Liontamer

Not sure how appropriate it is to acknowledge Karl's salary, but if he's ok with it, that's fine. I'd say you're looking too deeply into it. You weigh both issues (production/arrangement) and judge accordingly. In this case, there's a nice amount of realism in the sequencing, even if the sound quality is lacking. The sample quality could be improved, but the samples are used very well. You don't need hotter samples, just use them effectively.

Props to DarkeSword on the first Wii ReMix. A lot of people tried, but he was the only only who succeeded so far. Any further comments on this piece should be directed to its Review thread.

I don't think he'll ever figure it out. i.e. If you wanna quick dose of Japanz, David has something new up for ya. (Thanks!) I've also got a plug for SSX Blur's soundtrack. Give it some love.

Name: Brink-of-Time Real Name: David C. Jacobson Jr. Website: http://brink-of-time.sectionzmusic.com Forum ID: 3677 ReMix info: Game: Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune Song ReMixed: Feel the Passion Link to soundtrack: http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/aa/am/vg/wanganmaxi2/bgm/special.php Game info: Arcade Racing Sim. Music by Yuzo Koshiro. Bandai Namco Games I love this game. There's an arcade about 5 min down the street from me, and I go there to play it once a week ( spending about $20 on that game alone). Anyways, after a while I looked up the soundtrack and found it for free from the games japanese website. Feel the Passion kinda stuck out to me, as it had the energy for a racing song, but had a happy feel to it. Like it's an adventure to drive. lol Anyways, I kept the dance style to keep the energy, but changed the layout, with some new solos and breakdowns. Titled the ReMix "Blazin in My RX-7 FC" since I drive a 91 RX-7 FC in that game. lol Hope you enjoy this one. -Brink --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for linking to the soundtrack. You know I didn't wanna go searching for it. Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 - (03) "Feel the Passion" The effort towards filling things out is there in terms of the number of sounds in play, but the textures are really thin and vanilla. All the synths have no body to them, and the beatwork and claps have no punch to them. There's nothing padding out the background and the beat patterns are basic and repetitive. As far as the arrangement goes, I did like the original stuff at 1:33-2:24 that seamlessly built off of the original; the arrangement needs more good writing ideas like that. The production here is what kills this. That's where it needs the most TLC. It's really tough to arrange a source tune like this one in a similar genre, as the sounds here are nowhere near as fleshed out, making a comparison more unflattering. Decent base, now flesh it out. NO

Hahaha! That source tune is indeed terrible. Sounds like the Game Boy's running out of battery life. Hate that melody and how the phrasing seems wrong all the time though. Nonetheless, definitely a good eulogy theme though that could go in any number of directions. I'd love to hear a somber, expansionist take on this one day. Mix is kinda crunchy in the low end to start, but it's better once the loud strings and booming drum shots in the intro drop out at :59. Probably my only major crit, as I think it could have been crunchy without sounding distorted. Seemingly wrong note at 1:37; didn't really resolve into anything that I could pick up on, so it was awkward. Good changeup at 1:39 with the lead to give the track a different feel than before. Not a piece that's high on repetition or structured to come full circle, the ending seems more abrupt and less satisfying as a result. At the end of the day though, there's way more to like here, and I appreciate what was done with such lackluster source material. YES

Contact Info I am a returning remixer * Remixer name: BogusRed * Website: http://www.bogusred.net - please update my OCRemix profile with this url. Remix Info * Name of game: Chrono Trigger * Remix title: Gale of Ages * Original name of song: Wind Scene * Comments: Wandering around the world map in Chrono Trigger was quite an eerie experience. All of the fog surrounding you and the Wind Scene music that would play really added a realistic atmosphere to the game. Even though it didn't look real, it somehow felt real. I enjoyed the melody a lot and would often hum along to this song while it was playing. This song was originally performed and recorded in September of 2005. I've updated it to use the Reason Piano's refill so the quality is much better than my previous submissions. I hope you enjoy this one. --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Wind Scene" (ct-1-09.spc) Tired and true theme, but good arrangement. Started off pretty straightforward, which was boring relative to other Wind Scene arrangements. Left hand stuff could have been more involved with as well. But once it got to 1:23 things picked up significantly, displaying good contrast with the opening half with more complexity and more substantive variations. I would have liked to have heard more material in here, either with original passages added or more liberal arrangement, but that's a personal choice. Doing a very capable but (in the grand scheme of things) limited variation on the theme may seem cookie cutter to some, so this may not be enough. I think it does just enough to get the job done. Samples cut out abruptly at 2:28. Come on now, you know you can't have it end like that. It's sloppy and exposes the samples. Plus as a resolution, it's pretty weak regardless. The sound quality sounds a bit too lossy/distant, but I suppose it's OK. You may wanna tweak it, you may not. But the ending would have to be fixed before having a chance of going up. Good luck on the rest of the vote, Susie. YES (conditional)

Oh please, no need to lock this. Leave the topic be. ED is just nonsense anyway, so laugh at it. The only thing I thought was lame is that they don't keep track of featured articles. How is anyone else supposed to casually see the article now that it's no longer on the front page? Ah well.

