Liontamer

I um...huh?

Valentine's Day is coming up. So I'm gonna co-host with my girlfriend, Paige. Yeah, that Paige. And we're gonna have a Valentine's Day style theme with various VGM & remixes and etc. This is either the best idea I've ever had or the worst. Be sure to tune in tonight and find out. Feel free to give me suggestions with songs I've never played before on the show, and hope to see you there.

Heard this way back after I joined the judges' panel, so it's great to see this one finally see the light of day, especially in such a timely manner for OCR's 5th! Smooth handling of the Battle Theme especially and a good foray into uncharted territory from Gray that resulted in some brief but stylish hybrid work. A great follow-up to Phoenix Symphonic to be sure. Man, that was posh.

Nope. But I'll be damned, I didn't know you could 4:20 A.M.

Gray and I were talking about how we missed the 80s after djp mentioned the McDonald's McDLT in his writeup on Chekan Winter. All the better to have something like this mix to harken back to the days when Reagan was president and coke was abundant. The base of the mix is so 80s, it's great. Then again, as a judge, I'm groove-biased...

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/Authors/Game/Huelsbeck_Chris/Turrican_2.lha - mdat.world_3 (:00-1:26, 3:19-4:10) & mdat.world_1 (1:56-3:16, 4:12-5:21/end) Went searching a little bit to find an application that would play the tunes contained in the ExoticA archive. Download the very light XMPlay app and TFMX plug-in in order to check out the source material. I remember this one; played it back on VGF41. Andre said in his post at VGMix that this was his retirement mix from the scene, though I personally hope he keeps at it. I've played some other material from him before and he's a young talent who doesn't get enough exposure beyond the Commodore remixing scene. Surprised I haven't seen this posted to AMIGAremix yet, but they might be backlogged. Sweet arrangement here. Starts off with some liberal interpretation derived from the world 3 music before going to much more straightforward coverage of a portion of that tune from 1:02-1:26. Some people won't like the suddent transition into the electronic stuff at 1:30, but I loved it. Dunno why it works so well, but it came across pretty well. Cool stuff. Some light brass activity at 1:43 that I felt could have been a little more impactful. I was surprised by how well the occasional cymbal crashes, glassy chimes, and brief string flurries worked to accentuate the material here, before moving into a new section at 2:34. Fairly basic sounds moving into the trance/techno portion of the mix from 2:43-3:15; pretty decent overall but needs more oomph. The 3:15-4:11 section felt low on the energy level & sparse, possessing some overly generic-sounding synths in play with some pretty tame percussion work. Once things beefed up more at 4:11, the percussion wasn't as much of a factor way in the back, but it could have been beefed up a bit. I think this would have benefitted from a sharper/crisper sound as well, but that may just be me. In any case, the arrangement was well done once again, featuring some nice ideas to really expand and interpret the source tunes. Not "kick-yo-mouf" intense here, but this one should catch some people's attention that weren't expecting to hear anything this catchy from an "unknown" game like Turrican II. A surprisingly good fusion of electronic work with orchestral elements. YES

Good effort, and one I'm familiar with after playing it on VGF44.99. Yeah, this was a mishmash of themes, although to be honest, I didn't feel as if I heard much of the MGS3 Main Theme in there. I suppose it depends where I'm looking, and hopefully Reu can give further details on how he used all 3 of the Solid series' main themes in the near future. In any case, I heard a great deal of stuff derived from MGS2's version, as well as some from MGS1. Can't really articulate it further than that, but it does pass the arrangement test. I felt Vig's comments on the issues with the piece were excellent and on the mark per his usual: Great summation of where basic improvements could/should have been made in order to strengthen the performance.Reading some of the feedback at VGMix about the piece, I felt Gwilym & H the 8th's comments on the piece being poor for being a "weaker" orchestrated version of already orchestrated originals was off-base. I don't see a substantiated point in essentially saying "you can't remix a track this way" or "this'll never sound as good as the original". I liked mv's very critical yet very fair & detailed assessment of the track much more. People are certainly open to those types of opinions, but it's misguided to say you can't or shouldn't bother attempting to rearrange a cinematic-styled original in a similar genre. As for comparing this to the sheer power of the originals, anyone should obviously be able to tell that Reu wasn't simply going for a bombastic, heavy-handed approach here, even during the tenser moments of the track. His interpretation of the themes offers a calmer, lighter feel overall, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. There were definitely some areas in the track where the instrumentation could have been stronger, and where the arrangement could have offered some more unique-sounding ideas, but otherwise this was a very well-made offering. Solid work from Reuben as usual. He's building up quite the catalog here. YES

