Rexy

Say what you like about Teen Agent, but even the more obscure games out there has their fair catch of catchy melody lines, and of course the Village theme is a huge standout and compliments Dan's majestic style of orchestration well. And indeed, djp may have mentioned something about Christmas in the writeup but I can indeed imagine NiGHTS on top of Twin Peaks during a gentle snowfall with that trilled intro. Going into the arrangement though, it manages to keep with the fundamentals of the source, namely going with the bass line and melody, and using it to capture something that might reflect a very lively and bustling Soviet village in mind. Even the dynamics are great, going from the dynamic louder parts that comprise of most of melody section A and the gentler contrasts of section B with the softer oboe and brass parts contrasting each other, with one of the highlights being the trilled section at 3:11 really bringing the tension for the arrangement remarkably well. The only suggestion I had would've been to either extend the trills or fade it out suddenly so that it didn't end up being so sudden, but otherwise it made for a powerful transition to that steadier-progressing ending with the key change and everything. All in all, a very sweet and well-realised work from Vampire Hunter Dan! I am sure Brandon was very proud of his contribution towards the Teen Agent project, and for me with his rising contributions in the field of orchestration it can be seen as a project highlight. Nice going!

Hearing the source tune, it reminded me that SelectaNovel covered this source during the VGMix days - good times, and I'm glad to see an arrangement of this source surface on OCR So I got to say I'm loving the funk-driven take on this one, given that the original was already kind of bass/groove heavy. Velvet's recorded guitars were extremely tasteful and have shown a great amount of precision and expression towards them, not to mention those are some sick wahs I could've even mistaken the bass for the real thing, given that there's no mention of any bass recording in the description; that's a very strong tone being given out towards it. The additional electric parts accompanying it were definitely well spaced and added to the atmosphere. To be fair, I don't really understand why it kept getting conditional/NO votes from the panel. Going by the assumption that the organ part originally had brass I could understand, but as it stands I felt it's an extremely well polished contribution towards a more underlooked game. Really digging the approach a lot, and I hope you guys come back soon

The great Radical Dreamers flood of '01. Purely a great precursor to the due attention it received leading up to Thieves of Fate. I've grown used to some of Zeratul's past electric-esque works, though admittedly a lot of these have managed to show their age by now. This, sadly, is amongst them with the out-of-date samples (particularly in the fields of percussion) and flossy equalisation, not to mention that it took about a whole minute before the source would even come in through the piano - not the most human piano in the world, but the echo and hammered chords were pretty. The variation taken on the piano leading into the ending was definitely a nice climax and managed to play around with the source melody quite well too. In regards of production it's aged quite a bit, though as an arrangement of a brief source I didn't think it was too bad for something so ambient in nature. Should be worth checking out if you're a Chrono series fan, or even if your interest is piqued in regards to this more obscure Chrono-related gem

This would probably make more sense if you heard the Alpha track before this one, especially since they were both submitted at the same time and follow the exact way of interpreting the relationship between Marathon and Halo. And indeed it follows the atmosphere quite like the Alpha one, with the acoustic bass providing the Marathon source melody and the sweeping strings providing the motifs from the Halo source doing really well to fit Nick's 'enhanced vision' soundscape ridiculously well. It may be seen as ridiculously brief, but for two games from the same developer to come into such an artistic vision in this way complete with very well panned sweeping strings and great atmospheric separation, I feel very understanding about the artistic integrity brought into it. This might split some people due to the ambient nature and/or the sheer length, but if you've got the time, then one should look up the sources beforehand and then hear the mix to purely understand its complex. It may require some thought to understand it, but once you do it makes for a very pretty listen

Sound of Speed. But bias aside, favorites thread are not tolerated here. It's not a wise idea to ask for peoples' favorite albums since that would just make certain people mad.

The ever energetic Devil's Lab. One of the more memorable source tunes from FF6. Though, I could've sworn with this one being a later discovery that it might've been up on the site much later. Looking at it again though, it does tend to get really dirty sounding with the levelling, with the pads piercing too far through the mix to really give in any sense of subtlety. The drum buildup was cool, though for a very short mix and seeing it take up nearly half the song was a little awkward for me. Outside from that, it's a straightforward interpretation complete with a weak fadeout at the end on top of the melody for some reason. I'm going to have to be fair in saying that this one didn't age as gracefully as some of the other interpretations of this same theme, most notably due to length, mixing and arrangement. I guess it could be cool to see if you like the source tune, but that's really as far as I can go for a recommendation.

