Liontamer

Gotta pretty much agree with Matt on this one. Solid stuff. It's too sparse for my tastes, but what IS in place works well.

Not bad for an older tune. It's short and sweet and has good energy. Nonetheless, Tim hates it, so I'll just follow along...

Rather wish the rest of the song was spun out of the beginning. The quality disparity between the intro and the rest of the intro's already been noted, so there's no need to dwell on it. "Terra" arrangements aren't really my thing, but I can at least respect Alex reworking the time signature and giving this old hat a new spin.

The beatwork kind of dragged on after a while, plus the overall power should have been greater. Right now the volume is too subdued for this type of music. A bit rigid in the performance, but a very solid arrangement for its time.

Stop wasting time on passing this.

Yeah, though the piano sounds thin, this deserves more attention. Loved the arrangement; it's got tons of energy, and the execution was top-flight for something so early in the site's history. Great stuff, Mike. I'm an even bigger fan of "Thelonius Temple Low" for it's grittier/"live recording"-type feel. Seems like most people have no idea where to get a copy of that nowadays, but my fellow Emory bro Electron was nice enough to hook me up with a copy.

Getting props from the original composer himself is always great. Arrangement was conservative, but worked well from an expansive standpoint. The extra beats added at 3:22 pretty much buried some very subtle support instrumentation ideas that had also been added at the point, so that was disappointing. Voice clip for the intro of course set this up nicely, and the racing announcer clips coupled with the racecar SFX gave the piece some tense moments. Another good execution of a trademark Rayza technique.

The gated-style "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!" intro already makes this a hot track. Does a good job of making you curious enough to listen to the rest. Fairly stock sounds/effects were in play here, but came together well with that good old-school Rayza flavor. The samples of the football announcer going crazy had me laughing. Interesting mix. Makes me wanna watch a speedrun of the game.

The Raiden series soundtracks felt a bit spotty to me; there are some decent cuts, but I never really found myself liking much on there. The execution here was definitely skillfull and stylish. A little thin in spots, but I loved the overall meaty and energetic atmosphere here. Great arrangement ideas, this really compares well with the original. Solid development throughout the course of the mix, even showcasing some new writing ideas at the end just to show he wasn't resting on his laurels. Nice work, Hayden.

Never really a fan of rigidly sequenced piano, even when it's got airy effects to fit into an electronic track, but it only lasted for the intro (and the close). Took a while to build up to something, but the energy was ok once things picked up around the 1:40 mark. Construction was relatively simple, as I wished the soundfield was fuller and that the synth design was more creative, but it was good for what it was. Tim was right about the key change at 2:40 breathing new life into the track; gotta say, that worked surprisingly well. Wouldn't have minded the track being placed in this key to begin with and the arrangement subsequently built off that idea. Even not being familiar with the original, this had decent old-school energy. Hayden's other Gaiares mix here is pretty tight, so check that out as well.

Dunno why this was ever named "Trance". Construction is rather simplistic, but got the job done back in the day. Piano was sequenced rather rigidly, but sounded fairly nice when mixed with the synth and pads during some points in the track. The bass kicks/thumps here felt pretty out of place, but other than that the ideas were ok. This could have used some more supporting elements to fill this out.

Yeah, this being from Xenogears, I'm rather suprised at the lack of reviews. Brief, but solid stuff for its time from Evan. Doesn't sound very realistic, but at the same time the samples were used well. Ending felt too sudden. The arrangement of course has a good amount of personalization and creativity, but I was disappointed that it didn't play off of the source melody more, as "Wings" is actually pretty good. A shame Evan's no longer a regular in the community.

Ha! Yeah, those Bulgarian bagpipes are pretty shrill, so I can see why it would turn off most people. Hard to digest, and kind of on the lower end as far as the arrangement, since it basically says its piece in a minute then goes for another loop. The very ending made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Props to Chris for taking a creative risk.

Piano was awfully mechanical, but this settled into a good groove based on music that was originally used in SoR2. Kinda disappointing in that I don't hear Hayden employ much string stuff, like he did in the intro. It's something I'd have liked to hear in more of his works, as he pulled that off pretty nicely for the time.

http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiIxODUwIjtpOjE7aToxMTM0NTk5NjkxO2k6MjtpOjM7fQ== - 07 - Guilty.MID Repeating myself from last time, the source tune is just one variation of many. Check out 03 & 06 for others, but 07 is the one that's structured the most like this mix. I pretty much covered my feelings last time around. I feel this was a significant improvement on the production side. Honestly, I'm harsher on it when I feel that a piece could greatly be improved on that level. Right now, things still sound rather dulled and lo-fi for no good reason. I'd rather hear something cleaner along with a VBR encoding of the piece to maximize the sound quality, if this is the best the source files to sound. Things sound lo-fi, but agreeable enough throughout the intro. 1:26 still has a very nice boost of intensity with the beats. I feel like the beats were just dominating over the top of the source melody from 1:53-2:13. I liked the writing on the low brass (or are those strings) coming in at 2:24. The entire sequence from 2:43-3:21 IMO speaks volumes for why the production needs reworking and where the sounds are critically imbalanced. This all sounds like I'm listening to a performance from just outside the building; things are just so muddy and indistinct, you find yourself trying to mentally create what it SHOULD sound like. The last section on piano at 4:28 just sounds like we're talking about a 64kbps encoding. I just can't pass this in good conscience when the production needs some TLC. Someone save this please. I want this mix on the site. I want to pass it. I think it's bad enough that the arrangement kicks ass and it's from an unrepresented game. But if I passed it, I'd definitely be dishonest with myself. The sound quality is dragging this down substantially, no disrespect intended, Nurykabe. Arrangement-wise, this is a wonderful piece of work. NO (refine/resubmit)

Meh. I listened to every Michiel van den Bos track in the Unreal soundtrack I DLed from Mirsoft (only available if you have a login) and couldn't find a damn thing that sounded like this, hence the holdup. (Thanks to TO for finding the soundtrack). Obviously, the sub letter offers something that's supposed to identify the original, but I couldn't find the UMX-format soundtrack, and nothing here sounds like it. Apparently, it's "Hub 5", but I dunno. Hell, I listened to everything, and no dice. Send an MP3 of the original next time. If I find anything later, I might update my comments, but otherwise I didn't think this was strong enough regardless. Decent opening, immediately messing the tempo. Synth guitar doesn't sound real at all, but the tone was decent for what it was. Percussion was also decent to start with but drags over time despite some changeups. Not too much going on in the way of dynamics as the whole basic synth guitar + beats formula gets tired after a while. Moved over into I guess a bass guitar synth with some basic beats before going right back into the whole formula at 2:10. Vox coming in at 2:10 was so quiet, it was practically a non-factor. Even that quiet though, the low quality still felt exposed to me. Past 2:45, simply more of the same formula. Promising for a beginner-level effort. The soundfield is reasonably filled out thanks to the guitar, though the construction is noticeably sparse/simplistic when you actually examine how many sounds are in play. I'd say more, but I'm frankly burnt out after trying to find the source, and thereby can't make any comparisons on that level. Decent start, but it needs more complexity in the writing, more dynamic contrast, and more variation in the instrumentation. NO

http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiIyMzU2IjtpOjE7aToxMTM4MzI1OTA5O2k6MjtpOjM7fQ== - Level01.mid http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 318 "You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet" Really glad Lee found a backup of the source files on this one. Basically all this needed was a little more development/evolution/variation to go over the bar, IMO. I found it a little funny that Lee didn't like the additions he made in the piece, "overcomplicating it" in order to make something more acceptable, but that's the nature of not necessarily buying into da groove. If you have a 4 minute track that basically says its piece in 2, then I'm all for providing more substance. Felt like the recording quality on the vocals may have been a little rough, but nice job boosting your vocals to help playing up the ethereal vibe and give them more prominence. I liked the guitar-like synths coming in at 2:15 to provide a nice change of pace, and worked better than that thin piano sample last time around. Loved the breakdown at 2:49-3:05 as well with the subtle strings, which sounded a little fakey but weren't very exposed. Nice work giving them a bit more presence to fill the track out better but keep them as a background player. Lee went for a purposefully murky texture from 3:05 until the end where the pads and his vocals meshed together. Personally, I think it could have been pulled off without the vocals sounding so indistinct/muddy, but it wasn't a huge deal, just something I wasn't hot on. Fadeout at 3:44 for the end also felt too sudden. This really didn't need much work from the first version, but all the revisions here have made things more solid. The overall sound balance is better, and things coast at a very chill pace without the writing going on cruise control. Nice yo. YES

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=kss - "Gourmet Race Stage 1, 3" (kss-27.spc) Like me, many people really know this from Smash Bros. rather than the original game. Any reason why I can't find any information on you on MobyGames or IMDB? Oh well, one starts small and moves onto bigger things. Arrangement seems on point. I thought DarkeSword would be all over this already. Great genre adaptation going on in terms of the writing. Samples could sound richer and lend more emotiveness to the piece. Good crafting of tension at 1:48 for a nice change of pace. It's good to see this piece not necessarily be happy-go-lucky syrupy crud. Piece goes for a bigger last section at 2:42. Not really as grandiose in execution as you were trying to go for, as I felt the soundfield felt a bit empty most of the way through, but GrayLightning would be a better judge of that. Nice stuff at 3:10 as well working the xylophone or whatever percussion that was; you had some good instrumentation ideas throughout to keep things from getting stale. Vox entering at 3:23 was a good idea, though sounded somewhat robotic, and more importantly swamped the soundfield when it didn't have to. Solid work, Rob, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of your material in the future. YES

Do we have any other submissions? I've read through every post again just to make sure I had no other revisions I've missed, and double checked that I've gotten everything I've wanted so far. Provided the djp doesn't axe a bunch of them for being redundant, we're up to approximately 700 avatars total. I've reorganized the sorting for the avatars to go by company for some of the areas where we have a lot of images, plus I've renamed most of the existing ones so they're more easily identifiable. So when everything gets implemented, it's highly likely you'll have to reselect your avatars. I'm still taking in new images, so please keep them coming, and thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=tit - "Technodrome ~ Let's Kick Shell!" (tit-08.spc) & "Sewer Surfin'" (tit-06.spc) Pretty much agreed with Andy on both the arrangement problems and synth design. This tries to be like tefnek's stuff, but doesn't have nearly the same amount of meat on it or sophistication behind it. But that's something you'll be able to pick up over time. zirc gave some good, broad tips on how to go about filling and fleshing out the soundfield here. Volume was pretty loud here and could stand to be toned down; some of the synths and especially the hats got blisteringly loud. The entire first 2+ minutes is all ultra-liberal stuff, only referrencing the melody from 1:35-1:48. Then 2:15 finally used the melody of the arranged Technodrome theme before going back into ultra-liberal arrangement of Sewer Surfin'. It was only until 2:57 that more of a tangible connection could be made, before moving back to Technodrome from 3:10 until 3:37. After that, it was original piano and synth wank that didn't have much connection to the original until 4:10 or so. Ending was definitely an "I-give-up" cop-out, BTW. You really gotta build a more overt connection with the source material throughout more of the mix. I hear the connections you're going for most of the way, building off the very basic framework and bassline of Sewer Surfin' and Technodrome at various parts, but they're too subtle. Interesting stuff so far, Jimmy. Looking forward to hearing this or any other future works as long as you keep on learning and keep up the improvement. You definitely have the potential here. NO

http://s87139486.onlinehome.us/sc2mods/H-space.mod - "Hyperspace" Just noting that I felt the arrangement approach, though similar (as alluded to in the sub letter), was different enough from Jouni's first ReMix of "Hyperspace", "Hyperspace Electro Blast", where I'm ok with allowing it on that level. The arrangement approach for that older mix though was more creative and interpretive than this one though, which was more of a cover-style approach. I'm sure people can put up a fairly fine argument that there's enough expansion here to make it a pass on the arrangement level, but this was still nagging on me quite a lot. Does a good job of filling out the original though and adding new parts, though the structure being so similar was a big turnoff to enjoying the track. The question is weighing whether it passes the test as an expansive-enough cover that distinguishes itself enough from the original. Props on another solid production job from the Euro side. It helped compensate for the fact that most of the synth design was underwhelming and made the track sound cookie-cutter at times as a result. Hearing the percussion sounding barren and generic in really prominent places like :55-1:02 honestly made me cringe a number of times. I can't help coming away from the track feeling that the sounds generally were thin despite the barrage of sounds in play at almost any given time. Sorry to say I wasn't feeling the track much when comparing it with the original. With further rearrangement ideas and some modification of the synths into more unique sounds, this would be worlds stronger, but I can objectively acknowledge the work put into writing some new parts and expanding the original. It's on the very lowest of low ends of what I'd accept from an expansive cover-style arrangement. YES (tentative/very borderline)

Man, that is pretty dated. I love how beginner-Gray was all over this mix back in the day. Source material pretty much carries it though. Had some tacky orchestral stabs in there as well for the win. Loops at :57. Decent approach, but a lot of the top names were pumping out much better quality even then.

Nah, this is too weird and everything and shizz. Me no like. This iz coo'.

Got an e-mail from the artist, regarding the N.O. vote: I hope I don't insult you by saying I find it hard to believe, since the timing is exactly the same as the original, but if that's truly the case, sorry. But it's like Protricity taught me, if you're just gonna play a track to make it sound verbatim with the original, you might as well have MIDI-ripped it, because, on a creative level, you're achieving the same result. I merely just bolded what I felt would be the most important clause in the submissions guidelines. That's not to say that the rest of what's there is unimportant or irrelevant, so be sure to read everything there. Not a problem though, lemme just bold something else...

Could have sworn I commented on this way back in the day, but I guess not. Definitely a great interpretation here of a very boring, plodding original. I loved the sounds and textures here, and this one has always been an old favorite. Wish Andy was still more involved in the community. Don't overlook this one.