Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Totally agreed with folks about the lack of full frequencies here. For me, if Parker was unable to redo this, I still think it's passable as is, even if it could be improved. Just noting that I relistened with the NOs in mind but am comfortable with my vote.

The beats and lead synth at :28 were on the bland/generic side, though the other stuff surrounding it was good. I thought the leads should have been more upfront compared to the percussion and guitar, but it's a stylistic thing, and the pumping until :54 created some nice dynamic contrast after it stopped. Really tepid beats at 1:12; where's the beef? I liked the beats from :54-1:12, but not from 1:11-1:29. Lots of cool glitching from 1:55-2:12; awesome dropoff here. Man, just underwhelming beats again at 2:13; it sounds like a WIP where the writing's laid down and it's awaiting the full & final production seasoning; too tame given the driving energy of the arrangement. There's some density, so it's not as if the beats aren't registering, I think they could still sound more spaciousness and give off a bigger energy. Would love to hear another pass at this with denser beats; hell, try going over the top with it, at least to try it out, then pull things back accordingly. The level of interpretation in the arrangement's obviously creative enough where I wouldn't say send this back, but the overall levels should be louder, I'm hearing where DarkSim was coming from there. More volume actually helps the dynamics of the arrangement shine through more. Nitpicks aside, Trevor, digging this a lot. You really took the melody and rode with it; lots of strong, varied ways of presenting it, with effective dynamic contrast throughout the piece. YES

Opened with some very fake-sounding orchestration. Strings entered in at :26 and to me it doesn't make sense that the beats are so much louder, or that the guitar chugs are so soft. Bowed strings at :57 sound super rigid, and the brass accents sounded flat. Man, everything about the first 90 minutes feels very work-in-progress, as in needing some sort of production touch ups to flesh out and humanize the sounds. The "Within the Giant" chorus on guitars at 1:42 sounds expressive and strong, even though the drumkit felt too subdued; I liked the subtle glassy/metallic accents in the background. 2:06 had a cameo of the FF7 battle theme before going back to "Within the Giant". Guitars from 2:52-3:13 were too loud and crowding out other instruments. Brass from 3:14-3:38 was a great concept, just a very exposed sample. It's a great arrangement, and the two sources piece together well; the writing & structure don't need to be touched. This doesn't need live players, but the sampled instrumentation's too exposed throughout, and this could benefit from some mixing tweaks. Perhaps other Js feel this is on the right side of the line, feel the samples are servicable enough, and/or would say YES when questioning what if the source files were gone. I think this sounds like a tremendous sketch where all the compositional components are in place but the final production refinements have yet to be put into place. If this doesn't make it as is, it's a very strong resubmission candidate. NO (resubmit)

Another case of a PsyNES track where there are piercing frequencies and the volume's loud, but I can move past it. I didn't hear the original version that got the form letter, though it's safe to say this is well beyond that level now. After the track ramps up and the melody kicks in at 1:19, the textures feel cluttered and busy for me, just not in enough of a way to hold this back. The arrangement's very vibrant and sprited, that's for certain. Good dropoff at 1:59 with a change in the sound of the leads and some different filtering effects and sweeping sounds to color things. 2:29 had different types of supporting instrumentation bouncing around underneath the melody to keep that presentation fresh. I couldn't get granular on how to rein in this mixing or make it sound less messy, but it's not a strong knock against this as much as it's saying there could be tweaks done to make this sound more cohesive. Solid reprise of the "Hard Man" melody for the final section at 3:25. Not sure what could have held this back, but I'm all aboard with this version for sure. Nice work revisiting this, Jari, and for having a don't-give-up attitude; it's paid off nicely with this one! YES

Definitely has some shrill sounds to open up, and then the pulsing beat is also too loud, IMO. I can look past it, even if it's too much. Interesting beats at 1:02. The bassline is arranging the Air Man melody, but it's mixed in a way where you can't hear the differing notes well enough, so, functionally, it doesn't really count; anyway, that was brief until the main melodic line arrived at 1:14. IMO, the mixing's needlessly abrasive with these saw leads, but not to a point where I'd reject this. Nice brief dropoff at 2:20. Not a melodious break section at 2:27; the writing could have been more melodious and more interesting, but it's not very long and the melody fades back in at 2:49 to pair together with it. 3:15 has some different original writing that briefly references the source until winding back with the main melody at 3:42. Very nice dropoff at 3:59 to ice the pads and leave some cleaner textures fronted by chiptune, which was an awesome changeup in the feel of the track. Nice job layering up the chiptune lines at 4:24-4:37 to fill things out before simplifying the textures again; VERY cool dynamic contrast for these final sections heading towards a ramp up for the finish. Heard the DD2 cameo again at 4:56, and I liked the subtle vox-like padding added in there as well. The mixing's not ideal, and I felt the writing of the 2:27 wasn't catchy, but those are two lesser issues within an overall strong arrangement. I could see some Js wanting another mixing pass at this; the way I look at it, if the source files were gone, this arrangement's strong and needs to be included. This is going to sound as if I thought this was a borderline call; this gets way more right than wrong. I'm fully on board; nice work, boys! YES

From VQ today: So it's on hold for now. EDIT (12/21): New version's up top from the new submissions system. Good to go!

