Palpable

There's definitely a huge difference between the style of hip-hop based on sampled drum loops vs. drum machines and sampled individual hits. The former has a smooth realistic flow, the latter a rigidness or even fakeness or tackiness. That's not a hard and fast rule and what sounds good, sounds good, but I think the aim with a lot of drum machine-style hip-hop is stark rigidness, sort of a lack of flow. A lot of what you hear on the radio sounds programmed rather than played, and intentionally so. Though I understand Derrit's point about your songs getting "too creative", I think there is some leeway there in terms of minimalism and the woodblock/hi-hat trickiness didn't take me out of the minimalism.

Oh awesome, that's definitely an improvement. Maybe pronouncing the kick more was all it took. It still has a zircon flavor to it, which is cool.

Heh, not bad! Definitely got the right instruments and mood. I'd say the kick needs to take up more space and be more upfront, more distortion in the high end maybe. Might be too much reverb on the drums, that style of beat is often dry as hell. Snaps were a nice touch. Are you swinging the beat? Funny to say this, but it sounds not rigid enough to me though I can't tell if that's from a swing, the reverb, or the little fills you have. I think it's a romantic notion to live, breathe, etc. hip-hop, in order to produce it. The more you listen to and like it, the more you'll know how to make it, simple as that. There's a lot of hip-hop influence in big beat, modern pop, and other hybrid genres. I'd guess zircon has already been exposed to a lot of that.

Nah, that's "My Humps" in the style of Tori Amos, or something. That's backwards. What I'm talking about is closer to this:

Dear Wise OCRemix Sages, I've been a long-time fan of your website, but only recently realized that you have no remixes for Out of This World. One of my favorite video games of all time, Out of This World also had one of the more unique soundtracks I've ever heard in a game. Far ahead of it's time, it mixed pure atmospheric ambiance with an interactive soundtrack, heightening suspense and deepening the sense of immersion. So, in order to attempt to fill in the Out of This World gap in your website, I'd like to submit this remix. I hope you enjoy it, and if it's accepted, I hope other people will come up with their own homages to this wonderful game. Submission Information Remixer Name: Zantathar Real Name: Jude Coulter-Pultz Game: Out of This World Song Arranged: Main Theme Remix Title: Large Hadron Collision Keep up the great work! Jude ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Out of This World Theme Sages, eh? Flattery will get you everywhere. This was a cool take on the creepy ambiance of the original song, sort of a Blade Runner feel. The FX-y transitions weren't much to speak of, and I guess the dissonance in the bridge could be contentious (I was cool with it), but this seemed like a solid mix of the Main Theme otherwise. There's some detail in the backing parts and some good switch-ups. Nice debut from Jude! YES

Remixer: ziwtra Game: Secret of Mana Song: the legend / into the thick of it I've always wanted to remix the overworld track of Secret of Mana. I think it's quite hard to reconcept the track well because Kikuta's original leaves such a strong impression on the player. The mix started just as an arrangement of "The Legend" but it ended up pointing me in a direction that I think opened up possibilities for the overworld theme. yh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sd2 - 06a "Into the Thick of It", 24 "The Legend" Another solid arrangement from Ziwtra. I love that funk guitar that comes in about halfway, absolutely selling how funky that beat is. This song manages to be delicate and airy while persistent and sharp - a nice feat. Oh, and awesome how these two songs get melded together, Frankenstein style. This borders on the edge of too liberal, but I felt it held a connection about half the time: 0:00-0:17 0:35-1:09 1:44-2:00 2:01-2:19 (liberal - rhodes is similar to the opening chords of Thick, while the flute is a liberal take on 0:07-0:11 of Thick) 2:35-3:06 (liberal - same rhodes, piano is liberal take on Thick melody) 3:24-4:25 Counting everything puts this at 51% for the curious. Wouldn't blame anyone who goes NO on this for that reason, I think it just squeaks by and I'd prefer a more overt connection. Unless of course I'm missing something, which I may be and would be appreciated if other judges is to point it out? YES

This song is titled Ambient Sanctuary. It's a cover of Utada Hikaru's Sanctuary from Kingdom Hearts 2. My project is titled Mute City Radio. Hope you can enjoy it. Please forgive the 6.2 meg size. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The intro was a little rough, but once the drums and vocals came in, it actually sounded pretty cool. Great set of instruments, good effects. However, I thought the overall track was pretty similar to the original, even though everything was redone. The vocal is kept intact right down to the reversed parts, the bells follow the original, the drums sound similar but the rhythm is changing up. Mood is pretty much the same. There's a brand-new part here and there, but the changes are pretty minimal and I think the mix is more of a cover than an arrangement. I also thought the cutting and pasting of the vocal for each chorus took away from the natural changes you get in a vocal take, and made this a little repetitive. This gets dry in the quieter parts and having some warm pad or reverb fill out the back of those quiet sections would have been good. Some of the instruments like the snare and the bells also get a little piercing and should be toned down in the high frequencies. That's all I got for ya. I enjoyed this, but too much of a cover I'd say. NO

Such blind fanaticism here. All you people are gonna be disappointed when you hear that Dave Wise chose to do "Donkey Kong Rescued" in the style of "My Humps". Actually, I bet he could still make that sound awesome.

