Liontamer

Too bad about this one too, because there is tons of potential here. The intro was excellent, and I liked the choice of instruments for it a hell of a lot. Strings needed to be tightened up, without a doubt. The horns from 1:45-2:04 were both flimsy-sounding and sloppy, and then things just got so ridiculously out of sync from 2:04-2:31 that even a complete non-remixer n00b like me was screaming "QUANTIZE DAMMIT!" This one definitely didn't have any real movement and that abrupt ending at 3:04 was just not what the song needed to close out with. There were lots of promising sounds and I often heard good countermelodic activity, but try to explore more ideas for the song to move somewhere while also tightening up the timing issues. Redevelop. Refine. Resubmit. NO

NES version - http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ngaiden3.zip - NSF Track 8 SNES version - http://www.alpha-ii.com/snesmusic/spcsets/ngt.rsn - (Miya, K. Nakabai, L. Shigeno) "Powerplant" Up until :48 when the melody came in, everything was pretty boring and unengaging. The intro definitely didn't work as far as building up to the meat of the mix. Now beyond :48, the lead was absolutely way too loud, topping out the frequencies and piercing my ear as it continued. By 2 minutes, this just got old. Really, really boring with practically no development. The addition of some faint strings at 2:36 was too little too late and the ending was limper than Prot's penis. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castlev3.zip - NSF Track 2 Yeah, I pimped these for VGF a few weeks ago. The FF6 poem was kind of amusing actually. Pretty cool stuff if you're a Daknit fan, but yeah, this won't fly here I'm afraid. I'm not a sample whore, but the sample quality is way below what we're looking for now. In effect, the submissions standards have passed BD by. The production's very solid though, which is honestly somewhat ironic given that the actual music itself is so scattershot. Not much going on at all regarding rearrangement; this sticks pretty close to the original. When the melody came in at :53, it just sounded completely incoherent with regards to the harmony involved. I'd go as far as saying that it's a step down from the original. After one loop, it's more of the same stuff at 2:20, so on the development side this doesn't pass either. The various voice samples were a cool idea, but didn't fit comfortably with the music like they should have. This tries to sound Gothic while also being a dance mix but ultimately ends up as a poor execution of both styles. No go. NO

Not bad really. Some of the elements and tone involved here indeed reminded me of djp's "Trip the Light Fantastic", and I thought this was pretty cool. The woodwind lead was way too loud, somewhat shrill, and very unatural-sounding, which detracted from the groove here. The electrosynth in the foreground isn't bad at all, but when it's by itself (e.g. 1:54-2:39) it's ultimately pretty flat. Good use of all the very light percussion instruments to give a little energy to the background. At 2:08 when the guitar came back, that's when I saw what Vig was talking about. That would have been a great place to add some new ideas and give this some notable progression & movement. I dunno how closely this follows the original MIDI, so I would've much rather had that to compare things with. Nonetheless, all the issues Vigilante pointed out are definitely what you need to address to get this one going. I liked what I heard though, so I'd love to see this resubmitted with some additional work. I'm feeling the potential here especially since the sounds are fairly decent, though it will take some effort to present more rearrangement ideas, help fill up the space a bit, and break up the repetitiveness. NO (develop some more & resubmit)

I've had and enjoyed this for weeks. Awesome shit. I would have rather it functioned more like a rearrangement in the manner of SID of Rage, but this is an excellent mix even if it sticks much closer to the original ("Under Logic"). This is certainly intense, energetic work. YES Thinking of Hornpipe2 doing the same thing way back, I was also gonna say, yeah, should this replace "SID of Rage?" Vig has a good point above, but no one would ever actually submit mix revisions to the site that way, so I'd prefer not to reason over the situation along those lines. Dan (GY) seems like he wouldn't mind SID of Rage being replaced, but if he wants it to stay, I'd have no problem with it. The tracks are different enough so that they both deserve a spot. Make that decision his call.

The only thing this is even remotely "on par" with is Vejita Cutman. And we got rid of Vejita Cutman. NO You've gotta consult the ReMixing forum here and reanalyze your approach at mixing from square one, Claado. Everything needs improvement.

