Liontamer

I'd like to see this one get a few more votes before we finalize it. There's a big divergence as to whether the construction of the remix is passable or not and the YESs are secure enough in their votes that it's not simply an easy NO. Don't wanna sound as if I'm all for drawing out every vote, but we've got Gray on the fence on this one, and I'd rather see either him or someone else either continue the debate on this or seal it with a 3Y/5N vote.

Loads of good music is in the works, so be sure to tune in, along with Beatdrop & Flik possibly calling in & Mustin later on in the show to talk about quite a few topics. You know you've gotta be there this Saturday night. With bells on.

Couldn't get any of the old-school Macintosh/QuickTime-formatted MIDIs (the only source material I could find on the net) to work on my comp, so thanks a lot to haveblue of halo.bungie.org's #hbo channel for hooking me up with an MP3 of the MIDI source material. The ambiance here is generally pretty cool, and vastly thickened up compared to the source. You can hear some very, very light original/rearrangement countermelody added underneath (:41-51). There's not a huge amount of overt/in-your-face development over the course of the three minutes with this fairly minimalistic track, though that's obviously not the point with this piece. Upon active listening, I noticed that sounds in the front are gradually changing and shifting around, so for an ambient piece with a subtle approach, there is certainly tangible development to be observed. The light percussion is more subdued compared to the source tune, but that's still exactly the same sound and timing as from Alex Seropian's original MIDI. These lil' tambourine shots may have had awkward timing and flimsiness in the "Leela" original, but there's no real reason I can see to leave things that way, even in homage. The progression of the MIDI strings in Seropian's original (:00-:20 / source) was minimized into the bass thumps and subtle bass pad here, which wasn't a bad idea also. 2:18-2:30 of the mix (some light synth work) was largely shaped by 2:47-3:05 from the source. There are certainly some new/altered ideas going on here in the structure and the texture that all sound fairly good, so this isn't just a cover, but at the same time I'm having a hard time seeing the foundations here as much beyond the reinstrumented MIDI. With an ambient piece like this being somewhat harder to grasp, I'd rather not make a vote without more input, so I'll see what others have to say here and make a judgement based on some further insight. EDIT: I've got no problem with the panel's decision. There's certainly nothing inherently wrong with an ambient approach, but anything that could be done with the track to give it something more tangible from a rearrangement perspective (i.e. keeping some elements/structure of the original, yet making the inclusion of new ideas rather than sounds more apparent) would make it more likely to pass. - NO

The intro keeps pretty tightly to the source tune. (On a broader look, much of the song does.) The low-sounding string patch for the melody (going until :30 and appearing in other places like 1:51) is noticeably weak, but the usage here was better than the low strings in a lot of other mixes & submissions I've heard; they were serviceable at least, and the rest of the higher-sounding strings were stronger. After hearing some quality drumwork from :56-1:06, I was a little disappointed to see Chad go in more of the beatkeeping direction, but the drums were at good enough levels where they accentuated rather than detracted from the overall package. The guitar levels are way, way up there, and managed to go over the top of everything else, but despite the "cluttering" I heard enough separation of sounds present and didn't feel that the important supporting elements suffered much. It works pretty well along the lines of some techno-oriented mixes like SGX's "Kick Your A" & bLiNd's "G-Storm" where you're hit with some excessively dominating leads. Fairly decent work turning this from a tribal orchestral piece to a (tribal-smattered) metal mix. The little arpegiatted notes were a nice touch. The last 2 minutes got a little bit interpretive with the Halo source material, so while not particularly dynamic of a rearrangement to me, it got the job done there as well. The idea for the ending wasn't bad, if not just stretched out too long, but I didn't mind that. Though, again, some things are going on in the second half on the arrangement side, most of the appeal here is in adapting the Halo theme to a new genre rather than overhauling the structure. Nothing risky by any means and not my thing personally, but it was a bit over that line for me. YES

"Funky Monkey Love" is just another one of those remixes on Kong in Concert that encourages you to think outside the box! Have you never thought of how Donkey Kong would express his feelings for Candy Kong? Well then wonder no longer! Vigilante has given you the fans the insight into Donkey Kong's love life that even Rare's development team was reluctant to provide! Scrap the lyrics?!? Hell naw!!! Now you get Funky's brain-numbingly good rhymes in BOLD CAPS!!!!! THIS HERE IS FUNKY KONG FUNKY LIKE A MONKEY DONKEY GETS THE LADIES EVEN THOUGH HE'S KINDA CHUNKY HE LAYS IT DOWWWWWN WHEN DIDDY'S NOT AROUND THEN HE HOPS ON FUNKY'S FLIGHTS AND HIGHTAILS OUTTA TOWN

Not sure why it does a double .mp3 when you download it. You might have file extensions hidden for filenames in Windows. That's the first I've ever heard of that problem. The VHS tape of show #27 is at my house. :'-( Shit, I've got to get it sent here and make the copies! I'm sorry, my fellow Georgia collegiate bros! And we've gotta start planning to have you bros come down again to guest host!!!

