Liontamer

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkq - "In a Snow-Bound Land" (dkq-25.spc) Why do the solitary portions of the vocals remind me of old Michael Jackson stuff? Weird. In any case, this was fairly close last time, and I felt the revisions here were enough to make this click more than enough for the pass. A little rough around the edges, but a solid end-result. Thanks for tweaking the production on that plucked string synth at :10. It has more body to it and sits much better in the soundfield, complimenting the rest of the instrumentation more effectively the entire way. Good job removing those low vocals in the bridge (e.g. :55 & 2:35, "All the feeling's gone"/"Can you hear the song") that seemed out of your range. Thanks a lot for reexamining the balance and synchronization of the chorus's harmonized lines. I hope it didn't seem like a creative sacrifice, because the end result is defintely a more solid-sounding delivery. The track ended fine, but there was no clean fadeout, with the track cutting off a bit abruptly at 4:30; not a big deal, but a fadeout fix would be nice. Great production tweaks here to give this track the TLC it needed. Mike continues with his ambitious vocal tracks with another strong effort. Glad this was resubbed. YES

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozmmusf.rar - 244 "Stone Tower Temple (Illusion)" Like I alluded to in my off-the-cuff comment in the sub letter, the groove was aight, but the countermelodic writing that's part of it didn't seem to mesh with the arranged melody well. The beats from 1:54-2:01 were pretty flimsy, but brief; not a huge deal. Something about the production was really murky and rough and undermined the tracks dynamics. Perhaps overcompression, I wouldn't know for sure. Everything sounded lossy AND seemed too sizzly/trebly with those "tss" sounds. TO thought things were fine overall for the genre, but to me the issues added up to "no good". At 2:33, you rehashed 1:30's section verbatim rather than developing something new or different. Not a big deal given the overall variation of the arrangement, but some tweaks to make 2:33 feel different somehow could have helped. With the dynamics lacking though, repeating a section wholesale made the groove feel like it was dragging on. The arrangement itself was decent, but arguably didn't seem to have much direction. Tightening up the writing of your groove will help remedy that. Refine the groove and overhaul the production, and this would at least be in better shape. NO (rework/resubmit)

It was a stolen track, so it was deleted.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FFX_psf2.rar - 102 "In Zanarkand" The tense opening certainly caught my ear. The samples were pretty serviceable, though the articulations on everything need work. Piano takes center stage at :53 with some beautiful, delicate stuff; performance sounds a little rigid, but the textures are pretty good regardless. 1:45 goes for some liberal arrangement of the source before going to the melody proper at 2:03. Didn't recognize anything from the source until 2:03, though the key change compared to the original seemed kind of pointless. In terms of dynamic contrast, the piece started coming up empty around 2:23 when, no matter what the instrumentation changes were, the intensity felt the same (the brass from 2:51-2:59 being the only exception, and even then, the samples sounded pretty thin). Brass at 3:52 was a pretty bad offender, the tone sounded more like an e-violin for whatever reason; do I have my signals crossed? I agreed with Jesse about the arrangement meandering around too much. The writing definitely needs more direction and better dynamic contrast built in. Closing section at 4:54 was pretty lacking, given how thin and mechanical the piano sounded. This a great base, but the "performance" need to be humanized more effectively, the samples need more meat on 'em, and the arrangement needs more substance both in terms of dynamics and direction. Definitely keep working on this one though, Uub. NO (rework/resubmit)

Great stuff, this mix. Short, but definitely very personalized in the performance. Someone on DeviantArt did a simple but cute flash animation of Bloopers with a loop of this mix running. Check it out: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47678621/

