Palpable

I don't think it is different for anyone. If you feel a job is worth not taking money for, it's your prerogative to decide. I did some music for a friend's wedding for free. I've also done small software tasks for friends for free. Plenty of photographers do free work or reduced price work when starting out, to build their portfolio. There's many reasons why someone might decide to do free work, and I think it's a bad idea to put a blanket condemnation on work without pay. We don't have a good idea of whether Bruno Mars is happy with the deal he got (I suspect he's overjoyed, considering they usually go for more established acts), but would you be ok with him offering to play for free on Super Bowl, rather than him being offered the same deal by the Super Bowl producers? Exposure is a red herring when talking about the problem of devaluing work, at least as it applies to most people. Even if the Super Bowl paid their musicians well, we would still hear the same excuses from clients. It's because it's not the issue - the issue is that clients continually try to pay lower prices and will use ANY EXCUSE, including exposure, to get contractors to buy into it.

I think if the Super Bowl could get away with it without looking bad, they'd probably take a cut of what the performers get from the exposure. And the performers would still take the deal! I mean, a company pays millions for a one-minute commercial. Bruno Mars got 12 minutes of free advertising. If a two-year old album of Bruno Mars' is climbing back up the charts now, I'm sure he's quite happy with this. I think you're getting too caught up in the principle in this specific case - exposure on that scale is worth a hell of a lot, and I wouldn't be surprised if any standard fee the Super Bowl could pay would be nominal in comparison. How about if instead of hiring a musician, they just ran a Bruno Mars ad? Would that make more sense principle-wise? The Super Bowl is one isolated venue, when the problem you mention is a lot more widespread, and way more prevalent on the smaller scales, like with indie game companies and bars. Musicians are underpaid, but the Super Bowl is the wrong target to go after, because the promise of exposure there really is worth it. Morals about devaluing of work be damned; if they offered to let me play at the Super Bowl, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I'd probably pay for the privilege.

To add to this, exposure on the level of the Super Bowl is clearly worth it - beside the exposure, all expenses are paid for, and often companies sponsor the performers anyway. If it has a negative impact, it's only on those too naive to understand what's going on, because the performers are getting an excellent deal out of it. If smaller-time venues/companies try to swindle artists by mentioning "exposure" and citing the Super Bowl as an example, it's up to the artists to realize that exposure doesn't work the same way on a much smaller scale. There's nothing inherently wrong with getting exposure instead of a fee though.

Happy birthday Deia! You're my favorite judge after myself (but it's a close call)

Aaah this one is so close to the bar for me, but lacks that extra little bit to push it over. Like everyone has said, great source choice. You didn't do anything drastic to it, but your arrangement still shows a good deal of creativity and taste. I particularly liked the hi-hat and percussive synth work, it was really spot-on. Here's what could have been improved, in order of importance for me - most of it has been touched on already. One, the lead instrument has almost no automation or motion to it. It's a big deal because it's used a lot in the song, and it needed to have more character, whether through glides, filtering, or some other automation. Two, the vocal instrument was not a great choice. The lack of automation also hurts here, and combined with the cheesy quality makes it unsuitable as a lead. Three, the beat does tend to drag after a while and could have used some additional fills or something small to spice it up. Four, the dubstep section was a tad underwhelming. It's a small thing, but it didn't sound uh... annoying enough. Very very close for me. Like OA said, this would have been eaten up back in the early days of the site. Nowadays it takes a little more to get posted. NO (resubmit)

