Liontamer

This is definitely the hotness. I was actually planning to play this on this upcoming Saturday for VG Frequency before I just saw it was posted here, since AB said this was the remix that he was most proud of making out of the few he's released. He's been waiting for this one to get posted for quite a while, so I'm glad it finally made it. There are so many things going on here, that, yeah, it's hard to really write a coherent play-by-play on this one, but it's an excellent overall piece. The panning effects are tight, the flow is varied up a hell of lot thanks to Pr0t, and everything comes together in a unique package. If you want to check out some more of Adhesive Boy's work in a stylistically similar vein as this, you should really check out his Zelda 3 WIP over at VGMix, "Clouds of Smog Over Hyrule". Feel free to prod AB with comments and suggestions so that he continues working on what sounds like a very promising track as well. Great work, AB! This is why, when I said you were one of the fresh crop of top mixers along with DarkeSword, GrayLightning & SGX on VG Frequency, I wasn't bullshitting you.

Like a lot of other people have been saying, I believe some of the chords use are pretty suspect; they didn't hit my ear well. Nonetheless, this is a fairly good mix. I went into this one more in-depth on VGMix, so here's my review: The opening notes honestly don't sound very melodic, and even when they're joined with the melody at 0:10, they don't really seem to match up well. Maybe those notes in a major key style would have worked better. When they're relegated to the background though, it's not as much of an issue for me. The "Frappe Snowland" saxophone melody, along with the backing drums however, are composed very well, not to mention the subtle but quality bass guitar notes. While you're just laying out the basics that people are expecting with the melody from 0:10 to 0:40, the little saxophone bits in between the melody that are pure arrangement are pretty nice. Once the next part of the source melody comes into play with the switchup at 0:45, I had a problem with the dissonant notes being used. I didn't feel that the notes were changed "for the sake of changing the notes", but compared to the major key style of the melody you began with, they really clashed with the sound you started off with. It gets easier to not have a problem with upon repeated listening. Also, I know the feel of the song was supposed to be different as compared to earlier, but some more velocity on the trumpets and sax from 0:45 to 1:03 would have made them seem more natural sounding, as the notes seemed to end a little abruptly. As a fan of SuperGreenX using the bongos, I liked the mini-section from 1:08 to 1:25, although again, the horns/trumpets from 1:16 to 1:25 had notes that just didn't match the major key feel that the main melody has. I'm no musician, but my ear just doesn't go for that stuff. 2:00 had an even more impressive bongo section, and while it wasn't 100% natural sounding, it's hard to program them that way, so I was still appreciative of what went into it. 2:21 segues into pure arrangement (those these synth piano notes are very sparse sounding) and while I'm down with that, a few notes felt out of place from 2:39 to 2:42 as the track got fuller once again. Kinda nitpicky, but the little things stick out. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the sixteenths from 2:48 to 2:51, and working in some of "Jingle Bells" from 2:56-3:00, since it gelled very well with the mix and the Christmasy feel it had. The cymbals from 3:00 until the end sounded very fake (though I'm not a big fan of cymbal usage, since it's so hard to get cymbals to sound good if they're not live), as well as the little horn toots that finished the mix off, since they were in some very high octaves (and I guess a little more exposed). Overall this was pretty well done, and I'm a fan of Joshua's stuff, even if my knowledge of it's limited to "Where Destiny Meets". I thought that some of the notes here didn't vibe well within the broader sense of the mix, but it pretty much achieved both the Kenny G and Christmas styles that Josh was going for. I thought sleigh bells would have worked a lot better here instead of the tambourine to convey more of that holiday feel, but as an instrument they may have been hard to work alongside of a jazz setting, I wouldn't be sure. I enjoyed the second half of this one more than the first half, if only because more original arrangement aspects were featured there, so when I had a problem with some of the notes, it wasn't as strange sans the comparison to Frappe Snowland.

Oh shit! This is PIMP! I'll edit something else here some other time, but this is the shit!

Meh. It'll auto-post or get fixed. Whatever. Apparently Leon just needs a mixer profile page created for himself. Not really feeling much here on the lead synth horn, since it sounded both MIDIish and out of tune. I liked the rest of the instrumentalization though, which made this one a much stronger package.

