Rexy

11MB? Wait a sec; what's the new cap on file submissions? I would've assumed it was 10 after bLiNd's submission earlier, but now you've got me intrigued. So admittedly, I hadn't heard Stephen's Batman track. But I have a vague familiarity with his work for Majestic Mix, so I shouldn't be considered completely out of the blue. It starts out pretty creepy with some nice gate and ambient processing over the original choir, before shifting the soundscape over Stevo's guitar playing with the melody, gradually shifting in more electronic sounds within this soundscape. This build soon culminates into a late-80s-euphoria groove at around 2:30, wasn't too keen on the transition into it, but the enhancing of the soundscape since has managed to make it worthwhile for me, whether it be Stevo's acoustic guitar solos (that one to close the track was similarly pretty), further shifting with the soundscape with some tasteful polysynth attacking and some sweet sweeping strings later on. It may have taken more of a liberal direction with the choir's melodies as the track drew on, but the vague similarities taken on throughout still make it shine through. I know that Stephen may have wanted the electric guitar part to sound more mechanical, but I personally believe it comes down to the strength of the sample. And to be fair, I don't think it has the right kind of expression to give towards the track, so I'm not sure if it was a wise move. Luckily its presence is sparse at best, so it may be seen as a passing blur. Regardless, it's a very surprising track to close out the album's initial mixflood with, and with the 10 year gap between posts, it's a sign of saying that one should never officially call it quits with the OCRemix community if their heart is still there. A neatly interpreted track from the Two Steves™

A 4 measure long source. Tricky source to go for, but having seen Theophany's growth within the past year, I'm on solid expectations. It starts out now with some lovely echoed percussion over sweeping strings, namely music boxes and tambourines, creating this more etheral soundscape. When audio fidelity's bowed guitar came in along with the booming taikos (soon followed by bowed orchestrated strings), you've got the core components of the atmosphere's shifting for sure. Structure-wise it remains very close to the source (though given the length that can be excused), though there has been so much detail placed towards the shifting soundscape that really makes it click. Production-wise, it can be seen as one of Theo's most detailed and experimental ones with the eerie echo and the implimentation of the bowed guitar; if anything I think the taikos might've overdone it in regards to levels, or that the symphonic strings should've probably had a little more expression especially closer towards the end, but they may be seen as nitpicks to what can be seen as a totally fresh mixing direction. So yes, I really dig this a lot And between this and "Avien", I am with high hopes that Theophany will continue to deliver as a musician and even explore more of the unconventional within the not-so-distant future. Nice going!

Given the use of rhodes in the original, I can definitely see how something of this nature would fit wonderfully for Diggi Dis's rhodes driven style. Indeed it did with the original's intro being handled note for note, before it got expanded with a good hint of phatbeetzville on his end to give in more of his signature style. That feel is maintained when going into the more majestic riff of the source, similarly following safe but also incorporating some of his key/synth solo magic. I sure as hell can't identify the chanting, but they did indeed bring in this driven march approach that would get the listener pumped - very appropriately fitted. It's a sharp setting as we've come to expect from the Bad Dudes roster, but I'm not too sure about the acoustic guitar that came in at 1:25 - it does indeed sound very sweetly recorded, but the attack on the strings feels very harsh to me to really appreciate properly; could there have been a way to EQ the strum attack out, possibly lowering the high end? Either way, I'm guessing it would be a lot less harsh to listen to on speakers as opposed to headphones though, so that's something to bear in mind when approaching the track with your listening setup of choice. That irk aside, it's still a classy arrangement to go by, and one that shows off Diggi Dis's style in a very upbeat and classy fashion. Between this and "Voodoo, Roots n' Grog", I can say that his style has been amplifying tenfold over the past year, and I hope to see it keep growing within 2012 as well

