Emunator

Contributors: ZackParrish, Emunator, Xaleph, RidleySnipes, Lucas Guimaraes, JSABlixer, Lunarice, Ronald Poe For this track I had a kind of chaotic vision for how to do things. I have had a similar idea in the past but because of time restrictions, availability, etc... it didn't happen. Well, what better way to negate that former statement than to try and pull off the same idea with even LESS time. The concept was simple... I spend a few hours banging out a sketch / skeleton of what the track will be... melody, counter melody, harmony, bass, etc. I then share this skeleton with the entire team and ask them all to contribute as much or as little as they want to the concept, and that they won't get to hear how they are going to be implemented until the track is 100% done. I, of course, would be contributing my own portion of stems for this monstrosity, frankentrack. So when the 3rd round of Game Set Mash 2 kicked off, I dove in and conjured up the skeleton / base for everyone to work from. As I awaited their contributions I worked on my own pieces, as darkness loomed around the corner. Stupid COVID kind of came in and demolished my family that week, and I got nailed with it myself leading up to the weekend. I had already asked Wes to be my main support for this track but I had not planned on leaning on him so heavily. By Friday we had a huge pool of stems to work with and imported them all while the drugs were suppressing the ick in my body, so Wes and I hopped on voice and talked through where to feature different parts, what to cut, what was missing, and set out a plan for getting it all moving along. The first pass was already surprisingly pleasant sounding but obviously had a few kinks to work out, and lots of filler for sections that weren't fully realized. Ultimately because of my dwindling energy I asked Wes to pickup the slack where I left off. We both spent a lot of time over the weekend pounding out parts and fine tuning transitions to make it a more cohesive and enjoyable experience, all still without the rest of the team having a clue how their parts were being used. :) It was a blind collaborative effort and I can't thank Wes enough for keeping me alive through it because I did not expect to get that stupid virus the one week I decide to take the lead on a track. :| We tried to incorporate as many ideas from the team's submissions as we could and kept way more than we cut, even sliding the full track over to add even more to the intro. Overall the project file had 175 tracks and a hefty dosage of automation. My computer from 10 years ago would have burst into flames trying to render it, but thankfully it is 2024 and that's not a problem. We hope you enjoy this different approach to producing a remix. As to who contributed what... Games & Sources Metroid Prime - Menu Select Theme Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Forbidden Area

I hear what y'all are saying, but if I can be totally honest, I am weary of working on this track. Anything that's not a total dealbreaker, I'm likely going to let slide just because this project file is a dumpster fire at this point and it takes a lot just to open up anything and make any tweaks. It's 9 years old and it's behaving like it :(

@MindWanderer@prophetik music@Liontamer Finally got a new version of this out, with Chimpazilla assisting with some additional help on the mix and a shiny new master!

My fellow judges hit the nail on the head here, not much more that I can say. This shows a lot of promise for an early concept but there's a lot to learn about mixing theory to help you achieve a balanced, clean-sounding mix. There's a number of great resources on Youtube that can help you here - since this is FL Studio specific, I would check out In The Mix (https://www.youtube.com/c/inthemix). I've learned a ton about the basics of mixing and mastering a song from him. This will just be a matter of practice to get to the next level, but you've got a solid start. Hope to see you again soon! NO

Mike always knows how to keep it simple and clean, even when the sounds get a little bit dirty. The arrangement is never the most ambitious in terms of sound design or radically altering the original melodies, but you always know how to set a mood, and the production is silky smooth. The Brinstar bass has just the right amount of swagger to work with the trap beat underneath it. Not much more to say, nice work as always! YES

Cosigning the above gentlemen - nothing more to add here, I absolutely agree that deconstructing an original song and recreating it is a great tool for learning and understanding what makes an original piece work, but it's not what we're looking for here. NO

