Liontamer

-RoeTaKa- -'Xenogears'- -"The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen"- Xenogears, I've never played this game and I really must give it a try some day. Mitsuda's work and style has become very familiar to me recently. This request, as requested by 'Arek the Absolute', to create a love song style of the song "The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen" was great to do. So alot of credit goes to him for the inspiration and concept. The piece revolves around orchestral elements that mainly focus on the strings, winds and harp. Since the piece has a fantasy quality to it, I was keen to induce acoustic guitar and rhodes piano to keep the spirit of the peice uplifted and sweet. Unusual of myself, I opted to ignore percussion elements to keep a certain suspension to the piece. The original song felt like an unintended love song, which Arek clearly pointed out aswell, so in places I chose to keep the source material unaltered but to improve the mood. I've been busy lately with original material and haven't been in the remixing game for a while. If you're familiar with DragonArmy, please continue to support us with whatever were doing http://www.arnoldascher.com/dragonarmyinc.html haha I am not even sure myself. Currently I am doing the soundtrack for a fan sequel to Chrono Trigger, http://www.chrono-crisis.com/ it's a huge project and is shaping up really well. So please support that if you're dead set on some sort of Chrono sequel. If this mix gets posted, by that time we might even have nearly finished a good amount of the game. Cheers! ----------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Xenogears_psf.rar - 116 "The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen" The soundfield was somewhat muddy, and some of the sequencing seemed a bit rigidly timed to start, but it quickly seemed better as things picked up. The piece had some fairly solid dynamics. The guitar or whatever acoustic string instrument that was, sounded a bit rigid with the sequencing as well, covered up better during some parts, but somewhat exposed in others. Pretty obvious flub at 2:54 with one of the string velocities that should be fixed up IMO. At 1:07 & 3:31, it also sounded unrealistic how loud the strings became compared to the previous note. I thought there was a lack of polish in the execution on this one that has me a little shaky, but I thought the arrangement and overall presentation was solid enough to get by. I really liked the approach on this one, and the result was pretty genteel. Still, could be some NOs, as this could be tightened up a bit. Good luck with the rest of the vote, Alex. If this doesn't make it, it shouldn't be far off. YES (borderline)

Great song. Too cover-ish sans the lyrics though. NO!

We're gonna not do that.

[12:29] <@Larry> hahaha, Jesse's not liking the NOs on the Shinesparks; we're not jazzing up her friend enough! [12:29] <@Larry> fuck it, I'm not gonna YES something off implied notes [12:29] <@Larry> implied ain't played [12:29] <@Larry> so NO [12:29] <@Larry> jazz snobbing on me I respect where you're coming from, kneejerk reaction aside, and I'm not gonna pretend I have your knowledge. But if I'm not explicitly hearing the source tune (doesn't mean every chord HAS to be explicitly voiced) and it's not jazzing up your friend, then I'm good. For the sections you're sticking up for, I'm not hearing the source directly in play for too much of this. If it's there, it's not recognizable to me, so it's too liberal and a no-go. Not to say everyone else would agree, but I'd have to think this could have been handled in a way that more explicitly used the source tune and would thus work more with the standards. Not that my vote is specifically being challenged, but I'm solid with my NO vote. This kind of like ktriton's previous Silent Hill medley, where it had similarities to the sources, but ultimately did too much of its own thing and went off the rails. Can some other theory-versed Js check this out?

