Rexy

Contact Info ReMixer Name: Ranipla Website: https://ranipla.bandcamp.com/ and https://soundcloud.com/ranipla UserID: 36139 Submission Info Name of game arranged: Mega Man 8 Name of arrangement: Jump Jump, Slide Slide Name of individual song arranged: Ice Stage Comments: Originally this track started off as a joke. A friend of mine was playing Mega Man 8, however it was the English version, which was infamous for it's "totally high quality" voice acting. One of those gems was this annoying robot that would yell "Jump Jump" and "Slide Slide" as an instruction, I found it to be a hilarious sample thus this was born.

Should the track pass, it will need a new title. -Rexy Contact info: Producer name: SpaceGhost Real name: Deion W. Email: User#: 36070 Website: https://www.youtube.com/user/Knucklez09 Submission info: Game: The Sims 1 Arrangement: Buy mode 1 Song name: Buy mode Future Bass remix Original composer: Jerry Martin, Marc Russo Original song link: Comments: I just really feel like this is a great song that everyone who ever played the Sims loves. It's pretty happy and upbeat, but still orchestral. I wanted to make it into a track you can dance to, while still keeping the original feel and orchestral instruments. I hope you guys enjoy and add it to your site, I been a long time fan for over 10 years. I been making video game music for just as long and finally decided to submit something. Thanks for you time, Deion

Contact Information Your ReMixer name: JohnStacy Your real name: John Stacy Your email address: Your userid: 33075 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong 64 Name of arrangement: Zacatecas Name of individual song(s) arranged: Gusty Garden Galaxy, DK Isle Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. Oh boy does this mix have a story. About 10 years ago, I had a dream where I was on stage somewhere, performing as part of a large ensemble - probably a big band, banda, or brass band. This dream was very vivid, I remember it being an outdoor concert in the evening. It was very hot and dry, but the music was fun and the audience really enjoyed it. This dream sticks with me. In 2015 I was working on an album of big band video game music. That album never released, although it was completely arranged. I recorded this the parts to this track multiple times - trumpets 3 times, horns twice, trombones twice, drums twice. This was over the course of four years - 2015-2019. I would get excited and work on it, but could never quite get it the way I wanted it. I pulled it out one last time, wrote an ending (it previously was part of a medley), and got on seriously producing it. When I was mixing, I got to the 3rd section and realized that this was the kind of music that was in my dream. This is the kind of thing I want to be doing. Interesting things - I used some instrument choices here that deviate from the norm. The first minute or so features a flute choir - 3 flutes, alto flute, and bass flute. Lead trombone is played on an alto trombone, and trumpet 3 and 4 are on cornet. Zacatecas is the name of a city and state of Mexico, located in the south-central part of the country. This name is only significant in that the climate and geography looks most like what I remember from my dream. Credits: Alto, tenor, and baritone saxes, trumpet, cornet, french horns, alto, tenor, and bass trombones, drums - JohnStacy Flutes - Gamer of the Winds, Lea Baumert (alto and bass) Tuba - Alex Hill Piano - DS Guitar - Andrew Flipinski Bass - Sam Bobinski (OCR users in italics)

RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Song Title: Foraging Melodies Songs Remixed: Hyrule Field (Day)

Stretching out a source that's less than 20 seconds long is always going to offer different methods of interpretation. Still, even then, the "theme and variations" route is suitable enough to twist the foundations and keep them recognizable at the same time. No two run-throughs sound identical, the use of "Zelda's Lullaby" as a countermelody is charming and compelling, and I liked how you placed the core motif of the source into a broodier minor key development at 1:14, spread across multiple wind instruments. Arrangement-wise, the sum of the parts are simple, but get their job done effectively. Naturally, this track has a similar quirk with prior submitted works, what with it having a fair chunk of headroom. But when the instrumentation is both mixed down and articulated well, it's something that I can easily overlook. It would've also been nice to have added more opportunities for your virtual performers to breathe too, but I consider it something of a desire rather than something that goes against the standards. As a collective whole, the arrangement and production values are both simplified - but with a focus on a short source and a minimalist set of instrumentation, they set out to achieve their roles and create a robust package through and through. Great work, Rebecca - let's see this on the front page. YES

