Liontamer

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Track was 3:00-long discounting the extended silence, so the theme needed to be involved for 90 seconds for it to be dominant. Upfront - :00-:14.5, :31.5-:51 = 30 seconds Stabbing - 1:11.75-1:23.75, 1:25-1:30, 1:33-1:37 = 21 seconds Quiet/Incidental - 1:54-2:11, 2:12-2:36, 2:38-2:43.75 = 46.75 seconds Not sure what's up with 16 seconds of silence (1:37-1:53). I mean, I see Brent's explanation, but it's still too long. Even if you died in the game, it wouldn't take that long to get back into the game, if that analogy makes sense. In any case, I'm actually going to take a different and rare tack on this. IMO, the usage of the theme from 1:56 until the end was too marginalized and subordinate to the other sound design and I felt that this went against the arrangement standards with the source theme needing to be both identifiable AND dominant for most of the track. This is a very unique scenario, at least for me, and I don't mind if this track passes at all, but IMO, the second half's usage of the theme should have been more present. That's all I would need to go YES. The sound design was cool, and I also thought the mega-pregnant silence should be trimmed. NO (resubmit) EDIT (3/17/16): Heard the new version, so here's the new breakdown: Track was 2:55-long, so the theme needed to be involved for 87.5 seconds for it to be dominant. Upfront - :00-:16.5, :19-:24 (timing) :31.5-:53 = 34 seconds Stabbing - 1:11.75-1:23.75, 1:25-1:30, 1:32.75-1:37, 1:39.25-1:56 = 37.5 seconds Quiet/Incidental - 1:56-2:28.5 = 32.5 seconds The balance between the source being upfront vs. quiet/obscured is much better. And with the pregnant silence gone, everything's good to go. Thanks to Brent for being willing to take another look at this. Good, dark stuff. YES

Good adaptation to this instrument set, though there's not much on the interpretation front with the melody. There is original supporting writing underneath it, so it's important to not lose sight of that. The brass first used from 1:18-1:41 sounded flat; not quite sure it clicked texturally with all of the Eastern instruments, plus the sequencing was too rigid-sounding. Arrangement-wise, this just needs further development in this direction. Despite the strumming at 1:57, the finish ended up not feeling like any sort of real close or resolution, but rather the subtle crescendo of one section about to lead to the start of another, and then... nothing. It's a solid start, Max, but needs another minute of developed arrangement ideas, as well as more realistic/less stilted execution of the brass samples. NO (resubmit)

I was in the middle of stopwatching this and got about 75% through the song before I saw that the ending put it well over the top of 50% overt source usage, so I scrapped my timestamping. Piano opening things up immediately sounds blocky. That's mitigated around :11 as the chip and electronic elements come in, but that opening was certainly a weak one. The core beat at :45 felt very static, so I was waiting to hear where else this was planning to go. 1:08 featured the melody coming back in. Wow, super-generic lead synth at 1:30 with very unexpressive timing. Coupled with the static groove, and emptier textures, 1:30-1:52 (as an example) just feels like the writing lacks sophistication. It doesn't need to be frenetic, just somewhat more complex and varied. I loved the vocal mangling from 1:52-2:14, and the chip stuff and other quiet instrumentation behind it added the complexity I was talking about that makes the plain beat pattern behind it much less of an issue. 2:15-onward has more ear candy and subtle supporting writing going on that compliments the melody and beat, and fills out the textures better. Production-wise, this is getting more right than wrong. The arrangement's super-creative, and while I have problems with some of the bland and blocky synths, once things get fuller, the synth issues there are mitigated, like Nutritious alluded to when also describing his issues with the intro. There's other more creative instrumentation in place that clicks well enough with the more problematic parts. As far as the dynamic contrast or perceived lack thereof, I'm OK with a track being intense or soft a long time as long as there are more subtle instances of dynamic contrast throughout, like dropping and re-adding certain instruments to somehow vary the textures. IMO, that was certainly the case here. Robert's got it clicking pretty far. Perhaps he'd be willing to revise this before it was posted, if it in fact passed. That said, this was tilted far enough on the seesaw of what works vs. what doesn't that I was fine with it. Wish the detail work on some of the leads was tightened up, but that doesn't undermine a killer arrangement with solid mixing. "Rock it." :-) YES

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YES. (No, we just need to update the judging thread later this month.)

