Dyluck

If my name means anything...well, then. The Color of the Summer Sky is one of my favorites from the soundtrack. It never fails to put a smile on my face. The bell-like opening is nice, and then the use of the A section upper counter-melody is effective against it. But then that synth voice/calliope(?) lead doing the intro lead just doesn't sit right with me in regards to its timbre. After a hi-hat rhythm and wind-like upwards pitch build for eight bars, you then bring in a drop like the original, but it's subdued compared to the original. This is all well and good in and of itself, but that kick into the heavy snare punch of the original is what drives its energy. Without it, COTSS has the danger of becoming very twee because the countermelodies and marimba/piano "pluck" don't have enough juice (I suggest going into Chipamp and turning off the percussion channel to see what I mean here). Here, you have a snare roll-tap to at least emulate that oh-so-characteristic entry, but the following claps and kick and snare feel like they're too far back. That's not to say that it now becomes twee, but I want more of a punch and more presence throughout, especially to counter what sounds like is meant to be a grand main-line melody lead instrument. I do like the attention to the bass line and bringing it forward in the mix because it doesn't get enough love while you have a softer flute-like main-melody ducking behind it. Clever. The glitchy-slide of that bass melody through the eight-bar B section is also a great touch. The drum changes through here have good energy, but I still want more. We then have an additive C section with new "voices" getting added every two bars...that very exposed simple kick and snare in the first two bars sounds very flat in terms of presence and I feel it doesn't drive it forward as much as I would want it to. The synth you have replacing the string countermelody (borrowed from the A section) is a little strong when it comes in. Other than that, the idea is great, but I think the balance between the strength of the instruments needs to be worked out as the main melody's rhythm is rapid compared to the A and B sections and that contrast is getting lost behind everything else. We then loop back around to the A section now with that strong bass line versus the flute like we did in the first A section reprise...the balance feels off now between the two after having this additive build-up through the C section. I want something more here as the promise of the C section's build is leaving me somewhat unfulfilled. I see that you're winding things down to get ready for your big B section re-entry (the re-entry works fine), but again, it doesn't feel big enough for me, and the bass line is a little too strong through it in comparison, making it feel like a plain repeat of the first B section. Your C section reprise with the glitchy original bass line is fun. I like this idea a lot. Without going into a spectral equalizer to work out where the gaps are, I do feel overall that there's presence missing. Needs more oomph, too, more actual bass. Your instrument choices are definitely interesting and generally good, but that one with the intro lead sounds out of place. Arrangement direction wise, the possibilities are endless of course but at your current endpoint I feel like you're ready for some sort of breakdown from the structure of the original (take it to the bridge) as, after all, the original is only one minute and change long and now we've repeated the entire cycle once. Keep cooking.

Is that in the audio file or in the text? EDIT: Yes, in the text. Had the word "selection" a couple of times. Duly noted for the future. Thanks for the heads-up!

See title. Have tried in both Chrome and Firefox to upload.

@SbeastAbsolutely.

@SbeastYes! There's still time to join! Looking forward to hearing it!

Checked the pages I reported on the Discord and they seem fine here as well.

I may come to regret what this will do to the crumbs of my remaining spare time, but I want to join in. I see this as a great opportunity to explore Koshiro's music, which I'm not exactly familiar with and thus is a good "neutral" ground for me, and also to work on my own production and arrangement skills.

When I went into Serious Monkey Business, I was really looking forward to my favourite tunes for one of my favourite VGM soundtracks and how they got treated, and expected that I would go out with a pin in something like Stickerbush Symphony or Bayou Boogie or Krook's March as my favourite ReMix on the album. I did not expect it to be this, an electro-pop children's song sung in Mandarin to Snow-Bound Land. Despite not being able to understand the words, the fact that it has a treatment like a children's song captures the nostalgia I have for this game, and especially thinking of the nature of those words. The song makes me ache viscerally for those days parked in front of my my portable CRT at the end of my bed, trying to find every last bonus barrel and DK Coin, washing myself aurally with the amazing soundtrack and exploring the world Rare had crafted. Music transcends language, and this proves it.

