Gario

Oooh, this is some nice stuff. I like the blending of those strings and guitar, fakeness of the strings be damned (they sound PURPOSEFULLY fake - no uncanny valley, there). Some pretty bitching performances throughout. The source is pretty darn clear in this, though the original sections are a little less connected to the material. It seems that it makes it past any objective measure, though, so it passes on those grounds. I'm also not familiar enough with quotes from other external sources, though if they're short snippets I don't think there should be any issue there. Can't encourage it in general since we're about VG music arrangement, but I think it'll be alright as long as it's not whole phrases and sections of Opeth in there. Pretty bitchin' piece, here; it's great to hear some FFT music on here, as it's woefully under represented on here. YES

MOD REVIEW: Loving that source, there. I've never heard any of the music from that game, but it's catchy as all hell. It seems that your arrangement really catches the spirit of that source and takes it to new places with those synths and jazz flute. I'm liking what I hear a lot. It really sounds like one of those old school PS1 game soundtracks, and I'm digging every second of it. Since you asked about the flute specifically, I'll reassure you and say it's pretty well done. At worst, I'd say it's just a little too heavy on the decorative trills, but that's more a personal gripe than something that's legitimately wrong with it. It's mixed well, the performance is solid and it gives the arrangement as a whole a completely different (but still welcome) feel to it. The biggest issue that I can recognize is the crowding that happens at 1:32 and 2:49 due to the stacking of reverb-heavy instruments. It would probably sound better with one less line playing in there, or if the reverb were decreased a bit at those points, but overall it not a crushing issue. If you could clean that up prior to submission that would certainly be ideal, though. Yeah, if you submit this you'd probably get a little flak on the two messy sections I mentioned, but it'd probably still pass just fine. It's pretty darn good, overall, so I hope to see it in the inbox soon!

Great sources, powerful arrangement (if a bit short). While a hair conservative, there's considerable effort to expand it at key moments and build the track up far more effectively than the source ever did. It's not perfect, though. The mixing is a little off for a considerable portion of the track. The beginning buries the guitar part for no noticeable reason, and the lead at 0:35 gets pushed behind the rhythm guitar and bass. It's not a deal breaking issue (as the parts are still pretty easy to hear - you never lose the leads completely), but it's still a bit distracting. Some of the notes clash in this. At 0:56 the bass clashes with the lead for half a phrase - it really called for a note a half-tone higher than what's in the bass that drops down to the note that plays there. At 1:32 there's a passing note in the melody that's a half step too high - not a big deal since it's a decorative note, but still something I feel should be pointed out. It's a close call, but I think it's passable. The mixing isn't ideal, the arrangement is pretty short overall and there are a few missed notes, but the production polish can't be ignored on this one, and the arrangement is pretty powerful throughout. I dig it. YES

ReMixer: mikedm92 Real Name: Michael Markie Email: Website: https://www.markiemusic.com/ UserID: 33294 Project Thread: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/42817-castlemania-a-castlevaniapro-wrestling-concept-album/ Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Name of Arrangement: The Son of Dracula Name of songs arranged: Dracula's Castle (and a lead from The Tragic Prince) Dracula's Castle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh1qqLbuBww The Tragic Prince: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHpMdgM0Sb4 Comments: It truly is a magical experience the first time you march through the first halls in Symphony of the Night, destroying every creature in sight as the Dracula's Castle theme plays. There are few things that evoke more nostalgia than this moment. I tried to balance the elegance of strings with the bad ass might of a heavy metal band to capture the spirit of this game, and that was no small task. Getting a 40 piece orchestra to play nice with distorted metal chugging guitars is pretty tricky! The game's OST is also fairly progressive genre wise, and I wanted to bring that out with a prog metal style lead, which is actually a wavetable synth that I ran through a real guitar amp head and cabinet which I then mic'd and recorded. By running that synth through the same set up I put my rhythm guitars through, they were able to gel really nicely with each other right out of the gate.

