Gario

Oh, I can see the comparison here... Shoot. I mean, obviously work still went into it with the singing and such, but the part writing and pacing is pretty darn close (if not identical). I'm going to check the source and see if it's a case of both being closer to the source (in which case even if it IS a rip it's merely a coincidence), but otherwise I think this is the MIDI used to create the arrangement around, with only instrument replacement and singing over the sax line to differentiate. The biggest kicker is that the two songs fade out in exactly the same way (which was even a point of contention for us on the panel). We made the artist fix it, sure, but even now it still retains some of that same fade right before it ends on a crash. That's not just a coincidence, that's definitely ripping the MIDI off. I'm leaning on the side of removing it - it does seem to conflict with this section of our submission rules, even with minor alterations: It's pretty hard to argue that this didn't involve some heavy lifting from the other artist who wrote the MIDI in the first place, and it sure looks like we're not giving Monster Iestyn any due credit on here otherwise.

Oh, actual game music, would ya look at that. For what it is I think it sounds pretty solid, but you're looking for some critiques so I'll give you one or two nitpicks. The really does scream Rayman and the like, so great work on that. I actually like some of the melodic hooks that come in from time (like at 0:58 and 1:05), but they're pretty undermixed. Melodic moments like that really sound like they could stand out more in the mix - give the listeners something to latch onto, there. For most of the track it's more like great filler (fun and fitting, but no melodic action to emphasize), but you have a few great little themes that could come out in the mix better. To be honest, otherwise I think this is a great little tune for a playful jungle platformer - not too much else that I could hammer this for. Even without touching it I think it's in a great spot, so don't worry too much about it. Good luck with your GDC client!

Unmod? Hot damn, that was a while ago - I only joined the site shortly before that was nuked, and I wasn't on the forums until after the infamous event happened. Funny that you're asking if people from unmod are still around when off-topic is nearly dead as well - almost no one comments on random silly stuff anymore. Kind of a shame, really; Facebook and other social media outlets really killed the energy on this forum outside of OCR's more specialized focus (music production, games, music production in games). Oh well, even though I probably don't know you from the forums back then... Hey there! Hope you've been doing well over the last decade!

Everyone else said what was needed to be said (awesome use of MSX soundchip, solid production, fun arrangement, etc.), so I'll just say this: I approve of this, since it's fun-tastic and done good-ly. We should post it. YES

There is so much cheeze in this arrangement, taking something so important and somber and funkify'ing it hardcore. The active bass, supporting organ and wonky synth really creates a fun atmosphere. It really takes some interesting detours from the source material, to boot, almost foregoing it entirely from to time. This... might be an issue. Since it's so short there's technically not THAT much that you need (65s), but this sounds like it's having a time crossing that bar. 0:17 - 0:46 (29s) 1:13 - 1:40 (27s) 56s/130s (~43% source usage) I will acknowledge that some of the original material is loosely based on the source (0:49, for example has the lead playing with the rhythmic motif from the song), but that's a pretty hard sell to the common listener, and this is already a pretty generous analysis, to boot. Otherwise I think this is a really awesome arrangement, but it's pretty clearly too liberal, here. Fortnately, as this is so short it's not like you need too much more source reference material in this to get it past (you can find eight seconds of texture that you can slip some other source elements into, certainly). I really hope you do, since this is a really slick arrangement from the source otherwise. NO

No. More accurately, not yet. At this point it's me dragging my feet (we do have enough music to put out an album, push comes to shove), but with the project lasting as long as it has I've been forced to pull away from it quite often to attend to other staff duties & RL distractions. I apologies for making people wait for so damn long.

Hello. I'm relatively new to the OCR forums, but I'd like to submit an arrangement of a piece of videogame music to the OCR Judges for inclusion and use on the OCR website. I have attached the audio file of the arrangement in this email. The relevant and requested information is below: ReMixer name: BenEmberley Real name: Ben Emberley Email address: Website: www.benemberley.com Userid: 35011 Game arranged - Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Name of Arrangement - Floria in Nature Individual song arranged - Lake Floria Additional information - Original music by Koji Kondo, Hajime Wakai and Shiho Fujii. Original Soundtrack can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7irrTXr2tsk If there is any more information or anything lacking in this submission, please let me know. Thanks, Ben.

