Liontamer

Now that's a trip. They should have played more. Nice work, GSlice! [sic] Onto the mystery of who got the song in there...and did anything else of ours end up getting used...

What was that restaurant with the awful service last year? I'm not a restaurant snob, but they couldn't get anything right.

Original Decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3454 1st RESUB Decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4041 Contact Info * Your ReMixer name: Groggie * Your real name: Chris Blakley * Your email address: groggie@gmail.com * Your website: http://www.groggie.com/music * Your userid (number, not name): 12423 ReMix Info * Name of ReMix: "Protect the Stairbase" * Name of game(s) ReMixed: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time * Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: Starbase * Link to the original soundtrack: http://djpretzel.web.aplus.net/songs/original/TMNT4.rsn * Your own comments about the mix: This is the second re-submission for this track (third total submission). I took quite a long time after the last rejection to get it to a point where I believe it would be accepted. I lengthened it to almost 3 1/2 minutes, and pushed the concept of the actual video game in it (the time machine powering up at the beginning). I went back at fixed all of the volume issues from the last submission, and additionally, put in a bunch more counter melodies, atmospheric effects, and other subtle nuances to further it more from the original (each of the 24 tracks has at least one really cool groove, melody, or something on it). Besides the intro, the most noticeable change will be the ending. I extended it and added more instruments in on the last chord (got the idea from some drum corps shows). It's almost been two years since I started this project, and I'm hoping it will come to fruition so I can move on. I plan on doing acoustic guitar and rock remix/covers now, so expect a couple of those from me in the future. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=tit - "Star Base ~ Where No Turtle Has Gone Before" (tit-17.spc) Funked up intro. In a good way. Good usage of the game sounds as well. Things picked up at :35, and I'm still skeptical of sacking traditional percussion in favor of these bass kicks only because the perc work here doesn't seem to fill things out adequately. Gonna have to see what else is new. Good alteration of the rhythms from 1:10-1:25. The synths at 1:35 are still extra-vanilla. Good stuff at 1:50, continuing to play with the melody as the percussion changed around. I felt like 2:15-2:44 was way too long with no percussion to keep it movin'. Things were just feeling empty as if one of the channels was turned off. This might make it, and I wish you luck, because you've got it clicking on nearly every other level now and made the track yours. I'm not trying to downplay the great strides you've made with this one. But without some full-sounding perc at the foundation, I feel like there's a gaping, goatse-size hole in this one. :'-( Good luck on the rest of the vote, and I definitely look forward to hearing more from you. No problems if this passed. NO (borderline)

I'm definitely looking forward to Otakon. I was able to encapsulate my thoughts on the matter in less than 200 words.

ReMixer Name: Tweek Real Name: Brian Arnold Email: bmarnold@uga.edu Website: www.tweekmusic.com User ID: 6829 Game: Radical Dreamers Song Name: Final Confrontation This was the mix that I did right after the Tetris Attack mix and I started it because of the Radical Dreamers project. This mix has been very interesting for me to work on, and warrants a small explanation. The source comes from the final battle in the game (or so I'm told since I've never played it myself) and I wanted to try and capture that sense of conflict. Since the visual aspect of the game is not present, I knew that it was necessary to create that feeling of conflict within the sound of the mix. My idea was to have three different genres of music battling each other, which is what I did: Trance, Orchestral, and DnB. Each genre has it's time to shine, so to speak, but each one is "infected" by another genre. Be it the tribal drums during the Trance section, the mechanical/shot gun sound of the orchestral instruments, or the gated Trance synths during the DnB part (and there are many more that I will leave for you to hear), the fighting is continuous to the very end. As I'm sure you'll notice, all hell breaks loose towards the end with all the genres fighting for the spotlight. This was certainly the mix that provided the most creativity for me to this point. Special thanks goes to Sephfire and bLiNd for their input. Two last important items: 1. This is a project mix for the Radical Dreamers project. 2. I request a link retention in the case of a NO decision. ------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=rd - "Final Confrontation" (rd-13.spc) I thought the production was a weak point. Not a fan of the rigidly sequenced piano at 4:00 being so exposed, as it wasn't like that earlier on (e.g. 2:20), though the doubling at 4:06 helped. Brian's still yet to find his legs in terms of achieving a spacious yet clean & powerful sound, which isn't a big knock against him, as he's already a good arranger. Much like his collab with sephfire, Final Fantasy 7 'REAKTR.1', though...I might as well quote myself: Not a dealbreaker, but an aspect that needs attention for future works. zircon & JJT pointed out the imbalance towards the low-end for 'REAKTR.1' and it's clearly a substantial issue here as well. I would have at least VBRed the MP3 to push the 6MB filesize limit and make the most of the encoding. Now that I've heard this piece, I've got a better idea of how contributory Brian was to 'REAKTR.1'. A lot of the same sounds and processing/production techniques were employed here, which made the two feel somewhat samey in the negative sense, but the groove felt more integral and natural with this one. In any case, the arrangement was well developed, very expansive, and solidly dynamic. Perhaps we can get a new rendering of this one to address the EQing issues. YES

