Emunator

Much improved Mel! This has a lot more of your personality cutting through in all the details and texture, I have no reservations now. Your arrangement always took two sources that were a natural fit and gave them space to bounce off of each other, but now the sound design and detail work makes it feel all the more special and cared for. YES

As a proponent of shamelessly mashing up two extremely popular SNES source tunes myself, I tip my hat to your gumption here. There's certainly a lot about this approach that works - I do think some of that is simply the strength of the original compositions, but the blend of elements on a compositional level is pretty cohesive. I have no nits to pick with the arrangement here, and it doesn't surprise me that this was made for a composition-focused community challenge, because I think that's the strongest aspect of this piece! So the good news is that you've got a solid foundation. I hate to say this, but didn't find the sound design to be very engaging. Everything feels fine and competent, but compared to some of your other submissions where sound choice, I can't help but feel like the sound design component of this track is keeping it from being something greater. I find it very hard to quantify this feeling, so I hope you don't mind me being a little more unfiltered and subjective than I would normally be when voting. Everything feels serviceable, but nothing is really inspiring me. It's hard to say this especially because I can tell that there was a lot of work that went into fleshing out these sounds with different effects and selecting a wide range of patches - it's not like you just loaded up a couple of soundfonts and called it a day. I think this might be a level of personal preference for more unique sound design, so take it for what it's worth. All that said, I will express that I think the drums cross over from a matter of personal preference to a more quantifiable critique - these just sound bland here in terms of creative processing and programming. Trap drums live and die by unique fills and rhythms, and this feels like you leaned way too much on a single loop. It's extra-noticeable in the hi-hats because they poke through the mix so much due to their dryness, but it's basically doing the same short rhythmic pattern ad infinitum. At the very least, I think this aspect of the song needs to be reworked and expanded on in order for me to sign off on this. Brad also touched on some mixing critiques that I'll also cosign, but those never really escalated to the level of a dealbreaker in isolation. I know I'm probably putting off bad vibes with this vote, but I do think there's plenty of potential with this arrangement. If the drums were reworked to introduce more variety/fills and a processing chain that blended better with the rest of the song, I'd probably be able to sign off, but I also felt it was worth expressing the feelings that I came away with that were more subjective too, because you've submitted multiple songs that felt much more inspired and ambitious in terms of the sonic world you created with them and I'd love to see you lean more into those impulses here and on future songs. I hope this comes across in the spirit it was intended! :) NO

"paintballs to the wall" LOL I think Brad has a solid read on this track that generally aligns with how I'm feeling about it on a personal level, but to be totally honest, I find myself torn on whether or not it's sufficient enough to pass. There's a lot to love here - the goofy concept is well-supported with a variety of well-utilized vocal clips and strong sound choices. There's a lot of repetitiveness on paper, but I don't feel it that strongly because there's enough frequent changeups, one-shots/fills, and new ideas introduced that it scans as more of an inherent quality in this style rather than laziness in production or arranging. Sure, there's a lot that I would have done differently if I were producing this, but just based on what's in front of me, it passes the vibe check. Not very scientific, I know, but to my ears, there's enough variation going on that the plodding drums don't really have that much of an impact on my experience. The one area where I'll diverge from Brad is with the guitar - I actually found it rather charming in a very-obviously-MIDI-programmed sort of way. It'd be one thing if the rest of the track seemed to be striving for realism and these guitars just missed the mark, but I don't think it is. We're very clearly in silly territory here with the sound choices and programming. I do have to give credit that the mixing quality of the guitars and synths feels really satisfying and well-balanced. Yeah, I'm okay with this actually. I do wish the ending fadeout was cleaner, so that might be something to fix before posting, but it's a "nice-to-have" for me. YES

My last vote boiled down to a "death by a thousand cuts" situation where a number of shortcomings were adding up to a mix that felt indistinct and overwhelming, despite a really strong arrangement with a ton of really engaging elements. I'm happy to say that this clears things up substantially - you're still working with a really challenging set of sounds to blend together, so the execution isn't perfect (I'm not in love with the snare tone, and the overall mix still feels aggressively hot and a little harsh) but this resubmission feels like "success by a thousand little tweaks." Nothing fundamental has changed, but all those little things you did to polish the mixdown certainly pushed this over the line for me. Well done! YES

