Liontamer

Yeah, I can't hear any of the source tunes in these songs anyway. I agree that a site dedicated to the arrangement of video game music should only post tracks where the connections to the original are minimal. Or better yet, non-existant. Less people with ears that work, more judgehate!

LionTamer told me to resubmit because my last submission 404'd. I'm including the file because I'm on 28k right [supposed to be 56 but being in the country/woods, my connection drops]. Rather than get muddy with other servers and wade through other stuff, I'm getting it done here. ReMixer name - Uberwulf X Real name - Louis Spears Email - uberwulf@gmail.com Website - Shades of Tsylence [http://freewebs.com/uberwulf/index.htm ] Userid - heck if i know. heck if i can tell where to find that out, now. Game RM'd - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Song RM'd - Death Egg Zone Add. info - I belive it's all there. If not, it's in the mp3. Link to OST - It should be on the site. Comments - It's not meant to be heavy in any way. This is supposed to be one of those kinds of laid back tunes, the ones that you hear in the back of your mind and feel good for some reason, though you're not really listening to it. Subtle changes in repeated areas, with one real standout section that makes you blink. But overall, a feel good, bob-your-head-but-you-don't-realize-you're-doing-it kinda thing.

Remixers: sephfire (Daniel Floyd), tweek (Brian Arnold) Game Remixed: Final Fantasy 7 Track Remixed: Opening/Bombing Mission Email: sephfire - sephfire_cec@yahoo.com, tweek - bmarnold@uga.edu Website: sephfire - www.sephfire.com, tweek - www.tweekmusic.com Tweeks Summary: "This remix was inspired and produced because of Zircon's FF7 remix competition. Out of all the tracks that were offered, I still can't put my finger on why I chose this one, but I'm certainly glad I did. I decided to change the song quite a bit from the original, with the most obvious change being the time signature. Converting the piece from 6/8 to 4/4 was no easy task. Throw in the fact that the song is full of melody lines that last no longer than a few measures and you find yourself with quite a difficult challenge. In spite of all that, I am exceptionally happy with how it turned out. Having sephfire join the project with me facilitated this mix being taken to the next level. His touch and expertise greatly added to the outcome of this mix. All in all, I can be, and am, very proud of this mix. Enjoy!" Sephfire's Summary: "The track was already about 80% done by the time I got involved. I rewrote the first minute (the Opening section) and then just played around with what Tweek had already layed out, adding some strings here, a stutter there, a synth line somewhere else, etc. As tight as the mix sounded already, I didn't have to do much. Tweek is growing at an alarming rate as a musician. I hope we get the opprotunity to collaborate again soon." JIMMY EDIT

ReMixer Name: -MZ- Real name: Sean Walker Email address: matoran2000@yahoo.com Website: none Userid: 8973 REMIX INFO: Name of the game: Final Fantasy 7 Name of the original song: Mako Reactor Name of the remix: Miner's Dream Link to the remix: Link to soundtrack: http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar Comments: The original title of this piece was "ShinRa's View of the Miner's Dream", but that seemed rather long. Basically it's the Mako Reactor theme from FF7 with a completely different feel. I was thinking about in the game itself when Mako was first introduced/advertized to the Corel miners and everyone and how they loved it at first -- obviously before the consequences appeared. I hope this makes it, but I more importantly want to see opinions from experienced ReMixers -- have at it! --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 103 "Mako Reactor" Completely different is right. I got no idea what the connections are supposed to be here. Woodwinds at :08 seem to be liberally arranging the source melody, then the strings and woodwinds go for some seemingly original material all the way until 1:24. Meanwhile the melody at 1:24 sounds like it only has the most tangential of tangential resemblances to the original. 1:40-1:56 at least sounds similar to the chorus from :49 of the original, but in a different key. Without timestamping the rest of this, I feel like I hear most of the connections you're going for, but this is WAY too different than the original. Melodically, the resemblance isn't nearly close, and it feels like the source hasn't even been left intact on that level. Meanwhile, the arrangement structure doesn't feel cohesive at all. Wow, what...happened??? NO

Correct, i.e. never. It's a bandwidth hog. Your best alternative.

