Liontamer

BE AGGRESSIVE! OC ReMix Celebrates 20 Years of Gunstar Heroes with free album! September 9, 2013 Contact: press@ocremix.org FAIRFAX, VA... OverClocked ReMix today released its 42nd arrangement album, Be Aggressive!: A Gunstar Heroes Tribute Album. The two-disc album celebrates, to the day, the 20th anniversary of the Sega Genesis run-and-gun shooter Gunstar Heroes, developed by Treasure and published by Sega on September 9, 1993. Featuring twenty-four tracks from nineteen artists, Be Aggressive! represents the OC ReMix directorial debuts of Dustin "DusK" Branscum & French musician Dj Mokram and is available for free download at http://gunstar.ocremix.org. "Gunstar Heroes remains even today as a very under-appreciated and under-recognized game," said album director Dustin Branscum. "Even among the remixers who worked on this project, there were those who had missed the game entirely, or discovered it well after the 16-bit golden years. Despite that, at the end of that year-long journey, we had an album that completely exceeded my expectations. We've created an album that makes you feel like you're playing a fast-paced shooter as you listen." Be Aggressive! sports a diverse roster of musicians, showcasing many OC ReMix newcomers, and conveys the feel of Gunstar Heroes' gameplay through predominately aggressive and energetic music with a futuristic, sci-fi aesthetic. The original Gunstar Heroes was the inaugural release of game studio Treasure, founded by a group of ex-Konami developers. Album musicians honored composer Norio Hanzawa's intense soundtrack by arranging it in a number of styles, with a strong focus on electronica and rock. Be Aggressive! was made by fans, for fans, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Treasure or Sega; all original compositions are copyright their respective owners. "Exploiting every ounce of the YM2612 soundchip to deliver some FM synthesis goodness, Gunstar Heroes contains some of the most complex compositions to come out of Sega's machine, making its music surprisingly challenging, yet immensely rewarding to arrange," said album co-director Dj Mokram. "We wanted the album to reflect both the futuristic setting and the frantic nature of the gameplay, while staying true to the story, characters and feel of playing the game itself." 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: Download it: http://gunstar.ocremix.org Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Be_Aggressive_-_A_Gunstar_Heroes_Tribute_Album.torrent Comments/Reviews: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44905

Really smart weaving of the source themes in this arrangement. Those are the best.

Justin asked me to check this one again. I wasn't bothered as much as you, Justin, but you definitely didn't make an invalid point. I could see saying compression was an issue; I didn't get that vibe as much, but the lead synths (e.g. :06-:40, 1:08-1:42, 2:23-2:37) are pretty grating/abrasive, and the supporting writing does get smothered a bit. I'm still borderline on going with it, but your ears ain't broke, and I could change my call on this given your concerns. The leads could use a touch-ups at least, but the arrangement was solid ENOUGH. I'm thinking about it.

Just in case anyone's wondering about a breakdown, I conservatively timed it out: Pac-Man "Start BGM" - :09.5-13.5, :19.5-:27.5, :36.5-:37.5, :39.5-:43.5, 1:01.5-1:09.5, 1:14.5-1:15.5, 1:17.5-1:21.5 Pac-in-Time "Forest" - :15.5-:19.5, :27.5-:36.5, 1:47.5-1:48, 1:49.5-1:50, 1:52.5-1:54, 1:56.75-1:58.25, 1:59.75-2:00.25, 2:02.75-2:03.25, 2:04.75-2:06.25 Ms. Pac-Man "Act 1: They Meet" - 1:33.5-1:42.75, 1:42.75-1:47 (quiet delay effect) Nice energy here, and definitely some cool stuff from Tommy and Dweezil. Cool to have them both officially on this side of the ranks. Unreal.

This is a pretty cool medley cover, but it was a pretty by-the-numbers rock cover of a soundtrack already in this genre. Beyond the sound upgrade, there wasn't enough in place (e.g. creative new part-writing, rhythmic, tempo or instrumentation differences) that personalized this as a unique interpretation of Skitchin' music. Obviously, it was made to hold fast to the feel of the originals, and it's a sweet listen. It's an awesome cover, but I think it falls outside the interpretive scope we're looking for. The original music had energy, but was pretty texturally simple. That's basically what was here, with better sounds; not much else was there to differentiate it from the originals. Some additional writing ideas and personalization could get a solid performance like this through as a more interpretive, personalized arrangement approach. We're actually pretty inviting of cover-ish songs, Phil, but that more interpretive angle also has to be present. NO

