prophetik music

this is pretty similar initially but spreads out a lot more as the track goes on. there's less a focus on orchestrated silliness in the background and more on a tighter band sound, as expected given the folks contributing. track starts to drag a bit around 2:50 since it's just powering through track callouts for a while - there's no real direction for a bit there until the vocalists come back in, and then it's a pretty abrupt transition. there's some really fun vocal processing work around the 4:50-5:00 mark, that was a nice way to mix it up. the meat boy vocal parts are a bit high to my ears - having to switch to falsetto at the top really kills the line unfortunately. this track isn't quite as over-long as the original (imo that was a 3 minute song and took 5:30 to be done). it's still a long song with a lot going on, and some of it probably should have been cut down to focus it more. overall, this track is way, way loud. the limiter's going nuts throughout the band sections, complete with a bunch of loud bursts in the master like at 0:24. audacity reports constant clipping throughout - i don't hear it, but i wonder how youtube's going to like it. the elephant in the room is if this is different enough from the original remix to constitute a new work. i think that there's enough here to do that, if we apply the same criteria to this remix vs. the ocr as we do remix vs. original. there's a lot of new lines, there's some restructuring, there's a lot of altered elements and added content. so while i think the song's more uneven than i'd expect given the arranger, and the mastering's not perfect, and the performances aren't perfect, i still think this is a banger and really fun to listen to. YES edit 11/19: yeah, i used the wrong terms - what i'm hearing is the kick causing pumping. separately, i listened to it again after a few months away and after the other votes went the other way. i think i'm in agreement the mix feels bland in a lot of places and that it needs another eq pass - i over-focused on arrangement the first time around, and there's not really any issues there. i think the snare in particular feels pretty blah as does the claps. i still love the arrangement (although it's probably too long), but as it is i think it'd be a "what could this have been" if we posted it. so ima change my vote and call it done. NO

little different style right off the bat! opens with a filtered bass synth and a very resonant lead. most of the synths are in the same range and it's dense. kick and snare come in at 0:16. there doesn't sound like there's any sidechaining so the kick sounds pretty weak. this opens up a bunch at 0:32 and you can hear some fun countermelodic elements, and a bitcrushing fill. it hits its stride at 0:49 finally and it's a nice groove, the kick just has no beef at all. i like some of the added flourishes to the melody line through here. there's a break at 1:20. this might have been a chance to change up the lead a little. there's a hard cut into a filtered beat and bass right after it - this was a little sudden and took a second to get the hang of what was going on. this transitions into a bridge section that's more transitional until some repeated material from 0:49. another transition with bitcrushing into the final chorus at 2:23. there's some bass-synth focused outro, and it's done. overall i think this is a really fun arrangement! you take an original with a lot of dynamic movement and manage to represent that well in this genre. there are a few technical issues that are a big deal - the kick having no guts throughout is a really big one. layering in some samples with more sub content, sidechaining the bass and backing pads so that the kick can speak through the mix a bit, and making sure you're not scooping the bass out of the EQs so high (looks like the peak's in the 75hz range, i'd expect it to be half that / an octave lower) would help a lot. separately i was getting pretty tired of the same synths by the end of the track. there's a lot of repeated elements in here (like how you reused the opening synth riffs several times) - by changing up your leads just like you would change up what instrument in the orchestra's carrying the melody, you add engagement and interest to your listener. you have several breaks at good times in the track, so maybe consider mixing up your leads in those transitional points. NO

opens with some percussive elements (bit of machine gun in there), and some lovely swells in the strings. this section feels a touch compressed whenever the orchestral percussion hit. oboe isn't particularly realistic (reminds me of the FFXII soundtrack actually) but i like what it's saying. good use of a complex scale for some of the runs. the chromatic elements at 1:32-1:34 aren't quite there. this progresses through some more oboe noodles until we get to a break at 2:13 when the voice comes in. i think the voice part is a touch loud as it comes in - being farther in the distance i think would fit the very spare backing elements better. i like the processing on the voice however, it fits into the texture well. the oboe's a bit more exposed here as well. when the octaves come in at 3:32 it's clear that it's been heavily pitch-adjusted - make sure when you do pitch adjustment you don't take out the natural drift in your voice, or it'll sound robotic. through 3:45 we start to build back to an orchestral setting. there's some repeated elements that have showed up a lot by this point (the descending tom fill, the hand percussion loop), so the small changes you've made here are really nice. i think this section really needs a lot more to distinguish it from the first two minutes - the bass clarinet lead section is nice, but overall it feels very much like the opening section where it's string pads and an oboe noodling on top. it's also pretty hard to hear what's going on in those melodic elements in some places. more dynamic backing elements, an updated hand percussion loop, more rhythmic elements in the background - this would all help a lot to keep it moving. the track just ends after the source melody is over. there's a final note and that's it. some prep and outro after nearly six minutes of music would make a lot of sense there. i think that there's some really neat ideas here. this is definitely an interesting reimagining of a classic tune and showcases some great concept work. i think there's some execution elements that need to be corrected before it's ready for primetime. the middle third drags and needs some balancing, and the last third needs something to give it more verve. NO

