Gario

Sounds legit - it's fair to put this on the panel. I'll give some further thoughts on it, though needless to say it's going to be a YES from me considering I tried to DP it (Spoilers!). I can hear what Larry pointed out on the lossy sound of it - not something I caught on first pass, but it's certainly there. It doesn't bother me too much, though - the rest of the spectrum is at a healthy level (the bass maybe a bit too much so, if I'm going to nitpick), and the highs, while a bit lower than everything else, aren't non-existent. It still sounds great, but I agree it could've sounded better. I'm not hearing any issues as far with how the arrangement comes together, though, save for it being on the conservative side of the fence (which isn't a bad thing, per se). The solo at 1:09 sounds like a classic thrash solo, with all of the instruments dropping out other than the bass (with them guitar stabs); that's a stylistic choice that perfectly fits the genre here. I'm going to also point out that at 1:57 the lead guitar is the ONLY thing that's the same - everything else is playing utilizing different patterns, such as the reverse gallop, which gives it a different feel to the beginning. It's a really cool contrast to the original part at 0:12, and it wouldn't have the same impact if the lead was also altered. The section at 0:00 and 1:45 is nearly the same across the board (with bleeding over from the prior portion), but I'm honestly not against the 12 seconds of repetition in a track - it's not excessive. I definitely agree with brightening up the soundscape, but I personally thought the arrangement was perfect for what it was. Great performances on it, to boot, so how could I give it anything less than a resounding yes? YES

Argh, something I missed in the heat of things. I'll give you a proper eval shortly, so keep an ear out. My apologies. EDIT: Apologies once again for missing this on the panel - I've been chewing on it on and off, so it's not that I wasn't aware of it. It's just that something always seemed to take time away once I started making an eval for it. Not this time - on with the review! EVAL An all French horn arrangement of Protoman's ballade? I'm definitely digging the idea - it has a diverse range, and the timbre is really rich. The performances are actually quite good, but I do feel there is some issue with syncing your trills from time to time. At 2:16, for example, those trill sound like a wash of sound rather than a trill because the two aren't quite lining up right. It's tough, but especially with those clusters throughout they need to be pretty precise if you want the listener to hear them as something more than background clusters as well. It's not always an issue, but your trill syncing is a bit hit-or-miss. The performance at 0:52 - 0:55 is a little too loose with the tuning, though that's about the only spot where it's problematic, so nice work on the performances in general. At 1:31 - 1:33 the theme has a note that's a step lower. It's not bad, per se, but it IS a bit unexpected - was that intentional? No worries if it was, but I thought I'd point that out anyway. Some of the effects are excessive in this. In the beginning the delay is too strong; every little slide and detail clashes against everything else. Definitely make the decay of that delay stronger, so that the little details don't clash as hard against your backing instruments. The reverse delay effect at 3:58 sounds strange, especially considering it's not used much prior to that point. I'd suggest either using normal delay or leaving clean at that point; without any other context or preparation, that effect doesn't work well. It's a great piece, though - despite all the nitpicking I've done here, it would still have a decent chance of passing the panel; if I had to guess, it would probably be a pass. A borderline pass from some (including myself), due to what I mentioned, but a pass nonetheless. Make some tweaks to the timing of the trills, let the delay decay faster and change the effect at 3:58 and it would be a much stronger pass, in my book. Hope that helps!

Huh, no kidding on the precision of the loop, there, and it doesn't help that the ending fades out on was appears to be another loop. That pretty much bars it from a front page post, but I will mention that I think the style was pretty chill, with a nice bit of oldschool synthwork throughout. Some of the lead work branches out into some new territory, but it never feels out of place - all great qualities of a ReMix. This could easily be developed into something great to post on OCR if past the 1:50 mark things were done to differentiate the track from the first half (new lead work, different instrument orientations from time to time, perhaps a different section, etc.), but as it stands there's too much padding to the track with that loop. Fun track, and hopefully you'll make some tweaks and send it back our way! NO

