Gario

Hey OCR Judges and other OCR peoples! How are your days going? Well, they’re about to get better! Here’s my recent remix of the Kokiri Forest theme from Ocarina of Time. I recently participated in my college’s Pitt orchestra for the performance of West Side Story, and it made me really itch for some latin jazz. I had to get it out of my system. So I made this. I tried to take into account some issues I think I had with my last mix, such as bringing out the high end and keeping the low end in check, smoothening transitions, and spicing up the percussion. The first and last part of the mix reek of elevator music, but when the solo section hits at about bar 34ish, it goes full 1970’s spy action show. Though the arrangement is quite liberal from the original source tune, it’s got a lot of character and would be an awesome addition to the OCR library. Whatever your decisions may be, enjoy the mix! ReMixer Name: Ridiculously Garrett ReMix Title: “Hey Saria, There’s a Fiesta Down in Kokiri Forest” Name of Game ReMixed: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Title of Song ReMixed: Kokiri Forest Whatever your decisions may be, enjoy the mix! Special thanks and a great job to Bowlerhat for performing live flute on this track!

Previous Decision Your ReMixer name: Lampje4life Your real name: Yannic Geerts Your email address: Your website: Your userid: 20749 Name of game(s) arranged: Mario Kart 7 Name of arrangement: Rainbow in your Eyes Name of individual song(s) arranged: Rainbow Road Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQl4TRN9WqU Remix is attached. === Hey OCR, This is a resub of my mix which was originally sent in back in 2015. I'm kind of dedicated to get this on the site and hopefully fixed the issues raised by the judges. Old thread here: https://ocremix.org/community/topic/43544-no-mario-kart-7-rainbow-in-your-eyes I really don't know what else to say. Just realized I'm probably very poor at giving speeches. The source material is all over the place, though! And there's some Mario Kart 64 ending in there. Oh fun fact, "Lampje" is Dutch for little lamp. Enjoy ~ Yannic Geerts aka Lampje4life

Your ReMixer name: JohnStacy Your real name: John Stacy Your email address: Your userid: 33075 Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger Name of arrangement: As Blew the Winds, so Forward Marched Time Name of individual song(s) arranged: 600AD Overworld Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. I've never played Chrono Trigger. Last December I participated in a secret Santa kind of thing in another community. This track was what I did for that, going off the list of likes saying SNES RPGs. I do know that Chrono Trigger is one of those. I asked her if she would mind submitting it to OCR, and she liked the idea. As for the track itself, I have never played the game but am familiar with the music. I just don't know about context of the music at all. This is an arrangement of the 600AD Overworld theme. I arranged it in a dark, Grainger/Wagner kind of style, with lots of chromatic harmonic movement and various textures from lush to sparse. It is arranged for 8 french horns. There were two versions done. The original version produced in December: And this version. I pulled the file out again and did some different mixing approaches, as well as got rid of the synth tracks backing the horns: Arrangement and recorded material is identical for both versions, just mixing approaches are different.

Contact Information: * ReMixer Name: Cubeshark * Real Name: Kyle Yount * Email Address: * Website: https://cubeshark.net and https://soundcloud.com/cubeshark * User ID: 35330 Submission Information: * Name of Game: Kirby Air Ride * Name of Arrangement: Swerve Star Overpowered * Name of Songs Arranged: "Machine Passage" and "Menu" * Original Soundtracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0-TRGMg9R8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKRAXZyn5Ds * Comments: Kirby Air Ride was one of my favorite Gamecube games and I'm surprised there weren't more remixes on this site. Composers for Kirby games especially Jun Ishikawa's fast and arpeggiated style have always been an influence in my own compositions. The song I chose isn't the most iconic in Kirby Air Ride, but I really enjoyed the bass-line and wanted to challenge myself to make sense of parts in the song that felt a bit out of place in the original composition. Unsure of how to end the song I decided to throw in the menu theme last minute and I think it turned out really well since both songs share similar instruments and tempo. Thanks for listening.

