Liontamer

Hahaha! Sometimes Ormgas has a glitch where the song listed and the song currently playing don't quite match up, so that's where the mix up came from. Neon oughta get the track himeslf and edit in a real review.

Um...yeah. No fair, apparently.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Xenogears_psf.rar - 103 "Bonds of Sea & Fire" Some basic sounds are in play here, but produced well they can still work. Those repetitive, plain jane beats starting at :17 REALLY have to go. Do something more creative with them than the occasional offbeat, because they do a bad job of filling out the track and driving it forward. Rhodes stuff at 1:24, yes? Finally something changes with the beatwork at 1:42 as we get into a faster-paced section. BAH, the new pattern just starting repeating too much TOO. Then the same old cruddy pattern returned at 2:01. Break section at 2:18; drum pattern returns and retreads itself at 2:35. Listening though the rest of the track, nothing particulalrly interesting was going on. Ironically enough, there were much of the same issues here as in the Battle of Olympus mix I just judged. You have a track with a monophonic lead that's just not getting any support due to sparse and repetitive support instrumentation. I appreciate the attempt at making something that's supposed to have a dope groove, but you didn't actually supply the dope groove, leaving the track as just plodding. The arrangement was ok, but you need more going on. Fill out the track with fuller sounds or more instruments, put more creativity into the percussion, and bring dynamics into the picture through any number of variation-providing ideas. Get more ideas and criticisms for your work via the ReMixing and Works forums here, and try to improve. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/olympus.zip - Track 14 When I heard the intro, I initially thought "Sweeeet!" Sounds sampled/influenced from track 21 of the NSF. After that we opened up with an NES-esque lead with the harp at :03. Beats faded in starting at :21. Aight, I'm feeling the intro. Maybe this is going somewhere good... [waits] OK, so the good part didn't actually happen. The potential for goodness was indeed there, until those very tame beats and bassline came in at :38, along with those boring hi-hats. The piano and the harp were mechanically sequenced, but decent. The energy level was so low thanks to these repetitive and unenergetic support instrumentation ideas. Ultimately, the depth of sound that's needed for something like this just isn't there. You need to beef up your other sounds and have more going on in general in order to properly complement this monophonic lead. On top of that, the arrangement itself needs to be a lot more unique and inspired. Basically just heard a slowing of the tempo and a key change. Not an awful track though. Get more creative with the melodic content. Hang in the ReMixing & Works forums to develop your skills and get a better idea of how to make a solid track. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/soe.rsn - "Introduction" (soe-02.spc) Basic piano coverage of the original. The piano sounds too lo-fi thanks to the effects you're using on it. Electrosynth comes in at :36 and the synth is too loud; the combination of lo-fi piano and that synth just isn't working. It makes it seem like there's a sound quality disparity. Some sparse beatwork joined in at 1:51, but didn't really anything meaningful to the picture. There are some other synths in play attempting to do some weird modulation effects around the 2 minute mark, but you can't really hear them well. Decent change in the feel at 2:29 by dropping out the beats and adding some other weird synths on top. Beats returned at 3:07 with a different pattern. The track really has some disparity in the sound quality and texture of the piano vs. the synths. When the track is particularly busy, a lot of the sounds just smoosh together, making things fairly indistinguishable. 3:45 had some cooler stuff going, dropping down the piano and focusing on the electronic sounding stuff. I liked the ideas in that last section more. Still though, the arrangement has a lot of fat. You've got some good ideas for the source tune, but the track just drags on for too long, and really does need more dynamic contrast like Vig mentioned. This turned out better than many tracks we receive on the panel, but this would need a ton of work to pass, Zane, so I'd suggest moving onto new things. Check out the ReMixing forum for help with your overall production, and be sure to use the Works forum to get fan feedback before future submissions. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/bmg.rsn - "Church" (bmg-06.spc) Liking the fade-in idea. Some decent stuff on the lead sound from :12-:27, but I really felt the lead for the melody at :30 was a weak sound choice. TO's right that the beats and rhythm stuff are way too loud. All that drops out at :56 to change the feel. Some of the electrosynths in here are nothing but generic and sound lame. Gonna take a Herculean effort to get all this stuff resulting in a good texture, because I though the sound combinations didn't click at all, like Vig and TO mentioned. While there were some other decent sounds in play, some sound choices were bland, and the sound balance was way off. Percussion added at 1:48 was way too loud again for no real reason. I liked the syncopation at 1:32, if that means anything. There's the attempt the change up the feel here with some sounds dropping out on occasion (e.g. :56, 2:11), but overall, the arrangement was pretty straightforward. Gotta agree with TO that nothing grabbed the attention of the listener here. The melody's not particularly good, though you certainly tried to play around with things. Hate to say it, David, but just not an interesting or cohesive track. Hopefully your future stuff will be stronger. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gsf/cvaos_gsf.rar - 08 "Inner Quarters" Sounds like a straightforward orchestrated cover with some mechanical-sounding strings, very ill-fitting/pasted-on percussion, and some occasional non sequitur scratching effects. Sounds like a track with an identity crisis, particularly with these beats just slapped on. Not even named differently than the source tune. Beyond :37, the effort was phoned in, just repeating everything all over again several times. It's boring as hell in the long-run just looping the track exactly like the original did. Nothing particularly creative. Weak take on otherwise cool source material. NO

