Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

When are we getting to the theme, I say to myself, with this extended ambient build. Excellent, there we are at :29, and some impressive sound design to boot. Beats fade in after :50 and this just goes into the weird shit category with some funky beats, belltones for the melody, and lots of SFX mockery. 3:26 gets back into the source tune's chorus section. Nice lil' pointillist approach to the theme at 4:03, and a simple but effective adding of some thump beats at 4:31. Theme drops out at 5:00 and it's original beats with some quiet inclusion of the melody and chorus layered in. The track was 6:34-long, so I needed to identify source usage for at least 197 seconds to consider the source usage dominant in the arrangement. :29.5-59.75, 1:05.5-1:08.25, 1:13.5-1:15.25, 1:20.5-1:24.5, 1:28.5-1:32.5, 1:35.75-1:39.25, 1:43.25-1:55.5, 2:01-2:02.75, 2:05.5-2:09.5, 2:12.5-2:19.75, 2:27.75-2:56.75, 3:26.25-3:54, 4:03.5-5:05, 5:08.5-5:12.5, 5:17-6:00 236.75 seconds or 60.08% overt source usage I was just sanity-checking it for source usage since this has some longer gaps between the melodic notes in places, but just going off the feel, I wasn't expecting it would be a close call. Trust but verify. Awash with creativity. A sound design delight and a dynamic piece of business. :-) YES

The track was 3:40-long, so I needed to identify source usage for at least 110 seconds to consider the source usage dominant in the arrangement. 46.75-1:06.5, 1:16-2:33.5, 2:37.5-3:07.75 = 127.5 seconds or 57.95% overt source usage There could have been more I wasn't recognizing, I was just doing my due diligence to ensure it was over 50%. Normally, I'd mind the intro and outro both being unrelated to the source, but the middle was fully about arranging and expanding on the original VGM, so with the source usage handled and dominating the arrangement vis-a-vis our Standards, the sandbox was H36T's to play with as far as the overall structural approach. After an extended original intro, the source finally comes in from :46-1:06, and I like the added string writing underneath it. Switches over to some handdrums and metallic percussion. At 1:35, the melody's swung and staggered on the keys before going back to straightforward and doubled with nice choir vox from 1:55-2:33. Solidly done escalation at 2:33 into more grandiose orchestration and more forceful choir for a strong conclusion. Shifted at 3:07 into an original outro punctuated by the female vox. The brief hits of sampled female vox for both the intro and conclusion were tasteful. The textures were relatively simple yet effective, and every part registered while meaningfully contributing to the overall sound; this is a strong example to point to of something with only a few elements going on that nonetheless sounds spacious. Nice work! :-) YES

