Liontamer

Aight, so SnappleMan had a colonic over this rejection. Apparently, we would have passed this as is as long as it was either by 1) a friend of a judge or 2) an OC ReMix legend. Never mind that he was being a dumbass about it , and that we've rejected established mixers, friends, past judges, current judges; he insists it's nepotism. Obviously, Tony should have bribed the judges. Besides that, Andy also said we were too focused on the melody and that the source was all up in this. I'm not sure why Andy keeps insisting we're focused on just the melody when I said "I listened to the SPC, and all 8 individual voices on their own looking for anything I could have missed", i.e. countermelody, drum patterns, all the things besides the actual melody. The lack of melody, when so many other elements could have been used, wasn't an automatic dealbreaker. Especially when a song is good, you WANT to find legit reasons to YES it, and this didn't give 'em to me. Using a chord progression and nothing else from a source while soloing over it for the majority of the time is not using the source in an overt enough way, IMO. With that said, Tony stopped by #ocremix to argue for the track, which I'm quoting below. zircon replied on some points. Let's get some more votes and perspectives.

Need someone to track down the original source MIDI - LT Contact Information * Your ReMixer name - Argitoth * Your real name - Elan Hickler * Your email address - Argitoth@gmail.com * Your website - www.elanhickler.com * Your userid - 17225 Submission Information * Name of game(s) arranged - Ultima Online: Renaissance * Name of individual song(s) arranged - Vesper * Link to the original soundtrack - Personal comments: I've always loved Ultima Online music. There are emotions, themes, and expressions that the original composer could only hint at with the midi files. My goal with any remix is to take those hints and express them as strongly as possible. --------------------------------------------------------------- Ultima Online: Renaissance - "Vesper" (arranged version by Dinaris Techarin) Interesting take. The classical instrumentation wasn't hugely different from Dinaris Techarin's version at Techarin's Music Hall, but the dynamics were more pronounced and the mood was more genteel. Good stuff, IMO. 2:17-2:41 was arguably too quiet given the intensity of some of the instruments. Didn't seem realistic to me at all. I would have bumped the volume on that up a bit, as I don't think it would have undermined the dynamics. Otherwise awesome stuff; just fix the ending at 4:40 cutting off a little abruptly. Provided the MIDI confirms this is good to go, and that's looking pretty sure from the sound of this excellent arrangement, welcome aboard, Elan! YES

Contact Information * XTREEMMAK * Jamaal O. Ephriam * HUFO_2000@yahoo.com * http://www.myspace.com/keyjizat * Userid = #11647 Submission Information * Ristar - SEGA Genesis * Original Arrangement Name: Busy Flare * This Arrangement Name: Burning Star * Original Composer: Tomoko Sasaki * Information about the Mix: The mix was made using a plethora of different programs including software from the Easy West series (Orchestra Elements), software from the Spectrasonics series (certain Ambient Elements), and Reason 4 (underlying loops and certain one shot samples). There were external instruments recorded as well utilizing a Yamaha SO8 keyboard, a Korg Triton LE keyboard, and (lol) a Fender Squire Guitar run through Guitar Rig 2 (looking into Line6 software modelers now). I'm not much of a guitarist.....yet. Some instruments were recorded through my Pro VLA External Compressor. For the time being I use a Onyx 1220 mixer w/ Firewire card running through KRK Rokit Power 5's in my tracking room, and in my Mix room, DynAudio BM15a's. The mix was created using Nuendo 3 and after, dubed down with PSP Vintage Warming on the Master bus and then sent to WaveLab for home mastering (considering I dont have access to a mastering house). All I added was the Waves SSL Compression with not too much threshhold activity but more makeup gain, and then under that, I added the L3 Multimaximizer a.k.a. the Multi Band Compressor plugin. Before I added the plugins though, I did normalize the first orchestra section to keep it in line with the other section after it. Then I added a fade out. After setting it, I dithered down with the threshold set to the default settings and the output set to about -0.1db with Auto release so nothing hit's 0db or goes over, also considering I recorded this in 48kHz. The orchestra was recorded in sections and then summed at the end so I dont max out all my resources. Out of the two Ristar tracks that I always wanted to do, this one was a very unexpected outcome. Considering I didn't have all the resources I needed to record the next one (which needs to be mixed now) which I always wanted to do, I did this one mainly for practice and liked where it was going. I developed this track little over a year ago but never had the time to finish it (mix it). Recently I finially got time to finish it and am submiting it now . I do question the translation but I'm very interested in the opinions that will folow after this submission. -------------------------------------------------------------- http://project2612.org/download.php?id=55 - "Round 3-1 - Busy Flare" It felt like there was something slightly off with the timing of the percussion throughout (one example, :30-:42) that made things not flow as smoothly as they should have. The transition at 2:04 felt pretty abrupt, but it could have clicked had the overall product been more cohesive. It was then that we hit some pretty bad/indistinct mixing that hurt the execution of the concept, i.e. beats meshed with orchestration. The beats were too loud, the strings/orchestration was marginalized, and the leads were quieter than the beats. Definitely too bad, because the arrangement for that area was pretty cool and had the energy and sensibilities of stuff like the NiGHTS soundtrack. Cool stuff there that just needs better balance between the parts. Would really love another J to shed some light on how they'd specifically try to polish this up. Fadeout ending around 4:00 that I loved. Felt a little too fast, but the fade idea was executed fairly pro. First person to complain get kicked in the balls, since this was a perfectly fine close. Just make sure the few seconds of silence afterwards are trimmed off. Solid stuff. Make sure everything's synched up properly and the parts are properly balanced, and this would be a lot closer to passing. The arrangement itself was pretty much fine and really doesn't need any kind of dramatic changes, Jamaal, so don't muck with success and end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater. NO (resubmit)