welcome back! agree that there's a hard hole between about 150hz and about 275hz, which is part of why the track feels a bit scooped. there's not much past like 1khz either, which is why it's a little dead. separately there's also some elements right away that are hard panned all the way left and right (the early keys) whereas other elements are full-center (drums), which makes some things sound a bit weird on headphones but wouldn't be noticeable on speakers. i need to stress that this sounds so much better than it did last time though. it's like they're completely different tracks. there's a big break at 0:57 which is well-timed, and then a bit of building action that goes longer than i initially expect and is more transitional into the battle theme elements. this noodles a bit before we get back to the A theme and content. the drums are a little contrived here. this trucks through the melodic content one more time before it hits the outro at 2:50, and then it's done. i think this is almost there! you're to the part now where you don't need to make significant changes, but the little things you tweak here and there will result in a vastly improved product. if you filled back in that hold around 200hz that i mentioned before, open up the top of your EQs a touch to allow some >1khz content (especially from your hats), and reigned in some of the stereo separation of your keys, i think that helps a lot. a better transition at 2:02 would help too. lastly, the section from about 1:14 through about 1:50 drags quite a bit. finding a way to instill rhythm and forward focus without losing the vibe there would be a huge help to the middle third of the piece. you're in the home stretch! what a ride so far. honestly this is really close as it is. NO

i will not be left off a yes vote! opening section takes a minute to get going, but i like the glass-esque build and intense focus. there's a (probably too long) sfx break to the melodic content which comes in at 1:20. the melodic is initially very spare, but i get that it fleshes out over time and i think it's a fun build since it's similar to the game's story. we get a big hit of everything at 1:55 and it gets trucking along nicely at that point. the change at 3:22 is a fun one - again, very steve reich/terry riley phase experimental. there's another sfx break and the b theme comes in with such a different vibe. really neat idea here too. i actually didn't like the subsequent section with how full it was - i think overall the best parts of the song to me were the ones that were more spare in their approach. 5:37 feels great for example. i'll say though that finally coming back to the a theme at 5:52 really felt great. around here i noticed that the snare and fills before were really loud and that was a little much to my ears. there's an outro section that's less naturally from an instrumentation standpoint, and then it's done. there's a few seconds of silence at the end that does a great job of actually ending the piece. there's a lot here to like. CoT is such an overdone track (i should know, i have one on the panel right now too!) that this is kind of surprising how far afield it's able to travel. i appreciate the breadth of the arrangement and how much you do to reinforce the natural beauty of the arpeggio that ties it all together. great work. YES

unfortunately this breaks a number of the Submission Standards. while 1.1 details a wav requirement with no size restrictions, it's reasonable to assume that a 1.4gb file in 192k 32-bit float is excessive. while your track does contain content up past 80khz, our ears don't, so that's not really needed. 3.1 specifies that the music for the arrangement must have been actually used in the game. this does not appear to be true. 4.2 details what constitutes an arrangement. as this is instead something original to you, none of this is fulfilled. 4.3 details a requirement around identifiable and dominant source material. there is no source material used, so this isn't fulfilled. 5.2 details production requirements. none of this appears to be followed. 6.1 details evaluation requirements. the ownership and source material requirements are not fulfilled. we aren't going to be able to evaluate this, nor does a track inspired by but not an arrangement of vgm have a place on OCRemix, unfortunately. it's an interesting exploratory piece when it's not scaring my cats away from my desk, but ultimately a mono solo improv like this isn't going to have wide reception. NO OVERRIDE

last version all six previous versions Tried the file upload, it failed. I'm baaaack, lol. I read all of the advice given, and watched the videos suggested...and as a "treat" of sorts, I did not allow myself to listen to my last submission until I thought this one was ready to submit. After all of the advice followed....wow, I can hear the issues much more clearly in that previous version. As always, I give so much thanks for the time given for consideration and the critiques given, much appreciated! I also appreciate the feedback that has been given in the WIP forum:) Originals Games & Sources Game is Dragon Warrior 4, and this is from chapter 4, Mara and Nara, the sisters of Monbaraba. The music is mainly the walkabout theme, with a section that represents the battle theme included. I've always enjoyed the original 8 bit version more than the successors....with the exception of this ReMix;) I jest. Tried the file upload, it failed. Link given in space provided, and also here.

This was the first mix I started for TimeShift, and it's far and away the most fitting for the album. I took direct inspiration from the name of the album, particularly with treatment of the source's main arpeggio. There's multiple portions devoted to layers and layers of the arpeggio offset from each other, as if they're each shifting through time. Initially, there were sections of complete silence, but after getting some feedback, I decided to add some effects there and boost my nostalgia points :3. Shoutouts to Gravitygauntlet for mixing this track, he really brought the track to the next level. Enjoy! Games & Sources Chrono Trigger - Corridors of Time - Yasunori Mitsuda

