The Orichalcon

It took a little while for me to find the source tune in the psf, that's one huge soundtrack. I couldn't find an "Overworld Theme 1", however "Overworld Theme 2" sounds very similar to this remix, so I'm going to assume that was a typo. Someone can let me know if I'm making a wrong assumption. The bass in this piece is just a little bit too loud and droning, which is distracting attention away from the other instruments, which could probably be brought out a little more. The drums in this are all right in terms of quality, however it's basically the same beat looped over and over, with the occasional break. I would've liked to have seen a little more variety in the drumwork on a piece that sounds as minimalistic as this. This isn't a major issue. The light rhodes in the background keeping the rhythm are quite enjoyable to listen to. The piano that comes in sounds a little dry and flat, but it works. It's played well as it brings out the Jazz sound in the piece quite naturally. The synth that comes in to take over the piano is also played well and has some interesting undulations in the pitch on the longer notes that make it sound oh-so-groovy and professional. I'm not sure the fade-out suited the piece. I'd rather it to have had a more personalised ending, to have the mix build up to the end, rather than fade out. The arrangement of the piece is all right when compared to the original. There are little variations on the piano that give this mix it's own jazzy flare, however the basic notation is pretty much the same as it in the "Casually" piece. The synth work however has some very clever ideas in the way it's played that give the mix it's own originality. The sine wave in the background keeping the mix going in the sections where the piano and the synths have a break was a great idea that worked out well. I'm borderline on this one. The piece sounds well-produced, and the arrangement is all right. I just feel that there is more potential behind this mix. Giving a more unique spin to the piano in the mix would probably help push me towards a yes. Working on bringing the drums out beyond the basic loopy feeling would be a welcome change as well. This is a NO from me for now, and a request for a resubmit.

This mix does sound like it's utilising very basic Fruity Loops defaults. The beat is using FL-Default samples and sounds like it's had no proccessing. The koto-sounding piano is dry, even with the delay over it, it's only using very basic default settings from FL. I can't fault that since this is your first FL mix, however I recommend becoming more accustomed to the program before finalising any tracks in it. A fair bit of the OCR community use FL as their main mixer, myself and zircon included, so it might be worth reading up some tutorials and practicing some more complex processing on the instruments. The actual arrangement is fairly simple, but it works. I could see it being an enjoyable mix with proper mastering. Since we don't have a source, I can't say whether it's because it's just a nice theme, or because of what you've done to it in the remix. Either way, it's not a bad mix, but it's not OCR-worthy either. NO

The production in this mix is clear. The drums are quite powerful, and while some people would find them over-bearing, they fit the style of the mix well enough. the crash-cymbal that comes in every now and then to accompany the ride on every beat sounds a little too loud, but nothing too serious. Everything else fits together nicely. The guitar is very well played, much to Larry's horror I feel it could've been a tad louder in proportion to the rest of the piece, which is reminiscent of music by The Black Mages. The rock organ is a lovely partner for the guitar and ensures the mix stays interesting while allowing the lead guitar to break and keep the mix fresh. The major problem here as pointed out, is that the piece sounds like a cover of the original. However, I feel there's enough here to warrant this as more than just a cover. A little more interpretation on both the organ and the guitar the second time through the general source theme would've been welcome (From about 1:55) to save the mix from the speculation of this just being a cover and running through the same patterns as the nsf. The fact that the theme repeats itself flawlessly before the section from 2:45 doesn't help it out there. The music from 2:45 on is a welcome break and also adds something original to the theme, however it keeps the theme of both the game and the mix in tact with that creepy horror-flick style organ playing. The guitar solo from 3:20 is very well played, and a welcome addition. I do wish it had lasted a bit longer, instead of simply reverting back into the same used guitarlines from earlier in the mix. This is simply nitpicking though. I'm really torn on this one, it's clearly a well produced mix for its genre. I'm willing to say that there is enough here to warrant this having a place on OCR. While it does sound like a cover of the original, there are sections where the artist has added to the theme. Also since the original was an nsf, creating such a powerful rock piece out of it is quite an achievement. This is a YES from me.

