Emunator   Judges ⚖️

The production and source adaptation is flawless, per usual, but for a 6 minute long arrangement, there's quite a bit of repetition going on, so I'm hoping some of our judges with an appetite for pasta can take a closer listen to this!

Remixer Name - Black Ace Real Name - Alexey Bakhmetyev E-Mail - Website - https://vk.com/cjblackace UserID - 34929 Name of Game - Shin Megami Tensei (Super Famicom) Name of arrangement - Digital Devil Puzzle Name of song - Kichijoji Theme Game info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei_(video_game) Original track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gRaomMrMR0 Release Date - 18 Jul 2021

I am SO glad this made its way back to us! I was on the fence about being willing to pass this in its initial form, but hearing this new version in comparison, I'm glad the vote went the way that it did. The drums are so much more nuanced and full of life here, the mixing is much cleaner and less harsh on the ears, and you did it all without sacrificing any of the whimsy and General MIDI magic that made the original version so fun in the first place. Y'all did some fine work here! My only complaint is that the new master is comparatively quiet - it sounds like this was mastered for streaming, so I find myself having to crank the volume up to get it to sound comparable to the first submission. It'd be awesome to have a version that's specifically mastered for CD levels to match the bulk of the OCR catalog, but that's just a "nice-to-have" ? YES

Previous Decision Games Arranged: Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong 64 Arrangement Name: Bavarian Kackle Individual Tracks: Haunted Chase (Super Nintendo, David Wise) Creepy Castle (Nintendo 64, Grant Kirkhope) Original Tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA-uoTWmY4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pBqgeBvO44 Comments: Even though it was rejected on the first pass, the overwhelming support from the Judges to resubmit was very encouraging. The arrangement is 90% the same with a few minor tweaks, and a complete drum overhaul thanks to the awesome Ridley Snipes! We collaborated to give new life into this polka performed by dead Kremlings. Here's what he had to say: Trevor (Ridley Snipes): Howdy! I'm glad Chris went to recruit some help from the discord server because this sure was fun to work on. I could tell the arrangement had good bones but just needed some finessing on the production side. Props to him for cohesively transposing these dark themes into major! I was originally going to just help out with drums, but that quickly steamrolled into the rest of the track. We both agreed early on to keep as many of the original instruments as possible, to preserve the goofy midi-carnival aesthetic. So outside of the kit drums and a few supplemental parts, there really isn't that much "new" content compared to the original. All the rest of the work just went into sculpting the existing midi performances and dropping them into a new clean mix! Overall I hope you find this mix to be a big improvement over the previous version. See you next Kroctoberfest! Remixers: Main Remixer Name: General Grunt Real Name: Chris Addolorato Email: Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/TransfatylvaniaFilms Forum ID: 16156 Additional Remixer Name: Ridley Snipes Real Name: Trevor Burch Forum ID: 17937 Thank you and fingers crossed! ~Chris

Some excellent feedback has been given by the judges already - I can't really do much more than agree with what's been said. There's some great arrangement ideas at work here, and to your credit, you've done a lot with a limited palette of sounds through automation and clever sequencing, but I do feel like your arrangement ideas are being held back by simplistic synth patches and drum sounds and, presumably, the limitations of a mobile DAW. The production just lacks the punch that naturally comes with a full-fledged DAW - even some of the stock sounds in FL Studio or Ableton would take your arrangements to the next level and open up a lot more possibilities for sound design. I also want to touch on the ending - any of the ideas introduced after the 2 minute mark were cool in their own right, but there's a lack of flow between them and it sounds like you had some leftover ideas in your project file that aren't properly connected or fleshed out long enough to make sense in context of the arrangement. As always, there's some great ideas at work here! You've showcased a natural ability to take different melodies and expand/manipulate them in really clever ways, but this still feels like those ideas are ultimately stifled by underdeveloped sound design and vanilla-sounding samples. I know you've got what it takes to get something posted though, so keep at it! NO

I love all of the reharmonization at play here, and how you merged multiple sources together into a seamless journey, it really demonstrates the flexibility of some of these tunes and the genius of the Metroid soundtracks as a whole. The analog synth pallet sounds great, as I've come to expect from Gaspode's submissions, but I also appreciate the extra care taken to give the percussion a more organic, distinctly-Metroid quality! I personally found that some of the payoffs to your buildups left something to be desired - I was expecting something a little harder from 2:08, for example. 2:30 through 4:00 dragged a little bit for my tastes, but it's not a dealbreaker for me (and clearly not any of the other judges, either!) Let's roll! YES

