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Artist Name: The Vodoú Queen DONE FOR CNDR'S FIRE EMBLEM - 35TH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM *CO-CONSPIRATORS* tibonev - electric & rhythm guitars Ridley Snipes - additional drums, percs, backing pads & synths -- Time to take a page from some of my favorite 80s Rock & Synthwave groups, and do up something neat for my first ever Fire Emblem remix, (and no, it certainly won't be the last). :D Trying to currently think of something deep, meaningful and thought-provoking to say about this piece, (and I'm usually *very* verbose), but. . .I think this time, I'll let the track speak for itself. ;) The only thing I'll go into detail about really is the fact that the major references and influences for this track were songs from groups like Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, New Order, and Depeche Mode, which I really wanted to instill into my own style and take on a couple of my favorite sources from the mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes. "Howling Gears" is the normal map BGM from Book V of the series, and "Niðavellir’s Shout" is the theme that served as the intro music for the chapter's movie / in-game cinematic, and also functions as the theme for certain bosses / Tempest Trial events related to the Niðavellir realm. It's not my first rodeo with arranging in the New Wave / Synthwave genre sphere, but as usual, I wanted to hone my skills in those fields, as they're probably pretty high on my list of the core genres of music I super enjoy. :) Also, FWIW, the reasoning behind so much of the ear candy throughout the remix being gears grinding, steam hissing, coils winding and what sounds like hammer-fall is because I wanted to tie it back to the sources, (Howling Gears in particular utilizes very mechanical foley in its track), and due to the lore behind Book V, which has your Heroes trying to fight to liberate a dwarven race (the people of the appropriately named Niðavellir, same realm of the dwarves from Norse myth -- which the entire game centers around) from the villainous Jötnar (giants). The dwarf Heroes you recruit and soldiers you fight against frequently ride around in what's essentially steam-powered mech-suits that function like cavalier units' horses, but they literally sit in them and pilot them like Gundams. Pretty cool concept for a Fire Emblem game, having science and tech be retro-future steampunk-style, and I defo wanted to mesh that feeling with the overall vibe of my synthwave sound design and palette. Otherwise, I don't have much to say for my process of *how* I made this, just that I did so with love, and wanted to take up the challenge and mantle of putting the spotlight on the fabulous OST from a lesser known / popular game of the Fire Emblem franchise. I only played it and collected the characters for a brief time, (a couple of years on and off at best, as Gacha games aren't really my cuppa), but the soundtrack for it is fire. Big special thanks to everyone who helped give this one feedback along the journey or collaborated with me on this track, and to Treyt for originally helping me transcribe the track sources into MIDI! Tibonev was my wing-man on this, and his enthusiasm for the direction of this remix I had in mind and we executed together was infectious, and Ridley, as always, was an inspiration with his help on the initial steps and path to glory. I appreciate everything y'all have done to help this along, and thank you CNDR and pixelseph for your votes of confidence the whole way through. ♥ -- *SOURCE BREAKDOWN* "Howling Gears" [Main Source]: A Section (Intro > Beginning-Point) = 00:00 - 00:48 B Section (Breakdown > Mid-Point) = 00:49 - 01:22 C Section (Ending > Repeat Point) = 01:23 - 01:55 "Niðavellir’s Shout" [Secondary Source]: A Section (Intro > Beginning-Point) = 00:00 - 00:24 B Section (Breakdown > Mid-Point) = 00:25 - 00:48 C Section (Ending > Repeat Point) = 00:49 - 01:04 'W A R C R Y': Starts off with the main melody of Howling Gears A, that is present in the source track @ 00:17, accompanied by a slightly modified version of the arp from Howling Gears B present in the source track @ 00:49. 00:36 utilizes Howling Gears A's countermelodic/harmony parts that starts in the source track @ 00:16/17, (the part being played by the very grunge-y, dirty guitar riffs and chugs). 