Gario

Download Link (VBR1 mp3): Alternate Mirror: FLAC: Contact Information===================*Your ReMixer name: DDRKirby(ISQ)*Your real name: Timothy Wong*Your email address: *Your website: http://ddrkirby.com*Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 8933Submission Information======================*Name of game(s) arranged: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past*Name of arrangement: A Link to the Future*Name of individual song(s) arranged: Ending (Story)*Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.:I guess I am becoming known as "that guy" who you run to when you are running out of time for your remix album project and need another track done. I'm starting to lose count of how many times I've stepped in as a pinch hitter in the 11th hour...Anyways, this remix is part of the "Mirror Image" Link to the Past album project that WillRock and DaMonz put together. Due to a snafu of sorts they needed someone to fill in and remix the first ending theme real fast. I wasn't real familiar with the source (just how often do you expect me to have gone through the full ending to LttP??), but fortunately I had about two weeks to work on it, which was more than enough time.So there I was trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do with the source, when somehow out of nowhere I realized that the main melody was somehow reaaaallly similar to the Cosmo Plant music from the SNES Gradius 3 OST. I started thinking about that idea more and more, envisioning the beginning fanfare as a sort of alternate "Catapult into space" theme, and I knew I was onto something. I was super excited to try it out -- Gradius 3 music is just plain awesome!So, heavily referencing the classic "Departure for Space" track in all its glorious major key synth action, I tried as much as possible to replicate the same style with my remix, as if it came straight out of the Gradius 3 OST. My initial attempt actually used primarily instruments ripped directly out of the SNES soundtrack itself, though I later ended up swapping them out for a more "hi-bit" / 9-bit feel. Once I had the first chorus down I was basically 100% sold on the idea and just needed to continue onward to the rest of the track. There were some challenges involved in trying to translate the triplet-based melodies in the source into something that worked in 4/4 time, but I always believe that that sort of forced problem solving breeds creativity and this case turned out to be no exception. I also put in a brief callout to the LttP title theme (2:28) and even managed to sneak in a quick callout to Mario at the 1:15 mark as part of the fun solo.As the song goes on I made some departures from Gradius style so that I'd have a little more variation. I remember having a pretty hard time deciding what to do at the 2:38 mark but in the end figured out that heading into a triplet feel would both be a good changeup as well as allow me to better cover some of the melodies from the source which were harder to translate into straight meter. I go into one last triplet rendition of the chorus after that, at which point I felt like I was really channeling my inner WillRock with the synth solo -- I actually briefly referenced his DuckTales remix when trying to decide how to work out ending. I actually am usually no good with melodically conclusive endings so I'm happy that I was able to pull this one off.All in all the track actually ended up taking more time than I expected (while still coming in on time -- hooray!), but was a real blast to make!--DDRKirby(ISQ)

ReMix title: Technicolor Thunderstorm Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Source tune: Dark Mountain Forest ReMixer: Hylian Lemon Comments: This is part of the Link to the Past album directed by WillRock and DaMonz. I’m not 100% clear on the distribution details, but my understanding is that individual tracks will be postable on OCR at some point or another. A Link to the Past contains a lot of great source tunes that have been remixed and arranged and covered more times than is possible for a human brain to comprehend. I almost feel silly making another contribution to that kind of ocean, but hey. If I’m going to arrange something from every Zelda game, I’ve gotta hit the big ones too. This source in particular usually gets a pretty cinematic treatment, so I felt like that was a good opportunity to break away from convention (although Platonist beat me to the punch with his excellent chips).