Thanks a lot to the peeps who dropped by to check out the show. Other than the recording going all loopy, and Species going "Nah, it messed up again", everything went off without a hitch. I'll be playing a little less music next week, so I can leave more breathing room for talking and hanging out with the chat people on the air, but tonight was definitely a great show content-wise, with a lot of different genres. Be sure to check everything out next week and tell some more people to drop by. For those of you who were here tonight, I was glad to have you aboard. We'll have a link to the chat transcript fairly soon. In the meantime, enjoy the rundown of tonight's playlist: Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) "VG Frequency" - Saturday, January 24, 2004 - 10:05 PM - 12:05 AM 1. Beatdrop - VG Frequency "Lose His Mind" Bumper 2. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "Yuna's Theme" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST] 3. Disco Dan - Megaman 3 "Magnetman Goes West" [OverClocked ReMix #1085] 4. virt - Shadowgate "Warrior King" [VGMix2 #41] 5. Freemind & GrayLightning - Chrono Trigger "Tears for a Girl" [OverClocked ReMix #1099] 6. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "YuRiPa Battle Theme 1" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST] 7. Palpable - Marble Madness "Marble Dancefloor" [OverClocked ReMix #1102] 8. Beatdrop - "Firedance" [Final Energy] 9. Dale North - Golden Sun "Venus' Lullaby" [VGMix2 #846] 10. Destiny - Seiken Densetsu 3 "Within the Fable" [OverClocked ReMix #1103] 11. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "Mission Complete" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST] 12. Mazedude - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Master System) "Reich Lake" [http://listen.to/mazedude] 13. Star Salzman - Chrono Trigger "Love in an Hourglass" [VGMix2 #783] 14. BlueEnvy - Star Ocean: The Second Story "Aqua Tears" [The People's Remix Competition 7] 15. Daniel Baranowsky - "Odyssey 12" [http://members.cox.net/ocmaniac] 16. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "YuRiPa Battle Theme 2" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST] 17. zyko - VG Frequency "Keep It Real" Bumper 18. AmIEviL - "A New Light" [http://shortcut.to/ajax] 19. SuperGreenX - Beatmania IIDX 7th Style & Dance Dance Revolution 8th Mix Extreme "Kick Your A" [http://www.supergreenx.com] 20. Dev VJ - Final Fantasy 7 "Nanaki Searches for Truth" [ironMix Challenge X: The Big One (Unmoderated) / OverClocked ReMix #1104] 21. Kevin Stephens - Fire Emblem 1 "Etude for Piano in F# Minor" [VGMix2 #819] 22. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "YuRiPa Battle Theme 3" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST] 23. Trance-Canada - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Ice Age" [http://www.funender.com/music/bands/656] 24. DCT - Sonic & Knuckles & Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Iced Out Nine Twenty Two (Instrumental)" [http://www.thebigshot.com] 25. DarkeSword - Megaman X2 "Beamsabre Beat ZERO v2" [http://www.darkesword.com] 26. Shadow - EarthBound "Funky Bookas" [OverClocked ReMix #1091] 27. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "Machine Faction" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST] 28. OverCoat - VG Frequency "Makes Me Question" Bumper 29. OverCoat - "Penis Insertion" [http://rks.no-ip.com/~seattleovercoat] 30. Digital Coma - "Poem" [http://members.cox.net/skaddi] 31. Gecko Yamori - "Let's Groove!" [http://www.geckoyamori.tk] 32. SuperGreenX - "soulsight" [http://www.supergreenx.com] 33. DarkeSword - Chrono Trigger "Through the Dark" [VGMix2 #838] 34. Beatdrop - "There Was Light" [Final Energy] 35. Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi - "I'll Give You Something Hot!" [Final Fantasy X-2 OST]

Don't miss out; We're on the air!

Yo everyone, we're pretty damn close to the big debut of Season 2 of VG Frequency. There are a ton of tracks on board, and I'll be hard-pressed to fit them all, but I'll do my best. This winter break has featured a lot of excellent material coming out from OCR, VGMix and remixer homepages. Tune in to check out a lot of high-quality stuff from: AmIEviL, Beatdrop, Blue Envy, Dale North, Daniel Baranowsky, DarkeSword, DCT, Destiny, Dev VJ, Digital Coma, Disco Dan, Freemind, Gecko Yamori, GrayLighting, Kevin Stephens, Mazedude, OverCoat, Palpable, Shadow, Star Salzman, SuperGreenX, Trance-Canada & virt, along with new bumpers from OverCoat & zyko. Bomb ass mixes. Phat original tracks. An AIM chat room with fans and remixers. A milk chocolate radio host. What more do you want??? "A MP3 stream instead of a RealPlayer stream!" Hey, shutup! Tune in tonight at 10 PM EST and check out the first episode of Season 2 of VG Frequency for yourself. It's gonna "non-lousy", I assure you. Ok, maybe not. But I'm still milk chocolatey.

Thanks to everyone for the great turnout tonight. AIM was being weird, but a lot of people managed to be around, and it was good to be back doing the show. I thought tonight was an excellent example of a really diverse playlist that people could enjoy, so I hoped you liked the preview show for Season 2. The webstream was being a bitch for Species, so there won't be an archive of it, but hopefully things may look a little bit better for this Saturday. I wouldn't count on it, but Shoutcast is coming as soon as I can get it going. Meanwhile, Saturday's show is stacked even heavier than tonight's playlist with tons of fresh material from over the winter break, so make sure you're around. Here's the rundown of tonight's playlist: Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) "VG Frequency" - Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 9:50 PM - 12:05 AM 1. Star Salzman - Final Fantasy 7 "It's Hard to Stand Next to Me When I'm So Freaking Seasick" [ironMix Challenge X: The Big One (General Discussion)] 2. Nintendo Sound Team - "Game Select" [Tetris & Dr. Mario OSV] 3. Jared Hudson - VG Frequency "Break Loose" Bumper 4. Namco Sound Team - "Xiaoyu Stage BGM" [Tekken Tag Tournament OST] 5. Star Salzman - Tekken Tag Tournament "Sex Machine" [ironMix Challenge XIII: I Find Xiaoyu Attractive] 6. Tetsuya Shibata & Mitsuhiko Takano - "Lounge Beat" [Marvel vs. Capcom 2 OSV] 7. Koji Kondo - "Snow Mountain" [super Mario 64 OSV] 8. Richard Jacques - "Diamond Dust (Act 1)" [sonic 3D Blast OSV] 9. Richard Jacques - "Diamond Dust (Act 2)" [sonic 3D Blast OSV] 10. H. Maezawa, Jun Funahashi & Yukie Morimoto - "Rising" [CastleVania III OST] 11. Daniel Baranowsky - The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time "Awakened Fears of the Gerudo" [VGMix2 #310] 12. Jaroban - Super Mario Bros. 1 "Super Mario Bros. Medley (Live)" [VGMix2 #180] 13. Juverna - "Crimson Twilight" [Eighty-Eight] 14. Russell Cox - "Noble Intensions" [Classical Reflections] 15. Ryu7x - Streets of Rage 1 "Impulse" [http://rzx.emugenerations.com] 16. Ogeretsu Kun, Manami Ietel & Yuukichan's Papa - "Quickman Stage" [Megaman II OST] 17. OverCoat - Tetris "Bricks" [http://rks.no-ip.com/~seattleovercoat] 18. bLiNd - F-Zero 1 "Silence of the Synth" [F-Zero Megamix] 19. Stephen Kennedy - Batman "Music of Funk" [OverClocked ReMix #222] 20. Mark Vera - "Lost in Space" [http://www.spacesynth.net/markvera] 21. Graeme Norgate & Grant Kirkhope - "Soviet Missile Silo" [GoldenEye 007 OSV] 22. Soyo Oka & Taro Bando - "Choose Your Driver" [super Mario Kart OSV] 23. analoq - Super Mario Bros. 3 "Loner" [bleeding Ears Extreme Remix 1] 24. Disco Dan - "Crossing on Red" [Crossing on Red] 25. Unknown & random splinter - GoldenEye 007 "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" [VGMix2 #861] 26. Shitamachi Kajiya & Mayu - "Underground Maze" [Ninja Gaiden II (Ninja Gaiden Trilogy) OSV] 27. Yoko Shimomura - "Going Shopping in Ripple Town" [super Mario RPG OST] 28. Species 8472 f/Liontamer - VG Frequency "Wrong Number" Bumper 29. James Lileks - Howard Dean "Yeagh" [bleatophany] 30. SgtRama - VG Frequency "Eat a Bumper" Bumper 31. Naofumi Hataya - "Stardust Speedway (Good Future)" [sonic the Hedgehog CD OSV (Japan) OSV] 32. Naofumi Hataya - "Metallic Madness (Bad Future)" [sonic the Hedgehog CD (Japan) OSV] 33. DarkeSword - "Violet Leaves" [http://www.darkesword.com] 34. Trance-Canada - "Lost Love ][" [http://www.funender.com/music/bands/656] 35. D.J.Amuro - "A" [beatmania IIDX 7th Style OST] 36. Yuzo Koshiro - "Filmoa" [ActRaiser OST] 37. po! - Chrono Trigger "Electric Clouds" [VGMix2 #646 / OverClocked ReMix #1092] 38. Pixelated - The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link "Crying Alone in the Darkness" [VGMix2 #411] 39. Midee w/prozax & Dave Kellogg - Life Force "Tactile Freefall" [VGMix2 #601] 40. SuperGreenX - "Activity Unbroken" [http://www.supergreenx.com] 41. Soyo Oka & Taro Bando - "Mario Circuit" [super Mario Kart OSV] 42. Yuzo Koshiro - "Game Over" [streets of Rage OSV] 43. Disco Dan - Megaman 3 "Purple Meltdown" [Megaman III Remixes] 44. Disco Dan - Megaman 3 "Needleman by Night" [Megaman III Remixes]

