Liontamer

VGFs 51, 54 & 55 (the Duck Hunt/April Fool's ep) have to be edited and detailed before release. 52 & 53 still have to be recorded. They're coming. Life be first. Playlist Chat Transcript MP3 (193MB/4hr41min) VG Frequency #56: Good Thing We're Strapped Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, April 9, 2005 / 10:45 PM - 3:25 AM EST Liontamer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. CHz f/Liontamer & D-Lux - VG Frequency "Glimmering Facade" Bumper 2. Isamu Ohira - "Toyota" [Gran Turismo OST] 3. OverCoat - Famicom Detective Club 2 "Hearsay" [VGMix2 #3673] 4. Joshua Morse - "Doom Bean 2" [http://www.joshuamorse.com] 5. Kevin "Lorenzo" Sisk - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Aqua Marina" [VGMix2 #3765] 6. Sefiros - Silent Hill 1 "Reborn" [VGMix2 #3770] 7. Unknown - "Broken Asunder" [CompoST 34] 8. Kei Wakakusa - "Forest" [Elemental Gearbolt OST & Drama] 9. Isamu Ohira - "Aston Martin" [Gran Turismo OST] 10. The Jenova Project - Final Fantasy 1 "Acoustic" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005)] 11. Leis Miller - Lufia 2 "Just a Girl?" [VGMix2 #3852] 12. XMark - Final Fantasy 6 "Cyanide" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3795] 13. GeoHazard - Dragon Warrior 1 "Dragon Warrior" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005)] 14. Isamu Ohira - "Arcade Mode Select" [Gran Turismo OST] 15. Ryan8bit - Megaman 1 "Stab the Earth" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3829] 16. Patrick Wagstaff - Donkey Kong Land 1 "Tricky Temple Trance" [VGMix2 #3838] 17. Ellywu - "Slicer" [http://www.soundclick.com/carpetmonster] 18. Unknown - "The Silent Stones" [CompoST 32] 19. mv - Terranigma "Aquamarine" [VGMix2 #3473 / OC ReMix #1335] 20. Lennie Moore - "Talanzaar" [Outcast OSV] 21. Isamu Ohira - "Subaru" [Gran Turismo OST] 22. Unknown - "Walking on Inverse Shores" [CompoST 35] 23. OverCoat - "Wilson" [CompoST 36] 24. Roetaka - Terranigma "Shallow Peace" [VGMix2 #3839] 25. CarboHydroM - Kirby Superstar "Ride the Star" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3800] 26. OverCoat - "Maritime" [CompoST 33] 27. Isamu Ohira - "Honda" [Gran Turismo OST] 28. Kaleb Grace - Duck Hunt "HuntCrap" [Repercussions of Fowl Lamentation: Plutonium Edition (B-Side)] 29. Antonio Pizza - Duck Hunt "Skeetin' on the Cellphone" [Repercussions of Fowl Lamentation: Plutonium Edition] 30. Makke - Dizzy the Adventurer "Mix Dizz" [VGMix2 #3798] 31. Kaijin - Lunar 1 "Concerto dei Luna in B Major" [VGMix2 #3805] 32. MintJam - "A Rude Performance (Spicy Jam Mix)" [2nd GIG #Break Out] 33. BrainCells & Dennis Mott - Contra: Shattered Soldier & Super C "Spread Your Fire Against Me" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3598] 34. House the Grate - Final Fantasy 6 "Seized with Fury" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005)] 35. Isamu Ohira - "Chevrolet" [Gran Turismo OST] 36. AkumajoBelmont - CastleVania: Symphony of the Night "The Devil Inside (Italo Disco Mix)" [VGMix2 #3159 / OC ReMix #1334] 37. goat - CastleVania 3 "Trevor's Reflection" [unchosen Paths / Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3809] 38. analoq - Road Rash 1 "sierra nevada-tan" [OC ReMix #1337] 39. Vurez - Megaman 6 "Flurry of Frozen Fury" [VGMix2 #3851] 40. Hale-Bopp - Star Ocean 1 "Summer Time" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005)] 41. Isamu Ohira - "Nissan" [Gran Turismo OST] 42. Jaroban f/Chris Kottke, Nick Noonan, Francisco Cruz, David Black, Cooper White, Chris Mosley, Ana Araujo, Kuriko Tsugawa & Facundo Flores - "Preface/Thumb War/Fleabitten" [shades of Change] 43. Isamu Ohira - "City" [Gran Turismo OST] 44. FFmusic Dj - Final Fantasy 6 "Relm Electronica" [VGMix2 #3791] 45. Lasombra - "Corruption" [http://lsa.trinaural.net] 46. zykO - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening "Perchance to Dream with Waking Eyes" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3832] 47. Isamu Ohira - "Race" [Gran Turismo OST] 48. Dragonlord - Megaman Zero 2 "Cool Mind" [OC ReMix #1338] 49. Rubbler & SnappleMan w/Majin GeoDooD - Shatterhand "Shattered" [VGMix2 #3833] 50. Master Hatchet - Street Fighter 2 "Harboring Hostility" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005)] 51. ktriton - "Memorabilia" [http://www.ktriton.com] 52. The OneUps - Kirby's Dream Land 1 "Isle de Kirby" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3812] 53. Isamu Ohira - "Mazda" [Gran Turismo OST] 54. DCT - "Never Again" [http://www.thebigshot.com] 55. Darangen - Final Fantasy 6 "Deadly Promises" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005) / VGMix2 #3866] 56. Harmony - Secret of Mana "NightTime Evolution" [OC ReMix #1336] 57. Ashane - Final Fantasy 4 "Loungin' in the Giant" [Dwelling of Duels: Free Month (March 2005)] 58. Isamu Ohira - "Mitsubishi" [Gran Turismo OST]

