DragonAvenger

Remixer name: Zoned Real name: Hans-Kristian Arntzen Website: http://themaister.net Userid: 48408 Game arranged: Final Fantasy X Name of arrangement: Silence Before Repentance Invididual songs: Path of Repentance, Silence Before the Storm ------------------- - stormhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA5PpkNdKbM - the other one

Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Kevvviiinnn Your real name: Kevin Phetsomphou Your website: http://www.youtube.com/user/Kevvviiinnn Your userid: 48406 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Name of arrangement: "Hylia's Fear" Name of individual song(s) arranged: "Ballad of the Goddess", "Zelda's Lullaby" -------------- - Lullaby - Ballad

Remixer Name : Dissection1776 Real Name: Gerard Ancel Email: Website: https://twitter.com/#!/Dissection1776 UserID: 48097 Name Of Games Arranged: Skyrim Name Of Arrangement: The Dragonborn At The Winking Skeever Name Of Songs Arranged: The DragonBorn Comes Link To Original song: Additional Info: This is the first remix I have ever done for a video game. I had the idea to do a folk/metal styling after I heard the in game vocals.Thankfully my friend Sheila can sing, so I had her do the vocals after it was finished. My buddy Derick also did the keyboards. I recorded and composed the guitars, bongos, egg shaker, bass and drums. I recorded the Bongos and Egg shaker with a mic. I was looking for something more natural than what FL studio could offer, so I bought the Bongos and Egg Shaker at a used music store and mic'ed it. I like the way it turned out. I recorded the guitars with my BC Rich Stealth through my Line 6 POD and Cakewalk. Same thing with the Bass. Drums are programmed from EZDrummer. I had issues coming up with a song title, so my friend came up with the idea of using a tavern from the game in the title, so that’s how the DragonBorn at the Winking Skeever came about. I can only imagine that would be where our hero would chill after the adventure was over. It was a long process putting this song together because this was a first for me recording with other people. A lot of emailing back and forth, lots of posting multiple mixes trying to find the right sound that we all wanted, ect. made the process longer than I wanted. Mixing became a hassle too because I wasn't used to mixing tons of instruments while keeping everything level. So I tried to put the guitars at hard left and right to make way in the middle for the bass and vocals. It fixed a lot of the spiking and distortion issues. At the end now, I am very pleased with the mix. The guitar solo was just a random solo I put into the song to break up the monotony as best I could. The outro came about because otherwise, the song would have ended abruptly. So I had an idea to fade in and out a fingerpicking acoustic and had my buddy Derick put in an improvised piano that sticks to the main theme. I think we accomplished everything we wanted with this song. I'm very happy with the mix.

Game: Final Fantasy IX Name of arrangement: Birth Under a Blue Light Song: Zidane's Theme Original Composer: Nobuo Uematsu Remixer: Knight of the Round, Justin Wilbanks Real name: Justin Taylor, Justin Wilbanks User ID: 43205 Link to Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLZfselgtlQ Link to submission: ATTACHED Genre: Poly-rhythmic Groove Thrash THIS IS A PROJECT TRACK! Justin Wilbanks (from Indiana metal band Betrayer) and I have been wanting to collaborate on a track for a while. So after realizing there were still a few months left to submit a track for Fishy's FF9 project, we decided to tackle Zidane's Theme. I've always enjoyed this track, and since it is a pretty significant track to the OST, choosing it was a no brainer. We took the backing track to the source and tweaked it a little, and used it as the main melody/riff for the first half of the song. The second half of the song is pretty conservative to the source, but its such a good part that we didn't dare change it much. We used an Agile 8 string guitars to record all guitars. For rhythm, we used an ENGL Fireball head, then re-amped through a Fractal Audio Axe-FX Ultra, both going into a VHT Fatbottom cab. We then also re-amped the guitars into Line6 PODfarm. For lead guitars, we went straight into the Axe-FX Ultra into the VHT cab. Drums were programmed with EZdrummer (cymbals) and Steven Slate Drums (kick, snare, toms). Mastered with Izotope Ozone3. Random Fun Fact: 4:26-4:35 and 4:48-4:56 features a 13/16 over 4/4 polyrhythm. The guitars/bass/kick drum are playing in 13/16 and are playing the pattern of "1 and 10" while keeping the rhythm notes intact, while the snare drum and cymbals are staying in 4/4. I chose "1 and 10" to represent the I and X in the title of the game. Go Poly-rhythms!