00:52 introduces the bass structure from the Howling Gears source track, present from 00:01. 00:00 - 02:30 = basically runs through Howling Gears' A Section, and the break @ 02:30/31 introduces its B Section. Niðavellir’s Shout (A) makes its appearance interlaced with Howling Gears B, (the scratchy synth & wailing guitar riff/melody from the beginning of the source track), played by a low humming bass and pulsing pad. ~ 02:35 - 03:07 = Howling Gears B's arps and falling string runs are the ear candy of this section, backing Niðavellir’s Shout's B section, played by the panned synths in this section. 03:08 - 04:27 = guitar melody plays Howling Gears C, slightly modified and with some new content / chord progression; some of the backing synths (e.g. the gated synth stabs) uses Niðavellir’s Shout C Section backing elements (00:49 of the source track), and the guitar changes-up @ 03:40 to follow Niðavellir’s Shout (C) melodic motif before the drop and continuing with Howling Gears C. 04:32 - END = gets a lil' funky on the transformation / re-interpretation side of things, but it reprises the beginning of the track, (back to Howling Gears A), but this time with a special guest appearance as a change-up from the intro's countermelody and harmony. ;) Bass and rhythm maintains the structure and feel of Howling Gears A. EDIT (6/28): VQ provided a more detailed arrangement breakdown. -LT **FURTHER SOURCE BREAKDOWN**: Presented in "Howling Gears" source track -- a) BASS (i) = 00:01 - 00:49 b) BASS (ii) = 00:49 - 01:20 c) BASS (iii) = 01:23 - 01:55 ~ [to repeat] d) SUPERSAW SYNTH / STRINGS = 00:17 - 00:31 e) GUITAR CHUGS = 00:33 - 00:48 f) FALLING CHORDS & ARPS = 00:49 - 01:20 g) GUITAR RIFFING (appears on and off between) = 00:51 ~ 01:20 h) HIGH OCTAVE SYNTH = 01:23 - 01:55 Presented in "Niðavellir’s Shout" source track -- j) HEAVY METAL RHYTHM GUITAR & ITS BACKING ARP = 00:01 - 00:24 ~ [to repeat] k) LEAD SYNTH / MELODY (i) = 00:24 - 00:48 l) LEAD SYNTH / BELLS (ii) = 00:49 - 01:03 ~ [to repeat] Hidden source material, "Shout" by Tears for Fears -- m) TRIANGLES & COWBELLS = 00:01 - 00:11 ~ [whole song] n) LEAD MELODY / CHORUS LINE FOR SINGING / CHORDS = 00:10 - 00:50; 00:50 - 01:30 ~ [whole song] o) ARP / STABS = 01:30 - 01:50 ~ [whole song] --- Examples of where they occur in 'W A R C R Y' -- a) 00:52 - 01:10; 01:12 - 01:50; 01:51 - 02:30 [dotted note bass & sequenced bass] b) 02:35 - 03:09; 03:10 - 03:48 [long note, low octave humming bass & mid-range pads] c) 03:49 - 04:28 [orchestral string section holding the backing chords / harmony] d) 00:33 - 01:12; 01:53 - 02:30 [arpy synth that fades in as a filter sweep; continues on as a background countermelody with the panning sequenced chimes that go with tibonev's guitars before the big drop and change-up, and then as his guitars and the chiptune / Famisynth leads] e) 01:14 - 01:51 [tibonev's forward guitar strums] f) 02:30 - 03:09 [arp on auto-pan / phasing] g) 00:33 - 01:51; 02:50 - 03:09 [Ridley's pulsing saw layers & the shakers / percs in the background, that sound like hissing steam] h) 03:10 - 04:28 [straight just tibonev's lovely guitar playing, along with some synth guitars as layers for it] j) 00:02 - 00:32 [my pad chords + Ridley's additional backing layers, e.g. the glittery arps] k) 02:50 - 03:09 [the weird juno-type keys & keyclick organ that are hard-panned L/R and switch with each other every 4-8 beats & the 'falling' glissando runs] l) 03:19 - 03:48 [Ridley's hushed synth is based from this part of the source, but ran in double-time; also occurs with different synths in the previous bridge section (e.g. the change-up in the long note pads & drone sounds) and periodically throughout the track] m) 04:34 - 04:52 [panning cowbell] n) 04:32 - 05:11; 05:12 - END [filter swept bell keys & guitar strums/plucks mimic the verse & chorus melody lines from "Shout"; pop city keys/organ plays "Shout" chords] o) 04:34 - END [Ridley's saw/reese stabs (modified with some splicing to match "Shout"'s arp stabs)] Hope this helps identify where parts of these sources are in the track. :) Games & Sources FIRE EMBLEM HEROES; Disc 2, Track 23 - Howling Gears & Track 25 - Niðavellir’s Shout; Artist(s): Hiroki Morishita et al; Release Date: 31 Aug 2022; Label: Intelligence Systems (Nintendo) & Pony Canyon Inc.

