prophetik music

i wrote a bunch in the resub version of this essentially saying to trim back a lot - the tail of the reverb, the extended sections of mostly repeated material, etc. the writeup details changes that hit all the things i said, so i'm excited to hear the result. opens with some open fifths in a tight synth, the bass line, and some melodic references. beat is tight. there's a pad in the background that sounds a lot like reverb tail but isn't, and once i figured that out i think the melodic elements sound less out of place. beat gets spicier at 1:01 with the xylophone added alongside. melodic content is still focused on that first lick of the melody, but it works because there's a variety of ways you present it. 1:50 is a break, and this is a good time for it. the lead appears to be mostly in the right ear which is a little confusing, and it's pretty fuzzy so it took me a second to understand what it was saying. the ep in the background sounds like it's doing sustains which doesn't really add much other than pad noise - consider a sharper tone around that particular entry to make it clearer what it's doing. 2:31 is a downtempo section and i like the reduced instrumentation here. the 16th-note rhythmic element is nice too. would have been a good time to mix up the lead for the remainder of the track. this trucks through the melodic material a few more times until 3:26 when we get what's clearly an outro section. the pad tone at the end needs a fadeout as it just stops abruptly. overall i have a lot of nitpicks about the track. i think that the arrangement's fine although i'd not have minded hearing more of the melodic material that wasn't the initial riff that is used so much in this track. from a mixing perspective i can hear everything pretty well, and my main complaint is that the panning is a little wide. overall though i think this is over the bar. the changes you've made are in keeping with what we suggested and overall you've got a fun punchy little track that has a nice groove. YES

Previous decisions: original, resub 1 Really appreciated the last round of feedback. Song gets to the point a lot faster, removed 2-3 minutes of trash. Heavily revised the second half: added a bridge and dovetailed some of the elements of the bridge into the final hook. Redid all of the reverb, I think it's at least an improvement. Added a xylophone and some strings. Thanks. Games & Sources Theme of Tikal

this will need a new name if it passes, as we don't allow remix names that are just the name of the original track. also, given that we don't allow any sampled audio regardless of source from square enix owned games (square enix currently owns the rights to chrono trigger) means that this is a no-go with the given samples. i'll still review it, but we can't post it even if it passes in its current state. opening has some sfx (naughty naughty!) alongside a very thin, airy pad playing the SotF arpeggio. i like the transitional effect into 0:26. the lead here is nice as well, and the beat is appropriately chill. there's a significant amount of pumping (i don't think it's sidechain unless everything except the kick is sidechained) which is notable and doesn't sound great. there's a break that features the Schala arpeggio (and eventually the melodic material when the beat comes back in). there's not much going on in this section that's not from the original track, but some brass stabs come in near the end which keeps it from being a palette swap from the original. it goes through the Schala arpeggio a bit before ending without an ending. i think this would be fairly close if i had to vote on it fo rillz, given the pumping in the limiter and the lack of original content in the second half. short tracks are hard to have enough transformative arrangement to really get themselves over the bar without everything firing on all cylinders. that said, the inclusion of sampled effects makes this a moot point. they'd have to be changed before i could vote in earnest. NO