http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc/coolspot.rar - "Bonus Levels" Weak synth guitar in here at :04. Yeah, tons of distortion going on due to sloppy/inexperienced mixing. Not sure how any objective ear wouldn't have a problem with how crunchy this is. Worse still at :20 once things got fuller and started clipping. Same issues at :45. Even worse at 2:20 near the finish. Arrangement was pretty straightforward, going for the expansionist route, but the additions wouldn't be creative enough to sustain this, even if the production was great. The drum writing was pretty uninspired. I did appreciate the way you altered the rhythms of the source melody a little bit from 1:15-1:31 though. Listening through until the end, still not much going on. The was Luxury Crunchy minus the luxury. Visit the ReMixing forum for production advice and the Works forum for fan feedback to help get other opinions on issues you need to work on. Chock it up to gaining some experience and move on to the next project. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ctow.rsn - "Don't Cry, Jennifer" (ctow-09.spc), "Dark Premonition" (ctow-03.spc), "I'm Looking For Mary" (ctow-05.spc), "Satanic Place Of Worship" (ctow-15.spc), "Karosene" (ctow-16.spc), "Death In The Elevator" (ctow-18.spc), "The Nightmare Is Finally Over..." (ctow-21.spc), etc. I wasn't really feeling the vox in the intro. Decent coverage of the melody at :11. The bassline is a bit too synthetic, IMO, but I liked the belltones a lot. Strings at :22 were too synthethic sounding and thin; no texture there. Electric guitar synth at :33 had 0 power and meat to it. The drums sounded REALLY cheap. Personally, I didn't think the melodic content was that hot, but I see how nespus did meaningful things on the arrangement side. Pretty much just a lot of weak sounds in play unfortunately; the samples really weren't used to the best of their ability. Pretty cluttered from 1:19-1:53 when things sounded full. Not too much so, but at the same time, the vox and guitar, the 2 most central sounds, don't cut through to the forefront at all. Work on the sound balance there. Most fake-sounding strings at 1:55, though those were better than at :22. Guitar was still very thin. Last section at 2:20 was repetitive and anti-climactic. Ending at 2:42 was too sudden, almost "Ok, I give up"-ish. Develop the ideas more. Decent effort here, as at least some good things were going on, and there was some potential. At the same time though, it needs a lot more work to get it to a passable level. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/yoshi.rsn - "Castle & Fortress" (yi-10.spc) Been a little while since I closed a vote. Nice change of pace. Ironically just talked with Bev about this piece being on the panel last night. Heard this as part of PRC48, but otherwise hadn't analyzed it. First thing I'm hit with is some nice volume. Swirly pad action going on at :32 that I'm also liking. Tracks lacks clarity from the get-go, so I disagree on the production being solid. Everything sounds muffly and indistinct. Sounds way better on my laptop speakers than my headphones, but on my headphones it's a huge problem. Cool break at :57 with the vox SFX. Really feeling the beats coming in at 1:11 to add some power and drive to the track. You simply mentally remove the reverb here though, and I gotta agree with the others that the texture is lacking. Weird, I'm liking this a lot more than the others, at least on paper, though I'm still put off by the lack of clarity and separation of the sounds. Too dull and muddy. I think you can clean it up and still retain a powerful sound. "Chekan Winter" did a better job on that level. I like the vox at 2:51, but it needs to cut through more. Sounds like Bev given some processing, but I honestly have no idea what it is. Anyway, the woodwind lead handling the source tune arrangement is absolutely buried in the other sounds and doesn't stand out in any way, so that needs to be fixed. Overall, whether it's vox or woodwind, the source melody has a very hard time taking its rightful place in the foreground, so clarity and sound balance both need to be worked on. By 4:03, the track starts dragging. The groove is decent, but variation in the style or beat patterns at some point is necessary to keep things interesting. Like Gray said, for a mix this long, it's pretty weak to just retread the past ideas for such a lengthy period of time without more overt development and evolution. Good stuff in place so far, Bev & Jason, but it needs further work to pass. This one was groove-biasing me nicely though, so I hope you don't call this a done deal. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/gym/sor2.rar - "Expander" (StreetsOfRage2-19.gym) Larry judges in realtime: <Liontamer> 1:13 into this SoR2 mix, and still no source tune <Liontamer> 1:30 now <Liontamer> 1:45 <Liontamer> getting dangerous here <Liontamer> 2:00 <Liontamer> what the fuck is this, anyway? <Liontamer> 2:15, still nothing <Liontamer> 2:30 <Liontamer> I'm serious <Liontamer> kind of alluding to something now <Liontamer> 3:00, still nothing overt <Liontamer> hahaha, wtf <Liontamer> 3:15 <Liontamer> I haven't heard shit from Expander yet <Liontamer> 3:30 <Liontamer> hahaha; 3:41, finally something I recognize, but he still hasn't used the melody <Liontamer> 4:00 <Liontamer> This is like remixing a track on fumes <Liontamer> Nothing even remotely Streets of Rage about this <Liontamer> 4:45 <Liontamer> ROFL; a change up at 5:03, about 7 years too late <Liontamer> Doesn't help that I played this game a lot growing up <Liontamer> Very disappointing <Liontamer> NO NO Override

