Rexy

Hello OCR team! I'd like to submit an arrangement from a quite popular theme. ReMixer name: JavitoVk Name of game(s) arranged: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Name of arrangement: Drilling Oil Name of individual song(s) arranged: Oil Ocean Zone I wanted to make a song close to the original, but a lot heavier in sound, so I got some real warehouse sounds and mixed them with heavy synth music and strong percussion to create an "industrial environment". The soft part of the mix it's a bit funky too. I hope you like it! Javi

CONTACT INFORMATION Remixer name: Obscure Reference Band (O.R.B.) Band members: Matt Murphy () - arrangement, drums, electric piano, background vocals Nicholas Terelle () - acoustic and electric guitars, mixing Liz Woolley () - vocals, electric piano Joseph Brenneman () - baritone saxophone, background vocals Bradley Mellen () (userid: 18643) - electric bass, cello, background vocals SUBMISSION INFORMATION Name of game(s) arranged: Portal 2 Portal Name of arrangement: Portal 2020 - Where Is My Mind Name of individual song(s) arranged: Want You Gone Still Alive

Name: Michael Hudak Game: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Name of song arranged: The Great Boggly Tree Name of my remix: Qfwfq's Origin of Birds (yes, that is the actual title) Link to original: Hey hey! Michael, here and there. I did tons of experimentation with sound design during the writing/collaging process for this and love the results. The goal was to create 10 to 15 different sounds that I really dug, polish them as much as possible, and then use as many as I could get away with in a ReMix that's still musical, and not incidental. "The Great Boggly Tree" is a short, bizarre piece of music that I figured would work perfectly as a foundation for this; it's so weird, that it already met me halfway. All I had to do was create more weirdness, and even though what I came up with was pretty nuts, as a reimagining of the source, it's really not too irreverent of a leap. I ended up getting quite a good deal of sonic and structural inspiration from a short fantasy story by Italo Calvino called "The Origin of the Birds" (which is the first chapter of his book Time and the Hunter), in which the narrator named Qfwfq first encounters creatures that will come to be known as birds, near the beginning of the world's existence. He is stricken by their songs, and chases them across his world, and into their secret homeland, as his continent and theirs crash together, and he's flung from one to the other. Transcendence follows. Highly recommended. Calvino's work is so colorful and so imaginative and so funny and so rich. I tried to match that with this ReMix. A sawed-off rainbow. Breakdown! The structure is AB1CDB2, roughly. - Intro screeches are the same, pretty much. Maybe that's 2-5 seconds of sameness. - 0:12 - 0:27 in the source: Used as refrain. 0:14 - 0:27 & 1:38 - 2:14 in remix. - 0:28 - 0:45 in source = 0:59 - 1:38 in remix - 0:49 - 1:06 in source = 0:27 - 0:52 in remix As always, thanks.

Hello! Here's a full-band rock/metal cover I released this week of the ultra-catchy "Password" song from Mega Man 2. The entire MM2 soundtrack is great, but for some reason this little jingle always stood out to me the most. The source material is just a short loop under 10 seconds long, so I've added some structure to the arrangement and added my own guitar solo as well. My name is Kyle Schaefer, my band/solo project is called Archaeologist, and my forum ID is 35718. Here are some links to my website and Facebook page: https://archaeologist.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Archaeologistmusic/ Thank you very much for listening! Please let me know if you need any more info or links from me!

Link ReMixer name: Tremendouz OCR userid: 37103 Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/Tremendouz Name of game: Star Fox Adventures Name of arrangement: A Sacred Place Name of source material: Krazoa Palace (composed by David Wise) Link to source material: Comments regarding the arrangement: "I've never played a Star Fox game in my life but when I discovered this magical soundtrack by David Wise, I knew I had to arrange something from it. "Krazoa Palace" immediately stood out to me since I'm a huge fan of minimalistic, atmospheric tracks. The arrangement idea started from me playing around with a harp VST and way too much delay/reverb. This resulted in an interesting texture so I kept adding layers of different sounds to it ranging from synth pads to electric piano to chinese bawu, just to mention a few. Add in some distorted guitars, bass, drums and the result is this rather strange mix of styles. As usual, everything was done with virtual instruments (what a great time to be a bedroom producer!)." Thank you for your time! -Tremendouz

