Liontamer

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ki.rsn - "Main Theme" (ki-01.spc) Yeah, this was a fairly vanilla and very synthetic orchestral take on the source material. The string samples were aight, but the way they were used was lacking, with the note-to-note movement sounding unnatural. 1:45 finally started some genuine rearrangement. I liked the idea of the woodwind sample being placed in there, though once it swelled a bit louder along with some other brass samples, the samples were all too loud and exposed. Things need to blend together more naturally. The triggering on one note at 2:40 was very flubbed. There was a cymbal swell at 2:50 that decayed way too quickly as well. By around 3:15 the arrangement was getting pretty boring as I wanted for something to happen. The source returned at 3:25 for the last section, lasting all the way until 4:53. Not too much in the way of dynamic contrast or build, and the source melody wasn't developed much. Like Jesse said, the strings during the runthroughs of the main theme were slightly off with their timing. The arrangement needs more creativity beyond playing the original with strings for most of the time. Interpret the source material instead of copying it. Head over to the ReMixing forum for tips on how to improve your sound balance so that things here don't sound too muddy and you can get some ideas on how to strengthen dynamics. You can also look for information on timing and making the performance sound more natural. Post any works-in-progress to the WIP forum to get more feedback as well. NO

Nah. Should have Saved As...

Bah. Lost the first 80 minutes of the show thanks to Cool Edit's very impractical Paste function, which just pastes a copied section at the beginning of the file, replacing the length of the clip with what you paste, instead of pasting it to replace what you actually highlight. If Roland's got it, I can bootleg a stream recording and connect what I've got. Also, Kyle, I'm gonna need a copy of your first call. My sincere apologies, bros y sis'es.

'scuse me Paige, but this sounded simply... er... wrong. uhm... yeah. Oh, COME ON NOW!

Hahahaha. What do you think I'm gonna do?

One suggestion I'd like to give to people is to, beyond the SSF2 SPCs, also check out the full Super Street Fighter II Turbo soundtrack. All of the themes have been beefed up with additional support instrumentation, and honing in the patterns on those instruments could easily give you ideas on variations you could do in the background of your mixes in order to fill them out further. I'll try and snag the soundtrack and temporarily host it for y'all so that someone else can mirror it for project purposes.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/iog.rsn - "Town" (iog-10.spc) Wow, this is some old stuff; played this all the way back on VGF23 right after Chris released it. I know Jesse was pretty glib right there, but he's right per his usual, so I follow suit. It's a fairly good upgrade but unfortunately not hugely interpretive. The instrumentation was interesting, but didn't really alter/hugely expand the feel of things with this conservative take unlike, say, "Tuatara Swamp Jam". Things were more upbeat here compared to the source, but the mood was essentially the same. Perhaps some people are gonna harp on the sound choices or production, but I thought everything was put together reasonably well. I did like the original section from 1:34-2:25; it fit in very well thematically, but consequently, I also felt the source material itself was fairly unexplored. Reminds me of why I should have voted NO on Mid Night. I really liked the bird sfx as well as Amanda's guest vocals, but would have loved to see you branch out into some more interpretive ideas on the melody itself during the more straightforward sections to put a more personalized spin on things. Looking into the Illusion of Gaia soundtrack SPCs, I'd really be interested in your approach on either "Time" or "Drifting". Hope a NO isn't discouraging. Frankly, I'm kind of surprised I ended up going this way. I liked the original sections, and the cover-style material is actually expanded fairly well, but this just needs a few more ideas in expanding the instrumentation and providing variations on the melody to supplement what's already there, IMO. I'd love to see this one come our way again if possible. NO (borderline)

