Gario

bLiNd! Birthday! Make it a great one!

This is a very interesting remix, and I'm glad to see you got it up here. Very sweet that it all came together!

This is one of the saddest Celebrity death I've experienced - this really hit where it hurt. I hope he finds solace in his own passing; RIP Robin Williams.

I was seeing all sorts of praise about this movie, and I saw it had a wise-crackin' raccoon in it, so I thought it a good idea to go see it. I'm very glad I did - it pretty much lives up to the hype around it. It's not a masterpiece, but the character synergy was great, the action was fun and the visuals were perfect, for what they needed to be. It's something I'll likely put on periodically (when it's released), if I just want to sit down and enjoy a movie in the future. Very well done - I would recommend it.

Certainly a good track, though it DOES belong in Originals. I got ya covered, man.

This remix needed to happen - I'm very glad that it finally has happened. Also glad that it's pretty much as perfect a remix for this track as it can be - very sexy stuff from Argle, here!

MOD REVIEW Ooo, very... underwatery! I actually like the combination of instruments throughout, as it really does evoke a haunting underwater passage. The SFXs are particularly neat. Panning! I'm a personal fan of it, but in certain moderation. In the context here, it's a little bit distracting because of how it stands out over the rest of the track. Everything else sounds so much in the center, the panning just jumps out. I'd suggest spreading the rest of your instruments a little bit more - the panning would be distinct, then, but not distracting. Loving the flute, but it's so dry in comparison to the rest of the mix. Lower the wetness of the rest of the mix and make the flute a little more wet so they ultimately have roughly the same amount of reverb. That bass... it's stiff, and it sticks out in front of the mix too much. Take it to the back of the mix, as it's supposed to be a support for everything else, not the main instrument of focus. As Ambient mentioned, this is a pretty conservative mix, though I'd argue it's a relatively easy fix due to the texture variations you've supplied throughout, so it's not insurmountable. What you have is a perfect support to really add some structural embellishments and melodic flourishes. Do some more with the mix to make it your own, and I think you could make the arrangement pass on it. As it stands, it would get a "NO", though. Balance the instruments better and tweak the arrangement to make it your own and you'd have a chance on the panel. As is, it'd be rejected, but I think it has some good potential. Hope this helps!

Tyrian, woot! This is pretty much a perfect representation of what the first level was all about - uplifting, awesome, and heavy. Love the mix, man!

If you ever work with analog sounds/synths, knowing your note ratios is critical - 440Hz "A" is a common standard, and you can get every other note by multiplying the previous note by the twelfth root of two. That is, if you want to get A#, multiply 440 by 12th root of 2, and if you want B, multiply that result by the 12th root of 2, etc. This also works backwards - that is, you divide the number by the twelfth root of two to get the number previous. It's pretty easy to get some really cool sounds off of any microcontroller that can turn a channel on and off, and has access to timers in the programming. Make a program that oscillates from on to off at a rate of 440, for example, and attach a speaker to it and you'll get a natural "A", as a result. I made the Zelda theme for my microcontroller final project this way, it was pretty fun.

Great timing for a great album - everything in this one is solid. I hope plenty of people check this one out!

The third season is starting on a very good (and interesting) note. I may be speaking too soon, but suspect this may be a very good season, based on the setup and the approach they're taking with it. Looking forward to more!

Love it, love it, love it. I loved this track back when I first heard it a year ago in the forums, and I'm very glad the judges felt the same way about it as I did - it's too damn sexy to contend with. It's just oozing with so much dark atmospheric flavor, I don't think anyone should miss this remix - it's just too good.

Oh hell yes. This is awesome and sexy as hell. You have done Wily 3-2 some major justice in this arrangement. Nice work

Hey, welcome to OCR! Just letting you know, since you're asking - Mod Review is specifically designed to get a moderator of this forum to come in and judge your music as if you wanted to post it on the site (specifically, for when you want to submit it and desire one final critique). It kind of clashes with your desire for people to go easy on you, since the moderators have to critique you as a judge would. To be fair, this track isn't bad, though I believe the highs are a bit piercing. Lowering the high EQ wouldn't be a bad idea on the track. For the sake of a Mod review I would mention how this song is pretty much a cover of the source, and how it was far too conservative to be accepted on the site, but I think the prefix 'Mod Review' was a bit of a mix up, and I don't want to give you the wrong idea - covers aren't a bad thing, and if this wasn't a Mod review I wouldn't mind that it was a cover at all (and a pretty good one, to boot). The synths are fitting, too, if a touch vanilla. Read the stickies in the thread and you'll see the proper usage of the prefixes. While a Mod Review will likely get the attention of a moderator, it also will generally bring in the strictest of criticism, by design Welcome to OCR, by the way - glad to see you coming in here and showing your stuff!