Yeah, looking at the 10MB size I was all "what happened, is this an exception to the 8MB rule?" and then realised that there was indeed a size modification again. What a way to trigger it though with one of bLiNd's trance works, and a very fitting one at that to capture a certain change in life too. Arrangement-wise, it manages to capture the source's minimalist nature remarkably well and does well to refer to the theme, though in a rather safe trance structure. That's definitely not a bad thing as it gives bLiNd a lot of headroom to work with in regards to his production skills - I believe some of these elements like the side-chaning air effects and swelling bass being somewhat leftover components from his SDB track "Dodge This Sakura" - and classy echo/ambience work brought on some of the higher synths to give in more of a dreamy edge towards it. While I can understand his life connection towards it, the main beef I have towards the track though is that the breakdown in the middle, while reflective, does tend to stick around for a bit too long, and when the beat comes back in the soundscape still feels somewhat subdued. For some it may not be a bad thing as it kind of reminds me of Chicane's discography with that method, but it should still be something to keep in mind if looking for trance arrangements on the site - be wary of the direction. All in all, a very solid arrangement, and one I can sense that has had a lot of heart put into it. Jordan, make sure you keep Jennifer safe for us; you've managed to find a great spouse to pour your feelings into your music with, and it shows. And I am definitely game to see how far your arrangement capabilities will go from here, so here's to the future

Very Western source. I can see how he might've wanted to go in a Morricone direction initially, but I'm glad enough that he managed to come through with something regardless of change. So it starts off beautifully with some nice lone acoustic work to the fitting abyss soundscape, before steadily building its way to the melody at 0:54. Anyone who's heard Stevo's works in the past should understand his style of arranging, though he does everything possible to shake things up within the backing elements and manipulation of the melody between the two main riffs. It's still a very classy arrangement and fits well with his more 'alternative' musicality. I give credit where credit is due; sometimes when hearing some of his work his timing can be off, usually with the leads or rhythms, but this time around I've managed to sense more of a sense of tightness this time around. And for most of the time the production managed to come through with some well filled out space with the recorded guitars; not sure if I'm a fan of the chippy synth accompanying the wolf whistle right at the end as tended to pierce a little bit through my speakers, but it's still a pretty way to end it. So, way to go Stevo! What a way to lead the mix post flood for the Wild Arms album; I can say you made Jade proud

Whew, finally got a first render done of the track. Sometimes the production thing doesn't quite go as planned, with some layers having to be cut or exported separately just to save memory, but I'd say that so far the results are turning out very sexy for me. :3 (inb4 it doesn't pick up the votes for reasons beyond me @_@)

Been too busy working on my Wily entry this week to even think about reviewing just yet. I wanted to go all out on that. Also, has anyone even joined me on the "I reviewed everything with less than 10 reviews" list yet? Because last I checked, just less than 50 remain. including both of mine... Not quite sure what are peoples' motives to review these days, but go ahead and look up those lesser-loved songs - you may fall in love with something (like with me and Dr. M's Castlevania Bloodlines track ).

I'm pretty sure my mix will have more cheese than yours. Or even if it doesn't have as much cheese, the cheese itself would have more of a kick; kind of like a smoked aplewood flair. :3 Alas, I got the arrangement set in stone. I need to really flesh it out over the next few days and really make the cheese stand strong

Well, it's a day gone, I've got 90 seconds of material, and I'm starting to wonder if adapting to this kind of genre is even considered a good idea. xD But I wanted to make something fun sounding, which was pretty much the main intent. Also, what the hell happened to halc this week?

They're just not here for some reason. I've no idea what's happening on Shariq's end, but I am sure the tracks will surface soon.

