Liontamer

"Babel: A Prison of Fate" - bustatunez Wilbert Roget, II wilbert@rogetmusic.com www.rogetmusic.com u=14285 Xenogears "Omen" Comments: "I actually recorded this shortly after the 2007 OCR meetup in D.C., and just never got around to finalizing/submitting until now. That factoid is relevant because it wasn't until that meetup that I realized some people might actually *want* to hear my random and overly-aggressive piano playing! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it, it's my first "solo" remix project and I'm still getting a feel for things." Wilbert Roget, II www.rogetmusic.com

Remix Info ReMixer name: CHIPP Damage, Fray Name of source music: Behave Irrationally (main), Turn Over a New Leaf (sub) Link to remix: Links to originals: Game Info Title: Valkyrie Profile Developer: Tri-Ace System: Playstation American Release date: August, 2000 Composer: Motoi Sakuraba It's a novel of an email so I'll title each section for easy navigation. Inspiration This is a Viking Death Metal arrangement of Behave Irrationally and a little bit of Turn Over a New Leaf from Valkyrie Profile. Behave Irrationally played EVERY TIME someone dies and gets judged by the Valkyrie, and Turn Over a New Leaf is played EVERY TIME you meet a boss and thus, are arguably two of the most important tracks in the game. However, they weren't included in the arranged album! Since Viking Death Metal and Valkyrie Profile are both based on Norse Mythology, I figured Viking Death Metal was the perfect genre for the two "most important" themes of Valkyrie Profile. Hahaha. I worked on just the production aspect of this for more than 2 months almost EVERYDAY and got tired and asked for help in the forums. So this turned out to be a collaboration: Arrangement and performance by CHIPP Damage and production by Fray (he kicks ass). Story (In case you can't catch it all just from the lyrics) I saw a piece by StarSalzman get referred to as a miniature world. I thought I'd try the same thing, so I wrote a very complete story for this song which includes myself as a character, elements from the game, and real Norse Mythology. Here it is. I am Zoltan, the legendary travelling warrior who united all the countries of the Yamato Continent. Ragnarok begins and I prepare for the war with all of my friends in Hai-lan. We start fighting and I die when an arrow hits my shield and releases a cloud of weeping lilly pollen (poisonous). No Valkyrie comes for me but the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla appears before me. I journey across the bridge. After arriving, I walk through the hall and find nobody except for a single norn, Skuld. I ask where all of the Einherjar are. Skuld tells me that Ragnarok is a war not only for humans, but that gods and even the dead must fight(In other words, the Valkyries are busy too). He tells me that there are legends of my bravery on Midgard that have been spoken among the Einherjar and that Odin, upon hearing these tales, had decided that I would be chosen to change the outcome of Ragnarok. So Odin told two of his best Einherjar to leave great weapons for me. Those warriors are Arngrim and Lucian. From Arngrim: The Bahamut's Tear. And from Lucian: The Shining Bolt. And from Skuld I receive a swan maiden's feathered cloak. He tells me to use this to go to other worlds of the Yggdrasil to help battle. So I take them and am granted life once more and am falling from the sky. I use Bahamut's Tear and Shining Bolt to defeat all enemies in Yamato. After the battle in Yamato, my friends and I jump into our dragon ships with our entire armies and head to Asgard to defeat Surtur. We make the journey to Jotunheim by wishing upon the swan maiden's feathered cloak. At Jotunheim we help win the battle and the outcome of Ragnarok is turned in Odin's favor. In the end I end up killing Surtur and that means he can't burn the world with his fiery hands like in real Norse Mythology, but I get engulfed in flames and die shortly after and this time get carried off to Valahalla by a valkyrie to enjoy the feast of the Einherjar after the victory of Ragnarok. Lyrics Jun, sharpen the katanas. Suo, bring the armor. Shiho, sing your song of courage. Yumei, raise the lapis high. The war of 9 worlds has begun and we are outnumbered 10 to 1. Nanami takes the odds and evens them. Tenchu raining down from heaven! Ragnarok is unleashed across these worlds I choose to fight in Hai-lan. Battle screams sound faster than Heimdal's horn when an arrow hits my shield. A cloud of Weeping Lilly pollen is unleashed. I fall to my knees but there is no valkyrie. I must journey across the rainbow bridge alone. Skuld! Where are the Einherjar? This is Ragnarok. Even the dead can't rest. You have been chosen by Odin to turn the tide of Ragnarok. Your deeds on Midgard are known to us. A warrior of legend to the Einherjar. You must fight for the All-Father or the Yggdrasil will fall to the flames of Nifleheim So take the Bahamut's Tear. And take the Shining Bolt. To take your army to Valhall use the Swan Maiden's Cloak. And fight like you are Aesir! I thrust my sword through Surtur, piercing his heart of flame. And as I am engulfed in his fire I see the shining blue armor descend. Special thanks (Please include in the write-up if the mix passes.) CHIPP Damage thanks the following for help of various forms during the creation of this remix: Moseph, Yoozer, Dannthr, Sengin, Zircon, Harmony, JJT, big giant circles, Darkesword, OA, Snappleman, Trenthian, SwordBreaker Legion303, Sixto, anyone else I may have missed, Fray for becoming my beloved collaboration partner and kicking some production ass, Hoboka and djpretzel for random props in my forum thread, and Tensei-san for listening to this remix about 100 times after every miniscule change to the audio that was made. "You are my embassador of coin." Sincerely, CHIPP Damage (Jahan Zoltan Honma)

