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Artist Name: Pipko Fanfare This was my attempt to turn "Castle of the Dhaos" into the high intensity progressive metal track it always felt to me like it wanted to be, despite the trumpets and accordion in the original. Alternate title: "Dastle of the Dhaos" because if just changing the first letter is enough for Dhaos (and Eragon, etc) then it's good enough for me! Games & Sources "Castle of the Dhaos" by Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura, from "Tales of Phantasia" (SNES)

Original Decision Artist Name: Audiomancer, Aka Eric This is a resubmission of this tune. One of the judges said something about why I don't play the flute live, and that's because I have zero quiet time to myself. The only reason I was able to sample myself is because I got out of work 15 minutes early one day, and rushed home to use that 15 minutes to record myself real fast to make my Directwave instrument. I wish I could, my live playing is (I think;) at least a bit better than this stopgap solution, but it is what it is. I lowered most of the levels across the board, especially on the flute and low brass...and part of the melody I changed to a trumpet to add some variation. I also tamed the saturation automation on the flute as well. I increased the volume on the strings, however. I also did a bit of sidechaining of the flute to the high mids of the backing elements to make room without increasing volume. I shared a revision on Discord earlier, but a huge spot of distortion showed up.... even though it wasn't audible in any other context besides played through Discord. In either case, I still altered this version slightly, I think I improved the balance even more:) As always, I appreciate the feedback and time taken in reviewing submissions!:-D Games & Sources Final Fantasy 6, Forever Rachel.

Artist Name: Kyaku I try to remix from games that I have spent some significant time playing as my own little somewhat silly homage, a nod to the enjoyment they provided me. Stardew Valley was definitely one of those games and this winter track was one of my favorites. More quiet and subdued compared to a lot of the other seasonal sounds, it felt like it captured fairly accurately that meditative, muted feeling that you get after being blanketed in heavy snowfall. But of course, I’m addicted to synth wave still so let’s just turn it all upside down and here we are! Games & Sources Stardew Valley - The Wind Can Be Still

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2. Ownership 1. Your submission must be your own, original arrangement. 4. Arrangement 2. Your arrangement must be substantial and original. Submissions must be different enough from the source material to clearly illustrate the contributions, modifications, and enhancements you have made. Acceptable arrangement often involves more than one of the following techniques: Modifying the genre, chord progression, instrumentation, rhythms, dynamics, tempo, or overall composition of the source material Adding original solos, transitions, harmonies, counter-melodies, lyrics, or vocals to the source material Taking the original game audio and simply adding drum loops or using an existing MIDI file and assigning new instruments does not qualify as substantial or original arrangement. --------------------------------- Quoting the relevant parts of the Submission Standards above: I'll quote myself from one ReMix we posted that was heavy on sampling the original audio: In that case, I'd argue the treatment of the sampled music was also different enough via the effects to at least create the impression that it wasn't directly sampled, in other words more substantially transformative from a sound design level. This submission only partially went in that direction. There is some arrangement of "Church" as well with some rhythmic similarities, but it's much more of a straightforward and traditional remix rather than an arrangement, combined with some original writing sections (e.g. 1:03-1:34) that fit very well with the Zelda sampling. There's nothing inherently wrong with all that, but it's not transformative enough for our Submission Standards, IMO. Great piece regardless, Goodman; you have great taste in instrumentation and sound design, and the track was nicely mixed! I hope you'd be willing to submit either a full-on arrangement (or much more substantially modified/transformed remix) of some VGM in the future. :-) NO

I never heard the first version, so I'm coming in clean. Dunno what it was previously lacking, but it's cohesive enough to me right now. At :13, the supporting guitar feels so quiet relative to the lead and drums, and the bassline's not cutting through as well as it should. That said, the overall presentation's cool for sure and I'm digging the arrangement. Didn't need the SFX at 1:24, but it's something there to add lil' herbs and spices, so I'll live. From 1:25-1:49, the drums feel like a plodding drag on this and the mallet perc's so quiet that it's effectively not contributing much, really from 1:37-1:49. Anyway, it's a brief thing and not enough to pull this below the line. To me, this is getting more right than wrong, and it's really just some mixing issues that are undermining this to some extent. Is it anything making me say hold this back though? Naw. The mixing could stand to be tweaked so that the guitars don't sound so distant, and the drums should have been more interesting in places (2:38-3:01 was another plodding area as well, both the drums and also the mallet timing), but the overall instrumentation, energy, and performances are excellent. :-) If this somehow doesn't make it as is, it's still got a spot here waiting for it, so stay in a positive mindset. Nice job, folks! YES