Finally. VGF50. Please enjoy. Playlist Chat Transcript MP3 (275MB/6hr40min) VG Frequency #50: Pretzel Twist Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, February 26, 2005 / 10 PM - 4:40 AM EST Liontamer f/Joe Cam, OverCoat, Paige, Beatdrop, Antonio Pizza, Flik, Shael Riley, animefreak, Daniel Baranowsky, D-Lux, zircon, Kaleb Grace & djpretzel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Suzumebachi - VG Frequency "One More Time For The Vox" Bumper 2. Kumi Tanioka - "Metalwork" [Final Fantasy XI OST] 3. Joe Cam is chillin' on the open road driving to New York to lay down commentary tracks for X-Strike Studios' Silent Horror DVD, and he's opening the show with comments on his upcoming album "Hits & Misses," flying Larry in for the St. Faggy's Day party and showing him how to go to jail; he'll be back later on to hook everyone up with live traffic report goodness [http://www.joecam.net] 4. OverCoat is there with the "obligatory big number call-in" to muse about Carbunk1e getting married and being a VGF content all-star pumping out tracks [http://www.neutronstar.org/soc] 5. Sephfire - Chrono Trigger "Inciting Incident" [Chrono Symphonic / VGMix2 #3507] 6. Tim Yarbrough - "Baroque Joke" [Zeiram's Medieval Original Composition Contest] 7. DistantJ - The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time "Go Around" [VGMix2 #3511] 8. Ellywu - Wizardy 1 "Shazam!" [VGMix2 #3498] 9. Beatdrop - "Maaan" [http://www.paletteswap.com/beatdrop] 10. Patrick Wagstaff - Vectorman 1 "Beat This" [VGMix2 #3497] 11. Ichitootah - "Nuts into Dreams" [Original Remix Competition 15] 12. Quinn Fox - Megaman 2 "Edit Automation" [VGMix2 #3486] 13. Naoshi Mizuta - "Vana'diel March #2" [Final Fantasy XI OST] 14. Paige breaks the fourth wall of radio before Larry calls her a "bitch," and they have a spat on the air; after she applauds remix artists she likes (i.e. not Liontamer), she opens up the boyfriend position to a new man before Larry saves it with the three magic words (either "I love you" or "Go away bitch), and somehow we get to Sir Mix-A-Lot; hey, I don't know how we got there either 15. Darangen - "At Sea" [Reflecting Pool] 16. Yoshihisa Suzuki - "Red Dragon" [sorcerian Perfect Collection Vol. 2] 17. mv - Terranigma "Aquamarine" [VGMix2 #3473] 18. Emperor - Chrono Trigger "To Lands Unknown" [Chrono Symphonic / VGMix2 #2731] 19. Oceanfire - Xenogears "Xenosphere" [OC ReMix #1319] 20. ktriton, Christian Pacaud & Marc-André Gingras - Secret of Mana "On the Day the World Changed..." [VGMix2 #3495] 21. Kumi Tanioka - "Fury" [Final Fantasy XI OST] 22. Joe Cam delivers the official VGF traffic report, and he has no idea where the fuck he is, but he hopes he isn't stranded alone while the X-Strike Studios crew is enjoying some...adult entertainment; Joe raves about Christian Pacaud's work since arriving in the OneUp Studios community, before pointing out that the Pennsylvania roads suck, covering some on-the-road mishaps, huge ass Zippo lighters, impending snow storm fury, and some final VGF50 props [http://www.joecam.net] 23. Beatdrop makes sure to tie up the line to screw with everyone else, and he makes with the gabba gabba on his new "Maaan" track and meeting a fly new lady from SuicideGirls.com before he hangs up, that bitch ass ho [http://www.paletteswap.com/beatdrop] 24. Antonio Pizza TURNS against Larry! TURNS!!! [http://ap.zapto.org] 25. goat - Final Fantasy 4 "The Sky Was Never a Limit" [VGMix2 #3462] 26. Bladiator & GrayLightning - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening "Symphonic Ballade" [OC ReMix #1318] 27. Timothy Pinkham - "Fair Eynoria - Autumn in Lomberleave" [Zeiram's Medieval Original Composition Contest] 28. ElementsGarden - "endiable" [Requiem OST] 29. Jaroban - "Junesong" [http://bantaj.flatirons.org] 30. zykO - "a piece of pretty dissonance" [Zeiram's Medieval Original Composition Contest] 31. Naoshi Mizuta - "Mog House" [Final Fantasy XI OST] 32. Flik's riding high on the Trenthian ship (LOTS of drugs), congratulating Larry on his 50th birthday, confusing VG Frequency for VGMix, and swabbin' the poopdeck [http://www.vagstudios.com] 33. Shael Riley's under the weather and muses about his full head of hair before offering the props on 50 episodes of VG remix community goodness, hating on the OCR judges in preperation of having his new Ghosts'n Goblins mix judges, filling us in on the progress of his original album "Toybox," the upcoming 5th anniversary of "The Music of My Groin," and hot