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/smb1.zip - Track 5 ("Invincible BGM") http://www.zophar.net/usf/sm64usf.rar - 16 "Powerful Mario" Yeah, I remember Ben complaining (meh) over at VGMix when Rexy gave this one a less-than-deserved score in his opinion. Good job extending the mix a bit compared to the VGMix version. I liked the chiptune/NES-style intro all the way until :13. Good old-school touch without dragging the idea out. The piano didn't have to sound quite so fake, but it's a minor point relative to the big picture. Good handling of the Wing Cap Theme here, altering up the rhythms of the source and genuinely spicing things up. There's the telltale DarkeSword sax coming in at 1:06. Could have sounded a lil' bit smoother and a lot more realistic, but the flow was good overall and lent its sound nicely to the track. Sweet breakdown at 1:45 dropping most of the elements out and using hand drums and some new synth combinations to keep the mix fresh. Good ideas here in terms of changing up the style. The section starting from 2:39-3:09 dragged a little bit, especially with that generic, cheesy-sounding drumwork placed lightly in the back. Luckily things filled out a bit more at 2:54 to cover that up and get the track moving again. Good shit in upping the energy level again at 3:10. Pretty sweet realizing you didn't touch some parts of the Wing Cap Theme until 3:25. Nice return of the tenor sax again at 3:47 after working some chill sounds with the xylophone at 3:41. The ending came a little too suddenly, and, thematically, the vox didn't really make much sense in there to close it, but otherwise things were good. Not spicy hot in terms of samples and so forth, but pretty much everything came together nicely on the arrangement and presentation. Funky fun and whatnot. It was the strong package with well-varied, solid composition, good sound combinations, and smooth production. A great example of substance over samples, baby. Keep on improving your game, Ben, and congratulations. YES

No. While this sounds great, I believe the "arrangement" for the second half is dicey at best and pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable. If anything, I'm borderline NO because the presentation is excellent. If it were a lockdown candidate, I might vote to keep it, but in terms of taking it as a submission, I ask for more votes. I am not trying to simply hold up the process, but ask that the nature of the arrangement be considered closely. My request is to please go to 6.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 102 "Opening - Bombing Mission" (:40-1:12, 2:17-2:31) I'm glad to see old-school OC mixers coming back to offer more submissions and sticking around the community in some form. Things stayed pretty basic with the intro, with some beats coming in at :20. Various cymbal crashes, reverse cymbal crashes and some claps came in over the first minute. Lots of trance staples here, that's for sure. Source melody starts up at 1:05 and the lead here is generic and (arguably) not as good as the original. 1:33 features a pretty basic cover of the source melody with beats underneath it, and this isn't really going anywhere particularly. After a short breakdown & build, more elements came in at 2:01 to build upon the trance work although none of it tends to connect to this short, repeating section of the source tune melody. Stuff's just being built around the source as opposed to interacting with it. Things finally change up at 2:53 with some arrangement handling the section starting at 2:17 of the source alongside some more interesting effects on the lead synths. Nonetheless, it's the same problem here as with the previous section of arrangement, as none of the added trance instrumentation connects with another short, repeating section of the source tune melody. Here, it manages to perceiveably sound more connected nonetheless, but there's not much to it. Moves back to an original outro at 3:56 to wrap things up. The moral of this story is to actually weave and integrate the source theme you choose into the genre you pick. The source tunes were minimally arranged (basically just plucked verbatim and dumbed down) with some trance beats stapled underneath. Thematically, it doesn't get much more simplistic than that. There's a higher standard than that these days. Reinterpret things with more attention paid to the actual source tune next time. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "At the Bottom of Night" (ct-3-03.spc) First off, congratulations to Will for his appearance on OneUp Studios' newest album, Xenogears Light. Yeah, good stuff. I'm a fan of the source theme, as I've said in the past, although I have to say I've personally heard much more engaging interpretations of it. Nonetheless, I liked the arrangement and expansion here. The volume could have been brought up a bit for the quieter sections, but in any case the gradual rise in intensity at 3:30 and the further added volume beyond 4:30 helped provide good contrast before closing things up with the lighter finish. I heard a light audio deformation at 3:33, by the way. Some people won't be fan of the whiny strings on lead, but I enjoyed their tone. Nice basic source coverage & rearrangement for the first few minutes with well-done expansive composition and tons of variation with the instrumentation. djp should have a good time laundry-listing everything employed here. Things were very relaxing for most of the subtler-sounding sections. The brass sample at 4:11-4:23 was one of the only nagging things I'd want touched up. Same goes for the French horn sample from 3:12-3:30, which almost sounds too quiet to be perceived as realistic. This won't be a bombastic remix that instantly commands your attention. Frankly, if this was from a lesser-known game, it wouldn't garner half as much attention. But with something so quiet and subdued such as this, it's all the more reason to listen closely. YES