REMIXER INFO Remixer Name: XPRTNovice (feat. Wiesty on Drums/Organ) Real Name: Joe Zieja Email: Website: http://joezieja.com REMIX INFO Games Arranged: Zelda, link to the past Name of Arrangement: The Fugawe Forest Name of Individual Songs Arranged: Lost Forest This is a pre-emptive submit for the LoZ:LTTP album** Remixer Comments: Well I guess I needed a debut rap track at some point. I didn't expect it to go there, but it did. I wanted to create this sort of atmospheric funky thing, to give the feeling of getting lost in the forest, but at some point I think I ended up getting bored with it. And then I started rapping, and it all came together. Many thanks to Wiesty for his excellent live drum recording and augmented organs. Live instruments, other than that, include another organ played by me, 4 saxes, flute, trumpet, and dropping the mic. (Lyric Transcription below, and I use the term lyrics loosely.)) Intro Where am I? Goddamn old dude just tells me to go places to find a...sword. This place is lame. I mean I guess I feel kinda cool doing the hero thing. Alright, let's see what happens. Outro Bring in the beats 1, 2, 3, 4 It's the night before the cataclysm, symbols of virtue Got a big ass knife in the ground, gonna hurt you Keepin my line true like fine crews And when I get through with you ain't no tattoo gonna cover that bruise I got this voice in my head, and he's strokin my ego Sayin the Master Sword is all I'll ever need wherever we go It's the steel that makes evil retreat, beat feet, go skeet Well damn that sounds sweet - let's go drop him a beat Here I come baby, the hero of the ages Gonna give GanonDORK a poke with the sword of the sages All the angels in heaven singing a hell of a chorus If I could only find my way out of this god damn forest ... Was it a left here? ... or...? Shit.

I'm not quite feeling the 'blast' of the forest in this track, but I do like what's presented in this. It's far more laid back and subtle, and while it uses the whole orchestra it's not at all a dense track because of it. In the beginning of the track (up until 0:52) the strings and woodwinds have some stiff articulations, which sounds a little unnatural in this track. The handling of your instruments after that point is far more natural, but I did need to point that out. The arrangement of Stickerbrush Symphony is pretty interesting, as the instrumentation is very pointalistic. This makes the arrangement sound pretty light, but the soundscape doesn't sound empty to my ears. The pointalistic background instruments in this second section do tend to get drown by the sweeping strings in the mix, though, so you would do well to tone down the dominant string harmonies to give your more interesting background textures some room to pop through in the mix. It's conservative, but I think the harmonizations, the instrumentation and overall pacing of the track has enough personalization to it to help it shine. The production is well done, if a little quiet, and I personally enjoy this style quite a bit. Nice work! YES

RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Donkey Kong Country 2 Song Title: Forest Blast Songs Remixed: Forest Interlude (Web woods) and Stickerbrush Symphony (Bramble Blast) Comments: A mix of orchestral, new age and world type sounds again. I can send a WAV file if need be! Here’s a link to the track:

RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Chrono Trigger Song Title: Zeal Breeze Songs Remixed: Time Circuits Comments: mix of orchestral, new age and world type sounds Here’s a link to the track: I can attach a file later if need be.

