[Liontamer]

As a means of supplementing my blog, VG Frequency, I'm throwing this thread out there for questions towards myself and the other judges. Any legit questions on our thoughts on arranging/judging/the community/music recommendations/site stuff, I'm willing to answer; maybe some others will chime in, but when I've got the free time, I'll try to answer as much as I can for the peoples.

I'll also answer relationship questions, because some of you guys need a shitload of help.

[BardicKnowledge]

Here's a couple judging questions for you:

What percentage of submissions are asked to resubmit after fixing a few things?

And as a followup: How many of those actually follow through, tweak what's been asked, and resub?

[Liontamer]

Originally Posted by BardicKnowledge

Here's a couple judging questions for you:

What percentage of submissions are asked to resubmit after fixing a few things?

That's an interesting one, in that we really don't catalog what rejections get a more positive response or seem really close to passing. I've got no idea of a solid percentage where we have a consensus that things are pretty good, even though it's not a YES yet. Conservatively, I'd say maybe 5-7% of rejections, you either get a mix of YESs and the rest are positive NOs, or all of the NOs react encouragingly towards the track.

Originally Posted by BardicKnowledge

And as a followup: How many of those actually follow through, tweak what's been asked, and resub?

Way fewer than I would like to see. In terms of resubs that pass, I'm fairly sure those make up less than 5% of all submissions. If anything, I'd love to know how many submitting artists actually read their decision threads. Out of 1800+ subs that I've voted on, I'm again just taking a stab, but I'm sure I've heard maybe 50 where IMO the artist only had to do pretty minor stuff, could have tweaked it, and it would have made it to the front page.

I think the best example I can think of is way back when I started, we got a mix from Kailem: Tetris Attack "Poochy Meets Froggy DX". Kind of an unwieldy title, but the arrangement was excellent.

Assuming you've now had a chance to read that decision, when we get situations like that, as much as some people like to claim we're production whores, we've been pretty lenient on stuff. (Zoltan Vegvari's Mega Man 3 "Intro Jazz" is the best example on that level.) But the mixing/balance was so terrible on "Poochy" that it got rejected. I really thought Kailem would work on it some more and send it back, but it never happened.

A good example of someone actually following through would be Navij11's Kirby & The Amazing Mirror "Kirby's Mystical Mirror", the resub of which has yet to go up. Personally, I have 0 idea whether Jacob was mad at the initial rejection or whatever, but he did a great job of running with the criticisms and revising the arrangement to give it more substance while not needlessly overhauling it. We've had plenty of close ones where the artist, instead of just tweaking a couple of things, majorly changed what was there, and ended up moving backwards.

Anyway, for me, I tend to say "resubmit" when a concept is promising but could use further development, even if I don't think the artist could easily get it to pass; there could certainly be a lot of issues. I'd rather see how much they can improve an already solid concept.

"refine/resubmit", I'll use for stuff that I feel doesn't need too much more work to pass. The real gold to me though, I'll use "borderline". Any time I use that in any context, that's a pretty close one, and I would hope the artist didn't choose to call it a day.

[Sengin]

Do you guys take a look at the author before listening? In other words, if you know the person submitting has had other remixes on the site before, does the name even subconciuosly affect your decision if you're on the fence? And the same for new remixers, but with the other way? If you're on the fence, is it more generally a "no" so that you can hopefully get a better quality mix in a little while as a resub?

If I were to submit a mix now, what would be the average time it takes to get judged? And if it got accepted, what's the average time it would take to make the front page? How many mixes that have been accepted are still waiting to make the front page?

Good idea for a topic, by the way.

[AMT]

Why does it take so long for accepted remixes to get posted? I don't mean this as a confrontational question, I know you guys have a lot going on in your own lives on top of OCR, but is there a particular reason it takes a while?

[Ramaniscence]

Originally Posted by DeathBySpoon

Why does it take so long for accepted remixes to get posted? I don't mean this as a confrontational question, I know you guys have a lot going on in your own lives on top of OCR, but is there a particular reason it takes a while?

Real-life and write-ups, I would assume. Those things don't write themselves, and if you're thinkin' "How hard could it be to write a couple paragraphes and post some songs a few times a week?" you got another thing coming.

This is also assuming the mixer/game/system/composer/company are all already in the database. Otherwise you ahve to go out and get all that info, find a game image, edit and upload that image, add everything to the dabatase, check and recheck to make sure it's working, and then post.

Edit: It's also been said before, and rightfully so, that the space between mixes is also sometimes on purpose. If they posted every mix as it got accepted you'd get days with 5-7 mixes, and weeks with no mixes at all. And from a mixer perspective you have more time to have your mix on the front page and get more exposure, rather than having it forced out in 2 updates.

