Chimpazilla

I always expect lovely piano playing from PI511 and it does not disappoint. This is really nicely played, and I love time signature adaptations. Wes put it perfectly when he said Tornado Man sounds familiar yet totally foreign at the same time! The piano tone is nice, the reverb is tasteful. But gosh this track is sparse. It is very quiet first of all, I only see it hit at about -6db at the loudest notes, and that is SUPER quiet. The softer parts hover around -24db. This isn't a dealbreaker in and of itself though. While the playing is really very nice, I actually don't find this substantial enough to be an OC ReMix since it is not only sparse and quiet but very short. This is a conundrum indeed, but my gut is telling me this isn't quite enough to do the job. I wonder what some gentle string backing might sound like. NO (resubmit)

Interesting ideas here, I like that bass right away. I like the contrast with the more traditional sounds. The mix is very loud, hitting -8db RMS at its loudest and it doesn't have much dynamic range. The writing sounds very similar to the source, other than just a few little note tweaks it is the exact source writing. The drum writing is very generic. I'm not finding this to be much of an interpretation on this source melody. Trucker's gear shift! The arrangement doesn't have a proper outro and it just ends. I like the ideas but I don't think it's quite there yet. NO (resubmit)

OC Remix Username: Celtik Youtube: ww.youtube.com/CeltikOfficial -----------------------------------------------------------------------

metaphist (Paul Ford, 8822) new site: music.metaphist.com Sonic the Hedgehog (sms) - Green Hill Zone "A Blue-Green Color" This started out as me trying to mix "Green Hill Zone" in the style of a Sonic R song, mostly taking inspiration from "You're My Number One." At one point I was trying to mix in some of that source so I could include it on the Sonic R album project that was going on at the time. Although that would have been awesome, I couldn't really make it work out, so I just scaled it back to Green Hill Zone and didn't worry too much about it resembling Sonic R in any way, though you can still hear the influences.

The first note starts too abruptly as if the render didn't catch the very beginning. You might want to intro with a filtered swoosh or something. Everything sounds super dry, and it really shouldn't sound so bone dry in an ambient mix. There are too many harsh mid-high frequencies in the mix. The hard panning is VERY distracting, it makes for a choppy soundscape. Gosh, please don't pan things so harshly. It may not be that noticeable on headphones, but on speakers, it really sounds weird and disconnected. At 2:22 the severe gating is not enjoyable, it sounds empty and robotic. Larry and Wes both made some very good points. The mixing needs to be cleaned up, making the instruments audible while eliminating unpleasant frequencies. There is a good deal of repetition in the arrangement. There are parts that don't seem to have meaningful leadwork. The lead writing I hear is predictable and pretty much grooveless, sorry to say. Lots of boring whole notes. The drumming is tedious. I'm sorry, I know this sounds harsh. I think you have some good ideas here, but they aren't produced well enough yet. You might want to drop this mix into our workshop forum and get some more guidance from the folks there. I think this arrangement can work but it will need quite a bit of work. NO

Well I am loving this arrangement! I love that you started off in 4/4 and then at 1:38 you switch to 3/4. Ah, I just love mixed time signature tracks. You really did justice to this little source. The transitions are smooth, and the interpreted sections are really lovely. The writing gets almost a bit too original sometimes, but always comes back to identifiable source. At 3:02 it's back to 4/4, smooth as buttah. NICE. Unfortunately, I agree with Wes about this piano sample. Maybe it isn't the most velocity sensitive sample, I'm hoping it can just be switched out for a better sample or that you have a velocity-sensitivity slider that you can work with. I hear plenty of dynamics throughout the track, and the playing is very lovely, but the velocities are quite stiff. The note-timing is also stiff; if you quantized this after playing it, you may have done it too severely. The piano tone is nice but it sounds somewhat muffled to me, and a bit lossy as well, and I hear some resonances on the louder notes. I think this sample is holding the track back. I'm tempted to yes this purely on how great the arrangement and writing are, but I'd really prefer some more work be done on getting the piano sample and quantization sounding just right. NO (please resubmit)

