Rexy

I do indeed hear the Russian orchestrated influence here, albeit for some reason I tend to be feeling more of Tchaikovsky's upbeat influences within it And my expectations on Jeremy's work are often reflected here too - taking the theme and fitting it within a relevant symphonic expression. Something about this kind of reminds me of the similar expansions done for the Final Fantasy 7 Symophonic Suite's Finale that he worked on in terms of tearing the source apart; these may be different in tone, but the ideas are present and have expressed it in this fluctuating-yet-bouncy setting. Nice work. Albeit, the orchestra sounds may even sound slightly dated in comparison to current standards, something I'm most commonly sensing in the woodwinds more than anything (and occasionally the strings but some of the attacks and tremolos are still very well worked on), but for its time it hits the sweet spot when measured up to his already fantastic way of writing. All in all, a very well done track! And please come back soon, your style is close to being missed D:

Make it count, Justin!

How come I didn't notice that post last night xD Well, I was hoping to look into that flute again (again, now a panflute) this morning, but after another night with OA's ears last night, one of the things that were indeed tweaked since the last sub was the equalisation of that flute (as well as some further bass polishing). A scoop at that same frequency range you stated was done, so hopefully it should sound that less grating, hehe. And here's the new version that came out of it. There may be some additional dusting over the coming days, but we don't know for sure just yet. For now, it's there

Good choice of source, Dr M. I'm glad to see that the SEGA-based Castlevania side is getting some love So the arrangement typically follows the source closely, but with some nice expressive guitar work and some sweet organ/string/drum work being thrown in to compliment the setting as well as a sweet transition at 1:45 it manages to show its expansions. And I got to admit the calm at 2:40 before leading into that insane wah solo was icing on the cake to me - showing a lot of Dr M's colors of a player. So we basically have an arrangement that generally has a straightforward approach but really starts diving into Dr M's character around it. Neat work. I can't however leave this with a little criticism. I don't know if it's me though, but I can't help but notice some over-compression on the track somewhere. I think it's more noticeable on the rhythm guitars; often when they're making a presence they seem to push the mix down slightly uncomfortably. But there is at least a plus to come out of it though - no MIDI trumpets this time All in all, a very enjoyable track for me; be sure to keep rocking the Dwelling of Duels and sub to here every now and again; I've been quite a fan of yours over the past several years and I'm glad you're there to keep delivering

With a description that includes the words "(your) best remix yet", it's got a lot to live up for. But the writing here is actually well devised; it takes the fundamentals of the source, even throws in a straight interpretation down the line but even ended up using some elements of the accompaniment for some of the calmer moments of the track. I can definitely feel the movie trailer approach to the track, which is good! Even the sounds utilised in this orchestrated setting mostly sound very realistic and appropriately humanised for the most part. The only qualm I seem to have though is that there's not much dynamic shaping until right at the end; it all seems to be at the same kind of general force for the collective instruments until near the end. Though, if that matches with the movie scene style approach to it it may not be a big deal, but it should still be worth pointing out. All in all it's a neatly crafted orchestrated work; these aren't easy to pull off, and to handle something that wasn't meant to be epic like the Wolfenstein source you managed to pull through powerfully. I'll be keeping an eye on you Beckett

For a mix that's from 2002, it's got some ideas in play. The choice to transpose the track up 4 semitones, as well as cut the chord progression to half-speed, can be seen as a good early example of manipulating the source material. I even like that cool idea with the 9th chords on the synth being thrown in at 3:10; seemed to give it more of a sophisticated approach to the writing, which is always a plus. The production sounds decently pleasant to me, though I do however have 2 qualms with it associated with its era; the additional sound effects should've been brought lower down in the mix (could be seen as too much of a distractant when put against the music), and the drums seem to be on autopilot and don't seem to go anywhere (barely any fills either aside from the occasional kick use). Overall I quite dig this; it may get old fast, but for the era it was posted in it still sounds fine

Coming to the knowledge that this requires hearing the original "This is Not a True Ending" first to understand the direction, my thoughts may be taken in a slightly different direction. So this feels so much fuller than the original track, and though this remix-of-a-remix does feel dirty and overloaded with distortion it can indeed be seen as a trademark of CotMM's more conceptualist style providing you feel more open to it. Arrangement-wise, I think it was good to take the familiar theme into a minor key, though outside from the fundamentals there doesn't seem to be much change. On a plus note, I thought the reversed glockenspiel at 0:57 was pretty cool; it may be playing with concepts, but I'm glad that even back in the site's origins there were people hoping to jump outside of the box. It's a shame we don't see CotMM much these days, but I'm sure that he may poke his head out one of these days and provide a surprise mix somewhere. Your influence is being missed D:

Wow, you guys are on FIRE! Total Reviews: 243 (-12150 HP) OA Reviews: 18 (+900 HP) CURRENT HP TOTAL: 9750/21000 We've brought him down to quadruple figures! This is going epically well; don't stop now (P.S. Stop being a grinch, Bahamut )

No because it's not a review - it's a hilarious distraction.

Under-reviewed endorsement is also looking good. The total number of mixes that have less than 10 reviews has fallen to 70, so be sure to keep up your looking up of the lesser-talked about tracks! Albeit, 20 of them haven't received a single review this month so far - kinda upsetting. If there's something in there you want to put a word in for, go for it!

Like I said in the #ocremix IRC when it came out, this doesn't sound like disco, even with the strings; they feel more like an accompanying instrument to fit with this arabic atmosphere that's going on. So take that. Going through this properly, I do feel kind of sad that the Mega Man 4 project never really took off, but I'm glad something solid managed to come out of it. There's been some good working with the first half of the source with that gentle intro, before going into an interpretation of the theme and some solid original soloing work. Basically anyone's who's heard Vurez's works would probably know what to expect in regards to arrangement quality, even with some nice original work being fitting in variations of the theme as well as some wonderfully manipulated fake acoustic guitars. There also appears to be a huge highlight for me at 2:18 and that's where the punji comes in with some wonderfully expressive work and adds a significant amount of cultural flavor towards the track with it taking center stage. It's moments like that that really start to get you to sit up and pay attention to what's going on. If there's anything that I noted here with both this and past works, your drum kit work often seem to be your weakest component. Don't get me wrong, you often counter it strongly with some very interesting hand percussion work to make up for it, but most of the time there doesn't seem to be any cymbal writing being done other than the crashes; try and see if you can fit in some hihat/ride work, and be sure to treat the drum kit like the real thing. That little qualm aside, this is a very charming arrangement and I'm glad to see that Vurez is still around with us and also continuing to represent these more obscure Mega Man Robot Masters. So be sure to keep up the effort, and I'll look out for your future works

Tricky source to cover. As much as I like Marble Madness, seeing someone adapt to a source with less than 8 measures in length (in this case 4) looks like a really difficult task to even pull off. But from what I'm witnessing, there's enough consideration to the chord timings in the opening pads that do help, as do the subtle rhythm synth modulations throughout. It does help to break the monotomy a bit by going into a nice little breakdown before aiming for the ending - nice move there. The production quality is definitely up there for the pitched instruments used as well, so that's definitely a plus. People have already had the arrangement thing bang on the head, but if you're going for an electronic mix, then I'm not really sure if a muffled drum kit is the best way to go about it. In mixes like that I generally have a preference for my snares to be sharper at least, but if the intent is to take it into this more laid-back setting then I can live with it. So I guess I'm kind of torn over this one. It does well to break the monotomy at times, though even then there's not a right lot that can be offered after those first few listens. It's still a decent debut, and I hope you'll come back to OCR with something else one of these days

Might as well make things up for you after running into that Shenmue track this morning. o_O No familiarity with the source or any way to check means I can only really check by means of actual writing. It may be well over 10 years old, but the ambient pads and pan pipe work you got going there were pretty sweet to open up with, and while the transition to the beat was somewhat sudden, it manages to provide a good sense of personality for its time. It clearly shows its age now with the rising production standards, but in comparison with other tracks from this era it manages to fit just fine into that environment. I'd say it's not bad for what it is

As far as I'm concerned, the only way your identity would be seen as obvious is if you go through the Customs procedure for sending your parcel overseas. They expect a brief description of the contents and your signature on that sticker, so you may need to be careful if that is to happen. Either way, the package I sent off has my identity stated inside as well, so I don't see why you probably shouldn't

I totally regret not finishing up a Crash track for volume 1 (oh come on, if there's anything we know it's that Cortex needs more love), so once I free up room after dealing with other endeavours over the next 3 months, I should be down with this