Old school Palpable. I believe I heard some of his more conservative works before he ended up being a part of the panel, though never really made the name match until a few years later for some reason. So it starts out fairly cookie cutter with the drums and bass, though nicely layered and equalised drums and bass, and manages to keep its conservative nature with the melody addition just later on in the track. There may be a stale progression going on with the writing as it keeps itself very close to the source material, though I still have to say it's a very clean and well emphasized production that manages to stand strong even by today's standards. The drill/SFX breakdown at 2:29 managed to really add some variety at that point; now for me I'm usually scared of drills in mixes because they'd have THAT MUCH high end on them that it would imagine me in the dentist's chair (don't ask), but thankfully the production feels tasteful here and offers a more pleasant sensation. Arrangement-wise it may be straightforward, but I felt in regards to the execution it managed to stand the test of time fairly well. I'm going to have to admit that I didn't hear as much of Palpable's newer material within the past two years or so, but when comparing this to his Yoshi's Island entry when he became a judge, it's compelling me to righten things for the year ahead. For now, I feel good with this one

I keep the albums in folders, but all regular mixposts in a giant cluttered pile within another. Thankfully I can organise it at any time, so just looking up something by game/artist isn't really a big problem.

Very appropriate title. I'm sure between DigiE, Sir Nuts, myself, Stephen Kennedy, k-wix and probably more not on the edge of my mind having gone several years without mixposts re-surfacing this year, 2011 appears to be the "year of the comebacks", apparently. Having understand the duo's pair of fun via their contribution to Anime Remix a few years back, I'm glad to see that sense of fun managed to maintain itself well with the submission. It managed to reference the source material subtlely in the modified intro, before going into a more straightforward adaptation of the melody with enough variation and additional rhythmic elements to keep with the nostalgic feel of the source. A lot of the additions like with the subtle buildups and the vocoder voices managed to add a lot to the feel given here, and saw itself as a fitting homage towards the game. Seeing the reference towards the Power Plant from 3:15 onwards, one couldn't help but think of another person's notable homages and can be seen as a strong message of thanks towards those that have supported the duo in the past. People engrossed in the song may just see it as a fun beat driven section leading up to a last minute that seems to fuse both sources together, but as for me, paying homage to your roots with that similar attention to the texture can be seen as a very inspirational touch. The low bit rate may bother some, and to be fair I felt a little uneasy with that production addition, but with an arrangement that good I would probably let it pass. But yes, a very inspirational mix fitting the nature of nostalgia and more modern ideas, paying homage to a rather under-appreciated game score and being really gracious towards the listeners that approach it. I hope you guys keep sending more stuff down the line and top it up to some degree, because I found it to be extremely enjoyable!

Wow, the first ever submission from SnappleMan. I'd be feeling quite nostalgic just hearing how far he's been developing from here It starts out with adapting the A section for the source twice with the lead synth carrying the melody, with some tasteful harmonies being thrown in. After that it soon managed to dive into the rest of the source; even back then I am noticing that his keyboard inputting skills are extremely tight, and the added synth solo at 1:55 managed to keep adding a good sign of excitement for the setting. I'd say the arrangement, while not really ground breaking, really managed to adapt well with the site's mission at the time. The guitar performance, which is what we know SnappleMan for a lot these days, seems to be riddled with faults though; I can understand the lack of virtuosity and the sloppy timing sometimes, but there have been a clear set of times when the tuning comes off as off-key and makes it difficult to try and get a clear grasp of it. That and the rather muddy sounding recording of them these days seems to make it feel less than stellar, and may come off as more aged than quite a handful of his earlier works. But for an addition for the Star Ocean series, fans have their thrill - a nice, straightforward fast rock take. Having been accustomed to Andreas's progression as a musician over the years I probably won't see myself keeping this, but it's a great insight to see exactly how much he has developed in the years since this track's posting

Very little information about the source on this one, so I'm going to have to go by what I hear. Though, having heard the main theme at least, I do hear traces of its melody on the piano, so I think we have an idea on where we're going on this one. I admit the PS2 bootup sound does make good wind ambience, so it seemed to add a lot to this stealthy approach you got going in the intro. The simple pizz strings and piano combination ended up being affective, and seeing it built up with the strings as well (and much later on a flute part) managed to provide that suspenseful feeling towed in. It's a simple setting now in comparison to some of Jared's later works, but the instruments were well emphasized and neatly stood strong amidst the setting. Though like a lot of his works at the time, they tended to have a very stagnant set of dynamics, and the instruments themselves carry very little humanisation other than some subtle velocity alterations, most notably on the piano. I have known that he has improved on his works since, and even his arranging ability, but I still have to say that for something that's nearly 10 years old it has a pretty decent soundscape to it. I'm not sure if everyone would probably get this due to the source game or even whether they'd even pinpoint a source material to the mix, or even understand the feel, but it's definitely one of Jared's more overlooked arrangements and should be worth at least trying, even though it doesn't seem to break any revolutionary ground.

