Emunator

Artist Name: Gaspode Spring is coming. Time for some positive vibes. This time in form of five different hometown-themes from The Legend Of Zelda. Because the only place in a big adventure, where you can relax and don’t constantly have to fight Ganons minions, is at Home Sweet Home. Games & Sources Wind Waker Outset Island Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, Kōji Kondō https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toTKXTRpKL4 0:40 – 0:55 1:35 – 2:08 2:08 – 2:24 (in the background) 3:32 – 3:42 (in the background) Ocarina Of Time Kokiri Forest Kōji Kondō https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ6Fq-LfDZQ 0:55 – 1:34 Links Awakening Mabe Village Minako Hamano, Kozue Ishikawa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh6Rm5Jp02U 2:08 – 2:40 Twilight Princess Ordon Village Toru Minegishi, Asuka Hayazaki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSzW0GGRGnI 2:40 – 3:12 Skyward Sword Skyloft Theme Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota, Takeshi Hama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX5mYCrMm58 3:12 – 3:48

Contributions: Xaleph: composer/arranger/lead Song structure, planning, coordination, design 0:39-3:51 Psytrance, sfx, synths, bass, notation, editing, etc (anything not listed below) 3:51-4:44 Supporting percussion and bass 4:59-end Synths, Bass, Sfx, chiptunes (anything not listed below) Emunator: composer/arranger intro -> 1:06 (all until rhythm, then gated choirs) 1:45 -> 2:12 (crying angels piano) 3:51 -> 4:21 (holy piano, distant vocals) 4:57 -> 5:40 (toms + digital bell maridia arp) Zack Parrish: composer/arranger/guitarist 3:51-5:26 (guitars: electric and acoustic) 3:51-4:44 (orchestra: violin 1/2, viola, cello) Lunarice: sound design / sfx / synth design 0:33-0:39 synth sweep + bubble sweep 1:19-2:12 underwater sound, muddy steps 3:51-4:04 + 5:39-5:52 holy sfx pad Designed sound used for 0:39-0:52 light bubble sfx 0:52-1:06 bubble percussion 2:55-3:48 bubble sound provided was used as the percussion/glitch effects Audiomint: Female Voice and Sound Acting 1:06-2:05 (singing + gated singing) 1:06+ "Well" 3:50 "What is this place?" Lucas: Bell midi at 5:26-5:52 Impact sfx used at 5:39 (There was a lot of content in this song from each of the artists, I appreciate their contributions and apologize if I missed something!) Source Usage: 0:40-2:05 Maridia 1:06-1:33 Purification melody comes in and out (volume controlled) - high bells/sine wav 1:59-2:12 Purification melody 2:15-2:56 Purification melody abridged (shortened and given the supporting rhythm for the beat) 2:27-2:30? the stab synth is the maridia melody part/structure sped up and different rhythm/style 2:54-2:56 I finally finish the Purification melody line that started at 1:59 to complete the phrase 3:22-3:35 Very soft mid freq purification melody in staccatto - double hits like purification has it 3:35-3:48 Same melody bumped up an octave 3:52-4:46 (breakdown 2): It's a combined melodies from both, low guitar playing purification mid/top playing with maridia. 4:47-5:26 electric guitar playing purification very fast + synths that support maridia melody 5:26-end both parts playing again till end (modified to fit both songs) (thank you emunator for the midi) Planning - we based this on a story as described below here is a clip from the readme file: ## Main remix D#m 145 bpm ### Story So what's the story of the song? We're team metroid, so I'm 100% going to do this from a Samus perspective I was initially going with more of an ice/frozen theme and them deep sea to make it cold, but that's not going to work with the castlevania approach Samus is in a cave - get's ready to dive into the water (Intro) Samus is in the underground water, tension builds up (Build up 1 + 2) Samus gets to an air pocket, albeit tiny (Breakdown 1) Samus goes back in the water, it's more crazy (Build up 3) Samus finds an opening out of the water above her and it's part of some ruins with a holy shrine (Breakdown 2) The next part of the water is where holy water has mixed with the cave water - she dives in and thinks go crazy here (Build up to Outro) and then final outro she is out of the cave and is looking back at that crazy situation of dark alien waters + holy water (Outro) Games & Sources Super Metroid - Maridia (Rocky Underwater Area) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Purification (Bloody Tears just really slow and very slightly different)