Good to hear that the loudness war is still going on ? I know we're measuring on True Peak metering here, but if I can't audibly hear any distortion caused by that clipping, and it's not clipping on a standard meter, I'm good with it as-is. Obviously a remaster to remove those true-peak clips is the best solution, but hypothetically, if the artist couldn't revisit this, I wouldn't hold back on account of intersample peaks that aren't actually audible on the overwhelming majority of listening setups. I'm inherently skeptical whenever I see a submission come through with just over 2 minutes of runtime, but I actually feel like the waste-no-time approach to arranging suits your track well here. While there is, of course, room for more substantial exploration of the theme, there are a number of breakdowns, builds, and other various ear-candy interspersed between the (admittedly repetitive) choruses to help this stand on its own as a complete arrangement. It lends itself to looping while still providing enough meat to enjoy as a standalone piece. The production quality lives up to your credentials - the drums hit hard, each synth sits nicely in relation to the other sounds without anything ever being too dominant. Sounds like a pass to me! YES

On first listen, my gut impression was that this track was perhaps too simplistic and underdeveloped, but repeat listens showed me that I was dead wrong. Although the track does quickly find a lane and stay in it for most of the duration, the there's a deceptive amount of expansion in the melody, transitions, and structure of the arrangement that didn't immediately reveal itself to me. Some highlights include the beautiful string harmonies that add your own personal flair to the arrangement, and the "micro/macro" beatwork that Brad pointed out. I also loved the panflute lead that entered around 2:02 - perhaps bringing that in earlier in the song would have been nice to offer some respite from the supersaw lead that dominates the first two minutes of the track and contributed to a bit of listening fatigue for me. Ultimately though, this checks all the boxes and does a fine job with it - I'm glad I gave this a closer listen! YES

The sound design here is really strong - even though you weren't aiming for anything particularly high-concept, this is still a very cerebral, complex remix that is anything but simplistic. The bell textures at 2:35 are a highlight for me, but every minute of the track offered something new to latch onto. Nice work!

Hello, My name is Charles (artist name: ec2151) and I am submitting my remix of the soundtrack for the Namco arcade game "The Return of Ishtar" for inclusion on OCremix. I look forward to your review. All important information is below, thank you. Contact Information ec2151 Charles Heinrich https://soundcloud.com/ec2151 18829 Submission Information Game Title: The Return of Ishtar (Namco, 1986) Remix Title: Ishtar's Embrace Tracks remixed: "Main Theme," "Roper," "Opening Music" Composer: Junko Ozawa; Soundchip: YM2151 Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=894MoDyMufE Your own comments: This piece of music celebrates the Namco arcade game The Return of Ishtar on the occasion of its 35th anniversary. Released in the summer of 1986, the game was a direct sequel to the influential Tower of Druaga. The Druaga series' influence runs deep, as you can find its DNA in the bones of the action-RPG genre, from Zelda to the Souls series. Return of Ishtar, which sees the series protagonists Gil and Ki trying to escape the tower after the death of Druaga in the previous game, boasted many innovative and strange features for an arcade game, including forced cooperative play, a password continue feature, leveling up and stat management - all amidst a sprawling rpg dungeon that required players to collaborate, sharing maps, hints, and secrets with one another. I have been a fan of the series and its musical score, by Junko Ozawa, for some time, and I wanted to pay homage to the sequel which is overshadowed by its famous predecessor. Ozawa's original music of Ishtar is in turn both calming and adventurous. I wanted to write a remix that transported you into the world of the series while keeping with those two moods. Thus I decided on a fusion of synthetic sounds and world instruments, where you (and the goddess Ishtar) would 'emerge' through the cloudy soundscapes to peer in on the adventurers, offering guidance and encouragement (a methodical remix of the 'Roper' theme). The rousing horn fanfares signals the start of their quest (a remix of the game's 'Main Theme'), which slowly builds in pace and intensity as more instruments and percussion enter. This leads to a final soothing section (a return of the 'Roper' theme), offering one last benediction before calmly fading out. Gil and Ki, encouraged by the goddess, continue on in their quest to bring light to the world. While I've played piano since I was 5 years old, and have been blessed to write music for several indie games (notably Demon's Tilt), it has always been a dream of mine to submit to this site, ever since I first discovered it as a small child browsing for game music online in the early 2000s. OCremix played a large role in my discovery of music and my formation as an artist. This site's composers and artists were the standard by which I judged my own music in my formative years. I hope this remix passes muster!

