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The thing is, those other choices aren't as attractive options. While it's true that like I said, OCR isn't the end-all-be-all of VGM remixing and that a lowered bar wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for a hobbyist website, it is by far and away the VGM community — a very niche thing btw — that cares the most about what it does and I think this is mostly thanks to being somewhat of a "gated community" as you describe it. An anecdote that I think demonstrates this, I very recently managed to get offered a deal with a new production music company. That's a great example of a "gated community" in music as many don't generally accept unsolicited submissions at all. Sure, I COULD have gone to AudioJungle or something like that (which I think only recently added some sort of quality control) where library-music composers go to die and have my tracks buried among a sea of others, BUT this way I'm among people who are pros at what they do, can and will give me real advice because they and their clients demand a certain standard from them, they have connections that can get placements in stuff that people will actually enjoy, you have people representing you across the world, etc. and your odds at success are a lot better than if it was just you out there in the wilds — alone. Now you might say, "Yeah, but that's about music for money and OCR isn't about that!" To which I say, ignore the $ aspect and you'll see it's the same thing — a somewhat exclusive community creates opportunity and is a more enjoyable experience. OCR is the only VGM community I am aware of who: Hosts panels at things like MAGfest, puts out multi-disc albums of remixes for free, has had numerous of its users go on to become professional composers; has what easily amounts to thousands of hours of music from nearly 20 years back available on YouTube, with millions of plays total, each one DJP has written a mini essay on, and all for $0.00; launched its own record label, collaborated with Capcom to produce the first official fan-made community Megaman album; it supported the development of the definitive VGM virtual instrument, developed by community members; and about *ten years ago, they made the first entirely fanmade soundtrack to a video game. This is only made possible by having a power structure of some kind. While it's true that OCR is a gated community, they are always willing to let people in. Everywhere else? It's either an open floodgate or the gate is electrified. *OMFG I was 16 when this came out and was before I actually discovered the community. Holy shit, I'm getting old fast.

Definitely join discord. The community is pretty active, and we have a workshop channel as well where we post resources and offer advice.

On another news the Judge Process thread has been updated thanks to @Nutritious. I'll try to keep it updated again.

OC ReMix is neither dying nor becoming irrelevant. We get plenty of submissions, lots of listeners, and tons of engagement on social media. Also, don't try to back up your point by speaking for other people who "wish to remain anonymous." There's absolutely zero value in saying something like that. Make your own points and back them up. We're not going to dump curation. It's just not going to happen. OC ReMix has been very clear about being a curated catalog of arrangements that meet a standard of both artistic interpretation and technical execution. We have never—and I can't believe that this has to be said again—claimed to be the end-all-be-all source of VGM arrangements, and we're not trying to be. We've consistently supported other communities and initiatives like DoD and Materia Collective. OC ReMix can afford to be selective; we've built up a catalog of quality arrangements over the course of nearly 18 years by setting some standards and pushing artists to hone their skills. Our philosophy at OCR has always been "share your music, get feedback, and make your music better." You'll be hard-pressed to find any other art community that does that. Getting a track posted to the front-page is a soft goal that fosters that growth. There are obviously instances where an artist will disagree with those standards and make an exit, or honestly just outgrow the process altogether because they've found their artistic voice and don't need to take part in the loop anymore. That's fine. We have no problem with people who decide OCR isn't for them anymore. There are plans in place to integrate the workshop deeper into the site's game database so that people can find WIPs and non-posted releases by browsing game pages. But OC ReMix will continue to examine and curate submissions from the community against our established standards because having that goal in place improves artists. We're comfortable with where those standards are and comfortable about the direction the site is taking.

Greetings, first things first: I'm not a composer. I study musicology and I'm currently planning on writing a paper about VG remixes. My Name is Gregor, though on the internet I usually go by the name of Samsa. I've started listening to remixes from OC Remix and other sites about 5 years ago and it just got to me back then. When I started my studies I kind of forgot this kind of music (normally musicologists listen to Bach, Brahms, Monteverdi and such), but I recently rediscovered my passion for remixes. So if you've got any information about the history and evolution of VG remixes or if you've got some remix on your mind that's especially great: Send me a message, I'm open to suggestions. Hope to hear from you soon.

Very nice, very pleasant. I see the point about harp and violin competing for the same sonic space, though I kind of perceive them as the same part rather than different parts I was needing to hear separately. Overall the mixing was impeccably balanced, background instruments in the background and leads alternating with clarity and variation. The bass sound is surprisingly treble-y, it kind of calls for attention to itself and made me expect it making some more active movements, like fills and what not here and there. That was a slightly missed opportunity I felt. Can't really think of anything else to criticize here. I like the fake string section taking lead in places, it's a mushy instrument but the rest of the arrangement ducks away to give it the space it needs. Violin sounds lovely, the (subdued) trumpet sounds lovely. Lots of participants in this mix but everyone is following the same shared vision. Nice game/series/platform pick as well for sure.

