Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Clearly, they're "not part of the clique."

I don't count, but A.

Kind of letmegooglethatforyou, but how it works and what it's helping to research (in this case, protein folding): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home As far as what benefit it's provided to the scientific community, if you're willing to read those: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home#Results

Well, to be clear about most NOs, because that's what someone like Hoboka was complaining about, the fact is that most NOs are given the NO because they do need additional work on interpretation, composition and/or production to be above bar, and could use the work. Many are below average or bad pieces of music. And a decent amount of material is really promising and is narrowly rejected or rejected with lots of urges to resubmit. But that's a comparatively small amount of material. People can be upset about the quality bar all they want, but the community's reputation has grown positively on account of the raising of that bar, and the overall increase in consistency is objective not subjective. And then we get submissions of MIDIs, pure chiptunes, covers with little interpretation, traditional remixes heavily sampling original audio, mashups, mixes of game tracks not originally created for games or original songs ABOUT video games (which are all outside our scope) where rejections are independent of quality. But those are much more infrequent, probably less than 5% of all rejections. And, there is nothing inherently wrong with OCR having a focus that excludes those types of music, not because we dislike that music, but because back in 1999 OCR was created to offer something collectively different than preexisting concept websites that already offered those other types of music. Some of you are not understanding this. I also think the comment about OCR trying to institute a "facade of professionalism" is ignorant. Obviously, we like to have a high standard, and it does blur the line between fan and professional for some of our community members. How that's apparently a negative thing for a community of musicians who enjoy video game music, I have no idea. But we don't have high standards to pretend we're professionals, we do it to pay respect to the original work and encourage people to appreciate video game music more by presenting consistently creative material. And that raises the game for everyone because while standards aren't professional, they're unapologetically at a high level for a hobbyist, and it promotes musicians becoming GOOD at what they do, not just half-decent. Nah, I always do the math when there's a potential I could YES it. Not trying to pull a debate trick re: burden of proof, but you've gotta gimme some proof through linking decisions, because you're just talking out of your ass with that. No offense taken. But we don't have shadow conspiracies to pass stuff from friends and overlook the guidelines for them. If people did that, I'd want them kicked off. Of course. And that's OK, because we're not saying it is. But people with a chip on their shoulder complain AS IF we say it is. That isn't our problem. You, you're talking out of your ass too. You clearly don't read enough judges decisions. I'm not sure why you're framing it as "if they say NO, they're saying or implying it's bad music no matter the quality level", when we don't do that at all. There are enough people who have had a submission rejected who will vouch for that. Again, no offense taken, but the accusations are just silly. Maybe we can add your PC language elaborating on "it's not necessarily bad", BUT given your POV, I don't see how adding that would satisfy what you perceive as the judges being soul-crushing douches. But us offering positive feedback or saying something's good despite being outside the standards happens often when we hear promising submissions. You need to read through decisions and recognize you're wrong on that. Judges never say anything nice. And that's just page 1. I just linked all 36 NO threads on page 1 of Decisions without exception. WHEN you read through them, you will realize you're 100% wrong. Are we really having this discussion? Really? You bitch and moan about the judges being unsupportive and saying we're not clarifying to people that their work isn't necessarily bad, and YET you don't read a goddamn thing we say. You don't read shit.

I've actually never heard Phantasmagoria before, so I don't know what to expect. Some people have said they're underwhelmed by Uematsu's anime scores, so maybe he doesn't have the touch outside games, but who knows what that's based on. Either way, I'm obviously interested to hear something original by Uematsu, so let's get it going...

Since the thread's basically about the musical evolution of the site, I pretty much agree with what ZealPath said above. As far as Hoboka's complaints about my judging, "meh." Obviously, a few people would think that a non-musician's critique is invalid, but that's an ignorant POV that I don't take personally. The only complaint I ever take personally is accusations of bias or favoritism, which I've never done. Also, how would he know my taste in music at all? I didn't realize Tim Follin was so bad for me. Also to Epitaph, not that I'm mad about the inference at all, but I don't "lack the imagination to compose original melodies", I just lack the ability to implement any ideas I have. Also, while I'm sure we have some people who don't resubmit promising submissions because they're upset, I'd wager the majority of people unfamiliar with the submission system simply aren't aware of the status of their song. While I'd personally love to contact everyone on the status of their subs, that's only something that'll come with 1) me catching up on the submissions inbox and 2) having the additional free time to then mail everyone on whether their mix passed/didn't pass/was chosen for direct posted. That'll be a great perk that will increase communication with the artists, and we already have form letters for all those circumstances, so just cross your fingers I can catch up again. But it won't be for a while.

