Gario

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)

Full Sleeve [InK Me uP] source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ylxg1fYZM remix The super peppy theme from the multiplayer segment of Splatoon, I slowed it up a bit and gave it a lot of Synth flourishes, added a few original melodies, and some other fun stuff too.

This is a pretty interesting idea - at over three minutes, the source only plays through once, which means it's been stretched to roughly 3-4x it's original length. Rather than acting as the focal point, this arrangement builds something rather different using the source as the backing glue to keep it all together. Intruiging; while I can see others perhaps saying it doesn't sound enough like the source, I'd argue it doesn't need to - having something sound so different while still TECHNICALLY containing the source in it's entirety is a very interesting way of interpreting OCR site rules. The performances are quite good, and the recordings are generally clean. The one issue I have with this (and it's not a small issue) is the overuse of production effects; the flangers, the phasors, etc., really do sound slapped on, rather than letting the music speak for itself. It's the artist's choice and all, but considering everything else it just makes no sense to layer special effects on a brass septet like that. The pacing takes getting used to, but I like the idea. I don't think the random special effects sprinkled in there take this below the bar, so I'm all for this one. I could see a differing opinion on the arrangement on the panel, though, so I bid good luck on the rest of the panel! YES

Your ReMixer name: JohnStacy Your real name: John Stacy Your email address: Your userid: 33075 Name of game(s) arranged: Super Mario Bros. Name of arrangement: Reflecting Pool Name of individual song(s) arranged: Underwater Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. Few years back I arranged a concert of big band music (my first submission to this site was from that project). One of the arrangements on there was a brass only arrangement of the Underwater theme from the original Super Mario Bros that really didn't fit in with the rest of the concert. Originally written for 4 flugelhorns, 2 horns, 4 euphoniums, and a tuba, I played all the original parts on horn minus the flugelhorns for this version. In addition to the different instrumentation, the tempo also was lowered down to 22.5 bpm (from 50 in the original). I also branched out a little bit, and used a combination of not only recorded horn with electronic processing, but also basic synth work. The premise is somewhat of a study in patience. That is to say, the arrangement goes through the original loop of the music only once, but slowed down to roughly 10% speed. The rest of the arrangement is filled with dense 7 part counterpoint that reharmonizes the original melody and gives motion that would otherwise be very static.

Thanks for the link! EVAL This is very, very good. The humanization is on point, the orchestration is great if a bit peasant (adds to the charm), and the arrangement is clever, especially with those blending sources. I can nitpick and say the arrangement meanders a bit, and it uses a fadeout rather than just ending the piece, but I'll be real and say that's just me LOOKING for something to be wrong when there isn't really anything to say. Great work, please submit this.

Hey there, welcome to OCR! Always nice to see a fresh face on here. Let's see what we've got going on here. Magus, heavy metal cover, good start for sure - can't go wrong with such an iconic source, imo. The opening strings do a good job setting up the mood (much like in the source), and the performances are solid, as far as I can hear. On the mixing (which was a concern for you), I can hear what you're saying here. The balance of the mix sounds like it's favoring the bass over everything else, which can be an issue since a bass waveform is so large. A strong bass is great, but too loud and it takes the space that everything else could use. Toning down the bass will give you more room to raise the mixing levels of your guitars, so I would suggest playing with your other levels in order to give some room for your other instruments in the mix. Taucer's suggestion to tweak the wetness will help, too - the heavy reverb can also make it difficult to raise your levels without causing production issues. Noticed the minor slap on the wrist you got from using the wrong prefix on here. Taucer is correct on changing the prefix. No worries - just look over the rules of the forum & eval tags and you should be just fine.

To be honest, I want to give this some love, but the track is on Youtube. Not much wrong with that technically, but it makes it tough for me personally because of the slowness of streaming I have where I am. Any chance we could have a downloadable version?