Rock-Synth-Orchestra on Castlevania is pretty much bread-and-butter for amazing Castlevania arrangements. This arrangement has a great deal going for it, from solid riffing in the guitar to keep things interesting, the aforementioned original sections that MW mentioned, and some high production values on your synths and instruments to boot. The mixing of this arrangement really doesn't click, though. Very often it sounds like an indiscriminate wall of sound - 2:42 is a particularly terrible offender, but this issue permeates nearly the entire arrangement. Even in sections where it's not as crowded (like at 0:09) the synths that carry the melodies don't come through over that rhythm guitar. Before I can give it my thumbs up, this track needs to go back in the mix and balance the instruments so the themes come through appropriately, and so that the more complex sections gives each instrument its own space. Toning down the reverb on your instruments will help a great deal in cleaning up your track, as well, so be sure to take a look at that, as well. I love this, but I can't ignore that this sounds like a wash of sound. You've got talent, though, so I could see you cleaning this up and sending back a clean, kickass arrangement. NO

Traditional metal goodness going down, here. The vocals sound reminicient of Iron Maiden. They have a tendancy to get a hair flat, but it's not nearly enough to break the track. Sometimes the lead guitar sounds severely lacking in the higher EQ area without anything else to fill that space (like at 3:14, for example), but it's not an issue I'd pass up the rest of the track on. Lack of upper EQ from time to time aside, I think this is a real great metal romp, and OCR can't get enough heavy metal romps on there. YES

Considering the style, the pumping from the kick didn't bother me as much. The correct instruments duck, while leaving others (like the guitar) alone, which gives the drums more presence. I could see it being a little less pronounced, but I don't think it's a deal breaker, here. The soundscape at 1:04 is indeed crowded, but the drums, bass and guitar are the important elements in there, and they're easy to hear. Would be nice if the backing synths were easier to hear, but it's not the end of the world if those are lost in favor of those aforementioned instruments. There's a lot of energy in this - the guitar work is great, and the background drums are filled to the brim with hats, snare and all sorts of knick knacks that makes for a rich sounding drumline. Pretty cruel to leave us hanging on that ending, though - it's begging for a cadence to end it all that you simply don't deliver on. That's just mean. Ending and small crowding aside, I think this is a pretty good track. I love the Spider Dance source, and I enjoyed the style you went with for it. Nice work! YES

This has 'Linkin Park' written all over it, and I enjoyed every second of it. The rapping paired with the screamo, the quality guitar work against the simpler synths, and the thematic lyrics - it's quite the homage to one of my favorite games. It's unconventional, but it's really quite good. Different, but really cool. Not enough of this particular style on OCR - hopefully this will fill that space a bit. YES

Whoops, forgot the sources there. Thanks for pointing that out. This track is rather interesting - it seems to want to tell a story. The form of the track is pretty heavy in introductory material, though (it takes more than 50% of the track to build to the meat of it). If nothing else, this makes the arrangement sound fundamentally unbalanced - that much build should have considerably more payoff (rule of thumb: intro should be no more than 25% of the track). Aside from that, there are elements in the intro that don't quite click with me, either. The piano is pretty dry and mechanical, while the guitar & vocal parts are very wet by contrast. The reverb needs to be better balanced between the parts. The vocals are also consistently flat, as MW mentions, so beware of that. I think it's a good idea, but the imbalance of the intro-to-body ratio of the piece makes this feel incomplete. The reverb balance issue and vocal tuning also throw this off a bit. I think there's a great idea in this, though, and would like to hear it again with the issues addressed and the arrangement extended a bit to compensate for such a long intro. NO

Mmm, this is delicious. I can totally see where you took this arrangement; it does sound like something you might hear in a church choir, with how you move your voices. The harmonizations are absolutely great (ESPECIALLY at 2:08... made my hairs stand on end, there). Sounds like something from Morten Lauridsen, with those vocal clusters. The orchestration is pretty great. The choir at 0:19 is really artificial sounding, which is strangely in contrast with everything else in this track. I don't know why you chose that sample rather than going with what you used throughout the rest of the piece - it strikes me as intentional (since you show later you have a better choral sample), but I can't figure out why. The solo soprano also starts to sound artificial, as the piece goes on - it's a combination of the vibrato remaining the same and the lack of lyrics (even fake ones!) against the rest of the choir. Neither are deal-breakingly bad (hell, in most other contexts the soprano would be pretty damn good!), but it's something to be aware of. Otherwise, I've got nothing else but praise for this one: the arrangement is divine, and the production is spot-on. I absolutely love this piece - easily one of your best to date. Great work! YES

