Liontamer

hello, oc peoples! i'm submitting a mix that's part of the Super Dodge Ball remix project. it's called "Rockin the Yard". the original is the Team Kenya theme, available through Lightbunny's hosted nsfe at http://mysite.verizon.net/lightbunny/sdb.nsfe. I'm still the same artist that i was a few years ago...The Prophet of Mephisto. No collaborators on this one. i recorded my saxophone through my m-audio mobilepre usb. i also used the vst versions of steinburg acoustic guitarist run through guitar rig 2.2, steinburg virtual bassist and the NI B4 organ. and addictive drums. that's pretty much all the instruments in this - the wah guitar was the steinburg electric guitar, but as a whole, that's really all that i needed. i used my KeyRig 49 for the organ and bass parts. recorded in two takes, straight through, except for the soli section right before the last time through the head. that was two additional takes for the lower two parts. i'm pretty happy with how it turned out. this was my first real non-collaborative remix that i finished in a while. i'm pretty happy with how it turned out. i'm not a very good jazz saxophonist, but i think i handled myself adequately on the solo section in the middle. the bass is a little heavy in the middle, but it sounds fine on other systems than my computer speakers so i think it's pretty much fine. get it at my soundclick page (you can leave this link up) - www.soundclick.com/theprophetofmephisto. it should be the first track on the music page. have a great day, everyone! hopefully i'll see some of you at magfest again this year! BRAD -------------------------------------------------------------- Certainly no offense to this one (still haven't even heard it yet as I'm typing this, so NYAH), but I'm still bummed about Harmony dropping out of this project. I heard his 1-minute WIP for this one way, way back and it was awesome. Tons of unrealized potential on that WIP. http://akumunsf.good-evil.net/S/Super%20Dodge%20Ball.nsf - Track 8 The opening synth from :03-:06 is definitely one of the more fugly openings I've ever heard. Change the sound on that? The sax performances are decent, but need to sound smoother in tandem with the other instrumentation. The production is also pretty weak, IMO. Everything sounds pretty distant. Nothing turning up my volume didn't address. I see how the dual saxes are supposed to be in different places, but panning hard right and hard left just sounded unrealistic and undermined the energy of the performance. Much better at 1:29-1:35 when you panned it pretty far right, but kept it in stereo with some acoustics resonating more in the left ear. That was the shining point of the piece. Everything else afterward sounded poorly balanced with the sax lead not cutting through enough, IMO. The e-piano, bassline, drums and sax feel like they're at really similar levels 3:02, the sax harmonies were a good concept but didn't quite sound good. Just sounded pretty cluttered. There's that ugly meedley-me sound again at 3:25. :'-( 3:29 could use some more interpretation/variation with the melody, but things picked up more afterward, finishing on a fairly solid note. Mostly messy on the production side. Everything's ultra-busy and comes off feeling unfocused as a result. Balance issues are part of it, but let's see what the others have to say. They'll be able to hone in further. Good stuff so far, Brad, but needs some fine tuning. NO (resubmit)