Be antsy no more, sister. The hour approaches. I've got some tracks lined up in general, but I'm going to spend today gathering a few requests. So if anyone has anything they wanna hear tonight, lemme know where to snag a copy and I'll try and get it on the show. The real good stuff is set for Saturday night, which is crammed with new material, and will probably result in me running behind and cutting a few things. For any new people, please check out the show, and get the details you need from the VGMix VG Frequency thread so you can participate in the chat room and hang with the peeps. We're on the air tonight at 10. I'm looking forward to finally getting back on the air. [sarcasm]Now I can finally get off of hard drugs.[/sarcasm] It's good to be back.

Yeah, sorry for the stream being lousy like that, yo. I'm working on getting something going with Shoutcast later in the year, so I hope WMRE'll pull through on something other than RealPlayer for the webcast. This one was very nice work, and the final, tweaked version is gonna be excellent. I might as well pimp my review of the track from VGMix to give my full view on how much I enjoyed it: The source tune "Ending" was pretty heavy on the percussion for an almost regal sound, but this mix steers very far away from that. bLiNd has some good fluttering note effects fading in from the start. The bassline is indeed very subtle, and I thought the airy choir synth in the background also gave the track a great sense of atmosphere almost immediately, thanks to the right amount of reverb on both. The bass could feel more beefed up as compared to the WIP bLiNd let me check out, though I find that this subtle bass pad now allows the track to have a more space-like feel as opposed to a dance track, per se. (I still could have gone for a fuller bassline. Oooh, I see MkII potential on beefing up the bass alone.) Very nice reverbed/arpeggiated electrosynth notes make up the backing for the melody at 0:31, and this is the meatiest addition of bLiNd's in his remixing of the original track. Also introduced at 0:31 was a clap; I tend not to like claps and kicks because they usually tend to sound exposed or fake no matter what a mixer does, but for some reason, I thought Jordan did a great job on making them function well within the track. For those of us who are getting low bass presence when listening to this track, the clap synth does a nice job of filling out the low mid-range to compensate. 0:47 features the familiar melody of Hirasawa's "Ending" coming in, and there are already too many layers of music to digest, and I mean that in a good way. The mixdown is done so well that everything sounds incredibly clear. The melody's got excellent reverb on it as well, so again I was feeling this techno mix fit like a glove into the space atmosphere. I also liked subtler elements in play, such as the synth providing a high-end off-beat at 0:51/0:53 ("tsss...tsss tsss") and the panned, arpeggiated notes starting at 1:04, that show bLiNd's attention to detail. Jordan moved into the chorus of this remix at 1:18, while the addition of a second, more-percussion intense background accompaniment for the chorus at 1:36 created a lot more depth here that was duly noticed. I like the transition at 1:54 featuring a voice sample from the game, "Come in, Corneria". A nice job here of referring to Star Fox's in-game action and enhancing the space feel of the track. (It is in fact directly from the SNES game, not the N64 game.) The melody comes back at 2:08, but this time with an airy synth lead, along with a second airy synth that excellently plays delayed notes off of certain parts of the melody. A little more meat is added to it at 2:24 with thumps from the bass pad. Hearing the chorus again at 2:41, there's a lot more power displayed in it. I'm not sure how bLiNd managed to achieve that effect; there may by two lines of harmony simultaneously playing together. In any case, there's a lot of longevity in this mix, as nothing ever truly repeats for over 75% of the track. Subtle but noticable changes in the background during the chorus (as compared to the first instance of it at 1:36) managed to prevent the track from ever feeling repetitive for me. The chorus section at 1:18 repeats at 3:28 and connects to the melody's closing fadeout as it effectively serves as a circular closure for the mix. Trance mavens like FFmusic Dj & bLiNd have been criticized along with their genres as being one-dimensional, but just as much as Haroon has incredible original game music that is fundamentally different from his standard trance, Jordan also has the chops to tackle music that's not strictly trance. Some would argue that techno doesn't stray too far from anything trancey, but I wouldn't hazard to say "Space Cowboys" is an excellent space/electronic track that offers a new dimension in bLiNd's work. Overall, the production quality is top-notch, with proper EQing and mastering that provides a very clean sound and an easily accessible atmosphere. Along with bLiNd's eventually forthcoming Chrono Cross "Another World" mix, I believe Space Cowboys will succeed in making you look at bLiNd on another level. As an example of reworking an existing piece of game music to give it new life, I honestly believe this is a must-have.

