Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

The timing oddness at :15 that proph brought up didn't register as problematic with me; since he was conditional based on it, I felt I had to speak on it. Odd intro; that lead isn't doing anything melodious for this 7-note pattern, but I at least hear how it's adapted from :41-:48 of the source. OK, the main source melody kicks in at :30. Such a shrill lead. Changeup at 2:16 felt abrupt, but wasn't a huge bother. Good energy in the writing, even if the drums didn't sound like a proper fit and felt like they lacked velocity variations. Weird restart of the track at 4:05. Agreed with the others that it was awkward, but it was more of a briefly confusing choice rather than something that majorly hurt the track. Really good comping-style ideas afterward for that final section. The ending was too abrupt though and did lack a proper resolution, IMO. Overall, I respect the treatment of the theme, even if it didn't fully gel for me with how some of the parts were mixed. For me, it still feels fairly creative and ambitious. Some of the timing of the sequenced parts felt blocky, but the overall presentation was humanized and vibrant enough. I could see jn revisiting this in 5 years and having a lot of ideas on how to tweak the production on this, though I'm not about to make the perfect the enemy of the good. YES

Track title: {This Title Intentionally Left Blank} Source game: Signalis Source tracks: Train Ride, Die Toteninsel (Emptiness), The Promise, Cigarette Wife Primary artist: Zach Chapman (arrangement, mix, bass) Contributing artists: TheManPF (guitar, VST string arrangements), Andromeda (vocals), Nicole Chang (harp) Comments: This track was structured to be split into four sections – each one revolving around one of each of the four endings of Signalis. Each one covers a different song from the OST that thematically fits each ending, and the lyrics all reflect the endings in questions (from the POV of the protagonist). The first three endings are the main endings, all achieved in a similar way and all pretty easily understood. There also are no happy endings in this game, so I tried to write them all pretty slow and melancholic as well. The fourth and final section is for the secret ending of the game, which is incredibly convoluted and hidden, and equally weird and hard to understand. I wanted to reflect this with the music as well – the first three sections are all similar in instrumentation and feel, while the fourth is completely different. It’s all synths and electronic instruments, the mood shifts, and the vocals are in German, as a lot of text in Signalis is in other languages (mainly German, Korean, and Japanese). To further fit this into the ending theme, I added sound fx as if the song is being played on a cassette tape and a long break between the third and fourth sections, reminiscent of a secret track the end of an album, which obviously felt appropriate for the secret ending. The cassette also fits Signalis as well, as it has the same sort of “70s/80s sci-fi” aesthetic as media like the original Alien. References: The title itself is a reference to a thing in Signalis that happens often – sometimes during important scenes, the screen will flash to a blank screen with text on it saying different things. “Compartmentalizing Trauma” is one that flashes during a particularly brutal scene, and “Violent Scene Missing” replaces a scene of your character killing a boss. The most common, however, is “This Space Intentionally Left Blank”, which I believe is a visual representation of the characters trying to repress or deny something difficult. I often struggle with naming songs, so I thought it would be a fun reference to use that as the title. At 1:46, the lyrics “I’ve given my blood, and kept my faith through this hell strong” are a reference to a similar line in the song The Patient by my favorite band Tool – “But I’m still right here, giving blood, keeping faith”. At 2:17, the harp plays a rendition of the melody of Swan Lake, a famous ballet referenced in the lyrics at the time. I also made sure that there was a bit of dissonance when it did as well so it would feel just a little off-putting and “wrong”, to reflect some context from the song in the game. The lines in the fourth section of the song are also a poem called Cassilda’s Song. This poem is from The King in Yellow, a famous book featured in Signalis. I made some minor changes to the poem to fit the world of Signalis better, and translated it into German. Throughout the song are a lot of references to Signalis itself, but this list would get too long if I included all of them. Those are the more significant references. Lyrics: Section 1: Leave Ending/Train Ride One single step away, but it’s But it’s too much One single step more than I can take Nothing remains but Rot, blood, and empty promises To her One single breath more to take But my corpse has none left Let these cursed memories find their peace Once I have mine As I (Please let me) leave and rest Section 2: Memory Ending/Die Toteninsel (Emptiness) I was drifting through (in) your dream Drifting out of your memory I’ve given my blood and Kept my faith through this hell strong Yet here my hell was waiting with you With no promise to keep Would you know my name if I told you Could we dance again If I played our song for you My love My stranger To be with you must be enough So please just let me stay with you Just a little while longer Section 3: Promise Ending/The Promise Just give me one moment my darling I know what you’d have me do Just take my hands in yours dear To hide their bloodstains Let me touch you With love one last time Before with death Don’t fret now love, I am here now No more suffering soon No more waiting for your peace You’ve strong enough You’ve been patience enough Let me take it all away Darling tell me just one more (last) time Before I let you rest (go) Close your eyes Rest your head And I’ll keep my promise Section 4: Artifact Ending/Cigarette Wife Entlang der Küste brechen die Wolkenwellen, Die rote Sonne versinkt hinter dem See, Die Schatten werden länger In Penrose. [Along the shore the cloud waves break, The red sun sinks behind the lake, The shadows lengthen In Penrose.] Seltsam ist die Nacht, in der schwarze Sterne aufgehen, Und seltsame Monde kreisen durch den Himmel Aber seltsamer ist es immer noch Verlorene Penrose. [Strange is the night where black stars rise, And strange moons circle through the skies But stranger still is Lost Penrose.] Lieder, die die Hyades singen werden, Wo flattern die Fetzen der Königin, Muss ungehört sterben Schwach Penrose [Songs that the Hyades shall sing, Where flap the tatters of the Queen, Must die unheard in Dim Penrose.] Lied meiner Seele, meine Stimme ist tot; Stirb du, unbesungen, wie unvergossene Tränen Soll trocknen und einsterben Verlorene Penrose. [Song of my soul, my voice is dead; Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed Shall dry and die in Lost Penrose.]