EVAL First, the good (of which there is plenty!) - this is well produced, especially when everything is playing at once. The synths take a little getting used to (personal preferences, no issue there), but once you do the soundscape is rich and full. The arrangement seems to follow the source well enough (from how much of the source loaded - my comp where I am is slow on YT videos, for some reason). The arrangement takes a theme with unconventional tonality and brings it back to Earth, which is easier said than done. There are a few things that catch me off guard, though. First, the bass seems to cut out past the first note of each phrase, when everything is playing (such as at 0:19, it cuts out at 0:22 - doesn't even register on a spectragraph). Not sure what's going on there; one possibility is that the range of the instrument just doesn't go too low and you stepped past it's range, or the instrument gets much weaker in lower registers. I've seen it happen, but whatever the case it makes your nice full sections sound like they lose an instrument for 3/4 of the phrases. As I said, it's really rich and full of flavor when everything is present, but when the bass synth isn't there it's quite noticeable. Interestingly enough there's a soft gated synth that also cuts out there too, which is kind of odd. See if you can make these things come back! Really nice soundscape at 1:00 (aside from the aforementioned bass issue), though playing the same phrase out twice does feel like padding. Not the end of the world, but if you want to play something twice give the listener a reason to listen to the second part; some minor variations can go some distance, there. The same can be said about 2:33. There are some odd notes in the background synth at 2:39 & 2:58 - sounds like it's a half step too high. I COULD say it's a sort of leading tone into the next note, but that dissonance is pretty strong to leap into. Could possibly argue a justification for it, but I suggest lowering that backing synth note by a half step. I think this is pretty darn close, but the instruments cutting out (especially the base) would likely be a dealbreaking issue. The slightly repetitive phrases and odd note or two should be addressed as well, but the bass is the bigger issue here. Otherwise, it's a pretty cool track with a decent shot on the panel. Hope that helps!

Funny story, here: I was lurking in the WIP forums a bit and I found this song label'd "Ducktales Moon theme - Psytrance/Goa remix' and it got me thinking "Moon theme? Psytrance? Goa?! ... Never heard of Goa before, but I love me some Psytrance and Moon theme from Ducktales, gotta check this out!". Not going to lie, it was completely different from my expectations, and I loved every second of it. Typed up a comment and found out the artist switched to a review. Gotta love it when things line up like that! Anyway, as for the arrangement itself, I think it's pretty darn good, but it's biggest strength is that it takes something already heavily arranged and does something completely new with it. It's definitely Ducktales Moon theme (easier to hear with the helpful timestamps he gave... fun general fact, timestamps are VERY appreciated, to anyone paying attention here!), but it's so alien at the same time... That's the kind of thing that helps make you stand out on OCR, in my humblest opinion. The production is great where it counts - the beats are solid, and there's plenty of space given to the drums without making the track sound empty. I have some small issues with the snare and the mixing of some of the leads - they sound too far into the background of the mix. Doesn't sink the arrangement or anything (it's still easy enough to hear everything), but they could've been placed closer to the front of the mix. Finally, one hell of a name to give the track. Classic Floyd reference, also perfectly fits the arrangement... It doesn't win you panel points, but you do get some solid style points from me. Alright, enough chatter, great remix. YES

Remix Link: Your ReMixer name : Rotten Eggplant Your email address: Your website: http://www.rotteneggplant.com Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 33634 Name of game(s) arranged: DuckTales Name of arrangement: Dark Side of the Moon Name of individual song(s) arranged: The Moon Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) Hiroshige Tonomura / NES Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF32DRg9opA Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. This song was a challenge made to me by a friend of mine. Normally my style of music is orchestrated and a little bit of EDM. I asked him to pick a song and style for me to remix, and he chose the Moon theme from Ducktales in the style of Goa / Psytrance. I listened to a LOT of psytrance to get the hang of the style, watched a lot of videos, and I think I managed to complete most of his challenge, although part of the challenge was also to get this song posted to this site. Now, Gario suggested that I include timestamps of the source material within the remix because I used it in a... er... creative way, although I tried to lay in as much familiarity and similarity as I could, given the nature of psytrance vs the sound of The Moon. So, I'll start with a breakdown of the source that I'll reference to when timestamping the remix (using that Youtube link of the source): The Arp - 0:00 - 0:02 Intro - 0:02 - 0:13 Section 1 - 0:13 - 0:26 Section 2 - 0:26 - 0:36 Section 3 - 0:36 - 0:46 Alright, so here's the timestame of the remix: 0:00 - 0:07 - The Arp (actually, the Arp is used a lot throughout the remix) 0:07 - 0:33 - The Arp with the bassline of the Intro 0:33 - 1:00 - Er....... Original, I suppose. Was meant to establish the psytrance feel. 1:00 - 1:26 - Return of the Arp (in a minor key) 1:26 - 1:53 - Intro (in a minor key) 1:53 - 2:32 - Some playing around with the squelchies to the bassline of Section 1 2:32 - 2:59 - Psytrance climax using The Arp to the bassline of Section 1. 2:59 - 3:26 - Section 1 (with a little spice added for flavor) 3:26 - 4:05 - The Arp followed by Intro (heavy reference) 4:05 - 4:32 - Section 1 (heavy reference) 4:32 - 4:58 - Section 2 (not-as-heavy reference) 4:58 - 5:25 - More playing with the squelchies 5:25 - 5:38 - Added in a very gated Section 3 melody reference (minor key) 5:38 - 5:51 - A less subtle Section 3 melody reference (still minor key) 5:51 - 5:54 - Now in major key 5:54 - 6:07 - Section 3 (Heavy reference) 6:07 - 6:21 - Section 3 with gating treatment 6:21 - 6:47 - The Psytrance climax again with some more things thrown in 6:47 - 6:57 - The outro of the climax (and remix) So, hopefully that should help if you're having a hard time hearing the source. I hope there's enough of it in there. (Sorry for cutting it so close to the 7 minute limit.)