* ReMixer name: Written Pages * Real name: Fred Epe * Email address: fred.epe@gmail.com * Website: (see below) * Original game/title/composer: Axelay / Colony / Sotaro Tojima & M.C. Ada For my last submission, some of the judges gave me both valuable/useful and cool feedback. I wasn't sure if I should work on Pots of Treasury and resubmit it or use the feedback and get started on a new song instead. I love to move on and try new things, so I chose the latter option and in this case, I chose another Konami title. To me, the folks at Konami have always provided the best music in videogames, back in the 16-bit era and even now ("Silent Hill"). Again, except for the drums, nothing was sequenced. This leads me to one thing I would like to share with "big giant circles": I am sure you got the judge job at OCREMIX for a reason, but I strongly suggest you do your homework before passing judgement on a submission. Just one example: you criticized my piano "sequencing" last time around; that statement wasn't true - at all! None of the instruments in my songs and remixes are sequenced (well, except for drums ) . You can criticize my playing all you want, sure - but please don't make it look like I sequenced something that I didn't. I am pretty sure most musicians would agree that this is an important fact to note. Just read the info, man ... Peace out! -- -= www.unwrittenpages.com =- -= www.myspace.com/unwrittenpages =- -------------------------------------------------------------- Heh. Well, I can't speak for BGC, but sometimes we'll think something sounds hand-sequenced when it's played live. Doesn't happen often, but it happens. But you gotta be asking yourself why anyone would think the performace didn't sound live. Moving on... You...you remixed Axelay. Holy shit. This game never gets enough props, you earn tons of cred for even tackling this one. So don't mess it up!!! http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=axe - "Colony" (axe-06.spc) Starts out a bit loud, but already sound interpretive in just using the intro of the original. Picked up at :33 with some beats and e-piano. Now I can easily see why anyone would think your piano work was hand-sequenced. The performance sounded robotic, the timing wasn't smooth at all. Hopefully some piano playing Js can give you more direct advice. The beats and backing instrumentation are also really bland and ultimately leave the texture feeling empty most of the way (1:05-1:15 being an exception). Tons of dead space. Luckily picked up fairly nicely at 1:45 with some a nice J-rock type of synth lead in the forefront, though the occasional brass embellishments sounded really fake. 2:15 dropped back to the previous verse. The brief bridges and the chorus are filled out a lot better, but the verses are so empty. What needs to be worked on? Varying up the drum pattern at the core of the arrangement more would help. And fleshing out the texture of the verses with some additional instrumentation. Practicing your performance on the keys is probably something you don't want to hear, but the e-piano easily sounds sequenced. You can complain and treat it as an insult, Fred, or you can suck it up, practice more, and get better. It's definitely a good base, but needs a lot of fine tuning. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkq - "Stickerbush Symphony" (dkq-17.spc) The improvements definitely round out the piece much more strongly. The arrangement was already interpretive enough, though I still could have gone for some more observable variation from the first verse to the second. The oboe sample abruptly cut out at 3:13, so that would need to be fixed before it went up. Otherwise, this is good enough. YES

You really should let this thread get by on account of actual interest, and not by deleting the last post and reposting. There's no reason to hyperactively bump anything. Don't do this any longer. EDIT: I've gone ahead and edited your thread title to reflect your need for musicians. This is something you should have had in the thread title to begin with. Only bump this thread with meaningful developments pertaining to your project and keep it reasonable. EDIT 2: I would also recommend you learn more about the ReMixers by downloading recent OC ReMixes or the torrents available here. Listening to the randomly played ReMixes at Ormgas.com or albums available at Last.fm are other options. You could also do the newb standby idea and make a thread asking for what remixers/remixes are available in the style(s) that you're looking for, as long as you're explicit with what genres you want. Like others have recommended, asking for the score to a game that's not essentially done likely won't get you any bites, only because loads of fan-made game projects don't finish, and good faith isn't a lot to go on. If and when you do have nearly everything in hand in terms of the game, then personally contact artists you're interested in. Most ReMixer profile pages have the artist's latest website and contact info available.

djp was working on this a few hours ago, and it should be fixed now. I saw this error myself, but thought nothing of it, as I wasn't on my regular computer at the time. Thanks for the heads up.

Let's just assume (note: assume) for this hypothetical that Tappy knowingly used "Troika" as the basis for the MGS theme, but also knowingly chose not to give credit. Would rearranging "Troika" then not be considered plagarism, because some aspects aren't copied over from the old theme to the new theme? That would be like any OC ReMixer rearranging any video game theme with some additional original ideas and claiming they wrote the entire piece on their own without direct interpretation. Would you then claim there's no instance of plagarism? I'm just trying to understand why some people come across as believing that Troika and the MGS Theme having differences somehow means that the practically 1-for-1 similarities are somehow irrelevant to any claims of plagarism.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/playstation/metal-gear-solid/credits http://www.ocremix.org/game/metal-gear-solid-ps1/ ?

Not. Williams. Not Williams. Updated the thread title. I don't wanna see Gregson-Williams brought up 10 more times.

Tappy Iwase composed the MGS theme in the first place (not Harry Gregson-Williams). I don't think that's a coincidence on any level. BUT that doesn't mean it wasn't done on purpose as arrangement homage rather than plagarism. I'm just wondering if it's even been cited before, which would make it more of an issue. Seems like no credit was even given in the past.

