Liontamer

Definitely flat delivery here; work on providing contrast between your instruments. Too bad, since there are some solid rearrangement ideas. The bass guitar synth or whatever that is at 1:10 sounds awful compared to the rest of the sounds, which weren't sequenced that strongly, but at least sounded a measure better. The ending indeed sputters out. This could be so much more. NO (refine the sounds & resub for a YES)

Not a bad over-compressed vibe to start off with, but the intro's way too long (with no particular substance) for a 2:49 track. Some simple ambient textures come in at :59, along with a nice addition to the beats at 1:13. The melody coming in at 1:28 is totally in the wrong key compared to the beats, along with the percussion support coming in at 1:42 (which sounded too muffled). The idea for the ending at 2:26 was very anti-climactic/I give up-ish. Not terrible, but I'm definitely not feeling how everything came together, given how it ultimately turned out. The intro needs the fat trimmed off, the notes to not clash, and needs much more substance crammed into the rearrangament for such a short track. NO

Pretty muted and dry presentation. No meat behind it whatsoever. Seriously learn how to thicken up the sounds on this and fill this out. Like Vig said, and I'm sure Prot will say, extend the ideas here with more material as well. Not much else to say, as the rearrangment had some decent ideas. This would need a lot more substance and stronger sounds to pass at a mere 2:11 though. NO

http://216.40.213.39/%7Eadmin216/digital/lsl1cd/LSL1Track17.ogg - "Eve (Closing Scenes)" Ben PMed asking for feedback while this was in the submissions process. I'm surprised it even made it here, but here were my comments. Finally getting a hold of the source tune, the second half of the mix was decent in trying to do at least something with the source, but this was just a poorly done rip for most of it. Not trying to be mean, but to me you basically took the original MIDI, messed the timing up in the attempt to remix it and came out with an arguably worse product. No dice, bro. NO

As a genre adaptation piece, this could have been much more interpretive and more creative. That's already been gone over well by Dan & DS. Once this retread into the same stuff at 2:56, you knew this wasn't going anywhere in particular unfortunately. The conga work wasn't particularly invasive to me, but it certainly wasn't working there. No real variation to speak of within about 5 of the 6 minutes. You just gotta be more, bro. NO

Not bad stuff. I'm certainly interested in what Disco Dan would have thought about this one. Fairly spacey-sounding, but this could have sounded a bit cleaner production-wise. The rearrangement wasn't too bad, but there could have been more substance there when tackling the actual source tune melody. The tempo was a little plodding at times, and there could have been more substance with the drums; nothing crazy that would have disturbed the flow here, per se, but there could have been something more creative done there to vary things up. 3:00-3:06 felt like there was going to be some cool "one mo time fo da bass" transisition, but nope. At 3:08, you retread into the same source material coverage with only a little variation around the 3:45 mark before heading into the close with another minute left. If this wasn't going to tread any new ground there, it should have been trimmed down, as it gets repetitive while not really maintaining interest. Felt bad for those strings only being used at the very beginning and the very end. Just check out the observations I had and make your own refinements based on those in case you want to resubmit. Good foundations are in place, Jay, but there need to be some more ideas/developments present in a mix that's 4:47 long. NO

Pretty laid back, but like the others have said, the execution is lacking. The bass sounds pretty exposed and too artificial. The whole effort is laid-back, but too dry-sounding in the delivery and lacks in sound balance to me. All of the sequenced material (organ, guitar, bass) is dry. The sax and drums (but not the trumpet) needed more presence, as the sequenced material was louder than the live work most of the way through. The arrangement was decent I suppose, but took no risks. Prime material for a resubmit. No sarcasm intended, but OneUp Studios' fans would certainly enjoy this laid back, mostly-live work. It shows a great deal of effort and promise. Hope y'all give this another few takes to spice up the delivery on the live instruments, try and address the sound balance issues, and possibly add some more rearrangement ideas to expand the scope of the track. Hope you hear from you again. NO (refine & resubmit)

