Liontamer

But yeah, no sharing of game soundtrack MP3s if they're from published soundtracks, which is also a ban-able offense. Slightly Dark only hosts MP3s of out-of-print soundtracks, so it's OK to link to them, but otherwise don't. Game sound format files (NSF, SPC, VGM, PSF, USF, etc.) are OK.

Shariq, can you expand some more with some specifics on how to improve the piece? No problem if not (for those of you playing the home game, we give specifics and advice when we want to, and we generally try to, but it's not a requirement since our only official role is to evaluate).

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14885 1st RESUB: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16616 * Bastian * bastianbux@yahoo.com * http://myspace.com/bastian Submission Information * Legend of Zelda and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past * Overworld, Princess Zelda's Theme * Composer: Koji Kondo Third time's the charm? I spent a couple days working on the mix, re-recorded a few parts, recorded a couple new parts, and finally did some EQing for the first time on a song. I might have nailed it this time around. -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda.zip - Track 1 ("Title") http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=loz3 - "Princess Zelda's Rescue" (loz3-22.spc) On the production side, the piano introing this still sounded very fake and should have been improved. On one hand, the lack of realism of the sample made it a reasonable idea to keep it, and the higher strings later on, quiet. On the other hand, those parts really should have been louder, because they're marginalized as is. There was some sort of hand percussion or something brought in at 2:31 that created a quiet but odd noise every beat. Not sure what it was supposed to be, but it ended up sounding like an audio deformation rather than a legit instrument. There were some light distortion from about 2:53-2:55 that later grew into BAD distortion around 3:13. Gotta watch those levels; I'm not chastising, but that stuff shouldn't be happening. You did a better job bringing in the voices and instruments in layers instead of starting off with the full boat early on, but the build still needs to be more pronounced. In other words, you're maybe 75% of the way there in executing that change, but you need to make it even easier to pick up on that build. I'll tell you what, I think the vocal panning and EQing could still be better refined, but continued to improve; again, you're clearly going in the right direction. The improvement compared to the last version is more subtle this time, but it's there. I don't think you necessarily need to re-record or restructure anything. The final section does escalate, but still has too much of a retread-ish feel compared to the other two iterations. If the dynamic curve were more pronounced like the writing implied, I could conditionally pass it. Perhaps adding a prominent countermelody could be the ticket to the last section not feeling like the same stuff over again as well as further bolster the energy and escalation of the finish. Basically, some similar crits from last time, but you've managed to address them to some extent. As is, I'm borderline NO, but I think whatever advice we can give to nudge this up, we should offer it. Further suggestions on how to get the production sounding more appropriate as well as arrangement suggestions that aren't too involved would be great. Definitely don't be discouraged, Bastian. Use the Works forum to post this up and get some good feedback. Holler at other active ReMixers. Feel free to message me to take a listen before you attempt to sub this again; I'll let you know how it's coming along. But what I like over the course of these resubs is that you're tangibly improving this piece on each go, and the experience is hopefully helping you build up your overall skills.

ReMixer name, real name: Patrick Burns forum user id: 10666 ReMix name: Rare Respite game: DKC2 song: Jib Jig (named Rigging on some spcs) composer: Dave Wise PROJECT SONG: This is for the as yet unnamed Donkey Kong Country 2 project Taucer and Bahamut are organizing. I absolutely love the Lord of the Dance soundtrack, and I was trying to imitate some elements of it. It worked out well, I think. I added a little Brahms reference on the end. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkq - "Jib Jig" (dkq-05.spc) Lossy-sounding in terms of the production. The woodwind lead at :49 was too loud and piercing IMO; less so for other woodwind spots, but they were there. Nice guitar work at 1:33 with a cool transition into the bowed strings at 1:52. I would have probably toned down the boat creaking SFX, but not a huge deal. The resolution at 4:21 was "proper", though it came out of left field to me. On the whole, really solid and creative arrangement variation, even if the production sounding lossy and the woodwinds piercing my ears took some steam out of this. I'm gonna go conditional, mainly on toning down those volume issues. If there were any suggestions on making the production sharper without making it too dry, I think it could use that as well, but it's not a dealbreaker. YES (conditional)