Not much to add to this level of carnage. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Tina" (ff6-201.spc) I see what you're going for, but Jon, in his uh...charming way...pretty much gave the breakdown of how the execution is lacking on the various levels. The piece definitely doesn't sound creepy/moody/dark/etc enough. The left hand stuff was boring and droning and didn't make the composition interesting. The Terra melody sounded nice enough adapted for piano, but there wasn't much interpretation beyond that. The performance was decent, but even a moody piece needs to sound more smoothly performed. You're gonna have to refine this a lot in post production. The bells at the end were a perfectly fine idea, don't sweat what DarkeSword is saying. Yeah, I can see how they come as an afterthought due to this being a marginal execution of the arrangement, but if the bells had come at the end of the much more solid/sophisticated arrangement, I doubt the complaint would have been as strong. Thematically, it pieces together reasonably well with the previous piano material. Sounds like a perfectly fine way to close it. If you're going for a Donnie Darko feel, and there are some similar pieces in the score to the approach you were going for, I would definitely study those a lot more closely to get a better idea of the execution, especially for the left hand piano part. You have a good base here, but it's REALLY undeveloped. Don't be discouraged, Brandon, just keep trying to step up your game and approach improvement piece by piece. Look at what was criticized as lacking and play with ways to achieve more complexity and sophistication. NO

Wow. Yeah, if that's indeed what it's claimed to be, that's pretty much the MGS theme. YouTube comment from a Russian: Lots of stupidity on the YouTube comments. (Pretty par for the course when dealing with YouTube.) Lots of people dismissing the similarities or too dumb to recognize them. Lots of people. Some people claiming the subtitles were fake. (I'm half-Russian and those subtitles are definitely accurate.) One guy even said the Sviridov song ("Troika") had to be a fake, because they played it for Kojima on a PSP, and the PSP came out after MGS1. The stupidity is amazing. If that Russian guy (who was the only person who had the info on when this actually took place, Games Convention 2006) says there's no stigma against the track for arranging "Troika", then I'm gonna believe it.

http://project2612.org/download.php?id=56 - "SOR Super Mix" I hate to glib you, because I truly like the piece. But it's still a sonic upgrade, and that's basically all there is at a substantive level. Malcos broke it down already. You're still very much working very straightforward with the source, with little intepretation. The new drum stuff at 3:00 was awful. :'-( Hate to sound like an asshole, but not only doesn't it fit, it just doesn't sound very musical either. What's the point of this section? Too bad, because you transitioned from it back into the source at 3:41 very well. The glassy tones in the back that you retained at 3:41 also didn't fit well with the notes you were using on 'em. There's a lot to like here, Greg, but it's mostly the stuff that's sonically enhanced from the source tune. NO

Oof. Sounds pretty harsh from BGC. I agreed with his production criticisms though. The percussion moving all around the stereo field was really cool, but sounded too loud compared to everything else. Loved the bowed string work brought in at 1:07 to add to the texture of the piece. The dropoff at 3:00 was definitely abrupt though and should have been a smoother fadeout of the string instrument. I thought the song filled out the soundfield well enough most of the time. The backing percussion wasn't the most dense, but I thought it was well produced enough where it had actual meat on it and thereby didn't feel too empty. It's minimalist, but not entirely spartan. For whatever issues it has, I'm feeling this. The arrangement is pretty straightforward, but personalized well with the beatwork (which was integrated well regardless of the volume issues), and with the instrumentation changes and additional part-writing (beatwork, bowed strings, supporting plucked string instrument) beefing things up (the middle section especially). The arrangement had style and instrumental similarities to the originals but enhanced the originals well. As weed says, "count it." YES EDIT: Or not. Vote change. For pwnt, see below.