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Underneath the cozy melodies lies the quiet grind of village life. Gentle acoustic guitars and soft vocals reveal the emotional labor of building a home and community, turning the lighthearted theme into a heartfelt reflection. Games & Sources Animal Crossing - Title

Artist Name: Craig Jackson The stage is set, the tension palpable. Synth-driven rock pulses through the theme, giving the menu’s iconic energy a cinematic, almost combative weight, reflecting the high stakes behind the battles. Games & Sources Super Smash Bros Melee - Menu

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Grooves meet banana-induced chaos in this jazz-funk adventure. Smooth rhythms and syncopated instrumentation reveal the emotional aftermath of barrel-laden escapades, mixing humor with a touch of melancholy. Games & Sources Donkey Kong Country - Title

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Slippy’s rookie anxieties come alive over driving pop-rock beats. Guitar riffs and energetic rhythms capture the thrill and fear of interstellar missions, turning heroism into relatable vulnerability. Games & Sources Star Fox - Corneria

Artist Name: Craig Jackson This pop-rock reinterpretation highlights the evolving journeys of trainers and Pokémon alike. Bright guitars and catchy hooks underscore the tension of battles and the bittersweet nature of adventure. Games & Sources Pokémon Red/Blue - Title

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Upbeat punk energy masks Kirby’s inner conflict. Jagged riffs and frenetic drums reframe the whimsical theme into a story of identity and personal struggle, giving the pink hero unexpected angst. Games & Sources Kirby's Dream Land - Green Greens

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Luigi’s shadows take the spotlight in this smooth R&B spin. Soulful melodies and gentle grooves explore the overlooked hero’s insecurities, turning playful hauntings into emotional depth. Games & Sources Luigi's Mansion - Mansion (Luigi Humming - High Health)

Artist Name: Craig Jackson High-speed heartbreak meets nostalgic 90s rock. Driving guitars and soaring choruses capture the loneliness and adrenaline of F-Zero’s racers, blending speed with the quiet ache of retirement. Games & Sources F-Zero - Big Blue

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Samus emerges from the visor in this sweeping orchestral ballad. Powerful strings and cinematic swells reveal the humanity behind the armored hero, elevating the classic theme into a story of resilience and introspection. Games & Sources Super Metroid - Samus Aran's Theme

Artist Name: Craig Jackson The overlooked hero takes center stage. Bluegrass banjo and Broadway-style flair dramatize WaLuigi’s frustrations and hidden ambitions, turning a quirky theme into a theatrical, heartfelt lament. Games & Sources Mario Strikers Charged - WaLuigi's Theme

Yes, the grammar is wrong in the title. I'm just carrying over what was there. -LT Artist Name: Craig Jackson Yoshi’s gentle heart meets smooth R&B grooves in this soulful reimagining. Layered vocals and warm instrumentation convey the quiet sting of abandonment, turning a familiar staff roll into an intimate confession of melancholy. Games & Sources Super Mario World - Staff Roll

FYI, the submitter hasn't included linked YouTubes for the source tunes, so I'm providing those. Most of their links are to SoundCloud streaming links rather than downloadable files, FYI. They've submitted way beyond what we allow in such a short timeframe, but the panel's been doing well and it almost caught up, so we'll go through these. This sounds like AI, so including some conversation we had in the submission area with the artist for reference. Asked whether this was generative AI, the answer was: "So this is a yes and no answer. I wrote the lyrics, played the guitars and bass. I added in the drums using garageband, and used AI for the vocals. So not generative AI, with Ace Studio for the vocals yes. Much like all of my other submissions, I play as much as I can with guitar, bass, piano, mandolin or violin and let garageband fill out the rest of what I can't play, do not own, as well as Ace take care of singing for me."