Yep, there's an actual Piano Collections arrangement, so I took the link prophetik gave and put it into the first post. I do appreciate the Distant Worlds arranged version also being referenced starting around 2:27. It's entirely possible to have an arrangement of an arranged album version make it on OCR, so this just happened not to be the case here. Co-signed with proph, this version's just way too close to the structure of the Piano Collections version to start. It's a great performance by Josh, however, IMO, this presentation doesn't stand enough apart from these arranged versions to pass our arrangement standards. From what I can tell, this premise, which is of course a lovely performance, just happens to be something that's not quite interpretive enough when contrasted with the pair of arranged versions being referenced. I hope we hear more from you though, Josh; your piano talents are right up our alley, so we'd love to feature something else from your VGM repetoire that carries more of your personality and arrangement approach in it. NO

The main melody kicked in at :31 and I love how sweeping the sounds are; arguably too loud, but I'm OK with what's there. I appreciated how it took until 2:33 to reference the very beginning of the source. Cool soundscape and an enjoyable treatment of the theme; there's elements of sadness, quirkiness, solitude, and loss for me. It feels like whatever feeling you want to find in it can be found. YES

It's a meaningful improvement in terms of adding some more interpretive arrangement ideas, so that's a nice step forward, Adrián. You certainly put some work into having this feel less repetitive. Unfortunately, the stiff timing of nearly everything is still a dealbreaker and will continue to be. The percussion changes up more often, but the track needs further padding to help mitigate the blocky feeling of this rigid timing. When you listen to the source tune, it doesn't sound anywhere near this stilted. The laughing/growling SFX at 3:21 sounds too clean and exposed; it needs some effects on it to have a more ominous sound and also not feel so stapled on top and out of place with the rest of the soundscape. The track also ended abruptly after the laughing, so there's no real resolution. IMO, humanizing the timing of the instrumentation would be the main hurdle. If there's any way you can do that, this would have a much better shot of passing. NO (resubmit)

Stamp of rubber. YES

Never heard Gary Moore's "The Loner" at all before, but I totally see how the backing synth chords have that VGM vibe. The whole track sounds like something that could have come out of a 90s Japanese arrangement album inspired by the 80s, and I'm on board. Hearing lots of light popping sounds all over this WAV, so I'm not sure if something got messed up in what we hosted or if Will's render was jacked up. Hopefully this can be fixed, because it's pervasive enough where I'm going to call this a conditional YES. Nice mileage out of this source! Arrangement-wise, it sounds awesome, and I hear the Gary Moore influence across the track. The guitar wails, I dig it. Classy extended fadeout as well. Would have loved to have heard a quick cameo of vocals like in "The Loner" to get the full effect; don't leave 'em hangin' like that! EDIT (1/24/24): Will says the pops are intentional, like a vinyl effect. There's no inherent problem with adding in crackling/popping SFX to create a more lo-fi aesthetic (see the intro of https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01312 which is 100x more overt). IMO, it just wasn't done properly here. They don't sound like any vinyl effect I've ever heard and don't sound good, they just sound like a big rendering error; potentially not noticeable on speakers/monitors, but hurting this on headphones. I'm a NO (resubmit) then, and if this passes as is, that's cool. EDIT (1/26/24): Wack crackles eliminated makes Larry a happy man. YES

Opens up sounding super basic/vanilla with these synths, but there's at least some good power. Melody comes in at :17, and this soundscape's flooded. Way too loud and mixed in a muddy way. The arrangement's not bad, but about a minute in we get to the Comic Bakery portion, and this was feeling like too much of a paint-by-number adaptation. It's got power behind it, but I'm wanting to hear more personality. At 2:11, we get to the Comic Bakery portion again, and it's just the same stuff being repeated with some very minor textural differences in the background. Right now, Bryan, it's just 3 playthroughs of a good-sounding sound upgrade, but after 1:45, you've effectively heard all of the track's ideas and all that's happening from then on is repetition. Any further attention given to varying up the instrumentation, melodies, rhythms, tempo, dynamics, etc. would help push this closer toward a YES. You've done it before with your DKC arrangement, so see what other arrangement techniques you can present here to more meaningfully develop this. NO (resubmit)

