Emunator

Some quick thoughts: The whole track is mastered very quietly, especially in the intro. The intro wasn't grabbing my attention but things ramped up when the drums came in. The drum and bass programming is pretty nice, the guitar playing is wild and expressive but the guitar sample is not very convincing. Might be worth contacting a live guitar player to get something more realistic in here. The arrangement is pretty conservative, though you start to introduce some personalization through the soloing midway through the track. There's some little details, but the bigger problem right now is just the length of the arrangement - it's roughly the same duration as one run through of the source material, and it cuts off pretty abruptly right at 2 minutes. I need to hear more here! This definitely has potential, but the synth guitar isn't doing you any favors and the overall short length of the arrangement doesn't give you much time to really personalize the track to the level we're seeking on OC ReMix. Good luck if you choose to resubmit! NO (resub)

Contact Information Your ReMixer name : Maxxorz Your real name : Max Linsenbard Your email address : Your website : linsenbard.com Your userid (number, not name) on our forums : 32503 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged : F-Zero Name of arrangement : F-0 to 1000 Name of individual song(s) arranged : Mute City Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) : Already on site Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) : F-Zero X arrangement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxQwMDftbXI Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. This remix was actually made for a game I'm working on that's a hybrid of F-Zero and Audiosurf. Our team wanted to focus on having the player feel like they're constantly on their toes while also enjoying the simple aspect of just going really fast. Since the game is rhythm-based, having a completely original soundtrack would make it hard for players to learn the game, so I figured having a tribute to F-Zero itself being the tutorial level would be fitting. I'm a drummer and brass player in the real world, so I worked the most on making the drums in the track sound like they're realistically being played and included a some amount of varying rhythms and fills to keep the beat fresh. I don't play guitar and my background in mixing/mastering is limited, so the lead/rhythm guitars are more focused on keeping that old-school non-realistic sound while the rest of the arrangement is more 'live'. The remix itself is mostly note-for-note the arrangement of the F-Zero X version of Mute City, but I believe it brings a new light to an old classic. The whole tune was made with a MIDI Keyboard and Logic Pro X. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0WzWdSVFmE

You're off to a decent start here - I like the breakbeats and some of the textures you've used... the glitching is pretty simplistic but it adds some flavor to the mix. Right now, though, there's a couple of things that need serious improvement before this can be postable on OCR. First, your leads are very bland and have no personality or variation... using the same lead throughout the entire song is definitely something to stay away from in order to keep things fresh. The bulk of the track is very repetitive and close to the source - it sounds like you built this primarily around loops and didn't do much to change them up throughout the duration of the track. This needs a lot more to set it apart from the original, though you have worked in some SFX and sound upgrades that hint at some expansion on top of the source. This track is not cutting the mustard for me in its current state, but you have some potential with this style! Put some more of YOU in the mix and see where it takes you. NO

Hello! My name is Ian Baggett, I go by Iananimate on soundcloud. My email address is the primary one being used to send this message, and my soundcloud link is soundcloud.com/iananimate. I am user (32502) Here's a remix I did of Sonic 3 & Knuckle's "Lava Reef Zone." It's titled "Heat Rush" user comments: The inspiration came from childhood nostalgia. I always imagined modernizing video game soundtracks that fit popular genres of today. In the case of lava reef zone, it has progressive and glitchy break vibes while still maintaining the original feel. my favorite part of course is the glitch solo I did by hand which is a great way to end the track. I hope you enjoy my mix and thank you for considering this submission. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo_4R17gYSY