Seeing that I was the sole voice of approval last time, it's no surprise that I enjoy it even more this time around. I will give credit to the other votes, though - sending it back was the right decision, as this is much more dynamic than the other version. I could still see an argument that the mixing is still a bit of an issue, but it doesn't at all sink the track (I didn't think it did last time, either). It went from a shaky pass to a solid one, in my book - lots has been done to make the arrangement more dynamic, and everyone listening is better for it. Let's get this thing on the front page. YES

Looking back at the prior rejection, it seems that the mixing was apparently an issue, as well as a few strange chords. Doesn't seem like there's any of that, now - it's crisp, important elements pop out just right, and the eclectic instrumentation is clicking superbly throughout. On a separate note, I do love how much different this sounds than the source - whereas one is a melancholy, sobering track, this is upbeat and adventurous. It's always great when OCR tracks can bring such a different light to sources like that, so I'm happy to give this a solid pass along with my colleagues on this one. Great work! YES

Hey there, welcome to OCR! Nice to see people continue to brave the hidden depths of OCR's WIP boards, muahaha... You should also be checking out OCR's Discord channel, too - the community has really been active on there, so you could easily get even more feedback on there, too. I'll state this first and foremost (because OCR has a reputation of being harsh on covers) - you intended to make a cover, so I won't give any criticism on how it sounds too conservative or anything. People write music that they want, so good on y'all - covers are awesome, and you did a solid one here. You're asking for criticism so I'll be focusing on that, but it really is a catchy, well done cover, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If I had to criticize this track, it would primarily be in the mixing. While the instruments all pop nicely, the leads are buried under all of the texture work and drums. When writing something with a strong theme, it's better to mix it in such a way that it doesn't get drown by the other instruments. It's not terrible right now, but it could stand to have the mixing fine tuned so the theme isn't buried. The drumwork is also fairly stale, as aside from a few fills there's nothing that even changes in them, making them sound like they're just droning. House doesn't need the basic 4-to-the-floor pattern to change much, but even shifting hats and/or playing with where the snare lands for a section or two could make this all that much more interesting. Sorry if it ain't much, but those are my crits to the track. Breaking my earlier promise (a little bit) I wouldn't submit something like this because of how conservative it is, but I would love to see you send some stuff to the panel someday.

Yeah, gonna agree with MindWanderer on the mixing - the drums step all over that guitar, which is especially noticeable when the guitar is adding so much with it's riffing and soloing in the latter portion of the track (really nice work expanding the source like that, by the way). It doesn't sink the track, per se, but for future tracks make sure your drums don't dominate over your guitars like that. Otherwise, great stuff - a solid representation in the beginning, and some solid interpretation in the latter portion. It's a fine arrangement of a source I personally enjoy quite a bit, so great work! YES

Hmm... it's short and has a structure that builds off of the repetitive nature of the source, but it does a nice job fleshing out the source and has a nice bit of creativity toward the end once it's done building off of every repetition of the theme. 1:24 really shows that this source has some nice potential to be expanded further, but the artist makes the choice to instead loop the track. The production quality on this is fairly high; one can parse that it's not live because the choir is all "Ah"s, but I'll be honest and say our production bar ain't so high that people need to high a live choir when they want to add a choral portion to the track. This one tears at me a bit - there's SO MUCH to like about it, but it can't be ignored that this is basically a one minute forty second track with a bit of the beginning tied onto the track in order to pad for length (then fading out rather than ending the track). On the other hand, adding the beginning organ to the end is a great way to bookend the piece, so had this simply ended on that note I would've considered this a neat package, even when it's shy of two minutes. I acknowledge the issues this one has, but I'm going to swing toward posting this rather than rejecting it. The two minute mark is a guideline, not a rule, anyway, and what's presented here is really a complete package, short as it is. YES

AJ DiSpirito (ReMixer and real name are the same) youtube.com/ajdispirito userid: 33841 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Hateno Racing Hateno Village (Day)

Oh, I really like this. It starts pretty slow... and it really never lets up from this chill atmosphere. It's not at all what I expect from such a high energy source, but I really do appreciate it when someone takes a source in such a different direction. I will admit this isn't for everyone - the soundscape, while generally quite active with all of the different textures in the background, it never quite sounds "full". I would count that as the choice of the artist in this case, though, and not as a mistake on his part; it sounds like the supporting part of a hip-hop track, which I'm down for. This track does have one fault, though, and it isn't a small one either - from ~4:00 to 5:00 the track is a copy-pasta of ~2:00 to 3:00. That's about 20% of repetition, which does sound like fluff upon repeated listenings. It's placed in such a way (following some decent bridging material and followed by a proper end) that it doesn't quite kill the arrangement for me, and would likely be accepted by listeners regardless, but it's definitely an issue. Overall, repetition aside I think it offers an excellent new light to a classic MM4 track. I acknowledge the minute of copy-pasta, but I don't think it's quite enough for me to say no to an otherwise great track. YES