Artist Name: Roland (Noel) LM I haven't arranged anything from the Zelda series yet until very recently. This is the second Zelda arrangement I've written and recorded (titled Kalle Demos). It was written for the monthly contests on Pixel Mixers and Dwelling of Duels (both had very similar themes). I thought it was the perfect chance to do Zelda, but not a typical, well-known Zelda tune. It had to be weirder and more unknown. I have influences from many, many styles and genres of music, but this one is heavily influenced by the intensity, chaos, mathematical nature, and convolution of Panzerballett's music, and most importantly, my brain. In short, prog, jazz-metal, mathcore, avant-garde, all of that. I love extreme complexity. This is one of the most complex, yet THE most accessible arrangement I've written (I didn't have accessibility in mind - all I did was write and play). I consider this a jazz-metal arrangement. The arrangement goes like this... (7/16 tune is 2 3 2, at 110 bpm - also, the lead guitar is taking all of the melodies from the original tune, which different instruments take over the main melody. Sometimes, the hammond organ is playing exactly what the lead guitar is playing, or the rhythm guitar harmonizes with the lead guitar. There are lines that are very weird, but they are used for effects as part of the tune.) 0:00 - 0:34 (I must warn you... You won't stop hearing polymeters, polyrhythms, and complex syncopations from beginning to end.) - It's a 6-bar section that repeats 6 times, every repeat adding layers and instruments. - Bass is playing a repetitive yet grounded 7/16 bass line (taken from the 3/4 orff bass xylophone line in the original tune). - Piano is playing a repetitive, yet extremely complicated rhythmic line (first 4 bars within the 7/16 framework, and the last 2 bars playing 7:2 polyrhythms) (taken from the 3/4 contrabass line) - enters in the 2nd repeat, and plays until this timestamp ends. - String Synthesizers play in the 3rd repeat (until the section ends) (taken from the sweep synthesizers). - Electric Guitars join together in a harmonized manner (one playing main melodies and beautifully complex harmonies, second playing rhythmic stuff, exactly what the bass is playing). - Drums enter playing in strict 7/16 manner, but then plays 4/4 over 7/16 in the last repeat. 0:35 - 0:51 - 8-bar section (repeated twice). - Lead Guitar and Hammond Organ play the main melody in 7:2. - Bass Guitar stays consistent, grounding the entire band along with the drums and the rhythm guitar (with the rhythm guitar throwing little weird lines.) - Piano continue playing the weird 7/16 line. - Drums sound beautifully heavy here and appropriate for the sudden mood switches. - Weird transition at the end. :D 0:52 - 1:12 (One of the two weirdest sections in the entire arrangement.) Pay close attention... This will be confusing. On sheets, I had to write this in 5/16 to make this easily readable and understandable, but the entire section is still AND sounds in 7/16. - 28-bar section! - Lead Guitar plays a 5/8 dissonant clean line (E A B A#, all notes are ringing for that double minor 2nd interval clash - WOO!), then switches to distortion, playing the same line but in 16th notes. - Bass Guitar and Rhythm Guitar are playing in 7/16. HOWEVER, while the bass guitar remains consistent to keep the entire band grounded, the rhythm guitar plays in the spaces between the bass guitar line. Bass guitar plays notes on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 6th beats, and rhythm guitar plays notes on the 2nd, 5th, and 7th beats. It sounds like a 7-note 7/16 line, but it's split into two instruments. Also, 7/16 over 5/16. - Piano plays a slightly varied 7/16 extremely rhythmic line over the 5/16. - Drums are playing in 5/16, but the hi-hat pedal is doing hits every 4 sixteenth note beats. - Overall, the time signatures happening here (AT THE SAME TIME) are 7/16, 5/16, 5/8, and 4/16. - Another weird transition at the end! :D 1:13 - 1:20 - 4-bar section that repeats twice. - It calms things down for a short moment with harmonized guitars, consistent and grounded 7/16 rhythms, and piano going appropriately crazy with 7/16 and 7:2. 1:21 - 1:39 - 10-bar section that repeats twice. - This is more of an extension of the previous section, but we're adding some weird effects to this (not guitar effects or keyboard effects, but more fade-ins, fade-outs, and things that may sound inappropriate, but it's all part of the tune for maximum weirdness) on the lead guitar and hammond organ. - Bass Guitar and Rhythm Guitar stay consistent and grounded, drums switch to 5/16 whilst playing over 7/16, and piano is switching back and forth between 7/16 and 7:2. 1:40 - 1:54 - 8-bar section that repeats twice. - We can consider this the ''chorus'' of the song, but I don't think in terms of traditional song forms. I think in sections, nothing to do with interludes, choruses, verses, etc. - Lead Guitar and Rhythm Guitar harmonize together. - Hammond Organ provides open dissonant harmonies this first time. - Bass Guitar and Drums stay grounded and consistent (strict 2 3 2 subdivisions - 7/16). 1:55 - 2:02 - 8-bar section that repeats twice. - Things calm down again...until the next weird section! MORE WEIRDNESS! - Weird effects again (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and synthesizers). - Piano plays 7/16 rhythmic lines. - Bass plays consistently. - Drums stop playing (then throw a fill at the end into the next section). 2:03 - 2:13 (THE weirdest section) - 12-bar section. - This section was written in 7/16, but it sounds like 6/16...because it is...but it ISN'T. Read carefully. - Lead Guitar and Hammond Organ are playing clean 7:2 harmonized melodies. - Rhythm Guitar is changing lines every 2 bars - 7:2 line, 7/16 line that the bass plays, and a weird effect at the end. - Piano plays this weird 7/16 line in the first 2 bars (and in the 7th and 8th bars). - Bass plays consistently, but THIS time, the notes change. Instead of D F A Eb like the REST of the tune, it plays E G C F#. - Drums play 6/16 over 7/16 while the pedal hi-hat does 4/16. - Overall, the time signatures and polyrhythms happening here are 7/16, 6/16, 4/16, and 7:2. This was questioned by many if all of this was intentional - YES! 2:14 - 2:21 - 8-bar transition. Nothing else. And now... The completely improvised bass solo. The bass solo is divided into 6 parts. The harmonies are somewhat taken from the melodic, harmonized, and rhythmic sections. Lead guitar is playing harmonies in 7/16, while drums are playing in different time signatures or simply 7/16. (Part 1) 2:22 - 2:44 (B13b9#9#11 voicings - B Double Diminished and B Atonal) (Drums are playing in 6/16 with the bass drum rhythm of 7/16.) (Part 2) 2:45 - 2:59 (Bmaj11b13 voicings - B Harmonic Major and B Atonal) (Drums play in 7/16.) (Part 3) 3:00 - 3:18 (E-7add11 and E-7add#11 voicings - E Minor Blues Scale) (Drums play in 5/16 with the bass drum rhythm of 7/16.) (Part 4) 3:19 - 3:33 (E7#9, B7#9, Bb7#9, F#7#9, G7#9, D7#9, Db7#9, A7#9, using minor blues scales from the augmented 2nd of each chord, and altered dominant scales) (Drums play in 7/16.) (Part 5) 3:34 - 3:43 (Bmaj11b13 voicings - B Harmonic Major) (Drums play in 5/16 with the bass drum rhythm of 7/16.) (Part 6) 3:44 - 3:47 (Free and Atonal) (Drums play in 7/16.) 3:48 - 4:03 - A very technical and confusing transition that I wrote. That's it. 4:04 - 4:18 - Same as 1:40 - 1:54, but with the additional dissonant harmonies on the string synthesizers taken from Part 4 of the Bass Solo. 4:19 - 4:40 - Almost the same as 2:03 - 2:13, but at the end, everyone is playing the 7:2 melody. Quick notes This complex jazz-prog-math-metal arrangement is probably the most accessible one that I've written so far. It's not the most complex one I've written, but it's definitely a fun one to listen to and play. This arrangement also had a lot of space for every instrument to shine without being right on top of another. Everyone is playing together without interrupting others. It's music that's heavy, but it also breathes very well. The collaborators are: Bass Guitar and Arrangement (Roland (Noel) LM) Lead Guitar (Pixels of Pixels & Paradiddles) Rhythm Guitar (minusworld) Programmed Drums (Paradiddles of Pixels & Paradiddles) Keyboards (Hammond Organ, String Synthesizers, Piano) (jnWake) Mixing/Mastering Engineer (Aimrys) Pun-tier: MAXIMUM Cursedness: HIGH-FUNCTIONING Musical: IMPLIED VIOLENCE IN 7/16 Botanical Accuracy: DEBATABLE BUT HILARIOUS Progressive Jazz-Metal Energy: CONFIRMED Games & Sources (Game) The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker GC/Wii-U (Song) Kalle Demos (Composers) Kenta Nagata, Hajima Wakai, Toru Minegishi, and Koji Kodo

