Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Nigga, plz. Richard Jacques, son!

ReMixer name - Strike911 Real name - Jason Koohi Email address - jason@sanctuslegacy.com Website - http://strike911.sanctuslegacy.com Userid - 1293 Name of game(s) arranged - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Name of individual song(s) arranged - Windmill Hut, Song of Storms Your own comments about the mix - Definitely a trance mix, but when I make stuff, I want people to be able to groove to it, so I tried to give it an oldschool club/dance flavor too. My aim was to make something that would give people that feeling to just get on a dance floor and get down. I get emails about the remix almost daily as it somehow showed up on YouTube (I think in a couple of fanmade World of Warcraft tutorial videos). The next natural step was to submit it to OCR. I'm crossing my fingers. Thanks. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 57 "Windmill Hut" (56 "Ocarina ~Song of Storms~") Good fade-in intro to start things off. Transitioned into some trance buildup at :34. The synth design felt lackluster to be honest, but the overall energy was OK. Good dropoff at 1:47 before changing up the beat pattern at 1:59. The bassline writing at 1:59 would have been drove the track nicely if the sound was more focused. Instead it sounded very faint in the back. And at 2:12 the countermelodic synth writing was also REALLY quiet and understated. You have to give kind of stuff more presence; those ideas would create unique textures with the source melody if you just punched them up more and provided that interplay. 2:25 was more of the same stuff with some slight changes/escalation in the support, before a more substantive changeup at 2:52. 3:19 went back to the core arrangement one more time with the saw lead. Even with some additional rhythmic changes, the melody just felt like more of the same. You don't need to do anything drastic, but you really could have used more variation on the lead when it came to the sound choice. Pretty much all of your countermelodic writing is way too subtle, IMO, and it just makes the core of the arrangement seem to repetitive. Vary up the Song of Storms lead a bit more just to keep that part fresh, and punch up & focus some of the countermelodic writing so that it actually interacts with the melody. Right now, Jason, you have a fairly solid arrangement here with some good dynamics in place, but you have a lot a minor weaker points to the mix that combined to drag things down and make the arrangement seem less substantive than it was. You don't need to change any of the writing or structure of the arrangement, IMO. You just need to refine these smaller issue to really get this clicking. Good luck with the rest of the vote. I'd definitely like to see this get posted in some form. NO (refine/resubmit)

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14884 Hey again guys. Here's a new version of a song that got the ‘resubmit’ vote back on 03-10-2008. Remixer: Random Hero Song Title: Forbidden Memory (of a Forgotten Dream) Game Source: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) - Hidden Palace Theme (Sound Test: 10) Other sources: NONE! other then my own ideas. Sequencer: FL Studio Instruments: EWQLSO PRO XP Gold & Symphonic Choirs Ok, I think I have addressed most of the issues (but probably not all, and I may have added some new ones too) brought up by Liontamer, Palpable, and Malcos that were found in the original version of this song. The biggest thing I did was transposed the whole song down 3 semitones, allowing the violins to play their parts without straining too much and also opened up the top registers of other instruments that can better handle the high notes. I also reworked a few areas, added some humanization, added some harmonies, added another instrument (a very sparingly used flute) and used a much better Harp sample then before (no it wasn’t pizz strings, it was a clean, unprocessed harp sample hahahaha). I think it sounds much better now. Hope you guys think so too! Cheers Ryan ------------------------------------------------------------- Just noting, this was juuuust over the 6MB filesize limit (6,291,456 bytes), so we'd need a new, slightly lower encoding if this passes. http://project2612.org/download.php?id=37 - 31 "Unused (Sound Test 10)" [Hidden Palace Zone] I didn't think this track needed too much more to get over the line, and I'm definitely feeling a lot more flow and humanization to the piece compared to last time. I loved the arrangement before, and you definitely lifted it up to a more cohesive level, Ryan. This was a very mature-sounding arrangement, and the dynamics here were excellent. Nice work, man. I really think your grandfather would have enjoyed this piece. YES

