doesn't do anything new and falters as a result of it. the synths are pretty plain like generic oatmeal. this has potential but as it is right now, it has very little energy and this sounds like it is trying to have a lot more than what it actually is pushing forward. the production in this case isn't so much flawed as it is bland. production can, for some, be a matter of what sounds good to you. if it sounds like sex then it will be. so that isn't what i have a problem with right now... i just think your overall musicality on this track is lacking just a smidge. take it back to the drawing board. fiddle around with giving it some energy and drive. make tha groove really groove. improve the bite on the synths and see where it goes. NO

so umm this is great. i have no stylistic issues; the jazz is refreshing. the piano solo is great and the way it fumbles out like that is very cool. i'd do somethin like that, no? the track in general is well put together if it weren't for two prominent issues that automatically sink the piece. for one, the bass is murderous. i can't listen to this for too long or i really do get a ringing in my head. not good. tone it down a bit - the walking bassline itself is great but it just shouldn't actually kill your listener ... only groove 'em. the other matter is that of the drums and, like those before me have pointed out, it gets extremely boring and annoying after a while. it isn't a steady groove really so it does not benefit from such stark repition; a jazz beat is something that almost requires dynamic variation by nature. it, otherwise, sits awkward in the back of such varied instrumentation in front of it. i don't see how you can place a walking bassline on top of that static a beat... it effectively kills the rhythm. really, if you want to turn this into a killer track, get a real drummer or go in and vary it up manually. it may take you some time but the end result is worth it. have fun with it, don't forget that, in jazz more than most other genres, the drums are often as "fun" as the instruments ahead of it. i don't have a problem with anything outside of the drums and bass. i think everything else will better fall into place once the backbone of the piece is repaired. think of having a ruined vertebra. your posture is the first thing negatively affected otherwise. damn. great choice of source material. it yields itself naturally to jazz as koji kondo is a very jazzy fellow and most mario music is obviously in concert with this. i've heard this track performed jazz several times before, actually but i think this is one of the more daring takes of it. kudos. this is a yes waiting for a new backbone. NO:(

i want to start off by saying that if the panel is going to shoot this down due to the recording quality, it would be a travesty. it should be very clear by this point that this is shawn's sound and not a byproduct of any inability or incapability. this is a very established sound and the driving impetus behind his understated scene popularity. so on more conventional matters of qualification; this track is killer. with house on a guitar and shawn on those drums and whatever else the crazy man has concocted is a ruthless musical combination. the track has a lot of energy as both of these guys specialize in just that; creating energy. most of the track's attributes benefit from the roughness, the rawness... the POWAR, so to speak. dig it? in terms of arrangement, there is one glaring forseeable problem and that is the ending and the general lack of development (barring a total "this recording is too raw" cascade). it wouldn't trick me out to see the track fall on its face across the panel because of it. as far as i'm concerned, the arrangement is fine in terms of its instrumentation and even structurally where this is what one would expect of an actual game track rather than a single-serving piece of music (which is where i believe this will ultimately bug most of the panel). an attribute which, incidentally and oddly enough, gives the track its appeal. this, from knowing both artists and knowing what their individual capabilities and styles are, is a stylistic choice. in other words, while the beast does not have a head, body and tail, it does have teeth. no doubt about it. YES wanna quickly address the bach issue; not enough of an issue to disqualify. i'm with vig.

regardless... what is the pressing majority weigh-in? who's left that we haven't heard from?

i agree with malcos. the original is not particularly impressive and your arrangement direction is a good recovery for the source. in that regard, i think you did very well unfortunately, i'm with malcos on another point as well. as good as this is, the bass really does kill this. this track is brutally murdered because i love the groove and the mood of the piece but you have a lot of work to do on that bass. make it bite more. really sharp like a shark tooth barbed and serated. everything in this triggers happy feelings but that bass. do somethin about it and shoot it back at us and zyko will tomahawk rocket a YES through it. this is pretty much a yes from me and i feel terribly giving it a no; but you really ought to come back at us with an improved bass track and its on. for now NO

this one is complicated. on one hand, this is a fantastic arrangement. not sure where on earth you got half your ideas. were you born on an island? with an eye patch? this isn't clever pirate music, this is a freaking crash course in it. your production really leaves a lot to be desired. the track embodies a ton of energy dynamically at all the wrong times. instead of meaninful crescendos (aside from 2:36) you have volume spikes at points of great intensity... usually accompanied with the introduction of new instrumentation which succeeds at muddying up the soundfield. speaking of which, there is a noticeable bland dampness to the mix from start to finish. the brightness is sucked totally out of the mix. the strings sometimes sound kinda rough but they serve their purposes well. i think the piano is fantastic; not any more mechanical than it ought to sound. it is a percussive instrument, afterall. very well written part, i feel. the brass is simply not bright enough. i'm afraid this is just a terribly lossy mixdown of your track because this ought to sound amazing. and to be honest, if it did, that would earn it an instant yes. resubmit it as soon as you can. address the EQ and give us something that sounds brighter and i'll show you three beautiful letters NO