Contact Information - EAR - Weston Ahern - - www.DjEAR.com - USER ID 22858 Submission Information - Sonic CD - 'The Madness' - SONGS ARRANGED Metallic Madness Zone (Present) JP Metallic Madness Zone (Past) US Metallic Madness Zone (Bad Future) JP - COMMENTS I actually had the idea for this combo-arrangement several years ago but never found the right way to express it. Flash-Forward to 2015 - a month into leading the SoTSS15 Tropical Paradise album project. I had recently pulled out the older Rave, Eurobeat, and Hard Dance tunes that were so much a foundation of my musical influences in HighSchool. Suddenly it all just clicked - I could almost imagine Sonic & his friends at this late night rave on a tropical island (That, let's be honest - we would ALL like to be at!). So yeah, who's up for some Stepmania? LT EDIT (3/16/17): Weston reminded me about this mix after pinging us on Tweeter. It's my fault for letting this get lost in the shuffle due to my question. I asked him about the lyrics, and here are his comments below. - LYRICS The "Lyrical Paragraph" Rap is from An old 'Masterbits Rapsody' Sample CD - Used in tribute here to Hideki Naganuma (who employs heavy use of samples) who used it in the game Ollie King - and for his highly praised work on the SONIC RUSH soundtrack. The following are from a Sample Pack titled: "Breakbeat Paradise" - I no longer have it since making the song - I believe some of the samples are original recordings for the pack, and others are older classic samples used in many rave & dance songs over the years, likely originally sampled from much older records. They have sort of been passed on over the years like the Amen Break - but with far less attention paid to their history and original source. "The Cry of Youth" "We Just Gotta Hold you on Baby" "It's the Darkness that Fascinates Me" "All Night" "Alright!" "Lets Party, Put the Boogie in your Body" "Peace, Watcha Got to say, Watcha got to say" "So Dance, While I put you in a Trance" "Are you Ready, To Rock Steady" - OMG I CAN NOT FIND THE ORIGINAL SOURCE, BUT I'M SURE IT'S FROM AN OLD HIPHOP RECORD "Cool, kick the nation with the groove, Till we rock the place when the biz gets moved" - Sampled from Topmodelz: 'I Wanna Dance' (possibly originally from the below source tho? - The history of these rap lines are hard to look into, their just sort of "standards" at this point) "Come on, freak it out the sensation - Body freak generate the foundation" "yeah a magical mystery sing check it out yeah the hit house sing" - Another classic rap line, I'm pretty sure the original source is Morhotronic: 'Say Yeah' The Female Chorus: Kathy Brown feat. Praxis - 'Turn Me Out' - A classic house & rave sample "You release me baby, got to have you near - make me burn burn burn, gotta have you here" Turn the Music Up, Don't wanna waste no time, Work me with temptation - I wanna lose my mind" "Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom" - KING KONG & D.JUNGLE GIRLS - 'BOOM BOOM DOLLA' That's about the best I can remember / and find online - Maybe with more time I could source a few more of these, but so many of them have become 'standards' over the years - and not all have their history well preserved like the Amen Break, or other famous shout samples. ^_^;; But - yeah, the whole point of the remix was to be in the style of an older 90's HyperTechno (see it's little brother Eurobeat for more) track, filled to the brim with old rave sounds and samples to fit with that SonicCD era of rave music. ^_^;; Thanks for the response tho! Hope some of that info helps. Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMLDesSJ1BI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP7gYU7LL-c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le5941dJKWE

Remixer name: Redg Real name: Brent Wollman My website: https://soundcloud.com/redg-sound UserID: 41181 Game arranged: Halflife 2, Halflife: Opposing Force Name of arrangement: With Indifference Name of individual songs arranged: Remix link: My first ever submission edited and remastered. Two of the best pieces from halflife for sheer \m/ Source enters at :15. Nova Prospekt's gnashing pulse eventually transitions into classic Alien Forces Sources: Alien Forces (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q5oAbqWwmY), Nova Prospekt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvypOazP54U)

Haha, I love the not-so-subtle use of Lex Luger's producer tag. Not sure if you're just using it as a random transition effect or if it's an intentional callout, but either way, nice Your bass sequencing sounds real nice, and the beats are similarly well-assembled. Onto the track... it's a huge sound upgrade from a very minimalist source tune, and I really like what you did with this in a bubble. It would fit right into the game. However, as far as OC ReMix is concerned, we typically expect a higher level of interpretation and development. This track is currently very repetitive, the track sounds roughly the same no matter where I skip to, and without any sort of lead melody or main hook to grab my attention, the mix blends together like background music, which is not inherently bad, but also not what we're seeking. More of a structure or development instead of relying on a loop format is going to be necessary in order to get this up to OCR standards, I'm afraid. Maybe consider hitting up the Recruit & Collaborate forum to find a rapper to lay some bars down over this track? Just a thought! Nice work, but not gonna work in this current form for me. NO

