big giant circles

To those of you who will be celebrating it. Hope y'all have a fun/relaxing/enjoyable holiday and enjoy plenty of good food with your families, friends, or whoever.

FLASHBANG! -A real toe-tapper -Drums are weak -Guitar sounds aight -cymbal sample (and crash in general) is way overused -No real interpretation beyond the insrumentation -Need s'more expansion beyond the general vibe of the original chiptune. -fadeout, booo Not to say I didn't like it, but it's still not really got anything on the original other than better instruments. Needs a little more work. Not a bad first submission, though. Keep at it! NO

Very cool source tune. I'm eager to hear your mix. Starts out with some very cool atmospheric pads. Sounds very similar to the source. As it progresses, a little too much so, I'm afraid. The mastering is a little on the "meh" side at times, but otherwise, this is a nice sound upgrade from the original. Your opening snare could have used some processing--maybe some light reverb, even delay or something. Also, I thought the mix never reached it's *LIMIT BREAK* on the energy potential. It's like, it was building up, but never quite went kinetic. The closest it got was when the chugga-chugga power guitar comes in in the later part of the song. This one still needs some work. Try to throw some more original material in this, and seek mastering advice from as many people as you can. I sure hope to hear a less cover-ish, more expansive and cleaner version of this down the road! RESUBMIT

So, not gonna spend a whole lot of time on this. Andy and I checked this out together, and we both had the same gripes. I'm not a huge fan of the overall EQ. It's too muddy to begin with, and too then by the end. I can barely hear the melody from the source played by your strings and piano, because they are waaaaaay too far back. Drum riff isn't bad, but maybe drop the distortion and filtering down just a notch. And automate. switch up the FX once in a while to keep things interesting. Otherwise, Andy pretty well covered my other concerns. Not a bad sub, but needs some work--keep at it. NO

it's pretty much all out on the table. i've tinkered around with impulse tracker, and i personally didn't think it was all that easy to use, so I guess props for the quality of the piece. the repetition was a minor issue, but otherwise, i still made it to the end of the track without growing impatient. YES

Well, what more to say? Clipping is noticeable, persistent, and bothersome. The approach is unique and daring. Even though from a production and performance standpoint this is a disaster, I still dig on it in a strange way--it reminds me of back when I used to record my guitar onto a tape player. But as it is still, it's not going to cut it like it is. Use the remixing forum and IRC support. NO

For it's time? This mix has revolutionized video game reinterpretation for decades to come! Possibly even centuries! If anything, we should lock down all the other garbage on this site because really, comparatively speaking, all the rest is crap. (Except the Recapitated songs, which were 'aight.) For the record, I want Shael to have my babies. Thousands of them. <3

HA--beat Larry to the first vote! (Not talking trash, I'm just saying...) Anyway. On to the mix. Man, I feel like I'm on an elevator with Kenny G and Celine Dion. Oddly enough, it's kind of nice, actually. I'd say we don't really get a lot of mixes in this particular style submitted around here. I'd say at 1:46 the mix picks up a lot more density, due to the nice part writing of the strings particularly. The harmonies really beef up the overall texture. Really, the short of it is, the production is decent, if not flawless. The partwriting is solid. I'd complain about the drums just a tad, except they seem to have that trademark early-90's intentionally dull drum-machine feel to them, so I think it fits the style fine. As far as the level of arrangement as it pertains to the source, that's a call I can't quite make right now. We need a good copy of the source tune. I heard the music from the title screen, and if that's the only thing your mix is based on, then I'll have to take a closer look. Otherwise, I really kind of like this. Basically, I've got a YES on hold for you, but I need to research the original first. MEBBE

frankly, I'm amazed that you managed to get this to sound as clean as you did what with the volume being so loud combined with the reverb. I mean, dang, this is really loud. Like, really loud. I just saw Beowulf the other day, and this is just like Grendal's eardrum going balistic at the softest of noises. At any rate, this does a solid job of incorporating all the themes tastefully, and it's a great performance. The mastering could be better, but as Larry said, I won't mind if this goes up as-is. Nice work! YES

FLASHBANG! (since Vig doesn't approve of the "Lightning round" thing) -cool approach -interesting style -fair recording quality -too damn short. It was over just as it got going. I'd be inclined to pass this based simply on the style and interpretation being so non-sequitur. Add another 45 or so seconds, and I'll lay a golden egg (or at least be inclined to vote YES) RESUBMIT!

