Liontamer

Warcraft II ~ Tides Of Darkness & B.Net Edition (Game Rip) - 16 "Orc 02" http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YTozOntpOjA7czo0OiIyODI0IjtpOjE7aToxMTMwNDU1MDg1O2k6MjtpOjM7fQ== - Orc2gm.mid Listened to both the original version and the MIDI because I can. This didn't seem very hot at all to me. Maybe some potential was there, but I didn't hear it. Fairly plodding and boring. The instrumentation certainly attempts to put a different spin on the source tune with the electronic style, but sounds like a total downgrade in sound quality, and the arrangement as compared to the original doesn't have much going for it. Nothing particularly interpretive that I heard. The instrumentation is all dry and flat and the texture is poor. No N-R-G, homey. The inclusion of the marching drums from 1:53-2:21 was a low point, as adding something that's meant to sound rich and real in concept doesn't work when it sounds so robotic and synthetic. You should definitely take zircon's advice in terms of exploring new, free sounds and refining your synth design techniques, but at the same time, I wouldn't waste the effort on that to specifically work further on this. Better to move on to fresh ideas, or at the least apply more substantial interpretation here. NO

Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga - 01 "Main Theme" Covered this as part of May's material for VG Frequency, so I'm glad to see it here: Like Christian mentioned, this was also part of Splendid Performance: On the Keys, and was pretty cool stuff. The original had the whole epic/cinematic thing going for it, but the style was a bit generic to me, so I'm interested in making the comparison now and seeing what CPac managed to do with it. He immediately opens the arrangement, going for the riffs from :10 of the source. Piece sounds rather quiet from the outset, so I was hoping for some more volume to at least indicate this was more purposeful. I don't think the realism in the sampling is up there with Chrono Trigger "Memories from the Wind Scene", so I'd be interested in some suggestions on that. Sounded somewhat mechanical but was ultimately alright as the performance dynamics were otherwise pretty good. Melody hit another iteration at 1:46, and the volume picked up nicely at 2:15 for some good contrast. Some slight distortion at 2:20 and a little bit after that during the louder spots. Nice idea with 2:43-3:08, starting off quietly once again and building the volume up while also increasing the tension, though it could have been a little better there, as it sounded like the volume was simply fading up, rather than the "player" pressing down more strongly on the keys. Having heard this now, a few month down the line from the summer, I think this one is on the lower end of CP's own works in terms of sound quality. Again, it's not bad, just not QUITE as polished. On the arrangement front, this obviously had the goods to spare, and was a good listen. While providing good contrast from section to section, it generally gave off a more gentle, contemplative atmosphere than the original. Perfect for murdering people, yes? YES

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/C64Music/Hatlelid_Kris/Test_Drive_2_The_Duel_PSID.sid DeliPlayer wouldn't play the .kh MOD file, and the SID file was a bust as well, so it was the PSID to the rescue, which I've linked to here. Fine SFX for the intro here. Source fades in right at :11 while some additional SFX supplements things. Synth design is pretty weak as the lead is rather plain-jane, along with the beats/percussion coming in at :44. Some quasi-electric guitar synth had the same lacking feel at 1:03. Melody comes in at 1:30 for the basic coverage. Whole thing sounds pretty dry, as TO alluded to. Fakey strings anchored the next section at 2:48 but didn't fill up the sonic space well. Some decent original writing to build off of the style of the source tune. Good use of the NES/chiptune-style sounds at 3:23, along with the SFX. Guitar returns at 3:46 and still has no edge and no power to it; it's a pretty lacking sample choice. Track drives along a bit better at 4:03, even though the arrangement is pretty repetitive. The instrumentation is still so dry, dull, and lifeless that it makes the encoding sound more like 80kbps CBR rather than 131kbps VBR. zircon would have some good tips to improve a track like this. More arrangement ideas and better production are needed to have a shot. NO

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/C64Music/Hubbard_Rob/Sanxion.sid - Subtune 1 ("Thalamusik") Glad you weren't intimidated by the material here; we welcome most submissions, so thanks for sending it in! Starts off with some rain SFX and then some very dull-sounding synths; sounds like there's not much high-end here. Lasts for a while until 1:03 kicks in some other content. Pretty standard dance groove comes in at 1:12 with the source melody arriving at 1:26 with some pretty standard coverage. Takes a break at 2:07, but immediately goes for another iteration of the source at 2:11. Some better stuff at 2:35 before going back to those screechy sounds at 2:42 that, IMO, don't do anything to enhance the track. Still getting a distinct dull sound from this track; there's no sharpness anywhere. 2:35-section is referenced again at 3:30. Another section of the source at 3:58 with some very mechanical-sounding and low-quality strings. More of the source from 1:26 again at 5:08. Basically just looking for more rearrangement/interpretation of the source beyond the dance-style genre conversion. The foundation is decent, but the sounds are dull and the groove gets a bit lazy after a while. Some fat could be trimmed off, or you could have gone for more variation throughout the course of the track via more subtleties from section to section when using the same melodies. Cool stuff, but not up the bar unfortunately. I don't believe I've seen your name around at Remix.Kwed.Org, Gordon, so I particuarly encourage you to submit this mix there as well! Looking forward to future submissions. NO

