Liontamer

He's not tactful, but you can tell SnappleMan's not trying to be rude just for the hell of it. He'll say something really unconstructive, but then offer some legit advice and say something supportive. It's gruff, but it's not out of line, and he's offering (as usual) to give specific feedback. Andy's tough, but he's not trying to be discouraging. He wants to see improvement. He's just blunt. Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with that.

Hello Judges. It’s been a while since I submitted something here (cuz Larry stole my Tales Project Submission and ran for his life with it ), so it’s good to be doing it again. This is a Remix of “Forest Interlude”, from DKC 2, a song that I had previously tried to submit on OCR (long time ago), but got rejected. The main idea behind this is was to create a nice groove with bass + drums, and then develop a different, retro sound design to go along with it. I used some chipish sounds (even a “chiptune” section, don’t flame me for that) and quirky synths to reach that goal. I think it turned out rather well. Remixer Name: Red Tailed Fox Remix Name: Fixbit Forest Name of game(s) ReMixed: Donkey Kong 2 Name of Indivdual song(s) ReMixed: Forest Interlude (or is it Enchanted Woods?!) Phill for now. PS.: I would like to thank zircon for his patience with me on this. His feedback was very helpful. Also, props to Xennon for the upload. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You gotta yell at Kyle for Summoning of Sprits not being done yet! Hell, I'd love "Café Mantra" to go up on the front page tomorrow! http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkq - "Forest Interlude" (dkq-10.spc) Man, it's a really tough task to compare something with "Forest Birdcussion". Luckily, that's not where the bar is. Overall, things are fine. My main issue was that the drumwork was rather plain and disinteresting. Not sure if it's also the snare's tone or volume as well, but the patterns being so repetitive majorly dragged out the arrangement. Aside from that the arrangement was fairly straightforward but well personalized, with a lot of great variation in the instrumentation and textures. Why the drumwork held so steady in the face of all the other evolution going on here, I'll never understand. Ha, chiptune section at 3:25. Decent crossfade back into the regular music at 3:40; could have been a little smoother, but it was a good concept and pulled off decently. For 3 minutes worth of a 4-minute arrangement, I think the plodding, repetitive drums wouldn't have been such a turnoff in light of the rest of the ideas. But nearly 5 minutes worth of a 6-minute arrangement is pushing it. The arrangement is otherwise cool, but it drags like a motherfucker on account of that one integral element being handled in such a nonchalant way. Sorry, bro, the drum writing needs more substance. I certainly don't mean any ill will toward Caio, and I'm imagining that I may be the lone dissenter, but I've gotta push for the tweak. This is good, but it could be great. NO (borderline/refine/resubmit)

remixer name: The Grand Funk Dynasty real name: Stu email: gfd@seiken.co.uk website: http://www.seiken.co.uk forums userid: 20263 game remixed: Seiken Densetsu 3 songs remixed: Angel's Fear, Different Road remix title: Manaburn Eh, hey chaps. I think I already sent in a song to your fine establishment a while ago; I apologise, it was terrible. Fortunately I'm better now and can tell when what I make is half-decent. I just took my favourite two songs from this game and switched them up a bit into a sort of ambient electronica thing. They go quite well together I think, have a listen. Thanks dudes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sd3 - "Angel's Fear" (sd3-3-12.spc) & "Different Road" (sd3-2-07.spc) Though I didn't think the tone of the drums quite fit. The drum groove is decent, and I see how it's supposed to be laid back and uninvasive. Unfortunately though, I felt it was really simplistic and repetitive. More on that later. Though a bit muddy, I like your ethereal textures here. Good subtractive and interpretive arrangement of "Angel's Fear" for 1:24's section, just when I was getting worried about the melody being used in too straightforward of a manner. The light electrosynth in the background has some nice embellishing writing that plays with the rhythms of the source's own background writing. Arrangement segued very seamlessly into "Different Road" at 2:05. Plucked-sounding instrument at 2:46 sounded a bit too rigid and exposed, but combined nicely with the glassy lead at 3:07. At 3:07 though, it would have been better to develop the arrangement of the "Different Road" melody. Bringing that arranged melody back with no variation at 3:07 and keeping it going in the foreground until the very end felt cruise controlled, underdeveloped and repetitive, not helped at all by the simple, repetitive drum grooves criticized up top. You may hear other opinions, so I don't mean to sound presumptuous. But this arrangement has just about the same level of complexity in the percussion writing as "Different Road", i.e. not enough to function well as a standalone piece, which is a breaking point for an OC ReMix vs. the original music. Some source tunes work great on their own, but many don't. In a sense, it's your objective to get it to that point. "Different Road" works very nicely as BGM, but there's no way you can just cycle through a few very simplistic drum patterns like that track does and expect your mix to retain interest and flow over the long haul. Further variation and development are gonna be the keys in picking up this one from being merely decent to really solid. Definitely go back to this and resubmit it with some more work. I like the potential of what you've got so far. Use the Works forum for further feedback and try to make sure you get some viable feedback from established ReMixers to really confirm the effectiveness of any new ideas you may have. NO (resubmit)