Hello, I am submitting a remix of the Guile Stage from Street Fighter 2 called, "You're In The Army Now". Here's the link to download the song: Here is my contact info: Remixer Name: SynaMax Email: maxpetrosky@yahoo.com Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/synamax Userid: 24901 Name of game: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Name of song: Guile Stage This remix was written in FL Studio 8 and was inspired by '80s music, especially by music written on the famous Fairlight CMI sampler. A couple of samples from the Fairlight CMI are in this song, especially the "ARR1" - which is probably the most famous sample from the Fairlight library. 26 separate channels make up the mix. The explosion heard through out the remix is from freesound.org and is licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License. The sample itself is called USAT BOMB.wav and was created by sandyrb. Thank you very much, Max Petrosky --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sf2 - "Guile" (sf2-08.spc) Aside from the lead synth, quiet countermelody and drums, you don't have much going on, so the texture was pretty empty despite the volume. Many of the sounds were abrasive as well, especially that generic synth lead. The metal clangs were a cool concept but sounded out of key with the melody, so they sounded awkward to me. Good structuring of the tempo matching the marching sample at 2:37, IMO, though when the track got fuller the marching sample got muddied and obscured. As noted, 3:01-3:25 was pretty muddy and indistinct sounding; I see the cool delay effect going on with that glassy lead, but you've gotta clean things up there. The melodic interpretation was pretty low, which was a negative, but you did at least have the right idea with the countermelodic interpretation and new drum writing to try and change the mood. To sum it up: experiment with some new sounds for that bleh synth lead and whatever else wasn't working, flesh out the texture by adding one or two more parts (perhaps some sort of pad), make sure the soundscape doesn't get too muddy during the fuller sections, and get more interpretive with the melody. Definitely worth another shot if you're interested. NO

That doesn't make any sense, BTW, since (aside from the remix removals I pointed out), we've only been adding more ReMixes from those game series. For years. There's literally no way we have fewer Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy or Secret of Mana mixes.

But of course!

Amber is pissed: http://nerve.com/CS/blogs/61fps/archive/2008/09/02/what-s-in-my-mp3-player-bowser-is-pissed.aspx (She likes it!)

Nutritious Justin Medford NutritiousMultimedia@gmail.com http://nutritiousmultimedia.googlepages.com 16520 Super Metroid: Item Room, Item, Samus, Norfair II Metroid: Main Theme This remix was created for Blind's get well album. (Hope you get well soon and are back to mixing in no time, man!). Anyway, this mix was started on the Wednesday before the deadline and finished it two days later, on Friday. It's by far the quickest I've put together a full mix. This is also the most OST tunes I've used in one mix, however, I think they all incorporated well, while avoiding medley problems - mainly because 3 of the 5 mixes are either really short or just fanfares. Hope you guys enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sm - "Item Room" (sm-s03.spc), "Item Acquisition Fanfare" (sm-31.spc), "Samus Aran's Appearance Fanfare" (sm-30.spc) & "Norfair Ancient Ruins Area" (sm-26.spc) http://www.zophar.net/download_file/9125 - Track 3 Got some good mileage out of the various jingles to open things up. Meanwhile the rest of the arrangement was spot on. Cool take on Norfair that felt a bit more militaristic thanks to the drums but also had some grandiose writing. Would love to hear a live orchestra perform it. Cool original writing, with Metroid material occasionally woven in, from 2:26 until the finish. Strong close. Not realistic sounding, but it uses the samples fairly cohesively and the arrangement was solid. YES

Well, we're not SquareSound support, BUT I'll see what I can do.

