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good job everyone

Voting Guidelines Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Streets of Rage game and the other from an Etrian Odyssey game. In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance): The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 1 Remix Pack (MP3). For your reference, here are the source tunes for Round 1. Streets of Rage vs. Etrian Odyssey Fighting in the Street Labyrinth IV - Sandy Barrens [Dungeon: 16F-20F] Streets of Rage 2 vs. Etrian Odyssey II Never Return Alive Scene - Wings and Cherry Blossoms [Event: Ones with Wings] Streets of Rage 3 vs. Etrian Odyssey III The Poets II Cityscape - Between the Azure Sky and Sea You can also use this thread to leave comments about the tracks. Remember to be kind and constructive. Thanks for listening, and thanks for voting!

This was a super fun showing! Just writing down stuff I've brought up in the discord and listening party: - I helmed (arranged, produced, mixed) the lion's share of Dead Waste. seph was super helpful in spicing up the guitar parts I wrote and doing some extra textures/transitions. H36T did stems for piano and female vocals, Ronald did some dark ambient synths/FX, and I consulted with josh and Moebius on drum part-writing and mastering, respectively. - both the gf and I thought the ocarina in Shifting Sands was a soprano sax, lol, but after the drop I can hear it better. - Shifting Sands is also the most VVVVVV-sounding thing JSA has done, imo. The low end profile right before the drop kicks in is great. Xaleph(?) did a great job with the mixing. - "Seven Fists" is the punchiest one this round, imo. I joked with seveneyes/alex that he was gonna master it to -7LUFSi and it came out to -6.9. "Dead Waste" and "Mix" both sat around -10 to -11LUFSi (different people mastering). Its Run, Lola, Run-sounding transition is awesome. - I'm pretty sure all of Team Streets was floored by the Etrian!Sakura arrangement. It took us a while to figure out the flow of ours, in part because the Cherry Blossoms MIDI was formatted as triplets instead of "true" 6/8 or 12/8. The buildup/sound design in the intro is great. - I also had no idea Weeks also did the low vocals during the breakdown in Etrian Sakura! Her range is crazy. - Moe's time changes were super fun and Moe/josh overdubbed seph like three or four times in Mix. Moe also schooled on josh and I by making one of his transitions a seagull when we were trying to arrange it with drums or guitar, lmao. - Sun Shine (In My Heart) has some good vocal balancing for the time-crunch. I also can't hear "Azure Sea and Sky" without hearing the lyrics now. I joked in the listening party that Moe should have stuck like 30 seagulls in his to make it a fair fight. I also thought it was neat how many credits each track had - it seemed like each team member had a hand in nearly all of each others' tracks. Looking forward to Round 2!

These are fucking bangers. I am glad I got to finally listen to them. Wonderful job to both teams. <3 Kinda funny how I can directly distinguish who is in what team, just based on the sound palettes, techniques used and their individualistic motifs from previous work of theirs!! It's a highlight to hear everyone's hearts and passions and skills mingle together to make something this unique, and both series' OSTs are pretty crazy and gives such a weird, lively, and wide variety of possibilities to the imagination on arranging a remix! So, kudos to the series selection, source choices and the end results! Look forward to more, and remember, no matter the result, these are fire and I was thrilled listening to each and every one of them (several times over.) :)