Hmm, this is actually pretty decent for "one of your first mixes in FL" even if you are a self-proclaimed noob. I actually really like the airy, ambient texture that thoroughly prevails throughout the mix--it's really pretty and very relaxing. I can see the inspiration from a relaxation mood CD. I will say, however, that with such minimal instrumentation, there's really only so much ground you can cover before the vibe looses it's novelty and becomes a little less of a ReMix, and a little too much of backdrop mood music. Unfortunate, because it doesn't really help this particular song on it's way to the front page of OCR. Be sure you don't misinterpret that as me saying I don't like the track--that's not true at all. It's very nice. For some reason, it's hard for me to explain. I'm not completely anti-minimalism, or even the anti-lullaby genre. As I said, it's actually quite pretty. And yeah, I can hear Aeris's theme alright. But I guess there's not much else to it. I'm gonna mooch off of Andy's vote and advise you to follow one or two (at least) of his suggestions for things you can do to expand on the track a little, and get it closer to the bar. Anyway, it sucks as a judge to have to NO something that's still enjoyable, but at the same time, if something is not quite ready, we're just trying to help you make the best track you can. Glad you're a fan of the site. I wouldn't mind hearing an expanded and more in-depth version of this resubbed later (not busier, as larry said) but again, just more in-depth. Dive a little deeper, Joseph. Keep at it. Thanks for supporting the site, and I definitely look forward to future submissions, especially as you move away from your said title of n00b and pick up new skills and techniques. NO Also, I'm think you may need to change your remixer name, as all the Cave Story fans on here are probably hoping that Pixel himself might eventually submit something. It'd just be too confusing.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, the opening sfx is direct sampled (title screen) as well, although it sounds timestretched. At any rate, this track is bleeding awesomeness, and I'm literally only 1:21 into it on my first listen. Unfortunately, despite the nifty drumwork additions and a few other touch-ups here or there, I'm going to echo the concerns of my fellow judges--man, I hate that I have to gripe about it, but it's just too much like the original. Plus, the heavy usage of direct samples is kind of sketchy territory. Man though, I wish I could pass this. Really cool track regardless of how well (or not) it adheres to our site's standards. In the meanwhile, maybe check out The Seikens and see if they'll host it (they seem pretty cool, so I'm guessing they will). That way you can at the very least get it out there. Otherwise, I'd love for you to tweak this into an OCR edit somehow. It'd take a bit of rehashing, but try to utilize the WIP forum, #ocremix, #ocrwip, whatever resources you can tap into to get specific feedback on what might help in that endeavor. Again, I hate to not pass this, but remember, it has nothing to do with the quality of the track. It's just a matter of what's already been laid out in our guidelines. Hope to hear you come back with this one, and I definitely look forward to your future submissions. Rework and RESUBMIT

For the record, I didn't really do all that much to the track. There were some concerns about the balance of the EQ mainly, and being a fan of both David and Luiza's work, I opted to help them with the mastering. So David hooked me up with the rendered track waves, and I touched them up a little. I added some bassline towards the end, and inserted that one dirty filtered loop, but this is still like, 90% their baby. I was really honored that they let me contribute in the small way I did.

really interesting interpretation all across the board. with your minimalist setup, and completely different backing from how the source goes, i actually had a kind of tough time recognizing the melody (even though it's fairly close) because of how different the rest of the track was, comparatively speaking. hmmm. well, it's hard to say at this point. i suppose, i might have to actually get out the timer and grind on the total level of arrangement vs. source. man, i hate doing that crap. right now, i'm actually leaning toward YES. This is a really habit-forming mix. it truly is. typically i'm really particular and often kind of "meh" on minimalistic mixes, but this one is kind of hitting the sweet spot. I like the vibe, and the melodic connection is definitely clear. really, considering the length of the track, i don't think this ones as repetive as it might seem, especially with the slower tempo. fudge it. i like it. it's interpretive, it's mellow, and it's clean. it's also unique to most tracks we get on here. unless i notice any glaring issues when i revisit this (or after seeing other judges reactions) i'm going to go ahead and lay down the official thumbs up. YES *edit* K, it's been a few days since my vote, and after revisiting this one a few more times, I'm still solid in my YES vote.

