Sam Ascher-Weiss

WOW! There's a whole lot to love here. Really excellent arrangement.

Blah Blah BLah Blah.....

Wow! This is truly great stuff. I loved every moment of it. Beautiful

Fantabulous Drumwork. Such a great piece of music. Sexy Saxaphone solo + Handpercussion fills OMG! Bossa ending is ultra smooth. I love what you have CREATED.

NICE!

Just stop doggin' me around

Great job Buddy! . This music brings great joy... I like joy. IT IS THE SPIRIT! Okay... LOVE IT

Dude, this stuff is tite yo. Ya'll best recognize.

The drum triplet fills brought in that extra needed energy whenever it was lacking. Unfortunately, few other instruments were able to have the same effect which meant the song relied strongly on the drums for it's drive. Other big contributers were the delayed instrument playing the melody sometimes and the soloist. As far as the instrumental combinations I think the problem comes from you using an unconventional ensemble but giving them all isolated roles. When you put instruments together that don't gell naturally, you need to go that extra-mile to get them to sound like a family. Having instruments trade positions frequently is an easy short cut. The piano can play the melody for 4 bars while the accordian backs it up, and then they can switch, with extra care given to making sure that both parts have a smooth transition into their new occupations. More concrete teamwork is the key to getting atypical instrumental combinations to work. ALSO, try making sure that everything sounds good without drums before adding them. Percussion is a convenient mask for relative emptiness and lack of interaction between instruments. If you limit your use of percussion, then you'll be forced to further develope the other aspects of your arranging. 2:34 had some decent attempts in this arena especially when the piano starts playing the repeated downward pattern. n0 PS: GREAT TREATMENT OF THE SOURCE BY THE WAY!

It strongly reminds me of Janet Jackson's "Pleasure Principle" actually! I liked the first version but felt that it didn't significantly feature the source and it never settled into a groove without providing enough action to draw attention away from the inconsistency. Both problems are more than solved. The melody is in there all over the place, and where the action originally became subdued, it now continues to build until we're finally ready for the break at 3:50. YeS

The piano is CRAZY loud with little variety in velocity. On top of that it plays two note clusters out of nowhere when it sounds like it's supposed to be soloing... as though the keyboard is constantly messing up. In the original, severe panning was used to keep the piano from dominating everything. ALSO.. it didn't play the reverse brazillian clave over and over for the entire song.. the piano rhythms changed. Of course, all of your sounds are GMish which doesn't help matters. You chose a neat original and you had the right idea of submitting a ReMix in order to help this game's soundtrack gain recognition. It's too bad that the remix doesn't meet the OCR standards cause you've definitely got the right attitude. n0

Indeed. There are lots of things that make this unpassable. The volume of the lead starting at 1:29, the utter lack of complexity in the drums for most of the track, no processing whatsoever as harmony mentioned and the list goes on and on. I love that the bass keeps hitting C Sharps at 2:16 when it's SO obvious those should be Cs considering the progression contains both an A minor and a C major chord. If this had been intentional that would have been cool... cause it has a real freaky effect on the ears. All I can say is... keep righting and you'll improve no matter what. GO FOR IT! n0

I agree with Harmony. The distorted lead is buried by the acoustic struming and lower pitched distored sustained notes. 2:28 contains pleasent laid back light strumming though it's only between Db and Ab, where as the entire progression during the rest of the song is Db, Ab, Bbminor, Fminor, Gb, Db, Ab.. over and over. There's nothing seriously wrong with such a simple progression, though it can become especially monotonous when the same struming pattern and drums remain unchanged for so long. 0:30 - 1:00 and 1:44 - 2:14 are IDENTICAL. This is an example of one of the mix's biggest weaknesses. There is little developement. The only true build that happens is at the end when the melody is semi add-libbed up an octave over the same strum pattern, drums and chords. The break at 1:00 was another highlight though the flute was barely audible. If you're going to use such a simple chord progression and arrangement style, try to bring in more developement and make the repetitive sections draw the listener in by clearly placing the focus on the melody and away from your bland accompaniment parts. The mix had a lot of natural charm, so all you need to do is build on that and you'll be fine. n0

