Liontamer

Here, here. I never talked with Brian, but the few times I got to chat with Zach, he was always great. I wouldn't be here without ZTNet making sure it stayed alive in the first place. Thanks for your help, bros. Let's hope djp doesn't drastically mess up the code in the future. (Ohwaite, dat sidebar...)

So, uh, why did you leetsp33k your nickname and all that jazz if you just go by "Reforged"?

Already made by me: Clearly, Dave will love that one!

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=top - "The Stream of Time" (top-102.spc) Opened up with a ticking clock; very relaxing and nice. Loved the bubbly synth covering the intro of the source coming in at :15 with that other chime-like percussion; nice texture. The bass kick was also nice and phat. The strings in the mix here are so similar to the ones in the SPC; similar tone and buried very deep in the back. zirc picked up on the strings having some very unrealistic voicing changes, though they honestly didn't bother me much, as I felt the sample wasn't exposed as bad as it could have been. Beats at :38 could have filled the soundscape more, but most of the patterns were excellent. Don't drag it down with a plodding pattern like you did at 1:17 though. Nothing melodic was really happening though, then the track went practically dead from 1:32-1:55. Too many elements dropped out basically leaving that boring beat pattern, the strings (now exposed) and the bubbly synth; at that point, the mix felt overly simplistic, empty, and devoid of substance and direction. Picked back up fairly well at 1:55, but, like Jon criticised, there's just no direction to the track at all. What would normally function as supporting elements were all upfront, what would normally function as melodic content were way in the back. I mean, if you want BGM with no hook at all, that's fine, but it's a bit backwards in terms of developing the source material with the site in mind. I know the tempo of the original is slow, but there's a fair amount of content here to work with, both with overt melodies as well as other material in the source that can be rearranged to work melodically. Sorry David, gotta roll with the other NOs. Decent foundation here, but that's only basically what's in place so far. Refine some of the production and also rework the arrangement to give it a melody and, subsequently, direction. You continue to improve, so don't be discouraged.

Tales of Symphonia Original Soundtrack - 329 "Zelos ~Serious Arrange~" Don't forget to encode at 192kbps or below; thanks for providing the source. Yeah, this brass sucks it. Nonetheless the arrangement is pretty damn good. Took me a few minutes to familiarize myself with the source melody and latch onto it here, but it's creatively used here in a very non-obvious way. Why the pregnant pause at :10? TO's absolutely right about the fakey brass and fakey strings needing to take a back seat in this mix. They're all so loud, dry, and upfront that you can't help but hear how poor they sound. The brass in the original sounds better than what's in play here, and the foreground here does sound sparse with the brass the way it is. I'd say pull back the volume on the brass and flesh out the tone on it. TO's also right in that the wah guitar is criminally low here. Adjust the balance accordingly to let Luiza's stuff cut through more. Love the way the ending trailed off though. Funktastic. Overall, the track's too loud, but it doesn't seem like anything is clipping. Nonetheless, the sheer loudness of the track made the dynamic changes seem a lot less dynamic. Everything just sounds all up in a nigga's face. Nothing really needs to be altered as far as the arrangement goes. Everything seemed great there. Give the production a thorough once over and run it by some of the Js before you resub it. NO (refine/resubmit)

Remember, 192kbps is the bitrate ceiling here. The VBR encoding of 205kbps on this one is too much. Gotta bring it downward. http://www.zophar.net/nsf/smb3.zip - Track 2 ("World 2 Map") & Track 15 intro Opening woodwind is noticeably bleh on realism, then again so was a lot of the intro at :17, but I did like the arrangement ideas there. Nice buildup from :30-:34, though the pinao at :34 sounds way too thin and MIDI-grade. The source tune melody is also way too quiet, whereas all of the embellishments are louder and over the top of the melody. Gotta adjust that sound balance there. Nice use of the Warp Whistle jingle at 1:04. Tone of the snare drum didn't quite seem to fit either; No intensity behind it. Actually, there's not really much intensity behind any of the instrumentation, despite what the writing is supposed to showcase. The overall volume was a bit too quiet, and there were those issues witht the sound balance I mentioned that placed the listener's focus on the wrong elements. Decent idea for the key change at 2:26, though that electric guitar-like synth at 2:28 didn't fit there at all and sounded completely out of place for something that was supposed to sound orchestrated. Probably better to use a different sound entirely there, one that's also supposed to sound organic. There were some good ideas there to make that last section more powerful, but I agreed with Jesse that the arrangement dragged a bit by that point with the general pattern seeming too samey. Flesh the sounds out a bit more and achieve a more organic sounding performance, adjust the sound balance in places, and keep the arrangement moving and this'll make a great addition. Great progress so far, Ryan, as this was a big improvement over the old version. NO (resubmit)

