Liontamer

That was Arek's title. Blame him. Didn't he quit the evil interwebs anyway? You're not the first "victim". That's very ego-centric. And yes, we are mad with pow4r. You knew this already. As for that movie...

Name: Joey Troup (joeytroup@gmail.com) Submission: "World Domination" Game: Chrono Trigger Taken from: "World Revolution" (Lavos battle) Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it. Sincerely, Joey Troup ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "World Revolution" (ct-3-13.spc) & "Chrono Trigger (part 1)" (ct-1-02a.spc) Closest analog to this one is LuIzA's "Fire Cross" (which uses CT's "World Revolution" for a small piece). That's not saying that she sets the bar, but this mix is most similar to her in style. When you compare the two side by side, it underscores a lot of the issues with this arrangement. There's some interpretative portions in terms of changing up the melodies, but the arrangement is too straightforward overall. Beyond 1:48, it also ended up feeling repetitive once you started replaying sections near-wholesale until around 2:58, so to me things were underdeveloped. On the production side, the lead guitar could be played tighter and also has 0 meat on it, the performance on it has some personal flair but needs more, and, as your lead, it doesn't even cut through the rest of the instrumentation to take the foreground. There's little meaningful rhythm or harmonization writing (it's buried) and the backing parts are too simple. All you really hear are those drums, which are louder than everything else, and that's basically it. They definitely don't compensate for the lack of any other prominent parts. You gotta provide more balance and substance than that. NO

If you & Chad are willing to take a raincheck while things continue moving on the music side, I'd love to speak with you together about the site design. I'll flag y'all down as things get closer. Not a problem with me, Scott, so don't feel bad. I definitely wanna hear what you'd come up with. Post WIPs in this thread at some point, even at just a sketch level so I can see what direction you're going in. I definitely wanna hear a WIP of that, David, as it's one of my favorite themes. Hope you take it in a great new direction. That's "right" per se, Ken, though you're more likely to get me at Liontamer.VGF@gmail.com. I saw your Equinox mix at both boxes. Overall, the mix sounds great. I think the production would need to be refined a bit, as some of the frequencies seem a bit piercing. I'll try and run it by some Js for the opinions of some different ears, but as is, this is very close to being called a done deal. I really appreciate you coming through like this, bro; this'll be a nice addition to the project! Always in sell mode, this is a really unique project in my opinion, Doug. It'd be a priviledge to have you on board if you're feeling anything from Follin's discog. Lemme know if you'd like any suggestions or anything of the sort. You remind me of Israfel, Cain. Too modest. Of course you qualify, bro, and yes I've heard your Pokemon sub. For the record, I hate Pokemon. Silver Surfer, track 1 is a hugely popular choice. Definitely take it on, bro.

This is just a common tune. You know it of course. I did it all with Garage Band. Hope you like it Title: Plumber's Sonata Arranger: Chase P. --------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/smb1.zip - A few of 'em You had some decent bass & perc embellishments and sound effects under the melody, but the melodic stuff was very uninterpretive. Nowhere near what makes it on an interpretation or personalized arrangement level. The textures here were also too sparse. Production-wise, things at least sounded clean, so that was good. I chose to panel this, because you tried to add some extra touches to make this a little different from the original, and I wanted to let you know that you at least had some ideas, small as they were, on the right track. The countermelodic stuff behind the "Underground BGM" (1:43-1:57) was brief but good. The way you tried to vary up the sounds from section to section was in the right direction, but ultimately not thorough enough. Listen to recent ReMixes vs. their source tunes, and you'll get more an understanding of what level of creativity and interpretation is necessary. NO

