big giant circles

1:52 is total Unreal Tournalicious--the pads and the bassline around that general area remind me a lot of the theme in the red giant stage. Anyway. I agree that the melody seems implied during parts, but it's plainly there for enough of the tune. The drums fit, and though they aren't obnoxiously so, they are extremely boringly simple. I'm not saying every OCR-quality song needs crazy-go-spaztic druml00pz or anything, but c'mon, even despite the cool chill/groove (which I did enjoy well enough), the one-measure and never-changing loop is kind of sub-par. Again, I'm not implying that the minimalistic approach to a drum track is an automatic NO, but really. There should be SOMETHING else in there. Other than that, I really didn't have any major issues. I guess in terms of constructive objectivity, I'd say to focus more on the development of a couple things--the drums, of course for one. And as for the rest of the song, again, the minimalistic-chill seems to work pretty good so far for this, so I woudn't worry too much about sprucing it up a lot, but the whole thing just sounds a little too looped to me. At various places, the pads join in and sing along, but there really arent any sort of hooks in this one. Great background music. Not all that great on the forefront. Really wouldn't take much more to tip me over to a YES. Just a little less repetition, and it'd be a borderline transition. NO

again, this is basically a cover. Zilch arrangementwise. Drums are more of a glorified metronome to play along to than an actual part. That is to say, they're dull and repetitive with almost no attention paid to fills and transitions. No crashes, either. what's the deal there? I personally don't think it's a bad performance, although some might. It's a hella lot better than anything I can play (which doesn't really say much.) There's a huge void to fill in terms of audio and stereo spectrum. The extreme panned guitar actually got on my nerves while using my phones. Everything else is centered, and it makes the guitar part kind of obnoxious until the solo at 1:13. Definitely not that close yet, man. Larry said it well with Check some of Sixto or Goat's work out if you'd like to get a better idea of songs similar in style that adhere to the OCR standards. Good luck, man. NO

let us know ASAP when he's got the tweaked version ready, I'm eager to hear it

This is pretty bland at this point. Basic trance drums, bass, with synth arps. I've come to accept that most synths are going to sound "generic", so I try not to overuse the word, but if you're going to be using the johnny-come-lately leads, I highly implore you to seek out new and innovative ways to either use them, or otherwise them with some sort of exciting and fun accomanyment. Several places in the mix sound a little empty like, 1:01, and 1:40 sound terribly thin. The song is way too repetitive. Arps = too loud. The ending is kind of weak, too. Might want to rethink that part, too. Anyway. Throw some more meat on the plate, bro. Synth + repetitive arp + simple bass and drum accompanyments = weak. This could be a really fun mix if you put the work into it. If you're happy the way it is, then that's cool--I don't mean to imply that the song is crap or anything, it's just not quite OCR ready at this point. I wish you luck in your future submissions. NO

zircon said he's legit in IRC. And if Andy said it, then it must be true On to teh remicks. This is amazing. I actually though this was live. I believe that is probably one of the highest compliment a sampler can receive, so take it as such. I really like the style of the arrangement here. For example, the source intro vs. remix intro is a great example. In the source, it kind of jumps out at you like "Hello, I am the melody!!" But in the mix, the piano adds a lovely and somber touch, giving a totally different feel. Then the grandeur sets in, magically projecting magnificent mental manifestations of miraculousness (how's THAT for alliteration?) and feelings of awe. This is total movie stuff. The quality is amazing, and the arrangement and instrumentation are beautiful. I especially liked the choir at 1:56, and the trumpet preceding. Great work. This is definitely quality stuff. YES

I completely forgot to mention that. Good point. Coupled with some rit.'s--would be an excellent way to achieve the full-symphonic-awesomeness.

Symphonic take on a source (or two) that are very easily adaptable to such a style. Let's see how the bricks fall here. I had to re-familiarize myself with OoT's field theme, as it's been years since I've played that one. There is obvious reference to the traditional Z3 overworld theme, and nice job fusing it with OoT's. Strong use of samples, I got no gripes there, really. Underlying snare was kind of dull, but acceptable granted the style. This is pretty good stuff. Lemme get right to the point, here. The song is just still a little too mechanical at this point, but not by much. You've got a pretty good lock on the dynamic variation, but in such a piece, you really could have done well to apply some tempo variance as well, such as 0:12 - 0:16 for example. A nice Ritardando would have been great. Predictable, yes, but far less mechanical. Also, I personally don't mind a *short* mix, as long as it's well-constructed and doesn't simply leave the listener hanging. This ALMOST pulls that off, except for the loop and fadeout copout. If it weren't for the shortness of the piece, I could make perfect peace with a fadeout. However, for a piece that's only 2:07 long (without the outro that is), a specific ending is probably the way to go. Yeah, there's a little bit of preference in this gripe, but it's about 40% my personal preference, and 60% the fact that its a really lackluster ending to an otherwise lovely song, and that really hurts the piece. It's like, rather than going out on stage and giving an amazing performance (no matter how short) and walking out as the crowd applauds after you're finished, you've just walked off stage AS you were finishing, and the crowd is kind of puzzled as to why they didn't hear the ending. I hope that makes sense. Definitely good stuff, very nice work for a 1st submission, and I'd definitely like to hear you come back on this on. Therefore, my vote falls on NO RESUMBIT!

well, it's better to be pissed on than pissed off. no, wait. shit.

whoops, my badz. i was told it was a 4 Y thing. I was kind of nervous about casting my vote for that very reason.

