Liontamer

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Robo Gang Johnny" (ct-2-07.spc) Believe me, I be DOWN with the chiptunes and chiptune style arrangements. /slash, RushJet1, virt, smh, they're all doing solid stuff for example. But this...is too simple. The source tune is almost too boring to allow this to work very long. Man, at :46 when you try to change some of the progression, it just sounds like some glaring wrong notes in there in a few spots. And 1:58 for any track is gonna be very underdeveloped. Anyway, just cuz it's 8-bit style doesn't mean you skimp out on making this a developed arrangement. You had that section where you changed the notes a bit, and then repeated the first section at 1:24. Nah, that's lay-zee. For an actual in-game NES tune, 1:24-long would be a nice long track. But if the standards here were that simple, we'd have a TON of chiptunes here. In terms of the instrumentation, please do more to make the most of your 4 parts. A lot more could be going on here, even for such a simple/straightforward track. Just check out Tombs & Treasure or one of the later Megamans or whathaveyou. More layering or variation or anything could make this a more engaging listen. Hell, even consider breaking it off with a few extra channels like some of the expanded NEStunes did. VRC6 is your friend. In any case, if you're down with sending in some more thorough efforts in the future, I definitely look forward to them. We need more people doing what you're doing in the game arrangement community. Just make sure you're doing it really well. Well, I'm off to listen to some Madara... NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 19 I mean, what else can I say? It's a dope MIDI/FL n00b mix, but the quality isn't that strong relative to what we have around here. You gotta be Doctor Fruitcake, Israfel or Shnabubula to really be trickin' out the "lower quality" sounds here and using them to their best potential. The instrument quality is alright for what this is. Certainly hearing some stuff that's higher quality than a lot of MIDIs, but at the same time, the texture is ultimately still lacking. And, while it has some cool ideas and sounds, the arrangement is conservative and underdeveloped. 1:51 ain't cuttin' shit. If it's a MIDI, sumbit this to VGMusic and pimp it out if you haven't already. Otherwise, FL n00bery. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Shadow" (ff6-111.spc) Certainly not bad for a first sub. Samples here are pretty thin and weak. They're definitely lacking fullness and N-R-G and all that jazz. The synth bassline in the intro is bleh, the synths and percussion coming in at :33 are plain/bland. Not a bad section there until 1:03 minimalizing the theme. But yeah, things picked up the most at 1:18, but the groove is pretty lukewarm, and the arrangement is pretty much going the straight electronica genre adaptation route, which is playing it really simple and safe at the expense of engaging my interest. Though the e-piano sample at 2:17 was a little bit robotically performed, it was a nice contrast here with the rest of the piece and a much needed switchup. Piano and techno combines decently at 2:46. Not a bad idea to go solo with the piano for the finish at 3:45. You've got at least some potential, even though right now you're stuff sounds really bland and unenergetic. Use the ReMixing & Works forums to your growth and to your advanatge though. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Singing Mountain" (ct-3-01.spc) Not bad for a live performance. I'm certainly glad the arrangement is there. I dunno, it could be because I don't have the benefit of listening on my headphones, but this doesn't sound very emotive. The performance has its moments; its not poor or beginner-ish at all so don't get me wrong, but it seems somewhat empty/sparse. I can't help but feel that it sounds simplistic on occasion. The playing seems too rigid at times, like you're not actually cutting loose during the more upbeat parts. Oooh, you be clippin' it HARD around 2:15. :'-( Too bad about the distortion there. I'll gladly reconsider with my headphones for my usual setup, but looking at how the higher frequency range is absent here and the track is in mono, I gotta go NO and I doubt it'll change. Production's gonna have to improve to have a shot. Can you add a little spice to the performance? Perhaps you simply need more takes of this to perform this arrangement at its best.

http://www.commander-keen.com/midi-music/make-it-tighter.mid - "Make It Tighter" Cool, yo. "Too bad" per se that the album came out sooner than expected so that we couldn't have posted this right on the day of release, but it's good to get the finished album out there sooner (you know what I mean, I'm sure). Gonna be brief since it's just about confirming the source material and arrangement. I'm sincerely glad to see something from The American Album get subbed, as I had a chance to start playing some of it on my show and have been casually listening to it. I was actually going to play this on VGF72 this coming Saturday, as I'm doing tracks 4-6, so I'm already familiar with the layout. Solid tracker material here and the arrangement is definitely there without a doubt. I like Chris getting back to some of the decidedly more interpretive arrangement. This is really hooking it up with the Mazedude SPICES. No issues at all; let's get it up there ASAP. Oh, it's no "maybe" at all. It's a definitely. Besides, I think you already answered your own question above... YES

Oh yeah, I already talked with TO about that myself. Personally, I thought that was fine. It's just there to add a quasi lo-fi feel, although I think it sounded a bit too sharp/clear in those respects. Ah well.

I never posted here? Jesus, what the hell was I thinking? Great mix, Neo. One of my favorites from a few years ago, I remember it on the WIP forums. Still something I listen to!

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 23 "Lava Reef Zone 2" I mistakenly associated the source tunes as "Lava Reef Zone 1" & Sonic 2's unused version of "Hidden Palace Zone". Thanks very much to DarkeSword for pointing out my mistake. For any other judges, you gotta get familiar with :30-:47 of the source tune, as several of the arrangement ideas here are derived from that. This source tune isn't as memorable as "Lava Reef Zone 1", which is what I normally think of for that stage's theme. Track goes for a somewhat similar feel to Kingdom Hearts "New Beginnings" only it lacks a lot of the texture and richness that that mix had, which I feel is criticial to making synthethic pieces like this click. The KH mix had some strings, jungle SFX and a good bassline working in the background at various points to fill things out, and the percussion had more punch, which all helped a lot. Otherwise, you get things sounding too mechanical and thin like they do here. Strings starting at 1:56 are pretty synthy, but they're so light that it manages to work. When the strings come in more at 2:29 playing the "Lava Reef Zone" theme, they're dull in the performance and exposed. That slap bass-like synth is just really exposed and fake from the get-go, and the percussion performance feels too dry and rigid. I'm not saying you should try and rehash "New Beginnings" wholesale, cuz that's no good. But if you're gonna go for a downbeat yet jazzy-type feel here, it can't be so flat and empty-sounding. TO mentioned to me that the track sounds bland overall, and I totally agree. I'd like to hear some suggestions on punching this up, cuz this really needs more depth to the sounds. If you're not tired of this one, keep working on it, but otherwise I'd say put this on the shelf for a while. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ki.rsn - Sabrewulf (ki-21.spc) The howl of da WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLF opened things up with some light Rareware/GoldenEye Caverns style xylo (Xylo? Ah shaddap Gray), and some beats joining in at :28. About a minute in and I'm still waiting for something to happen. Piano joins in at 1:08 and we start getting some buildup...or not. Hmmm...well 1:45 in and I thought the track was gonna bust out with some heavy rock energy on account of the drums and overall energy level being so subdued. To me it seemed like some sort of soft-to-loud contrast of the beginning and end was gonna happen, but it never materialized. Oh well. Well, with that said, I guess the piano at 1:10 was supposed to represent the energy level being picked up. Right now, the piano sounds too mechanical. In terms of dynamic contrast, what we got was the track losing the percussion, but since the percussion wasn't very impactful to begin with, dropping it out didn't really effect the energy level or mood. Part of the problem to me was that when the beats were involved, you had that lone piano with the plucky notes in the forefront. The beats then dropped out by 1:56, yet the style of the piano performance was practically the same as when the beats where there. Some chords wouldn't have hurt to try and mask some of the roboticness in the timing on the performance. Strings at 2:34 also sounded too thin and synthetic. Some new beats creep in at 3:05, and what sounds like a thin and mechanical acoustic guitar synth handles the melody at 3:07; I know it's not functioning in the manner of a real guitar, but the roboticness doesn't sound any better or more agreeable as a result. The beats are still pretty tepid, and the texture of everything together is very weak. Wolf SFX abruptly cut in at 4:38 after just being used a couple seconds earlier. C'mon, don't let it sound completely bootleg. Well, some of the other Js may not agree with my comments regarding the lack of dynamics. Not sure how well I was able to articulate those concerns, but I hope I got the point across. But really, the whole thing just sounds too lifeless, dull, mechanical. It honestly would need a lot of work if it's gonna be resubbed. I'd just call it a done deal and move onto something else frankly, but if you feel you can breathe some life into it (live guitar from Matt wouldn't hurt), feel free to give it a shot bro! You'll at least keep gaining experience. Be sure to use the WIP forums for some feedback and focus on getting criticism. NO

Darwinia - Main Theme I really like how the source sounds like a SIDtune. Reading up a little bit on the game, one of the selling points of the soundtrack is that it encompasses a lot of the dissimilar styles/genres, so that's pretty cool. Thanks a lot for providing the source, Steve, as I couldn't find anyone who'd ripped the soundtrack yet on my usual VGM FTPs. Not a bad atmosphere for the start. Lead at :14 is rather plain. Stuff picks up at :27, and I still think it lacks some edge to it. The percussion as well is alright but comes across as pretty flat, along with the synths. Lead returns at :57; it honestly feels a bit out of place to me. 1:11 with the more synthy stuff in the forefront was pretty good, but there was this gated synth playing alongside it that should have stood out more. Right now the synths are blending together too much. Good (and much needed) changeup in the percussion at 1:43, though again it comes across as flat. All of the various sampled SFX involved sounds pretty naked and pasted on top. Using some effects on the various phrases to have them sit better in the track would help things sound more cohesive. Especially since you're using the "Get in touch..." clip more than once, do something different with it with each use. In any case, this was a pretty straightforward, recognizable arrangement and definitely has the potential here, but the "performance" could stand to be more expressive-sounding. The arrangement was short, and I wouldn't disagree with anyone saying it was underdeveloped, as it doesn't sound finished. Production could have been stronger, tied into the whole expressiveness factor and having some sounds stand out more than others, but the track was otherwise nice and clean. Hope you keep working on this one, bro. NO (resubmit)