((PART OF TIMESHIFT, PRIORITY REQUESTED PLEASE FOR PROJECT RELEASE DEC-11-2024)) I was inspired by the OCR albums of yore where the director also made a contribution to the tracklist, so it seemed appropriate that I, too, do a "captain's knock". I thought through what VGM of the last 25 years has influenced me, and it quickly became apparent that I should do the game that's ingrained in my soul. SimCity 4 has to be the sole game that I've played and metagamed the most out of any. Terrain is, undoubtedly, my favorite source from the soundtrack. The Humble Brothers created a progressive symphotronica that builds through the Locrian and Lydian modes, really pushing the modes' inherent tension, before releasing it all with a beautiful, lilting Ionian major melody played on a fiddle, and then returning from whence it came. Its percussion lines are incredibly detailed and layered. This was my natural choice; but how could I work out such a daunting source? I spent ages trying to figure out its melodic and rhythmic structure, bashing notes out on my piano until I located them. The harmony was trickier to work out, but once I discovered I could make stems in FL Studio, the way was clear: I had solved a 20-year-old puzzle I'd had (I may have even cried a little). Given Terrain's sheer majesty, there was simply no way that I could "elevate" the source, so I figured the best I could do was to pay tribute to it with my own symphotronica: take its structural elements and rework them, make references to its many highlight moments of its percussion line, and give it all a theme to work around. Jacaranda Dreams is so-called because the main city of the main region I have played in the game is called "Jacaranda". Moreover the name is an entendre: SimCity is about town planning, it led me to pursue studies of it at a university level, and the university I attended is well known for its jacaranda trees. Sadly, for various reasons, my university studies were not to bear fruit. It is from this chapter of my life that I drew the piece's theme: hope, hope lost, and new hope. I applied these three moods to Terrain, and changed its ABCBA structure to BAC — my TimeShift, if you will. The first part of the ReMix takes the suspended chords of Terrain's Lydian sections and makes them its running motif. To add variation to this section, and as a further nod to the game, I took one of the ostinatos from Jerry Martin's By the Bay, also from SimCity 4. I also took its choice of reeds to be my lead instrument: oboe. After a collection of original oboe melodies (like various attempts at getting my studies to work), the ReMix moves to the dark Locrian section. The original has a call-and-response between an electric guitar sample and a female voice, so I swapped the two and exchanged the guitar for the oboe. The lyrics are in Latin, partly as a nod to Simlish, but also thanks to my upbringing in a church choir it felt like a natural choice for the limited notes available. I panned my voice through the opening, painting with the phrase "Ubi est spes?" ("Where is hope?") like searching for it. I also emulated that grating guitar sample with my vowel changes. I've also loved distant lo-fi vocals, so that had to be done too. With the realisation, "Abeam" ("I should leave"), with the lo-fi getting dropped, the ReMix then finally reaches that beautiful Ionian melody (after a delayed build-up: I expect fans of the original will be waiting to hear that line, too). I celebrate that melody with the addition of some countermelodies, percussion references, and giving the melody to a bass clarinet at the climax for the oboe to then counter. This last section draws some inspiration (but no material) from Jerry Martin's Magic City from SimCity 3000. There's another layer to the tribute here, that to OverClocked ReMix. The kick drum that forms the booming bass fundamental is none other than zircon's from ISW's Groove Bias. And melodically...if you know, you know. ;3 90% of the samples are from Spitfire Labs, either directly or through its BBC Symphony Orchestra samples, with the bass clarinet coming from the Alpine Project. The only things I had to pay for were FL Studio 21 and Kontakt 7; the samples themselves were free. It was put together with a pencil and eraser on score to identify the original's ideas before being expanded in FL Studio. Thanks must go to my fellow artists on the project for giving me feedback all the way from the first eight-bar sketch of the string ensemble to the final version, and especially to those who've heard it in the various Office Hours sessions, particularly Seph, Josh, Hemo, Emunator, prophetik, VQ and Adrian for their ideas and criticism. This is my first time arranging with a full-blown proper DAW with samples rather than digital music paper and manually typing in MIDI values, and their guidance has been priceless. Since the very years this ReMix talks about I wanted to contribute something musically to OCR, and now I have been given the chance. I hope you enjoy. ((LYRICS: LATIN Ubi est spes? Ubi est spes? Ubi est spes? Hic non est. Hic non est. Abeam. Abeam. Abeam! ENGLISH Where is hope? Where is hope? Where is hope? It is not here. It is not here. I should leave. I should leave. I should leave! )) ((This part is for Larry's stopwatch. "Source" refers to Terrain, "Secondary" refers to By the Bay: ReMix: 0:00 - 0:06 -> Source: 5:22 - 5:36 ReMix: 0:07 - 1:47 -> Source: 2:08 - 2:46 (original material in oboe line) ReMix: 0:57 - 2:00 -> Secondary: 0:13 - 0:26 prominent, but present through the rest of By the Bay (xylophone, modified to fit harmonically) ReMix: 1:47 - 2:22 -> Source: 4:14 - 4:48 ReMix: 2:12 - 3:16 -> Source: 0:00 - 1:05 ReMix: 3:16 - 3:35 -> Source: 0:59 - 1:05 ReMix: 3:35 - 3:59 -> Source: 2:47 - 2:59 ReMix: 4:00 - 5:28 -> Source: 3:00 - 3:49 (original countermelodies, expanded harmony) ReMix: 5:29 - 5:49 -> Source: 3:50 - 4:01 )) Games & Sources SimCity 4 - Terrain (by The Humble Brothers [Ken "hiwatt" Marshall, Traz Damji]): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCfimZEArAQ SimCity 4 - By the Bay (by Jerry Martin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6l1CsqZtnk4 Other soundtrack composers for database completeness: Anna Karney, Bob Marshall, Kent Jolly, Kirk Casey, Marc Russo, Michael Land, Robi Kauker, Walt Szalva

needs a new name if it passes Artist Name: AverageImposter I've been listening to many different styles of metal all my life, and I finally felt proficient enough at guitar to arrange something for one of my favorite games of all time. It took 3 years but we got there! Celeste is such a beautiful game that everyone should try. One of, if not, THE best platformer ever created. Also, speedrunning it is so much fun. Also highly recommend lol (not biased at all surely) Games & Sources Reach for the Summit is the theme to Chapter 7 in the indie platformer "Celeste". It was originally composed by Lena Raine. Everything was recorded, produced, and mastered by me. I used a sample library for the drums only. Original:

Persian Improv Sword Marth from Super Smash Bros. Melee. Marth was one of my favorite playable characters from this game. I bought it in February 2002. The 5:00 mark is loosely based on the oil level from Sonic 2 for Genesis. This song is roughly based on the Persian scale from The Guitar Grimoire: G-G#-B-C-C#-Eb-F#-G The book has about 40 different scales in it by the way, you should check it out. It made this song possible as I learned it in 2005. No, I am not sponsoring them or accepting any endorsements from them. Epic sword battles have taken place from Marth against Donkey Kong, Ganondorf, and Falco. Marth and the final opponent are both at 100% damage, one life left each. This is battle music folks. There’s a fire flower, proximity mines, and poké balls. Who will win? The sound bank you hear comes as MONO by default and I wanted to explore the realm of a solo improv piece using a MONO soundbank. The Lo-Fi sound here is killer like Dave’s Killer Bread (the bread even shows this guy playing a guitar lol). I just keep hearing epic sword battles from Marth, as he is one of the quickest and most agile characters as well. I am not sponsoring or endorsing that bread either people. I have perfect pitch, so I am navigating the keyboard improv MONO. Creativity is in demand by ethical people, this proves it, no? OK, so, the song is 8mins 15 seconds long, but this is an improv piece, one that I cannot really get down to a "T". Please forgive me for making the song more than 7 minutes. I hope this song will be an exception to the golden rule here. The Upper Maridia song from Super Metroid would be one of my next contenders in a song for OCRemix (besides a long-lost OCRemix tune). Thank you! — dolphin92329 Games & Sources Marth from Super Smash Bros. Melee for Nintendo Gamecube. Not a soundtrack, my interpretation of Marth. So, yes, is VGM.

This is Team Metroid's last submitted remix from GSM2. I speak for our whole team when I say we didn't expect team castlevania to choose such a strange source for the final round of the competition. Had we not chosen a track as melody driven as the Theme of Super Metroid, it would have been very difficult. Even as is, it wouldn't have gotten finished as quickly as it did were it not for the help of my team. During the first half of the mixing stage, Lunarice created a story for the remix to go along to, where Samus wanders around a derelict facility for the beginning portion, Dracula shows up at the midpoint and a battle ensues, then samus emerges victorious. Ronald, Lunarice, and I also each created some midi lines for the final remix during this stage. Then, because we didn't have much resembling a full remix, Emunator suggested I take the lead and make something out of what we had. So I did. The majority of the remix was written in two days, and it would have not been possible if not for the groundwork laid by Lunarice or if I hadn't happened to have listened to Jimtension by Big Giant Circles and C418 a couple days before I started lol, that was a huge inspiration for me. After that, we still has a few days so I made a couple of edits to make the mix more interesting and incorporated a melody by Ronald Poe to further fill out the more intense portion of the remix. dohs usage: From 0:47-2:40 (and also 4:43-the end) the only usage is in the chords, where I reharmonized the string part from dohs. Pretty loose, but it's there. At 3:28-3:42, 3:48-4:02, and 4:23-4:37, there's more of those chords, but they match the original much more closely this time The most obvious usage is at 4:09-4:23, I wager I don't need to elaborate on that one haha. I think that's it, so enjoy! Games & Sources Door of Holy Spirits - Theme of Super Metroid -

This is a weird one, it's a remix of a remix, does OCR jive with that? I don't know, but let's find out. I used Silent Protag month over at DoD last year as an excuse to cover this game, Meat Boy is a silent protagonist right? But so is everybody else (except they're not protagonists, I guess). I love this game and I love Danny's music, I have the album on regular rotation but I always skipped the last bunch of tracks of the album which are all remixes, I don't know why, but one day I stopped at the last one "Power of the Meat" by Josh Welchel and Melinda Hershey and I was AMAZED by it, it's so fun, so catchy, so creative, and after finding it I kept listening to it for months on end, it's that good. I didn't know how DoD felt about covering remixes either, but I did it anyway, and I slapped in a bunch of other tracks from the original soundtrack too for good measure, the chorus of the remix is so fun to replicate, but I didn't want this to just be a straight cover (of a cover), I wanted to put a little bit of myself into it, so why not? I extended it, changed the structure a little bit and put more references in it, originally this was just a remix of Betus Blues with some Forest Funk mixed into it, in my recover however I'm structuring this way: 0:05: 0:12 - 0:18 from Hot Damned 0:19: 0:30 - 0:45 from Betus Blues 1:56: 0:00 - 0:08 from It Ends 2:04: 0:16 - 0:49 from Forest Funk 2:26: 0:15 - 0:37 from Ballad of the Burning Squirrel 2:48: 0:51 - 1:08 from It Ends 3:04: 0:49 - 1:06 from Forest Funk 3:19: 0:15 - 0:30 from Rocket Rider 5:04: 0:38 - 0:58 from The Battle of Lil' Slugger (on crack) Everything else is heavily based on Josh and Melinda's remix, I didn't touch the lyrics, I wanted to keep them intact, I only changed the order a bit from how they're presented in the original remix. Players in this one include the one and only Zach Chapman doing bass as always, he rocks it, he also does the voice of Dr. Fetus, he rocks at that too. I also included Biggoron for this one, he's a great funky keys player that fits this vibe well, he usually leans more into improv, but for this one I felt the lines were too iconic to let them slip too much. Earth Kid does the voice of Bandage Girl, her lines are pretty simple, but her delivery keeps it super catchy and addictive. I did the usual, arrangement, sequencing, mix, guitars, I also did the voice of Meat Boy. I have absolutely no idea how something like this will be received but I'm way too curious to not send this in regardless (: Lyrics: Bandage Girl: Save me Meat! Dr. Fetus: Super Meat Boy, so moronic Quixicotic (is this a real word), idiotic Taking on my way psychotic Robotic saws My name is Dr. Fetus, P.H.D. I see you lack some skin boy, which is quite fine by me Your girl is quite fair, oh she's an anomaly So the bandages come off, baby wa'tcha hiding? Bandage Girl: Save me Meat Boy, you're the one that I need Dr. Fetus he can't beat us but he's making you bleed So won't you save me boy, I know you've got what it takes It's the hour, use your power and come help save the day Meat Boy: I will save you Bandage Girl You won't have to fear no more Take my hand and you will see Behold the Power of the Meat Bandage Girl: Save me boy, I know you've got what it takes It's the hour, use your power and come help save the day Dr. Fetus: I lined the walls with my robotic saws Don't you wish you had some fingers with which left to crawl? Now, I know what you're thinking, "for a fetus he's quite smart" Well when your blood paints these walls I'll call it work of art Bandage Girl: Save me Meat Boy, you're the one that I need Dr. Fetus he can't beat us but he's making you bleed So won't you save me boy, I know you've got what it takes It's the hour, use your power and come help save the day Meat Boy: I will save you Bandage Girl You won't have to fear no more Take my hand and you will see Behold the Power of the Meat Bandage Girl: Save me Meat Boy, you're the one that I need Dr. Fetus he can't beat us but he's making you bleed So won't you save me boy, I know you've got what it takes It's the hour, use your power and come help save the day Save me Meat Boy, you're the one that I need Dr. Fetus he can't beat us but he's making you bleed So won't you save me boy, I know you've got what it takes It's the hour, use your power and come help save the day Save me Meat Boy, you're the one that I need Dr. Fetus he can't beat us but he's making you bleed So won't you save me boy, I know you've got what it takes It's the hour, use your power and come help save the day Meat Boy: Take my hand and you will see Behold the Power of the Meat! Games & Sources Game: Super Meat Boy (the original 2010 soundtrack specifically) Songs arranged: Power of the Meat (https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02118) Hot Damned Betus Blues It Ends Forest Funk Ballad of the Burning Squirrel Rocket Rider The Battle of Lil' Slugger Original composer: Danny Baranowsky; original remix by Josh Welchel and Melinda Hershey System: I played it on my puter (: Year: 2010