you bastard. there are stretches of this where i am just in a trance. and then i'm also listening to something that, tonally, simply lacks any texture. i think the tweaked swing in your drums has a very strange effect that i feel pretty good about though that is likely cuz i'm stoned and which means you should take zircon's advice and not do that in the intro. as far as arrangement... brilliant. when you get goin with your interpretation, it is something else. really. and to be honest, i don't have a problem with the conservative approach early on. you've got the first treatment of the theme squarely in your crosshairs. no need to get flashy... you go off the handle pretty good soon enough anyways with your arpeggios, stutters and bag of, otherwise, neat little bite-size, square-shaped embellishments. i'm all about this mix and despite its limitation in the synth texture, i'm going to do the unthinkable. i'm going to say yes. i think that what we nourish in our community is the ability to create fresh, original ideas out of controlled inspiration/influence. this track is daring on several different fronts and definetly interprets heat man differently than any other heat man mix i've heard. that is something that you and i both know is not easy to accomplish in the proliferated state of our little niche of the musical universe. when you have as many artists feeding off the same tired sources, the cojones to push a new envelope ought to be applauded and celebrated. i know there will be an emphasis on the lack of instrumental variation and i would have been the first proponent in that notion if it weren't for the superior arrangement. without doubt... YES

what is this? you think this is a marketplace? which melon is ripe? come on, finish a track and submit it that said, this is pretty finished and nice. the unmastered version sounds fine to me. i refuse to listen to the "mastered version" as the entire matter is terribly trite. i think this rocks. it only suffers from a general dynamic problem. when it gets really busy around 1.50, it is just too chaotic. on a personal level, i dig it. but the problem with that is that it clutters the listener. great choice of source; brian may was a brilliant writer. this benefits a lot from the source and ultimatley is where this mix has the most problems. the intro is very stormdrum-ish. makes me think of the intro to a guy ritchie movie except that once it gets goin, it becomes jarringly static and fails miserably at engaging your listener. then the insane solo/mindfuck that comes shortly after. in the end, it was enjoyable but i cannot see it to a yes. the groove is great but you rely too much on the strengths of the original and don't develop any substantial personal contributions. NO

? why is there any question as to how this track warrants a "yes?" a reverberating one, at that. the arrangement is superb, the instrumentation is constantly fresh... with the arrangement benefiting infinetly from this fact - it gives drumultima a ton more options in terms of where to take this. the drums are bothering a couple of the judges but that is their stylistic preference. i personally would have done the drums differently too, but that does not go to say that he should have, also. i don't see the percussion (very well written percussion, no less) detracting from the piece's qualities which are his superb musicality, creative abilities and arrangement vision; to me, this track's disapproval seems farfetched ultimately, irrelevant it would simply be a shame to see this panel vote away a song like this. i'm not sure why i'm even engaging in the nitpicking. if anything, resubmit immediately. this gets lost in some pipeline of apathetic obscurity and i'm going to hold several of you mercilessly accountable. YES

horrible

yay! another happy, satisfied customer!

i really enjoyed playing this game. most everybody i know did not. the music was the only thing that did not impress me about it as most of it was boring and directionless... that said, this is great. it starts off mellow and very well orchestrated. once this kicks in, it is like almost all modern zelda musik which is peculiarly celtic in writing and this is no exception. groovy. the production is great. your instrumentation is great - everything is placed in the soundfield with a sure hand. the little ukelele in the right channel is a nice touch. the flutes are uplifting. the rhythm is much like the original but the drums sound very nice. your brass sounds as good as brass can sound sampled. the arrangement is surprisingly fresh considering the main groove is very similar to the original. the intro is refreshing and the incorporation of the overworld theme (the original zelda theme) is slick. the ending is epic and grand much like the original but even more so. this sounds like it belongs in wind waker which i suppose is a good thing. that said, my only complaint would be that at times, the instruments sound less than credible particularly at the end. i'm actually kind of in the loop on that because at times, they sound fantastic so i think i'm trippin all in all. great. YES

buddy, i hate to reiterate what the other judges have just said but you really ought to know that this is too close to the original to pass. that said, i love it - very chillin haha but sorry bro. NO

it was merely your opinion that it would never get a yes.