So while browsing around the site within the past week, and ultimately even downloading some tracks that I hadn't heard before, I've noticed when looking towards a handful in Windows Explorer that some of them were tagged as track '0' in the track number tag. I first noticed it with a mutagene track that I thought should've been taken down in one of the lockdowns (thanks for the clarification Larry), though then I noticed it again when going on a Link's Awakening download spree tonight and noticing it on both of Scott Peeples's contributions. Is there any explanation why some of the tracks were tagged this way? Is it a marking to suggest that they should be taken down when the new torrents were up (just as stated with the mutagene track), or is it seen as some kind of error? Whatever's up with these tracks, I'd definitely appreciate the response

And I'll chip in with the set for this round. On this note, I have successfully made a clean sweep over the tracks with less than 10 reviews - is there anyone who is willing to join me? ...and give reviews on my own in the process? hehe Dec 17 Final Fantasy 5 "In the Shadows" Rad Racer 2 "Fire in the Fires" Return All Robots! "Robotastic Dub-O-Matic Genetic Lab" Dec 21 Wild Arms "Fireflight" Wild Arms "Godspeed" Wild Arms "Holy Mother!" Wild Arms "Return to Dust" Wild Arms "Succumb to the Wilderness" Wild Arms "The Long Journey Ahead" Dec 23 Wild Arms "Desirous Sacrifice" Wild Arms "Telepathic Tower" Wild Arms "Unstoppable" Wild Arms "What's Left" Dec 24 Metroid "KR44441D" Dec 25 (wut) Earthbound "The Great Blizzard of '9X" Post-Battle Dec 26 Final Doom "The Calling" Final Fantasy 7 "A Life Without Parole" Lunar "Meribia Nights" Manic Mansion "Flashbulb Junk" Pulseman "Stereo Superhero" Red Alert "Hell March (Red Snare)" Street Fighter EX plus Alpha "Pullum Summer Trance Mix" Top Gear "Rockabilly ~ Dark Gear ~ Surfing Gear" Wizards & Warriors "Grosse Lederhosen" Zanac "X-Mix" Dec 27 Darius "Silverhawk Legacy" Duck Tales "Ebbed Tides and Webbed Feet" Kabuki Quantum Figher "Take the Red Pill" Mega Man 2 "Evil Horde Heat Man" One Must Fall 2097 "One Must Rise 2011" Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear "Mystery of a Planet" Star Ocean: Blue Sphere "Killer Dokko" Street Fighter 2 "Frets of Fury" Streets of Rage "The Last Dragon" Zelda 2 "Temple Trippin'" <--- my shortest contribution yet? Dec 28 Blaster Master "Amphibian" Final Fantasy 6 "Devil's Lab (Acid Mix)" Final Fantasy 6 "Searching the Woods" Life Force "Temple of Life" Marathon "The Forerunner Mix (Beta)" Radical Dreamers "Reve d'Ordinateur" SimCity 2000 "SimFunkadelic" Teen Agent "A Village's Welcome" Tetris "Techtris Type Z" Uru "Thanks for Dinner" Dec 29 Blaster Master "Der Uberfrosh" Chrono Trigger "Lavos Battle dnBoss" Final Fantasy 4 "Treason" Mega Man 2 "Cranium Castle" Mega Man 3 "Serpent's Spiral" Pokemon Red "Blue Haze" Shadowgate "Crypt Rock" Star Control 2 "Property of the Crimson Corporation" Tales of Symphonia "The Fall of Iselia" Wizards & Warriors "CheDDer" Dec 30 Final Fantasy 4 "Edward's Dream Quartet" Legend of the Mystical Ninja "From Ghosts Emerge Beasts" Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Gerudo JV" Mega Man 2 "Tekno Wily" Radical Dreamers "The Furthest Promise" Sorcerian "Cursed Piano" Super R-Type "Solitary Flight 2002" Xenogears "Koiji na Shi no Genchou" Dec 31 Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening "Forest of Hysteria" Super Castlevania IV "Shaolin's Cave" Wizball "Transformation" Limit Break Reviews: 14 Post-Battle Reviews: 51 Total Reviews: 200

