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The Judges Panel has been talking about ways to work through the queue of submitted remixes at a faster pace, and after a lot of discussion and weighing the pros and cons, we've come to a decision that's probably one of the biggest adjustments to our process in a long time: Submissions no longer require four (4) YES votes to pass. A decision is reached as soon as the difference in votes is three (3). To clarify the key change here: when a submission receives three (3) YES votes and there are zero (0) NO votes, the submission is accepted, because the difference in votes is three (3). If a submission continues to go back and forth without reaching +3 in either direction, the panel will continue to vote until all active judges have voted and the majority will determine the decision. This update to our decision making process will immediately apply to any submissions on the panel at the time of this announcement going live, and for all decisions moving forward. We won't be going back to previous rejections to find decisions that started with three (3) uncontested YES votes but eventually got rejected; in those cases, what's done is done. We hope that artists will find this new criteria a little bit easier to understand. Overall, we've been impressed with the quality of work being sent in these past months, and this should make it easier for us to get the slam dunk tracks through the process faster. Thanks to all the artists who continue to participate in our curation process. Hope to hear your work soon. - DarkeSword

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! OC ReMix = 25 YEARS OLD! 4,500 ReMixes later, video game music is STILL an art form! We've got a celebratory Zeal mix by JSABlixer from the upcoming anniversary album TimeShift, and we'll be doing lots more over the course of the next year to celebrate the creativity and impact of this powerful community! Thank you to everyone -- past, present, and future -- who have made OverClocked ReMix what it is. Please share some positive memories on how you discovered OCR, artists and tracks you love (original VGM OR ReMixes), let's go! :-D

In the shadows, we stay busy. ;-) Joining us as a Sage, we now have @Treyt, who's shown off a lot of skills, enthusiasm, and potential since his fateful forum post nearly three years ago! We're proud to announce some staff promotions with the twin magic of Sages @pixelseph & @paradiddlesjosh stepping up to become two of our newest judges! We had some fun internally joking that they were a package deal, yet I'm happy to say they both independantly have done well and proven themselves capable to help us out in this new capacity on the panel! We've also honored to have another judges panel addition in @jnWake, who cut his teeth in OCR way back and has massively grown since becoming a Dwelling of Duels regular! All three of the new judges should help us NO every VGM arrangement submitted to us with more speed, politeness, and class. ;-D Be sure to use our resources in the Workshop forums and our #workshop Discord channel and you may just get some feedback from our new staffers!

good job everyone

Eighteen of these. Eighteen years. Holy shitballs, Batman! Another album is in the books. This year we have seven songs of various moods, genres and tempos, all set for everyone to listen to and as you get deep into the holiday spirit. While we wait for Dyne to update the site, I'll be hosting the zip file. Once he's done, I'll change the link here to go there. Make sense? Good. A big thanks to the remixers who joined up, and to Dyne for hosting these albums for yet another year. And on behalf of everyone involved, Merry Christmas! https://williammichael.info/aocc/

Voting Guidelines Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Streets of Rage game and the other from an Etrian Odyssey game. In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance): The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 3 Remix Pack (MP3). For your reference, here are the source tunes for Round 3. Streets of Rage vs. Etrian Odyssey II The Last Soul Labyrinth IV - Petal Bridge [Dungeon: 16F-20F] Streets of Rage 2 vs. Etrian Odyssey III Go Straight Labyrinth VI - Cyclopean Haunt Streets of Rage 3 vs. Etrian Odyssey Shinobi Reverse Labyrinth V - Lost Shinjuku [Dungeon: 21F-25F]

Voting Guidelines Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Streets of Rage game and the other from an Etrian Odyssey game. In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance): The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 1 Remix Pack (MP3). For your reference, here are the source tunes for Round 1. Streets of Rage vs. Etrian Odyssey Fighting in the Street Labyrinth IV - Sandy Barrens [Dungeon: 16F-20F] Streets of Rage 2 vs. Etrian Odyssey II Never Return Alive Scene - Wings and Cherry Blossoms [Event: Ones with Wings] Streets of Rage 3 vs. Etrian Odyssey III The Poets II Cityscape - Between the Azure Sky and Sea You can also use this thread to leave comments about the tracks. Remember to be kind and constructive. Thanks for listening, and thanks for voting!

