Liontamer

Artist: Zanezooked 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! 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

Not sure why the "Within the Giant" melody at :43 was pushed down, and I was going to complain about it, but then it had a nice contrast with its brighter, more upfront placement at 1:12, so I'm glad the intentional contrast was there. Soundscape when the beats were in play was muddy and cramped; things would sound clearer when the beats dropped out, so maybe it's something about the beats and bass kicks. Changeup in "Crazy Motorcycle" at 2:14 was kind of abrupt, but I see how there was a transition to it, so I'll live. Then more crunch and clutter at 2:29 (none of it due to the lead guitar, just the backing chugs). Cooler texture at 3:11 after things opened back up, then some really lame claps & beats from 3:26-3:40 that sounded too lossy and felt stapled on top, same as they did at :28. 4:40-4:57 had something panned mostly in the left ear that sounded like fluttering popping; very odd. Would love another mixing pass at this, because it's still lacks clarity/sharpness IMO, as well as some instrumentation tweaks, but the arrangement carries it vs. the production/mixing. Very cool combination of the themes, the ambitiousness definitely shows through. YES

We have the new version linked in the first post. @prophetik music @DarkSim See if the new mixing job changes your calls. :-)

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Nice job giving this theme different surrounding textures to personalize the sound. Building beats and a bassline around it wasn't a direction I necessarily expected, but everything's airy & stylish while feeling low-key. YES

The intro took so long, I was like “where’s the theme???”, but it came in more overtly for me toward the end of the build, then the melody arrived at :58. Loved the way the textures constantly were messed around with, and dug the fun interpretation! :-) YES

Vocals aren’t my favorite, more because they’re mixed in a way that muds together with the instrumentation rather than standing out. But there’s the contrast of the sung vocals at 1:57 where things are more upfront, so that was good. Stylish, messy metal, full of power! :-) YES

Hooooooooooly shit! Funky, chippy, rockin’! Nice work, y’all! :-) YES

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Takes a while to spin up, with the source finally arriving at :38; there's not much melodic interpretation, and while I like the soundscape, it's pretty muddy, though I get that there's intention behind it. I'd like to hear more variation/development of the core beat, because once you hear that thick kick pattern come in at 1:31, it's just on auto pilot. At 1:47, the soundscape got cramped and it felt like parts were clipping or distorting; again, it feels like there's intention behind it all, both the textures, the crunch, and the way things sound distant, but the musician Js may have some feedback on how to achieve a stronger sound, because what's here now sounds more like a lossy encoding rather than 100% an aesthetic, which I believe would be the goal. There was some original writing at 2:39 that was OK, but sounded kind of awkward. By 3:30, I felt like I was just hearing previous sections with just a little more intensity, then it quickly shifted into noise (not said in a perjorative way) for more of an SFX & effects-based finish that was interesting. This would have made it in ye olden days 20+ years ago, and I like the concept, Roemer; let's see what further polish you can add to improve the soundscape and vary up the feel of it post-1:31. NO (resubmit)

Artist: 100%ROEMER my life is an abyssal hellscape of automation envelopes and reverb decay 612 minutes FL20 + Famisynth (the groaning sample is the inversion of a rusty chair as it slowly rocked to and fro for three minutes)

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Artist Name: Gaspode Midna, one of the best characters of all time from »The Legend Of Zelda«. Her theme is strange and mysterious and it seems as the individual notes are always moving in a different direction than you expect. So it’s the perfect theme from another reality, the twilight realm. I started this theme with the pulsing sound that starts at the beginning of 0:19. From there the remix evolved into something dark and slow like the original theme. The part with the violas in the center was played with an synthsound at first. But I decided to work once again with Niki Yaghmaee, who did the violin lead on my Metroid remix »Frozen Echoes«. This time he played viola and violin and took the quality of the piece to another level. Basically this remix was almost finished a few weeks ago but I tweaked and optimised little bits almost every day until I finally was satisfied. So here it is, my bow to an awesome theme in an awesome game. I hope you will enjoy it. Games & Sources Name of game(s) arranged: »The Legend Of Zelda – Twilight Princess« Name of individual song(s) arranged: »Midna’s Theme«

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Artist Name: tibonev Arranged for the Pixel-Mixers 'Crossed Paths' OT2 Tribute Album. A bit of changing time signatures, heavy-ish guitars and loads of synths. Instead of going with the most obvious reference which was John Carpenter's Halloween Theme, i decided to sprinkle in some Rush and a bit of Mitch Murder in it. I used the chord progressions from the source, but added a modified version of the chords, for the bridge, the main melody is intact, but i added lots of variations, pads and etc. And i gotta say, i really like that whistling synth sound i got for the outro. :) Games & Sources Game: Octopath Traveler II Source Track: Doubt is What i Do. Source Youtube Link:

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Artist: Nuac I didn't add too much and can probably add a little more in the future. I like the original song so I didnt try to add too much, I went with Chiptune; its what im familiar with the most. I tried adding some rising ornamental notes inbetween parts, but tried to keep it in the spirit of the original, except I'd imagine it being on the gameboy. I'm new to this, so hi ?? Games & Sources Marvel Super Heroes (Spider-man Theme) Capcom Sound Team people used Pseudonyms to prevent people from other companies contacting them for jobs. A google search brought "ANARCHY TAKAPON" who is TAKAYUKI IWAI Apparently.

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Oh shoot, never commented on this one, when it's a crystalline beauty. My bad, always loved this track, and it holds up very well, decades later. Nice work, Zeratul! :-)

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When you’re right, you’re right! (Fixed!)

Artist Name: Outset Initiative I originally composed this remix in 2019 for the Materia Community album "EXILE: A Tribute to Supergiant Games". This song has always been a personal favorite of mine from the Bastion soundtrack, and it was certainly one of the more challenging pieces I've to worked on to date. Darren's guitar performance makes up so much of the feeling of the original, which isn't something that you can just translate into midi. Since I wasn't using any guitars in my composition, I decided to directly follow the chord structure from the original to make sure there was always a clear link back to the source. That gave me a bit of freedom to have some fun and riff on the piano, which gives the track a loose jazzy feeling that I really enjoy. Due to some poor mixing decisions I made on the first iteration of this track, I decided to shelve the remix after the album launched and not to submit to OCR. The community album ended up getting pulled from distribution a few years later, which was a bummer... but it did give me an opportunity to revisit the track. I had some inspiration and free time a few weeks ago and decided it would be fun to resurrect the project and re-mix it from scratch. It was an enjoyable process and gratifying to see how much my process has changed and improved over the last few years. It's amazing how much you can do with tight EQing and a clear vision of how you want the track to feel and how each instrument should fit into the mix. I ended using probably 1/4 of the plugins as the original version and the difference is night and day. It's a good reminder that less can certainly be more, especially in our digital world where there's a plugin for everything. I'm quite glad I took the time to come back to this one – I hope y'all enjoy!