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[Deku Toad Battle]

Deku Toad Battle
-Bar beat 2.5 I hear Bn -> Bb/A# rather than Bn -> Ab.
-Bars 20/22 beat 3 I don't hear the G here in the left hand.  It sounds like there is a gap like in bars 19/21.
-Bar 43 beat 1 I hear the F in the LH restrike.

Fixed all of those! I also noticed I kept the measure numbers for the first cadenza-ish measure (which is just 6 measures without barlines), so edited them to be measure 1.

and there are even two spots where the second tuba note at the beginning of the measure is further subdivided to 32nd length at m27 and m31

I think at those places the note actually just falls on a funky laid-back beat 2.25, as trying to count 32nd's at this speed doesn't seem feasible. The song in general seems to be in a sort of 16th-swing-y vibe, which probably delayed the tuba note a bit, or just the attack of the tuba took a bit too long.

All other changes look good! One small thing I noticed:
-m2 and 14: The quarter rest in the second layer should be two 8th rests (similar to the rests in m4)

[Seasource]

Seasource
-I think the key signature could be C#m instead (4 sharps)? Most of the piece is in a phrygian mode, but the part at 37 is pretty clearly in C#m.
-m1-3: I hear the guitar crunchies at beat 4 as minor seconds (A#-B, B#-C#, and D#-E)
-m6: I hear the B# on L.H. beat 3.5 an octave lower
-m8: I hear the Dn on L.H. beat 3 an octave lower
-m5-12: If you want, I think you could add an octave above the L.H. for some more metal power (except for when there's a shout on beat 4, as that would probably clash with the R.H.)
-m16: You could write the Bb power chord on beat 4 as A# too, as you used A# in m8 and 12 too
-m17: The B's on R.H. beat 4.25-4.5 should be one 16th note later (so starting on beat 4.5)
-m18: I don't hear the R.H. B on beat 1, and hear R.H. beat 1.75 as a B instead of A#
-m19: Also hear the Gn-A on beat 4.25 starting on beat 4.5 instead
-m20: Maybe you could add bass notes below the fourths in the L.H. too, to make them full power chords?
-m21-28: I feel like you could add some more drive in the L.H. here: the guitars seem to be playing some more dead notes or other in-between notes to fill it up, and the drums are going wild too. It seems to continue in a sort of similar rhythm as in the m13 section for the uneven measures, at least
-m30, 32 and 34: Instead of double sharps, it's fine to use naturals here. In 30 and 34 you could give the B's a cautionary accidental, or you could even write the B# in the measure before as Cn, because it chromatically descends to the B.
-m34: I think I hear a Dn on beat 2 instead of the G# (the Dn below the G#, not the one in beat 1.5)
-m37: This section is quite jumpy for the L.H.: especially measures like m39 span a very big section of the piano (3 full octaves). Maybe you could try to keep parts a bit closer together? I'm assuming the player will use a pedal here, so that will help to make the section sound grander already.
-m52: The guitars (L.H.) also plays B# on beat 4.5
-m53-56: If you haven't already, the same things as before apply to here

[Bubble Crab Stage]

Bubble Crab Stage
Sorry for the wait on this one! Seems like the original youtube vid got taken down, so I used this one for now:

-The half note = 100 bpm is a bit weird when the piece starts in 6/8. In 6/8 we usually use dotted quarter note tempos, but maybe because of the time signature switch you could put in an 8th note bpm too? Or put a new quarter note tempo at m9
-m9, 13 and 15: The 8th rests on beat 3 can be written as a quarter rest, like in m11
-m10, 11, 14 and 16: You left out some accents in the R.H. chords on 8th notes, was that for playability? They sound similarly accentuated in the original
-m12: I don't hear the bass playing the G# on beat 4, I only hear drums there
-m15: I don't specifically hear the top C# and D in the R.H. on beat 2.5 and 4
-m17: You can tie this top B in the L.H. over into m18 too
-m21: I hear the ornament in beat 1 as C#-B-A-B, but I don't think there's an articulation that corresponds to that, so you might have to write it out as grace notes or a 16th triplet.
-Although, the above thing does make the middle voice a bit harder to play, but in general the middle voice has some pretty awkward spots. It's impossible to hold the R.H. low B in m25, and I personally can't stretch from A to C# in m26 L.H. Maybe you could make this middle voice an optional one? In which case I'd suggest moving some of the R.H. B's to the L.H., as it usually plays a G or a B there, which is a bit easier to get to or to hold than it is for the R.H. I'd also put the D in m31 into the L.H. then.
-I hear a D above the R.H. in m37, and an E above in m40

