Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 12 "Icecap Zone 1" http://www.zophar.net/gym/sonic2.rar - Chemical Plant Zone Decent stuff, although the sounds are really generic. Nonetheless, the groove bias is there. The melodic synth lead was really thin; it doesn't give any depth to the track. That little "bird tweet" effect that hangs on the melody's notes starting at :54 is slightly piercing. The piano playing the Chemical Plant Zone at 1:22 is MIDI-grade and VERY quiet. Punch it up more, and beef up the piano with some effects. It taints other parts of the track with its robotic application. The constant percussion/kick/bass synth groove starting at 1:22 gets tired by 2:10 or so; you've gotta to change the feel up a bit, but also do it sooner. Work to provide contrast so that the listener isn't burnt out on the idea so soon. Chemical Plant theme is brought in again at 2:17, before going back to Ice Cap later on. The barely-changing groove and basic synth design wears thin after a while. The groove elements generally overshadow the melodic content too much. Some of it needs to be scaled back to allow the arrangement to shine more. Decent, but it would need a fair amount of work to refine things and polish it up. NO

No cohesion or texture at all with this sparse instrumentation. Vocal clips aren't "terrible" but are a bit overused and don't add much to this emptiness. After 2:10, this just drags on. Not a terrible attempt at an industrial sound at all, but this just doesn't have any substance to it. You'd think with a nice 4:44 to work with, a lot more creativity would have been brought into play. Only a diehard fan with no standards would enthusiastically praise this. NO

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/Big_Snowman3.mid Sped it up, added some stock drumloops, tacky sounds, corny ending, only 2:04-long. Lame attempt at a rearrangement. And encoded at 320kbps, like that's some sort of benefit? I guffaw at your folly. But seriously, no disrespect, but nothing to add here. Someone else can slap on the N.O. if it's that egregious. NO

Yeah, TO nailed some good issues here. The lead guitar is a little too distant. It could be more prominent, yet still have the airy/distant quality it has. Wouldn't mind some comments on that from Vigilante. The snare is too loud and the performance on it is flat, plus the cymbals are way too quiet and don't contribute to the picture. The percussion patterns don't vary much and get stale after a while. That needs to be addressed. Unfortunately a case where production issues indeed kill an otherwise well-constructed and promising effort. Hope you address the sound balance and get things sounding stronger. Right now, some very flat sounds are severely limiting the potential here. NO (refine/resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Corridors of Time" (ct-3-04.spc) Track's already too loud just to start off and some stuff is distorting with some blistering stuff. This track could retain its power and agressiveness without this ridiculous volume. Lyrics come in at :59. The male vocals are decent, but losing pitch/off-key on occasion. The female backing vocals were worked in very well, but the balance between the vocals and music is shitty. The snappy beats are fairly basic, but (mentally removing the volume/balance issues) the texture turns out decent and there were a lot of creative things going on here. Track could still use some additional instrumentation to fill out the soundfield. It's amazing how an otherwise good mix is trashable thanks to stuff that can be relatively easily addressed, because the arrangement is pulled off fairly well. No way it'll ever pass until this is fixed up, but once it is, this would be an easy YES. Nice work on the arrangement, Jovette and company; its really some excellent stuff on that level, and you did a good job of not losing focus on the source material like some of your more recent subs. Just fix this up for the peeps. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkc.rsn - "Fear Factory" (dkc-20.spc) Quick shot on this one. It had some decent ideas, but the execution was lacking. The usage of the samples wasn't expressive enough. The tempo wasn't bad at all, but instrumentation came off flat, particularly the piano, bassline and percussion, leaving the energy low and the soundfield somewhat sparse-sounding. The track was also too quiet, like you yourself mentioned. The sampled piano was pretty low quality. Notes were running too fast and sounded robotic, resulting in runs like the one at 2:31 that just sound bleh. Not bad, but not a really developed or strongly executed idea. Definitely the potential there to improve though with future works. NO

Yeah, I confirm the N.O. Just take a look at the guidelines. You need a lot more interpretation, variation, creativity and substance than this to submit something and have it pass.

Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight Original Game Soundtrack - 20 "Lost Painting" Played this on VGF66 and was loving the feel here. It's a cool genre conversion, but the same problems apparent in most of Alex's subs are here. Too loud and the texture is bad. The strings don't move naturally, and in this case, the arrangement is relatively straightforward, though I like what was done regardless. If this didn't absolutely sound so unwieldy, I could mistake it for a collab between Alex and Vurez, what with its twangy sounds and Wild West style. I wasn't feeling much on the "wrong notes" area. /shrugs Sounded fine to me on that level overall, but the issues laid down by zircon, Gray & TO are the meat and potatoes of what's wrong with the track. This sounds like a total rushjob. It's time to stop getting rejected with the same old story time and time again and realize your potential. NO

Phantasy Star Online: Songs of Ragol Odyssey: Soundtrack Episode 1 OST - 03 "Image of Hero" Oh sweet, Phantasy Star Online, so good. Never played the game at all, but I also was a huge fan of the soundtrack. The strength of the original will carry any conservative arrangement; not a bad approach of wanting to slow it down and go for a more atmospheric rendition. Things sound a bit lo-fi, but I like the strings being used like pads. Woodwind sample at 1:10 for the melody sounds very artificial and unrealistically performed. Same for the supporting instrumentation at 1:37. The melody and the countermelody are verbatim with the source tune and the strings and drumwork don't do enough to make up for that. We get a bell on lead at 2:56 to change the feel a little bit, but the strings and drums are still the same; no variation. Doubled with the returning woodwind at 3:23 and the same countermelody. Wish this went somewhere more creative with the source material, as it's awesome stuff. Some basic rearrangement ideas were there from 3:49 until the end, using some lighter instrumentation and changing the rhythms a little bit. Track abruptly ends at 5:09 with no actual ending being written. A pretty long mix that could be decent chill stuff, but needs more arrangement substance and better use of the sounds involved. Cool stuff regardless. Keep at it. NO

OLD MAN! HAPPY BIRFDAY!

OMG, HELL NO! (i.e. Sure, bro.)

Kunal sent me a revised version with some additional mastering work he had meant to do before he submitted the track. This version features better room reverb/atmosphere, and the sax sample is not longer bone dry. The arrangement content is unchanged, and the link is updated in the submission letter. Everything sounds even stronger, IMO.

Slowly getting there, sister. Get VGF #51 and #52 soon. Once they're picked up by Ormgas, #53 & #54 will be released. I still have to work on any other remaining episodes, but I'll get there eventually.

This was a decent old-school cover of the original. Solid stuff for its time, including some beefed up guitar work compared to the SID version. I can see why the guitar isn't prominent here, as it reflects the style of the original. Lead synth at :59 didn't provided a good texture at all, but this was alright.

If you really have to give up per se, I'd just link every character to an applicable Wiki character or game article.

Howdy partners! We've got some backlogged stuff for ya. Get them while they're hosted: VG Frequency #51 MP3 (181MB/4hr24min) VG Frequency #51 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.10736 VG Frequency #51 Chat Transcript VG Frequency #52 MP3 (135MB/3hr31min) VG Frequency #52 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.10739 VG Frequency #52 Chat Transcript OMG, will he release more ever??? (No. ... Ok, maybe.)