OK, this is sounding remarkably improved from the last version I recall hearing. I think you've gotten to a point where the arrangement and creative production decisions are good to go, so I'll focus just on mixing here. I'll start by saying that I don't think this is at OCR level quite yet, and this is based on a gut feeling before I dove into any of the analysis I'm about to go into. It's close, and certainly as close as you've ever gotten with this arrangement so far, but there's a few distinct qualities that, when compared to other tracks that we've posted, sound noticeably strange and unpolished. The other judges have rightly called out the fact that everything sounds muffled, like it's coming from inside of a pillow. I'm guessing that this was done in response to previous feedback about the high end being too harsh. I think this was an overcorrection, and although it's objectively more pleasant to listen to, it leaves the clarity and crispness out of the equation that is essential for a well-balanced mix. It sounds like you might have just put a filter over the entire track, which is only very rarely a wise suggestion. I'd recommend dialing back some of those corrections and meet in the middle between this and your last mix. There is also a big dip around 200-300hz which might not seem like a big deal, but it's a very critical frequency range for giving your mix warmth and body. I found myself leaving a lot of holes in my mixes because I frequently heard advice like "cut the low end out of your non-bass/kick instruments" and applied it too broadly. If this is something you did on your mix, I'd encourage you to use a less steep slope on your filter cut, or consider layering in an instrument that plays within that frequency range to fill it out - it will have a huge impact on how the song feels. Conversely, I still think you have too much bias to the 400-1kHz range, where you have a lot of overlapping melodic elements that occupy the same frequency range. Some very subtle EQ cuts (I'm talking 1-3dB maximum) will help clean this up. Here's a screenshot from part of your track viewed through SPAN - while this is just a segment of the track, it looks like this for nearly all of the song so this should give you a nice visual idea of why the track is feeling lopsided. Moving on from EQ balance, I also agree with Larry about the stereo width of the track. I will give you credit for keeping your low-end focused and mono, which helps with stability, and there's definitely a nice wide stereo image on the rest of the track, which helps it feel lively. However, the L/R panning on certain instruments presents some curious choices - the most notable instance of this is the snare drum, which sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the drum kit because of the panning. Sometimes I'll do a ping-pong panning effect on my snare fills, but when you have it only panned to the left side, it leaves things feeling imbalanced. Overall, I think you could reduce the stereo width of many of your elements to bring some presence back to your mid-range - I tried this in my DAW by reducing the stereo image on everything above 200hz by about 25%, and it already had a notable impact. Lastly, the mastering is sounding better than previous versions, but there's still a lot of dynamic range here that is making large chunks of your song unnecessarily quiet. Again, to illustrate what I mean, I'm going to show a screenshot of your waveform: See how there's a bunch of very sharp peaks that are going way above the average loudness of the rest of the waveform? These can add a lot of unnecessary headroom during most of your track and limit the amount of loudness you can get during mastering if you're just normalizing your song's volume so that it reaches 0.0dB loudness. To counteract this, you'll want to shave off those peaks, either by reducing the volume of specific elements that might be causing those peaks (frequently, this is the result of sound effects/transitions that are too loud, or a kick drum/snare that's mixed much louder than the rest of your song, or in your case, likely both) or by applying compression/limiting to your overall song. This should usually be a pretty transparent process, so you'll want to set the ceiling of your limiter/compressor so that it's just grabbing onto those waveform peaks and reducing them, without having a noticeable effect on the overall character of the song. Once you've done that, you'll see that your waveform looks a lot "cleaner", which will give you more room to increase the loudness of the entire song without clipping. To demonstrate this, I ran your track through a limiter and set the input gain to +3dB, and this is what it looks like running through Fruity Limiter: The dips in the purple line show where volume is being reduced when it reaches above a certain threshold.There's very little being done, but if I bounce your song down with this effect applied, this is now what your waveform looks like comparatively (your original is on top, and with 3dB of limiting is on the bottom.) This is a very simplified example; in practice, it's better to do this on an individual track, or group level during the mix so that you're avoiding these peaks earlier on, but even doing this to your master track allows the volume of your song to be more consistent and bring up breakdown/outro so they're not so quiet by comparison. I think if you were to address these three issues - fine-tuning your EQ balance, reducing your stereo width, and properly mastering the track so that you don't have such a wide dynamic range - this would be good to go. Even dealing with 1 or 2 of these would probably be enough to push it over the bar, but since you're clearly willing to work through revisions and take feedback to heart, I thought I'd go into detail about each of the points. You're in the home stretch! NO (resubmit!)

