Gario

You're very welcome for the help on it - I'm glad that we were able to publish it in said short amount of time. More good music for OCR to host is always a great thing, so thanks for letting us publish it. It's a short, tight little project that is quite high-quality. I do recommend it for anyone who isn't feint-of-heart. And for those that are, too; y'all could use a good spook when good music is involved.

Oh, you CAN use plasma on Phantoom, but that's even HARDER to do than getting it for Kraid, and you HAVE to have ice and grapple. I'm working on a run to do that now, but it's incredibly difficult to do, and requires a little glitching at one point (that's the part I'm stuck at, now). I still wanna plasma Phantoom, though, so yeah.

Hey, six years later and it's still one of my favorite albums on here, no joke (Cartography and probably the FF albums compete, but it's not a clear case of 'best album', in any case). Don't worry, Curtis, you're not alone on that opinion; this is an awesome album.

Super missiles are your friend; kill them geemers and it makes that portion a breeze. Honestly, my favorite skip is against the Varia suit. Hard as shit to do, though, and it's not good at all for speed running for me (Get to one room that doesn't kill you, then stock up on health the old fashioned way). I know there are better ways to do it, but whatevs - I'm not looking to get on Speedrun archives anytime soon. It DOES allow you to get the wave beam and plasma before Kraid, which makes for a hilarious fight against him later.

Smooth4Lye + NoTux collab, I can already hear it. I know you guys weren't thinkin' it, but I am, and now I want to hear Smooth4Lyfe sing over it. Nice, smooth, gentle take on it, by the way. I like the processing effects you use on the guitar throughout. The piano is pretty stiff, but otherwise the track does some nice things with the source.

I have no idea why, but I love every second of this. Even the "choir ah" vocals. Especially the "choir ah" vocals.

Ooo, this is really neat. I'm loving the direction you're taking this so far - that orchestra caught me off guard. It's dirty, it's interesting and it does have some Star Wolf in it, lol. The thing that catches me the most off the top is how the lead gets lost behind all of the sound. I know the sidechaining is to give yourself some room, but that lead does need to come out ahead some of your other elements. I hear a lot of dubby sounds that just overwhelm the lead, when the lead should be the thing grounding the listener to the source (such as at 2:07). Having the sidechaining affect it a bit less and mixing the other elements a little behind the lead when it's present would help considerably. Very neat approach, I'll be listening to where you take this.

Very clever blending of the sources in this one. Loving the approach overall - using Frost Walrus as the backing of Sigma was something I couldn't envision, but it works pretty damn well. The vocals are clean, well performed and full of Rick Ashley, which means all is right in the world. Considering how different the two sources are from one another, directly blending them like this is quite a feat, so great work on that. Chimp points to the overcrowding that occurs in this, from time to time, and I agree that it causes some issues. It gets very cluttered, for example at 2:26, with multiple instruments fighting for the front of the mix. It's loud, the instruments clash and overall it doesn't work as well as the cleaner portions of the arrangement. I find it funny that Chimp mentions vocoding, when in fact it's actually multiple singers in such harmony that it sounds like a vocoded blend - it's brilliant. It almost has a barbershop quality to it, which tempts me to ask if there's a recording of just the singing without the backing instruments. The gating is an interesting effect, which is a little distracting when it pops up, but that's more personal preference than anything. There seems to be a recording glitch that causes the vocals to skip a little at 1:35, so be careful about those little glitches. The gating hides it well enough, but just giving a heads up, there. Otherwise, great vocals on this one, all of you. The harmonies are pretty rich, almost jazz-like in their presence, but they don't come off to me as too dissonant. I like my harmonies rich and interesting, so nice work on those harmonic combinations. It won't be for everyone's taste, but there's nothing technically wrong with overly harmonic melody lines - it's just a different approach to the music. Not much else to say on this one. I agree that the mix gets crowded from time to time, but otherwise it's a pretty brilliant arrangement. Great work! YES