Your ReMixer name : dannyshock Your real name; Manu Gerber Your email address: Your website: manugerber.com Your userid: 33504 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Super Metroid Name of arrangement: Save the Animals Name of individual song(s) arranged: Super Metroid Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vYsVk23oxA) Comment: The original score of this game is absolutely fantastic! The source is very dark, and since there are alreay a ton of orchestral arrangements out there, I went for something more 70s funk / jazz - inspired. Cheers! Manu

Hi! This is the artist formerly known as Paul John. Green Hill Zone is still one of my favorite melodies to mess around with on piano, and I cranked this out the other night. ReMixer name: 3P0P Real name: Paul J. Frankhouser Email address: Website: http://3p0p.ninja Forum userid: pauljohn Game: Sonic the Hedgehog Name: Supersonic Individual song(s): Green Hill Zone Been a few years, but always a joy to run and arrange this tune as it's a reminder to stay fast, and personally, to never give up. Tried to keep it flowing throughout using air, drill, and bitcrushed game sounds to "pump" more energy into the 4/8 segments, also with a break that represents loss of coins, a continue break, drowning, time running out, or (insert_here). I listened to April Rain many years ago as previously featured, although only relistened after finishing this mix. May I have changed a few things otherwise? I'm not sure. Cheers! 3P0P is the electronic alias of Paul John who now focuses on performance piano. Continue? 3_2_1 ..

Sebdoom Sébastien Pierre sebdoom.bandcamp.com user ID: 27178 Direct Download link in case the joined mp3 has an issue: Streets of Rage 2 Original track: Ending Arranged track name: End of Haze

Contact Information ReMixer name : Reuben6 Real name: Reuben Spiers E-mail: Submission information Game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Name of arrangement: Gerudo Desert Party Name of original song: Gerudo Valley

Oh, I do like this. It knows how to take a source that's more DS Epic (I'm continuously surprised by the quality of that soundtrack every time I see something from it on the panel) and slam it into your face; the arrangement never lets up on that gas pedal and I love it. Arrangement is present with a style that makes it stand out, and the production is quite good. The mixing, while keeping everything easy enough to here has the drums pop out a little too much, there. The arrangement can get too crowded from time to time too, with the instruments selected (like at 2:33, where limiting artifacts sound like they're present). It certainly ain't even close enough for me to reject, because when it's great it's really GREAT, and when it's not at it's best it's still really good. Solid pass, great work! YES

remixers: OceansAndrew and Overclocked University source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5n-s2JKCq4 remix: Even though listening to the source you could really imagine it as a great 70's flavored horn-fueled rock song, I decided to try a completely different angle. during the process, I learned a lot about myself, life, and pokemon during my journey. Did you know that they are all related in a giant tower of life? I didn't either, but you can't deny the facts! Anyways, this was definitely a genre experiment for me, but I think it brings a fresh trist to a classic theme.

Hey hey, Remixer name: Jorito Real name: Jorrith Schaap Email: Userid: 3899 ReMixer name: HeavenWraith Real name: Antanas Palaitis e-mail: Userid: 28922 Submission information: Name of Game(s) Remixed: Ys III: Wanderers from Ys Name of Arrangement: Sunset Heroes Names of songs arranged: Trading Town of Redmont (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogzOL1BpjQM#t=2m03s), The Boy's Got Wings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogzOL1BpjQM#t=8m31s) Link to the remix: Comments about the mix: This is the second (and last) track I did for the Hometown Heroes album that unfortunately got cancelled. I originally created this arrangement mid 2015, but it wasn’t fully finished yet and was lying unused until somebody recruited for an Ys 30th anniversary album at OCR (http://ocremix.org/community/topic/46281-recruiting-for-30th-anniversary-ys-album/). That was a good reason to finally dust off my WIP and finish it. Originally I tried making an Italo remix of the town of Redmont music, but when I showed it to Sir_Nuts many moons ago, he pointed out “it’s a cool arrangement, but the sounds are not Italo”. Fast forward 2 years, I tried my hand at synthwave in stead of Italo, did a lot of work on production, changed and layered lots of instruments, completely overhauled the mixing and finally came up with a title. Probably took me longer than coming up with the arrangement in the first place In a bout of inspiration I tried swapping the synth part that originally played the “Boy’s Got Wings” part with a sampled guitar, and that sounded rather good. So I asked around if there were any people on the Ys album project that would be able to record the guitar for me. OCR regular HeavenWraith was able to do just that, and on rather short notice. That part where “Boy’s Got Wings” plays is my favorite part of the song, both because of the cool melody of the source track that I was able to blend with the Redmont theme and of the awesome guitar work As for the “lyrics”, they are mostly there as ornaments and notably silly and incomprehensible. Here they are, in case you’re wondering: Neon Skylines Sunset Heroes New Adventures Hitpoints Zero Neon Skylines Sunset Heroes Town of Redmont (Sunset Heroes) (2x) Sunset Heroes Glad that I had a good excuse to dust off this arrangement and finish it properly! Cheers, Jorrith