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 57 "Windmill Hut" (56 Ocarina ~Song Of Storms~) I always clash on the mentality of what FTs are for. If it would have hit the panel had djp gotten it, I don't feel inclined to hold it back unless it's total dogshit. (Even though I handle the majority of RESUBs,) I'm more judicious when it comes to posting those instead. I'm more about feedback. Heh. Very basic xylo-ish stuff to open things with at :03 after the rain SFX. Beats and strings coming in at :16 were very basic and synthetic sounding, along with added beats at :37. Decent amount of variation. Melody comes in at :51 with the saxomaphone. Hahaha, cool. Pretty blatty, but tons o' heart even though it's not solid at all, follow by more xylo/string stuff up from 1:18-1:32. The beats jumping underneath the sax sound pretty akward. Wish the sax actually did more with the Song of Storms theme rather than playing the same phrase over and over again, as it really drags on, despite the constant switches in instrumentation. Traded off with various combinations of the sax, strings, and xylo ad nauseum, which just leaves things samey and boring in the long run. Not bad for a joke mix, but way too repetitive with both the arrangement of the theme and the instrumentation you were using. Look to vary both of those up, and add more original or interpretive arrangement ideas. Work on sample richness & humanization as well, and using less basic sounds by using effects. ReMixing & Works should continue to be resources for you. NO

It's been longer than 2 months now, so a fall-through is fine. Sorry for the wait. Quality isn't hot at all, bros, but despite being made for Dwelling of Fools, Xenon could at least get some feedback on it and push him in the right direction.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 107 "Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World" Good intro with the piano. There some improvement here, but this still needs some work. The volume is still a bit on the loud side, but that a more subjective issue here. The sample usage still sounds rather artificial/synthetic. Some of the string movements are noticeably too jumpy going from note-to-note. The acoustic guitar sample sounds dry and also very robotic & exposed at times (e.g. 1:01-1:02, 1:13-1:14). This isn't ear-breakingly loud, like some of Alex's past work, which is good. Shows a lot more reservation. I think with the strings handling the melody, the volume is good, but the acoustic guitar he's using to accentuate things is too loud at some points (e.g. :51, 1:11, 1:13-1:14, 1:55, 1:58). The drums sound too loud and really out of place and need to be reigned in. Such a thick-sounding snare doesn't seem to mesh with the rest of the instrumentation. Plus the patterns play for too long without enough subtle variation. The bassline could use more presence to fill out the soundfield a bit more. I liked the changeup at 2:03, though the acoustic guitar again sounds too artificial. I liked the tambourine on support though the pattern shouldn't be looped for so long. It's relatively minor, but it drags out. The production is kind of off in that the combination of instruments doesn't have that great of a texture. It's not locking together well with these thick drums, reverbed strings, and dry acoustic guitar. Some of the supporting instrumentation needs to be scaled back or panned around the soundfield. Feels like the piano, strings, drums and acoustic are sometimes fighting for the same space, rather than complementing each other, especially during the last section from 4:27-4:51. There's still too much overlap without harmony and it gets messy. It's been remedied a lot from the last time around when Shnabubula and zircon cited those issues, but it's not totally eliminated and it shows. Even though I felt the guitar was too loud again, I liked the subtler sections like 2:53-3:38, where I felt the percussion and strings helped accent the background rather than crowd the foreground. That's more of the kind of sound balance that's actually working well here. Good ending. This was a genuine improvement, but needs more refinement for a pass from me. It could sound a lot more cohesive by way of the instruments being made to sound more complimentary and not so loose. Touch up some of the string and acoustic guitar work, tone down the drums in some spots, and use volume and panning to separate the instruments more. NO (resubmit)

Original decision: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=64519 I've worked alot on Dreaming by Your Side now, I've been egged on alot to resubmit, so I wish to do so please. I don't believe anything else could be done to it and I'd like to resubmit please. Thanks. - RoeTaKa

