Emunator

Interesting choice to start off with bagpipes, but alright! I love this style and was really excited to hear how you chose to adapt it. In general, I think your adaptation works really well. There's plenty of personality throughout, great instrument selection... I'm actually really digging this. Does anyone feel like the bass and guitar that are panned far left/right are suffering from sloppy performance timing though? I'm having a hard time nailing it down, and it's not so egregious that I can definitely call it an issue, but for example, :18 just feels sloppy and cluttered to my ear. My gut's also telling me that the arrangement might be running a bit long and erring on the side of repetitive or aimless, like the components of the track were just stitched together without much thought to arrangement or flow. Anyone else want to chime in on those thoughts? ?

Contact info Remixer name: Hyde209 Real name: Thomas Myrberg Email adress: Website: https://www.youtube.com/user/Hyde209 User ID: http://ocremix.org/community/user/22774-hyde209/ Submission info Name of game: Kid Icarus Name of arrangment: Angels of Disco Name of individual song: Overworld Theme Comments: The main inspiration for this remix comes from the Disco hit's of the 70's with bands like Bee Gees, K. C. and the Sunshine Band etc. However, I'm also a great deal influenced by the progresseive rock sound of the 70's with bands like, Happy the Man, Camel and so on. Source:

Definitely a NO on production grounds because of muddy mixing, compression issues caused by the kick, and general production quality, but there's a lot of potential in the arrangement and the artist specifically requested constructive criticism, so I'm paneling this in hopes of getting some good feedback for the artist! ~ Emu Remixer Name: Yanagine Real Name: John Henderson Remixed game: Street Fighter Franchise Song Name. Soaring Bird Song: Chun li Theme I just signed up with your site for the second time. I've been following you guys on an doff since 2005 and actually submitted a song back then. It was rejected, but in truth kinda deserved the rejection lol. This song is a shorter version of the original 9 minute version (True to trance/edm form) I recently finished. I made it as a way to learn my new music software and thought why not submit it to you guys. I hope you enjoy it. Any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks Source:

NEW JUDGES: this is a great opportunity to test out your source breakdown chops. I'm trying to plow through the inbox so I haven't source checked this yet. I have no idea if it checks out on that front, but I had some immediate feedback on the production/sequencing so I'm basing my vote solely on the production/sound quality side of things. Still, definitely want to see some source breakdowns from the newbies in the remaining votes. This is a lovely, emotive mix. I love the dynamic curve of your arrangement and how emotional and powerful it gets by the end. The supporting instrumentation is nicely done and makes this feel like it could slip right into a romantic movie score. Uplifting stuff on the arrangement side, really well done. My problems with the mix stem mainly from your piano. I think I recognize the piano sample library you're using and, if I'm correct, you can get some pretty great results with it, so I don't think this is a case of low-quality samples. However, you've seriously overcompressed it which really doesn't work for some of the more delicate parts of the arrangement. It This is also somewhat due to the sequencing, which can be very rigid and seems to be lacking in velocity dynamics. For example, from 1:26 - 1:38, the repeated low piano note plays very rigidly and breaks the illusion of realism that is essential for this style. This issue can be found many other places throughout the mix. Ease up on your piano compression first off, which will give you more breathing room for the softer parts and make the intense parts stand out more by comparison. Then, look at your velocities and make sure you're not just hammering away at full blast for every note. Lastly, make some small tweaks to your timing so that the piano isn't quite so rigidly quantized. Working on these three things will help you achieve much better results with this track - if you need more specific feedback or are interested in collaborating, hit me up and I'll do what I can to help! You've got a promising start but that one dominant element needs a lot of TLC. Good luck! NO (resubmit!)

ReMixer name: Pencildragon Name of games arranged: Minecraft - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 Name of arrangement: Low Resolution Rain Name of individual songs arranged: Mice On Venus - Heartbeat, Heartbreak Name of original composers: C418(Minecraft) - Shoji Meguro(Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4) Originals: https://youtu.be/DZ47H84Bc_Q - https://youtu.be/P3ue1JPFXEU Everything else: Hey there, I've been a huge fan of your website for years now and being an (always learning) composer/producer I decided it was time I submit something to you guys! This mix is an arrangement of two of my favorite pieces, done in a semi-electronic, piano lounge-y style(does the even make sense?). It started out as just a piano arrangement, but as I kept going it grew and grew. The acoustic guitars were inspired by music with a warm, roomy sound- like you're just sitting inside by the fireplace. The bass, strings, drums, and other sounds are very reminiscent of Persona 4's soundtrack to me, which I thought contrasted very well with the theme from Minecraft. And to explain the name and ambience, well, so many people hate the sound of the rain in Minecraft. So I took it upon myself to attempt to make it musical instead of annoying! Thanks a ton guys, I hope you enjoy it!