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14885 # Your ReMixer name: Bastian # Your real name: Bastian Brennan Baum # Your email address: BastianBux@yahoo.com # Your website: myspace.com/bastian # Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: [?] Thanks to all the detailed feed back from Liontamer, Palpable, and Vig . . . I've completely re-recorded much of my "Book of Mudora" arragment based on Koji Kondo's title music to the original Legend of Zelda and his Princess Zelda theme from A Link to the Past. I've rerecorded all 120 vocals (or thereabout) and the piano part (with a brighter piano) and reworked the strings. The song is also considerably shorter, as I felt the verses were twice as long as need be. Thanks, Bastian -------------------------------------------------------------- So I'm gonna crib my vote from last time with some revisions. 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) The piano opening it up sounded a little better than last time. The voices still occupied the same frequency range as the low strings, so there was a muddiness pervading the whole piece. I'd love to hear someone else's take on how to better separate/balance this, though this was an improvement from last time. The harmony going on at 1:02 & 1:50 still seemed to end up as a wrong/flat note in terms of following the source melody. The piano was more audible here than last time, but the sample itself sounded too thin and fake. The bowed strings were a little bit better-sounding, but not by much. I'd appreciate a second opinion there, but right now the lack of realism in the sound/tone tends to stick out. The 2:02-2:35 break with "Princess Zelda's Rescue" worked a bit better than last time. It helped that you trimmed the song down a bit. Quoting myself from last time with an updated timestamp: Do what you can to make the Zelda melody less repetitive/droning the whole time. I don't mean to seemingly lazily crib my vote from last time. I don't wanna imply that there's no effort or improvement, because there clearly is. The vox could still use a bit better separation. But more importantly that that, the arrangement still feels dynamically flat, one-dimensional and repetitive, aside from the dropoff. Sorry, man, it just ends up feeling like three very similar iterations of the same idea with a small break in between. NO (resubmit)

ReMixer name: halcyon Real name: Andrew Wheeler Email: andrew@joename.com Userid: 23301 Game arranged: Tetris Attack Individual song(s): Lungefish's Stage, Poochie's Stage Tetris Attack needed love so I made love to it. At 2:26 I am tributing Kirby because I love Kirby. Enjoy- -------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ta - "Sea Stage" (ta-24.spc) & "Forest Stage" (ta-16.spc) Strings at :22 were pretty rough, and could use some touching up. Used :14 of the Sea source for :38 of the arrangement. Poochie's stage arrived at 1:33. Some off-notes at 2:13 & 2:20 where I think the resolution there should have been different; one of the theory Js can name the note that should have been there. Where have I heard those drums at 1:55 before? I'm thinking of a particular old school mix, maybe one of the IceCap ones. Nice Kirby cameo at 2:26 that later filled in the background until 2:56. The synth design was somewhat bland, but there were definitely some creative effects being employed here nonetheless, and I generally liked the textures here. Could use some more beef here, but I'll live. This isn't Palpable's style, but it reminds me of "Twilight of Ivory" on some level as taking a somewhat minimalist approach to the textures, but still pulling off an effective, cohesive soundscape. Nice work, Andrew. Meanwhile, the arrangement added tons of depth to the source tunes, with loads of embellishments and other wankery; very solid writing. It mostly focused on the Lungefish/Sea stage, but wove in the other two themes used here nicely. Gotta gonna go ahead and ride with a YES.

Hi! I'm a professional musician. Here is my arrangement of Nobuo Uematsu's "Shadow" from Final Fantasy VI. Contact Info: Remixer Name: Brian Butts Real Name: Brian Butts Email: cornholio2020@hotmail.com, briandanielbutts@gmail.com, bbutts@horizon.csueastbay.edu Website: www.myspace.com/brianbuttsguitar Submission Info: Game Arranged: Final Fantasy VI Song Arranged: Shadow Comments: Really good. I promise. ------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Shadow" (ff6-111.spc) Not overly interpretive with the melody, but this was still personalized and expanded adequately IMO, despite sticking to the Western feel of the original. Altering the accompaniment here by giving the guitar the role of the jaw harp from the source intro was a nice understated touch. Though the feel of the arrangement could stand out a little more from the original, I was OK with it. We'll see what the others say. The brass samples that crept in at 1:27 could have been stronger, but were serviceable. The bigger offender were those bland drums that lasted until 2:14. Could barely hear the strings brought in from around 1:42-2:13 either. That whole section could use some tightening up to really get things solid. I wouldn't have left that last section at 2:44 so quiet. Seemed a like an easy call to end it louder/stronger there for the finish, even with the lonely whistling-style close at 3:05. That whistling close definitely dragged a bit, but it wasn't a huge deal to me. I'm sure the other Js will have some good criticism on the mixing that I didn't focus on. But I think for such a slowly-paced and thus relatively brief track, everything needs to be clicking on all cylinders. To me that means tightening up the weak spots in the middle 1:27-2:14 section before this ready to fly. I could be a stickler here, but let's see how it goes. I could see this getting some positive feedback and support, even without YESs, so good luck with the rest of the vote, Brian. NO (refine/resubmit)