Yes indeed. Very close to the source, but this time you use it in its entirety.. however the source is under thirty seconds so the task was made much simpler this time around. The beats were fun, the saxaphone was decent enough. Somehow when being doubled an octave above... the combination of frequencies made the two saxaphones sound like an accordian instead. The two sounds do not compliment eachother for this reason. I love the effects that become clearly audible when the sax finally leaves for good. OKAY so, next time right a true "ReMix" in OCR form. Take a melody and change the phrasing slightly, maybe take it through some new chord progressions and you might end up with a passeable mix. I'm glad to see no pitch shifted vocals made the cut this time! n0

The first two bars from the source get much more air time here than the other 16. Doesn't that seem a bit lopsided? If you're going to stick with just dealing with such a small portion of the source, at least do SOMETHING to expand upon it. You could have thrown a Db in the bass or a Bb, or an Eb, or even an Ab.. and those are all without having to change a single note of the pattern. If you just change one or two notes the possibilites become endless. My guess is you stuck to this one section because you don't know how to deal with a standing melody. When the standing melody enters... everything in the same register drops out and the lead is eventually doubled by the bass with nothing else melodic taking place. You can do either one of two things. THING ONE: Find a source tune that is made up entirely of non melodic patterns [like the intro to bloody tears] so that you can stick to your current strengths or THING TWO: Work on writing accompaniment parts to standing melodies. Try it without using any drums and also not allowing any of your parts to double eachother as a shortcut. There are so many ways to go about doing this that I think it's best if you find you own strategy. It WILL happen if you just spend some time on it. Working with original material would make this more challenging, but it would also help you develope faster. GOOD LUCK! n0

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 115 "Waltz for the Moon" I think you should submit another remix of Waltz for the Moon every three weeks. We could build up quite a collection, but I'm guessing we'll probably just have to settle for two. Ah well! Anyway, on to the mix. You start out with that cheerful, ever-so-recognizeable Bladiator waltz style. Especially cute is the original material inserted at 1:01. BUT THEN.. at 1:10 we get a rare treat. It's straight-up 4/4 pop rhythms with a few tastefully placed modern chords. The tag line you created as a seque back to 3/4 with the anchor note up top being gently caressed by the smooth repeating downward chord progression is ace! At 3:00 it's finally time to bring in that extra-bombastic watlz version of the bridge leading into some signature Bladiator harmonies dancing underneath a single motif from the original. This builds perfectly into your 3-note out with a bang ending. Who could ask for more? YeS

Along with the lack of interpretation, that which was added was simply watered down generic techno fare. The 16th-16th-8th-16th-16th-8th pattern repeated till the end of time and bass drums pounding every quarter note with the hats responding accordingly. You need to develope your skills a bit more before submitting in the future. I'm sure you'll continue to improve and I look foward to being able to witness that growth! n0

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Princess Zelda's Rescue" (loz3-22.spc) Harmonic simplification is usually a bad idea if you're not going to ADD some other significant element to compensate. You completely eliminated the G diminished chord [that's relative to your key. Bb Diminished in the original]. The fact that this is the most complex chord in the original progression makes me think yours was not a stylistic choice. If it was, then there would have been more significant alterations. Instead we have a situation where the one complicated chord has been replaced while everything else is basically intact. The first part of the arrangement has one guitar playing the melody, another doubling it an octave above often out of sync, a third guitar playing a never ending 3 note line, a fourth guitar playing a repetitive also frequently out of sync strumming pattern and a fifth guitar playing bass notes. This is all lazy arranging. Each part is given a very specific linear function to perform and it does so OVER AND OVER without the slightest bit of variation. The rhythmic sloppyness of the playing actually helps to cover this up a little. During the next section with the distortion effects, the 3 note pattern keeps going in its endless cycle while the distorted lead with just enough vibrato to make it sound off-tune plays a barely audible version of the melody along with a left panned guitar that would be easier to make out if not for the centered one. At 3:00 the left panned guitar abandons the centered super-vibrato one and then a whole family of heavily reverbed guitars joins it in the same part of the frequency spectrum. Gradually the original sloppy strum pattern fades its way back in. Next is the first section PLUS a few additives that don't do much to help things but don't damage them either and provide a decent amount of variation. You took out the most interesting chord from the original, gave each part a single ever repeating role that they almost never deviate from and don't necessarily compliment each other [e.g. the strum pattern was outlining the chords and the 3 note line wasn't providing any notes that weren't already in those chords or the melody] leading into distorted lines with tons of vibrato that can hardly be made out thanks to all of the other parts surrounding them. HOWEVER the vibe here works great. That peaceful sensation wonderfully complimented by the ocean sound effects. Unfortunately that's not enough to make this passable. n0