Remixer: Palpable Game: Final Fantasy X Song: People of the North Pole I realize you already have a couple remixes of this song, but I've chosen some more obscure songs to remix before so cut me some slack. This remix is quite a bit different from the other ones on the site. It's a bit spooky and minimal and in 6/8 time. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FFX_psf2.rar - 405 "People of the Far North" Didn't focus on arranging the source melody like I'd expected. Rather, the arrangement evolves while touching upon various aspects of the source, which was a good idea. Yeah, this was decidedly minimalist in terms of some of the textures. There were some nice bright spots for the first couple of minutes, with the mix starting off emptier, but gradually filling out more and escalating the energy. In this context, i.e. seeing where the track initially plans to go, the minimalism works alright. But once the melody kicked in at 1:48, I felt the textures were vanilla and relatively empty for too much of the piece. Comparably, something like Quinn Fox's Shining Force CD "Five-Sided Square" goes for a minimalist approach while better filling up the soundfield in the long run. The underlying beat structure ended up dragging out as the piece went on, which was a significant drawback to the minimalist approach. Dynamically speaking, almost everything from 2:25-onward was basically hovering around the same energy level and textural complexity. Cuts off in the middle of the fadeout at 4:51. I know you had one narrow Mario Paint rejection that you never attempted to resubmit, which I hope isn't the case for this one (RESUBMIT!!!! The other one too!). But I gotta go NO on it. The base here is good, but the potential here isn't realized. The sounds need more fleshing out (which can be done without sacrificing the minimalist concept), and the song structure could use more dynamic contrast for the latter half. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=rd - "Requiem ~ Dream Shore (2)" [rd-09.spc] http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 107 "Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World" Interesting opening; woodwind vibrato was a bit awkward, but a cool idea. Segue to the next section via the drums fading in around :34 was a decent idea, but not very smooth as a transition. Didn't do much to make the two parts seem anything other than completely disconnected. Drums exposed on their own around :50-:56 just showed how flimsy the textures were. The source countermelody and pads at :56 helped flesh the soundfield out, but the beats were really thin and the texture sounded completely awkward. These sounds aren't really gelling together at all, and some of the instrumental changeup just come across as awkward. Like at 1:19 when DA's vocals arrive, you have some slightly harder percussion and the electric bassline all of a sudden shift back for some mallet percussion and woodwind, and the combinations don't gel together. Sounded like the background fell apart from 1:52-2:03. All of a sudden the music fucking melted and the instrumentation got all sparse and unfocused. Even the tempo didn't seem like it was holding still. Woodwind seemingly resolves ok, but the phrasing on it wfelt wakward. One of the other Js can elborate or correct me, but it seems like the backing instrumentation isn't complementing the vocals properly much of the time. 2:34 stays too sparse with the instrumentation, but the music keep changing seemingly at random. These ideas are just bouncing from one to the next too quickly. I mean, I love variation and development, but there's no development. And when there's no development, variation for the sake of variation means nothing. Wish I could be more specific about where this all goes off the rails, but you need the instrumentation to develop and evolve more naturally, and it needs to be fleshed out more. Right now, the end result is sloppy. NO

beatmania IIDX 3rd style Original Soundtracks - (17) "Schlagwerk" Badass source tune choice. Tough to match in on a production level, as Beatmania's stuff is pretty slick. Any J can correct me if I'm wrong, but any melody here was only very loosely derived from the source. I didn't hear anything melodic in the source; rather the beats under the melody, starting at :28, were taken from the beat pattern of the source tune. That's the only significant connection I hear. Always pays to check first. I liked the energy, but the texture could stand to be beefed up and volume in general needs to be raised. Stuff like 1:06-1:18 was unbelieveably scrawny. Arrangement retreads a little bit, but the instrumental combinations are varied a bit. At 2:04-long, the arrangement iself just isn't very developed, and, again, the connections to the source material were very tenuous. NO