Remixer Name: RisenLP Real Name: Keith Woods Website: https://soundcloud.com/rcstudio (err.. don't have a proper one) UserID: 36058 Submission Info Game Arranged: Delta Rune Arrangement Name: Surly Operator, Kind Acts Song Arranged: Rude Buster Original Author: Toby Fox Own Comments: I'm a huge fan of Toby Fox's music and a huge fan of the sound you can get out of a Sega MD/Genesis. I created this via FL studio 20, a synth called FM_DRIVE and Super PSG by the wonderful Aly James. This arrangement is not made to be accurate to the hardware but more what I felt was good. Thanks, This is my first submission, kind of nervous about it but thanks.

Contact Information ReMixer name: Gianny Abel Your real name: Gian-Luca Abel Your website: (I have no dedicated homepage, so i will just link my social media information instead) https://twitter.com/GiannyAbel, https://soundcloud.com/user-569017777, https://www.youtube.com/user/SparkyxDSparky Your userid: 23513 Submission Information Name of game arranged: Diddy Kong Racing Name of arrangement: Starlit Darkmoon Name of individual song arranged: Darkmoon Caverns Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. As with most of my remixes, i tried to stay close to the original idea and expand upon it. My interpretation of the original song is that it highlights the serenity and loneliness of being on the dark side of the moon and only having the starry night sky as a source of light, while also still delivering the "drive" of a racing game ost. The track is written entirely with VST-instruments and WAV-soundfiles (the latter only used for sfx). I approached this by mixing as bass heavy rhythm guitar and a juicy bass, in reference to the "darkmoon" in the title aswell as to the racing game aspect of the song, with a grand piano that is playing in a high octave to emulate the glitter and shine of the stars, in reference to the "starlit" in the title. A lot of reverb was added to the piano to both emulate the vastness of space, aswell as the natural reverb of caverns. The "Starlit"-aspect is further supported by the ambient sfx that appears from time to time, aswell as the bright synthesizer bits and string ensemble, to give it more of a "spacy" feel. Furthermore a tenor sax plays the second lead to balance out the high pitch of the piano. The most notable changes from the original are the addition of a new part, that acts as kind of a pre-chorus to the B-Part of the original track, aswell as the structure of the track, deviding it into 3 distinct variations, one representing each lap. The newly added part acts as a centerpiece and is supposed to really deliver on the core ideas of the remix. If you are familiar with the original game, I like to think of this part as the section of the track where you boost through the two loops at max. speed. I apporached this by having the piano play arpeggios in an ascending manner to give it the maximum velocity feel, aswell as adding ambient sfx and synthetic sounds to give the listener a feeling of open space in contrast to the more compact A-Part, as if you would leave the caverns and now find yourself below the night sky. The 3 lap structure is concieved to give the remix a climax. The first lap acts to introduce all instruments, the general feel and the newly added part. The second lap has a pianissimo part with the sax taking over the lead in order to break the flow up a bit and to contrast the fortissimo of the final lap. The final lap is where the remix recieves it's resolve, accentuated by the key- and tempochange. The piano is now only loosely playing the original melody and the B-Part is an extended piano solo. All in all I think that this remix, while having major variations, is still faithful to the orginal track. Im looking forward to your feedback! Kind regards, Gian-Luca

Hi there, here is my submission: Contact Information -My ReMixer name: Gerard White Koe -My real name: Gerardo Navarrete -My website: https://gerardwhitemusic.bandcamp.com/album/- -My userid: "35273" Submission Information -Name of game(s) arranged: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time -Name of arrangement: Gohma -Name of individual song(s) arranged: Boss Battle, Kokiri Forest, Deku Tree Theme Hope you like it!