Over the filesize limit with the link I've given; zircon can provide a new encoding if this passes - LT SuperTux mirror Olá pessoal, I know I told zircon I wouldn’t submit this, but I was so moved by the massive release of VotL that I couldn’t control myself, so here it is! =D I almost called this song “Hojo is unavailable right now; please leave your message after the beep”. I mean, making port in a tropical resort after fighting a grotesque monster inside an evil organization ship is awesome in it’s own right, but meeting said organization’s own sick scientist chilling at the beach, surrounded by ladies and drinking cocktails (with little umbrellas on them) is actually the fondest memory I have from FF7. A memory which is probably distorted by the long time passed since I last played the game, but very dear to me nonetheless, so believe it not, this song goes for Hojo: even sick and disgusting evil geniuses need to take a break every now and then. Here is the link (I hope it’s not a problem if I just link the page of the project): http://ff7.ocremix.org/tracks/ It’s the first track from the third CD. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 216 "Costa del Sol" The mallet percussion sounds cute/syrupy, but definitely strains for realism compared to a lot of the other organic-sounding instrumentation. Nice EP soloing at 1:51, as well as "The Girl from Ipanema" reference at 2:37. The arrangement plays it pretty straight most of the time, but has lots of new support writing and some subtle embellishments and variations especially in the latter half. Enough to put it over the line for me. And that's all she wrote. YES

Submission was withdrawn and resubmitted several days later on 11/4; current version is on the FTP - LT davidicus david maw davidamaw@gmail.com http://www.myspace.com/ae1exander userid = 21897 remix name: "The Wisdom of Gagazet" game: Final Fantasy X song: "People of the North Pole" Composer: Nobuo Uematsu platform: playstation 2 source link: http://www.rpgdreamer.com/music/ffx/ff1027.mid Ok I hope I don't ramble on, but there's some history behind this piece that I would like to mention. As Liontamer already knows, I had already submitted this song before becoming involved in the website at all. Some time passed and I had started making other remixes and posting them in the wips forum, when i realized that I had started making improvements; dramatic ones (by my standards). These improvements were due to the standards of this site, which I at first detested. I can't tell you guys, whether or not you say yes to this piece, how grateful I am for the steep learning curve I have experienced and hope to continue to undertake. (Ok not trying to win a f*ckin emotional Oscar or anything) But OCR deserves a big thank you from me. Heres a little song background from the wips forum: To me, this is not just any song, and requires a little bit of background explanation. When I first heard this song, I felt nothing but love for it. In fact, it burned itself into my memory quite permanently, to the point where I made up counter melodies to it in my head. It came to the point where I had to re-mix it. Originally, it began its crude existence as a drum & bass song a few years ago. However, it seemed like such a powerful song, that it needed to be more. Ive slaved over this song for a long long time, and its probably the best song I've ever written, or will write. Ok, this part you wont understand (well, maybe if you hear the song). It makes me feel one with the universe. It makes me feel connected to everything. Its almost like my piece of enlightenment. It makes me love this world and all in it. It makes me want to wish happiness for every person on this planet. It makes me want to pick up those who have fallen on the walk of life and carry them the rest of the way. To stand triumphant and awestruck together at the crest of the first horizon. I'm sure that sounds really fucking cheesy to some people but i don't care. I have infinite emotional attachment to this piece. Also, I can say that this song wouldn't nearly be what it is without the intuition and truthfulness of those kind enough to help me in the wips forum. I hope the Judge panel finds this piece enjoyable, and at least somewhat understands the intended meaning behind it. --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FFX_psf2.rar - 405 "People of the Far North" Starting with the bad, poor job on that piano sample, first used at 1:07. It's jarringly bad, on account of the notes sounding so thin and the sequencing sounding so completely robotic and fake. Though production and positioning in the soundfield mitigated the issue for the 4:08-4:30 section, usually the piano was pretty poor-sounding, even in the last section at 5:07. The higher string work first used at 1:18 also sounds inhumanly performed and fake and should have been smoothed out for such a prominent role as well. Not terrible, but it sounded exposed the whole way. Otherwise though, the orchestration concepts are good and the arrangement's good. Though this is definitely an above average sub compared to what we normally receive, it could sound a bit cleaner, should be louder, and lacks a lot of polish in the execution. The arrangement almost keeps this one above water. Can't help but recognize the creative and very interpretive arrangement ideas, with lot of twists and turns here in terms of dynamic changes (undermined though by the relatively low volume). Now you just need to get the piano and strings sounding better with some additional post-production, and I agreed with the suggestion of adjusting the EQ, as Vigilante mentioned below, to achieve better separation of sounds. There's definitely a hollowness in the mid-range that makes the track feel a lot emptier than it should. Lots of compelling reasons why this needs some more work to get it into the very solid territory. I was almost gonna hang onto a borderline YES until the EQ issues from Vig finally pulled this down to NO. Overall good work, David. Pretty close as is, and I hope to hear more. NO (refine/resubmit)