(may need to copy and paste that into a browser) Greetings, my Remixer Name is Heruwath Lomgil. This is a remix of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and it includes bits of Shala's Theme from Chrono Trigger. I know the music from the Metroid series primarily from having played most of them several times through, so I don't know the names of the tracks, sorry. This is a scrap-and-start-over second attempt at a remix I tried to make a while ago that I called Echoes of the Past. It was originally a mix of the original Metroid Title Screen theme, but I incorporated bits of the track corresponding to the Emperor Ing from Metroid Prime 2 and brought in Shala's Theme from Chrono Trigger (I just couldn't help it). I tossed some funeral sounding church bells and a sad sounding oboe into the pot, and this mix is what came out. I've been trying to put the Metroid main theme into pipe organ for a couple of years now, and I think I've finally nailed it down. I hope this remix meets your expectations. Heruwath -------------------------------------------- Though it didn't impact my decision, there were several light pops all over the place (:12, :14-:17, :32, :39, 1:16-1:17, 1:20-1:22, 1:40, 2:08, 2:26) that need to be eliminated. Metroid Prime 2 (Game Rip) - 01 "Title Theme", & 56 "Vs. Emperor Ing 1 (Long)" or 57 "Vs. Emperor Ing 2 (Long)" http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Sara's Theme" (ct-3-06.spc) Can't tell which Emperor Ing theme was involved here, but it doesn't really matter. The arrangement ideas are decent, and I think the Chrono Trigger references were combined well. Though the results were teetering on serviceable, the instrumentation was pretty bland. There's a certain depth missing to all of it. Everything should sound richer, and the texture feels empty as if this could use one more element. I'd need some second opinions on what approach would better remedy the emptiness, i.e. beefing the existing sounds up or adding more elements. It could even need both. But the bottom line is that the textures were too simple, specifically for the organ-driven sections that were meant to sound full. NO (refine/resubmit)

# Your ReMixer name - Electric Concerto # Your email address - djeconcerto@gmail.com # Your website - http://www.e-concerto.net # Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile - 14517 # Name of game(s) ReMixed - Sonic Adventure # Name of individual song(s) ReMixed - Azure Blue World # Additional information about game, if it has not yet been added to the site, including composer, system, etc. - Jun Senoue, Sega Dreamcast # Remix Link - http://www.e-concerto.net/submissions/Sonic_Adventure_Oceans_Turntables_OCRemix.mp3 # Link to the original soundtrack, if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site - # Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc- I've always been a big fan of Jun Senoue, following his work since Sonic the Hedgehog to now with his work in Crush 40. One song stood out from the rest, and that was in Sega Dreamcast's first Sonic game, Sonic Adventure. The very first level in the game, Emerald Coast, snagged my love right away, with an awesome melody and chordline. I remember listening to the song over and over in the game's BGM menu. One day I finally decided, "Hey, why don't I just remix the song?", and began work on Ocean's Turntables. After 6 years of music creation, I hope I can do this incredible song some justice. Note - I wish that the link to the remix remain for judgement reference. -- ~DJ Econcerto -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic Adventure OST - (105) "Azure Blue World" Sweet source tune. That's some catchy stuff. Pan whistle opening things up is pretty fakey/rigidly sequenced for too extended a period of time. Joined by some simple synth pads at :27. Going the full electronic route at :41. The bass beatwork at :54 was pretty weak despite the attempt to make it sound powerful, because there's 0 depth to the sounds. When those beats pick up more at 1:08, it's just more annoying and ends up crowding out other sounds, especially the melody and countermelody until the changeup at 1:36. Decent stuff with the mallet percussion sequencing; that has IMO more leeway in sounding more perfect with the timing. The texture was simple, but seemed a lot more agreeable thanks to the hand drums, ocean SFX, and the electrosynth not being overbearing. The beats and pad added in at 1:49 weren't OMG, but served to thicken the soundscape and get the energy up. Moving into the chorus at 2:17, the beatwork and synths are again really thin-sounding. The synth countermelody brought in at 2:30 had some effects on it to give it some depth, but otherwise this track is ultra-dry and ends up flimsy sounding. Goes back for a softer close at 3:25 with another fairly good texture with the pan flute, mallet percussion, and bass synth. Wasn't feeling the electrosynth lead, but not a big deal. The boom-tss beat structure brought back at 2:30 definitely dragged after a while. The processing and effects were vanilla, and because the beats overpower the track, the basic pattern gets really repetitive. You gotta go for something more involved in either the foreground (to compensate for the existing beats) or the background (by varying the beats). The arrangement is alright, but "too dry and flimsy sounding" is summing this up pretty well to me on the production side. Without overcompensating by supersaturating the track, you need to flesh out these sounds and build more sophisticated textures to eliminate some of this gapingly empty space. NO (resubmit)

Not at all, Ken. Shoot it my way again though and I'll let you know what I think. Thanks a lot!

