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It's that time again! Time to start thinking about Christmas as the temps climb to 100ºF+ around the country and people wax nostalgic about when it was cold... forgetting all the bitching they did about how cold it was, the snow, the ice, and all of that. And it's in that spirit... sort of... that we take our first step in getting this year's project underway. Soooooooooo... This project is open to any and all OCR members, regardless of whether you're a posted remixer or not. And now, the details... When's The Project Deadline?- December 20th, 2018 at 11:59 P.M. EST. This is now a REALLY hard, non-negotiable deadline, since it's very close to Christmas. We've had lots of last-minute entries and updates over the years and, to be perfectly honest, it shouldn't be that way. With months of time, having to hold off as long as possible for people made things pretty hectic for myself and Dyne in the past. Treating this project like a college paper that doesn't get worked on until the last minute got annoying rather quickly when it kept adding up to lots of hurrying year after year, with last second updates to artwork and retagging/reuploading things. As such, you have until one minute before midnight EST on December 20th to get me the final WAV or MP3 of your song. After that, you're shit outta luck until next year. I need time to do everything, including possibly making a little website to host this project if Dyne isn't online for one reason or another. So this deadline's set in stone... PERIOD. What Information Does The Coop Need?- When you send me your final versions, I'll need what name you want to use (real or remixer handle) and the name of your remix. You don't have to tell me what song you're remixing. Plus, if you have a website you'd like to pimp, supply that as well and I can add it to the MP3 tags. What Can Be Remixed?- Any song, really. Traditional Christmas carols, video game music, published music by a signed artist, music from TV/cartoons/anime... whatever gets your heart racing and into that Christmas spirit. This isn't an official OCR album, so you can draw from more sources than just VGM. Plus, you can take a non-Christmas tune, like the Main Theme from Space Harrier, Stage 6 Mission 2 from Metal Head, or I Defend STM from Truxton II, and turn it into a Christmasy one. So know that it's not limited only to songs that are Christmas-like to begin with. All that said, do keep in mind that if you want to submit your song to OCR later, you'll need to keep this site's guidelines in the back of your mind. But for this album, you can take it in just about any direction you want and get as crazy as you'd like (but please, no "Silver Bells" done in farts or something). How Long Can My Song Be?- As long as you want it to be. There are no restrictions on this, so whether it's 1:30, or 9:51 with a five minute guitar solo ala Metallica, it's all good. But again, if you want to submit your song to OCR later, keep their guidelines in mind. What Genres Can I Remix In?- Again, the door's wide open here. Rap, Metal, Pop, Piano-solo, Orchestral, Jazz, 8/16-bit, Barber Shop Quartet, A capella... it's up to you where you want to take it. What Format Should I Submit My Song In?- WAV or an MP3 of at least 192KB/s quality. I'll be tagging the MP3s and making MP3s from any submitted wavs, so you don't have to worry about that. But, if you'd like your website to be in the MP3 comments section, be sure to give it to me when you submit your song. How About A Little Music To Get Us In The Mood?- To help everyone along, here's a YouTube list of Christmasy tunes made by Ocre a number of years ago... http://ocremix.org/f...72&postcount=19 But remember, not all famous Christmas tunes are upbeat and cheerful. There are some that are more somber or haunting in tone, so you have more moods to play with than happy happy joy joy. What's The Website's Address Again?- It's got a new home at... http://williammichael.info/aocc/ This album will still be downloaded there as well, as Dyne will continue to host the albums on his site. How Do We Contact This The Coop Person?- If you've got questions, comments, concerns, want feedback, or your track is done and ready to be sent to me, you can PM me here on OCR, or send me an E-mail at thecoopscorner@gmail.com. Just be sure you remember to include a link to your remix. So yeah, there you go. You've got over five months to get something done for the lovely people of OverClocked Remix and the billions of listeners around the world who've become followers of our project. Good luck, have fun and make everyone some Nice Work™! Artists involved thus far... The Coop (director, cover artist and remixer) TheChargingRhino (remixer) Skull (remixer) Ridiculously Garrett (remixer) Audiomancer (remixer) Ronald Poe (remixer) Jamphibious (remixer) PlanarianHugger (remixer) HoboKa (remixer) AxLR (remixer) Argle (remixer) Lampje4life (remixer) Rozovian (remixer) LuckyXIII (remixer?) Furorezu (remixer)