MOD REVIEW Bah, us Mods missed this one. Sorry, lemme rectify this for ya by giving you what you need here. Interesting source - PRC does a good job bringing up sources that are not as well known. Sounds like you played this one pretty straight and conservative. While not a bad thing, for the sake of submitting it to the site it wouldn't really pass, since the site is looking for more interpretive video game arrangements. This is more of a face lift of the source, improving its sound quality rather than rearranging it. Again, not a bad thing, just not something that would be accepted on the site, on those grounds alone. As far as the track goes, the piano is very mechanical. To make an instrument like that one work, you really need to humanize it (that is, adjust the velocities and volume envelopes to make it sound like an actual person is playing it). As it stands now, it sticks out against the rest of the texture like a sore thumb. Overall, there are a lot of instruments in this track, and they all seem to want to be in the front of the mix. Balancing the track so that the instruments you want to stand out stand out and the instruments that are not as important sound more in the background would really help this mix out, cleaning up the soundscape so it doesn't sound so cluttered. Nice work on it otherwise (the drums are pretty neat, and the source was pretty fun, too), but even with the fixes listed above OCR would likely reject it on grounds that the arrangement is too conservative. I would like to emphasize that this doesn't mean it's a bad song if OCR doesn't accept it - it just means that it doesn't fit the criteria of the site. Keep on making music, and good luck with your next arrangement!

Glad I could help On the synths, just to clarify, the bass is one that you could probably get away with due to style, but that Roland Super JV1080 brass synth is actually VERY close to the GM sound used for brass synth. I completely believe that your synth isn't GM (especially considering the quality of instruments elsewhere in the song), but I must stick to the opinion that the synth sounds very low grade (in a not-cool-oldschool kind of way). I am far and away not the expert on oldschool instruments, though - perhaps Willrock would have a more experienced outlook on it, if you messaged him? As far as the OCR-based review went, I actually compared your song to OCR's submission standard specifically because you posted it as a Mod Review - if it's posted as such, it implied you're looking to submit it to OCR. Glad you enjoyed the critique regardless, but understand that the users and staff on site don't generally look down on remakes and covers. It's just something that won't be posted because of the site's overall goal in reinterpretation of VG music. You can find details about what the site is looking for in submissions here. Tinkered and varied, awesome! Medleys... not as much, as far as submissions go. 'Course, you can read that in the link above. Glad to see you're enjoying the OCR boards, though!

MOD REVIEW Ooo, F-Zero, that's a game that doesn't get too much attention on here (at least as far as I can see). Nice, let's see what we've got. Very fun choice of synths. They do seem pretty dry and vanilla. The synth brass and bass in particular are very dry and MIDI-sounding, so you might want to consider using some better 80's instruments in order to achieve a thicker, richer and ultimately more fitting sound. I haven't done much searching myself (being a Reason user, it's not something that I know much about), but I suspect a cheap/free solution to those particular sounds are out there. The arrangement is pretty conservative, for an OCR song. While having a cover isn't a bad thing, OCR requires more interpretation to the arrangement. At the end you have some really cool wankery and solo-ing (that you fade out on) - more of that, and changing the arrangement up here and there will be necessary if you plan on using this as an OCR submission. Production is clean and awesome - that is something you have down in spades. I like that part, for sure Cool song, good choice of source, but I don't think OCR would accept it, if you were to submit it, for the reasons I stated above. The song is pretty cool in it's own right, especially that square soloing toward the end (I was bobbing my head to that), but OCR is looking for more interpretation in an arrangement than what you've provided.

I remember looking something up about how to make pins work on TWEWY, and in the description on it online it spoiled what the game was about... I know it's kind of in the title and supposed to be obvious, but I would've liked to react more like Neku did on Day 5 Week 1 about it, 'cause I didn't really see it coming while I was playing. I'd also love to see someone's reaction to Aerith's death one day - like, a real reaction, as if the person never knew it was coming. Shame that is a scene that's so spoiled every single gamer around knows what happens. Ah well, such is life.

Oh Croc, you were actually pretty good, as far as 3D platformers go. It was how I was introduced to the Playstation, as well, so I completely understand youd nostalgia, man.

Catching animals and forcing them to either fight other animals to the death or assist me in catching said animals in order to do my bidding in a similar manner. That is something that I don't do in real life - I'm actually pretty kind to animals, for the most part. I've just been playing Pokemon a lot lately, is all.

