Liontamer

Monday night going into Tuesday, kids. That's why it says Monday night.

Can't deny you that.

Much <3 for you. Most instrumentals people make on OC are great. But the vocal ones, they have to be perfect or else it ruins it. I think he's saying y'all crapped up an otherwise good instrumental.

Just copying and moving the content from the other Shirts and Hoodies thread that was made for no particular reason. But in IMPORANT NEWS, leviathan announced that OCR Hoodie prices are going to go up soon, so you better get a Hoodie now if you wanna get them at the current price. Here's lev's breakdown of the impending new price, followed by other banter from that thread. I would simply adore an OCR mousepad, or maybe even that black pretzel design. Or maybe one with my own logo! But I could make that myself OH SHIT Nice Work coffee mug?

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Way to go, radio personality of the year. -DCT You do not mock me on the way out! Aight, so some (NON-WWE) crud came up requiring me to not do a show tonight either. It looks like I'll have to do it on Monday or later in the week. Not really a big deal when as I have the actual playlist ready. In other news, VGF84 on 3/25 will be the last Saturday show and should be on schedule featuring whatever regular community music comes out followed by Crono Symphonic along with some bonus material from the upcoming Special Edition. Calls will be limited to Crono Symphonic members only in order to not bloat the show too badly. I don't mean to not let people get their calls in, but it's not a funeral so I'm not gonna play it up as one. Provided I'm still going strong after VGF84, I may try to do the VGF84.99 finale immediately after VGF84, but otherwise may do it on the night of 3/27 sometime shortly before I leave Atlanta for good. Details will be forthcoming and all that jazz. And after the show's over, the thread will continue to have informal plugs for stuff, as well as updates when I finally release more stuff from the MP3 backlog. Home stretch, people.

Oh don't get me wrong, I knew OF it, but did I remember it was tonight? Nah. I thought it was closer to WrestleMania, like A1.

I <3. But wrestling, not you.

I forgot about WWE Saturday Night's Main Event tonight on NBC at 8PM. No way I'm gonna make tonight's VGF now, but there's actually not enough new material from the community this week to actually do something this week. So I hope to be able to spend the extra time getting some appropriate additional material I may have missed in order to provide at least a 2-hour show. It's tentatively scheduled at 6PM Sunday night, but may be earlier or later depending on when I can get to the studio and finish up some editing of older episodes.

Like I said, the KiC show was a like a regular show followed by the second half dedicated to the album, so it's still a dedicated show. I never did a DSoP show as that came out during the summer. Hook me up with any SE material you want me to play ASAP. As far as definite date & time, it's either tonight or next Saturday; take your pick and tell me ASAP on that as well. In terms of reaching Andrew, AFAIK from the Summoning of Sprits thread, he's been MIA for a little while so I wouldn't necessarily bank on him being around tonight. I honestly don't know what his availability is, but I hope to do right by him with the CS show nonetheless.

I've had to put that show off since New Year's/VGF75, more than enough time for at least some SE stuff to be done. I'd like to get this show done before I leave, and it's not a big deal to just use the RE material. Roland or anyone else involved needs to let me know what SE material is available and get it to me before VGF83 as teaser material for SE's eventual release. Because I have my own more pressing and inflexible deadlines to think about, that's pretty much how I'd prefer to do it at this point. I can hold off for next week if it's really really necessary, but I'd likely hold the same format as the Kong in Concert & Hedgehog Heaven shows, where I play regular stuff first, then spotlight the album during the rest of the show.