The horn samples are terribly used, the percussion is all about "tap tap tap" and this is completely underdeveloped. At least the piano sounded good. Dunno if it just covers the source material, but oh well. NO

Overall, this was a nicely crafted piece compositionally. Not particularly innovative, but in theory it would work as a Zelda movie score piece like Setu intended. Samples are pretty exposed at some points. The movement of the strings from note to note is noticeably unrealistic, and (minor detail) that wind instrument from 3:16 to 3:30 was bad. The resolution with the string samples was bad as well at 4:48, which sounded exposed and thin right then and there. More importantly though, the production is crud, and it's an easy denial merely on that. Surely this could be mastered better. Tighten this up, please. NO

Gman? That's not the Gman I know, that's for sure. BAHAHAHAHA! 0:11 made me laugh so fucking hard. It makes Retentions of Conflict that much better in my eyes hearing that sample again! I love you, djp. Thanks for making my day. NO

The messed up intro was cute. Too bad it didn't get better after that. Totally generic/crappy sounds, no production work to speak of, and it's just a cover of the original. The ID3 tag says "1999" for the year. Sounds about right. NO

The instruments are flat though half-decent, the vox in the back didn't work, and the percussion was weak. Please do more then just play the Zelda theme for 2 loops with some strings. A Zelda theme cover. Great. Not a chance. NO

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/metroid2.zip - GBS Track 3 I actually thought everything was pretty solid. Some of the samples could be better, but even for more of a cover arrangement I thought this was really good. I dunno why Vig thought it sounded bare. I was disappointed that the interesting turns this mix took were just from the GBS, but I thought the instrumentation was good and the sounds generally worked well together. Enough changes were present throughout where there was notable development, and a lot of stuff was added here. One particular thing: the layering of melodies from 2:49 to 3:03 didn't click at all. I had to listen to both the source material and the submission a lot to compare the two, and this is actually a fairly similar situation to the vote we had on CT "Rhodes to the Past". However, I think there's a lot more going on with this one than Fatty Acid's mix, IMO. I don't see how Vig could YES "Rhodes" and then NO this one. YES

You could apply some of the negative criticism given to "The Final Summoning" on this mix as well. There's a difference between enhancing the original with an approach like this, and then simply combining original composition with the NES stuff. The music of the first 2:45 had practically nothing to do with Metroid (game sounds notwithstanding) and that's over half the track. 4:32-5:02 had the exact same problem as the intro. Once things changed at 2:45, I felt what Sly added was a lot more satisfactory and interpretive. It wasn't enough at all though. Just because the wholly-original trance work added underneath the NES track fit like a glove doesn't mean that this is enough to make it here. Frankly, I don't even believe that the music fit as well as Vig says. Find a creative way to lop off the first half of this, create a shorter intro with some actual arrangement, and resubmit. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FFX_psf2.rar - "People of the Far North" A little while back I heard an nearly complete WIP of one of bLiNd's remixes for Project Majestic Mix Trance, "White Skies," and that got me very familiar with the source material. Checking the "People of the Far North" PSF, this is the same tempo and the instrumentation is practically the same. Verbatim = lame, and the additions here weren't much. Some of them were off-key with the melody. I stopped it at 3:14. I'm not gonna bother. I don't even care what the second half is. NO OVERRIDE

Yeah, I agree, this isn't too bad. The horns are weak though with unrealistic attacks, the synth guitar is disappointing since it has potential, and I'd love to hear a little bit more going on with the percussion. The groove isn't too bad. More rearrangement please. I've heard the original hundreds of times and this doesn't do much to it. NO

Wasn't really feeling some of the bubblier stuff at 1:46 (especially since the flute didn't sound good) with the percussion you had. It didn't really work well in tandem. And I realize that the quick shot of strings at 2:01 wasn't supposed to sound real, but it was still pretty bad. But that's just the small stuff. Came across as kind of scattershot, but the ideas here were changing enough where I wasn't just bored. Enough people have used the in-game sound effects as beats & interludes that it's become kind of a cliche idea, but ultimately I liked how Walnut used them. By 2:10 though, this was kind of treading water on the development side. Though it was cluttered, I'm not sure why there weren't any fuller areas like 2:45-2:57 earlier in the mix. There's lots of stuff going on here, but it's actually pretty bland once I've listened to this 15 times. Can't really put my finger on what this needs, but I just don't see this as being over the line. Someone's gonna be able to articulate that better than I can. I could see this possibly getting some YESs. Lots of effort here. Enough that I wouldn't mind hearing this resubmitted. NO

1 minute through and there's no activity, with everything at unacceptably low levels. Production is awful in that NOTHING is positioned correctly. The beats in the foreground should be in the background. Everything even remotely melodic should be in the foreground. This would sound incredibly better if Spiker literally did just that. I don't know how this is on the arrangement side, but it doesn't particularly matter here. Nice/promising ideas here for a laid back track with lots of percussion work, but you gotta rethink the approach here. NO