Strangely, the sources seem to sound as if they'd want to adapt to reggae, ESPECIALLY the Main Theme. So I say you went for something rather tasteful with the genre adaptation. So the track arrangement-wise has "Jamaican Cyberturtle" as the front piece, though the cameos thrown into the game's main theme managed to fit in appropriately within the set too. This genre adaptation kind of works appropriately with the ambience and the envelopes that kind of give that 'creatures living on top of the water' vision towards it. There are indeed a couple of parts throughout the song that rises the track into more of a cacophony of textures - fitting Matt's maximalist approach - and even then they seem to take more of a backseat to the minimalist dub writing that makes this atmosphere so unique. Also, is that live bass at the 3 minute mark? I swore that slap feels somewhat distinct, and I somehow feel clueless for not seeing you able to carry that forward before To me, this feels so relaxed and chilled; a completely different writing-based vision to zircon's score, but I personally felt it all paid off by providing a very rare laid back experience, complete with a light hint of tia maria in the mix. (don't ask where I got that from, haha) Nice going!

Short but sweet. Going to be an interesting week for me as I attempt to mix this one for the BGR. >:]

That actually reminds me of my OWN Maths teacher at High School; while I did indeed excel at the subject, his motto even from his OWN studies were "math first, eat later", at least from all the stories he told.

I remember being fond of what Stevo did for Gran Turismo, so I'm game to see what he could do with other games in the genre. So it's basically theme-theme-original-theme in terms of structure; a safe one, but it works well for radio. The solos over the top at 1:05 were also classy, and both of these managed to give more warmth to the track's substance; we rarely associate Stevo with synth solos for that matter too, and while the one that was incorporated felt more subtle, it did indeed feel poppy and appropriate. Even the original writing starting at the 2 minute mark managed to dive more into Ste's racing desire with some well-attented building before going into the last riff of the theme I give particular attention towards the drum writing here; the production may still leave a bit to be desired especially with some of the loud claps coming in during the B sections of the themes, but the amount of attention paid to the notation and the fills have shown that he knows how to bring excitement into the fray for these racing type mixes. All in all, a fun track covering a more obscure game. It may be safe, but we couldn't really expect much more from such an upbeat source, and Stevo managed to handle it with the right appropriate attention. Nice work

If only if he was around for the third PRC anniversary, you could've easily had this set for then. But even then, to see the source tune worked upon for The Fabled Warriors for a more minimalist sneaking arrangement managed to set the bill just fine. In comparison to some of Matt's other works, it has more of a minimalist quality for it, which is emphasized by a lot of detail given to just pizzicato strings, lead/rhythm synths and chimed organs; definitely an eye towards the feel and what can be considered his strengths. The arrangement itself was also just fine as well; playing along with solid interpretations on the A section while fitting in a more straight-interpreted B section on the way, and to see the pizzicato being brought down to half-speed to interpret that sneaking feel in comparison to the rest of the core components of the original, it has definitely shown Matt's eye for arrangement for sure. So, a nice quirky arrangement for a project like this; may not quite get everyone though due to the scope of works Matt has sent already, but I consider it to be something that could gague your interest if you take a more open-minded approach

Being a girl, it's more natural for me to take out the Deia tentacle. >__> And bringing up something from the IRC last night: So this means for this next form, I'm using a fresh post. Not a problem, I can set links between the two for the grand total. As for this, like in true boss fashion, I'm going to have to count links added in after the form is revealed. We can get there before New Year's Eve! Plus, there's still 53 songs having not received 10 reviews yet - I can't risk any more sacrifices like with the last form x_X

*looks down at the floor* I sense a heavily overweight presence... it's not Star Salzman, is it?