Dance Dance Revolution 8th Mix -Extreme- - "xenon" Checked everything out and the source material wouldn't be a violation here; this is a Konami'>www.cheatcc.com/psx2/sg/ddrmax2.txt+%22Tomoyuki+Uchida%22+xenon&hl=en&client=firefox-a]Konami original track. Nihon mailed Gray to correct the composer info, but Tomoyuki Uchida (aka "Mr.T") made the track, not Takayuki Ishikawa (aka "D.J.Amuro"). In any case, onto the mix. This mostly worked with the original by changing the rhythms around, and featured what seemed to me to be a lot of supplemental/original ideas for the support work. Sounds were really basic. That's not a HUGELY negative hit on this mix at all, by the way. The original also used pretty generic instrumentation, though to be fair, these synths/sounds feel to me like a step down. Not cruddy or anything, just defaulty and lacking polish, which ultimately weakens the track. The intro of the mix changed up the rhythms from the intro of the original a little bit and extended the idea. Some basic beats came in at :21 to beef things up, along with a basic trance-style lead at :34. More stuff kicked in at 1:00 but the mix seemed to become very high-end heavy and a bit cluttered though nothing major on the clutter part. Things were decent. The texture got really thin and grating from 1:40-1:55. That's a problem with that synth, IMO, in that's it's too shrill at that point and stays that way when it's in use. Get really cluttered when more stuff comes in at 2:07. Good slowdown and transition into the next section at 2:20, finally getting into a new section of the source material at 2:49, before going back into the faster-paced material with some basic pads underneath at 3:18. Section from 3:32 basically repeats from :34, now with the pad underneath. Fairly weak close from 4:26 until the end; the pad and percussion are both fairly thin and sound too exposed. I feel like the source tune could have been explored more for the last minute, especially since the arrangement was pretty conservative and not overly expansive, just extended. Nonetheless, there were some good original arrangement ideas here as a result of changing the genre, and slowing the track down, mostly with the supporting instrumentation, not to mention the gated synth lead. If you can tone down some of the higher frequencies, and volume, and more importantly see what you can do to freshen up the arrangement from 3:32 until the end, I'd be more down. Primarily due to the sounds though, the track feel very samey throughout, so doing more to vary up the arrangement in that way would make this more solid for me. Good work so far, Jerome. NO (resubmit)

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/loz3.rsn - "Battle with Ganon" (loz3-28.spc) The Legend of Zelda ~Takt of Wind~ Original Sound Tracks - 204 "Phantom Ganon" Kunal mentioned to me that this was also from Zelda 3 when I asked him about the source tune information. He wants it to be attributed to Zelda: Wind Waker, though this initially sounded more overtly like the Zelda 3 tune. The connections with the Wind Waker material are definitely there though, as Phantom Ganon's is a rearrangement of LoZ3's Battle of Ganon. Both are mentioned here for reference. Good, jazzy opening. Kunal really has everything on point per the usual. Very nice and expressive. Nice brass. The one MAJOR hit on it is the sax that comes in at :48. The way it's used and the way it sounds are...eww. :'-( I like the phrasing, but irregardless of the sample quality, the sax doesn't sound as humanly played or expressive as the rest of the instrumentation. Unfortunately sticks out like a sore thumb admist all the other material involved whenever it's in play. I'd beg Anthony Lofton with the dolla$ for a stylish live recording! In any case, the arrangement is well-varied and very creative, while the overall production is smooth and top-flight. Nice work with the bassline, BTW, since you had to take care of it yourself for this one. I thought the last section was just gonna repeat itself, but there was at least some subtle variation there, even if it could have gone in some other directions. Really wouldn't mind some tips being given for the faux-sax from DarkeSword, or the sax being improved before this is posted, but even if not, this was too solid of an arrangement to NO on those grounds. Nice work flying solo, Kunal! YES