Luigi's Mansion "Once Upon a Nightmare" did not hit the panel. That sub was received on 1/13 and the form letter was sent on 1/20 to the dragonballzim address. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=smw - "Underground BGM" (smw-12a.spc) I liked the ethnic feel of the first few seconds. As the orchestration kicked in, the samples definitely didn't sound like the real thing, but the articulations are pretty decent to me, attack complaints noted. All your sounds need more depth and power though to fulfill the intentions of the writing. Yeah, there's some audio glitch/skip around :53 that needs to be fixed. No big deal. 1:06, that mallet percussion or whatever just sounds way too spartan. Aside from the writing changing awkwardly (boo!), the reason that transition doesn't work better IMO is because the dynamic contrast in the mix is pretty weak. You textures aren't very thick to begin with, so the contrast goes from "pretty empty to very empty" rather than "full to empty". Mix picked up a bit at 1:46 before going for a more militaristic finish with some Eastern spices for the last few seconds. Pretty interesting mish-mash of sounds there, Clay. If you can flesh out the sounds more and, like Vigilante mentioned, develop the arrangement further (it needs more ideas, length and reinterpretation), then this arrangement could be pretty badass. Good base so far. It would need a fair amount of work to get it above the bar, but it's definitely worth a legit shot. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/usf/ge64usf.rar - 118 "Antenna Cradle" To clarify (as a source tune like this that integrates mainstream music can seem pretty dicey), this has no chance of being posted if a significant part of the mix arranges the James Bond theme.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Secret of the Forest" (ct-1-11.spc) CC Ricers was definitely a better name, for the record. JustChris = n00b. Doesn't affect the decision, but there you go. That intro is sweeeeeet. Love those swirly sounds. Gave way to some overly loud instrumentation at :10. Damn yo, scale it back. Some of the sounds are kind of lackluster on their own (Vig nailed it with that flute), but the textures are good and things are produced to have a thick soundscape. Things are just too loud and compressed. Worst example of it was when 1:38-2:39 was distorting and clipping to a disgusting degree. Not in a "I spit on this way", just a "DAYUM, wtf???" way. Guys, what are you listening to this on? You guys didn't pick up on any of this before sending it in? Check it on some headphones. On the arrangement side, things were good on the whole, though conservative. Can't tell if those breakbeats are loops, but they get old after a while, plus they're not properly positioned in the track like Vigilante alluded to. Didn't like whatever the lead was at 3:29, too rigidly sequenced. Once the beats picked up again at 3:41, the distortion was absurd again. :'-( Good job so far bros, but take Vigilante's advice, SERIOUSLY rethink the production and send it back. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mo2 - "Choose a File" (mo2-004.spc) http://www.zophar.net/gbs/gbcam.zip - Track 3 Played this on VGF68 for the Bound Together special. It's an awesome track, based more off the Game Boy Camera theme (which was cribbed and expanded from this EarthBound source tune, as y'all can hear). Also gotta say though, Shael, I thought the production was excellent as well. Unfortunately, I gotta agree with Vigilante that the arrangement is too underdeveloped. Especially now that I hear how a lot of the "new" writing ideas are from the Game Boy Camera track. You didn't crib 'em wholesale, but the overall interpretation was pretty conservative. I loved what you've done with this, and the performance aspect is unique and tightly produced, but further length and interpretation would be needed to get it over the bar here. It's great for what it is, and I don't meant to take away from that. I'd love to hear an extended cut, but it may be unlikely for something that was dusted off the shelf. Still though, I can't wait to hear what other mixes might be coming our way from ye elder Riley. NO (resubmit)

Yep. That's what I was gonna say.

PMed Heath about the nature of the decision and the offer to tweak the production before posting. Provided him a copy of the vote to see what the criticisms were firsthand, so I imagine we'll hear back in a couple of days on how he feels. If Siamey's content to let this one go as is, then it'll be posted in its current form.

That's correct. He revealed that on VG Frequency #21, ironically while it was playing in the background I believe. I appreciate, in its own ironic way, how Ari eventually vehemently turned against drumloop usage. He helped up the standard here by encouraging people to write original drum parts, which forced other artists to become more creative and thorough in their own work. I still think this particular mix is great for its time. Despite Prot's own issues with it, it had effective sounds and textures, and the arrangement was developed very well. I never saw the shame in that.

