Rexy

Quick, someone put the face of Toy Story's Woody over OA's mugshot on the OP and post it here for added hilarity!

Again... I SUCK WITH WORDS. I shall edit that as soon as I can, thank you Dr. Matt x_X

A 100% French collab... that isn't with CHM. But a french bassist is always cool too. So in regards to a level 3 tribute you managed to hit the mark off really well with the Golden Axe cameo in the beginning before going straight towards the source tune at hand, making sure to reference it in a very appropriate structure. With some well polished guitar solos and synth solos that could almost be mistaken as an acknowledgement of Van Halen's 80s material, I can easily see your driving passion towards the source through and through, and with it being a level 3 month for that DoD you've managed to hit the theme square on the head. Amusingly awesome. Having witnessed some of Scaredsim's work over the past year, I've come to acknowledge that his production skills have been receiving a considerable boost too, most notably with the cleanness of the more synthetic instruments. Sure, that loud snare might throw some people off, but I think we can't imagine his style without it - it's raw 80s power! Again, glad to see this got posted on the site after a very tenacious DoD back then! Surely this will mark the start of some Scaredsim goodness for 2012? We shall see

Ah, I might answer this query about the drums. A lot of the writing was mostly inspired by a random comment from Brandon when in conversation with him a few weeks back, puzzled over arrangement preferences. I thought people were looking closer to straight covers, but he somehow countered that by thinking they were looking for "gay covers" instead. Taking that to consideration, the drum writing style throughout the track was mainly based on the playing of Roger Taylor from Queen (see what I did there?), mostly looking over at their repetoire from the early 1970s. So it might explain the more erratic style being going for here. Otherwise, thank you for your support, and we're glad you enjoyed the track

Uh-oh, OA's striking back with more reviews! Let's keep getting him where it hurts! On a side note, today marked my 100th review for this thing! Who's going to join me in triple figures?

PRC81! That was a very fun round Of all the rounds I hosted during my time dealing with the PRC, this is one of these that I remember most fondly. Highway Hunter still remains relatively unknown by many today, but the response behind it was amazing and to see even Bladiator and Suzumebachi come towards the source and work on arrangements for it really lifted the competition's profile. And in true Bladiator fashion, the core melodic elements of the source are mainly used as melodic motifs for a more interpretive tango, almost reminiscent to what he handled with "moontang" a little earlier that year. Almost everything involved - the stylistic violin lead main parts, the downbeat section led by the accordion, and even that wonderful key change right at the end - carry both elements of the source material and hints of Karl's personality, and so I felt really proud to see him take the win with this track back then! Course, even now the samples are feeling kind of old, and that's something that I stressed too much with his works when he was even active within the community, but he makes up for it with a RIDICULOUS amount of charisma within the writing. And even then they've been appropriately spaced out and levelled, and you can't help but feel somewhat cheery over this setting. I'm still glad that Karl is still making music now, though his presence isn't quite as sharp as it used to be. But I'm still looking out for his next few arrangements, both as a fellow vgpiano stablemate and as a fan of his work

Given the thunderstorm at the start, I'm not so sure if that was the "april showers" direction taken to mind. But with that aside, the rest of the instrumentation does help escalate that feel and present it in a fitting atmosphere. The flute countermelody at 0:52 does give in a good lease of life towards the arrangement setting, as does in parts the synth bass that shows up at 1:40 giving more ominousness to the piece, which is similarly carried on by the rest of the writing. It may not be the smoothest arrangement idea, but for 2001 it's a fine approach. I do however think that there could've been more stereo separation within the track. The levels themselves are good though, maybe aside from the flute countermelody being slightly too loud IMO, and the sound quality managed to preserve itself well over time. It's a good kick for Lufia fans even now; like these elder mixes don't expect anything too spectacular, but as it is for its time I found it to be not bad at all

As with these elder arrangements, I'll try and go easy on this. It starts out promising with the nice bell chimes, though by the time the rest of the instrumentation comes in it to me feels rather uncomfortable to listen to; I can't help but notice some clipping in my left speaker in particular, as well as some very minimal sound processing other than the bell chime and rhythm synth's echo and some awkward mixing in general (particularly with the bass being too loud and the drums being too quiet). Hence, to me the production feels really painful even for 2002. Credit where credit is due for the arrangement though - the mix mostly plays around with the chords for the B section of the source and uses it all the way through even with the melody for the A section, and with some light shakeup in the bells every now and again it's most likely not too bad. But for me, I'm going to find it hard to see past the awkward production to really appreciate this one much. I also feel sad that you didn't take the experience to heart and followed it up either - making remixes is a learning curve, and I had hoped that you'd be able to take the feedback and improve considerably