Thanks very much for providing the source. Much like many old 8-bit themes, the simplicity of the original allows a lot of interpretation through expansion. Marathon (Game Rip) - "Rushing" The piano sequencing was lackluster, sounding mechanical on account of rigid timing as well as velocities feeling too similar. When the timing's this tight, some more pronounced performance dynamics there would have been good, e.g. the ending from 1:43-1:52/end, where the piano's the most exposed. Some more freestylish stuff from :44-:58 interpreting the source melody well, though exposing the piano again, followed by a quirky original break from :58-1:06. Surprised to not see any comments on the production. It wasn't terrible by any means but could have been more polished. 1:28-1:43 was pretty cramped, a bit surprising given that the textures weren't particularly complex. I never heard the original ending or its issues. The cutoff wasn't so bad here, but the final fadeout still wasn't complete. Overall, the arrangement is in the right direction, and does evolve decently for the 1:52 length. Given the simplicity/repetition of the original, I would have felt more comfortable though if one of the more verbatim-style iterations of the melody had been interpreted in some way; rhythms, grace notes. That did happen at some points, but could have been used just a little more, again something that sticks out more given the brevity of the arrangement. I feel like it needs to not feel repetitive in any way at this length. For something this brief, I need things to be firing on all cylinders. I'd like to see a touch more interpretation for some of the source melody usage. The ending also needs to trail off properly. This fix is serviceable, but not preferable. Those are more personal level criticisms that aren't dealbreaker issues. But I'd feel more comfortable if the realism of the piano sample was increased via more judicious post-production, as well as having the 1:28-1:43 section given better separation through EQing. It can be loud without being that cluttered, with parts tripping over each other for space. Combined with the other issues mentioned previously, and I'd rather see this refined to be at its best. To me, there were a lot of smaller issues adding up, exacerbated by how short the arrangement was. Nice work so far, Craig, just touch it up for the strong finish. NO (refine/resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/usf/sm64usf.rar - 09 "Dire, Dire Docks" Agreed with the criticisms laid down on the production. Some parts were around the same frequencies leading to a lack of balance, making the track quality seem more lossy than it should have. I thought the opening e-piano sounded to mechanical with the note movement, and the clap groove was extremely weak. It just sounded cheap and flimsy. Even though the claps were layered, they just sounded too loud and lo-fi, interfering with the melody. Melody stayed fairly close to the source, with you taking more of the focus on changing the background elements instead. Only thing going on with the melody was some grace notes; that's moving in the right direction, sure, but it's not substantive enough all things considered, mainly because the overall atmosphere here was so stylistically similar to the original. Tempo is basically the same, melody is basically the same. Man, gotta agree with that clashing piano at 1:54. You've gotta put more thought into how stuff harmonizes. A couple of somewhat grating synths were added at 2:22 to add another dimension to the piece. The countermelody at 2:44 wasn't a bad idea, though I wasn't feeling the sound choice for it. By 3:14, especially because it's in the foreground, you end up running the melody of it into the ground through sheer repetition. Just keeps going until the very end. Keep it in more of background role to not let it get so tired, but also do something more with it. Also gonna come down on how this corny clap groove never changed substantially even once throughout the track. It just makes the whole thing composition seem static and running in place. You need to vary things up to give the track some good dynamics. You did it once at 3:52, now think of other ways you can do that. Keep at it bro. You've got some ideas that show you have the right idea regarding your arrangements, but you're not developing or evolving the concepts as much as you should be. Keep practicing. NO

