Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/C64Music/Galway_Martin/Athena.sid - Subtune 1/6 Ah, yeah, I didn't remember the source tune at all, but for some reason remembered subtune 2 from the NES version of the game. Played the VGMix version of this on VGF64, so I was glad to see this submitted as it's been a while from Wade. After not being hot on "Leanderesque", I'm glad he had something stronger. The track starts off with a sound upgrade of the original complete with pads to fill out the soundfield. Luckily, this track is 6:50 and has time to go places, but the conservative start scared me off for a little while in terms of voting on this. Cool use of "Athena" starting at :59; nice little touch. Things stayed like this in the pure upgrade/minor additions route until 1:56 when some belltones provided some more notable additions. Bells and SFX added on top of the track at 2:27, along with a lower synth at 2:35. I like all the bells and whistles added here, but I'm not seeing much done with this melodically until (finally) this takes a turn at 3:04 and more overtly at 3:15. The feel of the track changed at 3:45 with a quieter, minimalist section before fading in the melody with some effects on it at 3:56. This section basically changed some of the sounds around, but kept the source melody in part for the most part and built on top of it once again with various SFX and pad work. I'd be down with these additions more if they connected/interlinked with the source tune more strongly. If you took out the SID-like Athena melody, which is basically used verbatim, this would be a nearly wholly original track. Unlike some cover ReMixes we have, I don't feel like the additive components here make up for a lack of rearranging or expanding the source tune melody itself in a comprehesive way. I liked how the melody was played around with at 5:32, but there really wasn't much of that going on, unfortunately. Personally, I think it sucks to vote NO on this, as I like the track a lot and think it's a good remix, one that would especially be welcome at R:K:O. But I'm just not seeing it jiving with the standards as an acceptable ReMix. I feel there has to be more focus on interpretation or expansion of the melody, rather than unrelated original additions. Sorry bro, but good luck on the rest of the vote. If you're willing to resub this with a more interpretive approach, I'd be more than eager to hear it.

Just feels a bit dry and empty, but I hope it passes personally. I'll likely be an outlier here. And you smell. Of naked.

As for anyone that subs over the bitrate limit (in this case, 212kbps VBR)... http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mo2.rsn - "Snowman (Snow Wood Boarding House)" [mo2-063.spc] Hahaha, taking another listen on this now with my headphones setup as opposed to using the radio station speakers, there are some issues here. Overall, I like the percussion and how it was handled, and the atmosphere was well done. Sections like :35-1:12 sounded very nice on that level. There were some brief but glaring low points. 1:33-1:38 was ridiculous; the drums were so loud that they were distorting. Then more of the same from 1:47-2:05 & 2:48-2:52. Any no-name would get killed for this. So I readily take back the word "masterful". Definitely doesn't deserve that adjective, and those issues push my vote to a borderline NO. Just tweak the levels so you're not dryhumping 0db and needlessly distorting things and you'll have the easy YES from me, Abrasive_Boy.

Yo, Roland. VGF73 playlist is here: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.13740 No interview details of course, but I listed who called. 2 more shows for the people. Pick 'em up while you can, please, and enjoy: VG Frequency #61 MP3 (243MB/5hr54min) VG Frequency #61 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.12054 VG Frequency #61 Chat Transcript VG Frequency #65 MP3 (121MB/2hr57min) VG Frequency #65 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.12395 VG Frequency #65 Chat Transcript

Way to read the writeup.

