Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Remixer Name: Frumpiemonkey Real Name: Brett Merrill Contact: brett.a.merrill@gmail.com Game Used: The Legend of Zelda (NES 1986) - Music by Koji Kondo Track Used: Overworld Theme - Koji Kondo About My Remix: "Skies Over Kingdoms" is what I've always wanted to hear with the Zelda Overworld Theme. I always have had this vision of link flying over the kingdom on a giant eagle and I wanted to embody that in my debut arrangement. I purposely avoided using much bass and instead focused on the higher instruments and harmonies. I've heard most of the remixes for The Legend of Zelda on O.C. Remixes and I decided to take a somewhat risky and approach. In order to make the track "fly" I avoided too much of the traditional snare drum, used arpeggiation liberally (I normally don't arpeggiate at all) and I tried my best not to pretend I am John Williams. Originally I arranged this piece last minute as the "winner's walk" for one of the preliminary Miss America Pageants this month. I haven't touched what I did originally except to master the track, giving it that extra "umphf!!!" I desired. I made another risky decision by sticking close to the source material instead of wandering off to compose original solo themes to compliment the old one. While I have made a couple new complimentary themes I have made them minimalistic in nature. The remix itself may sound somewhat "big" (it is the Zelda Theme) but I approached it from minimalism to keep consistency.I also kept the track short so that it didn't get boring. I know that many many people have remixed this song and so that makes it a tough cut to make but I am confident that it is different enough to merit being posted on www.ocremix.org and hopefully to inspire some cooperative projects in the future. I hope you enjoy my mix down and thank you for your time and consideration. - Brett Merrill --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://ocremix.org/chip/1804 - Track 1 The brass sequencing definitely needed some work, as the articulations sounded very unrealistic. That was a problem for other stuff like the strings, only to a lesser extent, and not as deal-breaking as the brass was. The woodwind sequencing later at 1:58 was also somewhat stiff/jerky sounding. Keep working on refining things so that the note movements sound smoother and more natural. The original section from 1:27-1:58 was awfully lonely, and dragged a little in my opinion, but that's more of a subjective complaint. I see what you were going for there given the sub letter. The ending around 3:20 came off strangely, especially the lone sustained string. Just in case you were worried about the arrangement being too conservative, I thought this was fine. I like the style; the writing fits the pageant origins. You don't really need to change much besides refining the sequencing/production so that the samples are used at their best, and I could roll with this. Hassle who you can to get tips on touching this up so you can push this over the top, Brett, and keep at it. You could definitely get something passed if you keep at it. NO (resubmit)

Dude, are you deaf? "Windmill Hut"/"Song of Storms" is ALL OVER THIS TRACK. Not only is it used in the intro's build, but the melody's right there at :40. It's not even drastically altered.

I'm surprised you got a YES from Vigilante; you better take that and run! I only say that because the production should have been cleaner, and there were a lot of sections where the leads were too quiet & pushed back, and the soundscape sounds dulled like a lo-fi encoding. So the arrangement would be a relatively solid pass, while the production/mixing was significantly weaker, but not weak enough in light of the arrangement. In any case, I've been too busy to vote on everything, but I specifically wanted to post a borderline YES on this as well. You were diligent with these resubs, and you did a great job pulling things together to finally have a much stronger product. Onward and upward, right? Keep improving and we'll hopefully have more from you on the front page, Sreyas.

I loved when Lie Mf B tackled this theme. I'm always down with his stuff, he just always ends up heavily sampling drums from mainstream music, so we can't take 'em. Oh well. On this one, I'm gonna be blunt. The articulations weren't brutal in the sense that you can't write music. But they were brutal in the sense that they just don't sound realistic or fluid at all. And you definitely tried, I can hear it. Keep at it and bug whoever you have to to learn more about getting your sequencing and timing to sound more fluid. Decent arrangement. I thought some of the notes changes with the melody sounded awkward, but this definitely would have made it 7 or 8 years ago. Now you've gotta take the execution to the next level. I doubt you could spruce this up enough to pass on your own, Matt, but I'd say try and see how much you could improve this piece, and I think you could learn a great deal. Definitely don't be discouraged though. As long as you keep progressing, you sound like you could get a mix passed. NO