Remixer Name: Digital Brain Real Name: Markus eMail Adress: Name of Game arranged: The great Giana Sisters Name of Arragement: Great Giana Sisters Intro Name of individual Song arranged: The great Giana Sisters Loader URL of the track: Hello, First of all, excuse my English, I'm from Germany. I created this mix because the title was (and still is) my absolute favorite among game music. That's why I wanted to stay as close to the original as possible, which may not be entirely in line with your rules, but we'll see. However, the title definitely has its own character. You won't find many remixes of this song, because it only ran in the loading routine of the game and it wasn't part of most cracked versions. I sometimes loaded the game just to hear this title, not because I wanted to play it. I also used the production of this song to teach my children how to produce music. First of all, so that they learn that music is not only simply played, but usually has to be produced. Listening to the original was also helpful, so that they could recognize the individual instruments and learn that most of the music is a perfect interplay of different instruments. Now I (we) hope to see the title published on your great website. A remix version of the loader track is not yet available there. Thank you for your attention! Regards Markus

Hmm... This is an example of a track with some really great ideas and some execution choices that don't work in it's favor. For the good parts, the bass synth design and drum work is quite cool, and that robo-voice has a real oldschool feeling to it (reminds me of the classic "All your Base" video of yesterdecade), and all of that is handled in a way that keeps my interest. I can hear the Polygonet Commando source well enough throughout the arrangement, too, so at least we're covered on that front, as well. As for the rest of the sound design, it's pretty vanilla, and unlike the bass the other synths don't really seem to be doing much other than making sure the notes are being played. Not going to lie, that just makes the track sound plain and uninteresting outside of the elements mentioned above. The other SFX used are mixed in a way that they pop out too much, as well; the "OI" at 1:15 and "Woo" at 3:13 are just too loud in the mix, so they really need to be lowered in the mix. Any moment the piano is playing it ends up sounding dry and mechanical - some reverb and dynamics would help give that some more life. The production isn't bad otherwise, but the vanilla design, strange mixing of SFX and dry, unrealistic piano set this a bit below the bar. TBH I'm closer on this than I thought, but there's enough that adds up to me saying this needs another pass before we post it on the front page. Good luck with the rest of the panel! NO

ReMixer Name: donadavs Name Email address: Name of game arranged: Polygonet Commanders Name of arrangement: The Future is Now Name of individual song(s) arranged: Energy High (Expressway Stage) and a small part of Super Bomberman 2, Area 5. Composers: Junya Nakano, Yuji Takenouchi Systems: Polygonet Commanders: Arcade, Super Bomberman 2: Super Nintendo Link to the original Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-vD6rIjXrcK6y6K6d6OFxo0jiX7YDRmp Comments about the mix: I felt this song was begging for a 90's remix in the spirit of 'Twilight Zone' by 2 Unlimited.

Oh, this is a fun arrangement. Got the game on sale, thought the soundtrack was pretty boss, and this just takes the best it has to offer and drives it up to 11. Short and straight to the point, this one's got some real spunk. Lovin' it.

Yeah, that's very true; 2017 there was a pretty hardcore blacklist going down for all political channels on YT (right-wing, left-wing, didn't matter). We're hitting a point where the downside of the combination of absolute free speech and insanely fast information delivery combines (bad info spreads fast and is nearly impossible to correct), and the tools anyone has will both be inadequate AND it hurts more honest actors talking about politics. Not a politics thread/post, but to your point the YT politics blacklist is a real thing, done in response to the whole "Nazis-are-getting-our-ads" fiasco of yesteryear. If you're not dedicated to politics it's a good idea not to make political videos on your channel. Perhaps make two channels if you're into that kind of thing? Best of luck on your endeavor of streaming your music profitably.