Voting Guidelines Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Streets of Rage game and the other from an Etrian Odyssey game. In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance): The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 2 Remix Pack (MP3). For your reference, here are the source tunes for Round 2. Streets of Rage vs. Etrian Odyssey III My Little Baby Cityscape - Engrave Thy Name and Go Forth Streets of Rage 2 vs. Etrian Odyssey Alien Power Strife - Rapture [Normal Battle: Final Floor] Streets of Rage 3 vs. Etrian Odyssey II Ending Return of the Heroes [Ending 1]

Don't try to throw the OCR mission statement in my face and think that that somehow proves your point. Nowhere in that mission statement does it say that we need to treat all forms of music in the world equally, regardless of whether it was written by a person or generated by a machine-learning algorithm. That's not there. We are dedicated to the appreciation of and promotion of video game music as an artform. This has, for the last 25 years, meant recognizing that the composers who wrote music for video games created art. They are artists. They are human beings who made thoughtful decisions about the music they wrote. They created with intent. Can you use machine-learning tools to create artwork with intent? Sure. I pretty clearly stated in the announcement that I don't have a problem with machine learning as a technology, but that I don't want people to post music on OCR from services that trained their models on music that was not provided with consent from the artists who created that music. The technology is not the problem; the people building these services using resources they're not supposed to are the problem. These folks have not figured out how to build these services without plundering the collective creative works on the internet. No thanks.

These are just going to be first impressions from voting, so take this all with a huge grain of salt! The City Is a Warm, Dead Waste: I love the variety here! It reminds me of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin in some ways, it doesn't surprise me to see a few Team Whip alumni on this one! Guitars are kickass here, and there's a monster amount of synth variety too. There's a solid amount of cohesion with the sounds chosen here, though I'm somewhat less sold on the arrangement itself - lots of great ideas but I think it'll take me some time to grasp where the arrangement is actually taking me. I think there's some reverb fine-tuning to do here, a lot of the elements feel overly boomy, which takes away some of the bite from elements like the drums. Other than drums/guitar, I actually surprisingly can't pinpoint individual elements contributed by each artist - there's a lot of sounds that feel like they could have come from anyone, which is pretty neat! 🏆Duel of the Shifting Sands: Ooohhh, 8-bit plus! I'm not surprised at all by that, but I'm not used to hearing it with all the extra bits and bobs, and I gotta say... I dig it! A lot. I think there's untapped potential to process the chiptune elements a little more dynamically, but overall, the blend works pretty damn well. 3:02, hell yeah! This is a great way to drive this home. I was on the fence about which track would get my vote, but this section really clinched it for me. Overall, I saw a huge amount of potential and TONS of great ideas thrown out from both entries in this duel, but this track feels like like it has the edge in terms of focus and cohesion. 🏆Seven Fists Under the Sakura Tree: Motherfucker, you guys are not playing around. This hits IMMEDIATELY off the rip. That fill at 1:06, excuuuuse me? I think this has a bit of the same "washiness" that I noted in "Warm, Dead Waste" where there's just a little bit less clarity to the mix than I would like, but I don't think the track suffers too much as a result. Ok, and now we go into something completely different at the end that somehow also works? I was trying to write out my highlights as I went along, and I just couldn't keep up. The sound choices, writing, production... y'all are crazy for this one. This is going directly onto my Smash Bros. playlist. This is going to be hard to beat. Sakura Wa Karenai: Ok, so that's how you're gonna play this. The production on here is IMMACULATE right off the jump, I can hear some strong DJ Mokram influence on the world instruments, then some psytrance beats come in and I immediately know who's at the helm. The production on here feels a little tighter, but I'm waiting for the moments like Team Rage had in their entry that REALLY knocked me off my feet. Oh, there's 2:06 - that's more like what I'm talking about, but it still feels like you're holding back on the energy levels. We've still got time to go though, so we'll see where this goes. 2:42 really jumped out at me in a completely different way, but it was a powerful moment with the entrance of vocals and that beautiful FM piano. The sound design in this section is off the hook. OH BABY SHUFFLE RHYTHMS now we're cooking. Ahhh, this matchup is TOUGH. There's so many brilliant ideas here and there's actually quite a bit of connective tissue to bridge them all together, but will say that the energy management falls just a little short of my hopes. The mix is incredibly clean, from the instrumentation to the mixing/mastering, but it feels like there was room to push the intensity further. I still loved this a ton, and you gave the other track a serious run for their money, but Seven Fists takes the crown in this matchup for me. 🏆Only Trust Your Mix, Techniques Will Never Help You: this title sounds like something I would hear in an incomprehensible Youtube Short production tutorial, I'm curious what the title alludes to! This starts off with some pretty straightforward but catchy, bright rock that reminds me of old Sonic Adventure music, the lead performances are top-notch. I don't feel like this track was as ambitious as the other ones from Team Rage in terms of ideas, but it feels like perhaps the most cohesively-executed of the three, and just because it's more focused, doesn't mean that it's any less impactful. The seagulls are a nice touch too, reminds me even more of Sonic Adventure when we hit that part. Crazy breakdown at the end, this was really good! You Make the Sun Shine (In My Heart): Aww, so cute! This is definitely the hardest matchup so far just by virtue of the fact that each entry were clearly going for different things. The other two matchups, although executed very differently, ended up going for relatively similar energy, but this is the kind of diametrically-opposed matchup I love to see from GSM. The lead vocals are confident and fit the bill really nicely - some slightly awkward moments where the lyrics and the melodic phrasing don't perfectly sync up, but that's to be expected on a short timeline when you have to add your own lyrics to the equation. Across the board, I'm hearing brilliant synth riffs and excellent sound choices. I love the vocal harmonies that I assume colorado weeks contributed? 3:25 onward to the end of the song is when everything really clicked for me <3 The area where this struggles for me is the mixdown - it doesn't feel like it's quite baked yet, specifically in terms of relative volume levels. The lead doesn't always feel like the lead, and there's certain elements (like the synth bass at 2:40-ish, for example) that feel inexplicably louder than everything else. There's also several elements that don't quite feel glued together with appropriate level of bus compression or reverb to really give this a sense of place. When both tracks are full of great ideas but in totally different ways, I need to fall back to execution, and in this case, I have to trust the mix from Team Rage. There's no dead air this round, every team brought the heat in terms of concepts and energy! Execution was a little more of a mixed bag, ultimately I feel like any of these matchups could have been swayed with different levels of polish on the execution, which means that you all hit the mark in terms of blending the sources well. I am well familiar with the time crunch element of GSM, and it does tend to play out tougher for more ambitious, multi-genre concepts that will always take longer to polish. Even though I ended up generally voting for the tracks that felt tighter and maybe took a few less stylistic risks, it's not for lack of enjoyment of the more ambitious ones! If you didn't get my vote here, it just means that I thought the song needed a little more time in the oven - everyone did excellent work and I enjoyed it a lot!