Mod review requested, this isn't a review. Just giving a heads up - I'm answering the question presented. I'll make sure this gets reviewed soon, though. To @OceansAndrew's question, as far as sampling of the game soundtrack is concerned as long as it isn't from Square Enix there isn't a panel issue with it (Xenoblade is a Nintendo product, so far so good). However, when we look for how much source reference there is in the track the sampled portions do not count as a source reference in the arrangement. Tracks with sampled non-Square music have come up a few times in the past since I've been on the panel, and that's how we've resolved to handle audio sampling. Sample if it makes the song sound cool (I'm personally a fan of em'), but don't use the samples as the primary source of callback to the original song; if we can't identify enough source in the arrangement without using the samples as a crutch, we will say that the track doesn't have enough source in it.

Link to remix; Remix Title The teCtonic reCords ----------------------------------------------- CONTACT INFORMATION ReMixer name Justin Tense Email address Userid 29021 http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=29021 http://ocremix.org/artist/5425/justin-tense ----------------------------------------------- SUBMISSION INFORMATION Name of game(s) arranged Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Name of individual song(s) arranged The Credits Concerto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSwbr0voBtM ----------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Original Composers: David Wise System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Publisher: Rare/Nintendo Hey guys it's been a while, 6 years and 3 months to be exact since I emailed through my last track! Where does time go? Loved ones have passed away, my girlfriend turned into my fiancée and Manchester United still can't beat Chelsea away from home... As humans age the paths they traverse will vary greatly. Forks appear upon the roads we tread, enticing, daring and manipulating us to venture to unknown territories in this evolving journey we call life. So for all this uncertainty it's always good to have a constant. Something that no matter where life takes you, it serves it's purpose to help you appreciate the beauty of every interaction. For me this constant has always been the music of David Wise. The Donkey Kong Country soundtrack still to me is the pinnacle of gaming music. I purchased a SNES Classic Mini when it got released here in Australia a few months ago and just finished my play through of DKC. The second I heard The Credits Concerto track I knew I had to remix it. So here it is... See you in 2023

The track is smooth, the production is excellent, and the arrangement is on point. The dissonance at 2:32 sounds like a passing tone, to me - nothin' wrong with a bit o' dissonance to spice things up. While I think the drums add a nice bit of character to the arrangement, I could see some thinking they don't fit the rest of the soundscape as well as they should. Still, I'm a big fan of this one. Looking forward to the rest of the album, as well! YES

I think you'll be fine if you submit this, tbh. I could hear some complaints on the panel come up about some random mixing elements or another, or someone else might say the drums are a hair static, but I doubt it'll be turned away as long as a decent time stamp is sent with it (still not an easy track to parse the source from, lol). Looking forward to it!

Sorry, i forgot to mention that its from Sonic Advance 3, and its a remix of Twinkle Snow

Damn, those are some short sources, especially that main source - it sounds more like a texture than it does an actual theme. This arrangement takes these ideas as far as they can go, utilizing the gameplay theme as a texture under quite a bit of lead work (based on other tracks in the game) and soloing. Going through the sources, this thing isn't a remix of any particular source - it's just a remix of the entire game's soundtrack, using the gameplay music as the glue keeping it all together. For a game with such a limited soundtrack, this is probably the best approach one could take, and it's done oh-so well here. Performances and production is on point, and so is the arrangement. To be honest I was close to just DP'ing the whole thing, but it's such a strange source and interesting implimentation that I figured it could have a pass through the panel, just in case I'm overlooking anything. Great to have you on OCR - hope to hear plenty more from you on here. YES

remixer name: Harmsing real name: Vasily Blokhin email address: website: https://www.youtube.com/TheHarmsing userid: 34874 name of game: Lunar Pool \ Lunar Ball name of arrangement: Looser tool name of individual song arranged: Game Theme composer: Masatomo Miyamoto platform: NES original: https://youtu.be/xZb6xKcyPT8 In this mix interspersed with other musical themes from the game Lunar Pool. But the key theme is "Game theme" is the main line of the whole composition. I performed this work as a fun reqest from one person who solved all my riddles.(about NES games music )