Yeah, it's a pretty high bar in terms of the level of interpretation and personalization. You can check out the Deus Ex arrangements currently on the site as good examples: https://ocremix.org/game/574/deus-ex-win. This doesn't pass our arrangement standards, mainly part 2. This sounded like you took the original audio and made minor modifications. I should have compared the source tune more closely. If you ever decide to go a more interpretive route, Douglas, holler. NO Override

Not that I would have been able to articulate it like prophetik, but I also noticed the string issue as well, even though it wasn't a dealbreaker issue. The beats for the 3:01 section were also super tame and low energy; they needed a fuller sound. Those are the nitpicks. Love your arrangement approach, Zack, very cerebral! Strong transition at 4:05 into more intense textures heading toward the delicate closing reprise of the melody. Digging it! YES

Opens up with a conservative, but beautiful sound upgrade. Whoa, changes up at :31 into synthwave-type stuff, but the mixing's very muddy, coupled with a piercing lead line. It'll sound like I don't understand the genre convention with this mixing; I'm with this arrangement style, but the sound is too indistinct, IMO. At 1:36, a countermelodic synth gets added in that's bouncing around the stereo field, but it's mixed in such a way that it barely registers; I'm mainly picking up on it because I was in active listening, waiting for something about the textures to change up; I could see a casual listener not noticing that supporting part was there, not noticing a meaningful difference. Same with the different countermelody from 1:55-2:27, which registers more but was still functionally buried here. At 2:27, we got a cut-and-paste of 1:36's section; 2:47 repeated 1:55, 3:50 repeated 2:27. I was waiting for something to change up the dynamics of the piece and wasn't getting it. Right now, the groove gets established, the genre adaptation is there, and then there aren't any new/major ideas introduced after 1:55; the groove coasts along, the patterns don't change up. Once you get to 1:55, you've heard the entirely of the ideas; this approach does mimic the repeating structure of the original song, so it's not inherently wrong. It should go without saying that all VGM arrangements aren't required to be hugely interpretive (or made with OCR in mind), and can be appreciated for what they are. At OCR, we're looking for a further level of development and personalization beyond the genre adaptation though. I really enjoyed the concept of beefing this theme up in a chillwave style, Jon Paul. It's a strong source tune choice and a strong cover. I did say at the start that the mixing sounded too muddy; while I would like to hear that adjusted some for a less washed out sound, I could still approve a super interpretive and developed arrangement with the mixing done this way. IMO, some combination of refining the mixing and developing more writing ideas and variations for dynamic contrast for the arrangement side would make this more likely to be approved for OCR's arrangement standards. If you're open to revisiting this, see what more you can do, otherwise, I'm definitely hoping you'll continue submitting arrangements and adding more of your musical personality and interpretation into them. NO (resubmit)

Hello, Here is a new Elrinth & PsyNES collab remix, it has been a long time since the previous one! If this gets submitted to the site, it will be an OCReMix exclusive, never released anywhere else! Probably later on my youtube/soundcloud too, but not in a while. Contact Information Your ReMixer name - PsyNES Your real name - Jari Your email address - Your website - https://soundcloud.com/psynes Your userid - 20309 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged - Mega Man 2 Name of arrangement - A Breath of Fresh Air Name of individual song(s) arranged - Air Man Stage Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. This remix was started by Elrinth back in 2013 I think. Elrinth made a really good start for the remix and I thought we could finish this pretty quickly... but here we are, 10 years later We had big plans back then, but all fell apart I guess. We were supposed to make a Mega Man 2 remix album, and I was planning to do a Mega Man 3 remix album myself (both may still happen, but who knows when). Sadly the collaborations work got slower and slower for various reasons and in the last few years it's been only me trying to finish the unfinished remixes we started and this is one of them. In the intro part there's some double dragon mixed in there by Elrinth, but not enough to actually take over the airman-part. It also comes back later around the 2 minute mark. I think the first version of the remix Elrinth sent to me was already like 2 mins long. After that it's been mostly me remixing the tune, adding effects and length etc. There were a few times Elrinth still added some stuff, but can't really remember what. The 04:40+ part is actually taken from my first PsyNES Mega Man 2 Air Man remix that I made back in 2009! Holy poop, it's been a long time. Elrinth just actually said that it's his favorite part of the remix. Oh well, that was some comments and history about the song/our collaborations. Hope you all enjoy the tune! Love from Elrinth and PsyNES! Renoise still rocks

