MindWanderer

Hey, can I claim Cross Your Heart for Medusa.

I'll sign up for Alucard (and mix dracula's castle with tragic prince), and Death (Heart of Fire)!

I could give you a pretty rad mix for Shanoa's "Empty Tome"!

Can I take the following piece of music
Eric Lecarde: Iron-Blue Intention It is very flexible musically and I could write a breakdown to it, it's the track I could make sound best.
 
 
 

My confession: I had 1 Castlevania game growing up, and it was quite late -- Lament of Innocence on PS2. As a result, I'd like to get that. 
 

I just thought of a really sick idea for Trevor Belmont vaguely in the style of Hulk Hogan's theme with cheesy 80's guitar riffs. Probably wouldn't have much time to get a WIP together in the next month or two though because I'm pretty overcommitted to other OCR albums. Definitely interested in collaborating though
I'm primarily an electric guitar player, but can also lay down some bass. Got some DoD entries on my Soundcloud (check my sig) if you're interested. I mostly do metal stuff and I'm pretty n00b when it comes to mixing/production. Most relevant to the type of music I'd expect on this soundtrack though would be this DoD entry I collaborated on from last month, which is super cheesy synth/J-Fusion sounding stuff...actually the exact kind of cheesily epic tune I'd expect for a professional wrestler's theme. 
Seriously this is a pretty genius idea. Love the name "CastleMania"

Dibs on Dracula à la John Cena!

Normally I don't like voice clips in songs, especially this many.  Usually they're really hard to make out, too.  But this is genius, and well-balanced.  I was grinning broadly when it got to "With the lemons."  Really catchy, too; an unexpected but extremely welcome departure for Chimpz.

So, I finally listened to these two songs.
Sure, they're very similar, but they're extremely minimalist.  Very basic kick-hat percussion with two alternating chords and simple spoken-verse lyrics.  One could easily come up with something like this without having heard the original.  I often hear songs that are highly reminiscent of other songs where there's no plagiarism going on, and that's with songs that have actual melodies.  Just had one this week in CCoI where wildfire somehow managed to create a remix that "obviously" made use of a song she'd never heard before.
So I'm strongly inclined to believe this is a coincidence.

This will be fairly late in the project. Music comes first, at least most of it. I'll be sure to reach out to you when we get closer, though!
Done! Will you be doing rap?
Chernabogue's right, both are valid, but Dracula's Castle is used in Castlevania: Judgement and is slightly better known, so that's what I put down at first. I'll add The Tragic Prince as an option, though. Of course, I'm a sucker for mashups....