You're Seattle UnderCoat.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkq.rsn - "Stickerbush Symphony" (dkq-17.spc) Decent idea for the spooky-ish intro; melody comes in shortly after at :21. Pretty straightforward usage; track's sizing up to be pretty simple and inoffensive right now. Some FL-ish gated synth came in at 1:01 and aside from the genre adaptation, the melody's being clung to like so many monkeys in the trees. The instrumentation is pretty basic. It's complementary to the melody but doesn't seem to really gel with it. The energy level is decidedly low, IMO. Some breakbeat loops came in at 1:57, but didn't seem to fit the overall idea here, though I'm giving them a chance. Finally, some significant reinterpretation from 2:36-3:21, before going back to one more iteration of the source to close. I think the track sounds decent, but the interpretation plays it too safe and the sounds are flat. If you're gonna go for a breakbeat mix, you gotta spice it up. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/kss.rsn - "Dynablade Area 2" (kss-17.spc) Been a fan of this source tune every since randomly listening to the Kirby Superstar soundtrack. Stuff that translates well to the downtempo format. Cool e-piano intro. Nice light cymbals come in at :10 along with more perc at :21, and tastefully used Kirby SFX at :26 that'll make DarkeSword proud. Some of the phrasing once the melody came in at :32 was really off. I see how you were trying to transpose the source tune here, but it isn't quite handled correctly at :40, 1:02 or elsewhere where it's used. Maybe I'm offbase, so we'll let the theory guys handle that one. Good way to drop the beats out at 1:13. The cymbals were still pretty busy there and kind of drag the section out a bit, but you had much needed variation on the instrumentation at 1:35 with the more oraganic percussion being brought in. The distortion brought in at 1:57 doesn't sound very good. Gray might have some issues with how well this software-created distortion was pulled off. Personally I don't think it clicks here as it's also too subdued-sounding (making it seem unpurposeful to a casual listener) and interferes a bit with the other sounds. The steel drum stuff from 2:08-2:18 sounds a bit too artificial as well as subdued; the tail end of that part could be written a bit better as well, as 2:15-2:19 doesn't seem to contrast well with the e-piano. 2:40 moves over to some more breakbeat style stuff, keeping the distortion and e-piano. Admittedly glad the distortion dropped out at 3:01 for the last section. The strings from 3:01 until the end seemed to clash with things as well. The last few notes of the e-piano are a little exposed, but that's minor. Anyway, this was decent all around, just lacking a certain energy, even for downtempo. I don't necessarily think more instrumentation or volume is needed, as that could ruin an otherwise good thing so far, though those methods could hook this up if treated right. Straight up though, this feels flat overall. Where's the processing? Where's the N-R-G 'n shizz? Unfortunately, I have to hope another J will be able to articulate these issues better than I. With some of the off/conflicting writing fixed, some sort of change regarding the involvement of the distortion, as well as a bit more energy this would be a solid YES. It's your most promising work yet on the panel. Keep working on it, Paul. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/gsf/hod_gsf.rar - 10 "Chapel of Dissonance" Ooh, whatever that lead is to start off with, pretty nice. We get some piano at :16 followed by some mangled up SFX at :25 that initially didn't sound like voices. Cooler still from :33-:52; hard concept to get a grip on but that's why it works. The SFX does a nice job of filling out the arrangement, and I love the beefing up of the percussion at 1:15 for the next iteration of the source melody that begins at 1:07. The whole feel is VERY We Love Katamari style, majestic in some ways, surreal and conflicted in others. Artsy-fartsy articulation of my stream of consciousness or not, plainly-spoken this is memorable stuff. Good acceleration at 2:15 with the piano and synth runs, the glassy-type sounds, and crazy percussion. Even moreso from 3:06-3:23, which was a little cluttered IMO, but had that same energy to it before going back to the more regal instrumentation from 3:42-4:16. A bit dense, a bit shrill, but nearly all beautiful. Though I thought the very ending from 4:58-5:22 wasn't the strongest way to end things, good near-ending from 4:33 until the end to cyclically tie things back to the feel of the beginning. Arrangement is all sorts of bueno, and if you check the source tune, you really see how it fits in Sam's style already. It actually sounds like something he could write if he was a composer for Game Boy Advance material, so this mix was a pleasing upgrade of sounds and extension of the compositional ideas of Hokkai's original. Can't really ask for more than that around here. YES