I found a lot that I really enjoyed about this - your guitar tone is excellent, and for the most part, I thought your kit drums fit the style you were going for great. The weak link is definitely the kick drum though, and the bass is practically inaudible in the mix. Without any low-end presence for most of the track, it just feels imbalanced and doesn't set a solid foundation for the rest of your instruments. This especially takes the wind out of the transition at 3:55, which should pack a huge punch when the instrumentation drops back in, but it just falls flat. Source usage aside, I do think this warrants a resubmission on mixing grounds alone - the lack of bass presence is a dealbreaker, but if you were to resubmit this, I'd encourage you to include a breakdown of all the areas you used the original source and how it was adapted, so we're not potentially missing anything. NO (resubmit)

The mixing on this is pretty brash and aggressive in a way that evokes old keygen music ? It's all clean as hell though, the pulsating bassline feels like a brain massage in a good way with how much clarity you have between all the elements in your mix. The drums are almost comically larger-than-life, but again, it works. In the hands of someone with less of a keen ear for mixing and frequency balance, this could have been a disaster but you stuck the landing! Great stuff man. YES

Have to co-sign with the judges above - the concept is all there, it's a really beautiful fusion of melodies, but the impact of the arrangement is overshadowed by poor mixing and mastering. There's no impact to be felt because everything is slammed against the limiter so hard - everything is cranked up to 11, and because your arrangement is actually densely layered with so many layers, nothing is really coming through. While 2:20 is subjectively not too short for an arrangement, I do agree that this just fizzles out toward the end with no real climax or resolution. Especially since the original Ocarina of Time Title Theme basically hands you a perfect resolution on a silver platter, it's disappointing that this arrangement just stops mid-stream. There's a TON of potential hear, I would love to hear this back with cleaner mixing and better macro-dynamics, as well as a proper resolution to the composition. NO (resubmit!)

Artist Name: jnWake Collabers: minusworld on guitars and bass, Shea's Violin on violin. Even more entries from DoD! This one was my submission for the recent Free Month in february 2024. "Danger" from Secret of Mana is a track I've wanted to cover for years. In fact, at some point I thought about claiming it for OCR's Mana album years back but I could never figure out how to approach remixing it then. If you've listened to the track before, you know it's a pretty tricky one... Anyway, the years passed and I finally felt confident enough to tackle it, going with my somewhat usual metal approach. I looked online at the existing covers of the track and didn't find a metal cover that really impressed me and that gave me the drive to really go with it... I later learned that DoD's norg had done an awesome cover of it for the "Spectrum of Mana" album though, luckily after I had already submitted to DoD so it couldn't hurt my confidence hehe. K, so the concept behind the remix is an interpretation of the source I once read online. For the first minute or so, the source is a very chaotic track, full of chromatic runs, diminished chords and no catchy melodies. Then, there's a small break and a high energy melody comes in and the second minute is much more uplifting and less chaotic. Some people say this is meant to