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I wouldn't want people's mixes to have a review system, either, nor would OCR ever implement one (it kind of defeats the purpose of a judging system, if popular review ends up dictating whether or not people listen to the music, anyway). Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I was suggesting a sort of "likes-on-average" statistic to apply to a persons reviewing quality, not mix quality, so to encourage more thorough reviews than "Cool mix, bro!".

If I'm hearing this correctly, you're saying it's cool for folks like me to continue typing those huge ass dissertations with 47 paragraphs about how dat filter sweep had me feelin some type of way, yeah? hoooly shit, the forums are upgraded as fuck.

KINGDOM HEARTS REMIX ALBUM PROJECT TRACKLIST The project is cancelled due to the low interest in a KH album. Thanks and sorry everyone who wanted to help and/or supported the idea. Peace. Project description Kingdom Hearts has AWESOME music by Yoko Shimomura, and its soundtrack is really, really underrepresented in terms of remixes (which is a shame lol). So what would be the plan? Remix the soundtrack from the first KH game. The soundtrack is very diversified as the heroes travel across various different worlds. How to participate? You're a posted mixer on OCR or have some interesting experience in the VGM scene (DoD, YouTube, etc.): you can directly claim a track and start remixing it. You're not a posted mixer: send me a PM with some of your work (as an audition), and we'll discuss the possibility. You want to do art, video, etc.? Send me a PM and we'll discuss how you can help. Legal Note Since OCR made an agreement with Square Enix during the FF6 Kickstarter, please, don't use any SFX from a KH game or directly sample your remix from its source. Deadlines & WiPs Tentative release date: whenever the hell KH3 comes out lol -- The first deadline will be announced when I get a lot of claims on the tracklist. Each time a deadline is reached, I'll need an update on your claim(s), with a WIP track. If you miss a deadline, no problem -- I can understand that real life can be busy. But don't sit too long on a claim either (even if I already worked with some last-minute rushers ) -- If you fail to give me updates several times, I'll have to remove your claim (meaning someone else can take it -- You can also retake it by sending in a WiP). Collaboration Collaboration helps a lot. Don't hesitate to ask someone for help on your track(s)! - Chernabogue: orchestra/drum programming, mixing, mastering - timaeus222: mixing/mastering, dubstep/drum & bass/EDM drum programming, atmospheric and synth-lead sound design, rhythm/lead electric guitar, orchestral strings If you have any question, send me PM or post here.

Congrats on being posted!

I was actually replying to Avaris' post; you slow-ninja'd a post in between. (-:

Traverse Town!

The Guidelines post is a big, intimidating mess for new users, and could probably be improved. A less formal "how do I review?" post might be more welcoming, and it could feature a checklist-like list of things you can say comment on, either as topics (creativity, sound quality...) and/or as a set or questions (did it remind you of anything, did it sound professional, would you dance to it) could make it easier for people who don't know what to say to say something. "Reviewing resources" might also work, with loads and loads of questions and checklists and ratings suggestions and things. I agree about Avaris' point about community in particular. I've got some computer/time/priorities/music issues right now, but I'd like to get more community going in the workshop once I've sorted some other stuff out. If someone has the drive to do the same in reviews, that'd be awesome. Just not sure how that'd work, practically, since the workshop has plenty of places to talk about stuff, while reviews are more focused on... well, reviews. A set of subforums is an option, a subforum with subcommunity threads is an option, and gathering the community off-site is also an option (but maybe not the best for increasing forum activity). I think one of the problems I have with reviewing is that the step from iTunes to the site is big. Can't check right now, but there should be a link conveniently from the tags straight to the song's page on ocr. If there isn't, there should be. If there is, it could be featured on the site as a way to more conveniently go from listening to reviewing. Searching by remix number (and consolidating search results from all search modes) would probably help, too, since it's currently a point and a click and a lot more letters to type to get from listening to reviewing that particular remix. Lowering the threshold by making the move from listening to reviewing faster and more convenient should result in more reviews, assuming people got informed about it. That's what the front page is for, right?