* Your ReMixer name: Kautzman * Your real name: Michael D. Kautzman * Your email address: MKautzm@gmail.com * Your website: N/A * Your userid: 22695 * Name of game(s) arranged: N64 - Super Mario 64 * Name of individual song(s) arranged: Dire Dire Docks. * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: I've been doing Piano Arrangements for quite some time and finally received the resources to break out of that barrier and do more with music. This song started out as me experimenting with Reason and as I added more to it, the more I decided I could turn it into something. This is the final result of my experimentation. At it's core, it's nothing "in your face" special. It's not supposed to be. It's fairly simple and stays true to the original arrangement and is designed to be a song you just listen to for the purpose of relaxation. I didn't want to do anything to outlandish on my first song. Nothing overly exciting happens until about 1:50. Up until then, it's all setup, progression, and smooth melodies. The second half the song is based heavily on counter melodies with a variety of instruments and exist to really spice up the mix a bit. The chord progression, for the most part, remains intact. It's a very progressive song in that it builds on itself for the entire song and climaxes at 3:00~ before dieing into a soft outro at the very end. As I said before, it's simple, but elegant and I hope you enjoy it. Regardless of acceptance or rejection, if you have time, I would enjoy feedback, criticisms and suggestions from your team if you have time. The name, as per request of my sister, is "Underwater Wonderland." Thanks~ Micheal Kautzman

http://www.hcs64.com/usf/downcnt.php?dk64usf.zip - (039) "Banana Fairy Isle" Yeah, the opening sequencing on the backing piano was definitely very mechanical, only drawing more attention to itself by the bar. Switched over into more genteel instrumentation at :58; cool wind SFX. The pattern being so tight works a lot more for the music box style instrument at :56 as opposed to the piano. Similar realism issues with the woodwind sequencing from :43-:58. Some geetar ripped it up from 1:19-1:43 (with a solid drum transition leading into it). Started turning sinister at 2:18, with everything going out of whack all the way until 3:15. I could understand criticisms of it going long, but even that section evolved. I didn't have any problem with it in terms of impacting the decision. 3:37 finally ratcheted things up with the source tune on lead guitar (along with some very understated guitar support). The soundfield was feeling pretty cramped, with the rhythm guitar and cymbals feeling pretty marginalized and swamped out. It's not terrible, but some better separation of the parts would really give this some more space and improve the texture. The drums were weed's usual samples, which IMO don't always fit. In this case, I'd say the snare in particular didn't sit right with me. The dryness of the snare actually seemed like more of a problem from 4:30-5:09 with the snare pattern being dry like zircon mentioned. If it were pulled back some, it would sound better IMO, more important than making the pattern more complex. Loved the transition at 5:11, dropping the snare, adding some chiptune-style lines, and moving things along nicely with the kick, cymbals and bassline. More percussion stuff added at 5:34 while the snare returned at 5:39, created more thick/crowded textures until 6:32 went for a nice acoustic close. Timestamping everything where I heard the source tune, I got :00-2:23, 3:20-3:21, 3:37-4:04, 4:29-4:36 & 4:43-4:50. In this case, 3:05's-worth of source usage within a 6:54-long track or about 44.69%. I saved that for last because there could be aspects of the source I'm missing, or another source could have been used that I'm not clear on. If I'm accurate though, I feel there needs to be more inclusion of the source material. Just applying some more of it within the background of some more sections would be fine. There were some crowded sections, but nothing that was a dealbreaker, IMO. Aside from ensuring there's more than 50% source usage (how I interpret the source material being "dominant" re: the standards), I'd say refine the instrumentation for the intro, refine the drums in those spots where the snare felt too dry and loud, and this would be all good to me. I'd definitely try to tweak it up, weed, to me this was pretty close. NO (resubmit)

Happy belated, old man!

