Liontamer

This is normally where I co-sign with Palp, and he's totally right on the issues he pointed out. But I'm just not as bothered by the production issues to go NO. The mixing was cramped and shouldn't have been this crowded from :31-1:19. It seemed like other parts were competing in the same frequency range as the guitar, but the overall soundscape was full without being too muddy. The drum writing was OK, though some brief sections here and there felt like vanilla timekeeping; you have areas here and there where the drums were too plain, but the tone was OK and the execution got by. The brass sample quality was on the lower end, which was unfortunate, because it ended up being pretty integral to the piece. That said, while it was noticeably fake, it was mixed in a way that didn't allow that to ruin the piece. The guitar performance sounded strong & expressive though, including original sections like 1:05-1:18 where the energy was ratcheted up. When instruments dropped out and the synth part from 2:11-2:18 was briefly more prominent, the sound was pure 80's cheese, in a good way. This definitely could use some mixing tweaks to sound less compressed, and I'd LOVE to here them, BUT the strong arrangement and solid performances carry this over the line for me. Nice job, Liam, this is bringing it. YES

Not sure that kind of drastic change is even possible. (You see what I did there?)

Minor issues aside, I'm not doing a full vote, but this was an easy YES, and a great job by this trio. Just wanted to post a loose source usage breakdown for the listeners for posterity, since it's a pretty involved arrangement with LOTS of overlap: Mega Man 6 usage: :00-:12 Plant Man :12-:32 Plant Man background :34-:52 Wily Machine with Plant Man background 2:35-2:50 Plant Man 2:53-3:10 Wily Machine with Plant Man background 3:10-3:37 Plant Man background 3:18-3:27 Wily Machine with Plant Man background 4:24-4:32 Plant Man 4:41.5-4:54 Wily Machine Mega Man 9: :12-:32 Hornet Man :22-:30 Splash Woman background :52-1:27 Hornet Man 1:29-1:47 Hornet Man 1:47-1:56 Splash Woman 2:01-2:34 Splash Woman 2:43-2:50 Hornet Man background 3:28-3:32 Splash Woman 3:58-4:02 Splash Woman piano background 4:15-4:24 Splash Woman 4:33-4:39 Hornet Man 4:50-5:09 Splash Woman

This right here.

This is sweeeeeet. Glad it made it.

http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38274 That should get you started!

1 mix, not necessarily 1 source. But keep the sources just to those specific games, of course.

Thanks for the prod on this. I mailed Damon just now from the judges' box to see what's going on with it. Let's check if he actually has something to show now, but I pointed out if they're nothing yet, we can deal with it once he sends something new.

First off, have to note: http://ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions The Beethoven's 5th Symphony material seemed used sparingly from what I can tell offhand, but integrating non-VGM music is generally frowned on for here, since the focus is supposed to be on VGM arrangement, not outside music arrangement. But I wanted to formally evaluate this since it wouldn't be fair to just call this a standards violation and not comment on the substance. I believe the Bandcamp stream only does 128kbps, so it's not a great way to hear how the mixing turned out. That said, the biggest weak link in this piece was the drums brought in around :10. They need some snap to 'em. The tone felt hollow and didn't click with the rest of orchestration at all, made worse given how busy the writing was for that part. Areas like 1:35-1:45 & 2:42-2:50 where the drums were very exposed just illustrated how that sound really didn't fit, IMO. Harping on drums is my thing on the panel, but we'll see if anyone else co-signs on how it sounded here. The melody also felt somewhat obscured by the drums (e.g. 2:00-2:13), but that wasn't a big of a deal. There was a booming, quasi machine-gun effect with the velocities that didn't sound good. Otherwise, I enjoyed the arrangement itself and thought it was laid out fairly well. We'd need a breakdown of the Beethoven usage to see if it was excessive (I'll come back to at least point out what I heard). That said, if there's too much of it, take it out or scale it back. Really, just reworking the drums could get this to where it needs to be, because I enjoyed the creativity and interpretation of this orchestral approach otherwise. NO (resubmit)