This is long overdue, but welcome back to the site k-wix! I knew you had wanted to make it on the site at some point, but hearing your works on Back In Blue marked where you upped your game IMO. So the arrangement might end up splitting some people; a lot of it is based on the chord structure for the source material, but it is fleshed out considerably by some very strong synth soloing, some unorthodox dual panflute work and some very tasteful hand percussion additions to accompany the beat. The few elements with the source melody (2:00) managed to give it some strong sense of identity, and even since then these additions marked around k-wix's signature style managed to really give the track a huge chunk of life. Nice writing work! I however do seem to be in the same frame of mind as OA in that the leads could've had that little bit more work done in regards to prevent the sound from going stale; it's noted particularly with the unmodulated and unfiltered synth as well as the sharpness of the panflute. I understand you went out of your way to invest on some new samples over the years, though it may help to get to work with filters and see what you can do with them to really give them some edge. All in all, welcome back to the site! And with this kind of writing work we hope you'll be able to keep at it as a musician, whether it between any more future submissions, Cave Story 3D or any other projects down the line. Nice going

Space Harrier! I remember being fond of the source after CarboHydroM covered it back in 2005, so it'll be good to see other interpretations of the theme. So I guess it starts out rather weird with that "sultry female" voice clip (o__O), though after an atmospheric intro it kicks straight into a rendition of the theme. The filter/synth effect works aren't bad considering they're from 2002, kind of have that Katamari Damacy-like tone somewhat even if it feels somewhat subtle. So it may feel somewhat dated now considering the combination of the sample selection (though a fair portion of the synths sound good even for their time), straight cover nature of the arrangement and the... introduction... but taking aside the little imperfections I dig this - pretty well done for its time

Perfect Dark; nice choice, one of Rare's more overlooked gems out there So what we have here is practically a safe arrangement in regards to structure, one that manages to capture on a more minimalist atmosphere than the original. There doesn't seem to be much additions to it arrangementwise, maybe aside from some additions on the church organ, but for what it is it manages to reflect on the nature of the original quite well. I give mad props for the choirs here; this arrangement may be nearly 10 years old, but with that kind of sustain on them you could mistake this track to be slightly younger. Here's one thing that you should've noted for when concepting this: the timpani part is out of tune with the rest of the instrumentation, or if not behind the rest of the instruments 2 bars (but given some of the cutoffs it might not necessarily be that). But I can let it slide given the nature/timing of this entry. For a 2002 song this actually isn't bad at all; may tear some people due to the mood, but I actually quite dig this

Lockjaw's Saga. One of my fave tracks off DKC2 if mostly for the claustrophobic nature behind the track. So the track starts of pretty gentle with some strong clarinet work before working its way into a Graylightning-ish affair with the arrangement. It's hard to make out the source the first few listens, but if you listen carefully a lot of the elements was based around the low horn part of the original, which managed to set itself up in regards to structure. Credit where credit is due for the synth-work - gives in that Harry Gregson-Williams type affair to the track. Excellent work. The samples have also been handled decently and appropriate to Hemo's vision. One thing I might recommend though would be to watch the strings; it doesn't seem to be the strongest component in a good portion of your arrangements to date, and by manipulating the filters somewhat particularly in fields of decay and sustain, they would sound somewhat more lifelike rather than having this straight expression to them. But overall, a more arrangement-experimental track, and it's something that manages to pay off in the scope of the Serious Monkey Business album. And in solo effort form too, so that's a major achievement there Hemo! Hopefully you'll keep contributing to the site however you can

Of all the tracks I heard in the trailer, THIS was the one I was looking forward to the most. I have very fond memories of the GB Donkey Kong - one of the most played games on the system for me, so I'm very happy someone covered the score eventually! After a nicely manipulated intro fusing both the DK jingle and the 9-5 arpeggio, it goes straight into a straightforward adaptation of the 9-8 stage though a lot of the additions on the guitar later on and the call-and-response between the guitar harmonics and strings add in a lot of melodic character. The solo section following it and the choir preceeding it managed to similarly give it some clever touches in regards to the melody, so while the structure may seem safer in comparison to other BGC tracks there's still a considerable amount of substance that really lift it up. Even under the production bonnet it managed to hold its own. I believe the key element that should be given credit is the synth guitar work; even though they are a considerable pet peeve with me in the community in general, the amount of expression done towards it gives it a well balanced touch. Excellent. I do however have one goddamn nitpick with this - it's too short!! That may be nostalgia with the source more than anything, but I was kind of hoping for it to not just end after a second rendition of the theme. It's still a very sweet track overall, and I feel greatful that you handled something that A) is undercovered, and that I have somewhat of a nostalgic attachment to, so thank you BGC

Oh my God, you included the "Brandon's Beard" incident Chernabogue, you are a genius - we will live up to that trailer!

