Liontamer

...about having 0 Sega Pico OC ReMixes. :'-( http://twitter.com/SEGA/status/30569074446565376 Say what? They can't do that to us! There's gotta be something we can do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Pico#List_of_Sega_Pico_software http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22Sega+Pico%22 Someone make a passable Pico mix and we'll fast track it. Bonus points for a mix from either Ecco Jr. and the Great Ocean Treasure Hunt! OR Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation: Hiragana Katakana Kakechatta! (or anything) WHO WILL STEP UP AND DEFEND THE COMMUNITY'S HONOR?!?

Groove bias!

Fuck yeah! In before belated! , Kyle!

Generally speaking, you need to be credited. Whether than involves a formal credit or at least credit in the comments area of a file takes into account the level of contribution. But if you do something substantive, in almost all cases you're going to be credited. We haven't had a case where EVERYONE on 1 track requests not to be credited, or wanted to Alan Smithee their stuff.

Opening sounded pretty basic, with the lead guitar sounding way too squeaky and flimsy. The lead tone didn't work well with the other instrumentation. The snare writing was too plain; placing it so far upfront just served to call attention to that. The other percussion work sounded quiet and marginalized despite being well-written. The mixing & balance among the parts seemed very off. What happened to the melody from 3:13-3:36? Even if just for "variation," why bury it all of a sudden? I liked the areas that weren't just cover-ish, such as the original writing over the chord progression, but there were a lot of cover-ish verses of the source that really needed something more to better personalize the arrangement and employ more creative variation. NOTHING here is poor, but the interpretation level of the arrangement being underwhelming, the performance not being as tight as it should have been, and the mixing being off all combined to drag this down to a NO. It's a decent listen, but this needs a little bit of polish everywhere.

The strength of the arrangement lies in the original being so good, no offense intended to Justin. I just love "Training Montage," and much of the part-writing was ported over from the original. Right off the bat, the track was muddy. It wasn't enough to NO it right there, but it was indeed messy and should have been cleaned up. As far as execution, the orchestration definitely could have used the added clarity. I definitely wasn't feeling the string articulations for the 2:20-2:43 section. Again, the loudness did cover it a up a bit, but the articulations weren't natural-sounding enough and were behind the beat. I get what the others are saying about this lacking something. Right now the arrangement sounded a bit straightforward, but the mud only partially covered up that there was not much going besides a relatively straightforward (but sufficiently personalized) cover. The track really did come off as surprisingly minimalist. Clean the mixing up a bit, tighten some screws and see what other personalization you can throw into the mix for the main verses to make it more interpretive and this would be golden. Nothing to be discouraged about here, this is a solid base. NO (resubmit)

The piano already sounded mechanically sequenced to start. Not bad, but refining the articulations would make this sound so much stronger. The texture was pretty minimalist, so when the organic-themed instrumentation didn't sound natural enough, it stuck out like a sore thumb. I was glad the arrangement shifted to the warping synth lead at 1:09, because before that the piano lead was too similar to the original in writing and tone. The piano could use some sort of modification to the color/sound of the piano to not sound so close to the original. It's not a requirement or a big deal given the strength of what came later, but it's one suggestion. The backing string work at 1:50 was OK, but if it had been more full-bodied, I think the tension implied in the writing would have been pulled off more effectively. The steady beat anchoring the track got a bit old by the time the track was hitting the end of the build up at 2:35. I know you were going for a more subtle dynamic curve where things gradually built up, and I liked the beat stutters in the second half. But in generall, the beat a bit too long and could use further variation. That doesn't imply that they need to start getting crazy, but altering the timing a little bit with some subtle variations could make all the different there without disturbing the mellow feel there. Right now, I'm feeling the mood and expansive interpretation of the original, but with relatively few parts in place here, the strings and piano need to be fully on point production-wise to get things sounding their best. I would have passed this as is 6 years ago, and I love it, but it needs just a little TLC on that level to pass, IMO. If just the strings and piano had the quality nudged up a bit, I'd YES it; they're central to the piece. Miguel, this is a great base, it doesn't need an overhaul of any sort, just some additional tweaks to get everything sounding great and make the arrangement feel a bit more fully developed. Definitely stay on this one and get yourself repped on the front page, you can do it. NO (refine/resubmit)

