Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Artist Name: maiorano84 Years ago I had written an arrangement of the Megaman 3 Intro and submitted it to Newgrounds under the handle "italian-dragon84" (a terrible name in hindsight). This was created and posted in 2004: I'd always liked some of the elements from the original piece, and occasionally revisited it over the years with many failed attempts at a new arrangement. I wanted to continue using a very piano-forward piece, and felt that it suited the introduction much better. Unlike the original arrangement I had done, I wanted to incorporate more instruments and began experimenting heavily with electric guitar sounds. The biggest hurdle was mainly me not knowing how to actually play guitar and not finding any suitable preexisting electric guitar sounds, so I relied pretty heavily on distortion effects, auto-tuning, and using my own voice to fill in a lot of the gaps. Games & Sources Megaman 3 Intro by Yasuaki Fujita:

When are we getting to the theme, I say to myself, with this extended ambient build. Excellent, there we are at :29, and some impressive sound design to boot. Beats fade in after :50 and this just goes into the weird shit category with some funky beats, belltones for the melody, and lots of SFX mockery. 3:26 gets back into the source tune's chorus section. Nice lil' pointillist approach to the theme at 4:03, and a simple but effective adding of some thump beats at 4:31. Theme drops out at 5:00 and it's original beats with some quiet inclusion of the melody and chorus layered in. The track was 6:34-long, so I needed to identify source usage for at least 197 seconds to consider the source usage dominant in the arrangement. :29.5-59.75, 1:05.5-1:08.25, 1:13.5-1:15.25, 1:20.5-1:24.5, 1:28.5-1:32.5, 1:35.75-1:39.25, 1:43.25-1:55.5, 2:01-2:02.75, 2:05.5-2:09.5, 2:12.5-2:19.75, 2:27.75-2:56.75, 3:26.25-3:54, 4:03.5-5:05, 5:08.5-5:12.5, 5:17-6:00 236.75 seconds or 60.08% overt source usage I was just sanity-checking it for source usage since this has some longer gaps between the melodic notes in places, but just going off the feel, I wasn't expecting it would be a close call. Trust but verify. Awash with creativity. A sound design delight and a dynamic piece of business. :-) YES

Artist Name: drizzle rainwater Press Garden from Sonic Mania (act 1 specifically, I don't think it gets enough love), had been stuck in my head, so I decided to give myself a crack at it. My goal was to emphasize the funky elements and give it a more jazzy flair. I added in a piano and organ solo to switch things up a little bit, and I changed up the instrumentation to make it more groovy! I hope you enjoy! Games & Sources Sonic Mania - Press Garden Act 1 (Tabloid Jargon) Original Music by Tee Lopes

Lovely stuff from the start. Being able to hear things more closely in my headphones, the bowed strings are in the uncanny valley, but of course still well beyond the quality level we need for a mockup, and it's not like they're a weak link or causing a quality disparity vs. the other sounds. After a genteel intro, the beats were brought in at 1:08 and added good movement here. Snare that cameo'ed at 1:34 was too loud for me, but as a point of contrast, it was a great momentary rise in energy for the drums; all of the drum writing sounds intricate and varied, and these evolving textures are great as the energy level continued to gradually escalate. Nice little dropoff at 2:17 before changing the textures again at 2:30 with beautiful, understated support from the acoustic guitar. Electric guitar joined in at 2:55, then ratcheted things up with some quick soloing at 3:11 before taking over as the melodic lead. It seems like the ending cut out a moment too soon, so we can ask about that. Both the instrumentation and arrangement were very impressive. As a conceptual contrast, very fun to hear Zack go collaboration maximalist with his FF7 DoD entry compared to being a one-man army for this FF6 DoD entry. Talented in whatever musical direction he wants to go in, it's safe to say. :-) YES

Cool instrumentation choices. If you can get it sounding more fluid/humanized, the concept has legs. :-)