One of the few tracks from descent that I hadn't heard before dj redlight showed it to me. The synths in this mix are so crisp and clear, which has been a consistent thing with dj redlight. With this mix, the overall feeling is a lot smoother and flowing than some of his final doom mixes, paying more attention to the higher frequencies and synths than the accustomed pattern of thick beats and punchy kicks. Everything in this mix is sleak and warming to the ear. The drums in this piece are simplistic, while the kick is light and works simply to keep the beat going, the percussion taps along lightly and keeps the piece interesting. The actual mix is very similar to the source. If it wasn't for the very creative synthwork flowing around this mix, I'd be tempted to say it's too close to the original. The key to this mix however lies in the way the synths have been utilised. As Shna said, two phrases may be the same in the notation, but the effects layered over them and the unique phrasing on minor sections of the theme ensures that the mix never gets old, nor does it feel like it gets repetitive. The arpeggio synth-work that shows up occasionally is a good example of this (around 0:54 is an example.) The extra guitar brought in towards the end to coincide with the lead-synth cinches the deal and gives the mix the extra bit of energy it needed to flow smoothly into the finish. A definite YES from me.

Since I first heard this mix I thought it was very liberal on the remix front. The actual source material doesn't make an immediately apparent appearance until we get to the string stabs around 2:08, and even then they only last for about 15 seconds before we head straight back into the original composition. The production of the piece is fairly above average. The strings that come in at the beginning are hauntingly beautiful, and then as pixietricks' singing comes in I can't help but think of a funeral progression (not a bad thing,) or an abandoned church. Either way, it's a very emotional piece and achieves this almost tragically beautiful feeling relatively smoothly. The quality of the strings and piano in the piece are slightly above average. The reverb is apparent in the piece, but not overpowering or drowning the mix. The marching drums that come in around 2:08 were a nice addition, they make the mix feel more solid. From 2:20 I was hoping the mix would build up a little more, perhaps with the introduction of a woodwind instrument to keep the theme going (even bagpipes sound like they'd fit in well here.) Pixietricks does a good job with the opera-style accompaniment to this piece. Towards the end the singing becomes a little too overpowering and piercing, though she holds her notes remarkably well and would impress any fan of opera singing. The arrangement of the piece is an issue in terms of how much of the source it uses. The most apparent parts as mentioned before are the string stabs from 2:08 as well as the following choir backing which I think are cleverly brought in, though the mix needed much more of this. Pixietricks' singing flirts with the main theme of the source around 0:58 and again around 3:10. The piano that comes in at 1:50 is also an interesting interpretation of the source, but apart from that it's mostly original for the entire mix. Overall, the production of the piece is reasonable, the emotion of the piece is amazing, but the mix severely falters on the arrangement front. There's precious little of the source tune in the remix and while it's a fairly basic source, it has room for a more clear-cut interpretation than what we see here. NO

I'd be very interested in seeing what they could do with some of the tracks. Since anime music videos tend to have more pop-style, or up-beat music, and some of this project is very ambient (ie: Ghosts of Mars, Jade Spawn)

It's Betruger from Doom 3. Also, I agree with Larry on the DJ Redlight front. If you haven't already, go to his site and download the mp3's he has up there. People usually charge money for music of that quality, so enjoy while you can. "Secret Symphony of Life & Death" is a personal favourite.

Rayza, sorry I didn't get that info I was supposed to send you to you. Completely slipped my mind.

Perhaps I should explain it then. It's not meant to be american anything. If it sounds native american or whatever, it's purely by accident. What I was going for was to bring the Oddysee music up to the same style of music that was in the latest title of Stranger's Wrath. You can argue over style's and what flavour it has, but in the end, it's just meant to be a nice tribal and atmospheric sounding mix with a bit of power in it. Consider it New-Australian then.

I really hate to be picky, but can you guys please not talk about American history in this thread? Anywhere else but here.

There's no actual soundtrack. I plugged my equipment into my PS2 and recorded the background ambience from the monsaic lines level. You can find the source here (temporarily): http://www.doulifee.com/prc/TheOrichalcon/oddworldabe_monsaiclines.mp3

I am so confused. This guy would make a perfect judge.