Yeah, it's pretty straight forward, but man those otherworldly sounds utilized in the source really translate well to guitar. The piano is a bit mechanical, but it's really a decorative element so that's a pretty small nitpick. It's well produced, powerful, and gets my blood pumpin'. I'm with MindWanderer 100% on this one - let's do it! YES

This has a really calming tone to it, with that chill guitar performance. It has some of the soundscape ideas from the Brawl remix in there, but it's less deliberate, less heavy and more peaceful, like something you'd listen to on the beach. Some of the sounds seem to be ripped from the game, but to be honest it's pretty minimal for the most part; I don't think that's ultimately an issue. The fade out ending is a little weak, but the arrangement is otherwise pretty strong, so I think I can let it pass this time around. It's clean, and it does enough to keep the listener engaged throughout. I like it, let's give you some front page lovin'. YES

This is such a strange source to draw inspiration from, but damn do you pull it off. There's a lot of extra material in there, but from my calculation (source at 0:30 - 1:10, 1:32 - 1:49, 2:15 - 2:33) it clocks in at about 60% source, which is plenty. The harmonization really push this source to somewhere the original could never dream (ha, pun), and changing the harmony under the source (1:32) is a GREAT way to continue to get mileage out of it without having it go stale, so kudos to that. The plucking of the harp is a little too punchy for my taste when it carries the themes, and the violin sounds a little mechanical (the attacks use a little too much detache and nothing else), but otherwise the instrumentation is pleasant. It's something that could've easily been a part of Esther's Dreams, and frankly it's unexpectedly good from what you pulled it from. Great work! YES

EDIT (8/18): Here's the WAV. RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Final Fantasy 1 and on (had FF4 and FF1 in mind mostly) Song Title: Hymn to the Crystals Songs Remixed: Prelude Comments: I was going for a sort of mystical/reverent feeling. It has spacey synths and VSTs of full choir, solo boy and solo soprano along with some background instruments.

Hello OCR judges, Below is my information. Rodok. William Rhoden userid = 32400 Submission information. Game arranged = Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Name = Lullaby of the Desert Song arranged = Gerudo Valley Inspiration: I got into Gerudo Valley not by playing the game, but by hearing djpretzel arrange the track (OCR #368). It was one of the first OCRs I heard over ten years ago, and I was hooked. This is my third attempt arranging it for OCR, and I wanted to go a different direction than most. It is a simple track with live guitar and violin (both played by me), NI's Giant piano, and a simple Sytrus synth. I tried to think of what Ganon's mother might have sung him, if he had one. As always, thank you for your continued support of video game music. Will

artist: halfwalk real name: Chris Ramey email: website: http://halfwalk.bandcamp.com title: Through the Mirror and Back game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) songs used: "Dark Golden Land," "Hyrule Field Main Theme" soundcloud link: Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy the remix!

Link to MP3: Contact Information: ReMixer name: Nightswim Real name: Fin Leavell Email address: Website: http://www.nightswim.com UserID: 34280 Submission Information: Name of game: Mega Man 5 Name of individual song arrange: Dark Man Stage Composer: Mari Yamaguchi System: NES Link to OST: http://ocremix.org/game/296/mega-man-5-nes Additional information: On this occasion Nightswim was comprised of: Fin Leavell - synthesizers, programming, piano, & guitars Felix Chang - violin Paul Lapinski - bass Tim Grisnik - drums - Mastered by Dan Suter Mixed by Paul Lapinski Engineered by Ryan Viti and Fin Leavell

Link to track: Trichotomy (Trisection) ReMixer name: sschafi1 Real name: Sean Schafianski E-mail: Submission information Name of game arranged: Final Fantasy Tactics Name of Arrangement: Trichotomy Name of Individual Song(s): Trisection Comments: As featured on the album "ZODIAC: Final Fantasy Tactics Remixed" by the Materia Collective! This is probably my most involved mix to date. I wanted to combine my love for Final Fantasy Tactics with my love for progressive metal. There are many quotes and references to Dream Theater and Opeth in here, as well as a lot of changing time signatures, hemiola, etc. Let's see how many references you can name! As always, I have to give a shout out to the players, who performed phenomenally here. This was no easy task, and they came through with flying colors. Tiago Rodrigues - Lead Guitar Daniel Woodyer (aka PirateCrab) - Rhythm Guitars Marc Papeghin - Drums Jordan Chin - Bass Please enjoy the track! This was so much fun and I hope that sentiment came through in the end!