To quote DarkeSword's original pitch for the album:
Here are a couple of YouTube playlists with examples of entrances and theme songs.  Also here are some sample diva theme songs for female wrestlers.
You may notice that the presentation isn't just a song and a walk-on when the wrestler is introduced at an event.  There's usually an introduction of some kind: sometimes a different piece of music, sometimes some kind of cheesy action sequence, sometimes just commentator banter.  So we'll be making two different versions of this album: One "clean" version with just the wrestler themes, and one "event" version with all that extra stuff.  This means that if you want to compose a short intro remix (30-90 seconds) to go with your main mix, that's an option--and an interesting chance to work with a very short source and a total lack of transition.
Director: MindWanderer Co-Director: Chernabogue Check-In Dates:
July 31, 2016 Nov. 20, 2016 April 15, 2017 July 15, 2017 Sept. 30, 2017 March 31, 2018  
ReMixers
First, we need ReMixers!  Specifically, we need remixers who can produce songs that would work as wrestler intros.  There's a fairly wide range of potential genres, but they're all loud, powerful, energetic, and epic.  The playlists linked above are non-exhaustive examples you can use as a starting point.
Tracklist
Ultimately, I'd like to have an equal number of "faces" (heroes) and "heels" (villains and monsters).  Some monsters come in pairs (The Creature and Igor, the Mummies), and if we use any of them, each one should have a corresponding tag team of heroes; this can either be a mashup of two character themes, or a single theme that covers two characters (e.g. John Morris and Eric Lecarde of Castlevania Bloodlines).  Villain/monster mashups are also possible, counting as a tag team.  Same thing goes for female characters: each female hero should be paired with a female villain.  We can work all that when it gets close to the end, though.
Here's my wish list of wrestlers, along with suggestions as to theme music.  The specific music source for each isn't necessarily set in stone, but it's my opinion as to what the most appropriate choice for them would be.  If you'd like to go in a different direction, I'd love to hear it!
Must Have:
Theme Song of CastleMania: Vampire Killer (Wrestlemania Theme Songs Reference) Simon Belmont: Theme of Simon Belmont Alucard: Dracula's Castle and/or The Tragic Prince - @mikedm92 Dracula: Dance of Illusions - @Chernabogue Death: Evil's Symphonic Poem (optionally: Heart of Fire) Other Suggestions:
Closing Song/Second Theme Song: I Am the Wind (Vocals required)
Heels, Male/Neuter:
The Creature: Den of Worship, Rising, and/or Demon Seed (or The Creature and Igor: Walking on the Edge) - @DarkEco Golem: The Tower of Dolls or Stone King Golem Doppelganger: Riddle or Resonance of Malevolent Souls Galamoth: Galamoth's Realm, Robot Factory, or Curse Zone (Additional option: Crucial Moment) Olrox: Death Ballad and/or Dance of Pales Isaac: Young Nobleman of Madness Joachim Armster: Melancholy Joachim Walter Bernhard: Dark Night Toccata Brauner: Esquisse of Violence Albus: Sorrow's Distortion Heels, Female:
Medusa: Cross Your Heart a.k.a. Crucifix Held Close (optionally: Stalker) Carmilla: Bloody Tears, Monster Dance, Dwelling of Doom, Repose of Souls, and/or Carmilla Elizabeth Bartley: Calling from Heaven Celia Fortner: Evil Invitation - @Ophanin Faces, Male:
Trevor Belmont: Beginning - Moiré Effect (@SuprMelO and @bluumonk) Grant Danasty: Clockwork - @DarkEco Christopher Belmont: Battle of the Holy Richter Belmont: Divine Bloodlines Eric Lecarde: Iron-Blue Intention Nathan Graves: Awake - @Hypetreme Leon Belmont: Lament of Innocence Hector: The Curse of Darkness Soma Cruz: Castle Corridor Julius Belmont: Don't Wait Until Night a.k.a. Can't Wait Until the Night Jonathan Morris: Invitation of a Crazed Moon John Morris: Reincarnated Soul Faces, Female:
Sypha Belnades: Mad Forest: @GCJ Maria Renard: Slash Charlotte Aulin: The Hidden Curse Shanoa: An Empty Tome (alternate version): @ibeginwiththeendinmind Tag Teams: 
The Mummy Men: Wicked Child (or Akmodan II: In Search of the Secret Spell) Stella and Loretta Lecarde: Dance of Sadness Or any combination of two related heels or faces from the above Legend:
Available Claimed Early WIP Substantial WIP Complete draft Final WAV So far we have a lot of rock/metal represented, and I'm not sure how many of those will include vocals (highly recommended), and just one confirmed rap.  I'd also really like at least one Mexican-inspired remix (making one wrestler a luchador), one orchestral remix, and at least one explicit tribute to Xavier Woods (which includes funk, rap, and even EDM).  Female wrestlers' themes are typified by female vocalists, either rap or heavily autotuned.  More rap would also be great.
Posted or accepted-to-be-posted remixers can just make a claim and dive right in.  Anyone else, I'll need an audition of your most best, most appropriate work for the style we're looking for.
Collaboration Resource List
Anyone interested in collaborating, let me know what you want to do and I'll put you on the list.  Electric guitarists and vocalists are especially needed.
Electric Guitar: @HeavenWraith, @Tuberz McGee, @Cyril the Wolf, @Laarx Acoustic Guitar: @Cyril the Wolf, @Laarx Vocals (male): @Cyril the Wolf Vocals (rap): Wanted Voice Actors
For the "event" version of the album, we'll need some voice actors.  At the very least, we'll need 3: an announcer and two commentators.  The wrestlers can, optionally, have monologues during their own songs, or dialogues with their opponents.  We'll recruit for these when all music is at least at the substantial WIP stage
Mastering
Kind of goes without saying, but not without doing.  Somewhat more involved in this than in most albums, since this person will be responsible for layering on the voiceovers and any audience effects.
Art
In addition to front and back cover art, I'd really like to have character art of each of the wrestlers.  My personal vision is that none of the wrestlers actually be monsters, just actors dressed up like them, or even just vaguely related to them thematically.  Real pro wrestling has wrestlers like "The Rock," "The Snake," and even "Boogeyman," so having monster names seems perfectly appropriate.