Try and show me some WIP action soon, just to see what ideas you've got.

Remixer Name: ManInGrey Game: Earthbound Platform: SNES Song Remixed: Ness's House Comments: I arranged this remix as a tribute to my cat, who died a couple years ago. One week she was fine, then all of a sudden she developed a tumor in her heart that filled her chest up with fluid. The fluid collapsed one lung and there was minimum chance of saving her...so we had her put to sleep. The beginning of the song represents her mental state as the chemicals induced her death. Throughout the piece makes me reflect on all the good times we had, and how much I loved her. The end of the piece expresses the sorrow that I felt from her loss, but also how grateful I am for the time spent with her. I don't know where she is now, but whereever she is...I know she dreaming of coming back home. ---------------------------------------------------------- Your encoding's way too high at 260kbps. Remember not to go above the 192kbps bitrate ceiling we have. I hate to sound like a hater, because it's your song premise and all, but I dunno how am I supposed to get into the mindset of your cat dying while hearing EarfBound. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mo2 - "Home Sweet Home" (mo2-019.spc) Sequenced plucked strings at :19 are pretty rigid, but have some decent harmonies with the piano and harp. Pretty straightforward arrangement of the source at :45. Beats showed up from 1:20-1:37. Rinse and repeat of :45's section at 1:37, with an even more active variation of the beats from 2:13-2:39. Bowed strings from 1:53-2:10 under the arranged melody sounded really bad. The strings themselves sounded stapled on top (and also like they were melting), then from 2:05-2:09 the volume on 'em became needlessly loud, crowding up the soundfield. Total throwaway part. 2:29 extended the end of the chorus with some new countermelodic writing, followed by a low bowed string at 2:45 and some new mallet percussion stuff at 2:47 closing the piece out. The music fades out, leaving only rain SFX that abruptly cuts out at 3:08. You'd wanna fix that with a proper fadeout. Well, keeping in mind that you're going for a lullaby-style arrangement, this still needs more development and interpretation of the source material, IMO. More variation would help, but in the event that you don't want to vary the melodic material and/or dynamic level dramatically, varying the supporting writing from verse to verse could help compensate. Whatever level you'd wanna approach it, this needs more interpretive substance. There a couple other aforementioned weak spots here that could use addressing, but further development of the arrangement is the primary issue for me. NO

Well, back when the OCR forums were moved over to vBulletin, the forums were pretty agressively pruned. This one missed the cut by 2 days, so I've remade it. Had some personal issues that kept me from coordinating this for a little while. Got some emails wondering what happened to the project thread, but everything's cool. Aside from judging, lots of my work at OCR and the community dropped off for that time. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to working on this, as well as some other projects, now that I've gained some more personal time. With that said, let's continue!

Well...thank God he subbed it when he did.

ReMixer name: Maxo Real name: Max Email: maximum28@aol.com Site: www.myspace.com/maxoelectronic Game remixed: F-Zero Songs remixed: Big Blue, Mute City Composer: Naoto Yoshida, Yukio Kaneoka, Yumiko Kanky Links: - Mute City: - Big Blue: Comments: Ok, first things first, I AM aware that there was a remix posted by someone quite recently with the same songs remixed, so I'm letting you know that this is pure coincidence. Now about the remix... After seeing one of my previous remixes approved (thanks!) I felt inspired to make something else. After awhile I decided on F-Zero, for no specific reason. I started out making a remix of Big Blue, but Mute City kept on getting stuck in my head while I was making it, so I put a little Mute City interlude in. I tried to make it seem as natural of a transition as possible. Listening back, I realized that it does sound pretty cheesy... a lot like Dragonforce (haha). But it gets the point through one way or another. I made this on Garageband. ----------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=fz - "Big Blue" (fz-02.spc) & "Mute City" (fz-09.spc) The sounds and texture are pretty thin, and every instrument plays ultra-mechanically. Overall, the arrangement was pretty conservative and uninterpretive. 1:15 at least had the "Mute City" theme on top of the "Big Blue" backing chords. After that, most of the interpretation was in the supporting writing and not with the melodic content. So while there was some personal flair, it was definitely not enough. On top on that, the arrangement felt pretty underdeveloped at only 2:29-long. There's gotta be more humanity in the performance, more meat in the sounds, and more substance in the arrangement. With that Wario Land 2 sub already up on the front page, Max, you know you're capable of way better, bro. NO

