jmr

I'm really glad to see all this interest in the project. Looks like we might get an album's worth of music after all! Progress has been greatly slowed on my track, though. I'm just about to start final exams, so those are taking priority at the moment. However, I'm done on the 14th, giving me a handful of days to finish things up. In the meantime, though, I'd REALLY appreciate some feedback.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183603.html

Judging by the songs they have on their myspace page, they seem like a great, talented band. Definitely worth checking out, in my opinion.

Yeah, I pointed that out a few days ago:

I've been using Winamp to do this. I can simply right click a song in my playlist, and send it to a plugin called Nullsoft Format Converter (which I'm pretty sure comes with Winamp), and very quickly covert from one format to another. There the rare times, though, that things don't work as they should, so be sure to check the outputted files before deleting the original. It really comes in handy when I want to convert a higher bitrate file into a lower bitrate OGG for my portable player. I'm pretty sure that foobar2000 is capable of this as well, but I haven't used it in a while, so I'm not sure. Drack is right about the transcoding losses. If you do convert your OGGs to MP3s, I'd recommend keeping the original OGG as well.

That's not a bad idea either. If anything, it'll help draw more attention to the mixes with few reviews. Here's what I've covered so far: OCR00258: Tetris 'TechtrisTypeZ' (which, up until this morning, was the song with the least number of reviews.) OCR00196: Frogger 'StompBox' OCR00302: Ultraman 2 'vs. Brazil'

I usually like to start my listening experience by comparing the remix to the source tune, especially if I'm not familiar with it. In this case, I had no luck finding one. The remix page lists this as an SNES game released in 1996. The closest thing I can find that even partially matches this is a game called SD Ultra Battle: Ultraman Densetsu, a game for which I cannot find an SPC dump. I did manage to track down an Ultraman 2 - Shutsugeki Katoku Tai Famicom Disk System rom, however. The game's opening theme is the same as the chiptune sampled in the intro of this remix. This leads me to believe that the information in the OCR database is incorrect, and that this is a remix of the FDS game rather than the SNES game. ...and now that that's out of the way... I like this. It has this upbeat, almost 'bouncy' feel to it. The lead synths have this long, distant quality to them; yet they still manage to stay in the foreground. It works well, creating an interesting contrast with the chirpy staccato bass and drum tracks. There are a few detractors, though. I personally could do away with the sporadic distorted effects that come in at 1:21. As well, it would be nice if there was some more variation in the synth bass line; it's essentially copied from the source. Apart from this, the arrangement is alright. It doesn't stray to far from the original, yet still manages to do it's own thing. In a way, it vaguely reminds me of a certain early 70's synthesizer album that I am rather fond of. Good stuff.

Where to begin...? This one certainly hasn't aged well. What we have here is basically a repetitive piano loop with an equally repetitive drum loop. The piano and drums fit together in a 'Bad Tuna' sort of way. The only real arrangement comes in the form of annoying arpeggio effects, and even then, it's essentially the same loop. At the halfway point, we are subjected to a guitar-like distortion applied to the piano, after which the same loops from the first half repeat again. I'd like to say something positive about this remix, but I can't find a single redeeming quality (except for the fact that it ends.) It's not good when things start getting annoyingly repetitive in the first 30 seconds, much less in the first 15. I don't really like saying this, but I feel it's warranted in this case: avoid this one (unless you are a sucker for punishment).

First off, I like the ambient introduction; pretty good use of the stereo field. With the end of the ambiance and the entry of a (slightly grating) bass synth at 0:15 comes the beginnings of the recognizable NES Tetris music. Following this, we get the introduction of a drum track. It seems alright at first, but it quickly descends into a fairly basic kick-snare pattern for a period of time. To make things worse, the snare sample is not that great (and that's putting it lightly!). Simultaneously we are treated to a near-verbatim cover of the melody (although, there are some small changes that work well, such as in the last few bars of this section which facilitate a transition into the next part). Following this, we go into an original section, which despite sounding very little like the Tetris theme we were just listening to, is pretty enjoyable. The percussion is essentially non existent for this bit. However, the artist starts building up layers of synths and sound effects, creating what I guess could be considered the climax of this piece. Even though it isn't half bad, I think it would've been nice if there was some sort of building, driving beat to go along with this. We now return to the Tetris theme, which is essentially the same as before. The only real difference: in addition to the bad snare sample, we now have a bad orchestra hit sample on top of everything else. It simply continues like this until the lackluster ending. Even though I like the original NES version of the theme, I find that the original sections are the highlights of the remix. If the Tetris theme sections were arranged to be more like the artist's original parts, than this would be great. Instead, we're left with the good original section sandwiched between two identical slices of the Tetris theme served with a side of bad samples.