Note: When asked about the extent of the sampling on this arrangement, the artist had this to say. Keep this in mind when voting - "Everything but the vocals were recreated from scratch. The melodic parts were recreated with VSTs and synths and the drum patterns were made from royalty-free samples. The vocals were extracted using an online isolation software." Hello, I would like to submit my remix of "Your Affection" from Persona 4. Remix Link: The video is split into the remix with vocals and its instrumental. It is the full vocal track I would like to submit. Contact Information Remixer Name: George Shepherd Real Name: George Shepherd Email Address: Website: www.youtube.com/user/SuperBuckleMan Submission Information Game: Persona 4 Arrangement Name: "I Like (Your Affection)" Song Being Arranged: "Your Affection" Original Composer: Shoji Meguro Source:

Just like your first submission, this starts off with some incredibly gorgeous sound design! The plucked mallets, vocal samples, and various other sounds are truly gorgeous! The Corridors of Time melody and arpeggio is consistently present, but it took me a few listens to really appreciate how you introduced so many of your own melodic ideas without losing sight of the original. I have no complaints at all about the overall structure of the arrangement whatsoever, I'm really in love with the core of this track. Where I think this track falls short is the technical execution of several areas. Starting off, the transition around the 1:27 mark feels like it should hit with a huge impact and blow the track wide open, but you fell into the trap of mixing your transition sfx way too loudly. I know, I catch myself doing it all the time with these cinematic sweeper effects, but you would benefit from bringing those fills down in volume and selectively EQing the parts of that fill that you really want to be most present, so it lets the rest of your song breathe. Right now, the sweeper has such a long tail on the back end, and it's mixed so loudly, that it absolutely crushes the dynamics of every other instrument. The same thing happens at 2:22, as well. I promise if you resolve this, your transitions will have way more impact. That leads me to my next point - there is a noticeable lack of bass frequencies anywhere in the song except for those two transitions, which tells me that there's baked-in sub bass frequencies in those sweepers but you've neglected that area of the frequency spectrum everywhere else. Whether it's a sampled bass instrument or an electronic sub bass, or picking a new kick drum sample with more low-end punch, there needs to be something in the 20-200hz range. You can audibly hear a difference in how full your track sounds in the very first few seconds compared to the section that follows after. You can really see this in action when you analyze the spectrum in a free plugin like SPAN - there's a steep dropoff right around 200hz: I also want to call attention to the sequencing and tonality of some of your sampled instruments, namely the guitar and piano. The reverb on the guitar sounds too distant, even for an ambient track - it doesn't exist in the same space as any of your other leads. The tone of the guitar amp is not bad, but it does feel rather thin compared to how lush everything else is. The piano in the outro is the other problem area that I picked up on, both in terms of sequencing, which is very aggressive and lacking velocity dynamics, and tone, which has a tinny quality. I'd consider swapping that for another sample with a more well-rounded frequency balance, and easing up on the velocities, or if you're open to it, finding a live guitarist to collaborate with! I can't stress enough how much I love the arrangement and adaptation of Corridors of Time here. Conceptually, you achieved everything you set out to accomplish as written in your submission letter. However, the imbalanced mixing and inconsistent sample/sequencing quality on certain instruments are dragging this down and need to be addressed. This is an incredible song and it would be an absolute shame to not polish up and resubmit, so if you're struggling with this, reach out to me directly and we can work through this one-on-one as long as it takes to get it right! NO (resubmit!)

The rigid sequencing on the piano for the first 45 seconds was not the strongest start to this arrangement, I'll be the first to say. Your samples are highly exposed due to a lack of backing instrumentation, so the robotic velocities and strictly-quantized timing is especially noticeable on repeated riffs like the one that first enters at :39 and repeats a few times after. It's a marginal improvement over the original source, but still not a great way to start things off. However, once the beats enter at :52, I got a much better idea of what you were going for. The beats/bass help mask the fake quality of the piano, and you've got some really cool use of SNES/N64-quality samples like the ocarina or the LTTP strings, which provide a great contrast to the more organic piano sample. I think those sections show the most promise from a sound design perspective and were honestly really enjoyable to listen to! Another issue I have with this is the seemingly random structure - I can't pick out any discernible structure or flow to the arrangement, and it seems to simply jump around between different sections of the song that have been copied and pasted. The ending was anticlimactic since it is essentially just a loop of :44-:53 from earlier in the song and didn't offer much resolution. I feel like this would strongly benefit from reworking the structure from the ground up and focusing more on continuity throughout the track. I think this is a case where you have some really excellent ideas that have not yet formed into a cohesive arrangement, and is also dragged down by rigid sequencing on the piano, which is so integral to the arrangement that it really sticks out like a sore thumb. There's a lot of potential here, so whether it's this track or another one in the future, I'm excited to hear what you cook up! NO (resubmit)

