paradiddlesjosh   Judges ⚖️

Sorry Lucas, I'm throwing in with my fellow Js here. I'm not bothered nearly as much by the intentional dissonance, but this needs another mastering pass for sure due to the audible clipping from 1:42 onward. Besides being dry, the ride sample at 1:13 sounds too clean, too hi-fi compared to the other parts of the drumkit on top of being mixed too far forward. I know you and jnWake can turn this one right around 'cause it's really close! NO (resubmit)

Nah, there’s a lot of the old arrangement that’ll need to get redone. Big chunks of it are placeholder stuff (especially the piano at the end borrowing heavily from a vgmusic.com piano arrangement of Lost Painting). And the SotN cameos you wanted to add are outside the scope, cool as they would be to add. If anything, it needs more Metroid, not more Castlevania. It’s not top of mind for me right now, though; I’ll probably get back to it after the new year.

This may be the time to re-tool Back in Cold Blood 😎

Count me in!

I was sleuthing this one with Larry after it apparently passed the panel and I agree, the suspicion of generative AI elements in this track is high. We don't accept generative AI submissions here at OCR, either in whole or in part. We want artistic takes on VGM materials, not whatever the machine spits out when you prompt it. Show us what you can record and/or sequence! NO

Gonna side with my fellow Js here, Jiba-Gunna. This is definitely a straight cover with different instruments and changes to the percussion, and to be honest, it sounds like you just took a .mid of the Ending and slapped some VST instruments on it without any tweaks to the data. Unfortunately, it's also very poorly mixed: everything's too loud and the render audibly clips in places. I'll also recommend checking out either the #workshop channel on our Discord server or the Workshop forum here on the site for more feedback. We encourage you to go beyond the bounds of the original track and make this piece your own! NO

Dropping a quick co-sign of my fellow Js. This probably works super well as a VGM deep cut in a club setting. The Gex VO samples are a nice touch as well. The big issue for posting this on OCR is the lack of overt variation between the first and second halves of the track. As proph and Hemo said, we'd be looking for either new material in the second half or removal of repeated/reused material. As is, it's a NO

That's a pretty solid use of the multi-tongue articulation in the trumpets right at the jump! The result is much better than trying to brute-force staccatissimo 16th notes at tempo in terms of realism. proph nailed all the major points on this one already: the strings are sorely lacking in realism (especially the solo violin) and the arrangement is overly repetitive. There's also too much of the original audio for an acceptable OCR submission. As an additional note, I'd sub the piatti (crash cymbals) out for tambourine during the A section: in a physical orchestra setting, it will be much easier for the percussionist to keep the tambourine balanced dynamically with the rest of the ensemble and the part as written lends itself to aux percussion like the tambourine for that reason. If it wouldn't compromise your vision, we'd be more interested in a version of this arrangement with more variation in its presentation and less of a reliance on the original BGM. NO

This entry for DoD's Koji Kondo Month was so much fun! I really enjoyed the lyrical nod to the Rabbit Joint Cover during the LP and once again in revisiting the track for a vote. While I don't necessarily agree with the advice that you should mono and center your sub-150 Hz elements (we don't live in the heyday of vinyl record pressings for music distribution, where that was a technological necessity), I agree that the bass and drums can both pull back about 2 dB and the mix balance would be better for it. Ultimately though, I've got to side with my other Js. The "Águas de Março" quote is too long a span of non-VGM material for OCR, especially without a strong tie-in of the VGM source material during that segment. It's simply not in the letter nor the spirit of the Submission Standards. That doesn't change the fact that you've made a fun send-up of an OCR classic. NO

Larry already covered the major issues and while there is a preponderance of source material usage this time, the production quality is below the bar. Given this is in direct violation of our Submission Standards, namely 2.3, 7.1, and 7.2: And considering you weren't truthful or forthcoming about the usage of prompt-based generative AI tools in the creation of your submissions, I am no longer interested in being polite about them. Unless you plan on honing your craft as a composer, arranger, and mix engineer, shove this slop where the sun don't shine and never darken our digital doorstep again. NO

Larry already covered the major issues and the lack of source usage is more than enough to prevent this one from passing. Given this is in direct violation of our Submission Standards, namely 2.3, 7.1, and 7.2: And considering you weren't truthful or forthcoming about the usage of prompt-based generative AI tools in the creation of your submissions, I am no longer interested in being polite about them. Unless you plan on honing your craft as a composer, arranger, and mix engineer, shove this slop where the sun don't shine and never darken our digital doorstep again. NO

Larry already covered the major issues and the lack of source usage is more than enough to prevent this one from passing. Given this is in direct violation of our Submission Standards, namely 2.3, 7.1, and 7.2: And considering you weren't truthful or forthcoming about the usage of prompt-based generative AI tools in the creation of your submissions, I am no longer interested in being polite about them. Unless you plan on honing your craft as a composer, arranger, and mix engineer, shove this slop where the sun don't shine and never darken our digital doorstep again. NO

Larry already covered the major issues and the lack of source usage is more than enough to prevent this one from passing. Given this is in direct violation of our Submission Standards, namely 2.3, 7.1, and 7.2: And considering you weren't truthful or forthcoming about the usage of prompt-based generative AI tools in the creation of your submissions, I am no longer interested in being polite about them. Unless you plan on honing your craft as a composer, arranger, and mix engineer, shove this slop where the sun don't shine and never darken our digital doorstep again. NO

Larry already covered the major issues and the lack of source usage is more than enough to prevent this one from passing. Given this is in direct violation of our Submission Standards, namely 2.3, 7.1, and 7.2: And considering you weren't truthful or forthcoming about the usage of prompt-based generative AI tools in the creation of your submissions, I am no longer interested in being polite about them. Unless you plan on honing your craft as a composer, arranger, and mix engineer, shove this slop where the sun don't shine and never darken our digital doorstep again. NO

Larry already covered the major issues and the lack of source usage is more than enough to prevent this one from passing. Given this is in direct violation of our Submission Standards, namely 2.3, 7.1, and 7.2: And considering you weren't truthful or forthcoming about the usage of prompt-based generative AI tools in the creation of your submissions, I am no longer interested in being polite about them. Unless you plan on honing your craft as a composer, arranger, and mix engineer, shove this slop where the sun don't shine and never darken our digital doorstep again. NO