The Fire Ship. In my opinion, not really one of the most memorable tracks in FF5, but I have confidence in Nutritious in making something stellar out of it. And indeed it starts well with the beautiful slow attacking strings, then when the timpani and woodwinds follow the mood starts escalating itself and starts going into something more heroic in nature. The arrangement manages to stick fairly close to the source material, though there's been some lovely deviated parts like the charming glockenspiel-led intermission at 1:55, almost bearing an atmospheric similarity to some of the gentler natures of some of Sugiyama's ending pieces for the Dragon Quest series; and even then the build backup to the source in a different key in 3:15 managed to transition strongly whilst fitting appropriately with the movie-score-like ideals. Definitely something quite expansive. I know this might've been an old track though, but if there's something that kind of rubs me the wrong way it's the not-quite-as-realised brass parts in comparison to the rest of the instrumentation. I've known for years that they in particular are hard to get done right, and while the notation feels fine, it's this raelisation that should be looked into to really get them to fit within a lively orchestrated setting. But you're Nutritious, and I have trust in you with keeping on working within the genre and working with these samples to their full potential. As a result, we've got a solid arrangement of an otherwise understated source from the game. With a lot of your project commitments over the past 2 years you've been really showing yourself cohesively around these parts, and I hope you'll get to keep showing your colors as a remixer in the not-so-distant future

With a name like Commando 64, I'm hoping you do an actual Commando mix down the line Jest aside, this is actually a strong arrangement provided within the realms of the C64 community. Oftentimes when coming towards sources like this one may be expected for something almost entirely close to the source due to their complexity, though while there has been some change-ups here and there in regards to melodic progression it retains that familiarity with those familiar with the Last Ninja source material. The harmonics work at 2:10, though a little sour sounding at one point, can be seen as a key element for expansion, as was the more down-beat section at 2:35 set to offer a slight builddown towards going towards the rest of the track. The sweeps coming in at 4:50 were also very sublime, based around the last 30 seconds of the source; and it goes to show Commando's colors as a lead player as well. This might've been a rambled paragraph, but to cut it short: C64, well personalised, nice playing chops. Production-wise we have clear recording values for the guitar, though I can't help but notice the drums felt a little flimsy and didn't quite match with the quality of the synth instrumentation. But for what they are they fit the tone of the track appropriately. What seems to be the splitting decision more than anything though, and I believe it's been said already, is the weak fade-out ending which also involves the solo in it as well. I can understand the artistic direction given the nature of the source material, but in a genre like metal you've got to find more of an explosive way to finalise it. As it is though, we've got a huge amount of promise from Commando 64, and I really hope he returns to OCR some point in the future with a stellar followup. I'll be keeping a hold on this one!

I recall this fondly from Summoning of Spirits It may not have had the most precise production, but there was something about the arrangement back then that had its charm. Right from the bat, I sense that Brad's vocals ended up making a much more significant presence than in the original, and the call-and-response between that and the saxophone feels similarly more relaxed with the saxophone not sticking out as much this time. I've also sensed that the organ parts, particularly in the mellower second verse, feeling somewhat gentler than they were as well. These elements coupled with the more subtle drum processing work have managed to help give it a more relaxed charm than the album version, which to me can be seen as a good thing. The upgrade was worth it! The straight-forward arrangement of the original still remains but given the structure of the song it's definitely not a bad deal at all. What DOES remain though was a slightly weak fade-out, which can pretty much be sensed when the volume is turned up really high; to hear the saxophone and beat just fizzle along slightly abruptly and finish without a climax is in my opinion a weak way to approach the ending, but thankfully isn't much of a problem now that the rest of the production concerns were addressed. Nice going again with the upgrade Brad! And please don't vanish from OCRemix any time soon either, between this and your various other contributions you're seen as a potent figure within the community

Yeah, thanks to the judges' decisions I guess I FINALLY understood there were FOUR versions of each main stage. Under that knowledge I finally understood the arrangement direction where this one was going, so much thanks in advance. So what we have here is a vocal arrangement that takes it in a similar direction to David Gray's electronic material, though much more upbeat and relevant to a tween audience. Blake's style managed to fit appropriately with the track, with some neat synth manipulation, filter/gate manipulation and some very careful autotune work to make it fit within the track's scope. The structure may be basic though, but what pop song isn't? The pieces were taken from the source material and structured appropriately to bring it into this form. Definitely an original direction to go for One thing I did notice though was that in spite of the tuning done to the vocals, I couldn't help but notice a flimsy recording quality behind the vocal part. Understanding that you don't record them often I could let it slide, but it could be something to think about for handling in the future should Blake take this direction again. All in all, a very fun track; possibly one of the more divisive tracks on Lucid Dreaming though, but there's always the instrumental for the vocal haters. Let's see what you got for 2012, fellow Limey!

