Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ffmq.rsn - "City of Forest" (ffmq-09.spc) Frank let me get a first look at it a little while back, so I played this one on VGF73 a few weeks ago and knew it was coming our way. This is actually meant for an OverLooked ReMiX project. Sounds too good to qualify for OLR. Nice source tune, BTW. Fairly decent piano intro to start things off. Good fading in of the beats and other instrumentation at :21. The performance there seems a little loose and some of the notes here created by the supporting instrumentation seemed to clash (e.g. :44-1:06). 1:06 established a nice groove though with a fakey string sample that was quiet enough to contribute positively, rather than sound too exposed. Nice way to brings the drums/percussion back in at 1:26 as a transition point to a more upbeat section lasting until 1:50. Again, I was feeling some odd note combinations with the instruments from 1:50 until 2:11. The drum writing at 2:12 was rather plain and uninteresting compared to earlier (and later) in the track. I liked the idea of briefly changing the rhythm at 2:23 but dunno why you stopped there. Nice move into the section at 2:34 with the singing though "Fi-iiiine" didn't harmonize properly and sounded out of place as a result, both here and in the mix's close at 4:06. Second syllable should have went lower, not higher. Nice work throwing in "Music to Make Love To: www.DiggiDis.com", and beautiful transition from the lo-fi sound back to hi-fi from 2:55-2:56. Decent freestylish work from 2:56-3:18. The transition back into the simpler source arrangement at 3:18 could have been made more gradual, as the cymbal cutoff sounds too abrupt. Good stuff in the last section at 3:18, including bringing in the tambourine at 3:29. Loved the fairly simple but beautiful piano writing from 3:40-4:02; a great way to close it. Again, I would have liked the vocals right at the very end, if you change the note progression on "Fi-iiiine"; keep it in the same key as the music. There's a lot to love about the track. I'm interested in hearing Vigilante and JigginJonT's opinions on this, though they may and likely could be more critical of where the track seems lacking. Personally, I felt this was like 85% of the way there, but needs some slight tweaking to fix the issues I felt were there. I've never seen Frank actually resub anything, but it would be criminal if he didn't in the event that this didn't pass. I'm feeling the track here and I love the energy and ideas here, but it could use some more polish to really maximize the potential here. Best of luck with the rest of the vote, Frank, and I'll be hounding you like a dog on this one. Very nice so far. NO (refi-iiiine/resubmit) EDIT: Vote changed, read below for more information.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Edgare and Mash" (ff6-107.spc) Personally, I didn't hear anything here to feel "skeptical" about. Part of getting an NES chiptune passed on OCR is being very creative despite working with channel limitations, which I think Sam did in spades here. There were several creative variations on the source melody, and plenty of good harmonization ideas. The percussion coming in at 1:15 was long overdue, as nothing was moving the track along, but waiting that long to bring things in provided some good contrast. All the while, there was plenty of phrasing ideas that sounded very obviously like Sam's prior work. My main issue was on the production side, as the volume was too loud and there were really nasty piercing frequencies in the low midrange. On my laptop's speakers, it wasn't a big deal, but on headphones it got to be a problem. Compared to an actual NSF, this didn't sound as clean. I don't quite see the volume issue as forcing me to switch my vote, as it seems easily remedied, but I'd prefer to have the volume adjusted about -4 or -5db before posting so the track isn't abrasive. I really don't think it should be posted as is with this volume. YES with volume adjustment

