Israfel
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Posts posted by Israfel
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Doesn't seem to have much energy, which, being as this is primarily dance music, is a fairly unfortunate flaw. It's largely unmemorable throughout, in my opinion, and simply fails to hold my interest for the full 5 and a half minutes. I'm perfectly willing to pass genre pieces, but even keeping the limitations and conventions of dance music in mind, this seems mediocre at best.
NO
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If the arrangement is strong enough, I'm willing to pass mixes with sub-par samples and production. But in this particular case, the composition doesn't really manage to overshadow the sounds. You should look into downloading better samples. You can get a lot better sounds than this without having to spend anything. I would also suggest writing for specific samples rather than plugging in the samples after the arrangement is finished. One tends to get better results this way.
NO
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I've rearranged this very theme, actually. The reason mixers enjoy doing such short themes is because the process of trying to expand such a small idea into a full piece, *without* simply filling up the time with original material, is quite challenging.
And for the most part, I feel this mix meets the challenge pretty well. Nice.
YES
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I wouldn't call this a conservative arrangement. Actually, to me, this is somewhat close to the ideal balance of new and source material.
So, the question is: does the lo-fi quality of the recording merit a rejection? And in my opinion, it doesn't.
YES
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A bit overly simplistic right now. It's not a complete waste, but it certainly needs more work. There's just not enough here to maintain interest.
NO
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Man, this is weird. It honestly sounds like you were trying to cover "Kick My Axe"
This has already been done, and done better at that.
NO
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Creepy little mix. This is one of those mixes that, while it doesn't do much for me, is nonetheless above average and will likely be enjoyed by the community at large.
Parts of it are perhaps a bit sparse and overly simplistic (and Larry's designation of "safe" may be accurate) but still, this is certainly passable.
YES
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This one worked for me. I basically agree with everything the others said except that I don't think it's too similar to the original; it's conservative, but not *too* conservative, in my opinion.
a borderline YES
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Man, I dig that lead sample, but otherwise there's not much going for this mix, unfortunately. Just a bit too simplistic overall and those orchestra hits are way overused- pretty weak ending as well.
I just love that lead, but still, this one needs more work.
NO
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Yeah, kinda weird that this is even on the panel. The composition is all over the place, no real form to speak of, and the production is rather iffy to say the least. Really needs quite a bit more work.
NO
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Yeah, the production just kills this one- hissing, pops etc. etc. It would take one hell of an arrangement to overcome these problems, but unfortunately this is a pretty conservative take (albeit still pretty cool and creepy).
Needs quite a bit more work.
NO
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If the thematic sections were as competent as the non-thematic ones, I think I could pass this. While it doesn't really do much for me, it does seem to me that parts of this are a pretty decent, if generic, take on trance, but once you start adding in the source theme things just become too simplistic.
I say go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to make your presentation of the themes as interesting as your intro and outro. And you might want to reconsider the form- feels a bit like two pieces tacked together at the moment; a more seamless integration of the theme that enters in at 3:01 would probably be good.
NO
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Gah- you took a quirky little piece and turned it into something so annoyingly square and strait-laced.
But still, it's a nice, albeit simple, arrangement with some good playing. And, while it's fairly short, it's nonetheless well-developed, I believe. Pretty subdued, somewhat monotonous in texture perhaps, but not too shabby overall.
a borderline YES
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I'm more on the arrangement overcomes any sample problems side of the argument- and honestly, I don't really have any real problem with the samples anyway. Yeah, maybe a little more reverb would be nice, but it's a pretty minor thing.
Good stuff.
YES
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Yeah, this should have gotten the form letter. Much too bare-bones to pass.
NO
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Keeping with the theme of the mix, you go with the remix you have, not the remix you want. So, this remix definitely could be better, but is it good enough as is?
Well, no, in my opinion. My biggest problem with the mix is something that Vigilante mentioned; there isn't a logical form nor a satisfying amount of development. Form is a not a minor thing, it heavily affects the effectiveness of a piece. Plus, the lack of a satisfying form results in the mix sounding too short- it's over 4 minutes long, but the ending seems to come so abruptly, as if it were ending halfway through the piece. A logical form would fix this problem.
The writing at places is a bit weak as well, I feel. But for me, form is the major problem here.
NO
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Ugh...I started having unpleasant flashbacks of my marching band days when I heard this.
Yeah, the recording isn't perfect, but I have to cut some slack there. And as far as the performance...well, it's a high school band- pretty weak overall unfortunately. Plus the arrangement is pretty darn short. I got the impression this was a "throw-away" sort of piece for the band; it just feels under-rehearsed
I came into this really hoping to pass it, but at the end of the day, the novelty far outshines the piece's quality.
NO
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Cool, well executed cover. The problem is we don't accept covers on this site; this would need more rearrangement to qualify. For what it's trying to be though, this is quite good.
NO
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Nice variety, good sounds and pretty well-written on the whole. Fairly easy decision for me.
I actually think this mix suffers from the same problem that a lot of my work has- and that's that it might have too much variety. The combination of short length and constant textural and thematic changes creates a somewhat disorienting experience- and the end result may not be as satisfying as it could have been. And so, given the large amount of material that you have here, this really should have been longer.
But I don't think that this issue warrants a rejection.
YES
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Pretty cool. Parts of this (mainly 2:00) are basically just sample upgrades to the original, but on the whole I feel there's enough arrangement to qualify.
For the most part this is fairly well done, I think, and I'm sure the community would really enjoy it.
YES
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Nice performance, not so nice arrangement. It's really a shame, it would be quite neat to feature a trained vocalist on the site, but the arrangement (which is what this site is mainly about) isn't really up to par. Among other things, this is too similar to the original and the production is rather iffy (too much reverb, for instance).
NO
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This quite short and quite repetitive. Even a trance piece needs to have more attention paid to development than this- that small snippet of the theme just repeats for the majority of the mix. And the ending was rather a letdown.
Work on using and developing the source material more.
NO
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I agree that the mix has a somewhat muffled, lo-fi quality throughout. This never really gets off the ground unfortunately. When you're dealing with minimalist(-ish) music you have to look for ways to continually develop and add interest to the music otherwise there's a great risk of the finished product being emotionally flatlined and/or even boring. And that's a trap that I think this mix falls into.
I love your mix choice and some of the arrangement ideas are nice, but this one never really develops satisfyingly.
NO
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Provided the production doesn't just kill a piece by itself, my judgements tend to be weighted heavily towards arrangement quality. And here, while the production does have some problems (mainly that there are some minor balance and separation issues) the arrangement puts this one over the top for me. And I honestly have no problem with the samples; this is about as good as you're going to get for free, and I'd rather have music like this than have everyone start pirating pro samples. So, good stuff.
YES
*NO* Legend of Zelda 3 'Autumn Leaves Kakariko'
in Judges Decisions
Posted
The ringing sound that accompanies a good majority of the notes is by itself a reason to reject this, in my opinion; it is extremely distracting.
And, as was already mentioned, the arrangement is too liberal to be included on the site.
NO