OceansAndrew

This is actually a really nice arrangement, but at 1:39, it's way too short to feel developed enough. All the material is covered in the style, but beyond that, it doesn't feel very expanded upon. It's like a Contra piano overture, which is sweet, but It should really feel like a completed song. Please expand on this and resub, I really enjoyed what I heard. No, please resubmit

YAAAIIIIII~~~~ It's the livin' on a prayer intro synth!! Production on this is pretty good, but there are a few sections that feel light on source, most notably the intro. Beyond that, it's varied melodically, with some adjustments made to the melody, and though it gets a little repetitive, considering the source was like 6 minutes of the same riff over and over, this is a pretty truncated version. I think this is good enough overall, the song being just long enough to make it's point is a definite plus here, and it covers the source material well enough and in a cool way. Yes

I love the sound on this, and the song title is a definite reference to the style too. Very classy. The problem is that I am having trouble finding enough overt source for this one to be a clear pass. It sounds like a lot of 'inspired-by' segments are in here, but not near enough direct source. I love the song, but can't pass it, unless of course I am completely missing something. No

The guitar opens up pretty thin; it is definitely a sample that could stand to be beefed up a bit. The melody is played really straight throughout, with some minor variations in the background. When it does get filled out, the balance gets a little bit off, and crowded in the low mids. Most of the samples actually feel pretty weak to me; the bells are nice, but are dry and could use some delay to help flesh it out. Overall, this is an ok start, but needs to go further in both the production and arrangement aspects. The samples could use an upgrade and some further processing, and the altered background elements should be more prominent. No

There is a long intro and outro, but based on the general length of the track, there is a good deal of source here. Most of the sections feel pretty good, but there are a few where it's just the melody, a quiet bass part, and a beat. No harmony, no counter melody, just a lot of background emptiness. Overall though, this was pretty nice, good variation of the theme that transitioned well into itself, and balanced and clean production. I wish there were some light pads added to the emptier sections, but beyond that, there is a lot to enjoy here. Yes

The arrangement here is good, but the track's piano is clipping heavily in some spots, It is being pushed so hard, with some very noticeable distortion throughout. The piano is mainly too loud and compressed, with the velocities slammed up to the max; I suggest bringing them down, and further humanizing them, to make the song sound more natural. Arrangement wise, the beat seems tacked on and not terribly sophisticated, with a kick pattern that seems to start and stop randomly. You'll want to further ease into it, and create some actual beats including other percussion. Transitions are pretty nonexistent, though adjusting the percussion to include more would help this. Needs a lot of work, but I encourage you to continue. No

Structurally, this plays it very close to the source, but expands the sound quite a bit, in some pretty nice ways. The shimmering arpeggios throughout really feel Kirby-esque, and the beats and synths are perfect. My concern is that I don't feel this does enough on the arrangement front. You've definitely polished the track to a really nice sheen, but Beyond making it sound really nice, it doesn't feel at all personalized to me. I think in order for this to get my vote, a little more melodic and harmonic expansion needs to happen. The sound is already perfect, just bump up the arrangement aspect. No, please resubmit

nice review, Brad, I am excited to play the game even more now.

The bouzouki/sitar lead is a little too bright now, as it feels disconnected from the rest of the track. It also needs some additional velocity work; It sounds like every note it is playing is pounding super-forte. It can have a few notes that powerful, but every one is just too much. Adding a stereo delay would help it sit in the mix without losing the lead-instrument quality of it. The piano that comes afterwards is still pretty dry; i think some delay on it as well would be nice. The flute sounds very nicely sequenced by comparison to me. The arrangement is liberal but connected enough for me to pass, but the mixing itself needs to be improved just a little bit more. No, please resubmit

I really enjoyed this arrangement the first time through, and I think the updated sounds push this up quite a bit from the original submission. The upright bass in the swing section is a bit mechanical on the velocities, but at this point I am really just picking nits. The trumpet remains really well modulated, and the flute is pretty good as well. The layered sounds are thicker, and the drums have a more powerful feel to them. Overall, it's a lot better. Nice work, Mathew! Yes