Greetings and salutation on this, Super Bowl Sunday, where the New England Patriots will be sure to dominate tonight. In some sort of loosely connected celebration of the big game, I've worked to get last night's show out ASAP. Aside from talking to the lady for a few hours, all's gone according to plan and yadda ya, so check it out. Sorry for the late start, but I was definitely glad everyone stuck around anyway. Get your fill of this week's playlist, alongside the #VGF chat log & the even-beefier-than-last-show MP3 (206MB/5hr). Next week won't be all about da luv, but we'll certainly have some Valentine's Day themed tracks, for which I will be taking requests. The top two True Love remixes from PRC v2-8 by Hemophiliac and TO & reelmojo will get the VGF treatment, along with NoWave's "Love" from his recent short album for Hellven's Auld Lang Sine contest "Invisible". As long as people think outside the box for request and I've never played it on VGF before, I'm game for suggestions. Compyfox has hooked VGF up with a new simple-and-sweet official logo that really reflects well on my night owl personality: black, and lots of it. If you're interested in the VG Frequency wallpaper pack, check it out courtesy of Roland & Studio Compyfox at http://www.studio-compyfox.de/guestartist/vgfrequency/VGF_Wallpaper_Pack.rar. I'm pimping the 1280x1024 version, and I hope you're feeling the new logo. Fox has also hooked it up with some lil' banners to hook it up with as well, so check 'em all out and link me up: http://www.studio-compyfox.de/guestartist/vgfrequency/VGF_345x150.jpg http://www.studio-compyfox.de/guestartist/vgfrequency/VGF_345x150_neg.jpg http://www.studio-compyfox.de/guestartist/vgfrequency/VGF_230x100.jpg http://www.studio-compyfox.de/guestartist/vgfrequency/VGF_88x31.gif http://www.studio-compyfox.de/guestartist/vgfrequency/VGF_88x31_neg.gif Nice. Thanks to Roland again for the nice design for the new logo AND for waking me up yesterday evening to do the show. Yeah, I was exhausted. Time to kick back and watch the Pats dominate... VG Frequency #47: Keep the Cool Side Cool Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, February 5, 2005 / 11 PM - 4 AM EST Liontamer f/NoWave, Hemophiliac, Beatdrop, Adhesive Boy & Flik ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Flik - VG Frequency "Flik-A-Lik-A-Larry-Oji" Bumper 2. Noriko Matsueda - "City of Dorgandy" [Front Mission 2 OST] 3. Paragon - Metroid 1 "Fallen Stars Tell No Tales" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid] 4. DJ Potatoe f/Anthony Lofton - Dance Dance Revolution "Kind Lady" [VGMix2 #1135] 5. OverCoat - CastleVania: Harmony of Dissonance "Skeletons in the Aqueducts" [VGMix2 #3283] 6. Gwilym Wogan - "poetry club" [the meinpenis zeitgeist] 7. Xerol Oplan - "Streets of Tracheon (OST Version)" [Xerol's Quest OST] 8. Shael Riley - "World's Worst Drum Programmer" (Full Demo Mark 2) [Toybox] 9. Noriko Matsueda - "Player Battle (Normal)" [Front Mission 2 OST] 10. NoWave is feeling good at getting his new track "Air Raid Holocaust" played at his favorite nightclub, assures you people out there that he's not a limey, and goes over feedback on his recent short album "Invisible", upcoming material for the Vurtflesh EP, a possible project based on Stephen King's "The Stand", as well as more remixes [http://www.soundclick.com/nowave] 11. Sefiros - Final Fantasy 8 "Everything = Nothing" [VGMix2 #3193] 12. Vurtflesh - "Air Raid Holocaust" [http://www.soundclick.com/vurtflesh] 13. AkumajoBelmont - CastleVania: Symphony of the Night "The Devil Inside (Italo Disco Mix)" [VGMix2 #3159] 14. zykO - Ninja Gaiden 2 "Honor Your Roots" [VGMix2 #3302] 15. PeeWee & Michiko Hill - "Death Wind" [F-Zero AST] 16. Noriko Matsueda - "Show Pub" [Front Mission 2 OST] 17. Hemophiliac assists as co-DJ before going over his recent victory in the People's Remix Competition v2-8 (H-game!) & laying out the story of his winning