Liontamer

Arranger's handle is Death by Accident, so arrangement would need a unique title if passed -LT Hi my name is Adrian, I have as a hobby to make remixes of video game themes. Some one recommended me to sent it in this web site, i sent you one of my works. I have more mixes to share, but first i want to study your web site to kwon how is it works. Thanks

In my defense... I am putting in the effort to fix issues with these before submitting. Whoever mastered this album let the peaks go over 0dB ReMixer name: ZackParrish Real name: Zack Parrish Email: Website: zackparrish.com User ID: 29013 Performers: My computer Name of game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Name of arrangement: En Garde Name of song: Online Practice Stage Composers: Not a clue who wrote this... Link to track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz3YN5Vy1ik Comments: Took a 20 second loop and turned it into 3 minutes of ...whatever this is. Hodge podge of chip, guitars, trumpet and whatever else I used. I don't remember anything about producing it because it's been several years since then. Was part of the Harmony of Heroes album.

The track was 5:11-long, so I needed to identify the source tune in play for at least 155.5 seconds for the VGM to be considered dominant in the arrangement: :02-1:20, 1:39.5-1:58.5, 2:17.75-3:44.25, 4:22.75-4:41.75 = 202.5 second or 65.11% overt source usage There could be more that I was overlooking and undercounting. I just timed it out to map out what I recognized at first blush and not overlook the level of source usage while being bowled over by this musicianship. Weird lil' blip of sorts around 2:07 when the cymbal gets muted in an abrupt way; very minor thing. Great performances, strong energy, very intense peaks, excellent dynamic contrast throughout, loads of changes in the lead guitar tones to provide variety, and the treatment of the source tune was excellent. If you need pro-grade official arrange album quality stuff, call Mauricio. Incredible work! YES

Kidding... I don't have that many tracks up my sleeve... Nor would I submit some of them... ReMixer name: ZackParrish Real name: Zack Parrish Email: Website: zackparrish.com User ID: 29013 Performers: Psamathes - Vocals Harp - Harpsibored Cello & 2nd Harp - Chromatic Apparatus Name of game: Metroid Prime 3 Corruption Name of arrangement: An Endless Sleep Name of song: Skytown Composers: Kenji Yamamoto (I), Masaru Tajima, Minako Hamano Link to track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P7jdnU06ew Comments: Wrote this as part of the album Harmony of a Hunter Returns. Wasn't a huge fan of the source track but the director REALLY wanted it on the album and nobody was staking a claim pretty far into the production of the album... so I took charge and worked on this track. Director also really wanted to use Harpsibored and Chromatic Apparatus for their harping abilities and having never worked with a harpist before.. and having a sudden change to work with two of them... I write two harp parts as a ... sort of duet. I then did my usual thing stacking orchestral bits and bobs, atmospheric mumbo jumbo, a choir, etc... ultimately put a cello part in there when I found out Chrom also played the cello(Ace fellow that one)... and then the director yet again convinced me to use ANOTHER person and put me in touch with Psamathes so I swapped out the fake choir with her voice on... several tracks. She didn't disappoint and gave the track some much needed life in the second half. Eventually I decided why not add some acoustic guitar as well, so took out the guit and recorded a couple of parts being Psam's vocals. I'm sorry to all 3 of them for not submitting this sooner... they did awesome and I can't thank them enough for their contributions.

hello, This is my submission. Thanks OD Link to my submission : Re Mixer : Onirik Dreamer real name : Karim Ajroud email : website : https://onirikdreamer.com https://www.youtube.com/@Onirikdreamer Link of vidéoclip : user id : 38210 Name of game arranged : Metroid (Nintendo Nes) Name of original track : main theme (Hirokazu Tanaka credited as Hip Tanaka) Name of my track : Samus legend Additional information about game : Nintendo (1986) Link to the original soundtrack : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-U3sVX2G3w Your own comments about the mix : I love this piece and I wanted to add electronic and dynamic, cool and energic touch to it, i hope you like it.