Remixer & real name: Nathan Rich Email address: vanishdoom@gmail.com Website: http://myspace.com/nrichmusic Forum userid: 25305 Game: Final Fantasy IV Songs remixed: The Airship Composer: Nobuo Uematsu System: SNES Comments: Tackling a composition that is essentially only 30 seconds long and arranging it into a worthwhile, interesting tune for the FFIV album project only became a daunting task when the deadline inched closer and closer. I had given a couple botched attempts at the Airship theme until I stumbled onto a bouncy, euro-dance style that meshed incredibly well with the flighty, repetitive melody we've all come to know and love. Notably, I opted out the "uhn tiss" style drumtrack for something you'd more likely hear on a hard rock song, giving the remix a unique flair. Because of this, guitar tracks were definitely in the blueprints to help bring out the heavier edge, but never seemed to present itself in a way that wasn't fairly obvious and in bad taste. My only gripe with this arrangement was the lack of source material at my disposal, leaving me to experiment a lot with some original melodies and hooks to help fill out the song. Despite this, I'm extremely pleased with how the production came out and am deeply honored to have been a part of the FFIV project to begin with. -------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "The Airship" (ff4-29.spc) Opened up pretty interesting, so I was intrigued with where it would go. :15-:19 started getting dissonant, though, which had me wondering what was up, then BAM :20 hit me in the face with some chorused (but vanilla) synths and even more dissonance with some phasing sounds. What in the world...? A lot of those sound choices from :20-1:44 were brutal. That burst of synths from :24-:26 (repeated :34-:37, :46-:49, :56-:59) sounded dissonant, 1:17-1:20 also IMO. 1:50 had an EarthBound vibe that Andy pointed out with cooler sounds, but then back to that ugly synth stuff at 2:10 along with some fakey guitar plucks. Yeah, the synth design here is a huge downside to this. There was no synergy with the parts at all, and the electronic stuff sounded generic with overboard effects. Can someone else explain to me what happened here? I'm sorry but, besides a couple of brief sections, there was no subtlely at all with this. The synth choices were generic, the mixing was grating & unbalanced, and there was more than one's fair share of dissonance in the opening minute. Sections like :00-:19, 1:44-2:10, 2:30-2:50 & 4:18-4:43 had potential as far as textures, but it was difficult to focus on any strengths of the arrangement when the execution was so whacked out. In the meantime, you can work on gaining more experience with the synth sounds. For this, I'd potentially take the more laid back sections of the arrangement and build the rest of the track around that mood & style, Nathan, where it seemed like your ideas were clicking more. NO

Tetanus is the title of the remix, and this is a project remix. Please hold until project release if accepted, thanks! Contact Information * Your ReMixer name : Hemophiliac * Your userid (number, not name) on our forums : http://www.ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=4862 Submission Information * Name of game(s) arranged : Donkey Kong Country 2 * Name of individual song(s) arranged : Lockjaw's Saga * Your own comments about the mix: For this remix, I was heavily inspired by a track from the anime Gurren Lagann called "Baf baf! Sonna ni moeru no ga...Suki kai?" I used a similar style and structure to the piece. Orchestral opening building to a break into a gated synth/more percussion driven section. Along with my own flavors added piano and orchestral based percussion rather then electronic based. Getting some of the parts to work right really had me pulling my hair out at times. Enjoy. -------------------------------------------------------------- I'd trim a couple seconds of the silence off at the beginning. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkq - "Lockjaw's Saga" (dkq-07.spc) The sample quality wasn't bad, but the articulations generally didn't sound realistic. The woodwinds at :26 & 1:09 sounded like they needed the most work out of anything. The piano at 1:30 & 3:23 also sounded very thin & mechanical. No offense, but I'm a little surprised you could be satisfied with execution like that. The military drums at :46 sounded very strong though, and brought lots of power to the picture; those sounded realistic. The strings could have been tweaked a bit, but those sounded good overall as well. Good transitions at 1:28 & 1:58. I was feeling the pacing and dynamics of this one overall, which felt pretty cinematic. On the flip side though, I was caught off-guard by the synth at 2:05, though it has a cool sound to it. At the same time though, I was waiting for other electronic elements to eventually be introduced and we never got any, so the synth ultimately came off as out of place. Am I the only one that expected more electronic elements to become involved after that perceived setup? Smaller issue, the decay of the piano at 3:44 was way too fast and weakened the ending a bit, and again, the piano sounded very unrealistic to begin with. The devil's in the details. I can live with that synth usage, and the arrangement is definitely on point, Chris, so this is really just a case where you need to refine the sample articulations and get those key elements sounding richer and more realistic. NO (refine/resubmit)