Hi, this is a ReMix from Link'S Awakening : Windfish ReMixer Name : Ejis ----------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/gbs/zelda.zip - Tracks 47 & 4 Some of the sounds were decent/serviceable, like the woodwind (that was a bit piercing though). The piano sounded pretty fake, but the writing was half decent. The drums really dragged out after a while; the writing on 'em wasn't interesting and didn't seem to fit the texture of the piece. Using what sounds like a rock kit wasn't a good idea. The melody could have used more audible support; as is, the melodic stuff was straightforward and relatively thin. Electric guitar synth at 2:05 was frankly awful; static sequencing, terrible tone, almost always a poor choice unfortunately. Bringing it back at 4:09 was no good. :'-( There were some decent original sections (e.g. 1:43, 2:56) that pieced together well with the arranged source tunes. Transition into "House by the Bay" at 3:33 felt like an awkward key change. Weird ending choice with guitar feedback. On the whole, the track sounds like it doesn't know what genre it wants to be. Quite a few blisteringly loud sections. Textures were weak, not helped by the writing, and the arrangement of the source tunes wasn't interpretive enough. NO

Witold: I haven't even assessed arrangement in any way, so I'll do that soon and add any relevant comments on that level. Interesting opening. The piano sounds a bit too rigid and exposed for the speed it's playing at, but the sample sounds pretty serviceable. I like the synth brought in at :36. Track feels a bit empty at that point, like it's waiting for a pad to come in, but that could all be part of the build. I really like the string writing at :55, but feel like it would sound better if it was louder and more upfront for its part. That's how cool it is. Those little belltones at 1:02 could be pushed up as well. You have a good groove in place (simple but good bassline, and some decent beats), but the production is a bit too lo-fi, and the melodic stuff needs to stand out more. Cool idea gating the string-like stuff at 1:51, but again, push that up, along with those bleeps at 1:57. Strings could sound a bit warmer as well. Nice idea with the piano grace notes immediately afterward at 2:02. The dynamics could be a bit more substantial, but you're doing some promising stuff here. The groove could change/evolve more substantially, but it's aight. The changeup in the instrumentation at 2:28 would feel more dynamic if the previous section had more volume and power to it. Then this section would feel a bit more laid back before you return to the more piano-based stuff at 3:04. Nice string accents at 3:18. You've got some good embellishments going on. The low strings at 3:23 sounded ultra-rough, and could probably use some delay or wuteva to make the notes last a little bit longer and fill out the space more. In short, go for the cleaner sound, refine the piano to sound a little more organic, adjust the balance with some of the parts to lend more dynamic contrast and flow to the piece, and do more to vary the groove up a bit more (not too much) and this would be pretty close to done. Very cool so far. Definitely shop it around for more feedback, bro. OverCoat and Abadoss's comments this weekend.

Oh hell yeah! eBay style, kids, LET'S GO!!!!~

If that had anything to do with it, I'D be in game music.

I'll take 'em. Liontamer@ocremix.org, plz.

Hahaha! Give 'em hell, Jill! She's sure to do well in whatever role she provides for the game. Haven't played Civilization since Civ1 on my old Quadra 630. But it's still a kickass series. Addictive. Definitely looking forward to how things go.