That is all I'm going to say. Sigh. YES

Insane. That is the best word to describe this track. Otherwise, here's some more thoughts on it: [23:01] BGC: this sephiroth's mom song is like sticking your face in a car engine [23:01] CHz: %^( [23:01] BGC: i mean, it's cool, but man, i feel like my skull is going to be shattered [23:02] BGC: you know, typically 128 kpbs is not bad [23:02] BGC: but his cymbal crashes are getting devoured So I didn't mean to sound like I'm bashing the track. I actually think it's pretty badass. But it's a little too loud, and a little too LQ as far as your encoding goes. Otherwise it's super cool. This is the kind of stuff that you make when drinking Power Thirst. This mix has the power of 400 Kenyans. Tone down the volume a bit, and stretch out your arrangement for another minute or so, and I'd say this'll be a lot closer to gold. RESUBMIT

Ha! Sweet I'm a huge fan of ethnic instruments, especially plucked ones. Watch me bias all over your shamisen. *BGC bias all over* Alright. Aside from me loving your truly unique setup (congrats on that, btw), I regretfully must take the duty to fairly cast my vote. Definitely seems near coverish a little too much of the time, in spite of your unique instrument setup. A lot of glaring errors in the actual performance, many of which were made without anything to cover for them. Also, the overall mixdown could be cleaner. Andy's right, you don't necessarily need an expensive studio. Just a decent EQ program, and that'll help quite a bit. I know takes can be frustrating, but try to minimize on the wrong notes, in addition to spending more time on the master track and actually providing additional interpretation of the themes, rather than just playing them near-verbatim. Cool stuff. I'd love for y'all to rework this and then resubmit down the road. NO

The opening piano really gave me the wrong impression of what to expect here. I was pleasantly surprised when the guitar came in. Your highs are definitely buried somewhere beneath the shredding. And let me make it perfectly clear that this track is really cool. Great energy, and great guitar and drumwork. What's with the ending? Sounds like it got cutoff halfway through the fadeout. On the arrangement side, it sounds not really all that different than the respective source tunes. Definitely try to switch things up a bit, and not simply transition from one melody to the next. Deviate a little. Remember, we like reinterpretations more than we like covers or sound upgrades. Awesome song. But not quite up to par on the arrangement. Rethink your structure, add some personal flare to the general melodies, and resub this thing. NO

Yes, yes, my bad and all that stuff. Honestly, we're beyond the glory days of MIDI/poor sample quality. There are so many ways to feign realism in a mix. Take this mix in which the opposite occurs, a fake piano sounds realistic. What I'm getting at is it's not my job to read every single email. It's quality control. YOUR job on the other hand, is to make sure that the mix sounds decent (which the piano last go around really did not). And tying in my point that realism can be achieved rather easily these days, I implore you to not look too deep into my overlooking the fact that your piano was live and not sequenced. It still would not have impacted my vote otherwise. And it very well could have been sequenced. Likewise and once more, there's several mixes that could be mistaken for live performances that are not. Plus, if I honestly read every single remixers' submission email, I would probably never get around to actually analyzing the track. Some people can write books about the simplest things. (Not accusing you of that, but I'm explaining my reason for not reading every last word of every email.) ALRIGHT No hard feelings. So onto your mix. The opening synth is a little on the abrasive sound, while the strings are actually pretty nice. Makes for an interesting texture. For as loud as the intro was, when the melody drop occurs at :34 or so, it much quieter. A bit thin as well. The simple organ melody is a little bland with the synth bass and the drums. Actually, let's talk about the drums for a second. There's some serious lack of beef on them. They're not poorly arranged, but they could stand to have more "Oomph!" in them. Come to think of it, there really should be more low-end in general in here. For all my criticisms so far, I'm actually digging the foundation here, but the mastering fails the mix's ambition once the song is fully underway. The guitar needs some low end support to. It sounds quite far back for now. And a little heavy in the mid-high frequencies. You should also try some stereo separation on your guitar performances. It'll really thicken up the sound and help with the overall balance (or lack thereof). Meaning, that your mix lacks effective use of the stereo field. Aside from the phasing on the rhodes (or whatever the lead organ is), there's not much to go around. Now, I do like the more intense moments of your remix, but in regards to the general arrangement, aside from being a little slower with better instruments, there's nothing outstandingly innovative or different from the original. Maybe play around with that a little. Chop and rearrange. Keep us guessing. At any rate, I suppose I could overlook all these issues and pass this, but the sequencing is just too mechanical. NO (that last part was a joke. all in good fun, bro)

Happy birthday, bro! Hope it's a fun and safe day!