I got a laugh out of it. Srsly.

The name of the remix: Soul Of Rage Try this link, I just uploaded today and I added alot more to the remix. I hope you like it alot better than you did the last time, I did a V1 (which is what I sent you) and V2 is on the forums. This is V3, I feel as though it is now complete. Thanks. Contact Info: * Red Rum * Greg Costa * in1on1rumble@aol.com * Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile * http://www.ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=15997 ReMix Info * Streets of Rage 2 * Streets of Rage Super Mix (Stage * The remix is bascially a remix of Streets of Rage Super Mix (Stage in Streets of Rage 2 but I blended alot from The Last Soul (Stage from the first Streets of Rage, Enigma's "Sadness", and some of the hip-hop song known as "Murda". I tried to go with the oldschool feel from the actual game blended with some newschool and to tell you the truth, it worked perfectly. I basically used alot of instrument samples for this remix. I tried to make it so it had a unique sound with a unique rearrangement. I put alot of synth-like instruments in it and also added some effects into the song. I hope you enjoy this remix as much as I enjoyed creating it. Thank you and please do Enjoy!

Happy b-day, foo! You're olllllllllllllllllllllllllllllld!

We've had it for a while. I'll check the revised version. Seems like the production has been played with even more, so we'll need to see what sounds the best.

Not gonna put this on the panel. It's not interpretive in the least. This track sounds good, but it's a sound upgrade, not an interpretation.

Too liberal from Sebastian...again? Have voted, but will contact the mixer - LT ReMixer name: AeroZ Real name: Sebastian Freij Email: sebastian_freij@hotmail.com Website: myspace.com/freijman Name of game(s) ReMixed: Final Fantasy V Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: Cursed Earths Name of the ReMix: Wicked n' Floating Own Comments: Well, I have not much to say more than Final Fantasy V is a real goldmine. Nobuo has made really good melodies for this game, and I will fight to get them as popular they deserve to be. "Cursed Earths" is a fantastic example I think. Simple but genius. Best Wishes / Sebastian --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bah, let's go for the breakdown again. Sebastian, remind me to kill you the next time I have to do this for one of your submissions. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff5 - "Cursed Earths" (ff5-1-14.spc) I initially went NO and decided to throw a copy to Song of the Week's CHz, because it's a great track regardless. His observations below: Part of the problem is the "shit going on around it". To a degree, one can reasonably argue that it marginalizes the arrangement of the source material. You could argue that the source, even when it's in play, is not enough of a focus. We've had other mixes structured like that though, so it's not as disconcerting to me. Still, couple that with almost half of the arrangement (1:11-2:13, 3:47-4:41) being either wholly original or so liberal that no meaningful/overt connection is there, and you're left with a potentially debatable case for the panel. There's tons of connections to the original, but they're not readily observable without a really focused listen and breakdown. At the end of the day, there's source usage/arrangement for over 50% of the duration of the arrangement, so you win with me. It's tough to go for a liberal approach where the focus is not overtly on the melody. For Sonic the Hedgehog "Green Lane Avenue" you straddled the line but pulled it off. For this one, more of the same. Thanks a lot to CHz for his insights. Despite not hearing anything significantly new based on the timestamps he gave, 'Ili articulated the extent of the connections well, and that's what turned me around. In short, he saved your ass. Shnabubula-level crazy, only less overtly connected, and that's saying something. Very catchy track though. One that won't endear critics that cry we allow too liberal pieces on, but thems the breaks. You don't waste time catering to the unwashed masses. Good luck with the rest of the vote. YES

Someone just hit myf up on his MySpace and ask him for the (then-complete) list he had; wouldn't be much of a problem to then add the new ones.

Uhhhhh.....

AH, but you're not done yet, kimosabe...

