Chimpazilla

Hello dear OCReMix team, After years of work on video game music remixes I decided to join OCReMix as a ReMixer. Here some information about me: ReMixer name: DJBNY Website (WIP): http://bennyauscelle.com or http://soundcloud.com/djbny UserID: 54369 Here some info about my first arrangement for you: Name of the game: Final Fantasy I - Dawn Of Souls Name of the arrangement: Chaos Temple 2014 (DJBNY CLUB RMX) (if you'd prefer another name, tell me please. An alternative would be "Chaos' Clubbers") Name of the song arranged: Chaos' Temple Inspiration and Making Of: I always loved the remix of PS1 further versions of the original Chaos' Temple tune from the first Final Fantasy game and I imagined how it would sound if I would make a danceable remix of this track and this is how the work on this remix started. I made it using FL Studio and ReFX Nexus in December 2014 as a remix for my fans and fans of Final Fantasy I. I really hope, you like this remix and publish it. It would be my first, but not my last track I'll submit. Thank you very much for your time, your work and everything you've done for me since I downloaded my first OCReMix in 2001, it was a Lufia II remix named Turbid Guidance by Faze Best regards, my friends. DJBNY

This track is mastered HOT. (this is an edit, initially I saw clipping on my meter. It was my error, it is not clipping. But the track spends a huge majority of the time at 0db.) Easing of the master limiter a bit is recommended. It's a good track, guitar playing is very good. The track feels a little long overall as the energy level stays mostly the same throughout, and despite the great guitar work, the arrangement seems to repeat the ideas over and over. I'm having issues with some of the leadwork in this track. The lead at 1:02 is just barely there, being hinted at, and it could be just a bit louder from 1:02 to 1:22. At 1:22 the square lead is a bit plain but it works, it cuts through just fine. Then at 1:32, that glassy timbre makes a terrible lead. The guitar lead is great whenever it is playing. The lead timbre starting at 2:06 doesn't cut through the mix very well since it is a wide sound and it is competing with everything else at that point. At 3:48, the lead is barely audible, it is that same wide sound. Same for the lead starting at 4:25, it is the same glassy bell-like sound from 1:32, and without an audible lead the track seems leadless from 4:25 until 5:03. The lead at 5:03 is also not the strongest. Drums also feel a little buried in the mix, but this doesn't bother me as much as the weak leadwork. The guitar leads are great... it's the other timbres that aren't doing it for me. This can be an awesome mix. Ease off the master limiter, maybe spiff up the non-guitar leads, and let's hear this one again. edit 1/26/16: It's less loud overall now, the limiter volume came down, but the song still sounds really overwhelming to me, lots of competing frequencies. The leads sound a little bit better, still not blowing me away. Drums still sound buried. I think it squeaks by now, though. YES(borderline)

revised version 1/26/16 old version Remixers: Ivan Hakštok, Sixto Sounds Name of game(s) arranged: Gradius Gaiden Name of arrangement: The Heavens Are Calling Name of individual song(s) arranged: Snowfield (Beyond the White Storm) Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6yo5u2RcZ8 Composer: Norikazu Miura I consider the source tune for this song to be one of the best pieces of vgm ever, and the Gradius Gaiden soundtrack itself is a masterpiece and probably one of the most underrated video game soundtracks. I originally made this remix for the July 2014 DoD free month and recruited Sixto to play the awesome guitar solo you can hear halfway through the song. This version has the same arrangement as the DoD one, but with lots of changes to the mixing and samples. This is probably my best song of 2014, so I wanted to make it sound as good as possible before submitting, which is probably why it took me a few months Hope you enjoy it!