Andy/Mike, anymore substantial progress continuing with the album? Just not seeing any bigger announcements lately since the deadlines have stopped.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/dbzb2.rsn - "Vegeta's Theme" (dbzb2-05.spc) Heh. That original's pretty badass. Hope the music was created for the game. Seems like it, anyway, but it's a moot point unfortunately. Well, the lead guitar is way too quiet and distant for some of the sections. The supporting guitar and drums are actually louder until :30. Same problem from :58-1:11 and later on. You don't seem to be having that issue with the chorus though. Wish I had my headphones, as the guitars sound ok on the whole, but seem too subdued; the expressiveness is undermined by the relatively low volume. Would need some other Js to confirm or deny. Much more mission critical here is that the drums are lame and are holding the track back. They're very default-sounding and unexpressive, plus the patterns are uncreative. It's all a shame because you have some good performance going with the guitar work, including the fairly well put together multitracking. For all the flack people using synth guitars get ("OMG, get a REEL guitar playa!"), I'm almost tempted to tell some of the scene guitarists to get some real fucking drummers. But seriously, read up on what other guitarists like SnappleMan have said in the ReMixing forum about creating powerful drums that won't sound so tepid and uncreative. Address the sound balance issues and improve both the writing and the realism of the drums, and you'd be in better shape. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 20 "Sandopolis Zone 1" Friggin' 256kbps, like that's gonna hook it up. First off... Aight, now the actual track. OY, that lead at :13 is just...nah. So flat and odd-sounding; terrible groove established here. Some more absolutely ugh synths come in at :54 and barely add anything to the texture. It's all gristly synths and no beef. More additions at 1:21 don't help anything. Nothing even sounds the least bit melodic here, what the fuck? Ok, FINALLY we get something I can vaguely recognize at 1:47 (and I'm probably stretching that connection in-and-of-itself), but we're already halfway through the track. Goes right back to the original groove at 2:14. Bleh. I dumple on this in every way. This doesn't even sound like fucking Sandopolis. :'-( Wish I had something more constructive to say, but this was just hitting me in all the wrong ways. Wish I could have dropped the form letter on this. OH NO

Capcom Music Generation: Rockman X1~6 (Rockman X4) - "Opening Stage Zero" Ah man, what are those drums that come in at :08? I definitely recognize those. Anyway, melody comes in at :08 as well played on some crystalline synths with the preset-sounding drums rather lazily affixed. Lead thankfully changed up at 1:07 to a softer sound for some contrast, which wasn't bad. Goes back to the first section at 1:45 with another low, buzzy synth added in the back. Percussion is really boring by this point and needs to be doing more than keeping time. The supporting synth introduced at 1:45 has a bit more prominent sound from 2:43 until the end, combining surprisingly well with the glassy synth. The melodic arrangement was pretty straightforward here, and really could use more ideas. The repetitive percussion, again, was a weak point, resulting in a very stagnant groove after a while. You patterns need to be more varied and interesting there. Keep at it though; this was a pretty solid sub relative to most of the other stuff we end up rejecting. If you're not already doing so, learn more on how to improve and personalize the way you're using your sounds at the ReMixing forum, and get fan feedback at the Works forum. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/metroid.zip - Track 5 ("Kraid's Chamber") 7:07 long, 64kbps, and no treble frequencies? Man, these sounds are weak, dawg. You weren't playin' when you said upgraded MIDI, that's for sure. Composition has some personalization (at least as much credit as I can give it having not heard the version of Kraid from Metroid: Zero Mission), but boy does it drag out. As this really took it's time with long, fairly minimalist sections, ultimately there's nothing particularly interesting going on. The last few minutes were particularly rough. Could go over a laundry list of shit to address, but I'm just gonna say don't send in stuff without realizing the standard of stuff currently being posted here. This ain't NewGrounds. You need a lot more skill and experience under your belt. And remember everyone. Anything can be music. Anything. But not just anything can be good. NO