Remixer name: JMAA Real name: Juan Manuel Arroyo Alcón Email address: Website: http://jmaamusic.com Userid: 20952-jacktheripper Name of game: Splatoon Name of arrangement: Booyah Squid Beat Name of song arranged: Booyah Base Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6ukJwWWbLU

Hayeser Alex Hayes ahayesmusic.com ID# 32443 Secret of Mana Mana Burn Fear of the Heavens Hiroki Kikuta I sat on this one for about a week, not knowing exactly how I'd like to arrange it (this is my first ReMix). Then on a whim, I reharmonized the chord structure for the opening and it took on a pretty distinct flavor. From there I finished almost all of the tracking/mixing in a day and the ideas poured out so fast that I could barely keep up. It became very much about the bass line (and utilizing its absence effectively), as well as peppering in as many of the notable motifs as possible in a [hopefully] unique way, while keeping it a groove-based track. It's a game of patience...I didn't want to rush introducing the melody. We all know it, so why not take time to let things brew and percolate? The groove(s) that take over around 1:40 I built using some of my own samples twisted up in Sugar Bytes' Egoist, and threw an auto filter on it for that "swallow the snare" effect. I struggled with whether to make the beginning more atmospheric/ambient and immediately engaging, but ultimately decided to let that synth pad stand on its own and really indulge in the sound of the chords for the first 8 measures. Hope you guys enjoy it, and I look forward to submitting many more! Thanks for listening. Here is the SoundCloud link (), as well as an attached mp3 with the requested specs. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFN0GLAMJ3k

Contact Information ReMixer name: Neifion Real name: Mathew Kong E-mail address: Website: http://www.kekomusic.net UserID: 29921 Submission Information Game arranged: Final Fantasy IX Arrangement name: Adventurer's Rest Song arranged: Daguerreo, The Hermit's Library Composer: Nobuo Uematsu System: PlayStation Developer: Squaresoft Publisher: Squaresoft Date published: 2000 Original song link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk-spdn-1aU After noticing I'd been doing a lot of epic orchestral pieces lately, my wife and music guru Teresa came up with the idea of doing something simple and relaxing. She suggested giving the Daguerreo track from FF9 a rustic acoustic treatment, drawing it from it's stately classical sound into a more folky, relaxing mountain cabin setting. So I got to writing and playing over the holiday weekend and this was the result. Maybe the cool breezes of early summer helped too. In any case, I wanted to make a nice easy listening piece, something you can curl up and read a book to, or pour your Log Cabin maple syrup to. Featured instruments: nylon guitar, harp, zither. Enjoy! Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flux02NIUDE

I dug the post-rock style introduction. It set a very optimistic mood for the track, and I thought it was cool how you took a sharp left turn into some darker, djent-y territory. My biggest complaint with this track is that the rhythm guitar is so totally dominant that it pretty much overpowers everything else in the track. It's mixed very dry and has almost no synergy with the backing ambiance, which, as far as I can tell, is the element that is overtly referencing the source. The mixing needs a lot more TLC to get everything gelling so that the rhythm guitars aren't the only thing commanding any attention here. Generally, after the first 50 seconds it doesn't seem like there's much direction to the arrangement, either. The original track is very ambient and free-form, but I think you need to do more expansion with this idea than just riffing rhythm guitar chords over an ambient loop. Really cool concept here, but the execution is falling short in my opinion. I'd love to see this back, but it would need to be substantially reworked on both the mixing and arrangement front. NO