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/guardian.zip - Track 6 Cool jazzy stuff for the intro before the melody came in at :23. It was a little low in volume, but anything lourder could have turned annoying with the way the lead modulates; kinda piercing. Everything's very, very funky and groovy, and locks together well, despite the disjointed way the casual listeners may feel about Sam's stuff. Though I wish the sound was richer, I like how he manages to pull a good sound of out the faux slap-bass once again, moving to another groovier section at 1:37. Cool e-piano work at 2:16. I'm just really liking how Sam was able to get so much mileage out of the source material for a very admirable genre adaptation style arrangement. It's very synthetic per the usual for these "oddball" mixes of his, but well put-together. I liked the change in speed and style at 3:44 for a more laid-back last section. The general tempo here ensures that a lot of substance was crammed into the 4:47. The panel may not have worked out for you, but the music thing always does. Not quite as solid as some other stuff of yours like the original "Symbiotic Funk", as some of the sounds in the forefront are a little thin but an easy addition to my playlist. Now onto "Behold the Winged Cathedral"... YES

http://www.mirsoft.info/wogm_download.php?data=YToyOntpOjA7czo1OiIxMzIyNCI7aToxO2k6MTEzMDM3NjI1OTt9 - "Tyrian, The Level" & "Camanis" I didn't mind the piano intro. It's kind of thin and fakey, but at the same time, I think it fits the style. It could easily work in favor of the track. The bassline at :12 is awfully soft and flimsy. Things get going more at :25, but the texture is sparse as hell and the instrumentation is very basic/preset-ish. The percussion does nothing to fill out the track. Guitar at 1:16 was a decent idea, but of course it sounds too artifical in the performance and now the percussion seems out of place and just doesn't fit the style, and that was without reading the pervious votes beforehand. Some more piano runs added at 1:55, but the atmosphere is really cluttered. At the 3 minute mark, things finally changed around a bit with "Camanis" being brought in. The transition wasn't very thought out, so it would help to write one. I like the more string-based feel here, but as with everything else, it sounds very mechanical and doesn't flow well. Too long and not a very energetic track, unfortunately. Keep trying to improve, Bren! NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/sm.rsn - "Opening ~ Destruction of the Space Colony" (sm-15.spc), "Theme of Samus Aran ~ Galactic Warrior" (sm-22.spc) & "Theme of Super Metroid" (sm-16.spc) Pretty basic orchestration. The brass needs to sound richer and strings need to sound fuller. Right now, the volume is so low & subdued and the samples used so dryly that it all undermines whatever drama you're trying to create via dynamics and composition. The string movements at from :53-1:19 are pretty artificial-sounding; the bow movement sounds very synthetic. Plus you pull sounds out abruptly, like one fading string that was part of a doubled set at 1:13 and then the second at 1:19. All of the instrumentation is lifeless and devoid of emotion. The vox at 1:54 is a good example, but everything else you used qualified here as being flat as well. The arrangement has potential, but the use of your samples needs work. The foundations in place are good, but you need to know how to provide the nuances that give vibrancy and human-sounding performace. Camp out in the ReMixing forum to learn more. I'd say resubmit, Markus, but that's only if you improve drastically in 3 or 4 months. There's potential, but I'd likely call this a done deal and move on. Good first sub though; keep on trying to improve! NO

Thanks for providing the sources. I'm a big fan of Track 12 after first hearing it a few years ago from an old roommate of mine who pimped some of those tracks to me shortly after I found OCR and we got more into game music. Yeah, hate to be glib with a piggyback vote, but TO nailed all of the relevant issues. He's definitely right in that the two source tune piece together very comfortably. Unfortunately, the arrangement left all of the melodic content intact, swapped the samples, added some stock drums and added some fake, weak electric guitar. Even the intro is ripped straight from the original. Very sparse mix the whole way through. No sense of texture whatsoever. It really marginalizes and poorly minimizes some otherwise proimising material. The two source tunes are basically just glued together at the ends and don't connect in any way. By the 3 minute mark, this was dragging out horribly. Better luck with future works. NO