This is a great little arrangement. Production is tight as usual, and the eastern vocals fit perfectly with the otherwise electronic arrangement (similar to how Zircon uses them for his "Time to Oil Up" SFIV arrangement). The arrangement is well put together in terms of cohesiveness and source representation, as well. ... Yeah, it's an easy pass for me, why'd I even put it on here. YES

Contact Information Username: timaeus222 Name: Truong-Son Nguyen http://soundcloud.com/timaeus222 http://tproductions.comeze.com/ ID: 24526 Submission Information Game: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse ReMix Title: On Fire Consoles/Platforms: 3DS, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, PS4 OST Composers: Jake Kaufman Sources: Scuttle Town, We Love Burning Town (attached in email, or on youtube) ReMix: - MP3 - WAV Comments: "On one of my other mixposts (Dungeonmans), djpretzel had remarked that Shantae needed some love. I mean... the only mix on the site right now is by the composer himself. That's cool and all, but he needs some company. I checked out the soundtrack to Pirate's Curse, and came across "Scuttle Town"; immediately, I got a mideast glitch hop vibe from it that would be ridiculously fun to build off of, at least for the main groove. Peeking around a bit further, "We Love Burning Town" was more than enough material to work with, bursting with a playful vibe that I couldn't resist (which for some reason is associated with burning a town... playfully?). I started this in January of 2016 (before I started grad school), stitching together Indian Ragas samples from Crypto Cipher to see what would happen. Slowly but surely, a glitch hop backbone came together, held up firmly by Serum and Zebra2, and I managed to finish through the breakdown section by the end of summer, featuring ISW's Bravura and Turkish Oud. I was kinda stuck on what to do next, so I put it to the side while I prepped to go to WSU. The first semester passed by, in which time I was TAing general chemistry, and toughing my way through quantum chemistry and thermodynamics (A- in both, oh yeah!). When I got to winter break, I immediately got the idea for a buildup back to the main drop, and finished the first three minutes so far, but I had to set it aside again for my second semester. I already knew by now that I was going to finish the track eventually... and here I am, not willing to put it off any longer, finishing it up in May of 2017 after one year of grad school! Never has finishing a ReMix been so hard! - Timaeus" Extra Info: Source Breakdown: 0:16.1 - 0:30.0 = Scuttle Town (0:00.0 - 0:16.4) [slowed down] 0:34.3 - 0:36.5, 0:38.6 - 0:42.9 = Scuttle Town (0:18.3 - 0:27.4) [bass] 0:42.9 - 0:45.0, 0:47.2 - 0:51.5 = Scuttle Town (0:18.3 - 0:27.4) [bass] 0:51.5 - 1:08.6 = We Love Burning Town (0:07.9 - 0:22.3) 1:08.6 - 1:10.7, 1:12.9 - 1:15.3 = We Love Burning Town (0:23.3 - 0:34.8) 1:17.2 - 1:19.3 = We Love Burning Town (0:23.3 - 0:34.8) 1:42.9 - 2:00.0 = Scuttle Town (0:54.9 - 1:11.3) [left-panned strings] 2:00.0 - 2:17.2 = Scuttle Town (1:13.1 - 1:31.4) mixed with (0:18.3 - 0:27.4) 2:17.2 - 2:24.1, 2:25.7 - 2:34.3 = Scuttle Town (0:54.9 - 1:11.3) [left-panned strings] 2:34.3 - 2:36.5, 2:38.6 - 2:42.9 = Scuttle Town (0:18.3 - 0:27.4) [bass] 2:42.9 - 2:45.0, 2:47.2 - 2:51.5 = Scuttle Town (0:18.3 - 0:27.4) [bass] 2:51.5 - 3:08.6 = We Love Burning Town (0:07.9 - 0:22.3) 3:08.6 - 3:16.4, 3:17.2 - 3:24.1 = We Love Burning Town (1:09.3 - 1:36.2) 3:25.8 - 3:33.5, 3:34.3 - 3:41.8 = We Love Burning Town (1:09.3 - 1:36.2) 3:41.8 - 3:48.0 = We Love Burning Town (0:53.0 - 0:54.4) 13.9 + 2.2 + 4.3 + 2.1 + 4.3 + 17.1 + 2.1 + 2.4 + 2.1 + 17.1 + 17.2 + 6.9 + 8.6 + 2.2 + 4.3 + 2.1 + 4.3 + 17.1 + 7.8 + 6.9 + 7.7 + 7.5 + 6.2 = 166.4 secs 166.4/228.3 = 72.9% Scuttle Town: 89.5/228.3 = 39.2% We Love Burning Town: 76.9/228.3 = 33.7%