Still too conservative a take on the source material. I could have sworn the standard was fairly uniform on "if it's not created for a game, then NO" besides Tetris, but if that's the way it's gonna be, that's fine. Personally, I don't think we should consider it. In any case, I'll do a formal, non-N.O. vote. The percussion work was really plodding and repetitive, and the low bassline type lead from 1:31-2:21 was way too low. The track isn't bad, but the arrangement is basically just some playthroughs of the source with different sounds each time. Gotta be more bro. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ddragon3.zip - Track 5 Yeah, I remember the source tune. When Bladiator couldn't come up with a source tune choice for PRC24, I offered this up as a choice and Karl was down with it. Catchy shit, IMO. Hooked it up with J! Groove a while back on VGF33. The keyboard solo from 2:27-2:54 was about the only thing that wasn't basically a straightforward cover (though it had the occasional odd spots), and then 3:07-3:39 featured some more prominently placed support additions as well to expand things a bit. Really liked the Tecmo Bowl clips I heard in there. HUTT! The percussion was pretty basic and a bit plodding and didn't really sit well in the track to me. I wouldn't lower the volume on them or that would weaken them too much, but at the same time I'd like to hear the percussion sound less pasted on top. I really liked the subtle additions supporting the melody that you wrote in; hell, some of them, like the bassline, the pads underneath the chorus or the acoustic guitar underneath the chorus were almost too subtle to be heard. Bring some stuff up some it can accentuate the melody more and be appreciated. The source melody was generally handled without enough interpretation, IMO. If some of the support instrumentation I mentioned had been brought up, this might have had a chance as a simply expansive arrangement. The conservative take here doesn't stop me from liking the track, but at the same time I can't reconcile it with the standards. That's not to say a track like this is bad for sticking closely to the source, but I thought "Where Destiny Meets" & "Frappe Cafe Vibe" were a lot more interpretive with the source material you chose. With Frappe in particular, you stuck close to the source material most of the way, but played around with the chords, used a lot of nice embellishments with the melody, used the new support instrumentation you wrote much more prominently, and brought in original & heavily rearranged sections earlier on and more frequently. I think the same could be done with this if you wanted to resub it, or simply use more of that type of approach in your next sub. I liked most of the elements in play; you definitely had a nice hybrid of Eastern strings, pizzicato strings and porn groove/wah stuff. Work on this one if you're interested, but even if that's not in the cards, keep em' coming I say! Keep Morse-in' 'em, bro! Frankly, I think my NO severely downplays how much I liked the track. NO EDIT: Oh shit, I voted on the older version already on my computer. Sorry about that. Josh really enhanced this compared to the first version, and there's nothing here holding it back from a YES

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/metlgear.zip - Track 2 Oh ho, I remember where I first heard this source tune. weed dropped some DOPE rhymes over the first few bars of the NSF in his collab with po!, "Venom", which y'all rap fans need to check out. As far as this one goes, had this one on tap for VGF52. Malc was right in that the strings sounded unrealistic at points, and the light opening vox was strained a little bit as well. Nothing major for me right there, but noticeable. The track built up for the first 30 seconds or so. Very good arrangement ideas going on up until the source melody arrived at :31. On the production side, I felt like the brass lead was mudding together with the strings on support. Meanwhile the beats and lil' clangy noises were prominent over the top of your brass & strings. The sound balance amongst the various elements in play really needs to be worked on the whole way through. Strings sound decent though a bit unnatural during their solo section from 2:08-2:23, but when the note-to-note movement became faster from 2:24-2:55 and you later used some higher notes from 3:12-3:28, the sample was really exposed. Same with the string/wind combo from 3:28-3:41; very unnatural note movements and decays. By 4:00, when the woodwind came in on the melody, I felt the track was dragging a little bit and could have used something a bit different compositionally to change the feel a bit. The brass samples at 4:31-4:47 sounded a bit too fakey as well, like something out of the GoldenEye soundtrack. Some judges may talk about the beat getting boring because it repeated ad nauseum throughout the entire 5 minutes. Normally, I'd be in that camp when something happens like that, except that Jason dropped a hot beat here that never got tired for me. I'm expressing my beat bias in favor of deez b33tz. Nonetheless, you'll probably want to experiment with altering the thumping patterns involved in the beatwork to create a mild level of variation there. Create several more subtle variations so the beat doesn't potentially stagnate. Personally, I don't care either way but we'll see what the other Js have to say. I thought this was an extremely promising track. I liked the arrangement more, though there could have been some more compositional twists and turns. Heard quite of number of sections just get repeated with different samples plugged in, which was alright, but might not fly with more demanding critics. Work on the production to achieve better sound balance and clarity for the piece. You want the leads to be the most prominent sounding instruments. Perhaps look into some more active panning for the mix as well. Also work a little bit on performance dynamics so the various orchestral instruments function a bit more realistically on the performance. Definitely a great effort so far, and one I'd truly like to hear a resubmission on, Jase. In my estimation, it's a very nice fusion so far of beatwork and orchestration, and I hope the track doesn't come across as having an identity crisis for others. I don't think this needs drastic alteration in any way. This needs more attention paid to the finer details, bro. Keep on this one, please. NO (resubmit)