To quote DarkeSword's original pitch for the album:
Here are a couple of YouTube playlists with examples of entrances and theme songs.  Also here are some sample diva theme songs for female wrestlers.
You may notice that the presentation isn't just a song and a walk-on when the wrestler is introduced at an event.  There's usually an introduction of some kind: sometimes a different piece of music, sometimes some kind of cheesy action sequence, sometimes just commentator banter.  So we'll be making two different versions of this album: One "clean" version with just the wrestler themes, and one "event" version with all that extra stuff.  This means that if you want to compose a short intro remix (30-90 seconds) to go with your main mix, that's an option--and an interesting chance to work with a very short source and a total lack of transition.
Director: MindWanderer Co-Director: Chernabogue Check-In Dates:
July 31, 2016 Nov. 20, 2016 April 15, 2017 July 15, 2017 Sept. 30, 2017 March 31, 2018  
ReMixers
First, we need ReMixers!  Specifically, we need remixers who can produce songs that would work as wrestler intros.  There's a fairly wide range of potential genres, but they're all loud, powerful, energetic, and epic.  The playlists linked above are non-exhaustive examples you can use as a starting point.
Tracklist
Ultimately, I'd like to have an equal number of "faces" (heroes) and "heels" (villains and monsters).  Some monsters come in pairs (The Creature and Igor, the Mummies), and if we use any of them, each one should have a corresponding tag team of heroes; this can either be a mashup of two character themes, or a single theme that covers two characters (e.g. John Morris and Eric Lecarde of Castlevania Bloodlines).  Villain/monster mashups are also possible, counting as a tag team.  Same thing goes for female characters: each female hero should be paired with a female villain.  We can work all that when it gets close to the end, though.
Here's my wish list of wrestlers, along with suggestions as to theme music.  The specific music source for each isn't necessarily set in stone, but it's my opinion as to what the most appropriate choice for them would be.  If you'd like to go in a different direction, I'd love to hear it!
Must Have:
Theme Song of CastleMania: Vampire Killer (Wrestlemania Theme Songs Reference) Simon Belmont: Theme of Simon Belmont Alucard: Dracula's Castle and/or The Tragic Prince - @mikedm92 Dracula: Dance of Illusions - @Chernabogue Death: Evil's Symphonic Poem (optionally: Heart of Fire) Other Suggestions:
Closing Song/Second Theme Song: I Am the Wind (Vocals required)
Heels, Male/Neuter:
The Creature: Den of Worship, Rising, and/or Demon Seed (or The Creature and Igor: Walking on the Edge) - @DarkEco Golem: The Tower of Dolls or Stone King Golem Doppelganger: Riddle or Resonance of Malevolent Souls Galamoth: Galamoth's Realm, Robot Factory, or Curse Zone (Additional option: Crucial Moment) Olrox: Death Ballad and/or Dance of Pales Isaac: Young Nobleman of Madness Joachim Armster: Melancholy Joachim Walter Bernhard: Dark Night Toccata Brauner: Esquisse of Violence Albus: Sorrow's Distortion Heels, Female:
Medusa: Cross Your Heart a.k.a. Crucifix Held Close (optionally: Stalker) Carmilla: Bloody Tears, Monster Dance, Dwelling of Doom, Repose of Souls, and/or Carmilla Elizabeth Bartley: Calling from Heaven Celia Fortner: Evil Invitation - @Ophanin Faces, Male:
Trevor Belmont: Beginning - Moiré Effect (@SuprMelO and @bluumonk) Grant Danasty: Clockwork - @DarkEco Christopher Belmont: Battle of the Holy Richter Belmont: Divine Bloodlines Eric Lecarde: Iron-Blue Intention Nathan Graves: Awake - @Hypetreme Leon Belmont: Lament of Innocence Hector: The Curse of Darkness Soma Cruz: Castle Corridor Julius Belmont: Don't Wait Until Night a.k.a. Can't Wait Until the Night Jonathan Morris: Invitation of a Crazed Moon John Morris: Reincarnated Soul Faces, Female:
Sypha Belnades: Mad Forest: @GCJ Maria Renard: Slash Charlotte Aulin: The Hidden Curse Shanoa: An Empty Tome (alternate version): @ibeginwiththeendinmind Tag Teams: 
The Mummy Men: Wicked Child (or Akmodan II: In Search of the Secret Spell) Stella and Loretta Lecarde: Dance of Sadness Or any combination of two related heels or faces from the above Legend:
Available Claimed Early WIP Substantial WIP Complete draft Final WAV So far we have a lot of rock/metal represented, and I'm not sure how many of those will include vocals (highly recommended), and just one confirmed rap.  I'd also really like at least one Mexican-inspired remix (making one wrestler a luchador), one orchestral remix, and at least one explicit tribute to Xavier Woods (which includes funk, rap, and even EDM).  Female wrestlers' themes are typified by female vocalists, either rap or heavily autotuned.  More rap would also be great.
Posted or accepted-to-be-posted remixers can just make a claim and dive right in.  Anyone else, I'll need an audition of your most best, most appropriate work for the style we're looking for.
Collaboration Resource List
Anyone interested in collaborating, let me know what you want to do and I'll put you on the list.  Electric guitarists and vocalists are especially needed.
Electric Guitar: @HeavenWraith, @Tuberz McGee, @Cyril the Wolf, @Laarx Acoustic Guitar: @Cyril the Wolf, @Laarx Vocals (male): @Cyril the Wolf Vocals (rap): Wanted Voice Actors
For the "event" version of the album, we'll need some voice actors.  At the very least, we'll need 3: an announcer and two commentators.  The wrestlers can, optionally, have monologues during their own songs, or dialogues with their opponents.  We'll recruit for these when all music is at least at the substantial WIP stage
Mastering
Kind of goes without saying, but not without doing.  Somewhat more involved in this than in most albums, since this person will be responsible for layering on the voiceovers and any audience effects.
Art
In addition to front and back cover art, I'd really like to have character art of each of the wrestlers.  My personal vision is that none of the wrestlers actually be monsters, just actors dressed up like them, or even just vaguely related to them thematically.  Real pro wrestling has wrestlers like "The Rock," "The Snake," and even "Boogeyman," so having monster names seems perfectly appropriate.