Link: Remixer name: MaxStack User ID: 38704 Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim System: Windows, various consoles Name of arrangement: Dragonwave Original Name: The Song of the Dragonborn The game is already on the website. Anything is better in synthwave. -- https://maxstack.rocks/

The sounds felt basic in places, but I'm digging Forrest's textures, which bring a lot of character by personalizing the instrumentation. At 1:58, I was hoping the textures would dramatically fill out more, because the core drums plodded, but it was still OK, and the drum dropoff at 2:24 was overdue. Drums came back at 2:49 after a rebuilding section. At this point, I was wanting to hear some more ideas to play with the leads or supporting instrumentation for the final minute. There was enough of a textural transformation that nudges this over the line for me after the last minute came off comparatively underwhelming and underdeveloped; that'll sound like I dislike the end, when I instead felt there were more opportunities to evolve the ideas even further and employ more dynamics for either a big or diminuitive finish. The overall transformation still works for me, and feels like an example of using some relatively boilerplates sounds and effects to nonetheless develop something cool. I don't think this will skate by, and I'm intersted to hear some other perspectives; that said, enough works for me that I'm good to go for this take. YES

Hearing H36T's arrangement approach is somewhat formulaic, which can sound like a knock against it. It feels like the genreral formula is a melodically conservative structure with relatively similar instrumentation to handle the melody, then lots of textural exploration and expansion via original instrument and vocal clip additions. If you like, you like, if you don't like, you don't like; I can appreciate it. Basically has an extended intro until the source theme finally comes in at :53.5 and stays in play the rest of the way. The second half from 2:23-on was more interpretive with the added drumming, whispy vocals, tense strings and gradual escalation helped shore this up from an arrangement standpoint. The last 45 seconds were arguably getting more indulgent, but I personally didn't have a problem with it; it helps complete a nice arc. YES

I emailed the original composer, Kamil Orman-Janowski, about the original track, so we'll see if we hear back. EDIT (8/17): Kamil got back to me right away after I reached out yesterday, but unfortunately, this piece is ineligible because it wasn't used as in-game music. (If this trailer track ever gets put into the actual game, we'd then consider it eligible.) NO Override To fully explain for anyone reading this, the source tune fall outside of our guidelines for acceptable source material, which makes this arrangement ineligible for OC ReMix: I'm sorry for the unreasonable wait, Michael, just to be told no on a technicality. While I haven't analyzed the arrangement (so I can't confirm if this treatment is too liberal), the musicianship certainly isn't in question; it's well-performed & well-produced and sounds great. If you have something else from your body of work you'd be willing to submit, we can expedite it to account for the time this took, and definitely want to see you posted again!

Amazing source tune choice. It sounds like something straight out of 2000s New Japan Pro Wrestling. The track was 4:10-long, so I needed to indentify the theme for at least 125 seconds for the source material to be considered dominant. This was transformative enough for the adaptation to piano, with its ornamentations and all that, that I may have overlooked lots of other direct references to the source. I'll just time out what I heard on an initial look: :00-:10, :28.75-1:01, 1:07-1:21, 1:31.5-1:48, 2:03-2:32, 3:19.25-3:52 = 134.5 seconds or 53.8% overt source usage No worries there on invoking the source theme enough, just doing a trust-but-verify to tick the box. The sound quality of the piano's firmly in the uncanny valley, so it's definitely not my cup of tea, but at least the piano tone has a reasonable amount of body and the soundscape sounds nice and roomy for it, letting the sustains resonate. It's got good energy and dynamics to keep the presentation as vibrant as it can be. I'm not a gambling man, so I definitely wouldn't have bet my chips on a return from The Coop; what a pleasant surprise! It looks like a welcome back to the front page. YES

Thanks for the arrangement breakdown. People get so antsy with medleys though; I'll have to look at revising the wording in the Submission Standards so that, if it's currently not clear enough, it's not a source of overthinking and stress. The structure here flowed just fine, and it's clear that it's not just an instance where themes stop and start with little-to-no flow or transitional glue. Nitpick time: * The opening piano is noticeably blocky (most noticable at 6:39) and lacks body, but it's serviceable enough in concert with the other instrumentation. * I'm finding that jn's recent pieces have a common production feel where 1) there's noticeable (though not majorly detrimental) quality disparity issues with some sampled instruments vs. live ones, and 2) the soundscape can feel thin despite enough activity going on, which I can only assume is a result of the mixing choices (though I'd love to be corrected/informed by a musician J on that). You can listen to the Okami "Waka Waka" sub and get the same takeaways; they sound good, but could sound more vibrant. * The drumkit had a great tone, and I can hear how the writing's not metronome-y at all, but those parts still felt plain sometimes; would love another perspective on that. * As for one thing here that may have contributed to thinness, the bass writing barely registered most of the time, which was unfortunate; it's there, but generally doesn't cut through or take up appropriate or meaningful space. Nitpicks and nice-to-haves aside, this is a strong arrangement, buoyed by the live performances from Lucas, Greg, and Ivan. Good stuff, jn! YES

ReMixer name: jnWake, Lucas Guimaraes, Gamer of the Winds, Ivan Hakštok. Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger. Name of arrangement: A Battle Across Time. Name of individual song(s) arranged: Oh boy... Let's go: Battle, Battle 2, Boss Battle 1, Boss Battle 2, Magus Confronted, World Revolution, The Final Battle, Fanfare (names taken from the OCR site https://ocremix.org/game/16/chrono-trigger-snes). Link to arrangement: . Oh boy... I'm a little hesitant to submit this considering it's a 9 minute medley of 8 sources but I guess it doesn't hurt to try. I don't like calling it a medley since I didn't do an arrangement that's structured like "song A -> awkward transition -> song B -> etc" like most medleys do, rather going for a more cohesive track where each source comes and goes, but I guess it's technically a medley still... Anyway, I made this track for Dwelling of Duels' Silent Protagonist month on July 2023 (a lot of DoD material coming from me this year!). I've always loved the Chrono Trigger soundtrack (quite original of me) but I had never really wanted to cover it since, well, everyone else has. Originally I just wanted to make a fun remix of the main battle theme, but at some point I started adding more sources and eventually decided to simply add every battle theme from the game and ended up with this monstrosity. Somewhat funnily, while making the list of sources I noticed neither Boss Battle theme has ever been covered in OCR so if this makes it I'll add something new at least! In terms of style this is like a progressive rock piece that focuses mostly on piano and bass. I didn't want to add guitars this time and instead focused on a different soundscape, with a lot of piano, organ, brass and woodwinds. For better results I recruited Hakstok to play bass and Lucas to play brass. Lucas then, in turn, contacted Gamer of the Winds for the woodwinds and that ended up forming a pretty neat team! Since I don't want the judges to suffer too much (although this could be avoided by a direct post *wink wink*), here comes a somewhat detailed breakdown of source usage: 0:00-0:44: All of this section is based on the main "riff" of Battle Theme 1. I basically harmonized the main bass melody with 7ths and focused on the D-F-D pattern for the very beggining. 0:44-1:08: Section based on the ascending chords from Battle Theme 1. It's a little bit subtle, but the bass and sax melody are based on Battle Theme 2. 1:08-1:15: Transition based on the intro of Boss Battle 2 (the source's main progression starts with Am-Cm and I use that progression here, continuously changing keys). 1:15-1:47: Switch to Boss Battle 1: intro + its main melody, first on sax and then on synths. 1:47-1:59: This part is from Boss Battle 2. Fun fact, this section is mostly in 6/4 since it's on triplets because I needed the notes to be faster. 1:59-2:11: Synth solo with the Boss Battle 1 backing. 2:11-2:24: The part from Boss Battle 2 again. Transition back to the intro was a bit tricky since I had to move from triplets to standard time. 2:24-2:37: Intro's back! Now with bass runs. 2:37-2:48: New chords over Battle Theme 1, they tease the next source. 2:48-3:01: Battle with Magus main melodies appear! The backing is still based on Battle Theme 1 which creates a fun dynamic IMO. 3:01-3:28: Second melody of Battle with Magus, probably the section I reharmonized the most. Transition to next section is a classic II-V-I. 3:28-4:01: Intro of World Revolution, played on bass! 4:01-4:33: This is based on the middle section of Last Battle (bass and organ particularly). Sax ensemble solo! 4:33-4:42: Flute melody taken from World Revolution. 4:42-4:54: Also from World Revolution but with the bass of Last Battle. I really like the arpeggio synth I picked for this section. 4:54-5:03: Flute melody's back! 5:03-5:16: Another section from World Revolution here. 5:16-5:28: Flute solo over a variation of the previous riff (in a different key ofc). 5:28-5:38: Yet another part of World Revolution which also acts as a transition. I really like how this part turned out. 5:38-5:50: Return of the section from 0:44, now with a synth solo! It was fun to play. 5:50-6:03: The transition based on Boss Battle 2 returns, but now ends on a descent. 6:03-6:26: Main melody of Boss Battle 2 on sax. 6:26-6:38: This riff is from Boss Battle 1 (it's the part just before the loop). 6:38-7:10: We return to Battle Theme 1, using its "main melody" over a different chord progression than the source's. 7:10-7:40: The song's ending and climax begin with the return of Last Battle. Just like the original I repeat the bass riff first on E and then on Eb. 7:40-8:30: The main CT melody! It's technically part of World Revolution as well so I just had to fit it somewhere in the arrangement. 8:30-8:50: A reharmonization of the victory fanfare. I only used the first part of it, the second part was a little tough to reharmonize and the track's already long enough... I hope the "medley" aspect of the track doesn't mean it's quickly rejected, but I already have a posted medley so it should be fine? Anyway, hope you enjoy the track!