new cuts on the hot sauce scene [http://lobachevsky.homelinux.net/~sriley] 34. animefreak (Rob STEEEELE!) is here for 50th show congrats and to bask in the wonderful world of gaming, before detailing how he & Mustin picked up the finished CDs for Xenogears Light, rumors of an af, Joe Cam & Shonen Samurai bumper, e-fighting with EdgeCrusher, the hotness of Shael Riley's girlfriend (she's got a nice groin) [http://www.livejournal.com/users/the_af] 35. William Reyes - "Themes for the Past - Guitar Suite No. 1" [Zeiram's Medieval Original Composition Contest] 36. metaphist - Ikaruga "Black Ice (Polar Edit)" [VGMix2 #3238] 37. Dees - "Arctic Circle Remix" [R:K:O #2568] 38. TO - "Nutty Hardcore" [Original Remix Competition 15] 39. Mythril Nazgul - Final Fantasy 10-2 "Chauffage au Gaz" [VGMix2 #3467] 40. Yoko Ueno - PoPoLoCrois Monogatari 2 "Chiisana Hana" [Melody of Legend ~ Chapter of Love AST] 41. Nobuo Uematsu - "Airship" [Final Fantasy XI OST] 42. Dan Baranowsky's still getting snubbed on the show, but he blurts out a few words on his title track for the Doom remix project "The Dark Side of Phobos", along with the Katamari Damacy mix that'll never finish, his sexiness, wanting to remix for Hedgehog Heaven with Star Salzman, "Invertebrate Retreat" & the planned Earthworm Jim remix project, and the claims that the OCR judges aren't criticizing enough when they YES remixes; pizza's on the way [http://www.therighteous.net] 43. Bladiator - Super Mario RPG "A Dangerless Road" [VGMix2 #3525] 44. Ubik - "Last Forgotten Thing" [The Owl in Daylight] 45. Silent - Ninja Gaiden 2 "Return to the Atrium" [VGMix2 #3524] 46. OverCoat - Super Metroid "Zebesian Graveyard" [VGMix2 #3526] 47. Dennis Mott - CastleVania 2 "Cursed Bloodline" [VGMix2 #2811 / OC ReMix #1317] 48. Tim Follin - "Title" [Treasure Master OSV] 49. D-Lux the pizza guy's here, and Larry haggles for extra bacon before they harken back to the Retentions of Conflict April Fool's episode (VGF24) and wonder what the hell is up OverCoat as Gothic Fairy Princess (oh yeah, and I cut him off before he could pimp VGM: Very Good Music [http://rockbottomdlux.freewebspace.com] 50. Jeb Holland graces us with his presence from the shed to sing praises for Jim & the Holland family, stick up for the much-maligned "Daniel Barrownowsky", encourage Larry to lose the weight, create mental imagery of Jim Holland's sister, share fond memories of being taught by Larry to be a man, and demand that the hate has to stop [http://www.therighteous.net] 51. tefnek - Contra 1 "Snow Field" [http://www.tefnek.com] 52. Lix - Legend of Heroes 6 "Affect of Silvery (Skyward Pulse Mix)" Version 1.0 [Levo Lution XII] 53. Binster - Gauntlet 3 "Blue Wizard is About to Die" [R:K:O #2555 / OC ReMix #1320] 54. bLiNd - "Born for This" [http://www.thebrailroom.com] 55. Reuben Kee & Shimona Kee - "Amour Dans Morte" [Naissance Le Mort OST] 56. Naoshi Mizuta - "Voyager" [Final Fantasy XI OST] 57. zircon's going through hell trying to create a sound effects sample pack, overviews the problems of dealing with a moronic game developer, gives some background on upcoming remixes including Chrono Trigger with Unknown once again and Streets of Rage 2 with Rellik & tefnek, pimps the progress on his second album "Impulse Prime", memories of the impromptu all-interviews episode (VGF19) [http://www.zirconstudios.com] 58. Peter Klashkkov from European Brides Unlimited calls to confirm Larry's order [http://ap.zapto.org] 59. "Vigilante" (dammit Kaleb, you bastard) and claims he stole Paige ("she went black, and then she went back") [http://www.kalebgrace.com] 60. "Mustin" plugs Xenogears Light (dammit Kaleb, that impression sucks) [http://www.kalebgrace.com] 61. Drunken antics of the Emory student body, part 1... 62. D-Lux...bye [http://rockbottomdlux.freewebspace.com] 63. Drunken antics of the Emory student body, part 2... 64. Antonio Pizza gets the reveal as Larry frustrated leaks the planned djpretzel call [http://ap.zapto.org] 65. "djpretzel" gets the boot 66. Drunken antics of the Emory student body, part 3... 67. Drunken antics of Danny B, part 1... [http://www.therighteous.net] 68. Drunken antics of the Emory student body, part 4...this'll all be edited out (hardy har har) 69. 80 mintues - 1 man: djpretzel FINALLY gets through; What's he gonna say before his phone dies out? Don't know until you check it out... [http://djpretzel.deviantart.com] 70. Gecko Yamori - Streets of Rage 1 "Stage Clear" [http://geckoyamori.savagewar.co.uk]