I realized I didn't share my reference track in the original submission, that's on me. Here's the track I was referencing here - the whole structure/dynamic curve of the arrangement is followed but specifically from about the 4 minute mark onward was what I was intending to go for here. I know I'm not going to have the same resources or experiences as a band with a full budget for studio engineering, but I think I got reasonably close. Accolades aren't everything, but this album has been consistently highly acclaimed and influential within its genre. It uses wall-of-sound as a deliberate arrangement and production technique to create catharsis and contrast, where clarity of the individual instruments isn't the point during that part of the song. If I missed the mark on executing that or it somehow conflicts with the submission standards because of its inherent nature, that is a different story and a conversation I'm totally open to having! But I'm not just making this shit up to be difficult, there are real artists doing this :) We've always been about trying to understand the conventions and approaches of unfamiliar genres, even if they seem unpleasant or obtuse at first. Here's just a few tracks that have been posted that undeniably require a change in perspective on what makes a "proper" song to appreciate, from a mixing, arrangement or conceptual perspective. I think our catalog is stronger because each and every one of these songs is included in it. https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02443 https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04429 https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04689 https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03970 https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03109 https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04347 If all of these remixes are a-okay but a minute and a half of not being able to hear every instrument distinctly is a bridge too far, that's disappointing but I'll make my peace with it. We've had this same discussion on other songs before so I don't really expect to change any minds at this point, but consider it my last attempt to justify the validity of a production technique that doesn't seem to get the same benefit of the doubt as all of the other unorthodox techniques that have found a place in our site before.

Oooohhh, this is so cool! It's immediately recognizable what source you're covering, but that makes all the changes to the chord progression and harmonies feel all the more engaging. I don't know enough to break this down from a theory standpoint, but it all goes down smooth all the same. Everything finally breaks wide open at 1:49, and I agree that it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. The first 1:45 is just enough to lull you into a sense of security before hitting the listener with some much more powerful beats and more of a rhythmically-charged focus. It's all paced wonderfully, even if it feels unconventional. Love this so much, great stuff! YES

The issues and merits of this track have been covered pretty well, so this is going to be mostly a recap from me. There is a lot of promise to the concept of a super mellow, soft electronic take on this source material, but the sounds being used are fairly basic, with the exception of some occasional vibrato effects on the lead synth, there's not a lot of effects or development happening on the sound design front. The sounds themselves are well selected and pleasant on the ears, but there's not much happening with them. When you start to explore automation of the various parameters in your synths and effects, you can do a lot to keep even the chillest arrangement engaging by gradually evolving and varying your sounds. The Workshop would be a great place to learn about some of the techniques you can use to spice up your sounds and arrangement. I also would suggest experimenting with different percussion sounds and layering different loops throughout the track, rather than relying on the same core beat unchanged for the entirety of the song. Using organic or unconventional sounds as a percussive element can bring your grooves to life and make them sound more unique. For lo-fi/chillout genres, this is especially important to find ways to keep your percussion interesting even if the beat itself is uncomplicated and slower. There's definitely a vision here and you can totally get to a point where you can execute on that vision, but I'm afraid this would require a lot of work to bring it to that point here. Keep at it and use the resources that the community has, and you'll get there! :) NO

Jewbeiiii, it's so good to see you back in the fold and hear that you're doing well man <3 Life is good. This truly feels like you haven't missed a beat since your last trance submission. It's got all the things I love about your mixes - the production is rich and punchy, and you've got a great ear for pulling little melodic hooks out of a source and building off of that. That said, the runtime on this piece is pretty long and I think you've overstretched some of these ideas and sounds past their breaking point. I'm less of a stickler on repetition than most judges, I feel, but even this one felt like it was dragging toward the end. Without any chageups to the way the melody was presented, or any substantial breakdowns or changes in the arrangement structure, it's just trying to make too much. I'd consider approaching the OCR submission as a Radio Edit, or if you do want to keep it at more of a club edit length, the other judges have brought up a ton of great approaches that could add some spice without having to stray away from what you expect from trance music. Real close, I don't think this would require any major changes to reach the bar, but just a bit of fine tuning and variation will go a long way in keeping the song engaging all the way through. You got this! NO (resubmit)