Remix Title: Neo-Rushica Link to Remix: pixietricks edit: Link to fixed version, with no cutting off at the end: ReMixer name: tycho real name: Craig Hardgrove email address: chardgro@utk.edu website: http://www.eigenhat.com/marathon Name of game(s) arranged: Marathon Name of individual song(s) arranged: Rushing Link to the original song: Comments: Thank you for listening and evaluating --Craig Hardgrove

Contact Information * ophidic * ophidic@gmail.com Submission Information * Metroid * Title Theme * System: NES * I tried to make it sound 'alien'. Enjoy -- - ophidic --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/metroid.zip - Track 1 Some decent supporting instrumentation ideas to add a little bit to this, not to mention the alien-style sounds. The tempo change at :50 was a good idea as well. Some decent new writing from 1:51-2:06 to change the style of the ending, and get things feeling more interpretive. Overall though, structured too much like the source tune and not a developed, interpretive enough concept. The volume was also way too quiet, with the mixing leaving everything sounding too murky and lossy. Louder and cleaner is the way to go. Even if going for a more washed, spacey sound, this wasn't pulled off well, IMO. Decent first mix. Stick around the ReMixing and Works forums to learn more and get more feedback before future submissions. NO

The way of the dodo.

It's a priority of sorts. Your stance is short-sighted in that we even have some games that were Japanese-only releases and the English names we use are translations. It should work the other way. Japan is the the other hub of video games and VGM; only makes sense to make the site more accessible to them.

There's no way this would have been passed just because it's "competent." Just because you personally didn't enjoy it, don't extrapolate that to how djpretzel or the staff viewed the mix. You'd be absolutely wrong.

Nice work, Dave. This is just a really excellent way to present stuff. Everything redone is presented a lot more effectively. It definitely highlights the work I've done in filling in the major majority of the database information, only enhancing our ability to promote the composers and original tracks that inspired the works here. For those who wonder why mixes themselves aren't posted every day or every other day, it's specifically because of the many projects djpretzel has been working on to improve the functionality of the site. I'm a fan of these new listings putting more information right at the casual viewers fingertips.

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01317/ A lot of genuine metal arrangers don't seem to be aware of OCR, or, if they are aware, submitting stuff. Maybe they don't think metal can make it. I wouldn't really know for sure. We need some more metal in our diet here. There's also stuff like http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00569/, but that's all sequenced. Not much actually here that comes to mind specifically as metal. Suzu above has a pretty good list of the edgier rock arrangers in the community.

Yeah, clearly it's not still here. Put some glasses on.

ReMixer name: Doctor Octoroc Real name: Levi eMail: jazzlevi@yahoo.com Name of game: Final Fantasy Name of song: Matoya's Realm here is the link to the file: Matoya.mp3 it is entitled "Matoya" ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff1.zip - Track 10 ("Matoya's Theme") Opened up with some ultra-generic out-of-the-box sounds loosely based off the progression of the source, before bringing in the melody at :38. The "Matoya's Theme" melody wasn't particularly interpretive, though the backing elements did work with arranging the theme as well. The dropoff at 1:35 provided some decent dynamic contrast. Strings at 1:49 were a nice change of pace, albeit sounding lonely and dry in the soundfield. Solid re-building at 2:01. By around this time the quarter note drumshot was getting pretty tired for me and could have used some fills or variation. It's a decent but monotonous anchor. Reached a new high point at 2:39. Still some good stuff going on in the background. Another iteration of the theme at 3:11, getting repetitive. It's too bad there's nothing interesting going on with the treatment of the actual melody. Change it up a bit. The sounds were ultra thin and you definitely need to step it up, as FL can do a lot more out-of-the-box. Overall though, you're definitely moving in the right direction in terms of arranging, Levi. Especially working with an NES source, you had some good new supporting writing ideas, and a solid-enough sense of creating dynamics. The main negative here was that for about 10 iterations of the melody, it was the essentially the same thing over and over again particularly with verses. Don't just vary up the sounds playing the lead, vary up the rhythms, fuse it with some original melodic ideas, add grace notes; do something to keep the melodic content fresh, it's the backbone of the arrangement. Use our ReMixing and Works forums to learn more about your software and solicit fan feedback in order to help you improve for future submissions. If you stay diligent, you'll be creating more solid-sounding material on both the arrangement and production sides. NO

Any thoughts on this remix?

