Rexy

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

You're dejecting us British? >:[ We made that showcase really important, you American bastards! jk, congrats OCR on your 12th birthday! Let's see what the future brings eh

With no source to compare to, the least I can do is just figure things out by the structure of the track. So from what I'm sensing, the early intro with the lo-fi synths and the flange work was pretty neat, and similar flange work going in throughout managed to give the track some life. A repetitive nature for the most part, though there were some shakeups in some of the more organic instrument; however, even then it wasn't quite for the better due to sometimes these instruments being in entirely different keys than the synth bass and arpeggio work, which to me came off pretty sloppy. The synth quality is pretty good though considering its time, and I thought the echoed piano - while a little thin-sounding now - was also a cool addition. It's not a bad production side for 2002 at least. That aside, the heavy clashing of the accompaniment isn't really doing it for me; it's almost akin to some of Beatdrop's early work where he similarly got keys mixed up between instruments, and for a firm production setting considering the age it feels to me like a disappointment. I will however keep looking through Nines's library to see if something was pushed more fluently in regards to notation; I sense good potential.

With a repetitive source like Heaven's Tower, I can understand the difficulty in working with it. But hearing the panpipe part being alluded to within the wind instrumentation in this setting it, as well as hearing the bell parts being alluded to in some of the pitched percussion as well, they managed to set the foundations for building up this symphonic vision behind the track. It's almost similar to GrayLightning's earlier material in that regard with some of these more unconventional transition ideas, which to me isn't at all a bad thing. For the most part it was very well realised, and even the strings and flute parts - often tricky enough to humanise - both have been realised well enough. There were one or two parts though that the strings still had their mechanical nature to them, particularly in some of the builds throughout the track, but thankfully the texture work throughout really managed to give this a very solid lift. This more unconventional structure might split some listeners, but I felt that for its purpose it managed to get the job done. Hopefully we'll get to see more of Souliarc in the near future if something like THIS ended up being his first submission

In a day like this, metal remixes for Castlevania don't seem to grow old. Considering the nature of the source material, I was originally kind of disappointed at the beginning that the tempo of the track was brought down, but given the nature of some of the melody work of the original it can slide. The arrangement starts off fairly simple with some nice interesting drum work to accompany this tense buildup we got there, though things really start shaking up with the acoustic section that comes in that adds in more depth towards this limited source material, similarly with the blues-metal section that comes somewhat after, carrying strong variations through to the end of the track. Production-wise, the instruments came out clear and were appropriately panned. I sensed a little bit of noise on the recorded acoustic guitars though, which I am assuming comes with the difficulty of using a microphone for those kinds of instruments, though they've been handled fairly well for themselves and made the acoustic solo sections of the track still stand strong. So, not quite what I was expecting in regards to the source but I still managed to dig this all the same. Going by the name, I am seriously hoping you'd continue to melt our faces off with future submissions and take these arrangements to the next level

I remember loving the preview in the trailer when it came out, and when the track made its showcase properly, it still remained epically strong. Seriously, how the hell did Stevo end up with a lot of the BEST songs from the NiGHTS score? So arrangement-wise, it starts pretty safe towards the source material, down to the solos (liking the glide work being done to that synth btw), though by the time the glockenspiel comes in at 1:30 the track starts to show a lot of Stevo's colors in regards to improvisation. Excellent. The production itself similarly feels slick; a little off-time at times with the rhythm guitar timing though, but a lot of the pros with the details easily outweight it. It even surprised me that those falsetto vocals were even him; of all the times I heard his voice through OverClocked After Dark, I wouldn't have assumed that he'd push his voice up THERE for some reason o_O All in all we have this firm arrangement that reflects on the joyous atmosphere of the source material and shows Stevo's nature as a performer. IMO it's one of the best tracks from Lucid Dreaming; you should be proud of taking the reigns on this one!

DarkCecil's tracks kinda tore me a bit when I first came across them years ago; when he has ideas, he brings them out well, though there were a few tracks where he kind of had his more awkward moments IMO. Sadly, this is one of those tracks for me; it's understandable for the choice of samples to show their age, but I thought the trumpet part at the beginning was cool either way. But going past that, the track itself seems to be envisioned as nothing more than a medley, made somehow unclear by a ridiculous amount of release/reverb covering instruments across the entire track. To me it doesn't quite feel like the norm for even 2002, which ends up putting the track at a weak standing point. So I'm going to have to say though that due to it really showing its age on both the arrangement and production sides, this one didn't really do it for me. I'm sorry man :\

STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM! >:] If you guys don't stop with these silly Internet memes, then it's likely that Darke would wipe the slate clean of them and we'd be back to having more aimless civil conversation. Be glad no one's jailed for that yet >_>

If not in 11 hours, then I might as well quote this from IRC convo last night:- Someone probably needs to get the salt and pepper ready...

Okay, so it's been 5 days since it started out. After working out the math with the links in the thread, here's what I've witnessed so far: Total User Reviews: 117 (-5850 HP) OA Reviews: 4 (+200 HP) HP REMAINING: 15350/21000 This is a good start; keep up the effort, all

So I guess for the next round of picks, there's a burning question that should be considered for all teams - which person out of the three is sane enough to remix for Round 9, taking place between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve? o_O

TO, I love you for covering "Ice Path" - that's one of my favorite tracks from Gold/Silver The source tune managed to fit well with your darker style, something I've come to see that adapted well to the Doom source material back in the day. The echo/ambience work is very fitting (with a lot of due attention being paid towards the piano in the middle of the track), those little expansions done with the synth manipulation and bass pulsing, fitting instrumentation to capture a claustrophobic and cold atmosphere; the pieces all really came together to provide a very worthwhile contribution to MissingNo. There's really not that much to fault here other than that lazy fadeout, but you know what I'm like with those things anyway. Either way, between this and "Clairvoyant Eulogy" your treatment for the Pokemon series - while somewhat unconventional - has been a thrill to witness. Should you hope to rep it again in the future, I'm all ears