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/tit.rsn - "Star Base ~ Where No Turtle Has Gone Before" (tit-17.spc) Not bad for a first sub, especially with such defaulty/common sounds, but this feels like a mere simplification of the original. The feel is a little different, and some of the rhythms are slightly altered, but the overall pacing and energy feels very similar to the source. The beats are half-decent, but don't do an adequate job of filling out the background and providing a foundation for the rest of the arrangement to stand on. Right now, this feels somewhat empty and there's not much driving the track forward. The arrangement, like I mentioned, is pretty simple. Doesn't take any particularly notable creative liberties or interpretations with the source. At 2:34, the lack of substantial interpretation only hurts such a brief track. "Cowabunga" sample at :15 sounds pretty tacky. The production was decent, all things considered. The sounds were balanced fairly well, although the track may have been clipping a lot, as there were a number of slightly abrasive and crunchy parts. 2:25-2:29 near the end was the worst offending area though, so it wasn't a huge issue throughout, just something that needs to be addressed and reigned in with future works. Not bad for a first sub at least. You show genuine promise, Chris. Hang in the ReMixing forum to learn more about the programs you're using, places to go for samples, as well as production tips. Also don't forget to actually digest the fan feedback from the Works forum on ways to make this more complex and engaging. Some of the major issues here were pointed out to you in the very early stages of the thread, so don't overlook those. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/sd3.rsn - "Powell" (sd3-2-08.spc) Cool intro. The sampling that starts at :20 will anoy some, but was arguably tasteful. Whole thing feels sloppily put together once it picks up, as the melody and beatwork at :38 is very rigid/mechanical. The sampled beats and effects don't even integrate very tightly with the music. They just sound pasted underneath and at times don't even synch up with the tempo of the music (e.g. 1:21-1:36, 3:38-3:52). During subtler points, it somewhat works. Never quite clicks, but sounds like a reasonable idea in theory. You had some of these issues brought up be people in your WIP thread, which you guys should have honed in on and revised accordingly. In any case, after 2:16, the rhythms of the melodic arrangement change a little bit, but overall the intepretation of "Powell" itself feels rather limited. South Park sample at 3:55 would have been cooler if the rest of this was cohesive. I don't envision anyone really liking it, but that's just me. If you plan to resubmit this, focus on less rigid performance, more focus/less repetition with the rearrangement of "Powell", and better integration of the drum and breakbeat samples. Nothing flows here. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mpnt.rsn - "Creative Exercise" (mpnt-09.spc) Wanna firstly point out that I like the track. I think it's good stuff. The main issue I had though was on the production. This sounds really muddy, indistinct, and cluttered in the mid-range (:10-15 was kind of piercing); not just on account of the reverb or anything, but a lot of sounds are stuffed into the mid-range. And while I hear stereo being employed, all of the effects make the whole thing sound lo-fi and too centered. I've heard SGX employ lots of effects, and his stuff (check out his originals) has been incredibly crisp, IMO. I'm on the borderline here though. I don't want to be closed minded, but I feel like SGX has pulled off the gritty, dense, and overloaded sound before, and this on the other hand doesn't do it. 1:13-1:41 & 1:56-2:28 & 3:12-3:39 is original, while for the rest, the arrangement seems pretty apparent. I can understand why the arrangement would be scrutinized and/or NOed. The source tune chorus is used briefly (nicely done with the piano, BTW), but source usage is limited to rearranging one or two melodic lines. Personally, I don't mind the arrangement approach. While admittedly dicey, Sephfire & SGX use the source in a constant and recognizable way. Nonetheless, I can understand NOs based on mainly 1) using only a small section of the source tune, as well as 2) using said section in a perceivably repetitive manner, as well as 3) the original additions deemphasizing the arrangement content. It really depends on one's perspective. In any case, my concerns are mainly on the production level, as I feel the sounds need to be spread out a little further through more panning and (more importantly) EQing to eliminate some of the very thick clutter going on. If I'm being too picky and this is a solid YES, I'll be outdone by the consensus. I feel like zircon would have the best grasp of the situation. Very enjoyable track, though, and certainly good luck with the rest of the vote, Dan & Danny. NO (borderline) EDIT: Vote changed, read below for more information.

http://www.zophar.net/gym/sor2.rar - "Go Straight" (StreetsOfRage2-01.gym) Very plain-jane and uncreative arrangement. Production was decent at least. No offense meant, as I'm not just trying to shit on this track, but you've actually managed to make this less melodic and less interesting than the source material. The original sections lack any interesting writing and feel like complete filler. Rinse and repeat at 1:58. This is like the original, only stripped of all feeling. NO

