Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

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.

The beatwork could have used some more power, and the flute's a bit mechanically sequenced, but the overall texture is pretty solid, and I really loved the interpretation of the melodic components here. The panning tricks going on during the breakdown in the middle were too extreme, but were used only briefly. A great first mix that illustrates the mission statement and creativity standards of OCR from day 1.

http://www.ocremix.org/info/Judges_Panel#Why_is_the_acceptance_bar_so_high.3F http://www.ocremix.org/info/Judges_Panel#Why_are_there_so_many_rejections_in_a_row.3F

All 3 links for that mix work fine. The old faces will be back eventually. It's never been a high priority.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sm - "Maridia Drifting Sand Underwater Area" (sm-25.spc) Yeah, right off the bat, this sounds like a MIDI or SPC rip with some souped up sounds and effects. Beats entering at :31 were EXTREMELY bland with 0 meat on 'em, the electric guitar synth was really tacky, and everything's got too much of a muddy sound. Completely agreed with Vigilante's take on this, the percussion writing's the only interesting things going on, but it's too loud, cluttered, poorly produced, and doesn't distract from the fact the the melodic arrangement itself is very uninterpretive. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 301 "Cosmo Canyon" I disagreed with Jill's more positive outlook on the track. I wouldn't know why she felt the rearrangement aspect seemed alright for what it was, but maybe she was really familiar with the source made and thus didn't directly compare to the original. No big deal, but worth a revisit. The arrangement was really lacking upon direct comparison to the source. The instrumentation is an upgrade compared to the PSF, but the overall tone is way too similar to the source tune, and the interpretation and expansion factor are really low. Besides some ethic SFX and various other additive sounds, this is basically the original track verbatim. Considering the source itself is only 1:44 long per iteration, you've given this one playthrough that's not interpretive or significantly personalized enough in the arrangement. Nah, you need to read up on the standards and guidelines more. More interpretation and expansion is needed to stand out as a unique and creative rearrangement. This isn't a developed mix by any means. NO

It's capable of creating music. There's a dedicated sub-forum for the program here: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Indeed. S'over.

I'd like to attend. What train station would be the closest to Peabody, BMI or Penn Station? I'm guessing Penn. Kinda spur of the moment, but The Lady and I may be down. Lemme know about feasibility, plz.