Random thoughts, in no particular order:
To best approximate a real event, it would probably be best to have an equal number of heroes as villains. It would be pretty hilarious if the "Heel" wrestlers (monsters) went by their "actor" names from Castlevania I.  Boris Karloffice, Love Chaney, Christopher Bee, etc. Castlevania: Judgment has "official" character themes for several characters, both heroes and monsters.  Not that we'd have to stick with these, but they're a good starting point. There should probably be two versions, one with voiceovers, crowd noises, etc. and one without.  The one with could also have an announcers' intro and other "event" segments. I'm already planning on organizing an OCR-I for CCoI.  This might actually be a good opportunity for me to get my feet wet, since it would have a couple months' head start, and I'd need a co-director anyway--I can put in the time and effort, and I know Castlevania pretty well, but I have no album experience, I don't have a sufficiently good ear for quality standards, and the last pro wrestling event I watched was when The Undertaker made his WWF debut.  But if someone is willing to help with that side of things, I'd be happy to take on what I can.

I'm guessing the energy was not found, since I don't have an entry, and there remain only 45 minutes.  Should be interesting anyway, since both Gario and Aleix have said this was an unusual entry for them.

That's correct, assuming 100% participation.  It's similar to Darkesword's Gauntlet compos.  I'm guessing some will opt out, but the more that participate, the more points each participant will earn.  The highest score at the end of three rounds will represent Dracula in the final battle.
Since we have some newer mixers, I'll put forward a suggestion: Moonlight Nocturne is a long and complex piece, 1:45 long with not a lot of repetition and no loop.  Rather than attempting to tackle the whole thing in order and smooshing your own source into it somewhere, you may have more luck breaking it apart into some of the more recognizable themes.  Just a suggestion, not a rule or anything, just bear in mind that you don't have to use all of it, but identifiable parts of it should constitute a significant part of your remix.