The original was cheery, now this is bright and flamboyant! Brass samples are everyone's bane but they sound great here (tell me what you use plzkthx). Great groove in the strings around 0:40-1:13, and overall the track evolves very nicely. The breakdown works very well along with the shift to the synth sound, though I feel like I want something mid-wise there as bass and lead are quite far apart. But once the second synth comes in it's all good. Symphotronica ahoy. Speaking of which, I want to hear those trumpets again to bring closure to the mix as I feel that something upbeat like this needs a marriage between the symphonic and the electronic temporally. This will be something I hope to throw into my driving playlist once done.

Molto parmigiana con mozzarella! I like the overall sound of the mix and I think you've captured the genre fairly well, as well as translated the source tune nicely. I feel like that chord at 0:08 and 0:16 has something off harmonically or there's some pitch wheel that's been left on so that it doesn't land back where it feels it should go, perhaps in the instrument behind the bell synth. Once it gets going post-intro it feels a lot better. The breakdown at 0:33 works well, but I feel after things come back in I want more presence in the low-mids including in the second breakdown. Once the arps come in around 1:27 I'm satisfied there, so perhaps have something in that range in the soundscape beforehand? Pitch bends after this point work really well. Outro sits very nicely. Short and sweet, but I'm left wanting some more. Not necessarily in terms of length but in terms of sonic depth.

Listening with headphones. Overall, I like where this is going. Intro chords are fine, then the sudden funk is surprising but certainly not unpleasant. I think the shredding guitar slides in the intro section sounds a little disjointed sonically with the rest of the mix, maybe reverb-wise? Character change after 2:18 is refreshing as it builds towards the current climax. I'm guessing that this is currently not the end and the echoing slide doesn't seem to fit right with what comes before. It just seems to end too suddenly. Maybe I just don't like that slide guitar. However, I think this is a solid little mix in terms of the structure that's there up until the end, but sonically it sounds a bit disjointed in the space. So now I see that it's meant to be longer. I think it would work best in a modified ternary form, i.e. A-B-A*, with some pizzazz added to that repeat. As for that slide, I think the reason why I don't like it is because to me it sounds a bit "thin". Overall this is a good jam!

Oh boy, this just came up in the ReMix Roulette on the Discord. We're back in the era of naming ReMixes after the arranger, and with AmIEvil doing it, this is a red flag that it's one of his early ones. But does that mean it's bad? Hell nah. Sure, it's not as sophisticated as some other of his stuff (#00475 Let There Be Light is just sublime and kind of an unfair comparison), but this submission shows so much potential not just for AmIEvil, but also for OC ReMix as a whole at the time, mid-2000, of what the site would become. This is a stepping stone along the way and I'd argue one of the bigger ones. It shows that you can take a great theme, in this case the already fantastic Dark World theme from Link to the Past, highlight its harmonics, make a good EDM backing track that's sonically interesting and engaging, rearrange it by delaying its triumphant theme (and that isn't a bad-sounding brass section, by the way, it's mixed well to hide its flaws) so that it's gratifying when it makes its appearance... This is How To ReMix 101. It's an education. Study this one well. The length is fine – yes, a reiteration of the theme with building of the backing tracks or an additional one would be awesome – but it's still appropriate. It's like a small oddly-shaped parcel that's wrapped in lovely paper: you're going to have funny edges no matter what, but it still looks good, even if the internal item is a lot smaller than anticipated. That's also why I say it's great to learn from. This has been on my playlist for years and years and years. It still sounds good 24 years later, which is testimony of AmIEvil's talent (and why I wish there was so much more of his stuff...).

This ReMix is one of the gems of very early OCR, and has been on my playlist for over 15 years at time of writing. Yes, the source has a short, simple melody, but what Zyron did with it by putting it on that lead synth and having that delayed final four notes of its rhythm is give it such an air of mystery and intrigue that is way beyond its comedic source. Take the time to listen everything else going on in the background, and let the atmosphere sink in with all of the instrumentation far beyond what the NES could give. Substantially transformative, yes, despite its repetition. In fact, I would say that the repetition adds to its character, rather than detracts. This is great music to drive to, especially after sunset.

Love the breathy wood flute and the whole feywild vibe this gives me.

Classic Mazedude in 2024? Next thing you'll tell me is that Half-Life 3 is coming out. The source may be Rygar, but I'm immediately drawn to his work on Doom ReMixes, especially with that deep bassline, and the juxtaposition of the seagulls is just...yep. This is Mazedude and I love it.