The submitting artist has been checking up on this one. Let's get more votes, please.

On the writeup page, there's a lyrics tab.

http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 212 "It's Difficult to Stand on Both Feet, Isn't It?" [:00-1:02] 104 "Anxious Heart" [1:03-1:45, 2:23-2:41] 114 "Underneath the Rotting Pizza" [1:45-2:03] 219 "Gold Saucer" [2:07-2:23] Thanks to zircon for the source breakdown. Nothing I couldn't have done in a few minutes (only because I'm familiar with these sources), but I definitely glad for the legwork. This is a great comparison to chumble spuzz's "Turd Surfers", which I was happy to load up again for a listen. Both arrangements keep the structures of the source material intact, but drastically overhaul the supporting instrumentation and really personalize the arrangement on that level. Everything zirc praised on that level is on the money. However, "Surfers" ended up doing a way better job in these respects: sounding cheap but putting it together exceptionally well, especially on the production side. The textures are ok, but this mix just sounded way drier and more exposed by comparison. It's decent as is, but needs to sound more spacious to mitigate the fakeness of the samples. The transitions near the end, where you switched the source really quickly 2 or 3 times, are weak. 1:46's change was stealthy and smooth, but 2:03 & 2:23 were very weak transitions, breaking the mood and flow, the move to "Gold Saucer" in particular. If you've gotta use that theme, it has to mesh better with the rest of the arrangement. Also, the way the instruments faded out at 2:41 exposed the samples badly, especially the vox. For me, the presentation is too lopsided. zircon mentioned in #judges: I wanna stress that the length itself is not a problem. But if it's gonna be this length, the nuts and bolts have to be TIGHT on this bitch, and they're not. It's asking a lot to give a straight YES to a brief mix with very low end sounds that aren't quite used to their best, some very weak transitions near the end, and well-done but clearly underdeveloped usage of several themes. This is an awesome start, Harri, but in my view, you've gotta refine it before it's ready for primetime. NO (rework/resubmit)

Courtesy of djp this evening: http://ocremix.org/images/template/ocr4_mascot151.jpg - Otacon (MGS4) http://ocremix.org/images/template/ocr4_mascot152.jpg - Yellow LocoRoco

Jawesome! Please keep this hosted forever.

I contacted Leah a little while ago to get her take on the arrangement. This is the best info we can get from her for the time being, as she explains below:

Original Decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8065 Please find attached my remix. The remix is based on the Heatman stage from Mega Man 2 on the NES. The track is titled 'Heatman - Ignition Remix'. It's based on a remix that I submitted to you some time ago that was rejected, after taking some of your advice on how to improve the track I decided to take another stab at the mix as I love the source material so much! My remixer name is Fru Many thanks ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 12 ("Heat Man Stage") Aight, so I had this on while doing some multitasking, working on the submissions inbox, wrapping up the wording on another vote, and trying to pull up the original decision on this one. So while I'm doing this and not actively listening, the track was sounding decent. Nothing great, nothing awful. But the Heat Man melody was so quiet. I finally picked my head up to look at Winamp and see what's up, not really thinking of being any more than 45 second in...and the timebar was already past the halfway point! The track is 4:02 long. So you're more than 2:25-in, and you're still in the buildup phase?!? What...the...hell? Well, when's the rest of the track supposed to happen? You can't call this "Ignition Remix" and proceed to tread water all day. Jesus Christ, IGNITE DAT SHIT! The whole time, this hovered at the same overly reserved energy level. The melody never stood out in the foreground the whole time, and wasn't developed. Nothing's happening. I'll be fair, IF you actually developed the arrangement of the Heat Man theme and wanted to produced it like this (only cleaner), this would have a shot. But right now there's no substance. If this were the buildup of a 12-minute piece, this would be fine, but as a standalone concept, where's the beef? NO

