Liontamer

Mokram, don't you dare be self-deprecating about this decision, my friend. Collectively, we're really enjoying this track, and that should be apparent from the vote. It just needs some tweaks, and we can re-vote on this quickly. You definitely have what it takes to get this passed. We're all in your corner.

The phase-y voluminous electronicus thingy thing. That thingy. [ The lead first used at :15. ]

Damn, I KNOW, right? You're killing me, Tarc! That intro was hot. Again, it's not that you didn't do ANYTHING to personalize this apart from the original. You did. It's just that there wasn't enough of it. When most of the arrangement is basically at the same tempo, rhythm and mood of the original, you've gotta do more to make it yours than the instrument adaptation and some flourishes. The supporting writing WAS there, but it didn't significantly modify the feel of this piano arrangement compared to the feel of the original. It's a swank cover, it's just too conservative of a treatment for us, overall. With that said, I'm comfortable choosing to go NO.

Emphasis added. On both counts, this is where we're bumping into trouble. This is just too stripped down; it's certainly using the progression, but as Fishy said to me, "the progression could be anything, without the other parts [of the source]." We ALL know what this is alluding to in context, but that's too minimal of a usage of Starman. Even for legal purposes, like if Koji Kondo wanted to sue you ( ), he wouldn't have the grounds to. For all intents and purposes, this is an original song, so we don't need a third vote on it. NO Override You need more than only the chords to connect the arrangement to the original, otherwise, it could be referring to ANYTHING. Perhaps consider adding some elements of "Powerful Mario" from Yoshi's Island/Mario 64 fame, or just see how else you can subtly add the other parts of the core Starman theme. Source usage issues aside, this was a really cool track, and well put together. If you incorporated the Starman theme more overtly into this (and it doesn't have to be as a loud lead, it can be the light piano or another subtle instrument), this could totally pass, Daniel, so don't take the rejection as a reflection of either your skills OR the quality of this piece. Definitely don't hesitate to submit something else, your sound is excellent.

Though I get that this is meant to have a throwback feel of sorts, some of the sounds felt kind of bland and unexpressive, and the mixing wasn't where it needed to be. I'm feeling the concept, and up until 1:12, I was on board. Then we hit the first brief instance of parts competing with each other, and really hit a snag at 2:00. When more elements are added from 1:20-1:31 and 2:00-2:25, the lead was flat in comparison, and the textures seemed busy, unbalanced, and unfocused. I LIKE the supporting writing ideas, but some of those parts need to be EQed so they're not stepping on the lead. Quiet, but clever usage of the source's countermelody (:21 of the source) at 1:40. Interesting transitions from 3/4 to 4/4 and back to 3/4. 3:14's section also just seems muddy with the flat lead and the supporting synths bleeding into each other. I could be articulating the issue about the leads incorrectly, so I'm hoping a J more savy on production can clarify what's going on here. To me, the arrangement's creative, but the mixing and expressiveness of the leads needs to be improved before this is ready. I loved your Castlevania 64 sub, so definitely don't be discouraged here, I think you're doing some good work overall. This one has potential, and the arrangement is in the right direction. NO (resubmit)