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 107 "Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World" Tempo changes were great. Key change at 3:14 was great. The layering and constant instrumental overlap was not. For nearly the entire song, you've got the same line up, not counting a few instruments taking very short breaks a couple of times. You have: your guitar and piano playing figures in the midrange without regard for eachother, the piano slamming bassnotes and tinkling around up top, the strings wandering around playing the melody on occasion while rarely coming to the forefront in order to do so, back-up strings ALWAYS sustaining notes all over the place, and loud repetitive drums that drive things but quickly become tiring. ECONOMY is what you need to work on. No need for so much to be happening so often, especially when things aren't supplementing eacother. If the guitar was playing rhythmic patterns and the piano was answering it with a single chord at the end of each prhase... that might be acceptable. Do you understand the difference between that VS. the two of them moving around constantly? The princible can be applied to every instrument in your song. This is slightly masked by the simple chord progression, since modally all the instruments are in the same location... so they don't "clash". Instead the entire soundfield becomes soupy and a feeling of endless dragging insues. CONTRAST goes hand in hand with ecconomy. If you're not using every instrument for 80% of the song, then you can have them take turns, thus creating contrasting textures. That alone will alleviate most of the drudgery here. I understand that it can be frightnening not to layer things to death, because then EACH figure you write becomes naked and exposed. If you do this however, you will be forced to make every single note worthwhile, because you'll know that your listener will be tuned into each one of them. YOU CAN DO IT! n0

Very similar to the source... as has been stated. Also, the tempo seems to be EXACTLY the same as the original. Interesting. The pizzicato repeated note pattern beginning at 1:14 sounded nice, but it worked particularly well because the preceeding material was so empty. All you had was the piano playing it's ascending 3 note pattern every bar with the mechanical melody up above sitting on top of some static strings. After being doubled by flutes, the pizzicato strings are played off the stage by a bass drum crescendo -> cymbal/snare two hit combo. The trill at 2:23 was fun. Very little happening anywhere, at it's richest the orchestration features sustained strings underneath the pizzicato/short bow combo playing quarter notes repeatedly with the ocassional bass drum, snare or cymbal. The source is barely altered in any meaningful way, and the orchestration itself is very plain. Lets get some more interaction between the instruments, and possibly have the piano do something other than play that 3 note ascending line at the start of EVERY measure. Most importantly, expand on the original with maybe a new chord progression, different phrasing of the melody, splicing in some original material and something that will make interpretation much easier to accomplish..... try changing the tempo so that it's not EXACTLY the same as the source. n0

The new progression was enough to make this piece interpretitive. The C minor was a no brainer, but Ab major was completely unexpected yet fits right in! In addition, the bass line has been changed into a melody, and that melody it self has been altered into a fourteen note pattern instead of a six note one. That seems like plenty of interpretation to me. Problems begin when the drums enter. The obligato synth's constant barrage of notes wasn't overwhelming at first, but now that the bass druming is hamering every downbeat, it makes the looser free floating synth sound like it's four note figures over and over, as though it's being retriggered by the bass drum. The bass INSTRUMENT is doing a great job, by only playing the off beats... great for that pocket you're trying to create. I'd suggest not always having a bass drum on everybeat, and sometimes ending the 16th note work midway through the bar, or even not starting it until midway and fading it out before the end of any given measure. This should be done frequently as long as the bass drum is playing the role of rhythmic taskmaster. The final problem is.... the lack of mr. developement. We end at roughly the same place we were in when you first introduced the percussion. The only true variation that took place during the in between time was the melody's brief hiatus. You have permission to change the instrument playing the melody, or even simpler, bring it up an octave. You can transpose the whole thing up a minor third [from C to Eb] and give the mix a half time feel for a while. If your back up pad plays eighth notes instead of sixteenth notes, your bass line hits off beats half as often, and your bass drum only lands once every FOUR downbeats, you'll be suprised by what a FRESH sound that will give a new section. SOOOO You want more variety, deal with the claustrophobia brought to us courtesy of the bass drum and 16th note synth combo, and why not have some clear build so that we end up somewhere different from where we started. Sound good? Okay GRRRREAT! n0

