Liontamer

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 413 "Judgment Day" Half a decade ago, this would be godly compared to the old stuff on account of the sounds (compared to a lot of the electronic stuff sent in at the time), but the arrangement bar was also low. This certainly isn't bad, but at the same time isn't too much beyond an orchestral adaptation with marching drum beat. I don't mean to glibly downplay the effort or ideas here, and it's not a rip or pure cover, but the arrangement's really not interpretive enough to pass. The sounds/samples are fairly good overall, but somewhat lack the richness that the writing seems to call for. Not a hit to me though as, personally, they're good enough for me, and I liked the melodic harmonization that was going on most of the way through. But while the texture was good and some of the new instrument parts written here were solid, the arrangement though is really too straightforward and doesn't distinguish itself enough from the overall feel of the original IMO. The ending at 3:12 was also too sudden and quite a cop-out. If you're willing to go for something more interpretive and complex than this, Matti, it would have a better shot. Enjoyable stuff so far, but it can go a lot farther than this on the interpretation and creativity scale. Also, name your arrangement something other than the name of the original piece to give further personalization to your work. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ftc2.rsn - "Title" (ftc2-04.spc) Awkward opening direct sampling the original as a transition into the arrangement. Sounds a bit unintentionally bumbling, but not a big deal. Cool fade-out of the sampling along with the fade-in of the arrangement at :02. Lead synth there sounds familiar; not in good way, but neither here nor there. Some nice and simple trip-hop beats came in at :17. Reminds me of stuff by Baby Fox. I'm sure Vigilante has a better handle on any trip-hop analogies, but nonetheless very nice stuff. Production was too lo-fi for me; a VBR encoding could have helped this out a little. There were seemingly these odd rises in the volume (e.g. 1:10, 1:30, 1:41, 1:56, 2:06, 2:24, etc.) that seemed to have no real purpose there. Not really sure what the deal was; sounded like turning the volume knob up and down real fast on a Walkman. Even stranger than none of that happened in the second half of the track, but it may just be me feeling it doesn't work well. Sounded like something was direct sampled or some beats were added from 1:10-1:19 but didn't layer well. Should probably scrap that. I do appreciate the subtleties of the arrangement here. Though liberal-sounding aside from the synth lead clearly taken from the melody, the bassline here is derived from the source melody as well. After 3:29 though, I was looking for further variation to keep things going, as the whole track further cruise controls in a way that I don't believe jives with the standards without further development of the material. Unfortunately a byproduct of the genre to some extent, though again Vigilante's more qualified to speak on it. The was some annoying clicking/percussion/something that started around 4:05 that seemed to be going with the bassline, but then went off into something seemingly random. Gotta get rid of that. Same at 5:33 right before the ending. And also right at the ending at 5:34, another synth was used for the last few seconds. Involve that or some other ideas somewhere in the track to provide a little more variation. Beyond some of the seemingly odd volume jumps and clicks, this was an otherwise very enjoyable track. Production could be cleaner without harming this atmosphere. The composition doesn't need any dramatic overhaul, but does need some further ideas to sustain nearly 6 minutes and still sound like it has something to say at the end. The track does change around subtly by adding/dropping elements throughout, but nonetheless after about 2 minutes you've basically heard what's to come in the other 4. It's somewhat of a shame to me, as I think other pieces with very subdued builds or changes don't stand as much of a chance as they did say 3 or 4 years ago, for example the Super Mario Bros. 2 ReMix "DarK Underground". I'll be keeping this though, and best of luck on the rest of the vote, he who shall not be named. I could understand this getting support. If rejected, we could really use a piece like this on OCR, so I'd ask you to definitely consider resubmitting. NO (borderline/resubmit)