Remixer Name : Underphil Real Name : Phil Underhill E-Mail : User : 51229 Game Name : Skitchin' Arrangement Name : Skate Lark Name Of Ind. Songs : Title Track, Cheese Grater, Let's Plow, Psycho Deep Fry, Spicy Placenta Additional : Original composer is Jeff Van Dyck. Game was only on Sega Genesis/Megadrive and was released in 1994. Soundtrack : My Comments : I'd always wanted to turn this soundtrack into a full hard rock production from when I first played the game. 19 years later, I've finally got round to it. I felt it would work perfectly as a heavy 'full band track' and the synth lines deserved to be turned into fully fledged solos. The mix was made entirely in the box using a mixture of Guitar Rig & Amplitube for the guitars and bass and Superior Drummer for the drum lines. I experimentsed with other virtual instruments but preferred the raw sound of just guitar, bass & drums. Rather than make it too long and choppy, I decided to pick my five favourite tracks for the 'medley'. Link to MP3 : --------------------------------- http://project2612.org/details.php?id=54

The piano sample from 1:59-2:39 was pretty fake and exposed. While I liked the melody taking a bit of a backseat to the countermelodic ideas added in from 2:50-3:22, the delay effects and mixing between the parts made things a muddy mess. After that, it wasn't AS bad, but this was another case where the leads and pads were just bleeding into each other a lot until 5:19 had some stuff drop out to at least give a little more breathing room. The pads were louder than anything else from 5:31-6:02. Some variation in the arrangement ideas at 6:12 would have been welcome given how long this piece was. Same muddiness issues standing out a lot from 6:44-7:27, where the theme is barely even audible amongst the other parts. Some additional interpretation ideas for the source tune itself would be good as well, since it's nearly 8 minutes with a lot of repetition. Cleaning up the mixing and making sure the parts are balanced properly during the densest sections is something that has to be addressed. The second thing, which wasn't as important but may be a good move, would be doing a little more to vary the style of the "Bloody Tears" theme throughout, whether it be more variation in the melody, the rhythm, or something else. This is a pretty solid arrangement so far with lots of energy and dynamic shifts as the track went further. Despite the length, that aspect of it (the ebb and flow of the overall energy level) was OK thanks to good buildups and dropoffs. If the mixing gets improved so that you don't have large portions that are cluttered, and a few more melodic variations were employed, then this would be in much better shape. Pretty good so far. NO (resubmit)

Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Mellow Sonic Your real name: Sandro Kreher Your email address: Your websit: http://mellowsonicsound.npage.de/ Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Castlevania II Name of arrangement: Simon's Quest Name of individual song(s) arranged: Bloody Tears --------------------------------------------------

Ain't no download link on the SoundCloud, so I had to settle for listening to it directly there. The arrangement was decent but felt pretty by-the-numbers besides this genre adaptation. By 1:30, I was waiting to hear something more substantially interpretive with the handling of the melody. 1:43 helped a little by the chorus feeling different than the source tune's version due to the beats, but there's a lot of just adapting the tune to a relatively static dance groove and not really much substance going on beyond that. Nearly halfway over, 2:55 finally moved to some original writing ideas to add something new to the picture. 3:28 brought the theme back again, this time with the breath SFX and some new other new writing with the belltones and chord progression stuff. That probably ended up being the most interesting part of the track because of hearing new instrument textures and actually having some dynamic contrast compared to earlier. Back into the source melody at 4:22, which was essentially a copy-paste of 1:12's section; that was a little disappointing. Since the melodic treatment was so straightforward before, that was a chance to provide some sort of variation in the the melodic writing, the instrumentation, the rhythms, just something to build off the interesting ideas presented from 2:55-4:22. It's not that this arrangement was just a cover + beats, far from it. But when the source tune is in play, the melodic treatment was plain enough that none of the ear candy around it mattered. It boils down to a melodic take that didn't sound creative enough with a relatively static groove under it dominating the first half and final section, and it wasn't enough to seal the deal. Anything that could be done to spice that up would be awesome, Matt, because the potential is readily apparent here. NO (resubmit)

Hi there, Please visit my soundcloud link below for my submission: Original VGM below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qbVI9iTBU My mixer name is 'Capitulated Sound' Real Name: Matt Hird Email: Website: http://soundcloud.com/user4076963/ User ID: hulky (Sorry, I tried to find number but had no luck !) Game arranged: Chrono Trigger (SNES) Name of Arrangement: To Far Away Times - Touched Remix Original Track: To Far Away Times Originally VGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qbVI9iTBU Comments: My second attempt breaking through on the OCRemix scene...I previously submitted a Ninga Gaiden remix, "the devil removes his mask". It was a very close and in my opinion "Admirable" decline I did consider your comments but decided not to re-work my track as I personally was pretty happy with the output. Thats not to say I disagree'd with your opinions and I definitely value the constructive feedback! Am hoping this submission may meet the suitably high standard you guys set on your fantastic website. Thanks for listening Matt ------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qbVI9iTBU

That only happens on YouTube. Great work on this, Paul. This is how you do it!

