DragonAvenger

This is very awesome. Love all the different elements you have, like the arcade atmosphere, the harmonies, lyrics, etc. This is so 80's it hurts, but oh is it so good. I agree with Andrew that the overall volume could be up a pinch, and the guitars themselves could be a little louder as well. The ending is a little strange, because of how sudden it is in the music, and then how sudden it is with the background. Regardless, awesome work. YES

Little to say about this one. The bassline is pretty sweet, and I love all the arrangement on the source. If my Pokémon team was as badass as this bassline, I would be able to crush the hopes of all the aspiring 5th grade Pokémon masters. YES

Agreeing with Andrew here; these are two sources that are a natural choice to meld together, and I like the overall style. Right now this isn't real big on the arrangement, aside from a little interpretation here and there. There's plenty of room to expand here, so have some fun with it! The transition overall wasn't really working for me. I'm not sure if it's the rushing like Andrew said, or if it's something else, but overall it feels weak. I think it would definitely need to be addressed. I like most of the synth choices overall, and the overall soundscape is nice, but the lead sound at 1:10 doesn't feel like it's a good lead synth, especially when it is used later in the SM64 theme. It is easily overpowered by some of the backing synths. I think you have a good start here, but this needs some work. I recommend using the WIP forums to get some additional feedback and resubmitting. NO (resubmit)

Seriously, fix those drums, please! NO (resubmit)

I have to agree with OA one this one, the piano cuts out and it feels super awkward. If it was an artistic choice, I'm not really feeling it. I loved the rest of this track, it's really laid back and chill. The balance and instrument choices are nice as well. I thought there was enough source, although it wouldn't have hurt to put a little more prominent sections in. Fix the piano, and I think this one is good to go. YES (conditional on piano fix)

contact info: melody peter kim www.youtube.com/xrisingforcex 29447 submission info: wild arms the miracle of love source: i'm coming into this project a bit late, but big ups to jade for silencing her critics and taking her determination full circle with this amazing tribute to wild arms. i've never played the game myself, but found inspiration in the scene where this song is first heard (courtesy youtube, and jade for fishing it out). it features cecilia, the princess of adlehyde, a coming-of-age character whose deepest desire is to be acknowledged as a person rather than a political figurehead. through her love for her travelling companion rudy she experiences an epiphany and realizes her subjects do adore her because of her caring nature. the sparse instrumentation in the original seems to embrace the scene as a moment of quiet reflection, but my interpretation of it was something more of a paradigm shift so i wanted to illustrate that with new rhythms, jazzier chord voicings, a time sig change, and modulation. the core motifs of the song are preserved but that nujabes kick is not ending any time soon hope you can enjoy. p.s. i don't mind if you keep the link up when it gets rejected ---------------------------

Wassup dudes & dudettes, Been sitting on this track for a while now, waiting for the Link's Awakening project to get close to release. Got the okay to submit, so, here's the info. OCR Album: Threshold of a Dream Song Title: Evigilo Insperatus Contact Mixer: The Joker Name: David L. Puga Email: jtown_music(@)yahoo(dot)com Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-L-Puga/120504783735 User#:8669 Submission Game: Zelda: Link's Awakening Song: Dream Shrine Comments: Where do I start. Hm, I began this mix along time ago. Years ago when the LA project was first concieved, whenever that was. The name is latin (we were going to name all the tracks in latin at this point). The name, Evigilo Insperatus, loosely means "to wake up unexpectedly." Like, waking up when you didn't even know you were sleeping. Thought that was fitting considering the game... I hope it means what I think it means. the guidelines for the project was to make something ambient. So, with this track I wanted to go with a hybrid electronic/orchestral sound. having both of them sound kinda spacey & dream like, while still having a hint of epicness & heroism in it. Hopefully, I achieved it. Not sure if it's up to current OCR standards, as I finished it a long time ago, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Boomshakalaka! ------------------------