LOL, I never thought I'd hear a Youtube Poop sentence mix in an OCR submission, but there's a first time for everything. I just played Wand of Gamelon for the first time this weekend... man, that is a bad game. As much as I appreciate the concept here, this feels sadly underbaked to my ears. The percussion lives on auto-pilot, and isn't a terribly compelling groove or set of sounds for most of the arrangement. The first half of the arrangement is highly simplistic, which is unfortunate because the back end of the arrangement proves that you do have some sauce, it's just that everything comes together far too late in the game for it to feel complete. If more of the arrangement felt like the last 30 seconds, this would be a slam dunk for me, because I really love the brass and synth noodling and the richness that they add, but it takes too long to get there. If you could beef up the first half of the arrangement, I'd love to see this on the site, but we're not quite there yet. NO (resubmit)

Emunator: - Arrangement, Production, Piano/Keys, Programming, Mixing Biggoron: Organ, Orchestra Hits Chimpazilla: Vocal Chops, Additional FX, mixing, mastering Flexstyle: Additional Drum Programming, Beatbox jnWake: Additional Piano, Synth Bass OceansAndrew: Guitar (Solo) Zack Parrish: Bass, Guitar (Rhythm, Clean Lead) Credits: Another month, another Dwelling of Duels competition that I didn't plan on entering until FOMO struck, this time 4 days before the deadline. Once again, I decided to make this everyone's problem by going all-out on a megacollab that pulls together folks from both the OCR and DoD communities. Who's to say whether that cross-pollination is a joyous union of families, or an invasion of filthy technomanga tryhards who are spreading their untz-untz all over the place? All I know is that more OCR representation into the DoD competition this year has personally motivated me to work harder and faster, in totally new styles and franchises that I never would have pursued otherwise. All the love for that community and what they're doing over there <3 Because this track came together so fast, I found myself waking up every day to start on it and then realizing that the song had taken on a totally different style than what I had envisioned the day before. It started off as a DX7-laden new-jack swing groove, which Flexstyle brought to life with a custom Battery drum kit that formed the foundation for the rest of the track. However, when I connected with jnWake the next day, he laid down a ton of different improvised parts that brought the track into a more adult contemporary jazz-fusion style, like David Benoit or Bruce Hornsby. The lines were further blurred when Zack Parrish and OceansAndrew submitted their guitar parts, which, coupled with some brilliantly-placed vocal chops and sfx from Chimpazilla, inspired me to pivot towards a more modern pop vibe lifted straight from The 1975. On the last day, I received some lovely organ recordings (and orchestra hits!) from Biggoron that felt vaguely gospel-esque... so I ripped a page from Madeon's book and recorded some last-minute piano parts and added a gospel choir for good measure! In the end, it became an amalgamation of so many sounds that were important to me throughout my life, and it all slammed together so fast that I just had to see where my inspiration took me, and trust my collaborators in the process. Special shoutouts to Chipmazilla, who did the final mixdown and mastering that lets this track shine in a way I couldn't have done myself. I cannot possibly express enough gratitude to these 6 artists who dropped everything on such short notice (OceansAndrew told me he recorded his solo less than 3 hours before hopping on a plane for a trip) to bring their A-game to this little whim of a track. Thank you all for... err, bringing this song to justice?

Matt, your Maynard impression is pretty damn on-point, and you also came prepared with the FX processing to nail the iconic Tool sound. Major shoutouts to Seph on the screams too, I didn't know you had that in you! I remember commenting in the DoD listening party (before I knew it was you guys making the track - I should have known!) that there were some sections that felt particularly imbalanced in terms of volume, but that appears to have been totally ironed out in this version, because everything is crystal clear and sitting in just the right spot. The bass and guitar tone, in combination with the vocal processing, are the perfect mix of sludgy, aggressive, and clean at all the right moments. And it should go without saying that the instrumental performances are incredibly tight across the board - I can tell you all had a lot of fun with this. I have a few minor gripes with the mixing. I didn't really pick up on this before, but the vocal sibilance is really coming through hot on my current listening setup, and could use a bit of taming on the consonants. The kit drum, specifically the kicks and (to a lesser extent, the toms) feel mixed a bit too clean and clicky, almost like you would mix for an EDM track rather than a rock track. Everything is distinct and the clarity is excellent, but something doesn't sound QUITE right for the genre and I think the clarity on the kickdrum is the culprit. That's all I got for you though - the rest of the mix is really, really good. Easy yes on all fronts, you guys are powerhouses at your craft! YES