Descent Midi 2 Soundtrack - 07 "Credits" Heaps of luscious sound programming. On the surface, this ReMix comes off as insanely repetitive thanks to the similar textures and lack of real chord progression throughout, BUT things are not always what they appear to be! Why don't we go over some highlights? Okay, sounds like a plan. At 0:32 a phrase is repeated twice, but each time it is given a different response. First a filter sweeping arpeggio and then a rhythmically charged melodic statement. 1:36 presents the bridge chord progression and opens things up by removing any lead instruments. When the original harmonies return, a spot of atmospheric interplay takes it's time before reintroducing the melody. A one time only short duration stuttered sixteenth note shot sticks it's head out for a moment and then swiftly darts back under the surface. When it emerges again at 2:23, it's a completely different phrase. Things of this nature continue for the entirety of the mix. Constant and I mean CONSTANT subtle variation, almost to the point where I would say this is one of the LEAST repetitive mixes I've heard in a while. The note streams starting at 3:33 are delightful, not to mention the brief percussive absence directly follwing them. The only element of this song that could possibly be accused of using too much repition would be the drums. They don't have nearly as much variety as everything else, but as the one anchor, I find that acceptable. Here's to deceptive simplicity! YeS

The echoing note piano pattern... gets a YES! Bushels of repetition. Larry is right that the reverb drowns out some of the counter melodies [though they're more like sustained notes] however, putting them in different registers would help as well, as would more panning. The bridge melody/progression at 1:17 was very much a relief, having heard the main section repeated so many times. Great tag on the bridge... too bad it leads back into to VERBATIM the first section [as Larry Griped]. This song is unfinished. Just about 1:43 of material, and a lot of redundancy in that small space. Try varying your lead instrument more frequently and not having a crash cymbal on every beat. ALSO, go for some added presence in your accompaniment parts. When all of that is handled... finish the song! You've got AT LEAST another minute and a half in you without needing to copy and paste an additional section. n0

WORD! Clearly audible source tune... WAY TO GO! Smooth death-ridden intro. As much as I hate similes, the fast percussion in here sounds like some sort of large one-eyed beast slamming it's hands down on a giant demonic snare drum. Every beat appears to come from the same warped instrument, yet the tone varies enough that it feels as though it's actually being played. Meanwhile, all the virgin sacrifices are dancing around him, singing on occasion. Not sure why they're so enthusiastic about there impending demise, but they help the song, so I wont bother them. The low pitched vocals and high strings complete things, driving the masterful acceleration into 2:17. Well suited bit of peace and quiet following that frenzied pagan worship section. The entire chorale and strings lead us into one more percussive crescendo where the virgins stop singing in order to prepare themselves for the slaughter. At 4:32, the rite has been concluded and the beautiful virgins are no more. The coroner then shows up with his vinyl meat-wagon to take the corpses away. In other words, I loved it! YeS

Very very close to the source most of the time only, lacking the balance and subtlety provided in the original. Not much else to say, a weak one bar percussive pattern enters at 2:07. The back up figure never adjusts itself to fit the progression even though the bass and melody do. This ends up sounding awful sometimes like at 2:53. After the first time through the entire form.... we take one more nearly identical trip down the same old mean streets. If I had been given the option, I would have gotten off the tour before we made the second round but I was given no such opportunity, so I sat through the final itteration of the melody hoping against hope for some signifcant variety. None came and my dreams were dashed. OH WELL.... SUCH IS LIFE! I'm glad you like the FFVIII soundtrack. It is my personal favorite Final Fantasy Soundtrack, though they all have their individual strengths. n0