big giant circles

Drums have definitely intensified the vibe of the source. This has been arranged excellently. This is great, actually. This is the type of source and arrangement that one can listen to once, and on the first time say "Oh, yeah. This is clearly a remix of that song". Props. Wish more mixes were like that. The only weakness the remix bears is it's volume. The master needs to come down--there's some clipping and noticeable loss of sound quality throughout. For example - cymbal crash at section starting at :15. You can easily hear the cymbal get eaten alive by the clipping. :31 is another good example. 2:35, left pan. Anyway, I'm not going to timestamp every one of them--there's several places. And it's no big deal--a quick volume adjustment and rerender should fix it. Solid stuff. Very fitting of the Halloween vibe. Great work, Mr. Dude. On the condition of the volume being fixed, YES

I am interested in this event. I would like to attend. We'll see what happens.

Poem? POEM????? IT'S NOT A POEM!!!! (also, I will YES OVERRIDE vote on anyone who can use those lyrics to a remix.)

This was a triumph. I'm making a note here, HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to override the NO'd submissions. Shttyjdgfgts. We do what we must because we can. For the good of OCR, except the ones who are banned. But there's no sense crying over every NO'd track. Larry keeps on voting: he is sexy and black. And the voting gets done, and jdghate from everyone But the people who's mixes we YES'd. We're not even angry. I'm being so sincere right now, Even though some people want to kill us. We still judge your mixes. We'll tear them to pieces if they're bad. Sometimes we will sympathize and tell you NO (resubmit) And these green remixes make a beautiful line. DJP will post them whenever he has time. And the voting gets done, and even jdglove from some Of the people whose mixes we YES'd Go ahead and hate us. 'Cause Larry has 0 songs to judge. Maybe there are other sites to visit. Maybe VGMix. That was a joke, haha, fat chance. Anyway, my post is great--it is so rofl and lol. Look at me still typing while there's mixes to hear. When I see the queue it makes me shed a small tear. And the voting will get done. Where has unmod really gone? Thanks to mixers whose mixes we YES'd. Believe me, there's mixes we'll YES They're getting better, these mixes we YES'd Larry has no more mixes to YES Look at all of these songs that we YES'd And I'm sure there are lots we will YES Except yours... Which we'll NO

it's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Source - http://www.zophar.net/gbs/metroid2.zip Track - 4 Alright. Give it up for the Metroid 2 OST love! Wow, you've picked a crazy source tune to remix, bro. Although, 85% of the M2 sountrack is really abstract with no meter, melody, or even chord-based content. So I'm eager to see how you've interpreted this. Ok, source melody comes in via bell patch at 0:22. Pretty verbatim and therefore easy to here. Soundscape is tremendous and richly dark. I love the eerie ambiance seeping out of this one. Ack. I started voting on this one not realizing it'd take some tough deconstructing and analysis. I'll finish this later.

yeah, i'm definitely not having any objections. if he'd not have mentioned the JP influence, i'm likely to have not ever made the connection.

very minimalistic stuff. kind of hollow at this point. even walking the minimalism route, you still need to execute cleanly. drums are too quiet, piano is too low. synthetic vox pad is a little on the shrill side, actually. I agree with larry--this isn't a bad base, but there's really not much development within the track. try expanding the theme and incorporate your own ideas into it, rather than just covering the basics of the source. NO

wish someone would synch a particular VotL track up to this (hint, start them both at the same time)

Jurassic Park has been one of my favorite movies ever since it came out in '94. Lost world was also pretty awesome. JPIII would have been not quite as good, except Sam Neil is a fantastic actor, and has always portrayed Alan Grant in the best possible way to enhance the series. What in the HELL is up with the plot synopsis for JP4? *shakes head* Anyway, I'm going to go with "more of a stylistic similarity" rather than "too much JP2 music". If there is are in fact cameo appearances, then at this point at least I'd say they are brief enough to not warrant the dreaded letter, especially since proper credit was priorly given. This is pretty much DP quality. YES