Remixer Name: Darangen Real Name: Michael Boyd Email: mike@darangen.com Website: www.darangen.com UserID: 8948 This is part of a multi-resub/sub that Sir Oji said was ok. Game: Lufia 2 – Rise of the Sinistrals Songs: Prophet Original Soundtracks: Comments: This is a resubmission, original submission results are found here: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37666 I tried to address as many of the critique’s as I could while still maintaining my original vision for the track. I tried giving the snare a bit more punch, and beefed up the guitars with a heavier tone. I’ve also tweaked some of the mixing to try and keep a better overall balance. Finally, I added a new guitar part to break away from the source and give a contrast. OLD comments: This submission is part of Bahamut’s Lufia 2 Project. I’ve always enjoyed the Lufia series, I even bought a DS just to play the remake of the first one. The source for this doesn’t have a lot of material to work with, but it’s such a beautiful theme that I always found myself setting the controller down for a while just to listen to it for a while. The title – Hello, Goodbye – is based on the character of Iris in the game, for which this theme is used, because it always seemed that by the time she said hello it was already time for her to leave again. She’d drop in and give you just a tidbit of information, then leave you before really explaining anything. I always wanted to make a lyrical remix of this source, and though I have lyrics written the melody just gets too repetitive even for my tastes when words are used. Maybe someday down the road I’ll integrate it with another source and see if something happens. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! -Michael ‘Darangen’ Boyd

Really cool idea to go for the jazzy genre for this. There's a lot of promise here, for sure. That being said, there are some issues really holding this back. The most noticeable is that the overall performance feels a bit stiff, which is very strange when compared to the jazzy structure. My suggestion would be to slow down the tempo to allow you a little more room to breathe and make the performance feel more natural. I know that pretty much sucks, as you would have to redo most of it, though. The soundscape feels a little dry as well, and could use a touch of reverb to add some effects to this. This might compensate for the overall soundscape being sparse, although for a jazz combo the instruments are fine. I feel like there's something I'm missing here, but I can't place my finger on it yet, so I'll defer to the other judges to figure it out . Meanwhile, there's definitely some good stuff going on her, and some work you have to do. I hate to tell you to essentially rerecord stuff, but I think the end result would be worth the effort in doing so. NO

Right away the combination of You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet and JENOVA is really cool, and I'm surprised it hasn't come up here before. In fact, the arrangement overall is excellent! Super intelligent writing here. I was sad when it finished, you could have probably gone on for another minute or two and fleshed out your ideas even a bit more. That being said, the production has some aspects that are dragging this down. The melody that comes in at 0:16 has notes that are loud and clear, and others that are understated, which sounds kind of strange. The violin feels a bit stiff, and the vibrato feels a bit unnatural as well. In fact, a lot of the instruments feel a bit stiff. It's not unbearable, but it is noticeable. The glass crashing sound seems a bit random at times, and maybe could have been used less. All of these are nitpicks, although I wouldn't mind seeing them touched up as well. I think the arrangement itself makes up for the production issues, although I could see some other judges having issue with it moreso than I do. If that's the case, I might switch up the vote to get it back to you quicker, because I think this definitely deserves to be on the site arrangement-wise. YES

Can't complain about more PMD mixes, I love the soundtracks quite a bit! This theme in particular is quite heroic, and I think you've done a good job expanding on that. What I find the strongest aspect of it is how often you bring the main riff back but approached differently each time. There's a lot of variety that keeps things interesting. The production shows a lot of care as well. The soundscape is nice and full, and well balanced. I like the instrument choices you used; everything fits together nicely. If I were to nitpick anything, I'd say I felt like there were some times where things were fading in and out a bit awkwardly. Easy vote for me. YES*Changed below*

Larry is right on with this one. The arrangement ideas have some promise, but the production overall is killing this pretty dead. Clearing out the fuzz and fixing the crowded/distorted areas is going to be a huge start. Aside from that, the transitions were a little weak, especially the 1:26 into the water theme, but I'd say going into the castle theme could use a little touch up as well. Overall I wasn't as sold on the castle section, it felt a little less interesting than the first two, but it's still got some neat ideas. The water area was easily the best, IMO. Definitely hit up our WIP forums to get some advice on the production end of things, and keep working on it! NO

I really like how you changed the chord structure of the melody around, it gives it a completely different feel, and it's a pretty refreshing take on the source. That being said, the arrangement kinda...fizzles out...but keeps on going for what feels like way past it's welcome. I'd love for you to cut this down and really try to get a more focused arrangement. Taking the stronger ideas and cutting out some of the original material will really help with this. Production is a bit of a mixed bag. The soundscape itself is pretty cool, I love the instrument choices you have. Everything sounds pretty muffled throughout the song, though, so I'd suggest working with your levels to clean things up and tone down the reverb and compression. The balance could use some readjustment as well, to make the melody lines cleaner and put the supporting parts in their place. Pretty cool concept, but it needs a good deal of revamp to focus and clean up the arrangement. Hope you continue to work on this one! NO (resubmit)