I've never heard the previous two versions, so I'm visiting this sub with fresh ears. I also voted on the revised version Seth included in his comments after he said he noticed the mixing was wrong. Opens up with a rise in volume of a pad, followed by some basic synths and claps at :13. The theme arrives at :25 and there's some decent density to start. The theme's there, but this is texturally scant despite all this volume. Volume doesn't equal fullness in terms of the writing; right now, the beats sound really barebones. Hits the chorus at :55 and there's countermelodic supporting writing until 1:22 that sounds off-key, though it's relatively quiet. The melody's quietly brought in from 1:36-1:47 in a way that also sounds sluggish and off-key, like it's being chorused or delayed; not sure what's going on there. Once it hit the chorus from :54-1:22, the interpretation of the source melody itself felt very minimal and straightforward. This combination of sounds doesn't make sense when the percussion, beats, and bass are so minimalist and basic, yet it's surrounded by this busy-sounding yet off-key ornamentation underneath the melody. 1:49 transitions into what's seemingly an all-original composition section where the volume's loud while the texture feels very basic. More off-key supporting writing underneath the melody from 2:18-2:46 that sounds pretty bad on headphones but might not stand out as much on monitors; this writing sounds like it's meant to be doubling the lead, but it sounds clashing the whole way through. I grew up on this theme, but I'm sorry if I'm not recognizing something taken directly from the theme from 1:49-2:18; I couldn't make out any connection. From 2:18-on, I don't recognize that stuff from the source tune either, but it's possible it's taken from some sort of quitter supporting writing in the source or I'm just ignorant in recognizing some sort of interpretation. The source melody could bear more interpretation and/or variation, the beat-writing is too simplistic, the beats do have some weight to the sound, yet they don't fill the soundscape enough to not let the overall track seem thin, and the densest section are filled with off-key writing adding noise instead of substance. The less dense sections work better on account of the lack of clashing background writing and are, arguably, the track's best feature, yet those sections *still* feel texturally empty, so it's a tough approach to get this to a place where it could rise above the bar here. (I see you in the community, so the links are more for posterity and for others who may see this feedback and want to take part). That said, Seth, Audiomancer tried 10 separate times with one track before his debut mixpost, so if you have the sticktuitiveness to regularly use the community resources on the Workshop forums and on the Discord server for more feedback and guidance, maybe you can be another success story. NO

It'll seem like I disliked the piece when I mainly hear lots of unrealized potential. This was texturally empty, just way too thin and simplistic, which was unfortunate after a very promising intro with a cool sound. The volume of the elements in play doesn't make up for the relative lack of complexity here. Finally some beats come in at 1:26 to thicken things up more, but the part-writing is very straightforward and lacks that next level of sophistication. prophetik said maybe there's not enough arrangement, and I get where he's coming from, but he's mistaken in how he attempted to articulate the issue. This is presented in a melodically straightforward manner, and that's fine. What was missing here was more complexity in the accompanying parts and more creativity in the sound design. This is already going in the right direction in terms of different instrumentation and different sound design, the combination of which does help this stand apart from the feel of the original, but clearly not enough yet based on prophetik's reaction. But this sounds like a work-in-progress, not a fully developed and finished piece. Something like Charlie Atom's "Toriel's Pain" isn't where our bar has to be, but it's a great example of a melodically straightforward rendition with way more attention paid to the detail work of supporting writing that adequately fills in the textures, and killer sound design. That's not the bar, but it's a genuine North Star. This is a solid start, Noga, but it still needs more writing complexity behind the melody and other sound design ideas to further personalize your take. Even if you don't end up reworking this one, you can definitely be proud of how far you've come with this. There's a lot of untapped potential though, so hopefully you keep developing your craft. If you haven't already, consider joining our Discord for more feedback and/or using our Workshop forum resources. NO (resubmit)