Contact Information: Your ReMixer name: Astral Tales Your real name: Ernesto Bernal Your email address: Your website: https://astraltales.bandcamp.com/ Your userid: 36495 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Flashback: The Quest for Identity Name of arrangement: A Quest For Identity Name of individual song(s) arranged: Main Title Additional information: Already on the site Link to the original soundtrack: Your own comments: Flashback is one of my favourite games from the 16-bit era, and I wanted to pay tribute to it in some way. I chose to work on the Main Title theme. The original is pretty minimalistic but the Sega CD version has a more elaborated version of the song, which helped me to develop it further. My approach was to give it an atmospheric vibe with a few modern touches and some Synthwave/Spacesynth elements. I hope you enjoy it. Cheers! Ernesto

Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): Chrono Cross Song Title: Strangers Passing Through Songs Remixed: Departed Souls aka Leaving the Body

If the track passes, it will need a new title. -Rexy Contact Info: My Remixer Name: DJ Dizzy Real name: Kris Ingram User ID: 37095 Submission Info: Name of game: Superman Name of the song arranged: Stage 5 music Additional Info: it's the stage 5 music from Hudson Soft's Superman for Sega Genesis/MegaDrive. It's a re-imagining. I've always loved this stage's music. I've been using synthesizers for 14 years and making music for longer. I wanted to take a stab at remixing it in my own style. It's my first time remaking a video game's music. I used Ableton Live and hardware synths (primarily Access Virus TI Polar, Moog SubPhatty, Roland JP-8000) but also made some sounds with Spectrasonics Omnisphere using vintage synth oscillators as waveforms (Roland Juno 6, Roland Jupiter-8). It was mastered with iZotope Ozone, TAL-Chorus-LX for widening on some tracks, and Ableton's compressor/EQ/limiter. (starts at 22:54)

Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Sebastien Skaf Your real name: Sebastien Skaf Your email address: Your website: http://sebastienskaf.bandcamp.com/ Your userid: 23598 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Silent Hill 2 Name of arrangement: Beneath the Surface Name of individual song(s) arranged: true Link to the original soundtrack: Source Usage Not much to say about the source usage on this one; everything is there, for the most part in the same order as the original track. There is one notable exception however, which is that the last statements of both main themes are played on top of eachother, one in the cello and the other in the keys. There is plenty of original writing in here, but for the most part it takes a back seat the source material. If you're listening for it, you'll hear some new melodies played by the piano & keys during the second theme, and when the main theme is restated in the upper register of the piano later on the cello is playing original material in the lower registers. The arrangement itself is a sort of chill/lofi setting, starting out small with a guitar and gradually building up to a climax with the string section before fading out again. It sort of walks this middle ground between being warm and crackly, but still clear. It doesn't sound authentically vinyl, but I think it adds a nice touch to the atmosphere.

Ben mentioned "Bloody Tears" as a single source, but in reality, this track is a medley of multiple themes from Castlevania II. They're presented in this order - "Bloody Tears", "Message of Darkness", "The Silence of the Daylight", "Within These Castle Walls", "Dwelling of Doom", "Monster Dance", "Game Over", and "A Requiem". -Rexy Hello OCRemix Team, Here a submission of a symphonic version from a game that marked my childhood : Have a nice day. Best Regards, Benjamin Oziel. Contact Information ReMixer Name : Ben Oz Real Name : Benjamin Oziel Email Adress : website : https://soundcloud.com/benjaminoziel Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged : Castlevania 2 : Simon's Quest Name of arrangement : Simon's Epic Symphonic Quest Name of individual song(s) arranged : Bloody Tears

Contact info ReMixer name: Neon X Real name: Martin Höglund Email address: Websites: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV8NwzoUa9I9HD1YXRIXp3g https://soundcloud.com/martin-hoeglund UserID: N/A Submission info Game: Super Mario World (SNES) Name of arr: Underground City Songs arranged: Underground Theme Additional info: The game is from the Super Nintendo, original composer is Koji Kondo. Original song on youtube: Comments: Arranged by ear in Reason Studio version 5 using only PC mouse, no external/physical instrument were used. All sounds are self produced or original synthezisers modified directly in Reason. During the ongoing world wide pandemic I was drawn to music production and wanted to brand myself as a synthwave producer with strong links to the video game music universe. Since this summer (2020) I've produced many arrangements from a variety of games, especially from the SNES.