Intro is... unique... piano sounds warped. I'm happier when the guitars start. The guitar playing is competent. The leadwork gets buried at the choruses. There are two spots where something isn't working harmonically: 0:46-0:49 and again from 1:33-1:36. The soloing starting at 1:53 is AMAZING, I love it! Drums sound really good throughout the track. Other than the soloing, the source use is quite conservative. The ending is a problem for me, the kick is hammering away on 16th notes.... it's super exciting... and it starts to FADE OUT. Blarg, I can't stand this! There's a lot of good going on in this track for sure, but I just don't think it's quite there, yet. NO (resubmit)

Contact Information Your ReMixer name - Mr_Feral Submission Information Name of game arranged - F-zero Name of arrangement - The Silent Metropolis Name of individual song(s) arranged - Mute City //Comments on the songI love F-zero and I especially love Mute City, my all time favorite being the guitar arrangement of the endless challenge, it just had so much energy behind it. I wanted to try and capture the same amount of energy behind it while maintaining a rather simple sound to the song as a whole so that it doesn't exactly exhaust others with everything that's going on to the point that it starts to lose its' value and still keep you hooked until the very end, especially the very end because it would be the part people lose their interest after everything is done with and the final chorus is repeated, I always want to make it have its own unique twist to it that keeps you playing to the end and end up getting stuck in your head and make you want to keep listening to it again and again. //Music style - hard rock / metalI'm also very picky about the sound, I always want to try to make everything sound the best it possibly could, I've actually redid the sound of the drums from a previous version just because the new version of the drums sounded so much fuller and more powerful, I focus on their sound so much because I believe them to be the biggest contributor of the energy to any song usually, As for the rest of the song I just try to make sound good. For the guitars, they never sound as heavy as I want them to but they still end up sounding good in the long run. So they've got that going for them, which is nice I guess.

This is a cool, downtempo take on this source, I dig the soundscape right away. Reverb is heavy and the soundscape is just bordering on muddy but I think it is ok. Piano sequencing is stiff but the heavy reverb almost hides it. Hat sequencing is very good, so is the 808 snare sequencing. I'm liking this arrangement generally, although there are areas of straight copy pasta. I'm not a fan of wide saws, they have to be sequenced and processed so carefully so they don't sound cheesy. There are good transitions in this arrangement, although the filter fades are overused just a bit. Lots of good little fills and candy throughout the mix. I'm not always finding a solid lead to latch onto as I listen, and I don't feel like the wide saw makes a good lead when it plays. It gets the job done, just barely for me. Mixing isn't perfect, but lots of creativity here and it's a good listen. I'm going to hold my vote to see where other Js are with this. edit 10/15/15: Listening again. I still like this generally, but my two main issues remain. The soundscape needs to be cleaned up somewhat, so much reverb on every element is making things mush together. Also, in the areas of straight copy-pasta, maybe add one extra element or change the writing a little, it doesn't have to be a huge change, just a little variation to break things up. Larry is right, this is 85% there, give it that little extra polish to push it over the bar! NO (resubmit)

•ReMixer: Duzck •Real Name: Francisco Fernández •e-mail: •Website: https://soundcloud.com/duzck •UserID: 53710 (http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=53710) •Game: F-Zero •Song: Big Blue •Comments: I think we all remember with affection this greatgame, at least for me it was a game that marked mychildhood. Now that I'm into music, I could not missa tribute dedicated to one of the best games I had at that time.

Cool source tune! Never heard of the game but I see why you wanted to remix this. The remix is very cool, awesome low beefy kick and great groove. I'm loving all the gated arpy stuff going on. Mix is a little crispy in the highest highs. The soundscape sounds a little samey after awhile, and in the second half, the theme is repeated verbatim quite a few times, although there is a little variation on the theme at 3:20-3:32. I'm not recognizing any source from 1:03-1:49 but I'm enjoying all the new textures being introduced. (maybe this section is a variation on 1:00 in the source tune, 2:19-3:04 might also be from this section of the source, this is a little unclear to me) Overall, I'm digging it. YES