Remixer Name: AZ-Solii Real Name: Kyle Solii Email Adress: AZSolii@gmail.com Website: http://azsolii.sheezyart.com/ Forum ID Number: 20907 Game Remixed: Earthbound (AKA Mother 2) Song Remixed: Sound Stone Melody Title of Remix: The Melody Complete (from Earthbound) Link: http://www.sheezyart.com/view/1277070/ I'm new to the composing and arranging world and have just begun to practice the art. Earlier, I decided to do a remix of a song which is quite important to me. So I wanted to practice my skills in dictation and arrangement on this piece and this submission was the product of it. After hearing it, a friend told me I should submit it here. I realize that the standards are quite brutal; however, I don't think I'll get much better without some constructive criticism. So, after debating a bit, I decided to give it a go and submit it. There's really not much more to say except that I eagerly await your decision and comments. Thank you, K. "AZ" Solii ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mo2 - "Eight Melodies" (mo2-111.spc) The samples chosen were pretty serviceable. Could use some refinements in terms of realism, but some other Js would be better equipped to say what worked and what didn't. The very robotic, sustained woodwind fluttering from 3:48-4:04 really exposed the sample. The ending at 4:04 also decayed too quickly, exposing every sample. Those were the only major issues I heard there. The base was taken verbatim from the original, which is already pretty dangerous in terms of the standards. It was only by 1:06 when some added writing ideas come in with the strings, then we got some more new stuff from 2:10-2:46 with the woodwind and brass before going back to the source melody with added embellishments. This simply holds too hard and fast to the structure of the original, and sounds so verbatim it might as well be MIDI-ripped if it isn't. At that point, I had to double-check the Mother arrange album just to make sure everything wasn't cribbed. You've gotta move way more beyond that framework with more ideas that alter and personalize the delivery compared to the original. You're starting to go in the right direction in terms of subsequently adding new ideas/part-writing, but copying the original verbatim is still going to hurt you in terms of a lack of interpretation. Keep at it, you've clearly got some potential for growth as a musician. NO

Evan Arnett evanarnettmusic@gmail.com www.evanarnett.com ID= 20858 Gmae: Legend of Zelda Arrangment of: Overworld Theme and Ocarina of Time: Hyrule Field Title: "Legend of Zelda Overture" I've always been a huge Zelda fan, and decided to create an orchestral arrangement. It's conceived as a piece of dramatic concert music that could be performed by a real orchestra. Rather than being based on one single Zelda tune, I took a few of my favorite themes, developed and combined them. So the point was more to communicate an overall feeling of "Zelda" with my own musical fingerprint, hence the label "overture". I got some really helpful advice from the folks on the forums and made some revisions accordingly. I hope you enjoy it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda.zip - Track 1 http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 19 "Hyrule Field Main Theme" What is that intro an arrangement of? I know that sounds familiar. Anyway, arrangement of the Zelda title theme showed up at :31 with some nice variations on the melody, followed by a very energetic move into "Hyrule Field Main Theme" at :50. Solid orchestration, and I was loving the variations on the source melodies. A little thing, but the brass and string phrasing from 1:41-1:47 was excellent; I liked the choices there. Moved back into some of the ole' faithful of the Zelda title theme with a more straightforward (but expansionist) take from 2:35-3:03. 3:07 ratcheted things back up with a return to the Hyrule Field theme and the arrangement easily could have suffered by lazily retreading the :50's section. Props for not resting on your laurels. Would have loved to have heard more attention to the Hyrule Field theme, if only because the last section at 3:50 focused on the classic theme and it's played a bit too straight for my tastes there. Strong stuff overall though. Every time I feel like "Zelda + orchestration = beating a dead horse", someone in this community surprises me. Nice work, Evan. Keep 'em coming. YES

Contact Info: remixer name: Preferably use my real name, Luke Lenhart. If you "require" an alias though, you may use Rarrum. real name: Luke Lenhart email: rarrum@gmail.com website: www.neoclaw.net user id: 12902 ReMix Info: original game: Chrono Trigger original song: Showdown with Magus (Many places label it "Battle with Magus") game is already on your site: http://www.ocremix.org/game/chronotrigger/ from the official soundtrack: name of my arrangement: Through the Eyes of Magus I'm still somewhat new to doing arrangements, having mostly written original works for game projects over the years. Magus's theme had always been one of my favorites (alongside Frog's) while growing up, so I decided give it a shot. This was late last year using an ancient version of Cakewalk Home Studio that had to be run in Windows98 still. After writing the first section, I got busy with other things and forgot about it for a while. A few months ago after getting Sonar6, I needed something to play with, so I dug this work back up. Of course it was all written for my trusty old Soundblaster Live's synthesizer, so I had to move all that stuff over to my newer PC where Sonar was. The end result was that I was able to make use of both newer software synthesizers and my older familiar SBLive. After completing most of the composition, I took another break from working on it (which ended up lasting around a month) so I could come back with a fresh perspective. This past weekend I returned and worked out the ending, as well as making dozens of tweaks to rest of it. I can easily say that I spent more time on this piece throughout it's life than any other single composition I've done. For those interested in the technical details of what I used: Synthesis is mostly a Soundblaster Live with my own custom soundfont and EAX settings. I also made some use of the "Cakewalk TTS" synthesizer in sonar6. The only non-synthesized parts are the section with the flute near the middle, and the section with the soprano recorder near the end. I played both of those myself (and I'm much rustier than I'd prefer). MIDI input was mostly with a Yamaha CS1x keyboard controller, but some parts were done with a Yamaha WX5 wind controller. link to mix: (In the hopeful event you'll accept Ogg Vorbis someday): As mp3: --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Battle with Magus" (ct-2-24.spc) Encoding felt kind of lo-fi; the overall sound could use some polish to sound cleaner. The opening texture was a lil' thin for the first minute, but the instrumentation ideas were cool even though there was some empty space where some more driving drums could be. Decent transition from 1:06-1:15. Definitely a different take on the source material. The vox starting at 1:35 sounded too exposed but was serviceable. The strings at 2:00 were really flimsy and mechanical-sounding with the bow movements. Where you had a borderline YES and then lost it was at 2:36 after trying to up the intensity for the close and instead coming up with really quiet and flimsy instrumentation. It's because you did a good job though taking the original and really personalizing the arrangement approach that the potential was there for approval. Now, you've just gotta refine the sounds to deliver more richness for your textures and significantly more intensity for the closing section. Good work so far, Luke, definitely work on it further. NO (resubmit)

