Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

http://www.outrun.org/outrun3dlastwave.mid - "Last Wave" It's not bad. Nonetheless, I'll sum this up in 3 points: 1. A mere cover 2. Everything underneath the guitar was overly simple and unengaging 3. 1 minute and 41 seconds NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 117 "Who Are You?" Now just because the original sounds "meh" doesn't mean the remix should as well. Ohhh, stuff like that sweeping synth at :14, you're hurting me. Bah, after the little swell at :27, we move into some very dry, empty, generic trance. And it just keep going like this. And let's not forget to throw in some cliched cymbal shots at :51. Finally something different and with a measure of creativity at 2:03. Um...why did the beat at 2:24 sound like Danny B's original "Orbital Resonance"? Heh. Anyway, we rinse and repeat the earlier stuff at 2:44 only with some minor additions, like the scary vox-like synth. Just plain-jane, as The Wingless would say, and uninspired throughout. Trance has the potential to be so much more than this. Keep at it, bro, and keep learning new things. Maybe it's just me associating your mixer handle with the game, but change it. That'd be like me calling myself Master Chief. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 319 "Aerith's Theme" Now seriously, what in the hell does the first 2:07 have to do with anything? That's already an instant NO. Then you just play the original with a so-so keyboard, some weak strings, some pads, and warbly trance stuff underneath it. Production from 3:21-4:55 is really poor. There's that keyboard at 5:08 again. Oy. Whatever. NO

http://jadiepoo.com/dx/OST/11%20-%20The%20Synapse%20(Hong%20Kong%20Streets).mp3 - "The Synapse" First off, thanks a lot for providing us with the actual source tune link. I'm not liking how sparsely this track opens up for the 46 second intro with this flimsy loungy lead and soft kicks. The intro of the dance beats at :30 is very abrupt. This really pales in comparison with the source's own intro. Both of these issues are present again when your repeat this stuff at 3:16 (with the abrupt reemergence of the beats at 3:30). I feel like more effort was put into these beats than the melodic arrangement at times, but you can occasionally hear some decent ambient sounds in play. I say occasionally, because the dance beats are too loud over the melodic ambiance. Whatever synth enters in at 1:57 to handle more stuff from the source is a really poor choice. Sounds pretty weak moving from note to note. And again, the beats drown it out anyway. The beat pattern that started at 1:10 is pretty cool, but basically repeats ad nauseum for a couple of minutes at a time. Use subtle beat changeups throughout the track, much like how the beats at :31 & 1:10 were different from one another, but do it more often. Short and sweet, get rid of the flatter sounds here, place the "Synapse" melody (and the supporting elements) more in the forefront instead of the beats, and create more variation in the beatwork. Not a bad genre adaptation, Kirk, but it needs some more work. I'd look forward to a resubmission though. NO (revise & resubmit)

http://remix.kwed.org/sid.php/2501/Cauldron%20(subtune%201).sid - Subtune 1/1 So yeah, not bad here. Nothing that I found particularly interesting, to be perfectly honest. I think djp will be able to highlight the strengths of the track better than I can. Heh. Cute little laughing witch samples. The drums have some decent patterns going on, but aren't nonetheless fairly plain-sounding for most of the track. The straight arrangement of the source in the first half is handled fairly well. The laughing witch samples are fairly overused around the 1:22 mark. The arrangement was pretty simple until COUCOU really played around with things at 1:33. Very engaging stuff right there. The ideas at 2:02 vaguely gave me a Wizards & Warriors vibe. In fact, the whole mix did, so if you're a fan of that stuff, you may also wanna check this out. Nice ideas for the ending at 2:42 as well, closing out with the witch laugh. Not my cup of tea, but this possesses a decent vibe, nice similarities to Wizards & Warriors in the quirky style, and, most importantly, some solid arrangement ideas relative to the source tune. Kinda funny how we managed to get Halloween tracks now. YES

Pretty straightforward cover. Fairly enjoyable, but nothing new compared to other CV2 rock covers I've heard on the site. And, no, I'm not using the Minibosses as the measuring stick, but even "MiniMayhem" plays a little bit more with the theme by having some of the support instruments do some interesting embellishments. I've heard tracks with very abrupt transitions work, like Marsland Brotherhood's "Speedy Guitar" and virt's "Warrior King", but you need to at least have some sort of sound effect or something there that marks those changes. And (I hope I get past the language barrier here) please name your remix something more creative. Impressive cover, but the bar is higher than that. Bottom line, present something more interpretive and unique. NO

Here's the original MIDI that Mike provided: http://djpretzel.com/ocrjudge/upload/Israfel/Shivers-theme.mid Attempting to find something more substantial, but the vibe I'm getting is that this soundtrack is rare as hell.