I'm coming into this fresh-ish, having not voted on the original track. What I'm hearing is a well-balanced, punchy mix with some really cool delay-based atmospheric effects that give this a totally unique feel, despite using a pretty traditional set of complementary instruments. There's a tremendous amount of personality and swagger here, and enough going on that, even though the beat is fairly low-tempo and unassuming, it still propels the arrangement forward and makes for a track you can really bob your head to. The arrangement breezes by, running through a lot of ideas but still managing to remain cohesive, and not feeling like you just threw everything at the wall indiscriminately. It's a really great piece that came together well. I find a few of the synth elements to be a little shrill, partly due to the octave that they're written in, but in the future this could also be mitigated with a dynamic EQ or compression to tame those frequencies. It's also worth considering lowering the range of bells and flutes specifically, which tend to have some of the most shrill high harmonic content, but this is hardly a dealbreaker - just a comment for the future. Great work on the resubmission!! YES

Delightful! It's a medley of all the things that I love most about Rebecca's arrangements - delicate rearrangement and fusion of themes, a cohesive soundscape, and a cast of supporting instrumentalists that fills in the gaps where her programmed orchestra has historically fallen a bit short of realism standards. This whole suite of tracks is transcendent and beautiful, definitely one of the easiest RET submissions I've judged in a minute :) YES

Yeah, super strong vibe from the rip. There's a ton of energy present here, I feel the Babymetal influence even though this is definitely more synth heavy. I don't think this necessarily needs to be reinventing the wheel with the backing track but I don't disagree that it feels autopiloty all the same. The lead guitar ramps up the energy significantly when it's present, and those moments are definitely a highlight for me. It does, however, feel jarring because it highlights how much is missing from the other parts of the arrangement. I wish there was more variety and ear candy during the bulk of the arrangement to make the disparity between the guitar solo and the rest of the song less staggering. Vocally, I don't have any gripes with the concept, but the mixing isn't really bringing them front and center, but also has them too prominent to pass as a backing element. They're existing in limbo that feels more distracting, so I would recommend either carving out some space in the backing elements so that the vocal can be more present, via EQ cuts or sidechain ducking, or embrace the vocals as more of a rhythmic textural element and mix accordingly. Right now it's in a weird middle ground that's not entirely working. Echoing the drum critique too - it's not terrible but a touch more presence and punch would help this feel more balanced. I appreciate the concept of the gating at 2:37/3:04, but I do hear a bit of a pop as it disengages on the last beat... it doesn't feel like it's quite timed right and maybe needs the slightest fade out on the volume envelope, or a timing adjustment. I don't disagree with Chimpazilla about using something different for the ending transition. There's a lot to like here, and it's definitely put together competently but there's a bit of a "death by a thousand cuts" feeling where a number of elements that only feel 75-80% locked in are adding up to a result that's not reaching its full potential yet. It can definitely get there, though! NO (resub)

I don't understand any of the time signature stuff Brad said, but the changes in rhythm can be immediately felt without even breaking down the time signature changes. The overall vibe is completely different without becoming unrecognizable. Your arrangement has a distinctly Yoko Shimomura style, thanks to the energetic piano writing, but the orchestra is programmed extremely tightly and professionally and pairs super well with that. It's clear that you approached this with a composer's mindset, as if you were rewriting this theme for a completely different context but still squarely within the Dark Souls universe. I really can't find any technical fault here that wouldn't be extremely nitpicky and unproductive - I think you accomplished exactly what you intended to do! YES

There's something about the Earthbound soundtrack that brings out the best in anyone who touches it. I admittedly wasn't familiar with this source prior to the submission, but it's amazing to see how much juice you've squeezed out of such a minimalist, deep-cut original. I think it's the juxtaposition of quirky, mechanical and often dissonant source material, along with an undercurrent of real human emotion that flows through the core compositions that makes an arrangement like this possible. It's a delicate balance to strike, but successfully threading that needle is what has yielded some of my favorite remixes on the site from artists like Rellik, sci or Ridley Snipes. Admittedly, this is much more organic and emotionally resonant than Shieldeater's previous submissions, but it doesn't fully abandon the psychadelic edge that was present there, either. There's plenty of ear candy and tape warble and out-of-left-field fills that keep you on your toes, but it's truly special to hear that merged with such warm chord progressions and touching performances. This will easily be a mainstay on my personal listening rotation, this one is a stunner! YES