I'm kind of shaky about this as well. Aside from the drum progression (which I admit has some good writing once it gets going) and the panned strings at the end, this is practically a note for note adaptation for the original with very little else going on. I could think it barely survived the lockdowns for the very few changes slipped in, so on that note I'm not really too thrilled about this one

Yaay, The Coop. Between this and his Thunder Force works, I can easily see shooters working remarkably well for his style. Considering that he used MIDI/keyboard soundbanks - and still does now given his recent Concrete Man work - this is actually a well programmed and dynamic track for the most part; it does suffer a bit from a low volume that's often associated with these soundbanks but it's made up for with some interesting controller manipulation (most often with panning and pitch shifting) and thickening textures that work well for their time. Arrangement-wise, it manages to show its ties to the source but also takes directions of interest with many of the little florishes thrown in. That flute solo at 2:15 was seen to be a good highlight, with some very well controlled pitch shifting work and subtle attention paid towards it. And the writing surrounding it manages to fit very well with The Coop's playful direction. It's a shame now that he doesn't submit much music anywhere these days, though his presence has still been held tight with his colorful "Jon Talbain and the Smiley" animated gif signatures which have been a real pleasure to gawk at over the years. Hopefully one of these days he may make a resurgance as a musician, but for what it is, it's fine for its time (EDIT: And yes Bahamut, parts of the tailend of the source DOES kind of resemble "Ryu's Determination" from Ninja Gaiden, so if you felt a similarity to its writing somewhere, you now know how )

A 2001 mix, covering a very unmelodic source. I know it's Streets of Rage, but it makes it hard to evaluate in regards to arrangement standards. Admittedly there seems to be some good synth manipulation work with the amount of decay and variety of textures being brought into the track. It stays fairly well towards the source, but even then it only really used the accompaniment part as just the main beef for the track. The driving percussion actually feels really weak and muffled, and even then I felt really questioned about the ending with the voice samples in; seemed to feel out of place. In regards to setting, this one didn't quite age as gracefully as some of the other tracks I've seen around here. It can be fun if you like the game, but otherwise I can't really make a serious recommendation

I admit, clicking on his Wikipedia page made me want to take a quick OCR break just to hear some of his Guitar Hero based contributions to Video Games Live. Quite impressive! Onto the mix itself. It's a 16 measure source, so in spite of its simplicity I can see it working for a good rocking expansion. Hearing it, this has to be a very clean production with all the guitar parts being made distinctively clear, and that is already distinctively sick :3 In regards to arrangement, it starts out pretty well with a straight variation of the theme, then an original section, and repeated with a third and final variation for the ending. The original sections manage to refer to parts of the melody, though the real meat can be seen in the second original melody with that really precise finger-blistering solo - that had my jaw dropping so much at the sheer amount of attention being paid towards it That said, a short but VERY SWEET arrangement with a very highly polished set of production values to go with it. vertexguy managed to grasp the concept with this submission, and so I really hope he would come back again in the near future

Goa trance. The one genre that seemed to be a taboo subject when I was starting out. But hearing it as it is, it starts out pretty cool with the filtered rhythmic buzzed synth, and throughout we had this nice clean dance setup that managed to work out for the most part; nothing too spectacular but still a pleasant listen. What seems to be my biggest concern though is that it seemed as if most of it so ended up being a build entirely based on the first 4 bars of the source; a little difficult to make the identification. It does take a slightly more recognisable form at around 2:15 with the strings resembling the last 8 bars of the source, but even then the arrangement becomes really difficult to make out. I'd say it's a rather liberal arrangement, and thus I'm not too sure over how this managed to make the pass onto the site. Either way, I'm sure some fans of the game may probably identify the source better than I could; it's not a bad trance-sounding entry from ArseAssassin, but I'm just not really won over in regards to the arrangement and its liberalities taken. I'm sorry man

A more basic 2000 mix, and that can be noted pretty evidently with the sample quality and minimal processing (aside from some minor bass synth filtering and high-shelved drums at the 1 minute mark). It's got energy easily with the choice of sounds and use of expolosions (which I admit does get overdone as time goes on), and for its at-the-time stance I'd say it's a pretty cool take that seemed to age a little more gracefully than some of the other releases that year. Not bad stuff from Evil Horde

Not necessarily, Nonamer. Sometimes the pages are made BEFORE the Youtube videos are hosted (case in point: many of the Wild Arms mixposts last week), but usually the vid and mix post page are posted within hours of each other anyway, so there we go. And yes, do what these guys said and subscribe on Youtube/the RSS. It's good notification

As far as I know, Kefka never got that fanfare; his destruction led to the destruction of the Espers, hence why this seemed more appropriate as we, the Review Knights, keep reviewing our way out of Kefka-DarkKing-OA's tower as it is destroyed.

