Liontamer

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.

I had Skryp send me a revised version of the "compare.mp3" he made as he first attempted to tweak the track; an easy reference - LT Original Decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8900 Sounds slightly different, melody changed and title changed --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I definitely liked the older mix title a lot more, but that's not the most important thing here. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=smr - "Sad Song" (smr-125.spc) Excepting arrangement, the only other minor differences I heard were the effects on the intro sample and the sampled dialogue being dropped way down from 2:17-2:51, which I thought was a shame. The dialogue was cool to pay attention to during the dropoff section and gave you something to tune into, but now it just feels too empty for too long. Whatchagonnado? I definitely heard all of the connections last time around but felt it added up to being borderline too liberal. With some simple melodic adjustments by Andy, the connections to the "Sad Song" melody are significantly more direct, even though most of the arrangement remains unchanged. And, thus a NO has nudged into a YES. Thanks very much Andy for being willing to revisit this one and making the minor tweaks needed to get the arrangement more solid. This is a very unique and creative addition to OCR, and your skills have come a long way. YES

I do. http://www.ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog#Pre-OCR01500_Removal_Process_.28Lockdown_2.29 For the record, a good deal of people hated that track, but I was a fan.

Remixer/real name: Steve Pordon email: music3@neutronstar.org URL: http://neutronstar.org/music UserID: 11 Game: Oblivion Song: Title Screen This is my remix of the title screen, named "Cursed Earth" because I can't come up with anything better at the moment. I love the original orchestration but I wanted something a little more metal for the game. -steve ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pretty impressive source tune. Great enegy on that bitch. Sounds familiar, so I guess it's from Morrowind as well. I'm just not familiar with the soundtracks like that. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Special Edition Soundtrack - 01 "Reign of the Septims" Cool intro. A little on the empty side. The plucked lead at :13 feels rather out of place with the rest of the instrumentation, plus the sequencing sounds a bit mechanical. The melody also repeats a little too much. At :42, I wondered why we needed even more of it, when you could have done something to vary up the delivery. Changing up the percussion is a good idea, but the arrangement needs more than that. Some soloing from 1:27-1:57. Meanwhile the background stuff kept looping from :57-2:09. Some minor grace notes in the melody at 2:29. The foundation here is good, but the arrangement needs to be more comprehensive. At almost any time, the melody and/or the background repeats pretty often, with very minor variation or development. Even when one aspect changes, the other essentially holds steady, and the arrangement ends up sounding really repetitive and underdeveloped. NO (resubmit)

It was declined due to clipping and distortion. I believe I have solved those problems with the help from some lovely folks in the forums. Also I changed the name. It was originally Ortus Deus, and is now God's Birth. Remixer name: Kain Vinosec Real name: Robert Smith (please do not use) Email: kainvinosec@aol.com Website: www.embracingfate.com User ID: 21094 (I think. This is the only number I could find after I signed up. The name is kainvinosec though if that's the wrong number.) Remix Info Song's name - God's Birth Game(s) - Final Fantasy VII Song(s) - Birth Of A God, One Winged Angel Genre - Instrumental metal (E.g. The Black Mages, Dream Theater, etc. etc...) Comments: This is my first Uematsu cover that I actually spent any relevant time on. It was a request from a friend of mine (just to do Birth Of A God) and he seemed satisfied with the overall result of the song. I use midi sequencing to do the drums and then change the color using soundfonts. The rest of the instruments are all recorded live. This is the first song I've released since changing my overall sound after releasing my first original, full-length album; The Nightmare Battles (which is free to download on my website). Many, many thanks to Tensei-San, Nutritious, and everyone else that helped me with mastering techniques in the forums here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To some, these sources are burned into the brain. Not I! Besides, a refresher is always good, even when you've heard a song a billion times. These are long-as-hell sources anyway, so there's lots of material to pluck from. http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 416 "One-Winged Angel" & 415 "The Birth of God" Opens up with some OWA on ze pianer. Started rather abruptly. The compression or whatever was wrong with it was toned WAY down from the previous submission I heard, but this still sounds pretty bad from a production standpoint. Everything sounds like a cluttery mess. I not sure how this was achieved, but I'd appreciate another J giving their educated guess. On the arrangement side, things sounds decent, but the drums are lazy, and the textures aren't very complex. Right now, the volume and distortion is what's filling the track out, not the instrumentation itself. It's rather difficult to make specific suggestions on the arrangement, when it's impossible to pick things out. The crossfade into the piano at 3:57 for the ending was a decent idea in thought, but poorly executed. You need someone to look at the individual tracks and really clean this up. You got some decent production advice from our forums, but this needed an overhaul, not a touchup. NO

