Liontamer

Heh. Thank God finals are over. Bad memories! Aight, Susie mailed me back now that she had some free time. Hey, it's no problem. Thanks for being patient with us. This revision fixed a lot of issues I had, particularly with the way the piano sample was used in the second half of the piece, as well as fixing up most of glaring release issues with some of the notes. The most important thing when all is said and done is that you feel your piece is now at its best. Time to post it up, I'd say.

Pretty cool yo. I was listening to this while working on updating some of the source tune information for the database. This one by Tim is quite the underrated little gem. I really liked the piano during the intro, and :38-1:48 coincidentally had some sections very reminiscent in style to the Super Mario 64 ending theme. With Winamp's typical 3-second crossfade, the track loops very nicely. I'm really suprised this hasn't gotten more appreciation. Nice work, Tim!

A fairly straightforward piece, but pretty chill and mellow. I'm also a sucker for rain SFX. Cool yo.

Post comments preferably through Ormgas.com! Covering the relevant releases from the month o' May continues with the goods from the week ending May 21st. You've got a full plate in front of ya, so make with the clicky clickly. Shuichiro "Shu" Nakazawa & Zuntata - Landing Gear "S.L.M.J." [ZUNTATA LIVE 1998 Güten Talk from the Earth AST] I'm telling you, that sounds like a Daffy Duck voice sample in there. I'll bet you almost anything that I'm right. In any case, genius is the word of the day here with this cut off Zuntata's 1998 live concert album, and the winning track from Song of the Week, Week #24. Ripped from a video file of the concert, this is an absolute must-have for anyone that prefers their music strange, energetic, intelligent, and most importantly Japanese. It also makes a good running track if you plan on running pretty damn fast. Needless to say, I can run fast. Of course, I'm no JigginJonT though. Tenmon - "Summer Clouds" [Mizu no Kakera: Once Summer of Islet-Origin (Game Rip)] A brief but dense instrumental piece, loads of stuff including piano, acoustic guitar, tambourine, some light wind instrumentation, light drums, and so forth layer together nicely to present an nicely paced and upbeat setting. With school wrapping up and the summer in swing, this logically picked up 2nd place for Song of the Week, Week #24. Asuka Sakai - "Ark Ver.1" [Klonoa of the Wind 2 ~Something Forgotten Wished by the World~ OST] I've got no idea what Klonoa of the Wind is, but if you're interested in hearing a track that's potentially mistakable for something from Phantasy Star Online done by one of the individuals responsible for the Katamari Damacy soundtrack (i.e. the loungy Engrished love song "Que Sera Sera"), then the 3rd place finisher for Song of the Week, Week #24 has got your name all over it. PICK OF THE WEEK: Binster - "Closed-Eyed Astronomy" [http://www.abandonedsheep.com] - Feedback Everything Martin makes is gold, so whenever he makes any type of release, be it VG-related or not, you ought give it a try. Mr. Binfield's had some prior sweetness with colleague RickBRF and their Fire Escape Mix of Trademark's "Burn". Sampling Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", this one tricks out that track with some stylish synths and hot beats. Beautiful and loopable, this is one you can easily show off to an 80s fan just to see if they'll bite. Induce the sunshine condition in others today. Blue Magic - Chrono Cross "A Warrior's Path" [VGMix2 #4067] Technically not a very unique name for a remix, but well-done nonetheless. The strings were a bit plain and inhuman sounding, but the atmosphere was pretty good. Damon's come a long way since his earlier days in the community. Noting the revisions he's done to his mixes between posting them to VGMix and subbing them to OCR, I'm confident that this one has what it takes to be Blue Magic's third mix. Needs a bit of refinement, but certainly worth checking out in its current form. chthonic - Zelda: Link's Awakening & Megaman 2 "It's My Turn to Dream" [VGMix2 #4141] Everyone and their mother nowadays has been doing "Ballad of the Windfish" mixes, so much so that in this day and age of VG remixing, it's joined the ranks of the overmixed. But Ben decides to join the party with an electronic-based take on it that's a little different from the rest. Some of the synths and sounds are plain and generic, but the arrangement's got spirit, including MM2's "Metalman Stage" thrown in there for good measure, as well as some Middle Eastern motifs featuring some brief Zelda 3 & Zelda 64: The Ocarina of Time references. If you feel like dancing... Daniel Baranowsky - "Schema of a Lunar Creation" [http://www.therighteous.net] One of the perks of being on the panel is hearing the musical brainfarts of other judges when they have the inclination to cook stuff up. Here, Dan plays things incredibly abstract (also known at "What the FUCK?"), and truly shows off the outer limits of his range. It's not particularly musical, but then again neither are Top 40 radio stations. Beg Dan for a copy and see if you can handle the noise. DJ Orange - Final Fantasy 5 "Harvest Hoedown" [VGMix2 #3601 / OC ReMix #1352] There aren't too many cover-style mixes that I'd end up voting in favor of, simply because a conservative approach ends up not expanding the instrumentation of the source material enough, but Geoff's take here did the trick. I heard from some other people that they weren't feeling it. Grrr, they don't know jack! Most of the groups Geoff rattled off as influences went right over my head, but I'll tell you, I likes me some organ, I likes me some woodwinds, and I likes me some Orange. Actually, this reminded me a bit of A Clockwork Orange for no specific reason, particularly the intro. Well worth downloading for the offbeat flavor. Geoffrey Taucer, The Prophet of Mephisto & PriZm - Xenogears "A Star Freezes Over" [VGMix2 #3399] Indeed, this sounds like much like a slightly rougher version of The OneUps deciding to intermingle Xenogears with The Eagles' "Desperado" and actually would have made a good fit on OneUp Studios' Xenogears Light album with a bit more polish. The trio's collaborative efforts have certainly paid off with a very fresh spin on Mitsuda's "Gathering Stars in the Night Sky" that may need a glossier finish so-to-speak, but otherwise presents itself well. The concept certainly gets to the heart of what VGM arranging is all about, with some stylish mainstream material thrown into the mix as well. goat - Final Fantasy 4 "The Sky Was Never A Limit" [VGMix2 #3462 / OC ReMix #1353] I haven't heard Chris go for a more orchestral-based remix since his Kid Icarus-inspired "Slice of Heaven", so this was a welcome change of pace from the rock I'm normally used to. Even goats look for love, and what better way to woo