a sixth version! this family has a lot of sisters. opens with some arpeggiating bass, an EP, and kit. the snare sounds doesn't have much tone to it, it's mostly just static. the melodic content comes in quickly and is handed off between two synths - the latter entry has a lot of really high content frequency-wise and is a bit tough to both listen to and tell what it's doing. there's a short break at 0:33 and it's back to the same synths as before doing the melodic material from before. we hit another break in the beat at 0:58, and there's a stutter hornet synth used as a lead in this quieter section. i don't know if the high-energy vibe that a stuttered saw like this adds fits this section too well. there's a build into 1:23 and then it's back to melodic content. there's more personalization here initially which is nice. 1:47's the same as earlier at 0:33 but with drums this time, and then we get one more recap of the melodic material before there's a big fall. what's left is an outro over some deep pads. the drums specifically sound really lacking. the snare is not only just static, but it also lacks punch which is an important part of an edm track's momentum. better samples are available for free all over the place and would really improve this, as well as increasing the volume of the snare a bit so it sticks out of the mix more. similarly, if there are hats, i can't hear them, and if there are cymbals used as transitional elements, i didn't notice them throughout. lastly the kick has a deep electro beater tone, which can work, but it doesn't have any bass to it that i can hear. a quick freq analysis shows that the bass peaks very highly at 70hz or so and there's just zilch underneath it, either in the bass instrument or the kick. i'd expect to her a fundamental in the 35-40hz range based on that tone, so layering the kick with something that's got more sub bass content (that's trimmed to ensure it doesn't go below that 30-35hz range and clog stuff up) would give it a lot more guts. the stutter synth used throughout as a melodic element really doesn't fit the vibe overall. stutter synths are used in other tracks to drive energy and provide a rhythmic element that's not just the boom tiss of the drums. that's not how this this used - this track has a heavy focus on melodic material, and so while the backing elements work just fine with that stutter tone, the lead doesn't really work in my opinion. a gliding synth that lets you really play with the attack and release elements would fit what you're going for more, i believe. all of your leads are very reverb-heavy, but the bass, drums, and backing synths have very little verb on them. this (along with some of the odder synth choices) serves to make the backing elements feel separate from the lead elements. taming the fade and the tail of the reverb would help a lot in terms of making them feel more adjacent. is your reverb on a send or is it individually applied to leads? a send that you can send everything to to some extent would help normalize the sound stage and make it feel more cohesive. i don't think this is there yet! but you're in it for the long haul, clearly, so hopefully some more focused feedback in this judging thread combined with you interacting with the workshop on the discord or in the forum should help. NO

prophetik note: this is version six, i believe. here's the previous five. v5 v4 v3 v2 v1 Alright, another attempt, and I think I did better this time. I imported a reference track directly into my DAW so I could AB faster. The reference track I used was MkVaff's Vega theme Pulse mix. I chose that file because it has a similar "spanish gypsy" feel to it, IMO. I tightened up the velocities and timings on some of the parts; I had received advice on humanizing, but then was told on the judges' decision that the timing was "scattershot", so I brought things to a more on grid state. I also added some very slight panning to the call and response parts in the first half. I added a "mud removing" eq to each individual track, and also eliminated the rather aggressive compression I had on my instrument busses. Instead, I put a multi band compressor with gentle attack and knee on the master, and it's only doing about 1 to 3 db gain reduction per band, before going to a lookahead limiter that's also only doing between 1 to 3 db (depending on where you are in the track). I eschewed using Ozone, and instead went totally by ear with the reference track. Again, thanks for the consideration, and thanks for your patience;) Audiomancer Games & Sources Original Above.

This remix simply titled "Secret of the Forest" is a mashup of Secret of the Forest and Schala's theme from Chrono Trigger! I had a lot of fun making this one and decided to go with a trap/wave style for the remix. Hope you like it ~ This remix was released on my EP "Whisper Tree" in 2020: Games & Sources The intro of this song also samples sounds from the game files including menu buttons, various in-game fx and the opening clock ticking sound!

this appears to be fifteen and a half minutes of the original audio from the games stitched together. unfortunately this isn't what we host at this website - we host arrangements of the original material, not clips of the originals mashed up. take a look at section 4.2 of the submission standards to see what kind of material we generally accept. NO

neat original! i didn't vote on the first decision. comments about the soundscape and verb application above apply to me too. percussion across the board doesn't sound like it's in the same world as the synths but the toms are particularly dry. the rest of the verb is like 10x longer than i'd expect too, the tail's super long - i actually think this is more the problem than the percs, since in a vacuum later the percs do have some room tone. the chords that come in at 1:08 are neat, but i wish they'd come in earlier. the lead at 1:22 has such a long tail that it takes a while to fade, and it's moving stepwise in Gm. that wouldn't be too big a deal except the third chord in the short background chorded instrument is a flatted II chord, and so at 1:24 it puts an Ab major chord under an A in the lead line. it's definitely a bit crunchy but wasn't a super big deal to me since the chorded element is so short. the percussion here and the bass writing is actually pretty fun, and i like the call and response through this section. it feels like there isn't quite enough there though - another instrument is needed somewhere where it won't compete with what's happening. this repeats over a few times and then we get a breakdown at 2:17. this was needed by here so it's well-timed. the same issue that was described above happens at 2:30 except this time it's the bass and the lead, and this is more noticeable since the soundscape is emptier. the same riff in the lead and the same lead riff are used here repeatedly, and it's not until almost 3:15 that we get anything new. this is a perfect section to really change up the vibe or instrumentation, coming out of the break, and staying the same is tiring from an auditory perspective. the track felt like it was approaching the end after 3:45 and then it goes for another minute doing the same thing, no solo or anything to mix it up. this is too much repetition - we're talking five minutes of bread and only three minutes of butter. trimming this back a lot would help a ton. so this is a very long rubber stamp. consider changing up the notes that conflict, take some more time to trim back the arrangement to just be the best parts and not also a ton of fat along the edges, flesh out the bass and percs writing for later in the track, and consider how you can continue to iterate what the song's saying throughout so it's not so repetitive. also consider toning back the synth reverb's tail and normalize the soundscape a bit so that it's not so diverse. NO

