Liontamer

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]

What are you, stupid? Group X never submitted Mario Twins, so that's a non-issue. That's actually a pretty good remix, and obviously didn't take itself seriously. Obviously Music of My Groin wouldn't make it nowadays, though that's certainly a shame, cuz it's a great joke mix. I "meh" on all the haters out there.

You've obviously never driven both cars before! In all seriousness, whatever the mix's shortcomings, indict away. Feel free to give Shael and/or Roland some tips on effects and processing to use Reason more optimally, because you're right Gray in that I thought some sound aspects could have been improved. Nonetheless, the arrangement & also the production were pretty solid taking all aspects of creation into account. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna drive off in my Jaguar now...

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 113 "Leaving the Body" Very interesting choice of source tunes. Having never played CC, I never really paid any attention to "Leaving the Body" until I had to check it for this submission. Pretty hot shit for just a few hours work and a first-time remixing effort. The sounds were generic, but I thought they worked pretty well. The mix suffered the most in production though, as the whole track was very muddy-sounding (boost some high-end frequencies), you didn't have proper separation amongst your instruments, and on the performance side, the samples that really needed an authentic sounding touch (e.g. the piano) sounded very inhuman. Watch the overall volume levels as well - this was definitely way too loud. It sucks that you don't have weighted keys to work with on your keyboard. You'll want to scope out the ReMixing forum and look for information to help you with your production, as well as your sample work, which could use more processing & effects to create more unique sounds. In terms of stuff like the piano, even skilled mixers like Adhesive Boy have to manually adjust velocities on various sequenced instruments for some of their material, so try and obtain whatever advice you can on that front. Onto the arrangement, which was the highlight for me, I really liked what I heard there. Considering the slow pacing of the source tune, you really overhauled the track well going for a more upbeat style. I really liked that synth that came in at :40 and layered with the whistling-style sound lead. The claps there were too loud and generic-sounding, so see if that can be addressed. Even though the piano that came in at :54 sounded extremely fake, the source arrangement again was very well done there. Sweet move into the chorus at 1:25. If the track wasn't so excessively loud and muddy, I'd really be enjoying this a lot more. You retread the arrangement ideas you previously used at 1:52. If you had spent more time on making the mix, you could have kept things fresh by providing some further variations. It wasn't getting stale to me, but for a relatively short mix at 3:08-long you've gotta keep up the creativity. One of the most counterproductive things you can do is have some hot rearrangement ideas in place for the first half but then just put the rest of the remix in cruise control by merely repeating what you had before. Some people will complain about there needing to be more dynamic contrast as well - certainly a viable criticism, considering no time was invested into avoiding that issue - but I really thought the constant groove worked here. If the rest of the track's aspects were up to par, I wouldn't have had any problem with the composition being like that. The ending section at 2:47 worked very nicely in dropping some elements out and playing with some more delicate piano work on lead before closing up. Watch the very end there - make sure you have a nice clean fade, not a crappy ending where the music/sound abruptly cuts off (3:07). Anyway, I was really surprised with the quality of the arrangement here. I really hope you keep soaking up knowledge on how to improve so that your performance & production match the strengths of your concept. I may not be passing this, but I also won't be throwing it away. Keep improving, Evan. Hope to hear more from you. If you wanna work on this further and resubmit it, that's fine by me, though the production in particular would need a huge improvement. NO (resubmit)

Already felt the track was too loud as things opened up. Production was particularly sloppy with the opening work as there was too much reverb overall. The string samples sounded really fake. Not bad with the beatwork coming in at :41. I liked the effects on there, though the volume was definitely pushing it. Pull it back, bro. The first :54 seconds were cool for an intro, but the track really dragged on as it continued. You had the strings play some chords derived from the source tune, but you never even fashioned a melody from anything, so we were just stuck with beatwork and some non-melodic synth patterns being the entire meat of the track all the way until 1:50 of your 3:02 track. As far as the guidelines here go, there's absolutely no way that's gonna work contextually. The woodwind-ish synth on lead from 1:50-2:26 was really generic. Then 2:27 went back to the beatwork and synth patterns. I'm glad you had that original stuff in there as part of your arrangement, but the "Dragon Roost Island" melody was a fairly minor factor in the composition, and that doesn't fly. Work more directly with the source tune in future works, and hopefully the other Js can give you some substantial advice on production. Swing by the ReMixing & Work-in-Progress forums and start taking advantage of the information & criticism at each of those places respectively. NO

Want a copy of the source tune. Any help? Frankly, I don't think this one is that hot in the first place, but I'd also want to understand the level of arrangement here.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "The Decisive Battle" (ff6-124.spc) It's interesting how some things come around. Before VG Frequency ever started, Emperor Nakoo Hiryuu was one of the contributors to my "(Insert Name Here)" All-Originals radio show special I did back in early 2003, which featured only original tracks from artists in the VGM remixing community. Never heard of him much around the community again beyond that, but it's nice to see him still active. Even having heard the track before it hit the panel, I didn't even know Ben was a member of Powerglove until now. Played this one on VGF49, so I was already very familiar with it. Let's keep it short and sweet. This was an excellent genre adaptation piece. The mix was full and the sounds meshed together without sounding overly muddy and sloppy. The drumkit was fairly good and the guitar work was spot on. While the melodic arrangement was conservative, it was still nice and expansive nonetheless on the instrumentation. I thought the arrangement was in danger of being too repetitive as the track went on; after hearing one iteration of "The Decisive Battle" played through, I was looking for something beyond simply another playthrough of the same material at 1:37 (though with different percussion in the background). At 2:32 at the third run of the source melody I was preparing to dispense a NO, getting ready to ask for some more thorough variation, but these bros came through with even more comprehensive alterations in the support instrumentation along with some good rearrangement ideas and personal touches for the melody itself. The ending at 3:28 was fairly quick and unsatisfying as a resolution to the mix to be honest, but that didn't detract in any significant way from the big picture. The mixing could have been a little bit cleaner, but at the same time, I felt the texture was rough yet well done. Everything conveyed a good amount of power & intensity. Sounds excellent. I actually remember hearing Powerglove's Dr. Wily's Theme & Storm Eagle remixes this past summer since they posted them to the Work-in-Progress forums, and I felt they had a lot of potential. This material right here outdid those previous mixes and shows that they've dedicated themselves to becoming a solid group. In terms of community music, the style sounded like a crossbreed between The Black Mages & S.S.H. Hopefully, these guys'll keep making more. YES