The bad before the good. Stuff like that damn slap bass, bah, that's already an Ari staple but it sounds like trash, and I thought the half note drum snaps were overbearing at times as opposed to the other drums hits which were too sedate and didn't fill out the track as well as I felt they could have. The presentation here felt WIP-ish, analogous to how the sounds with "Forest Birdcussion" weren't quite as full last February with his OGG WIP, before he looked at everything and went for fuller sounds in the final version for that mix. No particular problems here though. Some people won't like the sound choices here and on that level I'm sure there could have been more refinement there, but in many ways (and I know this isn't a great analogy), like I mentioned to Ari on VGF when I talked to him about this, many of the sounds really came across to me like someone pushing the limits of the SNES's sound chip. The synth guitar along with most everything else had a very good 16-bit type texture, which wasn't anything Ari was actively going for as far as I know, but it was there in spirit. Very creative work, and I enjoyed most aspects of the medley; great arrangement ideas, and good transitions on the whole. YES

Pretty cool stuff overall. The only glaring problems I had were from 1:49-1:52 & 2:05-2:09 with that glassy sound you guys used, as it sounds odd compared with the key of the track. Also, 2:53 had a somewhat piercing synth for support that lasted until 3:11. I would have brought the volume on that synth down just a bit. Very excellent variation throughout the mix, as there were several permutations of the groove throughout each verse to really keep things moving. Played this one a month ago on VGF, and it was all good. Mike & Allen are turning into quite the collab team. Quality stuff from them as usual. YES

Frankly, I'm not saying this was a superlative remix. But taking into account all of the areas of contention people had, as well as myself being called out for not voting along the guidelines/standards here, I felt I had to respond to them in the attempt to flesh out my vote for everyone. In terms of the production, I felt it was lacking and could have been improved, but was passable. Vigilante complained that the track was missing sounds from the low end and that the guitars didn't sound clear enough, and by extension emotive enough, due to the mic-ing and mastering. After listening several more times with Vig's encouragement, I nonetheless continue to feel that the recording/production was passable, if only barely, like Danny B also said despite his NO. I felt that the delivery here was not too flat and that the rhythms here were fairly emotive and spirited, especially once things particularly picked up at 2:04 with the segue into the second half. I did agree with Vig thought that more panning or separation of sounds would have helped distinguish the two guitar tracks more during the second-half improv section, but didn't feel that the weakness of the recording was poor enough to push this down into the NO category. In terms of the ending with the THUMP at the end, I don't have a problem with it in principle, as others have used it as an ending, but for this track specifically, the ending comes off as poor, abrupt, and unresolved. There was a last note that should have faded down at 3:18 instead of the thump. I agreed with most of the panel who docked the mix some points for that. In terms of the performance, I am not a meticulous guitar expert and admittedly have lower/not as strict standards on performance, as any mistakes will inherently be more glaring and aggravating to the guitarists of the group. At the same time though, I definitely did not disregard any mistakes I heard. Danny B was particularly put off by the performance, with things being heard from him such as off-notes, timing issues, and badly buzzing strings due to poor fret pressure (I believe 1:15 is an example of that). I heard the flub at 1:15, but, other than the end (THUMP), I didn't notice that there were many other issues/gaffes that jarringly (rather than minorly) impacted the performance. Whether or not OCR currently has a "good enough" bar set for these types of pieces is a bigger issue, but ultimately I go by what I hear and how well I feel that was executed. So when you ask me if the delivery on the guitar was satisfactory based on the standards we've had for live guitar pieces, I say yes. Like Vigilante also said despite his NO, I felt the performance was passable. In terms of the arrangement, I felt this was extremely conservative when dealing with the source material, but was still serviceable as simply the first half of a larger idea for the track. As I said in conversation on this, if this was simply a 3:30 track with this cover motif as the whole thing, it would not pass; however it has the second half to expand upon the tone of the first half, which does its part to save the track. As I also said in conversation on this, if this was simply a 3:30 track with this original motif as the whole thing, it would not pass; however it has the first half to provide the arranged content, which does its part to save the track. Both halves needed to be there in order for this mix attempt to actually click with me. Despite the style overhaul of the second half, I felt the use of the same instruments and similar chords throughout the mix did well to preserve the tone established in the first half, making the thematic connection of the two halves very natural-sounding to me, unlike how many of the others felt. In terms of the guidelines... ...I felt this did an adequate job (and I stress merely adequate because my vote was borderline) changing the source tune's genre through altering aspects such as the instrumentation, dynamics and tempo through this straightforward yet nuanced guitar arrangement as well as the addition of the all-original second half that substantially expanded upon the motifs of the first half’s source material. For me, these were all alterations and additions that worked in conjunction in a satisfactory way. Along with my belief that the production was reasonably serviceable enough and that the delivery on the guitar work was flawed yet ultimately strong enough, all of those factors are what led me to YES this submission for its relative quality as well as on the basis of adhering to OCR’s guidelines.I think the important point with a piece like this that was borderline or at least genuinely arguable on several levels is that no one should judge this in too declarative a manner, which I honestly felt Protricity was doing in our various panel discussions (and to a lesser extent Danny B before he & I calmed down and tried to break things down referring to the actual guidelines). As a group, we should generally respect the votes of other panelists in regards to whether or not they voted in deference to OCR’s submission guidelines and our general standards. Despite the common desire for rigid, uniform standards that would somehow be "easier" to enforce, they are an impossibility in a reality where music can be executed in so many different ways and the judges themselves do not necessarily have uniform beliefs when interpreting a common set of standards. I feel that the best we can do as judges when we run into debates on these issues is to remain receptive and amicable to debate, discussion, and the opinions of those whom you disagree with, even those you markedly disagree with. When I make nearly any vote, I cast my vote only for the mix in front of me, as I think that’s to OCR’s primary benefit, and not on the potential impact of the decision for OCR as a whole, as that could bias a vote just as much as YESing a mix by a friend without the track being good enough, or being afraid to NO a submission due to potential artist or community backlash. All in all though, I wholeheartedly approve this NO from the panel, because while I don't believe this submission was a violation, passing it also would have set a bad precedent for OCR by potentially encouraging other hopefuls to copy this unorthodox (and frankly iffy) formula, yet not be nearly as successful with it.