Aaaand Lidawg lands a critical hit! And for clarification, here's how I tallied things up: Gario - 10 GravitySuitCollector - 1 Nonamer - 6 Bahamut - 88 Rexy - 135 Mirby - 8 hakstock - 2 Crulex - 63 Cash and Change - 6 Locke - 10 Level 99 - 5 diotrans - 2 DarkSim - 3 Brandon Strader - 11 HitoriJaNai - 20 NegimaSonic - 8 Lidawg - 27 Melbu Frahma - 21 Meteo Xavier - 2 Chernabogue - 5 Koriantor - 3 Nutritious - 1 Kengou Labz - 2 Crossing - 5 evktalo - 1 Palpable - 8 Neblix - 8 Review Total: 461 We deduct OA's 37 reviews from that total to give us a full set of 424 reviews (21,200 HP Damage) - what a way to take him down! I guess all we need to do now is see what would happen to his disintegrating body...... o_O

Entering the last review for the first form of OA's diabolical usurping of OCR... on ONE OF HIS OWN WORKS. This to me has a cute sounding approach; blending elements of pop rock with more electric elements to fit a more laid back and contemporary handling of the source material. Even after the 1 minute mark, there's been enough to give to the writing and way of handling the accompaniment, and with the half-speed section after it, mind-blowing solos (especially that synth one!!) and the brief key change, you can't help but feel something rather joyous with it overall. It might be something to expect on DK's radio when he becomes old and gray. In spite of this, I felt the tail ends were a little weak - not sure if going for a fadeout for a song of this length was the best idea, and even then I laughed at the intro; it's cute, definitely, but I'm not sure if everyone would probably get the gag. (Don't worry, I did... hehe. ) Very fun track all around, OA! And even though you may be busy being a Head Judge now, I'm sure you'll still have musical class for 2012

Total Reviews: 453 (-22650 HP) OA Reviews: 37 (+1850 HP) CURRENT STATUS: 200/21000 We are FOUR REVIEWS away from the end! Let's not burn off now O____o

"What the Forest Taught Me". A simple source with a lot of high end instrumentation, so it's good to see an interpretation of it down the line. Suffice to say, it doesn't deviate from the source much, but it did end up swapping away the original woodwinds and flute for mainly pitched percussion and plucked strings. The strings do eventually come through at 1:55 accompanied by a timpani, and the woodwinds much later at 3:00 in the form of a bassoon part, though in both cases they were there to provide some more original backing, which I thought was a good touch. It does get a little experimental past 1:08 with the strange master panning; it may be seen as a more obsolete panning trick now, but seeing it used in several parts throughout in transitions between riffs was quite trippy and somewhat fitting the more experimental nature of the 2002 era. To be fair, I have indeed witnessed better patches being used for the instrument sounds at that time too; here, most of the sounds except for maybe the chorused piano came off as rather MIDI-like, so maybe some careful attention towards the controllers for realism and articulation probably would've done this some good if no enhancements could be done towards the original sound. As it is, it's a pleasant listen (albeit tickly with the chorused rhodes panning through headphones), though nothing too groundbreaking. If you're wanting a Secret of Mana arrangement in any shape or form, then I don't see why you shouldn't go for this one, but don't expect a re-invention of the source.

halc's contributions to the Pokemon project have been very stellar, from all his collabs to even his solo work, and this final piece of the trifecta with him and Benjamin Briggs that I'm witnessing has escalated it sweetly. Even his expansions taken towards the simple Pallet Town theme have managed to show some solid skills as a writer. It starts off simply with an interpretation of the Gold/Silver version, before going onto a more tasteful set of writing with the synths at hand and some classy piano parts; not humanised though, but given the chippy style it's fine enough with just the velocities given some variation. The careful manipulation towards the synths and accessibility to the role can be seen stylistically similar to the more recent "Spring Junkie" for The Sound of Speed, all the way down to the tempo decrease and filtering at the end. Basically, it may be seen as halc by numbers, but with all the careful backing attention taken towards the source it can be seen as bliss for Pokemon fans. Even the Ho-Oh cry being squeezed in was appropriate; considering that in the animé Ash ran into one during his travels to Viridian City, it manages to fit the concept really well, in that the world of Pokemon is absolutely huge. Could it be seen as a somewhat coincidental acknowledgement to the animé's pilot? That said, a very solid arrangement from halc! And let's see him keep working his pixelated magic well into 2012

When in doubt, settle for the best of both worlds. And remember, Brandon and I are open any time to see what's going on