Now this to me sounds solid; while the original "Hall of Fame" track was practically seen as a majorly triumphant piece of work, this feels somewhat more comraderic in structure and all the energy placed behind the performance and some strong rhythm guitar work seemed to work out and continue to give it that lease of life. The Pokemon Main Theme reference in the end was also pretty neat to reference to and ensure it doesn't quite outstay its welcome. In spite of this short arrangement, we've got something that works well given the nature of the source. Though I'm not sure if it's my listening setup, but I felt some low mids were missing from the track. That was what I noted with the frequency gap between the bass and rhythm guitars, so maybe a frequency boost in that section for the rhythm or an additional synth part covering that range might've helped fill it up. But outside of that qualm, the live instruments were well recorded, and the piano - albeit synthetic - managed to fit in appropriately to the soundscape. I hope the Key to Progression guys return with a new mix one day, because if they can provide a lot of promise with an 8-measure-long source (there I go, back to 'restrictive source material' again ) then they could go a long way in interpreting other songs. For now, nice work

Since when did I ever say that? Besides, as of December 11th, the only thing you've 'hogged' is me anyway. I'm always open for more to join the fun, so we can bring down the 'Phantom Topless'.

Seems as if this variation of Kefka has a heart I wonder if he's hearty enough to even answer the whole 'henchman' question above.

I've been quite a fan of this source tune since Vurez's take in 2005, so it'll be good to hear others' takes on it. Though, considering it's a 2002 mix I can understand the sample quality. The percussion feels quite involved; the main beat might be stale, but the occasional claps, retro toms and scratches do help give it a little bit of life, and while the synths don't feel all that expressive the little panning work with the bell throughout was actually pretty neat and helped with the soundscape. Otherwise, the structure follows too close to the source; the only thing that's been done with it is transposing it down a semitone and adding some additional pad/rhythm parts to it, so for some it's most likely to come off on the vanilla side. Ninja Gaiden fans may get a good kick out of it at least; it's a pleasant listen, though on both fronts I'm feeling it's been showing its age.

Dale North's works really stand the test of time well in regards to production quality. Sure, nowadays the string samples may not quite cut it, but the handling of them along with the delicate piano work had been done with such care that could almost compare it to the mellower works of Tenpei Sato. Arrangement-wise it may be straightforward, but what tracks from 2001 weren't? The structure coupled with the little Arni Village cameo at the end was more than enough to show acknowledgement for Mitsuida's PS1-era material, and coupled with the musical viaion made it a pleasant sounding track from start to finish. It's a shame you don't do music that often these days, but when you do chime in it's usually made of gold. I like a lot of other OC Remixers hope that you'll keep chipping into the site within the foreseeable future

I do remember hearing this when I started exposing myself to OCR's early work and feeling a little puzzled with this a way. And indeed I still do now; bare-bone beats, a conservative arrangement, the fact that you got the bass to play the melody as well as the lead bell (that to me really clutters up the notation if that's done consistently), not much articulation done to the synths other than the use of echo, and generally a weak sounding soundscape. Back in the day it might've been pretty cool especially considering it was done with the demo version of FL Studio, but nowadays it feels somewhat vanilla. I feel disappointed that they didn't take the experience to hand and follow it up as people would've been wanting - it's a cool experience to learn from in making music especially when side-by-side with someone else.

On the other hand, I'm strongly AGAINST this 'remix of the week' thing. Firstly, there may not be more than one remix in a week (and we've definitely had this a few times), and secondly, it actually discourages the remixers from submitting due to this sudden boost of 'favoritism'. I know I'd be discouraged at least; I'd find it hard enough to get reviews on my OWN material without worrying about popularity. >_> What I do want to see though is something that may encourage people to give feedback to works, album posts or otherwise. It seems as if the closest link we have now to mass remarks is through Youtube, but then again it's coming down to this changing web environments. Sure, Rozo's ideas may involve more video editors, but if there are people ready to spread the word, then I'm sure the people will support the cause however they can