Skip that non sequitur (read: "pointless") intro...and outro; approach is at least different than anything we usually get - LT ReMixer: Evahn game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time song: Deku Tree theme ReMix: Stemmata The quality isn't spectacular, but I did a lot with what I have to work with (which isn't much), and it certainly could be worse. The sound effects at the beginning and end were created entirely by myself.

If djpretzel was a full-time judge, he'd probably be the first one to vote on this - LT Hello there! I am new to OC ReMix, and would be proud of being part of it. Well, with this e-mail I am submitting a song from the third level of the game Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, of the Master System console. My ReMix of the song is called “The Third Attack”, and it contains virtual instruments as well recorded ones, performed by myself and a friend of mine, Fernando Spanghero (you can find more about him: http://www.purevolume.com/fernandospanghero ). I am submitting this with his permission also. So, to summarize everything: ReMixer Name: Bolsa ( Real name: Bruno Souto Maior ) Name of game ReMixed: Alex Kidd in Shinobi World Observations: I tried to fill the ID3v2 tags the better I could. Altough I researched, I was not able to find the compositor for this. If you happen to know, please add the information. Thank you. Programming, Mixing & Bass Guitars by myself. Electric Guitars by Fernando Spanghero. -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/vgm/alexkisw.zip - Level 3 Honestly, aside from a few brief sour spots with the harmonies, the electric guitars are the best thing in this mix by far. There's a huge quality disparity between the guitar work and everything else. The drum programming is extremely repetitive, uninterpretive, bland, quiet, and has 0 power to the tone. Right now, the drums here are just a timekeeper. The arrangement has VERY little interpretation, copying the structure of the original verbatim. Put some more effort and personal creativity into this. The only reason I'm not giving a NO Override is the guitar solo from 1:55-2:33. NO

A well-worded point, and one that wasn't actually in the Review guidelines. I very shamelessly cribbed it (point #4). Thanks, Dan! I also added a point that people should realize it's ok to post a review for a mix that hasn't received one in a while. Checking through 'em all (evil mod purposes), frequently enough I see older thread bumped by n00bs going "I don't know if I'm allowed to post on something older, but..." As far as my style of reviewing goes, it's almost never after the first or first couple of listens. On that level, it's pretty much like my judging, i.e. loads of listens and direct comparisons with the source material. If I'm judging, I keep OCR's standards and guidelines in mind. If not, it's just a personal opinion. As for the "right time" to make a review, there really is no right time as opposed to a wrong time. Reviews after initial listens provide a raw reaction at the expense of some or all important qualifiers like familiarity with the track, the source material, and/or the ReMixer's other works. Reviews long after the initial listens provide a familiar reaction and potentially more insight at the expense of one's raw reaction, but allow the comparison of one's familiar reaction to one's raw reaction. Either time is perfectly fine, IMO. I've certainly made comments in both situations. People that have significant changes in opinion long after first hearing a mix can (and do) post another review comment down the line if they want to. The important part about reviewing as far as OCR's concerned is to review often.

So, back to the original point... What mixes are we talking about? Stuff that got rejected. Stuff that got passed, but criticized on some level? Tends to go back to the whole "are they biased?" argument, but I've been there long enough to see that that's not happening to any significant extent. Of course, since I am a theory major myself, I may just be missing something. I do inherently want all submissions to sound like my material. Less musical openness, more judgehate.