Wild Arms 2nd Ignition Original Soundtrack - 230 - Battle vs Lord Blazer The reason Dave couldn't recognize an original was because this is actually a Wild Arms 2 mix, which Kunal actually wasn't originally aware of until after he sent this in. My first reaction listening to this: "What in the fuck???" What a doozy. The arrangement was awfully liberal, but you can hear where he arranged the material from :20-onward of the source, starting at :23. Slight hiss during the intro, very slight. Opens with some nice strings, followed by a sax-type synth at :12 that I wasn't feeling at all when exposed, but the synth lead at :23 created a decent synthetic texture with the sax synth and bass. Like I said though, the quality of sax synth when it's exposed/upfront is hurtin' me though. This synthorganic hybrid stuff has a surprisingly workable texture, but you're gonna run into problems where some of the artificial-sounding "real" instrumentation sounds bleh compared to the rest. The piano barging in from :48-:51 was awfully chaotic, but then segued into some beautiful piano playing and comping stuff until 1:10 for a nice contrast. The piano kept quitely adding some stuff for about 20 seconds more, but was a non-factor until returning again at 1:59, and ending with some more subdued but chaotic playing. Good close with the beats, pizz strings and string synths from 2:11 until the end. Overall, I liked the strangeness of the rhythms/beats here. Though the arrangement was there, everything performance-wise seemed badly off-kilter here to begin with, but you acclimate to it and "figure it out" better over several listens. Not to say that I actually understand this shit well here or anything. While it's hard to argue that this is cohesive in the traditional sense, the track's nonetheless more structured than it initially sounds. Experimental-type jazz probably won't go over well with some of da peeps out there in VG remix community land, but I'm willing to give this a shot and fuck with their sensibilities. YES

This one's getting lost in the shuffle. More votes plz.

Get your own website, and you can run it the way you want. You can write about Oscar the Grouch instead.

Another victory for DS Inc.

Starting early tonight, at 8:30PM EST. Tell yo friends and/or momma.

Not if I choose not to play any of your music! THINLY VEILED LIES! #81 & #82 playlists are ready. Feel free to check 'em out in anticipation for tonight's shows: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.15420 http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.15421

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/magician.zip - Track 12 The overall feel here isn't terrible, but the texture is definitely lacking. There's really no density here; the soundfield feels awfully sparse for something that's supposed to sound orchestrated. This is meant to sound epic, but doesn't sound rich enough or powerful enough to make it happen. The piano sounded really thin/fake as well, with a very mechanical performance. String's were decent, but also thin and mechanical in the performance. Very little of the note-to-note movement sounded smooth. Just need more experience working with all of these samples to flesh them out and use them at their best. See what you can find at the ReMixing forum to give more body to the instruments and more realism to the sequencing. At only 2:29-long, you're really gonna find it difficult to submit something that sounds like a fully developed, complete piece of music. It's halfway decent ok on that level, but still ends before it really has a chance to get off the ground and needs more ideas. Right now, this is a fairly straightforward orchestral adaptation, and could use more ideas to extend the piece as well as interpretation to lend more personalization to it. NO

Resub it, bro. We want it!

Very swanky mix; a real pleasure to hear. Jimmy really got things on lock here, somewhat similar to zircon's style and also to tefnek. I particularly liked when the string lead was in play; it could have cut through more of the beatwork, but it sounded very airy and sophisticated nonetheless. Great stuff, and it means a lot more that Jimmy's one of the nicest guys in the community I've interacted with back when I just started out on the judges panel. Certainly want to wish he and his wife the very best, and I'm glad he's still involved in whatever way he can be with the community. Keep 'em coming!

No worries about this week. It's looking like I'll be leaving sometime shortly after the 25th, but I haven't bought my ticket yet (that'll be before the end of this weekend). So I'll be able to say for sure in the next few days.

Hahahaha! I still have the copy somewhere in a box of Emory stuff in CT. I'll be making that video at some point. Consider it a 30th birthday present, sir! And if you can get here, you can booze it during a show, no doubt.

Looks like the studio's not free tonight, but since it's so close to Saturday, I figure I'll do a double shot of shows instead. Time to go do some situps.

http://www.pojirecords.com/djoji/ http://www.undergroundfiles.com/djoji.html http://www.pulsation.com/mixes/djoji.php If you only knew.