Perhaps it's just my opinion because I judge on headphones rather than monitors, but to me the panning is simply too wide, particularly the electric guitar & strings on the right side) and it makes the whole listen imbalanced. I didn't have any issue with the bass levels at all, and I thought the arrangement was a solid, smoove rock arrangement. Some of the string samples felt exposed (e.g. 1:56-2:03), but moments like that were brief, and I really dug the instrumentation overall. Some might poo on the finish being abrupt, but it wasn't a big deal, IMO. Tweak the panning so it's more stereo, and I'm cool with this and would just change the vote. Awesome piece and strong instrumentation choices, Tim. NO (refine/resubmit)

On the plus side, I liked the cinematic approach. Other than the vox being problematic and some textures not clicking 100%, the sound design's ambitious. Cool intro with the crystalline SFX. Vox opening at :09 was OK, though the organs at :20 sounded too squeaky clean, and so it sounded awkward when the organ chords would drop and empty space was left; at :31, the volume of the padding was raised to help mitigate the issue. I thought the unrealistic choir vox sequencing/articulations were an issue (e.g. :00-:19, :44-1:02, 1:19-1:53), and should have been smoothed out, so I'm with DragonAvenger and zykO on that. The string sequencing also had some tightly-timed moments, though 1:02-1:19 had a pleasing string sound for sure. Overall, I'm with them that the overall timing of the vox was blocky and silted, with 1:19-1:53 being the worst (and most extended) offender, and that this dragged down the execution on a production level. Not sure what was going on with the writing from 1:36-1:53 also; it was a variation of the verse melody, but the combination of the lead and supporting string writing didn't sound right at all. The textures from 2:09-2:25 didn't click, mostly due to the percussion not being the right fit, but it was a brief passage. Smaller detail, but the change from the verse to the chorus at 2:40 didn't make sense. If you're transposing the verse, why not transpose the chorus as well? I'm not trying to make the perfect the enemy of the good. I think it's a solid WIP that mainly needs vox refinements before it should pass, and tightening up other brief issues of odd textures and writing would be a bonus. I'm in the minority, as it's not a bad track and it plays to the strengths of what makes Alex's arrangement work, i.e. not changing the melodic structures, but meaningfully personalizing the sounds/instrumentation. NO (resubmit)

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S'fine.

OC ReMix presents Heart of a Gamer: A Tribute to Satoru Iwata December 6, 2015 Contact: press@ocremix.org FAIRFAX, VA..."On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata (1959-2015) On what would have been Satoru Iwata's 56th birthday, OverClocked ReMix pays tribute to the late game developer and president & CEO of Nintendo with the community's latest album, Heart of a Gamer: A Tribute to Satoru Iwata. Iwata was a gigantic figure in the world of video games whose loss was felt throughout the gaming community and around the world on July 11th of this year. Heart of a Gamer features six tracks from eight artists arranging themes from eight soundtracks of games developed or contributed to by Satoru Iwata, a man whose life work was making the world a better & brighter place through video games. Organized by director Gerry "The Damned" Wheatley, and featuring artwork of Iwata surrounded by characters of games he worked on by Davy "Odai" Owen, Heart of a Gamer is available for free download at http://ocremix.org/info/Heart_of_a_Gamer:_A_Tribute_to_Satoru_Iwata. This album was produced to help promote video game music, was made by fans, for fans, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo or HAL Laboratory; all original compositions, characters, and logos are copyright their respective owners. The album's selection of games from Satoru Iwata's career includes: Super Smash Bros. Melee & Brawl Kirby's Adventure Rollerball Nintendo Land & Balloon Fight EarthBound; and Pokémon Gold Version. "Whether in front of a computer monitor or a boardroom of investors, Iwata's love of games were what came first," observed director Gerry Wheatley. "His devotion to his company was never truer when, in financial trouble, he took a pay cut to make sure his employees were safe. When his colleagues were in need, he lent his time and skill to save their games. He wasn't just another name in the credits. He was truly part of the team." Heart of a Gamer marks Gerry Wheatley's second directorial effort for OC ReMix. His first directed album in 2011, Pokémon: The Missingno Tracks, also honored a game franchise critically influenced and assisted by Satoru Iwata. 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. ### Download it: http://ocremix.org/info/Heart_of_a_Gamer:_A_Tribute_to_Satoru_Iwata Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Heart_of_a_Gamer_-_A_Tribute_to_Satoru_Iwata.torrent Comments/Reviews: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/42317-

