Gario

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.

Contact Information Remixer Username: Furorezu Real Name: Daniel Florez Preferred E-mail: User ID: 33297 Name of games arranged: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Name of arrangement: Pajarito Paisa Name of individual songs: Dragon Roost Island Source materials: Dragon Roost Island Comments: I wanted to make a remix in the style of Afrosound, a Colombian instrumental band that has been described as having a hybrid cumbia sound. Having grown up listening to them around Christmas time (particularly "El Pesebre"), I was hooked on their music once I finally found out more about them and the rest of their music. I ended up choosing Dragon Roost Island as the song to mix because its chord progression was ripe for translating to the I-V-I progression used in songs like "El Pesebre" and "Danza de los Mirlos", which is evident most in the bass guitar for that style of music. I've worked on this mix for a better part of the year since it is very tough to find a balance between keeping it fresh but not wandering from the motif too far, since I felt that that would stray too far from the style I was going for; Working with percussion loops rather than the instruments individually also played a factor. Hopefully it meets the OCR criteria, as this music style should become more known outside of Colombia and is very near and dear to me.

Those are some phat as hell synths, with meaty drums to compliment them and a solid balance in the mix. The arrangement itself works great, too - it knows when to go hard and when to give the listener's ears a break. Great stuff all around; I've got nothin' to give it but my praise. If I saw this in the inbox I'd have just said this doesn't need to be on the panel and given it a DP, but you put it on the panel yourself (you sneak!) so instead I'll just do this... (Easy) YES

I remember this from the album eval, and my commentary is pretty close to the same as before: the arrangement suffers from having a density/business to it that gets stale over time, but the instruments are always changing so I can't quite say the arrangement gets 'static'. There's just no place for the ears to rest for a moment and appreciate what's going on, is all. For some reason there's a bit of a focus on the left ear, as well - more instruments seem to fill that side than on the right side. Neither of these are crushing issues, though - just a bit tiring for the former issue and a bit distracting for the latter, once you notice it. The arrangement itself is certainly all there, and I can't complain with the production quality. Great work - it's certainly a solid addition to the SoM album! YES

Donkey Kong 64, eh? I dig it, and I dig the arrangement here, too - rather than the relaxed atmosphere that the source had, this hits us with some bombast and large orchestra. The orchestration, while standard 'epic' fare is still well done, and the neat chromatic sequences that break the music up from time to time (like at 0:51) are quite fitting. The production on this is acceptable - no mixing/limiting/compression issues that I can hear in this one. The instrument quality, though, does leave me hanging. The brass and strings sound just a bit low quality, but there's an effort to give them all a human touch, and overall they don't sound terrible. Just... a little N64-ish in their sample quality. I can't say it's enough to swing my vote, though - everything else sounds quite good. I'd be happy to see this one on the front page. Great work! YES

Seems like we're pretty much in unison about the ending and vocals being an issue, even if whether it's passable or not is in debate, so I sent the artist a request to fix that ending specifically while mentioning the issue with the vocals. Here's hoping for a fix.

I like Rebecca's work, and I LOVE FF6's Dancing Mad, so I was expecting to get blown away by this one. I hear what this was going for - the more heavy use of operatic soloists in this coupled with the more reverb-heavy setting does make this sound like it's trying to hit something like a live opera performance. I won't hold it against this mix, but opera really does fall flat when the lyrics are taken away. Neither here nor there, though. Concerning this arrangement, I think Rebecca calls one thing out right away correctly - it plays the source too safe. One of her greatest strengths - her orchestration skills - seemed hampered by this as a result, which is a real shame. Many parts share similar instrumentation to the source, with a few parts layered on top (like the aforementioned soloists). The overall mix is too quiet. Stacking it against other orchestral arrangements from OCR (and from Rebecca herself) it sounds far quieter than it should. On a different note, though, I do have to commend the laughing at 6:02 - it sounds absolutely great, and is a suitable replacement to the classic Kefka laugh. These things really add up over a nine minute arrangement of Dancing Mad. As much as it pains me, I don't think I could pass this as it stands - it does need to take some more risks to stand out from our current roster of Dancing Mad arrangements, and the levels do need to be raised. It's a tough source to handle, and I give my praise for this arrangement for tackling it, but I'm going to pass on this. NO

RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Final Fantasy 6 Song Title: End of the World Suite Songs Remixed: Dancing Mad (all movements, because apparently I’m a masochist) Comments: Here’s a link to the song on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqrqwtxcdHY Maybe it’s a bit too close to the source, but I figured it still couldn’t hurt to send it. I tried to take it in a more operatic and less rockestra direction, haha!

Jesus, can't believe I missed this one in the inbox - a Contra Hard Corp remix? And a freakin' good one, to boot - the production values on this are great, and the style is so obvious for this game it's shocking it doesn't have more arrangements like this. As much as I want to give this track unending praise, it does have a few shortcomings. Notably, this does feel pretty repetitive. Any section that repeats over and over does tend to have subtle builds that make every repetition slightly different as they go on, but I'm not going to lie - the repetition seemed excessive, even considering the style. Might want to have someone who's more into these genres (@Sir_NutS, maybe?) to say if this is just a thing that happens in the genre. The piano part could use more reverb on it (sounds distractingly dry), but otherwise the track nails it everywhere else. I'm not QUITE going to chalk up the repetitiveness of the arrangement to style, but I will acknowledge that it has something to do with it. It does everything else so damn well, though, that I'm still willing to give this a solid pass. YES

Remixer Name - Black Ace Real Name - Alexey Bakhmetyev E-Mail - cjblackace Website - www.blackace.ru UserID - 34929 Name of Game - Contra Hard Corps (Sega Genesis) Name of arrangement - Maximum Contra Overdrive Name of song - Contra Overdrive Game info - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra:_Hard_Corps Original track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCf8w-9vGs Release Date - 05 November 2017 Nuts edit: original track link is broken, and it was broken since the time it was posted, IIRC (I listened but did not vote right away then). Here's a good link: