Gario   Judges ⚖️

Here's my favorite battle that I can recall, though I do feel a little guilt on it. I IV/EV'd the shit out of a Shuckle, made it tanky as shit (252HP, 128DEF, 128SDEF). Fought a friend and his legendaries with it, did the "Toxic/Rest/Stealth Rock/Shell Smash" crap with the hidden ability that reverses the effects of Shell Smash. Always fun to see Dalgia, Ho-oh and the two XY legendaries fall to that stupid slug rock thing. He was cool with it, though, so it wasn't THAT bad. Still funny as hell, though.

Haha, this is pretty clever. Really fun way to manipulate the source on this one - splicing and rearranging. Neat how the tonality of that source is so darn ambiguous, and yet you seem to make some sense out of it. Your music is your music, and I'll look forward to the finished product. I will, however, add one little known detail on this (more just a general reminder than anything, for those that don't know): While a clever idea, prior precedent has established system music (like Gamecube's opening, Wii's homepage music, PS1 opening chime, etc.) doesn't count as a videogame soundtrack for OCR's purposes, so if (and only if) you plan on ever submitting, don't be too disappointed if it gets straight rejected on those grounds. For the sake of the WIP boards, though, I'll make the judgment call and say it's alright in here... primarily because I want to see where you take this, 'cause it's pretty cool. Nice work so far.

"Only Link can do the Duck Walk" That is your new title, lol. I think this is a pretty slick arrangement. I'm loving the combination of FM synths and NES style chiptunes. The source is clear, and it blends spectacularly well with the Zelda title source. I know you asked for extra ears, and it doesn't help much when someone says they can't hear anything that they think would improve it, but there's not much I can say. It's beautiful ear candy, and it's a neat idea to blend the Wand of Gamelon with the original Zelda source like that. The absolute cheese factor of many of those synths just adds to the appeal, as well. Solid stuff, I hope to hear it on the panel.

Hey, it's my favorite track of the album. Neat-o. I think Yoshiblade's arrangement style works wonders for a track like this one - rather than significantly changing the structure, he adds more and more over the sparse source that was giving, changing the original feel of the track quite a bit. It's a very effective method in getting more out of something that didn't provide much. Them wubs were pretty tasty, too, as were most of the effects he sprinkles throughout. The beginning does a great job giving this a more haunting atmosphere than normal, too. It's some quality stuff, here. I never knew that tidbit about Fritz, either - that was a pretty cool bit of trivia provided as a bonus. Great track all around!

(As a side note this sounds way more amazing on my nice headphones, I don't regret checking it on them) To be honest, I thought there might've been some production heat on it, but it was actually my piss-poor headphones at work. This sounds pretty darn good, actually, on my decent set-up.

Mmm hmm, I certainly do see your point, on the one hand - the builds and drops throughout are inherent to the genre. On the other hand (because I have two hands, see? Haha... ha... bad joke), your builds and drop aren't devoid of music - they're devoid of melody. There's no rule stating that source melodies and themes can't be textures and background elements instead of melodies and themes in an arrangement. You've got arpeggios and such in the background that could as easily be source themes transformed into background elements instead. It sounds great either way, so you don't have to do more to the track, but I do want to point out that putting source into something isn't impossible to get close or past the threshold I'm thinking about. Trickier, due to genre limitations, but not inherently impossible.

While I still have the numbers up (and before I listen on my other headphones), I thought I'd point out those numbers, as far as source usage goes. I calculate 68 seconds of source in this bad boy. That puts it at about 36% source in the arrangement. I have no idea whether or not you planned on submitting the track (you very well could just be showing off in here, which is great, in my book), but IF you were, you'd definitely be called out for the track being too liberal. That doesn't take anything away from the track in its own right, as it still sounds pretty damn good, but I thought I'd point that out, in case you ever, maybe, possibly wanted to submit the track. I kind of hope you do, since real, raw dubstep is sorely misrepresented on the site, at the moment.

That's not necessarily a mistake - there are EDM styles that do this sort of cutting intentionally, which adds to the meat of the track. There are a few elements that I may or may not have comments on regardless, but I want to give this a listen on my better headphones at home before I give any comment on it. I do like this, though - it's definitely an improvement on the other version.

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!