Liontamer

The vocals and instrumentation at :15 were dropped WAY too much compared to the first version; pretty sloppy/lazy. It may be done to make the volume increase at :49 give off more dynamic contrast, but it really isn't working. You probably should have recorded a more quietly played take, not merely cut down a loud part, but the musician Js could give better advice on how to tweak that drop so that it actually works. But do resist lazy "quick fixes" like that, it makes it looks like you don't have attention to detail. :50-on sounded swank. 1:05's vocals should be louder, but I did like how it seemed they faded up around 1:18. Increase 1:05's levels so the loudness change isn't AS drastic, but it's not a bad concept, like I mentioned for the first instance. Very nice improvisation over the source tune from 1:48-2:17. 2:46's vocals had a good soulful delivery, though the sour note at 3:08 was a weak point, even though it ultimately resolved with the follow-up. Still not a fan of the Bastion cameo at 3:17, though the vocals stood out better, the added "Nothing" background vocals brought another layer to it and the instrumentation and performances were all tight. Going forward, everything else sounded brighter and stronger than the previous version for a nice finish as the development in the arrangement continued. Like SGX's Beatmania mix "Kick Your A", this was a great example of using the source material more as background accompaniment (while still being overt & prominent) while seamlessly adding his own original composition ideas in the foreground. I'd really love for tweaks to the overly quiet parts at :15 & 1:05 just so that this is firing on all cylinders, but I'm not going to make the perfect the enemy of the good. Good job raising this up, Brandon! YES

It seems as if some higher frequencies got chopped off, because the soundscape sounds lossy like a low-quality encoding, despite the 192kbps bitrate. After a solid opening, the organ brought in at :13 & 1:30 sounds pretty poor. It's too lossy sounding, and (more importantly) the timing's way too sloppy. The thin claps from :25-:49 were too beginner-ish; you need to layer them to give the background some meat and properly fill things out. Or just change the sound to something better, since that part's not in there for long. The saloon-ish sequenced piano at :25 also had very mechanical timing and lacked body. On the plus side, the bassline had some meat to it and sounded excellent. The guitar at :49 had good energy even if it could have cut through a bit more. Once this shifted to the rock-focused stuff, I thought the overall execution sounded much better aside from the mixing needing a bit more brightness. The synth work from 1:55-2:07 was rather scattershot and little too loose, but OK. The guitar soloing afterward until 2:21 was also loose, but sounded more cohesive. Overall, it could have been a little smoother, but was a nice, creative addition that benefited the arrangement. Sweeeeet dynamic changeup at 3:08. With the piano sounding a lot more airy and delayed, it had a lot more body to the sound to cover up the fakeness of the samples and sounded pretty good as a result. Good pickup into the high energy at 3:44 to then close things out. Humanize the sequencing of the melodic/piano leads, fix or replace the claps, and restore some higher frequencies for a bit more clarity. The arrangement is already pretty strong and doesn't need any changes there. Just improve the mixing and some of the weaker instrumentation to get this where it needs to be. Really nice stuff, Antanas, that IMO just needs some TLC to bring it above the bar. Definitely DON'T be discouraged, this is definitely the kind of creativity we're looking for. Use the Workshop forums to get more advice on how you can do the tweaks you need to get this approved & posted, we need this here in some form! NO (refine/resubmit)

I needed more than 142.5 seconds of overt source usage for the source material to be dominant. I had a quick breakdown of the melodic elements I heard used. :23-:26.5, :53-2:26.5, 2:34-2:47, 3:03.75-3:33, 4:08.5-4:20 = 150.75 seconds or 52.9% source usage. That also doesn't count the backing beat which was rhythmically similar to the source and constantly in play, and would have put me over the top if the most obvious stuff fell below. Why's the encoding at 160kbps? Step it up to at least 192kbps or VBR1 if you still have the source files or WAV. Interesting intro. The beat brought in at :54 felt a little bland but only if it wasn't ever going to be altered, which ultimately wasn't the case. The lead synth handling the melody was a little flat to me, but it was a very small detail and it still served the piece well. Same small criticism with the lead at 1:35; it could be more about how they were mixed a bit quietly within the soundscape. Nice stutter from 1:54-1:57 to then transition into a bit more energy, followed by the rhythmic changes in the beats at 2:07, both great ideas to help the track evolve rather than get plodding. The electric guitar at 3:01, which was performed solidly, was another element mixed to sound rather distant, which wasn't a big deal but could have been tweaked. That said, I liked the constant instrumental variations from 1:54-on that provided a lot of development even while maintaining the tempo. What's here is very strong on the arrangement side, and y'all did a great job tightening it up. Excellent collab, guys! YES