the lady goats that with a rock ballad, this one done to FF4's version of the Prelude. The orchestration was a weak point in terms of realism at times, but the performance there is nonetheless well done and the arrangement was some of the nicest I've ever heard when it comes to FF and is sure to make the bitch in you cry for either your girlfriend or (you lonely ones) for your attractive female friend who loves you like a brother. If you've heard many of goat's Dwelling of Duels entries, you know that Chris is a guy who has no problem making a very lengthy track. Clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, you'll never get bored with it. It may not be Valentine's Day anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't stop wooing, playboy. Let a goat help you find love. This is way better than a Hallmark card. Joker - Resident Evil 2 "The Corporate Office" [VGMix2 #4145] Tackling RE2's "Safe Place", David offers this lo-fi style piece that retains the spooky atmosphere of the original while adding more depth to the instrumentation. The production sounds a bit rough, which may have been purposeful in creating a haunting feel, but tends to only mud the track. The instrumentation as well is fairly minimalist, but it works well for this type of style where the mood is the focus. The drums felt a bit out of place, but the strings, wind SFX, and piano were right at home here. It could use a great deal more sharpness, but it's certainly one to check if you're a Res Evil fan. Joker's one to pay attention to in the future as his skills continue to develop. Ichitootah - "The Shoguns Jukebox" [Original Remix Competition 21] Sadorf - "Pretzel's Challenge" [Original Remix Competition 21] This special edition of ORC featured remixes of an older original piece by djpretzel, "A Challenge to the Shogunate", with Ichi and Sadorf sharing the victory. Both pieces sounded more in the WIP stage of things, but you can check out both in order to hear the two square off as Ichi brings an synthetic ethnic flavor while Sadorf trances the source material up, both prominently featuring piano. The co-winners will be selecting the material for ORC22. Ichitootah - Bermuda Syndrome & Golden Sun "Ichitootrance" [The People's Remix Competition v2-16] TO - Bermuda Syndrome & Golden Sun "Uranian Ballet" [The People Remix Competition v2-16] As PRC head Kamoh called it, "too many ties". TO & Ichitootah bang heads with their co-winning tracks covering , with Ichi doing a piano and vox accentuated trance mix, while TO went for a slower, more refined orchestral piece. Too bad I didn't vote on this one to break up the tie. If y'all ever get into a tie over there at PRC, ask me to make a tie-break vote. I'LL fix things for ya. The Larry's Remix Competition. I like the sound of that. Krispy - Halo 1 & Halo 2 "Insurrection" [VGMix2 #3700 / OC ReMix #1354] Kris hasn't been around for way too long in terms of having material at OCR, so after getting fairly close with some DKC Aquatic Ambience material a little while back, the Halo touch was what was needed to get Krispy back in the spotlight. I personally felt that the arrangement here didn't distinguish itself enough from the source, but there are nonetheless some exquisite Middle Eastern motifs in the mix here. Those of you out there in the community who are conservative and love arrangements that "stay true to the original" will be all about it here with a sweet rendition of one of the newer tracks in VGM that frequently gets mixed, the Halo theme. Nixdorux - Super CastleVania 4 "Lord Dracula" [VGMix2 #4176] Nicolas goes for an ambient orchestral first half in this moody CV4 mix, before switching gears to strings and an organ on cameo in this track representing the entrance of the ambiguous & complex Lord Dracula. Quite the interesting representation of Dracula, as it doesn't go for a cliche attempt at sounding sinister and evil, rather Nix takes a more refined stab at the source material. Soild work per the usual from Nicolas, who shows a good deal of range within the orchestral genre for those of you familiar with his body of work. The OneUps - Secret of Mana "Secret of the Forest" [http://www.oneupstudios.com/oum.php] - Feedback Perfomed live at Scarapino's as part of their most recent jazz set, here's a rare glimpse of the The OneUps in their element as Mustin and crew make the push to get the groups name out there and expose Joe Blow & Jane Q. Public to the creative wonders and booty shaking fun of video game music. This one is quite a hefty download for those of you of the dial-up persuasion (78.41MB), but I scored this vid along with others provided by Jessperk anyway, because you know you expect some quality arrangement highlighted by improved solos and great energy. Since these guys aim to make it big, be sure you can say you supported them first by checking out these performances. OverCoat - Tales of Phantasia "Payne's Gray Forest" [VGMix2 #4137] Quite the interesting opening here in Scott Porter's latest mix, 59 seconds of off-kilter ambience that you're either going to love or hate. I personally found it very relaxing, though I'm biased being a big proponent of OverCoat's style. Some wind instruments and beats joined in a minute into the track to help establish the pacing and demeanor of the mix, typical of most of Scott's ambient, groove-based offerings. It's murky. It's eerie. It's got a nice unique atmosphere. That's OverCoat. Quinn Fox - "The Iron Leaf" [Fitz Warine] - Feedback Check out Quinn's familiar style with some acoustic guitar sampling, piano and electro-kwakery at the forefront with this original from his in progress album Fitz Warine. The last section is a bit cluttered, but this is very cool stuff for those of you familiar with Quinn's OCR & VGMix collection of mixes. It's not often that you get to hear Quinn release original material, so the opportunity is yours to see what Quinn can do if you're not familiar with his recent work or his originals. When he's gonna host "Dayspender" again, dammit? I cry now. Richter - StarFox 1 "Xector Point" [The People's Remix Competition v2-11 / VGMix2 #4157] Pretty straightforward adaptation of Sector X into basic trance along with some spacey overtones. The sounds were fairly generic and thin, and the atmosphere was sparse, but the ideas had promise. The mix was only turned out in a few days for the duration of the PRCv2-11 mixing phase, so it's too bad Matt won't dedicate more time to making improvements on it. There's not nearly enough StarFox coverage out there, though I'm aware of someone else working on something. I keep my mouth shut. Roetaka - Megaman 2 "A Warmer Farewell" [VGMix2 #4129] The atmosphere is a bit muddy and some of the chords sounded odd, but this was a pretty interesting arrangement of MM2's ending theme. Alex definitely put together an unorthodox approach in arranging it, so much so that I can