Taking Justin's breakdown of the source, I relistened and I'm going to have to change my vote up. I'm surprised that having that amount of source in there still was recognizable to me, but I also think I listened to it enough times to mesh it together and lose some of the aspect of the song as a whole. I'll apologize for that, but I'm gonna have to go NO as well. NO

Judges have a valid critique that despite the reverb, everything is clear. While it's not totally my boat in terms of soundscape, I'm OK with changing my vote. YES

There's definitely some promise here, I like the idea you're going for. As the other judges pointed out, in the end it's a pretty repetitive piece, and while there is some change-ups to the melody, it's a relatively conservative piece overall. Adding more of your own material and throwing down some original/breakdown will help break up the repetitiveness of the piece. Also mentioned was the overall production choices, like the compression needing to come down, and the bass lacking some of the power. I'd also note that along the same lines of the reptitiveness is that the instrumentation stays the same throughout, and it would be great to have some change-ups to add more variety. It's a solid start, but there's definitely work to be done here. The arrangement needs to be less repetitive, and the production needs some fixing. Hit up our WIP forums to get more feedback and tips on these issues! NO

The source is pretty cool, and it's a plus that I didn't even know there was a Darkwing Duck game, so double bonus! Almost immediately I'm hit with how still this sounds, especially if you're going for a blues style. I'd strongly suggest looking into humanizing the parts more, which will really help give the arrangement a lot more life. Most of the sounds themselves aren't too bad, but it's hard to tell with how stiffly things are playing right now. While this is fleshed out instrumentally, it does strongly remain a cover of the original source. For our standards it needs a little more personalization or original material to help differentiate it from a cover. The C section feels a bit sparse overall. Part of it is how the melody leaves some wide open gaps. Maybe filling in those sections with a response section or some countermelody will help. As it is, using the theme from the TV show is not really allowed for our standards, so if you were looking to get it on this site that would have to be removed. The arrangement has some good moments, and fleshing out the arrangement for a larger band is pretty fun, but the stiffness needs to be addressed, and there are some arrangement elements that can be tweaked as well. NO

Yeah, other judge quibbles are valid points you should improve on in your next mixing endeavors, but overall this is quite solid, especially the meshing between the two themes. I'd also add in that the bass is just a little overpowering at times, but otherwise it's a great listen and a interesting take on two very-oft mixed themes. YES

Interesting. I really like the soundscape you've put together for this. It's really very gritty and does an awesome job of conveying a dark picture. Drew is also right that the percussion is quite good, I can tell you spent a ton of time working out all the little details to make them shine. That being said, I'm a little tenuous on the amount of source usage here. There are spots that are fairly obvious, and some ares that aren't really connected at all. Stopwatch Larry will probably have a field day with this, but I'm inclined to agree with the other Shariq that while it is liberal, there's enough going on for it to be recognizable and within our standards. YES Edit: changed vote below

Right away I'm noticing a ton of reverb over the whole song. It's pretty intense, and causes some muddiness issues. I'd look into toning that down, and maybe using it more intensely in certain areas for effect. The rest of the soundscape is pretty intense as well, in a good way to me. You've done a nice job capturing a full sound that remains fairly balanced. I appreciate that the bass isn't overpowering especially, so nice work on that. Arrangement overall works pretty well, but I feel as though there are some sections that are using funky chords that don't quite match the melodyline. 1:23-1:27 is an example of where things seem a little off. I don't necessarily think it's a dealbreaker like the reverb, but it is worth looking at. Hit up that production, please! NO (resubmit) - Changed below

Definitely a different approach to this source. Slowing it down and adding a mellower feel definitely changes a lot of the outlook of the original, there's a lot of introspection going on here. In terms of arrangement, I felt like the track had a very slow build, but it never reached a climax. The super long and steady buildup kind of made me lose focus while listening, because there wasn't really anything different to keep my interest after a while. Some of this can be attributed to no instrument directly taking a lead roll, or when they do (like the flute) being not very prominent. I'd shift your balance around a little to have some instruments more in the spotlight. I will also note that a lot of the synths, especially because they are exposed, are pretty weak. I'd look into either upgrading or using some subtle doubling to help beef up the sounds. There are a couple areas that notes weren't lining up right to me. One section was 3:52; something felt like a wrong note there, so I'd do a listen through carefully to pick out some of those discrepancies. You've got a solid start here, but overall the arrangement needs some work to give the track more direction. I'd look into trying to add a real climax to the piece, and maybe changing your arrangement to add more variation overall to keep the listener's interest. Production needs some work as well, hit up our WIP forums to get some more advice! NO (resubmit)