Hi there, I'd like to submit my Minecraft track to the site. Submission Info - Minecraft - The Nether Struggle - Ballad of the Cats (Minecraft Nether 4) - Composed by C418 - Original track can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSTsYCojV2w (takes a while to start as a lot of it is atmospheric) - This is an instrumental progressive metal remix of one of my favourite tracks that plays when you enter the Nether in Minecraft. It's so intense and has a huge build up and I just love stuff like that so it was a huge amount of fun to mess around with it and see what came out! Contact Info - Celestial Fury - Alasdair Cooper - - Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Coopieification (Username Celestial Fury) - UserID: 32482 Link to my track via Dropbox: Hope you enjoy it! Best wishes, Alasdair Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSTsYCojV2w

Original Decision Hi there, Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Manji Your real name: Christopher Mole Your email address: Your website: http://www.chrismole.co.uk Your userid on our forums: 16265 Submission Information Submission link: Name of game(s) arranged: Metroid Prime Name of arrangement: Prime Directive Name of individual song(s) arranged: Menu Select Comments: It's only been three years since I last submitted this... time flies! The idea came from my endearing love of both the Metroid Prime series and heavy, progressive metal- I'm a big fan of Metroid Metal and their versions of Metroid tunes, and after a repeat playthrough of the original game in the Prime series decided to try and record my own version. I last submitted this in late 2012 and got some solid feedback from the judges about both the arrangement and the mixing, so I took it away, did some rejigging of the arrangement and then eventually got round to re-recording the whole thing- I hope it meets with your approval this time! All the guitars and the bass were recorded from a shiny new Kemper Powerhead using my Schecter Hellraiser (lovingly named 'Cherry') and a 4-string bass belonging to my partner (named 'Sid'), the drums are sampled. As I noted in my last submission email- I absolutely adore the Metroid Prime soundtrack, and it's a large reason behind my enduring love for the game. It was subdued at some points, driving and terrifying at others, and it meshed perfectly with the exploratory nature of the game itself. Although I generally blacked out in abject horror whenever a Metroid latched onto my face, so I have no idea what the music during that sounded like... Thanks very much! Original submission thread: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/32629-no-metroid-prime-prime-directive/ Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfGsArRQjKE

Hi, my name's UncleBibby (Peter Locke). I've always loved the good ending theme to Streets of Rage 2 and i've been composing for a few years and i thought i'd take another crack at submitting a song to OCRemix. My last song submission was The Legendary TomaHawk which got rejected, but i understand why it was rejected... it was sort of aimless and sort of just a straight cover of the original without much change... this song, this time, i've made multiple versions of it and run it by my friend Decktonic and he and I think this is worth submitting finally. contact information: UncleBibby Peter Locke www.petermobeter.com Submission Information the game: Streets Of Rage 2 (for the Sega Genesis) my remix: Pain's Funeral original song: Good Ending theme i called it Pain's Funeral because at my Grandma's funeral a few years ago i realized this song (the original) is what i want to be played at MY funeral. My plan for this remix was sort of to get down the main melody from the song and then replace the overall structure, the bass, the drums, and some of the strings with my own musical ideas... and then of course, grind my brain against it, improving it and giving it a better feel over time. I usually finish songs really fast but this time i wanted it to be professional and i think i achieved a level of solidity and well-roundedness that i usually miss. i hope you like it, and even if you reject it, i just hope you got a good feeling from it. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDaio2hf1fE&list=RDMDaio2hf1fE

Wow. I can't remember the last time a remix had this much of an impact on me as a listener. This mix ascends to new heights for an artist who has already has an incredible catalog of previous works under his belt. In my opinion, this is melody's magnum opus - a rich, colorful interpretation, skillfully produced, performed, and arranged in a way that perfectly captures the true spirit of an incredible source tune. While the main highlight here is certainly Peter's dynamic, emotive soloing, this is worth another listen or two just to pick out all of the minute details in the backing instrumentation. By the same token, it's also very easy to throw this on repeat, let yourself get lost in the swirling, delay-laden atmosphere and just enjoy the vibe. This is an excellent example of a remix that can resonate with listeners on many different levels. Truly remarkable. (copying my judge decision post here because it functions well as a review, too.)

