Rexy

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

I acknowledged this on a Follow Friday segment via my Twitter page upon the project's release; the original itself was nothing more than a simple repetitive cutscene cue, and to see bLiNd do THIS much with the source was what blew my mind a heck of a lot. So to see it in a more elaborate stance, the programming variety towards the synths, from some subtle sidechaining on the bass and electronic percussion, the occasional master gate work in favor of some subtle ambience throughout various transitions, some envelope work towards the bass that gives the feel of a dubstep wobble without not actually being a dubstep bass, and some downright ridiculous gliding on the wet-to-dry melodic synth at 3:45 among other examples that I probably can't pinpoint right now have again shown bLiNd's strengths in the fields of production. And with most of the attention paid towards that simple progression and building upon it, we can say that he had a clear artistic vision towards handling the source material, and for Back In Blue, it can be seen as a huge surprise entry. I have to admit though, the ending to me felt a bit weak with deciding to just bring down the melodic progression to what appears to be the start of a third riff that apparently never happened. But that can be the only real issue that I have with a track as mind-boggling as this, and if he's able to handle these shorter source tracks with that kind of feel, goodness knows how he'd handle other similar ones. Again, nice going bLiNd, and we're hoping for more of you in 2012!

Having now understood the Rocky-based backstory (which a certain young male family member has an obsession for), and been more intimate with the remix, it'll be considerably easier for me to make a firm evaluation on. So it starts off definitely paying homage to the setting for the Rocky 4 training montage with the sweeping strings and build with the bass and chorused rhodes, before going straight towards the interpretation as it is. True to his words, this and the Training Montage source have a ridiculously similar feel towards each other, but the decision to give it more melodic substance via the use of "Jamaican Cyberturtle" and using it appropriately to give in melodic substance was definitely a solid idea. Even Will's penchance for original writing, from brief solo at around 1:35 and 2:30, to even that key substansive segment at 2:50 complete with the rising chord with the shifts every 3 steps or so, gave it as much of his style as much as it did zircon's, and with such care handled to the expression it shows his attentive style very appropriately. And another thing I can give credit for is that with some of the careful attention being paid towards some of the writing, this is amongst some of Will's strongest percussion sequences that I have seen; yes, I know I keep looking at his drum work but with a style like this you're pretty much expected to keep the excitement rolling, and indeed it did with changing time signatures every now and again, well articulated fills and plenty of variation. Excellent work! I say you paid homage to zircon's material extremely well, while still being able to maintain that hint of light-heartedness that we've come to expect from you. Classy work Will

I can feel for the writing intent here - nothing is more critical than knowing that you've come down weak, possibly with an illness so terminal that you may be left to die in due time if it can't be cured. It can apply really well towards terminal illness patients, and I can understand how your style managed to fit so well with the recent Songs for the Cure album set. And Stevo's warm playing style worked really well with this transformation; the prelude section at the beginning, while a little indistinct and with thoughts that it could've been fleshed out a little bit, managed to set the tone well; and by the time "Dear Friends" came in with practically a straight interpretation give or take some nice variation in the acoustic melody performance within the last minute, it managed to give that feeling of hope towards it at the end. Shaun's mastering managed to give it a strong lease of warmth too, and with that kind of partnership working really well over the years we can see that he's got a keen eye on making these elements work. To be fair though, I was kind of hoping for more - the track set the mood for the vision wonderfully well, but I wasn't really expecting it to end this quickly and abruptly. So it may have more of a meek interpretation, but that aside with such meaningful production values it can still be seen as a pretty piece of work from the SteShaun partnership. Let's not see it die down in 2012

Hehe, Yamato Man - clearly one of the more more ridiculous Robot Masters in terms of design; no one had any idea that it would end up being one of the more quirky and rememberable robot masters in the entire series. Even here it's an appropriate tribute - fusing together Morse's signature beats with traditional instrumentation, the source has been handled in a very tasteful funk while going through strictly pentatonic scales (appropriate given the source selection). The source itself is handled tastefully; appears hidden within the mood build in the intro before making more of a dignified presence around past the 1:30 mark. That similar presence is made within the last minute too, though there's even some original writing merit at 2:30 as the source manages to take a backseat through some solid gate manipulation and a well programmed shakuhachi solo - one of the huge highlights of the track for me. This to me feels like bliss; just like with "Slash Claw", he paid homage to Yamato Man's roots and fused it with his signature funk-driven style with this tasteful, well programmed arrangement. A great way to pay homage to an otherwise overshadowed title in the classic Mega Man series