Oh please. [/ambient bias]

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 48 "Chamber of Sages" (:00-:29) & 03 "Deku Tree" (2:33-4:45) & 18 "Get Fairy Ocarina" (4:45-5:00) http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Title" (loz3-01.spc) [1:36-1:52] The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker OST - 103 "The Legendary Hero" (:44-1:35) I love how in the WIP forums, everyone's like "OMG, this is great" but they didn't scrutinize the level of arrangement at all. It's generally too basic relative to the source tunes used, thereby being too straightforward of a medley piece transposed to orchestration. Simplicity in the arrangement isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, the arrangement wasn't particularly interpretive, so yes indeed, it suffers from medleyitis. Some of the themes were already orchestral to begin with, like "Deku Tree," and thus sounded too similar to the version you had. The fact that "Deku Tree" used up about half the track's time yet just ended up possessing minor creative changes hurt the track vis-à-vis the guidelines. I'll also point out briefly that the lack of thought-out transitions wasn't a big bother. New sections pieced together fine with the previous ones to me. This gave me the same issues as Shnabubula's Front Mission mix "Infinite Natalie" in that the composition was essentially the source tunes kept nearly verbatim and used very conservatively. You certainly brought forth some ideas for new instrumentation that provided support and embellishment for those themes though. That kind of approach reconciling with the standards here is still a debatable issue. My feeling is that if you transpose something to a new genre, it's gotta be bringing it on all levels to get my vote. The panning of the string work at :45 for your coverage of "The Legendary Hero" was way too drastic. Actually, for a good portion of the track, most of the sound is panned left and the right channel is nearly dead in comparison. Why would you do that though? The samples were alright, and the subdued atmosphere was obvious but it lacked texture like Binnie pointed out. The instrument layering was decent enough to mask some of the synthetic nature of the sounds, but there were points like (e.g. :05, :47, 1:05, 3:34, 3:41, 4:00, others) where the string or brass samples are exposed by very artificial-sounding starts or finishes. Js with even more scrutinizing ears for sample work like this might have even more problems with this than I did. You gotta focus some attention on details like that; hopefully you can get some tips of humanization from the ReMixing forum. The things that lacked here were sample humanization in some spots, and that did have a bit in part to do with having too thin of a texture where mistakes were too easily spotted. Hope to hear Dan and/or Gray offer their insight. Arrangement is playing it really safely as well. While it's not great in execution, I wouldn't call it mediocre. Work on this further, Mike. NO (resubmit)

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 405 "Compression of Time" This has been a favorite original game track of mine not because of the actual track, but because of Stephen Kennedy's remix of it from Project Majestic Mix (Gold). Played this one back on VGF47, and it was pretty solid, in my opinion Bryan's best work yet. I thought more attention to the mixing could made the track sound a bit clearer, with more distinct-sounding instrumentation, but on the whole, that's just a personal preference and I liked the presentation as is. Carried an almost ambient feel to it with how echo-y & dense the string work was, and that wasn't bad at all. This could get shat on for not having much dynamic range as the track really got underway. While there was subtle variation going on in terms of the composition, the piece felt like it was on cruise control; pretty samey from 1:18-4:31 on first listen. Note that I said the first listen. Subtle changes and additions in the instrumentation were in several places: 1:36 (low strings), 2:09 (drums), 2:24 (more percussion panned left), 2:41 (brass additions I believe), 2:55 (melody with harp plucks in the back), 3:12 (added more stuff), 3:29 (moves to another section of the source tune keeping the same low string backing), 4:16 went a bit lower in sound... 3:32-4:17 definitely had the string work and vox getting too loud and piercing in my headphones; looked like you were topping out the low mid-range most of the way through. Sef had some nice dropping out of instruments to focus on strings and brass at 4:31. Nice work gradually fading in some additional string work around 4:41 that kept building up all the way until it stopped getting louder around 5:50 I believe. Very creative idea I hadn't heard used before in any other mix. Stylish ending section at 6:07. Still sounded pretty samey relative to the earlier material, but I liked the tone of your string samples going solo. Very nice way to tie things up. Sounded too fake going for the extremely long hanging note during the fade from 6:36-6:48, especially since you had one string with no additional layering, but it didn't negatively impact me too much. When one listens to the piece the first time, he may go "boring" or "does this ever change?" It certainly sounds very similar throughout most of the way, and I'm sure some people will dismiss it as monotonous. But the context lies in the details, which you ought to be paying attention to. Solid arrangement, and good use of very purposeful additive and subtractive instrumentation ideas to create understated yet ever-present change within the composition. Sounds solid to me, but you NEVER know with the panel. Very cool work Bryan. Not something I initially enjoyed vis-a-vis my role as a judge, as I definitely had the (wrong) first impression of "repetitive". I can see how someone can say that about the overall tone of the piece, but the changes in the composition are what counted with me. Certainly interested to see what Gray and Dan in particular have to say on this one. YES