Oh wow, all the years I've heard EarthBound's music, I don't think I've ever listened to this one. Didn't recognize it, but it's a nice piece! This arrangement in an of itself feels like original game music when it comes to the overall sound quality and fidelity, like late-stage SNES soundtrack music from a different palette than EarthBound. By going this route though, lots of humanization, expressiveness, and production options were sacrificed. SNES vibes aside, the opening sounds still feel super basic and vanilla, but it's potentially all in how you use these sounds, so we'll see how that plays out. The timing of beats feels very locked to grid with a plodding core pattern (:01-:57, 1:38-2:17). The first verse at :17 the leads felt relatively lively despite being programmed in, but the overall sound is very silted, there's not really any getting around that. Organ at 1:06 was very flimsy-sounding, but it's meant to sound more stylized. I don't know music theory, and my ears aren't primed to pick out wrong notes, but, unlike prophetik, I didn't a single thing that stood out as bad/wrong notes, I just heard supporting writing lacking direction and synergy (e.g. :34-:49, 1:54-2:09). Machine gun drum kicks from 2:24-2:25 that are fleeting but do sound low-quality. The arrangement does go for a more upbeat feel but when prophetik said "what most of the instruments are saying is bland or looped a lot - like the drum patterns and backing organ", that's correct to me, and I'll go back to the stilted timing and plodding beats. It's cool for a chiptune aesthetic, but it also feels very limited instrumentally. I've heard fan-made 8- and 16-bit-style chiptunes and MIDIs all sound more fluid and expressive than this, so I'd have to see something like that done here. The goal seems to be to stick to SNES soundtrack-level sophistication, which is fine, it just falls outside of our production standards, IMO. There's good potential in your music-making as long as you keep at it, Rhino. NO

Great source tune choice, ripe for expansion. Vanilla-sounding synth to open things up, but obviously a stylized approach, so let's see where it goes. Melody arrives at :17, and the overall textures are basic but reasonably full, with the caveat being that it ought to further flesh out, IMO. Sampled amen break drums are brought in at :58 and those seem like a square peg in a round hole, but I'll live. Some added beats come in at 1:27 and this is definitely fuller, though melodically this is already very repetitive. 1:59 dropped out the lead and just had the countermelody with beat accompaniment, which was a good direction to create some contrast. Then 2:32 continues with a skeletal progression plus beats before finally getting back to the source melody on lead at 3:04, which feels like a cut-and-paste once the beats returned at 3:12. An addition to the beats at 3:32 for some more movement underneath. At 4:01, there was another countermelodic line added to the melody, but despite that I still literally said out loud "Enough already!" with this lead. If you're not going to vary up the melodic presentation, that's OK, but I'd argue at least vary up the instrumentation of the lead and/or countermelody lines more often to keep the overall feel from sounding too static. Even though the textural changes are a good idea, I'm still fatigued from the leading elements sounding the same practically the whole way and a relatively slower pace. This is a great start, Bionic! I'm interested to hear what the other Js think; I think from a genre transformation perspective, this is a pretty solid result, but it needs more sophistication and variation with the leads and sound design to really be strong and not drag out over time. NO (resubmit)

Artist Name: Azina As far as arrangements go, this begins with only small shifts. Fae-like playful piano accents electric guitar performing the harmonic structure typically played on piano. This continues until the second loop where a heartbeat rhythm is established in the low end, and choir-esk vocals underpin the now gently distorted main melody. The piece ends with a demure "victory theme" of my own making. Games & Sources The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toru_Minegishi Link to the composer; apparently he's the one who composed the gamecube startup sound. Oh, it just embeds here, I didn't think it would do that

With Michael, you learn to trust the process. Interesting and immersive sound design experimentation per his usual, that's a given. Nice mileage out of these minimal themes; how you sonically beefed them up AND built around them was impressive. :-) YES

Pretty crunchy original dnb writing to start. Oh, bummer, at :57, it's the beginning of snippets of the source audio itself being used, then it's fully brought in on top of the beats from 1:29-2:14. It'll sound like I'm saying we dislike the track when it's a fun remix (proph means it's not an arrangement). We're called OverClocked ReMix (capital R, capital M) as more of a brand name that sounded cooler than "arrangements", so people interchangably call things "remixes" here when that's not what we're actually doing. I'm sorry to say in this case here though, Stavrin, we're *not* a traditional remixing site, we're an arrangement site, as in the source material is played back or performed on different instrumentation, not directly sampled and not just note-for-note. This falls outside of our Submission Standards, but it's still an enjoyable remix for sure! If you'd want to learn more about making VGM arrangements, join our Discord and/or use our Workshop forum resources. NO Override