i heard this back in early august and loved it then, so i'm excited to hear how it changed since then. opens with some water sfx, some beautiful chords and reversed piano elements, and an out-of-time chirping that reminds me of Bon Iver yet again. the feel of not being in a specific tempo in this opening section, combined with the physical elements of some of the instruments, is just so rich and inviting. the bass comes in at 0:54 and is very enveloping as well, although i found the patch to be a touch rough down low initially. there's some fun overtone-heavy guitar elements that are being layered in through this section that i really like. there's a big crescendo into 1:29's string entrance - the strings entrance and the subsequent sustains are a little heavy for me, but i see how you're using them to drive intensity. we start to get some percs alongside the arpeggio and sustained melodic elements, and it continues to build through those elements for over a minute. the strings feel a bit forced through some of this section overall - i wouldn't have minded hearing them handing off with another lead element occasionally. there's a bit of a break with some acoustic guitar, and then we finally start to get the real build with drums. this gets pretty noisy as it gets to the climax around 3:35ish, and then we finally get the payoff hit at 3:42. guitar sounds great in here (may be a tiny bit loud), and the drums are excellent - i love how crunchy they're mastered, lots of character in the tone. there's a lot going on in this big section but i can still hear everything, which is great. it's a little heavy in the 1k range or so. i really liked the lead guitar layering in alongside the strings. the track maintains intensity for a long time, like two minutes - normally i'd say that's way too long without a break, but this feels good and strong and doesn't feel overwhelming. we finally hit the last chord at 5:18 and it's a drop from there alongside the ring-moddy guitars and some sfx. the bass cuts out abruptly mid-outro rather than fading out - i'm guessing that's accidental. this is a real journey of a piece. the melody is such that it feels a little noodly in the original, but the pathway it takes you down feels very familiar and comfortable. it's neat to see that same melody used in such a different manner, to take you down such a similar yet different path. this is an excellent example of a significant genre shift without losing the soul of the original piece. nice work. YES

not much to hang your hat on in the original. opens with very similar synths and sweeps, and a bigger tom sample. i'm pretty sure this is original audio with better drums on it and a vox clip. there's the first big hit at 0:23 - there's a lot of neat percussive elements brought in, and i think the vocal clip works well in here too. the detuned horn noise threw me off a bit but i see what you're going for. first big band section is at 1:08 with a huge bass synth. this is a cool-sounding section but i don't really get a link to the source in it, it's more original. this goes through various iterations and sounds really fun, just no source. 2:17 is where i expected the melody to be referenced, but instead it's the string break from 1:07 in the original. it's expanded a bit, but then we do get the main melody at 2:39 when it changes up. there's a break/falling action that starts at 3:25 and transitions to a double-time section at 3:49 - this is again a great vibe, there's just no source for most of the time. this trucks through for a while and then fades out, kind of a lame ending. i'd have loved to see a lower-energy recap with melodic material here given how little you used of it. this is a fun track with good dynamics and a great vibe throughout. there's some general songwriting missteps - i don't think the first 20s contributes anything, and the track takes a minute to get going - but once it's going it's a compelling, interesting track. it sounds good, you've got interesting synths doing interesting stuff, and the master's fairly clear. but there's, like, no source in it =( i tracked roughly a minute and a half of source in a five plus minute track (i am not counting the opening 20s which sound to me like the original audio). if i'm not missing anything, that's nowhere near enough source. the original's tom pattern is something i'd consider counting as well but that wasn't used at all to my ears - not in the intro or in the big band sections. this feels more like you made a banger and then layered some tekken on one section. so this is a bummer =( but there needs to be more to tie it back to the original. NO