mix True Love "My Valentine's Tragedy", possible choices for the source tune of PRC v2-10, collabing with Bladiator & GrayLightning for PRC v2-9 to remix for Kirby's Adventure "Rise of the Star", and his work for the SoundTempest original thematic album "Aura & Omen" [http://onehemophiliac.deviantart.com] 18. Reuben Kee - Rurouni Kenshin "The Man with a Reversed Edge Sword" [Anime Remix #51] 19. Reuben Kee - Final Fantasy 7 "Sephiroth Absolute (Sephiroth for 4 Pianos)" [VGMix2 #3255] 20. DCT - "Walk Thru Space" [http://www.urbanizmmusic.com] 21. Just Us - "Lord Can't Tell Me No" [http://www.justusmusic3.com] 22. Noriko Matsueda - "Arena" [Front Mission 2 OST] 23. Beatdrop runs down the recent tracks, followed by the info on his reworked original "One Zero Two", the changes & developments with "Dance Trax" including Dain overseeing the staff musicians, his prolific status, his recently rejected OCR submission System Shock 2 "cy-AMP", website problems with Beatdrop.tk, and plans to overhaul previously completed tracks alongside possible collaborative efforts for the upcoming "Everlast" album [http://www.paletteswap.com/beatdrop] 24. OverCoat - "Liberator" [http://www.neutronstar.org/soc] 25. goat - Metroid 1 & Super Metroid "The Ice Beam Cometh" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid / VGMix2 #3309] 26. Rexy - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Robotnik's Immortal Presence" [VGMix2 #3280] 27. Majeliss - Cowboy Bebop "Mellow Progression" [Anime Remix #50] 28. Noriko Matsueda - "Capital City Daka" [Front Mission 2 OST] 29. Adhesive Boy gums up the works as assistant DJ, moving onto the deal on his his Kirby's Adventure Rise of the Star mix "Cosmic Transformations (L'il Traveller)", his need to create something for the Doom project "The Dark Side of Phobos", thoughts on the controversial Super Metroid OC ReMix "Dirty Sam" & ProtMix, revisiting his Zelda 3 mix "Devout Hyrulian Guttersnipe", and fun with the college search before exiting with his characteristic grace and/or poise [http://adhesiveboy.no-ip.com] 30. Big Giant Circles - Unreal Tournament "Club Showdown" [VGMix2 #3299] 31. Beatdrop - "One Zero Two" [http://www.paletteswap.com/beatdrop] 32. CarboHydroM - Pop'n Twinbee "Fruits Attack" [VGMix2 #3334] 33. Xerol Oplan - "Sideways Waltz" [http://www.lggaming.com/user/xerol] 34. Ryan8bit - Metroid 1 "Somnia, Venator" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid] 35. Darren Mitchell - "Port of Adia" [Violence Killer OST] 36. Noriko Matsueda - "Dark Clouds" [Front Mission 2 OST] 37. Flik is pimpin' true as he shaves with gel (!), goes over the recently played material with morning DJ-style Flik zestiness, and provides us with words from our valued sponsors [http://www.vagstudios.com] 38. zykO - Metroid Fusion "The Union of Differing Elements" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid] 39. zykO - Final Fantasy 5 "Having Found the Wind" [VGMix2 #3179] 40. Noriko Matsueda - "City of Diaraba" [Front Mission 2 OST] 41. virt - Super Metroid "Crystal Flash" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid] 42. Noriko Matsueda - "Enemy Battle (Swift Attack)" [Front Mission 2 OST] 43. Fatty Acid & Sephfire - Final Fantasy 10-2 "Under a New Moon" [VGMix2 #3324 (removed)] 44. Bladiator - Final Fantasy Tactics "Dawn over Ivalice" [Final Fantasy Tactics Piano Collections / VGMix2 #3295] 45. Kenichi Ookuma - "Graveyard Labyrinth" [GötzenDiener Original Game Music AST] 46. OverCoat - Read or Die "Paper Jam" [Anime Remix #53] 47. House the Grate - Metroid 1 "Brinstar Minibossa" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid] 48. Darangen - Final Fantasy 1 "Warriors of Light" [sonic Revolution / VGMix2 #3192] 49. Noriko Matsueda - "World Map" [Front Mission 2 OST] 50. Prophecy - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Chekan Winter" [OC ReMix #1307] 51. virt - Metroid 1 "SPACE PIRATES" [Dwelling of Duels: Metroid]