Cool cover, Jonathon, and thank you for sending it our way. :-) I appreciate you running down the various instrumentation aspects involved, which was very creative to use here. prophetik's right that, although this is a brilliant cover, this is essentially a find-replace of the source's part-writing with your (strong) sounds there's no structural difference with this version vs. the original, including just hitting the loop point at :53 and repeating the same stuff for 2 more loops. We're looking for substantial interpretive and transformative aspects of arrangement, even if an arrangement is otherwise melodically conservative. In the writeup for this ReMix, I link 10 other examples of melodically conservative yet overall transformative arrangements we've posted https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04414. If you're ever interested in fleshing out a more developed, evolving arrangement, your instrumentation and mixing already sounded very solid! Join our Discord and/or use our Workshop forum resources if you're not against taking that kind of journey. NO

Whenever I vote, I like to pretend/assume that there's absolutely no way the track can be revised, because it forces you to decide if it's above the line or not, rather than judging it on what you think the track's potential is after a revision. I agreed with Chimpazilla on the sax mixing not feeling as integrated in the soundscape. That said, it's not something that stuck out to me without it being pointed out by her first, and I can also totally live with this. Performance sounds great for our bar, not just the sax, everything else too; though the higher notes on the piano clearly expose the sample's limitations, the piano and upright bass overall sound good as well, this completely clicks for me. When I heard this on The NO Show, I qualified things by mentioning that I'd need to hear this on my setup, as it was possible the mixing issues would stand out more; just off of that listen, it was sounding like a YES to me. Now that I hear it for myself on my headphones, this is lovely, lovely, intimate smoky jazz. Great weaving of the source themes, hugely personalized. IMO proph's higher-level sax skillz make performance flaws stand out more for him than the average bear, making him too tough on it, especially because the arrangement's very substantive, which we both agree to. This isn't HonkSax™ and this overall execution isn't anywhere below our hobbyist bar. Hyperbolic for a reason, because I'll come off like I'm browbeating Brad or flipping a table. 100 out of 100 times -- not 99 out of 100 -- something like this should be approved or it means our collective bar needs recalibration for being too tough. Are we gonna mess this up? :-P Pipko, April, Lampie, kudos! :-) YES

The claps in the intro were wearing thin, so I'm glad they bowed out. JSABlixer's take in the NO Show chat was accurate for me; the first half was interesting, yet the second half didn't keep me hooked and ran out of steam. proph felt the sampled vocal integrations were solid, though they felt more stapled on top for me. The drums, which were solid samples, eventually felt like they were mostly on auto-pilot of just changing every few measures at cutoffs that just seem too squeaky clean; nothing feels organic/human about the part-writing, it's feel very gridded out, like OK a few bars of this, then change the entire patten a few bars later; I wish I could better articulate that, but I do hope you'll ask around about it. The second iteration of the melody could use more distinct variation or difference from the first besides the lead sound. The piece's overall tone doesn't distinctly stand apart from the original enough; it's not non-existent, but it's not enough. Right now, this is more about the additive part-writing, which isn't a comparatively distinct enough presentation from the original. There's definitely a place for an approach like this, as H36T has shown several times with other ReMixes; this needs more something/anything substantive/different. I'm open to whatever direction you might be willing to take this in, if interested. NO (resubmit)

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Original Decision RESUB 1 Artist Name: Seth Skoda Based on an online argument about genres not making a difference. I previously turned Death Egg Zone's music (also from Sonic & Knuckles) into a trap-ish beat just to prove the point, and it got a lot of attention. So... I started going in on other tunes. I zeroed in on Flying Battery Zone a little more, as that's my favorite tune from the game. Found the good future remix on VGmusic.com, thought it would be cool to include a little bit of it in my mix. The section starting at 1:22 and ending at 1:49 contains the counter melody and 8 bars of the backing from the good future remix. I hope this isn't a deal breaker, as it's otherwise my own derivative work. Was gonna mostly go EDM with some synthwave, but then I messed around with some 808 bass and it turned into much of the same modern hip-hop sound that I was using at the time. This final mix shows a little bit more of the original intent than previous mixdowns with the 80s drums and synths running alongside the more modern 808 kicks and hihats. I am very satisfied with how this turned out, and I hope it finds its way into many playlists of Sonic Music/VGM remixes. All that being said about the mix itself, I discovered this website in the mid 2000s and knew that one day I'd have what it takes to get a posted ReMix of my own on this site. This is my third time trying to get High Voltage posted; hopefully it's the charm. Games & Sources Sonic & Knuckles - Flying Battery Zone Act 2 Composer: Howard Drossin