Original Decision Artist Name: tibonev List of changes: - tried my best to reduce the amp sim noise, applied some subtractive eq (ReaFIR) and changed output levels on the amp sim itself, changed the noise gate settings aswell. - changed the sharp attack on the synth lead, made it stereo and added some chorus to it, to make it wider and softer. - added a new instrument, another synth line, playing a "broken" arpeggio in some parts, to add ear candy and some more dynamics. - added / recorded a new guitar line, its an original phrase not present in either of the sources, to add ear candy and dynamic movement. - rebalanced some of the instruments (like the loud rythym guitar at the final part / climax) - changed a couple of reverb settings to make it all gel togheter better. - shortened the end part a bit, with a faster fadeout. breakdown: 00:00 - 00:35 - original part based on msfs2020 chords, added some new guitar notes and partial arpeggioos. 00:35 - 00:52 - pilotwing chords with a new guitar phrase/line under it and arp riff 00:52 - 01:01 - original transition 01:01 - 01:36 - msfs2020 melody part A 01:36 - 01:45 - original transition based on the part A chords. 01:45 - 02:11 - pilotwings melody 02:11 - 02:46 - msfs2020 melody part B 02:46 - 03:22 - msfs2020 chords / with original radar ping over it. 03:22 - 03:35 - original part based on msfs2020 chords, this also have a new guitar line also playing. 03:35 - 03:48 - long fade out of last ringing chord. Games & Sources Game 1: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (PC / Xbox Series X/S) Source Track: Color 1 (Menu Music) Youtube Link: Game 2: Pilotwings (SNES) Source Track: Bad Results / Bad Points Youtube Link:

Artist Name: drizzle rainwater Press Garden from Sonic Mania (act 1 specifically, I don't think it gets enough love), had been stuck in my head, so I decided to give myself a crack at it. My goal was to emphasize the funky elements and give it a more jazzy flair. I added in a piano and organ solo to switch things up a little bit, and I changed up the instrumentation to make it more groovy! I hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Sonic Mania - Press Garden Act 1 (Tabloid Jargon) Original Music by Tee Lopes

Interesting phasing/pumping going on. Good sound design, though I'd say the kicks at 1:04 felt very underwhelming and soft compared to the wilder energy of the other instrumentation and effects, which were all over the place in a good way. It can come off sounding unfocused, but I can follow it. I dug the DDRKirby-esque chip pivot at 2:03. Piano for the close sounded pretty fake; dunno why it also seemed to have a flat note at 2:57, I guess because of the one note behind it that was sliding down; would be nice to iron out, but minor anyway and I got used to it. That said, it was an effective close from the compositional level. The beats don't quite pack the expected punch and mixing sophistication, but that's my only meaningful ding on this. Very varied sound design and treatment of the source theme, and the lil voice clips were reasonably well integrated. No shock Treyt was able to bring it! YES

Lovely stuff from the start. Being able to hear things more closely in my headphones, the bowed strings are in the uncanny valley, but of course still well beyond the quality level we need for a mockup, and it's not like they're a weak link or causing a quality disparity vs. the other sounds. After a genteel intro, the beats were brought in at 1:08 and added good movement here. Snare that cameo'ed at 1:34 was too loud for me, but as a point of contrast, it was a great momentary rise in energy for the drums; all of the drum writing sounds intricate and varied, and these evolving textures are great as the energy level continued to gradually escalate. Nice little dropoff at 2:17 before changing the textures again at 2:30 with beautiful, understated support from the acoustic guitar. Electric guitar joined in at 2:55, then ratcheted things up with some quick soloing at 3:11 before taking over as the melodic lead. It seems like the ending cut out a moment too soon, so we can ask about that. Both the instrumentation and arrangement were very impressive. As a conceptual contrast, very fun to hear Zack go collaboration maximalist with his FF7 DoD entry compared to being a one-man army for this FF6 DoD entry. Talented in whatever musical direction he wants to go in, it's safe to say. :-) YES

Cool instrumentation choices. If you can get it sounding more fluid/humanized, the concept has legs. :-)

The source breakdown was truly appreciated, thank you! Everything was right where you said it was, which made the source usage a mere check-off, which then allowed me a fresh second listen to just enjoy the overall evolution of the track. I liked the sound design overall and you managed to personalize your sound compared the source mainly by going so beat-driven, but also through different instrumentation choices for the different source segments you referenced, some cool textural changes, and some cool moments of moving around the stereo field. Everything had a dense and delayed sound, though it feels like it's missing a little something; would love to hear Chimpazilla's POV, because there's even more untapped intensity here, IMO, especially with the kicks, but it doesn't get there. More nitpicks: would have loved hearing some occasional areas of clarity as another contrast opportunity, especially because the effects tended to feel samey after a while. Also, more (subtle) variations with the loud core beat pattern when it was in play would have helped, because it felt like it had only had the one main pattern when it was on. Maybe someone else can better articulate what I mean with my nitpicks, but either way nothing close to dinging this though, just observations worth noting. Great theme choice, and I enjoyed your treatment, which stayed dark yet managed to have its own personality. Argle: "I think it works?" YES