Download it: http://ocremix.org/info/Heart_of_a_Gamer:_A_Tribute_to_Satoru_Iwata Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Heart_of_a_Gamer_-_A_Tribute_to_Satoru_Iwata.torrent "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." Whether in front of a computer monitor or a boardroom of investors, Iwata's love of games were what came first. His "Ask Iwata" series combed through the histories of Nintendo games, old and new. His humor in the Nintendo Direct videos showed a side we hardly see from company presidents. His devotion to his company was never truer when, in financial trouble, he took a pay cut to make sure his employees were safe. When his colleagues were in need, he lent his time and skill to save their games. Why would he do all these things? "In my heart, I am a gamer." - Gerry Wheatley (The Damned)

Yep, this is outside of what we look for. NO OVERRIDE

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

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

I'm sure you've never seen a silly song title with no voiceclip before.

The timing of the performance of everything should have smoother. The mixing was also incredibly cluttered and imbalanced in the fuller sections, with parts stepping all over each other (e.g. :56-1:04, 1:12-1:20 as the first two examples, but MANY, MANY time throughout the piece). With that in mind, arrangement-wise, I would argue this isn't an extreme case of medley-itis. Though the themes are individually there for short periods of time, all of them are arranged with legitimate interpretation and there's care given to making most the changes from theme to theme smooth, plus there's frequent interplay of multiple sources at once as well as the main SMB theme being used multiple times instead of one-and-done. The arrangement's creative, but there's a total lack of polish on the mixing side as well as lots of loose timing that kills this dead. Wonderful concept, Hugo; for future works, you need to give more attention to the post-production detail work. NO (resubmit)

Just noting, I don't have a problem with an artist mentioning they won't revise a track, and neither should anyone else; that's their prerogative. Artists should keep in mine though that, it doesn't change the outcome of whether we'd pass something or not. Whether an artist is just "done" in their mind with a track or the source file became corrupted and edits aren't possible, all we can do as judges is see what's in front of us and go from there. Opening bubbly synths were cool, though the saw synth first used at :12 was bland/vanilla. Small thing, but I heard lots of soft clicks/pops through :23-:37 as well. Make sure to listen back to your renders just to sanity-check this stuff. The energy of the piece isn't bad, but the groove was pretty thin when things picked up and the simplistic clap groove didn't fill out the background enough. Some tasteful, more consistent ambient padding could go a long way into not letting this piece feel so barren, and making the overall groove more varied and sophisticated would help also. Cool stuff so far, T.K., and I definitely hope we hear more from you. NO (resubmit)

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Says the 6th: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoru_Iwata

I made some text layout tweaks, but otherwise everything's good on the art. 12/5's pretty tight, but I'll take the lead and do what I can to push it out. May be more like 12/6 US time, which is a little later, but doing my best!

Anyway, checking it one more time, there's good stuff like the flourishes from :54-1:00 & 1:42-1:49, and there's minimal yet original backing patterns on support here. That said, Dave's actually right that even for an awesome mandolin cover, even the interpretive aspects like those flourishes I pointed out are just repeated wholesale. From verse to verse & chorus to chorus, there's no dynamic contrast. Some further variation in the second and third iterations of the theme (before the fade) would help. The performance & mixing are fleek level, but djp's right in that beyond the instrument adaptation it's just too conservative, repetitive, and underdeveloped, and I appreciate his check. It's only 2:10-long, and 2 1/2 samey verses with a fade doesn't get it done, so you do in fact need to bring more interpretation to the table. More melodic interpretation and/or creative original part-writing that integrated well would have been that nudge to put it over the top. I wouldn't be upset at all if this passed, BUT, I'll agree on a closer look that it's not there on the arrangement/interpretation level. Still a badass cover though. NO (resubmit)

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Super-dated groove and stilted articulations that bring you back to the good ole' days of the scene. I agreed with OA that the melody's excellent, so I'd love to hear someone else give this theme their own spin with today's standards in mind.

Sweet show! Looking forward to season 2!