Logic's orchestral stuff is, like most DAW's, crap. It's not what they do. Not specifically, anyway. For good orchestral mixes, you'd want an orchestral sample library (or several), and those are costly. They are compatible with Logic and other DAWs, though, so that shouldn't be an issue. You can make enjoyable orchestral stuff in what comes with Logic, sure, but I don't think it'll be the huge improvment in quality that you seem to be looking for. That said, upgrading from GB to Logic, or any more powerful DAW, you should see plenty of improvements in your output. I've used GB and moved to Logic, and I'm not sure I recommend it. Logic is a good DAW, but Apple's machines are expensive so I think a cross-platform option would be better. Automation is a bit clunky in Logic, it lacks some convenient features for quantization and other stuff, but overall it's a good DAW, especially for that price. Because Logic can load GB's project files, and you probably want to continue working on your old songs with all of your new tools, and the price isn't that big, I think it's a good option. I used it for years before having any issues with it, and even then it still does the job well.

A year on after all this mess, and quite honestly my opinion on it all hasn't changed much. I don't trust ANY major gaming webpages, NeoGaf is still trash and is even more ban happy if you don't "tow the party line", and places like Verge/Polygon and Kotaku continue to be as awful as ever the last time I bothered looking at them. I don't care about GG, and really don't think I ever will. But I can say that while I agree that games can do better with representation in diversity, as can all mediuims, I'm against it being shoe horned in so as to deflect criticism, it ends up being more as tokenism. But I also think we're getting there naturally, it won't happen overnight. What really gets me annoyed is the way all these journalists/websites say they want to have a discussion and only want to shut down any methods to discussion that doesn't align with their view, a "safe space"/coddle corner if you will. This social stuff has turned me off to any sort of discussions on these topics, I've deleted my Twitter and Tumblr account because I want nothing to do with these people and I don't find them useful anymore. I stuck to the bare minimum of engaging in gaming culture and even less so now, and I'm honestly happier for it. I firmly think that game journalists got so butt hurt over Roger Ebert's statements in 2010 as to why he didn't think games were art that they were determined to prove him wrong by going to the extremes they do now with their reviews and videos (extra credits, and no I don't care if they first got noticed here), as if their profession will ever be taken serious by people who have no interest in this stuff. I don't care if games are art or if they're "PC" enough to the San Fran hipster Progressive crowd, is the game good and entertaining? Does it play well, or work properly? Does it covey it's story or message fairly well? That's all I want or expect.

I've been waiting for an album like this since I first got on OCR, and that was... oh, just right after the DKC2 album dropped. UUUUGGGHHH, SO GOOD! Oh, no, you don't! Leave some for the rest of us!

Interesting. Well, I'm sure people would love to hear Ultima pieces. The series was more than just "Stones" after all. And less than 2 years of practise and you're making enjoyable sounds.

THANKS OBAMA

I don't feel like I would want to see ratings on my tunes, I don't think I would find them useful. But it's interesting you say you might be more inclined to write open-ended comments to go with the ratings. I'm reminded of that workshop forum checklist, which listed common problems found in the judges panel. Not sure if anything like this would apply to approved ReMixes' reviews, but perhaps the checklist could be more integrated to workshop commenting - like, you could actually check the items from the list when commenting on a WIP:

If you want a "reward" as simple as possible, make "reviews given" a statistic that's easily visible for the forum user. Bragging rights are actually worth something to plenty of people. Past that, including how many likes the person's reviews have received in their profile somewhere would encourage the user to create useful reviews. It's not much, but it would allow some people to shine in their reviewing abilities in a way that isn't possible, as it is now.

Uh...let me be clear. At first... I was not very keen to this track. But...I listened again, ... ... and again, to ... get a better feel for the overall soundscape...of this piece. And now I must admit............... that, I like it.