[SoloGamer]

Can the judges DJP? [/obligatory]

[Murmeli Walan]

Originally Posted by SoloGamer

Can the judges DJP? [/obligatory]

I think there's more than enough evidence to support that they can. ;)

[Liontamer]

Glad you like the topic.

Originally Posted by Sengin

Do you guys take a look at the author before listening? In other words, if you know the person submitting has had other remixes on the site before, does the name even subconciuosly affect your decision if you're on the fence?

I know Vigilante doesn't pay attention to names much, but I don't it's specifically an effort to make himself more impartial. I'd be foolish to say that in the 6 years of the panel that not a single vote by a judge has gone one way or the other based on name. When you say "subconsciously" though, by definition, that's something we wouldn't pick up on.

At the same time though, I don't feel like I've seen it in my 3 1/2 years on board. Honestly, if I could think of one where I really felt someone was biased, I'd point it out to you right now and link it.

For me, I always look at the author. To me, it doesn't have any affect on my voting. At the end of the day, I pride myself on my objectivity. I've been in plenty of cases where I'm sure I've lost goodwill with people because I've NOed their material. Not that every group I'm gonna mention has had someone complain, but I've NOed past judges, future judges, current judges, old-school legends, music majors, and artists with professional music, film and game credits.

You've just gotta go with your honest take on everything, I think that's much easier at the end of the day. I dunno how others feel, and can't speak for them, but I feel great knowing that I've been around so long and never been close to compromising my standards. It's also good to have colleagues where, if we disagree, they want to change your convictions, instead of wanting you to vote against your convictions.

I've definitely felt conflicted before, certainly on name. I think NOing Mazedude and Mustin were some of the more difficult ones for me, in the sense that I'd hope they wouldn't get angry and not want to be involved in OCR, submitting, the community, etc. But I've never actually had it come down to actually going "well, I don't truly think it's a YES, but should I YES it?" I'm thankful I don't have those kind of moral dilemmas. When it comes to integrity vs. Hands Across America, I'd rather keep my integrity.

Originally Posted by Sengin

And the same for new remixers, but with the other way? If you're on the fence, is it more generally a "no" so that you can hopefully get a better quality mix in a little while as a resub?

Nah. If anything, NOing new/unposted artists that are close to passing should feel more difficult, in the sense that maybe they'll get frustrated and not stay involved in the community. But for me, it's not difficult. Much like dealing with established ReMixers, you just gotta vote even-handed and hope for the best in terms of the person's attitude.

Originally Posted by Sengin

If I were to submit a mix now, what would be the average time it takes to get judged? And if it got accepted, what's the average time it would take to make the front page? How many mixes that have been accepted are still waiting to make the front page?

To get judged? Right now, it would vary from 2 weeks to 3 months. Just like in the Judge FAQ, it depends on a myriad of reasons. As soon as we hit Christmas last year, we all basically went on hiatus, and we're back to where were at before in terms of judging wait time. Even now, I haven't had the time to get back into it as much. That being said, I think we can pick it back up. When we have momentum, we start going through a lot of submissions at once.

Wait time after acceptance? It's all on djp's schedule. It's a packed schedule. 2-3 months at least, AFAIK. We've got a pretty big posting queue of stuff ready and waiting to go up.

Number of mixes waiting? Currently 24 that definitely could be posted any time right now, around 12 that are part of unreleased album projects and about 12 that need to be tweaked a bit before they're ready to be posted.

Originally Posted by DeathBySpoon

Why does it take so long for accepted remixes to get posted? I don't mean this as a confrontational question, I know you guys have a lot going on in your own lives on top of OCR, but is there a particular reason it takes a while?

Life. There's always going to be an excuse/reason why. Nowadays, djp's got so many irons in the fire, with the planning of the Street Fighter II HD Remix soundtrack, conventions, contests, interviews and real life with a girlfriend and job. So djp's gotta fit the posting of mixes into all that. That's really the only reason. Like Rama mentioned, song writeups aren't as easy as it looks, and stuff needs to get the proper spotlight time on the front page. But yeah, life. I would really love a streamlined enough system where we had stuff from the inbox to the frontpage in 2-3 weeks.

[zircon]

Originally Posted by Sengin

Do you guys take a look at the author before listening? In other words, if you know the person submitting has had other remixes on the site before, does the name even subconciuosly affect your decision if you're on the fence? And the same for new remixers, but with the other way? If you're on the fence, is it more generally a "no" so that you can hopefully get a better quality mix in a little while as a resub?

Personally, half the time I don't even read who the remixer is. I often find out simply by reading the votes of the other judges. I don't think the person necessarily has an impact on my final vote, either, though how I write it might change. If I'm NOing a sub from an established remixer, I'll phrase it differently than if I'm NOing a sub from someone that hasn't gotten passed yet.