Oooooh wow, the main verse of this Triple Deluxe source definitely sounds like Nintendo invited Knower to write something for them, this is cool! :-D Kick at :11's too much, then at :19, there's low-end part-writing that's adding clutter and I had to throw on a control track to ensure my setup wasn't messed up. The mixing's nothing dragging this below the bar, but it's needlessly messy and preventing this from sounding its best. The soloing over the bass riff arrangement was cool, though the bass riffing was getting buried from 1:39-2:05, so it might as well not have been there. Brilliant textural change at 2:24, that was beautiful and ended up being quite a shift until 2:51. The little ornamentation notes at 3:12 to close it didn't sound quite right to resolve this, but no big deal. Smart stuff throughout, I just wish it had another mixing pass though, because it deserves it. Great energy per Wake's impressive standard. :-) YES

What a weird source. Vocal mixing didn't seem quite right at 2:33-2:58; it felt like the highs of the track were cut and TheManPF's voice cut through too much relative to EK's, BUT they do combine well (maybe just "Dance" by PF needs to be softened?); that said, no big deal in the big picture. I just don't hear any major issues, and the arrangement's on point. Some sort of pop around 4:04 that I wish wasn't there, but it's just a minor speedbump. Even the sequenced strings are mixed relatively well and occupy a solid space in the texture. Great job by TheManPF involving Earth Kid with the vocals to provide a new dimension to the presentation of the lyrics. The instrumentation overall was awesome as well, with the only thing giving me any sort of pause was the lack of sharpness to the track, but again, nothing at all even threatening a NO. I've been on the opposite side of hundreds of approvals, so I'm used to being the bad guy; that said, I'm genuinely shocked at this split. Turning this down would be making the perfect the enemy of the good in a major way. My bar always involves asking the question "If the source files were gone and this couldn't be revised, would I take this?" On the seesaw of what's right vs. what's wrong, it's hugely tilted to this being oh so right. Awesome source choices, strong performances, solid instrumentation choices, this is cool as hell. YES

TIL I'm responsible for sharing all good music in the scene. :-D

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In that case, it was probably just something that someone was sharing on our forums -- in other words, not submitted to be part of OCR, just shared on the forums and not databasified. That Sonic Wanderer track's likely in the aether if a Google search of it turns up nothing.

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We've got a list of removals with the reasons and there's a page that hosts 'em. :-) https://ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog https://williamjacksn.github.io/ocremoved/