Man, that is some weird shizzle. A big part of the section full of voice clips from was lame (1:52-2:19). But the mix itself was pretty interesting/catchy. Cool older stuff.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mo2.rsn - "Battle Against a Weird Opponent" (mo2-029.spc) Played the Bound Together version on VGF68 and was feeling the groove bias. Indeed, the BT version as mastered by Mustin felt drier, so it was good hearing this version as Posu's intended vision for the mix. Nice intro up until :10. Arrangement of the melody was pretty straightforward, supplemented with a lot of good stuff going on with the bassline and string synth. Compared to the original, the role of the bassline here was greatly expanded upon. :46 has a synth solo section backed up by the source tune, and continued beyond 1:04 as the chorus joined the synth solo up until 1:37. Another solo full of wah guitar at 1:46, joined by some light blips y bloops at 2:06 and the wahs following the melody at 2:12 which was pretty subtle. Though I heard a couple different patterns, the beats were pretty basic and repetitive which was the main thing holding this back. I liked everything else going on, but wish the claps weren't on cruise control as it makes the foundation of the track (and by extension the whole piece) seem lazy and underdeveloped. If you're willing to spice that up with a bit more activity/variation, this would be an easy pass to me. I really like the way the rest of the arrangement was handled, and could understand this picking up some YESs, so good luck with the rest of the vote! NO (borderline)

Very impressive and thoroughly developed arrangement. The tribute to Posu's style comes off very faithfully; nice bassline, light beats, and a chill atmosphere most of the way. Treble's up there, but otherwise very solid. I never heard the M.C. Kids soundtrack prior to comparing it to this, but the soundtrack itself was quite the sleeper. Always a fan of the warbly, Commodore-sounding stuff, so I'm glad I checked it out. Despite the game being obscure, I'm surprised this doesn't have more reviews.

Hahaha! This was completely Repercussions of Fowl Lamentation style back before such a concept existed. The guy samples in the intro even sounds a bit like analoq. Cool shit.

To say that the recent slew of comments warms the cockles of Flik's heart would be an understatement. Don't forget the groin too!

Nowadays, this would get rejected on account of not developing the quasi-industrial approach here. Not to mention there isn't anything meaningful done with the arrangement, and it has an abrupt ending. Notice how Disco Dan had his head on straight when he voted on it. Still, if you like the Temple theme, it's an easy sell even if it's only a relatively minor upgrade.

Not a bad sound for an old mix. For better or for worse, it still stands alone after all this time. Not sure what the point was of the effects from 1:45-2:14. Pretty pointless. In any case, the arrangement was pretty simple but it has it's place in the older stuff, even if overlooked.

Can't say I cared for the intro, as it was near-verbatim with the source, but once Matt picked things up at :32, he was groove-biasing it nicely for the "old days." Wish there was more development here, as there's not much to this, but thems the breaks.

Just checking out some of the stuff that hasn't been peeped here in a while. This one doesn't really hold up well, though for the time, it at least had a decent amount of gradual development. Everything's defaulty, and there's nothing in the way of texture. Certainly not a knock against Mike, as he had some much better material posted later on like "Influence of Koholint", but as the very first remix passed by the judges panel, you can see that OCR's come a long way, as this mix would be an instant rejection nowadays.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mo2.rsn - "Kraken of the Sea" (mo2-097.spc) Decent percussion and synth driven intro, though tha gated synth replicating the source tune is pretty basic. Some very weak, defaulty beats joined in at :32, joined by some drumloops at :48. Yeah, I'm getting the feeling that it's not gonna get too complicated here. A string pad comes in at 1:03 for something a little different, but the overall groove is still the same untlil 1:35 finally changes the atmosphere substantially. The low gated synth and loops gradually crept back in at 1:51 though. Piano at 3:09 was very robotic. I'm hard pressed to give a track like this much credit. It's not produced poorly, and does get by pretty well simply rotating 4 or 5 defaulty instrumentation patterns in and out in various combinations. But that's all there is to it, and you're gonna have to do more than that for any shot at the pass. Still, a promising track for a first sub. Look forward to hearing your next one, provided there's more substance. NO