-In most bars, the second tuba note is on the same beat as the guitar (on beat 2.75 instead of 2.5), probably best to check these throughout.
-m2 and 14: The staccato in the L.H. beat 3.5 should be above the notehead.
-m6: You can keep the L.H. guitar part in the R.H., and maybe write this bar in the bass cleff for easier readability. Same in m10
-m7: I think I hear an An instead of Ab as grace note before beat 3 in the R.H. Same in m11
-m19: Maybe instead of just Ab's for the guitar, you could do C and Eb's and put them in the R.H.?
-m24: There's a low Eb in the guitar from beat 2 on here too

[Opening Theme]

Opening Theme

I was just going to say that I don't have any strong feelings on 6/8 vs 12/8, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else wants to weigh in.

I think 12/8 would work fine here too yeah. 12/8 vs 6/8 is like 4/4 vs 2/4, in which it's sometimes hard to really distinguish between the two. Like cash mentioned though, the melodic phrasing seems to fit 12/8 a bit better.

Anyway, the feedback! (i'll keep to the 6/8 measure numbers for now)
-m1-8: I hear some extra notes in these measures: in m1-4 I hear an additional F below, and maybe even an F and G in-between the C's. In m5-8 I think I also hear an F between the Bb's. In m2 there is a C above the F in the L.H. too in the ooowwaaaa voice (professional musical terms here lol) that is held over into m5 too
-m16-17: I hear the melody a bit different here:

-For m26 until pretty much the end of the track, maybe you could add staccatos to the L.H. and R.H., or add a "staccato" marking? In the L.H., I hear all (low) Eb's legato.
-m37: I hear G's in beat 4 and 6 in the R.H.
-m40-41: In the R.H., I hear m40 beat 6 and m41 beat 1-5 one step lower (so Bb's should be Ab's and Ab's should be G's)
-m42: The Eb-F in beat 3-4 in the L.H. should be C-Eb
-m47-49: In the R.H., from m47 beat 6 to m49 beat 1, all notes should be one step lower.
-m57: The bass clef clashes with the 8th rest.
-m81 and 89: Maybe you could add a courtesy accidental to the Bb in the R.H., since it's right behind the Bn? Or alternatively, you could write all Bn's in m74-89 as Cb's instead, since they all move down to the Bb

I'm doubting about whether it's worth it to keep the higher octaves in m26-46 (the ones on beat 1 every 4 bars): it's a bit awkward to have the R.H. jump around and have the melody switch between L.H. and R.H., and the effect doesn't really last as much as in the original. Using a pedal wouldn't work with the staccato melody and bassline. You also already left it out in m50 anyway.
Also I wonder if it may sound better to leave out the R.H. part in m82-89 and put the bass back in (so similar to m50-57)? It's unfortunate to remove that R.H. part, but the section sounds a bit emptier without a bass to fill it up.

[approve]

Awesome, then I can approve the Title Theme!

[Swan Lake]

Swan Lake
-m4: I think I hear the E on beat 1.5 R.H. an octave higher?
-m12: I hear an F# in the R.H. on beat 3 instead of a G
-m33: I think I hear a C in the R.H. on beat 1.5 instead of an E
-m37: I hear the R.H. here similar to m33 (so C-Eb instead of E-E in beat 1.5-2)
-m41: Again the C in 1.5
-m47 and 55: I hear E#'s in beat 3.5 and 4.5 in the L.H., and maybe a C# in beat 4 but not sure
-m65 and 67: Maybe you could either tie over the grace note E's in the R.H. for playability, or remove them like in m69 and 71?
-m70: Maybe you could displace the F# in layer 1 so it's next to the half note? The quarter note currently hides the half note notehead.