Hi, Glad I came across your website! Contact Information: Remixer Name: Ekaj Real Name: Jake Rooney Email: tehekaj@gmail.com Website: http://myspace.com/ekajmusic Submission Information: Name of game arranged: Super Metroid Name of song: Lower Brinstar Hope you like it! Cheers, Jake (Ekaj) --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sm - "Brinstar Red Soil Swampy Area" (sm-20.spc) Expansive soundscape, but otherwise pretty similar to the original structure to start, though the melody and countermelody are modified a bit (sometimes just the 3rd beat, somtimes the 3rd & 4th beat). Subtle but viable interpretation there. Still in the buildup phase by 1:19 with the dropoff, but with a 5:50-long track there was plenty of room to work with. Built up into some nice beat work and the main melody fading it at 1:45, before bringing the power at 2:12. Definitely being groove biased here, but this was looking like a hell of a nice expansionist take like bLiNd's "Space Cowboys", retaining the structure, but otherwise beefing the hell out of it. Maybe the standard of "Space Cowboys doesn't hold up anymore, so we'll see. This isn't gonna win any award for melodic interpretation, but there was a bit done there. More importantly, the approach was expansive and personalized to the hilt. It's pretty interesting how this has a dark tone like the source tune, but addition of stuff like the breakbeats and gated synths clearly don't give off the same lonely energy the original does. Nonetheless, still a very spacious, well produced mix. I'm feeling like this will get NOed for being too conservative, but the sum total of the changes felt substantive enough to me. Good luck with the rest of the vote. If this doesn't make it, don't be discouraged from submitting again. I enjoyed the Dubstep Mix available from your MySpace page, particularly "Empty Can". Good stuff. YES

ReMixer name: trickwaters Real name: Patrick Waters Email address: waters.patrick@gmaNOSPAMil.com [remove NOSPAM] UserID: 10346 Game: Final Fantasy IV Source work: Into the Darkness Comments: /The Dark/ gestated in 2005 as one of several now lost and indefinitely abandoned projects following a massive data loss; the rebooted project began in late 2007 to be finished February 2008. The short tone poem draws on the music of Mahler, particularly his first and seventh symphonies, and of Debussy. A bassoon begins the piece, intoning the opening motive of the melody; it is joined by the other bass instruments of the orchestra as the line unfolds. In the second section, a solo violoncello carries the primary melodic material, colorfully accompanied by pizzicato and staccato strings and woodwinds. The final section explores the canonic possibilities of the source tune as various parts of the orchestra laminate the texture leading to the climax with chromatically altered harmonies, resolving to the sudden and subdued coda-like conclusion; the final, hushed utteration of the motive comes from the lowest register of the solo cello. Scored for two flutes, alto flute, three oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, three horns, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, tam-tam, celesta, two harps, organ, and strings with solo violoncello. ------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "Into the Darkness" (ff4-12.spc) Opened up very, very quiet. Very, very, very, quiet. Picked up nicely at :55 to show there was a purposeful dynamic curve. Brass at 1:33 was quiet albeit exposed, but I loved the take on the melody at 1:41. Really quiet again, but we'll see where it goes. Good layering of other instruments as the theme repeated. Nice escalation at 2:59, though the bowed strings got horribly exposed from 3:09-3:21, which was a little sloppier than what I expected. Nitpicky or not, Patrick is pretty deliberate about his sounds. Brass may be harder to pull off (fakey again from 3:44-3:57), but I'd think the strings there wouldn't have been left like that. Still pretty minor issues, IMO. Love the arrangement. A lot quieter than most subs we get, but I've been told it's typical enough for the genre (shows how much I listen to). The dynamic curve was solid though, and I appreciated how intricate some of the sections sounded. Good stuff, Patrick. YES