Your ReMixer name: Eino Keskitalo Your real name: Eino Keskitalo Your email address: Your website: https://sites.google.com/site/evktalo/ Your userid: 20708 Name of game(s) arranged: Deus Ex (PC/Windows) Name of arrangement: Sadevakio Name of individual song(s) arranged: UNATCO (http://vgmdb.net/album/910) Link to the original soundtrack: Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc: This piece is a part of the PC ReMix initative (http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38300). Here's another People's Remixing Competition piece from me. I started this one way back in PRC199 which was a very popular round. I've since extended the structure and spent hours and hours tuning the arrangement, mixing and effect automation in Renoise. To get started in the competition, I grabbed Mazedude's Zombie's Ate My Tracker for the sounds - he has the .IT file available on the American Album site. Thanks for that! Many of the samples are actually 8-bit samples from various old school modules, which I took as a challenge to make them sound good. After hours and hours of (very educational) tweaking, twisting and polishing, I'm not sure if I'd do such a challenge again. I like the resulting tracker aesthetic, hope it works to other ears as well. The title "Sadevakio" is Finnish for something like "The Rain Constant", trying to make some sort of a wordplay how it's always raining in cyberpunk settings. Source usage: The main riff from the source is used practically throughout, altered to 3/4 in the intro and outro, and transposed lower in the middle 4/4 part. The melody at 0:23 in the source ( ) is used from 1:40 onwards pretty much to the end (where it's altered to 3/4). Also the figure at 0:31 in the source ( ) is used here and there, usually at an end of a part or some other transition/breakpoint (for example at 00:35, 01:58 and 02:18.. that might be all the cases actually).I couldn't quite make out how the main riff goes in the source, so I used the MIDI provided for the compo. It actually had the riff a fifth lower than it should be. Big thanks to Gario for pointing this out during the competition. I was slow to react to the intel though, and had already extended the melody and written countermelodies.. and correcting the riff messed them up. So, I decided to add a part (the intro) with correct pitch and consider the "wrong" pitch a personalisation of the source, if an unintended one. And now that I listen to the source, I probably heard the 0:31 bit wrong too. Oh well. A thank-you list: All the commenters from PRC199. All the workshop forum commenters. DjMorkam and Pleiade for supportive feedback. Gario for noting the source/MIDI disrepancy + workshop mod review. Rozovian for the workshop mod review. (Gotta love the workshop mod reviews. Extremely useful service.) My fiancée Pirjo for support, critiques and insights once again invaluable to me and for the development of this piece. The Renoise project file if there's anyone with Renoise & interest: And thaat's it. Enjoy! --Eino - better video of source

Short and sweet. You're winning the loudness war. Dude, TURN THIS DOWN. This is too loud AND too cluttered. It was OK enough until :39-1:32 when it got busier. Same problems with 2:07-2:42. When the Chun-Li parts are involved, the soundscape's even more crowded. Seemingly very sloppy integration of the plucked strings at 3:17; you can't hear them well, and the writing of the part had no synergy with the Guile theme. I could hear the Schala part in theory, but it didn't sound like it on account of the other parts stepping all over it and basically distorting what could be heard. Could be the mixing more than the writing. Until the mixing and EQing is fixed, this is always going to sound messy and imbalanced. I'll leave it to the experts to break it down further, but once you take another pass at this, you should hopefully be able to get it where this needs to be. NO (resubmit)

Brandon Strader www.bstrader.net Inmate #3123 Game: Street Fighter 2 Source: Guile's Theme / Chun-Li Theme / Schala's Theme Guile: Chun-Li: Schala: (0:00 to 0:03 only lol)Title: Murkan Supreme Remix: So you've got Guile's theme until 0:57, then it's a crazy mashup of both Guile and Chun-Li (you can hear Chun-Li in the shamisen and koto, later in the synthy shamisen, not to mention the progression) 1:32 is one of the Guile progressions but with the Chun-Li shamisen and koto, also some Schala hidden in there at the end of a shamisen phrase. Same progression from that Schala song too (Who'd a thunk it, Guile and Schala would go together?) 2:07 has Guile in the lead techno synth, it's actually the same exact thing as the intro organ except without the "power chord" type chords, it's just the melody part. Then 2:43 is Guile. 3:17 is actually a heavy version of the main riff from "The Last Schala Mix Ever", which is really cool, but it also has Guile in it, and Chun-Li shamisen stuff. Ah the melodies are all over the place and it goes throughout the song, there's a lot of personalization and original writing I guess but it's all literally caked with source stuff... anyway that's the source breakdown, now onto my tiny, tiny mix notes. Mix Notes; Round 1 entry for the Street Fighter contest thing. Huge thanks to Sixto for re-amping the guitars for me at the last second cause my stuff is all messed up. *_* Didn't really set out with a goal in mind apart from making it rock, happened across a bit of a "techno metal" area with the synths and really liked it, and everything just fell into place very nicely. Ugh I also put Schala in this mix too. Why do I keep doing it?