I can always count on Mike to bring some moody guitar music to the table, and there's a lot to like about this track. The intro is really sweet, especially those little fragments of acoustic guitar. I'd like those to peek out a little more - too much the space was taken up by the electric guitar riff. The snare work that you added after that was nice, but the timing of the electric guitar started to go off. It sounded like you looped it, and towards the end of the loop, it got off track. Not a huge deal though. When the main song kicked in at 1:48 is when I started hearing bigger problems. First off, the piano is very mechanical, possibly overcompressed. All the notes hit at the same volume and there's no space in it. The electric guitar in the intro had a similar treatment, but for some reason sounded more natural than the piano. The main drum pattern is also in kind of a no-mans land, where it doesn't sound quite fake enough to be a hip-hop kind of loop, but doesn't sound varied enough over the course of the song to be real drums. I also think there was too much reliance on that one background riff and it wore over the song. Consider dropping it out for a few measures here and there. Your awesome lead guitar there can more than carry the song for a while. The ending was its own kind of strange. You introduced a new section with some heavier guitar and drums every couple measures, but it sounded like it was leading into something else. Instead it faded out. I didn't think it was a very strong way to end the song - having one super heavy section followed by a sparse fadeout outro is one option that I think would have worked better. I also liked Flex's suggestion of getting into the 32nd notes here and there on the hi-hat for some added energy and realism. There's some good ideas here, but on the whole, it needs further refinement. I don't hear a particularly strong direction for this song and it could use more detail work. NO (resubmit)

There's some great arrangement ideas in this, but wow does this sound like a medley. There's almost no unified feeling at all, just abrupt cutovers between songs. There are key changes, drum changes, no parts to bridge anything - only the instrumentation stays the same. I mean, it's hard to pass on a song with a great band performance and strong arrangement ideas like this, but this is definitely a medley. The production felt a little small to me, like there was space to bring up the drums and bass or use more reverb, but that has almost no bearing on my vote. The medley structure makes this a no go. NO

I live to give.

We send emails directly to the remixers when we mark something as DP, so they are aware. We prefer to keep DPs more of a surprise.

Tricky call. Cerebral is the right word for this, as the melodies are not in play that often and a lot of the source usage is implied by the chords. The chord progression of the original is pretty simple so by always changing the last chord, you do lose a little bit of that tenuous link. If the chord right before it had also been changed, I'd say no way; as is, it teeters on the edge. Unlike Brent's other sub that I just judged, the distortion is a little more than I think sounds good. It sounds grating but doesn't add much towards sounding artistic. In conjunction with arrangement issues, I'm gonna go NO. It's close but doesn't quite get there for me. NO (resubmit)

Yow, that intro. Definitely edging close to the line of being too grating there alone, but once it moved past that, there wasn't anything for me to fault this on. The concept completely works for me, and the Metroid title is a song that makes sense in this desolate, almost scary style. It can be rare to hear a song where you can't compare the style to something else you've heard, but I'm struggling here. I can place certain elements in other songs, but as a whole this sounds pretty singular to me. Brent is quickly becoming one of my favorite remixers. YES

Let's start with the dissonance. I like it when used well, and I tend to like the way Chris uses it. Most of how it was used here worked for me. It amplified a certain off-kilter mood that the jumpy instrumentation already provided. I wouldn't have minded it reined in some though. When the instrumentation is already kind of strange, a seeming chaos with how they are used tends to wear on me. Certain detours also felt unnecessary. I realize this is pretty subjective for the listener. It's not Chris' strongest arrangement for me, but there were several things I liked about it. Production was not as strong as usual though. The piano was a little buried as the lead, and the cheesy synth horns and some of the lower-quality instruments didn't add much by being low-quality. Taken together it's just under a pass for me. I admire what Chris was going for here even though I would prefer something straighter. With a stellar production this probably would be over that line anyway. NO (resubmit)

Right from the outset, I'm already sensing a problem. The compression on this is quite high - the intro feels as loud as I would expect the chorus to be. The piano is also buried in a way that doesn't really suit the material - take down those synth blocky chords and carve out some of the kick to make room for the piano. Apart from that, you've got a really sweet arrangement. It's a little by-the-numbers at points, but executed well. Lots of energy, great details like the reverse echoes and chimes in the outro, overall cool mood. With the production stuff fixed, this would pass. NO (resubmit)