Lots of great energy, and a hilarious backstory to boot, I would absolutely love to see this one posted on the site... eventually. Right now, though, the lead work just gets buried behind your rhythm work, and that synth doesn't have the body to push in front of such a dense track. If a synth is going to carry the lead make sure it's a synth that can actually push above the heavy accompaniment, and be sure to mix your wicked lead guitar work in front of the texture more, as well. Another relatively minor complaint is the excessively dry aspect of those drums. It's not crushingly terrible, as they come through well enough and they are otherwise well done, but they don't sound like they're being played in the same room as the guitars. Give those drums a little more reverb so they sound like they belong together with the rest of the track. Otherwise, I like it, but the mixing sinks it for me. Fix the mixing and send it back, as the Mr. 45 comparison is pretty funny if I'm going to be honest. NO

Mirroring (HA) what my collegues have said, the arrangement gets pretty repetitive, especially toward the second half of the arrangement. That arpeggio is a bit too pervasive throughout the arrangement, and the lack of real change in chord direction contributes to this repetitive feeling. It's almost enough for me to throw this back for one more pass, but I will mention that the textures change through most iterations, and the overall sense of space does change from iteration to iteration, so I think I'll still let it squeak by on arrangement grounds. As far as the production goes, though, this is pretty damn crisp. The instruments all sit in just the right place in the mix, and apart from what sounds like bitcrushing on the panned percussion in the beginning (it sounds purposeful, so I won't fault you on it) I can't hear any production artifacts that detract from this song. The last two minutes could've either been cut down to one minute or improved upon to give more distinction, but otherwise I'm liking this. Let's do it. YES

Ah, this track - I actually really enjoyed this in the WIP forums. The synth design is beautiful, especially as applied to the Sanctuary theme. The slow layering of synths behind that theme, the wet melody, the drop at 2:14... it works very well. The drums are pretty weak in this - definitely the weakest link in the soundscape. The beat is pretty plain, the kick has virtually no presence, and that snare sounds pretty dry against the rest of the synths. The drums certainly needs some more sophistication, and the reverb levels should better fit in with the rest of the track (not TOO wet, but a little more wet). As you know from my WIP comments, I'm a bit split on the arrangement. I looooove the first two minutes, but the latter castle section seems less fitting to the soundscape, for me. The first half uses layering and building to really set a somber, intense tone, while the castle section seems to rather follow the source straight without any tonal justification for the style. It's not awful in it's own right, but it really sounds like two different arrangements side by side over an arrangement that integrates the two. While improved from when I last heard this track, the mixing sounds unfocused for the castle section. You addressed the production issues caused by the mixing for the most part (nice fix!), but the synths have little focus. The theme is buried behind the textures, the reverb, while less than before, still consumes a great deal of your soundscape, so it's difficult to hear what you're supposed to be following throughout. 2:47 is a particularly problematic example of how this mix buries the important elements, but it's pretty pervasive in the whole castle source. If you want to keeps the castle section, it'll need to at least match the quality of the section prior to it. The mix needs to have a better sense of focus, the drums need more presence and the arrangement should take some steps to either better match the tone between the sections, or to better segue the tone between the two sections. I REALLY like some of this, but the second half does sink it for me. I hope to hear some revisions on this, though, as I know it has potential, and I know you've already made some leaps in improving it. Best of luck! NO

Hey folks,thanks for reading my mail and listening to my track. It’s my first video game makeover. I tried to merge two of my favorite genres: VGM and Synthwave. Hopefully it fits your taste, you will find it in the attachment Information (in specific order as listed on your website):Contact:- Xyntec- Moritz Wanke- - 34496Submission:- The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the past- Hyrule’s Synths- Church’s theme, Hyrule Castle’s theme- already listed- already listed- Comment: A Link to the past - ah perfect title for both the game and this remix. It’s my first crossover of two great genres: Video Game Music and Synthwave. For those who are not familiar with synthwave: You may sum it up as a revival of the sound from the 80s. Lazerdisco may some call it. For me it goes by the name: VGMwave.Best wishes from Germany guys and gals,Moritz