Mel Decision: arrangement, production VARIA: percussion, piano, sound design, and miscellaneous sfx Moebius: chorus Cyril the Wolf: mastering My entry for round 2 of the second Game Set Mash!! compo. When listening through the Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow OST, the dreaminess of Purification gave me instant thoughts of Enya and that "Pure Moods" album commercial I must have seen hundreds of times on TV growing up. Luckily the other team chose "Maridia (Rocky Underwater Area)" from Super Metroid, which is also pretty dreamy. I queued up some Enya and ended up using "Only Time" and "Orinoco Flow" as my main reference tracks. I transposed both of the source songs into the same key and brought in a bunch of major chords in my arrangement to lift the mood, and tried to mimic some classic Enya vibes, like reverb drenched pianos, plucky string ostinatos, and arpeggiated harps. I had intended to write and record vocals for the track, but that never came together. Instead, I layered choral parts using Spitfire Audio's "Epic Choir," and also 8Dio's "Liberis Choir," courtesy of Moebius. I relied on piano and pan flutes to carry the melody, since that felt genre-appropriate. VARIA wrote a nice piano countermelody that helped break the monotony of the flutes. They also put together several layers of percussive, harmonic, and effect tracks that gave the piece depth and polish, such as the driving snare that comes in towards the end. Finally, I passed the track off to Cyril for mastering. Had a ton of fun collaborating with folks on this track. A++ would GSM again! Super Metroid: Maridia (Rocky Underwater Area) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: Purification Games & Sources Super Metroid: Maridia (Rocky Underwater Area) 0:17–1:10: Melody (Pan pipes) 0:04–1:10: Accompaniment (Pizz strings) 2:02–2:40: Accompaniment (Pan pipes, piano, harps) 3:38–4:10: Accompaniment (Piano) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: Purification 0:31–1:10: Accompaniment (Harps) 1:22–1:50, 2:40–4:42: Melody (Pan pipes, piano) 2:02–2:40: Melody (Bansuri) 3:08–3:35: Accompaniment (Harps) Those are specific quotes, the block chords and other harmony were largely drawn from the chords/arps being played in the songs, or we've written new countermelodies and harmonies to go along with the source material. There's probably some stuff I'm missing, it's kind of a jumble...and sometimes we're playing parts from both songs at once, since I transposed them into the same key.

Artist Name: LadyReemz & Marc Papeghin "Beyond the Shores" is a collaboration between LadyReemz ( known as LadyReemz86 on YouTube) and Marc Papeghin ( same name on YT). Ladyreemz wrote original lyrics for the song, envisioning a young fisherman's hopes for the future in the town of Fisherman's Horizon. She also sang lead vocals on the track. Marc Papeghin arranged the music, and sang parts during the chorus of the song. Below are the original lyrics written for the track: Verse 1 The Ocean calls me wherever I go I'd even name it my home I soar I fly, when I float under the sky Clouds endless shapes pass me by Verse 2 * Beneath the surface, treasures left unknown A curious world of its own I dream a day, where one day I'll no longer wait Live life free of all constraints Bridge Why do I wait what for? There's so much more to explore There's no turning back there is just too much to see Beyond these shores, these shores Verse 3 * Oh sturdy wood, do not dare fail me now Father awaits, and we'll make him proud I must I will, the plates tonight I shall fill How much I've grown no more doubt Verse 4 *Oh waves of strength, lull me to sleep Help me find all dreams deep When I wake, I'll know where my heart will set sail to past the horizon with the winds Bridge x 1 Chorus The Ocean calls me wherever I go I'd even name it my home I soar I fly, when I float under the sky Clouds endless shapes pass me by I soar I fly, when I float under the sky Clouds endless shapes pass me by Games & Sources "Beyond the Shores" is an original arrangement of Final Fantasy 8's "Fisherman's Horizon". There is also a few seconds pertaining to the "Game Over" music in FF8.