represent how when the boss battle starts you're lost but then as it progresses you understand what to do and eventually win. I liked this interpretation and decided to extend it for my remix. For source usage, I'll describe the original a bit: A - 0:00-0:10: A descending chromatic riff and an ascending chromatic bass. I use both in the remix. B - 0:11-0:21: A chaotic rhytm that goes Asus4 to Csus4. C - 0:42-0:52: Absolutely wild chromatic run. There's also a somewhat weird melody going on in the background on E. Piano. D - 0:53-1:08: Can we call this a melody? It's heavy on diminished chords (mostly E and Eb, but some G and Ab as well). E - 1:09-1:13 - Transition between sections, I like to separate between the initial arpeggio like thing and the bass that goes Ab-A-Bb-B-C-Db. F - 1:13-1:34 - Uplifting melody! Heroes are now winning. G - 1:35-1:45 - This part is a bit odd, almost sounds like a victory theme. It's some melodies over C and Bb major chords. H - 1:46-1:54 - A little build up, notice this part has some chords on guitar, a lick on bass and a fun arpeggio-ish thing on EPiano. I -1:55-2:02 - A small melody to end the loop and return to A. 9 different sections! I told you the source was wild. Now, for the remix... 0:00-0:38: All of this is based on the "A" section, a variation of the descending riff on the first few seconds. Rhytm guitar riff basically follows the rhytm of the chromatic descent as well. The chromatic riff then moves to a xylophone and is accompanied by an original chord progression. 0:39-0:49: Chord progression from B on acoustic guitar. Rhytm guitar does the same riff the backing does in the source. 0:50-1:00: A variation of the previous riff on an original chord progression. 1:01-1:23: Same riff from B on guitar, lead plays a variation of the uplifting melody (F). The idea is that the heroes are trying to fight back in some way. 1:24-1:35: Pretty much C but metal. Seems the heroes aren't doing well in their attempt to fight back. 1:36-1:49: Pretty much D but with slightly changed timings. 1:50-2:00: C again, but now the backing riff is based on the EPiano line and the beat is much slower for drama. 2:01-2:09: Diminished chords from D return in a variation based on a part from prog. band Haken's Falling Back to Earth. Transition ends with a repetition of the intro. 2:10-2:31: minus plays a ridiculous chaotic solo on top of the ascending chromatic riff from A and then a riff similar to the one from the intro. 2:32-2:45: Transition based on E. At this point, the heroes are almost done. 2:46-3:32: Acoustic progression is original, piano solo begins with a variation of the F melody (also has a quote of the main Secret of Mana theme). Heroes are slowly trying to regroup and escape defeat. 3:33-3:43: A variation of G, on 7/8 and with F and Eb as bass notes to make it a little more confusing and less triumphant. 3:44-4:06: Another minus solo! This one is more melodic and emotional. 4:07-4:19: Melody from I here, extended a bit. Heroes are gathering strength! At 4:16 some themes from the first section return, as if to say the Boss isn't done... 4:20-4:43: Uplifting melody in full force! (F) First on D minor and then on E minor. 4:44-4:53: Repeat of the G variation. 4:54-5:16: Riff from H! Here we have a violin part by Shea. 5:17-5:27: Guitar riff based on the bass part of H, melody is yet another variation of the F melody. 5:28-5:47: Melody from I returns and is extended even more! 5:48-end: For the outro, the chord progression from B returns! Hope you enjoy! As small piece of trivia, I think the MIDI I used as base to learn the source was made by Rexy so... thanks!