Not sure what vox you heard, Vinnie. Maybe you meant faintly in the background around 2:21, but that sounds like an EP or something that's definitely not vox. Love the source tune, which I've never heard before. Shnabubula could really do a number on this one. The Genesis has a lot of undiscovered gems when it comes to soundtracks. The drums here were...interesting. The tone didn't quite mesh with the rest of the instrumentation and the volume wasn't balanced with the other sounds, IMO. I would have pulled them back a bit, but it's not a big deal. Otherwise, I loved the writing on them though; very energetic. The instrument chageups throughout the track were jarring on the first listen, but I'll live. I totally understand where Vinnie was coming from with it fitting the frantic nature of the track. The piano sequencing at 2:02 sounded too quantized and unrealistic. The strng sequencing also could have sounded a bit more natural with the timing, but sounded a lot better than the piano. The last drum hits and organ at 3:18 for the finish sounded way too trite & corny. IMO, just ending it with the string, organ and piano up until 3:18 was strong. Arrangement-wise, this was a pretty cool conservative mix to listen to. Aside from 1:44-2:03 and the ending, however, I wasn't picking up more overall interpretation, so I would have liked to have heard more. Even with stuff as varied and complex-sounding as the drum rhythms, those were basically carried over intact from the source. I'll actually go further than Vinnie in saying that there needs to be more interpretation, even though the overall performance was pretty cool. That said, the production issues with sample articulations do hold it back as well. The final product doesn't drammatically lack in either arrangement or production, but I'd say the arrangement needs more ideas and changes to creatively stand apart from the original, and then the sequencing could use some tweaks to sound more humanized. Not far off the mark, so I definitely hope you're willing to resubmit this piece, Dihaz; this is a good base. NO (resubmit)

To whom it may concern, My name is Tyler Sautter (User Name: tsaudandthejihads, userid: 24191), and this is a remix of the "Titanic Toddler" level on the game Zombies Ate My Neighbors for either Super NES or Sega Genesis. While this is my first submission, I think it's a strong remix in the sense that I have changed the time signature completely. The original is in a 6/8 kind of feel, and I decided to go with a "Rob Zombie" style horror shuffle feel, which kinda sounded like a horror porno kind of groove. The Wah Wah guitar sound is actually coming from a acoustic/electric guitar, which went through distortion. If the sound clips are to risque, I have a version without them. Thanks for your time, Tyler Sautter (tsaudandthejihads) ----------------------------------------------------------- http://ocremix.org/chip/6469 - "Titanic Toddler" (zamn-10.spc) Hahaha! Awesome. Definitely recognized the "When Harry Met Sally" clip, but I dunno where you got those other voice clips. I don't think I wanna know. This is badass. It's short, but well personalized (voice clips aside). I wouldn't have minded the arrangement developed for another 30-60 seconds, and almost NOed it, but you know what, I'm lovin' it. F it. It's fun, it clicks, and it has a great, different tone compared to the original (voice clips aside, redux). Let's go. YES

Hi, my name is Chris Holland. I'm a huge fan of ocremix and this is my first submission. Basically I'm a guitarist who also dabbles on bass, drums, and the occasional keyboard. My video game remix project is called "Nanaki's View" This submission is my rendition of a tune called "Beware The Forest's Mushrooms" - from Super Mario RPG (SNES). I hope you enjoy it! Thanks! - Chris -------------- http://ocremix.org/chip/6318 - "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" (smr-128.spc) A heartbreaker, but not a difficult call. At 2:14-long, and fairly repetitive, the arrangement simply wasn't developed enough. The drum writing was pretty basic and plodding, and aside from the steel-strung guitar cameos (which sounded beautiful, mind you), the interpretation was also too by-the-numbers and straightforward. After 1:24, there was nothing new. Production-wise, everything sounded too far away in the soundfield. I've heard of you before, Chris, and you've clearly got potential. You just need to develop the arrangement further and keep things engaging & fresh throughout. Introduce more ideas that further personalize the arrangement and make it unique. Keep at it, and take it to the next level. NO (resubmit)

Remixers: Red Tailed Fox, Bladiator Song: Smooth Tanooki Original: A Dangerous Road Game: Super Mario RPG Good night judges (It’s night over here in Brazil), This is an “old” song, but not in the depreciative sense: it’s old like…Cheese, or wine, or Larry, are old. At least I like to think so. Anyways, it’s a collaboration between me (Red Tailed Fox) and our very own Bladiator, who was kind enough to provide some delicious piano lines (the very core of this song) to the supporting instrumentation I did. The original is “Dangerous Road”, from the Mario RPG (the first one, the one which has a bunch of cool characters we never get to see again): we decided to spin it in a pseudo bossa nova type groove. Karl is worried that Larry’s new obsession of counting seconds of source usage might prevent this from going through, and I am worried that the production rough spots might bleep too much on zircon’s radar. We have a bet on it, and we shall see. Anyways, I love you all. Caio (RTF). --------------------------------------------------- http://ocremix.org/chip/6318 - "The Road is Full of Dangers" (smr-109.spc) Man, you weren't kidding when you said I'd be busting out the stopwatch. The track was 5:06-long, so I needed at least 153 second of overt source usage for the pass. :09-:12. :16-:26, :27.25-:40, :41.75-1:01, 1:03-1:06, 1:09-1:13, 1:31-1:36, 1:37-1:43, 1:52-1:57, 1:58.75-2:12, 2:20-2:23, 2:33-2:36, 2:40-2:43, 2:44.75-2:47, 2:48-2:50, 2:54-3:01, 3:08-3:17, 3:33.5-3:36.5, 3:38.5-3:40.5, 4:59.5-5:01.5 I've got 117.5 seconds or 38.4% by that count, and I counted a lot of already very liberal stuff. Love the track, but unless I get some clarification or other parts I'm missing, I can't sign off on this one. Maybe there's something between 3:41-4:59, but most of that was comping. Will be glad to change my vote if there's source usage I'm not picking up, but the treatment of the source was already very liberal to begin with. Sorry, guys, it's nothing against this piece. It's well performed, but sounds too disconnected from the source material in the second half. NO