Artist: Ridley Snipes, Emunator (feat. Xaleph, Lucas Guiamaraes, lunarice, JSABlixer, ZackParrish) [Emunator note: Trevor and I worked on this extensively together and would like to share co-primary artist credits, but since this was really his baby, I'd like for his name to show up first on the MP3 tags and artist listing. If that's not possible, I'd rather him take sole primary artist credits and relegate myself to a featured artist!) Full Credits Ridley Snipes - arranger, producer, engineer, vocals, "lyrics" Emunator - additional bass design, sound design, percussion, vocals Xaleph - additional bass design, vocals Lucas Guimaraes - additional vocals lunarice - additional vocals JSABlixer - additional vocals ZackParrish - additional vocals Comments After two rounds of GSM, we collectively declared the Fusion OST our nemesis and decided to dump Ridley's theme on this one solely to free up the other two picks. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition Evil Macarena! I have always thought that the synth stab in various iterations of this theme sounded like the Macarena hook...and uhh yeah. My original plan was to go full Macarena on this, complete with full verses that blended elements from both the original Los Del Rio Macarena and the Bayside Boys remix. That clearly did not happen...instead I opted for a simple structure with 3 different Ridley drops, each with their own distinct flavor, and allowing the Castlevania source to carry through the more melodic turnarounds of the first two. Mine being more intimate, followed Xalpeh's bouncy psy trappings, and the third being Emunator literally reading my mind and going full evil industrial Macarena. The chant was my substitute for the lyrical content we originally planned - the translation may not be perfect but it's serviceable haha. I wrote up some instructions and left the door open for anyone on the team to record as many wild takes as they wanted and send them my way, which culminated in a meaty 159(!) vocal tracks total that made it into the final product. Very happy to have had this level of participation in my silly blood ritual :) Lyrics Salve diablo Ofrendo mi cuerpo Entrego mi alma Al dios nuestro Dale a tu cuerpo eso vida Macarena!

Artist Name: Moebius My idea was to turn the two selected songs into a Periphery / Tigran Hamasyan - inspired arrangement. They feature time signature changes and polyrhythms derived from the two inspirations. Since Environmental Mystery is very short I decided to use it both as an ostinato figure that plays almost throughout as well as the main motif in the section at 0:55. Collaborations on this arrangement: VARIA: synths pixelseph: guitar paradiddlejosh: drums Cyril the Wolf: bass guitar, mastering Everyone also contributed a lot of feedback in the arrangement and production phases.

Credits Emunator: Primary arrangement, piano writing and performance, vibraphone Zack Parrish: Additional arrangement, guitar performance, bass and drum programming, mixing & mastering Lucas Guimaraes: Voice & sound design (intro) Comments This is our submission from round 2 of the Metroid vs. Castlevania Game Set Mash! competition. Obviously, because nobody in their right mind would ever willingly choose to mash up these two sources. The real "mystery" is why the hell we picked this source in the first place. This piece was a bit of a rush job. The original concept for the mashup came from JSABlixer, who wanted to arrange a multi-instrument Insaneintherain-style jazz piece. Lucas also contributed a rough MIDI skeleton expanding on the idea (as well as the voices and ambiance you hear in the intro!) but after playing with it, we realized we didn't have the time or resources to do something so elaborate, and the approach just wasn't going to be feasible on a deadline. So we essentially started from scratch with roughly 2 days before the deadline. I've never written a jazz piece before, or really performed piano extensively on an arrangement before. That said, I wanted to honor the original vision from JSA and Lucas as closely as possible, even though we were starting the arrangement from scratch, so I dove in headfirst anyway. Zack quickly joined on to save the day with his mindblowingly-realistic bass and drum programming, and laid down some guitar riffs over the track as well. We worked closely together to polish everything up, and with a combined 40 hours of work over 2 days, mustered a buzzer-beater of a track that we submitted within a few hours of the final deadline. The source usage is loose and interpretive but present throughout most of the track, so for the millions of diehard fans of the perennial VGM classic "Environmental Mystery" from Metroid Fusion, you're in for a real treat here.