Heh, re-reading my own response, I sort of look the sellout trying to tell you to write like what's in the charts. There was a big gap that no one was mentioning, and I like a lot of the popular stuff as well as more indie stuff, I'm not just telling you to be canny. There's no shame in making money off stuff you like to do.

A lot of stuff mentioned in this thread is great, but not a lot of rap/R&B songs based on sampled beats and real drums are charting right now. If it's for media licensing and you're going for variety rather than a consistent style, I would definitely put some 80's drum machine and synth-based stuff in there too. Most of R&B these days uses that style, and a good deal of rap too. Rap songs usually have just the drum machine beats plus some minimal elements, R&B songs usually have more going on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music#Crunk_and_snap_music. This section of the hip-hop music Wikipedia article has a decent description of what I mean, though I'm sure you know what I'm talking about already, it's pretty inescapable. Maybe this is what you meant by saying that you know the most popular stuff. If you want some examples, you can listen to pretty much half the songs on here: http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/r-b-hip-hop-songs.

Tweek run this airline town. Nice job, dude, great to see you getting all this high-profile work.

diotrans and I registered. Huzzah!

Since no one wants to take the obvious joke, I'll go for it: man, Waldo's just not trying anymore. Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes! It wasn't the best year for me health-wise, but I got to meet a lot of great people and do fun things because of this site this year, and for that, I'm very grateful. And in the last couple months, things have been looking up. WOW. The next time I'm in a bad mood, this will be the song I play to make it go away.

Original decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20228 2nd decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=24366 ReMixer: Hollidayrain Name: Sreyas Krishnan E-mail: sreyaskr@msn.com Website: www.soundclick.com/hollidayrain ReMix title: "Breakout" Game: Kirby's Block Ball Song: Level 1 Theme (http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console...kbb-stage1.mid) Platform: Gameboy Hi guys, I decided to give this another shot. I felt bad about my last resub because I kept exporting it and continued to sound really lo-fi. Eventually it got so muddled that I couldn't use it anymore. The compressor I was using was wreaking havoc on me and I was really unhappy with the quality of...everything, especially the bass synth. So, basically, I started over from scratch. I used a lot of ideas from the first two, but it sounds extremely different. Let's just say I've acquired a ton of samples and sounds since that last submission in April, haha. Just as an aside, Larry, I wanted to make note of your comment about my growth as an artist. So, to see exactly what you were talking about, I decided to go back and listen to my first ever OCR submission back when I was 14 (2006)...WOW. The discrepency between then and now is absolutely unbelievable to say the least. (http://www.zshare.net/audio/628448493f6a7c03/) Anyhow, I hope you guys REALLY enjoy this one! Sreyas 'Hollidayrain' Krishnan www.soundclick.com/hollidayrain --------------------------------------------------------------- Stage 1 Huge step forward for Sreyas with this mix, both in production and arrangement, and great to see him growing as an artist. I love the way the melodies from the original are used in this new context, they fit beautifully. Somewhat reminiscent of Willrock. The production is also a lot better than the last version we heard, though not without issues. The soundscape gets a little thin at times with a lead that quiet, the track is a little bass heavy, and a couple short parts break the flow. But I'd say this is just good enough to pass in this state. I can ask Sreyas to make some tweaks based on whether people agree, but I'm ok with a YES on this as is. Nice work! YES (borderline)

CONTACT INFO Remixer Name: Gorillamatic Website: www.myspace.com/gorillamatic SUBMISSION INFO Game: Tekken 4 "Playstation2" Original Song Title: Authentic Sky by Satouru Kosaki My Personal Remix Title: Synthetic Reference by Gorillamatic (Included in attatchment) Additional Info: It's been a while since I have made music. I always liked how mellow and laid back Authentic Sky was...and I have always wanted to remix it; so I did. Thanks for taking the time to evaluate my submission. --------------------------------------------------------------- The backing track of this is direct sampled (or meticulously recreated) which makes it a no go, though I thought the additions on top of it were pretty cool, playing well within the confines of the original track. Still, too much sampling for OCR, sorry. NO