The lyrics are a cover but got Finglished, which is awesome - LT Remixer: ilp0 Real name: Ilari Nieminen Game: Conker's Bad Fur Day Song: Sloprano Original can be heard in http://sloprano.ytmnd.com/ Lyrics might be a "bit off", I just don't understand half of it --------------------------------------------------------------- Never played Conker's Bad Fur Day, so hearing the source was surprising to say the least. Never knew they ever acknowledged the word "shit" in video game music. In an orchestral/opera piece no less. Man, that last audio drama-style part at the end, you can't help but think they were laughing all the way to the bank at how they were getting paid to make something that ridiculous. Wow. Conker's Bad Fur Day Soundtrack - (07) "Sloprano" Seems too cover-ish to start, but that concern was quickly erased. Pretty substantive of a genre adaptation with the vocals being the thing that ties it to the source, as most of the music itself seems to be original. Same type of deal as the previous Metal Gear Solid 3 submission, only more interpretive going this route; the structure is intact, the tempo and instrumentation are what got the overhaul. Obvious thing I noticed are that the lyrics are mixed in really poorly. I don't know if it's because the recording quality wasn't good in the first place, but whatever the reason, the mixing on them needs to be worked on. Right now, the vocals combined with the music are too loud and at too similar levels. The music should be pulled back to give the vocals more space. Vocal harmonization worked pretty well, making the delivery seem a lot more solid than the last sub. The lyrics were only quirkier given a few of the words being changed or mispronounced, and I loved 'em. "How about some scat, you little twat." That's great. Some production issues, but not enough to hold this back. A great example of how to do a cover with a lot of interpretation and personal flair. Nice job, Ilari! Good luck with the rest of the vote. Here's hoping you resubmit that Metal Gear Solid 3 collab with tiiiu as well. YES

Don't mind the filesize, just hop to it - LT Ahoy there, deary! I'd like to submit a little somethin' somethin' here. ReMixer name: Brandon Strader (It's also my real name.) Email: oinknessx@hotmail.com Website: http://www.livejournal.com/~boostrader UserID: 15151 Game: Final Fantasy VI Song: Terra's Theme I created this song about 6 months ago, or around there. I was continuing my piano lessons, which I had to quit after about a year because I entered college and really did not have time for them anymore. I produced a couple straight-up recreations of Aeris's Theme, and To Zanarkand, which I learned with sheet music. With Terra's Theme, however, I learned it by ear. It's not a piano song, so naturally, I sort of conformed what I heard into piano... with a twist! I was also quite into Donnie Darko at the time, by which I mean the movie. I love the spooky soundtrack to that movie, and it is mostly piano as well. So, I took some influence from that, and combined it with what I knew of the Terra's Theme song, and created the perfect combination between the two. I record with Adobe Audition 1.5. As far as the process goes, there's really not too much to say. I learned and practiced the song on the family's piano located in the living room, yet I used my own keyboard to record this song into my laptop. That's it - it's a dark piano performance that should send a chill down your bone. I personally enjoy listening to the atmosphere behind a performance... the slow smear of reverb contrasted by the bright tap of a note. About me: I'm a college student. I spend most of my time listening to music, doing homework, or watching TV. My birthday is on September 28th, also known as this coming Friday, and I will be 20 years old. I have a baby named Zut who loves me, and that's that. I play guitar (electric and acoustic), bass (electric), keyboards, lap harp, and I sing clean and heavy vocals. I'm interested in acquiring a flute this year. If you need any more information, feel free to contact me. I'm also on myspace, http://www.myspace.com/oinkness I'm interested in collaborations and guest appearances. Thanks! Brandon