Well, I guess I get to be teh n00b ti3br34k3r, zOmGz0rzz!!!!!11!!!eleven!!!1!!one!!!11 Upon listening to the source, this is passable on the arrangement level as far as I'm concerned. 2:20 onward was a bit of a let-down in terms of expectations, but overall, this song was decently constructed. The gating was nicely-done, and the crowd effect blew my socks off. The theme itself is catchy enough. 1:05 suffers a little clipping/overcompression, but it doesn't cripple the piece, nor sway my vote. I would have preferred for the crowd to make a 2nd appearance in the 2nd half of the tune, but that was your call, and while it's not what I would have rather heard, my preference is not what this vote is based on. YES I do look forward to your future submissions, as well.

I'll start off with the high's. This is a fantastic piece, first of all. Lots of emotional motifs drive this one forward. I really dig the work with the bassline--lot's of interesting support and countermelody there. Drums were done very well for the most part. I had no real gripes there, with the exception of what Larry mentioned from 2:19-2:49 where the do indeed sound a little on the "thin" side. Although, I gather that more from the mixing than I do from the actual drum part you chose. I also think the synchronized bass and strings didn't really help. However, the violin was absolutely breathtaking! I don't mind saying that I was humming that riff in my head for hours (and still do, on occasion). Anyway, arrangement definitely meets par--not an outstanding amount of deviation from the sources, but plenty to put it over the bar in that aspect. Instrumentation and performance are fine. My biggest gripe is in the mixing. The drums could be just a smidge louder throughout the entire song, but especially from 2:19 to about 3:06. They were really gasping for air in the background, and the cymbal crashes didnt' quite achieve the power they otherwise should have during the violin's power-play. From that point on, things got just a little muddy and cluttered during the "densest places"; I think Jill's right about the reverb being the cause. And what's with that ending? That gets a bit of a WTF? from me, but no biggie. Also, I shared Jesse's concern about the violin entrance being just a wee bit loud, but to be honest, the more I listened to this, I kind of agree with Larry's analogy: "it's like a punch to the face that you find yourself liking." To be honest, I could go either way on that. I wouldn't mind if you toned that part down just a hair, but I wouldn't really mind if you left it as is, either. So here's the deal, my friend. This is an easy YES in terms of the site's standards. If enough of my compatriots feel the same way, since you're obviously active on the site, I'd really like to hear the drum/mixing issue addressed and tweaked first. Less "undermining the energy level" as Larry put it, and more side-by-side with the rest of the instruments. Do I hear a "yay" from any fellow J's on this one? And yeah, the MomUltimA thing... Do I really even need to say it?

excellent work/performance, per usual sixto. congrats on such a great piece

hey, glad you finally got around to submitting this one! it's been a favorite of mine in the metroid series for quite some time now! keep that samus love coming!

<3 and as for you other people, stop hijacking Pixietricks and that other guys thread!!!!

Definitely not revolutionary, but definitely pretty cool, and fairly well done. I'm with zyko on the crowd thing--mucho gusto. I like the change-up at 2:06, initially. Gets a little boring immediately after until about 2:36, where it starts to build back some momentum. However, from about 2:49 onward, it's just sort of coasting until it stops. Kind of anticlimatic, IMO. I think it's still fairly cool for the most part, but I have yet to download the necessary plugins to compare it to source. Will vote officially later.

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/sml1.zip - track 1 This is more of a trance cover than an arrangement. This is basically typical run-of-the-mill trance. Really nothing wrong with execution or production--the song sounds fine. It's just that this remix is just the source looped over and over a few times. I don't really hear any real interpretation of the source. Granted, some sections repeat in a manner so it's not verbatim, but aside from that, exactly the same. NO