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Opening Theme (part 1)" (ff6-101a.spc) & "Kefka" (ff6-108.spc) Um...interesting intro using the opening theme...which got drowned out. Yeah. Anyway, starting with the usage of "Kefka" at :41, this is just rather simplified cover stuff until 2:05, and there's not enough clarity in the production end. Samples are pretty fake at times, but workable at others. Cute stuff until 2:43 with the music box work. After that we hit some nasty distortion while the brass and winds play off one another until 3:10. Not bad stuff with fuller areas like the stuff starting at 3:10 featuring the cymbal crashes, though again the production isn't hot, so the sounds could be cleaner. Whatever you decided to do at 4:10 was the absolute dealbreaker. Ridiculously overcompressed bullshit. And it goes on like this until 5:41. More of this stuff to close it out. You've gotta be fucking kidding me. Anyway, thanks for playing. Being half-Russian with half my family being Russian immigrants, this didn't sound like anything even analogous to Stalin or Russian Communism. The rest of you Js, just make sure the volume isn't too high when you listen to this. NO

http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/MI1-CD/01%20-%20Opening%20Themes%20-%20Introduction.mp3 - "Opening Themes" (just the first 1:34) Meh. Just MIDI-quality orchestration work here without any realism here to open up with the first 42 seconds. The transition into the techno/trance work is just sloppy, and the lead synths, I guess some saws or whathaveyou, are grating as hell and drowning everything else out. The cymbals, strings, and claps (and is that a cowbell in there?) just don't mesh well with the rest of the sounds. At least we moved away from that with the changeup at 3:14 into something that's mosr of a techno/orchestral hybrid (being generous here), before rinsing and repeating the techno stuff at 3:40. I guess it wasn't a form rejection given the um love and effort put into this. Well I mean, if YOU like it, I guess that's what's more important...oy. NO

http://www.queststudios.com/edmidi/kq3ed1.zip - Introduction Theme Please try and provide source tune information, so we can compare what you have to what inspired it. I know it's an old Sierra game, but try to hook it up. The source MIDI I found sucks. Try not to listen past :52 of it. Anyway, not to discredit the submitter, but I could only find the source tune for the second half beginning at 2:21 here, and that's a cover, so while I can't identify the first half of the track, it's somewhat safe to say it doesn't take many risks (otherwise it would be wholly original). The first half, up to 2:21, was actually pretty strong for MIDI work. I personally think it needs more work to make the most out of the format, but it wasn't bad. Again, I'm merely guessing this held fairly fast to whatever it was derived from, but otherwise it sounded fairly decent. From 2:21 on though, the GM sound is pretty exposed, especially on account of the woodwind carrying the source melody. Everything is incredibly thin, including the string activity way in the back at 3:37. Things just don't sound good at all. It's certainly a step up from the source tune I found (which sounds like ass, God bless it), but it's not up to par here. I've never heard Dr. Fruitcake attempt to create realistic orchestral sounds, but I'd still beg him for some tips on how to create fuller sounds. Besides, if you wanna get a MIDI grade remix on OCR, it's also gonna have to be way more interpretive with the source material than what I found, for example, in the second half here. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 105 "Dancing the Tokage" No offense, but what you thought was substantially "different" wasn't different enough at all. The new instrumentation is different sure, but the composition is around 85-90% Mitsuda's. Don't forget where the inspiration came from, sure, but it's nonetheless important here to fashion an interpretive rearrangement or at least a highly expansive arrangement. The distorted synth guitar that's occasionally used doesn't seem to mesh well with the other instruments, but that's just a subjective thing. The notes of the distorted guitar really don't sound right in their support role from 1:01-1:12. At 1:22, you just rinse and repeat what you had before. No dice. Needs to be more interpretive or substantially expansive relative to the source tune. Needs to not uncreatively retread the composition in only a 2:25 mix. Most of the structure is flat-out lifted from the original, and the tempo is the same. Nah, bro, you just gotta be more. Sorry, but if we took in every average cover, we'd be swimming in average covers. NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Ruined World" (ct-2-01.spc) Congrats on taking a 70-second original and making something from absolutely nothing. By nothing, I mean that the source tune is very minimal. Just judging this mix on its own, one could be inclined to NO on the first listen based on its seeming repetitiveness. But with repeated listens and also comparing this to the original, this is quality work. 1:23-2:19 features the prominent usage of direct sampling from the original in the form of the ambient pads, and they're used a little bit beyond that at a lot lower volume. Some of the other odd percussion-like sounds (heard most prominently from 2:46-2:58) could have been sampled from or inspired by the clanging stuff from "Ruined World". I don't like how the manner of the fade-out ending ended the track on a lower note (the one starting at 5:58), but it was a minor gripe. Good arrangement ideas are here throughout. The additions and changes that are here are so subtle and simple that I admittedly had to double check that this wasn't simply retreading at times, which it isn't to be fair. The foundations are fairly basic, but, while the groove essentially remains the same, a very gradual building of ideas occurs over the course of the track. Solid work, Mike. I know you got discouraged over having 'A Terrible Fate' rejected, but I'd still encourage another resub of that (without needing to overhaul the idea). Even djp wanted to see given another go, so I'm pulling for you. Meanwhile, this was some solid progressive trance work that did a lot with a little. YES