i don't know a single person who thought bravely default's ost wasn't outrageous. there's some incredible tracks in this ost. starts with some sfx and then immediately really leans into the lofi super-modulated sound almost instantly. it almost sounds to me like this is the original sampled but it's hard to confirm that (material is from 0:59 in LoRF). the melodic material is almost completely lost at 0:21 while a clicky sound is most of the soundscape, and this persists until 1:25, which is a significant portion of the piece. we then get a recap of the initial stuff from 0:06 that appears to be an exact copy. 1:40 appears to be that same copy with the section at 0:21 layered on top of it. this layered approach of copied material persists until the end of the piece. there's a fade-out and it's done. whether or not this is directly sampled and detuned from the original, well over half the piece is copy-paste from earlier in the track, so this isn't going to get a vote from me. it's a cool idea for a single loop and then it's obvious what's going on, and it just keeps repeating until the end. unfortunately that doesn't satisfy our requirements for transformative arrangement. there needs to be more development than just repeating two sound clips. NO

this whole ost is really striking, just like the game. piotr musial is superb. the sustained string harmonics about a third of the way through are so eerie. starts with some plucks and sfx. the violin almost sounds straight out of the game. piano isn't quite in time and has a wrong note right off the bat. big hit at 0:33 with a bit of a beat and what sounds like hammers. it picks up at 0:58 and i essentially can't hear anything but the beat and the piano at this point. it's not a particularly idiomatic piano performance either. there's some more sfx at 1:24 of a speech with similar percussive elements under it - again the percussion is so loud i can't hear anything else. the percs drop off at 2:04. it's still just the strings playing roughly what's in the original track the same way, and piano mirroring it. there's a false crescendo in some really nice rhythmic strings at the very end and then a hard cut to the piano. i think this is a neat idea, but i can't hear anything for the middle half of the piece. it's just too loud. this needs a significant revolumization across the board, especially around the percussive elements which are just way too loud. that whole section is super boomy, and some EQing especially on the big boom fx you're using will help lighten the sonic load there while still keeping it punchy. separately the piano overall sounds like it's just perpetually at 127 velocity and machine-guns several times. there needs to be a lot of attention paid to the piano to make it more realistic in the performance because right now it does not sound realistic at all. all that said i really like the concept. there's some really need ideas here in terms of the instrumentation and your approach, and a lot that ties into the game in interesting ways. it's hard to realize that though with the mixing all over the place. spend some time EQing out extra stuff, turn everything down quite a bit, and then use compression to keep it feeling strong. NO

agree with Flex. this isn't "a little repetitive", it's half a track. if anything, it being jordan is why i gave it a ? at first when he resubbed the second version.