http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/psf/packs/FFX-2_psf2.rar - 101 "Eternity ~Memory of Lightwaves~" I liked the glassy intro. The other instrumentation sounded very cheap unfortunately, the flute, piano and synths. Very unrealistic sounding and also sparse like DarkeSword mentioned. The effects definitely crowded up the soundfield, overcompensating for the thin instrumentation you had in place. Flesh the individual sounds out instead, then work on the broader effects. Agreed with DS as well on how there wasn't much in the way of dynamics. Simpler section at 1:56 to 2:52 exposed the samples like nobody's business. Ending at 3:17 was really sudden and it simply sounded like you ran out of ideas. Samples cut out very cheaply at 3:28. You really gotta step up the sound quality here and work on developing a more substantially evolving arrangement. Feedback from the Works forum coupled with research in the ReMixing forum will help you add some meat and spice to this empty blandness and start to realize your potential. NO

http://www.exotica.org.uk/tunes/archive/Authors/Game/Hippel_Jochen/Amberstar.lha - "hipc.Misty_Orc_Hop" Kinda of funny, I Googled for more info on the original soundtrack and found that he spammed a couple of demoscene sites with this same track. Well, nothing wrong with trying to pimp your material out there. Well, it's a decent track, but still rather boring in terms of the synth design. Melody really picked up at 1:05 with some thicker beats and kicks. Decent change in dynamics and feel at 2:02, though again the bleh synth design undermines the writing choices. I can roll with the bread and butter sounds, and Jesse's right in that the arrangement is at least alright, but the production on everything is pretty underwhelming. Maybe it's just my experience with Remix.Kwed.Org and AMIGAremix, but many artists from the Commodore scene could produce a much better sonic result than this with the same samples. On that level, this needs to enhanced via more creative post-production. For me, the arrangement doesn't make up for how bland the track sounds. Maybe you'll have better luck with the others though, so good luck bro. NO (refine/resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ewj - "Buttville ~ The Descent" (ewj-07.spc) Interesting enough beginning. Drums came in at :16 and they do feel a little bit trebly. Synth guitar at :24 feels too mechanical with the timing. Could have been a chance to add some personalization to the melody rather than playing it out stiffly and verbatim. Chorus at :58 and the subsequent followup until 1:15 was getting obscured a bit by the beatwork. Work on that balance. Yeah, Malcos is right about the treble. The cymbals needlessly sizzle a hell of a lot. Guitar wank at 1:32 is again buried by the cymbals and drums. Bassline could have been an asset there, but was also too obscured. Even that bassline followed the melody in too straightforward a manner. Coupled with the beats obscuring the lead and bassline in the first place, the guitar plays through so robotically and the synth has no meat on it. It makes the arrangement feel devoid of feeling and energy. Outside of the guitar stuff from 1:32-onward (which, again, was undermined by the production), the arrangement of the theme was too conservative. A decent base, but this needs a lot of love on the creative end, and some reassessment of the production end. Wish I could be more enthusiastic on this one. NO