Aight everyone, Google Chrome's scheduled to be coming out in just a few hours. Gmail and the other Google apps are so good, Google can practically do no wrong. What's your outlook on the new browser? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Google_launches_web_browser,_dubbed_Chrome http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html

The community's great with coming up with LOL-worthy criticisms or assumptions. I always respond accordingly.

http://www.ocremix.org/info/Content_Policy Read through the Terms of Use for the legalese on how to properly attribute the usage of the mixes, and you should be good. Glad to read it's non-profit! I added a link to the Content Policy in that section of the FAQ as well, thanks.

just attempting..I do it for the fun of it..I don’t have great producing skills like many on OCR..but if even a few people enjoy it then that makes me happy Enojy guys thanks Jose Acosta Aka Emulator -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/9121 - Track 2 The core beats that started things off could have used more variation and creativity in the patterns. There were some decent rhythmic changes to the original, and I liked the baseline when it was audible; some good original sections and original part-writing surrounding the arranged source tunes. There was some dynamic contrast, but, because the textures were never full, quieter sections like 1:18-2:07 didn't sound much different than the ones with more stuff going on. Good base, but this needs more meat on the bones. Everything needs more body to it, and the fuller sections need to sound beefier than the quieter ones. What's in place right now has a very static-sounding energy to it that undermines the dropoffs and buildups you've written. Not that I'm trying to insult you, Jose, but if improving is a goal of yours and you have the spare time, then you shouldn't be content just pleasing a few people. You seem to think you can't achieve better production skills, but if you keep learning more and pushing yourself, you can better realize the potential of your ideas. Use the ReMixing forums here and see what else you can learn. NO (resubmit)

Yeah, there's a slight volume increase from last time, along with some added material that bumped the length up another 33 seconds. I thought the last version was good enough as is, and the volume on the new one seemed plenty loud to me. I'm echoing zirc's POV that it's good to go.

These foos bring it on a consistent basis. Many good b-day wishes for them.

Submission: Love & the Trigger * ReMixer name:LastEncore * Real name: Dominic Hines & Hassan Boyce <<< Hassan doesn't have a OC login and such but we would like it to just be formally known as a HD track. * Email address: lastencore@hotmail.com * Userid :24806 Game Arranged: Chrono Trigger Individual Song Arranged: A Prayer to the Road that Leads Composer:Yasunori Mitsuda Link to it: Additional info and stuff- Umm, hi. This is LastEncore which is exactly one half of the producer/songwriter duo of "HD." We really don't do remixes very often as we try very hard to compose new stuff for people to listen to. So I "Encore" stumbled upon this site years ago and my friends and such always tried to get me to make a remix to submit but i never would simply because I always felt when remixing a lost a lot of freedom. So one day I start playing Chrono Trigger for the first time ever and hit 'A' on this organ in this church and it hums these absolutely beautiful, dark, relaxing chords for about 10 seconds. I immediately turn it off and reload fight the bosses again just to play this tune again. After that I just had to create a song around it. Since it was simply chord changes I was still able to retain lots of melodic freedom throughout and was able to compose something nearly classical in the background. After intensively creating the melodic lines of it I move on and can't decide what kind of drums I want on it. Well that is where Mr. Boyce comes in. I layed down a basic step for the beat complete with the full percussive layout and he just took and ran with it. So this is how it turned out. As my first submission I'm really just rushing to get it out there and hopefully the mastering and EQ isn't to bad. So uuh love the site and everything it stands for! Peace. Based on the success of this I may remake some of my other favorites...unlikely though. Brief song overview: This is an RnB/HipHop/Trance remake of a small chord progression in a great game. So I don't know how many of those exist but I also had to remix this since no one else has. Got to love that! Also this song is arranged in a way that it's almost MainStream as if Vocals could be placed above it following a RNB setup. Hope someone likes it... Inspiration: The chords were just Brilliant and had to be made into a full length track. Honestly I still haven't got pass this part of the game. Sad but True. Production: It really was as simple as me hearing it twice and playing it on my keyboard I keep beside me. Just linked it up to fruity loops and took it as original piece of mine. Got to work on it and finished it up rather quickly. Spent a week or two fine tuning the details and changing some instruments. All in all it was very easy to make and just flowed out of me. enjoy it i hope. I love this song and my Girlfriend loves it even more. So it tries to be something fresh and original while trying to follow some very hollow footsteps laid by the chords. So yeah I'm going to submit it now...I think I got everything I was suppose to get. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "A Prayer to the Road that Leads" (ct-116.spc) Yeah, pretty much anything attempting to arrange this needs to use that 3-note pattern religiously and build around it, which you've done, IMO. We'll see how the others feel about it, but despite adding a lot of new stuff, the source tune was present the entire time and stood out enough to not be marginalized. Good dropoff at 3:27 and awesome close at 3:40. I'm definitely not against a good hip-hop instrumental, but several of the synth choices were grating/abrasive, and the textures were on the thin side, so those were really the only things I'd refine to make this totally cohesive and passable, IMO. This could be shortened a bit and not lose anything, but this was surprisingly substantive stuff for a 4-minute mix of a 3-second source. NO (refine/resubmit)