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozmmusf.rar - 108 "Clock Town - Day 1" Dunno where the traditional Zelda theme is in the Majora's Mask pack, but it's probably in there somewhere. Anyway, not bad for a first sub at all. The piano needs to sounda lot richer. There's some attempt at natural-sounding decays to thicken the sound, but this ultimately sounds very fake the whole way through, and lacks the sound of a quality human performance. I thought the piano was sampled, but DarkeSword pointed out to me that it's likely a real piano. I have to say that's unfortunate, as some of the issues regarding texture and occasionally flow seemed like sample-driven ones. As for the arrangement, it's decent, but it could carry a bit more dynamic contrast by way of some more subtle sections. Right now, the arrangement varies itself somewhat during the 3:44, but drags since it's always loud and the texture is thin. There needs to be less distortion here, as some of the volume spikes result in some nasty stuff, firstly at :43, but way worse in other instances, like 1:20-1:31, and 2:46-2:59. Most of the track had that problem duing the loud parts anyway. Some release issues at :56 & :57 hurt the feel as well. You really need to get a richer sound going and practice to maximize the best sounds out of your performance. Thinner sections like 1:34-1:47 sounded plinky, mechanical and very low grade. Needs tons of work, but you're in the right direction on the arrangement front, and just need to hang around more in ReMixing and Works to help learn more skills. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 20 "Sandopolis Zone 1" This was decent. The oboe for the intro sounded nice. Belltone-stuff, and later the strings, on melody was too quiet and needs to be more center stage. Faux-electric guitar at 1:22 is too fakey sounding to work well. Right now, the soundfield is fairly sparse/empty. Peeling back the layers of this tracks, there's ultimately not much happening. Nonetheless, the arrangement is a fairly solid cover-style piece. Too bad about this one. The samples/sounds are generally good, but the sound balance isn't where it should be and the timing is incredibly mechanical. It's like the whole track is rigid and devoid of emotion, ruining it's potential. The sounds are good, and you got the genre thing going, but even der ubersamples aren't gonna automatically win the day if they don't sound performed in a realistic manner. Fill the soundfield out more and tackle the nuances please. NO (resubmit)

Covered this in May for VG Frequency, so I'm actually surprised we got it now: My thoughts are pretty much the same giving this a full review. The rain SFX was tastefully used. The strings at :39 were really synthetic sounding, but worked fairly well in the texture. Around 1:08 when the volume picks up a bit, the track starts feeling a little buzzy and a bit too lo-fi. The strings brought in at 1:12 were panned too distinctly to one side, plus they didn't sound realistic in their performance. Drums at 1:27 were really low quality. I think keeping it so dry is a mistake given the texture the rest of the instrumentation seems to be going for, but if it's kept like that, I'd at least pull the volume back a bit so it doesn't sound pasted on top and out of place like it does now. I'm a big fan of the original, "Secure Place." I think more credit should be given for the additive way in which this theme was treated, though the piano sounding so similar was a slight hit. Nonetheless, there a lot of new writing here, so while fairly straightforward, I don't think this was too conservative at all, and compares pretty favorably to the original. I'd personally suggest sharpening up the sound a little bit while keeping the gloomy feel, scrapping the percussion, and refining the strings and piano (though they sound better than most people's attempts with it). Maybe add some more subtle instrumentation to replace the role of the percussion. Good stuff in place so far, David; this was your best submission yet. NO (resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 12 "Icecap Zone 1" http://www.zophar.net/gym/sonic2.rar - Chemical Plant Zone Decent stuff, although the sounds are really generic. Nonetheless, the groove bias is there. The melodic synth lead was really thin; it doesn't give any depth to the track. That little "bird tweet" effect that hangs on the melody's notes starting at :54 is slightly piercing. The piano playing the Chemical Plant Zone at 1:22 is MIDI-grade and VERY quiet. Punch it up more, and beef up the piano with some effects. It taints other parts of the track with its robotic application. The constant percussion/kick/bass synth groove starting at 1:22 gets tired by 2:10 or so; you've gotta to change the feel up a bit, but also do it sooner. Work to provide contrast so that the listener isn't burnt out on the idea so soon. Chemical Plant theme is brought in again at 2:17, before going back to Ice Cap later on. The barely-changing groove and basic synth design wears thin after a while. The groove elements generally overshadow the melodic content too much. Some of it needs to be scaled back to allow the arrangement to shine more. Decent, but it would need a fair amount of work to refine things and polish it up. NO

No cohesion or texture at all with this sparse instrumentation. Vocal clips aren't "terrible" but are a bit overused and don't add much to this emptiness. After 2:10, this just drags on. Not a terrible attempt at an industrial sound at all, but this just doesn't have any substance to it. You'd think with a nice 4:44 to work with, a lot more creativity would have been brought into play. Only a diehard fan with no standards would enthusiastically praise this. NO

