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Decided to do something similar to the others, make a topic, and make it equal parts an "audition piece" and "a record of progress / WIPing" until the due date arrives. :D This is the source, as requested / suggested by DarkeSword: Also called 'Cursed Earth'. INFLUENCES: Jungle DnB / Asian Phonk / Future Bass MAIN REFERENCES: FFXIV - "Earth, Wind and Water" (The Swallow's Compass Dungeon Theme) The Glitch Mob - "Palace of the Innocents" Zach Herer - "Wutai Mountain" The latter sources is where a lot of the instrument-conceptual-usage comes from, and the FFXIV one was all for the pacing and aesthetic. The DnB and percs run at 140, while the MIDI is half-time, to accentuate that "heavy, rhythmic" vibe. Leans on the use of A LOT of drums and percussive elements (incl: bonsho (Buddhist Temple Bells), Tibetan Singing Bowl, Taiko & Daiko, etc), A LOT of grounded Asian instruments (e.g. guzheng, kanun, ban'di, etc), and a mash-up of an organic vs. synthetic aesthetic...but in that whole...WuShu...Feng-Shui harmony. :P I'll post up my first pass WIP later on today when I've gotten more progress with it. Probably will spend about a week on it, and then spend a week on a [Bard] sub and see where that goes before June 30th. :) I am considering working on these with people, and for this I will see if JSABlixer and CosmicBartender wants in on it. ♥ Maybe ask Alex / Seveneyes as well, since this is kinda his cuppa.

We said a lot during the NO SHOW, so my vote here is going to read a lot like proph's. I also thought the guitars coming in at 1:00 were a massive highlight, as well as the bass at the end. The EP running the ostinato sounds great and the drum parts themselves are fantastic in a vacuum. Unfortunately, the arrangement's repetitiveness and the inhuman, all-heavy-hits-all-the-time drum programming are massively holding this one back. There's a good bit of work to do to take this one to the next level, but it's a really good start. We encourage you to hit up the #workshop in the OCR Discord -- lots of helpful folks in there who can help you find your way. NO (resubmit)

we covered this one extensively on the 6/18 NO SHOW. my big highs on this one were the guitars coming in at 1:00, some of the synth choices, most of what the drums are saying conceptually, and the bass tone at the end. my big negatives here were the lack of humanization in the drums, the overall lack of direction to the arrangement (it just kind of sits in the same place for a long time and needs more dynamic contrast throughout, especially in the drums), and that it feels right now like far too much repetition throughout (this could easily be >60s shorter). i'm not going to do a huge writeup as we went over it in detail in the live show. i definitely think what you've got here is a great framework. some more attention to the arrangement's shape and possibly getting away from the arp as the main element for a time in the middle will make that last third a lot more impactful. NO

FINAL FANTASY X - Fight With Seymour Remix

Hello everyone! So, I just released a very small ep with some cutesy tracks I made in the last few months. Basically frutiger aero bossa nova lounge stuff. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening! https://banana-trash.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-the-mini-mart-1

Classic source on this one! That ostinato and longform A-B is a major earworm. Opens with a MkII-style EP running the arp ostinato. Initial ride cymbal hits starting @ :09 sounds like they're all the same velocity (somewhere around the 110-127 range) and very up-front in the stereo image; we call this an "exposed sample" because it doesn't sound natural to the way the instrument would be played by a performer. The next synth layer @ :23 comes in with the choir line from the source with an interesting LFO wobble. The timing on the LFO creates a dissonant rub against the rest of the instruments that's unpleasant to listen to for an extended period. This trucks through the rest of the A section, bringing in the arp counter pluck and synth string line. The drum sequencing has some fun ideas, though the lack of velocity variation is still present here (and continues to be a major problem through the rest of the track). @ 1:18, we transition into the B section with some big burly guitar hits and stanky bass guitar. This section is much more in line sonically and dynamically, though rigidly locked to the grid. The live instruments are less rigid compared to the drums and synths, but the overall presentation (while loud) lacks the compelling, groovy element. 1:51 returns to the A section. The tremolo effect on the guitars is a great texture here, and then competes with that warble synth from earlier. Because they're occupying the same role in the composition, and the effect draws a lot of attention, it's important to decide which instrument should be taking focus and which should lay back. I think the guitar is more success here with it but the decision is yours as the arranger! 2:47 gives us another tasty feel change from the drums under the continued A section. The instrumentation is feeling stale and repetitive at this point, mostly because the only changing element is the drum sequencing underneath it all. 3:13 returns to the B section, and it's a little different from last time! Love the variation here, though my earlier comments on rigidity still apply here. Cool bass groove to signal the outro and it's done. @paradiddlesjosh can speak better on to how to make the most of your kit with velocity programming to sound natural; I'm merely going to point out that the feel of the sequencing is appropriate for the style, but the lack of velocity differences cripples the groove AND what I think is the single most important job of the drums in a rock/metal context - the drummer drives the bus. The drums tell us so much about where the song, dynamically, is going. An example of this is @ :44 - the push to open hats tells us we're bringing the dynamic energy up, but the lack of groove on them hamstrings that feel. The big gnarly guitar and bass hit @ 1:00, by contrast, is damn awesome because the drums cue them up nicely! There are some great ideas on this framework, and some tactical changes would bring this up to our bar. Should you choose to take this feedback and revisit the work, I'd be listening for: humanization applied to velocities and timing on all programmed instruments, most importantly the drums; and a more compelling, dynamic arrangement (have elements rest, switch sections around, etc) If you need more ears on this (or other) piece(s) as you work on them, we recommend our Workshop forum or the #workshop channel on our Discord! I want to stress that this is a great start - would love to see this come back to the panel! NO (resubmit)

Yes, that is me who uploaded this particular Impact Racing tune. 😎

I'm surprised how few tracks we have tagged with "lang-latin". Great track overall, this is now my preferred way to hear this theme.