honestly say it'll both put some people off and leave others struggling to make the connection to the source at times. The track dragged on a little bit throughout the last minute on account of the backing beats simply repeating themselves, but the assessment of how well the arrangement here was pulled off is not necessarily mine to make. Alex is certainly a non-OC ReMixer to keep your eye on as he's been improving his skills gradually. Roetaka - "Calling Your Long Lost Heart" [http://www.soundclick.com/roetaka] - Feedback Alex goes for a nice hybrid approach filled out with backing strings, piano, and a steel stringed guitar in an original piece that's pretty cluttered on the production side but is nonetheless fairly solid compositionally. Roetaka has a tendency to make pieces that would sound better if they were condensed, but a good job is done creating dynamic contrast and flow overall. Like I say, he's one to watch on the developmental level, and focusing on original compositions is one way to steadily improve an artist's hand as it translates to the remixing scene. I think you'll like a good deal of the ideas here, fair listeners. Star Salzman - Final Fantasy 6 "Shut the Fuck Up" [VGMix2 #4136] Star Salzman's not to be fucked with with this ROFL rap remix of FF6's Opening Theme with some hot vocal processing and over-the-top lyrics, as Star does his best impressions of a number of mainstream rap styles (Bone Thugs 'N Harmony, NICE)! Hahahaha! "Star Salzman...comin' at ya!" Icy Hot Stuntaz beware. Ain't much arrangement substance here, but cruise with this one blarin' out yo lowrider and tell them bitches to SHUT THE FUCK UP! And with that, it's time to shut the fuck up on this batch of stuff. As per the usual summer bidniss, please feel free to leave comments, and I hope you enjoy.

Post comments preferably through Ormgas.com! And with another summer in tow, we herald the return of the VG Frequency Pimp Sections, where I spotlight the goods in community music releases for all the people out there who are interested in seeing what the VG remix community has to offer but are too lazy to click every which place. These columns always took awhile last year, but I was even able to balance my newly-acquired judgeship with this, so I think we'll manage. As for VG Frequency the radio show, the last 10 episodes will all be worked on once I get a hold of a WAV editing program from my backup man from the other side of the ocean, Roland "Compyfox" Löhlbach. They'll come along slowly but surely once I get some editing stuff to work with. 3 of the back episodes are actually ready to go, but I'll need to use a highspeed connection to host the material, so I'll probably swing by Yale Library. Stick around for updates on the future of the show, if in fact I'll be doing something with it again after late August rolls around. In the meantime, send me money, plz. ($$$) Aight, let's get into the musiczs bros. You've got a lot of stuff to check out for the week ending May 14th. Maxis - "Pop Station - Track 4" [The Sims 2 (PC Game Rip)] The winning track for Song of the Week, Week #23, this was a pretty energetic offering courtesy of a game series I've never played, The Sims. I'd go for SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000 or SimCity 4 any day of the week, but I'll admit I was surprised that The Sims itself had a soundtrack like this. Don't be fooled by "Pop Station" in the title. You won't hear any Top 40 style material here, so give this one a look. Shigeku Hayashi - "L Map (General)" [Tengai Makyo II Manjimaru OST] Quite the cute and quaint vibe on this one, if you're into music with a festive vibe and lots of pizzicato string action. The 2nd place track in Song of the Week, Week #23, it's a nice composition featuring a small orchestra from a game that probably involves cute animals and so forth running around. Here, you CAN judge a book by it's cover. /grin Jiro Okada & bosque aroma - "Koroku's Theme" [Genso Suikoden III Music Collection ~Rustling of the Wind~ AST] If you want some quality Weather Channel style jazz, you've gotta pick up the 3rd place finisher in Kaleb Grace's Song of the Week competition for Week #23. Reminds me a bit of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and whoever plays the sax in there, but if you know anyone who performs in this style you'll be able to rattle off some bands. In any case, very catchy arranged material that you'll hopefully pass along to a friend. Will they be able to tell it's VGM? Of course not. Be a proud video game music ambassador and change some minds with this catchy cut. Ailsean - Dragon Warrior 3 "Dragon Dreams" [VGMix2 #4086] The winning track in the Dwelling of Duels: Dragon Warrior competition, this one narrowly (i.e. by only 1 point) beat out Ryan8Bit's "A Legend is Born" to take the victory. Short but sweet, this is some of Sean's nicest material in a while, and a true treat for any of y'all who miss his contributions to OCR. The VGMix version has some further tweaks and improvements compared to the DoD version, making it a must-download for any fans of VG guitar rock or the wookie specifically. Carbunk1e - Count Duckula "Psyduckula" [Anime Remix #58] That Vincent Price intro brings back tons of good memories. Matt gives ya some sweet technoduckula style with this techno take on the Duckula theme song. Who knew old Nickelodeon could be dusted off and given this type of hot overhaul. Some of the sounds are a bit stock sounding, but everything was put together excellently, making this one to DL and shake the booty too. This one managed to take 2nd place to analoq's "duckypoos" back in The People's Remix Competition: Animation Halloween 2004 and makes me wants those guys to bring that compo back full-force. C'mon y'all, I've got to hear someone break off some remixes of Looney Tunes scores. In the mean time, you definitely can't go wrong with the solid groove of my man Crunk1e. Christian Pacaud - Baldur's Gate "Child of the Murder God" [VGMix2 #4108] Christian's great in that he can hit you with the rock or woo you with the 88 keys. Here he opts for the latter with a lush, emotive solo piano arrangement from Baldur's Gate, a soundtrack which it looks like I'll need to check out for myself. Looking at the title, I'm more inclined to think of something like Akuma from Street Fighter rather than this. Especially in the latter half though, the performance conveys the drama and energy to suggest that the title isn't a misnomer. Enchanting work from Christian, who I can't wait to see bring his piano skills to OCR as well. Darangen - "Exodus" [http://www.darangen.com] - Feedback Darangen decided to showcase an older original track of his. While the production is pretty bad, this 6 year old track was nonetheless a creative precursor to Mike's soon-to-be-posted Final Fantasy 6 remix "Deadly Promises". Hearing this older piece only makes me