Liontamer

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!

NOTE: This is a remix for the Mega Man IV remix project (http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4921) Accordingly, in the event that this remix is approved, please refrain from posting it until the completion of the project. However, if it's rejected, please post the decision publicly, so the song can be further refined for both the project and OCR. contact info: remixer name: jmr real name: Jeffrey Roberts email: jeffreymr @ gmail.com userid: 6406 remixer name: Random Hero real name: Ryan Roberts email: cc971751 @ hotmail.com userid: 5857 remix info: title: Diamond Tip game: Mega Man IV song: Drill Man stage (track 4 in the NSF hosted at OCR) This remix was started back when I first read that GaMeBoX was planning to start a MMIV project (which is now being managed by Dafydd). Unlike other tracks I've worked on, the majority of arrangement for this one fell into place fairly quickly. Things were going smoothly until I reached the 2:55 mark, when I hit some sort of writers block. This is where my brother, Ryan (Random Hero), came in and saved the day. After a night of working on it, the majority of the ending came to be. Even when we had reached the point where I considered the remix completed, he was still coming up with great ideas for the song. I think his contributions to the track are more than significant enough to warrant this being considered as a collaboration. Without him, this track would probably still be lacking an ending. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it, -jeff -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman4.zip - Track 4 ("Drill Man") Not exactly the most melodic source theme I've ever heard, it's not particularly catchy. But I've been proven wrong before, as some people really know how to transform these tunes. Opens up super empty, but I'm willing to see where it builds up to. Melody arrives at :17 with a pretty quiet lead that could stand out more. :35-:42 has some really rigid plucked string sequencing that just sounds awkward. Seems like :44 is supposed to be the high point of activity, but the track just feels bare and dynamically flat. Countermelodic writing from 1:01-1:15 felt REALLY aimless. The percussion writing seems aight, but it doesn't fill out the background enough and doesn't really lend any movement to the piece. Can't articulate my concerns there with more precision, but hopefully some other Js can elaborate. On the plus side, the overall sound is very clean and distinct; you just need to achieve a better balance with your parts. I heard some string pads starting at 1:38, but they're barely audible; perhaps try punching those up to thicken up the piece. Right now, this is way too empty-sounding. The string accents from 1:58-2:13, as well as the countermelodic ideas afterward are also practically a non-factor due to their volume. By around 2:40 when I paid attention to the drums, they were dragging, so the changeup and slowdown after 2:48 was welcome. Didn't think the tempo change was as effective as it could have been. If the first half of the track had been more energetic, then the changeup would have been much more effective. Regardless, by 3:34, the arrangement just finds itself back into the same tempo and every level as the previous stuff only with some different (slightly muddy) sounds; in other words, just more of the same. Not too much to say about the arrangement, as it's all solid on that level. This is a solid base, but this needs better balance, more energy, and more effective use of contrast. Get some more drive into the percussion work, push up some supporting elements to prevent things from sounding so barren. You need something more dynamic. I'm not saying to add some over-the-top breakbeats or make the first half into trance, but the energy level ineffectively hovers at one spot most of the way. Keep working on this, bros. NO (rework/resubmit)

Hi, here's a mix that doesn't incorporate the bond theme, so maybe I'll have a bit more of a chance with this one. It was loosely inspired by zircon's recent Monstrous Turtles track and my intent to create a rock based mix. Mixer name: Miszou Real name: Greg Michalec E-mail: greg@silverlinestudios.net Website: www.silverlinestudios.net, www.soundclick.com/silverlineproductions Game: Super Mario 64 Themes used: Road to Bowser, Bowser's Theme Thanks, greg ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/usf/sm64usf.rar - 29 "Koopa's Road" & 30 "Koopa's Theme" Cool opening. Picked up at :09 with some interesting sounds although it already sounded a bit on the loud side during the buildup, making me anticipate something way too loud once everything kicked in. And indeed at :34, everything's way too loud. Arrangement was fairly conservative to start, but I definitely see some of the "Monstrous Turtles!" influence in your approach. Very personalized. Going back to criticism, the first thing I noticed aside from the volume was that the electric guitar work was muddying up the soundfield and making all the other sounds around it very indistinct. I like your textures on the whole, you just need better separation of the parts so everything sounds cleaner. The drum work could be more interesting as well during the verses. The snappy snare dominates everything too much, but aside from some cymbal crashes as well I can't hear much else going on with the perc writing due to the crowding out effect from other sounds. Nice changeup at 1:26 once that beautiful stuff came in at 1:33. My reaction in #judges... Some of the writing is awkward (bowed string from 1:42-1:56 possibly doesn't quite resolve right), but you've got some good attention to dynamics, as well as creative concepts on how to integrate original writing within the arrangement.2:32 going back into the meat of the arrangement, just the same issues about overall volume as well as needing better separation. Minor crit: the ending at 3:24 was really cheesy and didn't seem to even fit the mood of the rest of the song, particularly the bell and vox 3:32. Too seemingly uplifting and trite, it really sounds out of place. You got a lot of the core concepts we're looking for down, Greg. You've just gotta tighten the bolts in this bitch. Get the rest of the crits from the panel, then refine the production, bro. Looking forward to seeing this one again. NO (refine/resubmit)

