Liontamer

Good energy, though I would have loved a tighter guitar performance and more sophisticated/fuller textures in the build-up of the rock section. Swanky transition to the piano, even though the timing was very blocky. This theme needs more love.

Dated, but I definitely rocked this back in the day. Good use of some bread-and-butter FruityLoops. This theme got a lot of love in the old days. I'd love to see someone else revisit it with another very transformative take with the current standards in place. That said, this is a good genre adaptation for its time from Ty.

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

It's fixed, but should take a few hours to update on YouTube. Thanks!

I'm not sure what caused the issue, but we'll fix it the next time we do a post-3,000 torrent set. For whatever reason, the field "%disc" was populated with a 1 somehow, but the actual field we use is normally "%discnumber." If you load the file in MP3tag, just view the extended tags window and delete the Disc field.

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

Wow. Jesus H. Christ. Liam, no hate, but what are you listening back to your stuff on? That flute at :17 is ear-breaking. OK, yeah, the levels on everything are jacked for the brightest elements, so you'll have to go back and re-balance the volume of things to reduce the overall volume and the clutter during the densest sections. I disliked the snare tone, and didn't think it fit the track, but there are enough other good things going on with the rest of the arrangement that I can look the other way. Again, the levels are jacked, but just looking at the writing and the build, you hit some good grandiose writing before an excellent drop at 2:15 toward the finish. I agreed with OA that you could have gotten more mileage out of the arrangement; in particular the ending was a letdown in rehashing the verse for a few seconds before a sudden held orch chord, and then it was just over. Needs to be something more there for a stronger build and finish, IMO. That said, wow, what a start. Awesome energy and a orchestral/rock concept that's already clicking fairly well, maybe 80% of the way there. Definitely don't drop this, get some more feedback, and knock this one out of the park so we can post it! NO (resubmit)

I loved this theme as well, after discovering it back in 2002 from the couple of old-school OC ReMixes of it. OA nailed it both on the arrangement and production crits. There's a lot of extended clutter (e.g. 3:05-3:46) and the meat-and-potatoes/vanilla/basic feel of the production was repetitive, like he alluded to. Dynamically, there are subtle additions and subtractions of various parts, but they don't register that well due to the clutter of the fullest sections. On the arrangement side, this is actually pretty good at getting mileage out of the theme, but OA's right that you basically expended your ideas around the 3-minute mark and this just continues without much further evolution or development. It's a great sound, maybe 70% of the way there in terms of passing for me. Decluttering the soundscape, getting more sophisticated with the sound design and employing some more subtle variations of the melody could be enough to get this above the bar. A bit plain jane for this genre, but the arrangement shows a lot of promise. Keep at it on this one, Mattias! NO (resubmit)

Sounds very lossy to start, but we'll see if that changes. 30 seconds in, I don't think the lo-fi sound is going away. Yeah, you need to clean this up. Pretty low energy lead at :34, which sounds like a gradual build to a more straightforward version of the melody that never comes. The supporting beats, which were relatively basic, were already getting tired by :52. I'm 2:00 in, and I haven't heard the actual theme once, just bass work and VERY liberal and sparse lead work. If the goal's to make something Sonic-esque, that's no problem, but I've heard "Special Stage" a billion times, and this is like a soundalike take that isn't meant to directly use the melody of the original song. Bad notes from 2:55-2:57, repeated from 3:04-3:07. There's Green Hill Zone cameo-ing at 3:13-3:29, which is always a nice melody, but doesn't combine well with those odd notes I just mentioned. Wow, I dunno what OA heard, but I lean toward him being high on whey protein and strongly disagree with a YES on this. Emu nailed why this is a NO-go at the moment on sequencing and production levels. Calbert, I hope you know I like your material, but this isn't the track that'll put you on OCR yet. In short: 1. Don't be too liberal with the theme. Where's the Special Stage melody in all this? 2. Vary up the core beat pattern more. It's too plodding and repetitive, and leaves the track flat in terms of the dynamics. 3. Restore high-end clarity. Also, more of a PS, but you should get someone to perform your FF7 arrangement from 2010 live, and get that piece posted, if you're still interested.

Just noting I'm fine with the circles, but don't care about what's chosen.

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.

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

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

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

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)

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

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)