These are just going to be first impressions from voting, so take this all with a huge grain of salt! The City Is a Warm, Dead Waste: I love the variety here! It reminds me of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin in some ways, it doesn't surprise me to see a few Team Whip alumni on this one! Guitars are kickass here, and there's a monster amount of synth variety too. There's a solid amount of cohesion with the sounds chosen here, though I'm somewhat less sold on the arrangement itself - lots of great ideas but I think it'll take me some time to grasp where the arrangement is actually taking me. I think there's some reverb fine-tuning to do here, a lot of the elements feel overly boomy, which takes away some of the bite from elements like the drums. Other than drums/guitar, I actually surprisingly can't pinpoint individual elements contributed by each artist - there's a lot of sounds that feel like they could have come from anyone, which is pretty neat! 🏆Duel of the Shifting Sands: Ooohhh, 8-bit plus! I'm not surprised at all by that, but I'm not used to hearing it with all the extra bits and bobs, and I gotta say... I dig it! A lot. I think there's untapped potential to process the chiptune elements a little more dynamically, but overall, the blend works pretty damn well. 3:02, hell yeah! This is a great way to drive this home. I was on the fence about which track would get my vote, but this section really clinched it for me. Overall, I saw a huge amount of potential and TONS of great ideas thrown out from both entries in this duel, but this track feels like like it has the edge in terms of focus and cohesion. 🏆Seven Fists Under the Sakura Tree: Motherfucker, you guys are not playing around. This hits IMMEDIATELY off the rip. That fill at 1:06, excuuuuse me? I think this has a bit of the same "washiness" that I noted in "Warm, Dead Waste" where there's just a little bit less clarity to the mix than I would like, but I don't think the track suffers too much as a result. Ok, and now we go into something completely different at the end that somehow also works? I was trying to write out my highlights as I went along, and I just couldn't keep up. The sound choices, writing, production... y'all are crazy for this one. This is going directly onto my Smash Bros. playlist. This is going to be hard to beat. Sakura Wa Karenai: Ok, so that's how you're gonna play this. The production on here is IMMACULATE right off the jump, I can hear some strong DJ Mokram influence on the world instruments, then some psytrance beats come in and I immediately know who's at the helm. The production on here feels a little tighter, but I'm waiting for the moments like Team Rage had in their entry that REALLY knocked me off my feet. Oh, there's 2:06 - that's more like what I'm talking about, but it still feels like you're holding back on the energy levels. We've still got time to go though, so we'll see where this goes. 2:42 really jumped out at me in a completely different way, but it was a powerful moment with the entrance of vocals and that beautiful FM piano. The sound design in this section is off the hook. OH BABY SHUFFLE RHYTHMS now we're cooking. Ahhh, this matchup is TOUGH. There's so many brilliant ideas here and there's actually quite a bit of connective tissue to bridge them all together, but will say that the energy management falls just a little short of my hopes. The mix is incredibly clean, from the instrumentation to the mixing/mastering, but it feels like there was room to push the intensity further. I still loved this a ton, and you gave the other track a serious run for their money, but Seven Fists takes the crown in this matchup for me. 🏆Only Trust Your Mix, Techniques Will Never Help You: this title sounds like something I would hear in an incomprehensible Youtube Short production tutorial, I'm curious what the title alludes to! This starts off with some pretty straightforward but catchy, bright rock that reminds me of old Sonic Adventure music, the lead performances are top-notch. I don't feel like this track was as ambitious as the other ones from Team Rage in terms of ideas, but it feels like perhaps the most cohesively-executed of the three, and just because it's more focused, doesn't mean that it's any less impactful. The seagulls are a nice touch too, reminds me even more of Sonic Adventure when we hit that part. Crazy breakdown at the end, this was really good! You Make the Sun Shine (In My Heart): Aww, so cute! This is definitely the hardest matchup so far just by virtue of the fact that each entry were clearly going for different things. The other two matchups, although executed very differently, ended up going for relatively similar energy, but this is the kind of diametrically-opposed matchup I love to see from GSM. The lead vocals are confident and fit the bill really nicely - some slightly awkward moments where the lyrics and the melodic phrasing don't perfectly sync up, but that's to be expected on a short timeline when you have to add your own lyrics to the equation. Across the board, I'm hearing brilliant synth riffs and excellent sound choices. I love the vocal harmonies that I assume colorado weeks contributed? 3:25 onward to the end of the song is when everything really clicked for me <3 The area where this struggles for me is the mixdown - it doesn't feel like it's quite baked yet, specifically in terms of relative volume levels. The lead doesn't always feel like the lead, and there's certain elements (like the synth bass at 2:40-ish, for example) that feel inexplicably louder than everything else. There's also several elements that don't quite feel glued together with appropriate level of bus compression or reverb to really give this a sense of place. When both tracks are full of great ideas but in totally different ways, I need to fall back to execution, and in this case, I have to trust the mix from Team Rage. There's no dead air this round, every team brought the heat in terms of concepts and energy! Execution was a little more of a mixed bag, ultimately I feel like any of these matchups could have been swayed with different levels of polish on the execution, which means that you all hit the mark in terms of blending the sources well. I am well familiar with the time crunch element of GSM, and it does tend to play out tougher for more ambitious, multi-genre concepts that will always take longer to polish. Even though I ended up generally voting for the tracks that felt tighter and maybe took a few less stylistic risks, it's not for lack of enjoyment of the more ambitious ones! If you didn't get my vote here, it just means that I thought the song needed a little more time in the oven - everyone did excellent work and I enjoyed it a lot!

Awesome, thank you for that. Those are so good. I also re-uploaded my favorite cover from him that didn't seem to be on youtube and/or anywhere else. But it's definitely a gem.

Oh man, this is EXACTLY what I want when I see "Saturn Valley." Quirky, slightly dark, unpredictable, and just plain loads of fun to listen to!

Guess which (dope AF) remix just taught me that Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Puyo Puyo are the same game 😬