Tonight is VGF #23 from 1 - 3:50 PM EST, so head over to Ormgas to check it out and follow along with the playlist. Join us in #ormgas on IRC/EntertheGame (irc://irc.enterthegame.com/ormgas) to chat it up. Good way for me to recycle the previous message. Bitch.

I didn't know Double A's grandma liked my radio show. It attracts all types. Glad she enjoys it, Aaron. Yeah, as far as rearrangements go, AB's was by far the most impressive to me on Kong in Concert. As a mere listener, I enjoy Prophecy's the most, but Adhesive Boy's relatively few and far between remixes have all been unorthodox rearrangement ideas along with great execution. Pretty unique sounds compared to what else is available here at OC, and just amazing work overall.

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 402 Weapon Raid Like I said earlier, I apologize for having a lower bar than Danny and Jared Hudson, but I believe this is capable-enough orchestration work for our site standards. The source theme was rearranged and handled quite well (along with references to other themes), despite this remix being in a somewhat similar musical style to the original. Lots of good support instrument ideas made for creative additions I heard compared with the original, and I felt the "Weapon Raid" theme itself was altered pretty well. I'm not sure why anyone would potentially cry foul on the rearrangement. The source theme is 1:16 long and this mix doesn't seem to use the verbatim source structure as a crutch at all. Unless I somehow have the wrong theme, it's a fine medley piece. If I have the wrong theme from the PSF pack, let me know. Some of the brass sampling was handled very poorly, and, dynamically speaking, I thought this was relatively flat and needed a lot more contrast in instrument intensities and so forth. But again, this was at least capable orchestration and rearrangement work to me, and I had no big problems with it on that level. The arrangement made up for a relatively weaker use of quality samples. YES

Cool ideas, Steve. I liked the piano coming in at :18, but the snapping percussion is a bit too loud over this in the long-run. There's actually some charm in the light cymbal work being so audible, so while the snaps would sound better at a lower volume, I like the notable presence of the percussion in your ear. 1:16 sounds vaguely reminiscent of Quinn Fox's style. The move into the freestyle section at 1:54 really does come across as having no structure or thematic connection with the style of the source arrangement. Prot was right in that the bass was way too loud; this was particularly glaring to me from 1:54-2:31; the bass sample was terribly exposed at that point. The move back into Zangief's theme at 2:34 was abrupt and forced. There also wasn't development shown from 2:34-3:11 given that this groove was already established verbatim earlier in the mix. The transition into 3:50 for your finish also sounded wrong to me; also very abrupt and "I give up"-ish. Needs more variation with the percussion patterns and light piano strikes, more fleshed-out ideas with the freeform stuff, some real transitions; spice it up and give the solos more cohesion; the foundations here are good but this needs more work to realize this idea's potential. NO (refine & resubmit)