LongestSoloEver Dean DiMarzo longestsoloever@hotmail.com http://www.myspace.com/longestsoloever or http://www.youtube.com/longestsoloever user no. 22247 This is a remix of the opening stage music from Mega Man X on the SNES. I was planning to to a guitar-based remix of this song for a while, and just when I decided to finally start work on it, I broke my wrist. So instead, I turned to my synths. I ended up liking how it came out, and even after I was out of the cast, I kept it as a synth-based song. Hope you guys like it, this is my first submission here on OCRemix, and also my first public attempt at a synth-based song. -Dean -------------------------------------------------------------- One of my absolute favorite VGM tunes, it always had great energy. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mmx - "Intro Stage" (mmx-02.spc) There's some personalization here in the arrangement approach for sure, including some cool synth soloing, but the overall structure and feel was too similar to the original. The drums were OK, but the overall energy level of the track was decidedly lower than what the writing implied. None of the sounds really had any power to them, and the textures were on the empty side. Nonetheless, this was a very solid effort for your first synth-based track. Believe me, it's way better than most first attempts of this nature. I'd use the ReMixing and Works forums at OCR if you aren't doing so already to learn more about your tools and get more fan feedback on what could be improved. NO

Contact Information: Remixer Name: Arcubalis Real Name: Jayson Napolitano Email: jayson@music4games.net Website: www.music4games.net, www.mephtik.net User ID: 1365 Submission Information: Game: Ys III Track: Sealed Time Composer: Mieko Ishikawa Soundtrack: Notes: "I think all of us have this list of classic tunes that we want to arrange someday. This is one of those tracks. I've tried to arrange it about a half-dozen times in the last 8 years, and this time it just came out without any problems. Strange how that works. This is the first remix I've finished since 2002. It was tracked in Renoise. I write a lot of original music outside of the video game remixing scene, but I can never seem to finish remixes. I joke about it with my demoscene friends because the only fan mail I ever got was about that damn Ducktales remix! We joke that my obituary is going to say something about Ducktales." Thanks! -- Jayson Napolitano --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ys3 - "Sealed Time" (ys3-23.spc) Catchy original. This went for a lot more ethereal feel, though it's too heavy on the delay. I thought the drums brought in at :38 were a poor fit. They were so dry and upfront, plus the pattern was relatively plain; they didn't fill up the space at all, and the elements didn't click for a good texture. The sequencing of the strings brought in at 1:16 sounded very robotic/unrealistic, plus I'm not sure why they were only there for 20 seconds. Hopefully they come back. The percussion activity picked up a bit as well with some more progressive cymbal work, but again, I wasn't feeling any synergy from the combination. The drums didn't really lend momentum to the piece more than they inadvertently cluttered up the chillout vibe you have with the foreground. With 2:33's section, some slight interpretive changes to the lead arrived along with some new harmonization ideas, but there still wasn't any synergy and cohesiveness between the lead, strings, drums, and electrosynth. The bubbly melody really needed more interpretation/variation than what was here; it was too repetitive and on cruise control for too long. It's entirely possible to retain the droning/chill energy level you're going for while varying the melody and keeping things fresh. So yeah, summing it up, Jayson, more melodic variation and more cohesive instrumental choices and support writing are what this needs to take it to the next level. I've always been a big fan of your work at M4G. Though you're not there any longer, I'm looking forward to what you've got cooking next as a journalist. But definitely revisit this piece, see if you can approach it from some other angles, and see what happens. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda2.zip - Track 8 (or 9) Heheh, definitely hitting me with the FL-defaulty vibe in terms of the sounds. I thought the timing of the beats coming in at :20 were slightly off compared to the melody and weakened the flow a bit. I don't mind the defaulty sound, but for the first 40 seconds, the intro was way too thin. Same at 1:01 and 1:24. The treble at 2:20 was a bit piercing with those snapping sounds. I'd tone that down. There were a lot of points where the leads ended up too loud and trebly, so I don't agree at all with the production being called solid. It's OK, but it needs some tweaks. Gotta agree with Vig on the treatment of the source tune. Nowhere is the simplification of it more apparent than when the very thin and straightforward melody was juxtaposed with the busiest background material from 2:34-2:49. The reason why Rellik's winning mix from FLMC 1 was so strong despite the same constraints was because he was a lot more consistently creative with the production. The first few minutes had tons of thin sounds and textures that really made the mix feel too hollow. Even the swirly pads employed there didn't adequately fill out the background. It wasn't until about the halfway point when things picked up and you were starting to make the most out of the imposed limitations. From that point on, things were a lot stronger. I don't think you need to seek out other free sounds if you actively want to stick within the FL-default framework. But zircon's criticisms on the lack of spacial effects to start, the overuse of the square wave lead, and coasting on the same textural ideas with the lead + drums once things picked up were dead on. Alongside some more melodic interpretation like Vig alluded to, those are the things I would refine so that this is ready for primetime. NO (resubmit)