Ah, got a little backlog when it comes to these evaluations - sorry that I left you waiting. Finally got more staff working for us so I'll make sure your tracks get covered. EVAL You do know how to make a good orchestral arrangement, I will say. While I'm not familiar with all the themes listed (BotW and Phantom Hourglass, specifically), but when the other themes are present I do catch them, and they blend quite well with one another. Your instrument quality is very good in general, too. I've mentioned your set has tinny brass and string samples that are merely decent. Not under the OCR bar, however, and the humanization does go a long way in getting as much as you can out of them. The brass (trumpets, specifically) at the end are mixed quite loud. Specifically starting at 8:08 and really standing out at 8:18. Dynamics are great, but at that point the instrument is too bright to comfortably listen to at those levels. At best, I would suggest peaking the trumpets at the levels they're at in 8:08 at 8:17 and move one or two dynamics quieter at 8:08 (from, say, "ff"@8:08 to "f" or "mf"). Decreasing the trumpet levels will also enable you to increase the overall levels of the arrangement by a bit, compensating for the overall lower levels of the arrangement. I think this has a good shot at passing on the panel regardless, though fixing the levels as mentioned would really cement it. It's a great arrangement, with good orchestration and is well produced, to boot. Either way, I do hope to see it in the inbox soon!

Mmm, are you planning on submitting this? You didn't specify, but there's a mod review prefix on this so I assume so - that's what the prefix is for, after all. EVAL This is a very fulfilling arrangement - the flute performances are quite good (a few moments where it doesn't hit the beat perfectly, but not the end of the world), the duet is really well done, and to be honest real flute-centric arrangements on OCR are far too few. The production seems to be pretty good (hard to tell from a YT video over a more conventional download link), and the mix knows very well to put the flutes front and center (with some light panning to give each flute it's space). So far so good! As far as source goes, it takes such a slow theme and speeds it up nicely. There's a lot of material, though, that I don't recognize from the source that you provided (0:32 - 1:37); is there more than one source involved in this one? It sounds well integrated enough, but as I'm not familiar with the game I can't say whether or not this is another theme from Golden Sun, or if this is some (impressive) original writing. The arrangement is still within our standards on OCR, but if it's from something else it'd be a good idea to let the panel know in the submission e-mail. This is short, but what's here is good. If you submit as is, you'd likely pass without too much issue. Just let us know all of the sources involved upon submission!

Mmm, very peaceful, very calming. I really like how this opens up - atmospheric and conservative (the source is good enough where this is effective ). Then we get a cool, EDM, sidechained four-to-the-floor right after, which is a great way to give this your own spin. A small bit of advice on the lead in the middle of the track: when it hits some high notes, it's pretty piercing (and thus, painful to the ears). Not a big deal since it only hits the highs for effect periodically, but some envelope to the levels so the synth isn't as loud would help make it less painful. Overall, though, I enjoyed what you had here. Thanks for sharing!

Ambient is a funny thing - unfortunately, considering the nature of VGM arrangements (since that's a solid majority of my experience) and the difficulty of making them into ambient tracks it makes me less qualified to give great feedback on an original ambient piece like this. I'll give my thoughts anyway, though - take it as thoughts from a guy who doesn't know much about ambient music! Disclaimer aside, the production on this is pretty sweet - I'm not hearing anything that offends as far as artifacts, compression, clipping, etc., so at least on that front I say this is great. The mixing is pretty good, too; while the "themes" are suppressed in the mix a bit, I'm under the impression that this is more part of the style than anything. One can still hear things clearly enough, though perhaps the more squeaky texture could be downplayed in the mix. The one thing that throws me off is the over-reliance on two chords while layering different things over them. I'm not sure if that's inherent to the ambient style or not, but after two minutes my ears get quite tired of those two same chords, and due to the minimalist motion throughout there's nothing else to take my ears off of that motion. Again, maybe it's stylistic, but I wasn't digging the static chords - even just one place where it deviates would make all the difference. Not too shabby, though; I dig what's here, even if I thought it could use just a little more chordal motion. Nice work!

Pretty much just Jarski/PsyNES that posts psytrance that I know of (I do miss him on OCR and the WIP boards - hope we pass some more of his stuff soon!). He used to post all sorts of Psytrance on the WIP boards back in the day, and even opened that whole genre up for me. I wish you the best on the panel, too.

Very nice approach - crisp synths and phat beats are on the menu for this one. The source is pretty easy to hear, and the flourishes are well placed. I would LIKE to say the production is great too, but there are a few instruments that are so loud in the mix that it causes ducking from everything else in the arrangement. Specifically, the supersaw bass just overwhelms in this - every element in the song suffers when it's present, and it's virtually always present. The drums cause a little ducking too, but that works well enough in this style so I'm not too concerned about it. I'm 90% sure this could be fixed by simply either lowering the volume on the mixer for the bass saw (or the output on it's compressor, etc.) and it would make this track easily postable, so I'll give it that conditional. YES (Conditional on bass saw levels)