That URL no longer works. Use http://www.redomen.com from now on. Oops! It's been fixed in the post and the MP3. Thanks, bro!

Kong in Concert was a high-quality album, IMO, so it was my pleasure to host last night's listening party, of sorts. Along with the first 2 hours of assorted work from the community and Protricity's call-in, we had 3 1/2 hours featuring the complete Kong in Concert album along with several interviews featuring the artists of KiC & project director Digital Coma. THANK YOU to everyone who called, as well as everyone who stuck around for the full show, which was definitely the longest one ever. I apologize if the 5.5hr MP3 looks daunting or unlistenable at first glance, but the material on there, particularly Kong in Concert alongside the various artist interviews, is worth your look. Head over to my webspace to pick up the 225MB/5.5hr MP3 (MP3 mirror) along with this week's decidedly fucked up AIM transcript. I know some people are like "OMG, stop with the prank calls, but I'm a big advocate of both equal time and not taking the show format way too seriously. For myself it's actually farily hectic as shit dealing with the prank calls live, but when I listen to the MP3 later I can appreciate the stupidity more. In any case, I'm indeed hoping to have Mustin on the air at some point in the near future in order to let him have his say on Protricity, OCR, his conception of remixing, the commercial release of remixed material and any broader issues beyond that. As a big figure in the remix community, but one who mostly stays out of OCR and VGMix, he doesn't usually have a chance to engage in debates about remixing outside of OneUp Studios so it'll be good to get his angle without anyone twisting his views. Now enjoy the playlist! Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, September 11, 2004 / 10:15 PM - 3:45 AM EST 1. Jared Hudson - VG Frequency "JHX Soundtest" Bumper 2. Digital Coma - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Kong in Concert Bumper 2" [Kong in Concert] 3. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Jungle Groove" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 4. NoWave - Secret of Evermore "Secrets Abound" [The People's Remix Competition 16 / VGMix2 #1471] 5. bLiNd-Leifo - "Summer Rendezvous" [http://www.thebrailroom.com / http://www.leifo.com] 6. Flik - The Legend of Zelda 3 "Kakariko Prom" [VGMix2 #1845 / OC ReMix # 1241] 7. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Aquatic Ambiance" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 8. Protricity (with a drug-induced Danny B in tow) joins us to talk about the nature of remix projects, Kong in Concert, his new Double Dragon 2 mix "Mean Streak on Main Street", his take on the issues of the OneUp Studios message boards' rejection of criticism on music, and the story on Cruton & "Toto Gives Up the Bass" [http://www.public.asu.edu/~arasulin / http://members.cox.net/systemaniac] 9. Sadorf & Sir Nuts - Sonic Triple Trouble "A New Ray of Light" [VGMix2 #2197] 10. Protricity - Double Dragon 2 "Mean Streak on Main Street" [http://www.public.asu.edu/~arasulin] 11. Toto vs. Cruton - "Toto Gives Up the Bass (OUS Style)" [Kassi's OneUp Studios Africa Remix Project] 12. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Mine Cart Madness" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 13. "Homestar Runner" calls and acts more retarded than usual [http://onehemophiliac.deviantart.com] 14. "Mustin" is fuming at Protricity, Prot joins the conversation via 3-way (WHOA!) but actually manages to be scared off by "Mustin" (who then rants about being the president and...um...yeah) [http://www.public.asu.edu/~arasulin] 15. Sithlord-Aku chimes in to call for the end of "one mo' time for da bass" [http://sithlord-aku.deviantart.com] 16. trickwaters - Dragon Warrior 4 "Menuet" [seven Fantasies for Piano / VGMix2 #2185] 17. Quinn Fox - Phantasy Star 2 "Slick Uniforms" [VGMix2 #2167] 18. zircon - "Bereavement of Hope" [Original Video Game Music Competition 1] 19. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Misty Menace" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 20. Flik hooks us up with the info on "Kakariko Prom", his affinity for audio drama, contributing to "River City Rap" & DCT's Megaman VII remix of Eminem's "Stan", and upcoming work with Beatdrop [http://www.vagstudios.com] 21. Stemage f/Kellin Watson - Metroid 1 "The Ending" [Metroid Metal] 22. The Wingless & Vigilante - Metroid 1 "Final Exam" [http://www.thewingless.com] 23. Star Salzman - "Africa" [Kassi's OneUp Studios Africa Remix Project] 24. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "DK Island Swing" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 25. Digital Coma - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Kong in Concert Bumper 1" [Kong in Concert] 26. Israfel - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Godiva in the Desert" [Kong in Concert] 27. Hemophiliac - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Swing, Monkey, Swing" [Kong in Concert] 28. JigginJonT - Donkey Kong Country 1 "West Coast DK Island" [Kong in Concert] 29. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Cave Dweller Concert" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 30. Hemophiliac gives us the low on how he got involved in Kong in Concert and "Swing, Monkey, Swing" along with his favorite other contributions to the album [http://onehemophiliac.deviantart.com] 31. D-Lux makes it short and sweet; bring on the Star Salzman/zykO freestyle contest [http://rockbottomdlux.freewebspace.com] 32. "Kaijin" soothes the listeners with his dulcet tones 33. Unknown - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Rest and (Re)spite on a Soft Summer Night" [Kong in Concert] 34. Adhesive Boy - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Cry of the Chasmal Critter Chain" [Kong in Concert] 35. Icy Guy - Donkey Kong Country 1 "One Zero One" [Kong in Concert] 35. Vigilante - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Beneath the Surface" [Kong in Concert] 36. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Candy's Love Song" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 37. Adhesive Boy provides us with the conception of "Cry of the Chasmal Critter Chain", comparisons of Kong in Concert to Relics of the Chozo, other mixes on the album he enjoyed, the controversy of the peer review between Israfel & Protricity's entries for the KiC intro mix, thoughts on Protricity's spamming of the OneUp Studios messageboards & the ideological differences they all have, and the glut of new remix projects [http://adhesiveboy.no-ip.com] 38. "Donkey Kong" lays it down as he pimps the next track in our KiC spotlight featuring Funky Kong 39. The real "Kaijin" arrives to clear his good name and ream Larry on the difference between a MIDI & General MIDI sounds 40. Vigilante f/Liontamer - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Funky Monkey Love" [Kong in Concert] 41. Red Omen & Protricity - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Boiling Point" [Kong in Concert] 42. Protricity - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Mine Cart Misadventure" [Kong in Concert] 43. Sadorf & Sir NutS - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Echoes" [Kong in Concert] 44. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Life in the Mines" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 45. Red Omen takes his turn to tell us how he fashioned "Boiling Point" including how Protricity got involved with some additions on the track, his fondness for pieces that feature dynamic time signature changes, further plans for original work as well as original & arranged pieces for his school's marching band, the other tracks he enjoyed within the project [http://www.redomen.com] 46. "Matt Pollard" feels bad for missing out on his chance to be part of the Kong in Concert project and wants to share his passion 47. "Koji Kondo", considerably absent from Donkey Kong Country's composer team, let's us know what music he's made; Larry is racist 48. Icy Guy breaks through and shares how he connected with the project and formulated "One Zero One", as well as how that compared to his older material such as his n00b Banjo Kazooie mix "Unusual Suspects" & Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Chemical Spill", a little kissy kissy for the OCR judges' panel, potential ideas for new remixes, as well as other tracks from the project he enjoyed, and a quick thanks to Larry for VGF before he threatens to kill the judges [http://icyguy.digibase.ca] 49. GrayLightning - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Idols of Hanuman" [Kong in Concert] 50. zircon - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Faunaphonic" [Kong in Concert] 51. smh w/Adhesive Boy - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Arboreal Ascent" [Kong in Concert] 52. bLiNd - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Aerofunknamics" [Kong in Concert] 53. Aetherius - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Clouded Mind and Ringing Ears" [Kong in Concert] 54. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Forest Frenzy" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 55. Digital Coma arrives to talk about Larry as opposed to the project, the organization of Kong in Concert, how he's "good peoples" by encouraging several remixers to attempt to join the project, comparisons to Relics of the Chozo, outside pressures to push the project forward while comprising his plans, and the peer review vote for Israfel vs. Protricity/Vigilante & Protricity vs. Nacho before some drunk Emory freshmen start pounding the door hoping to deliver Domino's Pizza [http://www.binnie.org / http://dkcproject.ocremix.org] 56. Prophecy - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Chekan Winter" [Kong in Concert] 57. analoq - Donkey Kong Country 1 "dolilop do wop" [Kong in Concert] 58. GrayLightning - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Machina Anesthesia" [Kong in Concert] 59. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Fear Factory" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 60. analoq encourages us to "permanente sentado, por favor", and breaks down the grueling process and setbacks of creating "dolilop do wop" (Trashed ideas! Writer's block! Jury duty! WEST NILE VIRUS!), how he would classify the genre of most of his material, an upcoming Kraftwek cover, along with thoughts on the other mixes he enjoyed from the project, and a huge plug for the Doom remix project [http://apm.m2pc.com] 61. Digital Coma explains the story of "permanente sentado, por favor" as part of the OCR judges' California trip, details on when the OverClocked ReMix spotlight of Kong in Concert will drop, his thoughts on how other game soundtrack remixes have failed and what others need to do in order to succeed with future projects of that scope [http://www.binnie.org / http://dkcproject.ocremix.org] 62. Jared Hudson is jonesing for Shoutcast, shares his thoughts on the quality of Kong in Concert's "West Coast DK Island" by JigginJonT, the huge improvements the OCR remixing community has shown in the last few years, his plans to redevelop his in-progress Chrono Trigger remix "Generations in Time", flashbacks to Bitsybutt's brief appearance at VGMix1, being contacted out of the blue by a joke track victim of his Jennifer [beeeep], and yelling at Larry to release the show MP3 as soon as possible [http://www.hudsonstudios.net] 63. Dhsu - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Pirate Prelude" [Kong in Concert] 64. SnappleMan - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Thrash the Plank" [Kong in Concert] 65. Protricity - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Rare Reminiscence" [Kong in Concert] 66. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Funky's Fugue" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 67. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Lost Life" [Donkey Kong Country OST] 68. Dave Wise, Eveline Fischer & Robin Beanland - "Game Over" [Donkey Kong Country OST]