This arrangement is super awesome and fun. No qualms there. The vocals are the biggest strength and the greatest weakness of the track, with a few pitchy sections in the verse, and the way cheesy lyrics, but an overall infectious (see what I did there) vibe. The synths seemed a little thin in some spots, and lacked a lot of movement, but they kind of fit the 80's mood of the track, and the balance is good enough. The little sound effects interspersed worked really well, and the ending was charming. I think the melodic structure is cutting it a bit close to the original, but the expansion provided by the vocals makes it unique enough. I think this song itself is going to be really polarizing, but I think it's unique charm has earned it a shot, and while it's close for me, i'll give it the nod. Yes (borderline)

Pretty great arrangement; and a pretty decent combination of all the sources. The beatrs are solid, and the synths are well meshed, though some parts feel a little thin. It's generally in the breakdown sections, and it may just be because the drum samples are hitting so hard, that when the rest of the track doesn't bring the same intensity, it feels a little off. The expansion is excellent, and the synth solo is very cool. The climax of the song is awesome, and the following breakdown works very well. Overall there a few rough spots that could use some less intense drums to help balance it, but as a whole, this is definitely passable. Yes

This has a pretty cool sound to it, and some cool filtering, but the structure and overall sound is pretty verbatim to the original. The beats and transitions are new, and it is pretty obvious a lot of care has gone into the arrangement, with breakdowns and builds, but the lack of expansion on the melodic aspects make this a tougher sell for me. The ending being a bit weak as well brought it down a little. It was at least slightly faded, but I think a more composed ending would help this out. Overall I think the polish is there, and it's very close otherwise, but the lack of expansion and the weak ending put it just a little under the bar for me. Other judges might feel it does enough though, so perhaps it will make it despite my vote. I'd love to hear a slightly expanded resubmission, though. No, please resubmit

i'll probably play it sometime this week, gonna play the campaign with Moonlapse while drinking beers and yelling at the screen.

the real story is that I am the head submissions evaluator now, and Larry is now the community manager. BLACK DYNAMITE is a completely different project, where we brought Larry to a top secret lab infused with 100% FUNK, and he is now a secret agent, infiltrating Japan.

my vote stands. I would love to hear a resub, however.

"Morricone Man" by Mazedude from Mega Man 9: Back in Blue - http://ocremix.org/album/31/mega-man-9-back-in-blue Description: "This is a case where I was invited into a remix project, being not very familiar with the game... and actually chose which track to do based on the original title. Mazedude remixing 'Maze of Death' just seemed like a good fit. As to the genre, there are several influences here. I really wanted to do some electronic fusion with an Ennio Morricone flavor. Then once I got into it, other influences leaked in... Native American, Tuatara, even some jazz. So yeah, it's a strange one, but fun... and definitely unique. (I do admit that I took some samples directly from Ennio Morricone and Tuatara tracks, so I can't take credit for inventing every sound in here.)" --- Enjoy! - Mazedude http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z96vMyb0beA