Street Fighter Zero 2 Capcom Game Soundtrack - (209) "Stage Adon" Oh shit, you arranged Adon Stage. The Sega Saturn remix version of that stage in SFA1 was one of my personal favorites from way back in the day. You already get lots of points for that, though my expectations are HIGH. Tough to figure out where to go with such a kickass original like this. Aside from the melody near-vebatim on piano, there's just some sparse drumwork and a thin, gated rhythm that doesn't fill anything out here; track's empty as hell. 1:40 adds some tradeoffs with a warm but solitary synth and the piano, before harmonizaing the two at 2:02. Cymbals at 2:14 are just lonely and exposed; why even bother using them only once, like that no less? Some more involved interpretation starting from 2:24-2:47, but BRIEF and nothing substantial before basically going back to the same straightforward ideas from before, only now with the pad in the back. Ending at 3:33 was sudden, and a poor resolution. Tons of dead space here, and not enough interpretation of the source melody. That's just not gonna cut it. You picked some good stuff to arrange, I'll give you that. If you aren't doing so already, use the Works forum for fan feedback and the ReMixing forums for more help at fleshing out your sounds and improving your arrangements. NO

http://project2612.org/download.php?id=61 - IceCap Zone 1 Interesting opening. Strings seem too muddy and bleeding into the other sounds, such as the piano. The beats at :31 definitely needed some more presence, a consistent detrimental factor. Electrosynth brought in at :40 sounded really out of place with the rest of the sounds, and didn't help the texture. The fact that it was the melodic lead and buried so deep didn't help. Decent original section at 1:04, but again everything sounds muddy, indistinct and lossy. String articulations at 1:20 sounded kinda cheap, and the shrill electrosynth lead at 1:27 again sounded out of place with the rest of these more ethereal sounds. Changed up into some really ugly, dirty electronic bassline at 1:51. Beatwork writing at 1:57 was fine, but again the sound choices were weak and didn't compliment to intended energy level of the writing. Yeah, Malcos was saying he was expecting something produced more "in-your-face" due to the arranging here, but the production is lackluster; I see what he's talking about. The textures you have are fairly decent, but need that extra push to sound great. The sequenced bow movements from 3:00-3:14. sounded straight-up awful and just take me, as the listener, right out of the piece. You had a lot more beef with the beats at 3:14 as compared to seconds earlier. The arrangement from 3:14 was a lot stronger on the whole than the ealier couple of section. The melodic interpretation isn't too high, but the personalization factor was strong. Excellent shimmery/glassy effects from 3:41 until the end. If you could have cleaner, more balanced production, and more meat and stronger textures for the first section like the power of 3:14's section, this would be more solid ground. It's all about touching up the finer details now. The arrangement seems reasonable to me. You guys never resub anything! Keep working on this one so it has the chance to get posted! NO (definitely resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=tit - "Sewer Surfin'" (tit-06.spc) Why'd you name this "Turd Shitters" or whatever? Agreed with the others that "WasteBoarding" was fine. You're not infringing on anyone's past work in any way. Mixed a little too hot, the treble's pretty sizzly, and the volume could stand to be pulled back a bit. Sounds way better just dropping the volume a bit. The samples suck , but the part writing was indeed pretty good. Drums at :50, followed by the bassline at :51 are all super thin. There really should be more meat on this. Nice little cameos of "Big Apple, 3 A.M." at :58 and "Going Up" at 1:05. "Cowabunga!", "Hey!", and "Pizza time!" were coo, but "My toe!" had to go, it was incredibly lame. I give you credit for more hits than misses. Awesome comping-style writing from 2:06-2:43 intertwined with the TMNT theme, before going back into Sewer Surfin'. Last voice clips at 3:21 could have sounded less mono and hard-panned, but whatever. Lacks a shitload of polish on the production side, and frankly sounds rather ugly in spots on account on it. The arrangement's got a lot of heart, but I need less treble sizzle and more beef with the sounds so that the track isn't this thin. There's a fair amount of work involved in making the writing comprehensive, and that's duly noted. But on the production side thin and loud is always a lackluster combination. Less sizzle will fix this enough, IMO. Shouldn't go up until some final tweaks. The revised version is 224kbps, so this can't go up as is anyway. Do it for posterity's sake. Protricity's sake too. His nose hairs will thank you for it. YES (conditional)