I just came across it recently when a good friend told me that the Street Fighter series now also has a German character called Ed (who's been around since at least Street Fighter 5, though). And when I recently happened to listen to Ed's soundtrack theme with the real title "König oder Feigling" (it means "King or Coward") you will hear directly in the fight, it really knocked my socks off a bit, as it reached my expectant bunny knight ears in the form of a really stylish German rap track (a genre that is enjoying great popularity in this country these days). Here's a version of the soundtrack with English subtitles: Really charming groove, good messages, snappy rhymes and lush punchlines that keep building up, especially after the first part - plus the excellent electric guitar lines in the background. The skillful mix of rap and rock has a bit of a pretty cool Run-D.M.C. vibe. Basically a really good soundtrack that literally invites you to a workout, a spontaneous street fight or a more metaphorical battle against the adversities of life. The soundtrack was sung by Blumio, a Japanese rapper who grew up in Germany. The content of the soundtrack seems to be about both the life of the rapper and the life of the German character Ed. According to the story, Ed was abducted as a child or teenager by the criminal organization Shadaloo (or "Shadowlaw"), which deals in biochemical psycho-drugs and recruits many of the strongest fighters in the world, and was brought on the organization's course with these psycho-drugs and experiments, which apparently took away part of his soul in exchange for special powers based on "Psycho Power". He was prophesied that he would lose his ego or soul when he reached adulthood. And due to his superior fighting skills, he was destined to become the new heir to the throne of this organization, or at least his physical shell. Yet... The small spark of soul and willpower he still has left seems to be fighting back and fighting a completely new battle, the fate of which is still written in the stars. ... It is also interesting in this context that the Shadaloo organization was modelled on the Nazis or the fascist movement in general. Apart from a siegrune or a lightning bolt that appears in the skull logo of the Shadaloo organization, which is decorated with eagle wings, the Nazis also used various psychedelic drugs such as Pervitin (see "Panzerschokolade" or "tank chocolate") or methamphetamine to break people's wills and souls and turn them into performance-enhanced, disinhibited, but nevertheless obedient, brainwashed, unresisting fighting machines always ready for action (in the long term at the expense of their health and ultimately their lives) in line with their much more champagne-sipping and less combative leaders. Presumably the higher-ranking or "chosen" Nazis saw themselves as the leaders of an elite Roman state with a few leashed Celtic berserk warriors in the front row, who could be put into a fighting frenzy at the push of a button through appropriate propaganda, fear, hard punishments and psychedelic drugs and sent into any war without any bigger restance to be able to make use of the treasures and resources of other countries in a completely imperialistic manner. However, these elitist wannabes, many of whom came from high society or were at least their bootlickers, have probably forgotten something important that characterized the culture of the Celts and indigenous peoples in general. After all, a bioelectric form of energy called life force, which has many different names depending on the culture, can also - or in particular - put people into a state of ecstasy, bliss, joy and raging fighting spirit in a completely natural way. And apart from these artificial drugs, to which rather weak and small-minded people are susceptible, life force is also able to unleash one's own soul, which literally invites one to follow one's true nature or natural instincts against all odds ... ... perhaps remotely comparable to an untamed wild animal that also bites the hands of those who try to control it and keep it on a short leash for their own purposes. ... I have no idea whether, according to the Japanese game developers, this might also be a subliminal plot motif for the character Ed (who is perhaps trying to break out of the organization's control and go his own way), precisely because many Japanese developers of video games, films and anime often make such subliminal 'n' pretty witty allusions. But apart from the really good and meaningful message of always going your own way despite all adversity and following your true convictions, the soundtrack, especially in terms of composition ideas, is quite the banger. ))

@AshleyXR Yeah, pretty much the perfect beat to knock the teeth out of drunken hooligans, fascists, their greedy capitalist sponsors and merchants of war. Though their connections are not limited to a few countries, it rather seems to be a global phenomenon, depending on where the big money of the rich 'n' greedy people flows - quite similar to the Shadaloo organization, which also spins their webs or "fasciae" secretly around the globe. I'm really not happy to have to live in an era of continuous downfall again, especially when I think that my birthright to grow up in a socialist society was literally taken away from me by some greedy sons of bitches. But as a martial artist who grew up with Japanese full-contact karate, I somehow still have hope that, in the worst case scenario, I won't have to stand completely alone with such often cowardly, opportunistic followers of Western German and European beer and schnitzel patriots. Since many Arabs, especially devout Muslims, have come here, I have the feeling that the tide has turned somewhat, that fascists will no longer have such an easy time terrorizing people here and that the newer generation of neo-Nazis in particular are really getting knocked out in the respective neighbourhoods. For me, it was really impressive to experience the down-to-earth, straightforward, virtuous and warm-hearted nature of the Muslim people on the one hand - and on the other, the impetuous fighting spirit, pride and sense of justice when they encounter disrespectful, unjust and malicious people. Sometimes just one of them can be some sort of a Saiyan-like one-man invasion or a small Saladin army in itself. I followed some media reports where, for example, an Arab teenager was racially insulted by an adult German, who then even wanted to get violent, but the Arab teenager only gave him about three punches, the consequences of which killed the adult within a short time. Certainly questionable from a moral point of view, but truly impressive in terms of fighting force. You will rarely see hardcore hooligans and neo-Nazis fool around in a Muslim hood, and they won't even dare to terrorize the people there for too long. Because they'll easily get engulfed in the flames of the battle they tried to start there, learning the hard way through massive pain, loss and humiliation as a just punishment for disrespectful behavior. As I have occasionally dealt with Muslims and refugees from the Arab world in my job and have often talked to them, I have noticed that some of them are also active in martial arts and often have a really good education, not to mention the many natural beauties among the really cute oriental ladies. ... Kinda chaotic but interesting times and strokes of fate these days. ... But back to the "real" (digital) Street Fighter series. I also think that Street Fighter 6 doesn't have too many memorable soundtracks besides Ed's theme "König oder Feigling". But I strongly believe that it's quite hard and annoying for the composers to make new remixes of the iconic character themes one after another for every new Street Fighter game. Sometimes you really have to try out new soundtracks, new styles and music genres to evolve as a composer and enjoy the variety of new attempts. This doesn't always meet the taste of most fans. But sometimes it works out quite well. I remember that the developers of the Street Fighter series had a similar approach with completely new character themes in Street Fighter Alpha 3 for Playstation (still own this game). And this game had at least a few pretty nice new tunes, for example Ryu's theme "The Road":

I can't believe this hasn't gotten a review yet, so before this gets review bombed, I just want to say that the award it got from the Game Music Remix Awards in 2024 is fully deserved. Absolutely amazing singing from NiKo and rapping from Shinobi! The ingenious lyrics and arrangement are also top notch. I personally prefer TheMan's latest Brawl arrangement, but hey, he should already have an award in every GMRA category. Genres mean nothing to him, and yet he excels at many of them.

Lovely!

Hey everyone! This time, something new! A Live performance of my newest piece by the Game Music Ensemble at UCLA: The Power and Raphael mixed together from the soundtrack of Baldur's Gate 3!