Wow, this vocal remix is quite a bold idea, I like the lyrics! Haha, some of them are quite funny! The guitar playing is good too. The arrangement is simple and repetitive but the lyrics are quite creative. The vocals, while passionate, aren't the best, they are just a bit pitchy and nasal. I don't think this would be as noticeable if they were mixed better. The vocals are really super dry and sitting on top of the guitar in an unnatural way. I'm not good with vocals so I hope a judge with vocal mixing experience will chime in. The mix is rather sparse, with only vocals and guitar. While not necessary, I think this mix would be much better with some more elements added: some bass, drums, or backing padding of some sort. Even so, this idea could work as-is, but the vocal mixing is killing this dead. NO

ReMixer Name: Modern Day Minstrel Real Name: Riccardo Estate E-mail: Website: http://www.riccardoestate.com/ UserID: 53865 Game: The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Arrangement: Whiterun’s Where I’m Found Arranged Song: Dragonborn

Well this is interesting! Lots of unique ideas here, cool stuff. I certainly hear plenty of source. Fun groove established right away. Nice filtering effects. I feel like the mix ended up being too long, some sections are double what they should be to make their point, for example 0:55-1:23 should be half the length or contain many more items of interest. The sound at 1:23 is pretty cheesy, and the drop that it leads to at 1:38 is a let down. The transition at 3:22 is quite interesting, but the section that follows is straight-up boring, sorry to say. It is so slow, I can't wait for it to pick up again. At 4:52, there is some interesting syncopation happening, but it isn't filled out very much so it sounds awkward and bare. At 5:20 though, I like how you filtered the arp out and the drums in, that's an example of something that works well in the track. Lots of good arrangement ideas here, and some that fall completely flat. I do think this is a good start, there are lots of great ideas, it just needs to be trimmed down by nearly half and it needs some more development as well, more ear candy and more variation. The drums in particular are very generic kick-clap without a lot of interest. The bass always plays the same thing. Cut this track down, then have fun with what's left, and let's hear this one again. NO (resubmit)

ReMixer Name: Dr. Title Real Name: Patrick Fennig Email: Website: drtitlemusic.com Userid: 53938 Name of Game: Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped Name of Arrangement: ARFWOW (A Room From Which One Warps) Name of Song: Warp Room Original Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh Platform: Playstation 1 Link to Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaDrcT3UxZw Made with Apple's Logic Pro 9.

Wow another really well done Zelda medley, this time in orchestral style. Great dynamics here, transitions are pretty smooth. Super use of samples, mixing is really good, tasteful reverb. I'm inclined to say YES as long as this type of medley is ok. It sounds really cohesive to me. YES

*PLEASE HOLD* 6/27/15 The artist would like to make a few mixing improvements before posting this. ReMixer name: freezetag Real name: Trevor Alan Gomes Website: www.trevorgomes.com Name of Arrangement: Zelda Medley 2014 (edit 5/24/15: new title is 'Hyrulean Overture #1') Featured Games: The Legend of Zelda The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Featured Tracks (in order): -Overworld (LttP) -Overworld Main Theme (LA) -Zelda's Lullaby (OoT) -Lost Woods (OoT) -Kakariko Village (OoT) -Title Theme (LoZ) -Hyrule Field Main Theme (OoT) Some additional info: I originally wrote this medley as a demo for the fine people at VGL. My passion is arranging and orchestrating music for live musicians, and I've been a big fan of video game music for most of my life. I'm looking for ways to get involved with the video game music arranging community and when I asked his advice, Andrew Aversa pointed me toward OCR. As for the arrangement itself, it takes a lot of ideas from a marching band field show I arranged when I was 14, which was never performed (definitely for the best). It's actually my first substantial attempt at arranging using samples, since most of my work is in writing for live musicians. I hope you enjoy it and that it would be a good fit for OCR; I'd love to get involved with the community and find some more opportunities to arrange great video game music. Link to the track on Soundcloud: P.S, I'd be very willing to change the arrangement title if it doesn't fit your standards.