Inbox thoughts - very ambitious arrangement and great performances, the sections that are more rock-dominant seem strongest, the sampled instruments feel dry and lack synergy with the mix and often feel rigid (choir, harpsichord) . Some moments of muddiness, but it's hard to deny the amazing arrangement here. May be a pass in my book just on those merits. Will definitely have to let this one stew for a while, I love what I'm hearing but the production is far from perfect.

This track is going to be part of the Vampire Variations III album. Contact information: Remixer name: Jorito Real Name: Jorrith Schaap Email: Userid: 3899 ReMixer name: Furilas Real name: Mac Hunter e-mail: forum id: 17903 ReMixer name: Tuberz McGee Real name: Callum Kennedy e-mail: forum id: 25576 Submission information: Name of Game(s) Remixed: Super Castlevania 4 Name of Arrangement: Selva Oscura Names of songs arranged: The Forest Of Monsters (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVN8CA-Ufkk) Link to the remix: Comments about the mix: I stumbled upon the Vampire Variations III recruitment topic on the forums, but all the tracks that I actually knew were already taken. Since I never played Super Castlevania 4, I’m not familiar with the soundtrack. However, Forest of Monsters was still available and inspired me, so I threw together a 4 minute WIP and auditioned for the job. Needless to say I got the gig and a few months later my WIP turned into this 7+ minute long monster of prog rock with orchestral instruments, rocking guitars, choir chants, guitar/synth solos and lots of (cliché) sound effects to create the setting of an dark forest. Hence the title Selva Oscura, which is actually one of the places in Dante’s Inferno. Since the only instrument I play is my DAW, I obviously needed some real instrumentalists to replace my midi parts and really bring the track to live. Fortunately both Furilas (bass guitar) and Tuberz McGee (rhythm and lead guitar) offered their help in the VVIII topic and after a few back and forths it was done. Their performances really bring the track to the next level. When asked for comments about the mix, Furilas kept it short and to the point: "I was just happy to be playing. This was a pleasure.” I hope that the listeners feel this pleasure too. Personally I had a blast making this remix and I think it fits the theme of the album and the game nicely. Source breakdown: 0:00 - 0:47 - original intro 0:47 - 1:11 - forest of monsters lead that starts at 0:43 1:11 - 1:35 - forest of monsters lead that starts at 0:05 1:36 - 1:47 - original buildup 1:47 - 3:47 - forest of monsters lead and structure, 0:05-1:43 3:47 - 4:47 - original solo part 4:47 - 5:11 - original break 5:11 - 5:35 - subtle cameo appearance of Castlevania’s “Wicked Child” 5:35 - 5:59 - forest of monsters lead that starts at 0:43 5:59 - 6:41 - forest of monsters lead and structure, 0:05-1:43 with extra harmonies 6:41 - 6:47 - forest of monsters break, 0:37-0:42 6:47 - 7:23 - original outro Not counting the Wicked Child cameo it makes for ~240 seconds of direct source material (with some rounding errors). On a total of 443 seconds that makes for about 54% of source usage so I think it’s enough Cheers, Jorrith

ReMixer name - Mak Eightmanreal name- Max V. Kravchenkoemail address- corp8 at mail dot ruuserid: 32137 Submission Information: Title - "Amputate your metal" (by Pu_freak) Name of game arranged - Wild Guns System: SNES Name of individual song arranged - Boss theme Link to the original soundtrack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxBGIe00ecU BadAss vol.3 project.Director: pu_freakHello! Pu_freak offered me to remix this source and here I am. Never knew about this game(so as and any SNES games), but pu_freak's request is sacred. I aimed at Therion's album "Theli" from 1997, adding some Rammstein and my own soundings. That track has lot of discussions and disputes about mixing and mastering. That was ended when Timaeus took mixing and mastering job. But.. Some time has pass since then. I learned a lot and wanted to try something by my own way. Here it is. Loud as hell and good to my tastes. THANK YOU! SFME!!!Best of all! Source:

Hi DJ Pretzel and colleagues, I've been following your OC Remix community for many years now, although have not been an active member. I tought you might want to consider my arrangement of "Sweden" from Minecraft as a contribution to the community. I call it "Sleepcraft" because of the relaxing atmosphere it breathes. I made it in my home studio using Logic Pro, my keyboard and my digital Roland TDK12 drumset. I really like the piano original but I felt it could be more emotional by making a "band arrangement" out of it. I tried to keep the arrangement "airy" but at the same time add some drama to it. I've attached the MP3, to my best knowledge it matches your standards. My name is Ji Sung My ReMixer name is Tokio Tribute Sessions (I posted previous mixes on YouTube under that name) e-mail: website: http://tokiotributesessions.com My (newly acquired) user id is: 32554 I hope you like it. Thank you for your time!!! Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrnWituGHTA

I'm not feeling the production work on this one, to be frank. The way the 808 is mixed and the sample that you're using sounds wimpy and doesn't really anchor the track like it should in a trap remix, and the rest of the instruments feel muffled and lo-fi, like Larry pointed out. Use this track as a reference: Obviously this is a professional production and we're not expecting that level of quality from every mix, but compare how the 808/kick sits in that mix. It has a great deal of presence and helps fill out the low frequencies much more fully than the sample you're using, which is essential because the rest of the instrumentation in most trap music is pretty sparse. Right now, your production seems very hollow and just not where it needs to be, even if your aim was for a more gritty, lo-fi aesthetic. Another thing to compare is the transitions - in your track, a lot of the transitions just feel weak or not strategically-placed in the arrangement. For example, the drop at 2:10 feels like it's building up to something big, but the section that follows does not ramp up the energy level compared to the previous bridge, so it ends up falling flat and not contributing much to the arrangement. There are several other similar issues throughout the track. The cutoff ending is disappointing. The vox samples are too low-quality, I can see how that might have been intentional but it's a bit distracting. On the plus side, you've got some very energetic drum patterns employed here, which help keep the excitement going even when the track gets melodically repetitive. Lavender Town's melody really does work great in this style. Overall, I feel like you've got a great concept here but the execution is not up to par. NO

The compression on the track feels very genre-appropriate to me, and it's never so cramped that I can't make out everything going on. This mix is loud, punchy, and groovy, just what I like to hear. Sick transition at 2:17. Really, you knocked this out of the park in terms of detail work and adapting the source to this style, at first listen I almost didn't believe this was your first foray with glitch hop, which is a genre that relies heavily on little nuances and variations to keep it fresh. I'm actually surprised to see division on this vote - I had this pegged for a direct post candidate initially! For my money, the compression is definitely not a dealbreaker when the rest of the track is so well-done. YES

Mike has clearly gone to great lengths to expand on a short, but very memorable source tune and really personalize it. Could he have shaved a minute or so off the arrangement, or tweaked the drums to include a bit more variation? Sure. But the melodic treatment of Bolero and the tight guitar performance are definitely the highlights of the track - the solo at 3:11 provides a much-needed changeup that I quite enjoyed. Truthfully, neither of the aforementioned issues really have that much impact on my overall enjoyment here. I like what I'm hearing here! YES

Soooo good. The way you morphed the bassline, which was easily the most memorable part of the source, into an absolute monster really carried the track. The rest of the elements in your track are no slouch, either, but damn the bass sequencing in this song is next-level.

No need holding this one up any longer - I noted several issues with my vote and was a little bit borderline, and I definitely agree that the track would be better off with another pass of mixing tweaks. I'm cool with flopping my vote on the condition that we DEFINITELY get a resubmission here, because you're really damn close with this one! Good luck NO (resubmit!!)

S'good. Just quickly co-signing this, absolutely beautiful arrangement and very smooth, dynamic fusion of themes. I didn't have any serious holdups about the realism of the sequencing - any small issues were literally only present for a note or two and were completely mitigated by the rest of the track. Quality piano work, I really liked that section. Source usage checks out, and your arrangement of the themes removes any concerns about "medley-itis" Lovely work. YES

Super borderline call, I can see why this split the panel. I will start by saying that this is bar-none HoboKa's best solo attempt to date. There are still some lingering issues that have plagued his past subs - most notably, the sequencing and unrealistic/dry or poorly mixed instruments (choir sounds fake, organ sounds rigid and dry) bring this down a notch. However, I found that the areas you improved on (exciting drum samples and sequencing, the way you built up dramatic tension) carried more weight than the problematic parts issues. There were some legitimately cool moments in this track, such as the final choir pitch bend, that were just awesome and really kept me engaged with the remix. In this case, the good edges out the not-so-good. I'm happy to co-sign with your first official solo mixpost - your progress hasn't exactly been meteoric over the years, but the small improvements you've made over time seem to have finally helped your execution catch up to your ambition. I admire the effort you've put into constantly improving your craft, I think you made a few big leaps here that really impressed me. YES

New version up - I still dig it and think it's very much postable. My YES vote stands.

Very cool approach, I love the downtempo, heavily-sidechained synth action. It reminds me of a chiptune-rich version of Com Truise or Tycho. Your production is ace, the bassline sits perfectly in the mix and there's plenty of effects and unique fills/melodic content going on to keep my attention throughout the nearly 6-and-a-half-minute runtime. I love the big breakdown right before the 3 minute mark, and the very dramatic resurgence back into the track a little later on. There's a ton to love here. One of my big critiques is with the stagnancy of your lead sounds. Every lead melody is played by the exact same chiptune synth patch, which gets tiresome. While I do appreciate that you processed and sequenced each riff differently to add some variation, I can't help but feel that this would have been better with more variation in sound choices. From 4:22 - 5:02, you got a little more personalized with the melody writing but to be honest, it felt a little shoehorned and awkward, the writing just didn't flow naturally. Did any other judges feel this way too? I'm not sure how I feel about this track yet - the production is really on-point in my opinion and the track is very competently arranged, but the lead melodies feel like a weak point due to patch choice and the actual writing. Will revisit this later. EDIT: After listening again and getting some second opinions, I feel more confident in my gut impression that this could use another pass of revisions to introduce some more variation to the lead and change the original melody modulations to feel more natural. Good luck, I'd love to see this come through again! It's pretty close. NO (resubmit!)

