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Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

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Everything posted by Liontamer

  1. Surprised I never chimed in on this one, since I've been a fan of it since it was posted. Strong orchestration of a classic!
  2. I wouldn't have minded more dynamics, but this sets a great mood. Russell's work really sounded luxurious back in the day, he always had strong samples relative to what was out there at the time. This holds up nicely, and I'd probably rank him at the top for ReMixers along with Nigel Simmons in terms of whose work I'd want to hear with a live orchestra.
  3. MIDI-riffic, but we stan Chocobo here. :-) When’s someone else going to hit this theme???
  4. I hope Juverna's doing well, it's been two decades since I've gotta to chat with her. We all know this is dated, including Candy herself, but at least it reps an interesting game that never gets arranged. Her FF4 mix is a little bit cleaner.
  5. Nice genteel approach. Great candidate for sheet music and a live adaptation, IMO, particularly after the twist in style for the second half. We miss you, Gray; hope you resurface one day. :-)
  6. I can hear how it's Disco Dan's style and instrumentation, though I do enjoy how it doesn't fit in the dance mold like most of his work. It'll sound like I don't like DD's typical style (when those are some of the catchiest on the site); I'd definitely love to hear more takes like this from Dan where there's an electronic overall sound, but not in the dance realm. Nice to hear another wrinkle to his game, even from way, way back. :-)
  7. The samples are dated, and I wish this didn't clip so much. Fun for what it was, though I wish the brass had more meat to it. Lighthearted stuff. :-)
  8. Similar to the knock on Lucas with the initial version of "Net Fish and Chill", the sax performance needs more practice to achieve a strong, fluid sound. When the sax was the lead, the tone felt very shaky and honky plus the timing was super stilted, like a sax VST being played in by keyboard (1:15-1:54, 2:36-2:54). The way it's mixed downplayed those issues some, and the genre transformation's strong, so I understand why this otherwise sailed through, and this isn't a strong dissent. It's one of those tracks where I love it, but would send it back; I think, if Lucas spends lot of time on his sax work, he'd listen back years later, pick it apart, and know he could nail this much better. Fun stuff, great genre choice, but with one notable area of improvement that could have made this fully cohesive. Lucas's overall mixing sounds solid, and the musicianship of everything else is the bee's knees. NO (resubmit)
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  12. Artist Name: shieldeater hi OCR, this track is my take on "Dr. Andonuts' Lab". the source is fairly minimal - mainly three melodic fragments over a drone. i build it out from there with guitar, bass, drums, strings, and reharmonizing with each repetition and adding a couple of "beatlesque" touches. it ends up in a place that feels a little warmer and more hopeful than the emotionally distant original, perhaps suggesting the possibility of reconciliation. hope you enjoy! Games & Sources This track arranges "Dr. Andonuts' Lab" from EarthBound (original composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka). There are also one or two brief quotes from other Earthbound material.
  13. Artist Name: Xaleph, Zack Parrish, Pixels & Paradiddles Assignments: Arrangers: Xaleph everything but the solo section Paradiddles 2:19-3:14 Mastering: Zack Parrish Guitarists: Pixels and Zack Parrish Bass Guitar: Zack Parrish Drums: Paradiddles Vocals: Xaleph (everything but growling) Pixels (growling) Commentary: Ok so... normally I don't sing a lot and I'm pretty self conscious of my voice. I did a lot of singing when I was younger but not so much in the last 10-15 years other than in the car, at church, or in the shower. We wanted this competition piece to be a curveball where it wasn't really clear who did it. We also wanted the sages to do a song together, thought it would be fun! We really enjoyed this song, would love to talk about the process of writing it, performing it, and all the in/outs beyond what I wrote here. This song we tried to make it one of the more complex songs we've written given the ridiculous time signature changes in both pieces. It was such a blast to write, perform, write lyrics for, and produce. Crafting singable and captivating lyrics for FF7-RE2 proved to be a formidable challenge. The introductory section is set in 6/4 time, transitioning to a bridge in 5/4, and is followed by a loop of 8/4 (two measures of 4/4), 7/4, 7/4, and 7/4. I also re-recorded certain parts rather than merely copying and pasting to infuse more emotion. This complexity is partly attributable to my arrangement of the song, as we aimed to create one of the more