Personally, I am disagreeing with this "airy vocal" stance. In the original they already had an airy presence albeit within a drum'n'bass style setting, so I feel cool with the type of presence being given in this track as well. As for this track, progression-wise it stays very safe towards the source material, and lyrically so do the vocals for that matter (again, like with "We Can See No.373" it's no deal breaker), but there's been enough done towards the writing in the background and the light vocaloid-like presence starting at 1:45 to really make it stand out from the original. I had no idea that the guitars and bass were recorded live (something that I acknowledged that Mattias had done in the past with his early PRC submissions), but hearing them back I now certainly can't imagine the track without their presence. I even thought when I first heard it the bass - which I thought was a synth one with a ridiculous amount of wah-achieving envelope filters - was one of the key elements that really managed to add some flow, and it makes it all the more sweeter to know that it's a live instrument too. Excellent stuff! Aside from a little source conservation, I felt that this mix is very close to perfection, and at the time was a great way to be introduced to Mattias's Armored Core arrangements. And with Deia's airy presence complimenting the atmosphere really well, this track is definitely something that should be taken pride over. Nice work you two!

The source material, while not quite as complex as the boss theme I was exposed for the other Missile Master track earlier this week, feels very restricted in melody but I can trust Mazedude to work well with this if he can even turn 3-second jingles into full-on songs. Stylistically it shares similarities with Kunal's original with the old vinyl record scratching, the gentle drum'n'bass percussion and the percussive melodic synths being used. Though as the track draws on, more of Mazedude's complexity starts to weave in and give in more chaos to what can be seen as a more peaceful source material. It can be seen as a pretty safe adaptation, though the key change right to the end with the final climax was definitely something to keep intensifying the mood leading towards its closure. It's brief, but it works! I also got to give credit where credit is due for the awesome panning work done towards the instrumentation - they really managed to thicken up the nature of the expense being portrayed here, with a lot of harsh panning details particularly with the subtle explosions also being noted to draw in a potent experience. So it's a solid way to pay homage to Kunal's score, and I'm glad to see that as fellow Bad Dudes they're still sticking together It may not be the most expansive of Mazedude's works, but in regards to the Missile Master score it has is place here as a potently friendly tribute. Nice work!

You and I both. It makes me feel fuzzy and warm to see that the person that receives the gift feels really greatful about what they've received. My emotions may vary from time to time depending on the situation, that's definitely no secret, but ultimately it provides a sense of fulfilment to know that the recepient is content with what they received. I'll need to remember the frequency of late/missing santas though; online ones are completely new ones to me, so the more I know.

Well done cfx! I recall digging this on advance listen during the summer, and you were a cool guy to see in the #ocremix IRC too (where are you these days?!), so I'm glad to see it made its rounds here. With a fresh set of ears - and sadly still not as much familiarity with the Descent score no matter how many times I tried listening to the sources - it to me still sounds just as crisp and suffice as it was when I first heard it. The main source melody managed to face good appearances while still facing a more shifted chord structure in comparison, and there's definitely been some solid melodic writing to make it feel cohesive and well executed. I'm with the panel with the not-quite-too-attentive drums; mainly due to lack of fills and additional layers undereneath the kick/snare/cymbals, but for the atmosphere they work... "descent-ly". (sorry, I HAD to make the pun!) The samples are a bit of a pick and mix for me, though mostly on the positive side; I thought the synths were very well manipulated, and the occasional synth panpipe sounds - though a little basic - managed to add some good amount of life to the compositions. But the synth guitar to me sounds a little thin sounding in comparison to some of the other instruments; thankfully the modulation work on it and the use of power chords at 3:10 sounded neat so it's probably not as weak as it made out, but should be something to look out for should any expansions need looking into. Otherwise, it's a solid package and a well-put-together first submission. Hopefully we'll get to see more of you over time, and to keep seeing you refine your technique... and maybe look into other obscure games in the process? One can dream

To match with today's mixpost - sheet music for "The Feather's Reflection". There had been a few requests on this one closer to the project's release, and now that it's surfaced as a mixpost, it's there for people to follow along

Strangely, I was in it for completely different reasons to you guys - I'm an established remixer, sure, but given the gap between mixposts and anyone even knowing who I am, I considred myself the equivalent of someone re-surfacing from a musical coma. So I don't know which side of the noob/elite fence I am, really. But it was a chance to get involved with some good friends and to refine production techniques outside of the current library. That, and I kind of wanted to redeem myself for not being too satisfied with my Mega Man 9 submissions earlier this year.