Can't find the source anywhere unfortunately, so I'm just gonna have to go on the track alone. Don't wanna sound like I'm flatly against gabba-gabba-hey happy hardcore tracks, but this didn't have much to it, and felt pretty gimmicky. The distorted beats and chopped up vocals sounded like a mess. Joined by some claps at :29, everything was still cluttered, until that crud finally dropped out at :35. From :35-:1:01 though, things were pretty sparse as the focus was mostly on the voice samples. The same voice sample went on ad-nauseum from 1:08-1:25 & 1:32-1:54. Felt like much longer. The part at 1:55 with the beeps at the starting line & the cars revving up was like a shining beacon of light amidst a lot of confusion. Nothing very melodic here, though that may not be something to expect in the genre, I wouldn't have any idea. Was still pretty monotone-ish if I'm not informally misusing the terminology. I'd be interested in the prospects of what a high-quality happy hardcore mix could yield, but this wasn't it. I'd be interested in hearing this one with stronger sounds, better production and less repetitive voice sampling. NO

I had recently started playing Megaman X on zSNES back in early 2003, so I was interested in checking out remixes from the game when I first found OCR. Saunders had the same view as me where this was not necessarily the mix I would have wanted with the Sigma selection theme, yet I think Jon went for something unique with the arrangement idea. Dated and quite underdeveloped, but catchy and a welcome change of pace from the other mixes, both new and old, from the site.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/metroid.zip - Tracks 9 ("Tourian"), 8 ("Item Acquisition Fanfare") & 5 ("Kraid") Heh. Well, I'll tell ya, that's certainly interesting material. I'd get my comments from The Shizz for this decision, but the Minibosses forum got pruned. Basically what it amounts to is that the arrangement is just too out there. Not too much discernible Metroid in the sax work, though the keyboard & piano thankfully use the source material more overtly. Basically looking for more thematic connection to the source tune, rather than basically going off on your own thing for most of the 3 1/2 minutes. The intro handled "Tourian," and at least for the first 32 seconds I felt Koelsch managed to apply his style to some genuine rearranging of the source. Throughout the rest of the 2:26 of the arrangement dedicated to Tourian though, the sax on lead didn't do anything but freestyle with occasional bursts of the Item music (1:01/1:30). After all that, we also got some usage of Kraid with the sax even following the piano from 2:54 until basically the end, then some more freestyle work that squeaked as it ended abruptly. One thing I was particularly disappointed with was the production being so weak. If the sax performance was more coherent and derived from the source material, this might have more of a shot as something unique given solid production, even with such a relatively sparse soundscape. Yet everything sounds too distant. Bring some level of polish to the sounds. I know you're capable of promising execution on production with a piece like "Blind Eternity" in terms of production, and I thought your remix of some of Trance-Canada's original material in "Serenade in Sweet Blue" was the nicest production yet on one of your predominantly live pieces. Step up the quality here so things sound as crisp, then work some post-production effort on making things sound moody, troubled and so forth. I'm not gonna complain much about the sax performance. If someone else wants to offer specific criticisms, they're more than welcome to. I dunno what type of sax he's using personally. Maybe run the piece by Mustin & The OneUps and see if any of the members have comments as well. I thought the sax sounded alright given the context, as it seemed to fit your concept of the track in generally sounding thin, nervous & shaky. So going full circle, what I was more concerned with was your performance mostly featuring freeform work instead of overt variations of the source material. Not to sound constricting, especially because I clearly see that the piano & keyboard were handling things on arrangement, but we also need more of that connection on the lead as well. Get the arrangement ideas into a more overtly interpretive route, even if that means modifying your performance to some degree, and work on the production. NO

Any time, bro.

Actually, it just happened not to be in the Plutonium pack. Sorry bro, if I had remembered that it wasn't in the Plutonium Edition, I would have definitely played it. What's ThatNoise? Must be ThatPaige.

Absolutely. Also, I just wanna clear up that my comment in my vote was more about Protricity being ousted rather than anyone who came on board. A lot of hostile people were willing to at least give OCR another look once they found out he was no longer on the panel. By saying that the panel isn't an easier ride nowadays, I didn't mean to imply that anyone among us gladhands YESs or that friends get lenient looks at their material. Like you said weed, and what I SHOULD have said, is that while I appreciate and agree with the fact that the panel looks different and more open these days, I don't think that makes it an easier ride. I think anyone that submits a mix, in this case it happens to be Dustin, should be bringing a fairly complete package of arrangement, production & performance. Even with this group where a lot of OCR non-regulars have a noticed a better attitude, you need a strong product to fare well when it's time for your mix to hit the panel. I believe that's a general standard that won't change regardless of who was, is, or will be on the panel. Sorry for not being clearer.

Yeesh, why not more comments? Ubik did a great job on this one. These beats were definitely bringing the power in a big way. It's a shame we don't see more mix releases from Brian either here or at VGMix, as he's always got some great ideas and great sounds to back 'em up. Well worth the DL, and a track you could easily enjoy without being familiar with the source material. Definitely impressive.

Heh. Surprised this doesn't have more reviews. About 2 1/2 years ago, when I had a chance to listen to all of the OC ReMixes (back around the 700s) this was one of the mixes I really enjoyed from a game I had never played before. Definitely a very unique vibe relative to everything on the site, even another couple of years after I heard it. Always chill, always quality. Definitely check it out; McVaffe's rep is always solid.