Doc Nano strikes again! My jaw dropped at his performance ability when I saw his debut on "Dancing Leaves", so I'm all set to see it happen again. So indeed the intro does indeed carry a similar moode to Godofsky's arrangement of "The Swan", while being able to use the intro's rhythm patterns into good effect. And even when the melody came in, there's been enough recognisability for the source while still meaning for going into interpretation of the source. The "Wind Scene" cameos at around 1:15 and later at 2:20 made brilliant bridges, and managed to help transition this added feeling of dynamic nature towards it, which is definitely a good thing to go for. Even the louder parts were well expressed for the most part, and managed to give in that good attentive nature to it. I do have one little tip if you're going to be using this dynamic contrast - try and watch the piano notes' attack when going louder. You managed to get this contrast working well, but I felt as if the attack was a little too soft to really match the full blown effect of the execution. If you can't cut the attack any further, then all I could really suggest was layer staccato notes over the top in post-production; it's a strange idea, but having handled piano production many times before it's definitely no easy task. Regardless, a wonderful arrangement from Emory and a very sweet performance from Doc Nano! I think it's a little too exciteable for me to weep at though, but your mileage may vary; either way, I'm game to see what either of you would come up with next

More like the other way round. My Plant Barrier can't do much other than be my line of defense, while you and your Top Spin has the potential to see everything.

Well, even with OA down, and still recovering from the status effect of Slow, I should still aim for a full 200 reviews before the month is out. I am sure I can do this - for the good of the people

I'm not really too sure about that thin snare intro (which similarly gets repeated in the interlude in the middle); there's definitely some good articulation, but it doesn't tend to provide that impending marching feel to it. But then with the guitars coming in with thicker drums and the shifting synth, that's where we can see that industrial metal influence to it; more Nine Inch Nails than KMFDM imo, but the texture managed to work shakingly well. Albeit, I'm not too sure about the break at 1:45 with the random switch to 909 percussion and lighter synths; it ended up switching the atmosphere completely from what had been intended. The writing itself was good with it though, and to see it move into the guitars for the end was firm enough in regards to the feel. I may have talked about the feel a lot, but that's what the source was hoping to ask. Luckily the arrangement was well structured and manipulated given the more chord-based nature of the source material, and the production (aside from some of the thinner drum notation) worked well for the most part. It's not often we see much love for the Command & Conquer series, but given that this seems to be a series favorite amongst fans, it's worth looking into and checking out surely for the nostalgia value for it. There may have been some production imperfections, but it also somehow stood up strong considering its age, which is definitely a plus. Should be worth checking out if you're a fan at least.

I remembered Ryu7x's works fondly from the VGMix era. They may have had a more simple way of writing trance even back then, but there were often moments of just plain lighthearted cheesy fun to be had with them. Though, given that this is indeed a 2002 track arranging what appeared to be a more complex fighting game based source than the usual, considerations are indeed taken in regards to writing and articulation. Indeed, the arrangement does show itself to be straight-forward, but enough extensions have been done to the structure to give in that more full-fledged touch to it. While the samples themselves feel wonderful for their time, they do indeed seem to age in regards to the articulation and presentation as nothing much had been done towards the synth texture, and this is made even more evident with a severe lack of punch during the fills. I can however compliment on something in regards to the production - the enveloping on the swelling strings at 2:25 were a cool touch and managed to pass in a more engaging texture. So indeed it may have shown its age, and may even be more cookie cutter now than it was back then, but it's a simple track that provides a set of fun towards arranging Pullum's theme and should be worth checking out if you're a fan of the game/source. Very sweet work

Steve Pordon had that imperfectionalist approach to his work, but often he brings in so many ideas in regards to arrangement and variation thereof. It's a difficult source to work with as well, since it's basically one big buildup on that same 16 note rhythm pattern for most of it. Thankfully there's been some good attention paid to it with some solid gate and filtering work done towards the countermelody synth that managed to give it some life, and some good shaking up of the progression throughout. It has this clean quality for even a 2001 mix, though it ended up similarly coming at a cost with a minimalist atmosphere and a subdued drum set that have made this age with time. It's a cute one to see if you're a Pulseman fan though. It's obvious that it's shown a considerable amount of age, but I still found it to be a pleasant listen, even if it's nothing really too revolutionary.