works for me. the guitar playing is great. that intro reminds me of 70's prog rock. the tone of the guitar is nice. the drums are great and vary nicely throughout. the accompanying synths are very good roleplayers. i don't have a problem with the transitions - the whistling in the background was score. the arrangement is conservative and i would have liked to see you get a little more adventurous with it but there are not problems as far as guidelines are concerned. it cuts off for me, too. so unless that's just me, look into getting that fixed. a winner is you. YES

you know. this is very beautiful. close to the original in some ways but i can hear where you made your contribution obvious. i'm curious why this isn't enough to pass. what is wrong with it? from where i stand, it is beautifully arranged, the production is great and the instrumention is very romantic. it captures the mood of the original while making it even more gentle and lovely. i think there's more to a piece than its notes. saying this is like the original is limited YES

i, on the other hand, think this rocks. i hear nothing bland about this. i've heard a lot of bland submissions tonight... and this is not one of them; this has a lot of life to it so i'm not sure where you're getting the bland impression. the production, like malcos said, is well done. i have no qualms there at all. very nice. arrangement is rad. for a trance track, even, it is really adventurous which is refreshing. the crowd in the beginning = score. definetly kept my attention put it this way, i'm all doped up on vicodins right now and couldn't get up and run if my apartment caught on fire; but i'm dancing in my seat to this. you got my vote, son YES

hahaha your track comes with a pre-installed length paranoia. not a good sign before even listening to it. that said, you weren't making a case for keeping my attention early on. the intro was kind of stale and by 2 and a half minutes, there were some really crazy flute work and then some real awkward bells. my major bone to pick is that there are a bunch of good ideas that don't go together thrown into a bowl... like experimenting with making salad... turns out your pre-listen warning about length ended up holding water... i think it is too long at least for what it presently does. it didn't hold my interest for long because of how bland the mix sounds. you're on a good track but you need to polish this up a bit. go to our workshop and seek help from some of the regulars there. then resubmit it. NO

i dug the groove so much that i was close to auto-yessing it right from the get-go once this picks up, though, i have to agree with vig that any melody on top of this beat would have sounded nicely. its like a chick with a killer body but no head. develop the arrangement a little more. give the track a purpose... for being 3 minutes long, it really doesn't offer much outside of being chill and even then, for not long enough. NO refine

should we take this baby for yet another spin?

i don't mean to single any of my friends out but i have to say this because it is really grating on me. to make a statement like "Since the difficulty level of making trance beats sound good is roughly on the same level as putting on your shirt the right way " is to be awfully trite. also, i believe he was remarking that the track might not even make it TO the panel; not through it. let's just stick to our conventional burdens of objective judgement, no? this track has only one distinct weakness and that is the quality of arrangement. it doesn't do anything as far as melodic direction. i don't think the drums are trying to overcompensate for a lack of arrangement, i think the drums are simply doing what drums do in the genre. it is just that the track stays in one gear for the entire time. flesh out the arrangement. don't beef up your instruments too much more, though... they're already pretty dense. what's missing in the soundfield is more music, not more sound. so, layering original harmonies with the source melody that you have moving through most of the track will give it more breadth musically and fill out your soundfield. like liontamer suggested, even an original section that transitions smoothly from the original source would work very well to vary up the melodic focus of the piece. i think that, for a beginner trance piece, this has a lot of potential and already accomplished quite a bit. it isn't going to end up on the site, unfortunately, because it has too many fundamental arrangement flaws in it that keep it from being engaging or entertaining enough. give it some life and bring it back to us. NO

you know, i'm trying to get into this and i can't. while i dig the drumwork a lot (i think you did a great job with the drum programming), i liked the original groove more... most of the strut in the original is lost upon this arrangement like you took the funk right out of it. the bassline doesn't help, either as it is almost non-existent. the problem, i think, is that the bass and drums don't drive the piece. i know you're goin for chill but chill does not equal bland. the piano is too rigid through most of the track and while certain runs are fantastic, it doesn't make up for how the piano, itself, sounds. the arrangement is where this shines. while it stays relatively close for most of it, it goes in great places as the track meets its climax and gently floats down from it. the ending is perfect for what the song does... the arrangement barely saves this track. there isn't enough to pass or fail this track to be honest but as it does not infringe any of the guidelines and is well produced and intelligently orchestrated, i cannot fault it simply on a disagreement with your stylistic choices. YES

well whaddya know. i DO find the intro quite interesting. i'm digging the textures you're bringing in... the acoustic guitar, the vocal pads, i think you needed a few more textures to keep the thing fresh but it is quite calming. this was strikingly like vangelis (particularly his blade runner work) but unfortunately the last section does kill it. there is no question about it; you ought to have changed the backdrop a bit when you brought in the melody. frankly, that is one of my favorite video game melodies ever; i'll never forget mellogear's remix of it or beej's. both captivated me to no end. so i'm especially critical and what i hear is exactly like what was said before me... it feels slapped onto the atmospheric synth work. the other problem is that ending. perhaps it is what you intended specifically but it is sort of awkward... just pointing it out but this is where i'm going to disagree with TO and LT. i like this mix a lot. i'm sure everybody expected me to but really, its very good. i disagree about the vox pad not being effective. it does precisely what it was intended to do; i feel like i'm watching blade runner, its riveting. however, you're going to have to fix up the last section when you bring "At the bottom of night" into the fray because it is too awkward; even for the liberal amongst us do me a favor. redo that part; make it more interesting, make it unique. bring it back. i will give you a yes. NO resubmit.