Liontamer

I have blogged about this today. Excellent stuff!

Hello, Over Clocked Remix. I'm an independent composer and I have visited your site recently. I've been composing professionally for years and have been featured in several games. I've been a fan of video games ever since I was small. I have decided to contribute to your awesome site with a remix of my own. It is called VG Supermix because it features a couple melodies from popular games. I have attached the information you requested. I look forward to you hosting my song. Thanks for your work. The song is attached because my website is currently down. Contact Information * Your ReMixer name - ProMixer * Your real name - Leon Flanders (yes, I have heard jokes) * Your email address - promusic.studios@gmail * Your website - under construction * Your userid (number, not name) on our forums , found by viewing your forum profile * e.g. djpretzel ( http://www.ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=1 ) has the userid of "1" - i'm not currently registered. [ edit] Submission Information * Name of game(s) arranged - Final Fantasy 6, Castlevania, Zelda, The Legend of Metroid, and Halo * Name of individual song(s) arranged - VG Supermix * Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) - Well, I started playing clarinet when I was 4, and I graduated from Oberlin college in 2004 and have been composing for media since. * Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. - This was inspired by a few favorite games and some songs that I don't think enough people have remixed. --------------------------------------------------------------- "This was inspired by [...] some songs that I don't think enough people have remixed." A sarcastic streak a mile long. Let's see what's up. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Tina" (ff6-201.spc) [:54-1:22] http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castle~1.zip - Track 2 ("Bloody Tears") [1:22-1:49] http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sm - "Theme of Super Metroid" (sm-16.spc) [1:49-2:17] http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda.zip - Track 3 [2:17-2:44] HALO Original Soundtrack - (26) "Halo" [2:44-3:12] Opens with some interesting original material; we'll see how it fits in the grand scheme of things. After :54, some basic beats were added in along with "Terra" on brass with no other harmonic or melodic support, and no substantial melodic interpretation. Switched over to "Bloody Tears" at 1:22 with no real transition. In other words, this is boding well. On the plus side, the percussion at least does a little something, but it's not much. The overall groove isn't that interesting to just keep chugging along with the same core pattern and barely varying intensity, even if the percussion pattern changes. Dynamically, no real highs or lows. Moves over into the "Theme of Super Metroid" at 1:49. Percussion pattern changes, but otherwise more of the same. Zelda theme at 2:17. Percussion pattern changes, but otherwise more of the same. I was thrown for a loop with "Halo" from 2:44-3:12 because it wasn't with brass. The percussion was also dropped and there was some brief fem-vox, before closing out the last minute until 4:06 with the just the groove ideas from the intro, gradually subtracting elements out during the fade-out. Then the track abruptly cut out during the fade. Since you're apparently pro, I'm gonna sound like an asshole, but I'm just gonna be straight-up with my opinion. From a lowest-common-denominator listener standpoint, not awful. From an OCR standards standpoint, awful. I liked the Eastern-style groove you opened with. But did you absolutely kill it by just putting in on cruise control the whole time? Yes. Are the several themes creatively and interpretively arranged? No. They're not even developed into anything meaningful. Just 30 seconds of one bit, 30 seconds of another bit, 30 seconds of another bit. No room for anything to breathe, no ideas beyond one lonely brass sample playing the melodies near-verbatim. I'm sure some casual fans would enjoy it, but this isn't nearly a creative enough, cohesive enough, sophisticated enough arrangement. Listen to something posted in the last 1-2 years, compare it to the source material, even the mega-medleys, and you'll see this kind of stuff is smoked in comparison. NO