Artist Name: Lucas Guimaraes This is a bit tricky so bear with me Source Breakdown: The entire bassline from Tallon (0:00-1:00? it's the repeating bass line) except the acoustic sections - (0:00-1:00, 1:30-2:12, 3:04-End) The melody from Overture (0:06-0:15) lifted to the synthesizer chords and guitar (0:00-1:00, 1:30-2:12, 3:04-End) The melody from Overture (0:22-0:36) lifted to vocal choruses (1:00-1:30, 2:32-3:04) The melody from Tallon (1:12-1:47) lifted to the vocal verse 1 (0:30ish-1:00) - The "RIDLEY" is also the first two notes of the melody from Tallon. There might be more, but that covers the big stuff. All counted, that's almost the entire track with source. Collaborators: Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement, Singing, Lyrics Ridleysnipes - Production, Mix, Master, Singing (First half of V2 rap + background noises), Lyrics Zack Parrish - Guitar, Bass Xaleph - Vocal Retuning Lyrics: [Verse 1 - Lucas Guimaraes] Back when I used to wander around my home I knew nowhere was safe from the beasts that roam Maybe we could start over, a brave new land Out there waiting for you, time to make a stand [Chorus - Lucas Guimaraes] Standing in the starlight, easy to say Everything was alright, face to face Now we sit in silence, voided in space Living out our last days, in the rain [Verse 2 - Ridleysnipes & Lucas Guimaraes] Plasma beam this fat back thirst trap Bounty hunter got no contracts Heard no scream in all that black Chase this tail in the abstract You gotta problem? Tank’s empty Femme fatale reppin’ little Orphan Annie Back to the nest, can’t handle the nasty Baby bird thought she could put me on blasty (Yo) Dracula, ain’t he a spatula? I got 99 ways that I could deal witcha Garlic on my neck, mirrors on the pecs Cross-shaped heater and a god complex Bitch, you gonna feel my power Comin’ in at the 13th hour Wouldn’t even have to touch ‘ya Fuck boys always tryna bring that thunder [Chorus - Lucas Guimaraes] Standing in the starlight, easy to say Everything was alright, face to face Now we sit in silence, voided in space Living out our last days, in the rain [Outro - Lucas Guimaraes] Now you’ll see how all you got Is useless up against me Now go to hell, just take the L Tryna act like you was read Ooookay so this one is a doozy. Honestly, I'll have to update this breakdown before this track gets posted (assuming it does). To start at the beginning, Zack and I just wanted to do something that aped the Gorillaz. I had some of the stems from the track, so we started digging into them. I posted up the first demo of me singing like Damon Albarn and Zack and Trevor (Ridleysnipes) started to get HYPED for this track. Then everything got tricky. But what was really tricky was getting the arrangement to work. It reminded me a lot of making chamber music - I had very few pieces to work with and I had to make each one of them move correctly. I wanted the Tallon line to ape the vibe of Feel Good Inc but still be its own thing, and, y'know, still sound like Tallon Overworld. I had to grab parts from the Castlevania 3 track that team Whip picked (which, honestly, I think wasn't a great track but I digress). And I had to basically fit 3 tracks into one while including enough source material and still getting that cohesive vibe. We went back and forth around a few times and we all started to vibe with what I threw down. Then we got to production. A lot of the instrumental production went smoothly, or at least I thought so, Trevor might disagree. But vocals was where we really got into the weaves of it. Trevor and I bounced back a bunch of different lyrics, and this was my first time really getting back into singing on a track. We wanted the most minor details to sing through. And man, out of all 18 tracks this was probably my favorite one produced the whole GSM. I've wanted to get back into original music and make more vocal tracks for a while, and this was definitely the kick Trevor and I both needed. I'm super happy to have made this track and I hope you all enjoy! (#sorrynotsorry for being your source of eternal source breakdown headaches) Edit: Important mention. Xaleph did vocal retuning. I don't know if he wants full mixpost credits for it, but he is still definitely worth mentioning. We needed some of the chorus retuned at the last minute and he was the one that had the most bandwidth to handle it while we were busy getting our other two tracks to the finish line.