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkc - "Fear Factory" (dkc-20.spc) Straight up MIDI quality and beginner-ish. Hardly any meaningful arrangement beyond the boom-tss genre adaptation. This is not even "hard" techno. I dunno how you could follow the site for a year, then send this in and somehow feel the quality was comparable. This would be more at home at VGMusic.com. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/journe~1.zip - Track 3 Default sounds. Piercing frequencies and a somewhat cluttered soundfield. Not much of an upgrade to the original. Picks up at :32. 1:55-long and an undeveloped concept. Not terrible and some additive ideas were there, but again, not even meaningfully developed. Compared to the stuff we're posting now, this needs more everything. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 202 "Cleft of Dimension" Way too synthy, dry and mechanical-sounding, though you were trying to present a nuanced feel nonetheless, which was good. Sample quality is pretty low and the whole track lacks texture. Certainly doesn't help bring out the best in the arrangement, which otherwise had some reasonably good ideas. Not bad for a first sub though. Hit the ReMixing forum for help in better realizing your ideas, including with free sounds, and get feedback from fans in the Works forum to see if you're going in the right direction. Hopefully your sounds can be upgraded to match the ambition of the arrangement. NO

Sounds played to MIDI and rendered with soundfonts. Not bad, but the sound quality is lacking. Definitely doesn't sound like a real piano, despite the intention. Yeah, I thought "To Zanarkand" was decently performed but not really meaningfully arranged. It's adapted and arranged for piano, and of course I hear some personalized ideas, but I still felt it was too conservative overall. I liked the usage of "The Prelude" all things considered. But yeah, the production is just bad. Piano indeed sounds flat and dry and there's some audible hiss going on. The performance needs more body, more complexity and needs to flow more gracefully. So you should see what you can do in the ReMixing forums on the production end and simply work to enhance your performance techniques. You seem to be improving though, and this doesn't sound bad at all. NO

Yeah, the sounds here are so basic and underutilized that this just isn't interesting for a whole 4:45. Percussion is really boring, nothing but plain pattern kicks and crud dragging the whole thing down, and areas like 1:03-1:22 were a cluttered mess. Swanky progression from 1:49-2:06 with the subtle string work in back. That was like a brief shining light amidst the blandness, blandness brought back by those tacky cymbal shots at 2:15 (always a bad idea). Some piano stylings at 3:00 were a welcome change of paced, but didn't create a good texture with the crappy supporting instrumentation ideas. Not a bad idea with the synth at 3:31, but the writing was mediocre. Still some promise there. But again, a glimmer of interest among an otherwise boring arrangement. Man, you gotta trim the fat, baybeh. Keep working to improve yourself at the ReMixing & Works forums as you have some promise. If you're diligent, you'll listen to this in a year and understand why it's so lacking. NO

Hahahaha, yeah, I like the original piece but the first :54 is nothing but an instrument swap, which is fucking lame. Then we hit the boom-tss at 1:02 and you've lost me. Change of synths at 2:03 was even worse. Poorly-used samples, a generic groove, and no attention paid to sound balance. The arrangement ideas aren't mind-blowing and the execution is rather poor, but there's the potential for improvement if you stick around and try to learn more via the ReMixing and Works forums. You did your best after :53 to try and go for 4 or 5 different spins on the source material, and I applaud the effort. This isn't terrible mind you; an FF7 fan who wasn't picky would be kind of down. But it's a far cry from good. Nonetheless, you at least have potential; keep at it in the community, Dominic. NO

The performance felt a bit rigid with the note-to-note movements. The sound quality isn't bad, but certainly dry/exposed like TO mentioned; the track lacks in body and texture the whole way through. Dunno what effects you put on the instruments at 1:58, but it makes the track sounds really flooded. Yeah, I hear some off-notes around 2:36 and continuing into some of the progression around 2:46, followed by some downright ugly chords at 3:11. Pretty plodding arrangement, unfortunately; it doesn't retain the listener's interest at all for an entire 5:10, and would need a lot of fleshing out to have a chance at passing. NO