ReMixer Name: Adam Metroka Real Name: Adam Metroka Song: Foresti Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Forest Temple and Final Fantasy XI Ronfaure Alright, I'm pretty sure that I fixed any volume/reverb problems, but I sent a copy without any reverb for evaluation purposes. I've also re-written part of the song and wrote in a portion of the song used for Ronfaure in Final Fantasy XI. I hope this is better. Thanks. -Adam -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/20463 - 59 "Forest Temple" Ronfaure I found it difficult to judge this for some reason, but let's see if I can get my thoughts out. The lo-fi piano added a lot to the mood of the piece rather than detracting, that was cool. But because the mood is so similar to the original Forest Temple theme without much being added, I want to say that first half of the song is too conservative, even though some changes were made. Adding Ronfaure would be a nice way to add some originality into this, though I'm not hearing that song at all. If someone can find it in there, let me know, it might change my vote. As I see this one right now, it's got a section too close to the original and a section too far from the original. NO (resubmit)

Very different from previous versions of the song - palp Original decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18439 2nd decision: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20221 Remixer Name: Sweendrix Real Name: John Sweeney Email Address: Sweendrix@yahoo.com Youtube.com/Sweendrix Games Arranged Halo 1 and Halo 3. Remix of the Original Halo Theme and the Menu Music (Unforgotten) from Halo 3. Name of Remix: Dawn of a New Age This remix was made solely with a Pod XT Live, a Guitar, and Acid music studio. --------------------------------------------------------------- , Unforgotten

Hello again Contact Information: Remixer Name: Ekaj Real Name: Jake Rooney Email: tehekaj@gmail.com Website: http://myspace.com/ekajmusic Submission Information: Name of game arranged: Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past Name of song: Hyrule Castle Theme Hope you like it! Cheers, Jake ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=loz3 - 05 "Majestic Castle" An unusual approach to the Hyrule Castle theme, keeping the melodies mostly intact and offering a boatload of awesome drums and backing effects, without adding much new melodic content (though there is some). I thought it was fine as an approach, clearly reminiscent of the original while forging a new path. There are some fantastic sounds in this mix, I adore those evolving backing synths that enter at 2:55. YES

Contact Information Remixer Name: F4ll_ouT Real Name: Patryk Stainski Website: None Userid: ?? Submission Information Name of games arranged: Turrican I, Turrican II Name if individual songs arranged: Turrican I Main Theme, Turrican II Main Theme, (T II) The Hero Additional Information: Turrican is an old game for the Amiga500 made by Factor 5. Music made by Chris Huelsbeck My own comment about the mix: Uhh...well It's not my first remix I'm sending to you, but I failed each time . I tried my best this time to make good music in acceptable quality, and I hope you like it! Made with FL Studio+some VST Plugins like SampleTank2 Demo. I didn't take any source material, even if some parts may sound very similar. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Arrangement-wise, this was really cool. Orchestral paired with some rock and electronic elements for an epic take on some Turrican music. Production can't match it, and unfortunately, makes this a NO for me. Lack of reverb really hurts, while there are some sample quality issues with the percussion and articulation issues with strings. Mixing needs to be tweaked to fit everything together, in the low-end especially. The Workshop forum might be able to give you some more detailed feedback on what needs to change. Hope you stick with this one and improve your production skills. NO (resubmit)

Contact Information ReMixer name : Night Garden Real name : Vincent Desdevises User ID on OCR forums : 29775 Submission Information Name of game arranged : Final Fantasy 7 Name of individual song arranged : Farm Boy Composer : Nobuo Uematsu Comments : I've been a fan of this website for a long time, but I never dared to submit anything because I was too afraid of getting three "NO". Now I feel like it's time to know what I have to change/improve in my music : I'm ready to get three "NO" ! --------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 205 "Farm Boy" This is definitely the right attitude to have, and thanks for submitting. A rejection on this website is really a small price to pay for feedback that can help you the rest of your music-making life. Not that I can give anyone advice that helpful. This was actually pretty well-produced for a first-time submission and pleasant to listen to. The adaptation to 4/4 was flawless, I didn't even notice until I went back to compare more closely to the source. The changes to the main melody were good as well. There are a couple big issues though. One is that there's barely any dynamic change in the song past the intro. The backing track is pretty constant, and this needs some variation somewhere, dropping out an instrument, adding a new instrument, changing up the drums, something. You brought back the intro strings somewhere in the middle and more along those lines would be good. The production is also sort of muted, and bringing back some high-frequencies would really liven this up. The ending could have been a chance to do something new, but the fadeout meant it held on the same style. Hope this gives you something to work with, Vincent, this could definitely be a passable song with some revisions. NO (resubmit)