ReMixer name: bsolmaz13 Name of game: Mega Man 4 Name of arrangement: Cossack Skies Name of song arranged: Dr. Cossack Stage 2

Prior Decision Contact Information Platonist Jonas Loman soundcloud.com/platonist 16372 Submission Information Legend Of Mana Nocturnal Lumina Composer - Yoko Shimomura ... and another attempt at this one. Changes include but are not limited to: * No intro that is identical to the outro. * No more synth string. * More usage of the flute-esque lead (it's actually a bass sample, but hey!) * Less muddy and better balance. This is probably my last revisit of the song. Hope it goes well. Cheers!

Contact Information ReMixer name : Reuben6 Real Name : Reuben Spiers E-mail: Submission Information Game: Donkey Kong Country Name of Arrangement: Woodland Wildness Name of Original Song: Forest Frenzy (featuring Psamathes and GameroftheWinds)

Contact Information > ReMixer name: HeavenWraith > Real name: Antanas Palaitis > E-mail: > Website: http://www.heavenwraithmusic.net > Forum user ID: 50325 Submission Information > Game: Sonic The Hedgehog (1991) > ReMix Name: Pax Eggmanica ~Sear & Reave~ > Original Name: Scrap Brain Zone > Original Author: Nakamura Masato > Link to the file: My submission to the "Speeding Towards Adventures: 25 Years of Sonic the Hedgehog" album. This track started off as a rather simplistic prog metal, instruments being that of a metal band plus a few synths. Over the course of the song I noticed that some of the synths did not sound well when under the spotlight and I just needed that heavy brass sound... and the pandora's box was opened, bam, almost full-blown symphonic orchestra. While the arrangement was very taxing to do, it was also interesting to work on. Combining all the different elements into one cohesive soundscape was quite a challenge and mixing was, admittedly, more than I could confidently handle. Nevertheless, even if it's not perfect, the mixing job is still better than my previous works, so I'm just happy that I've improved. Incidentally, this is the first track I have recorded with my first guitar that isn't garbage - Schecter Hellraiser C-1. And oh boy, as some of you could've guessed, that thing has a Floyd Rose. I really abused the thing in some of the solos and divebombs. Inspirations? Mostly Nightwish. A sort of fusion of colder atmosphere Oceanborn style and bombastic symphonic feel of the later albums. Some of the orchestration techniques and tricks I picked up from Hirano Yoshihisa (Hunter x Hunter (2011), Ouran Highschool Host Club, Death Note). To wrap up, when looking back I believe I made several mistakes when planning this track which are too late to fix now, but I believe it's still a decent piece of music and can provide good times for those who enjoy prog metal and/or symphonic metal.

Artist Name: MiDO Forum Username: middone Game Arranged: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis) Name of Arrangement: Powerful Chemicals Songs Arranged: Chemical Plant Zone Comments: This is my first submission to OCRemix, and of all of the remixes I've done, I'm the proudest of this one. This remix borrows elements from Sonic Forces (namely the synths and saws). Please enjoy.