Well said; I just don't view it as zero-sum, nor do I view "hardcore" gaming as something that necessarily needs to evaporate to let the medium truly flourish. It can't be the standard-bearer for the art form, sure, but I don't think it really has been, for some time... I like the enthusiast car metaphor, because I see a lot of parallels. I'll temporarily invoke some biology/evolutionary psychology and put it out there that males are inherently more aggressive/competitive and enjoy tinkering away for hours on end if it means an inch or two gain in whatever pissing contest is going on. I view this as a double-edged sword; it contributes to disproportionate amounts of male insecurity, posturing, & resource waste, but it also motivates autodidacts & fanatics to push boundaries. You see this in enthusiast car culture just as you see this in enthusiast PC build/overclocking culture just as you see it in hardcore gaming culture, which is related to the latter. Most of us drive cars, and MANY of us are interested in different models & partake in associating our own identity with the brand of automobile we choose to drive - no field of advertising is perhaps quite as saturated with identity politics as automobile sales. Enthusiast car culture exists alongside mainstream car culture; the former is largely male, the latter is uniformly diverse, by necessity. Is this problematic? Can there be niches within cultures/mediums that simply tend to break down along gender lines, or any other demographic lines? I think the answer is a resounding yes.... the only problem is when the enthusiast culture mistakes itself for the mainstream culture, I suppose But see here, if you look at how Anita was expressing herself, it WAS zero-sum... her statements were very clearly NOT of a "gaming needs to branch out & diversify" breed (as Larry rewrote them to be) but rather of a "this type of game is wrong and bad and needs to go away" ilk... thus the reaction. It's one thing to tell an enthusiast culture to make room, that the medium is a big enough umbrella for all types of folks. That's a message I can stand behind. It's quite another thing to tell enthusiast culture that it needs to crawl in a hole and die; this is more or less what Anita and Leigh went with, and it's just NOT necessary, or even desirable.

Definitely something that I would put in my Ecco playlist for a listen. You give the piece higher highs, with your woodwind, than the game does, I think. A nice touch. It's rather pleasant.

Tuberz is coming here to say again that I will support this wholeheartedly. Like seriously. Favourite game series. pls guiz lets do this One more thing. Can I put a tentative claim on... um... everything?

Yes First Prize: Two OCR discs Second Prize: One OCR disc Third prize: ReMix Request The remaining top ten (because you've got to have a reward be far-reaching enough that people won't consider it a lost cause to even try) Paid vacation including room and board to their local city's luxurious sewer system, complete with fold-out table, dollar general table cloth, and enough seating for 2 humans and several rats. That's a joke, but just imagine that in your head.. it's like a Disney movie.

I really enjoyed this one, it captures the spirit and tone of the original well. I also really enjoyed the drums and the way they entered. I especially like all the pieces of background percussion, theyve been adjusted and distorted just right to make it fit, they're great. Unfortunately I can't make any comments on the mix itself as I can only listen through my headphones at the moment, but what I heard, I enjoyed.

Echoing Timaeus, the intro 0:00 - 0:11 could be wider in soundscape. But then again, the narrowness helps give more impact to 0:12. I really like all of the drum/trapset effects.

Well I think this thread has proved 1 thing, the lack of reviews isn't because OCR is dead or nobody's here, it's because you're all asses

