Liontamer

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.

You ain't got nothin' on me. I said 0 left to judge, didn't I? Like I'm gonna let you mess that up. Check your mail: Don't be playin me with a >6MB version.

He thinks he's cute trying to pull off the >6MB filesize. Yeah, nice try - LT Remixer name: Audix Game/song remixed: Chrono Trigger/Ocean Palace Name of mix: Aqueous Transgression Size of file is just over 6mb, at 6.07...hope this isn't a problem I've always loved the Ocean Palace source tune, and felt that there was a lot of potential for development into an epic electro/orchestral/rock style, so I attempted to do just that with this mix. Little bit of self-indulgent keyboard soloage (sp?) at 3:15 for kicks, and the original sample makes a brief appearance as well. Also, special thanks go to avaris for the title. Thanks, greg --------------------------------------------------------------- We're gonna need a version under 6MB, foo. You whiteys always trying to cheat the system... http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Undersea Palace" (ct-308.spc) Solid enough opening. The beatkeeping percussion brought in at :16 felt a bit flimsy, and the synth guitar at :45 was pulled off well enough but could have been smoother. Good arrangement ideas there though for "Undersea Palace". Somewhat odd piano note choice at 1:03 at first listen; not quite sure on how well that worked. 1:27 moved into the chorus. Not sure how well the key change at 1:34 worked, but no big deal. Good bassline activity at 1:27, picking up at 1:41 into some real BGC-style stuff on that level. Swanky change in the dynamics at 2:09 moving back into "Undersea Palace". Good guitar synth writing at 2:23, but then the key changed again at 2:38. The change there felt unexpected and broke the flow, IMO, but you end up acclimating as the track moves on. Not sure what the pause from 3:44-3:47 was supposed to be other than grating. I would have extended the break a bit and had it nearly fade out before just as quickly fading back in and bouncing back strongly. Aside from the grating sounds there though, not a bad idea at all as is. Despite a couple of bumps in the road where the execution felt odd on the first couple of listens, the energy was good, the arrangement was very interpretive, and the major majority of ideas were clicking effectively. Definitely does a great job with the source material; it's one of those arrangements that makes you want to listen to the original in order understand what the differences are. Good stuff, Greg. Definitely in the mold of zircon. Did one of his parents fool around or something? YES

Not as silky as my lady, but very very close. Awesome stuff, Michael. Nothing like it around these parts.

My lady, "The Lady", enjoyed this piece so much that she wrote about it over at our blog, VG Frequency. She felt a lot of connections to other great non-VGM music and enjoyed the arrangement a lot having played the game. Take some time out and drop her a comment over at the blog. Even if you stumble on it way after we posted this. We'll still hug you.

My lady, "The Lady", wrote up on this song as well as pixietricks in general over at our blog, VG Frequency. Stop by and leave her your comments. Doesn't matter when you see this. YEARS from now even, we still want 'em. I originally NOed this mix. I was drunk (read: inept) at the time.

<Liontamer> I just want to go on record that me finishing the queue is a huge triumph for our race! <djpretzel> negroids? <Liontamer> half-negroids~ <BGC> hahahaha <djpretzel> next thing you know you'll get all cocky and wanna drink from the same water fountains * BGC snickers <djpretzel> I'm surprised you didn't just stop at 3/5ths of the queue <Liontamer> KILL U <BGC> hahaha

After 3 1/4 years on the panel, I finally caught up to the entire OCR submissions inbox today, October 20, and beat down the queue. And while we're sure to receive some new crud tomorrow, I'd like to thank all the little people who helped along the way! I have NOed your mixes, and, yea, it is good.