Brief, but to the point...the sub letter, not the mix - LT

ReMixer: Evahn game: Luigi's Mansion song: main mansion theme ReMix: Entrada I don't know what to say about it ... I just think it's fun. -------------------------------- Luigi's Mansion (GC Rip) - (09) "Professor E. Gadd's Lab" (as far as I know; may be other variations) Fun acoustic guitar submission. Intro definitely seemed to fill the space well, but, after :35, the approach to the arrangement merely felt empty. 1:10 remedied that a little, but not enough; there seemed to be some slight distortion in places as the overall volume needed to be toned down. Good original ideas from 1:46-2:17 over the chords of the original. Went back to those dry chugs at 1:44; bleh. 2:17 sounded stronger in terms of the resonance these guitars needed to flesh out the space properly. I felt like the multitracked geetars needed to fill out the soundfield more and that the lead guitar playing should have been tighter. It was OK on the whole, but sounded stiff a lot of the time. Keep working on it. NO

You speak in the past tense as if this came out 6 years ago and she was never to be heard from again. What gives, bro?

Conceptually, this ended up sounding pretty unique; production-wise, this needs more flesh on the bones in places - LT * ReMixer name: Villainelle * Real name: Leah Raeder * Email address: leahzero@gmail.com * Website: http://leah.johnsandford.org/ (temporary) * userid: 6350 ReMix Info * Name of game(s) ReMixed: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time * Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: "Spirit Temple" & "Requiem of Spirit" * Link to the original soundtrack: Spirit Temple: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/Spirit_temple.mid Requiem of Spirit: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/OoTRoS.mid * Your own comments: Hi. You might remember me as the creator of the parody of the OCR rejection guide video on YouTube (cf. Cleveland Rock). Long time listener, first time submitter! This is a remix of the Spirit Temple and Requiem of Spirit themes from Zelda: Ocarina of Time, in a Middle Eastern-flavored electronica/dance style with some chanting vocals. (Requiem can be heard in the breakdown, slightly transposed to fit better into G minor.) I've always had an interest in all things ancient Egyptian, so while I was working on this, I started reading the Egyptian Book of the Dead for inspiration (as the Spirit Temple is clearly inspired by ancient Egyptian architecture). The Book of the Dead is essentially a poetic, Psalms-like book of rites meant to secure passage into the afterlife; in ancient Egypt, persons of importance who were mummified after death each had their own unique copy of a Book of the Dead. The most famous copy we have was written for someone named Ani, and has come to be known simply as *the* "Egyptian Book of the Dead." I bought a copy of E.A. Wallis Budge's translation/transliteration and recorded myself reciting passages from the book, then ran them through various effects (inspired by the creepy vocoded speech from the movie Stargate ). Transcription (hieroglyph transliteration and English translation): http://leah.johnsandford.org/music/seekrit/zeldaoot_botd_transcript.txt I chose lines that had narrative resonance with the actual Spirit Temple event in the game - Link has to solve part of it first in child form before opening the latter part for his adult self. I particularly thought the lines about heaven and rays of light were appropriate, since the Spirit Temple has those notorious light-based puzzles. Thanks for your time, Leah (aka Villainelle) ----------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 69 "Spirit Temple" & 70 "Requiem of Spirit" Right off the bat, the electronic sounds are pretty FL-default-y and the textures are flimsy, though I see how you're trying to fill the soundfield up. The drums in particular are super dry and don't fill out the background at all. You need more effects to make things sound thicker, but at the same time the sounds need better attention to EQing and panning so that they stand apart from each other more. Right now, all the sounds seem to just overlap one another. For example, there's some string work (?) starting at 1:50-2:03 (a 7-note pattern) that I could barely pick up on, but it had cool writing ideas. I'd love a musician J's tips on good approaches to getting rid of this dry-but-crowded feel; sounds like you could use more instrumentation, but really more production finesse might be the key. The chanting from 1:50-2:16 was a cool idea. It sounds indistinct, but the effects are cool and it's not too important what you're saying. If it WAS important that the voice work be more audible/understandable, then you've got to address that. Sweet changeup at 2:31. The voice work sounded evil, and the percussion sequencing seems really creative; I hope that was all written by you and not just some loops. The overall texture was temporarily a lot fuller without being crowded, but after 3:11, it still felt like the various parts were tripping over themselves to be heard; dry, but crowded again. Track comes full circle to the concepts from :27 at 3:40, which felt retread-ish rather than interesting. I can't hate on you attempting to establish a foundation groove, but, dynamically, I think this could use more extended and pronounced contrast from section to section. For example, quieter sections without the drum beats could go for a few bars without the vocal chanting before subsequently bringing that in. I think the arrangement has the potential to say more in the same amount of time by being more judicious/calculating with your changeups. Now reading the WIP thread for this one, I love how I basically repeated stuff said by others without actually having seen the comments first (The Joker re: production, Kanthos re: dynamics & bassline writing). It means I'm not losing my touch. Good ideas so far. Reminds me of GrayLightning earlier in his career, where the concepts were good but the execution and polish weren't quite there yet. With that said, you show a lot of potential, Leah. Hopefully the other Js will have some good crits you can work with. NO (resubmit)

Oh snap u rich, buy me 5 shirts too, plz, and cheeze!

omg U Whore Jiggyjonpee I Will Leave This Link Up For All To See So That The Judges Panel Bias Against creative And Enjoyable Mixes Can Be Publically exposed And Ocr Will die And Then I Will Have pie!

I chortled.

Finish yo project, plz. Storybook plz!

http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8777

Derailed. Closin' up shop.

ReMixer name: ilp0 Real Name: Ilari Nieminen Name of the game: Super Mario Bros 2 Mix: