Liontamer

Artist: Audix Game: Final Fantasy IV (Also reused in Super Mario RPG) Song: Fight 2 (Also SMRPG: Battle with Culex) I was fortunate enough to slide onto the fantastic FF4 project fairly late in the game with one of my favorite sources still available. I took some creative liberties with the intro, slowing it to half time and bringing out the string triplets in a style similar to Pendulum's "Slam." The source left plenty of room for harmonic development, with the bass easily being the most interesting part to write. Overall, it's my usual foray into my favorite style of music to write. Enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "Fight 2" (ff4-13.spc) I thought the supporting bowed strings first used at :11 sounded unrealistic, but were enough in the background that they weren't exposed as much as they could have been. The piano used at 1:33 also sounded unrealistic, but again was reasonably couched in the soundscape. I could also take more issue with the pizz strings at 2:01, but they sound good enough even for pro work, so F it. The arrangement was pretty solid, even though I thought the high-tempo, big beat approach now came off as more formulaic and cookie-cutter in the wake of his previous Banjo-Kazooie "Malevolent Mansion" already using a very similar approach and feel, even using practically the same drum patterns. I can understand having/enjoying a style, and this gets the job done, but go for something more distinctive in the future. YES

ReMixer name: halcyon Real name: Andrew Wheeler Email: halcyonmix@gmail.com Website: http://www.halc.co.nr UserID: 23301 Game: Chrono Cross Individual Song: Time of the Dreamwatch Name of Remix: Marihana on My Mind Link: Comments: This is one of my first remixes, and it's rather old. Submitted just for the hell of it. I was too afraid to submit it at the time of it's completion because honestly I just didn't think it was up to the standards (but don't let that affect your judging ). Also, just fyi, the original project file is gone and there will be no resubbing of any kind regardless of the decision. Rock on. PS this song goes out to K.B. --------------------------------------------------------------- Tough source, since it was written like a medley; didn't even sound like a very cohesive song to me, but let's see what we've got. http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 307 "Time of the Dreamwatch" Intro picked up a bit at :12. The beats and bowed strings brought in at :30 were pretty tame; the lack of realism with the string articulations was weak, but they were relegated to the background. After some breakbeats, 1:20 moved into the "Chrono Trigger" portion of the source, before changing to another section of the theme at 1:50, then cycling back to the Dream Shore part at 2:07. The construction basically rehashed from the same bag of tricks from 2:07-3:11, which was uninteresting, before slowing things down and rebuilding back to 3:41. Overall, something I could see making it back in the early days, but it's not put together cohesively enough compared to what's approved now. The core beatwork was vanilla (e.g. :30-1:13) and the breakbeat cameos (e.g. 1:13-1:20, 3:26-3:39) didn't mesh with the general direction IMO. The overall textures weren't bad, but still were relatively sparse and lacking in cohesive energy. It's an older piece, so hopefully Andrew's moved past that. Not bad though. NO

Kik u. (i.e. I'm working on it.)

Real name - Trevor Burch Remixer name - Vibratissimo Forum UserID# - 26877 Email - vibratissimo@gmail.com Game Mixed - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Song Mixed - Zora's Domain ReMix name - Essence of Escapism Dear OCR, I'd like to start this letter off by simply saying how much I love it here. Kudos to djpretzel and all the other staff members that make this community tick. My name is Trevor Burch, and I'm in my junior year of high school. I found this site about two (and a halfish?) years ago and have been in love with it ever since. But I suppose you want to hear more about the actual submission, don't you. Off we go then. 'Essence of Escapism' is a nice little piece I made over the course of the last two weeks, that focuses mainly on the Zora's Domain theme with some other Zelda elements thrown into the mix. My intention wasn't to create anything epic or overly dramatic, so I hope you're not expecting another Anthem of a Misguided Youth Despite this, it was indeed influenced by other ReMixes. The title, I think, is self explanatory; Zora's Domain, in context, is a place secluded from the rest of Hyrule, where one could easily lose track of time. I always enjoyed listening to this song in-game and watching the cool reflection effects. During the development of this piece, I tried to create a very mellow vibe; personally, I think I did an decent job with it. Nothing stands too out of place, and while the song doesn't have a dramatic climax, it all seems to flow together with ease. This song is just something with a lighthearted mood that I myself was able to lose time in. Hope you enjoy! Sincerely, Trevor Burch aka Vibratissimo P.S. If this is found sub par, I won't need TOO much of a tongue lashing to get my act together xP --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/12209 - 39 "Zora's Domain" http://www.zophar.net/download_file/14178 - Track 1 Arrangement-wise, the interpretation was going in the right direction. You do need to get (a lot) more creative with the synth design, as most of the electrosynths were very thin & generic-sounding. Even though the textures are meant to be minimalist, it doesn't have to sound flimsy. Right from the opening, you're hit with some vanilla sound choices. No hate on the belltones/xylo/wuteva handling the Zora melody though; that part sounded serene. Really wasn't feeling the lead chosen for the appearances of the original Zelda title theme; it didn't fit the mood created by the rest of the piece, and the melody also didn't thematically connect with Zora's Domain. It seemed haphazardly added in, so do what you can to make those cameos stylistically mesh with the rest of the piece. Decent base, Trevor; keep at it, and use the resources here to help improve your material and you could be making some strong stuff. NO