Source Tune

Greetings, and Happy October. I don't know about you, but it's my favorite month. Cool autumn weather, the turning of the leaves, Mazedude's Birthday, Halloween... ahh. So, once again, I am submitting a particularly Halloween-flavored remix. This has been arranged specifically for the upcoming "Bad Dudes EP - Halloween '07" remix project put together by Mustin. Our plan is to release the EP on the 24th, so that there is enough time for the mixes to cycle through to everybody who wants to play them on Halloween night. We would love it if Overclocked could support the effort by releasing this remix (and perhaps others, Mustin will provide more details) to coincide with the EP release. That, and a link to the EP's specific page, which I imagine will be under www.oneupstudios.com. Again, Mustin will be able to provide more information regarding that. Now, on to the remix! Title: Psychotic Censors Remixer: Mazedude Game: Psychonauts Original Composer: Peter McConnell Original Title: The Censors Unleashed Description: "Well, Psychonauts has become one of my all-time favorite video games. It is inventive, humorous, clever, and fun. Coinciding with this is an amazing soundtrack, composed by one of my all-time favorite game composers, Peter McConnell. His partnership with Tim Schafer on previous adventure games such as Day of the Tentacle, Sam n Max, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, and others have provided me with countless hours of video-game playing joy. As a composer, he is very difficult to remix, as his chord style is very chromatic, unpredictable, and complex. Yet, as a die-hard remixer I have taken the time to decipher a few of his songs over time, and have enjoyed the challenge in remixing them. The soundtrack to Psychonauts is rather unusual. While it still maintains the Peter McConnell vibes, it was heavily influenced and inspired by the soundtrack to the feature film "Beetlejuice," composed by Danny Elfman. In fact, this particular track is reminiscent of the score to the scene where Beetlejuice becomes a giant snake and attacks the family. So, all in all, I am blending a great many things together in my remix (like usual, hehe). We have Peter McConnell, Danny Elfman, a hint of Henry Mancini (as the bassline is also slightly reminiscent of "Peter Gunn" ), some circus elements (considering the game itself has a lot of circus elements), and of course, good ol' industrial Mazedude goodness." Enjoy! Mazedude ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks a lot to DarkeSword for providing the source. Psychonauts Original Soundtrack - (13) "The Censors Unleashed" A solid arrangement. Not as outright sinister as some of Chris's past work, this one still added some darker edges to the original, particularly the industrial percussion and piano which gave the track much more deliberate pacing. Some of the instrumentations changes held pretty fast to the feel of the source but were still really clever, such as the SID chip harmonies at :23. The mainstream song references from 1:19-1:42 rubbed me the wrong way as feeling out of place, but they were in the source tune regardless. Didn't like it, but no big deal; clearly doesn't affect my decision. Peter McConnell's gonna punch me in the face! Great idea with the dynamic shift at 2:10, followed by some more chippy goodness in the background from 2:27-2:40. Definitely some weird stuff with the composition for the last section from 2:23 until the end that evoked chaoticness and uneasyness in a good way, befitting for a Halloween-themed piece. Once again, solid work here that was able to retain much of the character of McConnell's source tune but then fuse it with Chris's own signature style. YES

Metroid II: Return of Samus - Track 4 The Zophar's archive was messed up for some reason when trying to extract it, so I just grabbed the OCR-hosted copy. The source tune loop is actually only :55-long, comprised of 3 sections. The first two are just slight variations with the second section merely at a slower tempo than the first. The third section isn't used. So really, we're only talking about a 19-second long source. The source sounds crazy at first, but once you let it loop a bunch, it becomes more memorable and easy to pick up in the submission. Seemingly, you pretty much have to use this verbatim in order not to go off the rails, as there's no real melodic qualities to the original. Lots of room to expand vertically here, so let's see where it goes. An eerie, spacey opening lead to the source coming in lightly at :21. A little too murky and in the back for my tastes, as the Metroid 2 material barely stood out from the various ambient sounds. The source stopped somewhere around :52, but you couldn't even really tell due to the soundscape being so ridiculously swamped and the source being buried in the back. The two note dealie first heard at 1:01 and used a lot throughout the track is not from the source; keep that in mind. Another iteration of the source on piano from 1:31-2:03, before seguing into more wholly original material from 2:04 until uhh... And we wait for the source to come back... and wait... and wait... and...nothing. It doesn't come back. At this point, you're just creating a spacey track that has little to do with Metroid II other than you wanting it to have stylistic connections. It's not bad to listen to, MJ, but hardly can be considered a substantive arrangement of the Metroid II source tune you chose. You can't use the source tune for not even 1 minute total of a 6:21-long mix and expect it to pass. Please read the Submissions Standards on arrangement before you submit material in the future. If you aren't using the source, you are not arranging it. NO

Marathon source Halo source

Remix download link: Contact Info: M J McLean kimmuriel@gmail.com www.myspace.com/mjmclean Remix Info: Game: Metroid 2: Return Of Samus Track remixed: Chozo Ruins Original Composer: Ryohji Yoshitomi System: Gameboy Original piece: Instruments used: Prepared piano, strings, ocarina, voices, various orchestral elements, various electronic devices I love Metroid 2, and I love what Ryohji Yoshitomi did to create a tense, unsettling, yet at times beautiful presence with not only sequences of notes but also with experimental sound. Given the limited capabilities of a sound processor found in ancient technology such as the original GameBoy, that is in itself an outstanding achievement, and this I respect. However, even though it was brilliant, nowadays the GameBoy chip can sound dated. This game in particular cries out for a lush, dense, and moody atmosphere. It is this that I hope to acheive in this remix. Hope you like! MJ