BZZZT! Splooge...

no yeah this theme rocks actually! i didnt bother listening to much of sf6's ost since it didnt interest me that much but this theme stands out compared to the others in my opinion from what i've heard. maybe i should go back and listen again. i think music wise my favourite part would have to be the rhythm guitar. the groove for it works really well in hand with the song! i think its also neat how the song really does act as a theme for Ed as a character, like you said since even the beginning kind of wraps back to when he was abducted when it says "as if the core had been taken out of me at some point", unless thats just me looking into it too much lol

Just going to close this out with the same sentiments. Everything until 2:02's a superstraightforward cover with little interpretation beyond the adoption of this instrumentation, which itself is close to the source tune. Reconstruction/recreation's not a bad goal in a vacuum, it's just outside of our interpretive arrangement standards. I linked several melodically conservative arrangements in the writeup for this piece that still manage to still stand apart as distinct from the original music: https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04414 Piano tone from 2:52-3:09 was too thin yet bright, which exposed that particular sample moreso than any of the other stuff like the bowed strings. That said, the energy of the track's strong and uses the samples well overall; very much a doujin scene-style track. If you're willing to rework the first half, this definitely could have a place here. We hope to hear from you again with another submission, even if it isn't a rework on this specific one. :-) NO (resubmit)

Agreed with Brad that this remix is more of a cover right from the jump, even down to the identical snare tone. The genre, instrumentation, tempo, arrangement, structure, modulations etc. are all the same as the source song. It's a very competent cover! But a cover for sure, all the way until 2:00, right after the original's loop point. The synth solo that follows at 2:04 is sick beyond belief, I love this so much. At 2:22, we are back to the source's chord structure but with another awesome solo (guitar) on top of it. This arrangement really takes off after the 2:00 mark! The soft piano breakdown is excellent, although the piano sounds very stiff and sequenced. After the piano, at 3:10, we are back to the verbatim source cover as in the first half of the piece. As Brad said, ending is solid. Brad is right, this is a super fun listen, and a very good cover, but it is too conservative too much of the time for OCR. If the part from 0:00-2:00 included some variations away from the source song, this remix would be a no-brainer YES vote. I'd love to hear it again with those variations made so it can be posted on OCR! NO

Slow burn 6/8 time, let's go! I'm not super familiar with Golden Sun's OST but every track I've voted on so far has been a real treat. To me, the track's cohesion is not in question - the voice clips (:00 - :30, 4:34 - 4:55) tie the intro and the outro together, the rest of the track courses through the chord progression of the source, and the outro includes the main melody via the chip. I can't count the chord progression as source use since it's too common (i - VII - VI - V, known at the Andalusian cadence). 1:47 - 2:05 is the first time we get some substantive source (the counterpoint arp line), and 2:06 brings the source melody in. 2:26 - 2:35 brings the counterpoint back, 2:36 - 3:12 adds the melody in the low-mid synth under the counterpoint. Lucas's sax (a welcome addition, and a great rest to give it the space!) embellishes the melody line from 3:12 - 3:33, then it revisits the material from the opening minute @ 3:34 - 4:10. 4:12 - 5:06 is definitely from the source, so let's add it up. 1:47 - 3:33 (106 seconds), 4:12 - 5:06 (52 seconds) = 158 seconds, or 41% of the track uses the source. Despite this, I think the callback to earlier material is a strong move, and the instinct is correct. It just isn't ticking the source use box for me. On the production side of the equation, the mix is choked for most of the sections. Multiple low-frequency instruments compete for the limited space (1:28 - 2:25 really defines this for me), which clutter up the groove being established by the drums. While I can hear and feel the drums, it just feels mired by the basses - more sidechaining (either with compression or dynamic EQ) is needed to get that groove back in there! This one is close, held back by a cluttered soundscape and not enough source. For me to sign off on this one, I'd need: the bass frequencies attended to (with more defined sidechaining or EQ), and something to tie the source into the track in the opening 90 seconds. I can only imagine how much time has been poured into this one knowing the dedication and focus you put on your tracks, VQ, and I know you are capable of getting this one across the finish line! NO (resubmit)