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ewj - "What the Heck?" (ewj-02.spc) What a strange theme. One of the most odd experiences I've ever had listening to a video game soundtrack. It opened up with some MIDI-level orchestration, only to move over into the elevator music with completely non sequitur screams. How you were going to go after this one, I dunno. Probably only Mazedude or Shnabubula could arrange this with a method to their madness. Intro was a light sonic improvement over the original, and pretty much a purposeful throwback like Malcos also saw. Moves over at :34 into some breakbeats and a very simple piano part (the countermelody by itself until the lead eventually comes in). Rather than presenting that part in such a straightforward way, that was your opportunity to build upon it and interpret it by changing the rhythms, adding ornamentation/grace notes, and just integrating your own ideas to present a more personalized approach. The beats sounded a bit lo-fi like the piano part had merely been stuck over the top, plus the drums were indeed too loud. The drums' loudness doesn't cover up the fact that the other instrumentation was very synthetic sounding and very sparse. Malcos hit the nail on the head. I love it when we hit the same core issues independent of each other. The patterns changed up a little bit, but the overall feel was too samey the whole way through. Dunno if you were simply using various drumloops, but that's not at the heart of the issue. You're going for some dynamic contrast based on the intensity of the beatwork from section to section, but the dynamics could be more pronounced regardless. My main issue was the lack of interpretation with the melodic content coupled with the thin and artificial texture of the instruments outside of the drums. You really gotta flesh those sounds out and get the arrangement side more interpretive. Do those things, then scale back the drums to let the other instruments stand out better, and you'd be a lot closer to a winner. NO

http://www.queststudios.com/mt32midi/kq5_8.zip - "Bandit Camp" The disjointedness is actually in context, since the original sounds worse. It did get a little more interesting from 2:40-onward. But Vigilante's general point of view (i.e. "Lack of harmony, lack of variation, generic instruments, lack of direction") I agreed with, and those issues he mentioned are the killer here. Flesh this out. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/zeldaoos.zip - Track 21 Some things just needs a little more polish on the timing. The rhythm guitar seemed a bit off when it was in there. While Kolesch was wailing away with the sax solo from :57-1:35, it seemed like the bass guitar timing was slightly off, which only seemed to throw off the perceived flow of Koelsch's stuff. During the piano solo at 2:13, it also seemed like the same problem was there, but I then realized that both the solos just needed to be performed a bit tighter. They're a bit too freeform and don't feel like they're synced up to the supporting players. Touch up the timing to really create some synnergy among the players. My main issue holding this back was the bass and rhythm guitar seeming so repetitive. After 2 minutes, I got the gist of it, so it could use some more tangible contrast as the song goes on. Right now, the supporting instrumentation has some good subtle changeups, but the patterns nonetheless sounded too samey and dragged the song down. Great mix so far, guys. The drumwork was pretty well handled overall also. This is pretty damn hot. I agreed with Vigilante's points with the production as well. Consider all of the criticisms and just touch some things up for the easy YES. We want this on the site, no doubt about it. Just push it over that last hump. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/metroid2.zip - Track 1 (SFX sampling) & 3 As usual, Jesse sums up my feelings in about 2 sentences, whereas I always take 22. The structure is ok, but too straightforward. Beats changed up at 1:24, but it felt like they went on for a lot longer. Thicker beats came back at 1:51 with a slightly different tone and pattern, only to go back to the same beats and straightforward arrangement from before at 2:18. Vig's right in that this is excellently produced. Just work on more melodic interpretation and variation within the arrangement to keep things from getting stale, and this will be nothing but solid. Really glad to see you submit something once again Nicholai. I've been a fan of "Oldschool Opening" for years, and I don't even like Terra's theme. Don't stop working on this one in order to show the people that you can still bring it. NO (resubmit)

I mean, if it looks cool, we can roll with any avatar idea. Be sure to make it in GIF though. You had a bunch of cool avatar ideas last time that were .jpg or .bmp

Limiting avatars to a preexisting selection simply offers a more uniform look for the site. We want the avatars to mostly be game-related (and to a lesser extent, anime, comics, and pop culture). It's also not up for dicussion.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sd2 - "Spirit of the Night" (sd2-17.spc) Couldn't have laid it out better. Read what DarkeSword said again. The drums coming in at 1:29 was basically the only dynamic change here, and quickly got boring through sheer brain-numbing repetiton. Brief break at 2:26, then choppa style, chop-choppa style, then right back into the same old shizz at 3:00, then choppa style again...verbatim...at 3:57. The arrangement's gotta be more creative than this. No need to say more other than... NO