Up here on account of competent performance more than anything else - LT Hello- Here's a new submission for you! I haven't submitted before so I hope this is all the info you need. Remixer Name: Nintendopella Real Name: Matt Lemcke Website: www.nintendopella.com Game: Ocarina of Time Name of Song: Market Music Our Name of Song: Shoppe Theme Comments: We here at Nintendopella have been long time fans of OCRemix and figured it was high time to submit and get some new critiques. I (Matt) figured it we would start with the more mellow theme from Ocarina of Time's "Market Music." While not our most popular remixes this is definitely one of our favorites. It was a lot of fun to arrange. Scott and I worked a few hours off of the original midi, mostly making the voice leading a little more appropriate for the human voice. Scott added several juicy harmony notes including our favorite, the sustain at :49. I laid down some bass jug and shaker egg, while Scott did harmony and the "bongos." Peter (our mixer) filled in melody and alternate harmonies. Nick did a few notes in the more choral sections. Interestingly enough this is one of the few songs that does not include all the members, but I think we still got a full sound out of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 10 "Shop" Conceptually, I'm feelin' this. Problem is, this is just a cover arrangement. It's cool for what it is, but a 1:08-long cover arrangement will never get on here. Ever. We don't want covers, we want interpretations of the source material that honor yet stand apart from the original work. Make the track longer, and make it more interpretive, and you guys would be in a much better position to get something posted. Keep doing what you're doing, bros; we need more unique groups like y'all within the community. NO

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkc - "Aquatic Ambiance" (dkc-08.spc) Yeah, for the most part, there's little interpretation of the "Aquatic Ambiance" melody in the picture. There's some good concepts in terms of adding some new parts to interact with the source, but there's not enough of that by a long shot, plus that doesn't excuse a lack of interpretation there without some really personalized/unique sound and production choices. Aside from the production issues Vigilante had, the drums at 2:27 were ultra flimsy, the tone of the kit not seeming to fit the overall mood and texture. Tough break with this theme, as everyone tends to really love keeping it pretty similar, both melodically and sonically, to the original. A glimmer of hope at 4:22 with less than a minute to go via the new piano chords underneath the melody, but it never developed into anything, instead REALLY abruptly petering out at 4:54. Nah, you gotta have something more substantial than that ending. Needs more melodic interpretation, additional support instrumentation ideas, more complex textures from 2:27-3:43, cleaner production, and a stronger more satisfying resolve of an ending. Not bad for a first sub. It at least shows that you do have some ability to rearrange a piece; you just need to do more of it in order to have a better shot in the future. NO

Greetings djp/judges, Here's my take on the brief (but catchy) "File Select" tune from Mario 64. It started out as a slow, relaxed groove in the original key, but I wasn't making much progress on the arrangement. After flipping it to the minor key and adding the transition to the double-time percussion, the rest fit pretty well (I think). The bass is mixed fairly loud, and the cymbals are intentionally over-compressed for extra crunchiness. I think the balance works, but I hope it doesn't come off as too "harsh"-sounding. Track info: Original track...: "File Select" from Super Mario 64 Remix title......: Spinlock Remixer..........: aluminum File.............: MP3 192kbps CBR, 5.10MB, 3m42s Links: Here's a reference to the original: http://www.digitalscourge.com/Super_Mario_64_File_Select.mp3 Thanks! -- aluminum --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/usf/sm64usf.rar - 18 "File Select" Indeed, the production's a bit loud and grating, but nothing beyond reasonable. Melody finally arrived at :54, and I liked the change done to it. Changing the original into a minor key really fucked with its recognizability on the first listens. The people out there who don't like liberal arrangements will have a fit, but as long as I can make the connections to the original (which I can), "McDonald's, I'm lovin' it." Definitely had to revisit the all too familiar source tune just to hear it again. Really intelligent interpretation. The dynamics with the supporting instrumentation REALLY drove the piece along (e.g. escalation at 1:07, stuttering at 1:14, breakbeats at 1:22), keeping the track moving. And major props on the bassline work, which will under-appreciated by way too many people. That's some really smart stuff. Got pretty worried once the 1:32 iteration of the melody spiraled off into something barely connected to the source, but it didn't last too long, going back to the melody at 1:57. You hear the writing seemingly spin off completely only to work its way back to a source reference (e.g. 1:44-1:46, 2:05-2:07, 2:12-2:13). Transition at 2:17 was a bit abrupt, and the fakey quality of the piano at 2:20 didn't really help. Timing was too rigid and didn't sound good, but the addition of the string pads at 2:34 helped fill out the soundfield and not keep the piano so exposed. Strings were too loud and the soundfield tip-toed on sounding flooded IMO, but again nothing dealbreaking. Piano returned to the source melody at 3:01, doubled by a flowy synth, before abruptly ending at 3:28. That was it for the ending??? Bah, c'mon Zac, where was the steam? Felt like you started super hot, then didn't finish the piece off strongly. That last section of the arrangement seemed like it was offering yet another new direction, then...poof. Untapped potential, but nothing I had a problem with beyond an artistic choice. For me it starts off stronger than it ends, arrangement and production-wise, but everything's more than solid to me. Initially, I would have liked the arrangement to feel more anchored to the source rather that taking it in such a liberal direction. But the connections were still readily observable for me and, on that level, I really appreciated the very interpretive spin put into this one. Once you get more familiar with the arrangement choices, you feel a lot less hesitant about letting go and really getting into this one. YES