Hello, I've been a follower of OCReMix for several years and have decided to try my hand at a piano arrangement. Contact information: Real name: Peter Smith Remixer name: SoUnDoLe email address: ihatelibby@hotmail.com userid: 2661 Submission information: Game: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, GBA, 2002. Piece arranged: Chapel of Dissonance All soundtrack information is already on OCReMix ReMix title: Chapel Gymnopodie Additional information: This is a gymnopodie modelled after structural style of Erik Satie's gymnopodies. While not the only writer of them he is certainly the composer who pretty much defined all the form's features, especcially in regard to tonal language based on colouristic harmony. I have taken the main 8 bar melodic motif from Chapel of Dissonance and given it a new context and harmonic sense, used improvisations springing from it and melodic alteration devices derived from the original motif. It was recorded by pianist Vatche Jambazian(who should probably be credited in the write up if this is accepted) performing on a Steinway & Sons piano in the East Recital Hall of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, on the 11th of July, 2008. I hope that you enjoy it. --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/8168 - (10) "Chapel of Dissonance" Needed more than 91.5 seconds of source usage to pass. The theme was in full effect from :14-:35 & 2:03-2:54. There was some seemingly original writing and rhythms in the style of the source, but I heard pieces of it overtly from 1:00-1:07, (as well as hanging notes continuing the melody ending at 1:07 with 1:13-1:16 & 1:19-1:22), then liberally arranged from 1:22-1:45. That breakdown is definitely open to interpretation, so draw your own conclusions, but as long as 1:22-1:45 checks out with you, this used the source enough. A higher encoding would have been nice; this was lossy as all get-out, but serviceable. Some judges might complain about the left-hand writing being too similar throughout and the lack of a more pronounced dynamic curve, but it wasn't a problem to me; it was a purposeful choice and, to me, it fit the style and mood, similar to Radiowar's "Lanterns." It's somber & melancholy and the interpretation was strong enough. YES

There is no double standard and it didn't survive lockdown because it's fun nonsense. It's here because, for its time, it was a creative enough, interpretive enough arrangement compared to the original NES theme. Lockdown was about removing submissions violations, not applying a current standards bar to older ReMixes. It was never even at risk for Lockdown, and neither were a lot of older, less developed ReMixes from the old days. This isn't going anywhere.

Nope. That would exclude quite a few gamers.

As Fishy noted, it's 6 years old and the arrangement standards were lower. It's still expansive for its day. The bar has moved higher and the current standards stress that you need to compare mixes in the last year to get a good idea where the current bar is. For another example of a strong mix with a conservative melodic arrangement, check out http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01747/

That doesn't help people become better musicians and it lowers the site's reputation for high quality, creative arrangements. Not gonna happen. "Oh yeah, whatever Mazedude sends, automatic YES." Yeah, I agree with you all the way. We NEVER reject established community members or judges for submitting arrangements that are too conservative. http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2490 http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2569 http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2815 http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12719 Like Fishy says, you need some proof, not just your convictions. We work hard to call things fairly and objectively, even when judging the so-called A-listers. I've worked with DS and Palp for a long time; I've never seen any huge philosophical differences in how they apply the standards. Also, it's not difficult to "divine" what makes a good submission; the WIP checklist is a very comprehensive resource that I wish more people would internalize and use, because it lists almost any issue why a submission would not make it. Sorry, bro, you just have a ways to improve as a musician. There isn't any nepotism just because you have yet to have a mix posted. ("I want the truth!" - "You can't handle the truth!") Fishy told you what was up. I will try to get to these WIP forum ideas later this weekend and comment on the list of ideas so far.