Artist Name: Craig Jackson Chains of heroism and hidden sorrow collide in this post-grunge take on Zelda’s classic overworld theme. Crunchy guitars and driving drums channel the weight of unspoken struggles, transforming Hyrule’s adventure into an emotionally raw release. Games & Sources The Legend of Zelda (A Link To The Past) - Overworld

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Agreed with the others on more sophisticated production being a nice-to-have while also appreciating the interpretive arrangement and creative layering/texturing. The faux geetar sample at 1:23 deserved more humanization and heft, but we'll live. Referencing just supporting writing from the source from :15-:28 & 1:09-1:37 was a subtle but cool touch. Solid piece of business, Seth! YES

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Artist Name: Lucas Guimaraes OG Song: Melody A: 0:05-0:29 Melody B: 0:29-0:32 (I use literally the first bit and variate it) Track Breakdown: 0:00-0:48 (Original) 0:48-1:36 (A) 1:36-2:00 (Original, but building on A) 2:00-2:48 (B, with A in the background) 2:48-4:30 (A) - The first synth that comes in plays it a bit slowly at first, but we get another synth with it sped up at 3:16 Credits: Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement, Production, Mix, Master jnWake said "I can see you're in your detuned chill synth era" and... yeah. Part of it is that I'm focusing more on the -wave genre (Chamber and Psych Rock are taking a backseat... for now) in order to improve my production efforts, part of it is that's the vibe of music I want to make, and lately I've been really wanting to remix some Kirby tracks. so here we are. What else is there to say? I've been following a lot of Synth Designer on YouTube and getting my butt in gear making chillwave. I've had a couple of times where I've tried to do this theme, but something just clicked. When I had that happy accident happen at 2:48 where I just decided "What if I play A again but at half time" that's where this track was made. I wanted something that's like, iunno, lounging with King Dedede instead of beating him up. I really like it when chillsynth both challenges me by being intense, but also gives me those moments that are just relaxing. I didn't use Unfound's Heaven as a hardcore reference track, but they're generally some of my vibe with making chillwave. The biggest moment of feeling proud was showing a WIP to Xaleph - He's definitely one of the people that's seen me really struggle to get better at production while my arrangement skills shine. On one of OCR's feedback sessions, he was like "Yeah this is clean as heck. Look at how clean it is. Do that." and it felt really nice giving new people more advice on their tracks. One thing I definitely want to do, going forward, is impart as much knowledge as I can to other creatives without overextending myself. There's so, so many things I wish I learned sooner, or had someone explain to me in the style that I learned. This track itself was a learning experience in a couple of things with regards to synthesizers: like how to make a synth distort buzz more/less (Filter cutoff and resonance are your keys), automating my synths more and syncing two different synth patches (agh) I don't have a whole lot to say beyond that. I just sort-of made it in 10 hours, got some feedback, and spent about 3 hours chasing down synthesizers. I know this one is not going to be for everyone with how the source plays out, but I'm hoping it's at least borderline enough, haha. Anyways, enjoy! And if it needs a resub, I'll be happy to take a break and cook it out some more. Games & Sources