I've never heard the previous two versions, so I'm visiting this sub with fresh ears. I also voted on the revised version Seth included in his comments after he said he noticed the mixing was wrong. Opens up with a rise in volume of a pad, followed by some basic synths and claps at :13. The theme arrives at :25 and there's some decent density to start. The theme's there, but this is texturally scant despite all this volume. Volume doesn't equal fullness in terms of the writing; right now, the beats sound really barebones. Hits the chorus at :55 and there's countermelodic supporting writing until 1:22 that sounds off-key, though it's relatively quiet. The melody's quietly brought in from 1:36-1:47 in a way that also sounds sluggish and off-key, like it's being chorused or delayed; not sure what's going on there. Once it hit the chorus from :54-1:22, the interpretation of the source melody itself felt very minimal and straightforward. This combination of sounds doesn't make sense when the percussion, beats, and bass are so minimalist and basic, yet it's surrounded by this busy-sounding yet off-key ornamentation underneath the melody. 1:49 transitions into what's seemingly an all-original composition section where the volume's loud while the texture feels very basic. More off-key supporting writing underneath the melody from 2:18-2:46 that sounds pretty bad on headphones but might not stand out as much on monitors; this writing sounds like it's meant to be doubling the lead, but it sounds clashing the whole way through. I grew up on this theme, but I'm sorry if I'm not recognizing something taken directly from the theme from 1:49-2:18; I couldn't make out any connection. From 2:18-on, I don't recognize that stuff from the source tune either, but it's possible it's taken from some sort of quitter supporting writing in the source or I'm just ignorant in recognizing some sort of interpretation. The source melody could bear more interpretation and/or variation, the beat-writing is too simplistic, the beats do have some weight to the sound, yet they don't fill the soundscape enough to not let the overall track seem thin, and the densest section are filled with off-key writing adding noise instead of substance. The less dense sections work better on account of the lack of clashing background writing and are, arguably, the track's best feature, yet those sections *still* feel texturally empty, so it's a tough approach to get this to a place where it could rise above the bar here. (I see you in the community, so the links are more for posterity and for others who may see this feedback and want to take part). That said, Seth, Audiomancer tried 10 separate times with one track before his debut mixpost, so if you have the sticktuitiveness to regularly use the community resources on the Workshop forums and on the Discord server for more feedback and guidance, maybe you can be another success story. NO

The core beat pattern at :11, :34, :45, 1:30, and 2:05 ended up overused by the end, but there were enough changeups in the part-writing supporting the source melody to make that beat repetitiveness a non-issue. Kind of crunchy when it comes to the mixing, so some of the supporting writing was obscured, but nothing beyond a personal preference nitpick there. Nice formula for source tune personalization, primarily done by never letting the instrumentation or textures rest on their laurels for too many measures. The end result was that this packed a lot of evolution in its short runtime. We'll see if the other Js agree that the treatment was substantial enough, given how short this is. Folks may also notice that the track loops perfectly, which was also a nice touch. :-) YES

Cool contrast of the bright, bubbly theme being given much darker undertones. Y'all pulled it off well! Lots of effective changes in the instrumentation and textures to keep the piece evolving. Really strange direction to take it in, but it's embraced wholeheartedly, so you've sold it to me. ;-) YES

It'll seem like I disliked the piece when I mainly hear lots of unrealized potential. This was texturally empty, just way too thin and simplistic, which was unfortunate after a very promising intro with a cool sound. The volume of the elements in play doesn't make up for the relative lack of complexity here. Finally some beats come in at 1:26 to thicken things up more, but the part-writing is very straightforward and lacks that next level of sophistication. prophetik said maybe there's not enough arrangement, and I get where he's coming from, but he's mistaken in how he attempted to articulate the issue. This is presented in a melodically straightforward manner, and that's fine. What was missing here was more complexity in the accompanying parts and more creativity in the sound design. This is already going in the right direction in terms of different instrumentation and different sound design, the combination of which does help this stand apart from the feel of the original, but clearly not enough yet based on prophetik's reaction. But this sounds like a work-in-progress, not a fully developed and finished piece. Something like Charlie Atom's "Toriel's Pain" isn't where our bar has to be, but it's a great example of a melodically straightforward rendition with way more attention paid to the detail work of supporting writing that adequately fills in the textures, and killer sound design. That's not the bar, but it's a genuine North Star. This is a solid start, Noga, but it still needs more writing complexity behind the melody and other sound design ideas to further personalize your take. Even if you don't end up reworking this one, you can definitely be proud of how far you've come with this. There's a lot of untapped potential though, so hopefully you keep developing your craft. If you haven't already, consider joining our Discord for more feedback and/or using our Workshop forum resources. NO (resubmit)

