Palpable

Very cool song regardless of site standards. I hear the Justice inspiration in the deliberate overcompression and the raw leads, and it sounds like you've got some references to the guitar solo in Aerodynamic in there for added French house fun. This is certainly personalized, I guess the question is whether it's too liberal. For a song as ambient as Level 8, a song with barely any melody components at all, a valid remix for the site would probably need to use as much source as possible. That's not the case here. The chord progression is pretty distinctive, and the third chord is changed every time. In addition, the octave background synth from the original, pretty much the only thing that can be considered a melody, isn't there. Even with those parts intact, this would be questionable because of the wholly new sections. Without them, this is more of an inspired-by original track than an arrangement. Again, good stuff, just IMO not in the window of what we take. If you have any material that arranges a VGM song more conservatively, please send it! NO

Wasn't able to add anything to OA's breakdown, but the source usage is more than dominant counting what he did find. Yeah this ain't the easiest song to judge, but I think the way to evaluate it is how much it sounds like a connected piece. There are a couple transitions that jump out as gear shifts, namely 1:48 and 2:48. (The One Winged Angel quote at the end was also slightly out-of-place but not as big a deal.) These were the two places that sounded like medley transitions to me - everywhere else, I would not have been able to tell you were jumping sources. I'd say this is on the border of what is ok here, there's been at least one song passed with two transitions on this level. In this song, you've got some hold-over instruments between sections which helps tie it together. I could be swayed against but I'm ok with passing this, especially because most of the usage comes from Sonic Heroes with just a couple sections drawn from the other games. The production is not perfect but quite good for what is a fun, elaborate piece that plays with styles and has a variety of instruments. YES (borderline)

Fantastic start to this, and overall, a very solidly put-together song. I can't fault anyone for passing this, because the arrangement is excellent and the weaknesses move past quickly, but those clashing notes... yeah, I don't think this I can say YES until they're cleaned up. The bells weren't that well integrated, sounding more pasted-on, and if you're gonna take another look at this, I think you should fix that too. Hopefully these are easy fixes to make, I think once they are fixed this will be a well-liked song. NO (resubmit)

Love this source, especially that rocking B-section. Iwadon rulez. The arrangement is pretty awesome as well, like something out of Trigun. Brittle guitar over an vast soundscape - you can practically see the tumbleweeds rolling by. Count those rests! This is a very spare melody and I think the whole section should be counted even if the notes aren't held. I'd also count the B-section usage at 3:05-3:23 because of how distinctive the chord progression is. Don't get me wrong, the song is still on the liberal side, but with counting rests in both sections and 3:05-3:23, it's firmly over 50% and A-OK in my book. YES

I'm pretty surprised there are so many YESes on this. Generic and cheap sounds, blocky sequencing, a lot of cut-and-paste of drums and pads, and overall, background-sounding. The new writing is a highlight, but I still don't see how this is a great arrangement, considering the level of cut-and-paste and blockiness. On top of that, the intro is quite weak. No offense to Mike, because standards have been raised a fair bit since '05 (my '04 Lifeforce mix sounds about this level of quality), but I think this would be a mistake to pass. Just call me Grandpa Vinnie. NO

Kind of reminds me of many PS1-era soundtracks: good samples, great arrangement, a little lacking in realism and articulation. I may have some sort of blind spot when it comes to Ben's work, but I felt whatever this lost in articulations was made up in arrangement. There's lots of elements going on to help mitigate any lack of realism. The buried bass didn't bother me either. Like Jill said, the balance is ok, it's just that the bass is more felt than heard. I was comfortable with having the bass not be a prominent element, though cutting the pads in the low-end could have brought out the bass. So yeah, I'm a YES. YES

I love your sound design in this, especially the vocal clip reverb and delay tricks. However, I'm gonna co-sign with many of the criticisms brought up already. The arrangement has a great sound and plays like a alternate take of the original (a perfectly fine way to arrange this), but drags at times. I'd cut repetitions out of the longer sections, vary the drums more, sneak in more background details and fills, and add more dynamics and humanization to the stiff piano. None of this needs to be drastic, just some subtle variations to hold attention. It'd be a shame to get this 90% of the way to the finish line and just stop there. Please give us another version ftw! NO (resubmit)