Yeah, prophetik did a great job breaking down the specifics of why this mix is weird and where you should focus your efforts to fixing it. It was immediately obvious to my ears that something was off without even looking at a frequency analyzer. There's also a huge amount of unintentional distortion going on on the master track due to the loudness. I can't really sign off on this or give more specifics in its current form - there's a ton of energy present here and it certainly seems like you've got a lot of great ideas in the arrangement, but the mixing is actively bringing down the listening experience and needs some serious TLC. NO

I initially said I wouldn't vote on any GSM competition tracks since I participated in it, but this has been sitting here for long enough, let's... do whatever the opposite of putting something out of its misery is! This is a stellar arrangement with serviceable mixing and sample quality across the board. The bass mud is definitely real, and as with some of your previous submissions, the kit drums are a weak link compared to the mixed orchestral percussion, but the arrangement is just stunningly emotive and beautiful. At 2 minutes long, it still feels like it has enough time to say everything it needs to say without dragging on. YES

Professionals turning out professional-quality work. Who'd have thunk it? :) Great job Zack, even after all these years this holds up fantastically! Violin is a little shrill playing at that super high register, but that's my only beef.

Hi all, glad to be submitting another one! Title: No Castle for Old Belmonts Collaborators: pixelseph (composition, arrangement, guitars, engineering, mixing) paradiddlesjosh (drums) colorado weeks (bass) mel decision (synths) This one was made for Game, Set, Mash!! vol 2, round 1, and smashes together Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow's Heart of Fire (which is technically itself a mashup of Castlevania's Heart of Fire and Haunted Castle's Don't Wait Until Night) and Metroid Fusion's Sector 4 / AQA (Aquatic Control Level Area). The remix title is a play on No Country for Old Men and underscores a sort of what if..? scenario of Julius Belmont running through a strange castle on a different planet. I'm not going to run through every single VST and virtual instrument here (though the NewGrounds post for this mix does contain all that info), but I will break down source usage and scope! Scope: Progressive metal aesthetics leaning on guitars and keys for lead work. The usual Pixels & Paradiddles synthetic orchestra was replaced by chips and synths for this one to better capture the Metroid feel. Stylistically, we tried to bring elements of Metallica (The Thing That Should Not Be), Tool (The Pot), and Pink Floyd (Dogs) into the Castlevania fold. Source Usage: Intro (12 bars; Sector 4 A section) - Pad swells on a unison A note; phaser and sound design elements A (8 bars; Don’t Wait Until Night A section) - guitars enter, playing the riff in Amin rather than Dmin. Bass plays Sector 4 octaves as harmony under guitars. B (16 bars; Sector 4 B/Don’t Wait Until Night C section) - guitar and Rhodes take melody, bass plays Sector 4 B section octave stacks but modulates key as in DWUN. C (8 bars; Don’t Wait Until Night D section) - Rhodes has melody, guitar has harmony, bass and rhythm guitar stab dotted-eighth hits for the chords rather than the groove D (8 bars; Heart of Fire A section) - Rhodes and seq synth round-robin the melody, lead guitar bends; band plays D5 - Bb5 - G5 - Amaj7 (i-VI-iv-V7) E (8 bars; Sector 4 B section) - Rhodes and seq synth round-robin the melody, band plays modified version of S4B. The riff is syncopated - the ‘a' of beat 4 is the accented hit, the 'and’ of beat 1 on the next measure carries the pattern (16th notes with a 32nd-32nd-16th gallop before the accented hit) A Reprise (4 bars) - band plays the riff in Dmin for the first time; Rhodes and seq synth carry the melody that was missing from the beginning of the piece Outro/E Reprise (16 bars; first 8 Sector 4 B melody, last 8 play Heart of Fire B melody) - synths/keys out, lead guitar takes melody Intro, A-B-C-D-E-A'-E-A'-D', Outro

This is a set of orchestral variations on the original theme, written and mixed in 2015. I use the term "orchestral variations" as opposed to regular variations to denote a piece where the orchestration, rather than the themes, is what suffers drastic changes throughout, as such: 00:00 Theme A on piano 00:15 Theme B on piano & strings 00:26 Variation I A: woodwinds, triangle, piano, & strings 00:42 Variation I B: woodwinds, triangle, harp, & strings 00:52 Variation II A: small percussion & strings 01:07 Variation II B: woodwinds, small percussion, & strings 01:17 Variation III A: bassoon, xylophone, harpsichord, & strings 01:33 Variation III B: harp & strings 01:43 Variation IV A: full orchestra 01:59 Variation IV B: pipe organ & orchestra 02:12 Variation V A: pipe organ & percussion 02:42 Coda Final mixing and mastering by Miguel Jesus