http://www.doom2.net/~doomdepot/music/doom%201%20&%202%20midis.zip - Story Music.mid Thanks a lot to Chris for providing the source MP3, as the source MIDI I was stuck with sounds kinda Yiddish. Especially at 1:23 when things start harmonizing. Wonder why that is? Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way. Cool intro, with the harpsichord though it all sounds kind of lo-fi. Melody coming in at :19 is big on the low frequencies and really buzzy. It's really hard to hear the piano in there proving some embellishments. Pretty much a cover with some organ in there until :58 brings in some industrial sounds. Track still sounds really crunchy and cluttered, as if the bitrate were a lot lower. Brief break from 1:52-2:19 before another iteration of the melody in a higher key. Just a mess of sounds cluttering and distorting together. I can see why Sean isn't co-credited, as it's hard to distinguish his work amongst all of the other sounds. Some synth solo action from 3:03-3:37 was a welcome change of pace and featured some additional creative arrangement ideas. The arrangement is cover-ish per Chris's style, but features enough nuanced additions and alterations to pass with no issues. More power to you for this passing, as I'm sure the production choices here are purposeful and other Js are certainly feeling it, but things just sound lo-fi like this was a 64kbps MP3 and terribly unbalanced to me. NO (resubmit)

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/C64Music/Cooksey_Mark/Paperboy.sid - Subtune 2/5 Played this on VGF63, but haven't had a chance to critically take a look at it. Ooh, some tense strings to open things. Ha, some cheesy robovoice to open things up. Can't understand a word it's saying. Oh shizzle, there's Navid coming in at :30. So I remember him asking me about the track, and I'm all like "WHERE"S THE BASSLINE?" The project file for this borked, so it wasn't a possibility, but this could have been infinitely pimper. In any case, good bell/percussion stuff at 1:30. Tempo fuckery at 2:00 before some new beats at 2:06. SFX-based breakdown from 2:36-2:46. Where's the source usage admist all that. Anyway, back to the same beats from the first part at 2:46. Where's the variation? The Dead Guys' "Peaperboyah" did a better job using all the parts of the source tune. I'm disappointed you couldn't think of some way to use :46-1:06 or 1:06-1:25 of the source tune anywhere in the entire track as a breakdown or anything like that. I like the lyrics though they make no sense (!) and should sit a bit better with the music. The delivery is fairly good, with the flow occasionally (but only very briefly) being not quite smooth, and the production is pretty nice. After 2:45, I felt like you could have done something to change up the beats rather than retreading them and then using the robovoice stuff too much, IMO. If you had varied the feel a little bit, I'd be more down. Project file may be broken, but I can't quite YES in good conscience, because, aside from the lyrics, it feels like you took 2 minutes worth of ideas and used them for 4 1/2 minutes. Rap mix or not, the repetition detracted from the level of source tune arrangement I felt was needed. Looks to be able to pass, so I don't have any qualms going NO-borderline. No issues with it passing, by the way. Best of luck with the rest of the vote, Navid.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/metroid.zip - Track 5 ("Kraid") First off, I wanna sincerely complement you for altering the rhythms of the source material. Very groovy and funky and whatnot; I really enjoyed it. Wing pretty much hit it though as to what evil browns like me say. The mix is just too empty. The breakdown at 1:21 was a decent idea, but there was still not much going on, even after the beats came back in at 1:35. NES-style use of the melody at 1:50 was a decent change of pace, but a fairly simple case of swapping out another sound rather than continuing any innovative arrangement ideas. Nonetheless, I did like the way different sounds were used throughout the mix to at least provide some variety on that level, but see if you can involve some additional rearrangement ides for the Kraid melody. I'm down with what's in place so far. All of the sounds are too thin. Just gotta put some meat on the bones via more sounds or effects on the one you're already using. I hope some other Js give suggestions on that level. U so cold, Larry. NO (resubmit)