This was a super fun showing! Just writing down stuff I've brought up in the discord and listening party: - I helmed (arranged, produced, mixed) the lion's share of Dead Waste. seph was super helpful in spicing up the guitar parts I wrote and doing some extra textures/transitions. H36T did stems for piano and female vocals, Ronald did some dark ambient synths/FX, and I consulted with josh and Moebius on drum part-writing and mastering, respectively. - both the gf and I thought the ocarina in Shifting Sands was a soprano sax, lol, but after the drop I can hear it better. - Shifting Sands is also the most VVVVVV-sounding thing JSA has done, imo. The low end profile right before the drop kicks in is great. Xaleph(?) did a great job with the mixing. - "Seven Fists" is the punchiest one this round, imo. I joked with seveneyes/alex that he was gonna master it to -7LUFSi and it came out to -6.9. "Dead Waste" and "Mix" both sat around -10 to -11LUFSi (different people mastering). Its Run, Lola, Run-sounding transition is awesome. - I'm pretty sure all of Team Streets was floored by the Etrian!Sakura arrangement. It took us a while to figure out the flow of ours, in part because the Cherry Blossoms MIDI was formatted as triplets instead of "true" 6/8 or 12/8. The buildup/sound design in the intro is great. - I also had no idea Weeks also did the low vocals during the breakdown in Etrian Sakura! Her range is crazy. - Moe's time changes were super fun and Moe/josh overdubbed seph like three or four times in Mix. Moe also schooled on josh and I by making one of his transitions a seagull when we were trying to arrange it with drums or guitar, lmao. - Sun Shine (In My Heart) has some good vocal balancing for the time-crunch. I also can't hear "Azure Sea and Sky" without hearing the lyrics now. I joked in the listening party that Moe should have stuck like 30 seagulls in his to make it a fair fight. I also thought it was neat how many credits each track had - it seemed like each team member had a hand in nearly all of each others' tracks. Looking forward to Round 2!