Hey judges, It's been awhile - this is your friend and pal PrototypeRaptor aka Jonathan Paulsen here. I'm kind of surprised that nobody has done this source yet; Kirby 64's "final" boss, Miracle Matter, had one of my most favorite fight themes ever. I always have wanted to do that crazy boss justice - so here I am. This is a pretty hardcore DnB tune influenced heavily by Prodigy, Crystal Method, Dieselboy, Noisia, etc etc. As such, it has obnoxiously loud drums, lotsa distortion, grating leads, glitching, evil laughing, and, most importantly, loud, ridiculous drops. I wanted to capture the essence of Miracle Matter in this mix - he was a crazy, psychotic boss that switched between several forms so quickly that you were at the game over screen before you knew what happened. I picture poor kirby walking into the boss room expecting a nice, easy fight with Dedede and his useless hammer only to be confronted by the one and only Hannibal Lector. With the ability to change shape. And superpowers. He never stood a chance.....:'( Hope you like it, and thanks for listening! PrototypeRaptor (Jonathan Paulsen) (here's the source: )-------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/12189 - "Miracle Matter" Hahaha, you've got the obnoxiously loud part down. Nailed it. The source's backing patterns from :05-:16 and then expanded from :16-:26 form the primary connection to the source. Considering that there's not much there with the source, going the expansive route with the arrangement was sensible way to go. It's worth noting that what little melodic content was in the source (1:09-1:31 of the source) was used as well. Dynamically, this clearly has breakdowns that varied up the intensity of the piece. I just ended up recalling the in-your-face stuff the most due to the volume. So just keep in mind that this does have some worthwhile dynamic contrast, as I almost painted this with too broad a brushstroke after the first cursory listen. As far as synth design & writing goes, I would have loved to have heard more bells & whistles, but that's not really the point of this one. Nice approach, Jon! YES

Watch the bitrate, as we have a 192kbps bitrate ceiling. Pretty much in league with these guys. I can hear how it's a liberal take on "Finish the Fight", but I'd also say make the source tune melody more integrated with the rest of the arrangement. Most of the middle sounded unconnected to the source, so aside from some supporting instrumentation outlining the main Halo theme, I didn't hear too many overt connections. The sample realism was OK for the most part. Nothing awesome, but OK in getting the job done, with the exception of the synth guitar, which was definitely very bad and, as I mentioned, created a quality disparity with the rest of the instrumentation. If you're willing to work the arrangement further and can find a suitable upgrade as far as the guitar, I'd certainly like to see what you could do. NO (resubmit)

Old fogey!

Been pestering about that, so I'm sure we'll do something down the line.

We already have a top 22: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13470

You iz birfday!

Agree with Derek pretty much all the way. I flagged it for DP, but I definitely noticed the realism issues; something to work on for the future, but in this case, the arrangement managed to rise above that. Glad to see Kenny back in the game and no longer an OCR 1-hit wonder.

Nope, Wes never rechecked it! So HE is poop!

S'ok. In most cases, the source game is whatever the artist got the inspiration from, so Canvas Curse it be. The Canvas Curse version has some sonic improvements over the Kirby's Adventure version and isn't just the 1-for-1 NES track, so that's enough for me to allow Canvas Curse as the source game. Along those lines, something claiming to be inspired by the Super Mario All-Stars version of a song, I'd allow, but the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 music, I'd just classify that as SMB1.