Contact Information ReMixer Name: Oscillated Future Real Name: Myles Email Address: pureenergy5002@hotmail.com Website: http://www.myspace.com/oscillatedfuture User ID: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=23164 Submission Information Name of Game Arranged: Final Fantasy VII Original Song Title: A Secret, Sleeping in the Deep Sea ReMix Song Title: A Journey Into the Deep Abyss Comments: A true FFVII classic that is sometimes overlooked, but very dear to my heart! Please let me know if there's any further information needed. (This is my first submission) ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 404 "A Secret, Sleeping in the Deep Sea" You have some decent ideas to start. I like how you altered the rhythm of the source tune to intro this one. Ah MAN, what the fuck... :'-( Bah, some weak beats entered in at :30. I literally stopped the track to go "What the fuck?!?" When the barebones clap/hat groove entered in at :30 along with the ultra-fake, ultra-thin MIDI-ish guitar sequencing at :44, this was dead in the water. You have some good concepts, moreso for the opening rhythms and lead, but the textures were flimsy, and the sequencing for some parts sounded too mechanical. On top of that, the groove (despite the occasional dropoffs) was overly simplistic and repetitive as hell. I could skip to nearly any point in the song and that lame perc groove and/or kick pattern is on complete cruise control, just swapping out one of the parts every now and then. You could honestly ditch maybe 3 minutes of this song due to the repetition. Trim the fat. The changeup at 5:30 was at least a little something different with the J-E-N-O-V-A-ish piano, but what was the point of even introducing that in the last couple of seconds? Get on those ReMixing forums and soak up knowledge, then use the Works boards for some feedback before you try submitting again. You've got a long way to go before you achieve sophisticated results. You have the right idea at the start in terms of changing the feel of the original, but then the structure ended up being repetitive and lazy. NO

"What if we say no?" - LT Hi, here's a remix I've been wanting to do for a long time, and finally did it. As I'm quite happy with the result, I thought I'd see if you like it enough to post on the site, and also in order to receive some honest feedback. The remix is highly influenced by The Wicked (one of my favorite metal bands), Danny Elfman's work, and the 1989 movie "Batman". Contact Info: Remixer: Diseased Project Real name: Timo Niemelä Website: http://diseasedproject.atspace.com Submission Info: Name of game arranged: The Adventures of Batman & Robin (please note that it's the SNES version, which is a completely different game than the GEN-version. They only share the same name) Name of individual songs arranged: City & Funhouse respectively ----------------------------------------------------------- Not sure why this sub had the name of one of the SPC files, especially one that doesn't seem to be involved in the arrangement. Oh well. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=abr - "Tale of the Cat" (abr-14.spc) & "Joker's Funhouse" (abr-05.spc) As much as I love the clip opening things up, it's arguably too long. I have no idea what's being used after 1:48 because it doesn't particularly sound like "Joker's Funhouse", but the structure sounds taken from one of the tunes. More Batman score stuff that I DO recognize as being used in "Joker's Funhouse", from 2:21-2:30 & 2:47-3:15. Joker clips were overused at 2:31 and 2:42. Just sounds thrown in there for no real reason. With the way this is, I'd just settle for using the clips to intro and outro the piece. Don't add tackiness by overdoing it. Melodically and structurally, not much difference from the originals, both "Tale of the Cat" and the Batman movie score parts I recognized from "Joker's Funhouse". Even retaining basically the same instrumentation for the leads. It's a cool cover and there's some expansion, but not particularly interpretive in any way. Anyway, even if everything was clicking on all cylinders with the performance and production, the source tunes use parts of the Batman movie score, so you've inherited them here (e.g. 1:11-1:29). Unfortunately though, we don't accept tracks incorporating substantial non-VGM arrangement. It doesn't matter that the movie score was weaved into the game soundtrack, because the movie score wasn't originally created for this game soundtrack. (Section 3, Part 3 of the Standards: "Any incorporation or arrangement of source material not from games (mainstream, classical, etc.) should be extremely limited.") 55 seconds' worth of a 2:54-long arrangement (only counting the music) is clearly going beyond "extremely limited." So in short, lengthy usage of the movie score = no-go. Even if the source material was all clear, this was too cover-ish and not interpretive enough, both in the lead instrumentation and the structure. The way this was put together was otherwise good, IMO, and if you came at us with a more interpretive arrangement, I think you'd have a good shot at passing, Timo. That being said, I definitely hope you'll submit more material in the future. NO

Remixer Name: Uboichi Real Name: Uub Jacobson User ID: 10339 Game arranged: Kingdom Hearts 2 Song arranged: Darkness of the Unknown Composer: Yoko Shimomura System: PS2 I haven't got a clue what gotten into me when I decided to arrange this piece for 2 pianos. Not because it's a crazy idea ('cause it isn't), but more because I started with this arrangement about 8 months ago. It's so long ago that I simply don't remember why I started it. When I first got close to finishing this piece my computer broke down. It was horrible, I couldn't make music on my PC anymore! So I saved some money every month for a few months so I could buy myself a brand new PC. But that saving took me so long that I didn't have my PC untill last week. So if anyone remembers this being on the WIP forum, this is why it took me so long to finish it.