I got an email a couple of weeks ago telling me my submission got a 404 error and told me to contact the judges. I had it linked to the DoD site and by the time it got around to judging time, they had taken all the songs down. I have it hosted on my own space now Game: Metroid Name: Interstellar Remixerz: Koelsch1

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF9_psf.rar - 125 "Crossing Those Hills" & 204 "Song of Memories" "Melodies of Life" is a separate song on the FF9 soundtrack, but "Crossing Those Hills" and "Song of Memories" make up the melodic content of "Melodies of Life," so I'm liking to those FOR THE PEEPS out there who read this stuff. The mix sounds cool, and I'm sure FF fans would greatly enjoy it on account of the source material. Didn't mind the distinct panning here, BTW. But the arrangement here is way too conservative and uninterpretive. Plus, the performance is simply way too mechanical like Gray said; no performance dynamics to be found anywhere in the whole piece, so everything sounds incredibly artificial/fake/synthetic/robotic/momma in a spraycan. The ending just came across as "well, I guess I quit." Make an ending to provide adequate resolution to the piece. You gotta be more, bro. I'd say resubmit if the arrangement were up to par, but as it stood it needs a lot more unique and creative ideas. If you can bring that to the table and work on dynamics issues, then feel free to resubmit. Check out the ReMixing forum in order to look for help in that area. NO

Don't worry. It is, bro. And it still sucks.

BOOM!™

Dosent EA at least care about the LIVES of their customers. Imagine somebody dropping over dead after hearing that horrible song, how would that make you feel? "AMAZING!" [/Madden]

Indeed! Thanks very much for getting out the announcement, Species. EA ReMix is in full effect, and will be covered in depth this Saturday with the latest EA ReMixes, along with the PLUTONIUM EDITION of the highly-anticipated EA Sports Duck Hunt 2005 soundtrack, Duck Hunt: Repercussions of Fowl Lamentation. EA Frequency will feature the complete Duck Hunt 2005 soundtrack led by the creative team of SgtRama & Suzumebachi as well as bonus cuts that you won't be able to find on the game-release soundtrack! You HAVE to be there to enjoy the excitement as we head into a bold new age of radio in order to roll out EA ReMix! It's in the MIX™!

Very nice art. Did Ari make those CD cover pics or did someone else?

Xavier's too busy running Hellven & being a pro! Nice work here, bro. So glad to see this both finished and finally at OC. Thanks for going out of your way to show me the WIP last year!

You WTFed a larger than normal amount of VGF goodness??? I...I...wait till you see show #50... Ooops! Sorry, Spec. Compyfox took it down to, like you figured out, make the new torrent for #49.99-49. Roland will post, I'm sure, to fill you in. Should be up and running pretty soon is my guess.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff1.zip - Track 12 ("Chaos' Temple") [NES Version] http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF1_psf.rar - 108 "Chaos' Temple" (PSX Version) Held off on voting while sorting some other things out, but I've been waiting for this one ever since I played it on VGF47. It snagged third place in RPGamer's Sonic Revolution from their Sound Test area. No offense to either zircon or Trenthian, but I thought this one should have taken the win. Very nice ambient-style opening there. I immediately liked the thickness of the percussion entering in at :06. The piano work sounded a tiny (I mean tiny) bit unrealistic. The ambiance was very engaging and the guitar strumming was spot on though I wouldn’t have minded hearing it pushed up a little bit. The bassline entering in at :20 was incredibly pimped out. There's my pimp bias showing through. The e-piano at :34 fit in so well with the texture here; I genuinely loved how everything came together. Nice stuff at 1:02 moving into the electric guitar work; way to bring the power there as your iteration of the theme segued over into a nice freestyle at 1:30. Again, I'm just impressed with how the composition/rearrangement pieced together. I saw how 1:52-1:57 could be thought of as off. It was certainly very jarring the very first time I heard it. Those notes there sounded too high given the other sounds in play at the time; definitely didn't match up well. I didn't mind it too much after multiple listens; good old ear acclimation did the job. I wouldn't have gone so far as to reject the piece for one "flub," especially given the scope of the entire arrangement & performance, which was genuinely A-grade. Mike moved into a second iteration of the source at 1:57. I think some of the supporting guitar work was a little too quiet and could have used some more presence to create some nice textures with more prominent layering & harmony, but I could still hear the instrumentation there when I paid attention to it. The section starting off at 2:53 went for another iteration of the e-piano and bassline centered arrangement before the axe was brought back in at 3:18, creating in my opinion the sexiest part of the arrangement as Mike laid down some sick original guitar work over the e-piano along with a very tasteful fadeout ending (aw shut the fuck up, fadeout haters). I don't aim to sound like any type of iconoclast at all, but I've heard other people make the comparison and it's very deserved: Ailsean's own take on "Chaos' Temple" (as well as "Underwater Temple"), Subaqueous Angels of Chaos was the track that got me into the Final Fantasy 1 soundtrack in the first place, but this mix effectively blew that away personally. I'd be really interested in Sean's comments on the piece and how he felt the arrangement, production & performance came across both as an individual piece and as a comparison to his own. Superlative work, and the remix that'll truly make your name in the community, Mike. As much as I'm biased against RPG remixes (as a listener, NOT as a judge you morons out there), this brought the goods in a huge way. The arrangement of "Chaos' Temple" really expanded the instrumentation during the more straightforward section and you provided some very intelligent additive composition with all of the new sections. There were loads of variation and dynamics, both subtle and pronounced. Glad to see both zyko & Vigilante approve the guitar skills behind the performance. The VG remix community has its share of stylish instrumental rock ballads, but this one tops 'em all from my point of view. Respect. YES