There's really not much for me to say on this one, because I can't offer much advice. The rearrangement is already excellent. It's just that the delivery is incredibly flat to me. The intensity of the piece never changes much from section to section. Small point: at 3:22 when the strings made their resolution, you really here one last MIDI string exposed and it doesn't sound good. There's so much reverb that for the first 1:34, a lot of supporting elements, primarily a horn, are in the back and washed out. At 2:15, you hear more things happening once the drums get going, but in effect none of the dynamics changed. I'd hope there's a way to reanalyze the mastering to keep the style here of letting the melodic notes flow smoothly from one to the next while allowing everything here to sound more grandiose and natural like it's obviously supposed to. NO

Hahahaha. C'mon, it's not as seizure-inducing as Vig says. Ryu7x's Megaman 8 mix "Synthetic Future" (which I loved) had essentially the same formula as this. Crazy ZANY beats with the original on top. This has a lot more rearrangement going on than that mix, but man, was this ever...yeah. It's not even half-bad (Prot: That's it! You're off the panel!). Kinda dips down into 3/4ths-bad territory with all that "ICE CAAAVE! CAN YOU ESCAAAAAAPE?" stuff. That must have sounded much cooler in theory. There's room for improvement, but nothing that I'd think would bring it up to par here. NO

Nope. If I remember right, that distinction would belong to this.