Track Artists: Arr., Keys: Torby Brand Real name: Torbjørn Brandrud Links: https://youtube.com/c/TorbyBrand https://fanlink.to/torbybrand Submission information: Track name: Eternal Reverie Source Game: Finding Paradise Source Track: Time is a Place, Faye's Theme, Ending Theme Comments: This track was part of the 2023 Pixel Mixers project: "The Great Tale of the Little Ones Vol. 3". Upon entering this project, I had pursued the idea of creating music based on Kan Gao's amazing scores. They are simplistic, but they perfectly capture the atmosphere and emotions of his stories and games, such as "To the Moon" (2011) and "Finding Paradise" (2017). These games carry deep storytelling that tugged at my heartstrings and sat in my mind for a long time. That's why, when I went on to cover the main theme of Finding Paradise, I wanted to do more than a simple transcription of the piano score. The main motif of the game has several renditions spread out throughout the score. My arrangement can be considered a medley of "Faye's Theme", "Ending Theme", and "Time is a Place". I have attempted to capture the essence of these melodies, and poured it into one, single piano arrangement. It's not an elaborate or complex arrangement, but in this case I prefer the simplicity of it. It aims to channel the feelings and essence of the story, with a heartfelt performance. I have added a few original sections, and I've worked to fuse the sections together organically to make the transitions as seamless as possible. Furthermore, I've expanded upon the simplistic beauty of the songs by adding harmonies and additional melodies on top of the original. I think they compliment the score well, and naturally fits into the theme. Lastly, I want to say that I'm extremely grateful to the game and what it has given me. I'm happy to have been able to create this arrangement and performance, to express my feelings about the story, and to inspire others to experience it. Best, Torby Brand Pianist | Producer

Since this is an unusual case, I'm not really comfortable with Chimpa being OK with an arrangement that she's perceiving as roughly 40% source passing. By that token, there'd be a ton of submitters rejected for not using the source tune long enough or clearly enough that should be bringing out the pitchforks. Even though I'm comfortable with how I heard the source referenced in the beginning section, I'm asking for more Js to weigh in, to see if they co-sign with the source usage rationale of the intro or not. If this gets another unreserved YES while remaining unanimous, let's consider it resolved.

This floats along in a relative (but genuinely artistic) indistinctness. The beats in particular definitely have an awesome presense; good snap to 'em, followed by the vapory trailoff. After just Chrono Trigger "Green" to start at :14, it shifted over to the FF7 "Shinra" theme at 1:37, then back to "Green" at 2:21, and again to "Shinra" at 3:02 until the finish at 3:48. Everything's just swimming in vaporwave muck, I love it; sax accents were a nice touch, and even though everything's very ethereal, with the "Green" melody in particular sometimes not being right in the foreground, I could make out the part-writing I needed to. Very spacious and full sound, Richard, with a subtle escalation in the tension! YES

The submission link: Your ReMixer name Kyaku Your real name Richard Westbrook Your email address Your website(s) N/A Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile 38541-kyaku Name of game(s) arranged Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII Name of arrangement Memories of a Green Shinra Name of individual song(s) arranged Chrono Trigger: Memories of Green and Final Fantasy VII: Shinra Corporation Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) Both are popular songs for remixes so I imagine I can’t add much more here, though please let me know if I need to. Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) Chrono Trigger: https://youtu.be/2EIyCAzmAso Final Fantasy VII: https://youtu.be/CPiA0Mm45_I Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, how the source material was referenced in the arrangement, etc. I attempted another mash up, though this one is much less 50/50 split content between the two songs, with the most of the Chrono Trigger track left on the cutting room floor. I always loved the perceived key changes in the original Shinra song, it felt so dramatic and fatalistic. I’ve been on a retro vapor wavy kick recently so it’s probably leaked into this track too. Moar gated reverb snares! Vangelis was on my mind certainly when I started out, though these things have a way of running their own course by the end. Only my second submission so any and all feedback good and bad is of course appreciated!