Download Alucard Round 2 here!
As for the Simon bracket, you know the drill.  Three-way faceoff: Sir_NutS: Entrance, 1691 vs. War Machine: Dungeon, 1691 vs. OA: Entrance, 1797.  Special shout-outs to YoshiBlade, Jorito, and Trism; these were especially strong entries despite your loss this round.  May Dracula grow strong on your blood!
The source for the Dracula bracket, Round 1, is Moonlight Nocturne from Symphony of the Night!  Please use "Moonlight Nocturne, 1797" as the name of the theme in your remix titles, e.g.
MindWanderer - Time for Bed (Clock Tower, 1691 and Moonlight Nocturne, 1797).mp3

Download Alucard Round 2 here!
As for the Simon bracket, you know the drill.  Three-way faceoff: Sir_NutS: Entrance, 1691 vs. War Machine: Dungeon, 1691 vs. OA: Entrance, 1797.  Special shout-outs to YoshiBlade, Jorito, and Trism; these were especially strong entries despite your loss this round.  May Dracula grow strong on your blood!
The source for the Dracula bracket, Round 1, is Moonlight Nocturne from Symphony of the Night!  Please use "Moonlight Nocturne, 1797" as the name of the theme in your remix titles, e.g.
MindWanderer - Time for Bed (Clock Tower, 1691 and Moonlight Nocturne, 1797).mp3

Since this is a tough round to call, I'm taking the extra time to write reviews and collect my thoughts.  As usual, I may come across as overly critical, but on the whole, this was an exceptional round.  Going to be some strong competition in the Dracula bracket!
The Witching Hour: Production-wise, OA delivers, as always.  The A->B->A/B->B arrangement is pretty typical for these compos, and I could have done with more blending earlier on.  The blending itself seemed a little awkward--the elements were interleaved but never seemed to really interact with each other.  It's a real shame, too, because I feel like the treatment of the minimalistic Castle Center, a tough source to work with IMO, was exceptional, and I would have loved to have seen it get some more melodic components added to it. I Never Drink, Wine: Very thin soundscape, unfortunately emphasized by direct comparison to OA's mix.  The buildup to the opening at 0:32 was weaksauce, and again at 2:31.  Not much use of Castle Center that I could hear.  Interesting use of clips from Dracula, but, except for the title quote (which had no backing music), they were pretty muddy and I couldn't understand the words. The Fury within the Wicked Heart: Orchestral/rock fusion is a favorite genre of mine, but I don't feel this was the best execution.  The chugging overdriven guitar doesn't play well with the orchestra, and there are quite a few places where their notes seem to clash or go off-tempo.  The guitar is a little too loud, too.  It's a little repetitive in places, e.g. the intro goes on for a little too long IMO.  The two themes weren't blended together very well as far as I can hear, it's mostly Heart of Fire -> Wicked Child with some original sections.  Maybe some aspect other than the melody is being blended, but I'm not hearing it. This Wicked Heart of Mine: You did a great job here of intermixing the two sources, although it sounds like you found some of the key differences challenging.  I actually had to listen to this several times to catch which segments were part of which source--they're interleaved so thoroughly that I kept thinking it was sticking to one source when it was really using both closely together. Interesting decision to really focus on the intro of Wicked Child, at the expense of the body of that song, but I think it worked pretty well.  Lyrics get seriously repetitive; I feel this would have benefited greatly from real ones.  It feels like the balance is heavy on the high end; if you revisit this (and I hope you do), I'm hoping someone in the Workshop can comment on that more specifically. Don't Cry for Me, Vampire Killer: Not a big fan of most of these melodic variations, personally.  Just a matter of taste.  I felt like the intro and breakdown had the strongest production quality, and that the melodic sections were pretty thin.  Might just be a poor choice of lead.  Basic A->breakdown->B arrangement structure, no interplay between the two sources.  The "hiccup" at 3:10 seems unintentional, since it happens only once, so it sounds like a skip. Dracula's Madness: Interesting departure from your usual chip-heavy style.  Not really my thing, but it's well-executed for what it is, certainly up to your standards if not your style.  I just wish you'd managed to get Bloody Tears in there earlier--even incomplete, I might have voted for this if it met the compo's basic concept.