technically demanding pieces to perform while maintaining its catchiness. The drummer, guitarists, and bassists all executed their parts brilliantly. In reference to the RE2 malformation of the G theme, the chorus vocals overlay this motif/theme atop the FF7 line. The intricate time signature changes in RE2, when mapped onto the equally complex signatures of FF7, required considerable effort to achieve a natural song flow. We wanted this to be a hidden flex to those perceptive musicians, drawing inspiration from Tool, known for their complex compositions. We also have a more refined version of this song that we will release at a later time Lyrics: Stay Away Music by Xaleph, Zack Parrish, Pixels & Paradiddles Lyrics by Xaleph Doesn't feel right It's in my veins Pressure hurts Melting brain My mind is split Split inside This headache burns Breathing hurts It doesn't feel right Something's inside Wide awake (What am I again?) Zombie (Surging through my skin) I don't like this virus I don't feel like myself I didn't choose violence (Walls are turning) Violence is pulsing in me I just want to take a rest I didn't choose violence (Zombie) Wide awake (What am I again?) Zombie (Surging through my skin) Wide awake (Doesn't feel right) Something's burning in my brain (Split inside) Cruel machinations Stay Away (Who am I?) Walls are turning (What am I?) Fight the strain Disorientation (What am I again?) ...disorientation Stay away (Doesn't feel right) Far away (Split inside) Stay away (Who am I?) Far away (What am I?) Wide awake (Doesn't feel right) Zombie (Split inside) Wide awake (Who am I?) Zombie (What am I?) Stay away (Doesn't feel right) Far away (Split inside) Stay away (Who am I?) Far away (What am I?) Stay Away source breakdown: “Hurry Up!” (Aka “Hurry Faster!”) from Final Fantasy VII 0:00-0:13 - Intro/A (6) 0:13-0:22 - B (8-7-7-7) 0:22-0:34 - A’ 0:34-0:44 - B’ 0:44-0:56 - C (7x3, 6, 7) 0:56-1:20 - D (6 - unused) “The 2nd Malformation of ‘G’” from Resident Evil 2 0:00-0:11 - Intro 0:11-0:25 - A (RE2 motif) 0:25-0:33 - B (vamp to loop point, repeat from intro) Stay Away 0:00-0:17 - Original material (shape resembles front portion of Hurry Up! A) 0:17-0:21 - Hurry Up! A tail 0:21-0:39 - original material/Hurry Up! A repeat, drums make small reference to 1:20-1:28 of “Jenova Absolute” from FF7 in tabla sample triggering 0:39-0:45 - Hurry Up! A tail repeat 0:45-0:56 - Hurry Up! B in band, variation of 2nd Malformation A section melody in vocal 0:56-1:22 - Hurry Up! A in full, played twice 1:22-1:43 - 2nd Malformation intro, transmogrified into complex time signature 1:43-2:13 - Hurry Up! B in band, 2nd Malformation A in vocal 2:18-3:14 - Hurry Up! C front end, variation of 2nd Malformation intro back half. Section inspired by drum solo section (4:06-5:06) of “Forty-Six & 2” by Tool 3:14-3:31 - variation of intro riff 3:31-3:52 - Hurry Up! B without vocal 3:52-4:12 - Hurry Up! B in band, 2nd Malformation A in vocal 4:12-4:29 - repeat of 3:14-3:31 Games & Sources Final Fantasy VII - Hurry Up! (Hurry Faster!) https://musescore.com/user/27353615/scores/8336132 Resident Evil 2 - Second Malformation of G A Section: 7/8, 9/8, 7/8, 9/8 A->B 7/8, 4/4 B: 4/4 x 8 C: 4/4 x 3, 2/4, 5/4 (back to A on loop) Also - we did have a reference to FF7 Jenova Absolute, though it was not a part of the mashup. 0:21-0:39 - original material/Hurry Up! A repeat, drums make small reference to 1:20-1:28 of “Jenova Absolute” from FF7 in tabla sample triggering
  14. Artist Name: Zanezooked Original Decision RESUBMISSION of https://ocremix.org/community/topic/53085-no-myth-1-2-victory-at-madrigal/ My original submission received kind words for the arrangement but was criticized for the mastering and sample quality. Hopefully this revision addresses that. I also took the opportunity to make some other changes. List of changes: Quality string libraries are now used: Spitfire Abbey Road One Soaring High Strings and Legendary Low Strings for violins, cellos, and basses; Audio Imperia Areia for violas; and EastWest Hollywood Strings for tremolos and other special dynamics. (The brass, by the way, is Aaron Venture Infinite Brass, and the brief flute and piccolo are from Aaron Venture Infinite Woodwinds. The solo cello is the Audio Modeling SWAM Solo Cello performed on an Akai EWI USB.) Mixing and EQing was completely redone, track by track, using Izotope Neutron Mastering was redone using Izotope Ozone. The solo cello has been carefully EQed using reference recordings of real solo cellos, and placed in the mix better to make it feel more like an organic part of the whole. It no longer blares over the whole orchestra. In the mid-track crescendo leading into the triumphant stings, the female choir now sings a falling sequence, while the male choir still sings the original rising sequence. This signifies Shiver's fall into despair and Rabican's growing power over her. Also, a falling female choir sounds better—less shrill. The female choir has