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Memories of Green" (ct-105.spc), "Secret of the Forest" (ct-111.spc), "Wind Scene" (ct-109.spc) & "Ruined World" (ct-201.spc) http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=rd - "Far Promise ~ Dream Shore" (rd-08.spc) Yeah, first impression were that the brass samples and high strings didn't sound quite realistic enough. The brass was definitely weaker, while the strings were comparatively stronger despite their own issues. The brass in particular definitely hurt both the intro and the conclusion, sounding pretty fake and exposed. The drumkit definitely plods along and usually doesn't mesh well with the other instrumentation. Agreed with DarkeSword than when you moved away from it, your percussion choices seemed a lot more fitting. IMO, it's not so much the writing, but rather the sounds choices, though I'd also say that the background could have used another element to help fill it out. It's pretty empty as is for some of these sections Arrangement-wise, I see where the criticisms were coming from. This definitely has a lot of nice embellishments to make it more acceptable, but the arrangement still lost something in holding so much to the overall feel of the originals for the "Memories of Green"/"Secret of the Forest" section. Dynamically, I can totally understand the crits there as well, but didn't have as much of a problem. The dynamics were arguably a bit too subtle for first 3 minutes, but the buildups and dropoffs were working overall, IMO. Nice stuff for a 2004 arrangement, John. (I checked the tags.) It probably would have made it back in that day, albeit with the same criticisms. Honestly, it's mostly the emptier sections with the plodding drumwork that have me not quite feeling this. They last a while and prevent much of the track from feeling cohesive enough. The arrangement is already where it needs to be. I'd just spit polish the lacking areas to really get this flying high and making the most out of the interpretation ideas in the execution. NO (refine/resubmit)

We've got a Top Gear medley waiting to be posted. It'll be up on the front page eventually!

The website design can't create itself in a day. At the risk of stepping on TO's toes, I'd say go for it, and if it's finished soon enough and has the right atmosphere, TO would probably take it on board.

zyko One Monkey's Dream Donkey Kong 64 This offering is another guitar-driven track from this past (and surprisingly productive) summer. i've remixed this source (the banana fairy island song) once before with a track from vgmix 1, titled banana ether (sampled in stretches of this version). i never quite did what i wanted to do with it as i was very limited at the time. i wish i could say that this was a lot more in sync with the idea i had except i completely scratched the ethereal, tripped out feel for a driving, rocked out alternative. i'm very highly inspired and influenced by Yanni and one of my favorite tracks of his, One Man's Dream, has been a staple in my listening diet for over a decade. i can't bother to explain the amount of introspection (assisted and unassisted) i have survived to that piece and it was fitting for me to tribute it when writing my own audio introspection. what you get is a piece with a variety of personalities, a lot of homage to my early vgmix1 days, and, well, whatever else you might find in there. dig it.

If you sign up at the VGMdb forums, you can use the site's advanced Search function to specifically look up vinyl VGM albums, including catalog numbers. VGMdb currently 71 vinyl albums listed. You're not gonna find a better source anywhere else.