ambient opening. first big pile of crunch at 0:25 is nice and it continues to creak in and out for a while. there's some plucks that sound like the intro arp in the original around 0:42. the extreme clipping is making my eyes twitch - there are ways to get distorted and beat-up textures without just cranking it past the 0.0 mark. there's a beat that comes in around 1:31, alongside some other percs. there's a melodic element that comes in at 1:47. i like the distorted tone on it, but don't like how blown out this area is as it loses a lot of depth of tone. there's a lot of low mid content below maybe 200hz that's probably unneeded and is causing it to be really cluttered. i agree with chimpa that this section is slow-burn but not in a good way - since there's zero dynamics possible with the overblown backing elements, there needs to be either melodic or rhythmic elements to keep interest. there's little to no rhythmic elements through the entire song that aren't repeated for the entire breadth of the track, and there's little melodic elements that aren't present in the original. there's some piano that comes in around 2:55, and then some sustains and sfx to finish it for the last 40 seconds or so. a gritty, lo-res texture works very well for this original. ultimately, though, this is a pretty boring remix. the slow tempo is a good choice imo but the lack of dynamics (or really even contrast), interesting rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic elements, and even basic elements of mastering really shoot this one down. there's simply not enough to hold interest for 4+ minutes, and what's there for those four minutes is gritty in a bad way and so blown out that you can't actually hear what's going on most of the time. to be clear: i'd love for a heavy, slow-burn industrial mix of this track, as i think it fits perfectly. just turning up all your mastering channels to +6db isn't how to do that though. it's hard to make something sound dirty and covered in rust, and i think this is what you were going for - it just needs more attention to mastering to make those channels sound like that without just cranking them up so the master clips. NO

what a dope original! never heard it and it's awesome. starts out with some pretty static tones, but the beat comes in at 0:11. initial writing is pretty faithful to the original. the drums aren't quite what i expected given the original sound concept. the bass is pretty active and the lead is very basic initially. there's a recap at 1:06 and some repeated material (everything from there to 1:24 outside of adding the ascending arp flourishes in a few places). the following section is also very similar to the original outside of a few added flourishes. there's another repeat at 2:00 and then it repeats the opening section and fades out. i like the concept here! i think there's a bit too much repetition for a piece that's only 2:10. i think the style survives the genre adaptation pretty well, though, so that's fun! i think there just needs to be more arrangement here - less ANARCHY TAKAPON and more Nuac. i'd also like to hear the drum mixing bring the drums out, assuming you're willing to use modern mastering tools and you aren't explicitly going for a GB-realistic sound. NO

starts out with some very ambient hits at range, and slowly starts to build the descending motif from the original. there's a lot of orchestral elements being used, which is nice. i'll note that there's a lot of sustained chords and that's not great orchestral arranging. it's not common that the entire brass section will play block chords. more movement in here would be a goal. there's a big hit at 1:16 with some guitars and orchestral taikos, and now some choir. there's a lot of audible clipping in here. this is where all those block chords become a problem - they're just clogging up the mid range so you can't put other stuff in here. there's also what sounds like mostly copy/paste for each section with one more thing added on top each time. for example the same choir scoring and presentation is used over and over - this is noticeable and becomes irritating pretty early on. at the 3:00 mark there's some slick soloing going but i can't hear anything. everything needs to be turned down by, like, half, and then use a compression and limiting chain to dress it up rather than relying on raw volume to make stuff sound powerful. by about 3:45 i can no longer hear any backing elements. it's just the bass, the taikos, and the lead solo instruments. everything else is just a mash. i can 100% get the idea of having lots of neat ideas and wanting to layer them on top of one another. i tend to be a very additive composer myself. however, after a certain point, there's just too much going on and it all loses impact as a result. that's what you've got going on most of this. if you removed half - literally half - of the compositional elements you've got going on here, i think you'd have a far more impactful (and easier to mix/master) track. i think there's a ton of great stuff here. it's just inaudible and everything's stepping on everything else's toes. trim it way back, reduce the volume a ton, remove all the sustained layering, and see what you get on the other side as a result. if you don't believe me about the clipping, this is by far the most clipping instances i've ever seen in a submission in the panel: NO

big drums right up front, with a big 80s sound to the band sound overall, driven by the bass and the bell synth. snare is really loud up front. there's a nice rhythm guitar underpinning it, and the lead has a good tone, love the vibrato. hits a break at 1:25 and has some synthax pick up the lead. later guitar comes in and that's well-played. harmonized melodic content at 2:05 was nice. drums drop again at 2:16 and the track relies on the bass for a bit to keep it moving, then the fm keys. sax comes back when everything's back in for a solo opportunity. this would have been a nice time to mix up the bass line up a bit, but the energy's still there and it's a good solo. it also sets us nicely onto the outro which is well-handled. this is a lay-up. there are a few elements of the mastering i'd have liked to hear modified - namely turning that snare down a touch - but overall this is a solid rendition of the classic original. i particularly liked the keys that you used in some of the quieter parts to keep it moving, and the solo trailoff into the outro. nice work. YES