about 5db of headroom.

opens with some sfx and something far in the distance (clarinet?) before the flute came in. there's some small percussion to accentuate phrasing. 0:50 the clarinet is suddenly far louder than everything else (there's making the melody pop and there's too much, and this is the latter). there's some more dense counterpoint around the 1:30 mark, and 1:52 marks the first time i really clearly hear the bassoon. the ensemble goes through some more counterpoint - it's really dense, there's no breaks or pauses for over a minute - before a final cadential element and some fadeout effects.

from an arrangement perspective - i like the concept here, but do feel that the counterpoint gets too noodly pretty fast and stays there most of the middle to end of the piece. it's a common misconception in small ensemble arrangement that there's too few instruments to let specific instruments have breaks, and that tends to lend itself to homogenous sustains that overpower melodic elements. this overall has a very flowing, sustained feel - which is fine, and fitting for the melody line! - but that means you need to go over and above to create supporting lines that aren't just noodling through the chord progression. for example, i liked the opening section, having the clarinet swell out of the flute, and i liked the soli at the end where everyone came together. using more set pieces like that can really help your arrangements be unique and vibrant. an example might be to have a melody line in one instrument while the other three parts are doing a three-part rhythmic supporting pattern - this would allow you to keep your flowing feel while making a section sound more unique.

from a performance perspective, overall it's solid. dynamics aren't anywhere near as emphasized as i'd expect in a live performance, and the clarinet is frequently out of tune especially once it gets below the octave key, but everyone's tone is usually pretty good and it's lined up clearly.

from an execution standpoint, the clarinet is too loud for 3/4 of the track and the double reeds are both too quiet. light EQing around where the formant for each instrument is would help a lot here - bassoon could use a boost in the 2-2.5k range, for example, and the oboe around 3k to help it speak over the other instruments. additionally, the backing sfx are at least half again too loud. they're not the feature so they shouldn't make up so much of the soundscape.

i am gonna admit i am really inspired by the idea here - the original's beautiful in a way that reminds me of FF9's opening, and the arrangement possibilities for such a simple theme are really fun to think about. i'd love to hear this back with some significant mix/master changes. depending on how that goes and how much i'm not hearing right now due to the balance problems, that may be enough for a positive vote. addressing a few of the pitch issues would help a lot too (i'm willing to help with this if you want). if you were willing to go back and rework some of the ramen in the middle of this piece, i think you'd have a really stunning work on your hands. as it is, though, this has the same issue we see with solo piano arrangements - the less going on, the better each element needs to be, and right now i think there's too many bits that aren't quite there yet.

NO