Ah, this was a fun track from the album - I was particularly impressed by the tonal shift for the first half of the track - somber and dark for such an uplifting source. The darkness eventually lifts and the whole thing becomes quite lively, but that first section really does take the source somewhere so different I can't help but love it. Very nice marimba and percussion playing throughout. There are some very slight timing issues in the lower ranges (mallets hitting chords with fractional differences between the mallet's landings), but that's really digging for something to nitpick. Another personal gripe (and it has no bearing on my vote - just a gripe) is with those rolling chords in the first minute of the track - they sound like they were designed for some softer mallets, the way they swell. Might be something fun to experiment with in the future, just to get that ethereal swelling the marimba is so good at achieving. The recording is great, the performance is spot on, and the arrangement is fun and interesting. Despite my nitpicking and personal desires, this is a very easy pass in my book. Great work! YES

Re mixer Name: Wiesty Real Name: Dylan Wiest Email Address: User ID: 11643 Name of game(s) arranged: Super Mario RPG Name of arrangement: Happy Times are Back Again Name of individual song(s) arranged: Hello, Happy Kingdom This was my first submission for the Window to the Stars album and it dates back to probably 2013 in its original form which was going to be an upbeat samba sort of tune. I had milked all of the ideas I could out of that avenue and was still not super happy with the arrangement so it was back to the drawing board. I've always wanted to do a percussion only tune so I figured this could be my chance. I'm no Doug Perry but I recorded 3 parts on Marimba, congas and clave which I think makes for a nice simple percussion ensemble. The beginning is in a minor key and has more of a somber tone which is supposed to represent when the Mushroom Kingdom was taken over by the Smithy Gang. The mood changes at the end when Mario saves the day and you can hear elements of the original samba arrangement being used.

Dropping my two cents, project directors should have a few special privileges when it comes to PMs and communications, as these limitations have impacted myself, as well (particularly, the mass messaging limitation), especially since I'm coordinating two separate though related projects that each need their own separate mass messages from time to time (happened on the same day, once, it was actually quite irritating). Might not be a bad idea to consider this one of the things granted upon official album status automatically, and something granted on request specifically for those whom are putting in serious work on an album in the recruitment thread. These limitations won't affect most users at all, but the users it DOES impact generally are either spambots (which was the point, and I imagine it's effective) or people trying to push music and projects that help OCR become a better place, which does make it important to address. Calling it ELITE SPECIAL PEEPS would do wonders for my ever growing ego, so you should certainly call the group that if you im[.

Alright, so here's where we're at: Currently, @Quinn Fox @Amphibious @zykO @DjjD @Sbeast @Alephmale have missed the deadline, so their sources are available if someone can send me a WIP of them beforehand. Of course, if they have a WIP then awesome - they're back in the game (and I really hope they do!). Thanks @Jorito @Eitzpii for keeping on top of things on here - your effort is appreciated! I will be getting in touch with everyone who is nearly finished with their older track over the next week and pushing them a little to get their finished WAVs in relatively soon. Please send me something as a WIP, as it would be better if we had more tracks than less, but as a project I do plan on pushing this forward regardless. Alright, that's it for now. Let's keep this thing moving!

Oh, I haven't given this my vote yet? Damn, that's some low hanging fruit, here. I listen to this song a lot, and I love it through and through. The squeaks, while not perfect are certainly not a conditional fix considering either a re-record or some VERY careful precision EQ'ing would be involved. It's either a deal breaker RESUB or not, and I'm going to lean on it not being a deal breaker. The production is otherwise spot on, the arrangement is slick and the energy is just... yeah. Great stuff, here! YES

This certainly does belong in the VG WIP forum - while a straight medley is looked down upon in submissions (within reason), it's totally cool to share it with others on the board. As soon as my lunch break is over at work I'll look forward to listening, as Ninja Gaiden 2 has a criminally under-represented soundtrack on here (outside of 3-2 because holy crap there is more to that soundtrack than 3-2 people!).