Remix: Original: Contact Information: ReMixer name: Low Profile Real name: Bart Roijmans Email: bart@spiresound.nl Website: www.spiresound.nl Userid: 12389 Submission Information: Game: SD Snatcher (also known as Super Deform Snatcher) Songname: Gillian's Dream Original Composer: Masahiro Ikariko Developer: Konami System: MSX-2 Year of release: 1990 More information: http://www.mobygames.com/game/super-deform-snatcher Used software: Reason 2.5, Cakewalk 9 Pro Audio and Adobe Audition 1.0 Used hardware: Roland Fantom XR The game is a RPG parody of Konami's more 'serious' Snatcher. While Snatcher was ported on many systems, SD Snatcher was exclusively made for MSX-2. Perhaps Konami's way of a tribute to the system they got so popular on. It's one of my al time favorite games on any system, which is one of the reasons I wanted to make a remix, ----------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for providing a copy of the source material. It would have been nice to get an actual song title rather than just the music clip. Thanks to CHz for the info on the specific track. SCC Memorial Series Snatcher Joint Disk - (322) "Coda" There's a decent job adding more sounds and parts to the original to give it some more complexity, but overall the interpretation is too low, primarily due to the melody being kept verbatim. The expansive nature of the arrangement wasn't substantive enough to make up for it, and doesn't stand apart enough from the original. Moving over into the electric guitars from 2:13-2:40 was better in terms of personalizing the delivery, albeit brief. I'd read up on the Submissions Standards again and look at the other techniques suggested for interpreting the arrangement. This track's not a NO Override in my opinion, but you should compare more recent posted ReMixes to their source tunes to get a better idea of the interpretation level we're looking for. This is a solid arrangement and an enjoyable piece of music, just not interpretive enough for the standards here. Hope to hear more music from you again though, Bart. NO

I have 0 clue what's going on with this one; that there may be even more sources not listed is annoying; have contacted the submitting artist for the breakdown - LT I'm sure JJT's already working on getting these mixes up on OCR, but I wanted to submit mine just in case. Link: http://oneupstudios.com/ep_03.php Sources: Lost Carol Never Forgive Me, Never Forget Me Tender Sugar Promise (Reprise) There's probably more, but I'd have to comb through the soundtracks... Thanks, Kunal Majmudar Composer | www.ktriton.com LT Edit (10/29): Ask and ye shall receive: [0:00-0:18] = Lost Carol [silent Hill 3] From here on out, you'll notice the arpeggiated motif from "Never Forgive Me, Never Forget Me" as the backbone for the piece [0:22-0:45] = Based loosely on Tender Sugar [silent Hill 4]. Also, sirens [0:45-0:56] = Promise (Reprise) [silent Hill 2] lol, this is really where I stopped paying attention to arrangement and let the piece go off on its own. Almost everything else in the piece has its base in "Tender Sugar". If not, then it's original. Sorry for the liberal arrangement, Larry, but it just felt right to do it this way!

Better get it in before the day is over. Happy Birthday to Chris, who's got 37 ReMixes and a couple more on the way. Thanks for providing such great music to all the peoples! Other than that, I've never heard of the man!

JigginJonTeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee <3

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Brink of Time" (ct-213.spc) Melodically, it plays it extremely straight aside from some embellishments here and there. The weird piano sounds and various effects on top do a nice job of enhancing the atmosphere within this Halloween context. Up to 1:45 I didn't hear anything truly interpretive with the melody. 1:46 added a lot more eerie material in the form of sprinkled piano notes and hands running across the actual piano strings. Still held the same amount of arrangement interpretation, i.e. not much. Straight up weird effects from 2:27 until the end, making for an apropo close. Admittedly according to Jon, one of his more conservative takes, I'd really like to see what he could do with more time if more interpretive ideas were coming to mind with "Brink of Time". As there aren't really many components to the original, I would have loved to have heard the melody or counter-melody experimented with. Me and Jon talked about how the added ideas of the stray piano notes and string runs have to be forced to some extent, but overall I thought they fit the mood well and didn't sound overdone, though others are prone to disagree. Cool piece in-and-of-itself, but not a pass IMO. NO

Hello! Here is all the information you need: - OC name: med00sa - my name: Markus - mail: med00sa@kabsi.at ; markus@everynote.at - webs.: www.everynote.at - game(s): chrono trigger - frog’s theme I’d like to say a few words about this piece, and a few other things concerning it… sorry for possible grammar, etc. errors, I’m a foreign speaker and my English is a bit “rusty”… I have been ‘remixing’ and arranging for quite a long time now, although I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘remixing’ in terms of what you and the people in this community do, since I always tried to stick as close to the original song as possible, trying not to interfere with the basic structure, melody, harmony, etc. of the songs. Really incredible, ingenious songs have been written in the history of gaming and I always believed that the songs shouldn’t be altered in a “weird” way, for instance making a drum& bass song out of a majestic, beautiful orchestral piece…- But this is only my personal, maybe even a bit bigoted opinion - and it doesn’t change the fact that I really enjoy the tracks on your site, and respect the people who contributed anything! -> But my motivation for “remixing” was always….well different, since I strictly separate composing, and “arranging’”. I always feel like a murderer when I change everything about the songs that I love, and adore. When I found out about this site I knew that it would be pointless to submit any of my (many) songs because I knew they were just too authentic, or ‘too close to the original’ if you like. But when I finished this song - which was dedicated to one of my best friends, a hardcore chrono-trigger-fan in form of a present - after 2 months of careful orchestrating and producing, I felt that it shouldn’t lie around and get dusty, because it was just way to much work! - and is way to good, if a dare to say so! It may be short, it may be not terribly original, but I think everybody can hear that there’s a lot of time, sweat, and professionalism behind this one! I’m really exited to hear what you think about it, and I especially hope that you like it just as much as my friend did! Best wishes Markus. - Vienna ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Frog's Theme" (ct-119.spc) The melody holds pretty fast, but he's got some clear interpretation and embellishment in terms of the supporting material, which is mostly new and very substantive. The ending at 1:52 was a bit too thin, IMO, and exposed the sample a bit; not a huge deal. While short, much like Select Start's take on the theme, there's lots of evolution and dynamics in the piece that give it a lot more bang for the buck. Not sure if the volume is an issue as I'm not on my usual setup, but someone else can confirm or deny that. What's up with these <2min "Frog's Theme" mixes bringing it all of a sudden? I don't even like this theme. YES EDIT: Vote changed. See below.

rexxz - Dark Space(Crystal Space cover - Sub-Terrania) remixer name - rexxz real name - Cory Richards email address - seifer7979@yahoo.com website - http://coryrichards.ceroprojects.com/Music/ ocremix userid - 22194 name of game - Sub-Terrania name of original track - Crystal Space original composer - Jesper Kyd Comments about the mix: I am really proud of this particular piece. I had to go by ear on this one, as I couldn't find any existing sheet music. I've always thought the soundtrack was one of the best things about this game, and this is my favorite track from it. A very chilling and eerie atmosphere! ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://project2612.org/download.php?id=39 - "Crystal Space (Level I)" The sounds are on the generic side, and the opening texture up to :30 seemed pretty empty, but we'll see where it leads to. Percussion dropped out from :31-:41 but came back at :42. Arrangement-wise, to me the interpretation isn't very interesting or thorough. The generic lead synth which doesn't give any energy to the source verse (:18 of the original). The piece is stuck in first gear. It doesn't have to ratchet up to second or third (The Orichalcon's Raptor "PlectraSubCity" is a good example of this), but the textures are still relatively simplistic and empty, relying on the effects to fill out the soundfield. The arrangement also doesn't evolve or dynamically shift in any interesting way besides the beefier percussion joining in at 2:07, rinsing and repeating the earlier arrangement ideas. The sounds and processing could use a step up, though I'll leave it to other Js to offer more specific criticism you can use. The arrangement needs to be developed further and evolve more, also with more interpretation than looping the first half. Not a bad track, but not fully developed as a concept, IMO. NO

