Reviews by Claus |
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Displaying Reviews 1 - 4 out of 4 |
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Parallax (title screen tune) - arranged by Steve CollinsReview by Claus, 21/01/2021 Originality: The first part is veeery close to the original, but it becomes more interesting when the drums start. Nevertheless, I think I miss some freshness here, it is just a pretty close remake. 2/5 - Embracement: Very easy to recognize, it just doesn’t fully keep up with the original. 4/5 - Arrangement: The sounds are generally comparably close to the original sounds, but unfortunately in many cases a bit lacking compared to that. Martin Galway did an excellent job with the pitch bends and vibratos, it is really difficult to improve or even match that. While the drums are a nice addition, they are too repetitive for my taste. The voice samples are nice! 3/5 - Performance: Not a lot to complain here, but the pitch bends sound a bit too exaggerated sometimes. 4/5 - Mix: The mix is not bad, but sometimes the lead synths pop out a bit too much for my taste. The panning seems a bit funky at times and I do not like the chosen reverb. 3/5 - Mastering: It lacks a bit of punch and I would agree with LaLa that it is overall a bit harsh. I think mostly because there is simply not enough bass, and because of the loud leads. 4/5 - Overall: 3. 17 |
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Six Hours (Hardstyle Remix) - arranged by JLDReview by Claus, 21/01/2021 Originality (30% weight, part of artistic skill): While this is a solid remix, I think it lacks creativity a bit. The original is already kind of screaming hardstyle. The remix improves the instruments obviously, but hardly adds anything new to it. 2/5 - Embracement (30% weight, nostalgia): It is kind of a Hifi-Version of the original, so I think embracement is excellent! 5/5 - Arrangement (14% weight, part of artistic skill): The arrangement is good, the sounds really fit the genre well, and there is a lot of interesting variations going on sound-wise. 5/5 - Performance (14% weight, part of artistic skill): Excellent performance, nothing to complain about (no wonder, as everything is programmed). 5/5 - Mix (9% weight, part of technique): The mix sounds very professional, although I think the Bassdrum is a bit too prominent (even taking the genre into account). 4/5 - Mastering (3% weight, part of technique): Pretty well mastered, it only lacks a bit of the fatness and deepest frequencies for the dance floor. 4/5 - Overall: 3. 98 |
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Cauldron 2 - arranged by MakkeReview by Claus, 21/01/2021 Originality (30% weight, part of artistic skill): How fresh and creative is the remix? Definitely a fresh take on the original, which is very short and simple. Lots of creativity went into this, an absolutely great interpretation. 5/5 - Embracement (30% weight, nostalgia): How well does the remix represent the original? Now that’s a tricky one, as the original is so short. It picks up all of the signature parts, but I think it is not easy to realise on which original it is based. The general feeling is well preserved though. 4/5 - Arrangement (14% weight, part of artistic skill): How fitting and elaborate is the choice of instruments for the chosen style? Awesome! Some sounds are a bit 2005ish, but hey, who cares! 5/5 - Performance (14% weight, part of artistic skill): How well are the instruments played? How good is the timing, tuning, groove etc.? Excellent performance, nothing to complain about (no wonder, as most of it is programmed). 5/5 - Mix (9% weight, part of technique): Is the volume balanced well between the instruments? Are EQ, compression and effects applied appropriately? Excellent mix, you can clearly hear that this was done by a professional. 5/5 - Mastering (3% weight, part of technique): Does it sound well-rounded and professional overall? Are master bus processing and the overall spectral balance ok? Excellently mastered, again clearly audibly done by a pro. 5/5 - Overall: 4. 70 |
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Ocean Loader 5 (Dunn Rockin') - arranged by UnderphilReview by Claus, 21/01/2021 Hey, my first review! I spent quite a bit of time on thinking of a framework that hopefully helps remixers to understand how I vote, and helps myself to keep objective in the future - Originality (30% weight, part of artistic skill): How fresh and creative is the remix? I like the Iron Maiden style and I am not aware of other remixes that would have done that before, although it does not seem a very unexpected interpretation. The bass guitar and china/doublebass interludes keep the track interesting, although some more changes in instrumentation would have improved that even further. The remix is not really adding new surprising elements, which in my mind is required for a top score here (although it might reduce the embracement then 😊) 3/5 - Embracement (30% weight, nostalgia): How well does the remix represent the original? The original is immediately recognisable. The kind of hypnotic/repetitive feeling of the original is well preserved. Nice, I could hardly imagine how to improve that! 5/5 - Arrangement (14% weight, part of artistic skill): How fitting and elaborate is the choice of instruments for the chosen style? This is a bit of an easy win here, as rock music rarely profits from elaborate arrangements. The choice of sounds is good. I will nevertheless reduce the score by one, as some more sounds would have made the track a tad more interesting (as mentioned under originality). 4/5 - Performance (14% weight, part of artistic skill): How well are the instruments played? How good is the timing, tuning, groove etc.? That is bit of a difficult win here 😉, as rock music really depends on tight guitar playing. Not that the guitars are not well played, but compared to commercial productions there is quite some gap here. The drums seem to be programmed (I guess), and sound a bit uninteresting to me (coming from a drumming background). Tuning is fine. 3/5 - Mix (9% weight, part of technique): Is the volume balanced well between the instruments? Are EQ, compression and effects applied appropriately? Contrary to LaLa, I think the balance of the instruments is perfectly fine. EQ seems fine overall and effects are chosen well and do not overwhelm the sound. Again, the drums could need some more care. Still, a really nice mix! 4/5 - Mastering (3% weight, part of technique): Does it sound well-rounded and professional overall? Are master bus processing and the overall spectral balance ok? Overall spectral balance is ok, I guess a bit more shine could help. Fatness, argh that’s a hard one. The loudness war is over, nevertheless the track might profit from some more fatness. It’s good, but not commercially good, so I give it a 4/5 - Overall: 3. 86 |
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