Oh gosh, I like this remix so much better than the original, it has so much more life! The arrangement is really nice with good piano playing, interesting arps and unique original soloing over the clearly recognizable backing and chord structure. Simple source writing but lots of nice details added. The bass is mixed really well, I find this impressive. It has just the right amount of presence without being overpowering, and it is very smooth. I think some of the other elements could be mixed better though. The piano sounds high-passed, too much mids/highs and lows missing. The bells in the intro are piercy. At 0:37, there is a sustained synth with a distracting high-end buzz that just ends up sounding like a rendering error because it doesn't do anything other than play whole notes, it isn't adding anything to the groove. Starting at 0:55, the pan flute lead has way too much in the low end, it sounds bleedy against the bass and it is too loud and too reverby. The pad that joins in at 1:13 makes this worse. The drums are a bit repetitive and I'm not sure that's the best snare sound, but it is working ok. At 1:31, the pad and bells sound really nice! I wish there was a smoother transition after the pan flute though, it stops cold. I adore the lead starting at 1:49 but it is just a touch loud/piercy and could use some modulation (but it doesn't play long enough to be an issue). Then the high-passed piano returns. From 2:45-3:21 the pan flute and backing pad are conflicting and causing some mud. I think taking the lows out of the pan flute and/or the pad will fix that. I really do like this arrangement and the sound choices. There is some repetition in the arrangement, but I feel like there are enough subtle changes added to keep it fresh throughout. I feel like this track could use another shot at the mixing though. Also, the track cuts off too soon, make sure your render captures the end of the song and any reverb tail. NO (resubmit)

-- Remixer name: Athoz Name: Alan Email: ID: 52540 Game: Paper Mario 64 Arrangement: Make a Wish Song: Star Spirit's Request Original sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbwCBjM9lY

Phantom Hourglass? Woohoo, one of my favorite Zelda games gets some love! (Ok so every Zelda game is my favorite Zelda game) Source use is plenty, no issues. I love how you wove the Wind Waker main theme into this arrangement, really nicely done. Lots of creativity in this arrangement, I absolutely love it. That change to 4/4 at 2:29 is sheer dynamite, oh gawd I'm a sucker for time signature changes, and this was so unbelievably smooth. (edit: ok so that part sounds like 6/8, but it is clearly different from the 3/4 that preceded it, and I dig whatever you did thar) I hear some issues with the bass, primarily that issue where one note is too loud and needs to be adjusted with eq prior to compression. I mainly hear this in the intro from (0:20-0:30). Bass needs a little more control overall. Also, I find some of the chip timbres dry and piercy, but I think this is just how chiptune elements sound? I think the mixing could be smoother than this tbh, some of these leads sound pasted on top and not sitting nicely in the mix. The drums get a little repetitive sometimes, but maybe it's just due to the 8 bit drums being used throughout the mix. My issues aren't enough to hold this fabulous arrangement back. So many little cool details throughout as well. And yay for Phantom Hourglass! YES

ReMixer name: Hylian Lemon Games arranged: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Name of arrangement: Sword of Sand Sources: Ocean King's theme, Oshus's theme, Great Sea Links: Phantom Hourglass: Ocean King's theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ySlNjdqW1o Phantom Hourglass: Oshus' theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6deG-VwNOMo Wind Waker: Great Sea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J_bL2bjQ-k This was originally a People's Remix Compo bonus entry in 2009. After my Link's Awakening track got posted, I figured I owed it to the Zelda series to submit something from a less popular game, so I came back to this track and revised it for submission. Considered as a whole, most people aren't really fond of Phantom Hourglass's soundtrack, but it's got a couple of standout tunes: Linebeck's theme, and the Ocean King/Oshus's theme. Linebeck's theme seems like the obvious choice, so I didn't do it. The original arrangement was made when I was still just starting to feel my way into chippy sounds. There was no EQ to speak of. No rainbow color-coded channel organization. I don't know how I could have lived in such squalor. If you want to see how much you've changed over the last five years, just open up an old project file. In conclusion: portable Zelda, y'all. I challenge everyone to get more of them onto the site before I do.