Submitted back in March, this definitely FT'ed. Like I just told Lee, and after hearing it again, I thought there were some muddy parts, mostly percussion, that would have sounded better with sharper mixing (generally liked the reverb though), and I believe from my quick listen that the second half was repetitive and lacked development. I'll do a more thorough look and vote later, but those were my initial thoughts. EDIT: I heard clicks & pops all throughout the intro (:01, :07, :09, :14, :15, :16). Otherwise though, the intro was well-textured. As soon as the melody and bassline came in at :57 though, the weakness of the production really stuck out. There seems to be an overall lack of sharpness or punch in the sounds. Even with well-thought out ideas, like 2:15 when you had the arpeggiated synth support come in along with more snap on the percussion, the production really prevented things from having any big impact. As you segued into 2:54, I felt the mix was basically retreading the ideas already presented without enough other things that would have kept the mix fresh, such as an instrument change or further alterations of the source tune arrangement. The layering of the source melody and the countermelody side-by-side at 3:32 was a good idea, but ultimately didn't feel like significant development. If you're willing to still look at this one, Lee, I'd suggest working to present some new ideas in the last minute for a more varied/satisfying close, as well as sharpening things up with the mixing. I like the ideas here, but the production and last minute need refinement. NO

Thanks a lot to ravon, w-ber & my fellow bros over at Ormgas.com for adding VG Frequency over to the regular rotation of OC ReMixes over at Ormgas. Starting tonight, you'll be able to hear a re-run episode of VGF at Ormgas, which is about every 3 days or so. Keep an eye out for 'em. Tonight is VGF #22 from 7:15 PM-10:15 PM EST, so head over to Ormgas to check it out and follow along with the playlist. Join us in #ormgas on IRC/EntertheGame (irc://irc.enterthegame.com/ormgas) to chat it up.

I agree with Ari on both points. Certainly flesh out the votes on mixes that are disputed. "It's too weird for the public" doesn't work. In any case, while I'm a legit fan of Sam's work, I definitely felt this was way below the bar as opposed to borderline. I'm no production whore, but I'll admit, like Prot, I'm surprised this passed given how flat the delivery on this was, and though likely intentional, I didn't feel as though it was a positive contribution for the mix. I think if we got a resubmit, this would turn out much better. Of course the arrangement was great and was something I felt was over the bar. I'm not sure where Binnie would have voted, but it looks unofficially like a 5Y/3N. Not my cup of tea, and it won't be for many others, but this one should spark some interesting debate amongst the listeners in the ReView thread, which is certainly a positive thing for a music community like this one.

Yeah, need more than that to explain why this doesn't cut it.

Beyond "Weapon Raid", could anyone please highlight which other FF7 tracks (if any) are being used for this remix? Sorry that I'm not in a position to do it myself. Once I get that info, I'll be glad to write my decision.

I'd hate to think that Jeremy nigguhgigasampled his way to a YES, but frankly, this sounds reasonably well put together to me, and I'm not hearing enough to swing to a NO at this point. I need to hear a copy of "Weapon Raid" in order to compare it to the arrangement though, since I'm not overly familiar with the original. I'll also take into account Dan & Prot's comments; maybe I just have a lower bar, but the execution sounds fine overall, even though it certainly could be improved.

The intro's pretty weak. Dunno if it's based on one of the game themes, as I don't have the capability to listen to the NSF at the moment. The crossfade into the changeup at :30 made little-to-no sense to me stylistically, and this second half of the intro was too atonal to stand on it's own all the way until 1:05. Awesome flow here at 1:05 though, once your main theme came in. Certainly hope it wasn't too straightforward of a cover, but in any case it was excellent. Unfortunately, it's sandwiched in the middle of a bleh intro and a not-as-impressive second half. The changeup at 2:42 was a terrible key change and killed the momentum you had here, along with the goodwill you had built up from that stronger previous section. I realize from your VGMix description that you liked the sudden breaks as that may fit more with this experimental rave style, but try and work for a more logical, flowing transition here, as that transition came across as lazy as hell. I'm certainly open-minded to sudden breaks in music, but most of the time they don't work well. The second theme mixed at 3:05 isn't nearly as good as the first one to me, also. Why not try to transpose the second theme to fit in key with the first, so the sudden transition isn't as jarring? All the frequencies are topping out and in mah face and so forth, but it's supposed to be a hard trance style, so I'll let it slide. That ending at 4:07 was kind of a cop-out/time-to-give-up type of resolution. Hilarious non sequitur cough at the end. Everyone else will tell you to ditch it for being pointless, Heath, but forget 'em, that was great. You know what you doing. Resub, bro, if you're still interested in working on this, since it's over 6 months old now. If not, this was certainly a good experiment. The sounds are generic but weren't bad on the whole, though some are gonna find this grating most of the way through, especially the second half. Anyway, I'm genuinely looking forward to your next FF7 mix, BTW. You already know I'm all for that one. NO