been redone using six AI voices from ACE Studio, layered together, and then layered with the original EastWest Hollywood Choirs. I had asked about potentially doing this in one of the threads about AI and no one objected, so hopefully this is okay. AI did none of the compositional work for me. The process of crafting the AI voices is exactly the same as the process I used originally with the sample-based EastWest Hollywood Choirs: I placed all the notes, assigned them phonemes, and then tweaked expression parameters to try to get something that sounds natural. The difference is that you can actually hear the consonants and syllables with the ACE Studio singers. This ad hoc choir wouldn’t work if the AI singers were exposed, but as part of a mix I’m pleased with how it turned out. At the end of the track I added an extra bar between the brass statement of the theme and the return to the piano and cello, to provide an extra breath. Original submission notes: I’ve been a regular visitor to OCRemix since 2002. A significant portion of my music library comes from here. So it’s with some trepidation that I send my first submission. And not only am I daring to submit to OCRemix, but I also have the hubris to remix the great Michael Salvatori and Mr. Halo himself, Marty O’Donnell! “The Siege of Madrigal” is a piano piece by Michael Salvatori. It’s one of two simple but gorgeous melodies Salvatori composed “in the style of Marty” which Marty O’Donnell loved so much he integrated in multiple ways into the soundtracks of their respective games (the other is “Unforgotten” from Halo 2, which saw a return as “Never Forget” in Halo 3). Marty loved “The Siege of Madrigal” so much he even hid it inside Halo, so for many people it’s known as “the Halo Easter Egg Song.” I heard it in Myth, though, years before Halo, so I know it as the song that plays as the war-weary, anonymous narrator describes a last-chance plan to strike the armies of the Dark and their leader, the Fallen Lord Shiver, and break the siege that is strangling the city of Madrigal. Myth is a game about small, desperate battles fought by a single battalion on the fringes of a greater, losing war, so we don’t directly see what happens at Madrigal; the player spends the mission running a diversionary raid to try to draw some of the enemy away from the city. But in the following mission briefing we are told what happened: This sudden, unexpected victory in the face of certain defeat is what Tolkien would term a eucatastrophe. It captured my imagination. I tried to tell that story in this remix. We start with the Siege of Madrigal theme in piano in its original C major, but with the rising quartet of notes between phrases removed to make it more hesitant. The addition of harmonic high strings underlines the uncertainty. At 0:30 a solo cello picks up the theme. Marty O’Donnell made the low cello the featured instrument in Myth, so this seemed appropriate. (Also, I love the cello.) The rising quartet of notes is restored, making the theme a little more hopeful. At 0:59 we get a sweeping string statement of the Madrigal theme, but the peak of the melody is lowered from A to F, making it more somber and unresolved. At 1:28 the piano comes back along with high string tremolos, but instead of finishing the melodic phrase with a D, it modulates into an unresolved and uneasy D#, taking us into the key Db, while we also switch from 3/4 to 7/8 time. The next part represents the “dream duel” between Rabican and Shiver. What’s a dream duel? It’s never specified. I imagined each duelist attempting to invade the other’s mind and plant thoughts that undermine their strength and open them to attack. Shiver’s weakness was vanity, which seems strange for a 1000-year-old undead crone who looks the part. But she wasn’t always an undead crone. So perhaps Rabican’s strategy is to remind her of what she has lost. She may be immortal, but is it worth it if this is how she spends eternity? Rabican’s persistent attacks on Shiver’s psyche are represented by a male choir and a creepy, guttural chant in Irish, with Shiver’s thoughts are represented by a female choir also singing Irish. Irish names and words are often used in Myth, though not very accurately—more for flavor—so this seemed appropriate. I used Google Translate and then found an audio pronunciation for each word, and I’m sure I mangled it, and it’s not like it’s understandable anyway, but hey, it gave me something to work with, and I thought it was cool. At 1:31 the male chant begins: At 1:45 the low cello starts an aggressive, grinding ostinato. This is the "Great Library” theme from Myth II: Soulblighter, by Marty O’Donnell. At 2:01 the female choir sings a fast, 7/8 version of "Fallen Lords" theme from Myth: The Fallen Lords, by Marty O’Donnell: 2:22: the men’s choir rises ominously, doubled in horns to give their line punch as Rabican pushes the blade as deep as he can: 2:30 the women sing, 2:37 men and women sing together: The section builds to a frantic crescendo and then the clouds part at 2:56 as the Madrigal theme returns with its high A restored. The low cello is still prominent but now rhythmically supports the triumphant tone of the strings. At 3:23 we get a final, driving reprise of the theme in full glory, with horns and trombones taking the melody, a soaring counterpoint in the trumpets, and a bodhrán (Irish drum) pulling us forward. At 3:51 we end with a final statement of the Madrigal theme on cello and piano, made hopeful by borrowing a high sequence from the earlier trumpet counterpoint. There’s an image from Myth I was thinking of here, a soldier standing on a battlefield, arms spread, face to the opened heavens. The battle is won. Weariness and joy mingle like the rain. (Madrigal would be utterly destroyed months later. But don’t tell our soldier that.) I hope this is an enjoyable remix! Games & Sources Myth: The Fallen Lords The Siege of Madrigal, by Michael Salvatori The Fallen Lords, by Marty O'Donnell Myth II: Soulblighter The Great Library, by Marty O'Donnell
  15. Artist Name: Mellow Sonic Thought I'd try submitting that one too. The menu theme from Half-Life is quite nice, unfortunately too short and I decided to reinterpret a longer version of it. Games & Sources
  16. Artist Name: Mellow Sonic I'm not really a big Assassin's Creed fan, but this Ezio's Family theme by jesper kyd is just epic. After hearing it, I thought I could play a bit of it. Now, after several attempts, I've finally finished the remix. All parts were played freely, nothing was sampled from the original! cheers! Games & Sources
  17. Always been a fan of this theme. The sound design and writing of the beats at :23 felt somewhat vanilla, but there's solid enough heft to the beats. The sound design for the lead's also pretty vanilla & straightforward; again, it gets by, but could be more sophisticated. I liked the addition of the belltones at 1:10 to vary up the feel, followed by some subtle countermelodic writing added at 1:33, another strong and creative touch to offer some dynamic contrast. Good dropoff of the beats at 1:57, though this section sounded murkier/lossier than any other area of the track; that only lasted until 2:21 though, so that wasn't a huge deal in the big picture. The repetitiveness of the 2:44 was admittedly a little disappointing, but the lead had a slightly different tone, and then changed at 3:09 to a highr pitch, so that was enough to at least not be in cut-and-paste territory. Another subtle change in the tone and textures at 3:31 for the final section, all good stuff! There's room for more production sophistication, sure, yet that obviously doesn't discount the quality already here. Nothing wrong with working within a narrower dynamic curve as long as the arrangement is interpretive and substantive, so nice work to 7DD9 on the subtle, expansive development of this one. :-) YES
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  19. Lord Gwyn's Age of Fire is an orchestral arrangement that completely reimagines the noted piano work of Motoi Sakuraba. While effectively a bar-for-bar translation, the meter has been shifted from 3/4 to 7/8 time. The result is a far more energetic and cinematic remix, embellished with new harmonies and counter melodies. The title infers a programmatic retelling of Gwyn's Age of Fire from the perspective of the primordial serpents Frampt and Kaathe. While otherwise maintaining the original formatting of Sakuraba's work, each section has been augmented in some way by the various colors of the orchestra to convey the theoretical high and low points of Gwyn's reign. The composition was made entirely with the following VST plugins: Spitfire Audio - BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional Spitfire Audio - Albion One EW Pianos Gold Bosendorfer EW Hollywood Fantasy Voices DAW - Studio One Audio Mixing - iZotope: Ozone 10, Neutron 4, Stratus3D Reverb Wave SSL G-Master Buss Compressor Thank you in advance for your time. I hope you enjoyed listening. Games & Sources Game: Dark Souls Track title: Gwyn, Lord Of Cinder Composer: Motoi Sakuraba Original style: A lament for solo piano
  20. This track was made to replace the original one as background music on a fan-remake of the game. This fan-remake have changed orientation and the track being a remix was no longer needed (I have made an original track in replacement). The goal of the remix was to extend the original track to make it less repetitive in game and to make it more dense and layered (more heavy and modern/orchestral in a sense), while keeping the overall sadness and tone. The mix was not tested in game, therefore the track can't really be put in a game like this as some elements/part would likely be too loud/present for gameplay. Games & Sources This is an extended remix of the Old Prague Hub in Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. The original track was composed by Kevin Manthei.