Begins with a heavily modified voice and some static effects. Around 0:30 a bright synth starts playing some scale-ish melodies that seem to hint at the main chord progression from the original (Em-D-C-B). A synth doing a potential variation of the main melody joins in on the second repetition with a kick drum rhytm and then a third synth starts playing a backing melody from the source. Additional elements keep being added over more repetitions, including a synth bass, pad and synth lead. The kick also has a fun effect where it becomes more present over time. It ends up quite chaotic but, as the elements were introduced one by one, it's still enjoyable and understandable. All of this leads to a "break" at 1:47 where there's less elements (hence the break) but the chaotic rhytm is kept. Ironically, less elements highlight some balancing issues. Bass/kick seem to be fighting for space, with the bass suffering the most as it's very hard to understand what it's playing (very wobbly sounding). I think at some points there's an additional synth bass doing some dubstep-ish flourishes but there's so much in there that it's not really easy to hear. Similarly, on the melody side of the arrangement, there's often 2-3 elements all clashing with each other. Around 2:25 there's a rhytm change into a straight 8ths bass line, welcome change of pace. Once again the mix feels busy, even when there's not that many elements there's a lot of clashes and things are hard to hear. Surprise sax at 3:14! Nice performance by Lucas, it's interesting that the sax line is doubled by synths, not sure it's actually necessary (given how busy the mix is already). Things start calming down and lead to a chiptune interpretation of the source for the end, with the modified voice ending the track. On the arrangement side, this is an interesting approach to a very simple source. Original track has only one noticeable melody and 2 backings that provide the chord progression, so it's not much material. Here, you do a nice job of bringing a lot of variety into a source that doesn't really have much. Fellow judge prophetik makes a nice point about how much source is actually on here, but I'd say my take is different. Scales starting at 0:30 seem inspired by the celesta-ish instrument from the source (playing some simpler scales), but we could argue if this one counts or not. However, said melody is played almost straight by the synth that joins at 0:59 until the break at 1:47 (although it gets drowned out eventually). Section starting there also features the same melody and continues there until 2:54 at least (with the main melody also being there from 2:35). Main melody returns from 3:04 and is kept on the sax solo until 3:33 at least. For the next minute of the solo there's not evident source usage IMO. Finally, 4:23 until 4:52 is also clear source usage. I'd say there's heavy source usage from 0:59-1:47 (48s), 1:47-2:54 (67s), 3:04-3:33 (29s), 4:23-4:52 (29s). Adding all of that there's 173 seconds of source usage in a 306 seconds remix, so 56%! As an aside, beyond calculator antics I do feel that the entire remix being based on the chord progression from the source (down to the B major) also helps since, at the very least, it's always echoing the mood of the original. On production there are heavy balacing issues. The track is often extremely busy, at times it feels intentional and it works (like from 0:59 to 1:47) but most of the time it simply feels like a couple elements are taking a lot of space and leave little for the rest. Generally, I'd say the drums are the main culprit, as they're loud and there's also a lot of reverb, which tends to take a lot of room. Bass is also another issue, they seem very mid heavy and that also takes a lot of space from the instruments doing melodies. That said, even if these issues were fixed I think you should also look at the balance between synth parts, there's many of them focusing on similar octaves so balancing them will be challenging. You could consider moving some melodies to different octaves to separate them easier. Overall, this remix has a really cool vibe and a very creative approach to a source that's extremely light on material. However, I think the mix needs a second pass focusing on clarity, right now it's just way too hard to grasp all the different elements going on, with the drums and bass often eating a lot of space. NO

Absolutely beautiful. Also incredible restraint in not just going full on Song of Storms here, hahaha.

@Atomicfog feel free to look through my channel btw if you only listened to that one, there's a total of 9 uploads of previously unrecovered stuff! also it looks like you can find an mp3 download of that cover on this album https://shnabubula.bandcamp.com/album/vgmcast-vol-2

🤩

OC Records is defunct now. We still sell some older albums on Bandcamp but we don't publish new work.

the use of the telephone sample caught me off guard but it fits perfectly dig tf outta this mix

estou realmente apaixonado por esse remix, a entrada final em 2:51 literalmente me faz ir e voltar varias vezes, até satisfazer completamente meus ouvidos.

This weeks guest comes from a background as a music teacher, but does have an interest in both coding and notes from an early age, playing on classics such as the Atari and strumming guitars. Per joins in to talk about his work on the early access game "Cthulhu's Reach: Devil Reef". We talk about Per's sources of inspiration, how important the music is to the experience, what to strive for when composing for specific situations and how important it is to find balance. You find the episodes here: Spotify Youtube Next episode: Have you heard about Bomberman?

Definitely quirky! I think the highlights for me were the copious uses of funny fx like at 1:40 with the phone and the... flexitone?? This ride was a little trippy, a little bit of a throwback, and a little weird. Maybe that was the point.

I have also done some preliminary tests using an onion instead of a potato and it shows great promise. Because the onion (unlike the potato) consists of concentric rings, it is possible to stab it just the right way with 1/4" instrument cables such that the tips occupy the same ring and conduct along that ring selectively. The membrane that exists within the interstitial space between onion rings acts somewhat like an insulator such that the sleeve(s) of the cable are able to ground together without interrupting the signal of the tip as much as the potato. Future recordings using 3 electric guitars as a microphone will incorporate both the potato for its natural distortion and amplification qualities, as well as the onion for its tonal quality. And I do love good quality onion rings...

I say we should give Netscape Navigator 9 another shot.

I might try a slightly more philosophical approach. A critical person might generally find it difficult to place 100% trust in a technology that they did not develop themselves, in the midst of a universe that they did not create (or at least not completely on their own). Based on the law of cause and effect, every life, every deed, every thought, every emotion, every energy and cause presumably leaves some kind of smaller or larger traces in the world - whether online or offline. The crucial question is rather how much trust or caution (both are justified) you put into your life and the things around you. Sometimes a little more courage pays off, sometimes caution is the better decision in terms of life. If you are afraid of data leaks or the loss of sensitive data, but still want to take advantage of the internet, I would simply not use any or as little sensitive data as possible on the computer or technological device you use to access the internet, or maybe change the way how you use the internet. Cell phones were once used to be reachable in emergencies (I still use them in this way - although I could easily live without a cell phone away from work) and not to immortalize almost your entire life on them, which could cause some serious problems in terms of data security and privacy in the event of loss. Nor do I have to use every convenience of modern civilization. I still get along really well without online banking and other such conveniences. ... I don't want to spill out any excessive campfire stories about the good old days. But according to my memory, there was a time of the Internet before the age of complex browsers and search engines, when kids used to hammer some weird terms directly into the URL line and, with a bit of luck, ended up on really bizarre websites (and that was probably only a quarter of a century ago). I wouldn't be at all surprised if even nowadays some people still occasionally end up on OC Remix in exactly the same way - like a few happily stranded Argonians, who were able to hide from Zoda and his space pirates just because they didn't use any modern browsers and search engines, or because they didn't put any selfies with their magic cubes on the already alien-slime-infested platform X.