Hahaha! Awesome! Agreed with the criticism that the bassline providing more of the Deflektor tune usage should have been bumped up. That said, it wasn't a huge deal. The main snare pattern also could have used a little more creativity, but the rim hits during the arcade SFX and some of the drum fills at least spiced things up. The mixing could have tweaked to have a cleaner, better separated sound, but it wasn't a big deal. Too bad the ending cuts out, but since it was right after the Nintendo pause sound, it didn't feel totally wrong. In any case, solid performances, fun lyrics, great energy and much needed C64 love around here. We definitely need more of this gold, and I hope Zero Division submits more stuff, that's for sure. YES

Cool rock intro, though the crystalline sounds were sequenced a bit rigidly. The electric guitar at 1:05 was real? Sounded like a pretty mechanical synth. The slowed section at 2:14 was a welcome change. At 3:40, the fakey strings definitely stuck out. Immediately afterward, the lack of realism was better hidden in the background as a supporting part to a much richer texture. At 4:01 when even more elements came in, the soundscape became pretty murky. I did like the concept of the guitar shredding a bit. Awful (complete lack of a) transition at 4:43. Sorry, but there needs to be some sort of connection/flow between the two sections to not make this changeup so jarring. The Doctor Light theme cameo from 5:26-5:41, was OK as well, but again, little thought to the transitions before or after it. Arrangement-wise, once the theme truly kicked in at 1:05, it was pretty conservative, but the sounds built around it did personalize the sound, followed by a second iteration with a (tiny) bit more personalization. Arrangement-wise, this was definitely a beefed up version, but it still came off to me like it needed further interpretation. During the verses, much of the part-writing was exactly the same as the original, so there wasn't enough differentiation to make me feel like the arrangement was an easy pass. I also agreed with the other judges that this was too long and a lot of cut-and-paste sections should just be eliminated, because they don't say anything new. The use of the sound effects wasn't cohesive either. This was a decent base, but the production's not there, and more importantly the arrangement wasn't quite interpretive enough and didn't justify the length. Definitely worth polishing up and resubmitting, Frederic. Keep working on improving though. This is better than most rejections, but it lacks a lot of polish. Just don't be discouraged and keep using the forum resources here to learn more. NO (resub)

Feelin' it. My only issue is that the liberal e-piano take on the melody that backed up some of the more wholly-original sections got marginalized, almost to the point of being inaudible. But what I could hear was more than enough combined with the overt source usage to be comfortably above the bar for the arrangement. I thought Stephen's vocals were a bit too upfront, but again, not a huge deal. His chorused vocals are awesome, particularly the choruses; it's a staple of his music, so anyone reading should definitely check out all of his originals. I'll also point out though that he has an incredible knack for penning lyrics about ladies. Smooth stuff from 2 OCR all-stars. YES

Right from the beginning, I was enjoying the soundscape. You definitely got some good mileage out of the source, Travis. Great personalization of it, employing a lot of smart, sophisticated variations. I thought the soundscape was a bit murky, but the parts were still pretty distinguishable and everything sounded on point. Not much to add to it other than great job, and I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more. Definitely on my radar now. YES

I'm not a Pokemanz fan, but the soundtracks have hooks. Because Vig's too blinded by "eww, Pokemanz" hate to make a fair vote, I'll just say YES, you're deaf, dumb AND an old fart beyond your years in order to close this out.

MAG was awesome, per the usual. Both The Lady & I had a great time, and there's definitely too much to go over. But we had a great time and both signed Jon St. John's iPad on the shuttle to the airport. The guy's a beast, and he's a great ambassador for MAG. As he said, he's all about creating buzz and getting more and more people to check out the event, and it's his favorite of the year. I might have more thoughts later, but thanks for the memories!