Still not digging the way many of the instruments are produced (drums, backing guitars, piano), they sound murky and have too much low-end. When they drop out, everything sounds a lot cleaner. The string articulations are pretty weak, especially in the 2:28 section. Finally, at 3:40, there's just too much going on. Didn't feel like the parts had much synergy, the strings were one addition too many. Ending dragged a little, there wasn't much variation for 40 seconds of material. This is an improvement over the last version, especially in the excellent arrangement, but the production is still not there, and I think it's more work than a conditional YES. Sorry bud. NO (resubmit)

I used to use panning a lot because I love the effect, especially on headphones. (Yeahhhhh, take that, zircon.) Over time I figured out I was overdoing it, so I use less of it and my panning is closer to center. Leads almost always get centered unless I have simultaneous leads or something, in which case they get slightly panned. Pads and atmospheric sounds get stereo delay but stay centered. But little fill instruments, percussion, that stuff sounds great on the sides and it's also a little easier to hear.

One step ahead of you: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14083

It's not, I just tried to find it. But you have it right.

I love the Super Monkey Ball music and I'm working on a SMB2 mix at the moment. This is pretty cool, though since it's in a similar style to the original, it's hard to say this is a straight upgrade. The drums are too distant and don't have enough oomph to them, I prefer the original more there. The leads in your version sound very cool though, especially when you layer them.

Yeah, depends on prominence and amount of sampling. I don't think we have any hard and fast rule about it.

Remixer name: Beyond the Flagpole Email Address: wtfbbqcream@hotmail.com Song name: Promises: Tortured & Mutilated Sourses used: The other promise (Kingdom hearts 2) Hello OC, this is my first attempt at getting a song posted on your site. Any critizisms would be very much appreciated. My submission is a mix of industrial metal and old school 8 bit sounds. I thought mixing distorted industrial percussion with 8bit sounds would be interesting. Thank you for your time -----------------------------------------------------------------

GAME: Mega Man 9, Megaman & Bass ARTIST: zircon SOURCE: Mega Man 9 - Thunder Tornado ( ), Megaman & Bass - Cold Man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIsKKrMVlHM)REMIX NAME: Daft Drafts LYRICS: "Hurricane, tornado We got a cold weather front coming in, yeah This winter spell, I will end sooner Because my wind don't ever stop Don't ever stop" This was my second round entry in the first Grand Robot Master Remix Battle competition, run by Darkesword. I really had a blast with this contest and went out of my way to try different styles for each round. My robot master theme was Tornado Man, so in the second round, where my opponent was Cold Man, I had to mix both themes together. I decided to do a very smooth, 70s-style remix inspired by Daft Punk and Joshua Morse (again!) but only after tons of failed attempts at transcribing the Cold Man theme, which is actually really complex. I'm really proud of this remix in particular, since the chord progression was very difficult to smooth out, but I think the end result mixes the two themes seamlessly. I also spent quite a bit of time playing in live parts, particularly the synth solos, bassline, percussion breakdown and of course, the vocals. Please note this is probably the only time you'll ever hear me sing. ----------------------------------------------------------------- , Cold ManIt's Andy, so first-class production and arrangement are expected and that's definitely true here. This is catchy, jazzy, funky, beaty, smooth, and other adjectives - very easy song to like. The sticky wicket comes down to source usage which runs a little low before counting the chords. By my tally: 0:07-0:23 0:31-0:36 0:38-1:10 1:49-1:54 1:56-2:28 That's barely under 50%, but with chord usage it's well past that. With such a distinctive chord progression, even though slightly modified, I have no problem counting that stuff. YES

Game: Animal Crossing Comrade Theme Console: GameCube Title: Camrade ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS9NVemOLys It's not a secret that I can't stand the Animal Crossing music, but the arrangements of it tend to be a hell of a lot better since they eliminate the offending element (sorry K.K). This is no different, and the Spanish-guitar/rock arrangement from Frank is pretty sweet. The verse guitar line is modified a little which is why this isn't just getting DPed, but the chords are the same and the same style of arpeggio playing is used, which makes that connection solid. The main melody is also used some of the time, and the rocking original chorus rounds it out. Pretty easy YES in my book, but always good to run it by the panel to double-check. YES

Wow, this song is really cool stuff, pretty out there in terms of instrumentation and structure. The comparison to Imogen Heap is definitely fitting - not just the vocal effects, but also the mishmash of guitars and electronics. http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02078/ ? One of the only English words in it is "forever", in any case.