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FFX_psf2.rar - 102 "In Zanarkand" Yeah, I agree with the Override. To note, the guy tried to alter some of the phrasing, and added some slight rhythmical alterations. So he tried to add some embellishments, and not only just swap instruments and add beats, but this was generally the original in new clothes and not substantially arranged. Very inferior to the source tune. Follow the guidelines.

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 19 Flying Battery Zone 2 Nothing bad about the arrangement at all. Lots of style, personal flair, and geetar kwakery keep things interpretive, even if the structure is pretty straightforward. I like how for each iteration you would play around with the melody in different ways. Awesome idea for that pad from :43-:57 to fill things out and change the feel of the track. Didn't like the idea of flat-out halting the music at :56 though, as it dropped whatever momentum you had, not to mention the drums being so simple when you started back up again. The drum writing is way too plain and unenergetic. There were some good spots, but overall it doesn't drive the track forward and enhance the guitar work at all. Make it way more creative. Decent solo from 1:37-1:49, though the electric guitar sounded rather exposed and dry. Needs more effects on it. Sweet idea for the piano close at 2:04 gradually ending with the fadeout. Pretty sweet. Rather short, and the basic structure/tempo could use more changes, but even for such a short track, it was getting things done on the arrangement. Not superlative, but good ideas nonetheless. The production was a weak spot. Not much in the way of higher frequencies, resulting in a very dulled and quiet sound. Work on production to achieve a cleaner sound, and sequence some more creative percussion. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/pokemonb.zip - Track 24 The sounds are generic, but aren't used poorly, but at the same time, I don't hear the original prominently except in the middle. The saw wave from :26-:33 and repeated several times over until :46 and again from 1:05-1:18 is from :02-:07 of the source. Anyway, while I heard that in there, the use of the melody from 1:37-2:02 was pretty minimal. There's still not enough source tune used in here. Just using that one motif from :02-:07 of the source for most of the track, and only briefly using the source melody. No dice in my book. I will say that the sound balance was excellent here; very well balanced, IMO. Can't help but agree with analoq's and especially TO's conclusions here. Sounds are basic, and the arrangement substance isn't there. NO

Don't sub 3 tracks at once, bro. http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/unir.rsn - "Title" (unir-01.spc) Um...well, it's not often we get submissions from someone named after an American Vice-President (go learn something, kids). Anyway, Uniracers is acually pretty popular with many guitarists in the scene due to already sounding like a rock-style track, so to be honest I've heard way better remixes than this. Stuff from IronMix Challenge, for one. Immediately, you can hear the recording is poor quality. At :14, the cymbals are really loud, and they don't stop, with some gratuitous loud shots. Melody comes in at :38, but the guitar doesn't sounds clear at all vs. the other instruments. The sound balance is legitimately awful, so the production ruins what could otherwise be a decent performance. Sequenced drums just loop like nobody's business. Just a cover, no rearrangement whatsoever. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkc.rsn - "Aquatic Ambiance" (dkc-08.spc) Sounds are all low quality/MIDI-grade. Basically the composition of the original with some weak beats added. Beats change at 2:33. SOme orginal notes at the very end from 4:15-4:17. Bravo. Not anything Overrideable IMO, as he tried to change the feel here, but this did nothing to creatively rearrange the original. Nothing but inferior to the original. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FFX_psf2.rar - 407 "Wandering Flames" The pads used in the intro sound like very default sounds, and the sequenced guitar at :12 sounds very stiff and mechanical. The beats brought in at :34 are downbeat, but very default-sounding and looped to no end. I like the little additions here at :57. The way the source tune was handled, you attempted to go the expansion route, though I wish you didn't basically replicate "Wandering Flames" and then add stuff on top, as I'm sure there are ways to even change the arrangement of that. I liked the use of the piano at 2:04 to remix 1:55-2:08 of the source tune. Decent ending. The pad layering throughout the track was decent, though the pads during the fadeout were very exposed for their low quality. The track is put together fairly decently, but the way the pads move doesn't quite sound smooth (hard to articulate, but the way the pads move in the original was smoother), and the guitar and piano both sound defaulty and mechanical, the guitar being much more negatively impactful to me. The beats are too plain-sounding and unprocessed, and I feel they don't blend in well with the track. Needs to sound less defaulty and given more attention to fine-tuning the sounds. As it stands, the samples in play are of an inferior quality to the original, and aren't used as well as they could be. Good stuff so far, Seth, but it really needs polish to make everything more cohesive. NO (resubmit)