Contact Information Sagnewshreds (Other collaborators said they were fine with just being credited in the submission writeup as none of them have OCR accounts or regularly remix VGM) Sam Agnew website: https://soundcloud.com/sagnewshreds userid: 32371 Submission Information Game: Final Fantasy 6 Name of arrangement: Six Feet Beneath the Veldt Name of individual song(s) arranged: Wild West Hosted link: Hey there! My first post on the OCR forums was about how awesome the thrash band Artillery was, so I thought it only seemed fitting that the first remix I submit would be a tribute to that band. This also just happens to be from my favorite game of all time. This is the Veldt music from FF6 in thrash metal stylings of Artillery. This one was originally recorded for Dwelling of Duels’ MAGFest/Collaboration month February 2016. Since the theme was collaboration, I recruited old bandmates and friends of mine from the thrash metal scene. Collaborators include: Mike Dreher from Condition Critical and Lich King on bass Tony Barhoum from Condition Critical for a couple of guest guitar solos Brian Westbrook from Lich King on drums and mixing/production I did all of the arranging and guitar parts other than Tony’s guest solos (and got to bust out two solos myself as well!) Here’s a source breakdown: 0:00 - 0:21 This is a reference to both the original Veldt theme and the intro to an Artillery song which the name of this remix came from. We tried to make the drums a mix between the Veldt drums and the drums from that song. The guitar riff has the same rhythm as the Artillery song, but with the notes from the first section of the source tune. 0:22 - 0:44 Original riff that I wrote to go under the lead coming up. 0:45 - 1:05 Lead guitar with the main melody from Wild West (the source tune). 1:06 - 1:27 The next section from Wild West played as a thrash riff with lots of triplets. The lead coming in after the first break is the melody from the section of Wild West that the rhythm guitar is referencing. 1:29 - 1:39 Guitar solo by me. The rhythm guitar under the solo is the bass from the last section of the source loop. 1:40 - 1:50 This is a thrash rendition of the same section of the source that the rhythm guitar during the solo was playing. 1:51 - 2:08 Guitar solo by Tony Barhoum 2:09 - 2:32 Guitar solo by me. These two solo sections are the only parts of the song that have no references to the source. 2:33 - 2:53 Thrash riff directly based off of the source tune. If you couldn't tell from the rhythm guitar, the lead comes in halfway through this section making it more obvious. 2:54 - 3:14 Thrash riff also referencing the same section of the source. This one is a little more obscure because it was originally supposed to be another guitar solo from someone who did not have enough time to record their parts. 3:15 - 3:49 Breakdown riff directly from the source. 3:50 - 4:00 Drums directly from the intro of the source tune. Mike also decided to lay down a little mini bass solo over this section, which I didn't originally plan on but think it sounds rad. 4:01 - 4:43 The rhythm guitar plays the main melody from the source tune, and halfway through this section Tony Barhoum rips another guitar solo. 4:44 - 4:56 Short ending riff not from the source. Sorry for the long post, but hopefully the breakdown was helpful The arrangement is pretty liberal, but after going through the breakdown I'm certain that it contains enough of the source material. There were some things I wanted to change about this before subbing, but I figured that since it's literally been over a year that I might as well just submit the damn remix.

Contact Information Platonist Jonas Loman platonistmusic.com 16372 Submission Information Final Fantasy VII & Final Fantasy VIII Finding Your Inner Alien J.E.N.O.V.A (FF7) Find Your Way (FF8) This started out as a plain jenova deep trance remix, but as i jammed over the track on my keyboard i started playing Find Your Way -ish leads, so I just had to see if I could combine the two and adapt the key/chords for Find Your Way to the chord progression of Jenova, and it almost fit like a glove. I had to change some chord coloring here and there, but the melodies themselves work together thanks to the long note at the end of each Jenova expression. The result is a short and experimental arrangement of two of my favorite Uematsu works. Cheers!

Previous Decision Remixer name: Bluelighter Real Name: Guillaume SAUMANDE Mail: ID forum: 21840 Game & Songs: ff7 & Mining Town Interpreter: Guillaume SAUMANDE (piano) Composer: Nobuo UEMATSU Last Decision: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/36348-no-final-fantasy-7-the-call-from-the-mine/#comment-734926 Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmnemCGBFeo This is a new version of my arrangement of Mining Town, recorded in a better quality. I've also corrected the middle part ; that I've played too quickly in the last version. Enjoy

NoTuX Damon Campbell https://soundcloud.com/notux-1 Submission Information Donkey Kong Country Aquatic Ambiance, original: https://youtu.be/LDvKwSVuUGA Composer: David Wise This is my humble remix of one of my all time favorite songs. I'm staying true to the original mood and keeping it calm and relaxing with a slight R&B feel. At first, I didn't really want to sub this one because there are so many amazing remixes of this song out there, but my wife talked me into it. I guess one more wouldn't hurt, right? Direct link: Thanks everyone!

Hi, hope you're all doing okay! Chernabogue ft. Tuberz McGee & Furilas "Sunshine" Source: Veggies of Geasel from FF3 Notes: This arrangement was made for the cancelled FF3 project and features (once again) Tuberz McGee and Furilas. However, it goes acoustic and not full out metal (for once). I like taking a mix that has some energy and turn it into something cooler/calmer.I also tried to add more ethnic instruments to give it a "folk/world" feeling. I'm very happy with the result. Thanks to all my collaborators and to the people who helped me makign it sound awesome! LINK: Soundcloud link: Hope it's all good! Cheers!