Your ReMixer name: Walt Ribeiro Your real name: Walt Ribeiro Your email address: walt@fororchestra.com Your website: http://fororchestra.com Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=49059 Name of game(s) arranged: Street Fighter Name of arrangement: Street Fighter's 5th: Guile vs Beethoven Name of individual song(s) arranged: Guile's Theme and Beethoven's 5th Symphony ( )Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site): Walt Ribeiro - 15" Macbook Pro, 128 SSD, DP7, Sibelius 7 Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) Composers: Isao Abe, Shun Nishigaki, Yoko Shimomura http://ocremix.org/game/472/super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-arc Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. http://fororchestra.com/post/23540234211/thoughts-on-guiles-sf-theme-this-friday Thoughts On Guile’s SF Theme This Friday I arranged two stylistic versions of Street Fighter Guile’s Theme For Orchestra: speed metal and hard rock. Both are so intense, that I couldn’t decide between the 2, and my indecisiveness almost caused me to scrap the song all together. This blog has definitely grown over the past few months, and the pressure to raise the bar each week is making me more productive, more excited, and more cautious with every future release for you all. Since day 1 I’ve only want the best, and the result this week is an arrangement that nearly kisses the 5 minute mark. Remember playing Street Fighter II all week long? Chun Li, Vega, Blanka, Zangief, Ken, Ryu - it felt like it was only yesterday. And then of course there was the movie, which was so bad it was good. This song is a shot in the arm from many of our childhoods. It’s patriotic, it’s bone-crushing… And if you’re not careful it’ll turn you into a family man - like a sir. EDIT (9/5): Got an arrangement breakdown from Walt - LT For the Beethoven's 5th breakdown, I'll try my best to map it out. Below are 7 sections: The top line is for my Street Fighter Orchestra (SF). The timestamps refer to this audio http://bit.ly/KRs8Po The bottom line is for Beethoven's 5th ( and shows where I got it from. The timestamps refer to this video http://bit.ly/1a80Xz SF 0:00 - 0:05 B 0:00 - 0:05 SF 1:08 - 1:23 B 5:54 - 6:15 SF 1:28 - 1:33 B 6:23 - 6:27 SF 1:56 - 2:00 B 0:00 - 0:05 SF 2:48 - 3:07 B 0:24 - 0:32 SF 3:08 - 4:17 = That's all just an original section / solo I wrote. SF 4:41 - 4:44 B 0:00 - 0:05 (just as my song started, it ends) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - "Guile Stage" - "Beethoven's 5th Symphony"

I originally vetted this for the album, and by my count, the source usage came out to almost exactly 50.00%, maybe something crazy like 50.01%. I heard the Chrono Trigger usage as being a bit too liberal for me to count, and I may have to re-do my breakdown if I didn't save it. I may come back to it since there's an added artist breakdown here that I didn't have before the album came out, but at the end of the day, I already vetted it during album evaluation and I was fine with the level of source usage. I thought this was an excellent arrangement by mithius with good additions by Brandon, and I loved the way the piece constantly morphed and evolved. The opening acoustic guitar work sounded great, I thought the transitions were strong, and the original writing pieced together with this like a glove. At 10 minutes long, some will say it's too long or meanders, but to me there were no meaningful issue with length or development and it's not a criticism I take seriously. Exemplary work here, and a personal favorite from the album. YES

I keep forgetting to sub this, probably because it would involve a lot of source mapping and I ain't in the mood.. so I got help from Willrock for this source map. Game: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, ??? source: The Floating Castle, Corridors of Time, possibly more unknown sources Floating Castle: Floating Castle (NES): Corridors of Time: Title: Sentient Machines Remixers: mithius, Brandon Strader Originally wanted this to be in the flood for FF1. If it passes please use the provided artist/director comments/ etc that was provided with the album for it. Also please use the wav/mp3 for the album to judge. I'm sure you all have it and listen to the album daily so no point to attach a vbr1~ Source map: 0:00-1:02 - straight source 1:17-1:48 - A section source 2:14-2:55 - B section source From 2:55 to 4:50 i'm getting no source usuage... can anyone confirm that for sure? Seems a heck of a long time to have original material, I might have missed something. 4:50-5:12 - A section source I think, its hard to pin it down exactly. 5:19-5:39 - B section background source (brandon pointed it out to me) 5:57-6:47 - B Section Background Source 6:47-7:21 - A section source variation (according to brandon, 7:21 through to 7:42 is source as well but I think its too liberal there to count) (Brandon's note: The lead shifts but the backing is entirely the same, you can hear notes from the source in the lead) 7:42-7:54 - A section source variation 8:16-9:02 Corridors of Time (Zeal Theme) source (which brandon didn't know was there apparently) 9:02-9:57 Straight source again WillRock: The inclusion of Zeal makes me wonder if mithius added other sources not mentioned in the first post... if he did, I'm not a final fantasy music manic, my knowledge is limited there. Brandon: There may even be additional source from Floating Castle that remains undetected

Hopefully, there's some good video of this, so we can see the panel & performances.