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3057 Link to ReMix - Dreamstone Legend (may need to right-click and use Save As to get clean playback) Contact Information * ReMixer name - J.B.Garren * Real name - Jeremy B. Garren * Email address - jbgarren@mail.utexas.edu * Website - http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/~garrenjb/music.html * Userid - 22713 Submission Information * Name of game arranged - Chrono Trigger * Name of individual song arranged - Battle With Magus * Original by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda, SNES * Link to the original soundtrack (if needed) magusbattle.mp3 * Comments - Although I doubt anyone will recall, a much earlier version of this work was declined for submission two years ago. Looking back, I can see why, although I suppose that is simply the nature of experience. Having recently come back to it and spent time reworking it, the piece is now significantly different and significantly better. In this work I wanted to create tension and weight in between the dark descending theme typically associated with Magus and the more heroic theme that appears later in the original. One result of this is that the music never settles into a groove, but is in a fairly constant state of change up until the conclusion, perhaps like an actual battle. I suppose good wins in the end. The work often approaches full orchestral, although certain elements, (such as the much debated guitars), drag it back to a somewhat more electronic feel. Certainly there are plenty of Chrono Trigger remixes already out there, and already a few dealing with my source theme. Despite this, I have an invested personal stake in Dreamstone Legend, considering how much time and effort this project has sucked out of me. I may have gone through more versions of this song than any other I have ever crafted. In any case, I would like to finally call this piece done, so I hope you enjoy it. -J.B.G. ----------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Battle with Magus" (ct-224.spc) Really loved the tenseness and subtle evolution of the intro; very excellent. Some beats were added in at :45. I thought the fast strings at :47 were a bit exposedm as well as mixed too quietly, but we'll see if there are any differing opinions. The Slayer-ish electric guitar synth at 1:03 sounded a little annoying to start, but was worse 1:12 when it was given a more substantive role. I dunno who decided this was a good substitute sound for a real electric guitar, but, shit, it's always bad. It creates a big quality disparity compared with the other sounds. Even looking at your WIP thread, you knew it wasn't working right. So why would I think it works? The times that synth works the most effectively are when it's not used in the role of an authentic electric guitar. It's used fairly decently here, but it's not melodious, a lot of the velocities sounded very similar, and the sequencing felt too perfectly timed, leaving the sound very robotic-sounding. Unfortunate, given that the other parts were clicking so well. The piano at 1:57 had similar sequencing issues that exposed the sample. The soundfield felt somewhat cluttered and could be sharpened up with some EQ work, but it wasn't much of an issue. There were other, smaller details that might be covered in other votes. But the main crit from me: find a better guitar or other sound in place of that Slayer-ish stuff, make sure the sequencing is on point, and IMO you'd have this track clicking strongly enough on all levels. I'm not saying steal Niggasamples, but there's gotta be either a way to produce the synths better or find a more suitable sound. Big Giant Circles might be able to make suggestions on working with Slayer, or sounds similar to it, to achieve a better result. Solid base, J.B., don't be discouraged if this doesn't make it as is. This needs some fine tuning, but you've definitely improved your game since the last time I've heard your work. NO (resubmit)

I've now sent everyone the email to everyone letting you guys who participated know what the status is. Like I mentioned, any questions/comments/etc, please let us know in the thread! Thank you all for sending in some quality AMVs!

I'll try to check into the aforementioned issues this evening if possible.

Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! - 01 "Last Rites/Loved to Deth" http://www.zophar.net/gsf/cvaos_gsf.rar - 10 "Clock Tower" djpretzel was saying that he personally felt 40 seconds worth of non-VGM-based arrangement (in this case, Megadeth's "Last Rites/Loved To Deth") for a near 4 1/2 minute submission was still too much, so we'll see what happens from his side if this passes. The rule on outside source usage hasn't been tested much since "A Star Freezes Over." Objectively, the usage fitting thematically with the arranged game music shouldn't be a factor as to whether it's viable, and should never be used as an argument. Any artist worth their salt should be able to make the arrangement of a non-VGM source fit comfortably with the VGM portions. Anyway, the track really got underway at :43. On some level I can understand zircon's criticisms about a lack of dynamic contrast and lack of aggression, but nothing felt like a dealbreaker here or even a significant problem in the slightest. While there were some more interpretive sections, the arrangement felt a lot more like an expansive cover rather than a drastic reinterpretation, so I would have liked to have seen more risks taken with the structure. Regardless, still some solid stuff here; very easy to see how this placed so high for DoD's Castlevania month. Not much to say other than that this was a solid rock cover. Not to shit on zircon at all, but what's the problem? I agree it could be more dynamic, but what's in place here sounds good nonetheless. The volume and production aspects David mentioned are a non-issue with me; I thought this was well above our standards. But this had :43 seconds' worth of Megadeth as part of a 264-second arrangement or 16.287%. I know we don't have a percentage threshold, but if djp's not comfortable with this amount of usage in spite of this passing, then I'm fine with a veto. Hate to NO this, but looking at our wording in the Standards ("Any incorporation or arrangement of source material not from games (mainstream, classical, etc.) should be extremely limited"), about 1/6th is too much for me to call extremely limited. I'm making it very clear, that this is the only reason I'm voting NO. If djpretzel clarified that this amount of mainstream usage is allowed, I'd be more than happy to change my vote. If the track is rejected, David, please consider submitting an edited version without the Megadeth intro, or with an abbreviated cut of the intro (e.g. starting from :26 or :31). I think this is a well-performed piece and would love to see it up in some form! NO (resubmit)

Haven't listened to the previous version. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=rd - "Facing" (rd-12.spc) Right off the BAT, too trebly. Weird how it seems to be murky, then the higher frequencies are just so biting and grating. Unacceptable as is; these issues are over the top and ruins the soundscape, so it would need to be fixed up. The guitar part at 1:16-1:42 sounds really awkward and not very harmonious with the other instrumentation. The 2:20-3:01 section should have been cool, but the piano in the background sounded really thin and cheap, and got buried at 2:33 as the track ramped up. Meanwhile the treble was over the top and the track turned into a mess of noise, when the guitar wank should have been cleaner-sounding and dominating the foreground without the drums getting in the way. Instead, it was fighting the other sounds for the listener's ear. More of the same issues from 3:10-3:24. I'm not even convinced the lo-fi sound of 3:28's closing section, a good concept, was even on purpose given how lo-fi and imbalanced everything sounded, which is sad. I'll be honest in that the production is so distracting and the source tune so hard to internalize, that I don't have a good bead on where the interpretation is much of the time. If someone can spell it out better, that'd be great. But the production issues aren't something that's going to be fixed with some quick tweaks, so this is already a NO (resubmit). C'mon bros, clean this bitch up.

Tag stuff up to the best of your ability, just to help ID your track when you send it. Reagrdless, we tag everything up once it passes. Don't worry about that.

He needs to "seriously" stop trolling people. He's so bad at it, he ruins it for the rest of the forums.

You can check out the posted mix here: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01683/ Review it here: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14725 Enjoy!

