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ReMixed song title: Pokey Plays the Pipes ReMixer name: Impulse_Aural Real Name: Nathan McWilliams Email Address: nmcwilli@gmail.com Website: http://www.purevolume.com/nathanmcwilliams Forum UserID: Looked all over, couldnt find it (Forum ID: Impulse_Aural) Name of Game: Earthbound Name of Song: Pokey Means Business Chiptune: http://ocremix.org/song/810 Comments: I have, for a while, had a great reverence for the sound design in Earthbound. Something about that sound track has a mind-bending quality. It is fantastic how the composer's use of sound affects your perception of what is going on, and that it makes this game a truly scary game. After spending a few (unsettling) weeks listening to the sound track (and getting freaked out) I settled on about 12 tracks that I liked that I thought would be remix-able. Because the game's sound design so often relied on effects and pretty modern arrangements, I was often left without a really great musical line to work with. One day I was listening to Pokey Means Business and it occurred to me that the lead line could sound really cool as a huge pipe organ arrangement. Without any real thought about how complicated the piece was or how much work would need to go into this, I started re-creating the original song in a DAW. Now, nearly half a year later, although I could have picked an easier song to remix, I am happy I chose this one. I have done many original compositions before, but never an arrangement. I certainly learned a lot working on this piece, and with the great community behind OCR, I feel like I have cut my teeth on this one. I made a lot of mistakes on this one, but I am ready to leave this behind for other remixes that lie ahead. Acceptance or no, I am happy with the result. One comment on a technical aspect of this song. Because of the more pure sounds that I chose to use, I opted for a less compressed sound than your average submission. I was faced with a trade off: clip/distort instruments that sound bad distorted or settle for a quieter overall level. I noted your desire in OCR standards to keep a "normal level compared to the average recording" when I was mixing, but at a point it started sounding quite poor. I hope you will judge this music compared to your average classical sounding music rather than your average metal song. I think if you do that, you will find that I have gone to great lengths to keep the energy and overall loudness of this track very high. I figured blatant permanent damage to the quality of the recording was overall a poorer choice than something that can be fixed with the simple tweak of a volume knob. Thanks, Nathan

Bruce Bonebrake Hello and thanks in advance for your consideration! My name is Bruce Bonebrake and I'm submitting a remix I made of the song K.K. Cruisin' from Animal Crossing on the GameCube. I don't really have a ReMixer name (as this is my first remix) though CoinBlockCaper would be good if I can just choose one. If there are more advanced politics in establishing a ReMixer name, would you please instruct me how to do so? I would love to do more work with remixing. I've called it Midnight Cruise. It's about the same tempo and format as the original, but done with guitars and a set of drums. I recorded all of the parts myself. Hopefully the mixing and volume levels are good, I had the fortune of having an OCRemix artist critique my work and after a few edits I think it's pretty solid. If there is anything I need to change, please let me know. This is my best piece of work and I just want it to be enjoyed! Thanks again! -Bruce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsPRCQ4XnPM

Listening to the source I could already imagine what halc would do with this, and cool enough, I wasn't that far off . The semi-reversed synth was cool, but the attack sounded really weird to me. Otherwise, the textures were sweet, the flow was good, tranitions were strong, etc etc. You know what you are doing, and you are sortof pushing boundaries. It's good, but the reverse synth isn't doing it for me. The rest makes up for it though, and the arrangement is classy. Yes

Gonna keep this short and badass, just like Duke would want it. Nice arrangement, it's similar stylistically, but there is a lot of interpretation and expansion. Guitar playing is excellent, great chops and shredding, but also restraint and a good melodic feel. Drums were the weak point, with a kick needing more beater, and a bleh snare. Guitar tone was decent, but was a bit too scooped. Overall, the strengths way overpowered the weaknesses. I'll kick some ass to this. Yes

Pretty nice arrangement of the source, and a fun and peppy arrangement; there are a lot of nice details, though I think swapping out the lead a little sooner would have made it sound a little less repetitive (or perhaps some more prominent harmony in the second iteration). There are a lot of quality sections, and it moves at a fast pace, and though the tempo shift wasn't seamless, it was well handled. The production was pretty good, except in some spots the lead got a little piercing (mainly the really high notes), but otherwise this was fun and exciting. Nice work. Yes

it's good! very nice stuff.

well, that was an easy source to wrap my head around. The beat here is pretty generic and frequently feels like you pressed the 'dance' setting on your keyboard. There is a minor changeup, but then it just goes on autopilot for that as well. While it's clear you used the source notes throughout, it really goes into some way liberal territory, and I think I might agree that there are just some songs that are nigh-un-remixable. I enjoyed it, but I need to also give it the No

I was digging the sassy bassline, but when the piano came in, it kindof lost the momentum, with a timid sounding melody line. IT has no real gusto, and with a midtempo rocker like this, you need some swagger. It just feels to me like you are going through the motions a little. I feel the track, and the bass performance is really appealing, but the rest of the track feels uninspired. The 'hey's' added some fun charm to the track and gave that section a shot in the arm, but when the mechanical piano and bored sounding lead playing came in, it lost it again. I think this one needs to be revisited, sorry man. No, please resubmit