Howdy, folks. You may recognize me as Zack! on the OC ReMix discord. I've been enjoying OCR since roughly 2002, and a few months ago I was reminiscing about the OCR podcast in its various incarnations and how much I missed them. I voiced this in the 25th birthday hangout, and @Liontamer encouraged me to get off my butt and just restart the pod. So I did. Check it out here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2445308.rss Ad-free, not trying to make a single cent off of this, and I keep the language tame so that you can listen with kids if you want to. I'm very much an amateur at this, hoping to get better at it as I go. I learn a little more every recording and editing session, so fingers crossed a few more of these and thing will be half decent. If you're reading this, episode 2 is out, so go grab it if you're interested. I'm aware that a few of the voiceovers sound, well, awful. I had the wrong mic selected, didn't notice until edit time, and I have a cold now so my voice is all funny. I figure you guys can deal with a couple minutes of webcam mic. The format is roughly news, new remixes with my worthless commentary on them, some random segment that strokes my ego, and then one final Russian Remix Roulette track. I remember them rolling a die and playing a RRR track on the very first incarnation of the OCR pod, and I wanted to keep it going. Question for the powers that be: any objections to me using the OCR logo as the pod's thumbnail?

In the shadows, we stay busy. ;-) Joining us as a Sage, we now have @Treyt, who's shown off a lot of skills, enthusiasm, and potential since his fateful forum post nearly three years ago! We're proud to announce some staff promotions with the twin magic of Sages @pixelseph & @paradiddlesjosh stepping up to become two of our newest judges! We had some fun internally joking that they were a package deal, yet I'm happy to say they both independantly have done well and proven themselves capable to help us out in this new capacity on the panel! We've also honored to have another judges panel addition in @jnWake, who cut his teeth in OCR way back and has massively grown since becoming a Dwelling of Duels regular! All three of the new judges should help us NO every VGM arrangement submitted to us with more speed, politeness, and class. ;-D Be sure to use our resources in the Workshop forums and our #workshop Discord channel and you may just get some feedback from our new staffers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHmtY14z9kk This song is awesome, and I think has so much potential with updated instruments.

Hi, I've been listening since 2003-ish, lurking since 2006-ish, and am re-vitalized to start getting involved by my most recent Magfest trip. Hope to do some things, make some happies.

I love this song, video is great too

original's pretty upbeat in its own right. opening is very similar to the original, right down to the drum beat, tempo, and lead performance. this goes on for quite a while - i A/B'd the entire length of the original on this track and indeed it's the same across the board. so this already isn't something that we'd really have a place for given the lack of original arrangement over the first half of the track. right at 2:00 we get a new section, which is clearly inspired by but isn't really arranging the original. it's a sick synth solo though! i'd like to hear more verb on it, it's pretty dry right now. guitar has a note or two that's funky in the chord that it's over, and then hits a fun chord at 2:47 before a hard cut break to the piano playing the melodic material (in a non-idiomatic way, you really should find ways to break up the left hand's block chords and velocitize the entire thing). there's another run-through the original's last section and opening, and it's done. ending is solid. i think this is a fun listen! i'd be happy to find this on youtube somewhere, but it doesn't meet the standards for arrangement that we require here. this is more of a cover with a little new section in the middle, which is hip in and of itself, but we'd expect more adaptation of the original's melody, chords, or other elements. i don't think this track would fit here without extensive modifications, but maybe future arrangements would fit more! take a look at the submissions standards i linked above (section 4 is the big one for you, the rest aren't as applicable for this) and hopefully we'll hear from you again. NO

Much improved Mel! This has a lot more of your personality cutting through in all the details and texture, I have no reservations now. Your arrangement always took two sources that were a natural fit and gave them space to bounce off of each other, but now the sound design and detail work makes it feel all the more special and cared for. YES

The drum beat is still repetitive, but it is mixed better so the trap hats aren't so loud and prominent. The drum beat itself sounds groovier with the extra kick hits added. The balancing of instruments is much better here, and the sound design is improved quite a bit, this soundscape sounds full and luscious. I love the vocal clips in the breakdown section, nice addition, it adds emotion to the piece (I'm a sucker for well-used vocal clips). There is a wash of distortion over the soundscape during a good portion of this mix that I'm not a fan of, but it adds movement to the atmosphere of the piece, and it is not a dealbreaker for me (I predict Larry will complain about this!). The mixing still isn't perfect, but this is a significant improvement and I'm happy to pass it now. YES