(And Happy New Year!!) It's been quite a while! I'm not hailing this as a masterpiece by any means, but I just finished it and it came out pretty nifty, so I wanted to send it along in case you guys wanted to feature it on the site. I was originally going to wait till I had something more grand and impressive to submit as the first track under my new handle, but my new direction is more about going on a creative journey than any grand, cohesive, artistic vision. I'm admittedly quite rusty at remixing, and I learned a lot of new LIVE techniques from working on this piece, but putting it together (though at times frustrating!) was still a blast. I was going to put it on my YouTube and SC but I figured I would send it here first in case you guys wanted to post it prior to that. If there are any issues with it please let me know and I will try to address them ASAP. Thanks guys!! Hope you enjoy! MkVaff Michael Vafeas (no website yet, but my youtube account is active): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2ddyT0OGK6bIWQc19BC0xQ User ID is 6 (I think) Earthworm Jim New Junk City (original song) Launch the Cow (remix name)

This has a really cool way to handle the sources, though the arrangement is relatively ho-hum with the plain textures used throughout. The performance is pretty well done, though, so while it's simple it's well performed, so I suppose I don't have TOO much ground to gripe on. Some moments have some pretty excessive pedal bleed over (like at 1:00 and 2:36 - 2:42). In general the pedal is handled well, but watch out for passages with lots of lower octave notes - the harmonics of those lower registers will cause all sorts of clashing if the pedal holds too much at once. A few of the repeated notes for the Mario section (particularly at 1:40) has an issue where the note doesn't strike on the second note. I'm nitpicking here, but it's something to be more careful with in the future. The harmonies in the background don't flow very well. Be more meticulous on your voice leading in the future - while it works harmonically, moving from chord to chord sounds pretty stale due to simply using closed root block chords for a good deal of the song. The arpeggios sound better spaced and thus flow better from chord to chord, but at 1:48 arpeggiating plain open fifths makes the harmonies sound hollow and uninteresting, and moving from open fifth to open fifth is textbook terrible voice leading. For most submissions, poor voice leading doesn't bother me too much (not enough to turn a vote of mine, anyway), but it really hurts an arrangement that is otherwise using simple textures for a piano arrangement - there's little in this to take my attention away from the voice leading. I'm on the fence on this one. The performance issues aren't nearly enough to merit a NO, but the combination of simple arrangement with clunky motion makes this difficult for me to sit through. I'll let others give their voice on this one before I come in with a vote. EDIT (05/24): Bleh, I still don't like the motion from chord to chord, but I'm flexible on these things - while it's technically not just a personal gripe (since, yes, there ARE rules on voice leading one should heed), it's something that's bugging me more than others. It's still a clever arrangement that's well performed, so I can give it my thumbs up. Do keep your voice leading in mind next time around, though - it often makes the difference between a good piece and a great one. YES

Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit. I'm with LT on the beginning's low energy levels - didn't really sell me on the track with that opening, but when those crisp crazy drums come in I knew this was going to be good. This could've started at 0:14 and it would've worked much better, in my opinion. It's not terrible, but getting right into the high energy would've caught people's eye much more effectively. The mixing in this is strange. It's not bad, but certain things punch through unexpectedly, particularly the hats. I can't actually say this is a bad thing, since that's part of why this track feels so frentic. If the hats were less energetic this would be a problem, but here it actually helps drive the track. The performances are pretty solid, and the arrangement, while short, is a blast. I recognize the theme well enough, and I'll defer to Liontamer for the nitty-gritty on that from (he says it's OK, so I will too). The ending cutting off like that is pretty weak, but it's not the worst way it could've gone. I like it - it's a little ball of energy that burns itself out quickly, but in that time it's a blast. YES