http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc/ssf2.rar - "Chun Li's Ending (3)" (ssf2-37.spc) Heh. The original honestly isn't that good. Just a 20-second loop. Sounds like a lemon of a track to me, so I'm interested to hear what you've done with it. Opens with some piano that sounds a bit distant. Almost going for a Reuben Kee-level opening. Woodwind at :10 sounds fake, and pizzicato strings at :14 sound very lo-fi for some reason. :20 in and not hearing anything really tied to the source yet. A melody comes in at :27, but it definitely doesn't sound like the source material. Some drums come in at :40 and sound like they're clipping/distorting a lille bit. The woodwind sounds flat, and the vox & bird SFX both sounds rather tacky. The production is pretty lacking, as the vox and low-end synths all crud up the atmosphere. Gray could offer the most salient suggestions there. 1:08-in and I still don't hear anything that sounds like the melodic progression from the source tune. 2:12 in, and there's more flat woodwind stuff, but still nothing that gives me a connection of the source tune. There are a lot of decent ideas here, so you get some credit for trying to keep things varied, but it took until 3:03 to finally here something that wasn't the most liberal of liberal arrangement. Then by 3:30, it went off the path yet again. Drums at 3:03 again are too loud to be tolerable, the the woodwind at 3:38 is extra shrill. Volume is way over the top for the rest of the track. Even if this sounded awesome, IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE THE ORIGINAL, which you basically acknowledged in your submission letter. This is way too liberal. I don't know how you took a 20-second original, barely even use it in a recognizable way, and somehow think this would make it. Next time, rearrange the source tune. NO

Yeah, cool original. I swear I played something on VGF as background music that sounded very similar to this. Cool intro at :23, though TO's right in that the feel isn't much different. I think the guitar work is ok, but there's no edge to it; it's like zyko's tone, only no power to it whatsoever. The sound balance is pretty weak, in my opinion. After :34, the sounds aren't quite mud, but they do crud together in the low-end and low midrange. The guitar lead really shouldn't be so subdued compared to the various forms of percussion in there. Percussion gets really repetitive. I actually think it might not have to be changed, just that it shouldn't be so loud and should have more variation in there. It would do a fair job at filling out the soundfield. Oooh, the arrangement got retread at 1:45 like this was a PSF file. :'-( Nah, you gotta bring more ideas to the table, not loop the same idea repeatedly. Not much difference in the second iteration of the source melody compared to the first; no significant/new ideas introduced, or different arrangement brought to the picture. Gentle section at 2:43, but it's not as solid as it could be with the piano, and only lasts until 2:55. Not much going on in terms of dynamics. The drums get a lot thicker at 3:07, but the overall feel is the same. The sine wave is definitely a cool idea that overstaying it's welcome due to a lack of variation, like TO mentioned. Things wound down a bit at 3:19 for some additional contrast, but then at 3:30, we abruptly go to some reversed sound action that sounds like a decent idea for a fadeout ending, but not lasting this long. Definitely too drawn out. Don't need it for 45 seconds. More like 10 seconds. Needs a huge overhaul. NO

Dune Spice Opera: Exxos OST - 09 "Chani's Eyes" Oooh, Dune Spice Opera is badass. Thanks to Gray for the source. I'm a huge fan of track 7, "Wake Up", ever since hearing it at Song of the Week. Cool intro for the mix. The belltones at :15 were kind of bootleg, plus the volume was getting too loud. Melody comes in at :34, and the synths handling that are really vanilla and thin. The texture here is pretty sparse. Seems to be a problem with this particular batch. Melody dropped out at 1:02, leaving behind some bad support work where the phrasing didn't stand strong on its own. Decent dropping out of the sounds at 1:35. This kind of atmosphere could work nicely if it were de3veloped well. Oooh no, bad electric guitar witht the FX and shizzle at 1:49. It actually has a different tone than the typical FL Slayer guitar synth I hear, so it's actually not bad, but it definitely doesn't sound very solid. Ending was too arbupt. Pretty short arrangement; didn't really have time to develop or go anywhere, which is fairly necessary going at this slow of a tempo. A lot of the sound choices weren't good; the combinations just weren't working. Keep working on it if you're willing to change those. But if not, scrap it. In any case, I'm with Gray in that the mix needs more rearrangement vis-a-vis the source; just more creativity there all around. Right now, it unfortunately sounds a lot like the source tune with inferior samples that also aren't used very well. NO