Bored, had time; thread so far, summarized: Problems/causes/observations: Will: you wait for about a year, and get a writeup from DJP and about 2 comments on the site. BS: William Harby, who has not reviewed a mix in months. ACO: OCR seems super dead in general compared to when I first came here a few years back. ACO: I notice even in the workshop, it's not uncommon now for mixes to get over a hundred views but absolutely no response. timaeus222: Maybe it's the idea that the 'classic' ReMixers are in high demand for moar moar moar STUFF, and people want stuff from Sixto, zircon, etc. timaeus222: Maybe with the newer ReMixers coming in, people don't know what to expect because the person's brand new or rather new. timaeus: Maybe it's because there have been ReMixes from "new" games that people aren't as familiar with, like Guild Wars 2, Beyond: Two Souls, and Fittest. timaeus: Maybe people are more busy these days; I know I'm really busy these days. Will: Seems like "classic" ReMixers are not exempt from lack of reviews so I doubt thats it. Will: I also doubt its due to games, since again, popular games are not exempt either. Will: Lack of new members? Garpocalypse: A significant part of OCR is the nostalgia factor. [...] But the nostalgia wears off quickly when you have to live it everyday. Psychologists call the decrease in response to a stimuli over time "habituation" ACO: Lots of the newer games don't have music that is as simple and melodic as the older ones, so it's tough to remix or when remixes of it pop up on the site timaeus222: it looks to me like there's a lack of new members. [...] statistically, less people are joining the OCR forums per year, at least since 2010. :/ pu_freak: I have much less time than a few years ago. When I look at the active people at the forums [...], I have a feeling that the average age is higher than when I first joined these forums pu_freak: YouTube and Facebook. [...] I listen to the ones from there. That means I never visit the OCR homepage anymore BS: it might be hard for a site that takes 6 months to a year for judgements to maintain an active member base. BS: it's time that we get replaced with the new generation of remixers, but it's harder than ever for them to actually be a part of OCR Patrick Burns: I think there are a lot more avenues to find and share nostalgia these days Patrick Burns: our arrangements don't add nearly as much in the post-redbook audio era. [...] Appreciating arrangements of already well-produced material requires a listener who's much more fixated on the music than the average listener, imo. Patrick Burns: We've just got so many other options to fulfill our music/digital/social/creative needs these days. SystemsReady: Holy shit, it takes 6 months to a year for remixes to be judged now? [...] that does make me FAR less inclined to submit anything. djp: I sense some defeatism, here, and I can see where it might stem from, but this is when we need people stepping up, not stepping back Skryp: why are the number of reviews relevant? Or even why are reviews themselves relevant? Skryp: The forums themselves have gotten very slow, very boring, very dead and dying, and so the question should be "How do you suggest bring the overall forum activity back up again?". Skryp: I don't think asking or having one person try and lead a march in improving reviews will have any long lasting effects around here. k-wix: Don't have as many personal connections as i used to on the site. k-wix: If you make it onto the site, the mix is probably awesome and worth listening to, so I don't feel like feedback is needed at that point. Bowlerhat: it's actually really important to see as much reviews as possible to your remix [...] because it can be really motivational to see people like your music. Garpocalypse: the environment where students and working professionals were nearly reduced to tears [...] I was initially attracted to OCR because it got me away from that into a more stress free environment. Now, with all of this music out there, it's no longer a similar minded group of people who care enough about their art to want to help each other [...] and instead it's a lot of people who all want praise for their work [...] people should be encouraged more to speak their minds on the forums here as long as it has a constructive purpose to make the remix better. Garpocalypse: The length of time it takes for a person to get judged and posted is an issue Garpocalypse: I jumped if someone I knew such as Brandon Strader, Willrock, Darkesword, Avaris, Gario or other posted remixers whose work I enjoyed took time to comment on mine. Even if the comments were harsh they were much easier to take because I was familiar with who they were beyond their name just showing up in the forums. Now we are at a time when most of the remixers from earlier days of OCR have all moved on Garpocalypse: the panel is separating itself too much from the community it once created and it's having detrimental effects. BS: I could comment more in workshop, [...] people usually reply and/or PM you with new versions always asking more more more The Damned: sarcasm Rozo: Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posted, [...] it inspired us. Rozo: I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there. Rozo: I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. [...] Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place Rozo: I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth Rozo: Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall. zircon: a big part of it is the rise of social media and YouTube. Forums - in general - are way less popular than they used to be. zircon: What has also changed is how people listen to music. There's been a dramatic shift away from downloading MP3s and having a music library, to just streaming your music. Best Dude55: I don't feel I have enough experience to where I could give any helpful constructive feedback. Best Dude55: Also as a new member I can agree with others that the time it takes for submissions to reach the panel also kind of deters me from being more active. Jorito: I grew up with 8 bit home computers and a PSX, and that means a lot of the newer games don't mean anything to me. That also means I typically won't review and comment. Jorito: I don't really care about the number of reviews (of my own tracks). I'd to like to see a more active community here, but I'm not convinced focusing on the number of reviews is the way to get there. CelestialSonata: Looking at everyone's post count is like looking at an XP bar. It's hard to tell myself that my critique or advice will be worth anything compared to someone whose posts are in the thousands (high XP). In my mind, how can I give advice if I don't have any arrangements published? -- Suggestions: pu_freak: copy the write-up to YouTube as the first comment? djp: We upgrade our forums to IPS 4.X djp: We build the workshop out to integrate with the rest of the site djp: We thus allow content creation & promotion on two tracks - the instant gratification, "look what I made" track for anything posted on the workshop AND the featured, canonized track for accepted mixes djp: We automate the submissions process via the forums djp: All of these changes serve to reinforce the forums and the benefits of registering & participating djp: We consider some form of trackable reputation points or awards or whatever for the most active/helpful members djp: every review helps! Will: All it takes is one person to start doing some reviews and it might kick things up a gear. k-wix: When the song gets posted, it could be posted with all of the information that the judges talked about, might spark some conversation and debate. Would be great to actively discuss the track WITH the judges. k-wix: Featured Comments [...] Could have its own section on the main page to encourage people to actively comment and get featured. Bowlerhat: I've never left a review myself [...] I think that after reading this topic I just might start doing it. The Orichalcon: Is there a way to integrate comments on remixes posted to Youtube into the equivalent comment thread here? [...] Now the comments are split up amongst different media, thinning out the numbers. Jorito: Include the Facebook comments and Twitter replies too, in that case. Effectively you'd centralize the discussion on the site. Txai: I think the basic core of solving this is lifting listeners' tastes and opinions. Txai: I wonder if every poster could include their top 10 favourite ReMixes in their profile page. This was a feature in VGMix and OLR, too. And OLR turned into a barren ghost town after many user listening features were gone. Rozo: We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, [...] maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews. Rozo: Just start reviewing. Rozo: I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes. Rozo: I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, [...] That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts. Rozo: the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads Rozo: We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month. Rozo: We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here. Rozo: We could raise ocr's profile on reddit. timaeus222: Another judge tryout to get more on the panel? timaeus222: Tell your friends about OCR Jorito: embracing all these platforms and combining them in stead of trying to force the audience (back) to the forums. The community is probably still there, just more scattered and, in today's society, also more fleeting. evktalo: I wonder if reviews could be [...] not just posts count, but also review count, why not also "workshop comment" count.. [...] Not as much to reward people who do the reviews, but highlight the importance of the comments. evktalo: I really like to read "readings" of pieces, what they say or seem to mean to a particular listener. You don't have to understand music in a technical/theory level to do this, which is nice (though you have to be able to write about what you think or feel) evktalo: if you said something controversial perhaps, more people would hopefully join in on the discussion. It should only be a good thing, right?