* Your ReMixer name: Showroom Dummy * Your real name : Ralf Schneider * Your email address: sh0wroomdummy@yahoo.com * Your userid : 23981 * Name of game(s) arranged: Tales of Symphonia * Name of individual song(s): Sylvarant Field Music * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc: hello, I made this mix for PRC, it was very well recieved inside and outside of it, hope you like it. For the description I will copy the past description i wrote for the competition: Well I decided I should remix this song, but I should make it a challenge too, so I limited myself to create all the sounds in this song using only raw squarewaves. Of course, I applied all sorts of effects and stuff to them, and in the end, it turned out to be very fun and I really enjoy the results. Even some of the drums are made out of a raw squarewave. (also, no drumloops) I did this in some kind of electro/8-bit style, with a heavy influence from my favorite electronic music band EVER: Kraftwerk. The nods are very apparent in there, but I also borrowed elements from some of my favorite old school electro producers, like Model 500. Anyways enough with the explanations, just enjoy this little voyage into old school sounds . For the link, I don't have webspace so I will link to the hosting at compo.thasauce I hope it's not a problem Sorry about any bad english found in this letter. LT Edit - Source video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuBVT8JEgos ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tales of Symphonia Original Soundtrack - 114 "The land of Sylvarant" Interesting approach, and certainly a cool explanation about the synth design. The texture was simplistic, a little too much so IMO, but it was still fairly solid and the mixing was effective. Still, this really could use another element to flesh this out. Some more variation of the lead tone brought in at 1:18 would have helped as well. The last notes at 4:04 completely messed up the ending. I would have used a fadeout to cap it at 3:57. The arrangement's tempo was similar to the original, and the overall feel was conservative, but there were a lot of little details here and there that ultimately distinguished it from the source. Gimme a little more complexity and substance in the textures to hook this up all the way, and make sure the ending clicks. Good stuff so far, Ralf, and a pleasant surprise in the bonus material of Summoning of Spirits. NO (resubmit)

My Lady likely loves the Nina Simone version (she's a huge Nina fan), but the Michael Bublé version beats it IMO.

* Your ReMixer name: The Cecils * Your email address: cecils.the@gmail.com * Your website: http://myspace.com/thececils Submission Information * Name of game(s) arranged: Final Fantasy IV * Name of individual song(s) arranged: "Illusionary World" by Nobuo Uematsu * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: Each track was a live preformance with zero editing (no sequencing was used). The drums are accoustic with a delayed mic amped in the room. The lyric was written by The Cecils. --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "Illusionary World" (ff4-38.spc) The mixing needs some work; not enough high-end frequencies and the lyrics just bled over the instruments. I'm sure it's purposeful, but the execution doesn't work effectively regardless. The lack of realism with the sampled bowed strings didn't sound great, but they were very low in the background, so they didn't stand out too much. The lead guitar ended up sounding pretty dominant, but the supporting instrumentation basically washed together. Once you've heard the first 1:05 of the arrangement, the rest is just repetition with nothing new, and it didn't sustain interest. The interpretation also wasn't particularly creative beyond the adaptation to these instruments and adding some vocals; it follows the structure of the original too closely without injecting enough personal creativity into the picture. A lot more could be done with this. A shame too; if this were 2000-2001, this maybe could have made it. I really like the mood of the piece; that's definitely good. But the arrangement's a one-trick pony, and that's not gonna do it when your track is 5 minutes. Even if you maintain a very steady energy level the whole way, you can still develop and evolve the piece in other ways. Get more interpretive and varied with the interpretation of the theme as well as your instrumental textures/combinations. Hope we hear more music from you guys. NO (resubmit)