appreciate the skill with which it was woven into what is in my opinion the best "Terra" mix ever made. One to check out for the curiosity factor, go ahead and give it that look. PICK OF THE WEEK: DCT & Just Us - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Memories Frozen in Time" [OC ReMix #1350] Hip-hop & rap need more coverage in the community, and DCT's always been working hard towards pimping those genres in the hopes of turning around some of the biased, the ignorant, the people that are straight-up Haterade. The obvious comparisons to Eminem's lyrical style in "Mockingbird" have been made, but aside from that, the IceCap Zone theme has been given the rap instrumental treatment, and it's managed to in fact get the props from some people that normally wouldn't be fans of rap mixes. This should be one that has appeal to both the rap familiar along with the uninitiated, which makes it a got-to-have-it. DigiE - Appleseed "Bringing Home the Appleseed" [Anime Remix #61] I'm not much of an anime fan to be honest, but I do watch some and I've liked a handful, including Appleseed, which had one of the funniest dubbed scenes I've ever scene in any cartoon [a terrorist yelling "Eat It!", and only ending up getting shot by a police sniper]. In any case, DigiE, otherwise known at Section III Studios around these parts initially opened up this mix with some synth orchestral work that eventually gave way to a techno/orchestral hybrid track that possessed some good momentum. The atmosphere is a bit tense here once things get underway, but could have used a bit more energy and realism for the orchestral work. Certainly a great track to give you an idea of what some of the material at Anime Remix generally brings, so check out what Genesis & Nemesis have put together here. Ellywu - "Frog's Intervention" [Chrono Symphonic / VGMix2 #4085] Chris goes for yet another cinematic-style orchestration, this one exhibiting some good dynamics and interesting ideas. Frog's theme doesn't make its way into the picture until the track's about 90 seconds underway, but with over 5 minutes of material, there's more than enough time for that kind of build. Pretty nice execution overall, this certainly worked in weaving Frog's theme with a Harry Gregson-Williams like cinematic upgrade. That's almost a cliché of sorts in the community, but the performance certainly brings those types of analogies to mind. It doesn't take much to entice a download where Chrono Trigger is concerned, but for any stragglers should check out this offering from Claddou Shou's titanic effort to score the soundtrack of the would-be Chrono Trigger: The Movie. GaMeBoX - Metroid 1 "Drifting in a Kelp Sea" [VGMix2 #4116] The atmosphere is a bit too murky to really appreciate everything this track has to offer, but this was a sexy ambient track featuring piano work to accentuate the very chilled setting. Some guitar work entered in about halfway to further add to an already seductious piece. It doesn't possess the refinement of Vigilante, who's own mellower offerings this one reminded me of, but GaMeBoX is a name not to pass up, as Steve'll be getting his name out there further, hoping making his mark on the ??? project. Gecko Yamori - Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun "Industroscout" [VGMix2 #4128] Aside from the usual material from Sonic CD & Streets of Rage, Gecko often tackles more eclectic games, including this take on Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. With some synth electric guitar taking the lead, this was a pretty thick, driving track that displays a slightly harder edge than previous work I've heard from Dan. Some impressive synth-driven licks around the 2-minute mark were a highlight as the track amped up the intensity even more in the second half. A little rough-sounding and overcompressed, I still liked the sheer power displayed here, so hook it up. Gwilym Wogan - "a 'mother's day,' if you will" [http://gwilym.vgmix.com] - Feedback Gwilym Wogan - "skull's dance" [http://gwilym.vgmix.com] - Feedback What the hell do you call Gwilym's style? I'm sure they're a name for it. The infamous creator of the eye-opening short album "the meinpenis zeitgeist" be back at ya with the quirkiest of kwakery courtesy of this double shot of tracks. I haven't played this track for my mom, but there's no doubt she'd either love it or ask me what the hell it was. "skull's dance" is an even shorter track that also revels in its off-kilter composition. The sounds are pretty simple, and the energy's great. When you're judging stuff for OCR, MIDIs tend to be the bane of existence, but in Gwilym's hands, they're the deadliest of weapons. I could listen to Gwilym's or fellow VGMix staffer smh's material for quite a while. Don't miss out. housethegrate - "Riven Dreams" [http://www.housethegrate.com] - Feedback First he was "Seized with Fury", now he's seized by the devil. Alexander Liss pimps out some relatively rare original material with this awesome death metal release. Though I wish they were a bit more in the forefront, the delivery on the vocals is awesome. The intensity is there, and house sounds evil as hell. Do I know what Alex is saying? Hell no. Do I care? Hell no, but you can find lyrics. Should you like? Hell yes! For those of you only familiar with remixes, the best track I could give you as a point of reference of this is Dennis Mott's own death metal OC ReMix, CastleVania 2 "Cursed Bloodline". But make no mistake about it, all death metal is not one and the same, so head over to the Minibosses's forums over at TheShizz.org and see if you can pry some details out of house on what artists inspired the guttural rampage of "Riven Dreams". Ichitootah - The New Ghostbusters 2 "A Violin and a Vacuum Cleaner" [The People Remix Competition v2-15] Nasenmann - The New Ghostbusters 2 "Gathering of the Ancient Noses" [The People Remix Competition v2-15] After TO shit on the very brief source material chosen for PRCv2-15, Ichitootah took it upon himself to make a substantially good mix and emerged with the shared victory in the competition with his very well put together orchestral take. Pretty creative stuff that did a lot with a little. Not to be outdone, Nasenmann had an engaging entry of his own with ambient foundations and loads of little sounds here and there as well as some ethnic percussion and wind instruments. Both genuinely well done entries that would be difficult to judge against each other on anything but subjective terms. Get them both and see what they have to offer. Jeremy Robson - Neon Genesis Evangelion "Rei IV" [Anime Remix #60] Oooooh. Sil rhymes with skill, so be sure to check out Sil's (i.e. Jeremy Robson's) gentle orchestral work in this formative Neon Genesis mix. I was in fact waiting for a big swell of some sort within the arrangement here, and indeed the mood started turning darker and more tense around the 