Contact Information ReMixer name: Fusion42 Website: Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/f-u-s-i-o-n-4-2 UserID: 34963 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Name of arrangement: "Take Flight" Name of individual song(s) arranged: "The Flight Range" Link to song: A little about me: Hi Guys! My name is Larry, and I've been a long time lurker here at OCR, since I was in middle school (so over a decade, wow!) and I'm proud to submit my first mix to you! I definitely wouldn't consider myself "new" to music production--I started messing around with FL Studio when I was 14 and did it all throughout highschool and college as a hobby, but I took a 5 year or so break to focus on other things (got married, had kids, etc). In those 5 years, I grew a lot in my piano playing and songwriting, and it's been a lot of fun to come back to making electronic music with a widened perspective of music. "Fusion 42" is technically 2 people- myself and my best friend, and 42 was our room number in college, hence the name. This track was produced by me, but we have more collaborative stuff coming out soon that we have both worked on. We have a broad array of genre's that we are into (by day I'm a gospel/jazz keyboardist and songwriter) but Fusion42 is going to be strictly for electronic music--trance, EDM, hip hop, you name it. We're having loads of fun so far and our personal goal is to release 1 track per week. On to the mix: This is a trance remix of "The Flight Range" from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I've played the heck out of Breath of the Wild this year, but somehow never noticed this little theme until watching my wife play a few weeks ago. It's a simple, melancholy little tune that plays in the Flight Range, and it's easy to miss. But it's little chimes really hit me, and trance just felt like the right genre. I've long enjoyed listening to uplifting trance music, and remixes from the likes of bLiNd and Jewbei from back in the day are among some of my favorites on the site. I still go back and listen to bLiNd's "White Skies" remix very often--good stuff! The fun part about making this was trying to fit the 3/4 theme into a 4/4 beat. I ended up reworking the melody a bid and adding a little to the tail end. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I feel like the emotion of the original song was captured pretty well at the drop/breakdown section. For those curious, this was all done in FL Studio, and mostly with free plugins / Sytrus. As for the mix itself, I'm working really hard at getting better, and I do feel like I have room to improve, but this is definitely my best effort in this genre. I actually had a few longer versions of the song, but decided to cut it short to avoid being too repetitive/lengthy, which I think was a good choice now that I hear the final product. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to evaluate this, and I hope it makes you smile! -Fusion42

Previous Decision Contact Information Platonist Jonas Loman platonistmusic.com 16372 Submission Information Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Do You Need A Light? Battle BGM Well, alright, okay, sure, no restraint it is. Go!

ReMixer: Dangerglass Name: Zach Kohlmeier Email: Website: https://soundcloud.com/impactlunar Forum ID: 34953 Game: Princess Maker 2 Arrangement: Uppercut Original track: Martial Arts Competition Composer: Masahiro Kajihara System: PC-98 Developer: Gainax Link to the OST: OR Description: I was looking for a track that I could work in a little bit of a classical/disco vibe (ex. Walter Murphy’s style), and I came across this track from Princess Maker 2 while surfing through old computer game soundtracks. The driving beat and wicked bass solo of the original seemed perfect for what I was looking for. Balancing orchestral elements such as a harpsichord with electronic sounds to build a disco-like dance piece made this an enjoyable arrangement to work on. I used Logic Pro X to arrange this. Thank you for your consideration, Zach Kohlmeier (NOTE: Source is at 1:02:54 in provided Youtube link)

Alright, we got an update - check first post. Additional comments on update: Comments on Mix: I changed up the vocals to make them sound more natural within the mix, added some more variation to the drumbeat to avoid too much repetition, and extended the ending to make it less jarring. In addition, I re-did the piano solo (not changing the melody, just making it less robotic) and replaced the VST for the vibraphone since I have purchased a much better one since I first made this track. Thanks for the tips on making it better! I hope I addressed all of the issues.