  21. Cheers to Zack for another strong mastering effort. I was a solid NO last time, so let's see where the snow falls this time. The extended intro remains solid, and on the arrangement side, I'm basically on board. I like the texture overall at 1:41 when the source melody kicks in and I like the delayed sting writing working together with the wind lead. There's still areas where there's non-melodious/off-key writing that's impacting this. At 2:16-2:37 the pizz string writing off-key; if that were the only area, it's subtle enough that I'd let it go. The strings at 2:47 were too loud and dry, which exposed the sample, and the texture was too muddy; the strings didn't need to come in that loud and bury the supporting elements, like the mallet percussion, which practically inaudible, and then there's drum hits that still sound like they have popping/distorting going on. Still much too muddy. At 2:53, there's brass support underneath that all sounds like indistinct mud; zero clarity, so you have to be paying attention for that part to even really register until it gets even louder (and muddier) at 3:24. The piano transition's at 3:50's nice, but then we have that keyboard stuff at 3:54 and that sounds off-key as well, plus the tone of the part doesn't fit well, IMO, due to how stilted the timing felt (a problem all the way until 4:34). At 4:10, this is another section where there's loads of mud and it makes it very difficult to parse what's going on. The plucked dulcimer/harp-type stuff, whatever that was until 4:34, is buried. The booming bassline and vox padding are too muddy until 4:34 as well. At 4:26, I still dislike the lead due to how stilted it sounds. And then again with the stiff-sounding lead from 4:38-4:46; like 2:16, this writing was also more meandering and non-melodious but in a subtle enough way that I can look past it. Same issue with the music box stuff from 4:52-5:11; again, not egregiously wrong notes, and the tone's actually very good for that instrument, but the writing's meandering rather than melodic so it doesn't lead the listener in a direction. Good mixing/clarity for that closing section though, and solid sound designed for everything else. To summarize: * The arrangement aspect remains a pass. Now, most of the production/mixing sounds solid. * 2:53-3:47 needs less mud/clutter. Let the texture have more breathing room. * Pull back the string volume at 2:47. * The non-melodious writing needs tweaks. On the whole though, the structure and dynamics of the writing here are solid. * Some of the leads sound stiff to me, which may be a personal taste thing. Definitely a marked improvement in terms of mixing/decluttering things, so this resub's well in the right direction. Even if you need some time away from this for perspective, this one's getting closer and closer. No need to be discouraged; I think this has a place waiting for it, but some further refinements are needed to tip it over. NO (resubmit)
  22. Not a fan of how lossy & crunchy the mixing feels; why so muddy? Nice textural shift at 1:08. Yeah, I just don't get the mixing, but I'm stubborn as a moose there; it sounds like someone had a boombox and then recorded the playback from that speaker. :-D Not that it would excuse it for me, but "Mooserun" doesn't sound like this either, so /shrug. No question the arrangement's strong, which is the Mazedude way. The arrangement's strong, so it's a squeaker for me. YES (borderline)
  23. Original Decision This is essentially a resubmit of a track I created 10 years ago and subbed back in 2015: https://ocremix.org/community/topic/42221-no-aleste-2-msx-flying-high/. Not sure if it's the slowest resubmit in the history of OCR, but it's probably in the top 10 somewhere :) Anyway, back then I used a primitive sample library for some vocals, which was the main thing that the judges commented on. Fast forward 10 years, and technology (and hopefully my skills as a remixer) have progressed a lot, and I was able to replace the so-so vocals from back then with Synthesizer V vocals. The lyrics are still cheesy and limited/affected by what I could make work in the previous version, but I like it that way. Apart from new vocals, I also recorded a bit of guitar, polished up the lead parts, sprinkled some effects and subtle extra parts in there, cleaned up the mix and overall brought it the track into 2024. When comparing, the old version sounds a bit boring and limited and also rather woolly in the midrange. So hopefully this one fares better in the panel. At least now I'm finally able to cross this off my todo list and can continue with properly finishing and submitting another 10 year old track idea ;) link to the previous version: Games & Sources Aleste 2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleste_2), source is the first level music:
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