Sup guys, NutS here with another track. So, Thomas Detert. Not as well known as other c64 legends such as Jeroen Tel, Rob Hubbard, Rowlands or Follin, but a legend in my book. I love his style and many of the soundtracks he composed are on my best-of-videogames playlist. Clystron is an obscure game (I have never played it myself) with a soundtrack that I love. The title theme in particular caught my attention immediately years ago. I've always wanted to remix it for a while but only recently I felt I could do something good enough with it that I would feel proud of showing to Detert himself, which I did, and happily, he liked it. So here's my take on Clystron's Title theme. As with a lot of the great c64 themes, the original takes things slowly to create a mood and then hit you with the catchy theme. I decided I wanted to take that route as well, so I take my time introducing several grooves and motifs along with the driving beat before hitting the chorus section. Modern EDM dictates that you should drop the meat of your track around the first minute, but I was more worried about making a good tribute than following conventions, even if that may seem odd to some listeners. This also complements my genre decisions, as this is done in the style of Big Beat with modern EDM flair on top. Think those late 90's to mid 00's Big Beat songs that were mostly based on establishing a catchy groove and hard hitting beats and bass (meat beat manifesto, propellerheads, etc.) , but with the modern gritty synth and bass sounds, drum sampling style and unpredictability of modern EDM. I tried to blend the styles equally and I am happy with these results. Arrangement-wise, I decided to keep the chorus melody mostly intact because it's just that good. Everything else is modified in some form, and accompanied with layers upon layers of modulating synths, glitched vocals, effects, beloved c64 arps and extra stuff, all of my own design as always. I did managed a little solo improv section in the breakdown that modifies the original chorus, but IMO the original catchy chorus can't be topped .

This could very well be a DP and I'm open to moving it to DP. I sometimes struggle with the more nebulous sources as I feel this one is. I think there is plenty of source in this remix and I'm probably just being silly, otherwise this sounds great and I think it's a DP. Samples are used really well and the vocal bits add quite a bit of excitement to the arrangements. Great dynamics in the piece, very enjoyable and tells a story really well. Someone sanity check me and maybe we can move this to DP? YES

ReMixer - RoeTaKa Name - Alex Roe Email - UserID - 9374 Games Arranged - Dark Souls II (Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin (this is the edition out in 2015 with the DLC included)) Arrangement Name - Kodoku Songs Arranged - Sir Alonne (DLC Crown of the Old Iron King which will be in the Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin edition. Theme is on youtube) Game info - Dark Souls II or Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin Composers - Motoi Sakuraba, Yuka Kitamura Systems - Dark Souls II: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Comments: A return to Dark Souls, always a joy! The DLC of Dark Souls II was actually a decent enough trio of work compared to the base game. And if there's something I love about DLC done right it is brand new music. The music of the DLC is arguably better than the base game's soundtrack; a rare feat. Sir Alonne is a very cool character. Basically he comes to a kingdom that isn't doing so good, he joins and kicks its enemies asses before moving on to whatever he truly wants to do - probably fight you. Anyway, love the original song and because of his design I had a lot of ideas to do an epic eastern take on his theme. I'm not really shaking the foundations here too much and I don't have a lot of experience in this style or hybrid but it was a lot of fun to make.

Sub bass is nice, but it is too loud here, and since it is the ONLY bass element, it ends up sounding muddy, as it is impossible to discern the individual notes being played. There's a bass frequency missing in the track imo. This sub bass is the strongest at 40-60Hz; people without the ability to hear sub bass will hear no bass at all. My feeling is that sub bass should be supportive to another bass instrument or timbre and not be alone. The drumming is really simple and repetitive. I agree with my fellow judges, this arrangement is really repetitive. Some changes in drumming would most likely change that feeling completely. The chord change at 2:00 is really nice... perfect opportunity to change up that drum pattern and introduce a new feel either at half or double time, or with a new drum element or some swing or something. I do think the drumming is the biggest reason that this track is dealbreakingly repetitive. What is here is mixed pretty well other than the sub bass being too loud. Just do some drumming changes and maybe introduce one more element in the bass-but-not-sub-bass range to fill out the spectrum and this should be golden. NO (resubmit)