Congrats to ravon & the Ormgas.com crew for collaborating with djp to get a link to the webstream on the OCR front page (and the return of the ReMix Roulette). It's all looking good, and we're more than glad for the extra attention! Good work, bros. Quite the good week for stuff, IMO, but let's leave that up to you. I've looked all over in particular this week, so let's jump right into the material for the week ending July 31st: Chronblom - Wizball "Piano Version" [R:K:O #2318] With R:K:O back in action this month, Swedish artist Per Chronberg dropped this quick but entertaining mix from the C64 classic Wizball. Though it's dubbed a piano version of the source material, Chronblom actually starts off with the piano but then segues into a fuller orchestral approach. The reverb's a little much, but this is a very cool 2 minutes of music from a mixer on the European scene who's completely self-taught. This one's currently going over pretty well as R:K:O and your encouraged to check it out for yourself. Hit up more of Per's material over at his homepage, http://www.chronberg.com. Corran & Aktulua70 - Megaman 2 "The Road to Wily's Castle" [VGMix2 #1961] Corran continues looking at mixing Megaman music, this time collabing with Aktulua for a fairly intense track, starting off with a little bit of "Quickman Stage" before moving to the bread and butter with the admittedly overmixed "Dr. Wily Stage 1." The percussion and synth beats used to accentuate the music here were pretty questionable to me at times. The drums/beats sounded kind of slapped on, and I hate exposed claps since they stick out really badly. Some (not all) of the voice samples were kind of jarring and didn't help keep the flow, but the energy is over the top most of the way. The guitars were hot even when other areas were lacking, and I generally liked the ideas here. For me, I was disappointed at the electronic elements involved, especially with such a strong and memorable intro, but you'll be interested to see what direction these two went in. The source material's really well known, so you should be able to DL this and make your own judgement call on how you like the interpretation. Interesting work from this VGMix duo. Cyborg Jeff - Donkey Kong Country 1 "Donkey Kong Sunset" [VGMix2 #1885] Pierre's back at VGMix with an "Aquatic Ambience" remix, and you might be thinking to yourself at this point, "Well why the hell do I want another one of those?" Alright; that's a perfectly valid question. This is a mix that doesn't harken back to the water/swimming imagery that many other previous "Aquatic Ambience" have embraced. Rather, "Donkey Kong Sunset" moves toward a stylistic choice that source material has never had. If you're a fan of dance techno, you'll enjoy the direction of this genre adaptation, along with CJ's use of a handful of voice samples from the DKC game itself. The groove doesn't deviate much once this gets going, but once this mix picks up the pace you'll know whether you're down with it or not. Daniel Baranowsky w/Ryan Probst - Jurassic Park (SNES) "Before Time" [OC ReMix #1223] I first heard this a few weeks ago and dropped some comments. Let's see what I said on July 10th: Now that the mix has been released, you better be saying "Whoa, WTF?!?" Danny B hooks it up with the live guitar skills of Ryan Probst to drop this Jurassic Park mix of the Mountains theme. As I mentioned those few weeks back, this one goes for a heavier rock approach than Yoozer's mix, with a good fusion of various guitar tracks, synths and that subtle but still noticeable bass pad action. Like djp pointed out in his writeup for the mix, this actually isn't the most melody-centric (making up words now ) mix, so you might have a hard time gaining a foothold in it while you listen to it. Yet Danny & Ryan actually do a great job using loose, even meandering variations of the source material and constantly switching up their sounds to continuously take things in new directions. I liked how a mix like this has some good energy but is actually pretty understated for a track with guitar rock elements. Es bueno.Destiny & zykO - Submarine Attack "Into the Deep" [OC ReMix #1222] After tapping weed to fix the original mix up with some live guitar, Destiny's back at OCR again this month with "Into the Deep", featuring some seldom heard electric violin. I always enjoy hearing Helen's breathy vocals and Celtic influences in her remixes, and this one's no exception. I know Submarine Attack's music as much as the next guy does, which means not at all, but the melody was pretty good here and I enjoyed both Helen & weed's strong interpretations of it; there was lots of gradual development here and I liked how everything flowed. This is a great follow-up to Destiny & zykO's first collaboration, the Chrono Cross mix "Dragon's Prayer: The Blackened Desire", and Helen's fifth OC mix of the year as she continues to make a name for herself. Feel free to hook yourself up with this one. Doragon - Eternal Champions 1 "Alerted Awareness" [ironMix Challenge XVIII: Eternally Yours / VGMix2 #1957] Now that I'm an OCR judge, I have the unenviable position of having to vote NO on remixes that I genuinely like. None was more apparent for me last week than Doragon's very cool Eternal Champions intro theme remix "Alerted Awareness". If you decide to take a look at my review along with the reviews of several other judges, you'll notice that the main problem that held this back from getting accepted was the percussion. Nonetheless, this has some of the most beautiful atmosphere you will ever hear in a remix, thanks to Doragon's masterful choice of samples and lead sounds. Even if you haven't played Eternal Champions, I'm really sure you'll enjoy most of the elements going on here. Once Doragon can refine his percussion techniques and take them to that next level, he'll be a sure thing for OCR no matter what he decides to remix. Doragon may be out of music for a little while for reasons unrelated to this judging decision, but I certainly hope circumstances allow him the time to keep honing his obvious skills. Fatty Acid - Chrono Trigger "Rhodes to the Past" [VGMix2 #1502 / OC ReMix to-be-posted] Following up with another remix that I voted NO on is Joe's "Wind Scene" remix that managed to split the panel voting with the question of how dramatic the arrangement was. Despite the debate on that, I can guarantee you that this is one excellent sounding mix that flavors the popular source tune with some electronic sounds and thick beats, resulting in a pretty good genre adaptation mix that strictly arranges rather than rearranges. Don't forget the Rhodes either, which is the primary inspiration for this mix. You'll likely be feeling the energy here, and Fatty Acid's choice of source material is gonna ensure that he gets a notable reception with his pending OCR debut. Game Over - Megaman 3 & Megaman 2 "Cataclysmic Clash" [OC ReMix #1224] Sweden's answer to real ultimate power in the game music rock band department is finally (finally) back with this high octane "Topman Stage" mix. Ironically enough, I seem to be the only one who enjoyed "Cataclysmic Clash" more than Game Over's absolutely legendary Punch-Out!! mix "Little Mac's Confession". And because so many of you out there have been underwhelmed, per se, by this mix, I can only encourage you to kiss...my...ass! Seriously though, I thought the lyrics here were pretty good despite whatever cheese factor some might think they have, and the guitar work was full of quality Swedish meatball flavor, including a dope break at 2:41 into the Megaman II "Boss" theme with some freestyle added on top. But don't take my word for it. Take the word of the sage "judge Oji" quoted in the ReMix writeup. That man knows no wrong. As if there was any doubt, be sure to check out Game Over's latest and rock that shit down. Kadmium - Final Fantasy 7 "Despair, Inc" [VGMix2 #1741] Jesse Higginson brings a unique approach to the game remixing community with DEATH METAL! Now to be honest, death metal is kind of a cheesy genre for me, what with its lyrical style and all, so I'd rather spend time listening to funny faux metal from someone like my dawg Kompressor (!). But all things considered, I have to recognize unique and capably made work when I hear it, and this is certainly it. Definitely not for everyone, "Despair, Inc" features Kadmium with