Oh wow, all the years I've heard EarthBound's music, I don't think I've ever listened to this one. Didn't recognize it, but it's a nice piece! This arrangement in an of itself feels like original game music when it comes to the overall sound quality and fidelity, like late-stage SNES soundtrack music from a different palette than EarthBound. By going this route though, lots of humanization, expressiveness, and production options were sacrificed. SNES vibes aside, the opening sounds still feel super basic and vanilla, but it's potentially all in how you use these sounds, so we'll see how that plays out. The timing of beats feels very locked to grid with a plodding core pattern (:01-:57, 1:38-2:17). The first verse at :17 the leads felt relatively lively despite being programmed in, but the overall sound is very silted, there's not really any getting around that. Organ at 1:06 was very flimsy-sounding, but it's meant to sound more stylized. I don't know music theory, and my ears aren't primed to pick out wrong notes, but, unlike prophetik, I didn't a single thing that stood out as bad/wrong notes, I just heard supporting writing lacking direction and synergy (e.g. :34-:49, 1:54-2:09). Machine gun drum kicks from 2:24-2:25 that are fleeting but do sound low-quality. The arrangement does go for a more upbeat feel but when prophetik said "what most of the instruments are saying is bland or looped a lot - like the drum patterns and backing organ", that's correct to me, and I'll go back to the stilted timing and plodding beats. It's cool for a chiptune aesthetic, but it also feels very limited instrumentally. I've heard fan-made 8- and 16-bit-style chiptunes and MIDIs all sound more fluid and expressive than this, so I'd have to see something like that done here. The goal seems to be to stick to SNES soundtrack-level sophistication, which is fine, it just falls outside of our production standards, IMO. There's good potential in your music-making as long as you keep at it, Rhino. NO

Great source tune choice, ripe for expansion. Vanilla-sounding synth to open things up, but obviously a stylized approach, so let's see where it goes. Melody arrives at :17, and the overall textures are basic but reasonably full, with the caveat being that it ought to further flesh out, IMO. Sampled amen break drums are brought in at :58 and those seem like a square peg in a round hole, but I'll live. Some added beats come in at 1:27 and this is definitely fuller, though melodically this is already very repetitive. 1:59 dropped out the lead and just had the countermelody with beat accompaniment, which was a good direction to create some contrast. Then 2:32 continues with a skeletal progression plus beats before finally getting back to the source melody on lead at 3:04, which feels like a cut-and-paste once the beats returned at 3:12. An addition to the beats at 3:32 for some more movement underneath. At 4:01, there was another countermelodic line added to the melody, but despite that I still literally said out loud "Enough already!" with this lead. If you're not going to vary up the melodic presentation, that's OK, but I'd argue at least vary up the instrumentation of the lead and/or countermelody lines more often to keep the overall feel from sounding too static. Even though the textural changes are a good idea, I'm still fatigued from the leading elements sounding the same practically the whole way and a relatively slower pace. This is a great start, Bionic! I'm interested to hear what the other Js think; I think from a genre transformation perspective, this is a pretty solid result, but it needs more sophistication and variation with the leads and sound design to really be strong and not drag out over time. NO (resubmit)

Like proph said, this takes you on a journey, and it's a strong example of retaining the melodic fundamentals but giving this a different mood via the instrumentation. The sound palette's not my personal taste, though the throwback feel of the synths definitely gave this some 80s energy with some cinematic flair. A Short Hike fans are gonna be feasting with the amount of subs we've gotten from it recently. :-D YES