This is a really unexpected, beautiful adaptation. Your sequencing is actually quite convincing, I don't think I'd have noticed that some of the elements were sequenced unless I'd specifically used those samples in the past... and even then I'm not 100% certain so I may be putting my foot in my mouth at some point in the future! Really though, this is a very immersive arrangement that builds at a near-glacial pace but continues to subtly introduce new riffs and variations. It's easy to get lost in the vibe. Production, humanization, and overall musicality are firing on all cylinders here. If it were me, I would have trimmed a minute or two off the track to make it more succinct, but the overlong arrangement really doesn't counteract all of the other wonderful things you brought to the table. YES

Sorry, I'm not as on-board with this right now. There's an excellent foundation here, I had high hopes for this when I first heard the piano tone, which is excellent. the arrangement is sweet and chill and you've got some great sound choices here, but some of the execution is falling short for me on the detail work. Sorry to say but I just don't like the beats here. They feel very rigid in terms of quantization and velocities. The drum writing is there, but the lack of attention to any sort of velocity tweaking stops this from really falling into a groove that works with the track. The snare sound gets very annoying over the course of the song, again because of the lack of attention to velocity and also because the sample itself is very short and has no real decay/release/reverb. It sticks out like a sore thumb to me. I would honestly recommend going back to the drawing board on how you sequence your drums and really shoot for a more humanized, nuanced groove. I think it would help this track a ton. To an extent, the same feedback can apply to your lead synth solos - the sequencing is very blocky and un-expressive. OA touched on the mid-heavy mixing on this, and I do agree that you could cut into your piano just a LITTLE bit to craft a cleaner soundscape. Not too much, I mostly like how your piano sounds right now. The bass mixing is also pretty on-point - I'm not a huge fan of how exposed the sample gets at times when it reaches into the higher octaves, such as at 2:54, just because it's not the most realistic bass patch, but I'll live. It works most of the time. So, for me, the drums are a dealbreaker, but I'd really like to see some additional velocity tweaks on the other elements in the track, particularly the solos. Some slight production cleanup definitely wouldn't hurt, either... just be careful not to overdo it! NO (resubmit!)

Original Decision Hey Judges, ReMixer name: Savino Real name: Will Savino website: https://soundcloud.com/will-savino/ userid: 53881 name of game: Fallout 3 name of arrangement: Megaton Rock Name of song: Main Title Composer: Inon Zur Original: youtube link here After my original submission, I went back to the drawing board to really remaster the whole thing. I realized my drum sampler was set to mono... Yikes. Tried to humanize the drums a bit, but I also wanted a bit of a electronic feel to contrast with the jazzy harmonies. I also made a lot of EQ changes to make everything less muddy. Boosted the overall volume, got rid of the weird click at the beginning, toyed with the fills, added and removed reverb where necessary, and made the synth bass that comes in halfway through a lot cleaner. My friend also had the idea to put a bandpass filter on the ending melody to give an old timey radio feel. Overall, I tried to bring out the stuff that really shines here (the Rhodes, the organ, the synth bass) and pushed back some of the dry drum samples. I think now this is much more what I wanted to begin with. The transition at the halfway point really gets me going, and I like that it's basically the same form as the first half but with more in-your-face instrumentation.

