Rexy

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

I remember being somewhat torn over the track. Credit where credit is due - the scratching/vinyl emulation work is pretty cool, and the instrument manipulation throughout is pretty neat. So in terms of the lo-fi vision you've managed to pull through. However, I'm not really a fan of the over-claustrophobic accompaniment writing, or the high-mid-deprived string equalisation. I can understand the artistic vision here, but to me it just sounds unconvincing and somewhat thin to pull off. Similarly, the brass to me doesn't have that convincing tone to it; the sustain on it is good so parts of the humanisation is in place, but there's got to be some more done to it than that, particularly with any attack/decay work. I may have to say I was a little disappointed with the track in regards to this writing process, but it's still a good thing that you managed to cover something as undercovered as Saga 2. I'm still with the faith that you'll keep on experimenting with these production techniques and seeing what more could be done, so I'll be still watching out for you.

Hearing this track as well as Dr Manhattan's contributions to the series have done some good things to exposure for Sunset Riders within the community in the past year, and I feel glad to hear that approach for lesser-known territory. So the arrangement may be kind of straight forward with the placement of the melodies in a more contemporary setting that might be expected from pop tracks a few years ago, but for the most part it works well. Considering that chunks of the Mountain source were in 15/4 timing, you did well to adapt it to the straight 4/4 setting. What managed to drop my jaw even more were the convincing synth guitars; I'm no fan of synth guitars at all as they're often too difficult to emulate just right, but the programming done with them really gave the track a surprising lift in regards to the production processes. However I'm going to have to be with the sentiment expressed about the awkward fake brass at the end; not the most convincing sample out there, but it was manipulated fine enough to still maintain that human feeling. For next time I may suggest layering the brass with other samples and see how it comes out; it should be able to give it a more layered approach. All in all, a great track coming from you - so great up to the point that (as stated in another thread) it introduced a friend of mine to OC Remix as a whole! Let's hope you keep up the effort on future works, and maybe even continue to shine spotlights on lesser-appreciated VGM

Given that the original was already kind of creepy and room-like, it might be an expectation to look towards it when seeing the words "gothic lounge" in the mix description. When hearing the mix though I managed to sense something a little more frantic and exotic in nature - definitely not a bad thing given the gentle articulations going across the track. I got to say I love the syncopated piano writing at 1:05 and later on at 3:08; tends to give it more of a latin jazz kind of feel to the already lounge-like soundscape. And even with the choice of instruments it manages to fit appropriately with the nature of the source while still maintaining that laid back touch that we often expect with DarkeSword's modern-day writing style. Solid work all around, and let's see you keep up the pushing for volume 2

For all the C64 coverage I often see around here, it's rare that I see someone taking it in a more symphonic direction - fits the title really appropriately. The dynamic work is very solid - when it gets quiet it really shows its subtleties just fine, and with some articulations in place it starts to show life; I give a huge amount of credit to the string work here, very convincing work going on with those. I've also been meaning to invest in the WIVI sounds for some time, and while the woodwind work has shown itself to fit very appropriately for the track, I kind of feel torn about the brass with the near-constant attack for them. Thankfully they've been handled well within the setting; a more straightforward setting (2 riffs and an ending) than I might expect for more recent mixes but still shining well on VGM otherwise undercovered. I might look into the sample bank once my wallet fills up again, though things might change as the future moves in. Nonetheless, definitely a more different light in the field of C64 coverage, and I'm hoping you'll get to contribute to the site again in the future

Taking into consideration that the original was already kind of minimalist in structure (albeit with more distorted synths), it may have fitted firm enough to something quite minimalist. And while I must admit it's not quite as busy as Mattias's other works, there's definitely a lot given to the backing elements like the piano intro, wobble bass and appropriate ambience work throughout. The arrangement generally feels quite straightforward for the most part, though given the nature of the source it does well enough in working with what's available and adding that twist to it. I'm not sure about you but for some reason when playing it through the Youtube preview I sensed this sudden dryness past 2:10 that could be mistaken as elements of clipping; not sure if that may be a distractant or not, but the cut-offs here at that point give that slight uneasy conclusion. If it's not clipping, then I might as well have to say to watch for your gates at times to try and prevent that illusion. But hey, you're Mattias and I can always trust you to refine details like that. All in all, definitely a more different piece from Mattias, and I hope you keep representing more undercovered games in future remixing endeavours