need to confirm name if accepted as artist has changed the submission record's name several times -proph Artist Name: Toxicsquall I undertook a remix project of this composition, beginning with the importation of the original MIDI data into ODESI and DJ Studio. From there, I applied structural rearrangement techniques and modern audio mixing processes. To give the piece a distinctive Brazilian influence, I incorporated local elements such as the cavaquinho, cornetas, traditional percussion (batuque), vocal layers, beatboxing, and prominent basslines. This remix serves as a personal homage to Brazil. While not aiming for hyper-stylised grandeur, I hope it provides an enjoyable and culturally rich reinterpretation of the original. Source breakdown (from comments): 00:00:00 The chordal touches originally played on piano are now reimagined with vocal samples and funk-style sounds. Words like "vai", "chão", and the made-up term "Garchãopi" are introduced. "Garchãopi" is a pun blending the Portuguese word "chão" (floor), often heard in funk music, with the Pokémon name "Garchomp" due to their similar pronunciation. 00:00:39 This part is a rearrangement of the original song, keeping the piano and other instruments but with a funk beat in the background. 00:01:11 At this point, I introduce a Brazilian accordion and use some "builder" effects to add progression. 00:01:25 Here, I transition from funk to a more pagode-style rhythm typical of Rio de Janeiro, while still retaining funk elements to maintain a consistent rhythm. 00:02:00 This is an original section of mine that blends pagode, samba, and funk, with some harmonica (gaita) flourishes added in. 00:02:29 Once again, I start with a loud "vai!" and switch instruments to cornets and saxophones, preserving the song's structure—what was once played on piano is now interpreted by different instruments. 00:03:33 An original segment using playful vocal effects like “tchu” and “tchã tchã” along with the instruments introduced earlier. 00:04:33 We return to the structure of the original track, but now include more Portuguese words, such as “vai”, “desce”, “sobe”, “chão”, and “Garchomp”. 00:05:36 Cornets are reintroduced, and I build up the tempo for a crescendo that reestablishes the song's core structure using the cornets, much like a cinematic character entrance. 00:06:22 Subtly, I introduce the word “chão” in a rhythmic pattern in the background while the cornet continues playing. 00:06:42 The style now shifts to Funk Paulista, moving away from previous references to Rio funk. Heavier bass, synthesised sounds, and distorted low-end frequencies begin to dominate. 00:07:26 I maintain the original structure, but instead of piano, I use synthesisers and merge in elements of Funk Mandelão, technofunk, heavy bass, beatbox, and syncopated hi-hats with rhythmic 2 & 4 beats (kick-snare-kick-snare). Games & Sources The original battle theme for Champion Cynthia, featured in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, was composed by Junichi Masuda, widely recognised for his work on the Pokémon series’ iconic soundtracks. I applied structural rearrangement techniques and modern audio mixing processes, incorporated local elements such as the cavaquinho, cornetas, traditional percussion (batuque), vocal layers, beatboxing, and prominent basslines.

Artist Name: Azina As far as arrangements go, this begins with only small shifts. Fae-like playful piano accents electric guitar performing the harmonic structure typically played on piano. This continues until the second loop where a heartbeat rhythm is established in the low end, and choir-esk vocals underpin the now gently distorted main melody. The piece ends with a demure "victory theme" of my own making. Games & Sources The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toru_Minegishi Link to the composer; apparently he's the one who composed the gamecube startup sound. Oh, it just embeds here, I didn't think it would do that

Artist Name: 7DD9 This remix is about exploring Dr. Eldon Tyrell's pyramid in the Blade Runner universe. Vintage synths have taken over to create the proper atmosphere and mood for the listener. My love for this type of creation is strong as an old school guy and as a Blade Runner and Vangelis fan of course. I remember when I was a kid, I would wake up in the morning and run to put the cassette to load the game and listen to its music for hours. ...So Rick Deckard this time meets the Scarabaeus Astronaut... Games & Sources Game : Scarabaeus (1985) Music Soundtrack : Main Theme Original C64 composition by Csaba Nagy (perhaps) Scarabaeus, known in America as Invaders of the Lost Tomb, is a computer game released for the Commodore 64 in 1985. It was written in Hungary by Andromeda Software and distributed in the UK by Ariolasoft. Original tune :

You're a real one for this tribute; thank you sincerely for it! I only knew of Stéphane Picq's work through the 90s Dune game soundtrack (boy, you'd do a great job with any of those themes too -- check out Dune: Spice Opera!), so I appreciate being introduced to more of his work. Great energy with this original. Pretty crunchy intro; I liked the feel better when that cleared up at :51. Nice stuttering/gating/fuckery from 1:04-1:17, that was fun! As soon as I was typing out "Great rock treatment", we hit a purely electronic section at 1:30 that was also cool before a rocked out transition at 1:50. Ah man, the acoustic cameo at 2:57 was so cool. Love the back and forth integration of the guitars; this is a wonderful example of a fusion piece where seemingly disparate instrumentation goes together so well; love the chimeric style and flow here, not unlike "Speedy Guitar" or "Behold the Winged Cathedral" in its own unique way. :-) YES