FF3J, FF6J, I dunno what this is supposed to be from, so someone's gonna have to fill me in. Man, I hate to be glib, cuz you put some work into this in terms of having it sound clubby and authentic, but this was SOOO generic, it just doesn't have any uniqueness to it for the first 1:47. Thank god we got something with a different structure after 1:47 to at least give a more unique take on things, before going back to the club trance at 2:42 and repeating what was used from 1:20-1:47, only for much longer now. At least the lead was changed at 3:36, though it was needlessly abrasive from then until the finish, IMO. There's also about 15 seconds of silence left at the end. Even not recognizing the source tune specifically, you guys are just repeating a few bars of melody over and over and over with the trance genre adaption. There's just not enough about this that presents a substantially/significantly interpretive arrangement. There's just not enough depth to it. Doesn't have to be on par with a symphony or anything. Right now, it's lacking substance. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/duckta~1.zip - Track 7 ("The Moon") Not a bad mix. The arrangement takes some liberties without straying too far from the original, yet doesn't seem like it's playing it too safe, which is good. Good development of the arrangement, working well in tandem by constantly shifting the sounds and styles here. Sweet chiptune shot at 2:11. Ending from 3:25 to the close is pretty anticlimatic. Weak way to end it. Main problem though is that the supporting instrumentation (--> points to the percussion) is sparse, flat and boring, leaving the whole thing sounding mid-to-late-stage WIPish. The patterns are too simple and aren't filling out the soundfield like they should be. C'mon, let's not fight half the battle with the arrangement and then phone in the other half. It's really holding this back substantially. Spruce the percussion up and pay close attention to whatever crits the other judges may make in order to help this out, and you'd be in a much better position. It has the potential, but it's certainly not realized at this stage. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Robo Gang Johnny" (ct-2-07.spc) Believe me, I be DOWN with the chiptunes and chiptune style arrangements. /slash, RushJet1, virt, smh, they're all doing solid stuff for example. But this...is too simple. The source tune is almost too boring to allow this to work very long. Man, at :46 when you try to change some of the progression, it just sounds like some glaring wrong notes in there in a few spots. And 1:58 for any track is gonna be very underdeveloped. Anyway, just cuz it's 8-bit style doesn't mean you skimp out on making this a developed arrangement. You had that section where you changed the notes a bit, and then repeated the first section at 1:24. Nah, that's lay-zee. For an actual in-game NES tune, 1:24-long would be a nice long track. But if the standards here were that simple, we'd have a TON of chiptunes here. In terms of the instrumentation, please do more to make the most of your 4 parts. A lot more could be going on here, even for such a simple/straightforward track. Just check out Tombs & Treasure or one of the later Megamans or whathaveyou. More layering or variation or anything could make this a more engaging listen. Hell, even consider breaking it off with a few extra channels like some of the expanded NEStunes did. VRC6 is your friend. In any case, if you're down with sending in some more thorough efforts in the future, I definitely look forward to them. We need more people doing what you're doing in the game arrangement community. Just make sure you're doing it really well. Well, I'm off to listen to some Madara... NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 19 I mean, what else can I say? It's a dope MIDI/FL n00b mix, but the quality isn't that strong relative to what we have around here. You gotta be Doctor Fruitcake, Israfel or Shnabubula to really be trickin' out the "lower quality" sounds here and using them to their best potential. The instrument quality is alright for what this is. Certainly hearing some stuff that's higher quality than a lot of MIDIs, but at the same time, the texture is ultimately still lacking. And, while it has some cool ideas and sounds, the arrangement is conservative and underdeveloped. 1:51 ain't cuttin' shit. If it's a MIDI, sumbit this to VGMusic and pimp it out if you haven't already. Otherwise, FL n00bery. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Shadow" (ff6-111.spc) Certainly not bad for a first sub. Samples here are pretty thin and weak. They're definitely lacking fullness and N-R-G and all that jazz. The synth bassline in the intro is bleh, the synths and percussion coming in at :33 are plain/bland. Not a bad section there until 1:03 minimalizing the theme. But yeah, things picked up the most at 1:18, but the groove is pretty lukewarm, and the arrangement is pretty much going the straight electronica genre adaptation route, which is playing it really simple and safe at the expense of engaging my interest. Though the e-piano sample at 2:17 was a little bit robotically performed, it was a nice contrast here with the rest of the piece and a much needed switchup. Piano and techno combines decently at 2:46. Not a bad idea to go solo with the piano for the finish at 3:45. You've got at least some potential, even though right now you're stuff sounds really bland and unenergetic. Use the ReMixing & Works forums to your growth and to your advanatge though. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Singing Mountain" (ct-3-01.spc) Not bad for a live performance. I'm certainly glad the arrangement is there. I dunno, it could be because I don't have the benefit of listening on my headphones, but this doesn't sound very emotive. The performance has its moments; its not poor or beginner-ish at all so don't get me wrong, but it seems somewhat empty/sparse. I can't help but feel that it sounds simplistic on occasion. The playing seems too rigid at times, like you're not actually cutting loose during the more upbeat parts. Oooh, you be clippin' it HARD around 2:15. :'-( Too bad about the distortion there. I'll gladly reconsider with my headphones for my usual setup, but looking at how the higher frequency range is absent here and the track is in mono, I gotta go NO and I doubt it'll change. Production's gonna have to improve to have a shot. Can you add a little spice to the performance? Perhaps you simply need more takes of this to perform this arrangement at its best.

