Gario

Heh heh heh... I think I'll have something for this, after all - I got caught up in a whole bunch of unforeseen projects and stuff for all of the last two months, but I've been working on something chill for this. It looks like I can have something decent finished by the deadline (yay, me).

For some strange reason I thought his birthday just came a week ago or so... Bah, shows that my mind isn't always there (actually, it rarely is all there ). A birthday of much happiness goes to you, bLiNd!

Look around in the WIP forums - you can often find people who would appreciate a good instrumentalist and such, so ask around if they need help. Likewise, you could start something there yourself and request a collab there. Best of luck with it .

Haha... that's like the only Wii theme that I could recognise. That's some good piano playing, there - and I like the juicy jazz you spiced it up with . Doesn't it hurt your hand to hit the triplets like you did at 2:18? They sound good, nonetheless, so to each his own .

I don't see how that would really solve anything, Oinkness - all that would happen is that the 'TO BE JUDGED' section would be ridiculously huge. They'd still need to judge them one by one, so the process would still take time. All the autoposting would accomplish is making a mess out of the judging forums. Well shit - it makes me rather upset for submitting only a few days after April 5th, lol. Ah well, at least I know why the panel is stalling, atm - you guys were on fire for the first week or two you were initiated into the judging position, so hopefully that pace can continue when LT get's situated better .

It took me a second, but I get what your saying, Meteo. I'd say he took damn good care of himself, considering he lived 20 years above the average life expectancy of a male. MJ, though - probably not so much, sadly.

Wow, that's intense. He was a pretty big figure in music - it seems like more and more influential figures seems to be passing away, nowadays.

Sweet, he wants to post more remixes on here I'll be honest, I personally think this is the single best rendition of this source on this site, right now. I just love the jazz sound that's in it, and it reminds me of the many times I've played the theme myself on the piano, but this takes the theme to a whole new level. Great piano, tasteful flute, great drums - this is some sweet, sweet music. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and download it.

Listening to the MM3 stuff, I recall someone saying that my own MM3 Sparkman remix had parts that harkened back to DD, and ever since I've always wondered what it would sound like if he made a Sparkman remix, himself. Now I know .

Wow, good point... Unfortunately, I don't have a sound system that supports that feature, but when I do I'll be sure to start making remixes of surround sound. I think the problem is that if you don't have a system that supports surround you'll either lose some of the channels altogether, or the sound system will attempt to emulate the surround effect and muddy the music in the process. I'd guess that's why people don't remix in 5.1 surround. I agree it should be done, though - it could potentially be pretty awesome.

Yeah, a few of mine, included . You mean I can't get the 'remix of the year' award for at least 3 years?! Damnit...

Very slick, buddy. It emulates the whole DC movie very well (which retaining the very familiar source tune). This is really good stuff - like DJP said, I hope to hear more from you soon!

He made a MM3 album?! Holy shit, I may have just pee'd a little over that one. Thanks for the link! EDIT: Listening to those track, it seems that these are very unpolished, for good ol' DD. Those that are on the site have a greater production value than on the link. They're still really good, though.

I've been looking for this one for some time (I knew it was here, but I thought it was actually called 'Mario Bitz', and I didn't want to really search, so meh...). Fortunately I found the remixer's name odd and clicked it by accident just now . This is an amazing remix of the song. Glitchy as all hell, yet it's so coherent at the same time. It's a shame there aren't more submissions like this one - as this is amazing. If you haven't downloaded it already, do it now. You won't regret it.

That comes with the 'improvisation' part - if you change up the harmonies and theme too much you'll lose touch with the original too much (or at least it'll be very, very difficult to keep it connected to the source). It's very difficult to keep the source in there if you don't return to it periodically.

No, Megadeth has the rights to that name (hence the link I made). Dave Mustane might not be happy if he saw that (and because he has contributed to VG remixes, himself, you can be sure he visits here often enough to realize you totally snagged his song title ).

I've been waiting for this one for a while - it's been on the 'To be Posted' section for some time, now. It was very good, but not the best rendition evar. Oh well, it was still really good . I liked the subtlety you used throughout, though - it makes full use of the orchestra rather than beating us down with the awesome theme . The choir is cool when it's there. By the way, has anyone else abused their right to the xylophone in high school by playing the Wily theme on it? Hearing the xylophone in here used like that brings back memories .

Oh I see, I was looking at a different song, then, lol. If you are worried that it's too long for OCR, don't worry about it - there are longer songs on here that are great, like this one (one of my personal favorites, and I'm sure a personal favorite of many other people here, too ). The question is how much quality are you willing to sacrifice to keep the file under 6mbs, as something that is 8 minutes would need to be reduced to something like 96kbps, which is rather poor in quality (although still acceptible on OCR). If your worried that it's too long because it doesn't flow or something then I agree. The addition of the labrinth sounds a little 'slapped on' in your track. Of course, it's your call, but there doesn't seem to be any integration of the themes in there - just the overworld theme and the labrinth thrown next to it (which the J's frown upon). Not saying that's a terrible thing, but it's something that will take your track down in the eyes of the judges. If you let the guitar ring until 5:20 and ended the song (instead of introducing the new theme) you'd probably have a better shot at the front page (and it would shorten your song to an acceptible file size, at the same time). There seems to be a bit of an emphasis on the bass end of the EQ spectrum that muddies the rest of the track - I'd turn the bass down a bit on the master track before subbing this. It's alright, otherwise - it might be a touch repetitive, but I find it to be relaxing. Personally I like the Gerudo Valley track better - you should sub that one for sure, then fix this one up and follow up that submission with this one three weeks later .