While there's nothing groundbreaking about the instrumentation or the production, the samples are sequenced with plenty of care and are well-mixed across the board. MindWanderer called out repetitiveness as a weak point here, which I would agree with regarding the backing instrumentation, but there's a deceptive amount of variation that presents itself over the course of 2 and a half minutes in the form of new instrumentation and original modifications to the Terra melody. I feel like I could scan to nearly any point in the song and hear something new going on, despite the foundational groove remaining more or less intact. This arrangement straddles the line between minimalist and overly-simplistic, but ultimately falls on the right side of the coin for me. YES

Whooo! Slipped a last-minute track in the nick of time The mix itself is too short/repetitive for OCR submission but it's better served here than languishing on my hard drive. Now I can say I've completed at least one song in 2021. Merry Christmas everyone!

Originally had this one pegged for a direct post because it is quite obviously badass and well-produced, but in addition to the production being an obvious homage to Michael Jackson's Thriller, I'm also concerned about the more explicit melodic callbacks to that song. Looking for second opinions on whether or not the usage of Thriller's melodies in the chorus is too extensive to be considered for OCR.

Hi. Here’s my latest submission. Hope you like it. It’s a remix of »Lower Brinstar« (Super Metroid) and »Brinstar« (Metroid). You could listen to it here: or Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Gaspode Your real name: Peter Köller Your email address: Your website: – Your userid: 26608 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: »Super Metroid« »Metroid« Name of arrangement: Concealed Caverns Name of individual song(s) arranged: »Lower Brinstar« from »Super Metroid« »Brinstar« from »Metroid« Additional information: Super Metroid, Super Nintendo, Music by Kenji Yamamoto & Minako Hamano Metroid, NES, Music by Hirokazu Tanaka Link to the original soundtrack: Bye, Peter

Marc Belmont Marc Fontanet 37637 Submission Information Castlevania Adventure Holy Battle Battle of Holy (Stage 1) I am Marc Belmont, from Spain. I have recorded a tribute album to Castlevania Adventure 1 & 2 Heavy Metal style. I share the first track to see what you think..

Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Vijay van der Weijden Your real name: Vijay van der Weijden Your email address: Your website: Vijay van der Weijden Music - YouTube Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: F-Zero Name of arrangement: "When your mom mistakes Captain Falcon for Captain America again" Name of individual song(s) arranged: Mute city Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: So I've noticed that it's common for mother's to think that Captain Falcon is Captain America. In those youtube videos, where people let their parents guess the names of smash bros. characters, oftentimes they'll say 'Captain America' when Captain Falcon is being shown. That made me think about 'what if they made a movie about Captain Falcon with the same tone and production budget as Captain America?'. This cover is an impression of how the soundtrack to that movie would sound like. It's sort of a suite with an introduction, impending doom, confrontation, losing that confrontation, finding new motivation to try again and a final climax. All the while using "Mute City" as source material. Thank you for your time, I'm stoked to hear what you think about it! Best regards, Vijay van der Weijden

This is another remix of the "Mana Palace" theme from the original Seiken Densetsu, also known as Final Fantasy Adventure. Ironically, as with the other (orchestral) version I made, this was chosen by my subscribers on Subscribestar. One person commissioned me to make another version of the track that sounded a little more sombre and distant, since the previous one has more of an optimistic feeling. So, I imagined that the orchestral arrangement represented the palace in its prime, whereas this more electronic, new age version represents its decline. I took inspiration from sounds I associate with ice, snow, and outer space, in order to create a colder, more lonely, empty feeling than before. If you'd like to have some influence on what music I create and/or reprise each month, you can subscribe to me as well! Here's a link: www.subscribestar.com/rebeccaetripp Source: EDIT: Nuts here, the above source seems incorrect to me. Zophar has the original file: https://www.zophar.net/music/gameboy-gbs/final-fantasy-adventure-[mystic-quest]

This is the finale of my Skyward Sword Epic Orchestral Medley. You can hear the full medley here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxrdjX7Klcg There are many parts to it, but this excerpt just worked so well on its own that I figured I'd make it a standalone track. It combines the Isle of Songs and Island in the Sky themes. I also added in a little bit of Ballad of the Goddess. I call the track "Songs of Skies". The original SS OST was composed by Mahito Yokota, Hajime Wakai, Takeshi Hama and Koji Kondo.