2:45 mark, keeping things interesting and taking the track in a slightly different direction while ultimately not varying up the arrangement of the melody itself too drastically. Why are you reading this still? Get out my face and grabz it before you forget. Fans of Jeremy's OC ReMix material won't be disappointed by any means. Joshua Morse - Double Dragon 3 "J! Groove" [OC ReMix #1351] So it is not often that I have to mea culpa on judging votes, but when I first voted on J! Groove, I ended up using the older version of the track released on VGMix, when I couldn't get the submitted version, assuming that they were one and the same, resulting in a NO vote from me. But compared to the original version of J! Groove, the track was incredibly filled out and biasing me with the groove, as is true with all OCR judges. The pizzicato strings, thick beats and Asian-style instrumentation are only some of the strengths awaiting you if you have yet to check this one out. It's great to see Joshua submitting material OC's way again, and great to see him tackling one of the overlooked soundtracks in the Double Dragon series. DD3 in particular has some catchy material that was looking to be spotlighted. Just Us - "As the World Turns" [http://www.urbanizmmusic.com] Those who enjoyed N00dle's lyrics in the recent Sonic 3 OC ReMix "Memories Frozen in Time" will enjoy the full ensemble of Just Us bringing it here in their latest Urbanizm Music release. Featuring a relaxing e-piano and some claps as the foundation of the track, this is another effort featuring personalized, rapid-fire lyrics delivered with equals amounts of heart & precision. I think the claps could be ditched in favor of something with more texture, but aside from that, get your dose of hip-hop flavor courtesy of DCT and Urbanizm Music's hottest group. Larsec f/Nina Luna - Comic Bakery "Lunar Bakery" [R:K:O #2666] Lars has been someone I've been hoping to see posted at OC ReMix for a while. Frankly the only formality involved in getting there is Lars actually submitting some of his material. Those of you following the shamelessly but proudly stolen concept that is the OCR Idol contest may have heard an earlier cut of this track in Round 1. Here Larsec is joined by the breathy vocals on Nina Luna who definitely adds a nice touch to the synth rock take on the classic Comic Bakery theme by Martin Galway. The second half takes an unexpected turn as the tempo increases. The execution is nothing that can't be done better by actual live instrumentation, but the effort and arrangement are definitely admirable. It's always good seeing one of the top names in the C64 scene stopping by to showcase his works-in-progress around these parts. Swing by Remix.Kwed.Org to experience the now-completed version. Makke - Madballs "You Told Me They Were Vitamins Mix" [VGMix2 #4098 / R:K:O #2664] Man, I've got no idea what the hell's going on. "You told me they were vitamins but you lied." Anything else I could try to add would truly be unnecessary. Malcos - "Distracting Me" [http://www.urbanizmmusic.com] Stephen Malcolm-Howell throws a new original cut over at Urbanizm with some fairly basic beats, e-piano and a touch of pizzicato strings all providing the instrumentation to compliment some of his best lyrical work yet. The production's a bit muffled, so I'd like to hear a remaster, but damn, I'm still waiting for Stephen to send an OC ReMix with his awesome vocals as part of the package (i.e. a resubmission of "Throw Me a Tiger Uppercut"). Anyone unaware of Malcos's vocals talents better scoop up every Urbanizm track of his, as he's got tons of bona fide R&B style hits you can snag. This one great, so don't procrastinate on educating yourself on the versatility of one of OC's old-school legends. mDuo13 & OverCoat - Hellsing "Secret Salsa Serenade" [Anime Remix #59] AWESOME! Salsa that shit DOWN with mDuo13 & OverCoat and this cool-as-hell interpretation of an otherwise macabre and darkly-themed anime, Hellsing. If there's one thing the remix community at large doesn't have enough of, it's salsa. Please keep salsa-ing us foreve, bros. At over 5 minutes the potential was there for the track to get boring, but my salsa bias WILL HAVE NONE OF IT! This is my underdog track here, y'all. If you're wanting something that's not run of the mill, go for the hot & chunky Secret Salsa Serenade, and pass me some enchiladas. Rexy - Super Metroid "White Bounty" [VGMix2 #4100] Bev Wooff follows in the footsteps of other Metroid solo piano pieces like Noir's "Violent Ivory in Lower Norfair" with her own piece, which had a nice bit on anticipation for it at VGMix. White Bounty is what most of us black men are after, but even if you're not of the ebony persuasion and can't find yo'self some ladies...uh...wrong conclusion. In all seriousness, what you've got here is a lengthy yet spirited piece that's a bit sparse at times but also has a nice delicate texture to it. Some of the left-hand activity could be more intricate, but I'm not an authority on that by any means. I couldn't help but feeling that the source material was given a touch of class here that makes it more accessible to the peeps out there. Well worth giving that listen. Romeo Knight - "Future Shock" [R:K:O #2667] Moving onto one of the more recent top names in the Commodore remixing scene, here we have an interesting electronic mix that's combined with an almost surf-style electric guitar synth. This one could honestly fit in more of an upbeat racing game context, so I really was feeling the style here. The mix title is almost a bit of a misnomer, as one thinks of upbeat, space style material, most likely characterized but fast-paced straight-up electronica. Quite the unexpected twist here, don't judge a book by it's cover here and instead judge it for yourself. A welcome surprise and another solid hit from Romeo. Sefiros - Silent Hill 2 "Nightmares" [VGMix2 #4102] Bryan turns some initially unintentional-sounding distortion into an integral element of this darkly-themed spin on the already dark Silent Hill series. Some simple drumwork entered the picture about 90 seconds in, and it'll either make or break the piece for most, but stick with it if you feel the flow was broken up. The piece doesn't circle back to that, but rather goes for a spastic burst of distorted synths before settling down into a more melodic note progression. Not simply scary by assaulting you with volume, this one went for a different approach that I could only speculate on. Trying to guess the imagery conveyed here would be pretty pretentious, wouldn't it? Give it a go, and ask the man himself afterward. Sonic Wanderer - "Noisy Pillars (Euro-4-Sure Mix)" [R:K:O #2656] Going for more of a staple European techno sound, Sonic Wanderer has this mix from an original by Jeroen Tel. For a judge like me that's nothing but groove-biased, the potential of the groove is