Exhausted. MP3...eventually. Thanks to all the callers. KiC is Gawd. Seriously though, thanks to EVERYONE who called in, and Binnie for hooking me up with all of the KiC tracks to play tonight. 5 1/2 show. WTF was I thinking. In the interest of getting the show out ASAP, I'm gonna release it without correcting any low volume levels on some of the interviews, so I wanna apologize in advance, but I don't have time to sit through 5.5 hours of convos and pranks. Look for the show sometime later in the week, folks. Great stuff.

Rhythm guitar was still a miss for me from :44-1:32, especially during it's more exposed portions; still can't let that go every time I hear it. The string patch is still relatively weak, as well as lacking in its note movements, but the whole note choices on it were so so terribly chosen last time and really undercut everything else here, which is why the fixes on the notes here significantly improved things. Good stuff with the acoustic solo stuff from 2:37-onward into the Chrono Trigger reference and back into the percussion and string support at 3:52, and I had enjoyed that the first time around. The hint of reverb on the guitar to help alleviate the thin sound paid off primarily for the area before 1:32, and like I said, the notes on the string support being addressed helped this out a lot. This didn't address every issue I had, but the panel varied a hell of a lot on what to do regarding smaller areas; besides, there's nothing wrong with keeping what you think works and fixing the more obvious, objective flubs. In any case, the revisions here were enough to gain my confidence just a bit beyond the borderline. Seriously, thanks a lot for taking a look and things and improving the overall work, Neil! It may have been annoying to go back on this and tweak it, but I really hope you enjoy the end result in the long-run! YES

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/tombsa~1.zip - NSF Track 19 A lot of the NSF tracks for this game are pretty badass. Any lurkers/mixers reading this decision who like NSFs should seriously pick this soundtrack up. Onto the mix, this isn't much beyond the original in a slightly different format (including the repetitive structure of the source), though a decent effort is made to change the texture of the source tune with this cover. The electric & acoustic guitars sounded hot in tandem but only lasted for the first 30 seconds, which was unfortunate enough that I feel inclined to use this emoticon . I really hate to say this, especially because I know it's not gonna happen with an older piece like this, but I'd have recommended doing something to make the stock percussion either more engaging or at least placed in a less audible supporting role, because it drags the piece down and detracts from the lead, in my opinion. Along with that, there seriously needs to be some variation within the track via rearrangement. There aren't any unique ideas here besides changing the instrumentation to a mellower feel, and that's a shame when a source tune like this could go places. Damn...and Eric is cool as hell too. Aw man... NO

Um...it ain't April yet, bros. Wow, those are...yeah. But we will be having some jokery tonight, as Protricity calls in to highlight his time spent hanging out around OneUp Studios' messageboards over the past few weeks and causing a general ruckus. Why did he cause all those headaches there. Well, you probably know already that Prot isn't a fan of OneUp's policies, so he'll be on the air to discuss that along with other crud like his new Double Dragon 2 mix "Mean Streak on Main Street". We'll also be featuring the full album of this past summer's OCR side project run by Digital Coma, "Kong in Concert". The album is really hot if you haven't heard it, and we'll be playing everything for you tonight, along with having Binnie on the air to give some comments. Any KiC artists/fans are welcome to call in throughout the show as the album in underway to give their thoughts on the project. Be sure to tune in, folks.