Yeah, the intro definitely caught my ear back in the day. Out of all the Arkanoid mixes I heard back in '02 when I listened to all the OCRs, this was the most interesting one. This is some seriously good dub, and I always respect the mixes that work the most creatively and interpretively with the source material. Well arranged, well produced, this would easily pass today's standards. Always a favorite.

Conservative, but well personalized arrangement. Loved the dashes of chiptune spices thrown in there. Too bad we haven't heard from DJComet again. I would have liked to observe how he's improved his game.

Classic VG arrangement goodness, and an old favorite. Even just from a historic sense, it's a must download.

Wow, those are some authentic dance/trance synths. Too bad the production behind 'em is so poor. Everything's just really flimsy here unfortunately. There's tons of room for expansion and power here; nothing fills the song out or drives it along. Definitely on the low end of what's available here, can't say it any other way.

I'm a big fan of the source tune, which has a simple but great hook. Like Andrew mentioned above me, this arrangement really does play to the original's strengths. Good fusion of synthwork, beats and chiptune, and a very loopable track. Look for more of Zyron's stuff in the Commodore arrangement scene.

After having becoming more familiar with the Speedball soundtrack (credit goes to Marsland Brotherhood), I definitely had more of an appreciation for Alex's own arrangement here. Very chill. There are a lot of "oldbies" that are no longer regulars in this scene, but hearing mixes like these I think of mutagene and go "Now THAT's someone I'd like to hear another ReMix from again."

Pretty dated and a conservative arrangement, but the changeups employed with the sounds and production made this one ok in terms of facing Lockdown 2. Would I groove to it regularly though? Naw. It's only really cool if you're ok with relatively minor upgrades.

Yeah, I only realized what we had here once Koelsch1's own Jurassic Park from the Genesis was posted and decided to check this out once again. This also arranged my favorite track from that game once I explored the soundtrack. Hearing a waltz in a decidedly unorthodox style was cool. Would have loved to have had an original melody built on top of the arranged source tune so that the piece could have more direction, but what's in place was really cool. Definitely doesn't get enough recognition. Solid work, Graham!

Damn, never reviewed this one either. I loved whatever percussion sounds were used for the intro. Back in the day, the uniqueness of the intro made me go "Whoa, what the hell is that?" and stick around for more. The beatwork is pretty slick for the olden days; this would be genuinely solid, driving writing even then. The brief synth solo at 1:25 felt kinda loosely played, but had some nice 80s-style energy. It ends too soon; felt like a few more minutes were definitely capable. But overall, a good overhaul of the original.

Overly straightforward but effective genre adaptation for the day. Good job with the original synthwork on counterpoint, though I would have liked it to be louder. Would have loved more creative twists and turns here so-to-speak, but them's the old days.

The piano and guitar sample are noticeably mechanical-sounding and dated, but the textures are what made this song IMO. Just loved the understated but skillful buildups and breakdowns here. Even way back when, John's sense of dynamics was impeccable. Wing would probably bleh on this mix now and note how he's way more talented nowadays, but this one still holds up nicely for that old-school flavor.

Though I never heard the original submission of this one, I could tell from the judges comments back then that this one had promise. I'm glad William decided to revisit the track and make it that much stronger. The sounds/textures are a bit dated, working in actual original drum patterns in place of the loops would have been good, and one can hear how the track could be filled out a bit better. But the arranagement's very creative for its day and the energy is excellent.

Yeesh, I always thought I'd reviewed this. Back in the days when I just scanned through the first 700 or so mixes, this one didn't originally stand out. Back for VG Frequency #51, Joe Cam sent me an interview he'd conducted with Zeratul and I needed some background music to accompany it. After scanning through Benedikt's stuff, I rediscovered this gem. The arrangement is just really creative and chill, one that demands a close but relaxed listen to enjoy. Great sounds chosen to make this stand apart from the original, Hülsbeck himself would be proud. In the Commodore arrangement community, the Great Giana Sisters' music attracts a ton of attention, but outside the European scene, awesome stuff like this gets no love and recognition. I wish more people would take time out to listen to mixes like these that aren't from the most widely-known games and see what they're missing.