some menacing lyrics that get the point across and are tough to understand, just like real death metal. Admittedly, the power behind this mix is somewhat lacking when taking the genre into account. The guitar could have more raw energy and the percussion could be more bombastic, but this is nonetheless some pretty cool stuff that ain't nobody else is makin'. If you're open to a mix like this, well then sir or madam, you're in luck. Lix - Final Fantasy 5 "The New World (Remember Free)" Version 2.0 [Levo Lution XII] For a quick shot from the Japanese remixing scene, we'll go to Lix Exest, who has a brief but melancholy string & piano piece tackling the middle section of the 8-minute long "A New Origin". It's a little repetitive, as it goes for two straight loops of the same material, but it's short enough where you don't particularly notice that. Maybe Kaleb Grace would agree when I say that this sounds similar to the more moody stuff in the style of Masashi Hamauzu's SaGa Frontier 2 soundtrack (very phat soundtrack). A very short, but beautiful piece here that's instantly accessible to most any fan not for the source material is covers but it's very emotive atmosphere. Lloyd Banks, Eminem, Nate Dogg & 50 Cent f/DCT - "Warrior, Pt. 2 (Resilience Mix)" - [http://www.thebigshot.com] - Feedback Let's do the disclaimer. If you don't like swears, stay the fuck away. (And indeed, I bask in the irony of that last sentence.) DCT has another hot blend mix featuring a capella vocals redone with original beats, this time featuring G-Unit's Lloyd Banks with support by Eminem, Nate Dogg & 50 Cent from Banks' solo album "The Hunger for More". Duane's beats here aren't as involved as his blend remix of 50 Cent's "In Da Club", but often simplicity is key here in the hip-hop game, and that what you're getting here. And was that a sample of Sagat laughing from Street Fighter Alpha 3?!? Hotness yo. You know I caught that. DCT always does a great job taking mainstream a capellas that, frankly, I wouldn't listen to and making them much more laid back and accessible. Phat shit as usual from the Big Shot. (Ha! DNA!) MC Chris vs Robot Sock (Matt Wilson) - "Boys Don't Cry...Unless It's Final Fantasy" [Think Similarly: B-Sides and B-Buttons] - Track Feedback / Album Feedback Matt Wilson's chiptune work is fairly underappreciated in the remix community, as loads of NES music purists don't like when people expand NES-style music beyond the NES's 4 & 5 channel sound capabilities. (Sacrilege, I know. [rolls eyes]). Nonetheless, Matt caught my attention last year with the very cool work from his NES chiptune album done in the style of Megaman theme, "Megaman FM", including the very cool Sonic the Hedgehog 1 mix "Green Hill Man". To get a little background on the origins of this remix, I asked Matt what the deal with this track was over at #ocremix. The younger teens in the community are much more likely to be feeling MC Chris's lyrics here, though they're certainly amusing to anyone else who knows how lame trying to pick up ladies on the internet is. Matt's work here is excellent, as he stays faithful to the NES sound limitations and manages to create some very energetic and full sounds here. I thought the mastering was meh, since everything could sound sharper and clearer, but the overall presentation is great and you won't find anything like it around. Keep up with the threads above for more info on Wilson's in progress chiptune album "Think Similarly" and check out the action at http://www.highscoreonline.com to hit up Matt's popular Flash animation work, including the cartoon series High Score and Bonus Stage.Mythril Nazgul - Chrono Trigger "The 6th Omen" [The People's Remix Competition 19 / VGMix2 #1053] As mentioned in his VGMix description, Myth managed to go through five ideas before settling on this sixth one for the remix and coming up with something really solid. Considering I heard Bladiator's own PRC19-winning remix of the same material ("Woman in a Black Dress") a few weeks when PRC19 wrapped up, I was really surprised with how I couldn't place the two as remixes of the same theme. Myth manages to take some pretty basic sounds and weave some true rearranging magic on 'em to produce this very liberal and inspired take on Yasunori Mitsuda's "Black Dream". The synth choices come together wonderfully, showing how one can create a mix that stands out regardless of any sample limitations. Good combination sound choices, interesting progression, and tight work from the always-improving Mythril Nazgul. This is one that comes at you in a different way and a mix that I think you'll be impressed by. Nasenmann - "Kurd Dreams" [Original Remix Competition 5] - ZIP of ORC5 Entries Nasenmann proved victorious for ORC5 as he remixed Chockster37's original MIDI into an interesting excellent ambient/guitar/wind combination. Cool work here at providing a slightly unsettling atmosphere through the dark ambience, guitar, and various sound effects & vox that contrasts well with the lighter instruments added into the equation. Check out the aforementioned ZIP file in order to pick this up, alongside strong runner-up entries from TO ("Chee of Chambertron") & Less Ashamed of Self ("Cheezy Does It"). Sefiros - Silent Hill 1 "Bleeding Out" [VGMix2 #1982] I never played Silent Hill at all (hey, I don't care), but like any game I'm not familiar with, good music can always supersede my reluctance to check out a particular game's music. The first encounter I had with the source material here, Akira Yamaoka's "Not Tomorrow", was from an asskicking rock cover WIP that K. Praslowicz never ended up finishing (and he'll likely beat the crap out of you if you bug him about it). So with that in mind, I knew I had to give Bryan Henderson's take on the same theme a look and see if I was down with the Scottish, haggis-like flavor. This older mix of Sefiros's is primarily a piano piece with some effects on it as well as some MEATY bass (damn straight!). The realism and dynamics on the piano aren't there at all and the percussion is meh, so those are areas of improvement that would have really made this sound a lot better, but the general feeling here is good; moody at the outset and picking up in intensity around the 2:30 mark to become more forceful before dropping back down for a simpler finish. This mix won't PWN it on you, but it's definitely got some good aspects to it that made it worth checking out. SnappleMan - CastleVania 2 (Gameboy) "The Crystal Coffin" [VGMix2 #1979] - OC Feedback In a drunken haze, SnappleMan posted the first completed remix in his effort to remix the entire CV2 Gameboy soundtrack (also proving that Snapple isn't his real beverage of choice). Rejoice, for Andy's b00zed up mistakes are your gain with this guitar-driven mix of track 9 of the GBS soundtrack. Until Andy pimped out the CV2 Gameboy soundtrack my way, I never knew how good it was. I've always been partial to CastleVania III myself. But the CV2 GB music is good the whole way through and will provide excellent fodder for SnappleMan's ideas. "The Crystal Coffin" functions mostly as a straightforward rock arrangement of the source material, with quality production and proficient axe work from Snap. As Andy continues to refine his game and get more work out there, he's poised to make a serious mark on those fans among up who NEED their heavy rock fix, especially those who frequent the OverRocked ReMix links area. I'll be seeing what I can do myself to get him up on there! Star Salzman - Xenogears "Pillar of Salt" [VGMix2 #1934 / OC ReMix #1225] Having talked about this last week, and gushed my proverbial fandom on it, let's quote what I said on the 24th: And, dammit, now that this is at OCR, Star's gonna be swimming in groupies I tell you. SWIMMING! Ya bastard...Stemage - Metroid 1 "The Escape" [Metroid Metal] You've killed the Mother Brain, but you gotta get the fuck out of there! What do you have playing in your ear? Hopefully it's the latest track from Grant Henry in the Metroid Metal series, "The Escape." There's a pretty deliberate pace here, as Stemage likes to keep the tempo intact and not deviate much from the source material here, though you do get some screaming sound effects at the end. This is certainly some infrequently covered material though and another strong addition to the series as it nears completion. Pretty much all of the