What is this - a club-style EDM arrangement that is source dominant? I'm pleased with this alone! I appreciate the attention done to adapt the source to this style, and I'm okay with the tail ends as the arpeggio from the source is present. I do, however, agree with MW and Chimpazilla regarding the loudness and distortion - so I'm sure you know how to fix this problem. Some other issues crept up as I listened, however: * Firstly, what's with the off-key square wave rolls (1:00, 1:07, 2:09, 2:16)? These atonal pitches don't belong - and the best ways to get around them are to either mute them or fix them with a quick transpose. * Secondly, there's no need for nearly 30 seconds of silence. You can quickly trim it out in a wave editor. * And lastly, consider finding a way to make the arpeggio more dominant in the tail ends. From 0:00-0:54 and 4:48-5:42, it's the only component of the source present and should ideally not get de-emphasized by the rest of the sweeps and effects surrounding it. Here are some ideas I have. You could pull the channel away from the impact of the sidechain, boosting its volume, or even both. It's still up to you as to whether you want to keep the tail ends in or cut them short. As it stands, it's a fun genre adaptation with more than enough source content despite its flaws. The issues brought up here - mastering volume, an out-of-place instrument, unnecessary silence, and potential source de-emphasis - are things I know you can make a quick fix on and re-submit down the line. I'd love to hear a revised version of this one, please. NO (resubmit)

Original decision 2nd decision Your ReMixer name-Audiomancer Your real name-Eric Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile-29237 Name of game(s) arranged-Dragon Warrior 2 Name of arrangement-Epic FootSteps Name of individual song(s) arranged-Dragon Warrior 2 second overworld theme, I was unable to find an official name. This music came from the NES game Dragon Warrior 2, and it was originally written by Koichi Sugiyama Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) This is my latest attempt at this track, and it is significantly different than the last takes. First, I went with the second theme instead of the first. Second, this was done using CakeWalk instead of LMMS...I just couldn't get things to happen in LMMS that I felt needed to happen. Lastly, I tried to incorporate as much feedback as possible into this track, while maintaining my admittedly novice vision for it:) Thanks again for the time and consideration of all of you!

Sweet and simple - I agree with my peers. What I heard was two instances of Temple of Hylia, and some playing around with Cave Shrine to close it all out. Both themes have a significant amount of subtractive arrangement, too, with additions like woodwind counter-melodies, harp flourishes and pitched percussion pushing this business in the composition that the source material didn't have. Ideally, I would've liked to have seen both themes riffing off each other rather than being in this medley format, but they transition well, and the structure is robust. Good stuff. It also checks out on the production side, too - with just the right amount of dynamics without being too quiet. The mixdown is clean, the parts are easy to identify, the instrumentation is all beautifully articulated, and the reversed sounds also have a mysterious yet attentive touch. It's by far one of the better productions I've seen from Rebecca, and I do hope to hear more of that in the future. If not apparent by now, it's a lovely arrangement with an equally beautiful presentation - and one that I feel is suited for the home page. Great collab work! YES

Link RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp fern.ivy@gmail.com http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): FF7 Song Title: Buried in the Attic Songs Remixed: On That Day 5 Years Ago

For an entirely VST package, the writing has a lot of energy and ambition behind it. The drum writing is top-notch, the usage of the theme at the tail ends are distinct to each other bar the use of melody A, the synth guitar has some sweet expression work behind it despite its nature, and the framework as a whole feels tight. I'd have to disagree with MW and Larry about one thing, though - the notation feels more like non-harmonic notes rather than deliberately being in different keys to each other. What I think they're trying to say is that because they're playing on different parts of the spectrum, the synergy doesn't feel as tight as it should be - so it would be nice to hear all your different parts complement each other rather than go wild on their separate ways. But two things became dealbreakers to me. Firstly, the mixdown is rough and over-compressed. If there's a limiter in your master chain, weaken it. Then consider re-doing the mixdown, making sure all your parts sound good and avoid this painfully distorted crunch. Secondly, while I can identify the source at the tail ends, it's still only 43% usage in the entire track, so consider referencing it or more MMX2 sources in the big comping section (1:01-2:31). As it is, Kouichi, you have potential with the amount of energy and enthusiasm behind this track. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired, especially in regards to the production. Adding more source is a secondary concern in comparison, but is something to look out for when working on future material. Should you ever get to refine the presentation on this one or submit other tracks, I'm interested to see how far you can grow. NO