Remixer 1 Name: Rexy (real name: Beverley Wooff) OCRemix user ID: 7528 Remixer 2 Name: Monobrow (real name: Katie Kinkel) OCRemix user ID: 8274 Remix info:- Remix title: "Almost Frozen" Game covered: Super Dodge ball Individual song covered: Team Iceland --- Rexy: "Well, this track ended up being over 6 years in the making, much to my annoyance. "Almost Frozen" could imply a double meaning now - not only may it reflect on the sluggish nature of Team Iceland in the game, but it could also mean that this track in particular almost *froze* the entire development of the project. For those that have waited for so long, and for Walan as well, I am so sorry! I worked on this track since the project's interception back in 2005, and the intention I had in there was to develop some kind of icy atmosphere. It did however keep changing genres throuut the whole production process due to my sick realisation on knowing that there's some that certainly don't show the best of me as a writer at all. Close to the end of development though it did take more of a pseudo-symphonic and ambient approach while still fitting with the pacing of the rest of the project tracks. The reason why the project took so long to get through the evluation was because my soundbank at the time really didn't hold out that well, and so I asked around the #ocremix IRC for help. Luckily, Monobrow was there to give me a hand (could this be the first known OCR collab comprised entirely of girls?) - she took my project file and ended up giving it a complete overhaul, maintaining the structure but also having more liberties in writing and switching some parts around. No longer did it maintain some kind of symphonic hint but it did take itself into a more 70s-organ-driven-blues kind of way while ephasizing on the icy field of play a lot more than I could've done on a production level. I offer my thanks both to her for all the assistance she had in really making the track shine, to Walan and KyleJCrb for all the work done with the project's organisation, and to SnappleMan for his sadistic yet helpful inputs throughout the whole process. ^_~" --- Monobrow: "I volunteered to help Rexy redo this track last minute. It turned out to be a difficult task! Her original arrangement progression though was very solid, which eased the process. My work basically included revamping the instrumentation, reworking/moving/writing, and synth/organ/drum wankery everywhere. I tried to stay true to her arrangement as much as possible, but ended up changing some chord progression at the end. My intent was to take her previously icy arrangement and turn it into an insane blizzard, which I heard potential for instantly. Think COLD HARD ORGAN. I imagine some dude getting caught in the snowstorm from ice-hell and he's battling the biting wind, making his way home against all odds... That or a bunch of Scandinavian dudes having the craziest volleyball tournament EVER. Special thanks to Snappleman for cool things and Walan and Kyle for their infinite patience." -Bev & Katie-

Hello Judges, this is a Remix I produced for Chernabogue's Vampire Variations project. Obligatory information below Your ReMixer name: Lidawg Your real name: Liam Charalambous Your userid: 45748 Name of game(s) arranged: Castlevania Name of arrangement: Enough Time to Dance Name of individual song(s) arranged: Out of Time (link to the original, just in case)Comments: So...where to start...Well, I joined the VV project fairly late so there weren't many tracks free for claim. Castlevania was not a game I was familiar with before I started the project (please forgive me but I have played it since!). What stuck out about the source was the melody. There wasn't much material, but the motifs that are in the original have strong character and lend themselves to a fair amount of expansion. I had difficulty arranging this in way that expanded on the source, but didn't render it unrecogniseable. After many versions and feedback I have a version that I am pleased with. It may not pass the panel but, for me, the production and style on this are the best out of the tracks I've produced so far. I've learnt a lot from it, enjoyed it and hope you enjoy listening to it.

Your ReMixer name: Artem Bank Your real name: Artem Bank Your website: http://abankmusic.com Your userid: http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=25987 Name of game(s) arranged: Wild Arms Name of arrangement: East Meets Western Name of individual song(s) arranged: WILD ARMS Your own comments about the mix: I was having so much fun doing other songs on the project I decided to jump onto this song with about three weeks left in the project. Since the source is only about 25 seconds long (I think it's the main menu intro, but I've never played the game), I decided to do a lot with the very last arpeggiated guitar chord, and turn that into a good chunk of the song - it just sounded so interesting to me. The trumpet lines were turned into what the piano plays, and the hits are there with the guitar strikes in the middle section. The synth even does the melody line through it, but expanded upon. Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p429qEwx5p4