Pretty cool interpretation of the original piece through a variety of moods. Good accompaniment writing, and an interesting usage of the Age of Empires melodies. However I can't say I was feeling the middle section much. The drumkit was out-of-place in the orchestral setting, and there didn't appear to be a lot of cohesion with the rest of the song or much build to justify such a switch. It was the weakest part of the song to me, and I think it needs some rethinking, not just better production. The rest just needs a more solid execution. What you have is good, but the weak spots should be fixed up (the drums, if you decide to keep that section; the reverb; the fake-sounding brass at 3:31). I'd like to hear another version of this. NO (resubmit)

Gotta agree with Deia that the piano was on the (Mr.) bright side - it got irritating to me after repeat listens. I wonder if I wouldn't like this more just played down an octave, though that would change the feel of the song. In spite of that, I do like the arrangement a lot. It's sparse but uses what it has to great effect. I don't think the piano was mechanical in a way that hurt this, it played stiff at times to match the clockwork feel of the song, but at other times there was a little looseness. I did hear a couple of phrases that sounded identical or close to identical and it might have been nice to have those do different things, especially as the song is so short. That's a pretty small complaint and I'm ok having it pass as is. YES

I don't agree that there wasn't much originality in this arrangement. In addition to the sound design changes, the drums and new melody parts make this a fair bit more fleshed out, not to mention the 6/8 drums and the interesting section in the middle that starts truncating the measure. The big problem I had with it was OA's problem, that once an idea gets introduced, it gets repeated too much. There needed to be more development and refinement of the ideas. The drums are a very cool addition, but they sound low-quality (perhaps intentional, but it sounded sloppy to me) and they aren't mixed in well - mixing in general is not great. The choir and string parts play the same things over and over, they wear over the course of the song. I think this is headed in the right direction, but needs more TLC to evolve the mix and have it sounding strong throughout. NO (resubmit)

Simpler structure than what we're used to from Mattias, but devilish details and a very effective arrangement. It's one of those songs where the pieces slot together perfectly, it's hard to pick at anything. Gets the Palp seal of approval. YES

Yeah it's confirmed, comes out in November in the US. Looks great, I'll definitely be getting this. I'm a little surprised that so many Psynergy spells from the original games returned, I figured they'd want to do more new stuff.

I got only got around to hearing the album well after this was posted (), but it ended up being my favorite song off the album. I guess it's no surprise - in his remixes, Mattias often ends up hitting a style that is dear to my heart. I love how wild this gets as the song progresses. Great attention to detail, and just a very enjoyable listen overall.

I like the intro and the general concept, but once the guitar comes in, the cracks start to show. It's too mechanical to really serve as the lead in this, especially when it gets highlighted, and if you could get someone to play it, that would drastically improve this song. This is also kind of loop-y, and I would have liked some more dramatic breaks in the percussion. The horn lines were great though, definitely a highlight of the song, loop or not. The bridge was a little weird harmonically, as you kept the chords of the A-section, but played the melody of the B-section. It wasn't awful, but that was a missed opportunity for the song to do something different. Instead, the bass and drums kept looping. I think we've pointed out a couple areas you can tighten this up. Concept is good, work on the execution, Cody. NO (resubmit)

OA hit it dead-on, the pitches are really hard to make out because of the way this is EQed. For a while, I thought the vocals were the only tie, until I listened closely and noticed you are using sped-up riffs from the original in some places. That tie needs to be stronger so I suggest taking OA's tips for improving this (I don't have much to add as I don't have much experience with that kind of guitar). With a solidified connection, I think this would be postable. Keep on it! NO (resubmit)