Remixer Name: Pixel Email address: josephiroth@hotmail.co.uk Website: www.adventchildren.net Name of game(s) arranged: Final Fantasy 7 Name of individual song(s) arranged : Aeris' Theme Your own comments about the mix: Sorry about the name, I couldnt think of anything better. This is one of the first things I've done in FL Studio... I'm still a bit of a n00b to be honest. I really loved the version of the prelude in FFXII and wanted to capture the same feeling. I also really like listening to my mum's Relaxation CDs, and wanted to put something like that together. My mum actually heard me while I was working on this, and asked if I would put it, and some other similar stuff that I was working on on CD for her, which kinda encouraged me to share this with you. I tried simplifying the melody a little to give it that relaxing, ethereal feel, instead of having it jumping from note to note, which wouldn't have worked with the choral elements. Hope you like it. The file should be attached to the email. If that doesnt work, then try the following link I hope everything is fine. Keep up the good work. OCRemix is one of the best sites on the net, and long may it continue. Thanks, Joseph --------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 319 "Aeris' Theme" A nice-enough sound, so I figure why not let the panel hear it. The note movements of the vox were exposed in a few places in the beginning, but otherwise it sounded smooth enough. Certainly serviceable. The soundscape was ok, reasonably balanced for what you're going for. Then again there wasn't much going on to mess up. There's something to be said about the mood being successfully different, but the overall interpretation value was still low. The countermelody was lifted right from the original, and the melody was simplified like you said. A valid arrangement technique mind you, but it still needs to be supplemented with further interpretation techniques for the standards here. Rinse and repeat at 1:58, so too much repetition and not enough development of the concept. At this point, the arrangement was just relying on the production choices and different mood to carry it, without much effort given to rewriting any of the piece, but rather lifting the structure and subsequently cutting material out. This wouldn't need to be "busier" in the sense of adding tons more instruments or effects, but the interpretation of the material needs to be a lot more substantive. NO

Absolutely, thanks Mike. I knew it was fine, but wanted you be able to speak for yourself. Just in the way that Entropy was produced, there was no way you could have actually lifted the sounds directly from it. I was actually going to reply with this, but held off before asking you yourself about it: It was presumptuous to say that the woodblock loop was not from a sample pack. How exactly would he know that? Thanks again for the clarification. I would have handled this as a private message, but I feel it's more important to be open about the potential controversy so that it isn't a future issue.

The (Funky) Spy - by Cram (that's me) (it's attached) Cover of "The Spy" by Nobuo Uematsu - featured in Final Fantasy VIII. Lately I have been back into the old PSX Final Fantasies and am endlessly inspired by the music. I am an avid listener of all of Uematsu's work (both original and a lot of stuff on ocremix). I love his work and the emotion that each track carries with it brings the story, characters, and artwork to life! I recorded this song with an electric guitar, usb keyboard, and an old yamaha drum pad that I found in my basement. I had a lot of fun with it. Hopefully you enjoy it! (if you get to it!). Thanks for your time! -Marc http://www.checkerpop.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- As much as I liked "The Spy", and I enjoy the track a lot, I've never actually had to really internalize it until now. The Spy was already a funky track, but let's see what we've got. http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 301 "The Spy" Just off the intro, the production is on the low-fi side as nothing sounds clean, except for the bowed strings which IMO sound too quiet but also unrealistic in terms of the attacks. Arrangement-wise, the composition is simplistic, but damned if I'm not feeling that groove of the beat and the funky electric guitar stuff going on. Great changeup at 1:00 to focus on the electric guitar while dropping out the percussion and presenting the source melody differently. The drumbeat does get overly repetitive once it's brought back at 1:23 as the overall texture was empty enough where the pattern was too exposed and IMO felt too plain. Some of the fills were good, but the steady beat was boring. This guy is like zyko's lost-long cousin. Man, I really love what you're doing here in terms of the interpretation of the original; it's definitely got it own unique take on the source while retaining the funk at the core. But you've gotta put some meat on the bones in terms of the instrumentation. The guitar work sounds great, but the strings, piano need a bit more fullness and realism in the performance, plus you could stand to add 1 or 2 other elements to put more substance to the textures without overriding the relaxed/chill vibe you're going for. IMO, the drum pad pattern was ok in the beginning because there was more off-beat writing going on to make things interesting and keep the drums to a very supplementary role. Once you put it more in the forefront at 1:22, it clearly wasn't substantive enough that it could carry the lion's share of the activity without some sort of bassline or other complimentary backing instrument. Definitely hope you stick around the community, learn more at our ReMixing and Works forums and keep submitting material. Work on this one more if you can. Hopefully the other Js can give you some good advice. NO (resubmit)

Re: V_gasm/E. Honda, it's not the sound they wanted. Lemme clarify, BotA is NOT explicitly the soundtrack. Some of it will be used. In terms of the sum total of the soundtrack most of it is not BotA, but some of the character themes will be from that. As djp has said, nothing it set in stone, so collectively speaking, y'all should just wait for more information to surface once it's possible.