Contact information: * Your ReMixer name: Schiefer * Your real name: Thiago Schiefer * Your email address: tschiefer@gmail.com * Your website: www.myspace.com/thiagoschiefer Submission information: * Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger * Name of individual song(s) arranged: Magus' Theme, Chrono Trigger, Boss Battle Theme 1 * Your own comments about the mix: It's a metal-oriented medley out of these three Chrono Trigger themes. I'm sorry to send the file as an attachment, but the only other option for me would be to host it at 4shared, Rapidshare and the like (and it seems it's not encouraged to do that). I hope you like it! -- Thiago B. Schiefer Myspace: www.myspace.com/thiagoschiefer ------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Battle with Magus" (ct-224.spc), "Chrono Trigger" (ct-102a.spc), "Boss Battle 1" (ct-118.spc) Loads of empty space here. Once this picked up at :23, one noticed the instruments were poorly balanced (push up the melody) and that the soundfield was empty despite the overall resonance of some of the parts. The string articulations at 2:46 were unrealistic, and the sample sounded flimsy. Arrangement-wise, there wasn't much interpretation beyond the genre adaptation, and the three themes were pieced together with no meaningful transitions either, so there was no cohesion. There's a reason the end of "Chrono Trigger" is often used to end an arrangement; that's because the resolution is strong. That's practically a gimme-level move to make. I'm not saying you're not allowed to use that and them move onto another track, but you actually have to write something that allows you to coherently do that. Just stringing together a new track after an obvious resolution section at 3:29 was really sloppy. Basically, this was a decent rock cover medley, but we're looking for more creative interpretation. Take a listen to some of the recent rock Chrono Trigger mixes on the site for a better idea of our standards in action. Also, fill out the soundfield and work on cleaning up your production to let the performance shine more; what in place now undermines the energy you're going for. NO

I wouldn't have changed any of the samples or tones, just tweaked EQ and volume to work on the balance. The way the notes blur together with the bassline brought in at :34 sounds bad IMO and marginalizes the source countermelody, though it's corrected at :49. When the synth lead arrived at 1:10, the beats and bassline countermelody were too loud in comparison. The beats being so loud needlessly played up the repetition of the groove, IMO. I also thought the treble was much more exposed at 2:05 (compared to :36) and sounded too hot; that could have been pulled back. Can't sign off on it yet.

Source info was sketchy, but let's just judge this as is - LT Contact Info: Remixer Name: Cyguration Real Name: William Usher E-mail address: Cyguration@vgcore.com Website: (None) User ID: 25762 Submission Info: Name of game arranged: Mirror's Edge Name of song arranged: Theme song Link to the original: http://www.lastfm.de/music/Chris+H%C3%BClsbeck/_/Lombard+Street Comments: It was such an amazing piece I thought I might remix my own version. --- William D. Usher Senior staff writer VG Core Network ________________ http://www.VGcore.com Cyguration@VGcore.com LT Edit: Solar Fields did music for a different trailer where the last few notes seem to be the source melody here. AFAIK, Hülsbeck has been speculated by people guessing at this particular trailer below, but the Last.fm-linked track clearly isn't the source tune. I added a YouTube of the trailer/source in question: ---------------------------------------------------------------- The samples didn't sound terrible, but all of the sequencing sounded too mechanical and the instruments didn't fill out the soundfield, IMO. The drum sequencing in particular was too rigid and, though the (unrealistic) vox and piano padded things somewhat, there was a lot of empty space. The woodwind and ethnic chants were decent touches. The overall mixing was also poorly balanced and too indistinct. Everything sounded lo-fi and once the percussion picked up at 2:29, you quickly heard parts mudding together. There were also way too many clicks/pops scattered around the track that need to be eliminated (e.g. 1:30-1:46, 3:07-3:47), and the ending cutting out during the fade was sloppy. This was a decent base, William, but the sequencing needs to be refined, the percussion can't sound so lifeless, the parts need to be better balanced with one another, and you need to properly flesh out the soundfield. Hopefully the other Js can give some more pointed crits, but those are the overall issues holding this back. While I don't necessarily think you can get this to pass with more work (and that's not meant as an insult, that's just gauging your stuff as is), I think you can learn a good deal in working on this further and become a solid contributor if you keep at it. NO

For the WIP boards, that better be the only standard. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Question #1 is not applicable to me. Criticism. If it's on the panel, 99% of the time I'll be critiquing it. I just enjoy helping people create good music. People hollering at me on IRC might get a response, but I'm always busy, so I spend my time judging. Some people seeking more judge presence on the WIP boards don't seem to understand that the judges have lives and can't be judges and WIP reviewers at the same time. If you have the mindset and familiarity with the standards like a judge, you'll be able to help people more, but also appreciate the music more. That's why we encourage using the checklist, comparing vs. the original piece. It's gives nearly every problem a mix will encounter, and can help you hone in on those issues to make your critique better. Wise up and use the checklist as a reference point, read judges decisions, and try to understand why mixes passed and failed. Lack of participation, but this thread is partially for feedback on how to work on that. I'd never push for an idea like official WIP critics, because that adds another leave of bureaucracy that we absolutely don't need.