my previous vote on this primarily focused around the mastering issues and that there wasn't enough unique perspective on each track (ie. the focus was more on the original's positives instead of the arrangement's positives). i don't remember how the piece sounded though, it was too long ago. opens with filtered arps coming in - i like the wind sounds coming in here. the bass comes in with a martial feel around 0:12, and i think that the lead and countermelodic instrument have some nice movement on them. i can hear the schala arp behind it too which is a fun precursor. drums and other stuff that comes in at 0:36 is also neat. the hornet-adjacent lead add is a neat idea - having it have such a short sustain is a positive so it doesn't take up the entire soundscape. there's some subtle gating that starts 0:53 that i think is intentional and not limiter pumping - if so it should be a bit more obvious so that it's clear it's not unintentional. it's a cool effect. there's a break right at the 1:00 minute mark that functions as a nice dovetail. schala theme comes in at 1:18. the beat here is nice and reminiscent of the ethnic percs that are throughout CT's soundtrack, and the constant varying of elements helps the slower tempo and schala's slower pace of the melody. there's another cool transition involving gating, and we're into some VO stuff. 2:30 is the return of the Terra b theme, this section felt a little lacking in direction. i didn't like all of the countermelodic elements (some are not quite voiced well enough to feel normal), and the turbo-pan thing going on was a little much on headphones. i also felt it was lacking energy coming out of the VO break, at least partially because the bass was often not on the root. 3:03 brings back schala (and the iconic ascending harp scale) - initially pretty low energy still, but quickly escalating via a variety of percussive and synth elements. i don't know if stacking the bass with the melody works in this section, but it's an interesting change. after this is the outro, which wanders a bit through the schala arp until it hits the final notes, and then it's done. this is a vast improvement over the last version. there's a ton of variety and added content here from when i last heard it, and the mix is a lot better too. i think it lacks a bit of energy in the back half and wanders a bit more, but i love the feel of the first half and the overall track does a great job navigating these two monumental originals. great work. YES

boy those pads in the original are noisy. opens with a heavily modified voice clip and some swelling noise pads. we start to get the chord structure outlined at 0:48 in the plectral bell instrument. there's a lot of sound design going on in the build that starts at 1:10 - it's mega buzzy, but there's some really neat sweeping concepts coming in there as it gets bigger and bigger. percussion doesn't have much in the way of body in this build. 1:28 it starts to feel like it's arrived and the bass switches to a more consistent rhythm. bass elements in here are pretty dense and overpopulated so it's hard to really feel a beat. there's also not really that much that's the original in this entire first two minutes that's not just the chord structure. we get a big shift at 1:47 in timbre. bass element has a ton of wooble on it so it's hard to really hear what it's playing. the timbre shifts again significantly at 2:25, including more trance hats and a big snare alongside some more heavily automated synths. i hear the first melody that i've heard in the entire thing at 2:35 in the low synth element - lots of movement on that tone which is neat. it's immediately buried under the ascending line that comes in right after that. we do get a bit more at 3:03 before another big shift to the sax. the stuff in the lower octave is a bit blatty but this setting works well for lucas's tone. i like the duet section as well as doubling his lines with the synth. the sax lines are heavily modified but do outline the melodic material roughly - it's pretty transformed however. the chorale section near the end around the 4:00 mark is a neat idea to layer into this - logical progression to get there but also very different from most tracks in a similar style. there's some gameboy stuff and then an outro with sfx. overall i think the first third is heavily disassociated with the rest of the track. everything before about 1:47 really feels like a totally different track other than the chord progression. i also wasn't really feeling the initial section at 1:47 - the bass is so hard to understand what it's doing due to all of the pitch modulation on it, and there's so many bass instruments that it all just gets lost. once we're through all that, the track really starts to find identity once it starts to get melodic material around 2:30. from there on out, i think there's a lot more cohesiveness in the approach and you scope through a bunch of different timbres without losing the voice. so i do think that more work is needing to be done on the first two plus minutes to tie it all together more. i believe that not bringing the melodic material in until well after two minutes in is part of this - you need a common thread to tie it together, and the ascending scalar riff you use mostly in the middle of the track doesn't seem to be enough. to be clear - there's not 50% source usage in this track. i am not going to count a four-bar descending chord structure as source, it's too common of a progression. i hear melody at least occasionally between 2:35-2:55, 3:04-3:33, 4:12-4:24, and 4:33-4:52 (78 out of ~304 seconds, 26%). i'd consider additional connections between 2:35 and 4:52 if i was feeling really stretchy and positive, but most of this is chord-based and not melodic or motivic. to pass, i'd want to hear at least one clear declaration of the melodic material earlier in the track. if you'd submitted just from 2:35 onward, i might consider that enough source, as a rough example. overall i also hear a ton of conflict in the lower ranges. there's a lot going on next to one another all the way through the freq spectrum, but especially down in the bass elements. i think this is a lot closer for a first shot than most of your tracks have been! but it's still not there yet. to recap - EQing, cohesiveness, melody usage. NO