Email sub file Other Side of the Mountain.mp3 404 recovery: ----------------------------------------------------- http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 407 "On the Other Side of the Mountain" Well, this is a violation of the site guidelines, but I put it up here since it would have made the panel anyway. To elaborate, I thought the performance here was pretty good. It's cool that you learned how to play the song, and the recording was well-done as well. But this is nothing more than a straight playthrough of the original tune. The original tune itself is already made with a solo synthetic string instrument. So your solo acoustic guitar version with the verbatim melody and the same tempo sounds practically the same. Your title's even the same as the original. You're, more likely than not, completely new to the site, but this site is a rearrangement site. We don't accept any straightforward covers. If you want to personalize the arrangement, read the Submission Instructions & Standards linked to above and get an idea of what you need to do. Listen to the most recent Final Fantasy 7 ReMixes (or anything from any game you're familiar with) and you'll get more of an idea of the interpretation and personalization factor that's necessary to get something accepted. Put your own substantial spin and additional ideas on the source material you choose. NO OVERRIDE Feel free to post any of your work in our Works forum in order to get feedback from the community. But please submit only unique, personalized, interpretive arrangements. Your guitar skills would easily translate well to more comprehensive rearrangements, so I hope you stick around the community, Scott.

:'-( ... :'''-(

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/smrpg.rsn - "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" (smr-128.spc) http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Gau" (ff6-118.spc) Meh. Dammit, I hate when I have to listen to stuff with gratuitous and patently cheesy usage of SFX and voice samples. Seriously, why do people think going this route sounds great? Do we even have a single mix like that here? ("Welcome to Quake 3 Arena!") Anyway, trying to mentally block that crud out, the first section's instrumentation right off the bad was lacking texture. Sounded like some of the really cruddy Genesis soundtracks that clearly didn't take full use of the sound capabilities. For all those "Figaro Chiptune"/"See Sixty Funk" haters, THIS is an example of using throwback synths to poor effect, you assholes. Segued at 1:06 to a decent piano sample with really beginner-ish, tacky lyrics sung to "Gau". At least you had some harmonization going on at 1:57 for that RAY OF LIGHT amongst the terribleness. ROOOOFL, right back into the synth crud at 2:39. You had me LOLing right there, I'll give you that. MASSIVE CLIPPING at 3:18 right before the typical "Thanka you so much for to playing my game." Wow, I mean, I'd legit critique this and all, but c'mon. NO way. You need to break this off on OverLooked instead.

You gonna cry, bro? Nah, we don't need any o' that. I should be able to have VGF81 Friday at midnight, but that's tentative in case someone actually has the timeslot. If so, I'll just do the show later, like 2 AM. VGF82 should be Saturday 10PM EST per the usual, so be sure to be there as we wind the show down.

Wait, your birthday was on my birthday? What the fuck??? That's not allowed, bro.

Myst ~ The Soundtrack - (22) Un-Finale Well, I can say thanks kindly for providing the source. Why would you make a 1:15-long arrangement of a 1:56-long original? You just know it's gonna be no good. Can you blame anyone for saying it ended before it started? Instrumentation was decent but clearly too synthetic. Arrangement was conservative and undeveloped, but at least had some varying instrumentation ideas, as well as ornamentation within the writing, and a performance style that made it more overtly melodic than the original. Honestly, way better than one would think given the brevity (and the typical nature of what we usually get that this long). Now try fashioning something longer, more complex and more realistic-sounding. Nothing terrible, but way below anything acceptable. Use ReMixing and Works to improve your skills and get feedback from the community. NO