The sequenced piano at :23 was too mechanical. Though the brighter, airyer sound via the layering at :52 helped mask that better in that section, this generally stuck out throughout the piece. The layered claps brought in at :07 were OK, but could probably be pulled back a little without leaving the track sounding empty. I thought the transition back to having the clap beats at 2:39 was too sudden and seemed awkward. I agreed along the lines of Vig that the dynamics here were too flat. While he gave you credit for the percussion, I thought the clap pattern was bland & repetitive over the long run, exacerbated by being so loud and prominent. Some rhythmic variations there (that make sense for you without going overboard) could help spice it up while not dramatically altering your structure, though some instrumental variation or two could be helpful there as well. Piano needs to be humanized some, the clap pattern needs some variation, and the dynamics could be enhanced a bit without majorly messing with what's already there. Otherwise, some good ideas and good potential. The execution's a bit vanilla right now, but gets most of the way there. NO (resubmit)

Yeah, the bitrate was way too low as well. I don't even get how the arrangement works in using "Twilight," since the source is just drones/pads, but I'll listen more closely later. EDIT (6/20): Having heard the 192kbps version (included in the first post), there's a little bit more clarity than before, but that alone wouldn't address the various issues here.

Winner, winner. Chicken dinner. Big props to Jonathan "@RichieStacker" Humphreys ‏for the answer! https://twitter.com/ocremix/status/336566708913451008

Don't see what the deal is. YouTube's glitched our videos before during an upload. We'll just have to replace it. 1. Yes, one's official and one's not. Projects are efforts that are already approved as upcoming OCR album projects. Anything that's not at that status yet can develop in the Recruitment thread. 2. a. No. Confirmed by looking at many project rosters and seeing that not everyone's a posted OC ReMixer. b. Yes. Make a strong track.

Y'all better rally your troops.

Definite congrats to Jill for the successful KS! Lookin' forward to the albums & my rewards!

Not seeing anything from you today. Sure, send it again. Sending something twice is OK; shit happens.

Marriage is awesome!

Wow, pretty loud. Too loud. Right at :23, I liked the glassy leads, and the textures seemed interesting, but I was definitely hearing that emptiness Palp was referring to, especially in the chorus at :37; there's a lot of volume there, but you still have emptiness in the background, and a different type of padding after the verse would have served you well. I also felt while you had some cool sounds with some basic delay effects present, the leads sounded too plain and dry, and the sequencing/timing was noticeably rigid, limiting how expressive the composition sounded. I know the lead timing's not meant to sound humanized like a live show, but there's a lot of writing that sounds like an overly tight keyboard performance. In short, 1) too loud, 2) too mechanical, 3) too dry, 4) make the textures richer. Personally, I loved the source tune, and I thought your arrangement concept was solid. Right now the production really undermines the arrangement and dynamics. There's some potential, but it needs a lot of fine tuning. Right now, it sounds like a strong compositional sketch with some basic effects in there; so it's not n00b, but it doesn't have much polish to complement the arrangement. Don't be discouraged. NO (resubmit)

Opening was pretty cool, pretty beefy. Once the melody came in at :23, it felt a bit empty, but only in the sense of waiting for the further build. Saw at :47 was a bit bland, but overall it seemed like the texture was alright. The original writing on the synths brought in at 1:10 sounded a bit aimless at first blush, but it's pretty relaxed. About 1:30 in, it feels like there's not much going on as far as dynamics, so I see where the NOs are coming from about a lack of development throughout. It's definitely in 1 gear, maybe 1 and a half gears. I didn't think that was as much of a problem as they did, but I felt like the synth handling the original writing brought in from 1:58-on didn't fit the bill, and that tipped the balance toward a NO. NOT feeling the tone of the synth brought in from 1:58-2:22. Just squeaky and abrasive, arguably off-key as well. I know it's literally not off-key, but the way it hits some of the higher notes sounds strange, and it's mixed too loudly compared to everything else. Pretty jarring. Ah, it's back from 2:45-3:09 after a brief break. I think with a different sound, that part could work, as the writing seemed OK. Tweak that and see what other additive ideas or instrument changeups you could weave in and out to give this some further variation. The tempo being steady wasn't a big deal to me, but the lack of development is a valid criticism, and that synth at 1:58 being abrasive while being a major part of the song made me lean NO. That said, this could definitely be improved to where it would make it; don't be discouraged, David, this is way in the right direction and needs just a bit more. Address some concerns of these other NOs that you feel are valid and hit us with a fresh take. NO (resubmit)

