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Friends, I have awesome news. At long last... after five years of talking about it... American Pixels is here. The project has just landed on Kickstarter for the final push, this 4th of July in the year of our Lord 2016. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1265656914/american-pixels-a-game-music-tribute-album-by-maze This has been a labor of love, blood, sweat, and tears... and damn the music came out awesome, if I do say so myself. Now I just need that last little nudge to cover the cost of mastering, licensing, CD duplication, etc. Any and all help from the OCR crew to spread the word would be vastly appreciated; let's make this thing EPIC together!

Wait, we could've submitted baby pictures to this? I mean, I don't think you'd want to use mine anyway, but I didn't know that.

Bump. Someone help me here. Thanks.

There's something so unique and mystical about your style, Rebecca! Your songs just keep getting better and more interesting. You really capture the vibe in the remixes you're doing, with all the bells and mysterious plucks and stuff. I like it. I would have liked some kind of original intro before the main motif dropped, even just some sfx to slowly set the mood, but this is just an opinion. I love the way these timbres have been used, the soundscape is similar to the original but with more bells and details going on. The instruments have been humanized very well and I like how the melodies have been sort of haphazardly tossed one on top of the other, it feels very relaxed and natural and it works well for this source. The mix has a ton of reverb which works for this soundscape. It doesn't sound too muddled to me. The track appears not to have been mastered though, coming in at -4.5db peak and -19.4db RMS, some more volume would have been nice, it doesn't have to be super loud but a little louder would be good. Ultimately though, I'm not sold on this particular arrangement for OCR. The motif is played pretty conservatively five times, and the writing in between is very loose and noodley. I think this arrangement is perfect for a "let's play" or similar on Youtube, but I don't find it to be a workable arrangement for a standalone OCR track. I feel like one or two of the motif sections could be replaced with something original that has a little more structure, maybe in a different key or something, to break things up. That said, I am really enjoying this track. NO

Wow, my baby pictures are all over that artwork too And it's cool because those 3 pictures were some of the only pictures I have of me as a baby, unfortunately. I think there's 1 other in a frame at my parents' house. I guess my folks weren't too big on saving baby pics. The song I actually made for this album got cut for being too dark around 2014, and I got too bummed to ever finish it, but maybe someday. Glad to have donated Rabbit to the album though and it fit.

picked it up yesterday and it's really great Haven't picked a favorite track yet, but there are 3-4 of them that are frontrunners

I'd be happy to take S3 credits, but it wouldn't be orchestral (which I believe is what @Black_Doom was hoping for). What I'm envisioning would be "uplifting" or "epic" trance, like this: Armin van Buuren - Love You More feat. Racoon or maybe more like this: Conjure One - Extraordinary Way (Antillas Club Remix) My track wouldn't have any vocals though, and my buildups/breakdowns wouldn't be *quite* so long, lol (I wouldn't be going for the full "club"/"DJ" experience here, although I may make a separate "club edit" similar to what was done with Super Cartography Bros). It'd probably have more elements of progressive trance, as well (along the lines of Above & Beyond's most recent "artist" album, We Are All We Need).

Wow, this project turned out to be HUGE. No wonder it took so long to get out - I had no idea it was 3-4 discs long. So glad to be doing OCR work again and... wait, Rexy didn't like Secret of Mana's Color of the Summer Sky???? I thought I'd sooner see Jesus walk on water in my backyard than see someone who didn't like that song! ...umm, ok I'm back on track. AND I hope this week to listen to the full release.

I loved the original melody! The arrangement is simple but efficient. I really like its particular rhythm, the harmony adaptation with bass line. And the piano in this odd time signature is really virtuoso

Excellent work everyone! And thank/curse you Abadoss, for making your track so good that I can't stop listening to it.

i hope some other people enter! Im not trying to win by default, because this mix is not my greatest work.

I found myself able to listen to the entire thing on the train back from a day out at London today. It's so refreshing to see so many arrangers specialised in meatier genres trying something new if they hadn't gone down the mellow route before - and for those that did handle it before, it's great to see what vision they had in the grand scheme of things. Silly notes that ended up coming into my head throughout it: - As an artist involved, I obviously got to hear "Baby Blue Sky" before even getting to pick a source. And my thoughts now are the same as they are back then - it's a tough act to respond to; the fusion of Chimp and halc's writing / production respectively works so bleedin' marvelously; and it serves as a great understanding for the album's vision. - Yep, Meteo Xavier's Secret of Mana track turned my least favorite source from the entire game into something much more tonally spaced and clean - as well as by far being the most energetic on the entire album (!!) - Considering a fair number of OCR arrangers are parents now, I'm surprised Eino was the only one that sampled his own kid in this! It also made me want to check out ilomilo as a game, but I don't have neither an XBox (and am keeping refusing to buy them for obvious reasons) or a Windows phone to play it on... - I can trust a trance-based arranger like bLiNd to make a pun on Samuel Barber's famous classical adagio. I guess it won't be long until it'll get other EDM remixes from people around GameChops or something... - You did good with that accordion, zyko. You stood out all those years as a musician that focused on stylistic creativity, so I'm glad to hear a track that makes it feel like you - Hearing E-Bison's re-harmonizations in the Sleepytime disc feels as if C418 ended up on the roster spiritually. Actually... did the 'recruitment net' get that wide we could've had C418 doing something for this? - LOL at Zoltan's sillytime bonus! Just wait til you get halfway through and you'll see what I mean. and who's that Rexy chick again? Some cute animal loving n00b? lol This album may have come out of the (baby) blue in terms of release, but it seems to be going really well. Hopefully this time we'll get those that think OCR does 'too much techno' or 'too much rock' to be silenced if only for a little while.