I strongly disagree with the NO votes. We can call it a matter of taste, but I felt this had a strong direction and more than enough build. It reminded me of certain film scores that climax with these really smooth sections without strong melodies, like the song you'd hear as you first take the tour through the superhero headquarters. Certainly the dynamic difference between the strongest sections and the quietest ones was pretty big. I really enjoyed the arrangement, and it fully captured my attention the few times I played through it. The seemingly random drums were great - a very unique element. Even on the production end, there was little to fault this. The piano could have been less mechanical - it comes off more like a fake piano from a trance song than a real piano - though in the electronic/orchestral hybrid context it works ok. Yeah, this definitely gets my YES. YES

Hello DJP or whoever gets this! Here is what I think is my best remix to date, I could have mixed it more but unfortunately the project won't open in my new LEGIT version of Cubase and things got corrupted too! I hope you guys will enjoy it! My ReMixer name: mv (other info is already on site) SUBMISSION INFORMATION Name of game arranged: Parasite Eve Name of arrangement: Primal Perspective Name of individual songs arranged: Primal Eyes, Missing Perspective, Main Theme (Orchestral Version) Comments: This was completed in 2012 but only submitted now because it was supposedly going to be released on a project, but due to lack of news here it is all nice and fresh for OCR! This is IMO my best submission to the website yet. Style is dnb with elements of electro and orchestral thrown in the mix, taking on 3 tracks from one of my favorite game soundtracks. I think I could have soften the mix in some parts but unfortunately I don't have access to the project anymore, but it still sounds good enough overall. Once again this mix is very long but it is not as ambient and straightforward as my FFXI one, it goes in several directions and reintroduces themes as itgoes, to end on an iconic - if not cliche - note. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks, Xavier 'mv' Dang

This is pretty messy. I can dig the arrangement ideas but the production and sequencing just isn't doing the job. The drums sound way too uniformly sequenced and the lows and mids are cluttered. The kick seems to be taking up a lot more room in the mix than I would have it take, but I would defer to OA's comments here since he's had experience with metal production. The glassy lead was also weak as a lead, and made those sections sound kind of tacky. It's a strong arrangement in general, and only these production and sound choice issues are really holding it back for me. NO (resubmit)

I listened to this a couple times and didn't really feel the issues with repetition that others are mentioning. It could have had more variety, sure, but what's here is consistently good and has enough ideas in it to keep me interested. Really liked the key change section - it was a good way to keep the energy moving, and those kinds of changes don't usually add much for me. The low end was a little crowded, which hurt the energy some but not much. I think the sidechaining comments are getting at that, but it's not necessary IMO. You've got a really solid remix here. YES

Apart from a small number of minor problems - dull and flabby drums, more dryness than I prefer, some recording noise - this was a very nice arrangement. The arrangement is slick enough to fit together the pieces as to be cohesive, though the difference between the two themes was noticeable and they weren't the best fit for each other. Still, with a nice arrangement and a colorful instrumentation executed solidly (ha), it's hard to say no. YES

Remix Info ReMixer name : CarboHydroM & Scaredsim ReMix name : Sounds of Liberty Name of source music : Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid 1, Metal Gear Solid 2 Links to originals : / / Game Info (I'll take MGS 2 as reference) Title : Metal Gear Solid 2 Developer : Konami System : Mega Drive American Release date: 2001 Composer : Harry Gregson-Williams & Norihiko Hibino Hi OCR. CarboHydroM and Scaredsim finally united their power to come up with another crazy full frenchie remix ! This was our entry for Dwelling of Duels Free Month of July 2011. I made the piano intro, synth tracks, and some acoustic guitar lead part. He made the guitars, bass, drums, production... oh wait, everything else. We both wrote the arrangement though. So if you like MGS, CHM's epicness and Scaredsim's coolness, this track is for you ! Metal Gear Metal Gear Solid Theme Metal Gear Solid 2 Theme

Remixer: bXmMusic Name: Brandon McKagan Website: www.soundcloud.com/bxmmusic UID: 46081 Game: Super Mario Land (GB) Arrangement: "Oh, Daisy!" Original Composition: "Ruins" ( )Comments: I've always loved this track and honestly it was a huge inspiration towards all my other metal pieces that I've wrote. Egyptian sounding almost while keeping a very groovy undertone. I re-wrote it as a metal song, and gave it more of a sturdy song structure and not being so repetitive as the original.