Resub from a form rejection in 2015 -LT Hi, Here is a resubmit of this old remix. "Fun fact" the name of the remix is a pun of "The Large Hadron Collider", I don't know if anyone has catched that, should probably just change it. The arrangement hasn't changed that much from the previous version, but I hope it still passes. I think mixing stuff has improved a lot or either I am really bad at mixing and deaf. - Jari

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It's capably put together and there's some inherent personalization in performing it, though not a ton in the big picture. There's some more personalization with some of the additive ornamentation and guitar flourishes in the 2:08 section. 2:40 loops the intro material for the close. Yeah, MW's right that this is essentially a same-tempo cover with rock instrumentation. Agreed that it sounds good; it does need further aspects of interpretation involved for OCR's arrangement standards. Good for what it is; if there's openness to further developing this, Matt, we're all ears. NO (resubmit)

Greg's wind accents here were a beautiful touch for the intro. I didn't really get any "Phendrana Drifts" vibes from this at all, not that I minded. To me, the fadeout ending, including the direction of Sirenstar's vocals, felt unresolved; while it could have had another measure to give more finality to this it wasn't a big deal. Overall, you get some familiar sounds coupled with a good rise in the energy level here compared to the original piece. YES

Ramped up at :45 and the soundscape felt kind of distant, lacking some highs; nothing holding this back, as it's going for a darker, synthwave-inspired style, even if I do like my sharpness. Very cool fusion of the themes; if you weren't familiar with these themes, you'd assume there was only one source tune with the way everything connected so seamlessly together. I particularly enjoyed the guitar work throughout, which added loads of herbs and spices here. Nice job, team! I love team! EDIT (10/23): Had no problems with the previous version, and this one sounds good too. YES

How very un-Western this Gunman Clive source is. Alright, that caught me off guard, not gonna lie. Mega Man/"Get a Weapon"-style blips at :11? Alright, that caught me off guard, not gonna lie. Nothing's making sense around here. Brass from 1:12-1:18 was a slight weak link in terms of realism, though the way it danced around the stereo field was a nice touch that also mitigated the realism issues. A ding against the strings in here (e.g. 2:49-3:00) as well. Nice job taking those opening riffs from the original and keeping them in play for most of the first 2/3rds, which also kept the solo section grounded in some reference to the original. Awesome rock/synth fusion by jnWake & minusworld that brought entirely new dimensions to this source tune! YES

Loads of fun dynamic contrast, and I was impressed by the different styles that arose from the different sections of the title theme. String sequencing from 1:46-2:07, 2:53-3:21 & 4:31-4:52 exposed the sample too much, the attacks and sustains are suss :-D; pretty much any time that sample was present (though less of an issue at 1:46 due to the lower volume), there was a quality disparity with the other strong instrumentation. The only chink in the armor here. Aside from that, you can just sit and listen to the bass, the drums, the guitars, the piano, whatever you want to fixate on, and enjoy the detail work behind everything. This never stays in one place too long; interesting changeups at 3:32 & 4:52 in particular. So much strong musicianship on display here from TheMan, Zach & Joe! YES

ReMixer Name: Pixels & Paradiddles, Hemophiliac Real Name(s): Seph and Josh Brown Email Address: Game Arranged: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IV Name of Arrangement: Psycho Giant Names of Individual Songs Arranged: Crazy Motorcycle Chase, Within the Giant Link to Submission: (.mp3) (.wav) Comments: Submitted for Round 1 of DarkeSword's Game-Set-Mash!! Final Fantasy arrangement competition, pitting Team SNES vs Team PSX to mash together a source from the SNES era Final Fantasy titles and a source from the PSX era titles. This week paired "Within the Giant" from FFIV with "Crazy Motorcycle Chase" from FFVII. Seph and I leaned hard on our symphonic metal approach for this one, taking inspiration from ...And Justice for All era Metallica (sans the inaudible bass) and contemporary Mastodon. Hemophiliac contributed an organ riff transitioning the A section of "Within the Giant" into the A section of "Crazy Motorcycle Chase." Conceptually, we married a scene BGM from one game with a cutscene/minigame BGM from the other and turned them into an epic battle sequence. May the best mix win for the compo, but in the meantime, thanks again for checking out our work! ~Paradiddles (Josh)