I love when happy accidents like that completely end up changing the course of an entire arrangement :) I think it led you to somewhere fantastic in this case, because Zelda's Lullaby inherently leaves a ton of space between the notes that allow you to play around with improvisation without pulling too far away from the core melody. There was never a point where I doubted whether or not we were still in Zelda's Lullaby territory. Your palette of instruments is on full display here, and everything is in its right place - the recording quality is unilaterally warm and lush, and you handled the mixing and mastering with care. I do think that some of the parts feel a little too improvised, and this is felt particularly during some of the transitions when you add or subtract instruments from the ensemble feeling just a little bit sloppy. There's certainly potential for this piece to be a little tighter with a few re-records, but it's hard to deny the charm it has in its current state, either. I loved it and think the community at large will too! YES

It's hard to imagine a world where this track wasn't made without a little bit of tongue in cheek. OK, I hit the 1:45 mark with the "super ass zombie chicken" clip and I'm now convinced that CJ's tongue has gone directly through his cheek while making this. It's goofy as hell not just in the use of quotes, but even in the sound choices scan as humorous (see: the vocal-ish synth lead at :43.) The juxtaposition of the silly synth tones with heavy electro drums and bass. It's all so hysterical. Thankfully, you're not just memeing over a half-assed production - the mixing quality is punchy and appropriate for the style, even if I think you could have backed off on the master limiter slightly, everything is clearly audible without any unwanted distortion or pumping. It feels like something I'd want to listen to while playing Streets of Rage or Smash Bros to get me pumped up. CLUCK YEAH

What's there to say here? It's absolutely stunning - CA has become one of the most reliable collaborators in the community by delivering tight, well-recorded, and emotive cello performances, so it's no surprise that his solo work is held to an even higher standard of quality. The performance and technical engineering quality is unimpeachable. The entire mix and master sounds warm and present, with just the right amount of reverb. The arrangement, although fairly safe, clearly surpasses the bar for creative interpretation just due to the expressiveness of the performances, not to mention a myriad of other fills, dynamic changes, and harmonies that elevate it even further. YES

This starts off super heavy on the ambiance before jumping into some Noisia-esque bass swells that feel incredibly cinematic. I admittedly had high hopes for how this would progress, and to your credit, I think you've brought some excellent sounds and ideas to the table. For a lot of the track, it works well, but Brad correctly identified that there are some production choices on the beat-driven parts that are holding this back. The lack of sidechaining from your kick drum to the secondary elements is preventing this from truly locking into a groove, and also contributes a tremendous amount of mud. Whenever you have your kick going, you need to be doing some level of ducking on your pads, strings, bass, and even a little bit to your leads - otherwise, there's simply too much going on in the frequency spectrum. There's also a noise layer that appears to be present in the background for those sections that I would back off on significantly - at the very least, throw a high pass filter on it so it's not competing with the bass/kick so much, but ideally that should also be receiving some sidechain treatment. The guitar sounds fine to me but is also VERY loud - I think you need to be more surgical with the volume level adjustments on each element in the mix. Be deliberate with which instruments you want to be front and center in each section and back off on the gain for the other parts. I actually don't really have an issue with the sound choices overall - I think with the right mixing treatment, this could absolutely work as-is. Although I don't think the synth elements are necessarily more engaging than the original, you do substantially differentiate your arrangement through texture, orchestration, and atmosphere. It feels very ambitious and cinematic and I enjoy the concept tremendously. At its core though, the mixing needs work so that the sounds gel with each other and contribute to the groove, rather than stepping on each others toes. NO (resubmit!)

Artist Name: tibonev This was arranged for Pixel Mixers's Earthbound Album "PM Rocking", my idea behind the arrangement was to make it a fun, bouncy, clearly 80s inspired version, but implementing different elements, like clean electric guitars, distorted lead guitars, lots of synths (backing and bass, for instance), basically making something that on parts would be out of place in a club in europe in 1987, but also, sounding unique enough to be completely out of place in that same enviroment. The name means: "For Sale", because i always found it funny that you can buy a "for sale" sign in the town of Twoson, also, it ends up being a shallow reference to The Beatles, which influenced the original OST. Breakdown: 0:00-0:33 - slightly changed version of chord progression from source 0:41-1:22 - original source melody 1:22-1:30 - altered chord progression 1:30-2:02 - new arpeggios with different backing and variation bassline 2:02-2:11 - original source melody 2:12-2:26 - new guitar solo 2:26-2:42 - original melody 2:42-2:50 - altered chord progression from source 2:50-2:59 - new guitar 2:59-3:06 - original melody 3:06-3:31 - new arpeggios over the original chord progression 3:31-3:50 - slightly changed version of chord progression from source