Pretty good for a first attempt at a remix. Just some quick observations to hopefully help you continue to improve. The piano sounded too thin, and the sequencing sounds too mechanical. You need a warmer, more realistic sound to that piano. Right now, it significantly drags the arrangement down, because it sounds too stiff and inhuman. The way the beats faded in around :11 was really sweet; nice work there. The way this was mixed, the leads sounded distant. Not sure if that was intentional, but it makes the sound feel like it's unintentionally not upfront enough. The beat pattern from 1:42-2:38 was too repetitive over the long haul. See what you can do to introduce some subtle variations earlier so the song doesn't drag out. You did a decent job personalizing your arrangement approach. This needs some additional attention to details (piano, mixing, beats) to better realize the potential here. Just being honest, you might be too early in your skill level to improve this where it needs to be to pass. That's not meant as an insult; give it an honest attempt and see how far you can take this, and use the Workshop area to solicit advice and feedback. NO

ReMixer Name: Mawnz Real name : Måns Åberg Email: website: http://soundcloud.com/mansaberg user id: 50327 Name of game: The Legend of Zelda: Adventure of Link Arrangement name: Palace of Haste Name of song arranged: Palace theme My own comments: My first remix of any kind. Also my first drum n bass attempt. The reason why I decided to remix this song? I don't really remember, but I think it just popped up in my head or something... Also, I like piano :3

Sounds cool! It's close, but it's personalized well. However, while it doesn't repeat, it's a slow-tempo piece that's essentially over & done in 90 seconds, and it isn't a fully developed arrangement. The point's debatable, but I'd argue our first Touhou ReMix by Justus Johnston really set the bar as far as creating a sub-2:00 piece that has a solid beginning, middle, and end. Select Start's Frog mix also shows you how it's done, though that's a faster tempo, so they could fit more substance into it. BTW, 128kbps?!? This ain't 2002, son! 192kbps or VBR1. Thems the rules. Short and sweet, this is an awesome start to a concept that isn't fully realized. I don't have any doubts that you know what you're doing as far arrangement and production. If you're willing to explore this arrangement further, it would likely have a home here. Give it a shot. NO (resubmit)

Remixer name: Forrest Real name: Christopher Forrest Powell Email: Website: www.forrestpowell.com (long overdue for an update) User ID: 49388 Game: Secret of Mana Arrangement title: Elinee Song arranged: Phoenix and a Rose Hello there! I found out about OCRemix from a friend and got involved in arranging a track for Balance and Ruin. Have posted a bit and listened to lots of tracks, but as of yet I've not submitted any songs. So, here's my first. When I was in my early teens, I loved this song, and it stood out as one that hasn't really seen a lot of attention from remixers, maybe since it is pretty short and to the point. I opted for a sort of Thomas Newman approach with the strings and pads, and really had a great time arranging this on a day off from work early in the week. The crescendo and then the immediate quiet of this song was something that always caught my attention. It was one of the earlier SNES titles that I noticed had a strong sense of dynamics and space, which I'm still learning how to achieve in writing. Since my website is still sort of under construction, I'm attaching the file. Thanks for reviewing it! Can you let me know if this is too close to the original from Secret of Mana, or if it's okay to have something that's loyal and to the point, with a bit of embellishment like I did here? Criticism (or complete abject praise) is totally welcome! Also, if there are tracks that are in demand that you think my style fits, I'm always up for putting something new together and maybe collaboration. Cheers, Forrest

The arrangement's creative, but everything's hampered by this mechanical sound of the piano. Things started off nice and airy, but anything fuller than that was immediately exposed. Once this got uptempo at 1:32, the issues were even more pronounced and the timing sounded extremely mechanical. Piano of this sound quality's generally not acceptable. Right now, it's "Stiff Winds of Antiquity." It's too stilted and unexpressive, and it undermines the energy of the composition, as much as the effort is there. Also there were some sour notes from 2:01-2:03 and 2:07-2:10 that were awkward. Then weird notes for the left hand part from 2:19-2:21 and 2:23. It's good that delay and effects were used to try to fill out the soundscape, but everything sounded pretty distant and lossy as soon as the lower registers got involved; something's muddying up the whole sound. Gotta give this more TLC. Piano sampling/sequencing tips from experienced Js are welcome! NO