opens with some broad, sweeping pads, and an adaptation of the brinstar bass that i didn't expect. the iconic melody line comes in at 0:35 alongside some very wet percs that sound fantastic. there's some big transitional elements right before a break at 0:59, and we start to get a build that culminates at 1:21 with The Beat that we're going to hear for the next several minutes. i love the chorus feel at 1:43 - there's a breadth to it that feels really otherworldly. i found myself wishing there were more rhythmic elements in the synths here - there's tons of ear candy and random pops of stuff going on, but having something automated in there would have been really nice. there's a bit of a drop and build into 2:18 with the guitar taking the lead. i love how this sounds, and i love the more dynamic and rhythmic bass element here as well. this drops to a half-time vibe at 2:42 with again some dynamic bass and synth elements moving in and out of the texture, followed up by a doubletime (4x change!) feel right after that's got tons of technicality in the performance. love the contrast. after that is another drop and build, this time with a significant vibe shift at 3:49. i found this to be a very significant shift and would have liked a smoother transition actually - there's not a ton of corollaries between the two sides. i love the darker vibe of this section though. the ending didn't feel particularly prepped, but i don't think it's bad - i just didn't see the end coming until it was here (kind of like my super metroid runs... =/ ) as expected, a superlative effort. there's so much going on and it's so clearly handled throughout. excellent work. YES

starts off way bigger than i expected given the original. tenor is way louder than the alto, so it's hard to hear the melodic line initially. tenor's particularly honky in this one - gotta keep that embouchure tighter and don't overbite on the mouthpiece, lucas! backing elements are kind of on autopilot through this first section - notably the hats pretty much are doing the same thing the whole time, and i can't hear the snare or kick at all - but the organ blurbs are nice. i wouldn't mind hearing more movement there! bass is fairly static - again, i would love to hear more movement there to help keep it moving. the metric modulation you mentioned hits at 0:32. the keys have a bit of an uncanny valley transition there - i wouldn't mind hearing a bit more velocitization in that transition. i love the idea! switching between the two vibes is a really fun concept. there's a few pitchy sections in here in the saxes. this circles back to the original time signature and does a bit of noodling before coming back together. we're back to the triple section for a bit before switching again back to 4/4 for a bit of a break. this was needed so it's a good choice to have a break here. the keys again are uncanny valley feeling - they're cutting themselves, which isn't very realistic. i'd recommend allowing them to tail naturally. the vocal lines are nice as a change of pace through this section. drums are again kind of on autopilot through here - finding some ways to allow them to do something new would be a great idea. 2:44 brings back some tenor initially and then the alto as a recap. this is similar to what we've heard before, and there's a note that's crunchy at 3:18. there's a final resolution and it's done. first off - the tenor part throughout is way too loud, and has way too much boost in the fundamental range. it's much louder than anything else in the mix, alto included. turning the tenor down a lot and boosting the tenor saxophone's formant (a little boost around 2k and 4.5k specifically, fairly narrow, should allow it to pop out of the mix more without having it be Northern Idaho levels of fundamental volume). separately the performance is not where it needs to be for posting - it's just too honky right now. regarding the arrangement - i love the concept of switching between time signatures! i think it's a really fun way to highlight the different aspects of the two pieces of the melodic material. i got the impression that each transition used similar or the same things in the drums, bass, and keys every time you switched - which is a no-no in a jazz-inspired track that's defined by creativity and flexible arrangement. finding new ways to switch between time sigs is critical, and in my opinion you should really lean into this - everything the drums play doesn't have to be constant ride cymbal, everything the bass plays doesn't have to be with no breaks (something more angular for some of these sections would help a lot, actually, i think), and every fill doesn't have to actually prep the next section (a very open, loose fill with little going on around it might actually be a great way to change time sigs). what i'm saying is that there's a lot of sameyness throughout the arrangement - the melody feels the same when it's in the alto each time, the backing elements under it feel the same, the drums feel the same mostly throughout, the same instruments play almost continuously the entire track. finding ways to strip that back and be more intentional with what everything says and when it plays will help a ton. this is a good idea! i think the workshop can make a lot happen here. NO