Evahn fungshway@hotmail.com www.myspace.com/evahnder The Legend of Zelda Title Theme Koji Kondo After listening to and playing the Zelda theme for many years and in many different keys, I eventually stumbled upon the opening of this song as I was fiddling around on my guitar. I really had to slow down the tempo of the original theme to go along with it, so I was unsure of how it would turn out. Fortunately, it ended up sounding great, and the open acoustic chords really sound amazing with the theme. ------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda.zip - Track 1 The multitracking sounds fairly good, but some of the melodic harmonies during the Zelda portion seemed odd, and I'm not sure why that was. Wish I could articulate the performance issues with the leads better, but one of the geetar-slingin' Js should be able to elaborate. Source didn't show up until 1:39. The backing rhythm during the Zelda portion starting feeling monotonous by the time you reached the end of the section, probably not helped by the sound balance, as the leads didn't really stand out in the foreground. The buzziness with the halting of the Zelda section at 2:59 didn't sound good at all. Moved back into the original writing from the beginning before integrating the source tune intro from 3:39-4:12. Even treating the end of the arrangement as 4:20 (rather than counting the extended fadeout of the last notes until 4:38), there wasn't enough usage of the Zelda material. This had about 1:53's worth of Zelda stuff in a 4:20-long arrangement, about 43.46% of the track. Like you said, the wholly original writing you added thematically pieces together very nicely with the Zelda title theme. But as far as my call goes, you need to make the Zelda material the dominant part of the equation and get it over 50% of the track. Anything less means the focus ultimately isn't on the video game music. This is nice, but the adjusting the sound balance of the leads vs. the rhythms would help, as well as tightening some of the performance, and bumping up the Zelda quotient a bit. Hope to see this one again, Evahn. NO (resubmit)

Use the project link below; the bitrate is too high, but we can get a new encoding if this passes - LT Thought I'd go ahead and submit the song on doom.ocremix.org and the ff7.ocremix.org song that are currently up. I know you guys only accept one at a time, but I've meant to submit these for a while and they're already in projects on the site. If you will only accept one at a time let me know, and I'll resubmit the other song when possible (not a problem ^^). If given the option, I'd rather have Infected Lab submitted before Sons of Chaos so they'll be submitted in the order that they were written. Thanks, Xaleph ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.doom2.net/~doomdepot/music/doom%201%20&%202%20midis.zip - Doom: E1M7 (Computer Station) As an arrangement, this felt underdeveloped. Not undeveloped, but definitely underdeveloped, as I felt interpretation could have been substantially improved and/or expanded with more variation, but that wasn't necessarily the goal here (which I stress is ok). Let's see what we've got. Well-produced on the whole. The intro until 1:01 seemed wholly original and unrelated to the source. Only a 2:39-long arrangement, so that definitely had me really, REALLY worried about how much of the track was going to actually be arranging the theme, as it was nearly halfway over. While I don't believe the section is anything from E1M7, I could be missing a reference to another source that I'm not familiar with, so I'd appreciate TO or someone else taking a look. Whatever it turns out to be, I can't argue that it pieced together very seamlessly into the bigger picture of the arrangement. 1:01-1:30 played it pretty straightforward with the melody, adapting it well to genre and using the synths in the background to support it and add another layer. 1:38-2:07 got more interpretive by rhythmically messing with the string part of the backing portion of the source (best heard from 1:22-1:35 of the source MIDI). Swanky changeup at 1:53; I was feeling that bassline. 2:07-2:36 covered the 4th part of the source, again playing it straightforward with the genre adaptation. It might be seen as entirely subjective, but when a source tune has a shortcoming, I don't think it shouldn't necessarily be carried over into an arrangement. In this case, it was the sudden ending with no real resolution. That's more of a nitpick. If the intro was indeed all original, then 1:27's worth of the 2:39-long track was arranging the source, just over 50%. A close call if I've ever seen one, but you get the job done on a prerequisite level. Aside from the intro, the arrangement holds pretty tight to the general structure of the source. Not in an entirely negative way mind you, but following the source with its melody #1/interlude/melody #2 sequence. Overall, I feel like the arrangement is good, but the melodic interpretation doesn't feel substantive enough. I really would have liked to have seen the theme taken further beyond the genre adaptation. I don't feel it's at that level yet. Likely can't get this worked on further, but in the event that that's possible, I know you could do something really strong with it with additional ideas. NO (resubmit)

Got pretty liberal in some ways, but the source was never far away here. Very creative arrangement. Some really impressive stuff, this was definitely one that caught me off guard with the project and really had me paying close attention. With the right subwoofers, those thumps would shake your house down. Excellent debut.