Cool concept! I love the glitching, even though the patterns on the choir part are a bit simple and repetitive, it's working well, gives a great creepy effect. I'm really enjoying the interweaving of themes, it's very well integrated. I love the use of the "it'sa meeee, Mario" clip. Good drum groove, could stand a bit more variation but I like the occasional bitcrushed sections. I wish the track were mastered a bit louder, it hovers around -3db most of the time. Still, great creativity here. YES

1) Remixer Name- Yoshiblade 2) D L Forum ID) 52832 1) Game Being Arranged- Super Mario World, Castlevania 64 2) Name Of Arrangement- Very….Very Wrong Castle 3) Name Of Arranged Song- Castle Theme, Castle Center a.k.a Dungen Main Theme 4) Original Composer- Koji Kondo (SMW), Masahiro Kimura, Motoaki Furukawa, and Mariko Egawa (Castlevania 64) 5) So after utilizing the workshop I feel I can say that this is my first remix thats follows an envision, interpret, display, revise workflow. We start firmly in Castlevania territory with the backing vocals from Castle Center and the cold ambiance of a stone European castle drafty and cold. The Castlevania I kept as devoid of electricity as possible , where as the SMW Castle I wanted more chripy and chippy. The glitch aspect is very import to marry the cheerful Mario with the brooding Castlevania, I really would like to know what if Mario was envisioned as some sort of gothic horror. 2:22 the pain of SMW, the sins of a million dead Yoshis are slowed and twisted. The circuits of the Games are bent as the glitchiness robs them of their respective independent worlds and throws them together in a warped reality!!! (ok Ill calm down) 3:18 really needed to be there as some sort of grotesque John Carpenter’s “The Thing” “bUt IT”s mE mARio!!! i wOnT hURt yOu” this twisted impostor, come to think of it the twisted Impostor vocals sums up my feelings about this mix, something that should otherwise be cheerful(Mario, garish, upbeat and happy) synthesized with Castlevania (twisted mutilated gothic horror) all served with an electro-glitch twist!

The bell synth and the pad are both really very generic and simply sequenced. I'm fine with this being a cover-ish arrangement, and the guitar work is pretty good, but the mix is muddy as heck. The bass is way too loud and boomy. The guitar sounds really upfront and dry and doesn't fit into the soundscape well. Some arrangement variation would be good too, but the guitar solo work makes up for the lack of arrangement ideas. When the string stabs come in, they are muddy too. I agree with my fellow judges, take this to the workshop for some mixing advice! NO (resubmit)

I'd love for Larry to weigh in on this. If I'm being too strict on the source use, I'll gladly flip to YES. Need Mr. Stopwatch's opinion.

I think this is the first time I've paneled a Nostalvania track instead of giving it a DP. As usual, this is a super-sounding piano mix, and Markus has given us more wonderful 7/8, wow Markus you are really a skilled jazz musician. I have two issues with this track though, the first issue is that I'm not sure how well these two themes blend into a cohesive overall mix. The transitions are really well done, but even so, these two themes aren't wowing me as one song. The two Birabuto sections sound pretty similar, and the source is easily identifiable, but the Muda sections were much harder to place for me because they are so different from the original. The Muda is a big problem for me because in this mix, Markus plays Muda with some unique chord backing, and then relies on that chord backing as he goes into solo territory. I'll detail below with my own source breakdown: 0:00-0:47 Birabuto, easy to hear 47 seconds 0:47-1:30 original writing 1:30-2:11 Muda, fairly easy to hear 41 seconds 2:11-2:47 now we are into original writing territory, but using the chord backing Markus has established (not in the source tune though... if there IS source here, it is in the bassline maybe, someone help me) 2:47-3:09 I don't hear Muda here, someone let me know if you do and I am missing it! 3:09-3:34 Birabuto, easy-peasy 25 seconds 3:34-4:26 awesome, yet original So I get 47+41+25 seconds = 113 seconds, out of 266 seconds total is 42%. Other judges, please check me on this, because I hate the thought of rejecting a Nostalvania mix. edit 9-29-15: Thank you Larry! Onward to a well-deserved YES

Hi folks! Remixer Name: Nostalvania Website: https://soundcloud.com/karmus24 User ID: 47981 Name of game arranged: Super Mario Land (GB) Name of individual Songs: Birabuto Kingdom, Muda Kingdom Source Links: http://youtu.be/I1X9blkjFdo?list=PL67291BDCD76884B2 and http://youtu.be/cZUeLOAqRgE?list=PL67291BDCD76884B2 Link to Remix: My comments Here is my piano trio version of the Birabuto and Muda kingdom themes from Super Mario land. I mixed the two sources together, added some original writing and reharmonisations. I also changed the time signature to 7/8. The genre is jazz with some gospel influences. The mixtitle is actually a reference to the jazz standard Seven Steps To heavenwhich also is the title of an album by Miles Davis. Source Breakdown 0:00 - 0:50 Birabuto Kingdom 0:51 - 1:33 Original writing 1:34 - 2:24 Muda Kingdom 2:25 - 2:50 original 2:51 - 3:12 Muda 3:13 - 3:36 Birabuto 3:37 - 4:26 original

This is a VERY competently played remix of this source. Source use is easily identifiable, great adaptation to the metal genre with great interpretations too. I considered this for a DP until I realized there are areas of straight (or, juuuust about straight) copy pasta. The sections 0:18-1:41 and 3:11-4:35 are nearly identical, with the only exception being the drums, there's a little bit of drum variation between the two sections but the tonal aspects are identical afaict. 1:41-2:39 is also the same generally, but again with drum variation, and with some really dynamite soloing added. That's a lot of repetition in the arrangement. What do you guys think? edit 11/1/15: I'm leaning towards NO also, because of the repetition. Otherwise, this is a really great sounding track. I'm interested to see what Larry thinks of this one. If this doesn't pass this time around, I'd really like to hear it again with the arrangement varied a little more. I hope it will be an easy fix up, because this track needs to be on OCR. NO (resubmit)

Hello again OCR! I was super stoked that my Food Frenzy submission was not only approved but also the featured Thanksgiving song. I thought for a little bit there that I wasn't cutting it! It was a really great day when I saw that tweet though. This next song I'm submitting is my version of The Ultimate Show (Super Dimentio) from Super Paper Mario, which I'm titling 'The Final Curtain'. Contact Information ReMixer name: GaMetal real name: Jonny Atma website: http://www.jonnyatma.com userid: 53657 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Super Paper Mario Name of arrangement: The Final Curtain Name of individual song(s) arranged: The Ultimate Show (Super Dimentio) Composer: Naoko Mitome, Chika Sekigawa System: Wii Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmfyJw1IOU Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: (Taken from JonnyAtma.com) "I have had a TON of requests to do this song. I've been planning to do it for a while now (it's actually been number 1 on my to-do list for like a year), but I'm glad that I waited till now to get to it. This is a very complex song, so it doesn't seem to get a whole lot of remix treatment. Once again we encounter one of those game tracks where it's hard to hear exactly what each seperate instrument is doing, so although this isn't the hardest song to play, it was pretty tough to figure out. There's seems to be up to 7 or 8 different things going on at any given time. The original song has 7 different sections (counting the intro), and the only thing I altered was extending the 3rd section to twice the length to give it more of a 'verse' feel. Early versions of this remix had an 8th section that I attempted to use as a bridge after the 2nd playthrough that was going to be a play on the 'Charming Magician' theme, but I hated it everytime I heard it so I took it out. With that said, the arrangement itself is pretty simple: 3 playthroughs with a solo in the middle. I felt the original was already great enough (and had enough sections) to go changing it around too much. I find myself struggling to type much more about this one so I won't force it. I said earlier I'm glad I waited till now to get to this song because I feel like I really hit a stride lately where I'm very satisfied with what I'm hearing, and this song is EXTREMELY fragile and can be very easy to screw up because of how complex it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Ciao!" Thanks once again for reviewing my submission!