Luckily, I don't care what you like, as you obviously have no standards. "I want to have my music posted here because this place is popular and people will hear it" is not the standard.

You can all stop enjoying the game now. It's a huge piece of shit according to this stoner: http://hoahoo.blogspot.com/2008/10/megaman-9.html So, does "it wuz ha4rd tp pley" mean game, set, match? YOU decide!

Well, I can see the desire to control the promotion of your music, but unless you caused him to change the video information since yesterday, I didn't see him actually claiming credit for the music. It seems he just enjoyed it enough to spread it, and most people attempting to plagiarize wouldn't put the album art in the video or put the artist name and track name in the video, they'd change or obscure those details instead. I'd encourage him to change the vid description to properly plug the material so others can be informed and find your music if they like it. As for DamonHill's videos, I sent him a lengthy message clearing up some stuff and asking him to better credit the videos using OC ReMixes. Part of the issue seems to be that he thought our website was closed. I'm not sure why he thought that given some of the comments he received, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, since, looking at 3 or 4 of the videos, I saw "OC ReMix" in some of the titles, and I never saw him claim he made the songs, even though other comments assumed he did. When you guys find videos like these that don't explicitly plagiarize but don't properly credit the artists, track names, or where to download the track, definitely feel free to add comments clarifying those things. Just don't attack or accuse people unnecessarily, until you've given the videos and comments a good look.

Then my plan worked.

Since you don't actually have the job yet, don't blow it! (Good luck.)

Along with adding boss portraits for MMX1 & 2, I've added Mega Mans 2 through 7. Now YOU can be Yamato Man.

Hahahahaha!

There's really no need, it's not as if it was a faux pas. Besides, he generally doesn't handle the submissions inbox, it gets a high volume of mail, and any stray mail unrelated to submissions just gets trashed when I look through it.

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01228/

Link: ReMixer Names: ZorlaxSeven; Uboichi2 Real name: Zorlaxseven - SEstrada; (I don't know much about Uboichi2) Email: dovieandie@hotmail.com (for Zorlaxseven Website: N/A UserId: ZorlaxSeven: 24554 Uboichi2: 10339 Name of Game: Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time Name of ReMixed Song: The Twinrova Theme Additional Info: N/A Comments: I should have a lot to say about this song. I don't know exactly WHAT to say though. I will start by saying that I am ZorlaxSeven. Uboichi2 helped me a long, and pretty much made this song possible; however, he isn't the one that's "talking" to you. The name of this song is Flamma atque Glacies, which means Fire and Ice in Latin. (I don't know how the tagging of the songs works anymore. I remember a year ago or so, you had this whole page about the tags, but I couldn't find it anymore. I just submitted the song as it is, I hope it doesn't "disqulify" me from being judged, and I hope that it doesn't make you all hate me for not doing it.) This song was a work of love for me. I always wanted to be a part of the OCR community, but I never knew what song I wanted to do. I do know that I'll always want to do orchestral work though. I heard this song and I fell in love; it had such opportunity to be made into what I turned it into. It just fell into place for me, so to speak. So I wrote it out, and converted it to Midi. From there I TRIED to make it sound good with my freeware nonsense that I had on my computer. I showed it to the forums, and they were really nice to me about the composition. They all agreed that I couldn't master a song to save my life. I got lots of help on these forums (many nice people are about on them), and then Uboichi2 came in and did the song for me. I thank him a lot for his work and efforts. This email (rejected or no) couldn't have happened without him. Thank you so much for listening to my song and my little rant. I hope you enjoy listening to the song as much as I do (vanity), and as much as I enjoyed making it. Much Love, SEstrada ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/12209 - 71 "Kotake & Koume's Theme" Pretty solid samples. The opening bow movements in the first 4 seconds seemed exposed as unrealistically jumpy, but maybe it's just me. I recognize Shnabubula using those woodwinds on many occasions. The original intro was pretty lengthy at 53 seconds. The call-and-answer high and low strings starting at :55 used a different 4-note pattern than the original, but used the same rhythm, so I think that works as valid interpretation. Melody finally kicked in at 1:03. The track was 3:53 long, so I needed 1:56.5 of source usage for the pass. It sounded fine, but the source was complex and difficult to commit to memory, so I needed a breakdown to be sure. I'll name sections from the original and give an A-to-B connection on the usage: A - :04-:12, long-bowed string pattern B - :12-:21, verse & short-bowed string pattern C - :21-:30, first part of chorus (w/long-bowed string pattern) D - :30-:47, second part of chorus (w/short-bowed string pattern) *1:03.5-1:07, 1:08-1:11, 1:12-1:15 & 1:17-1:20 (all B with original flourishes added), and 1:30-1:34 & 1:39-1:44 (C, liberal); all backed by the plucked string pattern from :55-1:48 ( *1:48-2:06, the low strings here used the rhythm of the long-bowed strings of the source; different notes, but fairly similar IMO. (A) *2:01.5-2:10 (, 2:13-2:28 (D), 2:30-2:39 (B & D), 2:39-2:56 (, 2:58-3:04 (A), 3:22-3:34 ( That adds up to 138.5 seconds and that's pretty reasonable. There were some other areas where rhythms from the original were used, but the writing was too dissimilar melodically, so I didn't count it. Nonetheless, I think the breakdown was pretty fair while not gladhanding credit. There were a couple moments where the high end got too loud and piercing (1:05-1:06, 3:31), but things were good otherwise. Let's try to get that touched up before posting it, but otherwise a strong, creative effort. Honestly, I'd never really heard this source tune before today, so I gotta say, props for tackling a theme from Ocarina of Time that gets no love. Very enjoyable, unique arrangement ideas by Zorlax, brought more to life by Uub. They clearly made for a strong tandem. YES