Alright. More MM love from Fru. Cool. Man, for whatever the reason, I really dig your stuff. You're intros, though typically longer than most I'd generally prefer, still appeal to me. I can see how other people might find them a little overextended though. But at any rate, I thought it was well done. Drums were fine initially, but I definitely would have liked to hear some variation in those loops. Also, the cymbal crashes (always on beat 1) actually DID seem a little lazy to me. The rest of it felt moreso overlooked than lazy. I do like the delayed synth arps. And the pad support--meshed very nicely. One area where you definitely have room to grow is BEEF. Even like with your Heatman mixes, I noticed that even as well done as they were, they never really like JUMPED out and DEMANDED the listener's full attention. These are really great as backing tracks, but try to find a way to bring 'em ALL the way out. I wish I had some more specific thoughts on how you could do that, but I'll leave you some homework So essentially, beef up the drums, do a little more than throw a 1-beat crash here and there, and play around with the master volumes. Also, go a little more nuts with the melodies you're arranging. Stir things up a bit, yo. Pretty close. Won't take much more. RESUBMIT

I'm in pretty much verbatim agreement here. Not to cop off of Larry's vote, but I only steal votes when they're like 90% or more of exactly what I'd say. I will expand a little on the "flimsy" issue, and say that it's not quite the instrumentation that's contribution mostly to that deal, but rather the master EQ. There is zero/zilch/nil midrange going on here. I agree that the vocals are fine, but the guitar, even though typically EQ'd high in this genre to emphasize "crunch" is a little too far up, and that coupled with the extreme stereo exaggeration (of the guitar still) makes it sound thin. And the drums, though pretty well done seem to have some kind of late-reflection effect (on the reverb, I'm guessing) and it makes them sound a little thin as well. Mainly, re-EQ and master the lead guitar and that'll take care of at least half the problem. Otherwise, this is a pretty cool track. RESUBMIT

It's loud, but it's still mixed very well, and there's no clipping. Even during the loudest parts, I didn't notice any loss in the instrumentation. So the volume doesn't bug me. Arrangement is fine, and nice adaptation to Dain's trademark genre. It's loud, it's proud, it's Beatdrop. What more to say? Easy call. YEP

I'm definitly liking the intro. Yikes, until the trance-lead at :39. Way too detuned for my taste. And not just based on my personal preferance, that lead is just way too abrasive and invasive for the rest of the mix. Patches like that are best utilized for gating and support, and not so much a lead role like the one you've placed it into here. The drumloop also could have used a little more variation. The very 80's-esque snare patch began to grate on me a little after a while. Also, the EQ in general seemed to favor the higher frequencies too much and left the bottom end to fight amongst itself for space to be heard, and it ended up causing a muddy blurry mess (Moreso through monitors than headphones, but still too much clamoring going on down there.) Also, as is typical with most trance-type leads and instruments, both the lead and the saw synths have too much reverb going on which adds to the clutter. As far as the arrangement, I think Larry covered that aspect pretty well, so I'll just tack my consensus alongside his. Not a bad sub--some cool ideas, but still needs a bit of touching up and re-structuring in order to fully "get there" NO

Aight, I've had this one looping for like the past half hour or more (due to multitasking--not because finding the source connection is difficult or anything). I like what I hear. The piano at :13 is a little dull, and doesn't magnify the energy that the guitar and drums have set up. It's too muddy, and a little too far back which makes it hard to actually distinguish clearly that it is a piano (I believe because the attack is muffled) which is why Larry refered to it as a "plucked lead". And Larry is 100% right in that you should have done something to vary it up rather than just repeating the same monophonic riff several times. Nice of you to place dynamic variation via the drums and guitar and cymbal crashes, but at the very least, you could have octave-up'd the piano lead, and possibly added some harmony. A brief solo would have been appropriate too. This one's very close, and definitely on the right path, though. Nice genre adaptation from the original, and I like the foundation very much. Work on bringing that piano out, and elaborating on that melody a little with some harmonies and maybe you're own melodic cameo and you'll be gold. RESUBMIT