ReMixer: Ryndal Name: Matthew Kessler userid: 49135 Game: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons Remix: Winds of Antiquity Original Track: Tarm Ruins I first set out to remix Tarm Ruins earlier this year. It began as a project with many more instruments, evoking an ethereal atmosphere that would show just how ancient and mystical Holodrum's ruins are. I eventually came to a fork in the road, unsure of what direction to proceed in. I kept messing with the melody and chord progressions on the piano, and I began to realize that a perfectly wonderful arrangement could be made on ivory keys alone. This time, though, I decided to advance the tone in a new direction, maintaining the sublime quality of Tarm but also showing the more whimsical nature of the Ancient Ruins located there. The end references the Legend of Zelda main theme and closes out on a major tone, signifying triumph and the recovery of the sixth Essence of Nature, the Blowing Wind. Adventure, myth, danger, vagary, and beauty. Tarm Ruins is one of my favorite locations of in all the Legends of Zelda, and in this remix I wanted to capture everything that it's about.

We're gonna take the FLAX yeast to the PAX feast!

Sweet intro. Actually, once things picked up from the intro, this was actually disappointingly similar to the original as far as the tempo and rhythms. Too bad considering how much more personalized the first 25 seconds were. 1:22-1:33 possibly used a very loose adaptation of a subtle part from :40-:43 of the source. The recording was decent, the performance was solid, and there were some embellishments/flourishes there in terms of adapting it to piano, particularly towards the end after 1:55. The left-hand writing throughout attempts to add that level of intepretation. But overall, I'm just not hearing ENOUGH beyond subtleties to really push me toward this arrangement standing apart enough from the original. The mood just feels pretty similar without feeling distinguishing itself enough. And at only 2:24 long, there wasn't much else to take away from it. Am I in haterade mode? I like the track in a vacuum. It's certainly in the right direction as far as personalizing it; it's not as if it's entirely without merit. No vote yet until I see how some others feel about the potential subtlety of the arrangement approach, but I just can't quite get behind this one.

ReMixer name: Tarcani Email: Userid: 50321 Game: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Arrangement: Run, Yoshi, Run!! Individual songs arranged: Athletic Theme Comments: I've been toying around with developing a piano arrangement of this piece ever since it invaded and pervaded my consciousness for about a month a while back. I came up with this light-hearted arrangement over the course of many revisions and I am pleased with the way it came out. The solo piano was an attempt to create a sort of homogeneous unit that demonstrates that this piece doesn't require any complicated instrumentation to be executed in an interesting and successful way. Enjoy!

Man. I really disliked the phasing electrosynths in this. Is it just me? I'm paneling it just because I wanna be sure it's not just me. They just sounded so generic and were not fitting this at all. Sometimes, things sounded off-key or flat, and just... unpleasent. Aside from those electrosynth leads and the glassy instrument first brought in at :47, the arrangement had a cool minimalist vibe. Some might say it was too flimsy, but the space was being filled out well enough. The articulations were too mechanical on the organic-style instrumentation, though some stuff like the bass at the end was fine enough. That said, too many sounds felt out of place and dragged this way, way down. Props on getting this performed; I'd defintiely like to hear how this arrangement turned out with a different instrument set and dynamics of live players. As far mockups go, you get the gist of it, sure, but man does it need a lot of TLC. NO

Alias: Melodious Punk Name: Kevin Fredericks Address: Website: http://soundcloud.com/melodious-punk Forum ID: Melodious Punk Games: Mega Man 2/3 Arrangement: Metal Snake Stages: Metal Man, Snake Man, Air Man, Mega Man 3 Intro, Gemini Man This piece is a remix of an arrangement that will be performed by the Reno Video Game Symphony on October 19th 2012 in Reno, NV. The original score is for woodwinds, tuba/euphonium/trombone/trumpet, full strings, percussion, and bari/alto sax. I made this to show the 22 members of the group how the track sounds, but I opted to make it in Ableton with an electropop treatment for fun. Thank You, Kevin Fredericks