This track had an excessively muddy feel overall, throughout. At first, I thought it was my headphones, but then I ran it through my speakers, and the problem persisted. Sounds like there might be some compression issues as well, that bass kick, especially. There's a huge lack of momentum going on here. It just seems like the mix was dragging too much of the time rather than heading in a particular direction. 2:23 started to sound pretty cool, then when the melody kicks in at 2:37, it's like when you have the TV on in one room, and the radio in another, and you can't decide which to follow. That is to say, the melody is clashing with the rhythm/beats and accompanyment. Also, there is not much of a bass line/part to speak of anywhere, and it leaves the bottom half of the sound completely high and dry. In light of the haunting vibe of the source, you've put a lot of ambience into your work, and it could yet pay off. I advise you to seek specific assistance on the production issues (primarily EQ/mastering) as well as encourage you to come up with a more solid idea of where you'd like this piece to go. (And I don't mean to imply that you didn't have any idea at all; it's just that it seems that way from a purely listener standpoint, you kind of led us around with no clear destination.) Even ambience needs direction. Also, the piano and synth flute(?) were the only 2 leads, and they really didn't go anywhere. I was glad to hear the song pick up it's feet and move at 2:23, and then it just sort of changed it's mind. NO I'm glad to hear you used the WIP resources. Perhaps taking a break and coming back wouldn't be a bad way to approach this one. When you come back, you may find you have some fresh new ideas.

I really like how this one starts out. Usually I'm not one for clock noises (in general, that is) but that actually sounds pretty nice. I've listened to this with the source enough to turn my ears blue, and after reading my fellow J's votes I'll get right to the point. I personally don't have many reservations about the production, or sample quality, or execution in general, with the exception of the longer-than-necessary outro and the dryness of the drums from about 1:33 - 1:55. I would have liked a little more "wetness" added to the snare especially during that time. I know the strings werent the most realistic/natural sounding strings ever, but that didn't bother me at all. I really enjoyed the chord structures and progressions. My main hang-up on this one was the level of source arrangement. To sum things up, none of the melody has been blended into this piece, such as clarinet from :36 to 1:12, and the clarinet-horn duo from 1:12 to 1:39. And I listened to this back-to-back with the source for about 2 hours trying to find it, so I could justify thorough interpretation in your favor. This is a beautifully done piece, for the most part. I absolutely loved the chord progression in general, and in places such as 1:55. I really wanted to give this a YES, but unfortunately with only the apparant use of the underlying chord patterns and the seeming omission of the primary source melodies land this one an extremely reluctant NO RESUBMIT!

I'm not sure what I have to resolve with GLL. Although, he apparantly doesn't like my music, but it doesn't cause me any inner anguish, so I'm totally cool with it. Besides. I obviously sUx0rz at teh fr00ti l00pz

Cool intro. The drums are excessively repetitive. Really after so long into the mix I just got extremely weary of the *Boom Boom Tap (echo echo echo)*. This would probably be great as BGM, but just not engaging enough to make me want to really LISTEN to it. 3:23 was such a welcome change, but then it lasts about 25 seconds, and we’re right back to where we started. I like the industrial sound of the drums, and the sweeping filtered pad, and the kind of rough-around-the-edges sound of the song, but it’s just not got enough substance to stand on it’s own. The source adaptation was extremely weak, IMHO. The lead (although obnoxious in the source) was decently adapted to the remix accompaniment, at least, the first time around anyway. It was definitely too quiet, however. Also, the riff repeated itself SIX times in the remix, and there was NOTHING new added. Six repeats with no variation is kind of a big strike against the ReMix concept. Bummer man. There’s a lot of potential there. It’s just too underdeveloped at this point. It’s not a bad song, by any means, and I'd highly dig with a little more work. I just kept feeling more like I was listening to a WIP, thinking of all the possibilities of what new additions the song might take on as the work progressed, rather than “Hey, this is a hella cool remix of this song!” Variation is the key to the success of this piece. In the drums, in the accompayment, and in the arrangement in general. I really would have liked to hear more attention to the 3:23 section. Again, the melody was too quiet there, and I think it was too short. NO(rework/resubmit) OMG1STVOTE

i'll be honest. I only accepted the offer because of the exceptional dental care coverage. The pay is weak, but I only have a $100 deductible. How sweet is that? No, but seriously though. Those of you who don't know me, I'm more of a forum lurker than an activist (look at my post count) so I'm sorry to disappoint in that aspect. I'm sure I'll be involved with a lot more of you from this point on, and I pledge to do my best to offer any feedback/assistance in my decisions to help you fellow remixers get your stuff out there and appreciated by the masses. And for those of you who may still get offended should I drop the big NO, all my hate mail gets filtered from my spam mail by my secretary. It could be months before I even get to read your letters, much less actually weep. and wtf is the deal with the twitching Ewok? That is disturbing. But seriously, glad to be on board. I'll do my best

lmao, say that to a Tongan and see what happens

I never really knew him personally, but he gave me a "YES" on my first remix, thus keeping me from having to re-resubmit it, which was awesome I see so many good comments, that I can only sincerely appreciate all his work here, and wish him the best of luck.

snapple, I <3 you. analoq, I <3 you, too. (but mostly, I <3 my Axiom)

GT is right on the nose here, Blue. I really really like this one.