Previous Decision: This is one of those "long time listener, first time caller" situations. I first heard of OCRemix back around the year 2000 while downloading Chrono Trigger MP3s off of KaZaa (remember that?). There was a feature that allowed clients and hosts to message one another while connected for P2P filesharing; out of the blue, one of the hosts simply dropped a link to ocremix.org along with a simple message saying "good music here". I discovered a wonderfully blue website with even more wonderful music which has brought me great joy over the years. The rest is history. This particular track was originally a FL studio practice workspace that I started working on back in 2020. I was attempting to create "massive" drums and eerie soundscapes similar to what the artist Lorn is able to achieve. While I was never able to successfully emulate Lorn's sound, I did have some success on the soundscape front and continued to work on dark ambient tracks. I've always struggled with remixing the work of other artists which is why I've only worked on my own projects until now. I find it to be too constricting to be bound to source material I had no hand in creating. As a result, this RedBrinstar project languished on my computer untouched and unfinished for years. I happened upon it while juiced to the gills on booze and pain meds after a long day of having my face drilled on by my favorite dentist, and in my slightly drug addled state I decided to finish it off while I still had time off of work. Coming back to a project after four years was difficult, and the project space was naught more than a shoddily constructed house of torn cards. Countless system crashes from FL10 -> FL20 conversion errors combined with the buggy 32-bit version of Famisynth resulted in a project space that would randomly implode at the slightest provocation (also, did you know that if you convert a FL10 project to a FL20 project that it takes your four default send channels and automatically transfers them to mixer tracks 100 - 104?). As I was nearing the end of my efforts, my trusty m-audio soundcard which had served me so well over the past decade finally had a complete meltdown. At that point, the only way to actually hear the track was to export it to a cloud service and listen to it on a different device entirely. Have you ever tried mixing a track that you can't hear? I can say from experience that it comes with its own set of frustrations and challenges! I found myself in iterative hell as I tried to simply get the music to develop into what I knew it could be and even then it wasn't enough. As I sat in silence contemplating this wretched failure, I recalled an unusual track I recorded which was simply two minutes of guttural groaning emitted from a rusty and decaying piano chair that I picked up at a yard sale for $5 many years prior. Although the source sample was easy enough to record, it didn't sound like much of a track on it's own. However, it did have the decaying hellscape vibes Red Brinstar gave off when I first experienced the beauty of Super Metroid back in 1994. At this point, I overlayed the two tracks and spent many long and late hours wrestling with the overall audio to give listeners the abyssal sounds of alien hell. I hope you enjoy this abyssal hellscape more than I enjoyed creating it. tl;dr an abyssal hellscape of automation and reverberation Inception: 2/1/20 Cost: 88 hours, 54 minutes Tools: FL20 Famisynth Nani Rusty chair Final iteration 064 - the echo of death sustains existence

This is a really interesting arrangement. I see what you're going for but find that the constant full-stop transitions give this a very detached feeling. Using that trick once or twice would probably not cause me to bat an eye, but it gives the arrangement a very patchwork feeling without a clear focus. This *can* work, but it's clear that you're going for something with more of a cinematic bend to it - the Vangelis influence is clear, but it's missing the intentional progression and fully fleshed out soundscapes that are present in his work. The sound design that you do have is pretty cool, but the track loses its way multiple times along the way on an arrangement level, and overall feels like a sketchpad of ideas that sometimes connect smoothly. You've got a very strong first pass here, but I think this needs to go back to the cutting room floor for another pass at editing and arrangement. [vote updated below]

Absolutely beautiful piano tone and recording here. I'm consistently amazed at how dynamic and varied artists are able to get with these ocarina songs - the core is so simple, but you've demonstrated a mastery of your instrument that allows you to spin the source material in so many different directions without ever feeling simply like a tech demo showcase. There's a clear dynamic curve to your arrangement that feels very deliberate, with the exception of the very sudden ending which felt unsatisfying. On a personal note, the way that this was mic'd picks up a lot of the sustain pedal releases, which felt distracting to me. I normally like leaving ancillary room/performer/pedal noises in recordings, but in this case, it felt weirdly isolated as there wasn't a lot of other organic sounds that made their way into the recording. I actually didn't notice the static buzz that other judges talked about - I thought they were referring to the pedal noises but those are still fully present in Chimpazilla's denoised WAV, so that must be something else entirely. Either way, clear pass for me - it's a really beautiful take that deserves all the accolades it's been given! YES

That intro groove is ridiculous. It's clear that you embraced the silliness of the original source, but gave it a bit of a stumbling cadence that accentuates that energy even further and lets it become fully unhinged. The original source feels like a casual, confident stroll along the first hole fairway, whereas your arrangement strikes me as more of a tipsy stumble over the 17th green after you've spent a day pounding beers on the course. Still just as fun, but definitely a different kind of golf ;) This format gives you a chance to really showcase your musical talents without restraint, and I love it. TSori and Zack both bring the heat, but that's, err, par for the course. The loose swing rhythms that prophetik called out on some of the sections feels in-step with the overall vibe of the track, and scans as a feature, not a defect. Listener mileage may vary, but I'm all on board with this! YES