I'll add in an extra vote, just to throw in my timestamps of what I could quickly recognize. The track was 5:22-long, so I needed to identify at least 161 seconds of overt source usage to consider it dominant in the arrangement: :23-:36, :48-:57, 1:50-2:00, 2:04-2:20, 2:48-2:59, 3:03-3:08.75, 3:59-4:16, 4:27.5-4:35 = 89.25 seconds The original writing that's not arranging the source fits well, and it's possible we're short-changing you on other areas where you're directly referencing the source, so I'm happy to get more timestamps from you, Rebecca, and be corrected if we're not properly recognizing and acknowledging the arranged segments. For a track that's so brief, it's surprisngly abstract to try to do something with it. The safest best would be to stay melodically conversative, and invoke the melodic fragments more, which could be done in a number of ways. What's here sounds nice, it's just appearing to be light on invoking the source tune. That may mean tweaking it would compromise the vision; though this theme is so brief, I actually think the flexibility is there to use it enough to ensure it meets the arrangement standards here. Lovely regardless! NO (resubmit)

The music started at :19 and stopped at 9:41.5, so the music was 9:22.5-long. In that case, I needed to identify the source material invoked for at least 281.25 seconds for the source material to dominate the arrangement. :26.75-:58, :59.5-1:02, 1:03.75-1:07.5, 1:08.5-1:11.5, 1:13.5-1:19, 1:38-2:09, 2:14.75-3:04.5, 3:34-4:12, 4:16-4:39, 5:56.5-6:02.75, 6:42-6:59, 7:45.5-8:05, 8:32.5-8:42.75, 8:53-9:15, 9:19.5-9:41.5 = 284.75 seconds There was a lot of usage I didn't timestamp here; I was just doing a cursory check of what I could most easily identify, and I found enough just through that first pass. Arrangement-wise, it's just a wonderfully varied presentation. Muddy at times, but nothing where I couldn't make out the part-writing. The rap section towards the end was too muffled, so that could have been tweaked. Other than that mixing ding, I dug this. YES

The source was used from 1:27.75-3:38 = 130.25 seconds, then 3:38-4:31 was based on the original, but changing the notes into dissonance instead of melodiousness, so the level of source usage was fine. Intro was OK in a vacuum, albeit disconnected from the source; fun little audio exercise there though. 1:11-1:20 though, the plucked strings weren't melodious, only meandering. OK, here it finally is, "Blizzard Buffalo" at 1:27. Hearing lots of residual hiss/white noise on the woodwind lead, and the soundscape's not sounding clean. I liked the cello line though, that added some nice body to the piece. Clock SFX at 1:55 was lossy-sounding. At 2:04, I actually like that washed out technique in principle (see: https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00347), but everything ALSO sounds too far away here, and there's also some crunchiness (2:29-2:31 had some light crackling/distortion come through). The attacks and bow movements from the strings brought in at 2:35 sounded super mechanical and exposed, and that lasted a while until 3:38. The sustains didn't sound good, and you had jerky note changes like in the chorus (e.g. 3:22-3:33) that sound so blocky and completely take you out of immersing into the track. Meanwhile the drums first brought in at 2:41-3:33 sound so muffled. Whoa, from 3:38-4:31, what's going on there? We're told it's supposed to sound "happy" and "elated", but it doesn't sound melodious at all, which makes it come off as a terrible resolution section. Whatever transposition was attempted wasn't working, full stop. The mood & tone of this is fine, but these notes aren't. This needs to stay melodious with the theme treatment, and don't be afraid to get some other ears on this if melodiousness is gonna be a question. Then there's a super thin lead at 4:21 noodling around, while some (thunder?) noise quietly but very abruptly entered in; smooth this out. Then loads of louder hiss briefly appear from 4:31-4:36, I guess as part of the wind-up SFX, so this sounds sloppy twice in a matter of seconds with noise/hiss akwardly dropping in. The final music box type stuff from 4:36 also felt disconnected from the rest of the piece, but it was brief and the SFX bookends with the beginning; there's no inherent problem with it, but the shift into it would have flowed a lot better had the prior minute of dissonance not cut the legs out of the rest of the arrangement. It'll come off like I hate this track because I felt lots of things weren't cohesive; it'll sound like I feel you're bad at taking creative risks. It's a good arrangement concept, but a number of things were undermining it. The portions of incoherent dissonance, poor articulations, indistinct mixing, and audible hiss were needlessly tripping this up, in that specific, descending order. If the dissonance and articulations can't be improved, I can't roll with this. While I don't believe rehabbing this is impossible, these issues felt very obvious in the first place, yet VQ's alarm bells surprisingly didn't go off when they should have. It's a creative arrangement and a good base to work with, Angélique. It may make sense to put this one on ice for a bit and come back to it after some distance. NO (resubmit)

