Liontamer

Gave permission for the submitting artist to sub both parts now, since this was broken up into two parts - LT Link to song: ReMixer name: Shakespeare real name: Justin E. Grant remixer's email: jgrant@jegarts.com website: www.jegarts.com Featuring Guitarist: Mike Letourneau, engineer at Soundtrack Boston (axeman5403@yahoo.com) Game arranged: Final Fantasy VI Song arranged: Ending Composer: Nobuo Uematsu System: Super Famicom Comments: This is part two of a two-part arrangement. Some might recognize this from my all-sampled beta version posted about 2 years ago on VGmix. This new arrangement was recorded and re-mixed for a finished touch. I came to Mike, knowing he was a talented guitarist, with my original song and told him that it needed a serious overhaul. After playing him the old mix, I asked him if he would be willing to record all the guitar tracks and replace the existing ones. He did not even hesitate. Months later, he was done with all the tracks and I started working on the final mix. I hope this long effort of ours provides some enjoyment for the ears of others.

Link to song: ReMixer name: Shakespeare real name: Justin E. Grant remixer's email: jgrant@jegarts.com website: www.jegarts.com Featuring Guitarist: Mike Letourneau, engineer at Soundtrack Boston (axeman5403@yahoo.com) Game arranged: Final Fantasy VI Song arranged: Ending Composer: Nobuo Uematsu System: Super Famicom Comments: This is part one of a two-part arrangement. Some might recognize this from my all-sampled beta version posted about 2 years ago on VGmix. This new arrangement was recorded and re-mixed for a finished touch. I came to Mike, knowing he was a talented guitarist, with my original song and told him that it needed a serious overhaul. After playing him the old mix, I asked him if he would be willing to record all the guitar tracks and replace the existing ones. He did not even hesitate. Months later, he was done with all the tracks and I started working on the final mix. I hope this long effort of ours provides some enjoyment for the ears of others.

ReMixer Name: DJ Smooth4Lyfe ft. Marky B Real Name(s): Joey Ofori and Mark Broomell Email: djsmooth4lyfe@yahoo.com Website: - http://www.musicforte.com/member/djsmooth4lyfe - http://www.myspace.com/djsmooth4lyfe - http://www.cdbaby.com/all/smooth4lyfe UserID #: 22109 Remix Info: Name Of Game: Katamari Damacy Name of Remix: Rastamari Info about Game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamari Link To Original Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voPx8x0-blQ Other Comments: This is a reggae and a Dub version of the theme song also with a little jam session in between. Mark Broomell did the guitar work, Joey Ofori did the synths, percussion, and all other stuff. Check out my Websites: http://www.musicforte.com/member/djsmooth4lyfe <-My Hompage http://www.soundclick.com/djsmooth4lyfe <- My Soundclick Music Page http://www.myspace.com/djsmooth4lyfe <- My Myspace Page http://cdbaby.com/all/smooth4lyfe <- My Albums http://www.sonicbids.com/djsmooth4lyfe <- My EPK Stay Smooth Joey Ofori DJ Smooth4Lyfe ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for providing the YouTube link. The video source of the title theme is an abridged version of the album track referenced below. Katamari Damacy Soundtrack "Katamari Fortissimo Damacy" - (02) "Katamari On The Rock - Main Theme" The beatwork just droning on and never changing up substantially was a definite negative. The arrangement was a cool concept, though some areas definitely lacked tightness in the timing. The sax sample opening this up just sounded cheap and mechanically sequenced. DarkeSword used the same one a lot if I'm correct IDing that sample, but he put more care into the sequencing. The steel drum sample was also weak, though it can't be helped. Should be better, but it was serviceable enough, I suppose. Some of the guitar noodling (e.g. 1:25-1:35) just got into aimless and clashing territory. Melodically, the electric guitar was interesting, but by halfway through I realized it wasn't gonna do anything new with the theme that it hadn't already done. The slight dropoff at 2:18 made me think something new was coming on that level, but not really. Just a bucket of reverb added, slight alteration of the beats, and the original parts being more dramatic (though the melodic interpretation level was the same as before). Mainly, you've gotta do something more interesting with the production and dynamics in terms of altering the feel throughout the 4+ minutes. What's in place is ok, but doesn't retain interest in the long-haul, because it just drones on. Adding that reverb at 2:29 would have been good in a small dose. Instead, it got tired pretty quickly and didn't signal any meaningful evolution in the arrangement. Promising stuff if y'all are willing to invest more time into it. NO (resubmit)