The story sequence music from Jurassic Park. Again, I take intrique to see what people do with short loops (this one being 4 measures long), so here we go, haha. The original was indeed used note-for-note as accompaniment placement to match with the slow-attacking strings, appropriate sound effects, three-step jazz-drum work and some very eerie rhythm/gliding synth work. These days it may be seen as too safe as a way to handle the source, but as a way to build atmosphere could almost make this feel somewhat appropriate for Halloween. Even for its time the levels were decent, though I may have had suggested the sound effects to be brought down in the mix. Regardless, it has that eerie quality that in spite of modern-day shortcomings had held up reasonably well over time. I dig this

Hah, a bit of Dragon Quest coverage here. Nice. This is kind of a mixed bag to me; "Unknown World" is a restrected source that's 8 measures long, though at least there's some liberty taken towards the chord structure to give it a more personal touch. The original section at 1:35 was actually a good way to play around with the general melodic structure of the source as well somewhat, so mad props there for knowing how things work. So while in terms of arrangement you've managed to get it down, the production itself seems to have paled somewhat with the minimalist MIDI-sounding instrumentation; gentle strings and staccato work before suddenly bringing in a sudden drum beat that could give it a feel almost similar to the works of Massive Attack if handled more appropriately. Even then it ended rather sloppily with only fading the drums out, giving in quite an underwhelming feeling to the track overall. But for something dating as far back as 2001 it's quite decent for its time. If there were more attention being paid towards the minor details as well then it might've stood the test of time a lot more, but for now it could merely be seen as a little bland.

When I saw that C418 had FINALLY become a posted OC Remixer, my heart literally did a somersault. I enjoyed a lot of his works for Minecraft, so I felt happy to see him join with the rest of the indie composer lineup for 25YEARLEGEND. While the original "Ballad of the Goddess" was seen as a very dynamic piece of music, C418 on the other hand managed to take it in a more chilled direction bearing similarities to his Minecraft score. That to me is definitely not a bad thing; it to me defines his more heartfelt style, and to see it being realised here in this performance shows how much the series meant to him by paying tribute with the skills he gathered. Of course, while it does play straightforward with the structure of the arrangement, a lot had been done towards the subtleties for the instruments surrounding the piano to give it a more realised and moving direction. The strings in particular felt rather lush and well utilised, and even the subtleties on the horns - though a little constant - managed to fill in some good space on the lower end. I did however hear a foot pedal being caught on during one of the breaks (which as a pianist myself is never a good sign when doing renders), but it could only be seen as a minor slip amongst an otherwise fitting atmosphere. Regardless, well done again C418 for representing the indie community both with Minecraft and your links with other composers! Hopefully we'll get to see you grace OCR's hallowed halls again, whether it be others' mixes of your work or you doing more mixes yourself

Mad props for the funny title. I'm glad to see he got on bLiNd's good side at the end and even managed to collab with him. So, I got to have to say it's not the strongest of first halves with the slightly unsnapped synths and awkward levelling (noted especially when the bass came in), but I got to give credit for some good synth manipulation especially with the gates on the highs and some strong sound effect work in the more downbeat 1:40 section. Even then after the beat came back in with the nice varied rhythm synth parts, I felt the track managed to feel a lot more comfortable and well balanced since then, fitting a much stronger foundation of the beat overall. It's kind of a mixed bag for me in regards to ideas; gets better as it draws on, and handling of the source seems kind of basic at best. But when measuring up to other 2002 tracks it's not bad, and I'm especially happy that he took the experience to heart and focused attention on 2 of OCR's albums since. Hopefully we'll get to see him again in the future, whether alone or with bLiNd in another collab

Of all the Morse releases done this year, this ranks pretty well as one of my favorites, if mainly for a lot of the details being paid attention to throughout to give this track a lease of life. It starts out pretty straightforward to the original, what with the source's bass being used as the prime foundation for the arrangement though by the time the hand percussion comes in at around 0:50 it starts showing its way of playing with the melody, even added at 1:45 with Morse's way of chord manipulation to really give in that kind of draw towards the track. I say it's a very tasteful way to handle what can otherwise be seen as a rather unmelodic source (no offence to Kunal). A lot of attention to detail has been paid towards the instruments too with the controller changes on the synth work, all the varied percussion throughout, some neat pad sidechaining at 3:15 and some rather blissful piano work being placed in. Aside from my usual unease towards synth guitars (don't take it as criticism, just one of my oddities ), the foundation has proven itself to be very tasteful and fitting of its contemporary American pop music direction. Between this and the work done towards Return All Robots, I'm glad to see that there's been some arrangements done to various OC Remixers' original game scores as well, and I hope it can be the start of a good thing towards this growing community and changing game market. Be proud of yourself for what you did, Morse

Oh come on, orlounge's feedback was mostly positive - he even stated he might change his mind. Besides, we got a vote already, so don't fret over it too much