Not mentioned in the email, but this track features Tiggs on vocals. -Rexy RebeccaETripp Rebecca Tripp http://www.crystalechosound.com/ ID: 48262 Game(s): FF7 Song Title: Tifa’s Love Songs Remixed: Tifa’s Theme

Contact info Remixer name: Lashmush Real name: Rasmus Sorber Email: Website: lashmush.newgrounds.com User ID: 20246 Submission info Name of game(s) arranged: Prince of Persia (SNES) Name of arrangement: "The Hourglass Ritual" Name of individual songs arranged: "Jaffar's Theme", "Final Battle" Additional info: Originally composed by Toshiya Yamanaka, Tetsuya Nakan for the SNES port of Jordan Mechner's original Apple II title, Prince of Persia. Original soundtrack: https://cirrusretro.com/listen/1183-prince-of-persia-super-nintendo (Playable online) Comments: This project started as a simple training exercise to do psytrance effectwork. I've spent a few years listening to various artists to kind of reverse engineer how they create their sounds and atmospheres. I also had the idea for a while to remix the Final Battle track from PoP into a harder kind of techno thing so I used that idea as a foundation to get better at electronic genres in general. (So much automation... oof.) I realized though that the Final Battle doesn't really have much to work with so I chose to bring in the Jaffar theme that plays whenever you run into him throughout the game. It's an imposing sting and works really well. I also wanted to add a nod to the Sands of Time and subsequent titles by having a lot of time related effects like the slowdown ticking effect at the start as well as how the melody reference to the Final Battle that comes in a bit later on keeps playing a bit, then sort of reversing back and repeating, much like the gameplay as you use your dagger to reverse time. These time references also fall into the general idea of casting the hourglass spell that condemns the princess to die in 120 minutes (60 in the original Apple II game) unless she weds Jaffar. I spent quite a lot of time on this as I'm not very well versed in these genres but I'm happy with the result and hope you enjoy it. It might be a bit long and perhaps as psytrance is not always a very melody-heavy genre a bit empty of structural references to the original works but I'm hoping they come across well enough. That's up to the judges to decide. Happy (belated?) halloween. ?

Your ReMixer name Mellow Sonic Your real name Sandro Kreher Your email address Your website www.mellowsonic.de Your userid 29600 Name of game(s) arranged Ratchet & Clank Name of arrangement Droid Station Name of individual song(s) arranged Gemlik Base Composers David Bergeaud

Hello, I'm writing to submit a track for OCRemix. The track is title "Mako Power," it is a metal arrangement of "Mako Reactor from Final Fantasy VII and was featured in the Pixel Mixers Final Fantasy VII Remake tribute album, "Beneath the Stolen Sky." Contact Information: ReMixer Name: Yuki K Website: youtube.come/yukik UserID: 37024 Submission Information: Game Arranged:Final Fantasy VII Submission Title: Mako Power Source Title: Mako Reactor Original Composer: Nobuo Uematsu Link to Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nswfLcROs-0&ab_channel=Cloud183 Featured Artists: Yuki K, GuitarSVD (https://ocremix.org/artist/17052/guitarsvd, youtube.com/guitarsvd)

CONTACT INFORMATION ReMixer name: Obscure Reference Band (O.R.B.) Band members: Joseph Brenneman - clarinet Liz Woolley - electric piano Nicholas Terelle - guitar, mixing Matt Murphy - drums Bradley Mellen (userid: 18643) - electric bass, arrangement SUBMISSION INFORMATION Name of game(s) arranged: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis) Name of arrangement: Green Hill Samba Name of individual song(s) arranged: Green Hill Zone (Recorded October 2019)