Contact Information Cyril the Wolf Connor Pelkey https://cyrilthewolf.com 14582 Submission Information Mega Man X5, Mega Man X Drop the Facade X vs. Zero, Zero 1, Zero 2 My last few submissions have not had vocals, but when it comes to Mega Man I can't resist adding some power metal yells and over the top vocal layers along with the requisite corny lyrics. I've grown up a bit though, I was not afraid to take this song's key down a few semi-tones to make the vocals more manageable for me. I decided that layering six vocal tracks for the chorus as in my Mega Man Zero piece was not enough, so this has 11! (Insert requisite "turn it up to 11" joke here) The lyrics are just thoughts that are going through X's head as he's fighting his (formerly) best friend. On a bit more of a philosophical level it's mostly about Free Will vs Fatalism where X represents the idea that you can control your destiny whereas Zero is bowing to the purpose he was assigned by his creator. Interesting trivia: There's only one other vocal version of this song from a Doujin album back in 2012 for the 25th anniversary called "X-Buster" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5uN33IOTgk for the curious) which is utterly fantastic. I cannot claim to match it, though it did give me an idea of how to get the song a little less repetitive with the original portion at :58. I also wanted to have a noodly bass solo in there to break things up, as well as a couple extra musical references to both Zero themes from Mega Man X. I'm not the most technical lead guitarist, but I feel like it all comes together to make a polished piece. Lyrics: Destiny's call is just an excuse I don't care what star you were born under Remember then? The wars we fought together Why must we be defined by what's come before? Pre-chorus: For fate leaves us all burned in the end We should never be defined By where we were set into life Drop the facade it's always your choice Chorus: I don't want to fight but I'll kill you if I have to How many times has the world fell to war? They often believe that victory's predetermined but nothing is certain just hunger for more Bridge: Push back memories But I can't help but see The person I knew then As we exchange blows I feel my life flash before my eyes When I realized I had to raise my gun You started this for why do you run away If you're so unsure Then lets go back to us before Pre-chorus Chorus Why... Zero? *Solos* Chorus Bridge

Remixer name (ID forum): Bluelighter (21840); Katamari (30406); Chris | Amaterasu (23512); Arvangath (33696) Bluelighter : arranger Katamari : guitar Chris | Amaterasu : violin, viola, cello Arvangath : bass (https://m.youtube.com/arvangathvgm ) Mail: Game & Songs: Dragon Quest 7 & Days of Sadness; With Sadness in Heart Composer: Koichi SUGIYAMA Links: Days of Sadness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29h1H6neu3k With Sadness in Heart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j9wJKnoivU Hi OCR, Here is an acoustic remix from Dragon Quest 7. K. Sugiyama put in the game series a lot of immortal themes. But the most memorable for me are certainly these two themes, so intense and sad! These two themes have yet their orchestra version. So I've tried sthg different for the arrangement. I wanted a music minimalist, in the building and in the instrumentation. It was the best way IMO to feel the purity of the original melody and to enjoy the acoustic recordings. After introduction by guitar solo, some classical influences can be heard with the trio of strings. They are combined with a more modern rhythm by guitar, bass and hand-drum. The mix concludes by a simple theme, based on harmony of "With Sadness in Heart", repeated several times with a fade out. I really thank artists who have collaborated with me! Recordings contribute to give to this arrangement its particular atmosphere. Enjoy Breakdown : Days of Sadness - 0'00: Melodic Line 1 - 0'24: ML2 - 0'42: ML3 - 1'01: ML4 - 1'20: ML5 With Sadness in Heart - 0'00: ML6 (unused) - 0'46: ML7 - 1'19: transition TR1 - 1'25: repeat Remix: - 0'00: intro: ML1 and ML2 in guitar solo - 0'33: ML1 in 4/4 by strings; rhythm by guitar, bass and percussions - 1'00: ML7 in 3/4 - 1'29: TR1 - 1'32: ML1 in 4/4 (variation) - 1'46: ML3 in 4/4 (with guitar and viola pizz) - 2'03: TR1 - 2'06: ML4 -2'20: ML5 by guitar and bass. Rhythm with strings and percussions -2'35: outro: simple melodic line based on harmony of ML7. Two times with strings ; and three times by guitar solo with a fade out.