I love the concept A lot of interesting and charming tracks in this album! Style unusual in OCR, but refreshing

Dude, I just realized that my son was born ON THE EXACT SAME DAY as Ester (Dec. 19, 2013). Now I most definitely have to play these for him at night....

This is such a sick mix! The staccato guitar rhythms... just...

Ambient metal goodness. Take the plunge.

Couldn't have said it better myself.. This is sickeningly good.

That's some sweet djent we got here. I kid you not, I was wearing a jacket because it's quite cold in here, but I'm halfway through this remix and I had to take it off.

This...Is...Totally...EPIC! I love what was done here with such an already epic BMG from one of my favorite childhood VG's! The atmosphere, the feel, the flow, the...well, EVERYTHING! I can not believe that there is this much talent in just a debut piece! I expect to hear great things from you Justin!! May the gods of music watch over your OCR career and bless you with the ideas to captivate the entire community!

I can't say much about this one except that it is sick. Great debut.

Okay! So I'm not a huge metal fan, normally, but I'm a sucker for DKC music so I try to give all mixes a chance. Good thing! This is a stellar beginning and I look forward to your future work. ~LS

Yeah this is fucking killer.

When I saw this: "Oh, ok. Another Aquatic Ambiance ReMix. That's cool. Almost 6 minutes though (???)" When I listened to it: "Wow. This is amazing. A lot of things done well here. Didn't seem like 6 minutes, there needs to be more" After I listened to it: "Don't recognize the name, but let's see what else they've done..." ".... what?! That's their debut mix? Can't wait to hear more!"

Totally agreed with the flood of support above, this is one of the strongest debut mixes I've ever heard, and one of the most creative adaptations on this source to come across the front page in a long time. I'm extremely excited to hear more DKC music get this sort of treatment

This is one of the best remixes on this site.

Partway through listening I just had to unplug my headphones from the jack and turn the speakers UP. Seriously, I could not resist. This demands to be played out loud. Fantastic job, and I look forward to possibly more from you in the future.

Words cannot describe the amount of awesome that this remix is made of. Great job of taking a source that's been remixed like crazy and making it sound like I'm hearing it for the very first time. Listen to it, download it, add some butter, then slap it on your portable and take it with you everywhere.

This song is really well written. I love it ! The intro of electronica plus the blend metal and syncopated guitar gives this mix so much uniqueness. 4:00 is :):) This is not getting repetitve at all even with this long write up. I give you my hat! Respect.

Oh my jeebuz @ 3:35 I want moar!

Congratulations on your first posted track, Justin! This is a wonderful track and a great OCR debut. I really enjoyed the electronic percussion at the beginning and the progressive rhythmic elements throughout the song. The clarity and precision of your guitar playing are very impressive indeed. I have to admit I usually frown upon people remixing sources that have already been remixed to death, but in this case, the arrangement is so original, well-produced and full of surprising twists that all I can say is well done. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

I've heard several remixes of this track, but this is the one that makes me want to stick it in my car stereo as loud as the thing can possibly go and drive around town like a total boss. Fantastic work.

This is fuckin sick

Awesome track dude! Loved the combo of different styles and elements. Welcome to OCR.

Fantastic mix!

OH MY GOD. My ears are crying tears of joy right now. I have always wondered what Aquatic Ambiance would sound like with a good metal arrangement, and now that I hear it......IT IS GLORIOUS! And that staccato guitar!? Oh man, so gorgeous in a rocking way. Even the heavy drum break sounded magnificent. The more AA ReMixes that get posted, the better they get, which is great because each time I hear one, I keep thinking it can't get any better. So glad to be wrong every time. Great debut man.

Another Aquatic Ambiance remix? Haven't we had en......WHOA. Nevermind, this is full on awesome! The skin of my face is in a puddle on the floor. 2:24, very creative, love it! Just when I think I never want to hear AA again, OCR proves me wrong!

Oh my gosh. This is sick. Amazing work, Justin. I absolutely love the syncopated staccato guitar hits (particularly the section starting at 2:10, SO GOOD). Reminds me of Stemage's work on Metroid Metal. Can anyone recommend similar remixes? (PM me if so, I don't want to stuff up this thread).

Simply amazing!! Is it a seven strings guitar?

Amazing! What a great way to keep this oft-remixed song fresh. I love the relaxing intro, and suddenly it starts rockin'! Very nicely done, I'm very fond of this one.