Artist Name: Davtronics This track was an accidental inspiration for me a few months back. While playing around with sounds I was distracted by the bass sound I was utilizing and it reminded me of the full sound produced by the Cosmo Canyon theme from FF7. I was lucky enough through my music education to be exposed to a diverse set of instruments, percussion, and musical styles. I have always had a soft spot for Brazilian music including the parade style sounds that accompany festivals like Carnival. Once I laid down the percussion parts, the feel of the song started coming together. I thought the additional flare and layering of percussion parts to mimic the drums used in Samba style beats with the toms providing a marching beat similar to that produced by surdo drums. The ostinato rhythm of the underlying snare drum is meant to keep the pulse locked in and grooving. I opted to utilize a drumkit for the rest of the tracks percussion to make it more accessible than using all of the different sounds. Once the kit part was added, the bass line needed some support in the melodic and chord departments. Since I chose a kit, adding guitars to the mix seemed to make sense in terms of instrumentation. I went with one lower octave guitar to keep a rhythm and layered a more lead sounding guitar on top to give it that soaring melody feeling of the original. Additionally, I wanted a choppy pulse underneath to keep a syncopated and danceable feel to the song as sambas are meant for getting down to and moving one's body. The underlying synth inspired the middle section. Building up to the middle portion I wanted to add something unique to the arrangement that clashed in an interesting way. The synth sound gave me feelings of a rock opera style backing sound. So once I finalized the build up to the release after the main melody, largely built on percussive elements, it felt natural to have a drum fill lead into a half time feeling pulse that would open the space up. The bass line with the slower pulse behind it opened up in a way that reminded me of songs like Chewbacca by Dream Theater and thus, the guitar solo to add that heavy rock feel to the track came fluid and for me, created a fun experience as a listener once it was completed. Then the song rounds out again to reprise the main melodic section with a fade out that teases the middle section. This is my first time submitting to OC Remix, as I have been a long time fan that didn't follow my love for music for far too many years. I am hoping the judges can enjoy this track and that we can all be dancing and grooving together in the near future. Thank you for your time and the consideration. Have a great day, ~Davtronics Games & Sources The source for this inspiration was Nobuo Uematsu's Cosmo Canyon theme as featured in Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy tunes have been remixed since they came out and I recently got into sound production and this track made sense to based on it's arrangement by Nobuo Uematsu which left space for adding and manipulating the genre. Link Source:

The track was 2:40.5-long (music from :11.5-2:52), so I needed to hear the source in play for at least 80.25 seconds for the source material to be considered dominant in the arrangement. :22.5-:44.5, :47-1:08.5, 1:18.25-1:21, 1:40.5-1:54.25, 1:55.5-1:57.25, 1:58.75-2:02.25, 2:04.25-2:05.75, 2:17.25-2:23.75, 2:29.75-2:51.5 = 92.25 seconds or 57.47% overt source usage There was more that could be counted if I better recognized some of the rhythmic changes, but I was just sanity checking it for clearly identifiable source usage without (hopefully) needing to do a deeper dive and thankfully this was well over half the arrangement. Lovely stuff. Reminds me a LOT of Japanese arrange album material - Konami's MIDI Power albums come to mind - both the uncanny valley instrumentation and the liberal, transformative treatment. Turning Dark Souls, of all things, into chillaxing beach music was never in my Overton window of arrangement possibilities, yet here we are! Fantastic. :-) YES

Adding composer credits here for posterity: 0:00 "Sky Islands Low Gravity" (TotK) Masato Ohashi 1:40 "Skydiving" (TotK) Manaka Kataoka 2:55 "The Skies" (SS) Hajime Wakai 4:20 "Island in the Sky" (SS) Mahito Yokota 5:18 "Cucco Shack" (LA) Kazumi Totaka 6:11 "Flute Boy" (LttP) Koji Kondo

Adding composer credits here for posterity: 0:00 "Vah Medoh 2 Terminals" (BotW) Yasuaki Iwata 1:13 "Eagle's Tower" (LA) Minako Hamano 2:12 "City in the Sky" (TP) Toru Minegishi 3:27 "Astral Observatory" (MM) Koji Kondo 4:13 "Revali's Theme" (BotW) Yasuaki Iwata 5:12 "Rito Village" (BotW) Yasuaki Iwata 6:04 "Crimson Loftwing" (SS) Mahito Yokota