Title: Thrashin' The Temple Remix of: Temple Theme Game: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Genre: Metal Remixer Name: Garret Graves Real Name: Devin Paquette Reason For Remixer Name: To make myself sound cooler than I actually am. Reason for saying that: Low Self-esteem E-mail: metalgarret@gmail.com Website: Cult of 1 (www.myspace.com/gregdevin) Ok. Here we go. I told myself I wouldn't touch anything related to Zelda, Final Fantasy or Mario because I figured since OCRemix has been around for a long time that there have been plenty of people to remix the soundtracks of those series. After having an apiphany some time ago, I realized that I don't care who has done what. That being said, I went browsing through all my favorite games and what not. I came to Zelda II and noticed that no one had done a rock track for the Temple Theme. ....WHAT!? Come on! So I went after it. Having recently gotten my hands on a Gearbox package and the Superior Drummer 2.0 (thanks Sixto!) I couldn't help but try. The outcome is what you hear. Now I've heard a handful of rock mixes on the site and there's a couple of things I find trendy. Granted I didn't hear ALL the rock mixes. Just a handful. But out of that handful I noticed that they tend to be mixed with some kind of synth or techno sound backing up the rock instruments. I found that to be a bit too common so I avoided doing that. All you hear are drums, bass and guitars, guitars, guitars! A good 'ol fashion thrashin'! The other thing I found common was the tempo. So far out of the rock remixes that I've heard they tend to be too slow. Now again I haven't heard ALL the rock mixes so I'm sure there are mixes that contain the two elements above. And that's not to say I didn't like the ones that I heard. Matter of fact they really inspired me to do more with my songs in general. Espicially N-JekteD's Purgatory and Sixto's "Burn, baby! Burn!". Incredible guitar playing, I must say! Now the track. A couple of things. Volume became an issue. I'm happy with the level it's at, but other mixers seem to be able to get their's louder. I went to the remixing forums but no matter what info I got I couldn't get the volume high enough without major clippage. So I did my best and hopefully the judges find it satisfactory. I took a couple liberties. In the original there is an arpeggiation in the third or fourth section of the song. I initially was just going to have the guitar do this but I left it out cause it seemed overbearing with the harmonizing leads goin' and I wanted to keep those. The bass seems a bit much hearing it from my system. But I played it on another computer and in my truck and it sounds ok. I'm kinda crossing my fingers about that. The bass kicks too. Maybe my computer's sound system needs tweaking. Inspirations for the style came from Kirk Hammett, Yngwie Malmsteen and Buckethead. I threw a lot at this track as far as guitars is concerned. Obviously. That about does it! I've come a long way since my first failed submission. (this is my thrid). Regardless if you accept this or not, this track to me shows how far I've come since recording guitar with just using frickin' WINDat. ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/14179 - Track 12 Why was this mixed so quietly? Definitely NOT bringing out the potential power with the low volume and sparse textures. Hopefully another J can tell you how you could have made this louder without clipping, but you seem to have had plenty of room to boost several parts up. The mixing ended up downplaying your supporting instrumentation too much and left the track sounding distant and empty. Something like N-JekteD's Doom "Purgatory" sounds gritty, but it's louder and the lead guitar & other foreground instruments are brighter and really cut through to the forefront compared to this. Arrangement-wise, there was some expansionist writing, and some soloing over the foundation of the original, but overall I wasn't feeling the arrangement as being creative enough. It was heading in the right direction, and would be helped a lot by the textures being fleshed out with something more. This also could have used more melodic interpretation and/or more creative supporting writing to bring some additional creativity and life to the arrangement. The drumwork had fills, but was otherwise way too plain during the verses thanks to the snare pattern. It's not terrible, Devin, but it's also not close to the bar yet. If you're a fan of N-JekteD & Sixto and you're studying the mainstream masters, then hopefully you'll absorb some new tricks to provide more depth to your future work. Besides using our Workshop forums, try participating in Dwelling of Duels too; those guys will help whip you into shape as well. NO

Remix download link (megaupload) : Contact Information * Steve Hart * Stephen Hart * steve_hart_guitarist@hotmail.co.uk * www.myspace.com/stevehartguitarist * Id = 28162 Submission Information * Super Mario World * Castle Theme * No additional information to give. * * Inspired, generally, by the awesome work of Koji Kondo, the intensely remixed version: "Monstrous Turtles" and the just the will to work on guitar technique. Also inspired by memories from the past and.. just for the fun of it! ------------------------------------------------------------- Ah, what the hell, SNESmusic.org? Some doofus changed the names of the tracks in the SPC set. Stick with the actual tracknames. Original's not called "Fortress". http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=smw - "Sub Castle BGM" (smw-15.spc) Really rough mixing and performance, but it did have character. The mixing was so odd, the drums were almost non-existent. The occasional snare drum shots sounded completely misplaced though. Whatever synth that was at :41 was a bit shrill, but sounded pretty awesome. Structurally, it was too close to the original; you could have definitely done a lot more with this. Interesting, brief arrangement, and a fun cover, but not interpretive enough by a long shot. NO