We usually have at least one story per day. Y'all better be readin'. Call me now for ya free readin'. Can someone link a brother up?

I'll corral that very soon. Did you ever have time to touch up the Equinox arrangement? It was sounding really good; would hate to not have it touched up and clicking on all cylinders. :'-(

I don't think it boils down to money as much as it boils down to being able to work within reasonable restrictions. In the same way as lack of time or personal expectations, money is one of those things that can cause pressure and impose deadlines, which merely fall under the umbrella of restrictions. And like anything, restrictions can inspire creativity in the right amount. But apply too many restrictions and you're handcuffed. Working for yourself may not make you the most productive in quantity OR quality. Neither does being creatively handcuffed. So basically a middle ground of what Dan and Derek are espousing. Middle ground, y'all.

Remixer name: Gorillamatic Real name: Maurice Taylor Email: always_into_action@yahoo.com Userid: Not sure Name of game remixed: Extreme-G Name of original song remixed: 06-acclaim-original-sound-track-2 Link to original: I enjoyed playing extreme-g a lot a long time ago. I always liked the soundtrack on there. I figured hey, why not remix it. So here it is. Hope it makes the cut. Its titled Extreme Velocity. Enjoy --------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the hosted source from the actual soundtrack promo, as it gets the meat of it quicker and is better sound quality than the USF. http://www.zophar.net/usf/xgusf.zip - Race 2 Extreme G Official Remixes - (06) Original Track Thanks for not naming the tracks, Acclaim! The source tune sounded a bit flimsy, but I can see how interesting it was. Good arrangement choice. The intro for this one definitely grabs you in. Once things kicked into the meat of the track, the beatwork felt relatively sparse and simplistic, leaving the overall texture not getting the job done, IMO. 1:33-2:13's section was another culprit on that level. Nothing wrong with keeping the source melody more in the background as an anchor for the rest of the piece; that was definitely an interesting approach and the melody was couched well within the rest of the music, something difficult for a lot of people to pull off correctly. Though some stuff like the claps patterns felt bland and could have been stronger, I'm not sure if this really needs much more in the way of processing; everything sounded fairly good on that level. There's just a fair amount of empty space that needs filling out, IMO. Some additional depth/complexity in the textures, through additional part writing, padding or percussion variation on the core patterns would put this one over the top. Man, you're my radar now, I'll tell you that. Definitely keep working on this one, Maurice. I wanna see this one go through the wringer, get spit polished and wind up on the front page. Good work so far. NO (refine/resubmit)