certainly fulfilled here. Around the 1:50 mark, the sounds are briefly beefed out to groove you even more. What more could you need in order to shake yo' ass. Solid stuff from the, who's been making a name for himself on the Commodore 64 scene as well. TO - Doom 2 "Hells Marshal" [VGMix2 #4110] The Orichalcon's always got a spare minute to tackle anything Doom-related. Here's a piano, beat, and distorted synth-driven take on Map 30 of Doom 2, which features some ominous chords, appropriate SFX. The distorted synth lead is bound to turn off a number of people, but hey, Lee's not making the music for the HATERS! I kid, I kid. It's simply your call on what you like. This one's pretty minimalist & straightforward if you're indeed down with that proposition. tycho - Marathon 1 "New Pacific (Reprise)" [VGMix2 #4112] Craig Hardgrove's been pretty busy attempting to arrange most of the Marathon soundtrack. Back in the day Marathon was basically THE computer of the mid-90s, and it definitely doesn't get enough coverage in the scene. As far as the soundtrack goes, I'd say it's almost not even a blip on the radar, which makes it all the more important to see what's up with tycho's take on "New Pacific". As a conservative arrangement, you'll really be feeling the expansive approach Craig took here. Very laid-back and ambient yet beat-driven and funky at the same time, this one very likely won't do you wrong. X-formZ (Dimmignatt & Floaf) - The Great Giana Sisters "They Are Punks and They Are Back" [VGMix2 #4133] One soundtrack I haven't familiarized myself with that I should have is Chris Hülsbeck's Great Giana Sisters C64 score. X-formZ accompanies the SIDtune goodness of the original with some excellent additive guitar work, percussion & synth work. The whole package is actually pretty impressive. Those looking for a fast-paced with lots of momentum need to start this week's downloads with this one right here. The ending is the only downside, as it comes too suddenly, but that's a minor issue for an otherwise rocking arrangement representing the European side of the community. zykO - Sonic the Hedgehog 1 "marblez in your mouf" [VGMix2 #4105] Short and sweet, proud-papa weed lays down the Marble Zone in his gritty guitar style. Derived from an earlier sketch type piece done in a much quieter style, this one expands the ideas much further and gives it the true rearrangement overhaul. If you're familiar with zykO's style, you should know what to expect. This track of his is probably not for beginners, i.e. it's not overly accessible. But if you're not daunted by prospects of encountering the eclectic (referred to by some others as "weird guitar shit"), you'll have no problem eating up weed's latest. zykO - "Perch" [A New Set of Eyes] - Feedback "One more take... Take 2." With an intro reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, zyko drops the first single from his latest album project "A New Set of Eyes" inspired by the birth of his daughter (the cutest baby ever) Eileen Isabelle. I've always been a fan of weed's rock ballads as they're full of power in the performance and emotion in the delivery. It doesn't get more real than the material of the zykomunky here in this excellently put together piece marking a watershed moment in weed's life. What a cute baby! Yeesh. Lot of tracks, bros (and sisters). Pray for me to catch up soon on everything, this stuff included. Lemme know what ya like.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/riverc~1.zip - Track 2 Wanted to love this one, cuz many of the arrangement ideas are hot, and I liked the time signature change. The distorted synth on the intro may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I was feelin' it. At :23 things picked up, and I was just getting too much volume and clashing among the sounds during the loudest parts. At :55 when the melody finally came in, everything was just too loud and grating. Pull back the volume; it doesn't have to get that loud at all. The voice clips starting at 1:34 were REALLY tacky, mostly because the timing on them didn't really synch up that nicely with the music, though I liked how you used that last clip at 1:49. THAT was a very stylish idea as a transition into the next section. 1:51 was just TOO LOUD. TOO LOUD, bro. These levels are nasty and just make your sounds too grating and abrasive. The section starting at 2:22 was fairly uninteresting, but I liked some of the arrangement ideas at 2:38 (even if the percussion up until 3:06 could have packed more punch). The distorted guitar synth entering in at 3:09 was a terrible sample and sounded very muddy. Whenever that sample was in play, the atmosphere sounded a bit muffled. We got guitar action until around 3:56, though I felt that section didn't work too well. Getting to the 4-minute mark, the track was really dragging out too long. Not a new problem, but pretty much everything after 4:12 was too loud and all of the sounds cluttered together. Cut the fat off this or at least refine some of the more aimless-sounding sections (e.g. 1:31-1:50, 3:09-3:57). You've got some really hot shit in here on the arrangement side for some of these parts though. For example, from :39-:54, that buildup was really creative and fairly well executed. Lots of potential here, and I realize the style is purposefully dirty, but the mixing was too sloppy and the composition dragged on. Looking forward to zircon & analoq's takes on this. Definitely don't give up on this one, David, as I really think it has a shot with some more attention on the arrangement and production, and pulling back the volume so that it doesn't break my ears during the busier parts. I feel like it needs a significant amount of work to get it where it needs to be, but that more work on it could nonetheless turn this around. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Undersea Palace" (ct-3-08.spc) About :30 in and I'm not feeling much to this beyond changing the instruments and adding some loud percussion. The sounds mudded together and the production was poor. The strings, e-piano and winds all needed work. I liked some of the swirly/ambient-ish sounds goin' on here. Honestly, this wasn't a bad go at attempting a straightforward arrangement, but the execution was sloppy. The track basically looped at 2:27, as there was nothing particularly different about the source arrangement the second go-around. Gotta be more interpretive or expansive with the arrangement, and hit the ReMixing forum for more work on separation of sounds, avoiding clipping, and other fundamentals. Use the WIP forum for more feedback and criticism before future submissions. NO

From: Jivemaster To: Liontamer Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:26 am Subject: Mix awaiting judgement - Sonic & Knuckles 'Lava Reach' EDIT: Joel's decided to wait on the rest of y'all, but let's get going with the remaining votes please.