This is pure saccharine - I'm actually quite fond of the arrangement and it's great to hear simple synth leads do their thing without too many frills... it really hearkens back to the days of old OC ReMix, but with nicer sounding production & mastering. In fact, this works great as a sister piece to 'Skyline' by Ziwtra. The whole arrangement is lovely, but the e-piano breakdown with the xylophone harmonies really warmed my heart. There's a couple of details in this mix that aren't jiving. To be blunt, some of the glitching just seems amateurish, particularly from 3:15 - 3:27... the skipping at the end of that part just takes me out of the vibe entirely. I'm of the mindset that glitching and stutter effects need to be used a bit more deliberately, and at some points the glitches seem randomly applied just to add variation for the sake of it, and unfortunately there are some parts of this track that fall into that boat. Not quite a dealbreaker but it was distracting because of how much it cut through the rest of the track. Kristina also picked up on the weak transition into the e-piano section and I have to reiterate that that portion could have been handled with a bit more finesse. Other than that, the balance isn't perfect and some of the lead synths tend to sound very in-your-face and dry. That's probably a stylistic choice on some level but it's not a showstopper, either. Overall, I'm on board with this. I think this could be better with some additional work but what you've got here is heartfelt and sweet, and relatively well-put-together. YES

I'm surprisingly okay with this - this is far from perfect due to some issues I'll cover later, but to me this is competently written and executed with enough finesse to inch over the bar. I agree that the arrangement itself and unique combination of instruments is this mix's strongest aspect. Loved the heavy guitar tone contrasted with the orchestral brass, as well as the more acoustic interludes - this is one of the more unique styles I've seen Brandon tackle recently but on a conceptual level, it works great, and the mixing issues isn't enough to negate that in my opinion. Some issues I had with it - the snare, as everyone else said, was wimpy. I also thought the transition from Magus' theme back into Frog's theme was underwhelming. There's some sloppy timing as others have pointed out. None of this is a dealbreaker in my book, though I can see the concerns from the other side of the fence. Good luck Brandon! YES

Have to cosign with Larry - the part writing and arrangement here is actually really good - I love the dynamics and instrumental variety as well as the smooth flow between songs. The precision of your performance and the lack of balance in your mixing is extremely problematic though... For example, your low-brass and organ tend to dominate whenever they're present, and the track just sounds cluttered. You've got a very lively approach going on here and you clearly have a good ear for melodies... I see a TON of potential here, so I'd love to hear this resubmitted at some point, but the mixing and performance needs to be significantly cleaned up before this has a chance of passing. Good luck! NO (resubmit)

There's something really cool about this approach, it's clear that you put a lot of effort into this (the artwork on the Youtube video is neat!) I think you nailed the production and genre-conversion element of this... the duration of the track is the only issue I have, but unfortunately it's a dealbreaker in my book - 1 and a half minutes really isn't enough time to develop a substantial arrangement per OC ReMix standards. I'd love to hear this arrangement more fleshed out - what you've got here is excellent but I just don't think there's enough of it. NO (resubmit!)

Quickly co-signing on this one! It's true that the soloing can be a bit on the sloppy side and some of the production work is rough, but the power of the groove won me over here. The energy and creativity you brought to the table easily masks any blemishes in the detail work of this mix. YES

Sorry dude, but a remix that draws this heavily from a direct-MP3 rip from the source tune is not kosher with our standards. This sounds really cool, but the entire track is built as layers over the original source tune, which is a no-go as far as this site is concerned. NO OVERRIDE

I love me some Banjo-Kazooie - I was hooked on this game as a kid as well, and the entire soundtrack has been permanently burned into my brain Hmmm... I actually am hearing some level of interpretation on the original (mostly within the first minute of your arrangement but at a few other points later on in the track) that has some merit. I thought the synth riff introduced at 1:07, for example, was a great modification to the original source that injected some original personality into your track. Overall though, I agree with OA that this hews pretty closely to the source tune and could definitely benefit from his suggestions. Additionally, at nearly 6-minutes long, this arrangement tends to drag at times without any significant variations in your beat or instrumentation, and a lot of sections being repeated several times throughout the duration of the track. My bigger concern with this mix is the actual production quality, which just sounds wonky to me. The balance is all over the place, in some sections your lead instrument is barely audible over the drums/bass, and due to the way you've mixed the track, everything feels very washed out and lacking in clarity. A lot of this will come with experience - keep practicing and hit up our Workshop forums, as OA suggested, and continue to hone your craft. Unfortunately, right now I think you've got a long way to go in terms of improving your production game before you're ready for OCR primetime. NO