Andrew pretty much got this right on. I thought the arrangement was really cute, and I think it's on the right track, but needs some polish before it's front page ready. Fixing up some of the intonation in the vocals will be a great start, and I'd also lean towards wanting the bass to come up just a tad. I'll also agree with OA that the reverb needs to come down a little on the guitars. Hope you fix this up! NO (resubmit please)

Definitely a good source to work with. I'm noticing that you're mostly sticking pretty close to the source melody in your writing, and I think you can do more to pull away from that, especially further on in the arrangement. Because things tend to stay pretty close, as the mix progressed things started to get repetitive. I did like your countermelody and the solo though, it added a lot of flavor, and you can definitely do more like that to add your own personality. I'd also like to point out that some of the down areas felt pretty sparse and dragged on for longer than are necessary. You can trim out the fat here, and make for a more focused arrangement. There's a lot of reverb going on here, making the whole soundscape feel very echoey and sparse, which just isn't working well for me. The drums also are pretty looped, and there's a lot you could do to have them reflect and enhance the music. I think you have a solid start here, but you need to focus your arrangement a little more and add some more of your own personalization, and do a bit of overhaul on the production side of things. NO (resubmit)

Personally I felt like the sounndscape wasn't quite where it should be. The flute has a very quiet attack that makes it difficult to really make out when it's landing, and the timing feels off as a result. The bass also feels pretty upfront, and could be balanced a little better with the other instruments. The guitar is a little thin, and definitely fake sounding; this is exaggerated due the overall sparse background. I think there could be some adjustments and change-ups that will let things gel together better. Arrangement-wise I think you have some good ideas, but near the end things feel very auto-pilot, like you've lost steam. The ending transition is a bit rough as well, and feels sudden. Halc is right that it overall is feeling a bit repetitive as you go along, partly due to the instruments not changing up much. I'd suggest having a section that is more drastically different to give the listener something fresh before returning back to your original setup. It's a good start, but you've also got some work ahead of you. NO (resubmit)

I'm pretty tight with Emu's vote here. The soundscape is definitely an odd choice, but it works suprisingly well together. My only real complaint is that some of the glitching feels superfluous, and in general the opening half just isn't my cup of tea. I see no large reason to not pass this though. YES

Birthdayyyy!

I like a lot of your arrangement ideas; there's a lot of the source present, but it has a lot of your own flair to it here. I like the bass line especially, it's got a super good grove. What's holding this back right now is the production. A lot of the sounds you have sound pretty basic (drums come to mind especially, even moreso since they're stuck on a basic loop), and the soundscape feels relatively dry. Almost everything is top heavy as well, and there just needs to be more going on in the low end. I'd double your bassline an octave lower, and see about filling out the soundscape overall. The fade in and out of the drums didn't feel very smooth, you can tweak that a bit. Overall it's pretty rough on the production side of things, but there's some promise in your arrangement, and I think you can add the finesse to it with some work. Hit up our WIP forms for more advice. NO (resubmit)

Brandon sounds absolutely possessed in this. It's pretty weird. Kinda cool, but pretty weird. So, honestly, I'll admit that I don't like this song at all, but, judging as objectively as I can, I'll see what I can do. Overall the source is slowed way down, and with Brandon's vocals processed the way it is, it's kind of a mix between him being possessed, and listening to a vinyl at too slow of a setting. For a game like Silent Hill this would fit in quite well, so I see the intention of what is meant here, and I think for the most part it achieves what it sets out to do. What I find a little too over-the-top is the screen noise you have in place over everything. It's fine to use it, but right now everything is so overpowered by it that it's really hard to hear anything else except the noise you have going on in front of things. I'd say it doesn't need much, but it does need to be brought down a little. I'd also consider bringing up the overall master gain on things a tad, to even everything out and open things up for more clarity. Good luck on the rest of the judging, I'm going to throw my vote for conditional, but I'll welcome the other judges opinions on this, and may change my vote after. YES (conditional on balance adjustment)*Changed EDIT: Based on a discussion of conditional votes, and the amount of work that should be required of the mixer to fix them (IE very little), I'm going to change this to a NO (resub).