Hi, Attached is a submission for OCR. I am Drew Etterle (SuprMelO) and my band mate is Scott Wells (BluuMonk) and together our band is Moiré Effect. We can be reached at and our website is http://moireeffectband.com . It looks like my user ID is 34268. Our submission is a remix of the UNATCO theme from the original Deus Ex and is titled "God from the Machine". The UNATCO music is a serene but mysterious song, perfect for investigating intrigue at the virtually unaccountable global police bureaucracy. We took melodies and progressions and found they served great for examining our behaviors and habits brought on by technology, and the ease of surrendering privacy to the system. The hard rock take added weight to the themes of surveillance and corporatism we were exploring in the song. [Spoilers for Deus EX ahead] A lot of Scott’s lyrics are lifted and modified from JC Denton’s encounter with the A.I. Morpheus late in the original game. Morpheus presents itself as a system that trawls the internet for people’s information and presents it back to them for their amusement. It seems benign, but it’s not difficult to imagine it as a much more sinister system. And why would we feel the need to create such a system? We actually cut a music video for the song using footage from various trailers for other Deus Ex games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_xI3Qs9kuk Here's the lyrics: My vision is augmented y’all Check your status again for the third time tonight Your face lit up with the pale blue light Hoping for connection or some validation Got you tripping & hallucinating phantom vibrations Eyes dried out but you continue to read Can’t miss out cause you hunger the feed The world keeps spinning behind the screen Lie awake in bed as you serve the machine Just let me in, come join your friends I’ll follow your path as you carry me near and far Just let me in, share without end And smile for me as I tell you who you are Keep up appearances, mask what you truly think Them cookies keeping tabs as you click the link The ones closest only see what you want them to see But you trusting Zuck Brin and Bezos implicitly The signal goes out and it’s passed around You say you’re putting out knowledge as it’s going down Stick it to them, ya heard fate favors the bold They’re saying thanks for the data as the swallow it whole Just let me in, come join your friends I want it all, everything that can be known Just let me in, share without end Hold me up and you’ll never feel alone Just let me in, come join your friends We’re watching and we’ll try to understand Just let me in, share without end Accept your judgement from my invisible hand… I never asked for this -------------------------------------------------- Thanks for taking a listen, Drew

Contact Information ReMixer name: ChaoSynthesizer Real name: Stefano Bottarelli website: n/d userID on forum : 29189 Submission Information original game: Final Fantasy VIII arrangement name: The Man With The Synthesizer song name: The Man with the Machine Gun Composed by Nobuo Uematsu I always play the main song theme while goofing around in the studio, so I ended up recording the solo then adding the arrangements, it's a simple electronic remix

So, I had a great time arranging this remix of the World 1-1, or Overworld Theme, from Super Mario Bros.! An iconic theme through and through, I decided to give this theme a 70's style funk remix. I'm excited for this to be evaluated (if it does get evaluated)! I feel like this remix has been a great step for me in learning about production. ReMixer Name: Ridiculously Garrett Name of game(s) arranged: "Super Mario Bros." Name of arrangement: "Without a Care in the World 1-1" Name of individual songs arranged: Overworld Theme Source Material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT3NA5Q08mk

Remixer name: tymime Remix title: sleepy baby weasel dook Game: Mickey Saves the Day: 3D Adventure (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/disneys-mickey-saves-the-day-3d-adventure) Source track: Rock-a-bye Weasel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMaF1TIY9mI) Link: Comments: I'm a big fan of the often-overlooked Disney weasels, so when I found there was a song dedicated to them, I knew I had to do something with it. There are a number of instruments that I picked to suit the mood I was going for, but the most important is the Celtic harp lead. When I was little, my mom used to play a tape of Celtic harp music to me and my brother to help put us to sleep, so I felt that this was essential to the arrangement. Also included is the music box soundfont from Yoshi's Island (more nostalgia), and at the very end, the actual sound of baby weasels playing. I don't imagine that whoever wrote the source expected anyone to take it at all seriously, but even if you picture a Disney weasel sleeping, the music to go with it has to be cute.

Contact InformationReMixer name : Reuben6Real name: Reuben SpiersE-mail: Submission information Game: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Name of arrangement: Know the Truth Name of original song: Southern Face Shrine

Mmm, those reharmonizations are tasty as hell.