Liontamer

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.

Contact Info * Remixer name: Another Soundscape * Real name: Mattias Häggström Gerdt * E-mail: anothersoundscape@gmail.com * Website: http://www.anothersoundscape.tk * UserID: 12912 [ edit ] ReMix Info * Name of game(s) ReMixed: Final Fantasy 9 * Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: The Place I'll Return To Someday * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. One day I listened to Squarepusher just a tad too much and decided to make a twisted DnB style remix. A song I've always loved is The Place I'll Return to Someday from Final Fantasy 9 (a melody that appears in other tunes on the soundtrack such as Ipsen's Heritage) so I thought I'd do a remix of a very melodic and calm song and make it extremely rythmic and spastic. As always everything was done in Reason 3.0 using many different refills and the wonderful Flatpack 2 refill. Almost everything was sequenced live on my Oxygen 49 (even the loop breaks and speedy electric piano shredding). I'm especially proud of the atonal vibraphone-like solo. I started messing around with an improvised "solo" while recording and found it to be quite enjoyable and exciting. I think it makes the listener go "What!?" and that's the goal I'm trying to achieve in this remix. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! Link to the Remix: (Thanks Escariot for hosting!)

I was at the Baltimore meetup today, so I didn't internetz all day. Happy birthday to Stephen, our senior judgefgt & a great singer and arranger, and BE SURE TO CHECK OUT HIS ORIGINAL TRACKS TOO!

WarioWare's fun enough to buy a Wii. Great time at the meetup per the usual!

Skrypnyk here again, with a Super Mario RPG submission this time. This originally started out as a tribute/experiment to Kid Koala and his style, and then I started getting inspiration from DJ Shadow and Boards of Canada inspiration (with a dash whatever the hell I do.) Originally started working on it last year (or early this year), then forgot about it, then finished it. Oh, and I tagged the file :3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Let's make it clear that I think this track is badass. It's really well-made and it sounds like nothing I've heard in this community. I've looped this probably over a hundred times since I first downloaded it, and it's a great track to veg out to. It's not often that I end up asking submitting artists what source tune they're arranging. Sometimes, you end up with a something deceivingly interpretive, e.g. Mythril Nazgul's Final Fantasy X-2 'Chauffage au Gaz'. But honestly that's rare. The fact that I needed to ask for a source tune from a soundtrack I'm reasonably familiar with didn't bode well. The fact that you thought in the WIP thread for this that it could get shot down for being too liberal means you won't be surprised though. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=smr - "Sad Song" (smr-125.spc) I remember talking about this mix with zircon, who's also really familiar with the original, and he was just as surprised as I was when he heard this was the source. I've actually played this game, and you had me thrown for a loop. Interesting opening, though why was it so quiet? Cool sound choice at :10 for the lead. Definitely some cool voice sampling and scratching. Beats joined in at :38. Arranged melody arrived at :53, but the interpretation is arguably too liberal. 1:21-1:35 handles the chorus of the original, but again it's all IMO liberal enough of an interpretation where it simply doesn't sound similar enough to the source tune. Nice voice sampling and lo-fi effects to drop the energy down from 2:17-2:45. A little over the top with the "breasts, breasts, big breasts" sampling from 2:55-3:05 provided I heard that right, but I'll admit I only figured it out after hearing the track a billion and one times (having not paid enough attention the previous billion times . In any case, as far as the arrangement goes, I hear most of the connections you have (and I'm feeling 'em), but this is still too liberal. The arranged melody here doesn't have enough resemblance to the melodic structure of the source, and most of the other ideas interacting with the belltone-ish melody seem wholly original and unrelated to Super Mario RPG. Breaks my cold, cold heart... NO