http://www.alpha-ii.com/snesmusic/spcsets/soe.rsn "Collosia, Chamber 2" (soe-45.spc) - :01-1:43, 2:00-2:37, 3:50-4:42 "Flying" (soe-63.spc) - 1:44-1:59 "Ivor Tower - The Town" (soe-50.spc) - 3:07-3:35, 4:43-end Comparing this to something like "The Trail in Concert", I realize this is also not an overly complicated piece that a piano prodigy would be wowed with. Like I contended when debating kuroikaze's anti-Spekkosaurus rant over at Ormgas.com however, "Arguing over whether or not The Trial in Concert is a complex piece is interesting in a vacuum, but nothing beyond a fool's errand in the context of whether or not it's enjoyable and why, given the nature of the audience here." I really feel that line of thinking applies here with "Anachronism" as well; there are many redeeming qualities here beyond what you would find with unreasonable, virtuoso-level scrutiny of the piece. The style could be more complicated, and the playing could be sharper on the timing at some points, but this was otherwise solid work. As a listener, the solo piano functions to me as both an instrument and a genre of music, which is one of the advantages of deciding to do a remix this way when the execution is on point. In both respects, Sam does a great job of transposing Jeremy Soule's originals from a drier, mystical feel into a fairly emotive, romantic setting with sharper, pluckier sounds and noticeably grander energy than the source material. The abrupt nature of the ending was the only real problem I had with this one, but that wasn't much in the grand scheme of things. The arrangement of these source tunes was fairly straightforward, yet I found that (beyond the inherent sound change the move to piano brought) my favorite part about this mix were the constant subtle shifts in tempo during the "Collosia, Chamber 2" sections. Shnabubula added a lot of personal flair in the execution of this piece and it shows. Good effort transcribing this to piano, and I sincerely enjoyed the outcome. Maybe Sam will end up as another ReMixer, like JigginJonT, who debuted with electronic material only to surprise everyone with a piano-centric body of work. I don't recall feeling as strongly about Shna's Solstice mix over at VGMix, "Shadax the Blue", but with this mix here I at least know I'm looking forward to whatever else Sam puts on the table. YES

Looks like we're gonna have a nice divergence of opinions. While not a techno fan in particular, I felt this worked really well for the techno genre in spite of the generic synth choices. Though the sounds were the same throughout, I felt that this moved well from section to section. Sudden transitions tend to hurt the flow of most remixes I've heard, but I didn't find anything wrong with them here and actually felt that they were pulled off pretty well; it's not criminal to use sudden transitions, just bad form in most cases. And while Prot & Vig feel that everything here belies laziness, I'm hard pressed to agree. This doesn't develop in the way most tracks are expected to here. There's not much in the way of contrast or a change of dynamics here; rather, there are periodic shifts in the groove, but I feel that works just as well. On a side note, the FF10 Battle theme's treatment to fit with this genre at :53 was the most impressive area for me arrangement-wise. Good groove and a nice medley piece, IMO. Not innovative work, but solid to me nonetheless; I didn't feel there were any particular problems that went beyond the subjective. YES

Not to treat this like a mere WIP, but please hold off on any further votes on this one until late Friday at the most. Doesn't look like that should be a problem, but wanted to throw in the disclaimer regardless. Big Giant Circles is fairly new with FL Studio, so there will be one final update by him to attempt to address Prot & Vig's lead/drums balance issues if possible. The lead's been brought out a bit more along with the piano break being louder and there are some very minor changes in the percussion. It may not necessarily satisfy Prot & Vig's NOs, but I feel this was an improvement. All the comments and criticisms I made in my decision (including the time references for this mix) remain the same.

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/kirbydl.zip - GBS Track 3 Pretty straightforward-but-quality stuff relative to the source tune. I'd easily YES if the recording wasn't subpar. The reverb levels in some places are way up there (1:16-1:28), and there's too much low-end along with one particularly bad instance of distortion at 2:11. The recording also cut out too abruptly at 3:23. It was amazing how much better this sounded by simply lowering the bass and upping the treble. Raising the treble frequencies brought out some nice light percussion stuff (1:34-1:43, among other places) that was fairly obscured. Good stuff so far, Dave. You and Select Start are doing some cool work. Nothing much else to say besides please re-record to eliminate muddiness & distortions and/or work on production to give this a richer, cleaner sound via some high-end attention. If you're willing to do that, this would easily make it. NO (please resubmit)