As much as I'd love to be able to judge this with the original in tow, I'm coming up empty. I did listen to Orkybash's take on the source material in the attempt to at least get a feel for another interpretation on it. In any case, this seemed to have potential. Certainly was an interesting beat-oriented track, and I was feelin' the groove for the most part. Some decent breaks were in there, but once it found its pattern it didn't deviate much. The production was very muffled and distant, so bring up the clarity in there with some sharper-sounding EQing; the higher frequency range was completely absent. I liked when the piano arrived at 2:05. Pretty straightforward stuff that could have used a bit more activity in there. I liked what I heard so far here, but it was a pretty simplistic, groove-based offering with little on the way of significant compositional variation, so in that sense you could tell that there was a limited amount of interpretation of the source material. The track cut out abruptly at 3:57; for shame, bro. Catchy little thing there, and I'm keeping it to feed my groove bias, but it needs more depth and creativity. Keep improving yourself by exploring the ReMixing forum for program, sample & production advice, and use the WIP forum for more feedback before you submit future material. Nothing great, but certainly not bad, Tyler. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/gradius1.zip - NSF Track 3 Definitely not bad for a two-hour effort, Lee, but this one could be fleshed out further. The source melody is hugely altered when it comes in at :22, to the point where it's rendered nearly unrecognizable. The beatwork was very basic-sounding and plodding, and didn't really gel with the rest of the instrumentation or move the track along. Nothing against the tempo, mind you. Also, the soundscape was relatively sparse despite the reverbed strings/ambiance. Could have been purposeful given the nature of the source material and its relation to the artistic vision here, but I felt like more could be done here to fill things out. 1:30-1:52 & the section repeated with strings at 1:53-2:15 sounded derived from the chorus of the original (:12-:20 of the NSF), but again you could barely make any overt connection. I hit 3:23 with the last section and it just seemed that while things somewhat changed up, the overall groove is the same throughout, and the composition didn't have much dynamic contrast throughout. The plodding beats and so forth at 4:10 just seemed to retread what came along earlier. Fill things out a bit more, get the percussion a bit more varied and settled into the rest of the track, and make the arrangement more recognizable instead of venturing into extremely liberal territory. Would have never believed this was the source tune if you hadn't actually linked to the MIDI here. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 409 "The Extreme", 408 "Maybe I'm a Lion" & 407 "The Legendary Beast" Heard this one back on VGF51. Borderline on this I'm afraid. I realize the mix has a lot of room to build, but the arrangement was already dragging out before 1:45, and felt as if it could have been a bit more creative for the first few minutes. I'm not looking for orchestral perfection, but felt that the strings from 2:23-2:56, especially when they made some very fast note movements, were lacking in realism. Nothing I haven't heard Gray try before in the context of a different mix though. The use of the FLWV chant vox was a bit cheesy, but you get used to it. 4:14 onward had some percussion heavily panned left for some unknown reason. Still not looking for orchestral perfection, but felt that the brass (starting at 3:58) sounded a bit too artificially sequenced (and flat) as well. Overall feel was very odd; sounded pretty distant and lacked a degree of clarity, so I agreed with Gray's call on the muddiness. I don't know the minutia of Gray's reference to the seating positions that the instruments had, but the panning and placement decisions here put me off a bit, so I can relate a bit to where he was coming from. The arrangement felt infected by medleyitis to be sure. The strange production decisions didn't help, and while I liked how some of the sections were tied together, some of the arrangement was pretty conservative, like "The Legendary Beast" being used from 2:23-3:00. Also sounded like the thick percussion was slightly clipping at times - just too messy sounding. I don't think this would be a (huge) problem on the arrangement side. In all honesty, this sounds like a great professional FF8 AST track aside from the production, but it would be the one I end up skipping most of the time, as the drawn-out orchestral battle theme typically ain't my thing. That doesn't affect my vote, that's just a personal preference thing. It's capable work that the unwashed masses would love and the extremely scrutanizing could pan. The original/rearranged sections are pretty interesting, but with fairly lacking production & some performance/sample issues to a much lesser extent, I've unfortunately gotta push to for a borderline NO. No qualms if it passes; it's really a good piece, and I would have went b-YES, but I feel I'd be doing a disservice to YES something with production this messy.