Wow, these source tunes really work well together. This is practically seemless. If I didn't know both of the originals so well I wouldn't even know it was a mashup.

This is a great piece. I really love the use of Apollo 8 vocal samples. Although they had the chance here to use the best of the Apollo program's audio clips (the one about the turd) and chose not to.

I can't not hear "House of the Rising Sun" in this.

The vibe of this was sort of half way between Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and Pink Floyd's "Animals" (any track, just pick one). Really enjoyed it.

Loved it. Loved how the original melody came back in kind of a creepy way to wrap up the remix.

DeepRanger.mp3 After some deliberation and working through things Im 100% sure this is leaning more towards a ranger song than a bard song. Not very adventurous but i think the idea could be suitable. Plus im really early into it so there is plenty of uhh adventure to be had. Really rough in places right now but im mostly just trying to write at the moment. One thing Im thinking of adding is a final section that is reminiscent of FFVII battle editions of overworld tracks. Kinda like the temple of ancients vibe in part 2 of the remake. Anyway, source below Gonna update this thread until the 30th when I come up with new progress

Mario Kart 64 Winner 2025-06-17 2248.mp3 You guys motivated me to update... Not very polished but here's a rough arrangement. Fleshed it out adding the "secret ending" bit for the second chorus, and an all new straight ahead groove that I want to flesh out the solos to more. A little reminiscent of Luigi's Raceway...

Thanks for the input to both. I am actually making this in 11/4. Use the ride cymbal in introduction (right ear) as a metronome marker. You might notice when you do this, it sounds like the off beat once we reach beat 6. This is because on beat 6, the kick drum (and bass following it) becomes the off beat, syncopating the side chain effect until the top of the next measure. This occurs on every measure. So the original rhythm is intact, but when you count it this way, you get interesting syncopation, or off beats... it's all an illusion! But anyways, I will take the sound design and eight note rhythms into consideration. I do believe the kick and bass pattern (and obviously the time signature) is the main culprit for it straying from the traditional synthwave feel. Let me play with it, and most importantly complete the arrangement, and we will see how it sounds then. I appreciate the input.😁 EDIT: and the chords during the melody section follow the syncopation, because I have them bouncing onto the beats that the kick and bass are playing. Maybe I should try placing them on the on beats and see how it sounds... as it stands though it's an even 11 chords through beat 5, and another 11 through beat 11, so it is currently even in the measure, just syncopated because it's an odd measure... interesting dilemma, especially to Steele's point because synthwave isn't typically syncopated like this.

I haven't seen the 11/8 time sig, proof that it's well done and fluidity. Hope we'll hear a new version:) Sounds good!

hey. i actually lost all my music backup in 2016, and never recovered a sizable portion of it because the sites were offline by then. i tried with wayback machine and douli's site, and could only recover 3 lost tunes. wondering, is there still someone from the old days that stashed it all? i wrote douli a msg just now, but he hasn't been on the site for a while. i'd be so happy if more of that old stuff popped up somewhere. one can hope :D take care you guys! <3

Great fun!

Super cool track! There are long, confident stretches of fairly minimal arranging which was quite impressive to me. There's absolutely no note here that isn't needed. Reading the judgement thread I have to say I also enjoyed the sudden transitions, and thought that those were as important to the musical effect as the fairly sparse arrangement. This is a stark track in more ways than one.

Great song! I really enjoyed and appreciated the duet. I'm not familiar with the original. I did think the song was overcompressed at least to my tastes/ears (the open hihat felt like it "pumped" the mix throughout). But otherwise it was just a solid song and it was fun to hear a really successful vocal duet on OCReMix!

Always love to hear FTL ReMixes. Extremely nice, lush sonic palette. The piece has a nice pace. Now I'm imagining FTL's story as a religious crusade 😳

I've heard about this "Undertale" game. It apparently has some good music that's great for _fun and creative ReMixes_ - well done! edit: Maybe I should comment on the Super Mario RPG track usage, I just recently played the Switch remaster. 🤦‍♂️ I didn't really listen to the soundtrack outside of the game. So ... I can say, I thought the sources are very well blended together!

I'm just commenting on the revised version. It's not an apples-to-apple comparison, but I was wrong about "Hunter's Community Chest" way back and I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice. Obviously, this has more energy and dynamics to it, particularly for the 2:39 section, yet this is also a fairly low-key presentation most of the way. The time sig change and deliberate pacing were very effective, and I love the instrumentation throughout with these amazing textures. Such a smart treatment of the source, this is excellent, Brad! :-) YES