These are fucking bangers. I am glad I got to finally listen to them. Wonderful job to both teams. <3 Kinda funny how I can directly distinguish who is in what team, just based on the sound palettes, techniques used and their individualistic motifs from previous work of theirs!! It's a highlight to hear everyone's hearts and passions and skills mingle together to make something this unique, and both series' OSTs are pretty crazy and gives such a weird, lively, and wide variety of possibilities to the imagination on arranging a remix! So, kudos to the series selection, source choices and the end results! Look forward to more, and remember, no matter the result, these are fire and I was thrilled listening to each and every one of them (several times over.) :)

I just randomly was thinking that OCremix was started in December, and checking online, see that it says December 11, 1999. For me right now, thats an hour and half away. Myself finding this awesome place in 2003. Not knowing how to make music, but as a lover of listening to it, I don't post much....but, I didn't see anywhere on here it being mentioned about the 25th anniversary. (maybe I just missed it) So anyways.... Just wishing this place a HUGE HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY. And of course a huge thanks to everyone who has contributed and kept this place alive for so long. Heres to 25 more years....

Alright folks, got some news for this one - yes, the album is still moving along! Even better, it's been submitted in it's entirety! I've listened to the finished product with some of my fellow judge peers (as well as with Bahamut, the original director for the album) and it seems like it shouldn't have any issues under review, so I can finally say that this thing is happening, and it's happening soon. There will be some teasers and such in the coming months to get y'all excited about the album, but in the meantime I'll share what I think is the *second* most fun organ bit from the album. Ain't the whole song, but I did have a lot of fun making an organ part for one of my tracks so I figured why not spread the joy a little bit? Actually pretty excited to have this submitted, and not just because it'll be a decades-long endeavor coming to a close, but also because the album sounds great. Will it be worth the wait? ... well it was a long wait so I can't be sure, but it'll definitely be worth spending some time with, that's for sure!

Hello!!! Although I'm quite unfamiliar with this place, it is nice to meet people who enjoy remixing VGMs and OSTs! Although I usually make original tracks, I also make remixes. I met this place a few days ago, and I forgot introduce myself. I hope all is well!

Sent these over to DS last night, but here's my take for one of the years!

I say we should give Netscape Navigator 9 another shot.

Hey just so you know, this whole "they don't care about privacy anymore" is 100% fucking nonsense. Mozilla does not say that they can use your data however they want. This is also part of the terms of literally any site you upload anything to; the service needs to say "you grant us the right to do things with your work so that our service can actually function." For example: uploading a picture to Bluesky? Bluesky asserts the right to transform your work so that they can generate a thumbnail of the picture you uploaded. That's what these terms always mean. It's never about a service or a piece of software asserting ownership of your data. It's about you granting them a baseline level of permissions so that they can actually do the things you need them to do with the data you give them. This type of "company is stealing your work" scaremongering makes the rounds every few months in art communities and every single time someone has to clarify that companies are not stealing your work. Mozilla is not claiming ownership of your work. Mozilla is not throwing privacy to the winds. Instead of watching a clickbait video that perpetuates the same stupid misunderstandings, maybe go directly to the source and actually read what Mozilla has to say about it? Also, Brave is the second-to-last browser you should be using (behind Chrome). Brave has engaged with scummy shit such as: Replacing ads on pages with its own ads and taking a cut Putting their own affiliate links in search suggestions Installing a VPN on Windows without notifying users Numerous partnerships with cryptocurrency firms If you want a reliable browser that's not Firefox, there are plenty of options like Orion, Waterfox, Ungoogled Chromium, Arc, etc. Brave is not it. EDIT: But also just keep using Firefox.