**Impact of Iwata Album Track** Credits: Production Main arrangement, production, programming, additional editing: Emunator Additional arrangement: CNDR Mixing, mastering: ErichWK Brass arrangement, string arrangement, orchestration: Lucas Guimaraes Additional string arrangement: Marissa Turnage Additional Audio Editing: Zack Parrish, Emunator, Ridley Snipes Band Keys/Synths: Emunator Guitar (Lead/Rhythm): CNDR Bass (Writing and Original Performance): CNDR Bass (Performance): ErichWK Drums, Percussion: ErichWK String Section Violin 1/2: Marissa Turnage Viola: Andrew Steffen Cello: Chromatic Apparatus Brass Section Trumpet: TSori Trombone: Brandon Harnish Winds Flute, Alto Flute: Gamer of the Winds Bassoon: Andrew Gossett Sax - Alto: Lucas Guimaraes, Steven Higbee Sax - Soprano: Gamer of the Winds Sax - Tenor (Ensemble): Lucas Guimaraes, Steven Higbee Sax - Tenor (Solo): Zack Parrish Extra shoutouts to Ridley Snipes, Paradiddles Josh, and Hemophiliac, who also made contributions that were ultimately cut from the final track, and provided invaluable feedback along the way! Comments: Emunator: So, this was supposed to be a lo-fi track. I was supposed to be done with this in 10 hours maximum. But sometimes, when the white rabbit presents itself, you have no choice but to follow and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. In this case, my white rabbit was CNDR casually commenting on my lo-fi work in progress: "Hey, this reminds me a little bit of Earth, Wind and Fire." He laid down some scratch guitar tracks to illustrate the vision (some of which are still present in the final mix at 3:50.) From there, we took that concept to the logical extreme - recruiting an entire band and orchestra ensemble to transform the stunning National Park into a bonafide 70's soul jam. The arrangement started with CNDR and I swapping audio recordings and chord progressions over Discord and Facetime to build out a skeleton arrangement, and him laying down guitar/bass riffs to build off of my keyboard instruments. If I had to pick two words to summarize the next 7 months of work that ensued, it would be this: scope creep. Everything that could be performed live, we found a performer for. We went all-out with the orchestration. We spent days on end in melodyne and iZotope RX polishing the recordings. Even the final mix and master was nearly a month-long process, with some full restarts along the way. From the first concept to the moment I finally had a finished WAV in my hands, the process took me over 150 hours of working time and 7 months, and countless hours of work from a host of collaborators who I am now eternally indebted to. Everyone involved put an irreplaceable touch on the finished product, but I do need to shout out a few key players who really made this possible: CNDR, for being the muse for this arrangement and your tireless effort to help work out an arrangement that captured the essence of 70's soul music, and for your killer guitar and bass chops that brought an unmistakable character to the track. ErichWK, for being an absolute machine on the drums, bass, and behind the console - you put in SO MUCH WORK getting the mix to shimmer in a way that I never could have accomplished myself. You are a true professional, my friend. Lucas Guimaraes and Marissa Turnage, who, in addition to performing many of the parts on the track, took my rudimentary MIDI arrangements and transformed them into a full orchestration and also battled MuseScore and Sibelius to get functional sheet music that our performers could actually use. And Zack Parrish, for volunteering countless hours of his valuable time slaving away in Melodyne to get all of our live recordings to line up perfectly, and for dropping in a smooth tenor sax solo at the 11th hour for good measure. Ultimately, the final product exceeded even my wildest hopes and dreams, and I'll always treasure what this team put together. But more than just the outcome, the process of getting to the finish line was worth just as much. I can't stress enough how under-qualified I was to tackle something of this scope, but I've absorbed such an incredible amount of knowledge from each of my collaborators that I'll carry with me into future projects. I'm proud of what we've made and what I've learned about collaboration in the process. I'll leave the final word to CNDR, who, when prompted for submission comments, summarized it all better than I ever could: "Long live the funk." Games & Sources Pokémon Soul Silver: National Park