Hi! I’ve been a fan of the site for a long time, and I felt like making a contribution. My e-mail software thought a 33MB Wave file was too big an attachment, so I hope a 320kbps MP# will suffice. Filling you in on information according to the submissions page. Remixer name: "Zkratt" Real name: "Silvesther Lusion" Website: "N/A" User ID: "31338" Name of Game arranged: "Luigi's Mansion" Name of arragement: "Cribs: Luigi's Mansion" Name of individual song arranged: "Professor E. Gadd's Laboratory" Additional info should be on the website Name: Luigi's Mansion "Professor E. Gadd's Laboratory" OST Name: Professor E. Gadd's Laboratory, オヤ・マー博士の研究所 Aliases: Dr. Oya Ma's Laboratory Composers: Kazumi Totaka, Shinobu Nagata My own comments: I got a hold of Reason 10 and was playing around with the new features. Lot's has changed since I got my Big Box copy of 1.0(!) around the time we got out GameCube in the family. The game came out in the early 2000's, MTV had a show called "MTV the Cribs" where they visited the homes, mostly of rap artists. Anyway, I figured I'd make a track for an imaginary episode where they visit Luigi's Mansion. I'm just a sef-taught hobby musician. I built this pretty much the same way I used to produce Hip Hop beats back when I was young. All done with synths in Reason, with the exception of the public domain stock sound effect: "Wilhelm scream" played in the intro. The style of it is sort of west coast-ish, kind of "loopy" since it's a Hip Hop beat, but I tried to vary it up by increasing the drive on the guitar throughout the song. It's done all by ear with the old GameCube on the CRT as reference, and took a two to Three hours to create. That's all I have to say, really. Would be lovely to hear some feedback on it. It's been a long time since I did music related stuff. Thanks, have a great day! Regards // Silvesther Lusion

Michael, only someone as insane as you can make a remix like this! "Great Bay Temple" has less of an emphasis on melodic content and way more on rhythm, so I can see why you opted for the Raster-Noton-esque direction. I can recognize the source throughout and how you used it - the toms and hi-hat rhythms of the original provide the bulk of the familiarity, as did one of the organ polyrhythms making occasional appearances and the other banging through like an explosion at 2:12. With so many textures used, you also took the chance to splice the rhythms and use so many effects that not one section here sounds identical to another. It's well and truly what I would call a "work of art" in VGM remix form - something I almost called another one of your tracks before. Naturally, as the emphasis is on the sound design and glitch tones, one can't also assess the production values in a traditional context. The sounds have their places in the mix, and the frequency emphasis changes depending on textures used. There is one problem that is in the way for me right now, and that is the sine bell tone that starts appearing on fourth notes from 0:13. Despite your efforts to cut back on the high pitched frequencies, the way it cuts through the mix makes it fatiguing to listen. It'll be less grating if you can either bring the volume down or lower its pitch. It's otherwise a great artistic direction and one of the coolest things I've heard from you. But before it gets posted, I'd appreciate you taking five minutes of your time so you can tame that percussive tone and re-render. You've blown minds on the front page before, and with this, I know you can do it again. YES (Conditional on volume for one instrument)