Artist Name: Emunator, Chimpazilla feat. Pixelseph Credits: Emunator: Original arrangement, production, mixing Chimpazilla: Arrangement, production, mixing, mastering Pixelseph: Guitars (rhythm, lead) Artist Notes: Emunator: This submission is a completely reimagined version of a my contribution to "VGM Essentials: Drum & Bass" on Firaga Records - the original version of this arrangement is available for streaming now! When I finished that track, I sent it to Chimpazilla to share, and she loved the potential of it but wanted to see it done in a harder-hitting, modern drum & bass style. I sent the stems over, and about a week later, she came out of nowhere with this absolutely killer VIP edit that is way too kickass to not share. The original intent behind this concept was to remix Lower Brinstar in the style of Deus Ex. This inspiration still shows through in the atmospheric sound design throughout the song and the cyberpunk-style synth plucks (as well as the title, which is a literal translation of the phrase Deus Ex Machina) but along the way, it doubled in tempo and got way heavier than I'd originally planned! This ended up being a perfect blend of influences - I was captivated by the more rock-oriented, traditional D&B stylings of artists like Pendulum, and Kris brought that modern flair and beefed up the production beyond what I could accomplish alone. Pixelseph came in clutch with some really badass guitar chops that amp the arrangement all the way up to 11. This now marks my 11th collaboration with Chimpazilla, and the 7th in the last year, and I don't think we're showing any signs of letting up. I'm so lucky to be able to have a true collaborative partner-in-crime that is down for literally any genre, any time - you saw potential in this track and ran with it, and I'm so grateful that this version of the remix is able to exist because of you. Chimpazilla: When Wes first sent me this track in nearly-finished wip form, I thought, oh gosh yet another Brinstar arrangement. (I'm not sure what planets aligned in the last couple of months but around 50 Brinstar arrangements were submitted to OCR; was there a memo sent out that I was unaware of?) But I adore this theme, and the massive amount of Brinstar submissions had motivated me to think about doing one myself at some point. And then Wes sent me his fabulous wip. I loved his concept so much, and Seph had already added the aforementioned badass guitars when I heard it. Wes had some killer neurobass, great synths and a lot of DnB drum detail, and the track had a lot of positives to it, but my big gripe was the arrangement. The way the song was structured, it seemed like there were builds but no big payoff. I felt super strongly that it needed a proper build into a very heavy/badass DnB neurobass drop. I am guilty of harping on this to Wes until he said "FINE, here are the stems, do your thing!" I definitely had my way with these stems; I reworked the first two minutes quite heavily, extending the intro and adding the drumless buildup and then the big drop. I made many more changes and additions to the rest of the piece, mixed it for maximum badassery, and mastered it. Pixelseph's guitar work in this track is so tasty, and goes so well with the heavy DnB drums and basses. I really like this track, it turned out to be one of my favorites of our many collabs (wow, 11 so far did you say?). Wes is right, we will not be slowing down on these. We have so much fun working together exploring new genres and production techniques. Our work always fits together so seamlessly, working with Wes is joyous and effortless, and I feel like the results just get better and better each time. Wes, thanks so much for trusting me with this! I am grateful to you for your incredible friendship and for being the best collab partner ever! Games & Sources Super Metroid - Lower Brinstar

I'm coming into this fresh-ish, having not voted on the original track. What I'm hearing is a well-balanced, punchy mix with some really cool delay-based atmospheric effects that give this a totally unique feel, despite using a pretty traditional set of complementary instruments. There's a tremendous amount of personality and swagger here, and enough going on that, even though the beat is fairly low-tempo and unassuming, it still propels the arrangement forward and makes for a track you can really bob your head to. The arrangement breezes by, running through a lot of ideas but still managing to remain cohesive, and not feeling like you just threw everything at the wall indiscriminately. It's a really great piece that came together well. I find a few of the synth elements to be a little shrill, partly due to the octave that they're written in, but in the future this could also be mitigated with a dynamic EQ or compression to tame those frequencies. It's also worth considering lowering the range of bells and flutes specifically, which tend to have some of the most shrill high harmonic content, but this is hardly a dealbreaker - just a comment for the future. Great work on the resubmission!! YES

In my original vote on this track, I heard the potential and also the amount of love, effort and detail that went into the production, but I felt that there were too many ideas thrown in at any given time, and a lot of the parts sounded so random and didn't mesh well together, and it was exhausting to listen to as a result. It doesn't help that the source song is somewhat odd melodically. But VQ had already received some excellent guidance from the Sages to help her uncluster this arrangement, and then she reached out to me for further advice. It already sounded much better to me, but I was able to help her get it mixed even a little bit better, and then she had me master it. I think it sounds significantly better and I can now appreciate the vision that she originally had for the piece. The positive aspects of the sound-design and writing all shine through now without anything being overshadowed, and I really like it! And others will as well. The result is a dreamy, groovy, Eastern-themed soundscape that sounds really full and open yet loaded with fun details and ear candy, telling a story as it moves along. I love the vocal clips! Just a great track. Thank you for your trust, VQ, and this was fun to work on with you! Good job! Definitely "Chimp-approved," let's go! YES

i YES'd this last time but noted a few elements that i wasn't into. i still think the opening kick is too boomy (this might be a headphone adequacy issue here, there's a ton of subbass there). i still like all the interplay between the elements. there's less low-mid density which is nice. the outro's kind of all over the place, and without the backing elements the shamisen loses some luster. overall it's still a noodly melody that isn't for everyone, and there's still a lot of static and that's not my favorite backing element. but i like the complexity and find the creativity to be evident in a lot of places. this is still a pass to me. YES

The Judges Panel has been talking about ways to work through the queue of submitted remixes at a faster pace, and after a lot of discussion and weighing the pros and cons, we've come to a decision that's probably one of the biggest adjustments to our process in a long time: Submissions no longer require four (4) YES votes to pass. A decision is reached as soon as the difference in votes is three (3). To clarify the key change here: when a submission receives three (3) YES votes and there are zero (0) NO votes, the submission is accepted, because the difference in votes is three (3). If a submission continues to go back and forth without reaching +3 in either direction, the panel will continue to vote until all active judges have voted and the majority will determine the decision. This update to our decision making process will immediately apply to any submissions on the panel at the time of this announcement going live, and for all decisions moving forward. We won't be going back to previous rejections to find decisions that started with three (3) uncontested YES votes but eventually got rejected; in those cases, what's done is done. We hope that artists will find this new criteria a little bit easier to understand. Overall, we've been impressed with the quality of work being sent in these past months, and this should make it easier for us to get the slam dunk tracks through the process faster. Thanks to all the artists who continue to participate in our curation process. Hope to hear your work soon. - DarkeSword