Well, the first minute had some issues with texture as well as the partwriting. Namely, the string ensemble playing the melody with no harmony or layering. Definitely should have been some harmonies to keep that from sounding too thin. Plus, I didn't feel like the bass support was really there. Sounds like some kind of warm pad placed underneath the strings and drums--which I regret to say sounds like a placeholder in the WIP phase of simply creating the general structure before you go back and flesh it out, as Larry might say. The song sounded a little more full at 1:11 when the heavier drums and various other elements set in. I gotta be honest and say that I'm really not feeling the pad so much in this one. More like, not feeling the context in which it's used. I feel like there's got to be something else that can be used to fill in the uh, middle space perhaps? of this track. Also, I highly recommend not using an entire string ensemble patch for such a monophonic lead. At 1:56 when Skryp makes his entrance with his trademark IDM sequencing, I didn't really feel like the other instruments really complimented them, as well as each other. The ethnic bell lead and synthetic plucked instrument just end up sounding kind of forced and also contribute to the strings feeling so overexposed. At 3:30 where the sinewave (I think) arp kicks in for some support--I really liked that. I think it would have solidified a lot of other parts of the mix to have more countermelodic support such as that, as well as the aforementioned implementation of more harmonies. Also, being as familiar with the original as I am, there were a few times when I felt like the progression was either being dragged or forced across the space--typically denoted by the bassline taking an alternate route that didn't quite seem a natural fit. 0:57 - 1:10 is a good example of such. Then, at 1:45 where you bypass the walkdown from 6 to 5 to 4 and just jump straight from 6 to 4, that's another place where something doesn't seem to fit. (I do realize that basslines can be manipulated in most cases) but in this instance, it just didn't fit. Also, the rhythm seemed off at times. Well, not really the rhythm, but the meter, I suppose. Like, instead of doing a 4 beat change up, there were times where the bass/chords would change on 2 or something, and then last 4 beats, and it got to the point where the downbeat (count 1) seemed really difficult to distinguish from the third (count 3). Anyway, sorry for the long stream of criticims here, dudes. Not a bad track, but I've got to be genuinely and respectfully honest when I say that I don't feel like this ones close in it's current form, and it's not just a quick "tweak/resubmit" fix. Perhaps the 3rd judge (whenever someone finally gets around to it) will offer some better advice, and less pointing-out of the weaker points, like I've done. Shaun, Skryp, and OA, you're all definitely adequate artists, and I'm always enjoying the constant progress from each of you. You've all 3 got mixes accepted here, so you know well enough individually where the bar is. So keep at it, yo. NO

Aight, let's see what we got here. I thought the transition from 3/4 to 4/4 was pretty smooth. Definitely didn't feel any loss or *forced* adjustments to accomodate the different time signature. Well done. The drum groove was pretty cool, albeit a bit dry in the snare region. I would have loved to hear some nice FX thrown on it every now and again, but it's not an essential gripe. Pretty eerie vibe overall, created pretty well with such tactics as the modulated strings, lo-fi fx (places like 2:03), and subtly placed yet effective bleep and bloop embellishments. I wish the bass had played a slightly more active role, rather than the one-two with delay. But in light of the style and mood, I do not predict any loss of sleep in my future having any relation to this. Definitely liked the DnBish breakdown at 3:30 till end. I had a harder time finding a direct translation from the source, but in light of the previous 3:00 or so following at a comfortable distance both to and from the source, I suppose I can grant you some slack in your rope to throw your own little bit in there. And it kept the song interesting, too. All in all, there's good expansion and reinterpretation here of the original theme, a different time signature, and a pretty decent groove to bob your head to. I like it. In light of Larry's comments re: production, I'll say that I really have no qualms worth mentioning about this one in that area. YES

Too basic. Too much FL Preset/generic/simple stuff. Didn't sound like you put very much into this one. Basic trance execution with super plain backing. Not to bash the song or anything, it's not bad, it just doesn't sound like you really spent much time on this one. Not that there's a specific amount of time you're required to put into any project or anything, and honestly, I'm sure this is another case of "man, this SO would have been on the front page back in 2001", but it's in fact not 2001 one anymore. This has been covered. Many times. Both on the site, and in the Judges decisions forum with the dreaded *NO* in the title. The piano lead is verbatim melody coverage, with some Boom tss clap drums, some basic pads, and eventually some trance gating. Dunno what else to say. Again, I'm not ripping no your track, Trey, and in fact, this is much better than the crap I was producing back when I was first learning the ropes of electronic music and what not. I encourage more practice, and try to work up some sort of *signature/personal* touch to go in your track. If you're gonna do minimalistic trance, that's cool--but just try to put some sort of trademark with it. It'll be way cooler in the end. Otherwise it would just be "that one trance Ice Cap mix by some dude." Keep at it, bro. NO

i'll one-up your request (no pun intended) and send you $10, because the project was that awesome. and becuase yoo hafs a jawsome beard

Welcome to the (OCR) old fart club! Hope it's a good one!

AWESOME game. really unique--never played anything like it before, and I doubt there will be many that manage to rip it off. Hilarious, challenging, and just plain fun. also, BEST. ENDING. EVAR i must get the soundtrack (especially the credits music) to this game. MUST.