Dead or Alive 2 Original Sound Trax PlayStation 2 Version - (10) "Blazed up Melpomene" Covered this way back in early July for VGF. What took you so long, bro? Synth tone opening things up was pretty generic, but I had to see where it was going to go from there. I did like the mix going right into the source tune at :13. Immediately, it proved how the original could be a good fit for the trance genre. With the original's melody being strings and the mix being nearly the same with its instrumentation, I was waiting for something else to happen. Strings also could have afforded to be a bit fuller/richer. The melody changed to some more familiar trance synths at :53, which were ok but didn't really stand out from lots of other club music I've heard. Better stuff at 1:47 going for piano on the lead to change things up followed by the woodwind style synth on support at 2:01. Around 2:23 it went into some somewhat awkward comping stuff until 2:40 that seemed REALLY out of place and adversely affected the finish. Overall the arrangement ideas were there, but the overall approach was fairly conservative and could get riskier and more interpretive. The boom-tss beats felt too straightforward and repetitive, going non-stop for a little over 2 minutes. The energy was good, but again somewhat vanilla/cookie cutter for the genre and I think it could be upped a little bit. When it comes to active listening, it's kind of a "failing" of the genre here if you can call it that. Besides zircon, I'd be most interested in bLiNd's feedback on this. If you'd be willing to tinker a little more in terms of either creating some slightly more creative processing, or providing more variation or creativity in the beatwork, or providing further interpretation of the source melody, this would sound all the more dynamic and exiciting. Right now, this is perfectly standard club trance but needs a boost to become more than that. Can you give it that nudge, Jase? I sincerely hope you're willing to revist this. It's some of the your best work ever in the community, I'll say that for sure. NO (refine/resubmit)

Xenosaga Original Soundtrack - (214) "Albedo" Heh. Certainly an interesting original. I liked it. Nice opening with the buzzy noise, lo-fi claps and crud, though the beat coming in at :10 didn't sound as good. Neither did the groaning at :21; it's a genuinely cool idea, but too lo-fi. Some decidedly naked vocals with white-boy delivery came in at :30. Beyond raising the levels on 'em, you need to do something more with the lyrical delivery to give it more of an edge. Could be as straightforward as doubling the lyrics most of the way through. It gets better with multiple listens, so I'm not shitting on you or anything. These skimpy claps and hats are no longer cutting it as well by :30. You need to layer more shit for the percussion to beef it up, and you should have done that either at :11 or :30. Some really loud guitar stuff came in at :40 and crowded the soundfield a bit, drowning down the lyrics. Watch the vocal volume at :45. Chorus at :49 was actually pretty fucking cool with the wailing vocals, but those should have stood out more vs. the other elements; needs some more separation and attention to EQing. Strings from 1:18-1:28 sounded overly defaulty and synthetic. They're not supposed to sound real in this context, but tweak those samples so they don't sound so thin and cookie-cutter, cuz right now they just sound too poorly used. Lyrical delivery/flow felt smoother at 1:28, not to mention fuller via more extensive doubling (see, there you go), but the beats were still way too sparse and continued to dramatically undermine the energy you were going for. Everything has too lo-fi/dull of a sound as well. With a cleaner overall sound, the power here would sound exceptional. Some voice sample came in at 2:41 from the close; not a bad sound; neither was the cackle at the very end for the close. Man, if this had better production and some meatier beats, this would be one of the sickest, most unique things anyone's ever heard on OCR. The arrangement here was pretty damn intelligent and surprisingly comprehensive once I made all the connections to the source material; you were definitely referencing everything from the original at one point or another. Keep working on it Vaughn, and get some serious additional feedback and criticism on how to spruce it up. I feel like zyko would be pretty high on the ideas here, but you'd have to ask him. Impressive so far; I'll be keeping this. NO (refine/resubmit)

Fusion2004 is "Oh, hush you" in RayzaMix. Aurora is "Oh God, yeah" in AuroraMix. Good stuff on pixieMix, Dan. Now we just need a female to mix Wing, and you and her will eventually be the new co-hosts.

Look, this was sent in December, and this wait time for Mike (or anyone else) is ridiculous. The vote's split, you're gonna have to weigh in anyway. The guy's been waiting for over 3 months since he sent it in. He's not God or anything, but he's a regular. We shouldn't be treating our regulars like this. What's the holdup, kids? Get your votes in.