remix name: OA name: Andrew Luers game: Radical Dreamers Original song: Strange Presentiment http://ocremix.dreamhosters.com/songs/original/Radical%20Dreamers.rsn Remix Name: Loneliness In the event this gets accepted, this is a project track. This was somewhat difficult to remix since the source was only 31 seconds or so, but I think I did a decent job; here's a breakdown, since it is quite a bit longer than the original: 0:01 - 0:34 main theme of the original played by guitar; I modified the chord progression slightly to make it more interesting than the root in the bass note. 0:35 - 1:07 chord progression and synths inspired by the strings in the original. 1:08 - 1:39 added a verse melody of sorts to make it feel like more of a song rather than bg music. 1:40 - 2:12 return of the main theme as a foundation with a piano melody and sax counterpoint. 2:13 - 2:44 new section focusing on the slide at the end of the original piece. There are several slurs in both the melody line and the bass for this section. 2:45 - 3:16 piano playing the main theme of the original, with string hits based on the repeating vox synth used in the original near the halfway point. 3:17 - 3:50 original bridge section building up to the solo section; added to build a bit of tension. 3:51 - 4:22 the original didn't have a climax at all, so this is a solo section used to transition to the final choruses. 4:23 - 5:32 double chorus (main theme in guitar of course) with additional string and percussion counterpoint added the second time around. Peace out homies, see you at MAGfest. -Andrew

Many happy returns to our Aussie judgefgt, who turned the big 21 today! He could drink years ago, so it means NOTHING! Oy, TO! Here are some Australian cakes for you!

Agreed, if that's the only concern, that sounds like a conditional YES, not a NO. I'd just encourage everyone just to check this mix on some cans just to make sure we're all hearing the same things. I'm not gonna die over this mix passing as is, but I think there were some valid production issues that potentially got glossed over and may not have been as readily picked up on without headphones.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=revx - "Outside Club X" (revx-02.spc) & "Inside Club X" (revx-03.spc) No, the production was definitely a substantial enough weak point. It's not utterly terrible, but the mix is both too loud and too trebly. The beats being louder than the lead wouldn't have been so bad if that kick didn't seem like it was distorting from :00-1:04. Dunno what's causing that. Once things kicked in, I did feel the balance was off and the soundfield simply ended up too crowded from 1:12-1:44. The sequencing of all the leads ranged from a little robotic-sounding to very robotic-sounding. The sequencing on the faux-guitar lead from 2:00-2:24 was a bit rigid except for the flurries, followed by even more noticeably mechanical sequencing on on what felt a little a pretty cheap/exposed lead from 2:24-2:39. The sequencing on the bass from 2:40-2:55 was a bit rigid, but not too bad. Felt like the timing of the lead from 2:55-3:12 was too perfect however, a lot more exposed here for the finish as compared to the usages in the beginning. Say what you will about the Revolution X sources, but the main thing mechanical-sounding in those are the beats, not the leads. I'm a stickler, but the leads should be touched up to sound more humanized, and the various production and balance issues should be cleaned up. The arrangement concepts are pretty solid, but the execution's not so strong overall that I can look past these issues. I'd rather have some additional opinions, so I'm asking for some. NO (refine/resubmit) We still haven't figured out anything definitive as to whether the source tunes are assuredly original material, so we need to do more on that level. I knew the backstory of the game, but just ended up forgetting that Aerosmith sampled some of their mainstream stuff for the soundtrack. All my searching so far seems to imply that these sources are ok, but we'd need to know for sure.

Hola, Soy Trenthian. Tengo un remixo para los "juez mrcns" y De Jota Pe. Considering the new and improved panel, I cant wait to see them tear into this one. Esto es uno remixo pequeño para los Hombres, y uno hamburguesa gigante para lo hambre. Sadly this does not feature any form of electric recorder solo. Pero viene con su opción del topping y del premio secreto. I give you, (Le doy) Chrono Trigger - Travel Companion OC Submission The first course is a crisp "Memories of Green" Mixed ensalada with "Secret of the Forest" spice dressing. 00:00 - 03:05 The second course is our world farmous "Wind Scene" Bean Burrito. 03:05 - 04:39 The third course is our "Ruined World" Spicy Jambalaya, sure to ruin your world later in the lavatory. 04:40 - 05:52 Dessert is a light and fluffy whipped Ice Cream Dish we call "Radical Dreamer's Distant Promise" Its price promises to keep your positive financial future radically distant for some time to come. 05:52 - End Goce con el fuego y la pasión - El Castillo de Trenthia - Restaurante del Musica

Funny to read DS mentioning his little brother enjoying the mix. I haven't lived with my mother for years, but back when I started on the panel in '03, she heard me listening to a Tetris mix and told me she enjoyed it, though she did because it was based off the Russian folk music. In any case, Tetris is always a crowd favorite. http://www.zophar.net/gbs/tetris.zip - Track 2 ["A-Type (Korobeiniki)"] The intro until :37 was definitely interpretive, but really you just kept the rhythms and changed the notes. Not sure if I can really count that per se, the "faux-James Bond theme for copyright avoidance" approach where a local commercial changes the notes enough to ape a popular theme's structure without getting sued. Thinking it over, it's viable, but I just don't know how I'd feel about an entire arrangement approached that way. Anyway, the production was actually pretty poor. Bunch of the higher frequencies sounded like they were gutted, leaving a really lossy feel to the audio. When the melody arrived at :37, the audio had a bad-sounding quasi-skipping effect. As zircon mentioned, not much headroom in the piece; you could barely tell it was in stereo, it was so crowded until the last few seconds. Yeah, the supporting guitar work was basic but cool, but there was basically 0 melodic interpretation. Some additional support was added at 1:33, which was at least something as DarkeSword alluded to, but ultimately not enough in the big picture. You're definitely gonna need a cleaner recording. Only an A-grade arrangement could get away with the weak sound quality here. Use the ReMixing forum here for advice on that. As zircon mentioned, from the intro you seem like you COULD do some interpretive stuff with theme, you just ended up not doing so, resulting in a cookie-cutter cover. Nothing wrong with that if that's all you aim to do, and it's all fine and good for the undemanding. But it you aim to get it up here, read up on the Submission Standards, particularly Section 4, Part 2 regarding Arrangement. zircon alluded to several of the techniques there, so keep those in mind and add some spice to this borscht. NO

Just joining the Geico expectation train as well.

Poorly produced, but fun enough to throw up here - LT Remixer Name: MarquisMark Real name: Mark Butt e-mail address: flyttyrell@hotmail.com Game arranged: Tetris (GB / DS) Name of individual song arranged: Korobeiniki (Game A) Comments: Just a little acoustic arrangement with a couple of solos/harmony bits I made up for intro/outro parts.

Nutritious Justin Medford ID: 16520 Super Mario 64 Lethal Lava Land This song is for the Mario 64 remix project, so if accepted, please don't release it until the project is completed. I've always loved the music from Mario 64. While this definitely wasn't my favorite track from the game and wouldn't normally be my first choice to remix, I saw that the track was open on the project and had some sudden inspiration that pushed me forward. The original track doesn't seem to have any normal time signature or natural progression to the song, but instead sounds like a collection of instruments playing (seemingly) random notes around a general theme. A Indian coworker of mine pointed out that it's a type of classical Indian music (though I forget the name of the genre). Anyway, because of this, it's was a very difficult song to remix and the themes used might not be readily apparent. Here's the breakdown: :00 - :08 uses the riff that the sitar plays at the very beginning and throughout the original :08 - :32 consists of variations of that same riff with backing chords and counter melodies :48 - 1:37 is from the melody played by the flute-ish instrument that starts around :37 in the original 1:52 - 2:28 is a combination of both the sitar and flute melodies used together with different instruments