If you know the correct track order, convert the NSF you found to NSFe and reorder/name the tracks

Got a little bit more info out of Pascal as to certain times when stuff was used here in the medley, since the usage of the source tunes were a bit hard to grasp when I was listening: Arrangement checks out. Played this one back on VGF54 and was impressed with it considering I wasn't as hot on "Bowser is Pissed". Good opening with the sample of the female crying. Nice and unique idea to open a track up. At :23, the first in-game voice clip you used cut out abruptly: "relinquish your pain...[pop]...unto me". Good drum work for a laid back, yet slightly driving feel. Liked the vox introing in at :56 doing a rendition of "Beach of Nothingness", and the layering of a second vox line at 1:18 was also well done. The panning of the various little effects was a plus. Somewhat sparse if you're really scrutinzing things, but I don't think it was a very empty mix. I liked the atmosphere. Bass shot at 2:07 shouldn't have clipped like that - seemed kind of odd. I would say though that the solo from 2:18-3:00 felt kind of empty with just the minimal beatwork functioning as most of the background. Didn't sound like a dealbreaker relative to the rest of the mix here, but I felt that should have been filled out a bit more. Nice stuff at 3:00 with the heavier guitar work, percussion and vox. Voice sample at 3:58 was muddy and obscured - probably would have been a better idea to cut that out. Things slowed down at 4:26 into a short piano and woodwind ending. Thanks for creating a reasonably well-done transition there, by the way. Some would call the ending unsatisfying, but I liked the artistic vision behind it. Solid work, Pascal, on what I would also call tough material to tackle. Looking forward to more, bro! YES

Anyone else think that both the placement & the plain patterns of the drums are holding this back? Just doesn't gel well with the rest of the track and drive it along. Otherwise, the arrangement starts off conservative again, but then works into some new ideas that are pretty good. The sounds are kind of cluttered until 2:15, but I'm not taking off much for that, as the production is alright. Would like to get some more input on these drums potentially not fitting in. Leaning on b-NO at the moment, but won't cast a vote yet until I hear from someone and also listen to the track further.

Hello. I made a submission about 3 weeks ago ('Valley of the Fallen Meteor'), but the link I sent is now broken, my song was deleted. I have a new one here now, so yesterday I sent an email to submissions@ocremix.org mentioning my problem, but I never got a confirmation email. I was just wondering if you guys ever got it, and if not what should I do? (email it again, or?) Remix name: Valley of the Fallen Meteor (OCR Edit) Remixer Name: LuIzA TSM URL: http://www.download.com/luizatsm Forum id: 10041 Game: Final Fantasy VII Song: Valley of the Fallen Star my very first remix, the 8th version of it, the original idea was born in july 2003 and started production in october 2003. It features live guitars and bass, all played by myself and drums and percussion sequenced by yours truly. I know there are some glitches, but I decided to leave it like that, in order to keep the naturality in the lead guitars. thanks for the attention. -Luiza ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 301 "Cosmo Canyon" Pretty conservative take on the first listen, but there's more to be appreciated later on. The drumkit here sounded pretty thin & weak overall, and the bass guitar wasn't much of a factor either it felt. The first 1:16 was basically just a cover with some minor additions via the supporting instrumentation. 1:30-2:49 finally brought about some tinkering on the rearrangement side, though I still feel as if the mix could have been more interpretive and exploratory. It was mostly just minor rhythmic alterations in the performance, but that was it. I heard a few light audio deformations as well (e.g. 1:29, 1:34). The performance wasn't bad at all, but it was basically a few stylizied run-throughs of the theme without enough in the way of putting a unique spin on it beyond simply adapting it to the genre. The last section starting from 2:50-3:34/end was good, but probably would have served better in the middle as a way to split the first and second sections to provide a more marked contrast within the piece. Impractical as a suggestion, I know, so I'd say do what you can to get more interpretive for the first 1:16 to compensate instead. The production needed a bit of work also. Nothing I'd call bad, but this track was all mid-range, with nothing much going on with the lower or higher frequency ranges, making the sounds a bit distant and obscured to me. In any case, cool ideas and a very nice genre adaptation, but the arrangement didn't take much creative liberty or risk in interpreting things. You could have also made up for it by really expanding the instrumentation by writing new parts for several others instruments, yet keeping the melody intact. Not sure if you'd wanna resubmit this considering you've worked on it for so long and it might require an overhaul of sorts, but in any case, I certainly think you've got the potential to get something passed down the line provided the arrangement & production are where they need to be. Look forward to hearing more from you, Luiza. NO