Total User Reviews: 416 (-20800 HP) OA Reviews: 30 (+1500 HP) Current Status: 1700/21000 You guys are quick - just down to less than a TENTH of his HP?! Alas... I estimate 34 reviews before we're done... but 57 mixes STILL haven't had over 10 reviews. Who's left behind all those poor sacrifices in exchange for all the more popular ones?!

The map screen for DKC2 had this definite heroic approach to me, and to see it take a more different direction for the writing for this interpretation showed signs of promise. It's a good blend of source and well polished sounds (if not a little un-dynamic at times), and with some very careful filtering applied on mostly the non-organic instruments it can be quite the soundscape that's developed here. However, I'm going to say though that I found it really difficult to see if the bass and rhythmic synths even could blend together at all; without much chord distinction in the non-distinct-theme parts, things apparently start to sound rather chaotic sounding in regards to the writing (not in a pleasant way though), a sensation that I have a tendancy to dub "Joker Syndrome". It doesn't seem to have much of a climax either, though the strange rhythm synth at the end was pretty neat and fit the storytelling-like nature done towards it. So all in all the track's a bit of a mixture for me. It had good promise as an introductory track, but I felt the execution behind it was rather weak. I still see a good amount of promise within the production side though, so I'm hoping you'd be able to take all feedback to heart with future endeavours

Upon hearing this on The Sound of Speed, I really enjoyed it; it was my first proper exposure to Jewbei for a long time (I vaguely recalled his brief presence on VGMix), and to see him pull that out of the bag astounded me within the field of trance. It may not necessarily re-invent the wheel, but I managed to keep a good hold on it. I've also understood that throughout Jewbei's time on VGMix, he had really, really wanted a review from me, but by the time he started I had come to a stop with reviewing. So to make up for everything, just in time for Christmas, here's me going back to my VGMix roots in regards to evaluating this one!! Remix The execution is pretty much on your standard trance affair, but the writing has managed to work well within the scope of the track. The only real cause for concern is around 1:28, with there not being much of a downbeat with the gradual shift towards the main riff. Yet once the theme comes in at 1:42, its presence is made distinctly clear and variation is added with the gradual building of more synth layers underneath to fit with the genre. The source adaptation is kind of mixed - when the source comes up in full force at 1:42, it sticks out like a black cat walking on snow (don't ask where I got that vision from). But in the builds around it it's hard to sense much else, yet its presence is still made well with the backing synths starting from around 0:30. As a trance track it has its place in the genre; might end up being a little lacking for some due to its length, but for what it is it has shown a very solid approach. Creativity The variety of detail being provided to the backing synths manages to provide a distinctly fresh direction towards the track. Key components are shown with some solid original touches within the rhythm synths, and there's even a neat melodic rhythm addition at 2:25 that complements the source material's chord progression, and with all the shaping done on even the non-percussive synths it is one that highlights Jewbei's key strengths as a producer. All the transitions are generally smooth; I would've hoped for more punch on the shift to the gentle string section at 1:13 though but that may be just me. True, there may be some repetition due to the nature of the genre, but what Jewbei did was made sure that there was enough interest going on in the background for people to not pay much notice. If anything I may have suggested a little more modulation shaping on the lead synth, but it could be seen as nothing more than a nitpick. Regardless, fans of the genre will find much to enjoy with this track, and given that he's practically bLiNd's apprentice it can be seen as a good thing with his rising skills throughout his recent past. Production Zebra2 is a very powerful tool when handled right, and having attempted to use it myself I can understand how the most dedicated of producers are able to provide some solid techniques out of it, and Jewbei has managed to do just that with some careful selection and manipulation (the bass pitch shift at 0:13 was particularly awesome) to really push them over the edge. Even the tracks were appropriately panned; nothing really out of the ordinary happens within the stereo field though, but everything has a distinct presence and really thickens up the soundscape. If I'm to be fair, the track feels a little bit quieter than some of the other trance mixes I've heard on the site; but even then it feels very in-your-face with the way the synths were handled. tl,dr; Awesome track off TSoS, you're on the radar for me, and I hope to see you keep going strong over the year(s) to come. Go for it Jewbei