http://www.zophar.net/usf/sm64usf.zip - Koopa's Road This is decent d'n'b/breakbeat-type stuff. I would have preferred more to have been played around with on the "Koopa's Road" theme, since all of the references stick with the same 2 lines of the track. Original sections that go into more of the d'n'b-style staples (and referenced the Koopa's Road melody) like from 2:13 to 3:11 worked surprisingly well to me. Nitpick: The timing on the echoes for the Koopa's Road reference at 3:00 sounded a bit out of synch with your beatwork. This isn't a bad genre adaptation, but the EQing needs to have more sharpness and fullness to bring up the energy level. I'm liking the bass frequency power, but it's a little too high and potentially clippy. Refine the production in general; it's actually not too bad. The d'n'b sound is alright, but is applied a bit at the expense of the melody and countermelody volume-wise. Things can sound a bit cleaner without sacrificing any of the power in your bass levels. I improved the clarity of sound in Winamp just by upping the non-existent 14K & 16K frequencies +20 decibels. Not much needs to be done there. I felt the dropping of instruments & voice sample at 1:47 would have been a much more logical transition point to the more minimal/ambient break section at 2:25, so you might wanna see how that could work if you're interested. The cymbal usage could certainly be more creative as well. I'm not sure how if any of the others are gonna accuse this of either relying on the drumwork or stapling the source tune to original work, but I don't feel either potential criticism would be valid. I often heard the "Koopa's Road" countermelody adapted to the genre, so this was a good attempt at actually applying the genre to the source material instead of merely slapping on some beats. The only things I could recommend are to see if any other sections of the source tune can be creatively integrated into your formula, even just briefly, and also looking at refining the production (ReMixing forum!) to punch things up a bit. I definitely enjoyed what I heard so far, Jermain, and wouldn't mind hearing a resubmission at all. NO (borderline)

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/ValkyrieProfile_psf.rar - 101 "Epic Poem to Sacred Death" I've pimped a couple of Corran's mixes from VGMix for VGF over the summer. He's got some nice sounds, but oftentimes his pieces have been covers (which I've known from the outset) and this is no exception. The vox in particular was beefed up compared to the original and sounded pretty sweet to be honest. Some covers change instruments, but this is barely even an style upgrade, and it repeats sections just like the original with the same tempo. Light drum taps & sleigh bells added on top at 2:31? No dice, bro. You've got to arrange/rearrange this piece while placing your own substantial personal spin and creativity on it, otherwise, it's not worth putting your name on it. I realize you're not trying to pull a fast one; nonetheless, we don't accept mock-ups. No offense meant, but if your CastleVania 64 mix "Tribal Center" is made in the same way, I'm honestly gonna be disappointed. NO OVERRIDE

Just wanted to add my comments as well, since I pimped this one for VGF when it hit VGMix in early July: This was a pretty straight arrangement with nice creative additions and tweaks to make things fit comfortably with the prom motif, a really rare approach as far as remixes go. Though the performance could sound more realistic, Flik really executes the style well; maybe he crashed a bunch of proms and got accustomed to the genre. Or maybe just one prom. God knows that's one more prom than 90% of the community's ever attended. The joking intro and outros with Principal Flik were both quality ideas as well. Easily accessible and pretty cool stuff, Chris. Great work for your first remix release aside from your part in "River City Rap!" Looking forward to whatever ideas you may drop next. YES

http://www.zophar.net/gym/sonic2.rar - Hill Top Zone Can't say I understand the last part of that e-mail. I also don't like the whole "let this one go through" deal in the submission of a merely decent remix, because it either a) attempts to pressure djp and/or the panelists into gladhanding out approval on dicey material or makes us seem close-minded or like unjustified assholes with agendas if in fact we vote it down. DCT had me play this on VGF last season when the Sonic 2 remix project was still kicking. This really isn't a bad-sounding cover style track, and that's cool that he did this by ear, but it feels way to close to the structure of the original without doing enough to change the feel regardless. This would have fit more on something like The Very Best of SEGA (where the OneUp crew was obligated to follow the source tunes fairly closely to be allowed to put out the album), but I feel those standards are different from OC's. We get two loops of the original with the slightly different countermelodic work until 1:30. The piano used instead of the source tune's countermelody is pretty decent. I felt the original section (1:30-2:08) sounded pretty meandering and was the least interesting contribution to the track, especially at the key change at 1:42. This would have been gravy a couple of years ago, but the original is used near-verbatim for 2+ minutes of a 3-minute piece with uninspired original stuff in the middle. Sounds alright as an easy listening arrangement, and if it's passed it won't bother me, but I honestly feel it doesn't do enough with the source material to pass it. NO