Yup, but expect one of yours up soon too. OMJesus, stop patting each other on the back!!!~ It's ok Larry, it's normal to be jealous of camaraderie.

Hey well done myth, I just saw Ghosts of Mars is To Be Posted.

out of interest, nousentre. The beginning of your Mystery meat piece sounds an awful lot like the beginning of a Final Doom track, with the ride cymbal and the bass. Very cool.

Don't forget groove bias and tekno bias to complete the conspiracy theory! You saw the subtle judgehate in Larsec's song lyrics right? Edit: At Alex, as far as DJCarbunk1e's E1M7 mix, I thought it was very disappointing. It may be a good dance mix, but it's gone way too far from the source material. Sounds like one of the pieces you'd see posted up in OCR0000-0500. The original had that military feel to it, and while I don't want to go down the same path as the people on doomworld and hold a remix to a genre, it's a long way for E1M7 to go in order to become a dance mix. (ie: I don't think it worked.) Which is probably why it's not getting amazing feedback. Kudos to DJ Carbunk1e though, I enjoyed Glass moon and a couple other tracks I've heard in the Anime ReMix competitions. DJC's a great artist, I just don't think it worked with E1M7.

I can tell you right now that most of the mixes in this won't make it to the site. While they work well as an album project mix, some of them don't quite fit under the site guidelines (ie: straying from the original too far, staying too close to the original.) The quality of the some of the entries might need some work before they can make it past the panel as well.

Wipe me off the list, Sorry Arek. My computer's gone batshit insane and it's struggling to open anything up without crashing. I need an upgrade before I can mix properly. Even so, the mix I signed on for I have no ideas for. It's a nasty little tune. All happy and bippy. No room for a dark song in it.

Do yourself a favour. Download Bitcomet Download the torrent Open Bitcomet Click File -> Open Torrent Select the DSoP torrent Tick the boxes next to the files you want (which would be the MP3's, not the flac's) Then click ok, the torrent program will do the rest for you. It'll tell you when it's done downloading in a little bubble on the taskbar, and then you just go in and listen.

Thanks, but it was posted up on one of the first few pages, considering djp wrote it.

It's the Waltz music from the scene between Rinoa and Squall. It's also the melody in Eyes on Me. Nice work getting it posted up there Blad, it's a great solid and enjoyable piece to listen to, enough said. One thing I find interestingly unique about it is that if you try to hum the original melody along with it, it sounds very much out of place, however by itself this piece stands strong. Dare I say that Squall and Rinoa would probably enjoy dancing to this piece more than the one they did in the game (although it might be a little too fast-paced for two-left-feet Squall.) I love the build up from about 2:15. Nicely done, gives the piece a really great dynamic feel. On the very minuscule negative side. The generic percussion used as a backing to the piece is very flat. By far it works out well enough, though from a nitpicking point of view, if it had a more realistic ambience to it, the piece could have sounded much more powerful. Like I said, that's only a tiny issue for me. It doesn't take any of the enjoyment out of the mix. Kudos.

Someone over at doomworld actually gave a proper review for the album. A general liking of the album with a few dislikes to top it off. What surprised me was this individual is probably the first one that seemed to have an agenda against Evilhorde.

I need a fairly good guitarist. Someone who can play pretty much anything that's put in front of them spot on, and who has a good setup to get different good quality sounds in the recordings. send me a PM if you can do that.

Thanks gramps, but most of these mixers aren't so young. Uh, I'm 17, the best tracks to me sounded kind of unprofessional, experimentative, which is what I liked about them. You sure sounded nostalgic in your original post, then. Well I used to be a pretty good writer, but mainly since the loss of my fantasy novel almost four years ago; mix of anime/videogames/movies and such; which I'd been working on all through year 8, I haven't been able to write much since. I'm still saving up to see if I can have it recovered from the hard drive, it occured to me about a year or so ago that I could try and have it recovered seeing as my writing was getting worse and this could boost my confidence a lot. I was being ironic in my post by calling you gramps. I know you're still a kid. The point was more that whether you think they sound professional or not doesn't really matter.

Thanks gramps, but most of these mixers aren't so young.