Legwork with no vote, BGC?!? I kill u. Pick a source, any source. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=uw2 - "Close to Home" (uw2-24.spc) http://project2612.org/download.php?id=265 - 24 "Close to Home (Ending Theme)" http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/psf/packs/UnchartedWatersII_psf.rar - 24 "Close to Home" The instrumentation is aight, though pretty tame/fake sounding. Kinda hurting in spite of the attempt at a more intimate sound, but serviceable. I've certainly heard these samples before. Some of the elongated note sustains (1:30-1:35, 1:38-1:43) are pushing the realm of feasibility, at least given the tone of 'em. The long attacks on some of the parts does throw off the rhythm a bit, but I agreed with Malc that it wasn't a dealbreaker of an issue. The arrangement slows down the theme and adds some writing underneath as far as I can tell, but the melodic interpretation factor in particular could be more substantial, especially for the first section. The feel was a bit too similar with Kanno's original off the bat. 1:21 seemed new though before seguing back to some source usage. The second half was stronger, particuarly on account of more substantive and personalized supporting writing and instrument choices. Some buziness/ringing in the low end in spots between 2:01-2:35. Either refine the sound quality with further depth to flesh out the sounds a bit more, or get the first half of the arrangement sounding more interpretive, and I'd be solidly over the line. You've got the right idea overall. Good work so far, Kenley, this could snag some more YESs. NO (refine/resubmit)

We need people to confirm their attendance. If we get 20 or more people together for either date, we can gets seats in the same general area together with some OCR shirts and also go for a group di$count. I can put myself down for 2 people for both dates. All I know is that if we can't get enough people locked in by Sunday night, I'm snagging my tix ASAP. I don't wanna lose out.

Using this same reasoning, if any project mix was already a passable arrangement according to the standards, then would you NO it simply because it had been minorly tweaked since then before being submitted? That doesn't make any sense. Gotta qualify the vote with something more about how the production and/or arrangement doesn't cut it. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ssf2 - "Guile's Ending" (ssf2-31.spc) Interesting opening. A bit lo-fi. Pads and xylo/vibe/marimba-ish whatever are derived from the backing parts of the source. Vocals are notably rough and a bit too exposed, but aren't bad; kind of Moby-ish. Instrumentation picks up at :42 with some piano activity, liberally arranging the source tune, though I'd argue too liberally to be acceptable. I liked the subtle bassline there at :53. The overall texture until 1:13 doesn't quite work for me, but it's venturing on personal taste. Chorus from 1:14-1:46 is really cool from an interpretive standpoint. Rab went back into :32's previous verse structure at 1:46, then another chorus from 2:29-3:01. Goes into some Billy Joel/"In the Middle of the Night"-inspired vocals from 3:01-3:43. Kinda dragged on, and the delivery was noticeably weaker than the more slowly-paced stuff. He changed the drumkit there from the project version, and to me it definitely doesn't fit the rest of the instrumentation well. The other sounds were very well chosen, IMO, so the drums sounding so out of place was disappointing, especially given how well the previous choices worked for Starky. The vocals delivery could be tightened up for the Billy Joel part, and the beefier percussion could be reworked into something that fits better with the texture. What kills this off though it that the arrangement seems fairly liberal aside from the chorus being instantly recognizable, and that's my main problem with the track, much like Shael's own take on the theme where he used the source as a countermelody and went off into very original that wasn't directly derived from the Guile Ending theme. Needs a lot more recognizable and overt usage of the source material. It's tough, because the source is short, but more has been done with less. Good track otherwise, definitely something different with a pretty pleasing soundscape. NO

djp has said in the past, he has 0 qualms about a project having a slew of passable mixes sent in. Aside from lamenting the lack of game variety, there's no reason to consider drawing the line anywhere at all. http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 221 "Sandy Badlands" Swank piano coversion, and a beautiful expansion of the source material. Could sound a bit richer, but that wasn't my production choice. The sparseness is ok with me. At 3:38, I was feeling apprehensive about the arrangement retreading, but those fears were quickly put to rest with some further interpretation. Good deal, son. YES