I recall the source tune from Mazedude's take on it as well, though this goes much more interpretive, if not too liberal. Definitely gotta go with analoq on this one. The sounds are very basic, the soundfield is pretty sparse/empty most of the time, and the arrangement treads water. Everything just plods and drags along. The organ coming in at 1:44 was certainly a good idea, but everything is just as simple and unenergetic as before. The percussion work needs to vary more and help fill out the space. After the buildup and breakdown from 2:33-2:50, I liked the sounds you had a but more, but this still didn't go anywhere. The last thing the track needed was stopping at 3:27. A bit too sluggish without any meat behind the sounds to make up for it. analoq's pretty supportive of seeing the mix be reworked, but I think you need a lot more time at this to develop some better skills first. Head to the ReMixing forum here and hit the fundamentals. That place can't help you with everything though, as creativity is something you'll have to cultivate on your own. This mix definitely needs more of it; it's can't be all about the composition; the performance needs to be solid too. NO

Sorry for the delay in getting VGF46 out. Life and all that jazz. Please enjoy this week's playlist, alongside the #VGF chat log & the beefy MP3 (133MB/3hr13min) and I hope to see y'all along for VGF this Saturday. We'll be playing the longest track in VGF's history this weekend, and the perceptive among you will be able to figure out what it is. Thanks to everyone who tuned in this past Tuesday to check it out! VG Frequency #46: Hot a Lot Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Tuesday, February 1, 2005 / 7 - 10:13 PM EST Liontamer f/Kaleb Grace, Flik, Shael Riley & Koala ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Koji Kondo - "Game Select" [super Mario All-Stars OSV] 2. Doragon - "The Dancing" [Original Remix Competition 13] 3. TO - "The Final Stance" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 4. bLiNd - "The Last Hymn (Alternate Version)" [http://www.thebrailroom.com] 5. Koji Kondo - "Overworld BGM" [super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars) OSV] 6. TO - Suicide Express "Expressively Dead" [The People's Remix Competition v2-7] 7. Unknown - "But It is Not This Day" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 8. Jonathan Beil - "The Enemy Stronghold" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 9. Koji Kondo - "Swimming BGM" [super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars) OSV] 10. Paige is treated like a side item (but a yummy side item) 11. Ellywu - "The Last Watch" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 12. Bladiator - Suicide Express "Suicide for 2 Pianos (Bladiator as Reuben Kee)" [The People's Remix Competition v2-7 / VGMix2 #3170] 13. zykO - "Ode to Hope" [zombo (bonus)] 14. Koji Kondo - "King Koopa" [super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars) OSV] 15. Fray - Final Fantasy 1 "Tceles B Hsup" [VGMix2 #3219] 16. East Haven High School Yellow Jacket Marching Band - Tetris 1 "Korobushka" [http://east-haven.k12.ct.us/ehhs] 17. Mythril Nazgul & reelmojo - Suicide Express "Last Train Home" [The People's Remix Competition v2-7 / VGMix2 #3169] 18. zircon - "Acid Dominion" [http://www.zirconstudios.com] 19. Koji Kondo - "Overworld BGM" [super Mario Bros. 2 (US) {Super Mario All-Stars} OSV] 20. Rellik - "Our Saga Ends Not Here" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 21. Trenthian - "Raise Our Rag" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 22. zykO - "What We Do" [zombo (bonus)] 23. Ellywu - Seiken Densetsu 3 "Heavens Above" [VGMix2 #3183] 24. Koji Kondo - "Underworld BGM" [super Mario Bros. 2 (US) {Super Mario All-Stars} OSV] 25. Kaleb Grace fills us in on the modest birth of "One Winged Hut", and the origins and inner workings of his weekly original & professionally arranged video game music competition "Song of the Week", where you can check out a diverse selection of high-quality obscure & overlooked video game tracks; don't call yourself a fan of video game music until you expand your horizons with Song of the Week [http://www.kalebgrace.com / http://www.songoftheweek.info] 26. DarK PurPLe - Super Mario Bros. 2 (US) "The DarK Depths" [VGMix2 #3256] 27. Ichitootah - Suicide Express "That Tragic Night" [The People's Remix Competition v2-7] 28. zircon - "Ragnarok" [Original Video Game Music Competition 2] 29. Koji Kondo - "Wart" [super Mario Bros. 2 (US) {Super Mario All-Stars} OSV] 30. Flik is hopped up on life as he details his narrow escape from death 10 minutes prior, and talkies a bit about his OVGMC2 entry "It's On" before going back to more Matantei Loki Ragnarok, car-hating & cell phone-hating craziness [http://www.vagstudios.com] 31. Shael Riley is pumping it up at the gym and decides to keep sweating and breathing heavy (with the Thighmaster) while discussing his work on the buttocks, his in-progress original childrens' album for adults "Toybox", his Ghouls 'n Ghosts work-in-progress mix, doing voice-over work in Baltimore for the upcoming Neon FM game, the many potential guest stars looking to be lined up for Toybox, chillin' in Chinatown with DCT (!) and playing Street Fighter against ridiculously good players, before the Great Fantabulator helps close us out [http://lobachevsky.homelinux.net/~sriley] 32. Marc Star - Super Metroid "Dirty Sam" [OC ReMix #1305] 33. TO - Pokémon Gold & Pokémon Silver "Silver Lining" [VGMix2 #3203] 34. analoq - Suicide Express "Groovicide" [The People's Remix Competition v2-7] 35. Koji Kondo - "Ending" [super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars) OSV] 36. Koala & Larry say "What's up?" for 10 minutes before getting to substantial topics like the inside scoop on the quality of OneUp Studios' newest album "Xenogears Light", the artistic contrast of bikinis & snow, selling OneUp Studios merchandise at this year's Katsucon convention, hanging with Shael Riley, and her grand vision for a SaGa Frontier remix contest [http://luvmekoala.deviantart.com]