http://www.zophar.net/gym/etrnchmp.rar - "Introduction" Sorry, bro, but the same central issues are still present. Do more to make the arrangement unique. Same advice from the last time around applies. I also don't know why the ending is so abrupt now, but don't do that. Give it a satisfying resolution. Hopefully you already used judging comments on the first version to make some changes already. Best of luck if you decide to come back. NO (revise & resubmit) Sorry you didn't get your changes done in time, but to Robbie and anyone else that hopes to revise a track after they've already sent off their e-mail to djp, be sure to upload a revision to the exact same URL you give in your submissions letter and don't wait for too long to revise it.

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/wizwar.zip - Track 1 Some attempted realism in the performance would have been nice. No offense, but everything is lifeless and dry. The pianos, strings, and particularly woodwinds are all very default-ish, artificial-sounding and exposed. Some effects would be appreciated. At least we got a little bit of escalation at 2:31, but the way the sounds came together was very unappealing. This struggled out of the gate. Not much to say on the arrangement front either. NO

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - "Zelda's Theme" (LoZ-OoT_26_Zelda's_Theme.miniusf) Though it's not a bad cover and creates a decent feel, this isn't interpretive compared to the original. Pretty empty at times, yet not emotive enough to make that sparseness work to the track's benefit. The winds at :45-1:14 & 1:32- are REALLY overpowering versus the other instruments. Tone 'em down a bit. Anyway, forget it. This is just a cover with relatively minor additions, so no dice, kid. NO

Thanks to Compyfox, Xerol, Species and others for gathering up all of the higher-quality released episodes and Fox for offering up torrents via his page. Check out the stuff over at http://www.studio-compyfox.de/torrent, where you can obtain copies of VG Frequency from episodes #21 to #44. Ridiculously detailed playlists for everything are always available at my Ormgas.com forums. Please download & help seed the episodes over the holiday so others can get a hold of 'em, and thanks again to Compyfox for all the work in setting this up. It's over 100 hours of stuffs from across the video game music remixing and rearrangement communities, and I hope you enjoy.

I sent Pat a PM over at VGMix. Sounds good, but hold off on any voting until we hear back. If you can track down the source tune, more power to ya:

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff4.rsn - "The Final Battle" (ff4-43.spc) I hit :57 of the source tune...just...no. Thank you for providing us with this SPC rip plus drums. We don't accept these. Since you don't seem to understand our submissions guidelines, feel free to read them sometime. (And yes, for you intrepid regular readers, I AM just copying & pasting my now stock NO Override vote.) NO OVERRIDE