Definitely; I wrote that quickly and didn't edit it later, even though I caught onto that before I posted. As I also mentioned though, there was still too much direct audio sampling going on (nearly 2/3rds of the track), but we agreed on that. As far as the structure went, I was OK with it. The buildup was a little more than 1/3rd of the track, but the overall length of the track afforded it, and it's not as if the build was non sequitur with the source theme. The other criticisms, no issues there, though the sampling clearly put me off more than anything else. If we get a resub where that was scrapped and replaced with something created from the ground up, it would much more likely to make it.

Hahahaha! I didn't cry, but my face and side hurt after laughing so hard. What a great track. The MAGFest experience of everyone in the room dying in laughter, including Jake trying to not vomit a Costco-sized mega-can of Chef Boyardee ravioli he ate, made the whole thing 50 times funnier.

Contact info: Remixer name is Jabond23. Real name is Joe Nichols. Email address is jabond@optonline.net Website is http://www.myspace.com/nintenjoe64 UserID is 25151 Submission Information: I did a rock remixed version of the dungeon theme from the original Legend Of Zelda for the NES. It also includes very small parts of the magic whistle and the item discovery theme and ends with the classic continue/save/retry screen. But the overall song is the dungeon theme. Its an awesome song that always brings back the days of old. VERY IMPORTANT!! I used a keyboard with a virtual instrument found in Mixcraft 4 called Square Lead that has an old Nintendo sound to it, it is absolutely me playing the entire song. The virtual instrument has an almost identical sound to the old nintendo games. When i was making this song I really wanted to do an almost epic version of it by taking the original and making the riffs and solos soar. This is actually the 2nd submission for me for this exact song, but i did get some really good advice from one of your judges on how to touch up the song and make it sound better and more professional. So please let me know what you think? Thank you, Joe ------------------------------------------------------------- This one got form lettered before, and I commented on the soundscape being messed up. It was full of clipping before, as well as timing issues, but this was an improvement. http://www.zophar.net/download_file/9425 - Track 4 Opened up with some 8-bit stuffs, before adding in some rock at :19. The soundscape sounded cramped, but seemed OK until :38-1:16 blew that out of the water. You could only barely hear the actual lead, though the vox was fairly audible. Still, this was a huge mess when it came to the mixing. 1:16 was beefy while at least being somewhat pulled back in comparison to the previous section. At 1:36 though, the 8-bit stuff was pretty audible, while the guitar on countermelody was buried. Then back to the same grimyness of :38's section at 1:55, and yet again at 3:26. 2:34 used a jingle to move over into some freestyling over the foundation of the original, played pretty balls out like the rest of this. Still, the mixing was just a wall of sound, in a bad way. I'm not trying to be insulting, but how is anyone supposed to take 5:25's worth of this? You really can pull this back a LOT and better balance the parts, and it could still melt someone's face off, so pull it back. There's good energy here, but it's too loud and indistinct sounding to be appreciated. I'm not a rock god. Maybe you'll listen to zyko more if he votes on this. Like I alluded to when I listened to the first version, you've got potential, Joe, but you've gotta improve your mixing choices in post production after you lay down your tracks. Once you get more disciplined with that, your work will sound a lot stronger. NO