Metroid Metal series is good, especially the energy of "The Theme"; follow up listening to SnappleMan's new CV2 mix by trying out the "The Escape" for more rock stuffs. SuperGreenX w/Aurora - "Deep Breath" [http://www.supergreenx.com] - Feedback This here's my pick of the week! Ever since Danny let me hear the WIP of this original dance trance cut at the top of the month, I was waiting for him to put the finishing touches on this. I've been a huge fan of SGX, especially on the originals side, since early 2003, and every time he drops a new track strictly of his creation, the result is smokin' hot. I'd like to hear a cleaner version of this, since I think it's a little muffled compared to the sharp WIP I heard just a few weeks ago, but the overall presentation is absolutely the shit. Here, Dan uses some leftover vox samples he had of the always-lovely Aurora from her work on their collab with destructo, Beyond Good & Evil "Frame of Mind". Like I was telling Teresa in #ocremix, I originally had no idea that SGX had used her voice for his samples there, which only makes this track more of a standout. With the vocals patterns you hear Aurora's voice take, I have no clue how Supa was able to even form a mental image of how he wanted them to work like that. Amazing work. This is quite the long track at 9:43, but this is very well-constructed effort with pulsating shake-yo'-ass energy, no annoying repetition to fall back on over the course of the track (constant development!) and creativity to spare! Don't delay. DL today. tefnek vs n0mad - The Revenge of Shinobi "Long Distance" [Revenge of Shinobi Remix Project] - Feedback Recently completed, the very interesting 13-minute, 12-mix Revenge of Shinobi Remix Project spanned the course of four months and an entire ocean as North Carolina's tefnek & France's n0mad teamed up to give the entire Revenge of Shinobi soundtrack some quality coverage treatment. Check out the album link above to hook it up with the full 13:22/18.37MB megamix and follow the action with the full tracklist, courtesy of both tef & n0mad. Or head over to the album link and get the low on the individual tracks, which are all separately available for your listening pleasure as well. As you'll see when you check it out, this project was structured with both mixers collabing for both the opening and ending (both ending tracks I've linked to above), with each mixer taking alternating works from Yuzo Koshiro's soundtrack at roughly minute-long intervals. The transitions hear worked surprisingly well, and the groove throughout is nothing but nice. (11:35 is the best part! Hahahahaha!) tefnek's already a more known mixer thanks to having one OC ReMix posted with one more on the way, and this finished collab project is a great example of his skills. n0mad's moving on up as well, and you can check out the second VERSUS project he's been working on with fellow Frenchman ReaktorZ0, the more obscure (but catchy) Genesis game Ristar. (Let's hope RZ0 can still keep working on the project; I'd love to see it completed.) Exceptional work from both guys and a unique product you've gotta check without question. Trenthian - "Oloren City by the Sea" [http://www.soundclick.com/bands/6/trentprojectmusic.htm] - Feedback John St. John is someone who's greatly impressed me with his creativity, predominantly in the original work areas, as Trent's one of SoundTempest.net's ear-catching artists, dabbling in original compositions that could be used in original game projects. Here's we have a very brief, work-in-progress level release in "Oloren City by the Sea" that's created as an RPG town-type theme. I liked Trent's use of synths and effects, many of which I recognized from other artists and tracks I've heard. Here he makes those elements form together nicely for a very upbeat, almost ethnic-flavored piece that has infinite potential to be expanded. Make sure you have a SoundClick account if the download is a no-go. I hope John continues to add a little something to this to realize it's potential. Otherwise the fans are gonna do the frowny face. Don't do that to us, Trenthian! Now let's do a quick and dirty rundown on the WIP front, just the way you like it: Pyscrow - Final Fantasy 2, Xenogears & CastleVania: SotN, GrayLightning - Final Fantasy 6, Dj MetaZero - Megaman X5, Tranquil Chaos - Halo, zircon - Secret of Mana, TO - SimCity 2000, BliziHiZaKe - Donkey Kong Country 2, Matt Wilson - Ghosts'n Goblins, binster - Gauntlet 3, Infamous - "some dancey crap" (original) Suzumebachi had some funny shit to say over at Rob Saunders' server including how much he hates you , why he hates his insurance company, and a brief shot at Wal-Mart as he joins bLiNd & Jared Hudson as the company's latest slave. Ah, Ty, I hope your rants never stop! Things were heating up all over the place this week, as various debates, flames and confrontations took place. Most notable of all was the negative criticism of several mixers in the review thread for Kaijin's recently posted Xenogears OC ReMix "Child of the Stars". Several people argued over the arrangement merit of the mix, with Star Salzman & Kaijin in particular having dramatically different views on the situation. You've gotta check the thread out to see all the spine-tingling (internet message board) action, since it's now TOO HOT to be left unlocked! (OMG!) All the fierce debate though has brought "Child of the Stars" under consideration to be reevaluated in a few months as to whether or not it fits the OCR submissions standards when the community-at-large engages in the next wave of removal suggestions for OCR1250. Keep you ears open on what will be going on with this one. Meanwhile the VGMix forums aren't immune to OMG (internet message board) CONTROVERSY of their own with chiptunist Matt Wilson posting up information his in-progress chiptune album "Think Similarly", only to be met with tons of cries of false advertising. When Matt used the phrase "NEStunes" to describe the music he was promoting, several artists including Gwilym Wogan, tumult, skilled chiptunist RushJet1, and NES soundfont creator (and all-around good guy, I swear) Midee all cried foul, claiming that Matt's obviously informal use of the word "NEStunes" implied to the public that his tracks were made exactly like original NES music, which I, in particular, thought was a weak assumption, especially since Wilson then provided a disclaimer about the nature of his tracks. With the original thread locked, lots of good debate followed via the VGMix chatterbox and the #vgmix IRC channel. Finally mv & I at least concluded that "NEStunes" might mistakenly imply the wrong thing to some people, but that its use wasn't intentionally misleading thus not deserving the very touchy and overblown negative response it got. A lot of musicians like virt, who know a lot about making NES-sound tracks within NES limitations, contended that several NES-limitation chiptunists have used the phrase "NES tunes" which is close enough to show that Wilson can't use it and not give off the wrong impression about his tracks that do more than a Nintendo can do. But at the same time, people have to understand that informal language like that doesn't imply or support anything virt's talking about. Koji Kondo or Hip Tanaka could easily say "Hey! You can't call your music 'NES tunes'! I don't care if that follows the sound limitations of the Nintendo. 'NES tunes' implies that these songs were from actual NES games." And the never-ending battle of words could pointlessly continue forever...even though I'm completely right. In any case, some good debate was had by all, and luckily cooler heads prevailed. Check out the new thread by Matt Wilson to follow the progress on "Think Similarly", which already has some promising work completed. And finally, I'd be remiss not to mention the overwhelmingly bad reaction Doom 2 "Demons from Hell", Terminator's latest VGMix, received in both reviews and buzz comments, especially since I'm partially involved in what can only be called a bunch of harsh, downright scathing reviews. There's some debate/arguing over how constructive one should be when reviewing a beyond mediocre remix, but some efforts can't be saved. Check out the remix and all the back-and-forth so far to see what I mean. And that's all the yakk yakk this guy has for ya this week. Drop some comments and I'll see you next week.

