Liontamer

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

OC ReMix Presents Super Mario RPG: Window to the Stars! January 31, 2017 Contact: press@ocremix.org FAIRFAX, VA... OverClocked ReMix today released its 61st free community arrangement album, Super Mario RPG: Window to the Stars. The album pays tribute to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, released in 1996 for the SNES, a unique collaboration between Nintendo and Square which blended gameplay from both the Mario and Final Fantasy series. Featuring 34 tracks from 29 artists, Window to the Stars is directed by OC ReMixers Dustin "Theory of N" Lagaly & Emery "DaMonz" Monzerol, and is available for free download at http://smrpg.ocremix.org. Window to the Stars includes a diverse group of musicians honoring composer Yoko Shimomura's fun and upbeat soundtrack (inspired by original works from Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu) in a variety of styles, including chiptune, bluegrass, klezmer, metal, EDM, orchestral, and more. Window to the Stars was made by fans, for fans, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo or Square Enix; all original compositions are copyright their respective owners. "I feel that this tribute to the brilliance of Yoko Shimomura, Koji Kondo, and Nobuo Uematsu does the soundtrack justice," director Dustin Lagaly affirmed. "With nearly every track rearranged across 3 discs, the album as a whole portrays a sort of reimagining of the journey taken in the game itself." The album's artwork was designed by a pair of Montréal-based artists: game developer Kristoffer Soucy, who also created the Wii U platformer Shuttle Rush, with tweaks by Roxanne Chartrand. "Getting this project done was one big adventure for us," remarked Emery "DaMonz" Monzerol, who steered Window to the Stars to completion as co-director. "I hope listening to it all will be a big adventure for you all as well. Happy listening!" Window to the Stars also marks OC ReMix's third Mario series album, following 2015's Super Cartography Bros., which focused on EDM arrangements of Mario map themes, and 2014's Portrait of a Plumber, which tributed the Nintendo 64's pioneering launch title, Super Mario 64. About OverClocked ReMix Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form. Its primary focus is ocremix.org, a website featuring thousands of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. ### Preview it: http://youtu.be/FF6uamDXbfo Download it: http://smrpg.ocremix.org Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Super_Mario_RPG_-_Window_to_the_Stars.torrent Comments/Reviews: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/45157-

Preview Window to the Stars: http://youtu.be/FF6uamDXbfo Download Window to the Stars: http://smrpg.ocremix.org Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Super_Mario_RPG_-_Window_to_the_Stars.torrent Seven years after having joined the OC ReMix community, I was becoming increasingly distraught that there had not yet been an attempt at a remix album for what is, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time. I eventually decided to take matters into my own hands and create what would eventually become Window to the Stars. While not the easiest undertaking by any stretch of the imagination, I feel that this tribute to the brilliance of Yoko Shimomura, Koji Kondo, and Nobuo Uematsu does the soundtrack justice. With nearly every track rearranged across 3 discs, the album as a whole portrays a sort of reimagining of the journey taken in the game itself. Of course, this project would not be what it is today without a great deal of help. Big thanks to both the artists and fans who have been waiting patiently throughout this sometimes-not-too-clear development. IT'S FINALLY HERE! A second thanks to the artists who worked on the album not only for their incredible talent and timeliness, but also for dealing with Emery and my pestering over the last 4 years. You da real MVPs. Thanks to Yoko Shimomura for her incredible ability to create emotive works, even through beeps and boops. Also to Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu for creating the initial atmosphere in the Mario series and Final Fantasy series, respectively, that would serve as the foundation for many pieces in Super Mario RPG. And finally, a VERY special thanks to Emery for all of his work on this album. There was a time I thought I'd have to drop the project and that caused much distress in my life, but Emery stepped in to help pick up the slack and saved me and the album. It's safe to say this album would not be complete today and it most definitely wouldn't be of the caliber it is without his help. I've said it to you many times in private conversations but, again, thank you so much for everything you've done. Ultimately, all this work would be for nothing without you, the people listening to this music. I hope this album brings you as much joy as it does for me. Enjoy, friends! - Dustin Lagaly (Theory of N) Okay, so let me make sure we're all on the same page here: Super Mario RPG is one of the greatest masterpieces of classic video games. Anyone who hasn't played it should get that fixed ASAP. And the rest of you already know why that game is so good. With that out of the way, I would like to say that my history with this project wasn't the most straightforward path. I started with simply claiming and remixing the final battle music of the game. At that point, the project was still far from completion, so I contacted Dustin and asked if I could help in any way. So, with his consent, I started sending out messages to the other remixers to try and get the ball rolling some more. And then, one thing led to another, and here I am! I'm really grateful to Dustin for letting me help with directing the project, for the highs and lows anyone should expect from a project of that scale, for the teamwork, and for making the project happen in the first place. I'm also very grateful to all of the musicians and to the visual artists for providing all the great content this project has to offer, and for enduring my (most probably obnoxious) constant badgering. And, of course, where would this project be without the original composers Yoko Shimomura, Koji Kondo, and Nobuo Uematsu, towards all of whom I hold the highest admiration. Their music has shaped a huge part of my childhood, and has provided the world with a gorgeous demonstration of human expression. As for this here project, we have decided to highlight both the complexity of the original soundtrack by covering most of its extent, and the variety of musical styles and moods that is achievable by the remixing community. The three discs (Exploration, Confrontation, and Celebration) give a quite self-explanatory progression to the album that, I believe, should provide you with a satisfyingly wide array of emotions to re-enact the original game's mood on a nicely crafted musical scene. Getting this project done was one big adventure for us, and I hope listening to it all will be a big adventure for you all as well. Happy listening! - Emery Monzerol (DaMonz)