http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/R/run.it - "Run" Thanks for providing a link to the source. But yeah, unfortunately, this isn't the first Unreal series submission to stick way too close to the structure and progressions of the original and it won't be the last. This needs more personalized ideas. We go for rearrangements here, so you need to introduce more ideas to play around with the melodic content. On the sound quality front, the production was decent, though too trebly and lacking some depth in the mid-range. The foreground sounds were fairly annoying/grating, and I noticed some piercing frequencies in the low mid-range. The percussion in the first minute was pretty basic; sounded rather defaulty. Synth design wasn't getting the job done; I'd like to hear these sounds used to their fullest. The energy was brought down at 2:45 for at least some contrast, though overall the piece didn't seem to have too much direction. Stays very BGMish much like the original; it actually deemphasizes the original's melodic content. Unfortunately not engaging or complex enough to warrant 5:34. Use the ReMixing forum to learn how to step up your sound quality and use the Works forum for more feedback before you submit in the future. NO

Who be "Vigilahnt?" BTW, I kill u Hayden! Kwanzaa iz fake holiday!

Yeah, I was actually listening to this a week ago when I was researching the source tune names for this. I thought this was a really good mix from an underarranged game. It holds up very well for it's age, IMO. Nice work, David.

Not a big deal to me. As long as you get it done before New Year's Day, that seems fine to me, as 2005 is supposed to be the 10th anniversary year of Chrono Trigger. That's just to preserve some of the symbolism there. As you work on the project and hear from nothing but fanboys and people who want the tracks out, one's point-of-view tends to become too insular. The big picture is that when it's out, it's out. No one's really gonna remember or care about any delays, as they'll be a moot point. As far as I'm concerned, just keep doing what you're doing.

The point is that this mix doesn't represent a violation of the technical standards of OCR. You just don't like the choices that have been made.Nobody's talking about "violations". Violations are things that automatically disqualify a submission, e.g. MIDI ripping, going over the size/bitrate limit, mixing non-game music. This is a production decision that I feel negatively impacts the mix in a significant enough way to not warrant posting vs. the other material we choose to post. You should be focusing on the "standards" aspect more. Things like low volume or a cutoff ending or whathaveyou are not violations of anything, as we've accepted tracks like that. Obviously there are non-standard things that are acceptable to some but not all, i.e. nearly any mix that hasn't gone to a unanimous vote on the panel. Right here, some of the choices aren't up to my standard of a ReMix. The drums don't have to clip to sound too loud, abrasive, distorted, and indistinct. There's more to any production choice being acceptable to most of the panel than literally not clipping. Alongside my view that AB actually pulled off the technique better earlier in the track, I don't see any reason to approve the mix based on the sections I had issue with. Don't like what seems too subjective? Tough, because this scenario isn't any different than anything else that's split the panel before. I've been on both the YES and NO sides of other mixes like this, and the feeling that the other side is off-base isn't anything new. But to say that the NOs (or YESs for that matter) are voting without trying to reconcile the submission with site standards is misguided at best, and poor form no matter what the situation. If you really think people are voting out of pure bias/personal preference, it's best to address those issues privately and not inadvertently damage the panel's credibility. If you levy these kind of claims against someone, there's nothing stopping anyone else (especially in the public sphere) from using the same claims against you, regarding any of your votes and any of your reasoning.

First off, there will be no show this coming Saturday, December 17th. Winter break is here and I don't plan to be on a regular schedule at the station until January 15th. Anything we have until then should, frankly, be considered a bonus. The date of VGF75 depends on my own schedule alongside that of Chrono Symphonic. We are possibly shooting for Thursday, December 29th at 10PM, as I may be away until then. Things are relatively up in the air at this point, but I'll let you know what I can as soon as possible. In the meantime: VG Frequency #63 MP3 (239MB/5hr47min) VG Frequency #63 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.12198 VG Frequency #63 Chat Transcript