Joshua released a revised version of this mix a few days ago on VGMix. Check it out here, peeps. He takes a slightly different approach to the track, and you might like it. I preferred the original version here myself, but both versions are very laid back and relaxing. Chill with 'em.

I thought this was a great mix. Don'f forget to check out Star's latest Chrono Trigger piece as well, "Love in an Hourglass". I'm just posting my comments from my VGMix review of the track to offer my commentary again. Great job as usual, Star! For the finale episode of VG Frequency, Star made sure to pester me early and often about playing his newest Mega Man 2 mix before he even named it. From the beginning, I knew this was gonna be a sincere attempt to kick my ass with music, and "Tickle My Wily" delivered. While I played the song in the studio, the bass levels started shaking the speakers and, by extension, the whole studio. My headphones are much more sedate, so there's hopefully gonna be less shaking. The beginnning until 0:54 featured several layers of well-sequenced, natural-sounding instruments (e.g. piano, woodwinds, violin, etc). This was a high-quality orchestral package, and I was actually pretty surprised with the subtle inclusion of typically non-orchestral instruments, such as a saxophone-sounding synth, and how well those instruments worked. There are a few too many elements instrumentally for me to throroughly dissect, but the overall presentation here was very solid. Though some light woodwinds were present around 0:23, the music generally possessed a looming air of seriousness and a great deal of gravity starting at 0:36. The slower tempo compared to the source tune makes everything feel more deliberate in application. The deep, rumbling tones starting at 0:57 literally shook the WMRE studio, and Star added several electrosynths that managed to work astonishingly well with the orchestral backing of this piece. I can't recall off the top of my head any remixes that have integrated orchestral piano, viloin and brass synths with electronic sounds so well. I also recognize one of the electrosynth choices (1:29) as a synth Star used for his Chrono Trigger mix "Temporal Distortion", which provided a little bit of comfortable familiarity for me musically. The claps used at this point were also well-reverbed, so they didn't sound fake or exposed, which is unfortunately hard to find in many remixes. Done properly, the claps here function very well, and the overall mastering is amazingly clean. 2:40 brought in even beefier action on the low-end with HUGE drum beats and kicks that established a more prominent beat base as compared to 0:57. While there was already a large amount of power evident in the mix before, the addition of the louder backing along with some absolutely beautiful violin-like swells at 2:57 & 3:06 brought the energy level significantly higher. Star slowed things down at 3:50 and focused on some gentle synths alongside the piano until 4:25 for the last steps toward the finish. Interesting new arpeggiated electrosynths came in at 4:29, 4:33 & 4:38 to add another brief, but fresh dimenstion to the track, and I'm impressed again with how Star has managed to keep things fresh and varied throughout the entire piece. The gradual dropping out of the layers of the track at 4:44 and 5:00 in order to achieve the piano solo finish worked out very well and didn't feel forced or rushed at all. Without sounding as if I'm gushing fanboy-ish praise all over this mix, I believe "Tickle My Wily" is one of the most fantastic genre-bending tracks I've ever heard in my time checking out the video game music remixing scene. Starblast made sure to never retread his steps in the composition, constantly alternating between the real instruments and the electrosynths defining the foreground while implementing variations on every section. Given the length of the mix, it's very hard to highlight every single thing I enjoyed here. I'm also sure that, while I couldn't find anything particularly wrong admist this mix, a more discerning ear should be able to offer the constructive criticism that I can't. Looking briefly at the source tune, "Dr. Wily Stage 1" is a fast-paced, action/adventure piece which Star managed to slow down and fashion into a whole different piece of music through heavy rearrangement. This is a dynamic and intense hybrid piece that plays to the strengths of both orchestral instruments and electrosynths and you won't be disappointed by the mixture of styles. There are tons of elements in play that you could listen to the mix dozens of times in order to analyze, and the time spent doing that would be well worth it, in my opinion. Don't pass this one up at all.

Alright folks. We're fast approaching the return of VGF. I'll be doing a preview show for Season 2 this coming Thursday night from 10 PM to 12 AM EST. There won't be any requests, since I'm saving those for next Saturday, the official "OMG Thingamajig" celebrating the return of of the show. As usual, we'll be hanging out in the "VG Frequency" chat room on AIM, so if you're not familiar with the show, hit me up on Liontamer87 to get into the chat. (Guess the name of the chat room for no prizes!)

Sorry if this was repeated earlier in the thread: Will the BT URL be permanently added to the Goodies section up top?

We're getting pretty close to VG Frequency starting back up again, so I'm feeling good on that front. I'm hoping to put up a section on the VGF webpage devoted to the show's playlists, plus I still have some AIM interviews I'd like to get out there down the line. The current rundown of the Season 1 playlists is coming pretty soon. I'll just edit the post once I host the document. Then you can go "OMG, I've been played X times!" or "WTF, Larry? Play my stuff more often, bitch!" Once I listen to the archives of shows #10-13.5 later in the month, I can provide call-in and interview details for the later shows, but for now you'll just have to settle for a rundown of tracks on those episodes. If you're not busy now (i.e. if you have yet to start classes yet) and would like to do a bumper/jingle/station identification for the show before Season 2 gets underway, please do (preferably with 3 seconds of silence at the end). I'm hoping for some new blood on a couple of bumpers. If you're down with an interview sometime down the line, let me know as well. There's always room for you and your communist rantings on the show.