Opens up pretty loud. IMO, too loud so the levels should be pulled back, but I'll live. This overly loud presentation's part of why MW felt it had no dynamics; I don't agree with that but I see where he's coming from. He's also not wrong about the vinyl/crackling SFX being too loud, everpresent, and repetitive in a way that's distracting and detracting rather than spicing up the soundscape. To me, the track's still undercooked, but it's well in the right direction. Much like Alexis's previous sub, Super Mario RPG "Geno Hop", more variation in the backing instrumentation, more time to develop, and fashioning a real ending would help put this over the top, IMO. Good base here! NO (resubmit)

Heh. Not the most melodious take on the opening, yet I like how tense the build sounds. Heard an off note that was more a scrape at :54, but it was quickly forgotten. More ominous than the original, and good drive and momentum here during the densest parts thanks to Andrew's spirited playing. Dug the change into the more open and understated texture at 1:58. The tension didn't click for me 100%, but let's say it was 90%, and that's firmly on solid ground, IMO. Cool concept! YES

Dragon Warrior, something we don't get enough of 'round these parts. To me, the arrangement's solid, but the mixing's lossy-sounding or at least not sharp enough. There's a noticable quality disparity with the live parts vs. the sequenced elctric guitar in particular, starting at 1:45. MW said this sounded disjointed in terms of the genres; to me, it was just a progressive style, and I didn't mind that it moved around. The overworld melody was there in spades, but the presentation throughout was different enough to me due to the different instrumentation and textures. Nothing wrong with being ambitious if the musicianship and production are there, so I think MW's calibration is off. The flaws here were notable, and other more proficient Js can pull out way more, but I'm not hearing dealbreaker arrangement issues. Call me old fashioned, but I don't see a universe where this concept doesn't pass as is; if it doesn't, our bar is out of whack. YES

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It's definitely not on OC ReMix, but it's a fun piece!

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I recognize how the line from :41-:55 was changing the "Terra" melody with a different rhythm and notes, but it doesn't sound anything whatsoever like it, so I'm not counting any of that. The track was 5:04-long, so I needed to make out the source theme for at least 152 seconds to consider the source usage dominant. :03-:13 - "Terra" (chord from intro) 1:12-1:26 - "Terra" 1:26-1:32 - "Under Her Control" 1:39-2:06.5 (then 2:06.5-2:17 very quietly) - "Under Her Control" 2:17-2:24, 2:27-2:38 - "Terra" with "Under Her Control" at the end 2:49-3:01 - "Under Her Control" 3:29.5-3:57 - "Terra" (with brief pieces of "Under Her Control") 3:57-3:59 - "Terra" 4:03.5-4:05 - "Terra" 4:07.75-4:37 - "Terra" 147.75+10.5 quiet (let's call that half credit, it's barely audible) = 153 seconds or 50.32% overt source usage Rubber stamp time. Nice job, Matt! YES

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Contact Information: Your ReMixer name: Bryan EL Your real name: Bryan EL Your email address: Your website(s): www.bryanel.com Your userid: 34748 Submission Information: Link to remix: Name of game arranged: Jurassic Park Name of arrangement: Apex Predator Name of song arranged: Level 1 Original composer: Jonathan Dunn (Game Boy / NES) Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywRGNGRmRws Comments: Thought this one deserved a little remix after 30 years since release. Just needed a little extra punch...

Nice understated jazzy vibe applied to the source. The bass and woodwinds were my personal highlights in the live lineup. Classy job, gentlemen! YES

Cool Xmas vibes to start with the sleigh bells, though that of course fits with EarthBound not just Christmas. Interesting to switch "Snowman" to 4/4 and simplify the melodies; it's referenced throughout for most of it, so no need for me to even timestamp it. If you want lovely vocals, give Earth Kid a call, for sure. Mixing should be clearer, IMO. I feel like the drums are more of a thud without some high-end sharpness. More of a lo-fi approach to the mixing than what I personally felt this needed, but nothing I can't look beyond re: personal bias. Good stuff from Trevor and EK, I hope they collab again! YES

Cool approach with the percussion in particular. It definitely branched out more creatively as it went on, which, from an interpretive arrangement frame, was a satisfying arc. Evolves beautifully, and I had no issue with the mixing, even though I didn't disagree with the critiques. YES

Nice energy throughout! I also enjoyed the more “inspired by” aspects of the piece during 2:22-3:47. I’m in strong contrast to prophetik about the opening; works well for me and there’s a good reason José referenced it as the opening of the album trailer. I never heard the first sub, even though I was on the panel back then, so while I didn’t contribute to Greg’s heartburn back then, I’m happy to pat him on the back for this strong stuff for the album! Hard to go wrong with “The Man with the Machine Gun” (and the “Succession of Witches” inclusion was subtle yet seamless)! YES

Was a YES before, so I’m still on board now!