Contact Information Username: timaeus222 Name: Truong-Son Nguyen timaeus222@yahoo.com http://soundcloud.com/timaeus222 http://tproductions.comeze.com/ ID: 24526 Submission Information Games: Dungeonmans, Tangledeep ReMix Title: In the Heart of Home Consoles/Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux (?) OST Composer: Andrew Aversa Sources: Calamity of Dread (Dungeonmans, attached), Pastoral Excursion (Tangledeep, attached), Victory! (Tangledeep, attached), Riverstone Reprieve (Tangledeep, attached) ReMix: - MP3 - WAV Comments: "The inspiration for this came from my Super Mystery Dungeon ReMix from early 2017, and the general vibe of Dungeonmans music. The sample palette here is fairly modest in terms of cost; I actually just stuck with soundfonts for the strings, harp, horns, and aux percussion; Platinum Percussion for the hand percussion; Juggernaut for the cinematic percussion; TruePianos for piano; Resonance: Emotional Mallets for the boltophone bells; and Zebra2 for everything else (more bells, pads, drones, leads, and bass). Mixing this was dreadfully difficult at first, because I was still at WSU when writing this, and I just had half-decent ATH-M30 headphones with understated bass and somewhat overstated treble. So, I spent a few days in winter break breaking out my Beyers to clear out the low-midrange (both in mixing and partwriting), brighten up the mix (through EQ, but also through additional percussion layers), and making cleaner use of the stereo field overall (toned down the reverb and revised all the panning). Ultimately, I just wanted something that was mostly calm with majestic climaxes. I hope you enjoy it, and here's to a great 2018! - Truong-Son" Extra Info: Source Breakdown: Intro (0:12.9 - 0:22.5) = Pastoral Excursion (0:00.0 - 0:12.9) Intro (0:25.8 - 0:38.6) = Pastoral Excursion (0:12.9 - 0:25.8) Main 1 (0:38.6 - 0:48.2) = Pastoral Excursion (0:12.9 - 0:25.8) [eastern mood] Main 2 (0:51.5 - 1:04.3) = Pastoral Excursion (0:25.8 - 0:41.8) [eastern mood] Buildup (1:04.3 - 1:17.2) = Pastoral Excursion (0:41.8 - 0:54.7) Climax 1 (1:17.2 - 1:42.1) = Victory! (0:15.4 - 0:30.3) Breakdown Pt1 (1:42.1 - 1:55.0) = Calamity of Dread (1:35.4 - 1:46.0) [Dungeonmans motif] Breakdown Pt2 (1:55.0 - 2:08.6) = Riverstone Reprieve (0:28.9 - 0:59.1) mixed with (1:28.7 - 1:35.8) Main 1 v2 (2:08.6 - 2:18.3) = Pastoral Excursion (0:12.9 - 0:25.8) [eastern mood] Main 2 v2 (2:21.5 - 2:34.3) = Pastoral Excursion (0:25.8 - 0:41.8) [eastern mood] Buildup v2 (2:34.3 - 2:46.4) = Pastoral Excursion (0:41.8 - 0:54.7) Climax 1 Pt1 (2:47.2 - 2:53.6) = Pastoral Excursion (0:25.8 - 0:41.8) Climax 1 Pt2 (3:00.0 - 3:13.9) = Pastoral Excursion (0:25.8 - 0:41.8) mixed with (1:33.3 - 1:58.9) Outtro (3:13.9 - 3:32.4) = Pastoral Excursion (0:25.8 - 0:41.8) mixed with (1:33.3 - 1:58.9) 9.6 + 12.8 + 9.6 + 12.8 + 12.9 + 24.9 + 12.9 + 13.6 + 9.7 + 12.8 + 12.1 + 6.4 + 13.9 + 18.5 = 182.5 secs 182.5/213.8 = 85.4% sources total Victory! = 24.9/213.8 = 11.6% Calamity of Dread = 12.9/213.8 = 5.66% Riverstone Reprieve = 13.6/213.8 = 6.36% Pastoral Excursion = 85.4% - 11.6% - 5.66% - 6.36% = 61.8%

Just for future reference, the Content Policy details that OCR has non-exclusive rights to publish, meaning you're absolutely free to do as you please with your music after it's posted here. (On a side note, I often post a lot of my music on Newgrounds after I submit it here, it's totally legit.)

- ReMixer name: FatheredCleric - Real Name: Federico Dubbini - Game: Chrono Trigger - Genre: Orchestral - Name of track: "The Spiritual Cathedral of Time" (original: Manora Cathedral) Thank you

Take a look at that first post. We're wrapping this up this year.

Remixer name: Snowy Fox Real name: Toby Wilkinson Email address: Website: https://foxaudio.co.uk/ UserID: 35303 Name of game arranged: SimCity (SNES) Name of arrangement: Good Job! Name of individual song(s) arranged: Dr. Wright, Village Comments: Inspired by ProJared's let's-play series on CimCity. While watching, I had been toying with the idea of making an extended cover of Dr Wright's theme just for fun, then when Jared asked "where's the remix of this?" I just had to fire up Reason. Also threw a little of the village theme in there just to mix things up a little.

