[TroisNyxEtienne]

Originally Posted by Level 99

Are you trying to run the actual address of the IRC server in a browser window, or are you saying your computer can't access the java applet that is hosted for connection to the OCR IRC? If its the former, that's likely not going to work in any browser. You need a client, like mIRC or XChat2 or even Pidgin, to connect to an IRC server and then select a channel or channels to talk in. If it is the latter, not sure but maybe your ISP is blocking the protocol.

That probably sounds like technological mumbo-jumbo, but the bottom line is if you can't connect through the applet in the browser, you need to get a client program and connect through that. There's a few guides on the web for connecting to IRC, depending on the program you use. I recommend using XChat 2, which has a free Windows port and a pretty good setup guide.

Question -- does the channel not work with Chatzilla? I have Chatzilla installed but I'm not sure if that could be of use.

[TroisNyxEtienne]

Originally Posted by WillRock

... don't do what I did, don't submit to the judges panel blindly. The standards are a little specific and even if you're an experienced musician with good production skills, that doesn't guarantee you to get past the arrangement standards. Unless you're a talented guy with good production skills and a lucky arranging style that fits with the criteria of OCR, you're going to get rejected first time.

I'm already deterred from submitting anything to the judges — as much as I want to, one, I know for sure they're going to turn round and say something is wrong. Two, I have the best of ideas but with all the limitations that I have, I CANNOT express them. Three, I can't even afford a studio mic. What I have now is from two years of continuous improvement — I started by recording my vocals with a phone mic. Yes, you read correctly. A phone mic. All the talent and ideas in the world are not going to help me until I'm somewhat better equipped, which I will not be in the near future.

I know this isn't taking me anywhere, but this has added to my frustration. I'm sorry.

[Rozovian]

Originally Posted by TroisNyxEtienne

I'm already deterred from submitting anything to the judges — as much as I want to, one, I know for sure they're going to turn round and say something is wrong. Two, I have the best of ideas but with all the limitations that I have, I CANNOT express them. Three, I can't even afford a studio mic. What I have now is from two years of continuous improvement — I started by recording my vocals with a phone mic. Yes, you read correctly. A phone mic. All the talent and ideas in the world are not going to help me until I'm somewhat better equipped, which I will not be in the near future.

I know this isn't taking me anywhere, but this has added to my frustration. I'm sorry.

Of course they'll say something is wrong - it's what they're there for. And it's helpful. The first few times it stings, because you thought you had a great mix and hate having them poke holes in it. Once you know better, getting rejected is frustrating for a different reason: because you know you could have done better.

Use your limitations as direction. Crappy mic? Make distorted, industrial, post-apocalyptic music, or apply synth-y effects and make android music.

We all have ideas, and most of us fall short of realizing them the way they are in our heads. What's the best idea you have that you can actually make something of? Do that one. If it doesn't turn out as awesome as it is in your head, do another one. Learn something new from each attempt.

I've started over 2000 tracks. Many have great ideas in them. How many actually sound good in the state I left them in? Not many. Be less frustrated, make more music. :P

[Modus]

Originally Posted by Gollgagh

I'm fairly certain that an autistic monkey would lay down a better beat than I.

It's all in the hips. Just swing your hips when you do your drum sequencing. It works wonders.

Forget it, I'm renting a monkey.

[WillRock]

Originally Posted by Rozovian

We all have ideas, and most of us fall short of realizing them the way they are in our heads.

To build on this point of rozovians further, your limitations with software and hardware, or your lack of experience, can be a blessing in disguise. Confused? Well, sure Rozovian is right, we have ideas, and we do fall short of how they sound in our heads, but that doesn't mean that they sound worse than it sounded in our heads. You might end up making something more unique or interesting due to your own limitations in equipment and sound design.

Don't think about what you don't have - think about what you do have and how you can maximize the potential of what you're using.

Just listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J0H5ah1G7A

Now, this was made for the NES as you can see, same sound capabilities, as the music for super mario bros, and the first 2 zelda games, i'm sure you know the soundtracks. Yet here, the composer decided to try and break the limitations of what he was using and it sounds incredible in its own right. Limitations force creativity - use that to your advantage.

[Esperado]

the advice in this thread is really inspiring thanks guys

[bluelighter]

Really interesting topic! It’s reassuring to see veterans of OCR have begun too

So, 5 years? Maybe the double? Yes, we can become frustrated when, after all our efforts, we are no more able to see what to do to progress. I spend an uncountable number of hours on some mix to get a result, not good enough for OCR. At this step, I’m not able to see what I have to do to progress, the judging being often not understandable (technique notions those I don’t know).

I’d really like to know how long an experimented person can spend to get a good and proper mix. I ask this because after retouch and retouch, never getting a good result, maybe it would be reasonable to work on sthg easier or to drop it.

I recognize that I have made some progress since my register five years ago. Although it can be difficult to morally hold and to bear all these negative responses, OCR gave me the boost and the motivation to invest myself on this. So thanks for that!

[Rozovian]

My advice would be to finish what you're working on. If you find that you've made choices early in the development - eg writing, sound design - that you can't get rid of anymore, just finish the track and move on. Maybe it won't be the masterpiece you expected when you started it, and maybe no amount of pro skill and tools could get it there without pretty much redoing it anyway.

I've sat on tracks for years, years. Dragonfood is a good example, although that one's been resurrected and rebuilt a few times in the process. Those old tracks were bad, and some stuff I make today is also bad. It can have plenty of good things (melodies, sound design, mixing things, arrangement, mood, whatever) and still be bad as a whole because something else is dragging it down.

TL;DR: If your track is bad, finish your bad track and move on. No use getting hung up on tracks that won't get any better. Make lots of music and you'll learn to avoid badness.

[timaeus222]

Back when I started in April 2011 (so not that long ago)... yeah, I sucked. I know that now. But I still made do with what I had, which brought forth some stellar arrangements now that I can look back at them and critique more objectively than I could back then. Unfortunately, those stellar arrangements were essentially based on the fact that I used specific sounds.

Rozo is right, sometimes a mix just can't be salvaged because the arrangement is highly dependent on your sound choices at the time. I tried changing some of the instruments in my old, old Golden Sun remix which I actually still kinda like (I abused dBlue Glitch on synthetic guitar to create a neat groove, and used Harmless for synth leads), but it didn't really work because a whole bunch of mix levels, balancing, acoustics, stereo fields, and other spatial stuff changed due to the new sounds I had picked at the time to replace the older ones. So I really just find it better, if you find an old mix of yours of which you really like the arrangement, to just take it and recompose it completely from scratch following the ideas you had. That should turn out to be much easier than trying to redo something butt-old by editing directly from the old project file.

Seems like Chimpazilla and I will have our first mixpost within the realm of 2.333 - 2.833 years, depending on if it happens to be a DP or a regular old judged mix. Gario and loads of other people sure seemed happy with it. =D

[jnWake]

Originally Posted by timaeus222

Seems like Chimpazilla and I will have our first mixpost within the realm of 2.333 - 2.833 years, depending on if it happens to be a DP or a regular old judged mix. Gario and loads of other people sure seemed happy with it. =D

Good luck with that, it's a nice track

I've submitted some decent songs so I hope I'll get in the front page in less than 5 years!