Seems like an alright idea. I'll dig out my old OCR DVD-Rs and see what I can do. Here's something that might help: the review forum, with threads sorted from by number of replies (from least to greatest).

I found a review of the game on a Spanish Aerosmith messageboard in which the reviewer states that there was a soundtrack CD with a couple of riffs not used in Aerosmith songs. (Well, according to the google translation, anyway. It might be advisable to ask someone who actually knows Spanish to confirm that.) EDIT: This site says there was a soundtrack CD too, but there's no indication of what was actually on it.

Just because I feel like being a nice guy, here's the file for those who can't access it: http://jmr.sitesled.com/Metroid%20-%20Brinstar%20Lower%20Level.mp3

I can't say that I know this remix. However, if it makes any difference, I can tell you that it's NOT the Brinstar music. It's Kraid.

It's about damn time we had a new Yoshi's Island mix! The intro is great. The orchestral-esque instruments work well with the building electronic elements. I like the gated strings (0:34-0:45), it's a shame they're not featured more prominently in the rest of the song. Nice work with the 3/4 -> 4/4 adaptation, like the judges noted it doesn't seem overly forced. I loved the changes of pace at 3:23 and 4:05 (nice soloing!), but the sudden ending leaves me wishing there was more. Overall, though, I thought the remix was great.. (btw, djp, it's not a remix of Underground BGM as you currently have indicated in the remix information, it's the castle / fortress music.) edit: looks like that has been taken care of.)

I think that explains it. EDIT: Rather than double-post, I figured I'd just edit this one. On ALL of the song pages (this one, for example), the links to the game's page lead to 404s. They are using what appears to be an older, numerical url (in the previous example: http://www.ocremix.org/game/70/), whereas the correct links are modeled after the game name (http://www.ocremix.org/game/xenogears-ps1/). This only affects the two upper links, and not the ones in the table listing the remixes. I'M STARING AT YOUR PHOTO, DJP.

I created a signature badge in hopes of generating some awareness for this little project: static jpg: animated gif:

I posted a slightly updated version of my WIP in the non-remixes forum. http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?p=348052 Dyne, could you replace the MP3 link in the first post with a link to that thread?

EDIT: NEW VERSION. Here's a WIP that I started for Dyne's OverClocked Christmas project. Current Version: December 15 - WIP 3 What's new: 'tweaked' mixing, slight tempo changes throughout the song, other small changes here and there. What's old: violin sample. I've yet to find anything free that sounds any better. Suggestions plz! Old version: November 27 - WIP 2 Older version: November 26 - WIP 1 It borrows some compositional elements from Enya's Only Time (mainly the pizzicato strings). However, everything else is either my original work or based on the original song. I only started working on this yesterday, so consequently it's still kind of rough. Everything thus far has been made using free soundfonts from various locations. I'd like to replace the violin sample with something a little better, so if anyone has anything better to share let me know.

Wow, that's quite a necrobump. Almost a full year! Kudos.

Haha, I was going to ask how long the j's intended to keep the queue so short. I guess that answers my question.

I've always used sendspace. No waiting times; you just can't download more than one file simultaneously. Or, you could use Sharebee, which basically takes the file and automatically uploads it to other file hosting services. Thanks for uploading them all, Fenrir. Snagging them now.

This song would make a great addition to this project. Edit: Also, my brother Ryan (perhaps known better around here as Random Hero) completed an orchestral arrangement / cover of Mary, Did You Know? that he hasn't released anywhere yet. I can ask him he'd be willing to contribute it to this project when he gets home.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Reuben and his fellow racers. I can't saw that I knew him, but I did enjoy his music.

I've heard other renditions of those three songs before, but nothing quite as amazing as this. The only really issue I have with it has already been pointed out.

Even though the ytmnd page doesn't use Russel Cox's remix, this thread did inspire me to listen to it again; thanks for that. Thanks for ruining it for me. Although... it'd be even more sad if the guy who created this thought the letters and gifts were from his real mom, and didn't realize that those letters were from the NPC "mom".