Hate the very generic sound of the lead, but that doesn't affect my vote. I agree that the piano used from :49-1:25 is terribly obscured and needs to be brought up. Things just get cluttered at 1:49 when y'all brought in both that electrosynth and some shrill string instrument as support, so I'm not enjoying how crowded everything became. 2:13 only got much worse as some downright distorted/clippy bass thumps were added at the very end and absolutely cruded this up for the finish. Sloppy mixing execution in the attempt to create a very full sound. Scale the volume back so that y'all aren't topping out every frequency towards the end, insert some more variation in the ideas to keep things fresh if you want to keep the track at a mere 2:39 (which is fine), and I believe the ending cuts out abruptly, but it may just be my download. But yeah, this isn't gonna be your sophomore ReMix, bros. Keep working on it, please. You snagged two votes with Prot on the borderline as well, so a resubmission addressing several issues would make it with little problem. NO (resubmit)

The piano intro the mix isn't particularly hot, but the quality's certainly good enough. Cool stuff fading in at :10 that's structured like ABG's "Ada's Groove." At :34, your flute lead indeed sounds weak, while it's also sounds obscured. Starting at 1:09, the electrosynth you have on lead has some flat delivery, and the countermelody joining at 1:20 is also fairly thin-sounding. 1:44 switches to some organ/keyboard-like notes that are almost atonal sounding that slightly clash with the groove here and sound very gimped out. The percussion at this point has barely had any notable changes in it, so you need to work on some percussion variation within :33-2:41, and not just go back to the same tired beats by 3:02. Decent guitar work fading in at 2:30 and providing support to at least add another layer of instrumentation, but the delivery there is really unenergetic as well. Execution needs to be spiced up, and I'm begging for more creative ideas, as the arrangement is too repetitive. When you hit those lifeless organ/keyboard again at 3:50 and kept on retreading the same territory, it just wasn't a strong way to work towards your close. 4:13 had some better sounds to wrap things up near the very end, though the nearly-finished fadeout abruptly cuts out at 4:39 (which might have just been my copy). Vigilante's right about the mastering needing some work, as the mix has some alright sound combinations that nonetheless get a bit cluttered at times. I also thought this needed some attention for the high-end frequencies to generally help sharpen the sounds. This was very plodding & repetitive, so the development aspect of the mix needs work, and please bring more fullness to your sounds. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gym/tforce3.rar - "Venus Fire" Not enough here, Marcos. Going into 1:18, one really expects this to be building up towards something and then you get a just a crummy/abrupt drum close at 1:31 instead. Besides, this is just a one loop near-verbatim cover of the source tune. You'd be good to go if there was rearrangement substance to this, but there is none beyond the change in support chords. From your VGMix description of this, I doubt you realistically expected this to make it here anyway, since you know it's just a quick cover. I'll patiently wait for Megaman "CutMetal" & Super C "Against the Rest" to show up on the panel or be direct posted. NO

NOoooooo. Terrible keyboard sample. Bland strings, though not abominable. Some thin, gimpy percussion joined in at :54. OH MAN, BAH; 1:06, some more stock percussion crap. Man, these samples are straight donkey crud, the structure is repetitive and unenergetic, and literally every time a new layer of instrumentation comes in, I get pissed off at this. 1:29 has some low saw wave or wutvea, then 1:48 with wuteva other lame thing. All this buildup up to 2:10 for a crappily sequenced cover with generic beats?!? Goddammit, this just isn't my day. Listened to the whole thing, but it doesn't merit anymore beyond this. I'm too busy trashing it. Bad everything. Even the strings coming in again at 3:32 are only a drop of decency admist this default crud. I'll never get those 5 minutes back. Fuck.