http://www.commander-keen.com/midi-music/make-it-tighter.mid - "Make It Tighter" Cool, yo. "Too bad" per se that the album came out sooner than expected so that we couldn't have posted this right on the day of release, but it's good to get the finished album out there sooner (you know what I mean, I'm sure). Gonna be brief since it's just about confirming the source material and arrangement. I'm sincerely glad to see something from The American Album get subbed, as I had a chance to start playing some of it on my show and have been casually listening to it. I was actually going to play this on VGF72 this coming Saturday, as I'm doing tracks 4-6, so I'm already familiar with the layout. Solid tracker material here and the arrangement is definitely there without a doubt. I like Chris getting back to some of the decidedly more interpretive arrangement. This is really hooking it up with the Mazedude SPICES. No issues at all; let's get it up there ASAP. Oh, it's no "maybe" at all. It's a definitely. Besides, I think you already answered your own question above... YES

Oh yeah, I already talked with TO about that myself. Personally, I thought that was fine. It's just there to add a quasi lo-fi feel, although I think it sounded a bit too sharp/clear in those respects. Ah well.

I never posted here? Jesus, what the hell was I thinking? Great mix, Neo. One of my favorites from a few years ago, I remember it on the WIP forums. Still something I listen to!

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 23 "Lava Reef Zone 2" I mistakenly associated the source tunes as "Lava Reef Zone 1" & Sonic 2's unused version of "Hidden Palace Zone". Thanks very much to DarkeSword for pointing out my mistake. For any other judges, you gotta get familiar with :30-:47 of the source tune, as several of the arrangement ideas here are derived from that. This source tune isn't as memorable as "Lava Reef Zone 1", which is what I normally think of for that stage's theme. Track goes for a somewhat similar feel to Kingdom Hearts "New Beginnings" only it lacks a lot of the texture and richness that that mix had, which I feel is criticial to making synthethic pieces like this click. The KH mix had some strings, jungle SFX and a good bassline working in the background at various points to fill things out, and the percussion had more punch, which all helped a lot. Otherwise, you get things sounding too mechanical and thin like they do here. Strings starting at 1:56 are pretty synthy, but they're so light that it manages to work. When the strings come in more at 2:29 playing the "Lava Reef Zone" theme, they're dull in the performance and exposed. That slap bass-like synth is just really exposed and fake from the get-go, and the percussion performance feels too dry and rigid. I'm not saying you should try and rehash "New Beginnings" wholesale, cuz that's no good. But if you're gonna go for a downbeat yet jazzy-type feel here, it can't be so flat and empty-sounding. TO mentioned to me that the track sounds bland overall, and I totally agree. I'd like to hear some suggestions on punching this up, cuz this really needs more depth to the sounds. If you're not tired of this one, keep working on it, but otherwise I'd say put this on the shelf for a while. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ki.rsn - Sabrewulf (ki-21.spc) The howl of da WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLF opened things up with some light Rareware/GoldenEye Caverns style xylo (Xylo? Ah shaddap Gray), and some beats joining in at :28. About a minute in and I'm still waiting for something to happen. Piano joins in at 1:08 and we start getting some buildup...or not. Hmmm...well 1:45 in and I thought the track was gonna bust out with some heavy rock energy on account of the drums and overall energy level being so subdued. To me it seemed like some sort of soft-to-loud contrast of the beginning and end was gonna happen, but it never materialized. Oh well. Well, with that said, I guess the piano at 1:10 was supposed to represent the energy level being picked up. Right now, the piano sounds too mechanical. In terms of dynamic contrast, what we got was the track losing the percussion, but since the percussion wasn't very impactful to begin with, dropping it out didn't really effect the energy level or mood. Part of the problem to me was that when the beats were involved, you had that lone piano with the plucky notes in the forefront. The beats then dropped out by 1:56, yet the style of the piano performance was practically the same as when the beats where there. Some chords wouldn't have hurt to try and mask some of the roboticness in the timing on the performance. Strings at 2:34 also sounded too thin and synthetic. Some new beats creep in at 3:05, and what sounds like a thin and mechanical acoustic guitar synth handles the melody at 3:07; I know it's not functioning in the manner of a real guitar, but the roboticness doesn't sound any better or more agreeable as a result. The beats are still pretty tepid, and the texture of everything together is very weak. Wolf SFX abruptly cut in at 4:38 after just being used a couple seconds earlier. C'mon, don't let it sound completely bootleg. Well, some of the other Js may not agree with my comments regarding the lack of dynamics. Not sure how well I was able to articulate those concerns, but I hope I got the point across. But really, the whole thing just sounds too lifeless, dull, mechanical. It honestly would need a lot of work if it's gonna be resubbed. I'd just call it a done deal and move onto something else frankly, but if you feel you can breathe some life into it (live guitar from Matt wouldn't hurt), feel free to give it a shot bro! You'll at least keep gaining experience. Be sure to use the WIP forums for some feedback and focus on getting criticism. NO