Credits: Emunator: Arrangement, keyboards, programming, additional mixing Flexstyle: Arrangement, programming, mixing, mastering Comments: Emunator: Mike and I always do our best work in real-time, and this one covers in-person studio sessions at both of our houses, and a couple of virtual Zoom mixing sessions as well. We started off with Mike programming the beats and that nasty custom 808 patch and me playing all of the melodies and riffs on keys, but things eventually went a bit off course. By the end of the process, we both contributed arrangement ideas, drums, bass, and more toward this twisted spin on hip-hop, inspired equally by 24/7 lo-fi study playlists and hard-hitting drill beats from artists like Pop Smoke or Drake. Our original concept was strictly meant to be a cozy lo-fi romp through the forests of Lumbridge, not a care in the world as you chop trees, build fires, and kill cows. But the call of the wild was too strong to resist, and things turn dark as you approach the edge of the woods. The temptation of riches and power becomes too strong to ignore, and you step over the line that has forever separated civilized society from the lawless expanse that lay beyond. You're in the wilderness now. You're overcome with insatiable bloodlust, the urge to vanquish your foes becomes a roiling tempest within your spirit. There's no turning back now, this is what you were made for. Glory shall not be denied. You approach your first unsuspecting victim, wielding a longsword made of iron and a steadfast heart made of gold. And with a swing of your blade... Zero damage. Huh? Crap. Your foe turns around, sly grin on their face, and with and a single crack of their Abyssal Whip, it's all over in an instant. As the world fades to black around you as you teleport back to Lumbridge, you hear the echo of their parting words... "~~get rekt, n00b~~" Flexstyle: I'm infamous for not having played hardly anything I've ReMixed, but not this time! I spent so much time in Runescape as a kid in the early/mid-2000s, and this theme is burned into my brain from that era. When Wes and I sat down and decided we wanted to remix something together in a more lo-fi style, this is what came up, and I'm glad he was willing to run with it! I contributed a bit of arrangement and some sound design, and tightened down the final mix/master. Now all we need is a good rapper to drop some PK-ing bars for this Wilderness trap (beat)....anyways, enjoy this new flavor from the two of us!

Forest Haven pops in briefly on the lead bell melody at 1:46 :) It's a subtle thing that's mixed and mashed with the main Zelda theme, but the ascending riff at 1:46 specifically is :11 in Forest Haven (or Kokiri Forest if you will, I think they share the same tune.) I wasn't sure if I was even quoting a Zelda song during the creation process so I had to look it up to verify what I actually used when I was writing the submission letter!

I find myself siding with the YES's on this - there's ample amounts of creativity on display here and the execution is pretty strong for what it is. I find that the main flaws with this track are the same issues that I've expressed with other VQ subs lately, where a good round of editing and culling would likely result in a stronger product, but I don't think that trying to finesse the EQ/balance/mixing would really result in a stronger product. From my vantage, the issues underlying this are more to do with the arrangement and writing phase of the process - it's not that any of the ideas present are bad, but you have too many of them vying for attention and that's introducing complications to the mixing process that can't always be solved with mixing tools. I already feel like this track is teetering on the verge of being completely overcooked, but as it stands, you pulled it out of the oven just in time to still have something edible and actually enjoyable. There's lessons to be learned from this to make a better cake next time around, but it's hard for me to honestly say that you don't have a pretty good cake on your hands if we're just looking at what's in front of us :) Onward and upward from here, I say! YES

I'm into this! I am in the same boat as Lucas where I don't quite know what I want to do yet, but you can definitely count me in for *something* :)

Banger alert! This track comes in hot and stays there. The synth design is really expressive, even if it doesn't venture too far outside the realm of Genesis FM sounds. I don't really mind repetition in an arrangement as much as other judges, and the ideas that are presented are executed well. Mixing and mastering is solid, let's ship it. YES