Love that talking bass, I've gotta say. Very cool source, too, and this has a really neat, almost chill approach to it. The production is clean (considering it's Mazedude, that's no surprise), and damn if it isn't an interesting arrangement (again, Mazedude, no surprise). It's not perfect, though. The arrangement, while strange, does tend to stay in the same place for long periods of time, utilizing the same instruments for the same purposes, which tends to wear on the listener after a while. There's some effort to drop instruments, bring them back, etc., which helps break things up, but that whole static feeling does linger. The drums do seem to groove for long periods of time, as Chimp says, but I don't think that's an issue with the drums themselves (I mean, I don't think 'Drums are playing throughout the whole track' would be a valid point against virtually any other track). However. due to the relatively static nature of the soundscape, it doesn't help that the groove contributes to that soundscape. I think it's less an issue with the drums, though, and more an issue with the rest of the soundscape in combination with it, which as mentioned above does sound static. All of that being said, the arrangement does have a very interesting sound to it, and the production is solid. I'm not 100% sold on the soundscape, but I don't think it's quite enough to bring it below the bar, since there are measures taken in the track to help alleviate this somewhat (the dropping of instruments from time to time, there are breaks in it, etc.). Especially considering how interesting the details of the track are, I think it would serve well on the front page. Nice to see more Mazedude, as always. YES

Jazzelda, that is not a bad idea. The harmonies are pretty rich, and the solo's and jams in this are reasonably sophisticated. I enjoyed this approach, and I think ultimately it's a great idea. That being said, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The instruments really don't come off as realistic at all. I hear a little bit of volume enveloping on the saxophone, but the piano and bass have incredibly static volumes. The articulations of all of the instruments are all static and inhuman. Obviously, if you could get live players it would be thousands of times better, but I understand that many people don't have that luxury; if you're going to use samples, you need to work hard to make sure they SOUND as close to a live performance as possible. Another element that's missing (which is thankfully a little easier to handle) is the lack of room reverb. Right now the entire performance sounds dry, when in real life there would be some reverb caused by the room the performers are in. Utilize some reverb, make it sound like they're playing in a space - that helps a great deal, when it comes to making the performance sound 'real'. That bass sticks out like a sore thumb. I understand it needs to repeat for a jazz performance (that's how jazz improve works), but don't mix it so close to the front. It's the least interesting element in the mix, so put it behind the sax and piano a little more. While it's a cool effect to have it play every quarter (it kind of has a 'walking' feeling), don't over rely on it - do some different motions to break it up from time to time. The beginning and end change it up a little, which helps, so don't be afraid to break up that rhythmic pattern a little in the middle, too. Even in live jazz performances changing up the rhythm won't throw off the improvisation much, as the other performers can still predict the harmonic relations their improv will have. It's a really cool little track, but I'm afraid the execution does knock it below the OCR bar. Thanks for the submission, though, and I hope some of what I said helps for your future tracks! NO

Okay, this is definitely a worthy initiative. Perhaps I need to listen to more NPR, just because they're not afraid of putting out some VGM love.

A DDRKirby 9-bit album? You don't say! Here's my soundtrack at work for the day! EDIT: It's very good, peeps - go check it out!

Loving Doc Nano's work on here, and Chris's violin work is spot on. The extra-playful interpretation of the meter really makes this track stand out. It's unpredictable, yet it flows rather flawlessly. Great arrangement, clever variations, what's not to love?

There was a dispute between Brandon and OCR, which led to him requesting the removal of his solo tracks from OCR and the YouTube channel of the site. It's a shame, but we honored his request. Sorry. For that particular song at least, I think it's still on the Maverick Rising album (that goes under a different contract, due to affecting all those involved, not just OCR), so you can still access it there. His other tracks you'll need to find using any other hosting method Brandon himself has (like his YouTube channel). Sorry that it's a burden on you, but it's not going back up in the foreseeable future.