First off, for a career primer on what all this stuff is like, there's really nothing more accurate and comprehensive than the GameSoundCon annual survey. Here's the report from 2017: https://www.gamesoundcon.com/single-post/2017/10/02/GameSoundCon-Game-Audio-Industry-Survey-2017 Networking is absolutely the most important thing you can do as a composer (really, as a person who seeks to stay ahead in any industry). As shown in the report, little over half of all reported gigs were recruitments and referrals. I've been presented a lot of opportunities by knowing a lot of people who have things going on. For example, a composer/business mentor I met years ago contacted me recently to tell me he (and even his assistant) is starting to get too busy for the gig load that's coming into his company, and that he wants to rope me in to help out with that stuff and sees my skillset as up to the task. As for groups and places, you really want to join the Game Audio Network Guild, and start attending GDC if you can afford it. They have cheaper Expo passes that don't give you access to audio panels, but don't at all inhibit your ability to network or attend the guild mixers/events. GDC is really the most important networking event for any sub-industry of the game industry. Getting to know the faces of all the people who you're in the industry with is really essential. The Guild itself gives a lot of resources, like discounts, sure, but also things like contract templates for your gigs. That being said, it's important to learn how to network. Do not go around handing business cards and expecting that to do anything, and also don't be that person walking around asking if anyone's hiring. Networking is about building actual relationships with people, colleagues, friends. I essentially go to GDC just to hang out with people. When you meet someone really cool and fun to talk to, it's very memorable. When you meet someone who hands you a card and is like "I write and produce music", it's a massive yawn. Literally everyone else in the room might do what you do, and half of them might do it better. Think of it like this, it's like creating a spider web. You can make a lot of connections and build a really huge web... but it's just going to rip and fall apart when it tries to catch something if all those connections are weak. Even if you have a small web of strong connections (closer to what my situation is like), that web will hold steadfast when something runs into it. The ideal is, over the years, starting with a small one and building it up to a large one, but always keeping it going strong. Lastly, OCR is not a great place to get advice about this stuff. There's not a whole lot of professionals here who are actively in the industry who hang out on these forums. I highly recommend joining "Business Skills for Composers" on Facebook. It's a group of a few thousand people and a lot of very successful guys who like to mentor hang out there. The advice is really invaluable, and the amount of existing material that covers topics like how much to charge, how to network, how to pitch, managing your rights to your work, maximizing your opportunities (whether it be $$$ compensation or planting seeds for more opportunities), etc.are way more than enough to chew on for the first year of career development. It's a very focused group and heavily moderated, so all the content is on point and they make sure all the discussions are productive. There's really no first step I'd recommend more than joining BSFC and reading the discussions, and asking your own questions. Lots of people employ the advice they get there to great effect (for example, people don't realize they can often raise their rates a lot, and companies will accept the price). Here's a great guide that @zircon sent me when I was younger and had no idea what any of this was about. http://tinysubversions.com/2005/10/effective-networking-in-the-games-industry-introduction/ As a final note... from the perspective of networking, your strongest asset is you, yourself. Your personality, your work ethic. When people are looking to hire, spread the word, refer gigs, w/e it is, they don't contact people who are flaky, people who are assholes, people who are unprofessional or not confident, etc. Being a composer is like being a salesperson in some respects. It's not just your product, and it's not just going around posting ads; it's very much about becoming someone people trust and like working with so that these relationship will keep bearing more fruit. You need to develop a personality that people will look at and say "i really like this guy/I really like working with this guy."

I think a reset of the list would be a good idea. just my 2 cents

It's not that I can't do a robust transcription, it's more a matter of having the time to do it. Which, sadly, will be unlikely for the coming weeks/months (yes, my own Arcadia track is one of the reasons for that :P)

Really solid all around. I'm not too bothered by the arrangement's variation. Really enjoyed this one quite a bit. Voice is great. YES

Shovel Knight OST is soooo goooood. Liking the 80's synthwave approach here. Parts are pretty well balanced, though it does get a bit busy in sections with a lot of elements playing simultaneously (some with longer reverb tails). 2:30 - 2:44 is a good example of this; 3:35 as well. Breakdown to melody at 1:30 felt a bit underwhelming to me due to the drop in energy and some overlapping writing distracting from the melody (that plucked synth thing in the back specifically). I think it would be better served if you established an even more stark contrast from the previous section and solo'd the lead (or with minimal backing). More contrast between the two would create better drama IMO. 2:50 was a nice change to the B section of Strike The Earth. Effective writing as well with l. Coming to the last quarter of the mix, I feel like I've heard all the sounds here throughout most the mix, so a bit more part contrast (or perhaps a little less utilization of SOME synths) would help alleviate this. The robo voice felt spot-on to me for the track. The only drawback to me is I swear it sounds like it's saying "Chocobo" instead of "Shovel Power." I can't unhear it! Reading some previous J's votes now, I do hear the static arrangement issues in the NO camp, but not feeling that alone here is a dealbreaker for me. I didn't hear the empty/thin texture issue though, really, so I can't identify there. Overall production is solid (despite some mixing clutter), OST arrangement is solid, and though writing/flow could be improved, I don't feel it's enough to bring this one down. YES