I'm just commenting on the revised version. It's not an apples-to-apple comparison, but I was wrong about "Hunter's Community Chest" way back and I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice. Obviously, this has more energy and dynamics to it, particularly for the 2:39 section, yet this is also a fairly low-key presentation most of the way. The time sig change and deliberate pacing were very effective, and I love the instrumentation throughout with these amazing textures. Such a smart treatment of the source, this is excellent, Brad! :-) YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Very beautiful intro; this is going to be a nice interpretation, you can tell off the bat with this swung feeling to the rhythm. Cool stops of the swing at 1:25 & 1:36 for nice bits of contrast, then sounding a measure more forceful at 1:48. Smooth transition at 1:56 in the brief pivot to "Ceremony of the Gods", and then another seamless shift to "An Irrevocable Past" at 2:56. Love the delicate and measured yet personalized piano approach, Guillaume, you make it sound effortless. :-) YES

Artist Name: Bluelighter Hi OCR, Here is a piano arrangement of some themes of ff9, composed by Nobuo UEMATSU. Theme of “Terra” was a lot declined in the game, but Terra’s version is certainly my favorite version. Uematsu managed to put a lot of emotion in this one with a minimalist instrumentation. I could play the zone in loop just to listen this melody when I played the game. So, this arrangement is mainly based on Terra. I used also the introduction of “An Irrevocable Past”, the same theme with additional ingredients. Finally I took from “Ceremony of the Gods” whose melody in fourths call back “An Irrevocable Past” About the arrangement, I’ve a little reviewed harmony of Terra’s theme. But I’ve kept haunting atmosphere with a repetitive and sad rhythm. At the middle, the arrangement wins in intensity, with introduction of “Ceremony” and “Irrevocable Past”. The melody here has religious sonorities IMO. The culminating point of Terra comes after. And the arrangement concludes by “An Irrevocable Past”. Enjoy! Guillaume Breakdown Part 1: 0'00 ("Terra" 0’00 -> 0’07) -> arpeggio Part 2: ("Terra" 0’07 -> 0’57) -> rhythm A) 0'10 B) 0’40 Part 3: A) 1’07 ("Terra" 0’57 -> 1’15) B) 1’25 ("Terra" 0’07 -> 0’57) arpeggio C) 1’47 ("Terra" 0’57 -> 1’15) Part 6: animated A) 2’03 (“Ceremony of Gods” 0’20 -> 0’55, winks to “An Irrevocable Past” 0’00 -> 0’12) B) 2’15 (“Ceremony of Gods” 0’20 -> 0’55) Part 7: 2’28 ("Terra" 1’15 -> 1’45) culminating point of the piece Part 8: (“An Irrevocable Past” 0’00 -> 0’12) A) 2’56 (animated) B) 3’07 (soft) C) 3’17 (main rhythm to conclude) Games & Sources Real Name: Guillaume SAUMANDE Game & Songs: ff9 & Terra, Ceremony for the Gods, An Irrevocable Past Composer: Nobuo UEMATSU