Original Decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5126 ReMixer: Nordin Real Name: Jeffrey Nordin Email: remix@jsquaredproductions.com Website: www.nordin1.com/ Game: Quake 2 Songs: Quad Machine, Operation Overlord, Rage, Kill Ratio, and Decent into Cerberon Add. Info: Quake 2 was, of course, Id software's glorious FPS from wayback in 1997. The music was done by Sonic Mayhem and was quite good, hence the compulsion to honor it in ReMix form. Misc.: Here's is the new and improved version of Stroggicide. The last submission was rejected because it was too similar to the original material. Fair enough. That's what was intended although not the goal of OCRemix. Nonetheless, I was inspired to redo the song in my normal composing style - Progressive Metal! This verison of Stroggicide has a lot more going on in terms of arrangement and instrumentation. I'm playing the drums, strings, synth, and piano parts. The string, synth and piano are all new to this mix. The piano is of course a real piano, which always sounds nice while the strings and synth are courtesy of my wonderful Korg. My brother is playing the rhythm guitar and bass and contributed (among other things) the kick ass bass line underneath the "chorus" at 2:51 and again at 6:22. On lead guitar, as well as mixing and recording, is my dad who contributed the frosting on the cake at 6:59 until the end. The piano interlude at 4:30 is a very liberal interpretation of the Operation Overlord theme that unintentionally sounds just like Dream Theater's (my largest inspiration musically along with Nobuo, Mitsuda, and Yamaoka) Trial of Tears. Not to say it's not a fantastic song to allude to, but the effect was initially coincidental. The guitar solo in this section is also an interpretation of the Operation Overlord theme which is stated literally by the piano in the following section. Some of the extra parts added include compressing some of the themes together, for instance the rhythm parts from Rage now serve as backgrounds for the piano melody taken from the middle of Quad Machine (at 1:24). Twice in the song (at 2:00 and 7:18) I quote the first bit from Doom's famous E3M1 melody (which itself was "borrowed" from Pantera's Mouth for War except Bobby Prince's is much better), because we wouldn't have Quake without Doom. As a final note, this song is heavy and loud and full of bass. Turn the volume up, and feel the Prog.

Contact info Mike Dissonent Mike Isel rockfreakmike@yahoo.com Remix info Donkey Kong Country Aquatic Ambience The mix is called "Depths Unchained".

I'll pester djpretzel to get your solo mix up today. Any friend of Russians is a friend of mine, old man.