Oh you subbed it? Good luck with it . It seems that he reduced the length of the song already - it only goes up to 4:32, now (I didn't hear the longer version). Yeah, this should work at 160kbps (possibly even 192kbps), so I think your ready for submission. I like it, and the judges should, too.

Ha, just leave it - see if anyone on the panel notices . If you want to change it... gah, I've got that title stuck in my head now - I can't think of anything. Grr...

One thing you need to do is get the file under 6mb... bringing it down two kbps should do the trick. Sorry, site standards and all . Also (and I just noticed this, lol), did you really call it Fight For Freedom? I don't know - I have a feeling someone might get upset if he ever found out. I'm not telling you to change it or anything, but did you do that on purpose? I'd say the mastering could use a very small boost in the lower end of the mids, but it would be fine without the boost, too - just something to toy with, if you wanted to make it perfect. Otherwise I agree - there isn't much else you need to do with the track. Good luck with submitting it .

Blast... I think this will be the first ORC I don't participate in this year in one way or another. I can't seem to find the time for it, though - I've got a whole lot of tracks on my plate right now with close deadlines, so I've got to get those done over this contest... alas. I'll certainly vote, though.

Another week, another analysis. Going back to some of the earlier posts, I'm returning to the good ol' limitations of the NES and some of the amazing tricks that were performed with it. Alright, I personally don't like looking at 'classics', as they get more than enough attention on their own, but damn - this had one hot soundtrack. In particular, I'm looking at this track. Awesome as the beginning of this theme is (I mean, really - it just makes me want to sit down and play it again for the umpteenth time), I'm actually focusing on the ballad that occurs from 0:11 on. I find it interesting that I can hear this as a string orchestra with woodwind embellishments, followed by a brass section reinforcing the theme... Of course, different people hear it different ways, but I doubt anyone back in 1986 actually heard this song as square waves and triangle waves. If the music was good it tended to evoke the sounds of real instruments without being real, but how does the music do that? Alright, let's break this down to it's parts - this song uses four sound channels (two for rectangle/saw waves, one for a triangle and one for noise), so there is a limit to what it can accomplish (look at the first post for details on the sound channels - the Silver Surfer analysis is all about channel limits). However, listen to the ostinato that begins at 0:11 in the rectangle - you'll notice that it coincides with the triangle wave moving in a similar motion. Also notice that the second rectangle channel hits a third above the triangle (while the other one is hitting a fifth above), but does not continue the ostinato pattern - instead, it's used to emphasise the first beat of each measure (for two measures). What is significant about that? An ostinato is a very familiar technique used in classical music, so using it in the context of a video game will evoke a classical atmosphere. Using the third to accent the measures instead of the fifth or root actually will leave a 'sonic residue' (I made that term up ) in the listener's mind, so your brain now completes the chord all the way through the ostinato, even if it isn't actually being played anymore. The technique implies an orchestra (for me, or at least something traditional, for most people), and the strikes of the third completes the chord with the listener. What makes that strike significant, though? It sets us up for when the theme comes in at 0:16 - notice that the strike isn't there anymore, yet our mind still completes the chord. Later in the music this becomes important for emulating an orchestral sound - you'll see . The melodic theme is interesting, on it's own, as it implies that it is a traditional instrument playing it. The fact that there are neat leaps and scalar runs in the music implies that it music be an instrument and not a voice, and the background ostinato (which is still there, by the way) implies that it should be a traditional instrument (and not electronic), so my mind interprets the melody to be an instrument rather than bleeps (even though it literally is just bleeps). At 0:19, you'll notice that the second rectangle wave (that normally plays the ostinato with the triangle) drops out to echo the melody. This is also a traditional technique used in classic music called 'Antiphony' - where two separate instruments interact by one playing a line, then getting a response with another instrument. I understand that this is primarily a choral technique, but it is used in the instrumental world, as well, so this further emphasises the fact that this is indeed an instrumental piece, here. The ostinato is still being implimented throughout, though (and you still hear it even though it's not literally playing except in the triangle), so now there are two techniques being used in the music that is classically instrumental in nature. This evokes a very instrumental feel in music that is made up of bleeps. It continues in this fashion until it gets to 0:27, where the two rectangles now play a duet. The really cool thing about this part is that while the duet is happening, the ostinato and the antiphony is still happening in the music, either implied or literally. The duet is a highly contrapuntal little deal, which, again, evokes a very traditional feel to the music. This is compounded by the fact that all the other techniques are still being used, so this only furthers the orchestral sound that it has emitted so far. It's very interesting what the brain will do with music - if it recognises certain patterns from other music it will naturally associate it with that music. It's an interesting process, and I'll note that this doesn't happen with 'classical music', necessarily, even for this particular track - it's simply what I'm familiar with, personally. If you are familiar with a genre of music and an older game tries to emulate the sound by using techniques from the genre, your mind begins to listen to the music as if it was that genre rather than a compilation of bleeps. It's a very intriguing subject, how the brain interprets music .

Hey, bLiNd's finishing his Scrap Brain Zone track? I wonder if it's the same one that he broke into a WIP thread with? If it is it'll be awesome, but then again that's a given with bLiNd .

I'm afraid not... it's too clean to be the good ol' barb voice in there. I don't know if the raspy barb voice would fit, either (I promise, someday I'll make a song using D2 voiceclips, though).