First off, sorry for the long wait. Reasons. Obviously, I would have liked to have put the various MP3s out much sooner. #50 with the Pretzel will be coming eventually, as well as other later shows. In the meantime, check out the full playlist at Ormgas.com, the MP3 (5hr30min/226MB) and the chat transcript to follow along with the astute fanbase. VG Frequency #49: Mitsuda Does So Well Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, February 19, 2005 / 10 PM - 3:30 AM EST Liontamer f/Mustin, Nate Cloud (cameo), Antonio Pizza, Koala, Irish Devil (cameo), Steven Smith, H the 8th, Rory O'Boyle, DarkeSword, Paige, DCT, Joe Cam & Flik ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Jared Hudson - VG Frequency "Heart Of Atlanta (System 3rr0r)" Bumper 2. The OneUp Mushrooms - Earthbound "Summers" (Practice) [http://www.oneupstudios.com/oum.php] 3. Joe Cam & bLiNd - "Ode to a Lost Love (bLiNd's D&B Mix)" [Hits & Misses] 4. The OneUp Mushrooms - Super Mario RPG "Booster Tower" [http://www.oneupstudios.com/oum.php] 5. The OneUp Mushrooms - Super Mario World 2 "Donut Lifts" [http://www.oneupstudios.com/oum.php] 6. The OneUp Mushrooms - CastleVania 3 "Clockwork" [Dwelling of Duels: Clockwork] 7. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Shevat - The Wind is Calling" [Xenogears OST] 8. Mustin goes over the recently played tracks in detail (Nate Cloud calls Booster Tower "powerful"...really quietly), and comments on the Dwelling of Duels & VGMix, The OneUp Mushrooms playing live, positive fan response to Xenogears Light, some bits on who & what was involved in the performance process, the young artists stepping up in the creation process, coming to appreciate the Xenogears soundtrack more, goodies within the Xenogears Light packaging, momentum for the OneUp Mushrooms' album (possibly this summer) including some material people won't expect, old-school joke material ["Mario Boco (Red Alert Mix)"], his original name REVEALED (ok, naw), comments on Will Buck & The Wingless's Xenogears Light contributions, and insight on the direction of the Nintendo arrangement album [http://www.oneupstudios.com & http://www.oneupstudios.com/oum.php] 9. Will Buck - Xenogears "My Village is Number One" [Xenogears Light] 10. Yasunori Mitsuda - "The Valley Where Wind is Born" [Xenogears OST] 11. Antonio Pizza is beggin' for a job, runs the gamut of emotions in order to display his range, wants to mobilize black people in the community, and introduces the next track ("Black people don't listen to video game music") [http://ap.zapto.org] 12. The Wingless (w/Christian Pacaud, ktriton & The OneUp Mushrooms) - "Valley Where the Wind is Born" [Xenogears Light] 13. Rolly Unite - "Ambush" [Muv-Luv OST] 14. Siamey - Einhänder "Daybreak (Lunar Death Mix)" [VGMix2 #3371] 15. OverCoat - "Hank" [http://www.neutronstar.org/soc] 16. Sir NutS - "Illusions of the Resting Mind (Doragon's Dreamscape Remix)" [Original Remix Competition 14] 17. Ellywu - Ultima Online: Renaissance "Bhumi Ke Niche Ka" [VGMix2 #3281] 18. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Shattering Egg of Dreams" [Xenogears OST] 19. Koala's chillin' & swillin' at Katsucon with the X-Strike Studios crew [http://luvmekoala.deviantart.com] 20. Yasunori Mitsuda - "The Wounded Shall Advance into the Light" [Xenogears OST] 21. Steven Smith has been having a good weekend at Katsucon and he's been working hard helping to pimp the "River City Rumble" DVD; Steve goes over how he internalized the role of Turk, the need to have fun on the set while making the film, and devoted fans who know the lines & recognize the actors from RCR before handing it off to X-Strike Studios founder Tim Ekkebus [http://www.x-strikestudios.com] 22. H the 8th fills us in on the inspiration for River City Rumble, selling DVDs on the low at Katsucon, sales so far on RCR as well gaining buzz from content on the X-Strike site, info on the upcoming "Silent Horror" DVD and details on other projects including "Ninja Storytime," "Nth Mile," & "Low Budget Espionage: Project Snake," the momentum for X-Strike coming out of River City Rumble's release, and the support of the remixing community for X-Strike's music before passing it over to Silent Horror writer & director Rory O'Boyle [http://www.x-strikestudios.com] 23. Rory O'Boyle breaks down Dale North's involvement in scoring Silent Horror, the film's approach being geared towards comedy, info on the Silent Horror DVD including preordering & bonus features, the inspiration for the film provided by various horror games, the hardships of dealing with extremely spaced-apart film shoots, the