EDIT (11/5): It really took me a while to familiarize myself with the source enough to grasp the arrangement, but I've got my breakdown of what I recognized from the source. Thanks to jn for the thorough breakdown; I didn't agree with it all as far as being overt connections, but there was easily more than enough direct usage of the source: :39.5-1:44, 1:46-1:56, 1:59.75-2:13, 2:39.5-3:30, 4:09-5:00 = 189.25 seconds or 60.46% Onto the production side, this open up interestingly with organ followed by some pretty thin, fake stuff guitar at :13. The drumming and backing guitar work at :26 sounded pretty flimsy and lacking energy at first blush, but I think it ended up sounding OK. The lead at :40 sounded pretty nice, and I liked the dual layered leads at :52 a lot; good escalation and dynamic contrast there. Good transition at 1:19 along with solid layering of the proggy synth with the piano at 1:33. Another swank dynamic shift at 1:46; the piano and pads filled out the soundscape well. At 2:12, the piano was more exposed again, followed by the thin synth guitar at 2:26. The piano and string writing at 2:39 & 2:44 were well-written as well; again, the piano sample could have used more richness, though what was there was serviceable. The soundscape was somewhat muddy from 3:05-3:37, and I wasn't a fan of the tone of the drums; not a huge deal. Drastic changeup at 3:37 to some extremely fakey piano that sounded even more fakey than the other fakey piano. Pretty unrealistic string sequencing too. The production from 3:37 until the end at 5:13 was easily what really dragged this piece down to a NO vote. The drum tone arguably didn't fit the 4:09-4:35 section, though that wasn't a huge deal. Overall, this is a solid composition, but when the samples strain for credibility or the light rock textures sound too thin, it makes this piece sound in places like a WIP/sketch that hasn't been fully fleshed out yet. That was particularly a big deal from 3:37 until the end, where the fakeness of the samples was exposed much more during the 3/4 sections. Something happened there where pretty much nothing was done on the production side to mask or otherwise mitigate the unrealistic sound of the piano or string sequencing. The scrawny piano from 4:35-5:00 was probably the worst offender and was exposed during the final section when things should have finished strong. I really love how smart and creative the arrangement was, and how thoroughly the source tune ended up being used here. And while there were some notable issues with realism and production quality, I could have went with this as a YES with the arrangement carrying it. However, the lack of realism and serviceable articulations for the entire last third of the piece was too much of a pervasive issue to ignore and was a distinct quality disparity from the rest of the arrangement. If you can improve the realism of the 3/4 sections, this would be an easy pass. Don't give up on this one. NO (resubmit)

Contact Information Your ReMixer name: jnWake. Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. Name of arrangement: "We'll never be Angels" Name of individual song(s) arranged: "We weren't Angels" (Youtube link here: ).This was made for the Blizzard Month at DoD, my first entry there. Sadly, the month was a bit boring since only 1 other person competed... At least I won (even if 1st of 2 isn't that much of an accomplishment)! Anyway, Starcraft music has always been pretty cool, so I tried to make a mix that sort of kept the feeling of the original. Hence, my song is a sort of progressive and sort of rock-ish effort that varies between slow, heavy and fast paced sections, just like most Terran themes. I also tried to mantain the typical Terran instruments: Distortion guitar for rhytm, synth leads, organs and the violin leads that were introduced on SCII. I also gave it my own touch by adding a lot more piano than the typical Starcraft song. The arrangement is, in my opinion, very straightforward in source usage. The source has a, generally speaking, ABC structure. My mix takes those sections and uses them in a BABCA order. In particular, I like how I used the C section of the source by having the piano the chord progression and then throwing violin and synth solos over it (all of this begins at 2:40 in my song). K, I'll explain source usage now. So, the original theme has 3 main sections: A - from 0:07 to 1:20: Most important things here are the main acoustic guitar melody and the clean guitar melody that begins at 0:52. B - from 1:21 to 2:12: I use almost everything from this section! C - from 2:13 to ending: Most important thing from this section is the chord progression and the clean guitar melodies. And now, my remix! 0:00 - 1:22: Based on section B. Organ does the chord progression from that section. Lead guitars play the melodies from that section too. 1:23 - 1:49: Also based on section B. Now I focus more on the rhytm though. Piano does a variation of the guitar melody too. 1:50 - 2:15: Piano plays A section's acoustic guitar with different base chords. 2:16 - 2:42: Another variation of the B section, now on the style of the remix's intro. 2:43 - 3:09: Piano plays a variation of C section's clean guitar. The transition to this section is also similar to the transition from section B to section C in the original source. 3:10 - 3:40: Synth solo! Still based on section C. 3:41 - 4:11: This one is trickier, but piano is doing a 3/4 variation of section A's acoustic guitar. 4:12 - end: Chord progression is taken from section A. Lead guitar is playing section A's acoustic guitar melody while the piano plays section A's clean guitar melody. I think that covers it! I don't really have much else to say, hope you like it! ------------------------------------------------------------