Much like Schala's theme itself, this track is simple in its overall design and utilizes source components to create a composition that doesn't outstay its welcome. All melodies got used straight yet personalized within this mesmerizing EDM setup, with the CT and Gato themes getting their respective appropriate roles as closure and breaks. I love how there are moments aplenty where that familiar arpeggio got used on two separate instruments with one instance running at double-time - they both naturally gelled to me. I would've wanted more moments where the drums did the filling in and transitions to the next section rather than relying on sweeps and bells for most of the time - but they still work for catching this mellow atmosphere you went for, and I can't discredit that. Going into the mixdown, what first got my attention was the insane amount of sub-bass! I feel it takes the attention away from the mid-frequencies carrying the melodies and other pads - but at the same time, it's needed for the sweeping bass, absolutely, and it fits the euphoric direction. Talking of sweeps, the amount of attention to articulations and effects on your synths makes things feel lively, and it's not just the bass with its pitch bending and swells. The sweeps and arpeggios had volume fades utilized well, the side-chaining is tastefully light, and I also sensed tasteful use of delay, reverb, and even distortion to add life to the mix. Top that with a clean mixdown despite the low-end bias, and I feel this is a very fitting debut. If you're looking to make VGM arrangements with EDM arrangements, you ticked off all the right boxes on that first submission. A groove can come in many shapes and forms, so I hope you'll find ways to keep building on that in the future - but for now, it's worth showcasing here as a fresh take on a common source. Nice going, Kris! YES

Hello, ReMixer name: Jack Forceman Email address: UserId: 28858 Name of game arranged: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Genesis) Name of arrangement: Azure Trance Name of individual song arranged: Azure Lake Theme Additional comment: Track was arranged way back in 2012, and put away in a "time capsule". Now I decided to put it out for public enjoyment, as I currently spend more time composing music, although still as a hobby.

This arrangement is another example of the source material having so little to work with and yet getting plenty of mileage. It's also all about the textural variations - it starts with referencing the same piano and brass writing as the source, then going straight into metal-city from 0:37 onwards. From that point, I can flick anywhere in the track and recognize melody use on the guitar, melody in the background during a guitar solo or the chord progression - dominant yet the varied rhythm guitar and drum writing helps keep everything fresh. There are two little nitpicks I have in this one, though. Firstly, part of the guitar solo at 1:22 had details strayed away from the established chord progression. Those lead arpeggios went through F and G chords as the backing went with G and D. Technically, they're all in key, but the notation isn't very complimentary - and luckily enough, the problem only lasts for a fleeting moment, so it's no dealbreaker. I also would've liked another break in the track like you did at 1:48 so the second half doesn't drag on energy-wise, but the textural changeups help mitigate any impact, so it also feels fine as it is. I did have to go back and forth over the production values, though. The best part of this mixdown is easily the recording quality and tight performances between both yourself and TBR - they've all been mixed to a tee with such raw power and are so well synergized with each other that it's worth the price of admission. TBR also did well with opting for some poppier snare and tom tones, though, especially to poke through the low-end emphasis. Said skewing could get attributed to the down-tuned guitars - but I'm able to identify all the parts in the mix, so it all checks out for me. I agree with Larry regarding the opening 30 seconds and rigid sequencing, leaving a rough first impression. The piano's delay and reverb on the brass helped add some life, but that stiffness remains. They're only super prominent for that initial stretch and the ending, so it's not too bad - but it's worth experimenting with articulations, humanizations, and layers in the future. The sudden cut-off at the end of the track would need to get fixed before posting, but I'm sure either you or any of us staff can sort it out. It's a track with a few small flaws, especially regarding pacing and synth programming - but the pros easily outweigh the cons. The source went through plenty of textural shifts, your performance and recording quality are top-notch, and there had been some careful decisions in the mixdown to find frequencies that complement each other. It all adds up to a great OCR package, and I hope the feedback in the overall thread will help you out on future projects! YES