Man, this source is awesome, thanks for introducing me to it! Really well-produced original. Not sure why the arrangement doesn't have a unique name, but it merits giving it one. I get what you're saying about still working on production. As soon as the drums come in at :30, they noticeably lack oomph and verve compared to the original. It'll seem like I'm saying that meeting or exceeding the original's production is our bar, I'm just noting the quality disparity where there's an underwhelming emptiness to them. The stilted, stiff machine gun timing of the drum programming prevents the soundscape from sounding cohesive the whole time. The drums sound like a placeholder rather than an intended final product, and even if they were played in live via keyboard, they still don't feel humanized. Minor and very subtle, but around 1:09-1:11, it sounded like the volume ducked a few times; not sure what may have happened there. Everything lacks high-end clarity, and the vocals aren't fully cutting through to the foreground during the denser sections, whether that's Gregorio or EK. Gregorio's vocal performance is awesome. EK's vocals feel too exposed/untreated when they first arrive; I know nothing about anything, but I imagine there's a way to produce them with a fuller and steadier sound; the chorus at 1:26 sounds stronger in terms of the singing, but it's mixed in a way like it's just in the way of and subordinate to the guitar chugs, which doesn't make sense to me. On my headphones, during the densest sections, nothing takes the lead and nothing sounds distinct. The chorus from 2:41-3:18 is probably the most illustrative example. 3:37-3:55 sounds comparatively better when it's just Gregorio; his voice has more clarity and seems mixed to the front. The chorusing on EK's vocals from 4:14-4:32 sounds so much more stylized and unique, they just needed more airyness/delay, something to thicken them up. The big finish section from 5:03-5:46 was very, very cramped. I've qualified in the past where I've said if an otherwise strong arrangement were mixed/produced in a non-optimal way, I could look past it; this is a case where even a fully cohesive arrangement would still, IMO, get held back on account of the production. My biggest fear is that, as a non-musician, I'm not able to better articulate these issues or directly speak to how to address them, so my criticisms will feel like a discouraging dogpile, when to me this has a ton of potential. There's a more cohesively mixed track underneath here for sure, Zach, but the mixing's currently mud. Reworking the drums and production of this one seems like it could be a really rewarding growth opportunity and a chance to learn from experienced producers, because there's a behemoth track waiting to break out. It's a great base, but not yet fully baked. NO (resubmit)

Artist Name: Zach Chapman Features Earth Kid on lead vocals, Gregorio Franco (who doesn't have an artist page on OCR yet) doing the harsh vocals, themanpf on guitars, and jnWake (also no artist page) on synths and keys. This song was made for Dwelling of Duels' April 2025 Rhythm Games Month. Originally this track was going to be even more faithful to the original, but I only know one female singer who can also do great harsh vocals and she was too busy that month to collab, so instead I split the vocals up between the leads and the growls, landing on Earth Kid and Gregorio for each, who are both fantastic. The other shift in the song's direction came mostly from jnWake, who took the keyboard parts I sent him and added several synths without ever being asked. Anytime you hear a synth in the song - echoing the intro riff, in the background of the interlude, the synth solo before the third chorus - is all stuff that he did entirely himself. That helped to give the track its own identity, and I love what it added to the song. TheManPF killed it on guitars as always, and also put up with me sending him about 20 different drafts of the mix for feedback over the course of the month, as I'm still pretty awful at the production side of things. Other than that it's a largely faithful cover, with some minor changes to riffing and the bass (which I played) to make it more interesting. Games & Sources This is a cover of "Stygia" from the rhythm shooter Metal: Hellsinger, composed and performed by Two Feathers, the developers of the game, featuring Alissa White-Gluz, the lead singer of the metal band Arch Enemy

Starts with a fully original intro that has a nice sparkle to it. Zeal melody arrives at :40 with some basic but impactful beats with it for a nice, full sound. I liked the gated vox line and padding as well. Shift at 1:38 to some overdriven, distorted kicks that feel like a stylistic thing I'll have to get over; they lasted until 2:16 (back at 2:57). Very lush textural changeup at 2:16, great choice for the lead synth. As the added beat were in play until 2:56, I liked how much space the track had to breathe, and it made the dynamics of the instrumentation changes more effective. 2:57 brought back the beats and added an original countermelodic synth line and a gated-style supporting line until 3:33. Not as much contrast/dynamic as I would have liked, but just a personal taste thing, and the relative additional complexity's dult noted, though I could imagine other judges complaining. I would have liked to have heard more dynamic evolution of the track from 2:57-on, because the continued build was very subtle and thus feeling on the vanilla, repetitive side. That said the overall transformation of the Zeal theme to this light dNb style works nicely. Definitely leaning towards what works more than getting hung up on what other potential twists or added sophistications there could have been. Nice job, Nobel, this was a cool concept. :-) YES