I heard back from Chris in case the cut-out during the fade was unintentional, but he said it was a purposeful choice. There you go y'all, no more mystery! Looking for more votes, bros.

Pretty skillful stuff adapting this to trance, and GOOD trance at that, as I've heard too many shitty trance subs in my time on the panel. Played this one back on VGF57 and having now heard the source (thanks by the way to Robbie for mailing that to me before this hit the panel), I was impressed again by what 'Jo brought to the table. This had a slightly stock trance sort of feel, but the sounds/samples were used very effectively, the production was solid, and the arrangement was oh-so-sweet, including some brief but well-created lyrics, and tasty vocoder effects. In particular, the effects on "I'm flying alone. Don't cry, or i'll never get home" were very stylish. Nice instrumental section at 1:50, followed by that reversed conversation idea around 2:06, which was a great move in salvaging an otherwise detrimental idea. That lead at 2:24 was a little too shrill for my tastes, and I felt something else could have meshed a bit better, but that's a fairly subjective gripe. The ending was a perfect fit from a personal standpoint. Thanks for elaborating on the inspiration behind the idea there. I've had nothing major to criticize, and this was cool stuff for a remix from such an obscure game. I'll admit, I didn't expect such awesome stuff from Robbie based on his Eternal Champions rejection from way back when. I knew he'd make it here, but at the same time I didn't think he'd be bringing the goods so consistently this soon and this impressively. Solid stuff per the usual, Robbie. You've become an incredibly reliable name as far as I'm concerned, and I definitely look forward to whatever you have coming up next here, which looks like Jazz Jackrabbit "Have You Ever? (Down in Medivo)". YES

Thanks very much for the heads up on TerraTripMachine. It's definitely something we'll make sure to look into based on your information. http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Ys4_psf2.rar - "Field" (PSX Version) Decent ideas on the arrangement front, but the harmonized pianos were robotically sequenced and sparse-sounding. Very plodding track at the 2:35 mark as the composition retread itself. The harmonization had another layer of activity going on with the strings, but other than that, it was slim pickings on creativity here. Repeats at 3:19. Production was rather sloppy as many of the instruments mushed together. I liked the two pianos breaking the monotony of the previous repetitive material at 4:30, but they themselves were just a retread of the intro. Needlessly long, sparsely constructed, repetitive, and boring. That's what NOs are made of.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/starfox.rsn - "Boss (Titania)" [sf-23.spc] Yeah, I remember this source tune back from IMC4. Was definitely not feeling the sudden intro of rapid-fire hats, thumps and muddy-as-hell shredding that all burst into the picture at :22. Needlessly loud, cluttered, and messy mixing, IMO. A lesser man's ears would have been hurting pretty bad. The compostion of the percussion break section from 1:13-1:29 was incredibly boring and killed much of the momentum in the attempt to create dynamic contrast. Decent genre adaptation, I suppose, since I did hear some rearrangement ideas particularly in the support work rather than the lead melody itself, but more interpretation of the source material would be beneficial. I thought the idea for the ending at 2:16 was pretty cool though. You say you're not aware of the subtleties in making a well-mastered mix? Well, head over to the ReMixing forum and start reading eagerly. Good luck futhering your improvement, bro. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff3.zip - Track 17 Hoooo boy, that's some excessively loud stuff there! Wow, dial the volume down, homey. The drums were alright, though the lead was very robotically sequenced, as well as the vox. Definitely some poor separation of sounds, as the drums, vox, strings, and so forth all mushed together. The track looped at 1:35. The production was a mess, the timing and tempo were exactly the same as the original indicating MIDI/NSF rippage, and the arrangement was conservative, repetitive, and vastly undeveloped at a mere 2:28-long. You basically swapped instruments here for both the the lead and the harmony and then added a marching drumbeat (it did fit here though, to your credit). I won't quite NO Override, because you at least attempted to genuinely expand upon the original with some of the new instrumentation involved, but it's still a NO.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/gunsmoke.zip - Track 2 Well, I appreciate the conservative genre adaptation here, I suppose. Not too much was done beyond some rhythmic alteration of the source tune, so I wasn't feeling the lack of interpretation here. The synths were pretty basic and the atmosphere was a bit too muddy. There was a glassy-sounding, almost flute-like synth on support that was completely buried thanks to the cluttering created by the huge amount of reverb The composition basically looped at 2:06, and there's not much more for me to say beyond that. The most important aspect to address with future works is to work on arrangement creativity via further interpretation. Throw more unique and personal ideas into the picture. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/gd3.rsn - "Invitation" (gd3-03.spc) Decent intro up until the source tune was brought in with a generic electrosynth at :58. The beatwork was fairly plain and didn't drive the mix forward at all. The claps in particular sounded pasted on top of the music and didn't mess well. Some of your sounds probably need some individual EQing tweaks to create some separation; everything sounded cluttered together and muddy. Without all the reverb here though, you'd be left with not a lot of elements in play; I don't like how the reverb was used to mask an otherwise thin combination of sounds. The source started up again at 1:57 with an additive supporting synth, but that wasn't really enough in terms of interpreting the theme. I appreciated the piano arriving at 2:23 but felt that more rearrangement of the actual source tune melody was needed. Nonetheless, some of the piano sections were particular creative on the composition side, even if the sample itself sounded generic and robotically sequenced. Some good ideas in the second half, but this was a relatively underdeveloped mix to me. Play around with the actual Invitation melody more if possible, check out the ReMixing forum for some advice on tightening up the production, and run your work by the WIP forum in order to get more feedback before submitting. Harmony will have some great suggestions on things you could do with this. Some potential here. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 19 The intro until :22 fooled me into thinking that this approach would be different. Too loud, relies on drumloops for the dNb hawtness, and take no liberties with the melody whatsoever. The track was also cluttered mess and desperately needed some separation of sounds. Cool for the MM2 fan who likes any mix from the game, but otherwise, you gotta be more. I didn't hate it, but from a standards and guidelines perspective, this "cover + drumloop" approach wasn't bringin' it. It does for "BigViolationWestBristol", but not for this. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 405 "Compression of Time" I'm generally gonna come down against generic sounding electronica. There was a modicum of work done to create some atmosphere to the track, but a lot of the synths were nonetheless a bit thin. Unlike most of the crappy trance style subs we get, the synths weren't too exposed. Still, some brief parts were too bare, like from 1:20-1:33. Really dislike VERY generic transitions like the overused cymbal shots and kicks from 1:27-1:33. There were some decent arrangement ideas though, particularly the composition of the keyboard-driven sections, which I hope other Js agree with on some level, though I felt the arrangement still could have been more interpretive beyond transposing it to the trance genre and applying some rhythmic alterations. Some of the more interpretive ideas, were good, but the composition as a whole simply retread itself at 2:27, which was a hit against this since it was only 3:25. Not sure it could be brought up to a passable level, honestly, but I wouldn't mind seeing you try for a resubmission, because I liked the potential here. NO (resubmit)

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 107 "Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World" Pretty much the original on strings, followed a synth lead with rhymthic alterations joined in. There were also some kicks and claps that sound pasted on. Not much in the way of anything truly driving the track forward or making the arrangement interesting unfortunately. A harp was used at 1:38, but I still didn't hear any particularly interpretive compositional ideas until 1:53, and that was a only brief respite until the compositional ideas basically looped at 2:06. Not bad for a first effort back in the day I suppose, but it would need a lot more creativity with the arrangement and the rhythms here. NO

Which was that? Ah come on, Spacebeam was the hotness. Jesse and I are gonna walk down the streets of Boston again singing that shit. "JEAH!"

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Opening Theme (part 2)" (ff6-101b.spc) I thought this was hilarious. I know not everyone's gonna agree with the humor in this mix or the mocking reason it was made, in order to somehow diss DCT, which I think was a bad reason to make this mix in the frist place. Nonetheless, I thought this was a great parody of tons of gansta rappers. The Bone Thugs parody section in particular was great. How this somehow does a good job of dissing more serious and sincere rap efforts from DCT & Just Us is beyond me. It doesn't work on that level; the two mixes are apples and oranges, as far as I'm concerned. In any case, the arrangement was a disappointment, which is a shame. Pieces of part 2 of the "Opening Theme" are just used pretty straightforwardly with these synths here, and there's not much to the arrangement beyond that. So "Shut the the Fuck Up," what the fuck's up? Needs a lot more actual rearrangement instead of these minimalist near-verbatim synths. Trick the music portion of the mix out next time, Star. Not sure if this could even pass the unofficial "decency" test, as funny as I thought it was, but hey, unless the arrangement itself even gets up to par, it's nothing I'm really thinking over. ROFL as hell to me, but in terms of passing the arrangement guidelines, you're only fucking it up...fucking it up...fucking it up... NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/sonic.rar - 07 "Special Stage" The opening chimes sounded a bit too synthetic, but the slight delay at :10 along with more effects at :14 really thickened things up and made them sound more realistic. The strings joining in at :30 were way too thin in texture which made their synthetic sound a detriment. The cymbal shot at 1:01 as a transition was very poorly used also. The muffled drums used at from 1:22-1:31 left me scratching my head, but their return from 2:03-2:13 was even more awkward and disjointed. The bassline was nearly completely buried by mud and reverb, so while I like the ambiance, some elements could be a bit more clearly positioned. The arrangement had some rhythmical alterations to the source mostly, but had some potential. Could have developed the ideas a bit further, so keep working on this one, I'd say. Cool effort, bro. Wouldn't mind hearing analoq's opinions on this. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 219 "Gold Saucer" When those chimpmunk-esque samples came in, I literally said to myself, please don't be Liquid Neon. The sounds were generic trance synths, the track was sounded like it was clipping constantly. Hated the voiceclips used throughout here, including some chimpmunked-reggae clips. That didn't seal my vote, cuz I feel unorthodox ideas shouldn't be disqualified, but I'll admit I don't envision the day when we pass a mix with the chimpmunk effect. The overall texture was thin despite the number of elements in play. None of the sounds used had any power behind them except the drumloops you threw in. Some people may diss the arrangement here or say the track was too crazy, but I felt the DnB genre work was decent and the arrangement was fine. On the arrangement front, I definitely heard the connection throughout most of the track, so that wasn't a problem for me, but I'm not feeling the generic trance synths thrown in here. Every mix you make with those sounds will ultimately sound generic, so you need to work on synth design to take your work to the next level. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 120 "Still More Fighting" Nah. Sounded like a MIDI grade orchestration effort, with some of the instrument parts possibly taken verbatim from a MIDI. No effort put into humanization of stuff like the strings, winds, and even that misplaced saxophone. The sound quality was way below the bar, and the arrangement took little creative liberty with the source beyond tranposing it to orchestral. Sorry, but bleh. Don't send lazy efforts like this in the future. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkq.rsn - "Forest Interlude" (dkq-10.spc) Some of the ambiance and ethnic percussion work was cool, but the lead synths were disparately generic and unexpressive, sounding at times to be out of tune. The harp sample sounded fine (OMG, Giga!), but it was used robotically. There was a decent bit of arrangement in a few brief sections, but ultimately this wasn't interpretive enough by any means. Go for more creativity next time instead of basically surrounding a lousy lead with cool sounds that don't actually gel with it. Add birdcussion next time too, or the approach just doesn't work from the ground up. [/sarcasm] NO

The source material may also be used/revised in Dark Chronicle, but it's from Dark Cloud. Thanks.