Yeah, source usage was never a problem, to begin with - and adapting it to an unusual time signature drew my attention on first listen. The adaptation had a lot going for it right out of the gate - fitting the opening piano riff to establish an early groove, then the A section's melody at 0:44 and letting it shift among the soundscape. It relied on manipulated direct audio for 13 seconds at 1:13, which I can put aside as it's very brief - then building up more of the groove via variations on that intro riff. The break at 1:54 was welcome, allowing the bells to bring in the B section within the sea of gratuitous detuning - and once gone, there's this return to the established riff and some last-minute noodling on the top, before returning to melody A to close it out. It's one of those examples where not all resources got used, and those that did are some background ones hardly anyone would expect - but everything picked out appropriately fit this minimal lo-fi direction to a tee. I was more on the fence with the production values, but it has more merits than flaws. The sound palette chosen is fun, with great use of echoed bells, plucked synths, mellotrons, and pitched-down percussion. Yes, there is a fair amount of distortion involved, and the mixdown leans towards some warm sounds with hardly any high-end presence and risk of burrowing instruments that use source fragments. But when paired with the intentionally staggering drums and use of detuning, it gives me the idea that those decisions were intentional. Even with the warm mixdown direction, I still felt able to hear the parts with their roles in the mix and feel they've been balanced with care while confining to genre norms. Overall, I heard a creative take both on the arrangement and production side, with techniques that may throw the casual listener into a loop. I love the 5/4 and genre adaptations more than the presentation aspect myself, but I can see others appreciating it from different angles - and well worth making an impact on the front page. Great work, Jordan! YES

Hi, Here's my submission of a track from Final Fantasy VII. Submission information: Game: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Name: Black Suits Song arranged: Turks' Theme Contact information: ReMixer name: infinitytone Real name: Karol Kosacki Email address: Website: https://www.youtube.com/infinitytone userid: 34463 Collaborator: subversiveasset Email address: Andrew contributed his fantastic saxophone skills to the track. Hope you have fun listening and have a great week! Best, --- Karol (Charles) Kosacki | Infinity Tone https://www.youtube.com/c/infinitytone http://infinitytone.com

This track is an interesting one - you may have said it's a more cerebral track, but source use is straightforward to spot in reality. I can flick just about anywhere in the audio, and I'd hear either the B section's chord progression, the synth pattern from that same segment, or the BGM's primary bass riff. Many of the arrangement qualities come from the underlying textural shifts from underneath, with the source anchoring their meandering progression. For a track that aimed to focus on sudden momentum changes, much of the composition feels surprisingly logical and non-jarring, with moments like sudden texture appearances and dropouts, brief gaps of silence (1:31), and expected volume shifts (0:21, 2:17) providing the bulk of it. Even the unusual 7-semitone-up key change mid-way got a fitting segue with the field recording use at 1:41, transitioning into the use of volume fades to bring the new synth tones in gradually. To put it simply, it's classic Michael, and I can't argue with these ideas. As expected from your musique concrete driven works, the sound design is both delicate and immaculate at the same time. You allowed for a dynamic mix, rarely relying on the audio file's ceiling or any limiter to carry the instruments through, the louder ones being low-end driven. On top of taming your transient clicks to fit them into the mix, you've thrown in so many significant effects, including reverb, reverse effects, volume envelope, pitch shifts, and EQ filters. The only instrument in your palette that confused me is the lush sounding choir at 2:17, and in comparison to the rest of your parts, it's very rigid with no articulations in place. It's more of a pad-based instrument at that point and making it more of a criticism than a dealbreaker, but it can be worth experimenting with your VST's envelopes and settings in future works if you feel confident in doing so. I feel every time I hear a piece of work from you, you're keeping on pushing the boundaries to see what kind of artform-like tracks belong on OCR, and that's what I like about you. Here, the arrangement and sound design carried both a shining mixpost quality as well as your vision on how nothing in your immediate life can get taken for granted. Cool stuff, Michael! YES