Just one comment here: There's a lot of technical discussion here, but that's not all music is about. Maybe offering detailed advice on compression or decluttering a particular range of frequencies would be a technical suggestion out of your reach, but saying "this aspect doesn't seem to gel with this other aspect" or "this transition felt abrupt to me" are things that don't require a trained ear or a technical vocabulary. Also, music is art. Different things appeal to different people. If there's something you really like or dislike, and no one here seems to agree with you, that's fine. In fact, that's good! A hive mind when it comes to art is a terrible thing, and puts expression and appreciation in boxes. That's especially true here at OCR, where, even though there's a panel of judges that disagrees on occasion, they're mostly looking for the same sorts of things, and are explicitly selected based on their agreement with other judges' decisions (that's part of the "test" to become a judge). Your opinions are no less valid when it comes to enjoyment and appreciation, as long as you're not hostile about it.

Oh hey, Heavyocity Damage. I guess I would say to improve the sounds that aren't Damage, to get them to be up to par with Damage. Right now, I bet if you muted Damage, the soundscape would really feel empty, ,which would mean Damage is a very significant contributor. When you can do so and not have it feel empty, I think that would be optimal. Also, the intro before 0:11 feels rather narrow and lossy compared to the rest. I know you want contrast, but maybe make it wider and a bit less lossy.

This is such a great song. And your arrangement does it justice, in a great way. This is sooo good.

I love it! I played the heck out of metroid when I was wee, I've wanted to do an arrangement of it myself for ages