Yep, you're in. Also, we miss your dreamcrushing. ;-P

OH SNAP! The newest member of Video Games Live is OC ReMix's own Jillian Aversa!!! (Formerly "pixietricks," old schoolers!) Check the official announcement on the Video Games Live Facebook! • http://on.fb.me/10Y3TlK Be sure to LIKE & SHARE the news from VGL's Facebook too! Help a pixie out! Congratulations, Jill! (And hit her Kickstarter ASAP - less than 16 HOURS LEFT! http://kck.st/13hGorE) Never heard of her? No problem! Get familiar and enjoy the music! http://ocremix.org/artist/4659/jillian-aversa CONTEST TIME! To celebrate Jill joining the tour, Tommy Tallarico & VGL are providing a Video Games Live UBER SWAG BAG of prizes to 1 lucky OC ReMix fan!!! It should be YOU! <(<) All you have to do is: 1) Go to VGL's Facebook (http://on.fb.me/10Y3TlK) and comment on their announcement of Jill joining the tour 2) Specifically MENTION "OC ReMix" in your comment! Whatever way you mention "OC ReMix" on VGL's announcement enters your name into the contest! Link to one of Jill's ReMixes? Great! Mention you first heard her on OCR? Wonderful! Just GET HYPE! PRIZES! Next Wednesday, May 22nd at 2PM EST, we'll randomly pick one lucky OCR fan who will win... • Video Games Live: Level 2 Blu-ray - SIGNED! • Video Games Live: Level 1 CD - SIGNED! • Video Games Live: Level 2 CD - SIGNED! • Earthworm Jim Anthology CD - SIGNED! • AND a Video Games Live T-shirt, Concert Program, Poster, Keychain, AND Hat! GET GOING and TELL YOUR FRIENDS to enter RIGHT NAOW!~ http://on.fb.me/10Y3TlK Make sure to follow Jill & VGL for more news on when Jill's beautiful vocals and Video Games Live visit a city near you! More dates will be added soon, so keep your eyes open! • Video Games Live: http://facebook.com/pages/Video-Games-Live/62865898389 • Jillian Aversa: http://facebook.com/JillianAversa

Happy writing!

Amaterasu (Okami) Pikachu (Pokemon) Skull Kid (Zelda) Proto Man (Mega Man) Vyse (Skies of Arcadia) These are our top 5 mascot contenders with 2 weeks left. There's almost no chance these 5 don't make it into the top 10 winners. Who wants to preemptively claim these? P.S. Who knew VYSE was what was hot in the streets?

I could see dropping the semicolon and "naturally" from that first sentence in the last para and just making 2 sentences. There's no need for the two thoughts to be connected by the semicolon, although it's not a big deal.

Movie was awesome. Anyone on the fence, don't be. Go see it.

You'd have to ask him; the version on OCR as a single mix was the same as the album version, AFAIK. I'll check it, but that just may be how the track is.

It'll be fixed in the next torrent update, which should be sometime in the next month or so. We definitely know about it.

Yeah, leave "Free Bird". Or in this case SAVE FREE BIRD! This is the only bio where a "Free Bird" joke fits right in.

Cool. Overlooked it because his credit on MobyGames was below the Music credit. Will update it soon.

Since K.K.'s wrapping up, just putting this out there again for anyone that wants first dibs.

In the case of Valis III, the EGG Music album had track names that either matched up to the usage for the Genesis version or were neutral and weren't location or stage names that would need to be verified for another platform. So there, I'm good, though whatever names you find could be alternate names. Some of them are the same. Mercenary (NES| )TX-55 Metal Gear (NES| )Escape -Beyond Big Boss- (NES| )Return of Fox Hounder (NES| )Just Another Dead Soldier (NES| )Thanks for correcting me with more of a side-by-side comparison. It doesn't sound like any of these are source tunes for the mixes we have, but I'll have to familiarize myself with those 4 mixes again. Not sure why you're saying the entire series needs to be updated, this is just about listing missing source tunes for ReMixes. "Theme of Laura" is definitely there for the beginning for that mix, so I'll add that.