It's repetitive, but not as minimalist as you think. The percussion and beep form something anyone could be able to work with. That music is a lot more defined than something from, say, flOw. You'd likely have to pair this with something else from 1942 to have a concept that could extend pasta few minutes, but it sounds viable. As always, it's a case by case basis.

Hey, I brought it up for that 1-2 punch of POKEMANZ FEVER, but The Damned thinks the co-promotional angle sucks because HE'LL be too busy playing B/W that day and reckons everyone else will be too. I disagree, and think that with the trailer out a week before, we'll get more pimpage of it, BUT we're both somewhat right, and it's not life or death. Just for the record, if there was no Pokemanz game out soon, it would still drop around March given what finished in front of it. Anyone wanna make a Pokemanz B/W bonus mix in the next month or so? Game's already out in Japan, so the soundtrack is out there.

Tuesday, March 1st. I have decreed it! Also, the music can't go out without me finalizing it, so there's that. I'll nag peeps if there are details I need to put the music package together, but I'mma get to work on it after we put out some more material waiting in the wings.

He means the icons on the right side of one's posts (alongside the various friend codes). We'll need to add that Tweeter thing and YouTube.

Hahaha! I'll hit up Steph. They used an old description as a placeholder and didn't put in what I sent.

I'm thinking March 6th on this.

Because of this submission, the discussion was already done 6 years ago with Ari leading it among the judges. The consensus (i.e. everyone but Binnie ) was that Tetris is our one and only game with a non-VGM, traditional, or public domain source tune exception. I actually sided with Binnie in being against the Tetris exception as well, but I also could live with it as long as the specific exception was added to the standards. It's been enumerated by name in the standards for 6 years, it's not as if it just crept in somewhere. I dunno how Dave explained things to Kyle, and not saying I agree with the following points, but there are unique circumstances with Tetris's music which caused it to be very strongly co-opted as a game theme in the greater public consciousness, otherwise this exception wouldn't have been made: 1) unlike 99% of video games, the Game Boy version sold more than 30 million copies, 2) the song has no identifiable composer, creating less of a sense of ownership, 3) this perception of the music in the public was established well before the creation of OCR. But honestly, any talk of being "unfair" only makes it more likely that the Tetris mixes would be removed rather than any further exceptions being made for Super Dodge Ball or Mortal Kombat or DDR or Star Wars, etc. Anyway, just playing devil's advocate and explaining what went into the lone exception for Tetris. I may not have covered everything, but Dave may want to elaborate or clarify. As far as Jordan's track, even if there were no revisions made and it stayed as is (which there's nothing wrong with), nothing prevents it from being a great addition to Around the World, even if it wasn't posted as an individual OC ReMix.

Retweeted & pimped by Nicalis, FTW! Nice work! http://twitter.com/nicalis/status/20656209812000768 Luckily Jeffrey's on Twitter, so he's going to bat for you, Ryan! Get on that Tweeter thing sometime!

Nope, for reason, you had your setting changed in your profile. I changed it back to the regular way (oldest first) for you.

Hahaha! Awesome. Don't let truth stand in the way of your rant. I don't know who uses what. The DAW used has nothing to do with what makes it on the site. We try to treat them equally, but arrangement's also more important that production when it comes down to it. We don't regret the high bar; just because we're a hobbyist community doesn't mean we don't encourage people to actually get good at making music. The laundry list of ReMixers who have grumbled about the bar being unfair when they were constantly rejected, but stuck around and improved, will tell you that a high bar has had a positive impact on their work as DIY musicians.

The sample were pretty good, though it was still too obvious everything was sequenced. Refining your articulations is always something to work on, and that's definitely what you need to take your stuff to the next level. The strings at 4:36 really strained for realism, to the point of being legitimately a weak moment. That said, the arrangement, structure and pacing were strong. Definitely enjoying this one, Ryan! Much like you, I'd love to hear this performed live. YES

"My Child" satisfied the arrangement criteria since the source tune was overly used at least 50% of the time. Whatever else is there isn't particularly important. That said, using a theme backwards, and needing to reverse a song just to hear the connection isn't overt usage of a source tune.