Wow, I'm actually quite surprised on the votes for this. The mixing isn't perfect, but I don't find the mixing to be at all deal breaking. The vocals are put a bit to the front, but honestly if they weren't put to the front I'd be surprised, and otherwise it's not difficult to parse the other parts behind it. I hear (and see, in the waveform) some overcompression, especially toward the end, but it isn't so extreme as to kill the entire track. If Jorrith went back to tweak it I'd be happy, but I wouldn't want to reject the track entirely because of it. I'm not hearing any wrong notes or bad dissonance, either, and the vocals seem to be pretty darn good, for the style they're going for (they land a cent or two flat from time to time, and goes a bit sharp at 5:01, but I don't think the standards for vocals are THAT restrictive on here). The backing strings that mimic the theme (at 2:27) sounds pretty mechanical, and due to the swelling attack it has it's nearly undetectable. It's an interesting way to connect to a different source, and it would work, but as it stands it has no presence or body. The track works without that part so it's not a noticeable issue, but if that backing were made more salient it would make the portion sound more interesting, for sure. I'm feeling the issue that the track sounds like it's trying too hard to put too many sources into it at once (as the middle sounds like filler for the beginning and end sections), but the middle's not too far removed stylistically from the beginning and end to be too distracting, and the transitions do a lot of heavy lifting to make the track sound cohesive. If we could get a better mixed track, I'd be all for it, but on its own it's not nearly far enough below the bar to warrant a NO, in my opinion. YES

Huh, I actually found the humanization of this track to be pretty on point - articulations and dynamics are very close to how they would be performed in a studio jazz performance. The muted trumpet being mixed too far into the background (at 0:58) is a bit of an issue, but I wouldn't call it a deal-breaking one. The other thing that could hold this up would be the levels on the track. A little compression on this could've gotten a decent amount of volume out of the master track with minimal loss of quality. It's not impossibly quiet to work with, so I won't hold it too much against this, but it's something to consider for your next track. The walking bass works great with these themes, and the overall jazz style is on point. I don't see anything that really holds this one back, so I'm all for a front page posting. YES

Borrowed chords, like 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree mixture, right? JohnStacy's points are correct - if you substitute one chord for another that functions similarly you'll rarely go wrong. I'll expand on this topic a bit, though, since there are other interesting ways to move into mixture and borrowed chords (and even beyond that, sometimes). Being a counterpoint junkie, I'll start there: if the counterpoint works, the chord progression works. Thus, if you transition into unique chords using solid voice leading the chord won't feel out of place. This is why there's a notable amount of Rennaisance music (Palestrina, Gesualdo) that has some pretty strange chordal patterns, and yet sound pretty natural in context - they never worked one music harmonically, only contrapuntally. If all else fails, good voice leading will smooth everything out. There's another related point of view (Neo-Reimannian) that dictates that the fewer notes that are changed, the less jarring the transition will be. Thus, if you only change one note from one chord to the next, no matter how much mixture is involved it will not sound out of place. Change two notes and it's a middle ground between jarring and not jarring. It's a logical yet interesting manner to get some cool mixture involved - lots of Romantic composers used this method of generating some pretty unique mixture. Those are a bit heavy on the theory, so one final rule of thumb: just use the chord in question, and if you don't like it, change it to something you DO like. You'd be surprised just how poignant an effect some of this can have if you just experiment with them; the 'hard and fast' rules on how to use them are a bit dated, anyway. It's nice to know that there are rules on the use of mixture, but really the only 'rule' you need to know is that there isn't really a restriction on their use. Hope that helps!

Oh hey, I remember this from the FB page - I came in and gave some feedback on it (something like a few paragraphs of feedback, lol). I said it there, and I'll say it again here: this takes a real 'kitchen sink' approach to the track, throwing everything you got at it. There's some rock guitar in there, gated synths, guitar and synth leads, atypical special effects... If you like music, you'll find something to like here. The production sounds pretty good, and the arrangement certainly has enough source in it. If there's something that I think could be improved in the future, the track does stick with the same harmonic pattern throughout most of the track. While I certainly couldn't say the texture gets stale, the harmonies do get old. It's also an issue with the source, so it's understandable, but it's an issue nonetheless. The mixing is actually really good, considering how much you have going on here, but there are still some moments (such as at 4:00) where your lead gets drown by all of the other instruments playing at once. You do a pretty good job with the mix considering how dense the track is at times, but it could be better still. Aside from that, I've got to say this is a pretty sweet piece. The energy is great, and it knows how to hold back for dramatic effect, as well. The production is pretty solid, to boot - definitely something I'd like to see on OCR. I hope you make good on your promise to send more! YES

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