http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiIxODUwIjtpOjE7aToxMTM0NTk5NjkxO2k6MjtpOjM7fQ== - 07 - Guilty.MID The source tune is just one variation of many. Check out 03 & 06 for others. Production is a little flat and very muddy on this. The bass is pretty thick, which is pimp. Some loud beats kicked in at 1:25 which I was liking though again the whole things seems to lack sharpness. Meanwhile there were some piercing frequencies all over this (3:31, among many other examples all around the track), and a lot of the instrumentation mudded together. The samples themselves aren't particularly strong, but were used very well, in my opinion. I also felt the writing/arrangement was handled excellently. On little things, I really liked whatever sound effect was used to start and end the track. With the bigger picture, I thought the arrangement developed excellently. Man, if you could separate the sounds and get them sounding more distinct and sharp, AND get rid of some of these piercing frequencies, I'd be all over this. The arrangement itself is a YES, and I'm keeping the track. Unfortunately, the production is drastically holding this one back, which is a shame. I hope the language barrier doesn't prevent Nurykabe from being able to work on cleaning this up and resubmitting it. NO (refine/resubmit)

Depends. It's purposeful, but "technically" I don't think those spots sound good at all.

I don't particularly care about whatever technique was employed to make the drums sound that way, so while I appreciate the terminology correction (not being facetious about it), it still sounds crappy to me. The fact that it's intentional, which I knew in the first place, makes 0 difference to me. Vote stays the same, but toning down the compression in those spots would get an easy YES. I liked Jesse's take on the nature of the drums, as he mentioned in #judges: I agree there that it's a more subjective issue, as we were comparing it to the situation a few months ago with Mazedude's Doom II sub that was narrowly rejected. So again, while I like the arrangement, and I think AB pulled off some good chaotic sounds and textures from :35-1:12, I felt the other areas pointed out all went into the realm of not sounding good at all. I think the chaotic feel wouldn't be sacrificed there if the compression was toned down. Them's the breaks, but good luck with the rest of the vote. I'd encourage those slight tweaks, if it's a 3Y/4N vote, as I'd be glad to switch my NO to a YES.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mm7 - Shademan (mm7-14a.spc) & Shademan (Alternate) [mm7-14c.spc] I'm unabashadly going the more subjective route here. There are some decent ideas, but I didn't like most of this track, either the writing or the execution. The results don't sound cohesive or polished like other mixes we've passed. If I could better articulate those issues, I would, but I'll do what I can to elaborate. Cool chiptune intro. Bassline at :06 is almost too low, but it's aight. Sounded as if the bitrate was low for a few seconds around :12, as I heard some artifacts. Can't say I like those bombastic strings being quieter than the drumwork. Doesn't make much sense to me. Lead synth is pretty grating at :33, but it's an acquired taste. The percussion there was very plain and didn't adequately fill the background. Phatty drums at :46 seemed too reverbed which I wouldn't have minded if it didn't just clutter the soundfield. The texture with that percussion, the lead, and the bassline wasn't clicking. Frankly, I don't think the combinations sounds ever clicked here in the first place. I liked the break at 1:20, but the lack of a snare there from 1:33-1:47 couldn't drive the track along. That constant drum beat starting at 1:47 really dragged out when you retained in at 2:27 into another section. Thank God it finally ended at 2:39, because it was getting monotonous. I didn't like the medleyitis writing of 1:46-2:06, but the use of the alternate Shademan theme from G'nG was good, as some of the Shademan theme was woven in very subtlely. Drumwork from 2:47-3:07 was too plain/timekeeping. This actually felt too bombastic with no sense of judiciousness. Despite sounds being changed over the course of the 4 minutes (which I feel wasn't even pulled off very well in the first place, going back to the texture being weak), there wasn't much in the way of dynamics. The scope of the melodic arrangement felt too limited, and the whole thing doesn't flow at all. He ended with the SMB game over theme, so what? That ending is the least of the track's problems. The whole THING sound disjointed. Sorry John, as mich as I like your stuff, the whole thing sounds haphazard. Too bad you're not willing to revisit this, as I think you could do a much better job with this now. NO

This is fucking awesome. Exeunt.

I'm expecting The Wingless to fashion a song out of Jill's "Do See Do yo' partner" (2:52-2:53). I ALSO liked how Jill said "JigginJonT" with that "I have no idea who the hell that is" tone of voice. ROFLarious! Perhaps you need to start that over? (15:55)