Trolleriffic. BIRFDAY!

:49-1:20, 1:27-1:59, 2:29-3:00, 3:07-3:23 = 110 seconds :11-:34, 4:09-4:32 (minor 8-note supporting pattern, mostly buried from :11-:34 - used in other sections as well, but even more buried) = 46 seconds Source usage checks out for me. Cool intro. The beep-style notes taken from :03-:06 of the source sounded off-key when paired with the e-piano chord at :11. Already disliked the mixing of this once it picked up at :19; just messy and muddy, IMO, burying the only connection to the source until :34. That 8-note background pattern was meant to provide a constant connection to the source during the original sections, but was usually very obscured. You probably should change the sound of that pattern so that it stands out more as a connection to the source. The synth at 1:28 was pretty generic, and the backing instrumentation was bland. The soundscape was still cluttered while feeling pretty barren as far as the texture, with the same issues at 3:23. The piano at :49 & 2:29 was pretty exposed as mechanically sequenced, which doesn't work well for an organic instrument like it does for a synth. I hear the variations on the theme, and that's certainly in the right direction as far as the arrangement, but many of the instrument choices were vanilla, the textural building was pretty sparse, and some of the mixing turned out muddy. Emu's already given an overview of what should be looked at on the production side. It's a good start, Corey, but the energy here was bland, and the instrument quality needs to be improved before this has a legit shot. NO

String articulations at :12 were pretty meh, especially that last exposed note at :18. Not a great transition to Splash Woman at :41, but it was serviceable. The orchestration for the Splash Woman section wasn't mind-blowing, but was interesting before moving back to Wave Man at 2:00. Weird sweeping noise at 2:05, 2:15, 2:26 and 2:38, I believe with the woodwind, that doesn't sound right, though it's a minor thing. The instrumentation started giving me flashbacks to my very first vote as a judge, Koelsch1's Valkyrie Profile 'Blind Eternity,' and not in a good way. That track stuck out as having a good arrangement, but some bland instrumentation (e.g. bells, strings, woodwind) that undermined the energy inherent in the writing. The final section put it over the top of me as far as having more right than wrong in terms of the production and execution, but you can't help but hear this track and realize the quality of the orchestration hasn't reached its potential. Everything was fairly well written and arranged, but some sections felt a bit lifeless despite all the activity going on. To me, it's a problem, but the smart arrangement of the two theme carries it enough as is that I can let it go by. Having checked out 4 resubmissions by Brandon in a row today, I'm disappointed none of them are outstanding, as he's grown a ways as a musician since he started submitting tracks. I wasn't feeling some of the RESUBs today, but he's shown he can significantly improve flawed pieces from iteration to iteration. That said, more consistency and a better ear from the start should be the goal. YES (borderline)

I've only listened to this version, for the record. The drums were kind of an awkward fit for the first minutes. Rather awkward transition to Spring Man theme chorus at 1:11. It then combined OK with Splash Woman's theme, but the segue was still very sudden, and the drums were still bland. 2:24 had a huge dropoff with an original section featuring a light Splash Woman theme cameo from 2:49-3:03. Energy went back up at 3:11 with Spring Man's theme. Really crowded soundscape (again) where the theme could barely be heard until the guitar took the lead at 3:27. The guitar's sounded OK, but I'm still surprised at what a poor fit the drums are and how the instruments aren't really clicking together texturally. I'd love more opinions on that so someone could articulate those issues better. The ending was also weak, and the transitions weren't smooth. The arrangement's definitely very interpretive and ticks the box there, but the instrument textures didn't fit when the electric guitar was the lead, the mixing should be cleaned up, and the structure wasn't quite cohesive enough. I saw Deia mention in the previous vote that Spring Man's theme could go, and while I don't think you NEED to do that, it probably would help this one on some level. NO (resubmit)