WOW this is so unbelievably good. So much YES here... except that it is a straight medley with one source tune following another, very conservatively, although with lovely little personalizations. They are well transitioned, although some transitions are necessarily awkward between such different source tunes. Sound quality is top notch. This is so lovely, but is it ok for us? Larry, what say you? If we approve it we will need an mp3 or wav. edit 5/19/15: I'm going to have to vote no since this medley does not meet our standards. I'm sad about this because it is REALLY good. NO

Hi there! Someone on reddit referred me to your site. Such a great place! Do I have to submit an Mp3 or can I submit a video remix? If videos are allowed, I improvised an Ocarina of Time Medley which has 8 songs mashed together or separated individually by transitions. If they're not allowed, please just watch and enjoy anyway Game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Arrangement: Ocarina of Time Medley on Piano Songs: 1. Title Theme 2. Saria's Song (+title theme attached) 3. The Great Deku Tree 4. Fairy Flying 5. Serenade of Water 6. Song of Storms 7. Link's House 8. Treasure Chest Opening Composer: Probably doesn't need to be said, but original compositions by the unbelievable Koji Kondo. All rights to Nintendo. Notes: I improvised this mix after choosing some of my favorite songs from the game and deciding the order in which they'd go. I recorded on a Yamaha digital using Garageband. LOZ: OOT is my favorite game of all time, one of the first I remember playing - it came out when I was 8 years old and quite ill - so at a time when I was going through a lot it made me feel like a strong hero That's the power of video games. Part of the magic, mystery, and beauty of the game is in the music, so as a musician I can never resist the chance to translate it to piano whenever I can. Please enjoy! My name is Claire Waluch (YouTuber PrettyPrettyPianist) and email is . Website (YouTube) Website (Facebook) Forum name: just registered as pppianist1. THANKS for watching, have a lovely Sunday Best, Claire

Five or six years on this remix? Wow... well I'm glad you stuck with it, and you got some good help and advice as well. I'm finding this moody and creepy! I like the drums you've used, are they Damage or Evolve? The organ sounds epic. The choir is a drop loud and could use a little more reverb and a little less in the midrange but is is working. The string arps could be a touch louder. I hear plenty of source and lots of variation. Some sections go on a bit long with whole notes, like 1:53-2:10, but that's a nitpick. The drums sound a little louder than the rest and sound slightly pasted on top, something to consider for next time. The mixing isn't perfect here but it's working well enough. The arrangement builds nicely into excitement. The cool down at 3:03 is downright eerie! This is a very cool track, I'm impressed, nice work. That pitch bend at 3:48... love it. YES

Game: Breath of Fire II Composer: Yuko Takahera Remixer: HoboKa Album: Bad Ass Vol. 3 Death Evan's Theme Remix: Jaded By Death Description: My new interpretation Jaded By Death is finally here. After what 5 or 6 years from my previous attempt - and it's for the Bad Ass Vol.3 Album, no less. I believe that I have come a long way; pu_freak, Timaeus222 and Chernabogue gave me plenty of sage advice on the composition and production, and after about 12 versions in, I'm finally done. On a final note, pu_freak wanted something dark, brooding and evil sounding, so I obliged him...