Indeed your claim is still active, PabloComa, no worries! A quick reminder to everyone in here: the first important deadline has passed, and I will be giving more substantive evaluation of the state of where we're at very soon, but I've had a few pretty intense days at work (and a few more to follow). A few have sent in their first WIP (Thanks!), but many haven't given me anything yet. If you haven't, please send something soon - I will be making your claim public for those that may still be interested if you do not submit even a rough WIP at this point. But lucky for you guys, I've been busy so that public claim might be on hold for a day longer. Use that time to send me something, or else risk losing your hold! I will be sending PM's, sending out FB messages wherever applicable, etc., so please send something before I do! Thanks!

Haa, that rhythm guitar sample sounds so much like Power Rangers and their original theme. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just thought that was cool. I really like the arrangement, I love the tone of the guitar, and while I agree with Liontamer on the bass usage I think there's enough bass presence in this overall to compensate for that. One thing that catches my ear in a weird way, though, is the mixing on this. While the elements are all relatively easy to hear in this, the focus seems all wrong. The rhythm guitar just dominates, the leads and solos get burried under everything else. It's just strange how so much awesome guitar lead work gets buried behind that rhythm. It doesn't make it unlistenable, but it does take away from the experience quite a bit for me. On a smaller note, the piano is pretty mechanical when it's present. Not a big deal, but if the mixing is fixed it would become much more noticeable so it should be addressed anyway. I could see this passing and I'd totally be alright with it, but I'd much rather see the artist give the mixing one more pass so he can bring out all of the other cool elements rather than having it all get buried behind the rhythm guitar. NO

Glad I could help a bit on this. Yeah, if you raise the dynamics for multiple instruments perfectly in sync it would definitely SOUND like the gain was being raised and lowered. Humanizing the dynamics a bit more would go a long way in fixing that issue. On the organ, though, it actually IS capable of raising and lowering dynamics mid-note - it's one of it's special features. Organists control how much air is being pushed through at any time using what they call a 'swell'. Ironically, what they CAN'T do is change notes individually (in contrast to a piano), so the organ dynamics tends to sound like... well, the gain knob is raising and lowering. The irony doesn't escape me, there - don't worry about your organ dynamics, they were actually alright. Changing the choir sample would be great, but if you can't another possibility is to have the sampler playback start a little ahead in the sample, then adding a small amount of attack to it (like 20ms attack) to soften the impact. If you have a better sample then use it, but that's an alternative you can use if you need to.

Glad I could help! No worries about the arrangement commentary - it was just a personal thought of mine. Good luck, and I hope to hear more from you.

Well hello there! Welcome to OCR! Seems like you want to send this in as a submission, right? Awesome, I'll give you an idea of how it'll fare on the panel if you submit it as is. Nice combination of instruments you've got going there - this works pretty darn well as a synthwave track. The overall soundscape is delicious, and the way that the track builds off of itself does a great job to progress the track. Your synths are well crafted, and when the drums come in they compliment the overall soundscape very well. In the beginning the production works well enough, but as the track progresses and more instruments are introduced the soundscape tends to get pretty muddy, due to how wet the synths are. The moments of clarity in this give me goosebumps, like at 0:45 (the introduction of that bass synth) and 2:12 (that drum over the bass), but 2:46 onward the instruments all bleed into one another and create a messy soundscape. The Sanctuary portion's main synth is also overly wet and would otherwise be problematic, but that section doesn't have nearly as many synths going at once to cause issue. Release heavy synths, delay and reverb are solid tools in the Synthwave genre, but there's too much of it in this track so tone it down to clean it up. Related to the issue above, when things get overly crowded the track takes a hit as far as having limiting artifacts. When everything is going down in the second have it sounds like there's a constant "buzzing". While I can't 100% confirm this to be a limiting issue, clipping or anything without uploading it to Audacity, it's very likely when this gets busy it also hits your limiter. Be careful with that. The drums in this, while great for the genre, suffer from being pretty static. Change it up from time to time, add a pattern, switch the beat a little in subtle ways, etc.. The fills are a good start, but the pattern drones on after 2:12, so you'd very likely be called out on it on the panel. If you were to send this to the inbox as is, I would likely pass it on to the panel, but it would very likely be rejected on production grounds, overly crowded soundscape and that static drumset. I'd suggest making your synths a bit more dry, and giving some more variety and life to those drums. Pay attention to your production levels, too, though they'd likely be almost automatically fixed once the soundscape is less crowded. ... On an unofficial note, I really like the arrangement, here. Personally, I feel there was a lot of potential to expand on the Sanctuary track after 2:12, but that's just my opinion. Most of your issues in this track come into play after you start the Castle theme, though, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a more rich and focused Sanctuary arrangement. This doesn't affect your track in any way as far as the panel goes, but I thought I'd add that suggestion in there a bit off the record. Best of luck, and thanks for sharing your track, here - it's a pretty cool track.