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11479 Avaris Shaun Wallace 15843 Final Fantasy XII Hitoshi Sakimoto Square Enix Game Over Found a couple things drastically wrong with the mastering in the previous version. Fixed those and replaced one of the drum samples. Thanks for listening. ~Shaun

Over the filesize limit; would need a J to properly downsample this if it passed - LT * Your ReMixer name - Kidd Cabbage * Your real name - Jonathan Peros (or Jon... God, I can't remember which I put with my last submission!) * Your email address - jdperos@hotmail.com * Your website - http://kiddcabbage.scott-bloom.com * Your userid (number, not name) on our forums - 21995 * Name of game(s) arranged - Super Castlevania IV * Name of individual song(s) arranged - Theme of Simon, The Entrance Hall, Into The Castle, Chandeliers * Remix name - Death Stroke * Link to mix: http://kiddcabbage.scott-bloom.com/music/Kidd_Cabbage_-_Death_Stroke.mp3 Hey, I'm back. This song is a real heavy, energetic mix from Super Castlevania IV. It's about half-based on the Theme of Simon, the song from the first level, and the rest of the songs remixed are pretty butchered up. The intro to the Theme of Simon has always struck a huge resemblence with Mozart's 25th Symphony to me, so I made a very small reference to it in the remix. A downright heavy mix with a lot of synth-basings. I really love this lead synth setting I found, so I exploited it a lot. I arranged this game and trashed the arrangement and started from scratch about a dozen times to come to what I've got here. I hope you guys enjoy the mix. Another thing - the song is just barely over the submission limit at 6.06mb. I hope that's ok. I recently lost my projects folder, and all of my music in it, including this song, so I can't really go back and export it at a lower samplerate. Hopefully what I've got can slide, being that this is the only surviving copy of the mix since... the accident. If this song still doesn't fit the submission standards, though, I ask that you leave the mix link up for everyone else, since I can't really resubmit at this point. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=scv4 - "Theme of Simon" (scv4-04.spc), "Entrance Hall" (scv4-12a.spc), "In the Castle" (scv4-11.spc) & "Chandeliers" (scv4-12b.spc) I'm just listing the sources you gave; all I really made any connection with was "Theme of Simon" and "Chandeliers". "Entrance Hall" felt too liberal offhand, and I just wasn't hearing "In the Castle". Not a big deal though; there was more than enough of the material I recognized in there. The production was the low point here, IMO. I don't mind a grungy soundscape, but there was too much compression here resulting in a very cluttered end result. Sucks that the project files for this are gone. I'd definitely prefer to get a better separated mixing of this. On the plus side, the arrangement was felt nicely expansive via the new supporting writing, particularly the percussion writing, which had some great energy and didn't play the lazy time keeping role, with even the more basic patterns lending movement and direction. The medley structure flowed pretty well, everything piecing together nicely. Not feeling the production at all, but by the third listen you get more accustomed to it. That's about all praise I can give there, as the compression went overboard. The arrangement was an easy YES to me. Listening to this when it came out for DoD's Castlevania month, I remembered being low on the sound quality when SnappleMan and I shot the shit over the results. I can understand how the production cost it a few points in the voting: I think it's pretty clear I enjoyed this track. It should be anyway. My heart says YES borderline, but, when I'm honest with myself, I wouldn't let this level of production slide otherwise, so I'm gonna have to be a dick and go NO (borderline). I could see this passing, albeit because the arrangement is too strong and the production isn't enough to drag it down, so good luck with the rest of the vote, Jon.