The submitting artists actually sent two letters after the first one didn't get the auto-confirmation. I've taken artistic license and cut/pasted both letters into one mega-letter; I know how you guys love mega-letters! - LT Contact Info: Remixer name: TomThamuz Real name: Tom Coglianese Email address: tomcoglianese@hotmail.com Website: N/A UserID: 20124 Remix Info: Link to song: Game: Starfox Name of song: Corneria Game info: Composer: Hajime Hirasawa System: SNES Publisher/Copyright: Nintendo Comments: I remembered the first time I played Starfox, it made a huge impression on me and the rest of the gaming industry with it's polygon graphics, which would later take over gaming as we know it. It was a cutting edge game at the time, and the soundtrack perfectly fit the theme of the game. Hats off to Hajime Hirasawa for the score, this is a tribute to how it sounded to me when I first played it. After playing Starfox a few weeks ago after so many years, I pulled out the guitar and ended up figuring out the main little theme to the first Corneria level by mistake. I showed a friend of mine and he suggested that I attempt to recreate the song with tools much more powerful than the SNES had. I had some time to kill so I went ahead and did it. Then he suggested that I post it on OCReMix - you guys will probably say no, but that's okay either way. I just did it to try something new. I thought it would be an interesting project worth spending some time on. I spent about a week from start to finish. Now he wants me to redo the rest of the game. I'm not sure if my guitar-driven background would fit it at this point, only time will tell. Anyways, this is a tribute to how it sounded to me so many moons ago. The main guitar line I set with a stereo panning chorus when I recorded it to make it sound less organic and more digitally hard-edged to fit with the original song. I used the same approach on most of the MIDI instrument tracks I used - I wanted it to feel like a modern take on it, but keep it faithful to the original. The first guitar solo I am still half tempted to pull, as it was improvised on the spot for filler space and to differentiate the second half of the song. I decided to remake the intro "SCRAMBLE" sequence by hand (yes, the static is intentional) with actual sirens instead of the SNES frequency sliding they used in the original, and the "Emergency!" portion I decided to use a text-to-speech tool to emphasize it as being futuristic (besides, without a ROM debugger I'd have never been able to cleanly pull the originals). Every remix of this particular track I've heard have been straight electronica or trance without so much as a trace of the guitar-driven tempo they used in the game, so here's hoping that I pulled it off somehow (and that you all enjoy it). Thanks for listening! ---TomThamuz PS: Yes, the static is intentional. ------------------------------------------------------------ http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sf - "Corneria" (sf-09.spc) Cool rock cover approach. I'll admit, it helped that your source tune was great for a rock mix. It wasn't hugely interpretive, but the writing was certainly expanded a bit and there was a noticeable degree of personalizing the performance via the electric guitar with note embellishments and some brief freestyling. Ultimately, it wasn't enough from the arrangement perspective, but it could be worked on. The only times I ever heard your bass were when the electric guitars cleared out (e.g. 2:32-2:34, 2:42). All other times, it was, for all intents and purposes, barely audible and didn't contribute anything significant. Too bad, because it could have played a valuable role here. Expanding on that, the production wasn't that hot. It's not terrible, but there was a lot of mud and lossiness to the sounds. It was a decent grungy feel, but on the cluttered side. Try and better separate the parts with some selective EQing. You do have a 6MB filesize ceiling as well and may want to bump up the encoding quality. The sequenced drumwork left a lot to be desired. It was pretty flimsy and didn't mesh well with the other sounds. The percussion writing was on the plain side, but you varied up the patterns well enough. Figure out ways to add some more meat to the drums. Good use of sound effects though. The air raid sirens (1:44) were a bit over the top, but everything else was cool. Cool ending as well focused on that aspect. With better attention paid to the production, Tom, I'd be comfortable giving this a go. Very cool. Keep working on this one and send it back; I like the potential of what you've got in place so far. NO (resubmit)

Praise the Lord!