Hmm. This is not the easiest vote, I'll state. There's some cool ideas, and decent energy climbing out from this mix. However, it's kind of a mess, too. The drums are way too loud, and the mix is really muddy. Needs some windex and elbow grease to wipe all that off and get it nice and shiny. The guitar sample didn't bother me at very first, but during the more intense "shredding" and also the higher up on the "neck" you went, it definitely became less convincing and more of a farce. Nice work on the vibrato and nothing wrong with the sequencing, but the sample itself just wasn't capable of maintaining the feigned realism. Also, and we talked about it briefly in IRC, the repetitiveness with little to no variation of the primary riff of the original until the last quarter or so of the track. I think were it not for the muddiness, invasively-loud drums, the poor sample quality of the guitar (and brass ensemble too, actually - i.e. places like 1:26 etc), and over-saturation of reverb and low-end, I could let that aspect of it slide, as the drums themselves are of themselves a decent riff (mixing aside) and there are other elements that were clearly good additions to the track. This isn't bad by any stretch, but it definitely needs a couple runs through the carwash before it's going to get a ribbon from me. NO

Very smooth. Big tangent, back in 2003, I actually got to go to Brazil with my brother and a few of his cadet buddies from the USAFA. The title, "Suco de Melancia" makes me think of Suco reminds me of one of my FAVORITE things from that trip, which was a couple blocks from our hotel, http://www.imperialhotel.com.br/ was a small little corner cafe (well, they're everywhere, but I digress). I grabbed a ham sandwich of some sort, and a glass of "Suco de Mango" (Mango juice) that was squeezed/blended right in front of me. That is probably some of the tastiest beverage that I've ever had. And I've never been able to replicate it. I bought some Mango nectar in hopes it'd be close, but it's just not. I bought a mango and blended it, but to no avail. The best mango juice, can only be bought in Brazil, I've decided. Also, I didn't get to go to Ipanema, but we did hang out at Copacabana beach, which was really nice. Actually, my current remixer picture is a cropped version of this - which is taken in Brazil atop the famous Christus Statue. Anyway, enough about me, let's talk about Mr. Fox's mix. Um, let me think... Smooth, relaxing, and well-executed. If I could translate my cherished Suco de Mango into an equally blissful audio experience, then I suppose I would rename it "Suco de Melancia" and it would sound something like this remix. YES (this may be, to date, my most off-topic vote ever)

Daaa-yum. I love this piece. LOVE IT. Choir is awesome. As far as the arrangement goes, all I can really say is substantially different is the key--which isn't hard to do. The rest is definitely pretty notably going to be considered a mere upgrade of the original source by those who hear it. Not saying it's a bad upgrade--I'll say again, I thorougly enjoy listening to this piece. It's just not got any of the "add your personal touch" flare to it in this current form. Another vote I hate making... NO Pity, too. Maybe you can PM one of us if you'd like us to leave the link in the thread--I'd love for people to still be able to hear this one.

Hmm, difficult for the 3rd time around. I actually spent more time comparing source and remix this go around like I should have done on the last two versions. I vaguely remember that of the two, I think I liked the first version the best. I got to be honest, the mixdown wasnt that great. Not to say that it was bad, but it definitely didn't come with any WOW-factor. The volume has been reduced to eliminate clipping etc, but now, the mix feels deprived of a lot of meat. Also, and I may seem like I'm getting hypocritical here by not seeming to have beef in this area during the first two subs, but the length is casting a diminishing light on the remix. I'm just not sure there's enough here to keep the fires of awesomeness a-flame for 6 minutes. I do like the remix, and I am a fan of TaQ, but after about 4 minutes or so, things just start to get a little trite, which I suppose is only fair, b/c even though I'm a fan of TaQ, some of his extended mixes suffer this same problem. I know two resubmissions can be disheartening, but if you want to go for a 3rd, I guess here's my final suggestions. Shorten the mix. I realize you've changed up the time signature, and there is a decent amount of dynamic (ie volume sense, not drastic sense) diversity, but after listening to what TaQ did in like, 2 minutes, 6 minutes was just wearing thin. Also, back to what I was saying earlier about comparing source to remix (and validating Larry's timestamp play-by-play) that's the other reason a 6 minute remix is just not playing out. I hate to vote this way a third time in a row, but sometimes it's just like that. Keep making music, Fernando. That's the important thing, anyway. And remember, this vote in no way defines your abilities. Only how we evaluate your track in relation to the guidelines of OCR. NO