Game: Terranigma Source: Zombies/Louran Remix name: "Ahh!! The Zombies Ate John Carpenter!" Description: This remix was first featured in Paths Less Travelled. I chose to hold back on submitting this to the Panel for a couple of reasons. But I've had a change of heart and decided to go through with it. It's been remastered since its first release on the Terranigma Project. Daniel Lippert provided the Vocalist sample at the 1:53 area.

ReMixer name: Neon X EMail: Website: UserID: 37046 Name of game: Mario Kart 8 Name of arrangement: Moonshine Airport Name of song: Sunshine Airport Original composer: Masaaki Ishikawa For clarification: Name of remix: Moonshine Airport Name of original song: Sunshine Airport

Contact Info by Docjekyll real name: email: forum: Docjekyll (#31804) Remix "Queen of Ice" (also via SoundCloud) a remix of "Frozen Moonlight" from Valkyrie (PC-98 game) I'm a sucker for many PC-98 soundtracks with their octave-jumping FM basslines and warbling lead synths. This track has all of that, plus plenty of energy. With this remix, I didn't want to significantly change the feel from the original track but instead expand on it with new variations on the melody and phrasing (and of course moving beyond the capabilities of the YM2608 sound chip). instrumentation: The overall sound is typical rock (drum, bass, lead and rhythm guitars), plus some organ and keys. But I also didn't hold back on some very "synthy" sounds for the keys, as is immediately clear with the arpeggio pattern in the intro. structure: (in the source: there is a brief intro followed by a repeating loop, with the first loop at 1:09) I expanded the intro so that the instruments and overall intensity can build up incrementally at first I stick fairly close to the original at 1:45, I drop the lead guitar and go for an organ solo then at 2:52, I play around with the melody a bit more on lead guitar Additional Source Info Warning! Like many PC-98 games, "Valkyrie" has NSFW/adult content, so be warned before you go Googling this one on the family computer. I'll also include a lot more background info than I normally would so that you don't have to look through R-18 content if you don't want to. title: "Valkyrie: The Power Beauties" (ヴァルキリー) developer: ディスカバリー (Discovery) published by: ディスカバリー (Discovery) released: Feb 1995 composer: Hiroaki Sano (佐野 広明) (list of game credits on his personal site) Valkyrie is a tournament fighting game for the PC-98 that would feel very familiar to anyone who has played Street Fighter 2. The gameplay is very similar, with a roster of 6 characters who duke it out 1-on-1 in best-of-3 matches, complete with special moves and all. Compared to Street Fighter 2, the controls may feel somewhat clunky, but Valkyrie is still a quite competent fighting game for the home PC market at the time. What is a bit different here is that there are longer story sequences, which also include the playable characters in sexual situations (this is very much an adult game). The game's story is about a tournament to determine who gets to be the queen of the magical world. The source track I remixed is the stage theme for 乃霧 (Nomu). As far as I can tell, she seems to be a hidden 7th playable character, and she is supposed to be the current reigning 'queen' in the game's story (hence the remix title).

Your ReMixer name Makke Your real name Marcus Lagré Your email address Name of game(s) arranged Ghosts 'n Goblins Name of arrangement Ghosts 'n Thrillers Name of individual song(s) arranged Ghosts 'n Goblins Theme Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) Composer: Mark Cooksey System: Commodore 64 This remix is based on the Commodore 64 version of the game, which has different music from the original arcade version. Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. The idea for this came about when I was trying to recreate the sound of Michael Jackson's Thriller. To my surprise, I succeeded to get pretty close to the original sound, so I wanted to use my newly created sound template for something more. Ghosts 'n Goblins has a pretty nice Thriller feel to it, so I set out to try and merge the two songs. After creating the first massive brass chords, I knew I was on to something! I also realized that I would have to sing on it. Now, trying to sing like Michael Jackson is a pretty tall order. Quite impossible, in fact. So I decided to try and sing in Michael Jackson'ish manner, without going all in MJ-ah-hee-hee! You know? I think I managed to pull it off without losing face completely. I hope you enjoy it! Lyrics: It's close to midnight And Astaroth is lurking in the dark Under the moonlight Bats and ogres want to tear you apart On computer screens Goblins try to catch you before you make it If you even sneeze Something's gonna hit you between the eyes Cuz ghosts 'n goblins, in the night Are trying to stop you from reaching the top Ghosts 'n Goblins is Tricky stuff You see the scroll freeze And realize there is nowhere left to run You feel the cold hand And wonder if this level will ever be done Wide open eyes Yet you just never seem to catch them all And all the while There is creatures creeping up from behind Cuz ghosts 'n goblins, in the night Are trying to stop you from reaching the top Ghosts 'n Goblins is Tricky stuff Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) Original SID @ DeepSID YouTube Vid