For a few listens, I was trying to compare the first section with the original and was getting nowhere. The reason this sounded misleading as a ReMix was because it essentially went for over a minute as just original material until the second half went full on into rearrangement territory at 1:11. Once it got there, everything was gold from both the music and rearrangement departments. If the sections had been placed in a different order, there wouldn't have been any confusion over this meeting the submission standards. Nice working of the main theme here with the straightforward lead strings while the piano section in the back handled things nicely with Star's creative overhaul of a rearrangement. Excellent stuff. And of course the lyrics were hilarious. Way better than that BEERmix piece of shit he had, "Dragony Antics." I disagree with Prot wanting this mix to be longer. I was feeling it, but this idea would just wear thin beyond 3 minutes. He's in. He's out. We laughed. YES

Yeesh. Better reply back to everyone quick: Zoast: The pitch was where I had issue with the vox, not the production. The production was pretty good, IMO. Hope people are really checking the mix out. Tron-6K!: Sorry bro. I'm a no-go on Magfest 3.0. Need $ to go, which I never have. I'd definitely go if it were possible. Sorry about not replying to that PM. I read it way back and said "I'll reply later" then I forgot to reply. If you wanna be like an "official VG Frequency correspondant" during Magfest and call into the show during the Saturday of Magfest, that would be the shit, especially if you were boozed and totally shitfaced. We gotta make it happen, Justin! KG: Yo bro! Thanks for the congrats. If you wanna do some stuff covering official/unofficial VGM music releases, that would be great, sure. I don't do that for the Pimp Section myself since 1) I'm so focused with the community here, 2) I'm currently on dial-up for the summer so I can't just get any game music I want, and 3) I can't afford to pony up the dollas for actual game music CDs. Feel free to do your own forum post or add stuff here. If you decide to do something, I'm sure it'll be good to read. Just make sure to hook people up with links and everything. Gotta be able to get the tracks (even the elusive ones). TO: I'm not actually on the air until mid/late September, but I can pimp some tracks out and give any particularly good ones some airplay in the fall. Drop me a line anytime about 'em when they're good to go, Lee. Like Xerol mentioned, I think I'm fairly accessible about playing stuff for my show as long as it's good. weed: No prob on the pimp at all, bro. The mix gets better and better every time I listen to it, and as you get more used to the flow and listen more intently to everything going on, you really feel how cohesive it is, despite how things change fairly rapidly. Hot work yo. I'm glad you'll still be doing some infrequent mixes. SGX: Awesome! I've been waiting for this one. Excellent work. I didn't even know that was Teresa you sampled. Amazing shit. I'll cover it when the new Pimp Section goes up. It'll be up relatively soon bros. Stay tuned.