The structure of Black Dream's three intro vox notes from :00-:15 was referenced in the triplet-style piano notes & bass introing WiaBD into :12. The alto sax is obviously playing the source tune phrase ("Black Dream" :16-:35) from :13-:25, while rearranging until :35 before referencing the source a second time at :36 and hitting the same rearrangement style as the first iteration until :57. The piano melody in the forefront of Black Dream from :38-:48 is directly used by WiaBD's piano in the back from :52-:57. The remix's piano solo section starting from :57-1:15 / 1:21-1:42 sounds wholly original, though the notes at 1:16-1:20 are definitely like the string synth plucks from :05-:15 of Black Dream. WiaBD's sax at 1:42-1:46 references 1:00-1:05 of the source tune as well. 1:52-2:44 uses the same progressions from the beginning of WiaBD (:13) along with the same liberal arrangement phrases, but with the piano in the back once again playing Black Dream's :38-:48 section from 2:09-2:14. Sorry for any time references being confusing. The arrangement is very interpretive, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near the level of originality of either "The Final Summoning" (original + stapled in game vox) or "Dreaming on Distant Shores" (overhaul of a 4-second melody as the foundation of the mix). Bladiator's original work fit very well with the style of the rearranged sections of the original he used (which are mostly from the first 48 seconds of the 1:19-long "Black Dream"), but having to listen to the source tune to confirm its usage (like I did, which is why I linked to it in my decision) may not speak well for the mix as being the most recognizable arrangement. While I realize that this is a liberal remix, I myself felt that the usage of Black Dream was both satisfactory & apparent and holds up to closer scrutiny. Bladiator's mix is more liberal of an arrangement than, say, TO & FIDGAF's recently passed Seiken Densetsu ReMix "Electrion" (which also built heavily on the first section of its source tune and basically ignored the rest), but I feel Woman in a Black Dress passes the arrangement test. If anyone else wants to reject the mix on being too original, that's fine, but I hear the original used in more places than Prot does so I'll leave that call up to everyone else.

Since Gecko says it's up to us, and lockdown #2 can allow us to replace as an option at the moment, we need to get this issue decided. If you haven't already voted above, compare both mixes and briefly give your reason for your choice. Replacement: Vigilante, Protricity, DarkeSword, Daniel Baranowsky, GrayLightning Addition: Liontamer, Malcos, The wingless Meh: analoq, Digital Coma Also wanted to briefly add that if replacement wins out, I'd prefer that this specifically take SID of Rage's place as OCR00664, as was similarly done with Greg Kennedy's situation. As it looks like we're ending up with a fairly split vote, djp can make the final call.