Contact info: Nick Singer Nicholas Singer mail@nicholassinger.com http://www.nicholassinger.com (4764) Submission info: Game:Halo: Combat Evolved Original track title: The Lost Muse Original composers: Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori Track reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZNVG2dfi8o Bit of a strange one this. It was one of my favorite tracks from Halo but is overlooked because it's so short and was never included on the OST. It occurs at a point in the game where a friend and I would spend hours upon hours messing around in corridors with grenades, and since the music would loop continuously it now has a permanently memory-triggering effect, aided by the wistful nostalgic nature of the music itself. I tried to retain that nature in the remix, emulating the strange irregular melody while giving it a shuffling rhythm and a bit more oomph in the harmony. Hope you like it. ------------------------ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZNVG2dfi8o&feature=player_embedded

Remixer Name: Squint Real Name: Hai Nguyen Email Address: hxnguyen05@gmail.com Game Arranged: Chrono Trigger for SNES Song Arranged: To Far Away Times (or is it Outskirts of Time?) Additional Information: Yasunori Mitsuda, original composer. Hey guys, this is my second submission to the site. I was going to wait until "Gusty Piano in a Garden" went up, (it's currently in the "To Be Posted" section of the Judge's Decision thread), as I wanted to see what kind of critiques you may have had and possibly integrate them into this arrangement. But I couldn't wait, and I figured that this one is different enough that any critiques may not apply anyway. So yeah, the ending theme to Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite pieces of all time (I know, I'm not the first one to type that sentence, and will not likely be the last). And as much as I didn't want to arrange a piece that's been done and done, this one came to my fingers often enough times at the piano that I felt like I should put something down on paper. Hey, at least it's not Terra's theme, right? Anyway, like my last submission, I tried to give this one a bit of a jazzier feel than I've been used to playing pretty much my whole life, so I definitely did some experimenting along the way. I imagine this one being played after closing time - nobody listening but the guy at the piano, playing solely for the sake of his own satisfaction and enjoyment. Often times, I would just sit down with my eyes closed and play whatever came to mind, making a mental note of things that did and did not work (way more of the latter than the former, of course). It's a good bit different from how I worked on Gusty Piano in a Garden, and I think it probably shows. It really is unlike anything I've composed before, so I'm crossing my fingers that it worked out. But enough rambling. Hope you guys enjoy, and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think! Hai ----------------------

Hi! Monkey Kong Daniel Rosenqvist, Lucas Grönlund, Axel Johansson, Anton Dromberg and Anton Fluch. email: monkeykongmusic(at)hotmail.com www.myspace.com/monkeykong userid: 5179 Games: Zelda A Link To The Past, Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Zelda: Majoras Mask Songs: Master Sword, Title Theme (OoT), Ocean/The Great Sea, Stone Tower Temple Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOciCNlslJI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGal2fBQ3EM Name of Track: The Enduring And Unchanging Hero Hi Ocremix and thanks for everything you've done so far. We are right now in the recording for a medley to the DKC3 album, and since we are recording that a whole year after this Zelda medley was recorded, the mixing and everything will be soooo much better since we have evolved a lot in our musicianship and mixing techniques , thats why this song must be posted BEFORE the DKC3 album is released, otherwise people will think that the zelda medley was made after..i hope you understand. Anyway, my comments about the track: "2010 has been great for us so far, the climax of course being an Opening Act for the Distant Worlds II Europe premiére in the Stockholm Concerthall, playing nothing but Secret of Mana and other Square Enix titles for half an hour, ive even heard that Mr. Uematsu himself heard and liked us but i cant confirm that. Words that points beyond the words and games that points beyond games. When i was five years old, my love for game music started and i recorded the music from Ocarina Of Time through a tape recorder next to the TV, just so i could play them whenever i wanted (especially Gerudos Valley), so its nice to go full circle and actually cover it with Monkey Kong. This was all made in the beginning of 2009, looking back...everything about it is not perfect, but it is what it is! What we try to express is the feeling you get when playing Zelda, the sense of freedom when sailing in Wind Waker, the Epic greatness of the master sword, the stillness of Hyrule…these things you cannot express in words, and thats why: "The Link that can be trodden is not the Enduring and Unchanging Hero", just as it was written in the Tao Te Ching 2600 years ago…" Cheers from Visby and Gotland School of Music Composition, Sweden Daniel Rosenqvist -------------------------------- - MM Stone Temple - OoT Titlehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBjcIYRc5zQ - LttP Master Sword - WW Oceans