Some of the synth design was a little plain, and the core snare beat pattern, while decent, definitely dragged over time. The mixing during the choruses felt pretty cluttered as well, but it wasn't a huge deal. 2:49 was definitely the moment where something new and interesting should have happened with the verse instrumentation, and it didn't happen, which was boring and disappointing, just being frank. That said, the variation of the chorus from 3:04-3:19 was sweet due to the effects & new beat sounds used there and made for a good finish. Honestly, a bit disappointing for me. Until the drop at 2:34, it felt like this piece was just stuck in one gear with a relatively flat dynamic curve. Adam's a pretty solid artist, but there was too much repetition and too little development compared to some of his other work. Things started off interesting, but 1:06-1:50 went for a wholesale copy-pasta of :14-:58. 1:58 had just a measly key change until finally something else happened at 2:05-2:34 to provide some added melodic variation followed by dynamic contrast. Perhaps I'm being too tough, because this does have some solid interpretation ideas. It just comes across like a bit too much coasting/repetition for such a brief track. Consider seeing what you can do to make 1:06-1:50 & 2:49-3:04 stand apart from :14-:58, and consider varying the sound and/or timing of the core beat pattern. I could just be an outlier, but the lack of dynamics really stood out to me. It's a very good start, and very far along, but it does need some additional polish for a strong finish, IMO. NO(resubmit)

Your ReMixer name: Argle Name of game(s) arranged: Donkey Kong Land Name of individual song(s) arranged: Bad Boss Boogie - Name of arrangement: Boss Land Beatdown I remember Donkey Kong Land being really HARD, mainly due to the graphics which made the enemies blend in with the background. At least that was my impression of it. Not sure the rendered graphics that looked so sweet on the SNES worked out quite as well on the Game Boy. Anyway, it had some great tunes as well. This is one of my favorites. I always thought it was pretty badass fight theme, so an industrial techno mix seemed the natural thing to do. ------------------------------

It's not gonna light the world on fire with complexity or innovation, but this was a pretty solid cover with a solid amount of personalized ear candy. The sampling was OK, although 3:34-3:46 seemed pretty pointless; it did allow for some dynamic contrast. I liked how each iteration of the verse had different things going on with the surrounding instrumentation. That said, the development of the actual melodic part of arrangement (namely the source chorus) was just the same all the time -- :55-1:37, 1:51-2:04, 2:33-3:01 (cool effects here though), 3:05-3:34, 3:47-4:40 -- which pulled this down when it comes to the level of interpretation and development. Some sort of substantial variation in the chorus treatment would be great; the surrounding instrumentation never being the same is good, but the chorus almost always sounds the same. Same lead, same key, no rhythmic variation, no grace notes, no other personalization. Develop that aspect a bit more to put this solidly over the top. What's here is a great base. NO (resubmit)

Hi. This is Kayla Richardson, also known as dJ~noeko, or if you prefer, just noeko. I'm submitting this remix because I'm rather proud of it and I think the remixing community would appreciate it. I am, due to computer related issues, unable to properly format MP3s for submission. However, the soundcloud link provided contains a downloadable file's whose quality is 16bit wav. The remix is from the Sega Genesis game Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and the remixed tracks are Flying Battery Zone Acts 1 and 2, with a brief interlude of the Sonic 3 Invincibility theme. The full title of the remix being "SEGA - Flying Battery Zone Act 1+2 (noeko remix ft samplingmasters jk)" You can both listen to and download the remix here: -------------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loFvDTvUyW4

There are. Look harder. If you're reading but haven't listened yet, do yourself a favor and don't skip past this. Great stuff.