I'll just throw on a quick co-sign. I disagree completely with the arrangement feeling meandering; I'm 100% fine with the structure here. The arrangement isn't the problem; the artificial-sounding articulations of the sampled piano are the main thing holding this back, and it leaves the performance, which had its own issues articulated by the others, not sounding full or expressive; rather, it sounds thin and mechanical. This was a big problem I had with Rexy's early stuff in the community, so maybe you could ask her what she modified with her setup; I'm certainly open for a revised version with a more realistic piano sample. We actually don't need uber-realistic piano to pass the panel, but it generally can't get my vote, because it falls below where I perceive the quality bar for production. NO (resubmit)

Your ReMixer name: ThePlasmas Your real name: Mauricio Castro Your email address: Your website(s): https://linktr.ee/theplasmasvgm Your userid: 30081 Name of game(s) arranged: Celeste Name of arrangement: Al Otro Lado Del Espejo Name of individual song(s) arranged: In The Mirror Additional information about game: Lena Raine, PC and Consoles. Link to the original soundtrack: https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/album/1ZfETfec0U02KrKNI8w3Gf?autoplay=true Your own comments about the mix: Celeste is a very beautiful and challenging game, I love the art style, the music and the story. That make it one of my all time favorites, the idea of covering that song came from GameGrooves, and it's available on the album "Over The Summit" (https://lnk.to/overthesummit). I decided to transform a non metal song into a very dark one, adding riffs, harmonies and a straight-to-the-face bass/drum sound. Mastered by James C. Hoffman: https://x.com/JCHoffmanMusic --------------------------------------------- Mauricio Castro Bobadilla Profesor de Matemática Licenciado en Educación theplasmasvgm.bandcamp.com

Hi there! Here is my submission link: artist details: My remixer name: Bustello My real name: Forrest Messerman Email address: My websites: https://www.distanttiderecords.com/ https://bustelo.bandcamp.com/album/sr387 OcRemix user ID: 38731 Submission details: Game arranged: Super Metroid Arrangment name: Fires of Zebes Song arranged: Lower Norfair (Ridley’s Lair)/Nofair Ancient Ruins Area From Super Nintendo, composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano About my mix: When I create arrangements I usually take only the melody of the original track and create my own musical ideas around that. With this piece I did just that I used a few of the original bass lines but other than that almost everything from the drum beat to bass line is original. For me that is the most satisfying part about creating remixes or arrangements. I recorded and produced this in Reason Studios. Thank you for the consideration!

I can see what MW’s saying about monotony, even though it didn’t bother me. Nice and relaxing vibes, with a good amount of subtle textural changes and the occasional simple original sections that provided low-key yet meaningful variations throughout. Original writing from 2:03-2:24 was noodly, IMO, but no big deal. Smoove stuff from Juliano! YES

It's not a major thing, but you do catch some of the quality disparity of the sampled piano vs. the live instrumentation in the intro. From 1:48-2:28, it felt like the textures should have been fuller; there was a lot of empty space that wasn't properly padded/filled, IMO. The performances are solid, but there's post-production glue missing to make everything sound like it's performed all together in the same place, a relative spareness that's always there. That said, the arrangement's on point, and the performances and production are above our bar. Always love to hear renditions of this theme, and this is a very inspired, jazzy version pulled together by jnWake! YES

From :15-1:10, the choir felt like it was flooding the soundscape and the orchestration didn't cut through as much as it should have, IMO. That said, those are minor things for what's ultimately a tour de force rock epic. The three sources themes combined seamlessly and Ivan's definitely crafted a grandiose interpretation per his objective, rather than just a straightforward medley like he was trying to avoid. Definitely a well-deserved trip to the top of the DoD podium this month. Just paneling this to share the love. Awesome stuff! I'm floored. The fandom will ALL be floored. YES