I'm sorry if this is a bother, but I have the impression that my submitted remix fell through. I never recieved a rejection email or anything, and I submitted it in October. Plus, in January I changed hosts anyways to someone more stable. Remixer name: Defiance Name of game remixed: Commander Keen 4 Just reiterrating, it's the dopefish theme. Thanks for your time, Defiance "Peter Mitchell" <defying14me@yahoo.com>

Hey Liontamer. This is a standard fallthrough request. I submitted a remix in October 2004 and received a submission confirmation email. It must have gotten lost in the shuffle or something because I haven't seen it in the queue over the past three months (the queue is shorter than that, right?). I'm still quite fond of it so I'd like to see it judged. Game: FF8 Title: Maybe I'm a Lichen Remixer: Dj Orange Yes this is my first fallthrough request. Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 408 "Maybe I'm a Lion" The source tune is somewhat hard to get a grasp on, so I had to listen to both for a while. The sounds of the intro will be hit or miss with some folks, but I thought it sounded very fitting for FF8. The percussion work starting at :22 was SO dry and flat, it really didn't bolster the piece like it should have. The drumloop that you sampled at :48 sounded so distant and muffled, it really detracted from the piece. Sounds very stapled in, so I really would have rather heard some percussion that was original in execution and crisp in production. Somewhat of an awkward change in tempo at 1:10 but one may be able to get used to that upon several listens. The notes chosen from 1:33-2:04 sound odd as hell, but it works in a quirky way, so it was cool shit. 2:18-2:29, as part of your chorus-y sounding area, sounded a bit too muffled with those thump sounds you were using. Using those claps there was also a bit cheesy. Might wanna just take the level of the claps down a little bit so they aren't so loud. Yeesh, a pretty ugly close at 3:14 going to the fadeout. Do you have to keep it like that? In any case, it's a surprisingly interesting mix. It doesn't really come across as having any particular direction or artistic story to tell; rather it feels like the mix stumbles around a lot with two left feet. And that's actually not a knock on this mix whatsoever. I think it works as much as some of the odder tracks in FF8 worked, like "The Residents". Hopefully some others Js will have ideas for you to beef up/enhance the sounds you already have in place, Geoff, along with some other ideas on bolstering the production a little bit and filling up the sonic space a bit more. Maybe I just appreciate this more than others will, but it's close for me and I'd like to see a resub on it. I think it could be a good fit here as an unorthodox piece with a bit more work. NO (revise/resubmit)