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2586 Remixer name: Colin J. Stewart Real name: Colin J. Stewart Email: colinjstewart@gmail.com Website: http://www.aquestionofextremes.com UserID: 24598 Game arranged: Final Fantasy VIII Song arranged: The Extreme OST link (archived PSF version is missing the first 20 seconds): Remix name: Extremism Remix link: (will re-direct to the mp3 file) This is actually a resub of something I made almost four years ago ( -- here's a link to the original remix -- ). The original remix had atrocious sample quality and non-existent production values, and was rightly rejected. I took a three-year break from composing after finishing it before deciding to take another stab at it. This time, I was going to do it right, so I picked up FL Studio and some decent samples, and then put almost nine months into it (off and on -- but mostly on). There were so many things I'd never done when I started this remix -- working with drums and electric guitars, humanizing a track, using effects like reverb and distortion, EQing, writing harmonic lines ... to name just a few. The amount I had to learn was staggering. And it didn't make it any easier that this is something of a kitchen-sink remix -- the combinations of instruments changes almost every four bars, and hardly ever repeats -- not exactly the best remix to start learning about production. But I'm happy about the results. And I'm going to take a break from remixing for now. Probably not for three years though. I should mention that this is a remix mostly from the introduction (0:19 to 1:23) of the original -- the acoustic guitar, harp (?), piano and voice parts. If there's any concern that this has too much new material and not enough of the original, let me know -- I'd be happy to give a breakdown of how each part is linked to the original. Cheers, -Colin PS An alternate (and rejected) title was "The Extremix" ... -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 409 "The Extreme" (no effects) The mixing was a weak point here; lots of muddiness here, but I can somewhat understand why you went that route. Several of the parts were pretty thin, so adding some verb did thicken up the texture. Still, the FL Slayer-ish electric guitar, the piano, the bowed strings, and the snare drum all sounded pretty thin despite the effects. Except for the guitar, they're not terrible samples, but they do lack body. The synth guitar sequencing was very mechanical sounding as well, which always exacerbates the weak, unrealistic tone of the synth. Definitely some really crunchy stuff around the 5 minute mark; 5:07 sounded like some bad clipping/distortion. Arrangement wise, the concept is good overall. I thought there were some points where the piano would be the only major connection to the original, yet the other parts were burying it, but that could be tweaked. Still, I think this would have a ways to go to get the execution/production up to par. If you wanna keep at this (and I think you should), don't be afraid to wade into our ReMixing and Works forums. NO

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18441 Hey Larry. Here’s the resub and I hope you enjoy it. Cheers, -Derek- ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 103 "Blue Fields" Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack - 101 "Liberi Fatali" Still not feeling the abrupt transition at 3:16; again, a pregnant pause would have worked a lot better than this quick gear change. Also, the second half should have been louder; it literally sounds like the same intensity of the more delicate first half, which is head-scratching. Without messing up the biggest volume moment of "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec", you need to create a proper dynamic curve. The levels of the second half makes no sense compared to the first. The main issue last time though were the samples being used poorly in the first half, but that's been fixed the whole way through, and now everything sounds strong. Still put off by the conservative take on the first couple of minutes, but, as I said last time, it's eclipsed by the rest, and the overall package was strong. Raise the levels post-3:16 before this goes up, but otherwise, this is what y'all should have sent the first time around, and now it's showing off much more of its potential. TEAMWORK! YES (conditional)

You fucking n00bs. Expert Village does awesome tongue-in-cheek help guides. (i.e. they're fake, and you guys have never heard of the channel)

Awesome stuff, José! I know Dave has some ideas on doing more the current OCR color scheme so that the vids look more like the homepage's style. I like the color change techniques to keep the video interesting. I'd love to see the text says OCREMIX.ORG to further pimp the URL, and I think one of the annotations needs to be a credit for you doing the graphics. Dave has his own comments, which I egg him on about so he posts that soon. Thanks Chris for the help on the technical specs we need to use to properly take advantage of HQ!