Darwinia - Main Theme I really like how the source sounds like a SIDtune. Reading up a little bit on the game, one of the selling points of the soundtrack is that it encompasses a lot of the dissimilar styles/genres, so that's pretty cool. Thanks a lot for providing the source, Steve, as I couldn't find anyone who'd ripped the soundtrack yet on my usual VGM FTPs. Not a bad atmosphere for the start. Lead at :14 is rather plain. Stuff picks up at :27, and I still think it lacks some edge to it. The percussion as well is alright but comes across as pretty flat, along with the synths. Lead returns at :57; it honestly feels a bit out of place to me. 1:11 with the more synthy stuff in the forefront was pretty good, but there was this gated synth playing alongside it that should have stood out more. Right now the synths are blending together too much. Good (and much needed) changeup in the percussion at 1:43, though again it comes across as flat. All of the various sampled SFX involved sounds pretty naked and pasted on top. Using some effects on the various phrases to have them sit better in the track would help things sound more cohesive. Especially since you're using the "Get in touch..." clip more than once, do something different with it with each use. In any case, this was a pretty straightforward, recognizable arrangement and definitely has the potential here, but the "performance" could stand to be more expressive-sounding. The arrangement was short, and I wouldn't disagree with anyone saying it was underdeveloped, as it doesn't sound finished. Production could have been stronger, tied into the whole expressiveness factor and having some sounds stand out more than others, but the track was otherwise nice and clean. Hope you keep working on this one, bro. NO (resubmit)

Man, that is some weird shizzle. A big part of the section full of voice clips from was lame (1:52-2:19). But the mix itself was pretty interesting/catchy. Cool older stuff.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mo2.rsn - "Battle Against a Weird Opponent" (mo2-029.spc) Played the Bound Together version on VGF68 and was feeling the groove bias. Indeed, the BT version as mastered by Mustin felt drier, so it was good hearing this version as Posu's intended vision for the mix. Nice intro up until :10. Arrangement of the melody was pretty straightforward, supplemented with a lot of good stuff going on with the bassline and string synth. Compared to the original, the role of the bassline here was greatly expanded upon. :46 has a synth solo section backed up by the source tune, and continued beyond 1:04 as the chorus joined the synth solo up until 1:37. Another solo full of wah guitar at 1:46, joined by some light blips y bloops at 2:06 and the wahs following the melody at 2:12 which was pretty subtle. Though I heard a couple different patterns, the beats were pretty basic and repetitive which was the main thing holding this back. I liked everything else going on, but wish the claps weren't on cruise control as it makes the foundation of the track (and by extension the whole piece) seem lazy and underdeveloped. If you're willing to spice that up with a bit more activity/variation, this would be an easy pass to me. I really like the way the rest of the arrangement was handled, and could understand this picking up some YESs, so good luck with the rest of the vote! NO (borderline)

Very impressive and thoroughly developed arrangement. The tribute to Posu's style comes off very faithfully; nice bassline, light beats, and a chill atmosphere most of the way. Treble's up there, but otherwise very solid. I never heard the M.C. Kids soundtrack prior to comparing it to this, but the soundtrack itself was quite the sleeper. Always a fan of the warbly, Commodore-sounding stuff, so I'm glad I checked it out. Despite the game being obscure, I'm surprised this doesn't have more reviews.