http://www.lemon64.com/music/sid/GAMES/G-L/Kung-Fu_Master.sid - Subtune 1/5 Heh. Same soundtrack as Kung Fu on the NES. Not a bad effort here, sir. After the intro, good use of the backing chords from the source tune coming in at :16 functioning as the base of your mix. Well played, Reuben. Liked the more familiar melody of the source coming in at :49. Headed into original/freestyle territory from 1:02-1:30 while retaining the arranged backing chords from the source. Arrangement ideas stayed fresh at 1:30. 1:46-2:03 hit another original section, and then proceeded to another iteration of the source melody at 2:03 with some subtle changes and original expansion ideas working until the end. Sweet arrangement, IMO, for such a minimal piece. So why am I going NO? Production. Hate to do it on those grounds, as I don't do that habitually and don't like doing it now, but the sound is a bit too imbalanced. Tone down the high-end, as the activity there is too loud and hissy and (really) distracts the listener from the more melodic work going on. And fill out the spotty mid-range, so this doesn't sound as rough and distant. The beats tend to drown out the melodic activity, but just tonining down the high-end would probably be enough. Check out the ReMixing forums here in case you need any help on that front. Simple resubmission to me. Hope to see it again really soon. I've seen your name around the Commodore scene and hope we hear from you again. NO (remaster/please resubmit)

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Select Screen" (loz3-11.spc) After having some NO Override stuff before, somehow he got markedly better-sounding samples now. Not bad for free stuff. In any case, the arrangement is way too conservative and uninterpretive. Mostly a cover with some light string attacks and beats underneath, along with some areas of subtraction as well, before finally going into some actual rearrangement at 1:44. The arranged ideas aren't bad from 1:44-2:09. Some decent additive ideas here, but this still didn't take many risks. Interesting keyboard and beat work from 2:09-2:34. You're starting to finally pick up on some semblance of what a ReMix needs to be, but ditch the mere cover upgrade action and get expansive and intrepretive with some serious rearrangement. Everything here sounds too subtly presented as well. Push some of the more interesting support elements up more. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/smk.rsn - "Rainbow Road" (smk-12.spc) B1itz Lunar's someone I had heard of back when VGMix2 started. I liked his SMW mix "Donut Grooves" enough to review it, so I'm glad to see him still kicking. That older mix was a lot less accessible than this one though, and "Pentagon Path" took a lot of strengths that I observed from "Donut Grooves" and applied them even futher. Excellent sound combinations here, giving off some truly jazzy vibes along with the racing imagery of both Super Mario Kart & F-Zero. Some won't like the intro, but I liked how it suddenly blasted in, gave off a brief sound reminiscent of karts waiting at the starting line at :05 and used a nice phasing sound at :18 to move into the melody. I initially thought this was reliant on the crazy beatwork and so forth and didn't change up the Rainbow Road melody enough. I could still see some people saying it's too conservative even. But if you're gonna keep the melody essentially intact, altering up the rhythms is an excellent way to change and expand upon the source, which was what Dave did here. The chorus switches back to 4/4 and could have been more interpretive there, but the arranged freestyle section strarting from 2:09-2:44 in 5/4 time absolutely sealed this, and I wish that could have been revisited as well. I also wish the track would have faded out at 3:35 instead of continuing on for a few more seconds, as that would have been a perfect ending, but I can't hate on that. The instrumentation was insanely spirited, well-seperated and clean-sounding. Cool as fuck with creativity to spare, it would make excellent in-game music for Rainbow Road with 200cc karts and the difficulty turned up to 11. YES

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 318 "You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet" Loud pops at :12, :19, :36, :44, 1:01, etc. Smaller, fainter pops elsewhere. Way too sloppy on the production to allow that kind of stuff, and it gets REALLY fucking annoying. If you can't fix glaring problems like that, don't send it here. Visit the ReMixing forums here and find out what's causing the problems there along with how to remedy them. Not a rip, so I won't NO Override, but this is just a cover with very minimal additions, like the guitar work coming in at 1:58. The guitar was so quiet, it didn't contribute enough to the picture whatsoever either melodically or in filling the sound. Better luck next crime. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 24 Sky Sanctuary Played this one in the X-Mas block for VGF44, and it was a very nice fit. The arrangement was conservative, though I generally liked what I heard on that level; no problems there. The main thing that was an issue here, one I was affected by moreso than DarkeSword, was that the performance could be a lot more cohesive-sounding. On account of that, I felt the piece was lacking in places on an emotive level. The tone of the piano sample itself was an issue with, as it made the presentation dry and plinky at times, instead of full and rich. If the performance was more polished, however, the tone of the piano sample might even enhance the piece, so (repeating myself) the piano tone could go well hand-in-hand with a more natural, flowing and cohesive performance. If you listen to JigginJonT's two versions of "Live from the Yggdrasil", even there you can hear how Jon's performance on the VGMix version was much more practiced & internalized than the OC ReMix version, achieving a more effective product in his eyes. Ultimately, that's what I feel this piece here needs. And that's not meant to be an insult like "this isn't OC material while the old Live from the Yggdrasil is", but I believe that some more attention to timing and realism would result in a much stronger performance. Excellent stuff so far, Bev. If it doesn't make it, I hope you can come back with a more masterful performance that shines. NO (refine/resubmit)