Wouldn't have thought to put these two pieces together, so I love the compo idea promoting other unique concepts like this. Exotic strings at :59. What can I say while listening through other than that this is a smart arrangement with polished performances. Will vote for you this one time. YES

Opens up ultra-conservatively but tastefully presented; I'd argue that if it stays like that, there should be more aspects of interpretation involved, but we'll see where it goes. Something about the mixing of the vocals is not working here either; they sound too muffled, which starts to be more noticeable around :58, and is very apparent by 1:08; what happened to any high-end sharpness? I'm going to ignore the ESL nature of the sampled vocals' lyrics; others hearing non-native vocalists in other language may harp on that, but not do so for languages they don't know. The tone of the vocals is really nice though, and I really liked that flourish from 2:01-2:25, along with the subtle countermelodic writing underneath it (not the staccato strings). The drums brought at 1:45 sounded so dry compared to the rest of the instrumentation though; they felt very stapled on top with 0 synergy. Bowed strings underlying the vocals from 2:01-2:50 (then back again from 3:15-3:43) were bone dry and exposed the fakeness of the sample; need some wetness to the sound to give it some body and mitigate the realism issues. Electric guitar first used from 2:25-2:51 had a decent tone, but very mechanical timing that hugely exposed the sample and broke the immersion; same with the grungier guitar from 3:15-3:42, and the guitar leading from 3:42-4:00, it all sounded way too rigid with the timing. Even the brief choir vox at 4:07, the way the notes changed sounded very mechanical. The strings ending it at 4:15 were more emotive though. I really enjoy the concept; this presentation isn't as cohesive as others. There's too many parts in place where the production TLC hasn't been applied to glue these parts together as a unified-sounding performance; they often didn't sound like they were sharing the same space; some parts were more spacious and distant, others upfront and dry, and then we had rigid timing with some parts, as the guitar and vox timing toward the end should be better humanized. If you can refine several of these smaller issues that are adding up, I can get behind it; great potential here and I do enjoy it more and more as I loop it. This feels like a situation where the arrangement is in place and just needs the final production and mixing polish; you may need some time away from it to have fresh ears on how the parts sound, but, no matter what, I'd say don't give up on it; I definitely want to see this posted in some form. NO (resubmit)

Contact Information Username: H36T UserID:37144 Website: https://www.youtube.com/@H36TRemasters Submission Information Arrangement Game: Final Fantasy VIII Name of Arrangement: Kiyomi Song Being Arranged: The Salt Flats Hello there, back with another submission from FFVIII. I really should have tried to go for the big album but oh well! Anywho, here is a song from a not so popular track, a track I don't even have a great love for in "The Salt Flats." I can't exactly recall why I started working on this song but it probably had to do with how minimal it is. Knowing myself, I saw a palette to work with and began to juxtapose my vision on top of it. What is that vision anyway? Well it brings me to the title Kiyomi. I'll spare you the Japanese lesson but Kiyome no Shio or Kiyomejio is the word for purifying salt. The pure part is also sometimes used in spelling Kiyomi--a girl's name in Japan. For me this song evolved into an image of earth, who I've named Kiyomi, and her being purified from all that's been done to her. Some sort of mystic, powerful force that triggers wide spread eradication of danger when it senses things have gone too far. Sort of invokes FFVII vibes rather than FFVIII. With that metaphor in mind the song goes through phases of a calm that has this essence of gloom. Then erupting into different phases of energy and finally ending on a feeling that is a bit uncertain as to how things will turn out. I think trying to use different instruments while remaining cohesive was probably the hardest part. I've had some feedback about some funky chords here and there but I couldn't think of alternatives and I liked it personally so I stuck with that as well. Other than that, this was a journey for me to make and I'm curious if I was able to send people on one as well. Until next time! Harlem, out!