ReMixer and real name: Michael Hudak Game arranged: TLoZ - Majora's Mask Name of arrangement: Machine Wash Song arranged: Great Bay Temple (and a hummed bit of Astral Observatory in the outro) Link to song: My SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-513303599 Inspired by the music of the Raster-Noton label, especially that of composer/sound designers Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai. It's a little far-out, so maybe a reference track might make sense of what I was trying to do with Machine Wash. Also, about 60% of the sounds here are from the absolutely awesome Glitchedtones library. They had a big holiday sale, which led to what was in my head for well over 2 years finally getting made. I went through several iterations of this, each one less extreme than the last in terms of high-frequency dbs. I mixed this primarily with Sony MDR-7506s, but the average OCR listening might be using earbuds, and I don't want to, uhh, kill them. I'm hoping this current version is acceptable! It was a fun experiment to contrast the bone-dry and ultra-wet sounds here. Hopefully they juxtapose in all the right ways. This piece is based much more on (poly)rhythm and "riffs" and less on melody than what I usually do, so that was fun to dig into as well. I'm humming the Astral Observatory theme (from earlier in the game) at the end, because why not get whisked away through a dungeon of waterways, alarms, and frayed wires, only to pop out of a fountain thing and see some random guy walk by?

Hello, You will find attached to this email my mashup of Red Soil Brinstar from Super Metroid with Lanayru Sand Sea from Skyward Sword. I know this Red Soil Brinstar is overused but I tried to do something different by adding the Lanayru theme and by having a slower/calmer mood. Contact Information Your ReMixer name : Leonisnotes Your email address : Your website : https://www.youtube.com/leonisnotes Userid : 26968 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged : Super Metroid, Zelda Skyward Sword Name of arrangement : Sandy Soil Brinstar Name of individual song(s) arranged : Red Soil Brinstar, Lanayru Sand Sea Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) : Mac OSX FL Studio 20 Kontakt VSTs Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site) Regards

RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Skyward Sword Song Title: Transformation Songs Remixed: Lanayru Sandsea, Skipper’s Retreat Gamer of the Winds played the flute part.

GreenGuyGary Gary Stevens https://soundcloud.com/gary-stevens-935191208 https://ocremix.org/community/profile/36153-gary-stevens/ Donkey Kong Country Aquatic Ambiance (Oceanic Echoes Remix) Aquatic Ambiance

I wish I could accept this track based on the title alone. The arrangement is simple, yet fun - a straight-forward run-through for the first variation, textural changes in the accompaniment with a guitar solo in the second, and back the other way for the key change at the end. The performances are also tight, the lead guitar has a wild expression to it, and the pacing is robust. It won't blow minds, but it can undoubtedly melt faces off, and I can't fault it for what it set out to do. However, the mixdown is rough in comparison. The bass and rhythm guitar dominate so much of the soundscape it's squashing everything else down - and if I can't feel that raw power from the lead guitar or even the snare, that makes the sound design problematic. It's the one issue that sinks the entire thing, so if you still have the project file, it'll be lovely for you to go back in it and see how to make those necessary EQ cuts to give everything their presence. As it is, it's a fun take on one of the sweetest sources from the original Castlevania, and I'm all for seeing it on OCR at some point. If you can go back into the mixdown and clean it up, I'm all for looking into it again. NO (resubmit)

Honestly, I like the backing here. It compliments your vocals well, adds to the mysterious feel, and - low volume aside - have all been well mixed together. The varying dynamics and tasteful use of sporadic percussion allowed this idea to flow naturally and is one of the better ways I've seen you handle such minimal backing. Alas, as others have pointed out, the vocals are the centerpiece behind the arrangement. They're carrying the source, and indeed you've handled it in such an intriguing way - changing up the melody between variations while keeping the minimal lyrics. But it still has a crucial flaw like another submission I assessed in a similar style. The vocals are heavy in mud and reverb to the point it overrode the rest of the instrumentation and over-softened the consonants. Vocal clarity is key to carry this forward, so consider rolling off some of the lowest of your low mids and add a touch more emphasis onto the mid-highs to give your vocals more attack. After listening to the diction in its current form, though, it's clear that the accent ended up misshaping a portion of those vowels as stated. Japanese vowels don't shift as much as in English, which is why they have a stiff sound to them. Consider practicing those AEIOUs - "aah, eh, ee, oh, ooh" - and see if you can sustain them for as long as possible. Your expression otherwise is lovely and delicate, which fits well to such experimental ambient work - so I hope this will take you the extra mile. All in all, this track isn't quite ready for me. The low mastering is one thing, but the vocals not getting mixed in properly is another. Whether you decide to record a new take based on our diction critique or keep this one, I would appreciate hearing a new version with significantly more clarity and cleanness on your voice. Please, Rebecca, keep at your craft. NO (resubmit)