Remixer Name: Sixto Sounds & Zircon Real Name: Juan P. Medrano & Andrew Aversa Email: forgotten_imp@yahoo.com Website: http://tadakichi.baka.us/Sixto_Sounds/ UserID: I can't find this thing ANYWHERE Game Remixed: TMNT4: Turtles in Time! Song Remixed: Sewer Surfin' When I was a kid and got my very own Super NES system one Christmas, my dad would take us down to the movie rental place every weekend. We would each pick one game. My sister always wanted to get Super Mario All-Stars. For me, it was usually one of two games; Street Fighter II or Turtles in Muthafuckin' Time. Awesome game. JAWESOME. Listening to the soundtrack now takes me back to those good ol' days. Days without worries or responsibilities. Just us kids being kids. *sigh* Anyway, the soundtrack is pretty much rocked out as it is. I just had to do the typical Sixto thing and rock it out a little more. I wanted to go all 80's hair metal on this and use some vintage guitar rock tones and synths. The guitar tones were no problem, but the synths were pretty generic. I'm no good with synths. At all. So, at the very last minute, Zircon begged me to let him into the remix, so I obliged. He used his tehcno wizardry to conjure up some phat synths and whatnot. Really helped the mix, I think. Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=tit - "Sewer Surfin'" (tit-06.spc) Probably a tough job, but I felt like the overall sound could have been a bit cleaner, as some areas felt lossy or cramped out (e.g. the drums), but it wasn't a significant enough problem. More on the cover-ish side overall, but a very personalized arrangement with solid interpretation and swanky soloing. The composition of the big dropoff and subsequent rebuilding from 2:55-3:37 was my personal highlight. Easy call. YES

Happy birthday, David! Great work. Like I told you before (and you've heard already), Fran Healy of Travis. You're the second coming. Submit "Over Oceans Blue!"

It was truly over after the first post. SomeCrazyGuy, I'm not sure what else you can reasonably expect without implying that people should be insincere in order to provide the reactions you want.

You need to look harder. We need a version under 6MB in order to post it. PM me with a new encoding when you have a chance.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=top - "Freeze" (top-109.spc) Aight, opens up pretty gentile. The higher string work in particular sounds decent but sloppy in terms of some of the sequencing/attacks being jerky and unrealistic when they're more exposed in the beginning (:23-1:23). Agreed with DS on the piano velocities needing to be refined as well. Still seems pretty aimless, composition-wise. I just don't care if it's a byproduct of the genre; if you're working with melodious music and someone you end up with melodic wanderlust, in most cases it's because something's not clicking. What the hell? Ok, so the whole track is quiet as a mouse, then these comparatively loud as hell beats come in, completely out of left field, at 2:31. Reread DarkeSword's crits there; these drums definitely aren't working as is. The arrangement also feels too liberal, which I should have come down harder on. I mean, I see the resemblance, but from :30-on, it feels too inspired by the source and not explicitly derived from it. Didn't get anything explicit until the chorus at 1:23, which was still pretty liberal before playing it straighter from 1:48-2:11. Most of the time though I'm getting the "inspired by" vibe from this piece rather than explicit derivation. I'd appreciate a breakdown next time if this was resubbed, just to understand the source usage better. Honestly, I would have put more work into focusing the composition, so I don't agree with DS's praise there. There's too little direction, undermining the effectiveness of the dynamic changes in the composition. (And a look back on my previous vote shows that exact same criticism in the conclusion last time.) Unfortunate, because you seem to be retaining the overall structure of the original, at least as best as I can tell. In any case, this still needs more focus, as well as keeping all of the instrumentation criticisms DS mentioned in mind if you wanted to resubmit this. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I don't see how the changes here make this any sort of improvement over the previous version. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gsf/fireemblem_gsf.rar - "The Archsage Athos", "Silent Ground" & "A Knight's Oath" Interesting opening. Didn't feel like the percussion here worked at all, the sounds chosen or the delay effect on them. Whoa, not very melodic at all at :45. Barely anything is harmonizing properly here whatsoever. You really need to develop an ear for piecing together music at the most basic level. Even the melodies don't work here. I totally feel what DarkeSword is saying about there being no hook to this piece. There's no hook and no direction. "I tried to make a sort of epic lullaby. Relaxing yet epic at the same time." You could not be any further from the truth if you tried. On the arrangement side, there's just not too much to say. The attempt is there to get interpretive and change the mood of the sources, primarily "The Archsage Athos", but there's not even a coherent melody. So at that level, there's not much else to analyze or praise about what was modified without the caveat of "but it was poorly written and not musical." I need to add poor composition to the list of form rejection bullet points. It's actually not on there. It's just we get so few of these, i.e. no sense of musicality, but half-decent sounds/production. Beyond salvageable. I don't WANT to just give you a hardcore negative vote; I'd honestly love to give you constructive criticism, and I usually find at least a few things to praise in any given sub. But as far as this track goes, there's practically nothing to work with aside from the sound quality not being terrible out of the box. Don't give up on music, but do go back to the drawing board. NO