Lol, THIS source tune. I tried arranging this before; that was one experience though I wanted to forget. xD But I do remember Jago from the VGMix days, and I'm glad that he finally made his appearance on the OCR front page after his growth. In comparison to the other BadAss samples I've noted so far, the writing here feels somewhat more playful to me - and by that I mean Starfox Assault type playfulness - mostly due to the writing work between the brass and strings and the nice call-and-answer response sections being placed here. For the most part this remains fairly faithful to the source, though while retaining the sections of the source it still manages to add its own charm with the sweet accompaniment work being driven in. The slowdown section at 2:15 managed to add that more triumphant side while still being able to manipulate the melody, and that with all the details in there really shows off the track's strengths. I'm going to have to be on the same sample articulation boat as Larry though; while we do have these lovely samples, there doesn't seem to be much attention being paid to the humanisation for these, and I'm noting sections of the brass and woodwinds in particular having constant velocities for fast moving notes. It's something that's difficult to comprehend if you're not a performer of these kinds of instruments yourself (and I don't think many of us are in that regard), but by paying attention to the details like the attack/decay/sustain filters, it can help to try and bring that realism forward. Otherwise, this is a very solid arrangement of a limited source, and one that's definitely worthy of a splash on OCR as well as a placement on BadAss! Welcome to the clan, Jago

Well, "Laughing Octopus" is definitely one ridiculous source tune to make ANYTHING out of since most of it is pulsating bass and sound effects. But the Dual Dragons made it work with a more riff-driven dose of rock and giving it a similar melodic punch over those riffs. I can't deny their presentation style (especially those guitar/synth tones) and way of arrangement for such a limited source; for the most part it managed to hit a huge sweet spot by this execution. There's something that DOES needs being stressed over though - string realisation. While the transitions to them were good, they somehow felt really mechanical with the constant velocities/attacks to them, so maybe some ways of changing them up could've helped add some life to them; after all, they're mostly staccato notes being used here, so not a right lot should've been attended to for something like that. Hence we got one of the more unusual tracks to come forth from BadAss; it wasn't meant to work, but somehow it DID, and under the hands of two skillful brothers. I'm going to keep looking out for you

Ever since the PRC days, I've trusted that Nutritious would work really well with more obscure material. So I'm glad to hear he regularly checks out the Requests forums and works on material from there; good to see it making its presence on BadAss as well! The sudden genre shifting here similarly worked a treat; to see him break out of his comfort zone and try something unusual is something that worked ridiculously well here. I can see how he might've wanted to make the electric guitars more subtle, but for what it is it managed to blend well in the orchestra just fine as it is. I however don't seem to be too much of a fan of the over-reverbed drums though; it's still got the energy from the programming, even if the writing feels a little auto-pilot, so maybe to try and give them less of a wet presence might've made them form a much clearer presence in the mix. All in all, a return to form and a big risk to boot that may pay off as a more obscure gem amongst the tracks - nice going

Woo, new OCR project! And of course, someone just HAD to pick Sephiroth somewhere didn't they? But it's PrototypeRaptor, and I've been quite a fan of his since he handled Kirby 64's Miracle Matter a few years back. This take on "One Winged Angel" might get some purists puzzled over the house direction for what can be essentially seen as an 'untouchable' piece of music, but in its own right it managed to really take apart the source and the pieces were used as a solid foundation for Raptor's signature developing elecronic style. The gate work with the robo-voice at around 2:35 was neat, the drums felt really active throughout (if sometimes a little bit on auto-pilot), the synths have been really manipulated with to give the interest the track had, and some of the tempo shifts down were also freakin' neat; a more experimental take on the source, but with the effort put in I believe it adapted quite well to Joker's noted vision. So I'm glad to see him back in business! I'll take a look at the album properly later this week, but it's a solid taster for what's to come