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/Big_Snowman3.mid Sped it up, added some stock drumloops, tacky sounds, corny ending, only 2:04-long. Lame attempt at a rearrangement. And encoded at 320kbps, like that's some sort of benefit? I guffaw at your folly. But seriously, no disrespect, but nothing to add here. Someone else can slap on the N.O. if it's that egregious. NO

Yeah, TO nailed some good issues here. The lead guitar is a little too distant. It could be more prominent, yet still have the airy/distant quality it has. Wouldn't mind some comments on that from Vigilante. The snare is too loud and the performance on it is flat, plus the cymbals are way too quiet and don't contribute to the picture. The percussion patterns don't vary much and get stale after a while. That needs to be addressed. Unfortunately a case where production issues indeed kill an otherwise well-constructed and promising effort. Hope you address the sound balance and get things sounding stronger. Right now, some very flat sounds are severely limiting the potential here. NO (refine/resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Corridors of Time" (ct-3-04.spc) Track's already too loud just to start off and some stuff is distorting with some blistering stuff. This track could retain its power and agressiveness without this ridiculous volume. Lyrics come in at :59. The male vocals are decent, but losing pitch/off-key on occasion. The female backing vocals were worked in very well, but the balance between the vocals and music is shitty. The snappy beats are fairly basic, but (mentally removing the volume/balance issues) the texture turns out decent and there were a lot of creative things going on here. Track could still use some additional instrumentation to fill out the soundfield. It's amazing how an otherwise good mix is trashable thanks to stuff that can be relatively easily addressed, because the arrangement is pulled off fairly well. No way it'll ever pass until this is fixed up, but once it is, this would be an easy YES. Nice work on the arrangement, Jovette and company; its really some excellent stuff on that level, and you did a good job of not losing focus on the source material like some of your more recent subs. Just fix this up for the peeps. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkc.rsn - "Fear Factory" (dkc-20.spc) Quick shot on this one. It had some decent ideas, but the execution was lacking. The usage of the samples wasn't expressive enough. The tempo wasn't bad at all, but instrumentation came off flat, particularly the piano, bassline and percussion, leaving the energy low and the soundfield somewhat sparse-sounding. The track was also too quiet, like you yourself mentioned. The sampled piano was pretty low quality. Notes were running too fast and sounded robotic, resulting in runs like the one at 2:31 that just sound bleh. Not bad, but not a really developed or strongly executed idea. Definitely the potential there to improve though with future works. NO

Yeah, I confirm the N.O. Just take a look at the guidelines. You need a lot more interpretation, variation, creativity and substance than this to submit something and have it pass.

Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight Original Game Soundtrack - 20 "Lost Painting" Played this on VGF66 and was loving the feel here. It's a cool genre conversion, but the same problems apparent in most of Alex's subs are here. Too loud and the texture is bad. The strings don't move naturally, and in this case, the arrangement is relatively straightforward, though I like what was done regardless. If this didn't absolutely sound so unwieldy, I could mistake it for a collab between Alex and Vurez, what with its twangy sounds and Wild West style. I wasn't feeling much on the "wrong notes" area. /shrugs Sounded fine to me on that level overall, but the issues laid down by zircon, Gray & TO are the meat and potatoes of what's wrong with the track. This sounds like a total rushjob. It's time to stop getting rejected with the same old story time and time again and realize your potential. NO

Phantasy Star Online: Songs of Ragol Odyssey: Soundtrack Episode 1 OST - 03 "Image of Hero" Oh sweet, Phantasy Star Online, so good. Never played the game at all, but I also was a huge fan of the soundtrack. The strength of the original will carry any conservative arrangement; not a bad approach of wanting to slow it down and go for a more atmospheric rendition. Things sound a bit lo-fi, but I like the strings being used like pads. Woodwind sample at 1:10 for the melody sounds very artificial and unrealistically performed. Same for the supporting instrumentation at 1:37. The melody and the countermelody are verbatim with the source tune and the strings and drumwork don't do enough to make up for that. We get a bell on lead at 2:56 to change the feel a little bit, but the strings and drums are still the same; no variation. Doubled with the returning woodwind at 3:23 and the same countermelody. Wish this went somewhere more creative with the source material, as it's awesome stuff. Some basic rearrangement ideas were there from 3:49 until the end, using some lighter instrumentation and changing the rhythms a little bit. Track abruptly ends at 5:09 with no actual ending being written. A pretty long mix that could be decent chill stuff, but needs more arrangement substance and better use of the sounds involved. Cool stuff regardless. Keep at it. NO