played quite a bit of this, and this track comes around a lot. thought about doing a take on it myself too at some point. some aggressive tremelo strings to start. there's a piano gliss at 0:22 that's really not realistic at all (shouldn't be all the same velocity, should schmear into one another). if the goal is as a transitional element, i'd recommend keeping it more scalar. as it is, it sticks out too much. this same gliss is repeated at least five times in the track and it's pretty obviously a copied part for each. vocals come in at 0:43 and they're very forward - in my opinion way too forward. they should sit back a lot farther in the mix. i can hear the background elements getting crushed pretty hard. i don't know if i'm a huge fan of the layering either - there's some flutter in azmodea's tone, and unisons are by far the hardest interval to tune properly. i wonder if it won't be as noticeable farther back in the mix. i'd recommend turning it down a lot - like by half - and then slowly bringing it up so that you can hear the vocals clearly but they settle in next to the backing elements. there's some other technical suggestions i'd have around the vocal performance (mostly just opening up your mouth on the higher notes and the ee vowels to avoid a thinner texture due to the lyrics and mouth shape required for the words) as well. there's a more full orchestral section that starts at about 1:25. the idea of this section is nice - a fuller orchestral section that showcases some of the movement that's so common in the Stellaris score - but the execution is that it feels like a string pad with some percussion around it. note how waldetoft's orchestration of his original have tons of movement in all parts, and there's rarely long sustains in any one part for an extended section of time. i'd encourage you to emulate that level of movement. second verse's vocals are farther back in the mix and settle in better, but they're still too loud. there's some timelessness to the performance which is a nice contrast to how rhythmic the other elements are. this is again followed by an orchestral section that's got more movement to it. the flute's got a few chuffs that don't feel super realistic, but the orchestral elements below it are copypasta from before to my ears. the track goes through the descending pattern a few more times. there's a harp section at the very end and then a broken arpeggiated chord twice at the end - i'd definitely recommend playing with your tempo in this section as it sounds very robotic right now - think about starting the chord arpeggio slowly and speeding up as you get higher, and then 'strum' the last chord much quicker. you're also going to want to mess with the velocities to get more appropriate timbre from lighter or heavier articulations. i think this has a lot of promise in the concept! there's a lot of partwriting and cleanup work to do still, but i definitely think that this arrangement has legs. NO

sounds like 6/8, 4/4, 6/8, 7/8 to me at least initially. it flows really well together though, i really like it. some fun sound design to start with keys, vocal elements, and some percussive elements. we get some bass and hats at 0:16, and soon after some guitar elements. it's got a bit of an old starcraft feel to it initially with the bass groove and hats focus. 0:54 is where we start to get some heavier guitars and more drum elements. imo this kind of mixed meter needs a more specific groove in the drums to help people keep track of where they are in the pattern - it was a little tough to keep track of. i always recommend Herd Culling by Porcupine Tree as an example of how to do complex meters without losing people - the little hat element thrown at the end of each phrase is a good example of what to leave for someone to grab onto in the storm. to be clear - i think the drums are well-performed and enjoyable, and they say relevant things, but i often found myself losing track of where in the four-bar phrase i was despite the melodic elements. there's a break at 1:21 with a focus on the bass first and then mirrored in the guitar. 1:59's another 'chorus' section. i noticed the different lead elements all had different cutoffs in several phrases in this section a few times - it's a little distracting that they're all over the place (i think this was intentional, i just don't think it was quite executed 100%). we get some trumpet at 2:40 (wasn't expecting that!) and it's a nice change in feel between that and the strings around here. it was a good time to mix it up as we'd kinda done the same thing for a bit. there's a third chorus at 3:17 and it's a great payoff. i really love the rising lines in the lead guitars through here, especially that they kind of overlap in several places. the constant motion feel to the end of it is just great. there's a fall at 3:58 and we're into the outro. a few more hits and we're done. this is a really fun adaptation of a complex original! i really like the concept - focusing on the simpler melodic line above a variety of complex lower elements is a great choice and one that really turned out well. it's got that signature zack shimmer to it and features a great slate of skillful performances. excellent work all around. YES

what a fun original. some playing with time right off the bat - flute is an inspired choice as an element, it fits the instrumentation so well. the small ensemble has a real Atelier Ryza (thanks Ivan for introducing me to the music of that series!) feel to it to me. claps as a regular percussive element is also a fun choice, helps keep it more intimate than it might have been otherwise. a little pitchiness in the lead violin at 0:43 that gets worse before it gets better. there's a bit of a break at 0:52 and some good movement to keep it driving forward despite there being a bit less going on. there's a recap of the opening section at 1:11 and another bit of a break. i agree that you did a lot of lead switching, and it's good compositional technique! you do a great job of both delaying the payoff and keeping it moving so we're guessing. there's what definitely feels like a bit build at 2:06 as we get into some soloing sections. easily the best flute solo i've ever heard from GotW - what variety! - and more building towards the big payoff at 3:11. adding electric here is fantastic, especially with some really fun backing elements behind the melodic material in the flute and others. and you do it just right - no extra repetitions! nice restraint =) there's a big nine chord to finish it and it's done. what a ride! this is a triumph. the arrangement and realization are just stunning. excellent work. YES edit 9/10: intonation issue is fixed, this is a bigger yes!

opening synths are pretty basic - just a verby arp and some drum machine samples. lead comes in soon after this point and is a wide, fuzzy lead that sounds pretty dated. there's some odd notes right after the 0:30 mark both in the melodic and countermelodic synth - there's a lot of switching between major and minor, and it doesn't work well. the track autopilots through the melodic material a second time in a row in a very similar fashion to the first, and there's a shift to a less beat-driven sound at 1:34 for the B melodic material. the track switches back to the A material for a third time at 2:20 - lot of repetition already! - and does some more similar noodling through the melody before it's done at just over four minutes. i think there's a good concept here - a lo-fi, chill arrangement of the beautiful theme from the game - and i think this just needs more time in the cooker. there's no real dynamic shape to the piece, and that's something that needs to change to avoid it being boring. beyond that, improving the quality of your synthesis and drum elements and ensuring they're always doing something interesting will help a ton. i think the workshop's a great place for this one right now as it's not close to passing - iterating elements from most of this will make for a huge improvement. NO

Xenoblade Chronicles is a game that means a lot to me, and Yoko Shimomura is one of my favorite composers, so I wanted to try and recreate some of her work in my own electronic style. Games & Sources Xenoblade Chronicles - "Hometown"

