Liontamer

ROFL Man, I wasn't expecting that.

As far as I know, we're sticking with the current avatar structure when the forums are migrated to vBulletin. Same size restrictions and limited only to the avatars that are available on-site rather than any custom avatars. I've added instructions/background to the beginning of Joyzilla's post up top and Stickied the thread. This is basically a non-music Site Project. I leave it up to DarkeSword to determine what forum the thread will go in, but for now it'll remain in GD where it'll get the most attention. Thanks for getting this started again, Joyzilla.

We can't add song titles for every mix. Some games have no soundtracks and no official basis for naming the game's music. If a recent ReMix has a judges decision, read the decision. Nowadays, I say what the source tune every time I vote. AND GOOD MIX Y'ALL, STAYING ON TOPIC. I VOTED NO, BUT I WAS IMMUNE TO THE INTENSENESS AT THE TIME. BUT SINCE I'M COLORED, I SWITCHED TO YES.

Yeah, how about some more information; cover date, issue number, page, what did the review/plug say.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff4.rsn - "The Lunarians" (ff4-41.spc) Aside from the bass kicks and hats, everything seemed too low in volume. Anyway, I liked the intro cutting the bullshit and OMFG getting str8 into the action. Good stuff for relatively simple sounds. Nice texture from :27-:54 when things focused on the piano. Crazy hats were a bit too trebly and loud at from :54-1:22. Too bad that pad dropped out from 1:22-1:49, as that left the track feeling empty despite all the manic activity going on, but I nonetheless appreciated the contrast. Pretty much more slight variations in the groove moving on into 2:17-3:11 while using more of the source melody, though the beats were gradually wear thin through this section, as the beats never dropped out like the other two times earlier in the track to give them a rest. Some swirly pad stuff came in from 3:08-4:05 for a nice touch, but simply felt like 2:17 being retread, only now with the pad on top. If you don't want to consider cutting the length, create more contrast with the percussion pattern earlier by changing it more dramatically or stopping it again for a while. Thus when you reach 3:08, the addition of the pad (along with some other changes in the percussion or other instrumentation) would seem like a more dramatic and creative move. 3:53 finally started winding things down, before 4:06's piano duet provided a fadeout close that others may be annoyed by. It worked well enough for me. Up the overall volume, tone down the treble, and create some more contrast throughout the second half of the piece so it doesn't needlessly wear the listener down and you'd be all set with me. Dunno how much luck you're gonna have the other groove-hating judges! Nice stuff so far, Gerald. I'll be keeping it. Use the ReMixing and Works forums here to further improve your skills and gain feedback from the people. NO (rework/resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Dark Mountain" (loz3-13.spc) If you're interested in knowing how much you fall short, I'm willing to oblige. Oh wait, that sounds really mean. No, we <3 here. First thing that struck me immediately was how lossy this sounded for some reason. There's a lot of fuzz and lo-fi residue here that shouldn't be; it's not nearly that bad, but it sounds like when you're listening to a low bitrate webstream; dunno what you call that warbly crud, but that's what it is. Otherwise though, I liked the intro. The low strings and bells sounded pretty good; the pizz strings were a little too quiet, but were alright. The brass lead though coming in at :21 had no life to it and dragged things down a bit, and the strings first used at :32 sounded a artificial with the bow movements (exposed at :50 when the source usage started, but not a huge negative). On the whole, some fairly solid usage of what you had. The transition into the rock section at 1:26 didn't quite work to me. Maybe it's just me, but having the rock part sound like it was in a completely different place that the orchestra felt kind of jarring; not a big deal. Decent stuff with the rock section all things considered. Guitar tone sounded reasonably alright. The power the track was trying to give off was there in spades, and the arrangement was pretty interesting. The segue back into orchestration at 3:24 brought back that lo-fi warbling, but worked better than the transition at 1:26. Heh, "Overworld" reference at 4:00 that just had to show up sooner or later. 4:14 went for a rock-based close, though there was that one synth on lead that IMO really didn't gel well with the other sounds; I'd say scrap that synth for something else and maybe try not to let the soundscape get quite this cluttered. After all that grandiose-style building to a climax, the ending at 4:53 was awfully anti-climactic; ALMOST sounded I-give-up-ish, but I'm gambling that you thought it sounded ok. Felt like a poor attempt at a resolution to me, and probably should be reworked. Pretty close, bro. The arrangement was pretty stylish; good set of arrangement ideas that fit very naturally with your original writing. Some doofus at VGMix didn't like the constant tradeoffs, but he doesn't know a damn thing. Plus most of the instrumentation was good. Definitely refine the production, perhaps look into tinkering with the tone and realism of some of your sounds, and get the ending working, and you'd be all set. Have faith in your abilites, bro; you're doing pretty well so far. NO (refine/resubmit)

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Sara's Theme" (ct-3-06.spc) Yeah, Schala's theme mix, this should be the right one. Interesting opening; drums sounded pretty damn thick, maybe a little overbearing, but nothing bad; interesting synths. Source melody was introduced at :21; good alteration of the rhythm there. String synths brought in from :49-1:03 didn't really have a pleasing tone to them; just sounded shrill/grating. Something less piercing would probably work better. Cooler stuff going on here after 1:03, though the track was a bit loud and didn't really have any direction or focus on arranging Schala for quite a while, due to the synths and beats going over the top of the liberally arranged melody. Maybe have something where the warbling-type synth and beats go over the top of the arranged melody just from 1:03-1:32, then pull the volume that stuff back and focus on the Schala arrangement from 1:32-2:00 to create direction and contrast. The arranged Schala progression you had going on in the back was also too repetitive and needed to go somewhere new sooner. Right now you have 1:03-2:00 meandering around for too long without much direction or contrast. 2:22 started taking things home, but I wasn't quite feeling the lead synth's tone from 2:22-2:36. Back to those shrill string synths from 2:36-2:50 (though I liked some of the modulation or whatever you have going on there for the last few seconds of that. The foundation here is pretty sweet; I particularly thought the drumwork was complex and well-written, with nice realistic sounds. I felt like there needs to be more tinkering with sound balance, the tone of some of the synths, and working in more overt and varied arrangement of the Schala them mid-way through to not let things potentially drag out. Nice stuff so far, Steve, definitely keep at it on this one. NO (rework/resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/superm~1.zip - Track 3 ("Overworld BGM") The hiss wasn't a dealbreaker, but I wish it could have been eliminated. Pretty brief, and there was at least a decent amount of personalization with the source tune even if the interpretation wasn't unique enough on its own to pass the bar. Gotta roll with the post-Mid Night/Protricity line of thinking here. I'm feeling the original/improvised material over the backing "Overworld BGM" chords from 1:08-2:01. But (especially for such a brief mix), I gotta hear more of the actual melody being interpreted rather than you going off on your own thing for such a lengthy period of time. Nonetheless, props for making a 2:26-long piece of work seem more like 3:30, and doing so with pretty simple instrumentation. If you're willing to involve more of the actual Overworld BGM melody in the arrangement (percentage-wise, or by simply adding more to the track) and trying to improve the recording, I'd feel more confident in supporting this as a more substantial arrangement. NO (rework/resubmit)

Well, I had this sitting for a while and Vigilante asked me how this could escape my "big production cock" (it is pretty big), so I'm finally relistening on my normal setup now that I've voted on everything else. When I listened to this before, the increased volume on that setup covered up a lot of the problems. It was like bumping up the volume +5db, and indeed it sounds a lot better that way. Vig also had some big issues with the arrangement, saying that it sounded like it has little-to-no structure, but that's completely offbase IMO. The arrangement is pretty cohesive. The way gonzo and Cedric went for several variations here was well-done for the most part. Unfortunately, the production is in fact a very substantial hit. Some old criticisms, some new: The opening piano's pretty muddy and could use some more clarity (though not a dealbreaker). The lead string at :22 needs to sound like it's in the same hall as the piano if the piano's gonna be kept this muddy for the gloomy mood. Transition at 1:05 to the rock section sounded too abrupt now that I hear it again; you gotta introduce some rock instrumentation or something a little earlier to make the transition more fluid. The worst offender on relisten was the percussion from 1:05-2:20. "Slightly off", geez. Too lenient. The writing/patterns were good, but the sound was incredibly lo-fi & tame and the performance sounded REALLY rigid. You just gotta fix it all up. The wailing guitar, you really gotta punch that WAY up and fill up the soundfield to really make it work. It sounded way more emotive when it was louder. During 1:05-2:20 especially (less so for :00-1:05), some EQing work is really needed to spread the sounds out and achieve a better balance. There was also a light pop at 2:02 that needed to be fixed. Remember to fix that hanging string at 3:28 and the fadeout cutting off at 3:25. Smaller but very amateur issues which add up. The last piano/string section was still pretty strong and a great way to end the track. This really does need a production overhaul though. Keep in mind that you guys were doing a lot of good things right which I mentioned in the old vote. But you definitely need to refine the sounds here to really get this sounding good. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castle~1.zip - Track 2 ("Bloody Tears") Decent organ intro, but sounds a bit too muddy when the strings were underneath it. Decent strings coming in at :45 for the source melody. I actually liked the tone on them a lot. Organ coming in again from 1:09-1:18 didn't really sound right to me, but it was brief, and I wouldn't know how realisitically that was handled. Brief piano/string combo of another verse from 1:35-2:11. Piano sounded a bit thin, and slightly too synthetic, but not bad. 2:11 rehashed the organ playing the source intro again, and things were staring to feel like a retread. Luckily 2:46 at least presented some new writing, even if the organ didn't sound very strong and the writing was very plain/uninteresting. Bringing back the source intro on top of that from 3:28-3:46 only sounded messy, before going back to the string/piano/organ combo at 3:50 seemingly cut/pasted right from 1:53, which was a weak idea heading toward the finish. Interesting instrumentation ideas, but the arrangement definitely lost steam before it was halfway over. Would have liked to have heard more intepretation of the melody as well, since that was rather minimal. Nonetheless, you show some legitimate skill bro, so keep at it. NO

Well, I had asked for a 4th vote here specifically to address the arrangement concerns I had in my own, basically that there was too little arrangement of a very simple/minimal source tune, and that most of the material here was original writing that didn't work with the source. Unfortunately though, it's apparently too much to ask now, so I'm going to close the vote rather than delay the decision any longer. Sorry to weed, who, as a friend and a former judge, I hope doesn't feel any disrepsect over the delay or the decision.

Don't edit the title of the thread with LOLing when I'm trying to make it clear the show is ending.

http://www.zophar.net/gym/rshinobi.rar - "The Shinobi" I'm basically just chiming in to echo Gray's comments. Though I can see why it wasn't exactly a straight NO Override, you can basically tell this was a rip that was then given some legitimate reworking in the attempt to change it up enough, so I'll verify the N.O. But yeah, I thought the percussion was pretty admirable, but work on changing the structure more and really giving that an overhaul; F around with the tempo, the melody, anything to more dramatically and overtly change the feel. The new instrumentation and the original writing on top of the source tune were good ideas, but I'd argue that if you ever wanted to resubmit this, it would require a lot more effort given to reworking the actual structure of the source tune.

First things first, VGF81 is postponed until a new fan for my laptop is purchased. The old one's equilibrium got F'ed up (no, it wasn't dust) and only spins half as fast as it should, so it buzzes loudly and doesn't keep the CPU cool enough. New one should arrive sometime next week, and there will be a make-up show mix week, before hopefully returning to Saturdays the following Saturday, 3/11. In other news, I'll be moving in April and the show as we know it will be over. As in completely over. Ironically enough, April 1st is a Saturday, which looks like a perfect April Fool's joke, but in all likelihood the show will be finished by then and there's no need for a joke. Rather poor timing, as I'd prefer not to have anyone think this is some sort of setup (especially one that'll have no payoff, frankly). If I won't be leaving by 4/1, then I'll maybe do a show. Depending on how soon I move, there will be anywhere from 2 to 4 shows remaining, hopefully including time for me to do a final episode including a favorite track from each episode since #61. I would have liked to have ended the show on a fanicer number like 85, or even my arbitrary favorite 87, but that's most likely not going to be a possibility. In any case, I thank everyone for their support, their listenership, their music, and all that good stuff. As much as I would have liked to continue the show ad infinitum, I have other priorites I'll be moving on to, but I hope no makes a big deal out of the show ending. We'll get to that stage when we need to get there. Stick around for a date on VGF81 for sometime in the next week, and of course more info in the coming weeks on how we're going to ultimately conclude the show.

Rather sad if you don't recognize the original in here. This is very far from a liberal arrangement.

Yeah, I wasn't even that familiar with the Jackal original, despite playing this mix on VG Frequency way back in the day before my first interview with Beatdrop. Listening to the original, you really appreciate the upgrade and the additional energy BD added to the picture. It's honestly a shame that the soundtrack gets no love from anyone else. Very enjoyable stuff here that, IMO, doesn't even quite sound like Dain's typical sound.

Some of the mixes way WAY in the back (this one was on page 28), I just don't understand what they're doing there. I remember this one from way back in early 2002 when I first sat down and listened to mixes from games I had played, and the arrangement here was pretty pimp and laid back. I didn't know who Mustin even was back then, but the sax solo was quality and another good aspect of the track. Solid stuff, and a good example of the older material here. Goldeneye's a pretty popular game; not really sure why this and the other 007 mixes don't get more commentary.

Hopefully not sounding snide or smartassed, but if you hadn't personally mailed them already, Alan, I'd start. Get your networking skills going!

Yeah, hope you can do something about this. Cheers for your vote on my Chrono cross mix btw, I really don't know why I keep trying to keep working up that old song, hopefully newer mixes will be in the works. YUNOWAMSAYIN' NIGGA'? Yeeeah fo'rizzle ohn ya. ... http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/ShadowHearts_psf2.rar - 125 "Alice" Played this on VGF77, so it's a solid enough listen sure, but there were still issues. Decent intro already arranging the source material; it's an interesting spin on it. Keeps the source tune's drab feel while slowly building to something happier. Wasn't really feeling the tone of the snare here at :33. Felt like you needed something more subdued and less punchy there to work well with the other sounds, but we'll see how the others feel. It would probably be a non-issue simply by pulling it back some. The sound balance among the acoustic guitar synth, e-piano-type deal, drums and occasional strings was rather messy at times. Everything still has the problem of things fighting it out to occupy the same space in the soundfield and the listener's ear. It sounds better after multiple listens, but still needs to be sorted out. I generally like the writing and the instrumentation ideas, and the "performance" aspect of the track sounds a lot better handled than in past attempts at sequencing real-sounding instruments. Maybe it's just me, but on writing alone I thought the piece was a reasonable pass. I liked the job it managed to do overhauling such a miserable sounding original to a more upbeat style, and for 3:16-long it's saying what it needs to say with the quick and dirty. But with instruments fighting for space on more than one occasion, the melody's no longer a focal point and the piece seems to lack direction as a result. Again, the instruments have gotta be working with each other, not against. Minor note, but you gotta also watch the volume for stuff like the percussion at 1:41 & 2:48. Somewhat similar criticisms to your Chrono Cross mix regarding the sound balance/placement, only not quite as drastic as the production wasn't nearly as messy. Still needs some work though, Alex. Nonetheless, you continue to improve and it shows. I wouldn't change anything about this on the arrangement side. I'd simply say focus on reworking the balance and placement of the sounds so they occupy their own space and allow the melodic material to provide the track's direction and focus. Once you get those production aspects working in your favor, the whole piece will sound more cohesive. Could snag some YESs, so good luck with the rest of the vote. NO (borderline/resubmit)

Absolutely. To me there's too gaping of a quality disparity between that one section, and the rest of the track. It's been done before.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/sm.rsn - "Brinstar Red Soil Swampy Area" (sm-20.spc) I was a big fan of "Boat Soul", so this should be pretty cool. And indeed it is. Great sounds, great arrangement, very organic-sounding and certainly mellow, chill and laid back. It just goes to show you what kind of material can be extracted and reworked from such an overtly dark soundtrack. Wasn't liking the stuff from 1:04-1:28 much; probably a good idea in your head, but it sounded sterile. And man, what's going with the bassline from 2:08-2:34? Doesn't sound right at all. Quick reference to Chrono Trigger's "Wind Scene" from 2:34-2:43, but with some more seemingly odd notes. Could just be me there, but oh well; not a meaningful hit against it. Regardless, good stuff most of the way through the rest of things until that wonky comping from 3:21-4:16. Some of this just sounds like you're stringing these notes together without rhyme or reason. Of course, Sam would go "OMG A#7-B6-C4, U SUNK MY BATTLESHIP, THIS IZ GR8, I <3" faster than you can say "Momentary Standstill". Well, fuck that. Vigilante initially felt it sounded aimless, and it does. If you're gonna throw that improv in there, give it more structure, direction, and melody so that it pieces together nicely the whole way through. Can't pass this in good conscience with the entire last 1/4th of the piece sounding questionable like that. Despite that, lemme say that you've come a long way Caio from your earlier work, including your past rejections and your narrowly passed Sonic 3 mix. Most of this is very creative, well-put together and polished on the production side. Your stuff may have its rough spots with the writing, but the improvement is definitely there in spades. NO (rework/easy resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Undersea Palace" (ct-3-08.spc) Some of the stuff in the intro certainly got trebly and could have been toned down, but I'm willing to hear where it's all going. The closest analog I could think of to AE's stuff is "Wind Shear", but this didn't sound like his stuff at all to me. Man, no kidding about that guitar synth at 1:09. It's sounds pretty weak and dragged all of 1:09-1:55 down, a solid chunk of the track. I thought the lack of fluidity in its performance was a bigger deal than the others, especially 1:27-1:55 where it was pretty much on its own in the foreground. It sounds whiny and shrill and doesn't even form a good texture with the rest of the grungy, dirty instrumentation. When there was a pretty decent different guitar synth being used at 1:00 as well, the synth at 1:09 also sounds rather lame in comparison. 2:06's section was at least better in that the lead synth wasn't trying to function like an electric guitar. Very nice, subtle escalation of the sounds under the melody from 2:06-2:14. 2:15-2:23 not as much, but 2:23-2:41 just sounded awfully cluttered and overbearing, rather than possessing a pleasing thick texture. Melody just got hammered by a mess of sounds in the effort to go for a very aggressive and powerful section before the close. That's more subjective to me, and thereby not a deal-breaker. This is pretty cool so far, and has some very dark, dirty, industrial overtones. I'm not really as impressed by some of the sounds as the others were, but at the same time the construction here was pretty good and put these sounds to strong use. But I'm a stickler. The synth guitar at 1:09 IS a dealbreaker for me. Beyond the feeling that the performance on it was too mechanical and not that strong to begin with, that synth itself sounds awful when placed in this setting. It's a choice that can either be avoided or at least worked around. I think it's a glaringly sour and beginner-ish-sounding spot in an otherwise good mix. I can't pass it in good conscience. Best of luck on the rest of the vote, Alex. NO (tweak/resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/sdd.rsn - "Mission 4" (sdd-05.spc) Heh, the SPC pack says mission 4, but I've certainly never played that crud so I wouldn't know any better. Good upbeat, energetic intro. Melody's quickly alluded to (firstly at :11) during the buildup. Finally comes in for real at :52. Nothing really groundbreaking, but this was getting it done with some good instruments and breakbeats. Good woodwind synth usage at 1:15, along with the strings beneath that. The synthetic texture was nice and airy here; things were working well. Good changeup of the beat rhythm at 1:50 for something fresh; same with the melody at 2:02. Chorus came back at 2:31 thought with some nasty hard techno where the plain beats and distortion-type stuff were dragging this down. Luckily didn't last too long. Can't say I was feeling the beats either from 2:48-3:11, but decent recovery out of it with the arranged melody from 3:11-3:34. Kind of dragged to have it playing by itself like that from 3:23-3:34, though I see how you were trying to create contrast moving back into the breakbeat section at 3:35. Maybe just do that from 3:29-3:34, though it's not a particularly significant complain. Just a suggestion so it wouldn't seem empty for so long but still provides the contrast you intended. Last section from 4:21-4:49/end didn't really end the track strongly IMO, but the overall quality was pretty solid. Relatively speaking, the sounds weren't particularly strong, but the arrangement kept the focus on playing around with the melody and provided a good deal of variation with the supporting elements to keep things moving forward. Not an overly strong YES, but not borderline. Could draw NOs, but cool potential sophomore mix here. I look forward to hearing your future works.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mmx3.rsn - "Gravity Beetle (mmx3-08.spc) Got this played at some clubs, eh? Good for you; I hope it was well received at least. OMG HUGE NRG NIGGA intro at :12. Crowd yelling in the background was a short loop, sounding really cheap, but most people won't notice so it wasn't a big deal. Melody finally came in at 1:03, not sounding too hot, but then OMG I'M MELTING NRG NIGGA at 1:11. Hahahaha, nice fakeout. Stuff really started at 1:17. Really wish there was more going on for the genre than simply applying these hard beats to the rest of the music. Wish there was more substance to the genre approach. Nonetheless, good effects on the electric guitar synth playing the melody to let it sound thick. Too bad it's getting buried by all these beats; at least punch it up a little more. Some original writing on top of the source's rhythm section at 2:07. Then some purely original stuff at 2:20. Again though with that piped in crowd noise loop; sounds like "gust of wind" SFX being used over and over. Another iteration of the melody at 3:07. Still sounds pretty good, but it's not much different from the ideas you had before. Can we get some actual melodic interpretation here though? Source's rhythm section was used on its own at 3:56 until the end. Ah man, the track cut out at 4:58 right in the middle of the fadeout, leaving 7 seconds of silence. Needs a fix there. This is some fairly well put together hard dance, but lacks substance in the treatment of the melody. Right now, it's a good adaptation to hard trance, but not a showcase of reworking or adding to the melodic content. Vary up the beats on occasion, and perhaps find a better "crowd cheering" sample as well. Anyway, you have some good sounding conservative stuff don't just cover the melody wholesale without more interpretation. Good work so far, Ken. IMO, it's all about the rearrangement component now. If this doesn't make it, especially by a unanimous vote, don't see simply as a rejection of your style/genre as it's not. NO (rework/resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/gym/sor1.rar - Round 4 ("Keep the Groovin'") Rather generic sounds here, but there were still some decent ideas here. The synth lead you had here really doesn't work here though. It was too loud, obscuring or flat out drowning out your other sounds when in play. The beats and ethnic-style percussion in the back were ok, but didn't vary up at all (aside from dropping it out in the middle of the track); take them off cruise control please. Wondering what the hell happened at 1:54 to cause all that mud. The piano there and whatever glassier sound was doubling the melody sounded absolutely terrible as a result. Then the whole thing just started to sound really abrasive at 2:44. Just poor mixing choices. The arrangement was ok per se. Not really much interpretation going on, but you did change some things around and tried to personalize the approach. Needs more varied beats, better sound textures, and better mixing. NO