Can you clarify, Mike, on: 1) the general time period of the song creation 2) where the woodblock sample was obtained 3) where the drumloops were obtained, related to why the core of first percussion pattern of GAP sounds the same as the core percussion pattern at, for example, 1:10 & 2:40 of Entropy

But was I wrong? Your reaction doesn't seem to say so. Like I said, to me, it's a shame that I didn't notice the lopsidedness of the original material vs. the IIDX arrangement, because a lot of effort wouldn't have been given to revise this for our standards. I did learn however that your writing skills are pretty good. So good here, that I took the all of the writing for granted as being arranged from "Traces", that's how seamless it was IMO. As for giving up, as far as this one track being an OC ReMix, sure. Your vision for it ended up not being suitable from an interpretation perspective. But this is still a solid piece of music, a good goal in and of itself. We revised the submissions standards to be a lot clearer a few days ago. Section 4, part 3 says "The source material must be identifiable and dominant." In the future, and this is just my personal POV, once you go over 50% of the track arranging the source, you've tabled the question of whether the VGM you're tributing is "dominant." I don't think you should be discouraged from subbing new material in the future, Fernando. Yours was a rare situation here where the lack of arrangement simply wasn't picked up on and you had an otherwise promising track that Js saw potential in, hence all the critique trying to help get it above bar. But even if you decide you don't want to submit material in the future, and that's your choice, I'll be looking forward to your future material and hope you'll still be plugging it via the VGM arrangement community.

This is the ReMix. *cough*

Weird structure; will have to marinate on this one - LT info * Platonist * Jonas Loman * kaylynx@gmail.com * http://www.reunionstudio.org * id: 16574 * Zelda IV: Links Awakening * Mysterious Woods * - * - * ah well i know it's a trackermade song, but i've postprocessed it to the max and i know the chance is very low for this to go through but please. . atleast give it a listen, ok? LT EDIT (10/25): Follow-up letter from the submitter. I've already voted on 10/24, and there's no new pertinent info for me: hey, i don't know if i got the chance to tell you everything about the remix i sent. . i didn't realize it could be posted right away .. 1 the song i remixed is originally called Mysterious Woods but my remix is called "Forest of Hysteria" 2 i made it in Impulse Tracker (or rather- its clone for windows "Schism Tracker") i have mastered it in Wavelab to gain some/alot of quality, using Eq's and Maximizing .. the mix itself though was made in impulse 3 further comment should be that the intro/the last part of the track is an arrangement of the midpart of the track which sounds disharmonic. . but really isn't if you look deeper into it .. i arranged it in such a way to gain more flexibility in creativity. hope you read this before the judgement yours, -- - Jonas / Platonist LT EDIT (10/27): oh .. hah , well it isn't. it's the foundation for zelda IV gameboy. it's the same chords so i arranged it like that .. never intended to do a zelda NES vgm .. well if you think it's there i don't know what to say .. it's not according to me, atleast. but i see your point Uh-huh. You're lucky though. Indeed sounds like a happy accident more than anything derived from that same Z:LA source. I'll let it ride. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Provided they're sophisticated, tracker mixes are OK. Just listen to Mazedude's Commander Keen 5 "Slick Rippin Keen". http://zophar.net/gbs/zelda.zip - Track 9 ("Mysterious Woods") http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda.zip - Track 4 After being completely offput by the progression at 3:30 in the arrangement, I couldn't believe that writing was derived from the original. The :26-:47 section of the source is so awful and unmelodic, that most people stay the hell away from it. With that said, the fact that it's carried over into the arrangement makes those sections something I'd rather never listen to again. As far as the intro goes, I wasn't sure why the pattern taken from Zelda 1 didn't follow the progression of that source more closely, but it was an interesting choice. Good melodic arrangement at 1:25. Not overly different from the original, but uniquely presented. When the tracked picked back up at 1:50, I felt the beatwork and effects overshadow the melodic content, but that was more of a personal preference thing, IMO. The different parts were still distinguishable enough. Some soloing over the foundation of the original from 2:35-3:20, before moving onto the arranging that cursed section I hate. :'-( Good subtle synth work brought in at 3:44 to supplement that and add a little more substance. Some original writing and bass kicks were brought in on top of that from 4:06-4:53 to escalate the track before also bringing back an arranged version of the source and even thicker beats lasting until the end. This probably could have ended with a fadeout or resolution around 5:10, but the track kept chugging along. Needless, IMO. Dynamically, the constant wall of sound never let up from 4:06 until nearly the end at 6:01 which I felt just droned on and wasn't varied enough to remain interesting. To me, the further escalation at 4:53 wasn't dynamically effective because the previous escalation at 4:06 already filled out most of the soundfield. In a perfect world, the sound balance would be better during the fullest sections, the piece would have better dynamic contrast, and the total length would be trimmed down to cut some of the fat. But is Jonas doing a lot more right than wrong in both the arrangement and production standpoints. I think he is. Could be debatable for the rest of the panel, but I just didn't see it being that way myself. YES