5Y please, since the style is so unorthodox. Don't want anyone coming out of the woodwork late saying they would have NOed.

Thanks a lot to K1 for providing the Genesis MIDIs. Personally, I could only identify the Dr. Grant and Map themes in here, but even just considering those two I felt there was enough arrangement to pass. I would appreciate some clarification mainly on where the Powerstation theme factors in. (2:10-2:36?) Didn't hear the Game Over theme anywhere either. In any case, the first sax squeak from :02-:04 initially made me think this was gonna be awful. The fact that it goes for a whole 1:10 before getting into the meat of the arrangement almost had me preemptively NO it, but I try not vote that way and kept on listening only to find some seriously sweet arrangement going on afterwards. I'd appreciate if other Js didn't impulsively vote. When the sax wasn't squeaking, I wasn't getting the Raptor vibe, but I'll readily admit the intro grew on me as I listened to it more. I'm not hailing it as the second coming on any level, as I don't mean to give this more credit than it deserves. It's not "bad", but frankly it's not that great. But it's a ballsy intro, and I really appreciate it on that level. While all of the sax notes didn't work with the intented Raptor imagery, I liked the concept there. Is the intro here inspired by or mimicking some sort of sequence in the game after you die? Anyway, once we got beyond 1:10, the arrangement really kicked in and it was pretty sweet, IMO. Much more coherent phrasing and structure, not to mention style. The atmosphere really did work much like an anime/film noir hybrid deal, so I was feeling that a lot. The orchestral sampling was done pretty effectively, IMO, and I really liked what I heard there. Butt [sic]...the recording/rendering sounds like crud. For a 160kbps track, it sure sounded like the bitrate was a lot lower. Tons of hiss everywhere, and no high-end frequencies to speak of. If you can fix it up, bro, you get a YES. If not, I gotta say that it's a NO-go. You really need to make sure not to drop this one; it's a great concept. NO (fix shoddy production, resubmit)

OMG Jesse's Taub, u got Metroid bias againz!

The acronym the band uses for themselves is "NES4", as Neskvartetten means "NES Quartet". Smooth work by these bros as usual, you really can't go wrong with them. Glad to see this piece finally make its way to the site, and I'm always looking forward to more.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Hyrule Castle" (loz3-14.spc) [:57-1:14, 2:13-2:42, 5:48-6:01] http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 01 "Title Theme" (2:46-3:30) & 03 "Deku Tree" (4:02-4:35, 4:51-5:48) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker OST - 103 "The Legendary Hero" (1:27-1:52) :00-:46 & 3:38-4:01? Just don't recognize which source tune those parts go to, even though I recognize them as being from Zelda material. I'd appreciate clarification on the source info listed above. Standing Man/FM/Zas, you really gotta pick one handle and stick with it! Played this one just a few days ago on VGF63. Heard it on account of round 3 of Splendid Performance this summer, and it was some nice work. You really did a great job of overhauling the concept here and letting things flow much more naturally here from source tune to source tune. I really can't listen to everything and give the detailed analysis of how all the source tunes were used, so forget that. Offhand, I felt the transition at 1:56 was too abrupt. And on little things, there's a light pop in the right channel at 5:03, a louder pop in the left at 5:16, and the ending abruptly cuts off at 6:01. :'-( That ending really needs a fix if it's posted. In any case, the way the samples were used was pretty strong; much more organic sounding than last time. Some occasional artificial-sounding spots, but nothing significantly impactful as to hurt the track. Beyond using your already strong samples much more effectively, there was just tons more thought and care put into fashioning the arrangement, which is where the real substance was. "Deku Tree" served well as the meat of the track, and I particularly liked your interpretation of the Ocarina of Time title theme. Good work as a whole, and I'm glad you weren't discouraged by the previous decision. An improvement literally by leaps and bounds over the older version, Mike! YES