Original Decision Remixer Name: TheGuitahHeroe Real Name: Jamison Randall Website: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGuitahHeroe?feature=mhum Remix Name: "Temporal Despair" Game: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Time Original Song Name: "Temporal Tower" Source Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6yNpgjfP8 Honestly, I've done all I can with this remix and I'm giving it one last shot. Seeing that this remix was originally made with a demo version of Mixcraft 4.5 (which I cannot access or buy now), I can't change anything about the way the song was arranged or the articulations or anything of the sort. Basically what I did was I used FL Studio to create a more powerful bass drum than the one Mixcraft had to offer (Mixcraft doesn't offer that much). Then I used Audacity to combine the remix track and the bass drum track. Along with a few added effects that Audacity had to offer and a slight change in equalization, this was the result. I was reluctant at first to call this a last-ditch effort. . . but that's basically what it is. A last-ditch effort. It frustrates me knowing that I can make this remix so much better by just going back and changing a few things, but I can't. And I apologize. Regardless, I hope you like my re-remix. lol --------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6yNpgjfP8

This brings to mind the opening of Brink of Time, which has a fantastic funk jazz arrangement of this theme. I like a lot of what you're doing here, especially the bass line, which is pretty awesome. There are a couple issues overall, however. The arrangement does have some moments of expansion on the main theme, especially the intro, but once the sax starts out, things kind of go on autopilot to the source in terms of structure and overall arrangement. There's some great opportunity for solos, and from what I'm hearing from the intro, I think you can really change some stuff around no problem and really have some fun with this. You really need to get the drum off the same loop for most of the track, it's really killing the energy! Again, have some fun with it, and let the drums really compliment the arrangement. The sounds are pretty good overall, although the bass drum could use a tad more oomph, and the snare a little more kick. Balance is pretty good overall. To me, I think this is close, but I really want to see you relook at some of the elements and bring this one alive. NO (please resubmit)

I, Deia, hereby do submit my resignation for position as Judge. Due to lack of prior knowledge, I was unable to meet the unwritten requirements for the position, and thus had to do extra research upon evaluating this submission. Furthermore, the transition to jazz style, while impressive, lent the track a cool new edge that is unexpected, yet pleasant. However, the simple bass-line and drum sequencing led the track to feel a bit empty overall, causing my failure in knowledge to be that more biting. Similarly, the lack of additional material and expansion on the track thus makes it feel a bit too much like a cover, and requesting further expansion is now beyond my abilities. Production seems to meet the standards that I am no longer able to apply. Therefore, with the information provided above, I hereby do wish the Judges Panel luck in their future endeavors, and hope that I may one day rejoin their ranks. Signed, NO (resubmit)

I really like the arrangement ideas you have here, but I think you need to take this one further. Andrew is right when he said that the overall track feels empty. I'd like to see you fill up the soundscape more, which will give you some opportunities to expand even further on the arrangement, either with some counter-melodies or even palying around with the chord structure. I also felt that using the ensemble strings for the lead is alright, but is overused. Try changing the lead around a bit and experimenting with what other instruments could be used. Good start, now take it further! NO (resubmit)

I like the overall vibe you get from this track; it really makes you feel like you are working hard out in the fields. The arrangement does suffer a little bit from medleyitis, but I think it's performed in a way that is natural given the nature of the game it came it from. Some of the transitions (Fall to Winter especially) are a tad weak, but nothing is a dealbreaker to me. Production is distinct, and again it works for the track and that live feel (despite being in a studio). YES

I like the various ideas you have for this, and I think this mix could be really good, but right now it's got some big issues to me that I think need to be fixed. Foremost is that the overall mix is just too short. You have a good ear for arranging, so it would be great to hear you expand the overall song. I also found that both the transition from the into original material to the source, and then from the source to the ending outtro material were pretty awkward, and need to be smoothed out a little. On a similar note, it would be great for you to incorporate more of the original material during the source material, and vice-versa. I liked most of the sounds, but the flute used at the end is very shrill and airy. There are also some times (1:26 being an example) where the chorus feels out of time with the rest of the instruments. Good ideas, but they need some tweaking, and lengthening. NO (resubmit)