The timestamps mentioned here could be slightly/very off. The encoding of the MP3 was pretty wonky on Winamp. http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 221 "Sandy Badlands" Opening was pretty odd. The stereo effects were a little disorienting, but it was at least nice to hear such attention paid to playing around within the field. Yeah, offhand, the melodic arrangement wasn't too much besides the synth gating. Nonetheless, you were clearly using several originally written supporting parts (e.g. 2nd electrosynth, bass synth, belltones) to combine with the melody; nice work there from a creative standpoint. On the minus side, the lead synth on melody was pretty generic and grating. Treble was definitely too much, but it didn't bother me as much. Reasonable original section at 1:24 very liberally inspired by the source, though the addition of the robovoice stuff at 1:41 was tacky as hell. A breathy voice recording saying the same words would mesh better. You have some nice beef on those bass kicks, but otherwise the beatwork was pretty sparse in this section despite the overall clean production. The sheer volume didn't compensate for the relative spareness of your textures; too bad though, as you obviously put some work into filling things out, for example from :42-1:26. Still, you need something steady like a variety of pad sounds to help anchor things. And think of a less plodding pattern for the drum kick in that section while you're at it; Lasts all the way until around 2:34. 2:20 retread the previous stuff with some additional harmony on top until 2:59. Oooh, I liked the section from 3:07-3:41, arranged from later on in the source; you missed the boat on using those passages more throughout the track to spice it up. Interesting ending with the organ; not using it beforehand in some manner was a missed opportunity to add more dynamic contrast to the piece. Among other criticisms mentioned before, work on refining those generic sounding electrosynths as well as the mixing and sound balance to get some stronger textures, and break up the monotony of that middle section at 1:24. This was actually a pretty good base and showed some promise. NO

For all the talk about how mediocre this arrangement was at Remix64, I thought this track was pretty solid and I'm glad it's up here. Considering how "ho-hum" most of the Euro scene was on this one, I wish the Commodore arrangement scene sent more goodness our way. I'm (a little) more familiar with R:K:O and AMIGAremix's stuff, and people around here don't know what kind of goodness they're missing over there.

Interesting, at least.

Songs and associations from ReMixes to songs are all handled by me and djp. I periodically send him a batch of SQL queries, and he manually runs them to add the information to the database. I just haven't sent djp the info in a while. EDIT: Should be cool now. Added songs for Punch-Out!! as well.

You could just wait for their proposed merger to go through (or not, we'll see) and save yourself the trouble for a bit.

Original Decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6933 I hope this works for you, Yep, it's still the same link, and the bitrate is also fixed.. <== Original --------------------------------------------------------- Lunar Silver Star Story Complete Music Soundtrack - (23) "Luna's Boat Song" Short and sweet. The vocal treatment is definitely better overall. Good job giving more density to the vocals, along with subtle but strong layering touches like at :27, :36, and :58. For what I'd tweak, the vocals should cut through more. Their now-lower volume makes the soundscape noticeably murkier than last time. Also, with the vocals lower, the snare is now too loud & upfront and makes its pattern seem too boring. Kind of weird hearing the drums so much louder than the guitar work, as the guitar is pushed back as well in this version. You hooked up the main issue, though some of the sound balance suffered a little. Maybe you'd be willing to fiddle with it some more, after the vote. In any case, it was an understandably delicate balance to work with, and the minor issues of the new end result were certainly not enough to hold this back now, IMO. With some quick touches, DA's vocals carry more weight and set into the track more. Good deal. Nice work, Majin & DA, and thanks for such a quick resub. Good luck with the rest of the vote. YES

Yeah, in late '04 we stopped updating vote counts on the actual queue thread, because the consensus was that it didn't offer any additonal insight and just got pending rejections upset. A better idea would be to just get more voting in. Of course, easier said than done. We judgefgts at OCR are living proof. Except me, of course. Perfection given judge form. Except for my many documented errors of fact. And opinion. And nigger.

It better have my tracks up on there.

Everything's still there, you idiot.

Solid stuff, once of the classics. More artists should be willing to use the "Game Over" theme like Game Over did here. There's lot of other cool little themes within the game.