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Artist Name: timaeus222 Ever heard of Pokémon Sleep? If you haven't, this incredible soundtrack by Shota Kageyama stands out to me as one of my new favorites. I'd describe several of the songs as harmonically-mysterious; I found myself doubling back many times after being surprised by the directions the soundtrack took me. I started this ReMix around Oct 2024, as a rough draft of... not Pokémon Sleep music, but actually, Eterna Forest (Pokémon Platinum)---just a sine lead atop some sketched chords and a simple drum loop. I set it aside and started on another idea in November, which was the Pokémon TCG Pocket ReMix you may have heard (I ended up finishing that one right after Christmas). Fast forwarding to Feb 2025, I returned and continued writing the arrangement, with the philosophy that it's better to lay out rough ideas than to expect them to be fantastic quickly. Let me quote zircon, who quoted John Swartzwelder (I know djp would appreciate the quote-ception): 'Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue [...] Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done.' I've struggled with this aspect of 'writer's block' for many years, but there has been an easy solution: be okay with rough writing, and trust your future self to fix it later. This motivated me to make this over 5 minutes long, which is my longest solo ReMix. Having heard the Pokémon Sleep soundtrack a number of times by this point, I had 'Taupe Hollow (Day)' on my mind in the shower. I realized that it could actually fit well with Eterna Forest, having a wondrous, thought-provoking vibe. Later on, I shared this with a friend of mine on Discord (Draft_Fusion on twitch.tv). She was getting into writing music, so I kept sharing the next versions of this ReMix with her. Finally, in early March, I finished this, ultimately combining Eterna Forest (Pokémon Platinum), Taupe Hollow (Day) (Pokémon Sleep), and Aether Paradise (Pokémon Sun/Moon). (I was pretty surprised when the transition at 2:58 got me back to the original key.) As for any new sounds or techniques, I started trying a new (free or cheap) synth, Vital. I haven't delved that much into it yet, but it only took like 5 minutes each to make some smooth dubstep growls that fit well for the frantic sections (1:14 - 1:26, 3:45 - 3:57), and I plan to learn Vital and Arturia Pigments as 2 out of 3 primary synths. :-) I also tried and loved kiloHearts's Trance Gate on the main bass (I typically don't like designing synth sounds with tremolo built-in, as it makes it hard to test chords), and experimented with kiloHearts's Ring Modulator and some pitch shifts on the piano as well. Lastly, the title took some inspiration from 'eterna' ('eternal') and 'aether' ('aeternal'), as well as the wondrous style of Taupe Hollow's theme. With that, strap in and enjoy the ride! :-) - Timaeus Extra Info: Source Breakdown: 0:00.00 - 0:25.33 = 0:00.00 - 0:28.51 (Eterna Forest Chords; Melody Diff. Rhythm) 0:28.47 - 0:47.41 = 0:00.00 - 0:28.51 (Eterna Forest Chords; Melody Diff. Rhythm) 0:53.73 - 1:14.25 = 0:00.00 - 0:44.95 (Taupe Hollow (Day); "Verse" in 8/8, 5/8) 1:14.25 - 1:26.89 = 0:44.95 - 0:50.53 (Taupe Hollow (Day); Dissonant "Bridge/Transition") 1:26.89 - 1:39.52 = [1:24.02 - 1:29.57] (Taupe Hollow (Day); Syncopated "Loop Point") 1:39.52 - 2:04.79 = 0:50.53 - 1:12.86 (Taupe Hollow (Day); Climax) 2:04.79 - 2:17.40 = 0:00.00 - 0:10.10 (Aether Paradise; Arpeggio + Sine Melody A) 2:17.40 - 2:26.88 = 0:23.55 - 0:30.19 (Aether Paradise; Arpeggio + Sine Melody B) 2:30.05 - 2:58.47 = 0:30.19 - 1:03.83 (Aether Paradise; Santoor condensed melody) 3:04.59 - 3:17.03 = 0:00.00 - 0:28.51 (Eterna Forest Chords; Melody Diff. Rhythm) 3:23.74 - 3:44.26 = 0:00.00 - 0:44.95 (Taupe Hollow (Day); "Verse" in 8/8, 5/8 + variation) 3:44.26 - 3:56.89 = 0:44.95 - 0:50.53 (Taupe Hollow (Day); Dissonant "Bridge/Transition") 3:56.89 - 4:09.51 = [1:24.02 - 1:29.57] (Taupe Hollow (Day); Syncopated "Loop Point") 4:12.68 - 4:25.31 = 0:50.53 - 1:12.86 (Taupe Hollow (Day); Climax) 4:25.31 - 4:31.62 = 0:50.53 - 1:12.86 (Taupe Hollow (Day); Climax + new chords!) 4:37.54 - 4:44.25 = 0:50.53 - 1:12.86 (Taupe Hollow (Day); Climax + more new chords!) 4:56.88 - 5:16.00 = [1:12.86 - 1:24.02] (Taupe Hollow (Day); Winding-down) 25.33 + 18.94 + 12.04 = 56.31/319.09 = 17.65% Eterna Forest 20.52 + 12.64 + 12.63 + 25.27 + 20.52 + 12.63 + 12.62 + 12.63 + 6.31 + 6.71 + 19.12 = 161.60/319.09 = 50.64% Taupe Hollow (Day) 12.61 + 9.48 + 28.42 = 50.51/319.09 = 15.83% Aether Paradise 56.31 + 161.60 + 50.51 = 268.42/319.09 = 84.12% Source Games & Sources You have data on these games, except for Pokémon Sleep, whose primary composer is Shota Kageyama. Developer: SELECT BUTTON, Publisher: The Pokémon Company --- Pokémon Platinum - Eterna Forest: Pokémon Sleep - Taupe Hollow (Day): Pokémon Sun/Moon - Aether Paradise:

Artist Name: AshleyXR to be honest, there's not much thought process that goes into remixes for me when i do them. the main thing i like doing when i do is to base it off the song, of course, but it's also really important to add stuff that i thought maybe would've been cool for the song to have. sometimes the ideas aren't the best, and they're part of why they're not in the original song, but sometimes i just think it'd be nice to have it there, i guess LOL if it matters, none of the instruments besides synth (orchestra, electric bass) are real, and are VSTs. i doubt it's too hard to notice, though. most of the ones i used were Omnisphere (bells), Trilian (bass), Serum 2 (pads), and the touhou soundfont (which i unfortunately use a lot) for the piano. other than that, there isnt that much to this remix. Games & Sources Planet Wisp is a song made by Kenichi Tokoi for the 2D/3D game Sonic Colors, in the first act of the stage which is named after said stage, "Planet Wisp". Kenichi Tokoi joined Sega in 1996, and first composed for was Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition. The stage, Planet Wisp, is an area which holds the important race of Wisps, which are having their own powers abused by the antagonist, Dr. Eggman.

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Artist Name: Argle I'm back! And this one is actually a new* song! *technically it is from Meat and Potatoes compo from 12 years ago. So way too conservative to submit to OCR as-is, but at the time I thought the idea had some real merit to it and always wanted to rizz it up to submit here. But life gets in the way, and I guess if at first you don't succeed wait a decade+ and try again. So even though the general idea was really old this was a complete tear down and redo as far as arrangement and mix goes. It's kinda similar to my Terra of the Bells or Kingdom of Magic tracks as in... like... new-agey instruments and textures, but with beats? Is that actually a genre? I have real trouble with genres so to me this feels natural but maybe is strange. But that's what I love about OCR, it lets me waffle stylistically and not commit to anything! Games & Sources Chrono Trigger - Peaceful Days

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