Another entry from Dwelling of Duels, second time I submitted as the main arranger. Didn't medal this time but all my collaborators are gold medalists to me. The plan for this track wasn't really there this time because I was so burnt out from the amount of effort I put into Dancing with the Wind, that for the first couple of weeks of the month the only thing I had done was transcribe the source, which was a pain because of the time signatures. Let's just say... when you add them up they come out to 27/8 which is what I sent to Emunator when I asked if he wanted to contribute anything. Anyway, track turned into something pretty stellar because of all those that hopped on to help drive it there. Hit play, close your eyes, and see where it takes you(and then tell me because I'm still not entirely sure what the destination is...) Zack Parrish: Arrangement, Production, Guitars, Sax, Keys, Mixing & Mastering Emunator: Sound Design colorado weeks: Vocals, lyrics trumpetsori: Trumpet paradiddlesjosh: Drums pixelseph: Guitars Cyril the Wolf: Bass Lyrics: Fīat iūstitia ruat cælum (Let justice be done though the heavens fall) Games & Sources Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All

UPDATED VERSION USE THIS ONE PLEASE Collabing partners: minusworld on guitars and bass. Shea's Violin on strings. Kev Ragone on percussion. Gamer of the Winds on flute. Another DoD month, another OCR submission (sorry for making you guys listen to me every single month but hey, at least I don't submit as many tracks as Emunator!). Anyway, this one was made for Mystery Month, where it got 2nd place! Ace Attorney is one of my favorite videogame franchises, both in terms of the actual games and the music, so I knew I had to cover one of the (many) games of the series for this DoD month. I picked the theme "Partners - The Game is Afoot!" as it's one of my favorites from the Great Ace Attorney duology and also because I imagined no one would cover these games (and I was right). The Great Ace Attorney games are set in 1910s Britain/Japan so they have a unique approach to instrumentation and composition (compared to other AA games). For my remix, I decided to go with an acoustic approach (well, mostly) since I felt it'd fit the rhytm of the source. The structure of the track was a little inspired by pud's submission to DoD's free month in February 2024 (https://dodarchive.dwellingofduels.net/24-02-Free/02-Prince uf Darkness%2C newmajoe%2C Eli Bishop%2C Dom Palombi-Fire Emblem Engage-V-tuber Emblem Enrage-DoD.mp3) too (I now notice he also got silver, huh), in the sense that I had an acoustic ensemble kinda slowly building up to a heavier climax. Doing an acoustic remix with VSTs would've been a terrible idea so I seized DoD's network of performers and managed to get a full team of live players, which really made this track shine! As usual, a source breakdown! 0:00-0:07: Basically a direct transcription of the source's intro with my instrumentation. 0:07-0:39: A variation of the source's melody from 0:05 to 0:18, first on guitar and then on flute. Chord progression is similar to the original but with a few modifications. 0:39-1:11: Similarly, a variation of the source's melody from 0:18 to 0:32, first on violin/flute and then piano/guitar. Chords are kept on the first take but changed for the piano part. 1:11-1:27: Some variations over the intro melody. I was worried this part could be a little tough on flute as it jumps around large intervals but GotW said it was "very very easy". 1:27-1:53: A variation of 0:58 to 1:24 in the source, first on guitar and then on violin. Writing this breakdown I now realize I made a lot of lead instrument switching! 1:53-2:05: Piano plays the first part of the melody from 0:33 to 0:44 in the source, although on different keys. 2:05-2:31: Flute solo! Chord progression is the same from 0:07-0:39. 2:31-2:58: A violin lead does the melody from 0:33 to 0:44 over an "original" chord progression. 2:58-3:11: Based on 1:24, piano/flute play the main arpeggios from the source. On this section I added a distorted rhytm guitar for extra intensity and there's also a brief violin solo that leads to the track's climax. 3:11-3:37: A repeat of the melody from 1:27-1:53 and minusworld's time to shine! 3:37-end: A repeat of the 2:58-3:11 section but now the second repetition features a reprise of the melody from 0:07-0:39! I think the track ended up pretty good so I hope you enjoy it! Games & Sources Source is called "Partners - The Game is Afoot!".

(Submitted as part of the TimeShift Album) Credits Azmodea - Vocals For me, Stellaris's "Faster Than Light" encapsulates the essence of what makes the game so compelling. As a fledgling spacefaring empire, you're ready to ignite your first-ever faster-than-light drive and embark on a journey to explore and colonize the stars. This piece is filled with hope and optimism, and Mia Steagmar's vocal performance in the original is nothing short of angelic. My arrangement of this piece stemmed from a challenge on the 8-Bit Music Theory server in mid-2021: to transform a track into an apocalyptic version of itself. The concept behind "Faster Than Light, (But Not Fast Enough)" envisions a failed empire that encountered an insurmountable enemy or obstacle and is now on the brink of destruction. The once hopeful and celebratory theme is transformed into a mournful lament, with my wife, Azmodea, delivering a heartbreaking rendition of the first two verses. In the second verse, she is joined by Solaria and Mia (both from Synthesizer V), whose harmonization amplifies the dramatic impact. The piece, which begins with tremolo double basses beneath a solo violin, concludes with the quiet, solemn notes of a harp—an echo of a fallen empire. I want to extend my gratitude to Emunator for helping refine this track to meet OCR standards, teaching me how to transform my initially stiff VST strings into something far more organic, providing a heart-wrenching VST flute, and offering numerous pointers on the mix—especially on taming the timpani to prevent it from muddying the low end. Special thanks also to timelovesahero for inspiring the harmonization of the lyrics in the second verse. Games & Sources Stellaris - Faster Than Light (Vocal Version)