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

The opening melodic lead is pretty lonely. That backing synth (:00-:41) sounded very nice, but should have been bumped up in volume and filled up the soundfield more. Oof, super generic synth lead at :41 that sounded very static. Same at 1:29, pretty weak melodic synth with some default effects that doesn't have much character. The beats at 1:58 were very thin overall, despite the kick being loud. You're going for dynamic contrast with how the backing instrumentation changes up, but because nothing had power or complexity, and the beatwork just plods along, the dynamic curve sounds a lot flatter than the writing means for it to be. Well, the arrangement approach is creative, but the synth design's generic in a lot of places, and everything sounds very barebones. Without even reading the other two votes first, I had the same issues with how static and empty this sounded. Good start here, Hans-Kristian, but hit our Workshop forums for advice on this one; the synth design needs to sound more sophisticated and your textures needs to be more varied and fleshed out. NO

Agreed with the others. You have a cool evolution concept, Leonardo, with interesting changes in the instrumentation. But until things filled out at 1:39, the soundscape was just empty and the writing was barren. I agreed with Gario that just because the sounds were throwback ones didn't mean it needed to sound so skeletal in texture. Also, because the timing was very robotic, the energy felt very stilted and static throughout, which basically made it a NO-go even if the song were approached with more complexity. You don't even have to get too wild with it, but there are lots of chiptune songs with more motion and rhythm than this, for example from Strider and James Bond Jr. NO

The build all the way into the melody at 2:14 basically was an extended arrangement of the opening 6-note pattern that plays 3 times in the source before the melody kicks in; not something I immediately recognized (since I judged this without reading the sub letter beforehand), but appreciated once I made the connection. And with that connection there, there was no need to timestamp the source usage, since it was essentially always in play. Watch for detail work like the bow movements (particularly 1:12) cutting abruptly. There were also lots of faint click/pops that made it into the render (e.g. 4:05, 4:23, 4:28), which wasn't a huge deal and were usually drowned out, but I did notice them. The production quality was otherwise solid relatively to the bar. The sound should have been a bit cleaner/clearer, but the muddiness wasn't a dealbreaker; it may have been a purposeful choice to give the orchestra some depth, but it could have been pulled back some. Very smart arrangement, Slimy, and great concept; this was a beautiful approach. YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

This meandered some and was somewhat cramped, but otherwise I didn't have anything else to criticize. Congrats on giving a theme like "Groan" very different sound design that set it apart from the original, and the original Akuma theme usage fit comfortably here as well. Keep 'em coming, Ruku! YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Just noting we already have a mix with this name from the same game by Sbeast. http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03269 EDIT (3/14): Whoops. Forgot to actually vote on it. The arrangement was 3:22-long, so I needed at least need 101 seconds of overt source usage for the VGM to be dominant in the arrangement. MindWander and I basically agreed, and I counted some tails I could still hear for a little longer: 21.5-23.75, 26.5-33, 39.5-41, 47-52.75, 55.5-1:12.75, 1:22.25-1:40.25, 1:43.75-2:25, 2:28.5-2:30.5, 2:34.75-2:40.5, 2:47-2:54 = 107.25 seconds or 53.09% Pretty smoove arrangement. The sax and other brass samples weren't the most realistic, and some of the textures were murky. Not sure why the main beat sounded so "crispy" as it were, but it wasn't a big deal. That said, the presentation was solid. I was almost very disappointed with the ending seemingly being at 2:59, because it felt flat, but the transition into the light strings instead was more creative, so props on faking me out. YES

Cool opening with the glassy mallet percussion; a bit flooded, but sounding OK enough. At :35 though, the mallet perc became a muddy background player and I'm not sure when it dropped out. Weird... hand-drum shot, was it?... at 1:02 that just sounded like a random thump that was disconnected from the rest of the soundscape; watch the detail work there, please. The sequenced brass from 1:23-2:12 was decent, but still dry and with some stiff timing and flatness exposed in many places. I get going for a more ethereal soundscape, but I felt some of the detail work was obscured. That said, the arrangement execution was pretty solid and interpretive, with good subtle dynamic shifts and good use of these samples for the most part. I would have liked for this to sound less murky, but the overall package works. I could see this also being rejected on production grounds, but on the seesaw of what's positive vs. negative, more works here than doesn't. Though there's some reservations, I'm down. But if this doesn't make it as is, you'd just need to touch up some things on the production side, but the arrangement itself is a done deal and doesn't need to be touched. Nice job, Slimy! YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