If there's anything I've learned from being a judge, it's that this BGM is so good! Someone needs to give it some representation on the front page sooner or later. On the presentation side, you guys nailed it. The mixdown is clean, the performances are tight and on point, and no instrument is there for the sake of being there. Take pride in what you achieved here - it's comfortably above expectations. Yet, the arrangement didn't have much changed over from the source. Aside from your percussion and rhythm guitar, the first variation is tonally identical. The second variation changed things up slightly with an additional guitar countermelody, as well as a synth brass doubling up at 3:20 before providing melodic content of its own. The slowdown and vocals at 4:16 is adorable and out of leftfield, yet while I liked your stylistic changeup, it happened too late in the running time, unfortunately. Here are some ideas on how to vary up the arrangement while still keeping source presence intact. You could play around with the melody, bass or chord structure; you could add an original solo on top of the existing bass; heck, you could even put the melody over a different accompaniment pattern altogether - and that's just scratching the surface. With a partnership between you two that has lasted for nearly a decade, I know you can sit down together and figure out ideas on the fly. Nevertheless, your production and performance chops are sick, so I hope you guys continue to make music together in the time ahead of you. Should you ever go back to this track, it'll be nice to hear a version that does more to the source material beyond just the addition of some backing parts. Please submit again in the future! NO (resubmit)

Contact info ReMixer Name: Paralytik Real name: Kim Stennabb Caesar Website: https://soundcloud.com/paralytik User id on forums: 35995 Submission info Name of game arranged: Déjà Vu Name of arrangement: Whiskey And Cigarettes Name of song arranged: Joe's Bar Additional info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_Vu_(video_game) Original song Comments I tried to think of what the composer imagined if the music would have been played on real instruments. The arrangement was made in Reason 10. -- Sincerely, Kim Stennabb Caesar

RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Wind Waker Song Title: Sacred Grotto Songs Remixed: Sacred Shrine (and I think it has another name too?)

Remixer name: Michael Hudak Name of game arranged: Dynasty Warriors 3 My arrangement name: It's 80's Night at 3 Kingdoms! Name of original song: "Superior" I couldn't find much info about the composer for DW3...I think it's a person named MASA, or a collective/band named MASA Group? Link to original: The original is one of those early 2000's earworms for me. The PS2 DW games were chock full of cheese metal, and maybe nothing was more stanky than "Superior". ~Think of club somewhere called 3 Kingdoms, and the 3 little armies that dance for supremacy of the city, each and every 80's Night....~ I got the idea for this mix from Big Audio Dynamite's "E=mc2", which is an 80's pop/dance tune with several clips from Nicholas Roeg films inserted into it. DW3 has a lot of great voice acting (THE JAPANESE VERSION AT LEAST), so I thought I could build a track around them. I originally wanted to put vocals into mine, but they didn't quite work. Removing them, the song was too sparse, so I beefed up the instrumentals a lot with toms, congas, and ancillary electronic percussion, and then stuffed it full of clips from the game's cutscenes. Eventually, there were TOO many game clips and too much stuff going on, so I stripped the whole thing down to the bare essentials - as much as I could without having it sound like a demo. I only kept the game clips and percussion tracks I loved, and just embraced the open spaces. I tried to keep a lot of that 80's synth grit and washy snare stuff for authenticity, while adding a bit of modern compression to not have it sound just old for old's sake. I *think* I pulled it off. Thanks for again for all your hard work in reviewing all this stuff! Voice clips, in order of appearance: 1:49 - "Excellent timing! I can not fight against commoners" "They are desperate! Attack carefully! All units, attack!" 3:14 - "The last twinkle of a dying flame is beautiful. Shall he die beautifully as well?" -Michael