We have a 6MB filesize limit at OCR. Please be sure to encode any future submissions at 192kbps or lower without having the filesize above 6MB exactly. I got the right MOD set from UnExoticA, but I'm just gonna stick to referring to the MIDI, since I didn't hear the source tune anywhere in the Turrican 1 or 2 MOD packs. Weird, because "Freedom" is definitely a well-known theme, so I'm not sure what the issue was. http://malus.exotica.org.uk/download.php?file=exotica/media/audio/UnExoticA/Game/Huelsbeck_Chris/Turrican_2.lha - ? Hate to sound lazy, but reading over Palp's vote, he covered most of the bases here, though I disagree with the source not being used until 2 minutes in. It's there from the get-go. Still, the overall interpretation of the source tune was a pretty by-the-numbers dance/trance adaptation. Yeah, the spoken word section was at 1:26-1:56 just too cheesy, too tacky, and too amateur. Sorry, man. The message is OK, but the voice was the killer there. Plus the drums there were very flimsy. Picked up a bit at 1:59 with the new lead and some added harmonization, but the foundation of the track remained the same. And the rhythmic changes to the lead were pretty much the only thing going on from an interpretive standpoint. I liked the dropoff at 4:06 a lot compared to the rest of the composition, as it at least offered something different with the structure and energy level compared the previous stuff, before picking back up at 4:39 heading towards the finish. The overall energy level is just too static and the interpretation of the original is vastly underdeveloped. You gotta add more dynamic contrast to the piece to keep it fresh, and you need to get a lot more creative with the treatment of the source beyond the stuttered rhythm treatment. Work more ideas into the picture. NO

Well, given your analogy, Andy, he could be a judge in a few years. Guys, let's all chill and just stick to critiquing the mix, not the artist's reaction to the feedback. If he doesn't want to work with your criticism, that's his prerogative. I don't think any amount of browbeating is going to force him to better acknowledge your criticisms, plus it should be up to him whether or not to consider them.

Just quoting some convo from #j today to clarify some of the arguments of YES vs. NO related to the chiptune-sounding melody, its closeness to the original NSF, and the weight of original additions based on the chord progression. Some of the lines are rearranged a bit for readability.

Why should he have formed the song with some random song's lyrics in mind? Better yet, why would that be a valid reason to penalize the structure of this track?

You are correct, miss.

Fixed. Let's not seemingly discourage medleys outright, since we've got plenty of 'em.

I love you all!

In order to better distinguish ReMixes as standalone works, mixes aren't allowed to have the same name as the source tune. In this case, Josh threw in the extra syllable for OCR to slightly change the title up, yet keep it similar.

I can has announcement. (Congrats, guys! Welcome to hell!)

Yeah, I saw that. S'ok though; we hope to have a chance to clarify that. We definitely appreciate the pimps today: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/878/878636p1.html http://www.gamesradar.com/ps3/super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-hd-remix-ps3-network/preview/super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-hd-remix-updated-hands-on/a-20080603144342348084/g-200712031411394098 http://www.console-arcade.com/2008/06/03/street-fighter-ii-turbo-hd-captivate08-images/

Appleseed and Ninja Scroll are movies, so those are easy answers. Street Fighter II V is a cheesy series, but it's not a big time investment, and I generally enjoyed it for what it was.

I LOLed.

Icy hot, son.

http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 104 "Time's Grasslands - Home World" http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Memories of Green" (ct-105.spc) Well, you seem to already know you were gonna encounter that criticism. The piece is cool, but yeah, structurally and instrumentally it's too similar. You tell as soon as it gets started with "Time's Grasslands". The mechanical sequencing sounds cribbed straight from the original. I thought the area around 2:53 needed something else added into the picture to fill out the track more. The textures felt too thin, but picked up later at 3:09. From about 4:09-onward, the overall volume felt too loud and there was a muddiness to the whole piece with the different elements fighting for space, like Palpable pointed out. Definitely re-EQ things to give them more space in the soundscape. I liked the idea of meshing the two sources together with the intro of "Memories of Green" at 3:50, but it was more of the same issues with the overall structure and instrumentation of "Memories of Green" being too similar. This is a cool combo of the two themes, but the renditions of both aren't interpretive enough compared to the originals. Combining them together fairly effectively (well, not the mixing/levels) doesn't really change the lack of substantial interpretation. There's some instrumental changes and personalization here, but as you already sensed, we're looking for more. If you can take it to the next level, and really add your own flavor to this, I'd love to hear a resub. NO

Well, if it's all created specifically for the Halo series and used in-game, then sure. But yeah, we're gonna need more smoking-gun evidence as to the nature of the song's creation.

Say whaaaaa? EDIT: Ohgnoz, you killed off the original video link.