It's not a bad feel if we're going for something more laid back (something I personally may not quite expect from the Top Gear series, so credit where credit is due). Pleasantly worked out in regards to writing (if not simplistic), and I thought the echoed piano, while a little crudely done, was actually a clever touch to the instrument spacing. Yet, the track to me kind of feels very straightforward in structure, not to mention sounding somewhat dated in the sound selection, most notably looking towards the saxophone sample here. Thus to me it feels somewhat dated in comparison to some of the other 2002 tracks, so in spite of some good ideas it just came off as a bit bland, sorry :\

Arrangement-wise, the melody may feel straight forward but the chords have been given some change from the original versions of the anthem (all three of them o_O). The little ambient breakdown at 2:12 managed to add in some increased scope as well; helped try and shift things around a little bit. I do have to be with the same sentiment that aside from being drawn towards a groove or the efforts with the source material there's not a lot else going on production-wise. But whether it's a good thing or bad thing or not remains to be seen - it remains accessible for those unfamiliar with the game, can be seen as nostalgic for those that have played the game, and is a pretty decent newcomer mix unleashed here. Juha, I hope you'll take everything you've learnt from the process and keep making tracks in the future; by what I've seen of you here, I am sensing a good amount of potential. So keep at it

It was great watching these back Thanks again Lidawg for making all this happen! In addition, Larry gave us our regards in the latest edition of Nitro Game Injection! Shoutout is 41 minutes in. (i.e. it's during the segment where Larry does the dishes live on air )

Yeah, from what I'm noting either they want their source melodies to be clearer or they want something more 'fun' (hint hint: Liquid Metal ). I'm still going to keep trying my best, even though it somehow saddens me sometimes that even more creative entries get shunted due to unpopular genres. Either way, I am so late on some light pitch bends in there; I'll get them in this updated wip now: http://instaidgrace.com/freqrexy/junk/rootofallthings-ocrver-wip6.mp3 On that note, given the pointers from the transition to demos 4 and 5, I believe this is now ready for a mod review. I'm all set for all the feedback I can get

Sent my first WIP out to both of you guys. I'm 4 days late though, but hopefully due to Saturday's panel it can be excused >_>

I remember being fond of Jivemaster's work back in the day, though knew him moreso for doing upbeat electronica, so I guess I was surprised to see him go into a rock-driven edge. Here we got something quite quirky here, strangely artistic due to the clashing intro/rest-of-the-song and significant lack of melody (might be down to the source), but with what's been placed in production-wise (like with the flanging wahs every now and again) had managed to give in a good lift for its time. In comparison to even his earlier material it doesn't seem to have that punch or memorability factor to it in regards to concept, but it's still kind of okay if not a little stale.

Strangely, when I first heard the track I thought due to the acoustics and room space it would be more compared to Eric Johnson, though having heard Satch's "Rubina" I guess I could see the comparison now. It doesn't change the fact that the performance here definitely takes Sixto in a more different light - gentle, more interpretive, and yet still shows his versatility as a guitarist. I really dig the chorus effect work on the tone early on; for me it adds a lot towards the atmosphere and really reflects on this twilit tone going towards it. You may say what you like about the source usage, but I heard Gate of Your Dream and the referenced parts of Dream Dreams just fine for most of the track, or at least up until the solo at the 4:30 mark. I say the recognisability is there, and I am sure that's a key component of Sixto's arrangement style even if it's not quite as straightforward as we'd usually expect (not a bad thing at all ). So, definitely one of thost more 'different' tracks from Sixto but for me it paid off by being one of the strongest tracks on Lucid Dreaming. Nice going

Glad to see there's another female taken to the piano This one manages to show off some strong improvisation skills and delicacy/emotion, something that I think is a good key component in a solo piano arrangement of this caliber. I can see it capturing the forest in a more peaceful state, and that's been affected well with the way the whole thing was presented. Two things I may have to say though - while the performance was very spot on, the ambience might be questioned here as there doesn't seem to be much of it in comparison to other solo piano tracks I've witnessed. But it's not so much of a dealbreaker with a track as gracefully played as this. I may also see it getting quite the comparisions to Doc Nano's "Dancing Leaves" for it also being short and taking the performance in a more abstract way, though in spite of the post time between them both they should still be seen as two sweet visions from two similarly skilled artists, and should if ever be seen as more of a coincidence. Hopefully you'll return to the site soon with future works - I appreciate this one through and through