I definitely hear downward movement to the C# there. There might be some low E from the mid chords, but adding it to the LH sounds muddy and there's an E in the RH already

Ah yeah I can hear it in the harp now. The E is probably there in the synth strings choir pad thingy, which kinda overshadows it after beat 1, but yeah no need to put it in the L.H. ^^

The spread of these arpeggios is so wide that I can't find a really good way to write them. With clefs you end up with clef switches every beat and much more cramped bars. And if you add the cross-staff handing it ends up with a wacky amount of context switching. Maybe pianists can just do that? A smooth line of ottava'ed arpeggios makes a lot more sense to me, but with that approach you do lose some clarity with hand prescription. I've uploaded both options to the "Older files" Dropbox folder for comparison, but used your clef suggestion as the main folder's version. I'd be happy to hear others' thoughts about these and other possible approaches.

I think what you have right now is good: the clef switching isn't really a problem to read (for me at least), I believe it happens more often for wide arpeggios like these. The cross-staffing looks good too cuz it's always after one of the dyads in the R.H., so the player can see from those in which octave they need to play too. Only thing I noticed was that in m20 and 28, the D in beat 2 is played in both hands. Maybe you can add parentheses to the L.H. one, and cross-staff the one in beat 2.75 too since it's in the R.H. anyway?

A third option btw might be to remove the 8vas and use crosstaffing instead of clef switching:

The melody being this high isn't ideal though, especially the high A's and B's, but the readability for the arpeggios is a lot clearer now. I used slurs so it's clear the line continues on from the L.H. The player can then decide for themself if they wanna play them with the R.H. or the L.H. in some places.

Sorry for the wait! I've started working on a final formatting edit, which I added in the project folder here. I included some changes listed below, but let me know if there's something you want changed

I like the intro now, should the pedal be held in 2 measure increments?

One pedal throughout works too if you want!

in m4, I had put beat 4 of the LH in the RH so the LH had more time jump to the Fn

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I personally would prefer keeping beat 4 in the L.H. and having the player decide for themself if they wanna play it in the L.H., but this way works too.
In the edit I kept it as is, but I put the F-Bb in beat 4 in a separate layer.

I'll defer to whatever you think is best since you know notation better.

I think I'd personally go to shrinking the notehead then ^^

Other things I fixed in the edit:
-The A in m6 beat 2 wasn't tied over in m7
-m29: Apparently the image sharing site doesn't keep my files up for that long lol, anyway in my screenshot I had R.H. beat 3 as A-F instead of F-C, as an end point for the grace notes.
-Fixed the rest placement in m33 L.H.
-Flipped staccatos at the end of m34 L.H.
-Edited the measure distribution so the notes aren't too squeezed together.

Separate question: can I substitute "Sunny Beach" for "Options Menu" from Wave Race? Even though submissions are closed?
if not, that's fine.

Since submissions are closed we won't be accepting substitute submissions, sorry!

• m57 RH hearing G# on bottom beat 2 and Fn for beat 4

Yep, got them! Wrote the G# as Ab enharmonically

• m60 RH 2.75 is silent? It sounds like the Fn on 2.5 is the last not to me

I think that might be a weird cut-off in the ost version, in this video at 1:32 you can hear the G# at the end:

Though I think in all three times it stops at a different point in the loop, so it probably just loops until the boss reaches the ground.

• m61-64 RH current beat 4 should move to the beginning at beat 1 and then push current beats 1-3 up by one beat.

I think that fade in is also a weird ost thingy, I can kiiinda hear it in the video above (after the Deku Toad jumps part) but it sounds as if the real loop begins at beat 1.

Anyway, files are fixed!

• m6 RH half note cluster I hear a Dn and an Eb from the sounds of it

Ah yeah, you mean Dn sliding to Eb right? I hear it too now, changed the enharmonic spelling to be Fhalfdim too.