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 03 "Deku Tree" At least the intro is an arrangement of "Deku Tree", but it sounds pointless alongside the rest of the track. Pretty loud switch to the theme arranged on geetar at :30. Good energy, but pretty basic altered rhythm to the source tune and that's about it on the interpretation front, i.e. not particularly interesting after a few seconds. Style changes up a bit at 1:17 & 1:42 (then back to :30's style at 2:06), but the track is barren, and the arrangement is still uninterpretive where it counts. Decent performance, but there's nothing substantive to the arrangement as far as the standards here. Go beyond the basics next time, bro. NO

http://project2612.org/download.php?id=37 - "Death Egg Zone" Interesting opening. Beats and bass coming in at :16 were meant to fill things out substantially, but didn't. Vox in at :32 was too robotic with the note-to-note movement, though not terrible. So far, the texture is too sparse, and the sounds don't have enough power to 'em. The woodwind at 1:05 was a nice change in dynamics. The phrasing on it from 1:18-1:21 was definitely awkward. By the halfway point, the beatwork was too static and repetitive, holding the energy down; vary the patterns/writing up. Dynamically the track seemed stunted again, until the bellwork at 2:10 picked up the energy level greatly. I thought the ending, while underdeveloped, didn't seem sudden. Good base so far, especially arrangement-wise. Malcos & pixietricks had good production and instrumentation criticisms you should keep in mind. Aside from their comments, if you're still willing to work on this one Louis, flesh out the textures, put more oomph into the instrumentation so that dynamic shifts like 1:05 and 2:10 are more effective, and vary up the percussion/beat patterns more. I don't believe you're in a position to get this passed with a resub at your current experience level, but you have the potential to learn a lot by taking another look at this one and tinkering around with it. NO

Nah, taking the initiative and reaching out to the submitters to check out potential issues is always cool. EDIT: Let's see what we've got... http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 102 "Opening - Bombing Mission" Nice opening with the bells. The old version definitely wasn't this clean before. 1:27 was pretty flismy for what seemed to be a good spot for a high impact point. Strings immediately afterward (1:41; same at 3:15) were kinda thin, but the sound balance already sounded pretty delicate. Something where the string work was denser felt like it would have clicked better. Not a blowaway production job, as the track seemed to want to be more grandiose sounding but didn't have all the oomph needed. Good dynamics though, and a solid arrangement. Not much else to say, homies. YES

There was DP consideration, but Andy was solid on it going to the panel and I agreed with his call after giving it another listen. tweek has a more solid pontential DP candidate that he's working on for the FF7 project, so I've decided to panel this one and run with that FF7 track later.

Are we listening to the same mix? You should check it out again with fresh ears. http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 12 ("Heatman Stage") Bassline progression changes at :36 seem off, even when the Heatman melody came in later, but not a huge deal in the big picture. The sound design is really bland, but going in the right direction overall in terms of trying to build a texture for the intro. Too bad the intro's the most interesting part. Source melody takes center stage at 1:01, but the atmosphere became ultra sparse in the attempt to put the focus on the melody. Changed up at 1:16 with a saw-type lead and thicker beats, but these textures are way too simplistic and the writing ideas for the parts are way too straightforward & plodding and lack dynamics. Ending cuts off very abruptly at 2:42. The arrangement simply needs more interpretation and evolution, and your sounds need to be beefed up. Decent first sub. NO

Yeah, I can't hear any of the source tunes in these songs anyway. I agree that a site dedicated to the arrangement of video game music should only post tracks where the connections to the original are minimal. Or better yet, non-existant. Less people with ears that work, more judgehate!