The filename from the Mediafire link actually said 'A Lovely Shade of Emerald', but OK. The synth design was pretty vanilla for the first minute, but the mixing was OK. Things became pretty muddy after the drop at 1:08, and I'm not sure what happened to cause it. Some light wubbing was added at 1:35, but everything was so muddy, it just sounded like a distortion bleeding into everything else. Really exposed, fake pizz strings brought in from 2:04-2:17. It can slide some given the context of the song. More creative dubstep-style wubbery after 2:17, though the melody was getting drowned down some. 3:13 ended that and moved back into more of a focus on the source upfront. Definitely not my thing personally on account of the manic dub-wub in the middle, and I felt the treatment of the source tune was kind of straightforward once you took all of that out. That said, the approach was solidly personalized and I thought well in the right direction of interpretation. The mixing being off was the main dealbreaker for me. The cleanest sections sounded pretty thin despite being so loud, while other areas were too muddy and lossy-sounding. The arrangement was OK, but some production/balance improvements there would get things sounding a lot more solid and put this over the top, IMO. Good start here, Matthew. NO (resubmit)

Remix Title: Emerald Evolution Game: Pokemon Red/Blue Song: Viridian Forest Remixer Name: MtM Remixer Website: http://soundcloud.com/mtm64 This is a trancey/complextro-style remix of the Viridian Forest theme, which is also the very first video game remix I ever did, way back in 2009. I decided to remix the theme again now that I actually know what I'm doing, and I'm pretty proud of the result. There's not much more to say, really. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPH9bT2Agc0

No worries. Red Rum was just pissed and it's hopefully smoothed over on the Tweeter. https://twitter.com/Real_Red_Rum/status/299934313674334208 Everyone's a winner. Back when Rexy was regularly rejected, I'm sure she felt the same way. The things I'd say to Greg in regards to these replies are two-fold. 1) DON'T compromise your artistic vision for an arrangement to accommodate the OCR standards. When we judges make suggestions, it's with the OCR arrangement standards in mind. But if altering that arrangement isn't something you want to do, and you don't feel addressing the criticisms will improve your own enjoyment of the track, don't do it. Apply our criticisms in a way where you know you're improving the track in your own eyes, and not just ours. 2) We don't want you to put your heart into and submit a track that's too much of a close cover only to be surprised and angry it didn't make it for being too cover-ish, especially after 3 people, including 2 Workshop mods, tell you why they believe it's not going to make it. That said, this SoR track WAS mostly a straightforward cover. If you need guidance on understanding the level of interpretation needed to make it, you have to explore mixes posted in the last year, compare them with the originals and get a better feel for what we're looking for. People are here to help you get to where you want to be.

I'm 5 eps in, and loving it like I knew I would. Dave mentioned enjoying the breaking of the 4th wall, which was carried over well from the BBC version. It works well there too. I will say though, in episode 5, they showed Democrats working unified messaging on TV to perfection, when that's just total bullshit. Much to my chagrin, only Republicans effectively utilize Frank Luntz-style obfuscation language to that degree of unity and repetition. It's a not a huge complaint, I just got a kick out of it. I've got Jeff Beal's theme on repeat for the weekend http://www.youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=DbWcdaeYrsI

Saw this gem in response to the judges decision And yet, you had 3 different people basically say a lot earlier what I said in my vote, yet somehow you're still shocked: Now Rozo was wrong, IMO, and maybe that gave you false hope, but we still have ReMixes that are more cover-ish, retaining the same structure and tempo, but are more personalized than what you had. See what else you can do on the arrangement side or just try another arrangement with more interpretation in mind. I think djp said it best when I mentioned this offhand in chat just now: "Hey man, no need to call us cunts, we liked the track, we just have requirements that the arrangement change things up a bit more. No hard feelings if you don't feel like it, but we'd love to see you make some changes & resubmit." That's basically it. Maybe you can't read past the NOs at the bottom of the vote, but we all still enjoyed the track. And we've been called worse than Fucky McFuckcunt, or whatever you yelled, so we don't mind. Your production's not bad, just get the arrangement/interpretation component on point, and you're good to go. And if you no longer aim to get something passed on the site here because you don't like the standards, that's fine, but go channel that anger into something positive. EDIT: Here's the proof that we hate you:

We know. It'll be fixed.