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/zeldaoos.zip - Tracks 21 & 1 Nice source tune. Cool intro idea, but then OOOOH some bad vibes 'n shit at :24; very low quality. Supporting instrumentation is definitely weak here. The instrument combinations for some parts really don't sound good together; the drums sound way too busy for something like this piece, and the snappy tone on them doesn't fit here at all. Sax recording doesn't sound as sharp as it could be, and the performance needs to be smoother; keep practicing of course. Then you also have these parts where you have lower-sounding vox and strings mingling with high-pitched syrupy xylo-type stuff, and it just clashes badly. Cool shit from 1:31-2:08. Wish the piano didn't sound so fake there in the back, but it's not too exposed. These were much better instrumental combinations here. Liking the bassline, which may have been too subtle but could stay as is. BOO on 2:08 as a transition. Anytime you have that in there, scrap it and use something else that doesn't sound so MIDI-grade. Vigilante's right in that the Zelda theme at 2:30 absolutely doesn't fit over those chords as is. That's where this little thing called "interpretation" comes in. Please use some and modify the theme (if you're gonna keep the theme in here) so that the melody and background piece together nicely. Again, the sax performance sounds rough. Tacky as hell cymbal shots at 3:08 and 3:10. Weird note change in the vox at 3:23 (and 4:40...and 4:42), sounding totally awkward and egregiously exposing the sample. 3:47-4:49, same exact problems as :48-1:30 only lots of lame cymbal shots thrown in there as well. The texture here was just not working. The framework here is in place, but the devil's in the details. Attention to detail is sorely lacking, and your material's always gonna sound rough like this if you can't get a better ear for how all of the sounds here interact with one another. Good stuff at your current level, but if you improved a lot over the course of, say, 1 year, you'd be amazed at how much you'd find wrong with it looking back on it. NO

There will be no custom avatars. We prefer to simply use a standard size and won't deviate from that, so that the forums don't have avatars that wildly deviate in size from person to person.

Cave Story - (02) "Gestation" That's pretty much how the original goes. Suffice to say, I wish there was more interpretation going on for the first few minutes. Good drum patterns during the intro. The patterns were somewhat basic, but got the job there nicely. Had some fairly strong expansive cover-style arrangement going on for the first two minutes. Interesting change of pace at 2:08 with the piano- and string-focused foundation. Feeling the flute action at 2:19. Didn't quite like the tone of the drumwork joining in at 2:39. Felt like the volume on those should have been pulled back a little to note sound so overbearing, but nothing major there. Barren section at 3:05 with those drums. The patterns sounded way too exposed there up to 3:25, and I thought it was a bad idea to go that route. If you're gonna go that route, the drumming has to sound more natural and less rigid. Nonetheless, I see how you were trying to create some contrast once the source arrangement kicked back in. Another iteration of the source tune arrangement from 3:25, now only with different drums underneath. Vary the drum patterns a bit more. They're so familiar by the end of the section at 4:27 that it got too boring and repetitive. You're not using preset loops, I hope. Let's not go there. Moves over into a more rock style section at 4:29 with the flute doing some crazy trills 'n spills and whatnot over some rocked out drums and guitar. Another iteration of the melody at 5:30, the melody now doubled. Everything sounded pretty crowded at that point. Everything sounded too loud the whole way through and could use refinement on the sound combinations, but the effort is there and the track manages to vary things up well enough over time. Rather disappointed to hear the major arrangement section repeated twice more in the track only with different drums underneath, but the expansionist ideas here helped offset those issues. Still could be a better track on both arrangement and production, but that's neither here nor there at this rate. Some reservations, but I'll throw you the YES. This was IMO the best track on the Cave Story Remix Project. Best of luck with the rest of the vote, Bryan. YES