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 305 "Those Chosen by the Planet" http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sm - "Norfair Ancient Ruins Area" (sm-26.spc) For the record, I agreed with most of BGC's source breakdown. Hate to do this, but I agreed with zircon most of the way. Arrangement-wise, I'm not having major issues. I think it works well enough as a standalone piece of music despite the film score style. The overall realism is aight, even though the strings and brass feel thin and bland. For example, the last section at 3:49, the strings feel like they have 0 depth to them. Focus more on the FF7 & Super Metroid material. I see how you're trying to use those sources throughout most of the mix, but IMO the references are too hidden in the back. I'm not inferring/implying your creative process, but IMO the source references being tucked so far in the back and paleing drastically with your original writing that's up front feels like you're only paying lip service to the source tunes in those sections. It literally may be only volume and/or balance issues, but those uses of the source need to stand out more strongly in that first half. Not the dealbreaker here, but pushing it. C'mon man, get that volume up, give this track the power the writing implies. Even in Winamp, I was able to bump the track up 7db with things still sounding ok (but fuller) for the most part. Just revisit the volume and sound balance, and (on the more minor side) try to up the realism of the brass and strings and this would be a safe pass for me. It's good work so far, bro. Don't drop this if this isn't the version that gets you passed. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mmx2 - Dangerous Reef (mmx2-09.spc) a.k.a. Capcom Music Generation: Rockman X1~6 - (151) "Bubbly Crablos Stage" Crappy tagging on the SPC pack. Hate it when people make up the titles without at least basing them off the game manual or some more official source. Yeah, the acoustic guitar sounds pretty fake. Sounds seem a bit imbalanced, and while you'd benefit from a real guitar player, it's pretty bleh advice if you don't want to or can't obtain one. Too bad it sounds so rough. It's a bit like Vurez's style, so it's not a dealbreaker. The rigid playing of the strings and mallet percussion though tends to sound more glaring IMO, and that's what needs to most attention in terms of the sample articulation. Jesse breaks down the situation as usual. Right now, the imbalance of the parts ruins the track's dynamics and makes it feel aimless, whereas a closer look at the arrangement shows that it's fine. Dunno why you didn't sub this two years ago, you either would have made it or at least snagged some YESs and could have went for a resub involving some tweaks. If you can't go back to this one, it's a shame. A better balancing of the parts and some refined sample articulation would put this otherwise-passable arrangement over the line. Right now however, Damon, the production is ultimately lacking. NO (borderline/resubmit)

Aight. Some parts are original, but I see what you're saying. Not a particularly catchy theme, the X5 version.

Rockman X1~6 Collection - (530) "Megaman X5 Opening Theme" Pretty by-the-numbers trance adaptation. Good power behind the dance kicks, and reasonably decent production even if the sounds were pretty stock. Changed up at 1:10 to a transition section, before some more beats were added at 1:37. So far, nothing else having to do with arranging MMX5. Fades down and immediately repeats itself at 2:10 with some slightly different sound choices at 2:23 (compared to :17 the first time around). End. Indeed. The arrangement only touches the intro of the source tune and leaves everything else alone. Could have had more of a chance if the second half wasn't a mere retread of the first. Needs more variation and further interpretation. NO

Only the intro (:00-:15) is also in MMX1, Jesse, but the rest of the song is unique.

Lost the title, clearly.

Following up, there ARE group sales for groups of 20 or more. Need to mobilize if we're to take advantage, and also have a chance to witness the concert as a unit!

Obviously, I'm there. Both dates. I mentioned on the VGL thread at GamingForce Audio that I was really disappointed to miss the New Haven, CT show in my hometown, but with VGL in my backyard, there's no way I won't be there. Is there any plan to block order tickets or should we just get what we can?

***This past weekend, after djp handled the necessary coding, there is now a "Real Name" field for everyone's profile. If the feature ends up being abused, it can be changed to only allow moderators to edit the information, which merely hampers the feature for everyone else. Or we can just ban for abuse outright and thus leave the feature open to the people that will use it properly. Yeah, that's pretty much how that will be dealt with. As OCR looks into expanding awareness of VGM arrangement among social networking sites, the Real Name field is a good way, especially for ReMixers, to get one's information out there beyond your nickname. Personally, I prefer being on a fist name basis with people rather than referring to them by their internet handle, so I'm glad the feature is out there. ***Also this past weekend, for anyone who hasn't noticed yet, I also enabled ReMixers to display the title "ReMixer" in their forum profile and forum posts, something I've wanted since the old phpBB boards to give OCR's contributors increased recognition within the community. In order to display this title if you are an existing ReMixer, go to your User Control Panel (User CP), choose "Group Memberships" (in the Miscellaneous section at the bottom) and identify yourself as a member of the ReMixers group. Some recent new mixers still need to be added, and that will be taken care of soon. Please let me know if that's the case for you, and I will do what I can. In addition, while there's no timetable, djpretzel hopes to program a feature where clicking on the "ReMixer" title on a ReMixer's forum posts can bring a user to that mixer's list of posted OC ReMixes. Having watched djp code the aforementioned forum changes, I can say that the trial-and-error aspect of coding even relatively minor changes is more time consuming that I ever realized, so please be patient. Hopefully though, that level of synergy for the ReMixers' forum profiles and music pages will be around the corner.