The lack of clarity here was a substantial negative; it sounded as if all the highs got filtered out, which caused a cluttered sound. At :13 and particularly :34, the beats felt very filmsy after the build-up, and it felt like there was energy missing in the presentation. I loved the frenetic energy of 1:12-1:38's section and all of the constant SFX/instrumentation changes. At 2:08 again, when the beats were thicker, the core beat/kick pattern just seemed very tame, quiet, and basic compared to the more frantic lead writing. I'd love for a musician J to better articulate why the energy felt lacking here despite some of the wilder stuff in the foreground. Nice little SNES-style sounds around the 2-minute mark. Brightening/cleaning up the soundscape to have some high-end clarity might be enough to get this up to being a pass, but the main beat pattern should have been more sophisticated & varied and less empty, as well. Tweaking those two things would be enough for me to pass this, and this is already most of the way there. Good luck with the rest of the vote, but if this doesn't make it, please revisit this. Would love for you to have this Delta mix posted in some form! NO (resubmit)

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

When I first heard this on The Lesser Dogs, I meant to ask Trevor what the whispered vocals were. A relatively minor criticism, but the guitars at 1:33 should have sounded more upfront, because the dropoff from the violin's volume before seemed odd and made it feel like the performers weren't sharing the same space. Otherwise, quite the expansive and interpretive approach to the arrangement; "Waterfall" was already a gloomy, contemplative theme, but I felt like there was a different kind of darkness and angst here. Fun stuff, guys, and great job having Tyler and Mary combine their talents with LBoC! YES

Wow. Nice work, Dean! Agreed with Gario that this presented a new style for Chemical Plant Zone that I hadn't heard before, mainly distinguished by the effects you employed. Rubber stamped. YES

Just noting that I never heard the first version, so I'm going into this one fresh. I wish the melody was more interpretive during the first iteration at :13, but there were other creative ideas later that made the conservative opening not that huge of an issue. Opening saws were pretty vanilla, and the attacks seemed basically the same for every note; same with the electric guitar synth from 1:32-2:25, which sounded very exposed as unrealistic. I liked the bass writing in the background, even if that also sounded mechanically timed. I'd have to say the drumwork, particularly the cymbals, sounded the best here. At :14, the overall texture seemed empty; despite the overall volume, it felt like there wasn't much going on with this instrumentation; a musician J could better articulate why the texture sounds empty, but part of it for me was how the backing electric guitar chugs were very understated. There's some effort given to varying the textures, but because nothing was ever humanized or full-sounding, it's harder to notice that amidst the production/sample quality issues. NO

Heh. The tone of the booming drums at the outset gave me a "DK Island Swing" vibe that got a chuckle out of me. Kind of weird to hear a goofy light-hearted approach to this theme, but the energy is good, and feels like a personalized approach to the theme; let's see where this goes. Very subtle detail, but the mallet perc tones from :14-:24 were a nice touch. The chorused opening strings were exposed and sounded pretty fake, but get the job done in this context. The sax sample strains for credibility also, but I've heard DarkeSword get mileage out of it. That said, the sax chorusing at :44 is a rarer example where layering actually made a fake-sounding sample sound worse (rather than mitigate the realism issues). Would love to see some musician Js' advice on what's making these samples sound lacking and how to make better usage of them. At 1:08, the writing was sounding like a cut-and-paste of the opening aside from some minor instrumentation tweaks. The quasi-comping piano at 1:27-1:46 sounded sloppily performed and lacking energy; it may be subjective, but from the writing I heard, it seemed as if the piano should have been more forceful-sounding and more in the foreground. More essentially cut-and-paste rehashing of the arrangement from 1:46 until the end, which was a negative. Please understand, I really like the energy and arrangement approach in terms of making this a more upbeat theme, but then you just repeated the sections wholesale instead of further developing the arrangement ideas; that doesn't make the piece inherently bad or poorly done, but we are looking for a further level of creativity and personalization than that. Main issue: develop/vary the arrangement a lot more. You could also see what you can do to improve the realism of the strings and sax samples, but (IMO at least) a more developed arrangement with this soundset could pass the production quality part of the bar. Good base here, James. I hope you're willing to revisit this one, or at least submit some more material down the line, because it's clear you have the right idea in terms of arrangement; you just need to take the concepts further instead of just looping the good ideas. NO (resubmit)

I thought the textures were on the empty side but OK until 1:08. Then the countermelodic writing (which I liked the writing of) seemed too loud relative to the lead until 1:42. Arrangement-wise, it's all OK though, and the production wasn't a dealbreaker, though I agree with everyone saying the lead was shrill/piercing. It wasn't ENOUGH so that it had to be a NO on production, but the lead was an issue. Things got a bit better when the lead sound changed at 2:42, but the same issues returned with the original lead at 3:17. Anyway, it's ultimately fine, just annoying, how about that? YES

Not hazing. If you're going to point out "sour notes," particularly if it's often, it's very important to actually be correct about it.

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.