The soundscape sounded too muddy to start until :19. I wasn't put off by the sequencing from :20-on when the theme truly kicked in. It's obviously meant to be very stiffly timed much like the original song's feel, so I thought that was a fine and fair aspect to retain here. I see how others could take issue with it, but I strongly feel that that aspect is executed well-enough in this arrangement in a clear nod to the source. This should not be held against it. The bowed strings and brass samples both sounded very unrealistic and too thin & flimsy, so those sounds could be improved; muddy soundscape or not, those parts were still very exposed to me. The chorus at :58 was personalized very nicely, and even when sections repeated, there were always different instrumental variations being employed here. Unfortunately, the mixing just ends up sounding very muddy and lo-fi for the densest sections, in particular :00-:19, :58-1:07 & 1:58-2:47. To me, this is a conservatively structured but solidly and creatively personalized arrangement. If the mixing was good, i would YES this in a second. Some of the sample strain for credibility and realism, but I thought the arrangement rose above that. However, the overally mixing of this piece really undermines the quality of the arrangement. I specifically agreed with this, and I think that's the main problem here. Right now, the densest sections all sound too cluttered and indistinct. If you could address this, and possibly improve the realism of the instrumentation as well, this would be in much better shape to be approved. Very, very promising; even in this state, it will make a solid addition to the FF9 project, even if it does need additional polish. NO (resubmit)

As I said, I thought the recording/production quality was already pretty poor, unfortunately. I'm not sure what has happened with Guillaume's setup that causes the sound quality to sound lo-fi, but it should be improved. Still, what's there with the production could possibly be serviceable if the arrangement was very strong, though I could likely vote NO on that level still. As far as the arrangement goes, this does try to make a lot from a little, but I felt it wasn't very engaging for the first half, and ultimately didn't feel like a substantive piece. That's always going to be a problem when trying to arrange a source tune that's just a bunch of seemingly random chords at random intervals. There's no easy way at all to make the connections from the relatively random progression of the source to the more orderly changes done in this arrangement. That relationship from source to arrangement is just not apparent or overt enough. I felt like 1:01-2:05 was performed too loosely and with too much dissonance in a manner that didn't seem to have a substantial purpose. I agreed with Deia that an arrangement focused more on "The Deceased Laugh" would automatically possess more focus and direction and play more to Guillaume's arrangement and performance strengths. It's a good effort here, but the poor mixing, awkward performance in the first half, and lack of a clear connection to the "Twilight" source tune all make this a NO.

The track was 3:55 long, so I needed 117.5 seconds of overt source usage to pass this on the source use level. :07.75-:12, :14.5-:30, :42.5-:46.5, :49-1:03.5, 1:10.5-1:42, 1:57.5-2:02.75, 2:04.5-2:09.25, 2:16.5-2:21.25, 2:23.75-2:25.5, 2:40.75-2:56, 3:00.5-3:17.5, 3:19.75-3:24 = 127.5 seconds or 54.26% I wasn't worried here, but I just wanted to make sure things checked out and that I wasn't merely feeling it was a pass on that level. Onto the arrangement itself, the woodwind sequencing/timing and realism were both weak, and improving the overall sound of the piano sample would be good going forward. While 1) many casual listeners won't notice the flaws, 2) this execution is serviceable enough and 3) a lot of care's put into this, the lack of realism in the timing is definitely the weak link here. Upgrading the samples for future tracks would be nice. That said, the arrangement here was excellent and the dynamics were a genuine highlight. Solid stuff here from Pieter, who I hope only continues moving upward with his production as well. YES

ReMixer name: pu_freak Name of game(s) arranged: Wild ARMs Name of arrangement: Flight of the Eagle Name of individual song(s) arranged: The Bird which Flies in the Sky (Emma's Theme) Link to individual song(s) arranged: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdAv75LhFvg Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: This is my mix for the Wild ARMs album: ARMed and DANGerous. Jade asked me to do a remix for her album, but I never played the game and thus wasn't familiar with the soundtrack. I liked this source, since I could easily imagine how I could make a calm version of the so energetic (but short) source tune. One of the requirements for Jade's album was that it had to have a western vibe. To make it feel like a song that could be part of a western movie, I used a flute in addition to the piano (and the eagle at the end should also contribute to that vibe). The title of the source has inspired me a lot, because I wanted it to be like you could close your eyes while listening to this song and feel like you're an actual bird soaring through the sky. The soft flute and choir in the middle of the song would be the wind you can hear as it gently passes. -------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRKJaru5s6w