Quick source usage breakdown: :00-1:26, 1:47-1:59, 2:04-2:09, 2:41-3:00, 3:37-4:02 = 147 seconds or 58.02% Opening sounded sweet; nice and emotive, with the addition of the light vocals at :23 also a nice touch. Moved over into the rock at :43. The supporting electric guitars there were burying the bowed string leads. The mallet percussion also got buried, but it never sounded that fitting to begin with. The drum writing was also kind of bland, and the machine gun drums at 1:27 were kind of silly due to being so loud compared to the electric guitars moving over to the lead. I felt like a lot of the scoundscape ended up too crowded as well once things picked up at :44. It seems like many of my votes today had similar issues with poor mixing and crowded soundscapes, so much so that I had to refer to my control track just to make sure I didn't accidentally have any settings messed up. But unfortunately for you guys, my hearing and my computer settings are just fine. Even so, this was STILL reasonably well produced, even if the balance wasn't where it should have been, and I'm comfortable enough with it on that level. It's not perfect, but not flawed enough to reject on that level. The instrumentation sounded full-bodied and the arrangement of the source tune was expanded and developed exceptionally well, with great dynamics and loads of variations. By tweaking some things to get rid of a lot of the weaker instruments, this arrangement's finally playing with power. I'm really glad THIS version ended up at the final version on Random Encounter, as the previous ones were all very, very, very (very) lacking. Gotta hand it to your guys for your perseverence! YES

A little loud and a little crowded, but pretty awesome. The realism of the piano sequencing wasn't there, but the part was buried enough in the background to not stick out like a sore thumb. That said, it's honestly a bit disappointing that part was spruced up further. If it had been exposed more than this, that would have been the one weak link that would have killed this sub dead. I'll be real, please try not to have your piano sound this thin and mechanical again. You may be thinking it sounds like a legit saloon style or something, but the thinness ensures it doesn't; you're a better musician than that. Cool stuff with the Rhodes at 2:08 to give the arrangement some new sounds before transitioning back to guitar at 2:40. Awesome comping-style stuff at 3:28 for the quick finish. The dynamics were understated, but well done. I see in the previous vote that the dynamics came into play, but at least with this version I wasn't bothered here. The source itself was pretty repetitive, but this subtlely avoided that through good original writing ideas to provide variation. The source breakdown Brandon gave in his original submission is seemingly 404'ed (won't load for me now), but there was a lot of original-sounding sections that didn't seem connected with the source despite the claim of a 70% connection, so I'd need a breakdown here. If that checked out, I'd pass it, but aside from the melody, the connections weren't obvious from a couple of listens. I'm assuming there are some backing pattern usages happening according to Brandon, but it needs to be spelled out. No vote until I get more.

Just noting I've only heard this version. The percussion writing was underwhelming and, while not lazily written, didn't really lend enough energy to the piece, IMO, undermining the dynamics of the arrangement. There's just a blandness to it that's coming through. That said, the overall energy in this rock conversion was pretty solid. The volume was somewhat too loud, but tolerable. The mixing was also on the weak side, and the encouding sounded like it might as well be 128kbps quality because the high frequencies seemed pretty muted. If the percussion were more fitting, or the mixing more polished, I could get behind this as over the line, but I'm not quite there yet. It truly does rock, so I'd like to see this pass, but it's missing a little something to put the level of polish over the top. Great start so far, guys. If it doesn't make it, this is close, IMO. NO (resubmit)

Just noting I've only heard this version. The beats were overbearing, and the woodwind & higher string sequencing was stiff and unrealistic. Texturally, the electrosynths didn't work as well as they should have as leads. The background of the 1:52-2:09 section was too empty after the dropoff, yet 2:31-2:44 sounded too loud and compressed. There's some balance and volume issues that need to be worked out. The arrangement's alright, and I wouldn't be mad if this passed, but I heard too many smaller issues with the production adding up for me to pass it. Some instruments are too loud, some sound fake, and some areas are empty. You don't necessarily need to alter the arrangement itself, but I'd tweak some thing with the production to get everything clicking. This is coming along nicely, Wina, there's nothing to be discouraged about if this doesn't make it as is; you can definitely get it there. NO (resubmit)

Busy, BUT lazy also counts.

But he THINKS they do, that's the most important thing.

Please don't speculate whether I'd timestamp something more or less than what you had. This wasn't even close to borderline on source usage: 0:11-0:15, 0:36-1:10, 1:27-1:34, 1:35-2:07, 2:09-3:07 = 135 seconds or 71.05% That said, love the arrangement, and don't have anything to add other than nYAH at DA.

Moseph explained it, but just leaving this here as another reference: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=60151