I found out a few days ago that I will indeed be coming back next semester. You may have noticed in my sig that the next show will be on January 24th, shortly after WMRE has us DJs go back on the air. I really appreciate everyone's well wishes in hoping that I'd be alright and that the show could come back, so I wanted to briefly let people know why the show was in jeopardy before I get to a few things I'm planning to do for next semester. For those of you who don't know, I suffer from one of the forms of anxiety disorder, and I have a tough time going to classes much of the time (as well as going out to other places that involve strangers). Most of my classes has attendace components or pop quizzes that factored into 25-30% of my grades, and I almost got lower than a C average, which would have flunked me out of Emory. Luckily, I was able to talk to my professors, and in conjuction with me working hard to fight my anxiety interacting with others over the last 2 months, I was able to pull my shoddy GPA this semester to a 2.0 exactly. To be perfectly honest with you, by all reasoning, I probably wasn't coming back. Frankly, it was busting my ass combined with a LOT of luck that's keeping my around, so I don't intend to let things slip so dramatically again. I actually function a lot better meeting new people when I have someone else that knows them as well, which is pretty much the only way I meet other people, otherwise I keep to myself (which is what I generally do every day). Hosting VG Frequency allowed me to meet a lot of new people, thanks to them taking the first step of breaking the ice with me, so the show's certainly been a worthwhile experience. Besides, I don't experience an abnormal level of performance anxiety performing in front of large crowds or doing a radio show, since that's another form of anxiety. Anyway, that's the briefest summary I can give you (instead of an autobiography) of why the show was in danger of ending, but don't worry about me at this point. I don't wanna make a big deal about it, plus I intend to be a lot more proactive in regards to handling my problems now that I've been jolted into action. Now that that's cleared up, lemme first thanks every single person who's listened into the show, even though we all hate the RealPlayer webstream. We always have a good crowd chillin in the AIM chat room and they make the show enjoyable for everyone, including myself, even when I'm hectically working on things over the course of the program. I'm also glad that loads of different mixers and fans have been able to interact and get acquainted with each other because of the show. Thanks a lot to Species for archiving the shows every week, which I honestly never expected as a possibility when I first started the show. Everyone, especially the people who have called in for interviews and myself, has really appreciated being able to have copies of the shows to listen to. I can't provide the shows from #10 to the end of season 1 until I go back to school and its high-speed network, so be patient on getting those archives. The holdup is all on my end, and not Species, who always works hard to master the shows and compensate for any problems the stream may have had. Thanks to all the interviewees and callers who have participated in the show that way. I'm not afraid to say that having people in the remixing community on the air definitely contributes a lot of legitimacy to the show as being something that people involved with OCR & VGMix should go out of their way to check out. For the people I interviewed, I hope I did a good job of being fairly knowledgeable about your works and providing you with relevant, intelligent questions. Everyone who's made a bumper also kicks ass, especially OverCoat & Rayza. I can't say I expected 21 bumpers instead of maybe 3, so the turnout over the course of the season was great, plus I didn't get a single shitty one. I'm glad everyone who made one had fun playing around with ideas. Keep 'em coming! If you wanna check out all of the bumpers created so far, go over to my webspace here and snag 'em. Every time AIM Fs up on me, I'm glad I have guys I can count on like The Coop, OverCoat & others to hook my up with the show's weekly chat transcript, so people can look back on how unbelievably stupid we all were. Looking back on show #6, I know we're all going to hell. And of course, at the heart of the show is the music, so in addition to being glad about playing regular VGM, thanks to all of the mixers who have provided me with material to spotlight on the show. I never thought I'd have a easy time filling up the two hours of my show every week, but once I hit show #4 I was always pressed for time to fit everything in. Everyone's been great giving me the heads up on new material and providing me with SECRET glimpses into WIPs and releases, and Ignis generously hooked me up with free overnight shipping on a copy of FF: The Black Mages, so we're never at a shortage of stuff to play. Of course, everything's tentative, but I do have plans for future shows, including IMC & BEER spotlights, spotlights on the Psyscapes & ReVamped soundtracks, the H*R interview with the Brothers Chaps, another all-originals show featuring only original music from the VGM remixing community, as well as a show with only regular music tracks picked by mixers. And of course, we'll be pimpin' out video game music and mixers, along with interviews on a regular basis, so be sure to be along for the ride once we get started again next month on January 24th. I may be able to slip in a preview show sometime between January 20th & 24th to kick off season 2, but of course I'll let you know about that. In the meantime, everyone enjoy their holiday breaks, and we'll start back up in no time.

Great stuff by showdax here. I was lucky enough to lend an ear with some of the EQing on in when this was a WIP, so I think everything sounds well done. I know zyko was kinda critical on the guitar synth used here, but getting a guitarist isn't something that can just be done when you want it to be. Shadow did some nice work programming the guitar synth and giving it a lot of energy. Compared to the original theme "Bazaar" from EB/Mother 2, "Funky Bookas" rocks out a lot more. Dax'll kill me for saying this too, but the EarthBound soundtrack is pretty strange. To me, it doesn't seem musically coherent, since everything's composed with weird sound effects. "Bazaar" is one of the better tracks from EarthBound, but Shadow succeeded in creating something more well-rounded musically. As the resident EarthBound music enthusiast at OCR, Shadow's got plenty of great stuff coming up as well. I think you'll really enjoy "Live at Jackie's" as well as "Oceans of Mud". Check those WIPs out at VGMix or the OCR WIP forums and drop some comments on those. They're just as ambitious as Funky Bookas. Excellent stuff all around.