Artist Name: MET∆TRON I was set to perform for the first time ever at VGMCon 2023, but my car broke down on the way there and I was forced to go home. The theme of that year was Zelda and I thought it would be fun to do something from the dreaded CD-i games. I wanted it to sound like something that would have been made around that time, so it's got a lot of Korg M1 in it for maximum 90's cheesy goodness.

Artist: IdleJohn I've always loved this track from Unreal, so naturally I wanted to do it as my first attempt at a remix. The project started in 2016, and I've done more revisions than I care to remember... It's been a long road and a lot of learning, but now I think(?) it's finally ready to submit. I recorded electric guitar and mandolin and used a sample (nali chant) from the the original game in a couple of parts. I wanted to try and include all the elements from the original track (especially the funky bass guitar line) but it's been through so many changes now I might have lost some along the way...

Artist Name: Emunator, Chimpazilla feat. Pixelseph Credits: Emunator: Original arrangement, production, mixing Chimpazilla: Arrangement, production, mixing, mastering Pixelseph: Guitars (rhythm, lead) Artist Notes: Emunator: This submission is a completely reimagined version of a my contribution to "VGM Essentials: Drum & Bass" on Firaga Records - the original version of this arrangement is available for streaming now! When I finished that track, I sent it to Chimpazilla to share, and she loved the potential of it but wanted to see it done in a harder-hitting, modern drum & bass style. I sent the stems over, and about a week later, she came out of nowhere with this absolutely killer VIP edit that is way too kickass to not share. The original intent behind this concept was to remix Lower Brinstar in the style of Deus Ex. This inspiration still shows through in the atmospheric sound design throughout the song and the cyberpunk-style synth plucks (as well as the title, which is a literal translation of the phrase Deus Ex Machina) but along the way, it doubled in tempo and got way heavier than I'd originally planned! This ended up being a perfect blend of influences - I was captivated by the more rock-oriented, traditional D&B stylings of artists like Pendulum, and Kris brought that modern flair and beefed up the production beyond what I could accomplish alone. Pixelseph came in clutch with some really badass guitar chops that amp the arrangement all the way up to 11. This now marks my 11th collaboration with Chimpazilla, and the 7th in the last year, and I don't think we're showing any signs of letting up. I'm so lucky to be able to have a true collaborative partner-in-crime that is down for literally any genre, any time - you saw potential in this track and ran with it, and I'm so grateful that this version of the remix is able to exist because of you. Chimpazilla: When Wes first sent me this track in nearly-finished wip form, I thought, oh gosh yet another Brinstar arrangement. (I'm not sure what planets aligned in the last couple of months but around 50 Brinstar arrangements were submitted to OCR; was there a memo sent out that I was unaware of?) But I adore this theme, and the massive amount of Brinstar submissions had motivated me to think about doing one myself at some point. And then Wes sent me his fabulous wip. I loved his concept so much, and Seph had already added the aforementioned badass guitars when I heard it. Wes had some killer neurobass, great synths and a lot of DnB drum detail, and the track had a lot of positives to it, but my big gripe was the arrangement. The way the song was structured, it seemed like there were builds but no big payoff. I felt super strongly that it needed a proper build into a very heavy/badass DnB neurobass drop. I am guilty of harping on this to Wes until he said "FINE, here are the stems, do your thing!" I definitely had my way with these stems; I reworked the first two minutes quite heavily, extending the intro and adding the drumless buildup and then the big drop. I made many more changes and additions to the rest of the piece, mixed it for maximum badassery, and mastered it. Pixelseph's guitar work in this track is so tasty, and goes so well with the heavy DnB drums and basses. I really like this track, it turned out to be one of my favorites of our many collabs (wow, 11 so far did you say?). Wes is right, we will not be slowing down on these. We have so much fun working together exploring new genres and production techniques. Our work always fits together so seamlessly, working with Wes is joyous and effortless, and I feel like the results just get better and better each time. Wes, thanks so much for trusting me with this! I am grateful to you for your incredible friendship and for being the best collab partner ever! Games & Sources Super Metroid - Lower Brinstar