Regarding Haroon's comments: The example of Björk's "It's in Our Hands" is fine. The audio artifacts are clearly intentional and are even integrated into the song structure. Examples of ReMixes here that use intentional artifacts are ktriton's Parasite Eve "PMS" and the intro of Big Giant Circles' Final Fantasy Adventure "Wish Upon a Wendellian Star". At the risk of sounding presumptuous, one can generally tell when clicks/pops/etc. are intentional or not. "Overusing" covers everything that needs to be said about loop usage. If we're discouraging heavy loop usage, that's exactly what we want to do. Quinn Fox uses loops, Israfel uses loops, Another Soundscape uses loops. But they don't use loops as a crutch for an arrangement. We discourage pure General MIDI and chiptune tracks because there were already dedicated sites for those mediums before OCR started, and djpretzel also wanted to move beyond the sound limitations of those formats. That's simply djp's choice as to what content he wanted to focus this site on, so it's his call. If you want to use those sounds to supplement an arrangement primarily made with higher-quality sounds, that's fine. Orchestral recordings being relatively quiet on account of dynamics is fine. That's still a normal recording relative to other recordings. Many orchestral arrangements on OCR are already like this. Performances that are purposefully off-key/off-rhythm/whatever are fine given your hypothetical. As Dhsu said though, intention can only take an artist so far. We have the discretion to decide whether those techniques are pulled off capably and artistically or whether its simply just not done well. Gotta trust us on it. These rules encourage arrangement creativity, but with prerequisites of higher quality sounds than 8-bit, 16-bit or early PC games, as well as capable-enough production. Not that we're aruguing, but I think those prerequisites are reasonable.

As someone who likes organization, I appreciate the work put into the Standards and Instructions revision. Outside of clarification done through community input, myself and the judges panel, djp handled 95% of the rewriting. From my experience both on the panel and maintaing the inbox, the old document wasn't bad, but these revisions provide an easier breakdown and a lot more focus. It's a lot clearer what we're looking for.

They're Commodore scene legends.

Jody, Jody, Jody. It's not off. Portal: Anyway, this cake is great; it's so delicious and moist. BGC: Anyway, my post is great; it is so roffle and loal.

Congrats to Prasa U. for getting this ReMix accepted. Please direct any comments for this mix (which he earned original composer recognition for) to its Review thread.

And we all mourn your loss. :'-(

http://www.ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog#Pre-OCR01500_Removal_Process_.28Lockdown_2.29 see #6 You can get it at OC ReMoved. The Black Lodge made it.