Finally! This is the first remix I've finished since I sent you since my last submission, Purity. You might remember when I sent it that I was gushing about a new PC I'd just ordered.. well, this is actually the first track I've finished on the new machine, so for me it has extra significance. For the first time, ever, I didn't have to hesitate to add new elements to a project for fear of underruns. I can't describe how free and awesome it felt to just program whatever I wanted with reckless disregard for precious cpu cycles! This project definately wouldn't have been doable on my old computer, and yet I was only using about half of the horses under my hood. I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, nor do I want to seem like I'm gushing. It's just that now I can see that I don't have anything preventing me from jumping over that last hurdle and accomplishing everything I've ever wanted to, and it's got me really excited. But, enough of my life story! You're more interested in the remix. My submission is called "Through Time and Space", and it's a remix of the proper ending from Chrono Cross, where you use the 7th element to defeat Lavos and free Schala from the bonds of time. I'm not gonna say much about the remix, but I will say that its trance, its pretty unconventional for the genre, and I hope it has a couple of surprises for you. I've wanted to remix this song for a long time, but I also wanted to know that I could do it justice. Now, I can remove one of those "must do" remixes from my list! Please enjoy the song and we'll talk again once I've got another of those urgent remixes done. -abg / Shawn Overn Here's a link to a youtube of the source: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack - (313) "Life ~A Distant Promise~" There's too much direct sampling of the original game audio for me to pass this. The first :56 seconds of sampling was the only connection to the source, and took on a significant supporting role afterward. Direct sampling can be OK when it's used sparingly, but when it becomes integral to a significant portion of the track, then it's too much with regards to the standards. 2:20-3:45 was kosher. 3:46-5:08 used the sampled original again. If you'd consider icing that sampling, and subsequently rebuilding those parts with your own sounds and ideas, this would be all good. Right now though, it's a nice track that's outside the scope of the guidelines. NO (resubmit)

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10990 1st RESUB: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17146 Nutritious, Lindsey Phillips Justin Medford NutritiousMultimedia@gmail.com http://nutritiousmultimedia.googlepages.com 16520 Cave Story Final Battle Remix: Ok, resub #2 for this track. Honestly, I'm glad the previous two rejections have forced me to work to improve on production elements (drums especially) that have kept this song from reaching it's potential. I know there are still some problems remaining (like guitars), but I feel like I've been able to get this song to a level I'm happy with. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Cave Story (Game Rip) - 31 "Last Battle" Very strange volume dropoff at :05. Soundscape was pretty cramped from :22-:41. Not sure why the drums were so beefy at :41 compared to the multi-piece orchestra. It's not to say that type of balance can't be employed. Ryan8bit's "The Grief of Aktemto" is a mix that rose above that criticism, but that one was pulled off better. His approach of the guitar being louder than a small orchestra was OK because his guitar was the lead. Your drums are not the lead here. Now, "whatever sounds good" is more important to me than, for example, memorizing the volumes and stereo qualities of an orchestral seating chart. Nonetheless, the mixing on this one was not pulled off well. When you have a pretty full orch competing with a straight up supporting part like drums, something's gotta give. The lead string sequencing starting at 1:04 sounded mechanical most of the time. Not sure why it didn't seem like a dealbreaker to me before, but it was now. Can another J give some additional production tips on better separating the fullest sections? This really could sound a lot more balanced and cohesive. No issues with the arrangement; it's a done deal, don't mess with it. More finesse with the string sequencing, and better separation and sound balance with the parts could carry this to a YES. NO (resubmit) I like that this track forces your hand in terms of making somewhat a symphonic rock mix outside your comfort zone. At this stage, I think you should consult some experienced rock ReMixers and get their feedback on the drums, both tone and post-production. I mean, sure, you could enlist someone like Sixto to simply program or produce something, but I think you're in a good position to permanently improve your drum programming skills by figuring out how to make this piece click. Put this one aside if you have to, but DO come back to it. I'd like to see this make it in some form, and you're good enough to get it there if you stick with it.

Their latest album, "Metalhog", was pretty weak.

http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2360