Same vote as the first here as well. Explaining how it applies to this case: even though the source tune is a medley, in order to passably arrange it for here, you would have to do it in such a way that the structure seems like one continuous, evolving idea and not just several themes strung together. I'd hazard to say that in order to actually create a passable arrangement of this theme and use every source tune, you'd need around 2 minutes per theme and nearly every theme would have to transition smoothly into the next one, building off of the previous theme. In other words, nothing that would ever fit under 6MB. That's why the others are suggesting you tackle fewer themes, with more time and development given to each theme. NO

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Ending Theme (part 1)" [ff6-315a.spc] & "Ending Theme (part 2)" [ff6-315b.spc] Indeed, the guitar performance from Mike was pretty good. The drum writing was only half-decent. Terribly weak-sounding and didn't drive the piece along at all most of the time. Beyond some of the cooler fills, the kit basically just kept time and felt flimsy during the most straightforward sections. Definitely a major dealbreaker to me, unfortunately. The bowed string sequencing in the background was OK, mostly covered up by the guitar being so much louder, though they could have sounded richer and more realistic. I would have layered them up some more to achieve a bigger sound. Agreed with DarkeSword on some of the cymbal flourishes being way too loud and jarring as well. Summarizing that, you need to step it up on creating interesting, sophisticated drumwork that fits more cohesively into the big picture (especially the snare patterns), and also tone down the volume on the cymbal crashes. These issues substantially hamper any kind of rock arrangement. Yeah, Justin, arrangement-wise, the structure was too close to the original. I actually would take an arrangement of the Ending Theme if the individual pieces were more interpretive and flowed together from section to section more smoothly, but they don't here. It's also highly unlikely anyone else could do so, but let me elaborate: Explaining how it applies to this case: even though the source tune is a medley, in order to passably arrange it for here, you would have to do it in such a way that the structure seems like one continuous, evolving idea and not just several themes strung together. I'd hazard to say that in order to actually create a passable arrangement of this theme and use every source tune, you'd need around 2 minutes per theme and nearly every theme would have to transition smoothly into the next one, building off of the previous theme. In other words, nothing that would ever fit under 6MB. That's why the others are suggesting you tackle fewer themes, with more time and development given to each theme. NO

Man, there is NOTHING to this source; a 4 second plucked string loop and some bowed string support. Dunno how you're gonna stretch this out for 5+ minutes. I wish you the best of luck. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=rd - "Strange Presentiment" (rd-04.spc) Opening seemed pretty solid in terms of using the source. The distorted flourish from :34-:35 bodes nothing but bad things. :'-( The synth lead at :34 is just grating and sounds like it's got too much treble; that effect on it from :48-:50 sounds like noise you'd blast to make enemy troops surrender. Gotta swap it out for something else. zircon mentioned has mentioned headroom a few times in recent votes; when the soundscape was too compressed, very evident from 1:39-2:11, you were left with a lack of it. Dunno about this. I feel like a slide is a concept. Just because you slurred some notes in a similar manner to the original doesn't necessarily make it a viable enough usage of the source material proper. Back to the bread and butter from 2:43-3:15. Ooh, the string sound at 2:51 didn't sound natural. The main piano sounded OK, but the second, backing one supplying chords sounded a lot thinner and unrealistic. Original section at 3:15 was OK in concept, weak in execution. The pianos lagged a bit with the timing, and I thought the tone of the beatwork was all wrong. 3:54-4:12's section was definitely pretty messy. Yeah, I was talking with DS in #j a couple of days ago and agreed all the way on the production criticisms. It's gonna hurt to read this, but this is just really sloppy. I wish I could say I know what's it's like to tweak a song until you're tired of it, but the short of it is that you really need to either up the quality of the equipment you use to listen to your material and/or gain a more discerning ear. Can't help but agree with DarkeSword on the nature of the arrangement. Besides the obvious source usage from the core melody, I wasn't overtly picking up anything else you mentioned. Even in light of the breakdown, the overall arrangement approach did feel too liberal and too focused on the added original material due to the limitations of the source. But I come at it in a different way. Stuff like the final 4:19-5:23 section was OK to me in principle (since you used the source tune in the background). But from a standards perspective, it would have been better had the arranged source verse been varied more, even though it was essentially just a backing pattern. As is, the pattern was basically used the same way every time, so while the arrangement as a whole evolved and developed, the primary method of source usage did not. Hard to say where to begin in terms of this, Andy, but work on refocusing the arrangement if you were interested. Practically speaking though, since the arrangement wouldn't pass as is, you may get more growth as an artist working on the production, the track being for Thieves of Fate and all. For this case, I'd choose to work on that aspect more and see how you can improve what's in place. NO