Very cool concept and sounds, I adore the vocoding. Unfortunately I'm in the NO camp here because of how static the arrangement feels, and the mixing. A few suggestions: 1. Try to make arrangement variation by actually removing elements in different sections so we aren't hearing everything in your arsenal full time. Break it down to just a couple of elements, and vary those element combinations throughout the track, save the full bang for the final chorus. 2. Make some sections a little more quiet, and possibly slower (without the pulsing bass), and with a different drum groove/fills (this in addition to the breakdown you already have). 3. Fix the mixing by letting each of those midrangey syths play wherever their fundamental is the strongest, and eq so that other elements can do the same. Take three samey things and open their eqs at the same time, and adjust until each one is clearly audible. You can also differentiate the sounds using stereo widening on some elements and narrowing on others. Looking forward to hearing this one again! NO (resubmit)

Pretty dry opening here. I like the instrumentation, and there's clearly effects on the synths, but something about this still feels empty. Later on, there was some crowding in terms of the production, yet emptiness as far as the textures/writing. By 1:10, I was already feeling like the backing writing was pretty static and plodding, but the dropoff at 1:28 helped out the dynamics there. At 1:43, the lead just felt pretty bare. At 2:13, the textures remained relatively thin; the track did get busier at 2:27 with some variations on the "Strike the Earth" melody. Onto "Of Devious Machinations" at 2:49, but the core kick pattern just plodded, IMO. I could see this passing, as the arrangement uses the themes well with some good tradeoffs, but something's obviously lacking with the dynamics. The beats plodded and the writing & textures felt skeletal despite the effects used to thicken the sound up. Very good base here, Jorrith, but I'm strongly with Gario that this needs another pass to get more sophisticated with the writing. NO (resubmit)

Ah I remember this one. Jorito catched up pretty quickly on the basics of synthwave, and the authenticity is very much here and throughout the duration of the song. A couple things: the voicing change near 2:55 could've been handled better, I feel the mood changed too much and breaks apart from the rest of the song, second I feel like the overall mix could've been tighter. It's clean, and shows a ton of progress from Jorito's first subs, but for this genre I think a bit of grit from those old tape recordings and analog hardware that made the original sound famous would've been great here. Tons of ways to get that effect nowadays, so you should look into that, but the production is otherwise solid and I'm just nitpicking at this because it's something I'm very familiar with. Very good stuff. Reading the other Js comments now, the track is a bit static at some points but there are plenty of variations in the drum sequencing and arrangement. There's enough detailing for me throughout and I don't think this is below the bar by any means. YES

I can see what Gario's saying here, though I don't think it's below the bar. There's still some changes here and there that vary things up that I didn't feel like it was too much. I can see this going either way, but I'm good to do on this one! YES

More Shovel Knight compo, more Jorito goodness. Looks like we've got some old school synthwave going down, here, which is always fun. I'm loving that vocoded voice (especially at 2:49 - that was an amazing transition), and the sources seem well represented. The synths used are pretty slick, as well, so nice work on sound design for this one. Some of the textures really wear their welcome out after sometime, as a few of them really play through the entire track. That arp in the background utilizes the same pattern throughout the entire song (adjusting for harmony), which frankly gets exhausting to listen to after a while. As there are crowding issues later on in the track (like at 2:49) there are plenty of places where that synth could've been dropped and improved the overall track. The static issues that MindWanderer point out are problematic, as well. They are helpfully broken up by the 1:30 section and 2:49, but long stretches of the track sound like it's on autopilot due to the overall similar set of instruments utilized throughout, the similar harmonic patterns, the same pacing, etc.. Again, two or three sections bring something to really break the rut the track falls into, but great deal of the track feels static. Watch your release envelope on some of your instruments - the track gets overly saturated with those wet synths from time to time. The lead at 0:29 and the background texture could be drier than they are at the moment. The static nature of the arrangement swings my vote on the other side of MindWanderer's. I'd suggest dropping that backing texture, and utilizing the synths that you have in different manners in the more static areas of the track so that the arrangement has some more variety and life in it. It's good, but I think there's some TLC that needs to happen in the arrangement before I can pass it. Best of luck! NO

As I mentioned in the compo thread, it's pretty neat that you imitated an 80's electronica aesthetic to remix a game designed to imitate 80's video game aesthetics. Funny how synthwave seems positively antique but 8-bit gaming seems like it was mainstream just a few years ago; it never even occurred to me that these were actually contemporary. Anyway, this is pretty by-the-numbers synthwave from an instrumentation and production standpoint, no surprise given that Sir_NutS helped out. It gets a little same-y at points, but they're brief and that's part of the genre. Great, smooth integration of the two sources, a well-deserved win on that front. Nothing substantial lacking that I can tell, so nice job! YES

Was gonna make a bonus mix but Im busy trying to get a job.