I plan on doing a simple CS show on Sunday sometime shortly after VGF83 on Saturday night, so gimme the stuff. And if it's not then, it'll have to be VGF83 itself (as there's not much music out this week) or after next week's show with no calls. That's about all I have time for until I'm done.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff3.zip - Tracks 5 "Lute of Noah" (:00-:43, 3:57-4:47), 42 "The Dark Crystals" (:43-1:15), 43 "Battle 2" (1:15-2:04), 36 "The Invincible" (2:29-3:12) & 49 "The Everlasting World" (3:12-3:57) Thanks for listing some sort of information on the source tunes this time. Well I dunno about the rest of these lazies, but I waited for a while on this one because the question here was really whether such a relatively conservative arrangement should be a pass in lieu of the new writing here. Bothering with the question is mitigated by the sound quality needing improvement unfortunately. For the improvements made in not having the soundscape so sparse by having more sounds in play, the sampled instruments here still lacked some richness though the improvement is there. Some sort of velocity/volume flub on the strings at :26 that needs to be fixed. Again, I liked the tempo shift at :52 during "The Dark Crystals", but again I would have liked it more had that idea not been lifted verbatim from the source. Yes, "making brass samples sound good is tough". Nonetheless, when they sound really really poor and fake (1:15-1:28) in contrast to the other sounds being used, you're gonna need IMO a stellar arrangement to make up for it (see: StarFox 2 "Mercenarios de Lobo"). The performance there has to sound less rigid/more human to downplay how glaringly fake the samples sound. Section from 1:39-2:03 sounded awkward due to whatever was handling the low notes. Plus, whatever string instruments were in front just sounded too synthetic. Same for the piano from 2:04-2:29, which was trying to sound rich but didn't pull it off. Same for that harp-like deal at 2:29. Like I've mentioned before, and I believe Gray had similar views, orchestral music is a genre where IMO medleyitis is not as negatively impactful as it can be for other types of music. It really depends how the transitions sound to someone, but abrupt ones tend to work ok here. 1:16 didn't work so well, probably on account of the brass sample, though you can hear how the xylos stayed around in an effort to not make things too jarring. Same with 1:40, which was still "Battle 2" but where the instrument change was a good idea that didn't work IMO. Still, you get props for some of the transitions being pretty good, like at :44, 3:12, and 3:57. That being said, you still could have developed these themes more. Practically all of them had their structures and tempo kept verbatim with the source. You worked in some additional instrumentation ideas and those were definitely going in the right direction. If the sounds were more richer/realistic sounding and some of the performance less rigid, this would fit well on an FF3 arrange album let alone here. But that refinement definitely isn't there, so I've gotta say NO once again. The execution's simply not matching the ambition.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/eq.rsn - "Atlena" (eq-06.spc) Strange original, to be sure. It ends by 1:49, but then an entirely new section comes in from 2:05-3:47. Then that ended and another new section came in from 4:01-5:30. So the source is really three different pieces in one; not hugely different, but different enough. Yeah, it's really too bad that there's not much substance to the track as an arrangement. As a chillout style piece, this is great stuff. I disagreed with TO on the second McKenna sample not fitting well. I thought everything worked really well on that level; very relaxing. Vigilante and I were talking about McKenna a few days ago when I told him about this track. McKenna's says some absolutely hilarious bullshit. "Nature is hyperdimensional in its architectonics..." He was clearly on the good shit. Died of brain cancer, you say? I've gotta wonder if he was halfway there by that point. But in terms of the arrangement, it's just a piano and woodwind with some nice effects basically covering the source with some chill beatwork surrounded by weird effects. Then yeah, there's really nothing much I hear going on from 2:48-5:20/end but a heartbeat + various other SFX. This arrangement really just tackles the first section of "Atlena". If it involves anything else from Equinox being arranged after 2:48, I certainly can't tell from trying to listen to all of the game's other tracks. At 3:32, a wind instrument comes in doing something vaguely melodic, along with a woodwind at 3:52, but I couldn't tell you what it's supposed to be from. That's why the burden of proof is on the submitter to provide all of the information we need. In any case, the arrangement is chill, but unfortunately isn't interpretive enough or expansive enough in a way that builds directly from the composition of the original. There's SOME rearrangement going on, but not enough to get it done. I love the track (definitely keeping it), but it just doesn't meet any arrangement standards here. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/StarOceanSS_psf.rar - 225 "Mighty Blow" I have to say, listing an entirely wrong source tune in the submission letter is annoying. Just means I had to sift through most of the soundtrack to find the right original. As you can see, it's pretty far down the list. Anyway forgetting all that, the track opened with an arrangement of the source's chorus as the intro before going into the source melody at :12. As for the rest of the arrangement, I can sum it up generally. There's really not much complexity in the construction of the track. While the synths and effects you used were decent enough to not make the track seem completely empty, there were usually not more than 1-3 different sounds in play during the whole thing, usually just a lone synth line plus some beats. Basically nothing more to the arrangement than 4+ minutes of repeating the melody and chorus of the original with different synths and throwing in different beat patterns & other random sounds. There loads of variety on that level, but none in terms of the arrangement. Plus, there's not really much to be praised regarding all of the varying sound choices when there's really no rhyme or reason behind it all. Those super clippy drums from 3:23-3:43 definitely didn't wind down the track in a good way. You forgot the substance and texture amidst fucking around with as many sounds as you possibly could. NO

Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack - 101 Chrono Cross ~Time's Scar~ Had this on my show way back on VGF51; kind of surprised to see this now. When you don't hear of a song for a year, you certainly don't expect to see it sitting here. Nonetheless I'm glad to see another sub from Joseph. Decent idea for the retro synth opening, which half of us here hate. Panned too much to the right and, if I'm noticing that, it's gotta be drastic as my hearing is worse in that ear. Moved over into the simple beats at :18 and I'm interested to see where it'll go. 8-bit synth comes in at :34, soon doubled along with some very light pizz string type support. Followed by the arranged melody on 8-bit lead at :51. The thick beat at 1:10 was way too simplistic and felt tacked on; didn't create a good texture for the piece when it was in play IMO, but I may be alone on that. I liked things much better when you brought in the synth strings at 1:39 to add a bit more depth to the arrangement. Decent breakdown from 2:03-2:21 before really upping the strings for a nice, more noticeable harmonization from 2:21-2:38. Wish the arrangement had more to say from 2:38 until 3:16/the end as opposed to basically retreading the already existing arrangement ideas. The minimalistic atmosphere here is ok, but I think it's shortchanging the track. Aside from the thicker beats, the subtleties in the countermelodic writing and other support instrumentation were often so quiet and understated that it made the arrangement seem too simple and not fleshed out. After 1:26 except for the brief breakdown, one could argue that they've heard all the melodic arrangement you have to offer and that the supporting instrumentation doesn't seem like enough of a presence to make up for that level of repetition. I feel bad, as I'd like to see something like this on the site, but need to have the writing under the melody have more presence so it sounds more contributory and integrated with the melody, plus the arranged melody itself could use some further variation from iteration to iteration to keep things fresh. Sorry, man. It's certainly not for a lack of appreciation for what you've done with this, but it needs to have (and subsequently show off) more substance IMO. Best of luck on the rest of the vote. NO (rework/resubmit)

It's Shake 'N' Bake, and I helped!

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