Alrighty, listening to the new and improved version. Right off I wish you had looked at the mechanical feel of the opening in the xylophone. Once the strings come in they are pretty overpowering compared to everything else. Overall it feels like the balance of the lead vs. the background is still a little off, and I would have like to see that addressed before this is accepted. Along with that, at times it feels like at times the soundscape is a little cramped, possibly from a lot of instruments in the same frequency range, which contributes to the balance. There is a huge improvement in the arrangement side of things, and I found it much easier to recognize the source. I think you are set in terms of arrangement, but the production still needs some work. NO (resubmit)

Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Thursday!

I was excited when I saw this submission after hearing Dragon Wings. That being said I enjoyed listening to this mix quite a bit. You handle all the instruments well, and while the arrangement is a bit conservative it still has a lot of personalization and additional elements to give it a nice flair. The only thing I would have liked is some more bass presence, but I recognize that you purposely did not add it to give the more fair feel. Hope to hear more from you in the future, YES

This track is pretty awesome to listen. I bet hearing it live would be pretty uber. The guitars sound great, even though the drums could be stronger soundwise, the programming is really done well for the track. The big thing holding me back on this is how coverish it can be at times. There's a good deal of interpretation in some spots, and original riffs, solos, etc, but when you hear the theme, it sounds like there is almost no arrangement to it. That being said, it isn't holding me back to the point of a NO, but I would have loved for there to be more interpretation during those parts. YES

I can see why Andrew had a tough time with this. The closer I listen to it, the more I feel like this is deceptively conservative sounding. There's a lot going on that you don't notice the first or second (or more) times though, which leads you to want to make a decision early. Overall the production is good, so there are no issues there. When it comes down to it, I am inclined to vote yes on this because of how often I was able to find some new and interesting things done to the track. I can see this going either way, good luck with the rest of the votes. YES

I like the idea that you have behind this mix, because I think the source would make an excellent transition to this kind of techno. I think, however, that there are problems in this mix that are preventing it from being where it needs to be. Foremost is the arrangement itself and how there is very little added or changed to it. There needs to be some expansion or original material away from the source, and right now this is a cover. Added to that are the production issues that Andrew mentioned, and you've got some work ahead of you. NO

I had to listen to this one many times before I started to really hear any connections to the source. Arrangement-wise, this is super liberal, and for someone who is pretty well versed in the CC soundtrack, I had a tough time recognizing it. The connections I did make were nice, but they are few and too far between. Production-wise things aren't too bad. I'm not overly crazy about the sound choices overall, but that feels more personal than anything. At times things felt a little empty. The bass is one of the strong points, and is used pretty effectively. I like some of the ideas you presented here, but the lack of a solid source connection is what is killing things here for me. NO (resubmit)

Going to have to agree with Andrew here; there are times where it's a bit too difficult to pick out the source in this, but I do like that you've worked on adding your own spin and interpretation to the melodies. I think you've got a good handle on how to arrange, now you just need to pull it back a little. As Andrew said, things are really on the right track, but the production and sounds are a little generic, and that combined with the source being a little too well hidden is putting this one just a little below where it needs to be. I think you can pull this one up and I'll look forward to hearing it again. NO (please resubmit)

This song is very joyful to listen to, and that's heightened by knowing the backstory and thought you put into arranging it. I like the different blends of instruments and synths, and overall the soundscape is nice and full. Arrangement-wise I think there are some sections that aren't as clearly noticeable to the source as you made it seem from your breakdown, but there is a sufficient amount regardless to me. The biggest drawback I'm hearing when listening is that some of the elements, like the bouzouki and some of the piano runs, sound fairly mechanical compared to the flute. It has an odd disparity between the two, and I would have liked to have a touch more humanization on those elements. There are also a couple of sections where the lead feels just a tad crowded out with some of the backing elements. Overall, I think this is a solid arrangement like I am used to hearing from you, and the samples are quite nice. YES