Yo, folks! I still don't know anything about the status of the show next semester, but again, I'll let you know as soon as I can. In the meantime, here's the playlist from the final show from a few weeks ago. Of course, I would have put it up sooner, but finals were approaching, and I needed to put all of my focus on that. If everything was smooth sailing, I would have snuck into WMRE and did yet another show on the 13th. Here's the playlist for the VG Frequency finale, or #13.5 if you want to call it that. Thanks to everyone who called in with their well-wishes for the show and the holiday as well. I don't believe DCT actually cut off, but we'll see when Species has the archive available. I'll be hosting the chat transcript sometime later over the weekend: Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) "VG Frequency" - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - 10:05 PM - 12:45 AM EST 1. Syusaku Uchiyama - "Title" [Mega Man 8 OSV] 2. Nobuo Uematsu - "Walls of the Sacred Beasts" [Final Fantasy IX OST] 3. DarkeSword - "Distance" [http://www.darkesword.com] 4. Nobuo Uematsu - "Revivication" [Final Fantasy II (Final Fantasy Origins) OST] 5. shadow - EarthBound "Oceans of Mud" (Render 4) [VGMix2 #572] 6. Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka - "You've Come Far, Ness" [EarthBound OSV] 7. Nobuo Uematsu - "Underwater Temple" [Final Fantasy I (Final Fantasy Origins) OST] 8. bLiNd - F-Zero 1 "Lake of Firefield" [F-Zero Megamix] 9. Hiroki Kikuta - "Spirit of the Night" [secret of Mana OST] 10. Gecko Yamori - Mega Man 2 "Chill" (WIP 2) [VGMix2 #537] 11. Star Salzman - Mega Man 2 "Tickle My Wily" [http://www.starblast.org] 12. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Shadow Forest" [Chrono Cross OST] 13. DCT - "The Throwback" [http://www.thebigshot.com] 14. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Earth Dragon's Island" [Chrono Cross OST] 15. SuperGreenX - Dance Dance Revolution "A" (WIP) [http://www.supergreenx.com] 16. Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata - "Repose" [Final Fantasy Tactics OST] 17. Nobuo Uematsu - "Costa del Sol" [Final Fantasy VII OST] 18. shadow - "Personality" [http://www.dackz.net] 19. Children of the Monkey Machine - Secret of Mana "Pure Lands Total Darkness" [OC ReMix #1084] 20. OverCoat - Metroid 1 "The Brinstar Beat" [http://rks.no-ip.com/~seattleovercoat] 21. Hiroki Kikuta - "Far Thunder" [secret of Mana OST] 22. Nobuo Uematsu - "Dark Messenger" [Final Fantasy IX OST] 23. Jared Hudson w/zyko - "The Sting" [http://www.hudsonstudios.net] 24. Destiny f/Species 8472 & Liontamer - Seiken Densetsu 3 "This Heart (Tribute to VG Frequency Mix)" [VG Frequency] 25. Charlie Y.K, Hiya & Hiroshi - "Solo Sortie" [super R-Type OSV] 26. Star Salzman - Final Fantasy 7 "It's Hard to Stand Next to Me When I'm So Freaking Seasick" [ironMix Challenge X: The Big One (General Discussion)]

I'm doing a special finale wrap-up episode of VG Frequency tonight from 10 PM to 12 AM EST, so I'm looking for as many people to be here as possible, as long as it's not getting in the way of finals or whatever else you have going on. The show will have a couple of fresh tracks and some other stuff, but will hopefully be based on call-ins. If you can call in and shoot the shit on the air for a few minutes, I'll be glad to have you on. The number for WMRE is (404) 727-9673. I'm hoping to have as many people as possible call in for a few minutes. Even if you can't make it tonight, thanks for your support throughout the semester, and again, I'll have some final thoughts about the show to post when I have some free time during finals. Hopefully, I'll see you around tonight.

Thanks again to Shadow for the OGG mirror he provided tonight, as well as The Coop for our chat transcript. Species recording may be pretty iffy, since RealPlayer was messing up for more than a handful of people for some reason. Not a big deal though. I'm really appreciative that he's been recording the shows. Look for MP3 archives for shows 10-13 when I have time to get them from him. Like I was saying in the chat and on the air, I may be able to do a fill-in show on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday as a free-form wrapup show with random mixes being played and a focus done on call-ins so we can chill around. No promises though, since I don't know if anyone else will be giving up their time, plus it's getting to be time for finals. For all intents and purposes though, VG Frequency is wrapped up. Thanks a lot for all the feedback and "No, don't be over" comments. [smiley face] I'll be doing a nice lil' sentimental post sometime later, and I'll be letting you know the show's status for next semester as soon as I can, which'll be a couple of weeks. Here's tonight's playlist, and thanks again everyone for tuning in: Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) "VG Frequency" - Saturday, December 6, 2003 - 10:15 PM - 12:05 AM EST 1. Jared Hudson - VG Frequency "Break Loose" Bumper 2. NoppZ - "Midnight Samba" [http://www.stationmp3.com/noppz] 3. Juverna - "Blackberry" [http://members.dsl-only.net/~bullard/candy] 4. DarkeSword - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker "Ancient Hero" [VGMix2 #453/OC ReMix #1079] 5. DarkeSword - Chrono Trigger "The Beautiful Traveller (Starlight Mix)" [http://www.darkesword.com] 6. Masato Nakamura - "Casino Night Zone (2-Player)" [sonic the Hedgehog 2 OSV] 7. zyko - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Pokerface" [VGMix2 #523] 8. JigginJonT - VG Frequency "Be As One" Bumper 9. JigginJonT - F-Zero 1 "Silent Progression" [VGMix2 #492] 10. Cool Ethan - "Ode To the Guy Who Stole My Wallet" [http://pixelated.myrmid.com/users/jigginjont] 11. bLiNd - StarFox "Space Cowboys" [starFox Ultimate Collaboration Project/VGMix2 #525/OC ReMix #1083] 12. shadow - "Badger Freaq" [http://www.dackz.net] 13. Nobuo Uematsu - "Dancing Mad (Part 2)" [Final Fantasy VI OST] 14. Dhsu - Final Fantasy 6 "Dance of Madness (con fuoco)" [VGMix2 #420] 15. Dhsu - Final Fantasy 6 "Dance of Madness (marcato)" [VGMix2 #504] 16. The Coop - Phantasy Star 4 "Wounds of the Past v2" [VGMix2 #459] 17. Midee w/Prozax & Jeremy Johnson - Axelay "Kick My Axe (Remastered)" [VGMix2 #95] 18. Hiroki Kikuta - "Angel's Fear" [seiken Densetsu 3 OSV] 19. OverCoat - VG Frequency "Sucka DJ" Bumper 20. OverCoat - Seiken Densetsu 3 "Angels Dear" [http://rks.no-ip.com/~seattleovercoat] 21. SgtRama - VG Frequency "Eat A Bumper" Bumper 22. BT w/Wildchild - "Kimosabe" [Need For Speed: Underground OSV] 23. SuperGreenX - "Unsteady Unsure" [http://www.supergreenx.com] 24. Ghetto Lee Lewis - Tales of Phantasia "Emotions Lost in Time" [ironMix Challenge XIV: Do Not Forget Your Sword/OC ReMix #1076] 25. Nobuo Uematsu - "Fanfare" [Final Fantasy VII OST] 26. aluminum - Final Fantasy 7 "Climhazzard Rush" [OC ReMix #1078] 27. Beatdrop - VG Frequency "Lose His Mind" Bumper 28. Beatdrop - Raiden "Thunderous Dawn" [OC ReMix #1082] 29. analoq - "Music 910C Final" [Musique Teknology] 30. Syusaku Uchiyama - "Frostman Theme" [Mega Man 8 OSV] 31. Liontamer - "Blak Omen Is My Bitch Project PSA" [Blak Omen Is My Bitch Project] 32. Blak Omen - VG Frequency "Best In Chinatown" Bumper 33. Blak Omen - Chrono Trigger "Evil Refactory (Alternate Take)" WIP [VGMix2 #129] 34. Rayza - VG Frequency "Christmas Time 2003" Bumper 35. Unknown - The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time "Artifact of Power, Movement One - A Storm in the Desert" [VGMix2 #455] 36. Hiroki Kikuta - "Delicate Affection" [seiken Densetsu 3 OSV] 37. Destiny - Seiken Densetsu 3 "This Heart" [VGMix2 #501] 38. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Earth Dragon's Island" [Chrono Cross OST]