Since this is a tough round to call, I'm taking the extra time to write reviews and collect my thoughts.  As usual, I may come across as overly critical, but on the whole, this was an exceptional round.  Going to be some strong competition in the Dracula bracket!
The Witching Hour: Production-wise, OA delivers, as always.  The A->B->A/B->B arrangement is pretty typical for these compos, and I could have done with more blending earlier on.  The blending itself seemed a little awkward--the elements were interleaved but never seemed to really interact with each other.  It's a real shame, too, because I feel like the treatment of the minimalistic Castle Center, a tough source to work with IMO, was exceptional, and I would have loved to have seen it get some more melodic components added to it. I Never Drink, Wine: Very thin soundscape, unfortunately emphasized by direct comparison to OA's mix.  The buildup to the opening at 0:32 was weaksauce, and again at 2:31.  Not much use of Castle Center that I could hear.  Interesting use of clips from Dracula, but, except for the title quote (which had no backing music), they were pretty muddy and I couldn't understand the words. The Fury within the Wicked Heart: Orchestral/rock fusion is a favorite genre of mine, but I don't feel this was the best execution.  The chugging overdriven guitar doesn't play well with the orchestra, and there are quite a few places where their notes seem to clash or go off-tempo.  The guitar is a little too loud, too.  It's a little repetitive in places, e.g. the intro goes on for a little too long IMO.  The two themes weren't blended together very well as far as I can hear, it's mostly Heart of Fire -> Wicked Child with some original sections.  Maybe some aspect other than the melody is being blended, but I'm not hearing it. This Wicked Heart of Mine: You did a great job here of intermixing the two sources, although it sounds like you found some of the key differences challenging.  I actually had to listen to this several times to catch which segments were part of which source--they're interleaved so thoroughly that I kept thinking it was sticking to one source when it was really using both closely together. Interesting decision to really focus on the intro of Wicked Child, at the expense of the body of that song, but I think it worked pretty well.  Lyrics get seriously repetitive; I feel this would have benefited greatly from real ones.  It feels like the balance is heavy on the high end; if you revisit this (and I hope you do), I'm hoping someone in the Workshop can comment on that more specifically. Don't Cry for Me, Vampire Killer: Not a big fan of most of these melodic variations, personally.  Just a matter of taste.  I felt like the intro and breakdown had the strongest production quality, and that the melodic sections were pretty thin.  Might just be a poor choice of lead.  Basic A->breakdown->B arrangement structure, no interplay between the two sources.  The "hiccup" at 3:10 seems unintentional, since it happens only once, so it sounds like a skip. Dracula's Madness: Interesting departure from your usual chip-heavy style.  Not really my thing, but it's well-executed for what it is, certainly up to your standards if not your style.  I just wish you'd managed to get Bloody Tears in there earlier--even incomplete, I might have voted for this if it met the compo's basic concept.

Since this is a tough round to call, I'm taking the extra time to write reviews and collect my thoughts.  As usual, I may come across as overly critical, but on the whole, this was an exceptional round.  Going to be some strong competition in the Dracula bracket!
The Witching Hour: Production-wise, OA delivers, as always.  The A->B->A/B->B arrangement is pretty typical for these compos, and I could have done with more blending earlier on.  The blending itself seemed a little awkward--the elements were interleaved but never seemed to really interact with each other.  It's a real shame, too, because I feel like the treatment of the minimalistic Castle Center, a tough source to work with IMO, was exceptional, and I would have loved to have seen it get some more melodic components added to it. I Never Drink, Wine: Very thin soundscape, unfortunately emphasized by direct comparison to OA's mix.  The buildup to the opening at 0:32 was weaksauce, and again at 2:31.  Not much use of Castle Center that I could hear.  Interesting use of clips from Dracula, but, except for the title quote (which had no backing music), they were pretty muddy and I couldn't understand the words. The Fury within the Wicked Heart: Orchestral/rock fusion is a favorite genre of mine, but I don't feel this was the best execution.  The chugging overdriven guitar doesn't play well with the orchestra, and there are quite a few places where their notes seem to clash or go off-tempo.  The guitar is a little too loud, too.  It's a little repetitive in places, e.g. the intro goes on for a little too long IMO.  The two themes weren't blended together very well as far as I can hear, it's mostly Heart of Fire -> Wicked Child with some original sections.  Maybe some aspect other than the melody is being blended, but I'm not hearing it. This Wicked Heart of Mine: You did a great job here of intermixing the two sources, although it sounds like you found some of the key differences challenging.  I actually had to listen to this several times to catch which segments were part of which source--they're interleaved so thoroughly that I kept thinking it was sticking to one source when it was really using both closely together. Interesting decision to really focus on the intro of Wicked Child, at the expense of the body of that song, but I think it worked pretty well.  Lyrics get seriously repetitive; I feel this would have benefited greatly from real ones.  It feels like the balance is heavy on the high end; if you revisit this (and I hope you do), I'm hoping someone in the Workshop can comment on that more specifically. Don't Cry for Me, Vampire Killer: Not a big fan of most of these melodic variations, personally.  Just a matter of taste.  I felt like the intro and breakdown had the strongest production quality, and that the melodic sections were pretty thin.  Might just be a poor choice of lead.  Basic A->breakdown->B arrangement structure, no interplay between the two sources.  The "hiccup" at 3:10 seems unintentional, since it happens only once, so it sounds like a skip. Dracula's Madness: Interesting departure from your usual chip-heavy style.  Not really my thing, but it's well-executed for what it is, certainly up to your standards if not your style.  I just wish you'd managed to get Bloody Tears in there earlier--even incomplete, I might have voted for this if it met the compo's basic concept.