Hello judges! This is my first time submitting a remix to your site, so I'm both excited and nervous. I was concerned that this remix would not be up to par with your submission standards, but my friends have encouraged me to give it a shot, so here I am. If it is indeed substandard, I would love some feedback on how I can improve! I still have a lot to learn when it comes to sound production. Game: Animal Crossing: New Leaf System: Nintendo 3DS Remix name: Pour Avina Song arranged: 1 A.M. ( )Composers: Kazumi Totaka, Manaka Kataoka, Atsuko Asahi Comments: This remix was a request from a good friend of mine named Avina, so I named it Pour Avina, which means "For Avina" in French. Why the French title? Well, I'm a bit of a Francophile when it comes to classical music. For this arrangement, I took the simple yet elegant theme from "1 A.M." and expanded on it, making it quite Romantic. Link: I hope you enjoy it! Norphan User ID: 52037 ------------------------------------------------------------------

Almost everything is clicking in this orchestral Little Nemo remix. Nice balanced orchestral sound with solid production, a subtle build that takes the song from nothing to huge by the course of the song. But there's one big issue preventing this from getting my YES. There's too much reliance on certain patterns like the harp, the low plucking sound, and the marching snare to drive this. It wears thin by the end of the song, and the intro especially gets tiring to listen to because of the lack of change-ups. It would be great to incorporate some different patterns now and then. I also wasn't crazy about how the B-section changed the chords, but that can be chalked up to personal preference. With some more variety in writing, this would pass. NO (resubmit)

ReMixer name: Benjaipod real name: Benjamín Watkins email address: website: https://soundcloud.com/benjaipod userid: couldn't find it xD Name of game: Little Nemo: The Dream Master Name of arrangement: Outerworld Forest Name of individual song: Mushroom forest Additional information about game: This is a NES game from Capcom. Amazing music as usual. Link to the original soundtrack: Comments: Well, this is my first remix, i had some experience before creating some covers, but looks like remixing is a whole new world. This is just a start, i want to enhace my creativity creating some very cool remixes from now on. I hope you like it. I used cubase 5 as my DAW, EWQL Symphonic orchestra gold and Spectrasonics Omnisphere as my vst, and some ezdrumer samples. My gear is an M-Audio Axiom 25 midi controler, and a korg nanopad2. -------------------------------

Apart from some thin, wispy drum sounds that didn't change, there wasn't much to dislike here. Endless dubstep tweaks on the source material kept this an interesting listen from start to finish. It also helps that the original is so multisectional, so there is a lot of material to work with. The more straightforward 4 on the floor section was a good way to spice it up, when the approach was becoming predictable. More solid work from Roch! YES

Contact Information Your ReMixer name : Rockos Your real name : Roch Côté Your website : None Your userid (number, not name) on our forums : 44017 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged : Final Fantasy IV Name of individual song(s) arranged : Zeromus Battle Name of the remix : La fin de Zeromus Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. : My friend always loved this song among all the FF series. It is his favorite. And one day, as we were doing music, he asked me: Could you remix this song? I would really like to hear what can be done with it. But unfortunatly, nothing came out. It took about 3-4 month before I had an Idea of what I could do. I just then opened a project and inserted some basic chiptune synth and wrote the whole song. I found it interesting hearing this song as chiptune. I decided to keep the intro as is and add a little bit of my own! At start I was not sure about the chiptune all over dubstep but it turned out well. I tried to do something different, like the drum patern where I roll the kick in some way. I also played with different bass sounds to have more customised synth. Oh! There is a lot of automation! It came out like this. 3/4 dubstep and 1/4 dance. The last part looks more like the world map song but retain the zeromus theme withing it. So, in the end, I really loved working on this and I still improve each time I write something! Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do!