Larry got the approach analysis spot on - it was more of a case of breaking down the different patterns in the source, then using them in a unique build altogether. I was a little concerned when from 0:29-1:29, I didn't hear any of those source fragments at all - but from that point, the motifs became way more recognizable and dominant. The intro allowed a modified arpeggio from the A section to lead into the beat-building area at 0:29 - a role to play in the track despite no source use. That beat-builder section leads into a breakdown and the first appearance of the original bass riff. Pretty much from there on, you're heading into more straightforward EDM territory that primarily uses that bass or the B section's wailing lead (2:43) to ground the arrangement while using other small fragments of the source as shapable layers. For you to manipulate the bits and pieces into an entirely different composition like this is a working promise that shoots the arrangement aspect over the bar with a hop, skip, and a jump. Your chosen synth textures here fit your idea of "modern Streets of Rage remake" well - with a lot of 90s-sounding synths densely packed with layers and parameter shaping to maintain interest. As Joel said, you've also got great use of panning to let complementary sounds occupy opposing sides of the stereo field. However, the mix skews towards high-frequency EQs in the mixdown, with your synths' harmonics and effects taking more prominence over their fundamentals. This aspect sounds like it's affected the crazy -13db RMS average, making it a challenging track to present over YouTube on posting due to its lower RMS recommendations. They aren't dealbreakers in the slightest, though - as the way the synths got mixed is in such a way that there's minimal overlap, and YT recommends -14dB anyway, so you weren't too far off with that. With all the creativity taken towards both the arrangement and the sound design, I feel more than confident to approve it for the front page - and of course, any opportunity to see SoR on the front page is always a great one. Stellar work, Parker! YES

I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with Brad regarding interpretation - it deserves a lot more credit for what it set out to do. Everything that wasn't a melody or a chord sequence got thrown out of the window, not leaving much room for interpretation. It's a simple structure - bookends with the A section, with the two B section melodies having the second half of A attached to the end plus a callback in the ending. These segments have brief original performance transitions between them, utilizing arpeggios (0:35), scale descents (1:13), and delicate rubato passages (1:49). The realization on the harp gives the melodic passages life, for sure - but by stripping down the accompaniment writing to something with way less bounce than the original, you've created a fragmented take with a more ethereal mood to it - and that's very clever all on its own. The overall aesthetic is very similar to your posted vocal performance work in the past. Instead of your voice riding on top of the new age pads, we've got your lever harp in play - and assuming you used the same microphone to record it as you did your vocals, the cleaner recording quality pleasantly surprised me. The mixdown is serviceable, and you got the lead instrument's presence in the mix for sure. Yet, I feel the harp sounds a touch too warm and would blend in too much with lower notes on the pads at times - but considering the tonal spread, it's not an easy instrument to emphasize what works. It all adds up to a pleasant package - one that strips the source down and works well with what's left, one that uses its delicate qualities to carry the backing track forward, and one that made me question why you hadn't recorded a live harp sooner. It's a pleasant take that sees both the arrangement and production values over the bar for me - charming work! YES

Your selection of segments to interpret seems interesting - you based the entire groove based on its B and D sections, only going into the A section at 4:02 while closing out. You kept the textural shaping varied throughout, with the hard side-chain intro, the established four-on-the-floor groove at 0:34, the calm at 1:25, the fast pushing kicks in the pad-heavy section at 1:43, the drop to the kick drum and whole-note bass at 2:34, the closure from 2:51 onwards reprising the intro, and the calm piano wind-down ending from 4:02. This track relies more on backing arrangement and pattern shaping more than the melodies - something very unusual for Toby Fox's compositions while also shaping such a suspenseful original in a calming light. What made me go back and forth, however, was the recapitulation at 2:51. For the next 70 seconds, it repeats everything from 0:17 onward, almost note for note. Thankfully, the chill section before the drop at 3:08 had a minor textural variation with the white noise sweep and more further cymbal prominence, and the groove-based variation utilized different transitions. And 3:42 onwards dropped the keyboard part while its counterpart at 1:08 kept it in play. So after combing through, I saw past the repetition and saw some subtle textural adjustments that rightfully justify the writing on display. The mixdown isn't bad either - a little on the quiet side for EDM, but the limiter's limit parameter is the main reasoning for that. Despite all this, I hear clarity among the parts, they're all balanced well, and the way the pad and backing synths weave back and forth through the mix gives it the engaging soundscape it needed. I also felt the low impact on the kick drum, as Larry pointed out - it sounded like you chose only one low-mid-influenced sample and stuck with it. For future works, think about going for a layered kick if you return to this style. You may find a layer with some sub-bass boom, another with some defined sibilance, or combine multiple characteristics of either. It's worth experimenting and seeing what happens. As it stands, the track feels so melodically minimal, but the writing underneath provides the technical prowess and the source interpretation needed to carry it over the bar. Excellent debut there, Deion! YES