Game remixed: Final Fantasy 7 ReMixer name: Alastair Forum userID: 892 (Here we go again. Last time I got a nice insta-reject stock reply so I cleaned the mix up to the best of my ability ...) A wanky rhapsody in tribute to the Comic Relief Character. The arrangement could be said to be analogous to the character's non sequitur nature. I honestly feel the game could do without him.

Jill's notes: <pixietricks> - Don't recognize the Fairy theme chorus from anything <pixietricks> - Link "hyah" sounds, sword swoops, Epona neighs, and opening MIDI choir song direct sampled from OoT <pixietricks> - Don't recognize the Irish flute thing from anything, but it does sound sampled considering it's not in the same time signature <pixietricks> Sounds like a remix in the traditional sense of the word

Contact Info ReMixer: Black Box Opera Name: Simon Plumaj E-mail: redboxrazor@gmail.com MySpace Music Site: http://www.myspace.com/blackboxopera ReMix Info Game: Ys, Book I & II Song: See You Again In the late 80s, video game music rose to insurmountable heights through a little RPG known as Ys. The CD version of this Turbo Grafx 16 masterpiece features amazing rearrangements by Japanese composer Ryo Yonemitsu that quickly set the standard for what music could do to define a gaming experience. The song See You Again is the ending theme to Ys: Book I and II. Originally upbeat with a light feeling of sorrow to it, I took the song in a darker direction, adding some trance elements while trying to maintain a very game-like feel. Although my composition could never match those of the great Yonemitsu himself, I hope my remix of his great arrangement is something that would make him proud. I have attached the song to this e-mail message. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. This is my first submission, and only one of several songs I've ever composed. Acceptance is never as worthwhile as progress. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ys & Ys 2 Eternal - (115) "See You Again" Oooooh. Really unique intro, I'm loving it. It's really liberally based off the melody from :11-:13 of the source that it's essentially original, but I'm groove biasing all over it. When the lead came in at :38 though, the layered synths were ultra-generic, plus they sounded pretty lo-fi/lossy. Seems like once the textures became more complicated, you didn't know how to balance the parts effectively. Man, you gotta do something different with that one lead. It came back at 1:50 & 3:53 and was just as unwelcome there. It just sounds abrasive and prevents things from sounding melodious. Better choice at 2:35, though I would have pulled back the volume of the supporting elements a little bit just for some more room in the soundfield. Adding that new instrument into the mix at 3:01 was a mixed bag. Good sound choice, but it only served to clutter things up more. Your synth & percussion groove also got way too repetitive. I don't think you changed the foundation groove from :38 even once. It's a hot groove, and you might even be able to roll with it the whole way, but ONLY if the other sounds are well balanced and the arrangement displays better variation and dynamics via the rest of the composition. Decent ending section at 4:45. The piano was a bit too tightly timed, but the style was good, so there wasn't anything really wrong with it. Man, if there had been some variation of that initial synth groove for the ending section, it would have been that much more creative. On the arrangement side, I wasn't hearing quite enough direct connection to the source material. For a 5:15-long track, I need at least 2mins 37.5s (i.e. >50%) derived from the original. Yes, I'm going there. Based off "See You Again" from the Ys & Ys 2 Eternal soundtrack, your arrangement seemingly breaks down like this: In case there's something I missed, let me know, as it could mean the difference between 50% or not. In any case, I wasn't hearing quite enough arrangement of the source theme and would like to see more of it incorporated within the track to address those concerns. More ties to the original, more groove variation, better sound choices on that one abrasive lead, and better sound balance are what'll get you to the big dance. Put your money where your mouth is and stick around here to learn more. I'd like to see you stay. Really cool first submission, Simon. NO (resubmit)

Remixer name: Reu Name: Reuben Kee Email: Reu@reubenkee.com site: www.reubenkee.com name of game: Halo 1-2 Song remixed: Theme song Comments: Its been so long since I've done an ethnic hard drumming piece. This time I've incorporated the wicked ladies choir from "Ghost in the shell: Innocence" together with the themes from Halo done. Though universes apart essentially in style, Halo does seem to be able to cross over to the more oriental feel. The vision I had while dreaming up this arrangement was one of an epic battle, huge explosions, blasts, you get the idea. Enjoy the ride. Url to track: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Halo Original Soundtrack - 26 "Halo" HALO 2 Original Soundtrack and New Music Vol. 1 - 01 "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" Some obvious distortion at :39 with the large drum shot. The strings at :48 sounded really mechanical; what gives? Decent sampling of the Ghost in the Shell: Innocence choir starting at 1:09, though they were pretty quiet; perhaps not to expose the music they were actually singing over, I wouldn't know. But they still needed a boost. The direct sampling was a turnoff as far as the standards go, but it wasn't so integral to the composition as to become a crutch, as, behind the vocals, you can hear lot of good interpretive ideas with the Halo theme going oon. On that level, I'm ok with it. Some rough edges on the production, but an excellent arrangement with some unique ideas for the source material. YES

S'aight. ... Kidding.

Don't let me stand in the way of your disturbing video games/sex integration fantasy.

Needs more H-game screenshots, 'Ili. I also thought this excellent fight was worth a quick look. I blogged'er up.

Indeed. Then again (sloppy), I thought about it, but didn't link to the relevant section of the FAQ. Antonio Pizza had a great summation way back just emphasizing that popular voting on a large scale in this community just wouldn't work. There's no way a whole forum would be dedicated to something of that nature. And with that...

As far as arrangements go, VGMix3 will essentially provide that premise when they eventually go live. No sense in repeating what's already planned by another site within the community.

Contact Info * Your ReMixer name - Videogame Orchestra * Your real name - * Your email address * Your website - www.videogameorchestra.com * Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile - ReMix Info * Name of game(s) ReMixed - Pinball Fantasies * Name of individual song(s) ReMixed - Stones n' Bones level music * Additional information about game, if it has not yet been added to the site, including composer, system, etc. - Olof Gustaffsson, Amiga * 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. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.exotica.org.uk/tunes/archive/Authors/Game/Gustafsson_Olof/Pinball_Fantasies.lha - "Stones n' Bones" (di.stones_n_bones) Ok, so after checking out the original, and then the rest of the soundtrack, what am I hearing? Sounds like the "Stones n' Bones" bells (that's all the source is) used a few times in an entirely original composition. Didn't recognize any of the music from the soundtrack. If I'm right, this submission is a violation. I'll follow up and get back to this. EDIT (9/3): http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc/pbfantsy.rar - 21 "Stones n' Bones" For whatever reason, the Amiga pack I got from ExoticA didn't have the actual level music in there. But a quick check of MobyGames showed me whatever platforms this game was released on. I don't have the actual Amiga original at my disposal, but the SNES version of the source looks to be enough to compare. You make some really good sounding tracks, Videogame Orchestra, but there's no interpretation here beyond the sound upgrade. We need interpretation at OCR. You need to read up on the submissions standards and listen to other ReMixes on the site vs. the originals to get a better idea of what we're looking for. Despite whatever expansionist instrumentation is here, it's not substantial enough in light of the structure being verbatim with the original. NO Override

As amusing as this thread was, s'over. Ban for 3 days. There's only so much stupidity we should have to put up with. Hopefully he was an alt. God help a real account of this nature, though if Ghettoflame/1st in Lyne is any indication, maybe this guy can improve in some small way.

No problem. With the previous Google Pages file corruption, there was always the unlikely chance that the 1min+ worth of material that you didn't hear may have affected your vote. Thanks for rechecking it.

Given the timestamps I cited, TO, you'd be ok passing a mix that's potentially not even 40% VGM arrangement? Or are you hearing more connections to the FF7 soundtracks/sources that I'm missing? Otherwise, I don't see why this should pass.