So, so soon. Seriously, you better be here tonight!

Tonight's the final show of VG Frequency; lots of bueno stuff is gonna be on the air, so if you haven't checked out the show before, be sure to go out of your way for the last one. We've got a heaping of some of the more recent OC ReMixes with Ghetto Lee Lewis, Spinning Images, DarkeSword, aluminum & Beatdrop. VGMix is heavily represented tonight with tons of tracks from zyko, Unknown, bLiNd, Dhsu, The Coop, JigginJonT, Blak Omen, OverCoat, Destiny, Midee & Prozax. SgtRama hooks us up with a Need For Speed: Underground request: "Kimosabe" by bt. Rayza & OverCoat provide 2 new bumpers. As we come to the end of the year and look forward to 2004, Rayza offers his reflections on the year 2003. Along with other fresh new mixes available from DarkeSword & OverCoat, there's a heaping of originals with NoppZ, analoq, Juverna, SuperGreenX & Cool Ethan (f/JigginJonT). VG Frequency: "Be there and be Square"

I'm busy chillin' in Savannah this week, so I won't be in Atlanta to do VG Frequency this week. If I have time sometime next week though, I may slip in a weeknight show to make up for it. The Saturday after next will be the last show.

Definitely don't want to forget to thank Red Omen for two dope new parody style bumpers. Nice work, Ryan! To celebrate a job well done on my Philosophy of Law test before the Turkey day break, I'm doing a show before Thanksgiving and chilling around in the studio. I'll be playing random VGM stuffs, so check it out. The VGMix VG Frequency thread is a lot smaller right now, so you can check the first post on it for all the details you need if you're new. Here's the advance playlist: 1. Jared Hudson - VG Frequency "Break Loose" Bumper 2. Satoshi Ise - "Player Select 1" [Capcom vs. SNK 1 OST] 3. Satoshi Ise - "Stimulation" [Capcom vs. SNK 2 OSV] 4. Star Salzman - VG Frequency "WMRE Jingle" Bumper 5. K. Praslowicz - "City Of Dust" [Null Era] 6. Masato Nakamura - "Star Light Zone" [sonic The Hedgehog 1 OST] 7. Kenta Negata - "Koopa Troopa Beach" [Mario Kart 64 OST] 8. SuperGreenX - Ecco 2: Tides of Time "Drift" [OC ReMix #1013] 9. Nobuo Uematsu - "Fanfare" [Final Fantasy VII OST] 10. Beatdrop - VG Frequency "Lose His Mind" Bumper 11. Akitaka Tohyama, Yu Miyake, Nobuyoshi San, Keiichi Okabe & Rio Hamamoto - "Xiaoyu Stage BGM" [Tekken Tag Tournament OST] 12. Adhesive Boy - Treasure Hunter G "Linoleum Stalactites" [OC ReMix #1003] 13. Injury - Super Mario Bros. 1 "8-Bit Eighties" [OC ReMix #428] 14. GrayLightning - Phantasy Star 2 "Dezoris Winter" [OC ReMix #1065] 15. Yasunori Mitsuda - "Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World" [Chrono Cross OST] 16. Maniac #9 - Stunt Race FX "10K CC" [ironMix Challenge VIII: Ask Mr. Owl] 17. Rayza - VG Frequency "Bee Gees' Frequency" Bumper 18. B1itz Lunar - Super Mario World "Donut Grooves" [VGMix2 #321] 19. Wintermute - Final Fantasy 7 "Jenova Rose" [ironMix Challenge X: The Big One (Unmoderated)] 20. Protricity - Final Fantasy 6 "Enchanted Esper" [OC ReMix #744] 21. Tomoya Ootani - "Please Wait" [ChuChu Rocket! OSV] 22. Joshua Morse - Final Fantasy 7 "Where Destiny Meets" [OC ReMix #994] 23. Ben Cousins - Super Mario Kart "Donut Plains Aspen Colorado" [http://www.mp3.com/bencousins] 24. McVaffe - CastleVania Adventure "CV2K" [OC ReMix #230] 25. The Minibosses - Punch-Out!! "RISC Punch-Out" [http://www.minibosses.com] 26. SgtRama - VG Frequency "Eat A Bumper" Bumper 27. Yoko Shimomura - "Barrel Volcano" [super Mario RPG OST] 28. Sine - Super Mario RPG "Seeking Heat" [OC ReMix #1027] 29. Koji Kondo - "Underground BGM " [super Mario World 2 OSV] 30. mv - Super Mario World "You Suck at Super Mario Bros. 4!" [VGMix2 #364] 31. Scott Peeples - Command & Conquer "On the Prowl Redux" [OC ReMix #417] 32. McVaffe - "Snowstorm" [Last of the Alamatra Knights OSV] 33. T."Anie".N, Yuk, Krsk, V-Tomozoh, Kan, Apple Z, More Rich, Narinari & Ippo - "Freezeman Theme" [Mega Man VII OSV] 34. OverCoat - VG Frequency "Hot Mansex" Bumper 35. OverCoat - "Gainsay" [http://rks.no-ip.com/~seattleovercoat] 36. Isao Abe, Syun Nishigaki, Setsuo Yamamoto, Yuko Kadota, Kuru-Kuru Chance Iwami & Naoshi Mizuta - "Charlie Stage" [street Fighter Zero 1 OSV] 37. SuperPope - Metroid "Kraid" [ultracheesy] 38. Disco Dan - "Daily Grind " [http://www.jonx.net/~discodan] 39. Richard Jacques - "Rusty Ruin (Act 2)" [sonic 3D Blast OSV] 40. Satoshi Ise - "Player Select 2" [Capcom vs. SNK 1 OSV] 41. Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata - "Game Over" [Final Fantasy Tactics OST]