We've had plenty of web spiders from Inktomi and Yahoo crawling the site in the past few weeks. It perhaps had something to do with that.

I'm jealous of you jet-setting Euros. Someone buy me a ticket. :'-(

Remixer Name: Infyuthsion Game: Donkey Kong Country Song Remixed: Fear Factory ::2007:: Dck Fear Factory ( Infyuthsion Remix ) Just thought I might as well submit this, though you guys seems pretty critical of your remixes. I made it without OC remix in mind but I figure, hey why not? ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkc - "Fear Factory" (dkc-20.spc) The production is solid enough, at least; what's here is clean and well separated. The textures are still pretty sparse, relatively speaking. There's not much complexity or interplay here; boils down to some basic ambiance, droning/plodding beatwork and the lead with some light harmonization. And it never really changes or goes anywhere. Dynamically, this doesn't have any highs or lows. Arrangement-wise, the "Fear Factory" melody is basically given simplified, uninterpretive treatment over the 3 minutes. No interpretive ideas for the melody beyond the genre adaptation, this just plays it by-the-numbers. A decent base, but this needs a lot more interpretation, dynamic contrast/evolution and textural complexity to get above the bar. NO

At least try the mixer info page. It has email, personal homepage and forum profile info. His forum profile also has a MySpace link. I know, because I put it there yesterday. No offense, but please be more resourceful yourself before making a topic. You need only make a topic when you feel you've exhausted other available means. Good job getting your friend hooked on his material though. R3forged is a good choice.

In the future, be aware that providing the entire source tune is much better than a clip. You can always highlight what portion of the sources provided most of the ideas for the arrangement if necessary. Providing whole tracks just makes it easier to verify that the tracks are indeed from the game. Thanks to CHz, as usual, for the obscure soundtrack hookup. There are thankfully only 5 tracks, so I got lucky. I was just commenting to 'Ili that the game synopsis for Syberia was one of the strangest I'd heard of. Interesting premise, and certainly an interesting game choice to arrange. Syberia (Game Rip) - music0 & music3 The samples here pale in comparison to the organic originals, but they're ok and there's some good ideas within the piece for making it more grandiose. I agreed with Malcos in that there are some mushy souding parts, but felt like there were more affected areas. :53-1:13, 2:41-3:19, 3:27-3:33 & 4:39 felt pretty lossy and seemed like there were some light areas of distortion or crowding. Could have to do with some of the lower-sounding instruments, I wouldn't know for sure, but if any other J has some tips to mitigate those issues, we can pass those along and request a re-encoding. In any case, solid stuff on the arrangement side to give this a different, more dynamic feel than the original while remaining in the same genre, always a difficult task. The sample quality is a little on the bleh side as I've heard these sounds so many times, but they're used capably enough to put things enough on the affirmative side of the bar. Cool game choice, Prasa, and good luck with the rest of the vote. If passed, we'd need a refined version to fix those buzziness problems. YES EDIT (7/26): Listening to this a few more times, my production issues were valid, but I don't think they were impactful enough where we'd need a tweaked version. I'm ok with it going up as is.

While we've had 2 cases of ReMixes of a ReMix, we've never had one dealing with vocals. I don't speak for the panel, so this is just my singular opinion, but I would suggest alterations with the vocal style/delivery as well as the lyrics. This is all keeping with the standard of making this different enough from the original ReMix to also stand on its own. Sounds cool so far, Nicole; good luck.