ReMixer name: Niccho Name of game(s) arranged: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Name of individual song(s) arranged: Kakariko Village, Fairy Flying, Kokiri Forest, Zelda's Lullaby, Lost Woods (Saria's Song), Windmill Hut ------------------------------------------------------------- Rather goofy title; just doesn't make much sense. The bitrate is also too low, IMO. I'd use VBR and get as close to 6.00MB as possible. http://www.zophar.net/download_file/12209 - A bunch of 'em This really needed some high-end frequencies; sounded like they all got lopped right off. The sampled instrumentation was solid for the most part. There was expansive writing in the arrangement, but I would have liked to have heard more melodic interpretation as well as transitions with more thought behind them. Pretty much a case where nearly everything's executed decently, but it doesn't come off like a hugely creative, interpretive arrangement. Plus it suffers from medley-itis (do one theme, change to the next without much blending), which isn't inherently wrong, but could be made to sound a bit more cohesive. Lastly, the ending was anticlimactic, and thus weak. It just ended with no resolution. A solid effort, but not realizing its potential. Looking forward to hearing more from you, even if it's not a resub of this track, because this showed some promise. Besides using the Workshop forums here, you should be participating in Dwelling of Duels too, which will definitely help you raise your game. NO

Project track, don't go posting this before the project's out. Your ReMixer name: Rozovian Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 21613 Name of game(s) arranged: ff4 Name of individual song(s) arranged: cry in sorrow Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: I asked OA one day if there was a track he needed to have done for the ff4 project, in something like Beyond Velocity's style. We settled on Cry In Sorrow, and I started working on it. He later suggested, after hearing a version of it, that it needed drums. I added drums. I mixed it. I asked zircon for advice. I fixed it. And then it was done. That's the story. I picked the Latin word for tear as a name. I considered using Finnish, but we felt Latin worked better. Enjoy. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "Cry in Sorrow (part 2)" (ff4-17b.spc) Short and sweet. Good call from OA about the drums, definitely the right one. The drums gave some much needed depth to the texture and sounded very sophisticated. Loved the arrangement as well, I'm just paneling this so the others can see how you're coming along. Relaxing stuff overall; you seem to have the knack for this kind of style, bro. Keep it up! YES

Enough usage of modern sounds/production? - LT ReMixer name: halc Real name: Andrew Wheeler Email: halcyonmix@gmail.com UserID: 23301 Game: Kirby Canvas Curse Individual Song: Frozen Fantasy Name of Remix: I Want You Inside Me Comments: Regarding the title; Kirby eats his enemies.. get it? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Andrew's previous Wind Waker sub employed more modern sounds than this, so I was a lot more comfortable with it. That said, there were some clearly modern sounds used through the course of the piece as leads, although the chiptune elements were a huge part. I'm perfectly cool with this, but my bar on that stuff is lower compared to other judges, so I figured I'd run it by the panel in case anyone had any significant reservations. Arrangement-wise, Andrew's becoming very consistently creative. Definitely one to watch, and I hope he keeps this great stuff coming. As far as the mix title goes, hardy har har. At least it's not "Put It in Your Mouth". YES

Contact Info: Remixer Name: Mr_Logic Real Name: Daniel Smith Email: thevaleguitarist@googlemail.com Forum UserID: 28083 Submission Info: Name of Game: Final Fantasy 7 Name of Song arranged: J.E.N.O.V.A ------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 214 "J-E-N-O-V-A" The voice first used at the beginning was tacky as hell, IMO. It just sounded goofy; produce it a different way so that it actually feels like it fits the mood of the song. The melodic arrangement wasn't hugely interpretive, but the overall mood was to some extent since there were some good additive writing ideas, particularly 2:18's section. See if you can do something else with the melody in terms of subtle interpretation/variation. The kick & clap beatwork was too flimsy and was also pretty repetitive. Flesh the texture out some more and see what can be done to keep the beats fresh and varied without changing the relaxed feel you're going for. Overall, this seemed promising, but you need to fine tune some details to realize the potential of this one. Keep at it on this one, Dan, it's got a lot of potential. NO (resubmit)

ReMixer name = Richard J Durand real name = Richard Suru email address = savetara@hotmail.com website = www.save-tara.com Name of game(s) arranged = Final Fantasy 6 Name of individual song(s) arranged = Terra's Theme ------------------------------------------------------------- Watch the filesize. We have a 192kbps bitrate ceiling. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Tina" (ff6-201.spc) Interesting approach. Dynamically, this hit second gear at :37 and that was about as intense as it ever got. Texturally, this really could have been more interesting, though I liked the vox. The woodwind lead at :48 didn't quite mesh with the other instrumentation, IMO, but we'll see what the others thought. The arrangement was pretty subdued and did change the mood compared to the original, but there wasn't much melodic interpretation overall, so the arrangement approach felt bland and repetitive as a result. Gimme some more melodic interpretation & variation to really show what you can do. NO (resubmit)

Downloaded it and streamed it. Unless you're mean another mirror, I'm seeing absolutely no issue. The other 3 mirrors are fine as well, again, both downloading the track and streaming it. You have broken interweb! (We'll look into it.)