Remixer Name: Prince Of Darkness Real Name: Tony Dickinson E-Mail Address: Basstony4813@yahoo.com Website: www.tonydickinson.tk Userid: 24705 Game: Final Fantasy VI Song Name: Cyan's Theme Information: This is only my second major video game remix released. I've always been the lurking type, developing my arranging skills deep in the shadows, and only doing something when I felt I was finally ready. This song was my second entry into the Dwelling of Duels competition (and second victory), and I had an overwhelming response. I've always loved really emotional-sounding tunes, despite me being mostly a mechanical, precise, heavy metal robot. With this song, I brought in all of the jazz and fusion influences I could muster and pretty much slapped it together as I went through it. Normally, I would do almost all of the arranging in a notation program, but this time I used more instinct in a more real-time setting. I love this type of genre, because it also helped me express my bass skills more, considering bass is really my primary instrument; whereas, 99% of the time the guitar would be in the spotlight. It's not entirely out of the spotlight in this, of course, as it offers some of the most emotion in the solos. ----------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Cyan" (ff6-113.spc) Audible clicks/pops at 1:03, 2:03, 3:03 & 3:40 (among other places) but they were mostly absorbed into the background. Still gotta make sure those don't show up. Lots of good areas soloing while alluding to the original, but there was too much of that and not enough "Cyan" theme directly involved. This was 5:05-long, so this needed more than 2:32.5 of overt source usage for me to pass it. Here's the usage breakdown I had: :39-1:07, 1:11-1:45, 3:04.75-3:14, 3:39-3:50 (liberal, but fine IMO), 4:23-4:42 - about 101.25 seconds or 33.2% of the track Yeah, when the source tune's overtly there less than half the time, that's when the arrangement veers too much into "inspired by" territory to me. I listened to the SPC, and all 8 individual voices on their own looking for anything I could have missed, but the breakdown is as good as it gets for me. I'm open to other info, as always. Awesome interpretation when the source tune was there and a smooth performance, though. Things like original writing as well as soloing while backing parts allude to the chords or rhythms of the source tune are like icing on a cake. But in this case there ended up being more icing than cake. This is a great piece of music, well performed; nothing wrong with it in a vacuum, but, as far as the standards go, it needs to incorporate parts of the Cyan theme directly for the majority of the arrangement. If you're not interested in revising this, Tony, that's cool, but I definitely look forward to your future mixes! "Zero Light" was awesome; if you're down, try to remaster it to bring out the bass more, and send it over. But that was excellent too, especially for a medley. In this case though, nothing personal, just calling it down the middle. I enjoyed the track regardless, and when you make a name for yourself in DoD as quickly as you have, that definitely means something. Hope we hear more from you! NO (resubmit)

I would try making sure you can click the contest link, because you're not gonna win that way.

Remixer name: TheLeviathan Real name: Jake User ID: 14128 Name of Game: Chrono Cross Name of song: The Star-Stealing Girl Hey all, I finished this a few months ago and finally decided to submit it. I got the inspiration to begin this remix after seeing Diggi Dis' version posted way back. Chrono Cross is one of my favorite OSTs, and Star Stealing girl is on the top of that list. I thought that the track was screaming for an even more ethnic version, even though the song already had ethnic elements. I tried to expand on them and add some of my own stuff to add my own personal touch to the piece. Instead of focusing on one set of ethnic instruments, I thought it would be neat to blend Asian, African, and European instruments together. I am finally satisfied with how it turned out. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. LINK: -------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 306 "The Star-Stealing Girl" Good personalization, solid new part-writing the whole way through, finishing off with a pretty interpretive last third. The chanting felt slapped on top, but was otherwise a reasonable concept; definitely something Mitsuda would have done if you're familiar with his modern work. Good job retaining the melody while making this its own animal. No hate here. Where ya been, Jake? Welcome aboard! YES

He never gets the 192kbps bitrate ceiling right - LT Contact Information * OA * Andrew Luers * Andrewluers@gmail.com * oceansend.com * 14963 Submission Information * mix name: Letting Go * Game: Animal Crossing * Original name: KK Chorale * Original: (brace yourselves): comments: IN THE EVENT THIS GETS ACCEPTED, PLEASE PUT IT ON HOLD FOR JOECAM'S PROJECT This is exactly the type of song that needs remixing, where it has a beautiful and charming melody, but abysmal original sound quality. I mean, I love KK more than most people and it's even tough for me to stomach those "oh me oh quay quays" sometimes. The melody is pretty intact, with a few changes, but the rest of the song is completely redone, with a lot of additional counterpoint, and an original bridge section. This ended up being one of my more personal remixes, if such a thing were possible. This is easily my favorite song from the soundtrack, so i'm glad I got the chance to remix it. --------------------------------------------------------------- Liking the geetars up here. Felt like the snare stuff could have been spicier, but oh well. Lots of good personalization of the theme, and of course a barebones source like this was ripe for expansion. Solid. YES