*NO* Halo 'The Demon's Halo'

[DragonAvenger]

Hi! My name is JD (Jonathan DeWitt), hence my ReMixer name: JD-DJ. (If you care, it's because DJ-JD was taken when I first used the name on Acid Planet all those years ago.) I actually made this mix a couple years back. It never got submitted because of technical issues, but I found it after digging around my old songs and decided to give it another shot. The game is Halo: Combat Evolved, and the song I remixed is called ... Halo. Not even kidding. The name of my mix is a pun based on the ring-worlds the humans call halos, of course, and the Master Chief's infamous nickname among the Covenant: "Demon". It makes for an appropriate oxymoron, I think; being regarded as a demon when he should actually be seen as a hero. Oh, and if it helps, my userid is 24658.

I look forward to reading why the judges said "NO." Heh heh. =P

-JD

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdxUYKlQQY

*I requested a quieter version from the mixer, will post new version if we get it.

[DragonAvenger]

I must have been on skype when listening to this originally, because I remember it being very loud, but listening now...not so much. My bad on that.

Pretty well-done source, but I think you've added some unique spins on it as well as filled out the soundscape pretty well. Changing the time signature to 4/4 allowed for a pretty easy transition to electronica. I'm not really sold on the sound choices, especially the lead synths at the beginning. I think your drums could use a little more oomph to them as well, they are a little weak overall.

The second half of the mix is really feeling like a rehash, and I think that's what's killing things here. It's a bit too much of a 'been there, done that,' feel. You did some nice stuff, take it further!

It's a good start, just needs more interpretation/arrangement and some production fixes.

NO (resubmit)

[OceansAndrew]

Definitely too much reverb on the drums, makes them sound slightly off beat and too far back. This has an effect of making the sound scape sound like synths up front, drums in the back, when it should be a more solid blend of them together.

There are some creative ideas sprinkled throughout the arrangement, like the great synth stutters, but I feel that there were a few sections that felt like repeats of ones prior ones, and once the mood and feel were set, it didn't deviate much from the set intensity.

You have a very good start here, but need a few mixing adjustments and a little more arrangement variety before I am comfortable passing this.

No, please resubmit

[Nutritious]

Hmm, not sure I was feeling this one quite as much as my fellow judges here. :/

I think this can work as a 4/4 arrangement, but at the moment it feels a bit too rigid and forced, especially when it starts in with the beat at :21.

Synth choices were pretty vanilla sounding to me. Biggest cuplrit, I think, is the synth handling the main theme, which is present from the beginning of the song. I'd also look into switching up some synths later in the track to keep things fresh, as the textures in the second half are basically the same as the first.

Mixing in general is out of balance, as mentioned before. When it at :21, for example, the only things that are coming through really clearly are the glockenspiel and perhaps the high sequenced synth. Everything else is kind've mushing together behind them.

When exposed, the choir sounds like there's some distortion on them from overcompression or something - which is weird considering they're pretty low, volume wise. There's also excessive high freqs on the sample.

On the arrangement side, it starts to get repetitive as it plays the same general progression repeatedly (:21 - 1:05, 2:12 - 2:50).

Sorry, but I think this needs quite a bit of work before it can make it over the bar.

No