* Your ReMixer name: VQ * Your real name: Witold Meissner * Your email address: VMeissner@gmail.com * Your website: none yet, but soon... soon.... * http://www.ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=4752 * Name of game ReMixed: Legend of Dragoon * Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: World Map 2 * Additional information about game, if it has not yet been added to the site, including composer, system, etc.: I dont have any, I hadnt even heard of the game til I saw it in the requests forum.... * Link to the original soundtrack: I'd have provided it anyway... no need to be so demanding.... * Link to the remix: <-- suggestion, cos I almost forgot it. * Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. Hadnt been to OCR for a while, cos I was working on and releasing my first album (yay for me!). So with that done, I came back and looked around, and saw this in the requests forum, with links to the MP3s (which not many people do, but should... encourages mixers). So I downloaded 2 at random, and I really liked it this one. So I worked on it for 3-4 hours and liked what was coming out of it, and so a week later, I sat down for another hour or two, and finished it. Not much time went into this, but I enjoyed making it and loved the end result. I changed the primary chord progression, which almost killed the song, but that led to the piano insert (so I could return to the original progression without it sounding strange), which ultimately added interest. I like the offset of mechanical/sharp vs fuzzy sounds in this, the texture created is awesome imo. Umm.... used Reason 3.0 (as always), default sample packs and synths... O yeh!! And also, just wanted to say I _truely_ pity you judges... Out of interest I opened my first ever submission from 2 years ago, (Heres a link to a bit of it.... ) and wow... terrible.... and you guys have to listen to however many of these.... Thank god for improvement... Enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ha! Yeah, I remember that old sub. You got NO love on that one, and I don't mean the capital letters as a pun on our voting style! The Legend of Dragoon Original Soundtrack - (19) "World Map 2" Man, Legend of Dragoon AGAIN with this source tune hotness. That game has got some really beautiful stuff. Someone get a PSF pack out STAT and hook a brother up! I liked the intro. Tightly timed, but it didn't sound inhumanly rigid at all. I liked the soundscape set up here and immediately made the connection to the source. Like I've said before, you're progressively getting better and it's showing. By the 1:00 mark, the overall energy level was flirting with overstaying its welcome, but you had a decent changeup in the textures at 1:16. I feel like there was something missing in the 1:16 section to really give it a hook and make it feel like there was more direction, but I still like the overall textures and development. Nice quiet section from 1:49-2:02, focused on the piano. Works well as a transition section. 2:34 briefly rehashed :46's melody only without the strings layered so deeply, before going for the full rehash from 3:05-3:43 seemingly only with quieter percussion. Ah man, why? Definitely the closest I've come to passing something of yours, all the tools are in place for a nice chill offering. I think the second half just needs further development and interpretation to more significantly stand apart from the first half. For so deliberately paced an arrangement, it's important to not coast for too long without saying something new. That's not saying that repetition is never allowed, but I felt that, in this context, 2:34-onward felt like a somewhat disinteresting retreading of ideas and a case where more pronounced variation would keep things dynamically interesting. We'll see if anyone agrees or if I end up sounding more subjective, as it's always a challenge trying to articulate a track's issues. Definitely keep working on this if you have no luck with this sub as is, Witold. This is strictly my POV, but this mix does not (repeat: does NOT) need a drastic overhauling of anything in order to pass. I really like how you're coming along, and I'm feeling your improvement thus far. Keep doing what you're doing. NO (refine/resubmit)

SB-Trance hawaiimannen@hotmail.com www.ctgmusic.com/sbtrance Megaman 2 (Wily's stages 1/2) -> "Wily's Revenge" originally by Ogeretsu (?) link: Greetings, SB-Trance. ---------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 19 ("Dr. Wily 1") It's a perfectly reasonable trance adaptation, and enjoyable to listen to, but doesn't get particularly interpretive with the source melodies. Some melodic interpretation would have been good as well. This is produced fairly well, but the beatwork feel too static; you could get more intricate with that over the long haul. The bassline could use some more meat, but that wasn't a dealbreaker. At least from a production and texture standpoint, this was pretty promising. I feel like there could have been more touches here to give this track a significantly more dynamic and interpretive edge. Once things got going with the melody, it was too paint-by-numbers. More dynamic instrumentation and more involved/personalized interpretation of the source would bring this arrangement to that next level. Hope to hear more from you. NO

From what I understand from djp, and he'd have to clarify this in case I'm mistaken, those jerseys were from the last printing ZTNet did before OCR switched printers. When providing eStarland with that merchandise, it wasn't checked because there was no reason to believe that the fabric type had been changed at some point. Getting a flimsy jersey like that is definitely not cool. We'll do what we can to hook you up with something else. I'll work with djp after this weekend is over to see if and how we can hook you up properly. Thanks very much for pointing this out so that we can work on this issue sooner rather than later.

Hi djp, So yeah, it was bound to happen...in a moment of weakness and lapse of better judgment, I finally caved and did a Final Fantasy arrangement. It guess it's just destiny for piano remixers and Square to be together, like so much peanut butter and Nutella (I call it a peanutella sandwich). Anyway, the source tune here is "Sandy Badlands." The arrangement is a bit sparse at times, in part to reflect the desolation of the Corel Prison. There's also a reference to "Death Sea ~ Tower of Ruin" from Chrono Cross in the left hand about a minute in, because I felt like it. Then the second time through, the melody takes on a Middle Eastern tint for some reason...probably to make it sound sandy. Or something. And finally you hear a hint of hope, as your lawyer just called and said you can get off on self-defense, or at the very worst feigned insanity. This track is a part of the "Voices of the Lifestream" project of course, so if this passes you can hold off on the post-age until the project is out. Thanks go to zircon this time for rendering this for me. That means if it's too soft or the encoding bitrate is too low, you can bug him about it.

Fuck all the other games. Be sure to bring Apples to Apples.

# Your ReMixer name: Digital Element (formerly Section 3 Studios) # Your real name: Maurice Willems and Sanjay Sampatsing. # Your email address: NemesisTheory@gmail.com # Your website: N/A # Your userid: I forgot. # Name of game(s) ReMixed: Sonic 3 # Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: Ice Cap Zone # Your own comments about the mix : Hi! It's been a while. This one was also, as always, made in FL Studio, quite the lengthy process as it was a tough song to make. Must've altered like a hundred times before it got anywhere. Finished it today, final touches and all, we're quite proud of the result. It's pretty varied, and switches tempo and rhythm/style halfway through. We hope you enjoy it. # Link to song : Additional suggestion: Pump up the volume!