Kento Khromatic Kento Watanabe wkento@gmail.com http://www.youtube.com/kentokhromatic User #: 29757 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Saria's Song I liked the name "Saria's Ragtime Jazz", which is a very literal description of the piece, but also conveys the image of Saria herself playing ragtime or jazz piano of some sort, playing around on the piano and expressing her "inner song". *If this name doesn't pass submission requirements, I'd be more than happy to revise it or take suggestions for name alternatives for OCremix. Early in the morning hours I was inspired to write this piece in one sitting when I was listening to Saria's Song in my head and suddenly realized that the main melodic motif is a 3-note repeating figure, which is characteristically similar to the "ragtime riff", which creates a polyrhythmic through grouping straight 8ths in 3. After this realization a ragtime version of Saria's Song started playing in my head, and by the time I started running through a solo on the progression I knew this was something I needed to write down. Hopefully there are others who are interested in this concept as much as I was in writing it. There are a large number of solos in the middle section that are on top of the original chord progression, which is mostly original material but in line with jazz interpretations of standards (that is, almost adding more new things than retaining the old through solo sections). I tried to make sure that the original concept of it being based around the catchy Saria's Song was kept, so there is later section where the original song is quoted more bluntly and somewhat humorously. - Kento 渡辺健人 --------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/download_file/20463 - 35 "Lost Woods" The only negatives I have to say about this is that sometimes the playing is too even, and it would have been cool to see more left-hand alterations in the first half to match the second half. Otherwise, this was a really breezy, well-executed take on Lost Woods. It might get a little liberal for people because the melodies are used on and off, and there are parts that only use the chords, but I thought the connection was strong enough throughout. Cool debut, Kento, and I hope we get more from you! YES

My ReMixer name: larsdood My real name: Lars Holdaas My website: none My userid: 25989 Name of game(s) arranged: Final Fantasy VII Name of individual song(s) arranged: J-E-N-O-V-A Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc: More or less a dark/minimal tech-house remix of the Jenova Boss theme. I consider it to be a great piece even though it might be a tad too long for ocremix standards? Title: Jenova's Boat Trip --------------------------------------------------------------- http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 214 "J-E-N-O-V-A" I'm a huge fan of minimal house and this did not disappoint as far as that genre goes. Awesome beat, great attention to detail. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens with VGM arrangement of a repetitive nature, the 8-note riff really got overused, even though there was a lot of processing to ensure it never played the same way twice. This might not be so bad if the instrument it plays on was more subtle. Around the 4-minute mark, I wanted to hear some section that didn't use it, and I didn't get that until way later in the song. There may have also been an overuse of vocal clips, though I thought they were tastefully chosen and well integrated. It's a close call for me, but I'm going to go NO. The J-E-N-O-V-A riff started to get difficult to listen to after so long on the synth you chose. This could swing the other way, and I probably wouldn't mind if it did, so best of luck to you. NO (resubmit)

ReMixer name: halc Real name: Andrew Wheeler Email: halcyonmix@gmail.com UserID: 23301 Game: Zelda: Four Swords Adventures Individual Song: Frozen Hyrule Name of Remix: The Electric Flute Comments: I spent a fair deal of time mixing this track while at work. So I kinda like got paid to make this remix. At 0:50 I am tributing beej's "Fragments of Gold", because it's like one of the best remixes EVAR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frozen Hyrule I think it's somewhat conservative in how it handles the source, though with a host of small little details thrown in, like harmonies and changed arpeggios, it's probably alright on that end. As an arrangement, it's sometimes a little odd and jumpy and I wish it didn't shift so much, but it's still enjoyable. The aforementioned new arpeggios sounded really nice. That pad in the beginning sounds low-quality, possibly sampled, not a good choice to keep around IMO, but it's not exposed that often. Pretty much I'm not super excited about this track, but I feel it's a pass. I'm sorry to say I thought it was a small step down from previous halc stuff we've heard. YES

remixer name:also2much real name:thierry martin name of game arranged:street of rage2 song arranged:dreamer instruments used for the remix emu orbit,korg tr(m1 piano)korg ms2000(arpiegator)and vocal forge for..the vocals parts.added some samples of the original game too.hope you'll enjoy it!good work for the site!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://project2612.org/download.php?id=56 - "Dreamer" Sometimes songs just need to be paneled. I thought this had a lot of cool moments that might rub people the wrong way, like the detuned intro and the uh vocal parts. But overall, there's not a lot of depth here, the song sounds very basic even if the sounds are detailed. The drums sound flat once the snare is taken out (not sure why you did that) and they are pretty repetitive. The piano sounds thin and rigid. Soundscape could be fatter and wetter, there's just not enough filling it. This mix has its charm, but it's not there yet on several levels. Sorry. NO

That still leaves seven other judges who can vote on this. Don't make me break out the judges mailing list!