1. What first encounter with VGM? What kind of effect do you remember it having on you? I grew up on the NES - I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't involved with it, and I honestly can say I've always enjoyed it to some degree. Perhaps not the first, but one moment that really sticks out is the opening for Mega Man 3 - I danced to it quite a bit as a kid, and I don't regret it for a moment. 2. At what point do you remember considering yourself a VGM fan (or OCR fan) in relation to your first VGM experience? Hmm, that's a toss-up between listening to the music of Mega Man 3 and Silver Surfer. Both of those really defined me as someone who loved VGM music. Later, games like Final Fantasy 4/6 and Chrono Trigger further cemented my love for the genre. 3. How did you hear about OCR? As odd as it sounds, I thought it would be really cool if someone would make a website that could compile people's arrangements for video games rather than trying to randomly find arrangements on Limewire/Napster/whatever filesharing site was popular at the time. I did some research to see if someone did this already and found OCR - pretty much did precisely what I was hoping for, and I've been hooked ever since (~2005). 4. What do you feel would be some non-musical examples (fan art, videos, interpretive dance, horse racing, rock-throwing) of the OCR society? If Community is representative of OCR's musical side, the Off-Topic is the ever vibrant community of OCR's other various talents. I've seen incredible writing talent, great artwork (pixel and otherwise), as well as well thought out debates and philosophy (as well as some not-so-well thought out things, lol). 5. How has VGM and OCR affected your life? I write and study VGM music actively when I can, so I'd say it shapes what I do, as well as how I enjoy my life. I can't say it's the only thing that introduced me into the world of performing and writing music, it's certainly a huge factor in getting me involved in it actively and publicly. While I've always had a deep passion for VGM, OCR has given me a consistent outlet for further exploring my passion.

A Mazedude remix that has no comments? What is OCR coming to? This arrangement certainly comes from left field, which is great considering that the source is a bit on the boring side. I never knew about the composer homage, so that was an interesting bit of trivia. Very slow, very haunting and actually really cool (but then again what else do we expect from Mazedude). Not much else that I can say, another showcase of Mazedude's versatility and ability: it's always worth a listen.

Oh, flipty do - it simply means that the instrument sounds like theres a slight yet extreme moment with the portamento that sounds unintentional. It could be something as simple as you switching the portamento on (or off) at that moment, or the note previous was too distant for it to sound good. Often, the fix is as simple as moving the enable on the portamento to a 32nd/64th past the note in question. Flipty-doo. It's very technical.

Boy, it's been awhile. Alright, I'll give this a shot, despite my existence being negated by the Judginator MOD REVIEW Oh, hey, I remember this one. I'm glad to see you working on this one Nice introduction. That piano sounds excessively bright, though - you'll want to give that a low-pass and/or EQ some of the upper mids on that. I understand that you want it to stand out from the strings that you have going at the same time, which you should accomplish by either EQ'ing the backing instruments out of the pianos way or thinning out the background by lowering volume/removing a few notes. You're right in wanting to make the piano stand in the front, though - just accomplish it in a more subtle manner, is all. When the trance comes in, the production is over-compressed. I think I suggested it before, and I'll suggest it again: bypass pretty much all compressors/limiters, set all your levels to 100, then figure out what's too loud and work up from the individual instrument up to the final mixer for each instrument. If you meticulously do this for each instrument and ensure that nothing clips at that point, you will have something that you can raise the volume levels from that will sound absolutely divine. The process normally takes me about 3-4 hours for any of my tracks, so it doesn't take too long for amazing results. Message me if you need more details on the process. This is the biggest single issue with the track, now, so please do whatever you can to correct it - I promise your music in the future will shine if you perfect this aspect of production. A little flipdy-doo at 1:36 with the portamento... Minor, but I thought you'd like to know. That transition at 2:50 is a bit sudden. I think that you should approach that with a little more time - give the track a little more time to slow into that part, as the fade into it is a bit awkward. Oh Jesus, that part at 4:07, then that chord change at 4:13... perfect. I love that series of chords (and it sounds even better when it comes back in) - very nice use of a deceptive cadence. I have to give you props for raising the hair on my neck for that one. Overall, this is great, but I would see this getting a resub, still, simply due to production. They would want this to be in top condition, production-wise, as the arrangement is nearly perfect. Again, message me if you want more details on that and I'll try to break the process down in an easier to read manner. I really do look forward to this one when it's perfect, as it will be absolutely amazing.