RESULTS - SUPERSTEPH54
SineRider - O, Usurper! (Remix)
SUMMARY: You're an Ambient genius.
REVIEW: This is brilliant stuff, man. It has such a different feel from the original, but still sounds Ambient and calming. Nice work!
The first thing I noticed was that you pretty much used the sound file of the original in this remix. At first I thought this would make the remix sound unoriginal and boring, since I thought it'd just be midimachine's track with some glitched drums added, although that was a big misconception. This sounds superb - it's got a much dreamier sound than the original (and I LOVE the additions you made the to melodies such as at 0:37. I can see why the progression took you a while but I can assure you that it was certainly worth it because I loved the progression. I think this is an incredibly good example of what a remix should be - well-thought out, reminiscent of the original but has its own new flair.
If I had anything to point out, it'd be that you used the sound file of the original file. You totally changed the mood and melodies in your remix, but you still used the original MP3. Not much of an issue though - I think more of an issue would be that I think you could've varied the sounds you used a bit more. The drum sounds were varied decently but some more pads, synths, sound effects, etc... would definitely be appreciated I think.
I'm not that much of a fan of this genre but this is pretty much my favourite remix submitted for the whole round. Very impressed!
SCORE: 9.5/10
--------------------
F-777 - Dilema - (F-777 ReMiX)
SUMMARY: Really nice!
REVIEW: You had a pretty hard song to remix - it wasn't such a long song and the melody wasn't as easy to keep track of as it could've been. However, you took the original file, and built a totally new thing out of it, and I commend you on that effort.
The progression is brilliant - that's the first thing I thought when the remix ended. You didn't have much progression to remix from the original since it was so short so you created your own structure which works very well. The intro was a real pleasure to listen to - a similar mood of the original track but with your own trancey additions. When the song takes a turn to club-like trance after the 1-minute marker it was definitely unexpected, but it fits a lot better than I thought it would, and then you go back to the relaxing mood of the intro for the outro. Very solid structure and progression. Also, I very much enjoyed the plucked synth thing you used throughout the song. It fit wonderfully in both the calm parts and the busier parts and the slight humanising you did on it was a nice touch, and the melody fits very well with the original's melody.
I've got two things that I feel need improving - one which is a nitpick and one which is a bit of a bigger problem. The nitpick is that I think the sidechain on the kick was a bit too excessive. The bigger problem is that I feel that you could've done more to make this sound more like a remix and less like a trance song with a wav file cut out from another song. If you figured out the notes of the piano or got a MIDI file then you would have more possibilites to expand on the original at your disposal, such as perhaps a piano solo with your own interpretation of the original's piano melody. There's also that rhythm that is played by the snappy percussion throughout the original with which you could've done something in this remix.
Anyway, it's an awesome track. I had a lot to say about it but I still enjoyed it from beginning to end. Brilliant work.
SCORE: 9/10
--------------------
Birdinator99 - Time's Up (Remix -- NGADM '11)
SUMMARY: Good, but not what I'd call a remix.
REVIEW: I'll admit that this is a pretty cool track! The synths sound unlike anything I've heard before and overall everything sounds cool, but unfortunately if I had to hear this without knowing it was a remix of xKore's "Time's Up", then I wouldn't have realised it was, so I can't call this a remix. And since this was a remix competition, that's a bit of a problem.
I'm going to start by saying that this sounds so unique. The synths sound weird but cool - massive props for making some of them yourself. You mentioned in the Author's Comments that you experimented a lot in this track and I've got to say that it does sound quite experimental. I think a lot of your experiments were a success because the sidechaining was a nice touch and the pitch-shifting-as-part-of-a-transition-r ather-than-a-part-of-a-solo part sounded awesome :P. I also like the spacey effects you used in the song, especially towards the end. I did enjoy listening to them. Piano sounded neat too :3. Mixing isn't the best, but you're improving in that department, and you're certainly leagues better than I am at it.
My big gripe with this track is that it's not much of a remix. I can't even recognise any of the original over here, and I've listened to each original song quite a few times before listening to the remixes so if after I listen to the original many times, listen to the remix and don't recognise anything from the original, clearly there's something wrong. I'd imagine it's not easy to remix a track from xKore, but you had a lot of room to add some melodies from the original and make them stand out a lot. You also had the option of asking xKore for the MIDI file which would've probably helped. Unfortunately I'm not seeing this as much of a remix. Also, the kick was a bit weak - might want to work on that! Finally, there was a pretty awkward transition to the outro.
In general it's a nice track, even though it's hard for me to relate it to xKore's original version. Decent work though.
SCORE: 7.5/10
--------------------
Results continue in next post...