VOTE ON THIS VERSION (revised April 19) Hi OCR. For some background, I was doing vgm covers on Soundcloud from 2012-2017 or so and then submitted a (rejected) remix fresh out of college around 2018. After that I focused more on original content, incl. doing music for a VN called Validate, but I thought it'd be fun to try subbing again now that I have a better understanding of producing, arranging, etc. Source Usage I've been submitting WIPs of this one in the Discord for close to a year on and off. I know the biggest point of questioning is probably going to be the source usage; I've added it up a few times and it's roughly 65% source. It's a long-ish remix of a pretty short source so here's a breakdown, timestamped: 0:00-0:45 | Ambience, then "The Street of Rage" main theme kicks off the melodic part at 0:23, then riffing. 0:45-1:11 | The synth bass and percussion from the "A" section of Stealthy Steps. 1:11-2:15 | Full arrangement of the "A" section of Stealthy Steps. 2:15-2:58 | Flourish and original bridge inspired by Revenge of Shinobi, e.g. Ninja Step. 2:58-3:30 | Full arrangement of the "B" section of Stealthy Steps. 3:30-5:05 | Mostly modulations of the source. The piano/guitar echo the "bongo" melody, and at 4:13 the theremin echoes the bass melody. 5:05-5:30 | Ending lick is riffing on the Stealthy Steps "A" section bass. There's only a few external references, all to Yuzo Koshiro: - At the 0:08 mark of Ninja Step, there's a high "charang" stab which gets referenced in the remix at 3:50 onward. - The bassline of Ninja Step gets used by the synth bass and low-octave piano starting around 4:21. - At 1:08 of Attack the Barbarian, there's a quick square lead melody which gets referenced around 3:52 and again and 4:11. Production I think Streets of Rage 1's soundtrack gets overlooked a lot because its arrangements come off as simpler compared to 2 which is why I thought it would be a fun source to expand on. Production-wise, I wanted to achieve a fidelity closer to Streets of Rage 4, but with some "90s arranged CD version" elements i.e. Sound In Action to help it feel more like a throwback. The remix also has the same BPM as the source tune (90) because I wanted to keep it downtempo/funky like Streets of Rage 1 and Revenge of Shinobi compared to 2/3/4 being more inspired by Detroit techno. The arrangement is also somewhat based on in-game context; Stealthy Steps is the BGM for Level 6 which is an industrial/factory stage. The preceding level is a sunset boat/harbor stage hence the helicopter/siren ambience, and the 3:30-5:05 section was meant to be more repetitive so it could be used for the boss fight at the end of the stage. For instrumentation, I'm using a lot of instances of FMDrive and FM8 to recreate Genesis synths; the only thing sampled directly from the game is the "bongo" loop that starts at 0:50 in the remix and it's been processed/chopped up a lot. The more original instruments are mainly using u-he's Diva/Hive/Zebra2 or a MicroKorg, and the piano is a tweaked version of the Hammer Klavier from zircon's Impact Soundworks company. I mainly do progressive electronic so this is a pretty hot/dense mix for me, and it was definitely a challenge to give everything enough breathing room. Including master bus FX it was something like 150 VST instances total. Extras I'm around on the Discord pretty often so if you need anything or have any questions feel free to let me know. I do graphics stuff too so I made track art for the remix (for Soundcloud etc), I'm not sure if it could be included anywhere on the site. Thank you for taking the time to read this! Adrian Stealthy Steps: Ninja Step: Attack the Barbarian: The Street of Rage:

Hi OCR! Here is a piano arrangement of ff5 Search of Light and a little of Pirate Ahoy. As an exercise, I tried at the beginning to play a heroic theme of ff5 in a nostalgic mood. I've found the result interesting and I’ve started to develop this to get a complete arrangement. I've begun with heroic harmonies of Search of Light’s intro, those I’ve adapted in soft arpeggios. The main theme comes after (part 2 to 4). At part 5, I continue the melodic line with some arpeggios like in intro. Parts 6 and 7 get closer to the heroic mood of the original. By using some variations in harmony, I've recognized a little Pirate Ahoy. So I’ve integrated some winks and I conclude the arrangement by Pirate Ahoy, in the same mood as the beginning. For the title, I've thought to a flag used by some warriors of the see, in the light side. Enjoy! Guillaume BREAKDOWN Part 1 : 0’00 : Search of Light intro (0’00 -> 0’03) Part 2 : 0’43 : SL 0’03 -> 0’22 Part 3 : 1’19 : SL 0’22 -> 0’30 Part 4 : 1’40 : SL 0’03 -> 0’22 Part 5 : 2’13 : SL 0’22 -> 0’30 with key transposition of 0’30 Part 6 : 2’30 : Variation of SL 0’03 -> 0’22 introducing harmonies of Pirate Ahoy and some winks to Pirate Ahoy Part 7 : 3’05 : SL 0’30 -> 0’44 Part 8 : 3’28 : SL 0’03 -> 0’22 and PA 0 -> 0’40 together Part 9 : 3’58 : PA 0 -> 0’40 Games & Sources Game & Songs: Final Fantasy 5 Composer: Nobuo UEMATSU

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

Credits: Emunator: Arrangement, programming/orchestration, production, keys, mixing Zack Parrish: Arrangement (from 2:51-end), guitar (electric lead from 0:00-:42, acoustic from 1:08-1:21, electric lead from 3:08-3:24), additional orchestration (choir, percussion, harp, flourishes), mastering Lucas Guimaraes: Guitar, synth, additional percussion, spoken word (from 2:51-3:25) Ridley Snipes: Guitar - Electric Lead (from 1:34-1:50 and 2:17-2:24) Xaleph: Synth Bass (from 0:59-3:26) Comments: Something about the Game Set Mash!! competition always pushes me into overdrive. I can linger on a far less complex track for years, but as soon as that 1 week deadline comes into play, I will immediately put aside all my life obligations and let scope creep take over. This time, though, with the combined power of Team Gun at my disposal, I actually had a fighting chance at getting something done. The final product reflects 60 hours of my own work over the span of 1 week, and an untold amount of feedback and contributions from the rest of the team. This is not the first time I've remixed Phendrana Drifts - it's my favorite theme from the Metroid universe and I knew I wanted to do something with it during this compo, but level up beyond what I was able to do back in 2013. I wanted to capture all of the different feelings that I get from the Metroid Prime universe - isolation, hostile environments, dramatic storytelling, and epic cinematic moments - all in one arrangement. Production-wise, everyone's contributions really tied this together. Bass wizard Xaleph programmed some incredible synth bass that keeps things exciting during the first half, and Ridley Snipes busted out the axe for a couple of perfectly-timed guitar punch-ins. I was struggling to come up with a way to bridge the primarily-electronic first half of the track with the more cinematic second act, so Lucas Guimaraes put together a whole sketch for that section, including guitars, synths, and a really cool spoken word interlude that now serves as the connective tissue that links this whole arrangement together. I also have to shoutout another Team Gun member Ronald Poe, who wrote some countermelodies that unfortunately didn't work in the arrangement, but I did feed into a big effects chain to create the phazon-esque ambiance you hear in the outro and throughout the track. For the back half of the arrangement, Zack Parrish pulled out his classic "midi skeleton" approach where he writes out a mockup melody/countermelody/chords/bassline without instruments or articulations, and I expanded that into something fully orchestrated and produced. This was easily the most challenging and rewarding part of the process - I've worked with orchestral elements in songs before but this was by far the farthest I've gone in terms of programming an orchestra and was very pleased with the result. We bounced it back one more time for Zack to add some incredible programmed choir and some additional cinematic flourishes across the track, as well as a diverse array of guitar solos to tie it all together. I'm tremendously proud of what our team was able to put together in such a short time, and how much I learned in the process. Suffice to say, I think this expands on all the ideas I had back in 2014 when I produced Sub-Zero and brings a lot of new tricks to the table as well! Games & Sources Metroid Prime: Pendrana Drifts Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: Lost Painting

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