Jerad PMed me yesterday at Ormgas.com after I mailed him: Excellent. So getting back to my vote... http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Xenogears_psf.rar - 215 "Omen" http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Undersea Palace" (ct-3-08.spc) [:30 of the source] Good handling of the "Undersea Palace" theme at :50. The first 1:24 of the track is absolutely excellent on the rearrangement front. I liked the vox in the mix starting at 1:25, but going to :59 of "Omen" and trying to see if the note patterns were similar, it seems as if the vox work was all original, and not derived from the vox work in the source. This relies on the harp to handle all of the arrangement of Omen, so change the vox here a bit to incorporate ideas from the vox in Omen. I liked how Jerad increased the plucking on the harp from 2:32-3:06, with some arpeggiated activity though. That was more of what I would have liked to have heard on the rearrangement side. I liked the chord changes of "Omen" going on with the harp strings every 8 measures. Though they occured more frequently in this mix than in the source, those changes were also simply taken from the source nonetheless. This mix was a good example of keeping the same vibe as the source, while providing very expansive and logical original additions. But I felt the handling of "Omen" itself via the harp was too conservative, and that's what the base of the arrangement here was. At the core of the track, the harp strings handling the Omen melody needed to go a slightly more interpretive route. It's a hell of arrangement, and would easily fit as in-game music or on an arrange album, but again, I looked at the core component of it and found the harp (which is the only instrument even performing the source material from 1:24 until the end of the track) to not be offering enough on rearrangement. The other elements in this track sound excellent and are very Mitsuda-seque, but are all original additions not derived from the actual source material. After 1:24, if you took out the harp here, you wouldn't find a trace of the source material elsewhere; just stylistic similarities. I can't vote YES on mostly stylistic similarities. I don't wanna seem as if I didn't take Jerad's detailed PM into account, as I certainly did, and appreciated his reply greatly, but I gotta go NO (borderline) . Personally, I really enjoyed the track, and perhaps no one else will have the same reservations I had on the minimalism of the arrangement post-1:24, but that's how I saw this one. Thanks again to Jerad for replying back to me so quickly, and best of luck to him on the rest of the vote.

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 57 "Windmill Hut" Gotta love blind optimism from submitters. And it's not like I or other panelists enjoy going "OMGHAHAHA NO WAY 2 U!", but when you submit and your skills aren't up to snuff, you'd better keep the very real prospect of rejection in your mind (or lack thereof). So yeah, fix the timing issues from :14-:33, as your drums don't synch up well with the other elements in play. The Windmill Hut melody at 2:06-2:21 also has timing issues relative to your beats, and I can't believe you wouldn't be able to hear the timing issues there as well. And name the track something at least: "Windmill" doesn't count. Basically reverbed piano and some glassy synth playing the melody verbatim with da dance b33tz underneath it. Enjoyable track on some level, especially if you like the source tune, but you've gotta have something more creative on the table when it comes to the treatment of the source material; not just a straight playthrough with some quiet breaks and bustling crowd noise. So um, NO way...2 u...

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/sm.rsn - "Brinstar Red Soil Swampy Area" (sm-20.spc) I'm certainly a fan of the source material, but this was too straightfoward of an arrangement to me. The sounds were nice, but it seemed reliant on the samples to do the brunt of the work. 1:18-1:43 seemed to have something going on the arrangement side, until things switched back to the source tune melody, only at a louder volume and some military drumming. Somehow though, the track didn't pick up any real steam, since the samples still seemed to have the same attack style despite the volume increase. I liked the vibe hear, but any rearrangement ideas were really underveloped, and while things came off as airy and laid-back, none of the louder parts carried off the intensity or fullness it sounded like you were going for in the second half. It's a keeper for me though, so I hope to hear more from you as you flesh out compositional ideas further and articulate your sounds more. NO

You stay away from my girlfriend, Karl with a K!