LionTamer told me to resubmit because my last submission 404'd. I'm including the file because I'm on 28k right [supposed to be 56 but being in the country/woods, my connection drops]. Rather than get muddy with other servers and wade through other stuff, I'm getting it done here. ReMixer name - Uberwulf X Real name - Louis Spears Email - uberwulf@gmail.com Website - Shades of Tsylence [http://freewebs.com/uberwulf/index.htm ] Userid - heck if i know. heck if i can tell where to find that out, now. Game RM'd - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Song RM'd - Death Egg Zone Add. info - I belive it's all there. If not, it's in the mp3. Link to OST - It should be on the site. Comments - It's not meant to be heavy in any way. This is supposed to be one of those kinds of laid back tunes, the ones that you hear in the back of your mind and feel good for some reason, though you're not really listening to it. Subtle changes in repeated areas, with one real standout section that makes you blink. But overall, a feel good, bob-your-head-but-you-don't-realize-you're-doing-it kinda thing.

Remixers: sephfire (Daniel Floyd), tweek (Brian Arnold) Game Remixed: Final Fantasy 7 Track Remixed: Opening/Bombing Mission Email: sephfire - sephfire_cec@yahoo.com, tweek - bmarnold@uga.edu Website: sephfire - www.sephfire.com, tweek - www.tweekmusic.com Tweeks Summary: "This remix was inspired and produced because of Zircon's FF7 remix competition. Out of all the tracks that were offered, I still can't put my finger on why I chose this one, but I'm certainly glad I did. I decided to change the song quite a bit from the original, with the most obvious change being the time signature. Converting the piece from 6/8 to 4/4 was no easy task. Throw in the fact that the song is full of melody lines that last no longer than a few measures and you find yourself with quite a difficult challenge. In spite of all that, I am exceptionally happy with how it turned out. Having sephfire join the project with me facilitated this mix being taken to the next level. His touch and expertise greatly added to the outcome of this mix. All in all, I can be, and am, very proud of this mix. Enjoy!" Sephfire's Summary: "The track was already about 80% done by the time I got involved. I rewrote the first minute (the Opening section) and then just played around with what Tweek had already layed out, adding some strings here, a stutter there, a synth line somewhere else, etc. As tight as the mix sounded already, I didn't have to do much. Tweek is growing at an alarming rate as a musician. I hope we get the opprotunity to collaborate again soon." JIMMY EDIT

ReMixer Name: -MZ- Real name: Sean Walker Email address: matoran2000@yahoo.com Website: none Userid: 8973 REMIX INFO: Name of the game: Final Fantasy 7 Name of the original song: Mako Reactor Name of the remix: Miner's Dream Link to the remix: Link to soundtrack: http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar Comments: The original title of this piece was "ShinRa's View of the Miner's Dream", but that seemed rather long. Basically it's the Mako Reactor theme from FF7 with a completely different feel. I was thinking about in the game itself when Mako was first introduced/advertized to the Corel miners and everyone and how they loved it at first -- obviously before the consequences appeared. I hope this makes it, but I more importantly want to see opinions from experienced ReMixers -- have at it! --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 103 "Mako Reactor" Completely different is right. I got no idea what the connections are supposed to be here. Woodwinds at :08 seem to be liberally arranging the source melody, then the strings and woodwinds go for some seemingly original material all the way until 1:24. Meanwhile the melody at 1:24 sounds like it only has the most tangential of tangential resemblances to the original. 1:40-1:56 at least sounds similar to the chorus from :49 of the original, but in a different key. Without timestamping the rest of this, I feel like I hear most of the connections you're going for, but this is WAY too different than the original. Melodically, the resemblance isn't nearly close, and it feels like the source hasn't even been left intact on that level. Meanwhile, the arrangement structure doesn't feel cohesive at all. Wow, what...happened??? NO

Correct, i.e. never. It's a bandwidth hog. Your best alternative.