Pretty cool stuff overall. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Kingdom Hearts' OST, so I'd really prefer for someone to verify the arrangement content ("Hollow Bastion", with some of "Destati"). I know it's all good though. The piano in particular could use some more realistic dynamics, but the way each note had practically the same velocity, the piano sounded strong in its relative spraseness. Kind of ironic that this mix and destructo's FF8 mix "The Lost Horizon" essentially have the same intro. The string, drum & piano build until the 90-second mark was excellent. Once things picked up at 1:49, especially with the piano coming back at 2:03, everything conveyed pretty frantic, suspenceful imagery. The lack of realism on the sample dynamics could be thought of as a negative, but I thought that added a certain character to the piece that clicked for me. Compositionally, everything is paced well, resulting in sensible builds and a quality flow. It makes me wanna buy Kingdom Hearts so I can whoop somebody's ass with Donald Duck. Good job by my man SGX with the mastering here, by the way. Everything's sounding pretty nice. I'm all about the YES on this one. Can't wait to have you swing by WMRE to guest host VG Frequency this coming school year, sephfire. It'll definitely be happening. Good work, Dan! YES

I'm checking if Jack can touch up the ending. I'll hear back from him pretty soon. EDIT (7/29): tefnek's indeed gonna touch up the ending so it isn't odd anymore. He'll be able to do it once he gets back home in 2 weeks.