Hello! This is Drew Etterle (SuprMelO) from the band Moiré Effect with my bandmate Scott Wells (BluuMonk). We can be reached at and our website is http://moireeffectband.com . My OCR user ID is 34268. We're submitting our remix of "Souls of Fire" from the Dark Souls OST. Our remix is titled "My Dear Artorias". I don't know that there's much more to be said about Dark Souls that hasn't already been said, but I can share my experience from playing it. One thing the original does specifically better than the others is convey the sense of a sparse and dying world. Entropy is happening and this is what it feels like. The music from the menu and character selection screen "Souls of Fire" with its gentle harp and choral elements contrasts greatly with the harsh and uncaring world of Dark Souls. I always thought the melody hinted at a type of serenity that comes with accepting the world for how it is. The story we're telling with the song is about the relationship between two characters Manus and Artorias. [DARK SOULS SPOILERS AHEAD] The stories in Dark Souls are buried in inference and hints, but once you find them you become invested. There are a few good YouTube channels where people are making a living exploring these stories. Anyways, Artorias was a knight of Lord Gwyn who was sent to investigate and confront the Abyss. Legend says he defeated the Abyss, but legend is wrong. Manus, the father of the Abyss, was too much for Artorias and after his defeat, Artorias succumbed to the darkness. Both would later be put out of their misery by the Chosen Undead (the player). In our remix, I wanted to imagine what Manus would have said to Artorias upon their meeting. Beyond that, I wanted to figure out what was the flaw that Manus was able to exploit in order to consume him with the Abyss. I went back to that old and somewhat overused Nietzsche quote “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” and it became the hook of the song. So what was it that Manus found in Artorias that allowed him to beat him? I think it was pride and vanity. Artorias contempt for humanity may have caused him to underestimate his opponent and he was vanquished. If I could choose the takeaway I'm hoping the listener gets from this song, it would be to ask yourself, what flaws am I carrying that allows the darkness in. And what am I doing about it? I couldn't be happier with Scott's vocal performance. I've heard it described as "screamo" which I guess is fair, but I can't imagine how else the primeval human and father of the abyss should sound. And don't say some unintelligible metal growling. We're trying to tell a story and carry a melody here. We pulled a lot of story elements into the lyrics and I can't get into them here, so a full breakdown will be available here (*soon): We also created a music video to tell the story in a visual way too: A previous version of this song was entered in the July 2017 Dwelling of Duels competition. Glad to share this one with you all here. This may be our last submission for a while. We're on another project for the forseeable future, but have a few remixes in the oven right now. Can't wait to get all this stuff out there. LYRICS: I knew you’d come You’re like a moth to flame Questing on For glory and fame Your contempt for the human race Use all your skill and might But you’re still leaving here in disgrace Your lord, your liege is hollow Swing your sword and your shield till your arms break Feel the thrill of the kill when you’re taking something And make it nothing Guard yourself, but your soul left laid bare The vanity I can see is staring back at you I’m staring back at you I know your story Your place in the sun Did you know it’s setting? Let me share with you The darkness found in me They wanted power I gave them insanity I won’t stop till I find what was taken from me Swing your sword and your shield till your arms break Feel the thrill of the kill when you’re taking something And make it nothing Guard yourself, but your soul left laid bare The vanity I can see is staring back at you I’m staring back at you When you stare at me I stare back at you Thanks, Drew

Contact Information Remixer Name: pixeltea Real Name: Duncan Email Address: YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ60Idzoiqm1lIqIZ3NB5Hg SoundCloud Page: https://soundcloud.com/pixelchips User ID: 33998 Submission Information Name of arrangement: Darker Sides Original song titles: "The Dark World" / "Priest of the Dark Order" / "Dungeon of Shadows" / "Black Mist" / "Lorule Castle" Games of origin: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Composers: Koji Kondo, Ryo Nagamatsu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BStjuHfP238 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5P4mQSneW4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3dZZsarAKk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2SPiGAs5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g75HDyL2BGc An orchestral medley inspired by the light and dark motif present in a Link to the Past and a Link Between Worlds. Contains a variety of songs from the Zelda series' darkest worlds: the Dark World, Ganon's theme, the Dark World dungeon theme, Death Mountain, and Lorule Castle.

Contact info: MAP3Music Marty Poirrier III 33552-User ID. This is a remix from the NES game Shatterhand.

Previous Decision Oioioi This one's an 8-year old track I thought I had to revisit. Hope it expresses what I meant better than before! Link 1: Link 2: In case it saves time: Original decision: https://ocremix.org/community/topic/24163-no-phantasy-star-4-sakura-storm/ Song arranged: Her Last Breath (source link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61IAHniwWWw) Mix title: Sakura Storm And tada