Yeah, that's about the goal for this album. Your track is in a safe place, so no worries on that - you have some time before I start grinding an axe toward members with nearly finished pieces.

The two judges above are absolutely correct on their concerns - repetitive and static writing is a concern. I will add that the mixing and EQ balance are issues as well - the EQ mids are excessive at the cost of a decent bass and any upper EQ, which makes the track sound muffled and lacking any base. The mix itself tends to lose the themes and melodic hooks behind the textures and (especially) the drums. Despite these issues I still enjoy what you have going here. The beat really does bring a new light to the source, and the part writing is nice, but there are too many issues with the track overall for us to take. Revisit this with our comments in mind and I think you can produce something great, but right now it isn't there yet. NO

It's a pretty simple and clean arrangement, and it represents the source very well. The keyboard backing works well with the steelstring guitar, though I agree with MindWanderer that it gets pretty muffled when everything is going at once. I will add that when the guitar is exposed in the beginning the fingers sliding could've been toned down in post production a bit so they weren't so piercing. These certainly aren't deal breakers by any stretch, but I'd be remiss to leavce those comments out. Definitely a keeper, though. Great work, you two! YES

Great concept, solid performances and just the right amount of production shine, this is a solid piano arrangement for the opening of Undertale. It does a lot to expand what is a shorter arrangement, yet it's very easy to connect it to the source throughout, so it'd be easy to pass this without any further comment (it's pretty good, is what I'm saying). However, the title intrigues me, as rather than giving it an emotive title, it gives a descriptive one like older music tended to do (actually naming pieces was uncommon, save for sung music, back in the day). It's not common knowledge, but a "Sonata" is actually referring to a specific layout of an arrangement, and it was an informative way to let the listeners know what they were in for. Absolutely for fun, I'll identify how that applies to this piece, since Jer Roque applies it just as it should (with a bit of a modern flair, to keep it relevant). A sonata is structurally a piece with three sections: the Exposition, the Development, and the Recapitulation. The Exposition is broken into two distinct parts, and traditionally the exposition was repeated with variation (though most modern performances normally skip the repeat). The Development was a distinct divergence from the exposition, meant to develop a new idea entirely in order to contrast the exposition. Eventually, this leads to the Recapitulation, which is a recap of the Exposition. This can either be a variation or a direct statement of the Exposition, but one way or another it's a return to the original idea. Over time, composers added introductions and codas to their sonatas in order to give them the option of making the opening and close of the songs sound more definitive, but the basic structure is always the same: AB(A'B')CA"B". I will say here that if Jer Roque titled the arrangement a 'Sonata' and didn't actually create a sonata I'd have been disappointed, but I'll give full credit and say that this is, indeed, a Sonata... well, almost (the Exposition A and B section are double the length of the Recapitulation section), but I can overlook some basic differences as the overall effect is the same. Intro: 0:00 - 0:22 EXPOSITION A: 0:22 - 2:17 B: 2:17 -3:13 DEVELOPMENT C: 3:13 - 4:17 RECAPITULATION A': 4:17 - 4:46 B': 4:46 - 5:18 Coda: 5:18 - 5:48 Sometimes compositional tricks and techniques go unrecognized by the listeners, so I figure why not point out something really cool that the arranger did and give credit where it's due? He used the Sonata form properly, and it helps shape his piece in a way that evokes late Romanticism, and that's really, really cool. Props to that, and full props for giving us a kickass Undertale piano arrangement. One doesn't need to go into this depth to appreciate a track like this, but it can certainly be interesting! YES