Oh gosh this is cute! For a first reggae track, I'm impressed! I have a reggae track cooking as well, as soon as Sir J gets me the horns he has promised, I'll inflict that one on the world... but I digress. You've done rather a good job using all sampled instruments, and getting the reggae groove going. The organ bubbling in the background is nice and groovy. Not bad on the steel drums, those are hard to humanize especially on the runs. Drums sound good, especially the snare, you nailed the sound. The bass sounds like it could stand to be eq'd and then compressed and controlled just a bit better, it's a little indistinct but it gets the job done. I'm not totally in love with that flute lead but it works. The brass is noticeably fake but you've mixed it in very well. My main beef with the track unfortunately is how repetitive it is. From 0:33-1:17 I hear the same writing four times, once with just the steel drums and then three times with the flute lead. You've added the little bits of horns but it doesn't quite break it up for me. One writing variation would have helped a lot there. Nice breakdown from 1:46-2:13. At 2:20 though, we are back to the exact same lead writing with the same flute. From 2:20-3:15 (until the end) there are five more repetitions of the same writing right in a row. Just a little bit of writing variation in one or two of those repetitions would really make that feel less repetitive. I can see this getting some yesses because it has a lot going for it. I think it's not quite there yet, but darn close. Nice work so far, irie mon! NO (resubmit)

Hiya, Contact information: Remixer name: Jorito Real Name: Jorrith Schaap Email: Website: http://www.jorito.net/ Userid: 3917 Submission information: Name of Game(s) Remixed: Legend of Legaia Additional Game information: System: Sony PlayStation Developer: Contrail Genre: RPG Released: 1998 Composer: Michiru Oshima, Kōhei Tanaka Name of Arrangement: Da Legend Of Da Regg Aelm Ya Names of song arranged: Rim Elm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2TSDlXy7EQ) Link to the remix: Comments about the mix: This song was actually my entry to the finale of the Remixing with the Stars compo, season 2. The choice was either between my song and my partner's genre, or the other way around. Unfortunately my partner dropped out and I was stuck with my choice of reggae (which I didn't know a lot about) and my partner's song (a game I never played). Lucky for me, summer was slowly arriving here in Holland, and what better way to celebrate that with some reggae. So I went on a nice musical journey, learning out all about riddims, bubble organs, typical drum patterns like the one drop and adding nice li'l bits of swing to the rhythm guitar. Turns out those Youtube tutorials are quite useful after all I wanted to stick to instruments that are regularly used in reggae, but since this song was all VSTs and no real instruments, and -more importantly- no vocal lines that left me with a bit of a problem for the lead. There's not a lot of instrumental reggae, you know? In the end I decided to give it some Carribean touches by using a flute and some steel drums for the melody. I'm pretty happy with the end result, especially given the short deadline. I think it turned out to be a fresh new take on the original, with a nice oldskool reggae sunny vibe. Cheers, Jorrith --------------------------------------------------

J warning: LOUD. ---------------------------------- What an interesting and bold way to approach remixing this source! I like some of the raw synth choices to contrast the orchestral bits. Lots of cool glitching and effects. The gated synth has a little bit too much midrange. But holy hell... this is the most overcompressed track I've come across yet. SPAN is giving me a reading of -5.4db RMS. That's the loudest track I've ever encountered. There are zero dynamics throughout the piece as everything is the same volume. TURN. IT. DOWN. PLEASE. That said, I like the track so far. The sounds get repetitive and the writing is the same in the second half as in the first. Some writing variation is needed to distinguish the sections from each other. Really there should be some different sounds in the second half as well, as this is too repetitive. But I think this is a great start and I hear a lot of creativity in this arrangement. Source use is evident throughout. So yeah, please drop your limiter gain, and give us just a bit of writing and/or timbre variation in the second half, and this will be golden. NO (resubmit)