LT Edit - Original decision: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=50554 Remixer Name: Vurez Remixer's Website: www.vurez.com Remix Info: Remix Title: Thrashing Through Grana-Vallis (2005 Mix) Name of Game: Ys VI The Ark of Napishtim Original name of song remixed: Mountain Zone I submitted this back in late 2004 as "Grana Vallis Turbo Style". Since then, I've uploaded the same track to vgmix.com as "Thrashing Through Grana-Vallis". Recently, I viewed the critiques here and at vgmix and have made extensive changes to it and I call this version "Thrashing Through Grana-Vallis (2005 Mix)". I think I refurbished my track as much as could have without completely starting over from scratch doing a whole new arrangement. I've added more new sections to the mix and changed the lead melodies up a bit. I've also redid the mixing levels so it wasn't as muddy as my previous version. I think you'll notice this version is much sharper and punchy. Pretty much the only thing I left be was the basic rythm. I thought about changing it (as some of you suggested), but since this is for the most part a Ryo Yonemitsu tribute arrangement, I felt this track would be best if it utilized a rythm similar to what he used in some of his arrangements. Hopefully all the changes I made will make up for this. Also, please note, the original "Mountian Zone" track I supplied IS the full version of the song. The cut off point at the end is just where it loops (just thought I'd let you guys know so you'll know how much new stuff is in the mix). Link to the original track: Link my latest version of this remix: And in case you want to compare this to what I gave you last time, here's the vgmix link for it:

Finally, FINALLY got the source material courtesy of my bro Kaleb from Secret Squirrel's game music FTP - bueno! Check out Slightly Dark for info (and downloads) for the best in rare game music. And of course Kaleb represents it every week with Song of the Week, which y'all need to check out for some of the best original and professionally arranged VGM that you haven't heard of. Following in the footsteps of other community luminaries like EdgeCrusher & Xelebes, I got Kaleb's own thoughts and input on the mix. Thanks again for his help on tracking down the source material: Personally, I understood the camp of the NOs, including KG's. There are several ways in which the ideas of the mix could be tricked out further. I definitely think the production could have been cleaner bringing up the instrumentation more and clarifying the sound without sacrificing the airy quality of the vocals, but it wasn't a substantial hit against it. The instrumentation was very basic, but frankly I didn't see it as that lacking in the context of a vocal-based minimalist mix like this. The harmonized vocals sounded pretty damn good to me, and I liked the energy there; moody, melancholy, and mysterious. Good ideas here, starting the mix off with arrangement from the middle section of the source tune as the lengthy buildup, and then reaching the melody all the way at 2:12. Despite initial appearences, the piece was well-varied to me. Ain't nothing "wrong" with it besides being too unorthodox, even for Wing apparently. Very enjoyable already, as far as I'm concerned. YES