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/Authors/Game/Leitch_Barry/Lotus_2.lha - Bootup (mod.bootup) Just add ".mod" to the end of the filename if you can't play it out of the unzipped archive. First things first. This could afford to be louder. The arrangement/composition isn't bad, but the energy here is really dry thanks to these generic synths and repetitive foundations. Gonna have to thicken some of these synths up with effects to help downplay how artificial they sound, like the synth acoustic & electric guitars. They give interesting sounds here, but need something more. Hitting the 1:30 mark of this nearly 3 minute mix, the composition doesn't change or progress. This isn't interesting or spirited enough to warrant not changing up the flow at all. Needs a lot more attention paid to filling out the instrumentation and being creative on the arrangement the whole way through, rather than taking some good ideas there and not changing anything round the entire 3 minutes. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 104 "Anxious Heart" Way, WAY too basic in the handling of the source material. Mostly just the opening measures of the source melody along with new percussion and that off-key wind instrument. Things slowed down at 2:20, but this does nothing significantly interpretive with "Anxious Heart" itself. Even the switchup at 2:59 provides nothing but new ideas for the percussion and 0 for the handling of the source. If you took those pads or whatever the hell they are out, you'd have 100% original material. The sudden ending at 4:22 was also a total copout and completely uncreative. Not bad; I could see FF fans getting into it, but what the hell does this do to the original theme but slap various beats under it? NO

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkq.rsn - "Stickerbush Symphony" (dkq-17.spc) There's some vox in this. OK. Nice/simple new ideas at 2:16. Ok. Thank you for providing us with this reinstrumented MIDI rip. We don't accept these. Since you don't seem to understand our submissions guidelines, feel free to read them sometime. NO OVERRIDE

Can obtain the source, but it doesn't really matter unfortunately. Some of the sounds are alright, like the glassy stuff used to open the track up. Otherwise most of the other sounds here are generic & flat in their delivery, making for a very boring performance. The low-end gets pretty muffled at 1:11. Really repetitive background with the keyboard's sixteenth notes. Hitting the same old stuff at 2:55, this just doesn't go anywhere notable. The cymbals coming in at 3:11 are a superficial addition. Really plodding. The mix description implied the presence of dynamics, but they were nowhere to be found here. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/darkwi~1.zip - Tracks 2 & 5 Yeah, I remember this one. Played it on VGF #37. Quirky fun. The volumes could have stood to be a bit louder. This retained most of the feel of the source tune, but the arrangement is hot. Some of the samples could have sounded more realistic, like the woodwinds. Nevertheless, good stuff that expanded on the original well in both the straightforward coverage and the new material (e.g. 2:11-3:07), though the wind sample sounds terrible (same velocity nearly every note) and unrealistic. Loved the various usage of bells. The production is weak though, as the instruments lack proper separation most of the time. That's certainly something you'll take a hit for. Interesting idea to change the key at 3:53, but as long as this would have had some other strong resolution, this really didn't need it, and I felt the ending was a weak point. "Fowl Jive" is a fucking hard act to follow, Jean-Marc, so nice work. I'm interested in seeing how much Binnie likes this one. Everything's a hell of a lot of fun here, and some people are gonna be sorry they didn't download it sooner simply because it wasn't from a game they knew. Don't be one of those chumps. Get it from VGMix if it doesn't pass. YES

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Undersea Palace" (ct-3-08.spc) Pretty solid guitar & vox opening. I mean, as much as I'd like to encourage you to branch out more from the RPGs and see what else gains your attentions, I can't argue with your source tune choices when the arrangements are good. Unfortunately for this, I don't hear anything recognizable from Undersea Palace until 2:06-3:02 & 3:47-4:36. Over half the mix is either original or REALLY liberal arrangement. Everything combines together well, but over half the mix has no real connection to the source. Too liberal, I'm afraid. If I'm missing some finer details, I'd be glad to change my vote. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/superc.zip - Track 4 As soon as Hemophiliac pimped this one out to me back in September on VGMix, I HAD to verify the source to make sure this wasn't a cover. This sticks pretty faithful to the source, but makes sure to change up the style a bit over the 2 1/2 minutes, including some nice shredding and whatnot at 1:10. Nice and expansive arrangement compared to the NES original. Quick & dirty HIGH OCTANE SHIT! This is the kind of stuff that Ari should have risked a YES Override on. Great work, Marcos! Be sure to submit CutMetal & Let the Wind Flow, and good luck on the Axelay WIP. YES