Thanks to everyone who tuned in this week, although it felt like a diaster for me, since 1) the internet was the most difficult it had ever been on the station computer and I kept getting booted from AIM and 2) someone messed up the soundboard at the studio earlier in the week and made everything ridiculously difficult, including the levels for the FFmusic Dj interview. Species' archive for this show won't be out for a long time, since the levels were all over the place, but next year sounds like a good timeframe for it. Thanks to Haroon Piracha for a LONG , but very insightful interview on a hell of a lot of topics. The gist of the interview focuses on the fact that Haroon has come a long way from both a singular focus on remixing Final Fantasy and a singular focus on trance music. The tracks I played during Haroon's interview probably didn't even register thanks to problems with the phone. I may do a quick show on Tuesday or Wednesday to showcase those properly. Find out what you can about FFmusic Dj's original game work to listen to the broader extent of his work. The chat transcript is here. Check the root directory for a few of Destiny's 2003 tracks, for those of you who really enjoyed "Fly (Your Heart Is Young)". The playlist is below (and I know StationMP3's been dead). No show next week, cuz it's Thanksgiving here in the States... Larry Oji - WMRE (Emory University Student Radio; Atlanta, GA) "VG Frequency" - Saturday, November 22, 2003 - 10:10 PM - 12 AM EST 1. Rayza f/Liontamer - VG Frequency "Number One Host" Bumper 2. Satoshi Ise - "Player Select 1" [Capcom vs. SNK 1 OSV] 3. The Black Lodge - "Summer '99" [http://www.mp3.com/theblacklodge] 4. Nobuo Uematsu - "Walls of the Sacred Beasts" [Final Fantasy IX OST] 5. Rayagon - Hitman: Codename 47 "Chained to a Barcode" [OC ReMix #1075] 6. Red Omen - VG Frequency "Brings Us Together" Bumper 7. OverCoat - Final Fantasy 6 "The People of the Ruined World" [http://rks.no-ip.com/~seattleovercoat] 8. Delerium & Sarah McLachlan f/FFmusic Dj - "Silence (Hap Club Mix)" [http://www.ffmusic.net] 9. FFmusic Dj - Final Fantasy 7 "Otanjoubi Cid" [OC ReMix #833] 10. FFmusic Dj gives an interview to talk about everything under the sun [http://www.ffmusic.net] 11. FFmusic Dj - "Level 1" [The Omega Initiative OST] 12. FFmusic Dj - Final Fantasy 10 "Trance to Zanarkand" [string Machine] 13. FFmusic Dj - "Winter's Wake" [Vector Mirage OST] 14. FFmusic Dj - "In Cold Pursuit" [Vector Mirage OST] 15. FFmusic Dj - "Level 2" [The Omega Initiative OST] 16. Pixelated - Legend of Zelda 2 "Crying Alone in the Darkness" [VGMix2 #411] 17. Red Omen - VG Frequency "Friendly Suggestion" Bumper 18. The Wingless - StarFox "The Obsidian Ocean" [starFox Ultimate Collaboration Project/VGMix2 #424] 19. DarkeSword - "Tempest - Act II, Scene II" [http://www.darkesword.com] 20. kLuTz - Final Fantasy 1 "Simple Joys" [VGMix2 #365] 21. Nobuo Uematsu - Black Mage's Village [Final Fantasy IX OST] 22. Rayza - VG Frequency "Sonic Retard" Bumper 23. Shael Riley - Legend of Zelda 1 "Zelda: The Music of My Groin (2003 Mobgoblin ReMix)" [http://lobachevsky.homelinux.net/~sriley] 24. Destiny & zyko - Chrono Cross "Dragon's Prayer: The Blackened Desire" [VGMix2 #361] 25. Destiny - "Fly (Your Heart Is Young) Version 2" [http://www.destiny-hikari.net] 26. NoppZ - Final Fantasy 6 "Funky Terra" [http://www.stationmp3.com/noppz] 27. Satoshi Ise - "Player Select 2" [Capcom vs. SNK 1 OSV] 28. Satoshi Ise - "Game Over" [Capcom vs. SNK 1 OSV]