My advice to you, Ornery in Oak Park, is to pleasure yourself more thoroughly, not forgetting to mull over the possibility of using extraneous devices such as clips or the insertion of surgical steel rods to increase your level of gratification. By doing this you will practically achieve heaven in your own mind when climaxing, while also guaranteeing your left eye will be heavily coated in "buukka". In that way, you truly win on both levels. - Dr. Lion [cough] Thanks for the big turnout for VGF's Season 3 debut last night. We had fun, no? No. Nonetheless, you can DL the show at my webspace and pick up the 146MB/3.5hr MP3 along with this week's AIM transcript. The afterparty featured a ton of shitty joke tracks, including my rendition of Star Salzman's "I Got the Spacebeam". Chockster recorded a bootleg copy with ICQ noises, though Species will have a higher bitrate version turning up some time soon to engage the maximum ROFLs! Keep an eye out. Now eat the playlist!: Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) Saturday, September 4, 2004 / 10:15 PM - 1:45 AM EST 1. Antonio Pizza - VG Frequency "The Wait Is Finally Over" Bumper 2. Antonio Pizza - VG Frequency "The Two Tonys" Bumper 3. Koji Kondo - "Overworld BGM" [super Mario Bros. OST] 4. Jared Hudson - VG Frequency "Heart Of Atlanta (System 3rr0r)" Bumper 5. Masashi Hamauzu - "Zauberkraft" (a.k.a 'Magical Power') [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 6. BT & Caroline Lavelle f/FFmusic Dj - "The Great Escape (BT's Chillout Remix)" [http://www.ffmusic.net] 7. Omega Xi - "Omega is to Xi as Z is to X" [http://www.omega-xi.tk] 8. Aetherius - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Clouded Mind and Ringing Ears" [Kong in Concert] 9. Masashi Hamauzu - "Variation" [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 10. Grey - "I Can't Sing" [http://pixelated.myrmid.com/users/jigginjont] 11. TO - "Sacrificial Pulsar" [Original Remix Competition 3] 12. Infamous - Arkanoid 1 "Galway is God" [R:K:O #2275 / VGMix2 #1532] 13. Joshua Morse - "Synesthesia" [Home Life EP] 14. Masashi Hamauzu - "Flamme" (a.k.a 'Flame') [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 15. MaJIN_SaN is washing dishes on a Saturday night instead of hanging with the ladies, congratulates Digital Coma on the success of Kong in Concert, pimps AE's skills at Street Fighter but notes that he'd burn him at bboying 16. DarkeSword is enjoying the quality of the webstream (!) while he talks about the Kirby's Adventure remix project, the glut of remix projects plauging OCR, the ominous blue flash in the WMRE studio, following Protricity & Digital Coma for project direction advice, Tony Montana's rap remix of his original "The Alleyway" & Joshua Morse's hatred of his material [http://www.darkesword.com] 17. Makke - Lost Patrol "In the Air Mix" [AMIGAremix #107 / OC ReMix #1215] 18. Yoozer - Jurassic Park (SNES) "Isla Nublar Jam" [http://synerjee.deadamerica.org/ocr] 19. Quinn Fox - Gunstar Heroes "Redrun Green" [VGMix2 #1484] 20. Arkimedes - Soul Calibur 1 "A Different Kind of Hero" [VGMix2 #1564] 21. "Triple G" shouts out to his ladies at Bayside High & Jesus Christ & represents the streets of Hartford, Connecticut ("I bought Pepperidge Farm cookies yesterday, and I went in the store and I said 'U better put that in a bag, bitch' and they did") 22. Masashi Hamauzu - "Freudenbezeigung III" (a.k.a ' Bearing Witness of Joy III') [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 23. Silent - "End of Time" [http://www.soundclick.com/thesilentresponse] 24. qaid - "bromine lullaby" [box of Sunlight EP] 25. analoq - Commander Keen 4 "man sieht sich galaxie" (a.k.a 'see ya, galaxy') [OC ReMix #1180] 26. Ork Estral - "The Coming of the Banshee" [http://nigel.has.it] 27. Rellik - "Thee Stylish Scalawag" [http://www.tjhsst.edu/~alederer] 28. Masashi Hamauzu - "Weltall" (a.k.a 'Universe') [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 29. Vigilante (who has finished eating dinner at midnight like the normal people do) is finishing up Kong in Concert's "Beneath the Surface" for posting to OCR, and talks about the quality of the OCR WIP forum commentary, st00f regarding "Funky Monkey Love", Larry's smelliness ("everybody knows that you smell like ass...and egg"), OMG Skyblazer for Super Nintendo, shitty remix project ideas & community input, the upcoming Megaman X & X2 remix project, a Megaman 2 rap remix idea brewing, and "I Got the Spacebeam" haters [http://www.geocities.com/jesse_taub] 30. Adhesive Boy is bored and comments on the lack of VGMix reviews for (and his current dislike of) "Devout Hyrulian Guttersnipe", the Kirby's Adventure & Doom remix projects, and other random crudulence [http://adhesiveboy.no-ip.com] 31. DJ Pretzel - The Revenge of Shinobi "Consent (Make Me Dance)" [OC ReMix #1186] 32. Joshua Morse & Mustin - Megaman 3 "Spark It" [http://www.oneupstudios.com] 33. Gecko Yamori - Streets of Rage 2 "Infectious Oldskool" [VGMix2 #1767 / OC ReMix to-be-posted] 34. zircon - "Beckoning" [http://www.zirconstudios.com] 35. tefnek - "para bellum" [http://www.tefnek.com] 36. Masashi Hamauzu - "Andächtelei (a.k.a 'Devotional') [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 37. zircon stops in and fields questions on "Beckoning", the response to his first OC ReMix "Calamitous Judgement", his idea for the Phantasy Star 4 remix project, the further development of his current mixes compared to his older work, his new Chrono Trigger collab with Unknown "When All Hope Has Faded", weird fanmail, attempting to gain professional work, and the plans for SoundTempest 2.0 as developed by djcubez & Shadow [http://www.zirconstudios.com] 38. SgtRama braves tropical storm/hurricane-level rain and winds courtesy of Hurricane Frances in order to call in and give us live newscast-style coverage, including comparisons to Hurricane Charley, a regional breakdown of the severity, and Wendy's making some serious dollas in preperation; Doug covers ALL angles, bros; hire this man [http://sgtrama.no-ip.com] 39. Star Salzman - "Temporary Insanity" [http://www.starblast.org] 40. N-Joy f/Simona - Stormlord 1 "Seneca's Marble Pack" [R:K:O #2289] 41. Tony Montana w/DarkeSword & DCT - "Everything It Takes" [http://www.thebigshot.com] 42. Masashi Hamauzu - "Relevation" [saGa Frontier 2 OST] 43. DCT closes us out with how he made his connections with Tony Montana & others, along with details on the creation of "Everything It Takes" and other upcoming tracks, the general hatred on rap in the game mixing community, his views on Joshua Morse's dislike of DarkeSword, the level of tension amongst personalities in the community, upcoming web-related projects & mainstream rap remixes, original collab work with Disposer, the sentiment against being mainstream, and Protricity needing a hug (MaJIN_SaN needs one too) [http://www.thebigshot.com] Next week's another week. Stuff from bLiNd-Leifo, Protricity and Vigilante will be there, and we'll see what else I dig up. Drop comments.

U & ur demandz (Working towards Shoutcast and/or Peercast for the future)

Wow, bro. I can't believe you quoted something from page 1 though. Yeesh. Alright, we'll see you folks around tonight, I hope. Snag episode #29.99 (the season 3 preview show) over at my forum at Ormgas.com. Remember, click the pic in the sig to check out the stream. It requires RealPlayer/Media Payer Classic. IM me at Liontamer87 to join the VG Frequency chat room. Right? Right. It's good to be back.