As far as automating video and embed codes, that's cool. I'd love to get educated on that. Audio quality is not a huge issue, because we can always put a disclaimer and/or encourage people to download the full quality version.

I listen to more VGM than mainstream music, but VGM encompasses all genres. Video games are just a medium for music; VGM is not any particular style.

The song names will eventually by synced up, so that'll be fine. We list tracks submitted and approved as individual OC ReMixes. Tracks on albums aren't necessarily OC ReMixes, and albums are their own entities.

Why can't anyone capitalize the name correctly? OC ReMix OverClocked ReMix But yeah, hopefully for the next torrent I can take care of this issue, since it's something that's easily fixed up.

Nah, but only because that was one of the first issues I addressed. But glad you're looking out.

As much as I'd rather not do static image videos on a mass scale, it's the easiest option, they get views and people don't really mind. Example: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7442470460B27C15 I'd much rather do a bunch of videos given the results there. EDIT: Also, I believe there's a way to amend the embed code to use HQ as the default, but I need to look into that.

Not yet. I'm still working on some stuff. Even then, who knows if it'll make it into an updated torrent yet. But I'm certainly working towards that. EDIT: Updated the first post with details on what's been done so far.

Definitely appreciate the suggestion. Never heard of MP3 validation before now, so this helped. Grabbed MP3val after finding out about it here: http://www.ghacks.net/2007/11/24/validate-your-mp3-collection/ Very lightweight prog, and it creates backups of any files it fixes just in case something gets fucked up, which is a handy feature. I'm listening to files it fixed and everything sounds perfectly intact. The one issue it had was removing tags from 99 of the files it fixed. Just glancing at it, I didn't see anything in the preferences or documentation on why it did that, and that'll be a bit tedious to fix, but it's not a huge deal. There were only 7 mixes out of everything that are currently unrepairable, but considering that 279 files had problems, this was a great find. Thanks, Ad!

The "Taking a Leak" name in the parentheses is obviously fake, BUT...I love it. So if anyone arranges this Final Fight CD track by T's Music into a passable mix and names it "Taking a Leak", I'll definitely fast track it.

HAHAHAHA! I hope people get the joke, because that sprite's been reused like a MOTHERfucker.

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18231 Attached is a submission of mine called Snowboardin' Sonic My ReMixer name is: Willrock07 My real name is William Harby The game arranged in my remix is: Sonic the hedgehog 3 The individual song arranged is: Ice Cap Zone This was the first mix I made using newly discovered production techniques. I subbed it, it was rejected, and I have subbed it again having made adjustments to my remix. Special thanks goes to the people that helped me at the WIP Board, and the judges for the feedback I received when it was originally rejected, without which, this piece would not be as good. --------------------------------------------------------------- http://project2612.org/download.php?id=61 - IceCap Zone 1 Too much treble, but that could be fixed pretty easily I'd think. Still not feeling the sound design or mixing here. I thought the lead was too loud at the expense of the background. For example, the synth bassline brought in at 1:37 was interesting, but was a bit too understated. The textures still felt very basic, sparse despite the volume and not that interesting. Wasn't feeling the bland snare pattern, but I did like the shift to a kick pattern instead from 2:34-2:43, and the more varied patterns from 2:46-onward. I'm not saying make everything crazy, but keep the drum more interesting with more cool fills. I'd scale back the foreground writing a bit, make the supporting writing louder and more integral to the mix and spice up the percussion. That's the short of it for me. NO (resubmit)

Of course torrents would have to be redownloaded.

Sure, I'll use iTunes and see what the effect is. EDIT: Ah, it writes them to the "unsynced lyrics" field. Excellent. As far as the other issue of track #, I suppose just doing the 5-digit # sans OCR in front of it is best. iTunes definitely doesn't parse/recognize "OCR01815", so I'd have to use 01815.

Deia, how about some lyrics? (!!)