Pretty exciting intro with the vocal clips; this is how vocal clips are used, people! I do think the horn attacks and the counter melody strings were a little slow, and things suffered, and the rhythm guitars were mixed a little too quietly, with the leads too loud. The drums sounded like mushy AD drums, which are very capable of being cleaned up. The snare needs more crack, and the kick a little more beater. The drum patterns were good and varied, with exciting fills, and arrangement-wise things were exciting and dramatic, with a good expansion and use of source with some newer sections. Overall, it's close, but needs a bit of production polish to make it over, definitely a good candidate for a resub. I encourage you to fix up those issues and send it back. No, please resubmit

Really cool feel on this one; i think the bass seemed a little hard in the mid area and not enough in the low end, but there was some cool filtering applied to it throughout. The sequencing was slightly stiff in some part, but the flow was pretty natural, and there was an expansive soundscape throughout with a lot of depth, and a pretty nice dynamic curve. Arrangement-wise, I was really digging the varied soundscape and extensive percussion, and the new mood really takes the sortof melancholy melody and brings it somewhere new. Overall, there is a lot of passion in this remix, and while the exceution isn't flawless (i'd have preferred more bass and a little more fluidity in the sequencing), it's definitely strong. Yes

100% agree. I have never heard the original Japanese, but I can guarantee it isn't a fraction as awesome as the English dub is.

I may have voted NO on this one, buit it's still a great track- congrats on getting posted!

This is a really good concept for a mix, and great arrangement, but the execution is a little on the weak side. It starts out nice, but as elements are added, it gets more and more cluttered, and once the percussion comes in, it seems incredibly off beat in some parts, especially the kick. I think tuning up the reverb, sound balance, and cleaning and tightening the percussion would make this a lot stronger. Great beginning though! No, please resubmit

I loved that "magical moment" string vamp at the beginning of the piece, really set the tone for something exciting to happen. The only reason this wasn't DP'd was some mechanical sequencing, specifically some of the lower exposed strings, where the velocity sounded a little high for the line. Arrangement is sick, and the sequencing overall is very strong. Fantastic pacing and execution, and a really exciting flow. Very, very good work. Yes

The RMS of the mix is overloud, and I think i heard a little bit of clipping in some areas. You'll want to tone it down overall. It's a good cover, and you have a good singing voice, tonewise, but the intonation is very uneven. That just comes with practice or studio magic (the former is much preferable, obviously), but you have the potential to be a really solid singer with some work. The performances were good overall, though I think the arrangement is too close to the original, and a little bit of additional expansion certainly wouldn't hurt. No

You don't need me to tell you that your production has gotten really solid over the last year or so, and all of the aspects of this are airtight in that respect, but a common issue that happens to your stuff is that there's just not enough dominant source material due to the natural components of the trance genres. It sounds awesome to have a slow build of instruments adding one after another and then blow up into the main theme, but the theme really needs to be at least present during the build itself as well, even if it was more subdued. I think this track is sick, and really well done, but it needs more dominant source for me to yes. Sorry man. No, please resubmit

Overall I am really feeling this, but I think the source use itself isn't dominant enough in a very recognizable form. There are definitely parts I can tell without question is the source, but combining the all new backing parts with allusions to the melody isn't quite cutting it for over 50% of dominant source use. The production is cool and well thought out, and there are a lot of really good details, but the use of a commercial snippet hurts this one slightly, and combined with a lot-super-apparent use of source, It edges this into resub territory. I strongly encourage you to refine this slightly to have more dominant source use, and try to minimize the strings used. Otherwise, it's great; sorry I have to No, please resubmit

only 1 song left with less than 10 reviews! Keep at it everyone!

This is so good, I love how it all is really solid but sounds effortless; very confident and mature playing, and a sophisticated and varied arrangement. Love those panned guitar arpeggios around 3:14, and the whole feeling throughout is that Nick could shred the daylights out of this track, but just chooses not to. Powerful restraint, and a lot of talent. Fantastic Track, strongly recommended. I absolutely cannot wait to hear what he's got coming up next.

really nice guitar playing, and the once again, awesomeness for the KK beatboxing. The mix itself is pretty short, but it says what it needs to and is well suited to repeat plays, so all good. There is a lot of great textural variety in such a small package, and overall the remix is really strong. Nice work, DD Slider.

might even see me around, trollin ur channelz

price is right, and Darkesword + Hunnies is a good combo.

happy birthdays!

202 reviews so far! Second post updated! Next update at 300 reviews! totally reachin' <3

Really excellent stuff, with a wonderful mood, and very well done sequencing; I love how VHD's arrangements really breathe and seem to have a lot of life. The transitions, attention to detail, textural variety, and mix of timbres is so refined, I'm exceptionally impressed. Wow.