• m9 RH beat 2 I hear a Gb on the bottom of this cluster instead of Fn, and beat 5 I hear a An instead of Ab. m10 beat 2 also applies to first half of this bullet.

I hear this too now, and on closer inspection I don't think I hear the En and Gn below the F and Ab too, which makes playability a bit easier too.

• m10 LH 1.5 I hear Bn and A# as the two 16th notes

Hear this too! Interesting how it's only in this measure, instead of any others (even on the repeat)

• m25 and m26 RN hearing the Gn's as An's

Yep, and the En afterwards as F too.

Thanks for checking! Updated the files!

[accept]

Alrighty, then I will accept!

[not]

Without something to substitute the drum with, it's just a boring held note. and trying to add something this with the F and the drum, just doesn't feel well adapted to the piano in my opinion. I rather leave it off.

You could do something like this together with a pedal mark, and have it continue into the current first 4 measures too:

Not sure what the "standard" is. I thought all optional notes would have the parenthesis, but I'll defer to you on what is common practice.

We usually do use parentheses for optional notes yeah, but it's not something that is defined in formatting guidelines. It was an alternative I thought of myself, so I'd accept both ways ^^ It depends on what you prefer.

originally, I left it off because the following phrase is almost the same, so for variety I gave more emphasis to the held notes before jumping into the bass guitar. Its changed though.

I think I hear an A instead of Bb on m9 beat 4.5 in the bass, but otherwise looks good ^^

playing a mordent at that speed? NSM must really want precise transcriptions...

We do, yes: players are free to simplify arrangements if needed. Adding the mordent shows what the original does, but if the player wants to leave it out, they can easily just ignore the mordent.
Either way: the mordents you currently have are inverted mordents, we actually need the standard ones (so without the vertical line in the middle)

my original thought was to have a break or "catch ones breath" from the 8th notes by giving attention to other instrumentation.

I see yeah, at least we still have the two measure break ^^ Is there a specific reason you wrote G-C in measure 25 L.H. beat 1, instead of the C-E in my example? I usually try to keep the lowest note the same as whatever the bass guitar is playing, because all other notes relate harmonically to the lowest note. Also, fourths on itself sounds less stable than fifths or octaves in the middle to low range of the bass clef

I might have got lost with this one. So as not to clash in m33 I changed the An 8th notes to a Gn, while keeping everything else I had near the same.

I think I was aiming more towards this:

So similar to m25-26, but with some of the R.H. notes in the L.H. so they don't clash.

That makes the jump back down to the Cn more daunting, but if you think a virtuoso can play it Bloop, so be it.

You can use a similar practice here as to the one I explained for m30 ^^ This is more to practice a muscle memory for where notes on the piano are.

Ending it on a high note leaves one in suspense/expecting, instead of at rest, so I brought it down with some octave F's + harmony.

That works too yeah!

Some other comments too:
-m29: I was actually thinking more along the lines of this:

So we start on a lower note on beat 2, but have a way of imitating the guitar slide to beat 3. Grace notes with 2 or more notes should be written as 16th notes btw, instead of 8ths.
-m32: Seems I forgot this one, but R.H. beat 3 is missing a staccato here (first note of the triplet, like in m24)
-m38-39: Maybe you could move up the R.H. in m38 beat 4 and m39 beat 1-1.5 up an octave too? (idk why I didn't think of that earlier). Also, similar to m25, I think it'd work better to have the L.H. in m39 beat 1-1.5 be a single or octave C, instead of a low fourth. Lastly, for some reason the flats of the R.H. Db and L.H. Ab in m39 beat 4.5 don't show up, but they are there. Maybe something that I can fix with the final formatting fixes.

As for Sunny Beach, I'll give it another look over at some point, but if it is unlikely to completed in the project timeframe (whatever that may be), I rather have you not start the review process and it can be skipped, no need to move it to the submissions section.

We don't have a set timeframe yet for the project, but I can see it taking more time than the Title Theme. If you prefer not having to spend much time on it, then I think we can agree on skipping that one.