I was looking at ICO Respect Arrange Album, which sounds cool, and then I found out it was a doujin, which (correct me if I'm wrong) is a fan album. Doesn't mean it's not awesome of course! I don't know much about fan releases, so thought I would check and see what are people's favorite fanmade albums. I have not heard many of these, but I thought Project Majestic Mix was very very well done...

cheers,

-avatar!

http://vgmdb.net/album/5305

If I could find this sucker I'd so buy it.

Really, MM1's soundtrack isn't really my favorite but this one presents it in a way that seriously makes me rethink it. I like how the score tabulation SE is at the end of "Break Boss" and how the Wily Saucer SE crossfades into "Wily Stage A." The solo in that one is pretty sweet as well.

As far as other Doujin albums, I need to check out Doom: The Dark Side of Phobos from the dudes over at OC Remix cause I can't get enough of Robert Prince's music. Researching this music has been awesome, revealing the heavy metal songs that influenced/that are intertwined within them and the meanings behind some of the titles. For example, "Into Sandy's City" is named after one of the game's map creators: Sandy Petersen. He sure did make some cool levels.

I find it very interesting that you made this thread, because while I was out driving today, I was thinking about what my favorite doujin album is. For a few years now, I have collected all of it in a folder aptly titled "DOUJIN", which includes everything I've gathered from OCRemix, VGMix, Dwelling of Duels, S.S.H., random internet searches, as well as the actual CD releases.

Excluding all vgm doujin given away for free via downloads, my favorite is HIGHSPEED ∇ - Romancing SaGa Battle Guitar Arrange CD. Some doujin albums are uneven, unprofessional, or simply worse than the free stuff. If I have to pay for a doujin album, then I expect it to, at the very least, be superior to the free stuff. Highspeed is like a fusion of Guilty Gear and Dracula Battle. It's fast and even, which means the tracks sound relatively the same, unlike some other doujin albums, which vary from low quality to high quality. Everything is very high quality on Highspeed and it makes me want to investigate the Saga Frontier soundtrack a little more closely. I already know that Romancing Saga 1-3 are incredible, but I've somehow forgotten about Saga Frontier. This definitely destroys the Mega Man album the group has previously released; I've been listening to this repeatedly, with no sign of becoming bored.

My favorite of all the free albums is Super Metroid - Relics of the Chozo. My $2100 headphone system has found subtleties here that are very impressive. I can't believe this was free.

I have more than 600 individual fan-made songs, so it would be difficult to pick a favorite. I've downloaded more than 2,000, easily. Those 600+ are my favorites, so you can see the problem in choosing just one. If I were locked in a room and I had to pick one before being allowed to leave, I'd probably go with this one.

Ok, I looked at the tracklisting and this has me curious:
"Considerable Stronghold [Battle #5 / SaGa Frontier]"

The original Battle 5 freaking rocks! Could you upload a sample?

ICO Respect is an amazing album, and godspeed if you actually attempt to obtain a physical copy of it... it's a venture many doujinaires (myself included) have failed at. It's a love-hate relationship with Strawhat; love the music, hate trying to find it.

A couple favorite albums,...

Broken Phantasm - I still consider this Taka's heaviest CROW'SCLAW release, and it still turns heads of my non-VGM friends.

m.e.c.a - Take some of the best tracks from SaGa Frontier (all from T260G's scenario only) and mix jazz, rock, and electronica with great vocals and you get my fav Ito arrangement ever.

White Ribbon - An amazing anniversary arrange of Leaf's WHITE ALBUM that sounds better than much of the arrange albums I've heard in the past few years. c.sagi and Haneoka really shine on this.

The large concert of the starry sky - Another anniversary album; this time in celebration of the release of Kirby SSDX. The gang at salvation by faith records once again provide a diverse set of arrangements from the Kirby canon.

Touhou Fusyoku Sousoukyoku ~ Buried lovers are burning brightly. - ZUN has cursed me, but thankfully his games/music are amazing. I was psyched to find this insane group that mixes Touhou synth with grindcore. The fact that they are fans of my favorite grind band Pig Destroyer is a huge plus. This disc arranges the entire soundtrack to the 11th Touhou game: "Touhou Chireiden ~ Subterranean Animism". After hearing the samples on this one it immediately has entered my top-10 doujin list and I am eagerly awaiting its delievery so I can hear it fully.

Jodo gets an immediate high five for liking Relics of the Chozo, and that Rockman disc Ashely mentioned looks pretty nifty. I can't believe some of the work that goes into making some of these discs.

Also, Jodo, you mentioned a ridiculously expensive pair of headphones. Does that require a sound system, or could I get the benefits just from the headset itself? I'm kinda illiterate when it comes to things like this.

It's funny you should mention this, because I JUST got the OneUps Vol.1 and 2 yesterday.

Now THAT is how fanmade arrangements are done.

http://www.oneupstudios.com/ous_004.php

http://www.oneupstudios.com/ous_005.php

Full of awesomeness!

It's nice to have fanmade arrangements that are performed completely by live instruments, no computers, and most surprisingly not focusing on electric guitars either, but brass and strings. Very professional.

Great selection of tracks too!

Here's the whole thing:

  http://www.mediafire.com/?unu3jwjtyjg

The headphones themselves go for $650 or less. The problem expense is the amplifier, which goes for around $1500. I bought a package deal for $1800, plus another $300 for a Cardas cable.
 
  This is the amp I bought:

  http://www.headphone.com/products/headp … op-amp.php

  But here is the same amp in a package deal:

  http://www.headphone.com/products/packa … -hd650.php

  To answer your question, I know that expensive headphones do not sound that impressive without proper amplification. It'd be like throwing a 100 horsepower motor into a Dodge Viper. High end products need high end help.

I quite liked the Magical Trick Society's CADENZA Phoenix Wright doujin album.  Their suspense court theme was awesome.

I assume you're talking about Pursuit ~ Cornered 2001, and not the aptly-titled Suspense theme?  (The latter of which doesn't even show up as a CADENZA arranged anyway.)  Sorry, we rabid PW fans are a finicky bunch. ;)

Personally, I think Andrew Luers' arrangement of "Victory! ~ The First Victory" in This Feeling is totally aces.

I'm interested in that album as well, but VGMCentral is not a good source for semi-rare VGM anymore. Directions?

Not too many fanmade albums I'm fond of. I think MintJam's 1stGIG is my favourite, as "Theme of Arcueid" is wonderful. MintJam seems to have much better sound production than other doujin bands, a factor that matters a lot to me. Most of the so-called doujin metal bands have such an underproduced and weak sound that I simply can't bear to listen to it.

I'm sure you're aware of this, but just in case anyone else is looking for it: Most copies floating around nowadays are just plain, blank CD-Rs. I'm not sure if all of them are supposed to be like that but now that I've talked to a few people about it, reprints are usually of that nature.

Kind of makes me think that they should all have gone the way of Relics of the Chozo and made them lossless, digital releases.

On that note, Relics of the Chozo is probably my favorite fan album thus far and has set the bar pretty high (especially with regards to consistency). I'm fairly certain that one of the Rockman albums would also qualify as one of my favorites, too. Maybe Flow - Rockman 2 Arrange CD?

I'm aware, and I'm not really looking to buy it anymore as I'm not looking to buy anymore VGM at the moment. Because of this, it figures somone on VGMdb has it for sale at the moment.