stresses of being the director, and knowledge gained from the experience [http://www.x-strikestudios.com] 24. Yasunori Mitsuda - "The Jaws of Ice" [Xenogears OST] 25. DarkeSword, rugged warrior of the Indian desert, calls in after performing No Mix Left Behind on the OC ReMix judging queue and gives the story of how the People's Remix Competition became involved in Rise of the Star, feedback on the entries competing to earn a place on Rise of the Star, and progress & thoughts on Rise of the Star as it approaches completion [http://www.darkesword.com] 26. Yutaka Minobe & Tatsuyuki Maeda - "Little Jack (Nasr ~ Montezuma ~ Valua)" [Eternal Arcadia OST] 27. Dhsu - Kirby's Adventure "Hero" [The People's Remix Competition v2-9] 28. Vigilante f/Liontamer - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Funky Monkey Love (Valentine Edit)" [OC ReMix #1313] 29. zircon - Final Fantasy 6 "A Nightmare Before Kefka" [VGMix2 #2894 / OC ReMix #1308] 30. Powerglove - Final Fantasy 6 "The Decisive Battle" [VGMix2 #3423] 31. AkumajoBelmont f/Stephanie - Bust A Move "Bust This Groove" [VGMix2 #3391] 32. Patrick Wagstaff - Donkey Kong Land 1 "Construction Rock" [VGMix2 #3357] 33. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Grahf Emperor of Darkness" [Xenogears OST] 34. Paige is in a fit of laughter on account of how um...bafflingly sexy her boyfriend is while the chat room collectively coddles her; she would peel Larry's banana, but she's got a "headache" (GRAH!) 35. SkyHigh - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Snow Motion (2005 Chill Mix)" [VGMix2 #3375] 36. Roetaka - GoldenEye 007 "Run Away with Me" [VGMix2 #3132] 37. Flik - Super Mario Bros. 1 "The Mario Quartet" [http://www.vagstudios.com] 38. zykO & The Anti-Jazz - Street Fighter Alpha 1 "Dragonscale and Lace" [VGMix2 #3424] 39. OverCoat - Final Fantasy 4 "Prayfunky" [VGMix2 #3397] 40. Yasunori Mitsuda - "The One Who is Torn Apart" [Xenogears OST] 41. DCT is trying to produce an Urbanizm Music album by the end of the year featuring himself, Joshua Morse, Dale North, Disposer, Just Us, and others, but takes some time to talk about recent Urbanizm releases, people talkin' shit in Chinatown, Just Us's recent performance in Middletown, Koala drunkenly calling him trying to somehow get on the air on VGF, and "Ho Cam" getting his panties in a bunch [http://www.thebigshot.com] 42. Joe Cam is excited over Beatdrop's extended version of "Joe Cam, Bitch" for his upcoming album "Hits & Misses," as he covers the inspiration for putting together an album comprised of both new & reprised original material, setting a goal of selling 20 copies, the excitement of seeing if people will pay for his performances, the possibility of pursuing singing more seriously, the upcoming festivities of St. Faggy's Day (McDonalds & bowling!), the tale behind bLiNd’s remix of his brand new vocals for "Ode to a Lost Love," the drunken OUS BBQ antics of zykO, kicking Dale North & Ailsean's asses at Scrabble, and some final pimps for Hits & Misses [http://www.joecam.net] 43. GrayLightning - Final Fantasy 6 "Return of the Phoenix" [OC ReMix #1309] 44. Will Buck - Chrono Trigger "The Dark Before the Dawn" [OC ReMix #1314] 45. EgM - Golden Sun "Sol Sanctum Guitar" [VGMix2 #3028 / OC ReMix #1315] 46. Bladiator, GrayLightning & Hemophiliac - Kirby's Adventure "Kirby Dreams of Valor" [The People's Remix Competition v2-9 / Rise of the Star] 47. Rexy - Chrono Cross "Where Force Stood Still" [VGMix2 #3455] 48. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Knight of Fire" [Xenogears OST] 49. Flik be flikin' it co-DJ ("Will BUCK") & Detective style ("Damn you, Dr. P!") before he and Larry randomize it for the peeps, and banter about "The Mario Quartet" & the often misunderstood Jennifer [http://www.vagstudios.com] 50. chthonic - Super Mario Bros. 1 & Super Mario 64 "Fleeting Ecstasy" [OC ReMix #1311] 51. DarkeSword - Megaman Zero 2 "Stranger in the Desert" [VGMix2 #2750 / OC ReMix #1316] 52. zircon - "Dimension" [impulse Prime] 53. TO & FIDGAF - Seiken Densetsu 3 "Electrion (New Berlin Mix)" [ioncross: Total War OST / VGMix2 #3390] 54. Quinn Fox - Contra: Hard Corps "Pistol Whipped" [VGMix2 #3342] 55. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Wings" [Xenogears OST] 56. zircon - "Inferno" [impulse Prime] 57. zircon - "Tomorrow" [impulse Prime] 58. N-Joy & Simona - Stormlord "Seneca's Marble Pack Edit" [R:K:O #2289 / OC ReMix #1312] 59. djpretzel - Final Fantasy 6 "The Sveldt" [OC ReMix #1310] 60. Bjørn Lynne - "In-Game Music 1" [spin Jam OSV] 61. Yasunori Mitsuda - "The Blue Traveler" [Xenogears OST]