Contact Info: ReMixer name: ManKarate Real Name: Jan Zarate Website: Soundcloud Name of game: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Name of arrangement: Healing Over Time Name of individual songs arranged(and links): Song of Healing, Song of Time

Trevor told me yesterday that the band's mixing engineer is actually working on a new mixdown of this to fix some of the issues I mentioned, so stay tuned for an update!

Not bad, not bad... The production is a little rough around the edges, I think you could have done with a little less-dramatic panning, and balanced your lead volumes a bit better (compare the lead guitar at :34 to the saxophones that surround it, for example) and the drums felt like they had too much of the highs scooped out and end up sounding timid. The hardpanning is a personal nuisance but you always have something else in the other ear to balance it out, so it's not painful to listen to or anything. It's clear that this is more of a "trial run" mix when you guys were just getting your footing, because I've already heard a lot of improvement with your most recent mixes. All complaints aside, though, I actually love what you've brought to the table here. The wide variety of lead instruments and keyboard patches that adorn the arrangement give it a lot of texture and hold my attention. The solos are great across the board, but the guitar solo at 2:40 was definitely a highlight. The saxophones seem dominant in the track but at the same time, it didn't feel like a "sax w/ accompaniment" mix either - each band member got a chance to shine. There's nothing groundbreaking going on here, per se, but it's a very solid cover that I think people will enjoy in spite of its flaws. YES

Maybe I’m just on drugs, or maybe it’s easier for me to hear because I played this game a LOT back when I was younger, but I’m actually swinging the opposite way on this. I feel like Timaeus did a great job keeping the source recognizable, (if not directly intact) throughout almost all of the song. I think this is due to the way he introduced the melody in plain and simple fashion, but then gradually began to modulate and add grace notes as the song developed. This helps put the original tune in the listener’s mind and then ease them into some of the more liberal interpretations, which I think is a totally valid approach. Call me crazy, but this little experiment is actually working for me! By this point I shouldn’t even need to mention production or sound design – it’s most clearly on-point here as it is with every one of his Timaeus’ submissions, but the jazzy hip-hop vibe resonated especially well with me. I want to take a minute to revisit this vote from a few years ago – if that track was passable, then I think a very strong case can be made for this one, as well. Obviously it was a highly-contested split vote and this is a different track with a different judges panel, but it might provide a relevant precedent here. Good luck with the rest of the vote! YES

I have to side with OA/DA on this one… you’ve made some very good strides with this track already but I don’t feel like it’s been sufficiently developed compared to the original source. The string writing that you’ve added is gorgeous and emotive, and a great starting point, but for an arrangement that’s only 2:30 long that basically retreads the same melodies from the source without much variation, this feels undercooked. There’s a lot of potential to build on your arrangement and inject a little more of yourself into the writing, but between the short length and the general conservativeness of it, I don’t believe it's quite ready. If this submission does end up being rejected, PLEASE resubmit – you’ve got some incredible building blocks in place, and the strings/choir writing is particularly exquisite. Good luck either way! NO (please resubmit!)

Compared to the mangling that Mazedude did to this source years back, this track seems downright normal by comparison. However, compared to the source you went a long way to adapt a very challenging source into actual engaging arrangement with dynamics and change-ups. Kristina is right, this would sound right at home in the actual game OST. Production here is fine, it’s hard to go wrong with the classic chip tune pallet you’re utilizing, but where this REALLY shines on the arrangement front. I’m not sure how you found the inspiration to work with this source but the end result is great! YES

A little less celtic, a little more ethereal… I love how you stripped down the source to its bones and reconstructed it into a more nebulous, ambient piece that feels complete despite not having a very clearly defined structure. Very pretty textures and production make this a pleasure to listen to. Your sequencing still has room for improvement… It’s unfortunate that the flute lead in your track isn’t as expressive as the one in the source, the harp arpeggios get somewhat mechanical, and although it’s clear you put a lot of effort into humanizing the choir, it still stands out as a little dry and obviously-fake when it hits the higher registers. That said, this is a dramatic improvement over most of your previous submissions and I think this is over the bar. More than anything, it makes me incredibly excited for your future submissions, you’ve obviously stepped up your game and I can't wait to see where you go from here! YES