I may or may not be listening to a Willrock/Lady Gaga mash-up. (correction: I most certainly AM listening to said mash-up)

Remixer: Gario Real name: Greg Nourse E-mail: UserID: 18482 Games arranged: Super Mario RPG Arrangement Name: Nimbus can Wait Sources Arranged: Super Mario RPG - Do the Fooka Fooka This is an interesting arrangement. The source attracted me due to it's rich harmonies, it's rather complex transitions and the overall happy atmosphere. There are a great deal of things that I could share about this track (style, interesting production tricks, why in God's name I used a Sine wave as my lead... that was not easy, etc.), but instead I'll talk about a story of what this track represents. This represents one's attempt to express something wonderful to someone else, while trying (and failing) to contain your excitement over it. Something like Nimbus, the city in the clouds, the place where dreams come true (literally!). Everyone has things that they hold dear, things that, given the opportunity, will happily gush about for a length of time unknown. Many things can be your 'Nimbus' - your love for video game music, or for the arrangement of said music, or perhaps for a television show, or even for a religion. Many of us have experienced our proclamation of our Nimbus - our cares and dreams - and have had to hold back so not to lose our audience! Music has a way of reaching others in a manner that just can't be expressed effectively in words, sometimes, so perhaps listen with that in mind. This is for all of our Nimbus's out there, our passions, our dreams, that we have difficulty sharing with those outside of that circle. This is for the times where Nimbus, indeed, had to wait. Enjoy, and don't forget to listen to the rest of the album!

Man, this is giving me all sorts of 'Neighburger' vibes. It's just got that cheezy vibe behind it. It's got a lot of great things going for it - the arrangement is slick, the performances are slick, the synths are great in a so-cheezy-it's-good sort of way and overall I'm feeling it. There's one thing that this track really needs to work on in order to be posted, though - those production values. There just seems to be limiting errors and muddiness all over this track. This needs a rework in the mixing and production in order to work, as right now the production values falls below the standards of the site. I love it, and I hope you send us an update that cleans up all of the messy production values so that we can take it and post it. NO

Man, what a great source. Never heard any of the music in that game, but that's a pretty hot track. Sounds absolutely ripe for an amazing arrangement, so I'm glad you're giving us something fresh and remix-able to work with. That being said, there are a few issues with execution that leaves a bit to be desired on this. The 'realistic' instruments need quite a bit of TLC in the humanization department, as right now they sound like... well, sequenced. Obviously they ARE sequenced, but using volume envelopes, adjusting the attack envelop to emulate different articulations, etc., can go a long way in making these instruments sound more realistic. There's quite a lot that can (and should) go into these things in this track to give the instruments a more realistic, human sound. Overall, the production isn't bad; I don't hear too much in limiting or compression issues, and it's nice and loud to boot. However, there are quite a bit of mixing issues that I hear throughout. That clap in the beginning (0:23 - 0:46) just punches through too much in comparison to everything else. When everything is playing at 0:46, the lead is hard to follow, as it's mixed relatively behind other background elements, making the theme harder to follow. At 2:08 there are so many things that are trying to be mixed to the front it becomes tricky to follow what you want the listener to focus on, instead leaving the track sounding muddy. There is a lot to like about this arrangement: the transitions (like at 0:46) roll right into the next portions (loved it), and the change-ups in the soundscape (like at 1:17) really help give the arrangement shape. From 0:00 to 1:17 (and arguably beyond), though, the arrangement focuses on one theme of the source, and drags it out virtually unaltered. It gets rather boring and stale quickly, so it really needs either something else to break up that source in the middle (perhaps during the build-up from 0:00 - 0:46), or the theme needs some real variation. One way or another, the repetition of the melodies of the source is problematic for this arrangement. I see what you're doing, and I think the approach can work. However, attention needs to be paid to the realism of your instruments, the mixing needs to be cleaned up and more focused, and the arrangement needs some more variation of the source so that it doesn't get too stale as the track goes on. I do hope for a resubmission on this one, though. Good luck! NO

Lovin' that kick. It just grabs me in with how much meat it has. I do like the direction it tends to take, too, with those talking synths when it gets to Metaton-EX, and the fast pacing. Great approach to this, in general. I'd look into cleaning up your reverb, though. While it allows the instruments to fill the space, it's creating a lot of mud in the track, making everything crowd too much in general. Once you clean up the reverb, look to see that the mix itself doesn't crowd the mix too much, as well. That's the biggest thing that you need to look for - reverb and mixing. Keep it up!