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11351 Your ReMixer name: Joren de Bruin Your real name: Joren de Bruin Your email address: ayato_kamina1@hotmail.com Your website: - Your userid: Can't find this, forumname= Tensei-San Name of game(s) arranged: Castlevania II and a bit of III Name of individual song(s) arranged: Bloody Tears and Beginning Remix Name: Roar! O, Mighty Vampire Killer! Link to Remix: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/kmsz/Roar--O--Mighty-Vampire-Killer- Well I've said pretty much everything you need to know about this in the initial submission, so I'll just point out the differences with that one: I did all the mixing and mastering myself this time, and IMO it worked out decently. One big complaint was the general lo-fi feeling caused by a narrow stereo FX, but I'm pretty sure that's more than fixed now. Apart from that I upgraded several of the cheaper sounding components (Most notably the drums and strings), and tried to make the weaker aspects of the mix (bass, kick drum) more audible. Anyway, I hope you like it Joren -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castle~1.zip - Track 2 http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castlev3.zip - Track 1 Some side comments first. The timing of the piano intro was awkward; mechanically sequenced yet off-time. The piano chords from :37-:43 still sound wrong. I was a big fan of the drum programming here; nice and varied as well to drive the track forward, evolving alongside the general dynamic of the track. Most people who submit apparently think this is the least important thing in the world. The only thing I wasn't feeling there were the machine guns drums from 3:13-3:39; they sounded like they were distorting. The ending also cut off abruptly. Now it could be my download, or it could be the Tindeck upload; but no matter what, I hate cut-off endings. If this was from your side, you should have tested your track to make sure it uploaded properly. I'm feeling you on these instrument improvements, they're definitely noticeable. The overall mixing is still pretty bad on this one though, which is something I'm confident you'll pick up properly in time with advice and trial & error. But right now, this isn't getting the job done. Lots of the highs are blistering, and there's poor separation of parts during the fullest sections. I'll leave specific recommendations to the music Js. So in short, the arrangement to me was on pretty solid ground. Don't be discouraged, I remember when SnappleMan was at this same point in his early material on OCR with "Killer Dokko", i.e. solid arrangement ideas, weak production. This isn't terrible, but hopefully some other Js can dig deeper on why the soundscape sounds so off. I don't think this is on a nitpick level though. NO (refine/resubmit)

Yeah, we'll see what to do about potential Wiki accounts, though I may end up adding everything. I'd rather 2 or 3 of y'all worked in tandem. Getting this moving is added onto my to-do list.

The judges decision can help you with that.

Yeah, I remember when the list wasn't alphabetical and Makke asked if we started from the top and worked down the list. Why would we do that? And why would we judge alphabetically? When you look in Decisions, does that look like we're judging alphabetically? Maybe we should vote alphabetically by judge handle as well. Big Giant Circles, CHz and DarkeSword have to vote first, in that order. Think it through, y'all. Don't worry Heath, we just rejected your mix.

This isn't to put you down or anything, but at the skill level you're currently at, I wouldn't resubmit this without solid WIP feedback of the revisions from notable names and/or some direct feedback from a judge on how strong the revisions are. You wanna really spruce this up before attempting the resub.