With Michael, you learn to trust the process. Interesting and immersive sound design experimentation per his usual, that's a given. Nice mileage out of these minimal themes; how you sonically beefed them up AND built around them was impressive. :-) YES

Pretty crunchy original dnb writing to start. Oh, bummer, at :57, it's the beginning of snippets of the source audio itself being used, then it's fully brought in on top of the beats from 1:29-2:14. It'll sound like I'm saying we dislike the track when it's a fun remix (proph means it's not an arrangement). We're called OverClocked ReMix (capital R, capital M) as more of a brand name that sounded cooler than "arrangements", so people interchangably call things "remixes" here when that's not what we're actually doing. I'm sorry to say in this case here though, Stavrin, we're *not* a traditional remixing site, we're an arrangement site, as in the source material is played back or performed on different instrumentation, not directly sampled and not just note-for-note. This falls outside of our Submission Standards, but it's still an enjoyable remix for sure! If you'd want to learn more about making VGM arrangements, join our Discord and/or use our Workshop forum resources. NO Override

Cool cover, Jonathon, and thank you for sending it our way. :-) I appreciate you running down the various instrumentation aspects involved, which was very creative to use here. prophetik's right that, although this is a brilliant cover, this is essentially a find-replace of the source's part-writing with your (strong) sounds there's no structural difference with this version vs. the original, including just hitting the loop point at :53 and repeating the same stuff for 2 more loops. We're looking for substantial interpretive and transformative aspects of arrangement, even if an arrangement is otherwise melodically conservative. In the writeup for this ReMix, I link 10 other examples of melodically conservative yet overall transformative arrangements we've posted https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04414. If you're ever interested in fleshing out a more developed, evolving arrangement, your instrumentation and mixing already sounded very solid! Join our Discord and/or use our Workshop forum resources if you're not against taking that kind of journey. NO

Whenever I vote, I like to pretend/assume that there's absolutely no way the track can be revised, because it forces you to decide if it's above the line or not, rather than judging it on what you think the track's potential is after a revision. I agreed with Chimpazilla on the sax mixing not feeling as integrated in the soundscape. That said, it's not something that stuck out to me without it being pointed out by her first, and I can also totally live with this. Performance sounds great for our bar, not just the sax, everything else too; though the higher notes on the piano clearly expose the sample's limitations, the piano and upright bass overall sound good as well, this completely clicks for me. When I heard this on The NO Show, I qualified things by mentioning that I'd need to hear this on my setup, as it was possible the mixing issues would stand out more; just off of that listen, it was sounding like a YES to me. Now that I hear it for myself on my headphones, this is lovely, lovely, intimate smoky jazz. Great weaving of the source themes, hugely personalized. IMO proph's higher-level sax skillz make performance flaws stand out more for him than the average bear, making him too tough on it, especially because the arrangement's very substantive, which we both agree to. This isn't HonkSax™ and this overall execution isn't anywhere below our hobbyist bar. Hyperbolic for a reason, because I'll come off like I'm browbeating Brad or flipping a table. 100 out of 100 times -- not 99 out of 100 -- something like this should be approved or it means our collective bar needs recalibration for being too tough. Are we gonna mess this up? :-P Pipko, April, Lampie, kudos! :-) YES

The claps in the intro were wearing thin, so I'm glad they bowed out. JSABlixer's take in the NO Show chat was accurate for me; the first half was interesting, yet the second half didn't keep me hooked and ran out of steam. proph felt the sampled vocal integrations were solid, though they felt more stapled on top for me. The drums, which were solid samples, eventually felt like they were mostly on auto-pilot of just changing every few measures at cutoffs that just seem too squeaky clean; nothing feels organic/human about the part-writing, it's feel very gridded out, like OK a few bars of this, then change the entire patten a few bars later; I wish I could better articulate that, but I do hope you'll ask around about it. The second iteration of the melody could use more distinct variation or difference from the first besides the lead sound. The piece's overall tone doesn't distinctly stand apart from the original enough; it's not non-existent, but it's not enough. Right now, this is more about the additive part-writing, which isn't a comparatively distinct enough presentation from the original. There's definitely a place for an approach like this, as H36T has shown several times with other ReMixes; this needs more something/anything substantive/different. I'm open to whatever direction you might be willing to take this in, if interested. NO (resubmit)