Debuted this arrangement back on 9/30 with my jazz/VGM group, The Hard Modes (I'm playing sax). I counted it in a hair too fast and ultimately rushed the melody--the groove definitely could have benefitted from us laying back a bit more. My excuse is going to be that this was the second-to-last tune of the show and I was amped up from how the night had gone to that point Also, fun fact: the groove was influenced by Bernard Purdie's work on Steely Dan's Home at Last. If you'd like to read more about the project as a whole you can also check out my website. Thanks for listening!

I did some casual polling of some (a very small set of) non-musician people that do like their video games, and the key take aways were 'they always have awesome remixes', 'that is where I learned remixing videogame music was a thing' and in general that it's cool and people tend be followers for a long time already. So I wouldn't say it's dying or becoming irrelevant. Sure, VGM remixes and covers are a big thing these days, and with all these other parties doing VGM stuff nowadays, it makes sense that OCR stands out less than it used to do way back when OCR was one of the few communities doing such things. I think there's enough space in the VGM world for all these initiatives, all with their different angles and interpretations. I never dabbled in DoD because I am too lazy to learn to actually play an instrument, but I am doing a remix for a non-OCR album this month and I am also looking into Materia Collective. For the latter, there might not be an explicit bar, but I do know there's a proposal + approval process there too, and judging by the albums released they also have a QA process for stuff that makes it on the albums. Anyway, maybe it's time to accept that OCR is doing its own thing and is what it wants to be, not what you think it should be. Sure, constructive criticism is good and should be welcomed. Eagerly awaiting, almost pleading for DJP for a veto and a course correction of this perceived Titanic seems pretty fatalistic to me though. Chill, dude. It's good that you care so much, but you might wanna reconsider your tone and approach if you really want to have a solid constructive discussion.

On the thought of communities who don't have bars, they do have coffee shops. I'm part of a small community that is growing and attempting to establish itself. It will remain unnamed. I'm doing some arranging for them, but mostly just being a brass player recording for people (I guess that describes my involvement in many communities at the moment). They have a bar, kind of, but it's really low. I was used to OCR and the way they did things, came to this new one, and recorded for a guy. I knew I wasn't the only one recording, but what ended up happening in that track was just playing all the recordings as they were sent on top of each other. It sounded very weird because one of them was recorded in a tiny room, and one in a much bigger room. And those differences were really pronounced. There were a few tracks that were this level, and while it wasn't bad, it was very unrefined and unpolished. On the other end, it still is kind of weird that there will be check ins on progress and for the most part, people won't start their tracks until a week or less before deadline, and the end result sounds like they threw it together last minute. However, it will still be sent out. The majority of this community is producing good, well polished content, but there is that lower end that just seems to be winging it constantly and still passing the bar. OCR I don't see as a gated community tho. I see it more as a community that wants to present well polished works of a certain variety. It's not that you have to pass the bar to be considered good, it's more like there's a certain type of production that is wanted.

HAPPY PREHALLOWEEN! OC ReMix and Ghetto Lee Lewis present Heretic Sinphony! October 23, 2017 Contact: press@ocremix.org FAIRFAX, VA... Celebrating Halloween, OC ReMixer Thomas "Ghetto Lee Lewis" Nelson has released the community's latest album, Heretic Sinphony. Heretic Sinphony features six dark electronic tracks arranging Kevin Schilder's music from id Software's 1994 DOS shooter Heretic, and is available for free download at http://ocremix.org/info/Heretic_Sinphony. The album was produced to help promote video game music, was made by fans, for fans, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Raven Software, id software, or ZeniMax Media; the game, characters, images, and original compositions are copyright their respective owners. "What began with a remix of 'The Cathedral' soon turned into a full-blown remix album of Raven Software's Heretic," recalled creator Thomas Nelson. "This game is a classic first-person shooter from the Doom era, with some really good, but overlooked music." Heretic Sinphony is OCR's third album honoring an id Software-published title following 2008's Doom II: Delta-Q-Delta and 2005's Doom: The Dark Side of Phobos. "I composed and produced this album while working a full-time job (sometimes 60+ hours a week), while putting together a recording/production studio at the same time," Nelson explained. "It's been a long two years, but I'm finally glad this album is finally coming together and getting released." Heretic Sinphony also marks the fourth Halloween album release for the OC ReMix community. Last year, OCR released YoshiBlade's arrangement and skit album Candy Corn, 2015 featured the Castlevania-based album trilogy Vampire Variations, and Joshua Morse created the site's first solo artist album with his 2009 Castlevania tribute Sonata of the Damned. About OverClocked ReMix Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form. Its primary focus is ocremix.org, a website featuring thousands of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. ### Download it: http://ocremix.org/info/Heretic_Sinphony Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Heretic_Sinphony.torrent Comments/Reviews: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/46474/

Interesting that you should say that. I've never met any OCR people face-to-face nor did I visit any live events. All my involvement has been remote, mostly through Discord (go join!) and the forums. Didn't really make me feel like an outsider with an outsider perspective. Just being active in the community made me feel involved and informed. $0.02 (yay, more cash!)

All of these people have bars. Also Gamechops, tinywaves, etc. They all have bars, they don't publish anything and everything that they get sent. They just aren't as transparent about them, which is their prerogative.