Interesting approach on this - take a whole bunch of instruments and have them build up over time to something magnificent. While it doesn't do much to stray from the source or incorporate too much original writing, the orchestration and overall approach feels different enough from the source for me to accept it on arrangement grounds. The mixing is pretty solid, the orchestration is pretty on point, and I was generally impressed with the humanization of the orchestral elements. The solo violin has one or two things that bug me - the panning was too far to the left on it, for me on headphones. Also, while humanization was generally good, be careful not to let the attack swell too much on faster runs - moments like 0:19 - 0:21 had the instrument nearly dropping out with faster runs, due to the attack on the sample. The snare and bass drum samples used in the middle/end of the track are quite dry, as well, in comparison to the rest of the instruments. They should at least match the other instruments that you have playing in this. It was quite a shock to start hearing synths in the track, and the first one that hit (at 0:35) was quite jarring, especially considering the rest of the piece prior. I think you're using something like a flanger on it... and it just makes it sound strange against the cool, clean orchestral elements. What's even stranger is that overall that doesn't really come back after the first two minutes - it just comes in, disorients, and before the listener can adjust it never comes again. If you're going to take the listener out of the soundscape that you created, always have a good reason for doing so; that instrument just sounded out of place, there. Overall, I think it's an interesting track. It doesn't take too many risks, but it DOES build off of itself quite effectively. There are a few small issues with this track, but I don't agree that it adds up to a rejection. There's more than enough to love about the track that keeps me interested. YES

You got the chops to make me like Pumpkin Hill. Awesome work, man!

Very solid performance, and a great cover for the track. The fade-out ending doesn't really do it justice, and the lower end of the EQ gets pretty crowded with that chuggin' rhythm guitar and synth, but overall it's a sweet sounding cover. As Chimp pointed out, the conservative nature of this track does run against the goals of this site - OCR requires some interpretation of the source for the material it posts. It's nothing against this arrangement, as it's a great performance, but it's unfortunately not what OCR is looking for. Thanks for submitting, though - I got a kick out of it. NO

Final Fantasy Tactics! Such good music, and the theme chosen here is just gorgeous. So glad to see someone giving it the love it deserves - the guitar translates from this particular source's harp fantastically. The added harmonies behind it adds a nice bit of depth that wasn't there before. I will say that there is a fair bit of repetition in this, though. 0:28 - 0:54 is something that repeats almost precisely at 0:55 and 2:08. You certainly could've done more to make those parts sound a little more interesting and fresh, as this makes the arrangement sound a bit static. I will note that the short length does help you a bit: clocking in at 2:38 means that right when the listener is catching on to the repetitions, the song ends. While that's not a small issue, that's really the only thing I can say that would hold this track back. The arrangement, while conservative, is otherwise well crafted, and takes the sources to some daring territory later in the track (roughly beginning at 1:22). The arpeggios and slides just sound pristine, and the overall performance has a great deal of soul to it. This track makes my hairs stand on end (in a good way) - I can't say no to that without a big reason to do so. YES

Mmm, might be relevant: after downloading Keldeo, you should be able to get Hoopa afterward using a code for the mystery gift event, up through the 9th. http://www.ibtimes.com/how-get-mythical-legendary-pokemon-hoopa-keldeo-volcanion-pokemon-x-y-omega-ruby-2425724 I didn't see it mentioned anywhere on here. I'll confirm whether this works or not when I get home tonight.

Wouldn't posting it on here make that 21 websites? Not a bad straight rap track, though. Clean, decent production values, pretty solid rapping. The backing music is a little repetitive, but it works for what you're going for. Nice work.