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/C64Music/Daglish_Ben/Super_Cars.sid - Subtunes 1 & 2 (just an ending jingle) Don't forget the game was also on the C64. Was a bitch tracking down the source until I found out it was also on that system. Intelligent choice of genre for the mix here as the source tune really translates well to the funk genre. Had this on VGF52 to bring in the the noise, bring in the funk. Intro's pretty cool with some crowd SFX alongside some nice bassline activity and laid back cymbal work. Hear a weird noise at :18 and again at :27. When you moved the bassline higher while it was in tandem with the organ work from :25-:34, it was really awkward-sounding. Takes a bit of getting used to, but it never ends up sounding quite right. Heh - at :34, you brought in the Ari Asulin-style™ slap bass sample of extreme discomfort. Though the mixing could have been better, so things sounded like they were coming from the same stage, I liked the percussion work and hope it wasn't just some drum loops or anything like that. The voice sample at 1:25 & 1:33 was really stapled on top of the soundfield and didn't mesh well with the music at all. Got odd notes again from 2:00-2:16 as your low organ/keyboard notes sounded wrong when layered with your bassline. 2:17 had some more string work. The groove is fairly decent, but the texture seems pretty unrealisitic given the live setting you were going for. Everything sounded like it was upfront and at nearly the same volume, so re-examine the balance among your instruments with the volume and the panning/placement. The applause you had and the beginning and end was a decent touch, but given the nature of the track sounding so clean and in-your-face, the fact that the crowd didn't sound crystal clear strained the quasi-authnetic live atmosphere you were going for. The playing sounds too robotically/perfectly timed though it's going for a live sound, e.g. the note-to-note movement and timing on stuff like the bass/strings and some of the drumwork. I felt like things were supposed to sound funky, spontaneous, and powerful, but it wasn't quite gelling together like it should. This was definitely a quality arrangement in my opinion, so I hate to give you a review of sorts where it seems like I'm bagging on everything. Wish I could better articulate how to make this a more realisitic-sounding performance, but certainly check out the ReMixing forum for tips on potentially fine-tuning this one with some more realistic performance dynamics. A shame to be so borderline on this, but it needs a little bit of refinement to push it over the edge. This was pretty strong material from an obscure game that I'd like to see posted eventually. Nice job so far, Chris. Don't get discouraged, bro. NO (please resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozmmusf.rar - 108 Clock Town - Day 1 Wooo. Um. Yeah, these lyrics definitely ain't delivered well. The sounds are really basic and the production and sound balance are pretty poor. The chorus is at least decently performed and has some short delay, but it's on the much lower side of decent. The arrangement ideas were there per se, but the sounds were fairly sparse. The concept isn't well executed, Chris, and I'd hang in the ReMixing & Work-in-Progress forums religiously for more tutorial and feedback. Practice your vocals a hell of a lot so they aren't so dry and (well...) amateur. I know this is an amateur community, but there's a difference between the vocals of someone who practices and trains their voice and then this. Ah well. NO

Well, I'll tell ya what, I don't mind the "off-key" string being that it's taken from the source, but the performance on it sounds really inhuman. In "Ocean and Moon" the movements from note to note at least flow a bit smoother. Here though, they're pretty jarring. The overall feel is very chill, but at the same time, those quick strings you used (:33-:48, 1:18-1:32) are pretty important for a source tune with so little for a melody, so I've gotta ask that you get the notes sounding a bit smoother. They're only used briefly, but are a glaring weak point to me. I can ask Blue to see what he can do to fix it if anyone else agrees. I figure since this was only put together in a week or so, it wouldn't take much more to fix this up. The rest of the sounds are excellent, the arrangement is icy hot and I liked the production on it. Played the VGMix version of it back on VGF52 and I genuinely like it. It's a huge improvement over the original cut. Very nice layering and panning going on, and you really did a nice job expanding what little was there into a viable arrangement. One thing I really liked was how you introed in even more of a lush soundscape with that fade-in of sounds at :09. The bassline was also a subtle but notable presence I caught onto; nice job there as well. Aside from that inhuman sounding string jumping out at me and the fade cutting out abruptly, everything else sounded well put together. Needs that slight bit of touching up, but a nice & relaxing track to be sure. YES (fix dat wonky string)