Upload it and send me the link anyway, just in case.  I won't download until the deadline, so if you replace the file, I'll get whichever version you uploaded last.

Castlevania: Cacophony of Incarnation (CCoI)
A Remix Competition Presented by the OverClocked ReMix Forums

Introduction
The Cult of Dracula strikes again! With their arcane power, they've reached backwards and forwards through time, even into alternate realities, to piece the Castle of Chaos and its surroundings back together, and with it, their fallen master. But the castle has come back jumbled together! Lakes float above towers, forests grow deep underground, and libraries burn perpetually in caverns of fire.
Of course, with the pieces of the castle have come the heroes of ages! These heroes must fight through the Transylvanian chaos, sending each area in turn back to the abyss, until only one remains, trapping Dracula's essence and allowing him to be defeated once more.
Download
Current News
Voting for the Final Battle has concluded!  While Simon Belmont, represented by OA, has succeeded in his quest, Dracula, represented by Jorito, has had the last laugh.  He'll return soon, more powerful than ever!  Congratulations to both Jorito and OA!
Brackets
Alucard Bracket
Concluded! Soma Bracket
Concluded! Simon Bracket
OA: Entrance, 1797 Dracula Bracket
Jorito: Crumbling Tower, 1691 The Fallen
PlanarianHugger: Plant Castle, 1591 Yami: Underground Caverns, 1797 theshaggyfreak: Munitions Factory, 1917 Esperado: Forbidden Area, 2035 Chernabogue: Underground Caverns, 1691 Chalis: Dance Hall, 2035 Trism: Wilderness, 1698 YoshiBlade: Castle Center, 1852 HoboKa: Burning Town, 1792 Supercoolmike: Inner Halls, 1476 Sir_NutS: Entrance, 1691 Aleix Ramon: Master's Keep, 1944 Magnetic Ether: Inner Quarters, 2035 War Machine: Dungeon, 1691 Gario: Warakiya Village, 1476 wildfire: Abandoned Castle, 1479 Format
Castlevania: Cacophony of Incarnation (CCoI) is mostly a traditional elimination tournament. Each participant will choose the music from one location, stage, or area from any Castlevania game. They will then be paired off against each other, with the winner continuing to the next round. Remixers will have two weeks to write a "vs. remix;" that is to say, a remix featuring the themes of their own area and their opponent's area, and there will be a one-week voting period following each round.
Two elements make this compo different from traditional brackets. First, instead of requiring a specific number of participants, any number will be accepted. One or more special rounds will be added to even out the number of participants. These special rounds will require remixes to use both their stage music and a special theme for the round. There also may be three main brackets instead of the usual two if that makes things work out more evenly.
Second, there will be an optional loser's bracket. This will be point-based, and based on the number of participants who opt in for each round: the more entries, the more points will be up for grabs in each round. Those who lose in the main bracket will enter the loser's bracket slightly above the median score of all existing participants, to put them on even footing (with a reward for lasting longer in the main bracket). The winner of the loser's bracket will compete with the winner of the winner's bracket at the end: The winner of the winner's bracket can claim ultimate victory whether they win or lose, but they need to share that victory with the winner of the loser's bracket if they lose to them.
All participating competitors and voters will adhere to the Competitions Code of Conduct.
So do I just pick a theme? Is it first-come-first-served?
I'll be doing a draft for source selection. If you're planning on participating, please post a list of at least three sources you're interested in claiming, in your order of preference. If you're choosing themes you expect to be popular, you should post 4 or 5 choices so you have backup. Since Castlevania doesn't always use consistent names for locations, and the names of the themes themselves aren't always easy to find, please include a YouTube link to each source.
Also, if you have any schedule restrictions (planned vacations, exams, etc), please mention them in your signup post. I'll do my best to accommodate.
Eligible sources are those which are the music for a stage, area, or location from any game with "Castlevania" in the title. Boss music, character themes, etc. are not eligible. If a source is used for two or three locations in the same game, that's fine, just specify one. If it's used in different games, try to list the game it originally came from (e.g. Castlevania for Vampire Killer). Different participants will not be allowed to choose different versions of the same melody. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is a special case: Silence of Daylight, Bloody Tears, Monster Dance, Dwelling of Doom, and Within These Castle Walls are the eligible sources.