ReMixer name: Pleiade Real name: Jarkko Matilainen Email address: Website: http://www.youtube.com/user/DJLuode ReMixer name: Eino Keskitalo Real name: Eino Keskitalo Email address: Userid: 20708 Game: Wild Arms Arrangement name: Sanctuary Source name: Ancient Shrine Source link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp2YwgvllPI Link to arrangement: Additional info: Here's a trance arrangement of the Ancient Shrine theme from the Wild Arms project. It'a collab between me and my friend Jarkko a.k.a Pleiade. When I became aware of the WA project, I remembered that Jarkko had mentioned liking the music, so I suggested we should try to arrange a piece. Or possibly that he should do one, and he suggested that we should arrange it as a collab, I forget. It's been worked on a long time, since we were only able to work on the piece bit by bit over time. It was first finished over a year ago actually, but since it was a headphone mix, and Jarkko just recently got proper studio monitoring, we went and mixed it again last month just before the project cut off date. The basic division of labour was that the piece used Pleiade's sound and style (not to mention it was done in his home studio), while I looked at the source material and came up with variations of the melody. But it was not as clear cut as that - for instance, the lead starting at 2:21 was modified by Jarkko from the previous lead, while I came up with the synth sound for it. I recall we also wrote the basslines together Most of the time on the piece was spent working together in Pleiade's studio, so it was a pretty organic collab all in all. It was also a lot of fun, so hopefully there will be some more arrangements coming from us. Synths used are Yamaha MO6, Roland SH-201, Dave Smith Instruments Mono Evolver Keyboard, Korg MicroX, Korg Microkorg XL and Jomox MBase01. Mastering was done on TC Electronic Finalizer Express, Lexicon MPX 500 and Behringer Tube Composer. Software used: Anvil Studio and Audacity. All the sounds are from the hardware synths. We want to thank Jade and everyone from the Wild Arms project who gave valuable feedback & support at various stages of making this song. Source usage: The first six of the eight bars in the source are used. The source plays nearly throughout the song. Here's the breakdown: 0:00-0:02 0:02-0:59 --- the "whistling" melody from the first two bars of the source is gradually introduced by the lead on the top 0:59-1:25 --- backing string chords from the first two bars of the source are used (with variations) by the pad, with the lead continuing 1:25-1:39 --- shameless snare roll (can't seem to find it from the original.. ) 1:39-2:21 --- "plucked" synth plays a melody synthesized from the whistle&strings from the six source bars, as a 12 bar sequence for additional tension build-up 2:21-3:02 --- previous sequence modified & treated differently 3:02-3:59 --- 16-bar version of the same 3:59-4:33 --- a third variation on the source material is played by the weird synth in the background 4:33-5:31 --- final minute wind-down; no source usage Counted this way, there's 74 seconds without source usage. I did (and lost) a stop-watching with rests inside parts counting against source usage, but the usage was well over the unofficial 50% mark that way too. cheers, --Eino

Remixer Name: WiiCube64 Real Name: Nathaniel Freed Email: Rednate99@Yahoo.com Website: http://daforcefilms.newgrounds.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/DAFORCEFilms?feature=mhee ID: 32565 Game Mixed: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Name of Song Mixed: Song of Storms / Windmill Song Additional Info: None Name of Mix: Round and Round She Goes Comments: This is a heavily remastered version of my last Submission "Steampunked Windmill". The only section I kept was my original Piano riff, which I tried to iron out to have a clearer tone. I took your sites advice and filled in the empty tone my original mix had and redid the banjo section to have more of a countermelody tone instead of the second section. I have been working on this since my submission was last judged and I hope you all enjoy it.

bi-bi-bi-birthday combo!! happy triple birthday!

birthdayyyy~~~~ssss

There's a few good elements here, like the soundscape and synths, but the drums seem weak and on autopilot. The ending is also a bit half-hearted. Some of the sequencing seemed pretty rigid as well. I think overall this is a solidly produced track, but it lacks any real personality or strong energy. It may sound like I am hating on the track, but things are at such a high level in some aspects, that it makes the minor flaws that much more apparent. Once the main melody comes out in the gated synth, it felt cooler, but the drums being on autopilot and the little details added up. I would love to hear a revised version of this that tightened things up a bit. No, please resubmit