Hahaha! I'm not even sure if he's claiming to be the artist, but in his responses to comments, he makes it seem like he represents OCR. That's awesome.

If only everyone would stop with "OCRemix" too. :'-( On another note, we may need to add a "holiday" tag to the mixes.

It begins...again! https://www.facebook.com/TheWingless/posts/10150541019450880 , John! Yet again! Everyone tell him to use Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheWingless ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Wingless gon' be riiiiich, beyotch! http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&story_fbid=221083936182&id=702845879 , John! Everyone tell him to use Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheWingless

Funky freshness.

I like how several Js were like "watch out, this is pretty liberal, Larry may no rikey", when the source tunes were all over this and they're just deaf. This is why it's bad for me to take time off. Great work on this; strong stuff!

This community rocks the world!

Not today, not tomorrow. But I have every OC ReMix retagged with everything. I'mma keep pushing to replace the individual mixes with my stuff, bet. Happy birthday! Side note: I've been so busy with moving and work, that I basically voted on nothing on the panel for 3+ months. First time ever in 5 years. NEVER AGAIN! I'd do an interview, but I'm not famous for e-muzak. I'm just an enabler for the community. Also, do like Pizza says and shut down the site.

Nope. "Windmill Hut" was all over this one, including several areas where it was more of a background player, and then you had the "Lost Woods" cameo. Source usage wasn't an issue on this one. Nice work on this one, Ad. YES

I don't recall holding up SoS on account of my file tagging.

I don't record them. Kroze has recorded a lot of our stuff, so we need to see if we can get his excellent footage. I did the ReMixer interviews, which Dave has.

It's because we hate you. (We actually do have a form letter already written for that; perhaps we'll start using it.)

I haven't heard the arrangement so I've got no opinion on that. But definitely don't question your judgement just because opposing votes are unanimous or gravitating toward one result. You're always allowed to be an outlier. You may wind up being the majority. It's smart to weigh the opposing POVs to see whether you were too harsh or lenient; everyone should be doing that. I'd say take some time to marinate on it.

Undeveloped, plodding, repetitive, boring, not melodious, and didn't sound much like the Frost Man Stage theme. Jeez, you'd think I was Disco Dan with that vote. Sure, there was a groove, but there wasn't much to the track beyond that. Sorry, bro, can't say I was feeling this on any level, and I've loved the source tune since way back. NO

Not a bad track, but a ton of things should be improved. The drum writing was alright for the most part, but the samples were poor and sounded too fake, undermining the energy you were going for. Learning how to get sequenced drums to sound realistic is tough, but not knowing that is signficantly holding your music back. Work on that first, and you'd be in a lot better shape. NO

I'm on the other side of the fence. This is a cool expansion, but basically sounded like a cover with modern sounds and additional ornamentation that sounded nice but didn't really distinguish this as going beyond a cover with new instruments, IMO. The overall structure and feel of the piece was way too much like the original for me to pass it. The arrangement basically loops at 2:16 & 4:34. Some structural variation would have been more interpretive. There was some dynamic contrast, but the flow was essentially verbatim with the SNES original. I enjoy the track in a vacuum, and it's a cool cover, but I definitely won't sign off on it here. I don't think this has substantial enough interpretation to stand apart from the original. NO

Clean up the soundscape a bit, keep the backing pattern fresh and evolving a little more, and see what other new ideas can be introduced with interpreting the melodic arrangement. Otherwise, I think this isn't far from passing, but needs that additional push of development and polish. Very promising stuff, so far, Aaron. Hope to hear more from you! NO (resubmit)

Not bad for a first sub, bro. You're going in the right direction as far as interpretation, but need some work at really developing a fully fleshed out piece. Upping your production skills is also needed, but focus on arrangement first. NO