The beginning of the remix contains actual audio from the original track, is this ok? It sounds good but I'm not sure it's ok to do. The remix is conservative for sure, and I get what Deia is saying about the bass vs. the vocals, it is because it's a saw bass with a ton of upper end crunch which is crunching in the same frequency space as the vocals, also the bass and vocals are both dead center. If the crunch part of the bass was stereo separated, this problem would be eliminated. Drum writing is repetitive but the sounds are good. Guitar work and vocal performance are both very good. Even with some crits, I think this is a good creative cover of this source. I'm going with it. YES

I can pretty much co-sign with everything Deia said above, especially the slow empty intro and the obvious fakeness of the samples used. But wow I really like this arrangement and the creativity of the writing, and the excellent dynamics I hear in this track. The jury is out for me. edit 11/24/15: I'm not going to hold this up. I still really like the arrangement, but the fakeness of the strings, horns and woodwinds is just enough of a distraction to be a problem. The pizzicato strings are fine, it's the legato strings and brass and also the woodwinds that are at issue. With every legato instrument, you seem to have used all the same articulation for all the writing, with just enough of a long attack so that the shorter notes sound awkward. Ideally you should layer a few articulations together so that the more staccato articulation hits those shorter notes with a much shorter attack. I hate to reject the mix on these grounds, because this arrangement is stellar. But this will be a great opportunity for you to refine your craft regarding humanization. Clem is right about not having every note hit right on the grid too, allow for a teeny bit of human error, moving notes slightly ahead and/or behind the beat (not enough to make it sloppy, just enough so it feels human). And definitely look into layering articulations for the different attacks. Good luck and I hope to hear this again! NO (borderline, please resubmit)

Highs are hyped and the mix sounds brittle. Backing guitar should not be louder than the lead, lead is too quiet all the way through. Performances though are wonderful. Straightforward arrangement with great personalization. Soloing starting at 1:36 is dynamite. I'm enjoying it! Agreed with Larry about the fadeout, I would prefer a proper resolution, it's a shame and it even cuts off before fully fading out. BLARG. Ok I still dig it enough to YES

I'm not sure all the sounds in this mix go together as well as they could. The chugs do sound a bit heavy and staccato, but this mix is like a hybrid metal-electro-experimental track more than a purely metal track, so I find the staccato chugs interesting and playful. That formant lead is odd, so is the pan flute that follows it... but this is a tapestry of odd sounds that either work for you or they don't. Personally I'm enjoying the unique and odd combination of sounds. Mixing isn't perfect, and the ideas get repetitive after awhile, but overall I find this very creative. Thanks Larry for the source breakdown, wow this squeaks by on source, but the arrangement is very cohesive and has great flow. Me likey. YES

There sure is a hiss in the beginning. The piano chord backing gets repetitive for me. When the bass begins at 0:57 it sounds quite upfront and sounds as if it were recorded in a totally separate room from the piano (which is quite reverby). When the guitar begins at 2:11, it sounds pasted on top to my ears, not mixed in well, but the performance is good. The string backing is super plain and too loud and there's an arp in the background that is obscured by the loud string padding. Even the drums are obscured by the string pad. The ending is really abrupt and cuts off before the end of the reverb tail (or is that a hiss tail?). I do like this arrangement but I think there needs to be a bit of mixing cleanup and de-hissifying happening before we pass this. NO (resubmit)