J warning: LOUD track Contact Information Composer Alias: Kyle Highwind Nik Kovitz WEBSITE (may not work): https://soundcloud.com/i-am-kyle-highwind YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvUrLT0R5sc ID: 53850 Submission Information Video Game: Child of Light Remix Title: I Will Destroy This Heartbreak! Original Score: Dark Creatures (Battle Theme) COMPOSER: Coeur de Pirate, SYSTEM: PS4, PS3, PC Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btKf2zVQP7E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTS (this crap is detailed): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TL;DR… TURN UP THE BASS! “Darkness like this will never leave. Darkness is eternal in the places abandoned by angels. But I’m still breathing. My heart still beats. Therefore, I can either choose to lie down and suffer, or to fight on and live one more day to attempt conquer the impossible. Observe. Watch as I embrace this darkness and create something beautiful with it.” –Kyle Highwind The score I’ve remixed, “Dark Creatures” by the genius Coeur de Pirate, was featured as the main battle theme in the game Child of Light. The music aside, the game as a whole is an impacting piece of artwork in and of itself, as every aspect of the game was generated by some intricate sense of “art” (visual, musical, logical, systematic, etc). The music in particular did a fantastic job of evolving a sad, dismal outlook into a yet extremely hopeful attitude throughout the gameplay. This concept has impacted me personally as I have found a unique parallel [as addressed further below] between the game’s musical theming and my heartbreak. For my interpretation of “Dark Creatures,” I have used inspiration from many other musicians to convert this “epic/ensemble music” piece into an electronic-based score, including Seven Lions, Linsdey Stirling (aka my future wife), Danny Baranowsky’s “Clubbed Baby VVVVVVeal,” Two Steps From Hell, Engel, and the Fez remix “Pressure” by bignic. As I consider the song a translation of “my story,” I see the song in a matter of phases, as described musically and symbolically below. Phase 1: Using equalizer gimmicks, the song intros with a sense of brokenness and confusion, (radio static, distant sounding / broken instruments, detuned drumsets); the phase transitions with a sense of chordal progression that is symbolic for way my heart (the ensemble) was trying to survive the flooding darkness (the static / gimmick equalizer). Phase 2: Musically, this phase is the obvious “drop” in dubstep terms; however, I see it deeper as a representation of the moment JUST after Phase 1: my heart finally surfaces above the dismal darkness (static/equalizer) to only be beaten down by a more aggressive, evil, livid spiritual being (the “Rawr” synthesizer). Phase 3: This phase change is extremely obvious as the electronic instruments back down, and the orchestral instruments are introduced. This parallels to my heart’s struggle at the end of Phase 2, having been lain wasted by the monster of despair (the Rawr synth). With the creature of darkness finished with its destruction (Phase 2’s transition), my heart (the ensemble) lies weak on the ground struggling to pick myself back up. This parallel is awesome to me, as the ensemble (my heart) grows from extremely simple/weak (a piano playing the 1sts and 5ths of a G chord with minimal accompaniment) to more complex/robust (violins, a flute, and piano lead all working together to find the perfect chordal compliment). Phase 4: Then the battle begins. The strings that course across my heart begin to sound as a powerful violin ensemble while the creature of darkness tries to render my body inoperable. The massive down-beats that occur every 2 seconds represent the collisions between my heart and the darkness. Phase 5: The presence of the darkness grows stronger. But so do I. This phase, the Rawr synth and the violins accompany each other simultaneously, symbolic for the moment I grasped the thought that I have quoted at the beginning of the song description. Phase 6: This phase actually has two parts. The first being the seclusion of the violin ensemble from the rest of the percussion and synths, and the second being the 8 measures where I go mad with the Rawr synth. The symbolism there shows the [ideal but not-so-true] scenario where my heart triumphs, leaving the dark creature mortally wounded. Phase 7: A small tune taken from Coeur de Pirate’s “Pilgrims on a Long Journey.” This was actually added in after the song was completely finished. I didn’t originally plan on making the song any longer, I assumed that by the time I was done with this song, my heartbreak would be gone. This piano represents the lingering scars that will burn inside me for years to come I hope this remix can mean something to you. I pray that you can listen to it, and know that someone out there like you can sympathize with your heartbreak. I certainly sympathize. This song is a direct translation of my personal struggle with panic attacks, endless nights of crying myself to sleep, and unending darkness over the last few weeks. And while I know many people may not like the taste of music I have used, I consider this piece to be invaluable, as writing this score has helped me conquer the darkest heartbreak I've ever encountered. I hope you find value in this score as I did.

Impressive!!! I love this tune, I always thought it would be a fun source to tackle in 5/4. Nice!