Revised from my PM to Duane when I first heard this one. http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 24 "Sky Sanctuary Zone" & 12 "IceCap Zone (Act 1)" http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR00240 - "IceCapped" http://www.darkesword.com/listen/original/mp3/moonlight.mp3 - "The Moonlight Ballroom (1st Movement)" http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR01010 - "Hot Ice" Some things take a lot of time to come full circle in this community. DCT originally wanted to have zyko rap on top of the initial instrumental concept of this mix, which I played all the way back on VGF14. Since then, Duane's been nothing but ambitious in working on his music and cultivating the talents of others, which has really come ot a head now that he's started Urbanizm Music. This was still pretty chill, back from the last time I heard it. Some parts of the music composition have also been reworked since way back when. I wish the intensity changed up a bit at some point, but that's obviously not the point. The rhymes were nice; everything sounded so continuous, that it sounded like one take, though that can't be possible. Nice and laid back. Took a while for the vocals to come in - all the way until 1:07, so I'm glad y'all threw something in earlier at :45 to help lead into the real start. Some will hate the lyrics for having nothing to do with the game, but if you're gonna be anal to the point of hating the song because Just Us aren't rapping about Sonic being a blue furry ball of speed, keep your trap shut. Remix lyrics don't have to be about the game to be enjoyable. That's part of the way in which some artists go about reinterpreting the music they've chosen. And if, for instance, one can think outside the box in terms of choosing an unorthodox genre for a remix, the same can be said for how lyrics are applied. Whatever woodwind-type instrument came in at 3:47-4:08 sounded too synthetic and robotic, and was originally too loud vs. the music. You seemed to have a good thing going where all of the instrumentation took a subtle role while the lyrics are going, so hearing that thing blare out killed the flow a bit originally. You made a good move now pulling it back so it wasn't a big issue, and it served to compliment the vocals like the rest of the music. That little strumming synth RIGHT at the end at 4:54, ah man, where was that during the rest of the track? Nice ear candy! Bring back that sound in the next mix! Part of the rap & hip-hop game involves paying homage to the people that came before you, whether that be from covering an older track or showing off stylistic influences in your own material. Here Duane did a nice job referencing the styles of McVaffe & DarkeSword while showcasing his own flow. Having Just Us involved really pushed "Iced Out Nine Twenty Two" over the top with this new version. Those guys you gotta watch out for. I've played a few original tracks of theirs on VGF including "Sweet Butterfly" & "Lord Can't Tell Me No" which you've gotta search out. I hope the future looks good for DCT and Just Us; Urbanizm Music's another area of the community that deserves your attention if you respect rap, hip-hop and R&B. No haters allowed. Truly nice work and hopefully not the last you've heard of these bros here at OCR. YES

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozmmusf.rar - 112 "Song of Storms" & 129 "Song of Healing Demo" Nah, generic electronica ain't bringin' it. Needs more processing and effects to not sound so default-ish and basic. Despite trying to create a full sound, the layering of sounds was never really cohesive, making things sound fairly empty most of the way through. I liked the rhythm alteration going on with "Song of Storms" at 1:40. Pretty basic use of the source with some trance work placed underneath it, so it doesn't really win on the arrangement side, but it was alright to listen to. Kind of an abrupt change into "Song of Healing" at 2:11. Work on that a bit further, cuz if you could make the transition good, it would be a nice change of pace here. Ah man, the trance material at 3:28 sounded REALLY generic. Had a lot of one mo time fo da bass action there, but was still empty-sounding despite how many sounds you had going on at once. Cymbal shots at 4:25 = tacky. Yeah, all of the Song of Storms usage was the highlight here, but this wasn't much beyond a genre adaptation. The trance work needs more compositional meat, as opposed to just being a groove placed underneath the song. I'm thinking more along the lines of the kind of stuff SuperGreenX makes, i.e. Intelligent Techno. Step up the creativity with more elaborate compositional ideas and better synth design - learn the ropes at the ReMixing forum and head over to the Work-in-Progress forum to get more feedback. NO

The hotness.