Hey Judges! Here is all of the pertinent info! ReMixer Name: siven7 Real Name: Kenley Kristofferson Email: kenleykristofferson@hotmail.com Website: http://www.intothescore.com Forum ID: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=16878 Name of Game ReMixed: Uncharted Waters: New Horizons Name of Individual Song: "Close to Home" Add. Info: The game was released in 1994 for the SNES console by Koei. The game is based in the 16th century and allows the player to assume six different roles where their destiny forces them to a life on the high seas of exploration and (often) piracy! The score is written by Yoko Kanno and is composed as though it were to be performed, having lots of effects (delay/reverb mostly) on instruments and scored in very playable ways (unlike an impossible mallet part from... say... "Main Theme" from FFIV... for example). I have a podcast called "Into the Score", which focuses on the academic study of video game music - studying Uematsu and Kondo like one would study Mahler and Beethoven! UW:NH is Episode 8 of the podcast, if you want to check it out! Right now there are some server issues, but I'm hoping that they get resolved in the next few days! Link to the OST: http://snesmusic.org/v2/profile.php?profile=set&selected=3146 Comments... This game is definitely a diamond in the rough... one of those soundtracks that has the best OST that you've never heard, you know? In which case, the ending theme of the game is a work called "Close to Home" and it is one of my favorite video game music tracks of all time. It was arranged for performers and recorded (as well as other UW:NH tracks) on a compilation called "Uncharted Waters: Special Edition," which is when the score hooked me. I submitted a remix of "Close to Home" earlier in the year called "Sunset on the Horizon" and it was for strings and woodwinds - it got 3 No's and 2 Resubmits. While different judges had different opinions about what was good and bad with it, I reflected on it some more and realized that it hadn't strayed far enough from the arrangement - I simply hadn't pushed the envelope far enough. With that, I re-imagined the potential of the work and started making something a bit darker with a stronger focus on ostinato and really filling out the texture, rather than having it really thin... almost like an impending storm. If was going to push myself compositionally, this was the time The first section establishes a foreboding and dark feel, setting a really strong groove right out of the gate (something my last arrangement was lacking) with cellos/double basses, acoustic bass and highhat. The groove is solidified with the marimba and congas setting the groove. The flute hints at the melody, as though trying to say a phrase in a crowd of talking people. The melody shows up in full with singing bowls and a santoor, in minor. There is a break in the darkness at 1:16 where harp and guitar are playing a repeating 3-note pattern (in major, which is also the first notes of the next section/the A section of the original melody), only to be discarded by the dark groove from before. The piece mounts in tension from 1:40-2:05 as though the clouds are dark and the storm is going to escalate to a hurricane, wanting to reach a climax. However, a ray of sun cuts through the clouds and the dark and endless stormy horizon is wounded at 2:05. The ray of sun is in the harp, repeating the 3-note pattern and setting up the B-section, which the flutes will start at 2:10. The key moves to the relative major with a melody in the flute and a new piano and string accompaniment. This section reaches its height at 2:35 with a modulation from F major to Ab major (I know, it's crazy) and a nice big open major chord. This section only gets bigger as it progresses, as thought the ray of sunshine is expanding and disbanding the intricate weaving of storm clouds. Again, the transition point is with that 3-note repeating pattern, this time in the harp and santoor. It sets up a return to the A section, but this time in a warm, major sound rather than a dark and ominous minor mode. This goes to show that the worst is over and the sky can reassure the land and the sea that everything is going to be okay... like a lullaby. The melody is in the flute (like the hopeful flute in the middle section) and the texture is full and rich until 2:38, where the instrumentation begins to thin out, allowing the work to have a natural feel of winding down. The work ends with a three-note motive, now seeming very comforting and supportive - the world will continue, the nightmare is over, and again... hope prevails. "Everything is always okay in the end; if it's not okay, then it's not the end." ============ Thank you for the consideration of my work! Most sincerely, Kenley Kristofferson, siven7 Kenley Kristofferson Into the Score http://www.intothescore.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=uw2 - "Close to Home" (uw2-24.spc) Arrangement-wise, you definitely did more to put your own spin on the source this time around. Why is this so quiet? I had to put on a litmus test track just to make sure the issue wasn't my fault. Nah, you gotta bump the overall levels up. You can't really hear the reverb on stuff like the mallet percussion without turning it way up. It looks like you didn't because the track may be peaking with some of the instrumentation, but other Js will be able to offer substantial analysis. Much like the previous sub of yours from this game, the samples aren't quite used to their best, perhaps less effectively here, though the low volume makes it sound worse than it is. Still, a lot of things sound pretty mechanical and exposed, most strikingly the higher bowed strings (worst offender 1:52-2:04), some of the woodwind attacks. The plucked strings at :52 probably could have been pushed up until 1:04 since nothing else was carrying the forefront briefly, but that could be more of a personal taste issue. I liked things such as the changeup in the percussion at 2:10. Was glad that core mallet percussion pattern at 2:52 finally changed, as it was getting annoying hearing the same thing from it every time it was in play. The dynamics are...subtle, but alright. The changes could probably be a little bit more defined. For example, 2:52 seems like the power should have been gradually increasing leading to a crescendo of sorts with 3:04's section, then making the dropoff at 3:28 more dramatic. I don't know if you feel that sounds cliche in practice, but it seemed like the writing implied that kind of structure but didn't actually follow through with it. More finesse with the sample usage is critical. Some of the more exposed areas of syntheticness hurt the piece significantly, IMO. If any other Js have their own observations on the dynamics here, that'd be appreciated. To me, everything feels like it's around 75% of the way there, but doesn't have the writing and production polish to put it over the top. Keep working on this one, Kenley, it's very promising so far. NO (refine/resubmit)