Definitely a big fan of this source tune. This approach clearly retains the structure of the original, including some instrumentation that mirrors the original closely. That said, this was a good listen. Though it's not bad, the original writing with the ambient tones or whatever those are from 1:04-1:35 didn't really integrate that well with the source tune backing pattern, IMO. 1:35-1:55 continued with a close cover while adding some original writing and SFX ear candy. You really hear the conservative structure of the source arrangement reflected from 1:54-3:28. More original writing from the ambiance and warbly stuff over the top of the source beats from 3:27 until the end at 4:16. The ending at 4:16 just cuts off abruptly during the fade down, which would need to be fixed. That said, the arrangement was going somewhat in the right direction in attempting to personalize the instrumentation, but it came off like more of a sound upgrade than a hugely interpretive piece. It keeps the core of the source tune intact while playing around with the textures, having good ear candy and some original writing, but in the end, it's just not different ENOUGH from the source, and much of the part-writing was wholesale from the source without a different enough mood, structure or fell compared to the original. This would definitely fit well in a Streets of Rage Remake environment, Jack, and it's not without merit. Hell, maybe I could be an outlier. But I compare back and forth with the original, and the overall feel is just too similar for me to pass when I think about the arrangement/interpretation standards here. It's just too conservative of an arrangement for me to sign off on. Some additional ideas interpretive could definitely gets this to a point where I'd feel comfortable passing it, but it's not at that point right now. Nice work on this regardless; no matter the guidelines here, this was an enjoyable piece that was put together well. NO

Hello Enclosed is my remix. Since you prefer download links to attachments, I've hosted the track for you in a zip file on (non temporary) mediafire link here: Please let me know if there's anything else Thanks for your consideration -Jack Contact Information * Xij * Jack Oughton * * www.xijmusic.com * Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile * e.g. djpretzel (http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=1) has the userid of "1" Submission Information * Streets Of Rage * Vigilante Blues * Name of individual song(s) arranged: Innercity * Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) * Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. --------------------------------------------------

Nice opening. The padding seemed a little too full for the first 40 seconds for my taste, but that eventually ended, and it was just a personal taste thing, and you quickly get used to it on repeated listens. It's not a crit against the piece. The "On the Prowl" melody kicked in at :50, albeit in an understated way. Not sure if the busy, splashy cymbals at 1:11-1:21 totally fit the mood of the rest of the instrumentation, but we'll keep it moving. Good stuff at 1:22 with the chiptune-ish lead; really sweet sound there, and I liked the ear candy of the supporting instrumentation as well with the whirring noises and active drums. The instrumental changes from 1:47-2:48 were interesting, but the textures weren't clicking. The delay-type effect with the melodic lead was done in a way that de-emphasizes that melody a fair bit; it's not bad, just something to consider. I'd also genuinely consider slimming this section down. It's pretty repetitive and said what it had to say about halfway through. Very cool retro lead comping until 3:08. The writing from 3:08-3:18 doesn't work at all with the source tune, but at least it was pushed to the back at 3:29. I'd argue for changing the sound of that part, but probably just rewriting that little line to something that has more synergy with the "Prowl" melody instead. Not a big deal here at all, just something that caught my ear. The dropoff at 3:39 was OK, moving into some different stuff at 3:49 before ratcheting back up at 4:20 with some cooler effects and rhythmic changes to the melodic lead. Nice countermelodic sound cameo-ing at 4:51. Pretty cool, grimy sound to that final section that finished things strong, albeit just a little bit repetitive by the time it finished at 5:39. On the whole, this works pretty well. I'm not a fan of a couple of the instrumentation and writing choices, but those were pretty minor in the big picture. What's here evolved pretty nicely on the whole, kept the source tune in constant use, and presented a unique, stylized take on it even while retaining its core structure. I could see Frank Klepacki digging this take, for sure. Jack's actually guilty of deluging the inbox with too many subs at once, but I've enjoyed listening to them. Though I didn't panel may of them to save our staff some time, he's got creative ideas. The polish of his work isn't consistent from track to track, but that's something that'll come with additional time and experience. Hopefully, he'll stay active here even if every submission he has doesn't make it. This one here is a good example of both his skill and potential when the structure and flow of an arrangement is generally clicking the whole way through. Nice work. YES