Not gonna search the soundtrack for this, since there's no GSF rip for it and it has nearly a hundred tracks. Please help by providing an audio sample of the source material in the future. The samples do need some more meat on 'em, but are used decently. There's some lo-fi warbling/lossyness going on with the production that needs to be removed. It's pretty noticeable during 2:09-3:11, but is around in other areas of the track. A VBR encoding could help you there, but maybe another judge has some tips. Drums at the foundation at 3:22-4:00 sounded too looped, and the tone on 'em was no good. The transition at 4:00 felt a bit awkward as well. The instrumentation and/or dynamics could use more variation as well. Beyond the 4-minute mark, everything in the arrangement sounded too samey and didn't engage one's interest. I felt like I had heard it all before; I'd suggest development that less subtle than this. Finally moved into something more intense (compared to the prior material) at 6:00 for some contrast moving into the finish. Samples were still pretty weak, especially the drums. All the sounds tended to mush together throughout the track and could use some more separation, especially the brass and the strings. Ending at 7:03 was way too sudden and weak; it felt like a copout as nothing developed towards the finish. Work for something more substantive there. Not a bad sub, but it needs more polish. Keep on it. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/ffa.zip - Tracks 9 & 10 Good expansionist ideas here alongside the personalization and interpretation in handling the melodic content. Low string-esuqe dealie starting at 1:39 felt too dry. Same with the section at 2:09, where I also felt the bassline was briefly too loud and invasive. Nice addition of elements at 2:06 to make things more intense though and thereby provide dynamic contrast. Always stylish stuff per the usual Jimmy. Always glad to hear material from you bro! YES

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkc - "DK Island Swing" (dkc-03.spc) & "Forest Frenzy" (dkc-14.spc) Yeah, this was pretty loosely performed for the intro. Nothing wrong with a gritty style, though a tighter performance would have helped. Segued into some acoustic stuff at :32 before the "Forest Frenzy" melody came in. The soundfield felt pretty empty, as those three sounds weren't enough. Poor/sudden addition of some extremely plain & boring drums at 1:23. Same with the tambourine added at 2:02. The instrumentation doesn't mesh well at all and sounds really imbalanced. Pull the tambourine back, for example. The screeching SFX thrown in here merely disturb the track rather than add to it and seem to have no point in there. Vox at 2:43 could have been a cool idea, but again doesn't mesh well with the other sounds, especially at 3:57 with that electric guitar coming in. Arrangement, as the others pointed out, wasn't very interpretive, and the performance lacks finesse. Ambitious, but ultimately not concerned about being thorough on the details. NO

http://project2612.org/download.php?id=95 - 01 "Magical Sound Shower" Didn't really get a huge funk vibe from it. I see what you were going for, but the execution definitely isn't there. I did like the steel drum in there, but throw it into almost any mix and I'll like it. Bassline sounds cool, but was way too understated. Arrangement's definitely not interpretive enough. Sample quality is pretty low, but the way things were put together was at least enjoyable. Too bad it's more of a sound upgrade than a rearrangement. Goes for too long with minimal interpretation. Sub it to R:K:O to at least get some pimping for it, but this is a NO-go here.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ffmq - "Battle 1" (ffmq-07.spc) Wasn't a big fan of this soundtrack, but the battle themes in it were pretty solid. Good choice to arrange. Weird opening, but a good change of pace. Melody came in at :24 via electrosynth. Yeah, gotta agree with zircon in that I'm not feeling the slower pace. The arrangement has also managed to deemphasize the original and made it less melodically driven. The melodic lead tends to take a complete backseat to the percussion, supporting electrosynths and massive effects in play. Drums at 1:30 were too basic and didn't drive the track along; combined with the fairly thin pad in there and the soundfield sounded empty. You need to spice the drums up to prevent boredom, bro; they're the foundation of the track. Meanwhile, read everything zircon said again, because he was on point with a lot of issues I agreed with on the production, the mechanical usage of the synths, and the wrong notes. The track lacks a great deal of finesse. Keep trying, Charles. NO

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 68 "Gerudo Valley" Read the submissions guidelines. Throwing in some brief references (2:08 & 4:52) or sections (3:03) with Zelda music admist a nearly wholly original song is a violation of site guidelines and NOT what the site is about. The only reason this is on the panel is because the performance isn't bad and you deserve some critique on it. Vocals sound a bit green and untrained, but are otherwise pretty good. Good harmonization when in play. The drums could stand more variation. Vocals were buried under all the instrumentation from 3:27-3:52. Sounded like an intentional choice, but not one that really benefitted the mix. More video game music arrangement like 3:27-3:52, otherwise stuff like this will never pass under any circumstances. Look forward to possibly hearing a real game arrangement from your next band. NO