Metal Gear Solid 2 OST - 01 "Metal Gear Solid Main Theme (MGS2 Version)" I wouldn't recommend encoding this at anything lower than 128kbps unless using LAME VBR. 96kbps is too low. There's virtually no high-end here. Everything sounds really dull and lo-fi. Very liberal allusions to the source until it was brought in at 1:07 with some very sparse electronic conversion. Not much in the way of polyphony. Hahahaha, using just the first few notes of the source tune from 1:31-onward was definitely not working here. Lame hand drum sample pasted on top for the first time from 1:54-1:56. Percussion dropped out briefly at 2:49, but that was only replaced by something else. Arrangement retread at 3:31, which I could have done without. Track is too long and doesn't have anything going for it. Poor job developing anything worthwhile from the original, sorry. The concept is there, but it's poorly realized. NO

http://www.zophar.net/vgm/alexkimw.zip - "Normal" Beyond the intro, any overt usage of the source material was relegated to the back, so look for it elsewhere in the piano. Given the mix title, I listened to "Janken", figuring that was arranged instead/also, but I didn't hear it here. The piano coming in at 1:08 was a very liberal-sounding yet simplified take on the source material. Almost too liberal honestly, though I hear the connection. The piano sample itself was pretty poorly used; even playing such simple parts, it was still very mechanical-sounding. The sounds are very basic and the soundfield is muddy with reverb and too much stuff attempting to co-exist in the low-end. The production is pretty cruddy, IMO. No clarity whatsoever, plus the arrangement tended to drag after the halfway point. Very basically constructed the whole way through. Too bad. The sub letter alludes to the fact that the effort was genuinely there. NO

Gran Turismo Original Game Soundtrack - 01 "Moon Over The Castle (The Theme Of GRAN TURISMO)" Hahaha! What a good name for the track. That's a pretty damn cool genre adaptation, but it needs some work to flesh out the sounds and texture. Intro's a little too widely panned until :10, but I loved the fade-in, which was pretty pimp. Electric guitar at 1:11 sounds really naked. I'm sure it's been done in classic rock before though, so it's not a huge hit, it's just barren and also a bit too distant-sounding. I feel like it would sound better with some effects on it. That wasn't an issue before 1:11, but the change in tone at 1:11 needs the guitar to have a little more meat on it. Cool vibraphone (thanks, Gray) from 1:47-2:34, though maybe a little too bright. Piano briefly at 2:34 sounds way too fake and lacking in high frequencies. Last iteration of the source melody at 2:45 is pretty much the same stuff as before with some slight additions. Really could have used some significant additions or changes there to create some development/variation and keep the track going strong, as the arrangement was dragging a little bit towards the end. Maybe add more effects/processing to the lead guitar to push it over the top. Man, this is some solid shit, and I'm gonna be pissed if this doesn't make the site down the line, cuz I want to see it there. I just can't YES it in good conscience right now, as I feel it could be refined to really trick it out and make it more expressive. Don't drop this one, Ilari; work on it a little further if this doesn't pass. Definitely keeping this. NO (borderline/please resubmit)

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/T2Adia.mid - "Port of Adia" Good stuff in trying to change the rhythms of the original. Percussion and bassline coming in at :07 make the track really dull-sounding in terms of frequencies. Everything needs to be sharpened up with some higher frequencies, and the instruments need more separation, as they're mooshing into each other. The faux-guitar at :29 sounds decent but obviously artificial, plus, as previously mentioned, it bleeds terribly into the backing string samples (which are weak, honestly). The quieter section at 1:10 was a little plain-jane, but nonetheless offered some good contrast, before adding more percussion and guitar at 1:29 to spice it up. In terms of the arrangement, good stuff keeping things changing and developing with the move back into upbeat material at 1:54. The whole track manages to morph around like this, which was a large positive. Everything still sounded terribly mooshed together and dulled, but you've at least got a good framework in place. If you can clean up the soundfield/production, and get the samples sounding better or step up the actual sample quality, it would be a significant step in the right direction. Hit the ReMixing forum and see what you can find there to help you out in that effort, and don't be bashful about posting your works-in-progress to the Works forum for fan feedback. Hang around the site more and keep working on it. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/vectrman.rar - Day 11 "Stayin' Alive" Though the instrumentation/synth design seems too basic, the mix does a good job of tailoring it for its genre by filling out the original and building upon it with some good additive ideas. The production was fairly full and the sound was clean. I'd be interested in zircon's comments in particular. Work on giving the track some more activity/instrumentation in the background to fill out the soundfield. The percussion patterns are too basic and repetitive, which could be also be argued for the arrangement as a whole. Though there's some new stuff from 2:13-2:32, after you get to 1:22 you've basically heard the whole track, so fashion some new ideas to stave off unsatisfying repetition. Right now, there's not enough going on here, which I realize was the style of the Vectorman soundtrack but doesn't quite stand on it's own. Keep working on it, and take use of the ReMixing and Works forums if you haven't been doing so already. NO