Contact Information: Your ReMixer Name: The Vodoú Queen (ft. Zack Parrish, Aeroprism/Sébastien & Xaleph/Matt Sabol) Your Real Name: Angélique Vodoú Your Email Address: Your Website: https://thevodouqueen.newgrounds.com/ Your User ID # on our forums: 37001 Submission Information: Name of Game(s) Arranged: Final Fantasy IV (SNES) & Final Fantasy VII (PS1) Name of Arrangement: "Mechanical Delights (NeverEnding Love Mix)" Name of Individual Song(s) Arranged: 'Within the Giant' & 'Crazy Motorcycle Chase' Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site): 1. FINAL FANTASY IV OST; Track 42 - Within the Giant; Artist(s): Nobuo Uematsu; Release Date: June 14, 1991; Label: Square Co./NTT Publishing 2. FINAL FANTASY VII OST; Track 22 (Disc 1) - The Chase / Crazy Motorcycle; Artist(s): Nobuo Uematsu, Minoru Akao; Release Date: February 10, 1997; Label: DigiCube Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site): 1. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Original_soundtracks_of_Final_Fantasy_IV 2. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII:_Original_Soundtrack Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: ---- Contributions: The Vodoú Queen -- arrangement, synths, electronica drums, vocals, SFX, mixing, mastering, production Aeroprism -- arrangement Zack Parrish -- lead guitar & metal drums Xaleph -- harmonic guitar & rhythm guitar COLLABORATORS [FEAT.]: Zack Parrish = *Live Lead (Clean & Overdriven) Guitars, *Live Rhythm Guitars, *High-Octane Metal Drums (for 'Crazy Motorcycle' Interlude), *Snares, *Additional Arrangement Material for Key Change / Outro Sections, *MIDI Clean-Up & Post-Production Guidance / Assistance / Corrections, *Mastering Limiter ADDITIONAL ACCOLADES & CONTRIBUTIONS: Aeroprism / Seb -- for some of the original arrangement and composition of the pads and bass-structure. Both have been heavily modified and I know he doesn't feel like this piece "represents his [part of the] work" anymore, due to the number of changes and iterations to the tracks, but his collaboration with me during GSM, Round 1 was essential, inspirational, and I appreciate both his efforts and his patience whilst making the beats. Xaleph / Matt -- for his takes of the distorted and rhythmic guitars for the CM Section in the original incarnation of this remix, during GSM, and also for his advice with mixing and producing. He did those original recordings in such a short amount of time for me, when it was down to the wire before final submission, and his enthusiasm is always infectious. I admire his production skills and versatility with various forms of EDM and Heavy Metal. Also, shout-out to the GSM 1 FF SNES crew/gang. Go Team LockeNES! WOO! ♥ And to our opponents, as well, Team PSX--for keeping us on our toes and forcing us to step-up our game. ...In the end, I learned it wasn't about the polls and statistics, but the friends and journey made along the way. Also-also, super ecstatic and glad that I finally got to do a remix of one of my favorite songs from my favorite Final Fantasy game, IV. # <\\: WELCOME TO EBLAN INDUSTRIES, TERMINAL NUMBER: 190791. . . PLEASE HOLD ON TIGHT. FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS, AND KEEP ALL APPENDAGES INSIDE THE VEHICLE AT ALL TIMES. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING US AS YOUR TRANSPORT TODAY. . . ...WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THE я1đ3. ://>

I wasn't familiar with the sources, so I had to take some time to wrap my head around them and fully follow the arrangement. It's mostly the different sections of "Grasswalk", with the appearances of "Demonstration Mini-game" at :47, "Loonboon" at 2:33, and "Final Wave" at 2:58. I did also hear the influence of "Wave 1" from the unofficial, fan-made PvZ2 Reflourished expansion soundtrack during the swing section. Great transformation into an 8-bit chiptune, with careful attention to varying the different NES-style sounds. I actually wasn't put off by the instrumentation sounding samey; if you're familiar with NES sound combinations, this is extremely varied, especially by not holding to standard NES channel limitations. This isn't a mere demake, it's a full-on interpretive arrangement with some extra themes woven in. The limited mixing was the "weak" point here, but the sound's authentic and the arrangement's fantastically spirited. Very nice job, Blixer, welcome aboard! YES

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:00-1:33.5 (bassline from 1:14-1:32 of source; plus melodic arrangement I recognized from :13.5-:18.75, :20.5-:35.5), 1:33.5-1:53.5, 1:55.5-1:57.5, 1:58.5-2:11.5, 2:13.5-2:25.5, 2:33-4:06.5 (drums), 4:06.5-4:33.25 (drums & melody) The opening guitar chugs that are at the foundation of the piece derived from the bassline from 1:14 to 1:32 of the source, which carried all the way until the chorus was referenced at 1:33. 1:33's section was shrill, but I'll live. I may be underplaying other references 2:33-4:06, as I didn't recognize any of the melodies being used anywhere, so I'd love a judge's or Lucas's clarification there. It's not the way I would have preferred to reference the source most heavily, but in concert with the melodic references, it's alright. Not my cup of tea, but capably done, so no worries about me not being the target demo. YES