I've not heard any other of Marathon's source tunes, aside from this one and Chomber, but from these two, I gather it must be fairly similar to Halo's. As is the case with your other Marathon/Halo mix, I'm adequately impressed. Basically, without sounding too copy+paste, I'll just say that you've meshed two source tunes in a stylish manner, with clean execution and great listener appeal. I think this one should be enjoyed by many of our listeners. This one seems to have a slightly more tenuous source connection to both sources, but a recognizable connection nonetheless. At 1:28, "Under the Cover of Night" becomes a little more apparant, with the adapted Leela riff fitting over-top of it seamlessly. I really don't have much else to say. Hope to hear more out of you soon, Nick. YES

Well, my loss for not taking advantage of hearing these two mixes sooner. As the case with Larry, I'm heavily impressed. For more than one reason. The production is pristine and clean. You've chosen some solid source material to work with. You're adaptation to the set genre is right on point. Typically, I tend to smirk a bit at mixes that are less than 3 minutes long, but you've done a phenomenal job at creating a progressive arrangement in a short amount of time with not only one, but two themes. I'm also really happy to finally see Halo get some love for a theme other than "Truth and Reconciliation", which has been done quite a bit already, and we'll probably hear much more of down the road, I imagine. Great arrangement, production, and style. This is really top-notch quality. YES

Excellent source tune. I really love SNES music. Really I do. Anyway. I'll second Andy's second. You're definitely a more-than-adequate arranger, I'd even go so far as to say you're a pretty talented arranger. But you do need to work on you humanization when dealing with these here fancy-pantsy math machines (uh, computers ). One reason I don't attempt many purely orchestral pieces is simply because of the amount of work they require. Not so much in partwriting, but in making the instruments sound convincing and (as) realistic (as possible). The slowdowns at 1:10 and 2:28 bring the worst out in the overly-mechanical feel my colleagues have already mentioned. Then, with the lack of dynamic contrast from really any of the instruments, it does loose all power in the delivery. (Not to mention the lack of low-end for that nice, full effect when it's needed.) Well man. This is decent work. It just really needs those refining touches. There's no easy way I know of to get them. It's a tedious process, but it must be done. You're stuff could really be pushed above and beyond with the extra effort. I had no gripes with the arrangement. It's all in the execution. NO

This is pretty cool stuff. Definitely a refreshingly stylish adaptation of some CV material. Typically, all we get of that series is metal stuff (which is fine, though it's a bit trite by now). So the electronic symphony appeal is definitely a nice touch. I particularly liked the beats. The stringwork, though not exactly pristine, is decent for the most part. There were times where I felt like the strings could have used some countermelodies and harmonies. (i.e. places like :53, 1:30) where the monophonic melody just wasn't adding enough density to the piece. Try layering up the strings with some chords instead of octaves. The brass, unfortunately, is a huge ball and chain around the track's ankle. It's very plain and flat, and doesn't even remotely feign realism. I'm sure there are better patches out there that you can find. The fact that such a sound opens up an otherwise fairly good track is not a good thing. So the short of the matter is, you definitely need to find a replacement for your current brass samples. The other gripe I have is regarding the overall mixing. Seems like the table got cluttered and muddy (overcompression?) on more than one occasion. (2:40, 4:05 come to mind) Just be sure to keep an ear out for that. If you need to, drop the master volume down a couple notches and see how it feels. At any rate, this is pretty impressive if it's your first non-midi track. It's definitely a great candidate for resubmission, so I encourage you to work out the kinks and do just that. Good luck, and hopefully we'll see this one again. RESUBMIT

very very cool. really cool stuff, sam. i'm highly impressed makes me want to read the book again.