I'm gonna run slightly counter to CHz's first sentence, as the implication is that ReMixing arrange album tracks isn't kosher. I know what he's getting at, but maybe djpretzel can clarify. AFAIK, there's nothing inherently wrong with that as long as your arrangement is different enough from the arranged source tune, and, more importantly, still connects strongly enough to the original game track as CHz mentioned. I mention that second part, because some pro arrange album tracks can get pretty liberal themselves. A liberal take on an already-liberal arrange track could result in something too far off from the original game music.

*SMACK* I'm a mod. I can off-top ANYTHING I WANT. In all seriousness, I just think it's a double standard how he interacts with people he perceives as higher than him on the food chain, but for the purposes of trolling a n00b, he switches to off-putting, lazy internet speak. As is, no in my opinion. If the drums weren't on auto-pilot, the track would feel a lot more cohesive. The point of it seemed to just be a quick mix though, so on that level I wouldn't change a thing. The style/presentation seems different enough to me, but that would be up to the panel at large in confirming that.

Well, indeed it is. Why thank you, good sir. /clicks stopwatch YES

Why are you typing with proper capitalization and punctuation in this thread, but then: "look kid dont take this the wrong way but i dont care about mario and halo together so stop being rude and immature k" ...basically typing this holier-than-thou trolling nonsense in another thread. What did I tell you? I'm gonna have to kick your ass later. Ugh. Anyway. ReMixes of ReMixes are fine, they're just judged in a tougher manner. Section 6, Part 5 of the standards covers this. That rule is more to discourage ReMixers from submitting mere production upgrades of their older mixes. But we're always open to ReMixing (i.e. substantively interpreting) a previous ReMix or other arrangement as long as there are enough ties to the original game music the existing mix is based off of. Following up zircon's post, we've actually got 2 ReMixes of ReMixes. Yeah, judges come and go, and there's definitely no normal length of time they stay on board. Even I don't keep track of average time on the panel. But we've had many on board less than 1 year, and then you have guys like Vigilante (nearly 5 years) and myself (nearly 4 years) who have been on for a dog's age without stepping down for a hiatus. I'm proud to say that I've voted on 99% of everything put in front of me. Just going with my initial feeling, not looking at any names or lists, most Js tend to give somewhere in the realm of 2 years. Like zircon mentioned, stepping down is pretty much gonna be either lack of time despite interest, or lack of interest despite time, as the job can wear on anybody. If you want a job that pays $0, takes up a fair amount of time if you dig into it, where some will trash your qualifications, your character, and your objectivity, and where the workload NEVER lets up no matter how hard you work, it can eventually cease to be personally fulfilling. For me though, I'm not even close to that point.

THIS IS NOT UNBREAKING MY HEART! :'-(

Animated ones, never. Even custom avatars should be game related, but anime/cartoons/comics/movies, pretty much anything is fair game as long as I like it. We focus on VG stuff, but we have a few others. I think Ty wants Hulk Hogan custom; I can do that tomorrow. Since he made it in the first place, that's cool. Danimal Cannon may kill him though; he's using it too! Will get to the Warcraft stuff when I have more time to sit down and add the group. It's not too laborious, but it does take a little bit of time to add them all in.

Unbreak my heart. Say you'll love me again.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sm - "Brinstar Overgrown with Vegetation Area" (sm-19.spc) One of my regrets of this past MAGFest was not being able to hang a little bit with Jon, who's definitely one of the promising rock remixers who's checked out OCR and hook us up with some good submission. He's had a good run so far in the DoD competitions, and he told me how he's working on improving his production skills Yeah, I just wanted to panel this to show off to the panel the step up Jon has taken since his CV4 mix, "Death Stroke", in terms of having it clicking on all cylinders this time. One criticism, I thought the synth from :53-1:15 sounded on the amelodic side and hurt that section. Other than that, solid programming and performances, great energy and interpretation the whole way through. I'll leave it to any of the guitar Js to provide legit insight into where your performance could use improvement, but I thought it was above bar, and that's all I'm concerned about. You're only getting better, bro. Definitely looking forward to more! YES