Once everyone posts their lists, I'll assign choices based on a weighted point system designed to give the highest possible choices to the greatest number of people. (Some mathematical oddities in the sequential conflict resolution system actually make lower-ranked choices more likely in some cases, so I won't be using that.)
Submissions
All entries must be sent to me (MindWanderer) via PM on the forums. Please include the name of your bracket and the round number in the subject line of your PM.
Please send me your submissions in MP3 format. I'll trust the submitters' ears to choose the best encodings for their music. Please do not use MediaFire, RapidShare, or any other ad-ridden public sharing site as a host for your entry. Tindeck is also bad because it changes your filenames. There are many better options you can and should be using to host your music. I recommend Dropbox or SoundCloud. Make sure your files are downloadable.
File names must be in the following format:
1-on-1 round: Remixer - Title (Remixer's Stage and Opponent's Stage).mp3 3-way round: Remixer - Title (Remixer's Stage; First Opponent's Stage; and Second Opponent's Stage).mp3 Dracula Bracket round: Remixer - Title (Remixer's Stage and Round Theme).mp3 Examples:
DarkeSword - Blood in the Water (Sunken City of Poltergeists, 1476 and Wilderness, 1698).mp3 MindWanderer - Wallachia Just Keeps On Burning (Warakiya Village, 1476; Burning Town, 1792; and Master's Keep, 1944).mp3 djpretzel - Praying for Time (Clock Tower, 1691 and Prayer, 1476).mp3   Please pay attention to the spaces and punctuation. Your artist name and mix title can be whatever capitalization you want but the stage names must be full and capitalized properly (as listed in the brackets).
Properly formatted file names make it much easier for me to tag everything properly, which ensures good, consistent metadata on all the files that will be distributed to voters.
You must adhere to this file name standard. If you don't, I will seriously consider disqualifying you, and I don't think anyone wants to be disqualified just because they couldn't name their file properly.
Voting Rules and Guidelines
Voting is conducted publicly in the Public Voting forum. Every week, a thread will be created for the most recently completed round of remixing. Specific rules will vary from round to round, so be sure to check the main post of each thread for instructions.
Things to keep in mind when voting:
The most important thing to consider when voting is how well the remix incorporates and arranges both themes. Production and enjoyability should also be considered, but this is primarily an arrangement competition.  If you can't hear both themes in the remix, don't vote for it. Everyone is allowed (and encouraged) to vote, including both competitors and non-competitors. Due to the forum's poll mechanic, you are required to choose a remix to vote for in each pairing in the main brackets.  If you participated in the round, feel free to vote for yourself. In the Dracula bracket, you will need to choose a first, second, and third-place choice.  Do not vote for yourself.  Voters will earn points equal to a first-place vote just for voting. Do not post reviews in the voting thread. Compile your reviews for each round into a single post in this thread. Post only once in each voting thread. Everyone must adhere to the Competitions Code of Conduct. Violations may result in your votes or entries being disqualified. Schedule
Signups close: January 7 Remixing begins: Alucard Bracket Round 1: January 13 Soma Bracket Round 1: January 20 Simon Bracket Round 1: January 27 Alucard Bracket Round 2: February 3 Soma Bracket Round 2: February 10 Simon Bracket Round 3: February 17 Dracula (losers') Bracket Round 1: February 17 Hero Finals: March 9 Dracula Bracket Round 2: March 9 Final Battle: March 30 (3-week mixing period) Epilogue: March 30 (3-week mixing period) Conclusion
Castlevania was originally released on September 26, 1986, making this coming year its 30th anniversary. I'd like to release a compliation OCR-I on that date if at all possible. So if you make something you like, or that you could like with some extra time to polish it, hang onto it, and I'll ask for submissions following the end of the compo.
Art
Art supplied by Chernabogue! Get your signature banners here.
Aren't you stealing DarkeSword's format just so we can make more Castlevania music for you to listen to?
Yep, pretty much.

22 hours left, and I have 2 entries.  Interestingly, I have one matchup fully accounted for, one with laments but promises of incoming submissions, and one where I have no clue.