Howdy, folks. You may recognize me as Zack! on the OC ReMix discord. I've been enjoying OCR since roughly 2002, and a few months ago I was reminiscing about the OCR podcast in its various incarnations and how much I missed them. I voiced this in the 25th birthday hangout, and @Liontamer encouraged me to get off my butt and just restart the pod. So I did. Check it out here: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2445308.rss Ad-free, not trying to make a single cent off of this, and I keep the language tame so that you can listen with kids if you want to. I'm very much an amateur at this, hoping to get better at it as I go. I learn a little more every recording and editing session, so fingers crossed a few more of these and thing will be half decent. If you're reading this, episode 2 is out, so go grab it if you're interested. I'm aware that a few of the voiceovers sound, well, awful. I had the wrong mic selected, didn't notice until edit time, and I have a cold now so my voice is all funny. I figure you guys can deal with a couple minutes of webcam mic. The format is roughly news, new remixes with my worthless commentary on them, some random segment that strokes my ego, and then one final Russian Remix Roulette track. I remember them rolling a die and playing a RRR track on the very first incarnation of the OCR pod, and I wanted to keep it going. Question for the powers that be: any objections to me using the OCR logo as the pod's thumbnail?

It's July 7th. It's time for the Summer, baby. We've got heat, we've got humidity, we've got all the things needed to make you feel sticky... and not in a good way. But don't worry, I've got something cool for you. Yepper, it's time to start recruiting for the next An OverClocked Christmas album! We've got over five months before the due date, so let's see how many people are interested in taking part for the seventeenth entry in this (usually) happy, seasonal project. As per the norm, this project is open to any and all OCR members, regardless of whether you're a posted remixer or not. You want info? I got your info right here... When's The Project Deadline?- December 20th, 2024 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. Please, come up with something when you send me links to the file, rather than just giving me a file called "ff6-owa-v3f.mp3" and nothing else. You don't have to tell me what song you're remixing, but I do need a name for the remix. 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, Death Polka... 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... https://ocremix.org/community/topic/32727-an-overclocked-christmas-~-now-recruiting/?tab=comments#comment-676914 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, or attach it to your message. 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) The Vodoú Queen (remixer) colorado weeks (remixer) Dj Mokram (remixer) Souperion (remixer) Seth Skoda (remixer) Lampje4life (remixer) NarnianWarrior (remixer)

Hi everyone! Last night, I held a live webinar on YouTube about dialing in mix-ready guitar and bass tones for your remixes. You can find the VOD below: VSTi and VSTs from the Webinar, also in the video description: (not all were used in the webinar; all plugins listed below were curated for this webinar based on their quality and price - they're all free!) Guitar: Cute Emily SG Shreddage 3 Stratus Unreal Instruments Metal-GTX (requires Plogue Sforzando) Bass: Shreddage 3 Precision MODO Bass 2 Amp Sims: Ignite Amps SHB-1 (SHB-1 is a boutique tube amp sim for bass guitar; comes with it's own cab IR built in) Ignite Amps Emissary and NadIR (Emissary is their boutique tube amplifier sim, NadIR is a cabinet IR sim that can be used with ANY other amp sim) Guitar Rig 7 Shattered Glass Audio ACE IK Multimedia Amplitube 5 Pedal VSTs: TSE Audio 808 TSE Audio R47 Plugin Boutique Face Bender

If life permits I'll jingle dem bells. 🎄

Hallo hallo, another "long time listener, first time caller" for the list A long time fan of VGM; Vinyl & CD collector, obsessive fan-music listener, occasional VGM remixer with my partner. I was finally able to make it to MAGfest this year (I come from far off Europe, and it only cost.... Ye gods, over a thousand buckaroos!) where I met so many amazing friends, and even more amazing strangers, and had so many amazing conversations with 'my people', where I had a sort of, 'wait, I'm not alone, thousands of people are just like me!' moment. Especially it was great to hang out with the ever wonderful KyleJCrb, who I went to the con with, and spent a lot of the weekend with (and crashed the room of many times) - I was planning to check out the OCR panel regardless, but as he was one of the speakers, I made extra sure to clear my con schedule - and as I sat there at the panel, I wondered suddenly why I was lurking, because I felt like I would very much like to be a present part of all of this. I spent a while after I arrived home observing the site much more closely, asking around interestedly to my friends of their own VGM projects, then I decided to poke my head in for real. So... Er... Hello!

Just chiming in to mention that I've sent a finished mix of Resident Evil 4's Save Room theme to VQ, so that's at least one track down for this project! Excited to hear what everyone else cooks up ☺️

Welcome to Game Set Mash!!, a team-based, long-form competition format for the OC ReMix community! Current Status The final scoreboard is as follows! | Streets of Rage | Etrian Odyssey | Round 1 | 6(sub) 2(won) | 6(sub) 4(won) | Round 2 | 6(sub) 2(won) | 6(sub) 4(won) | Round 3 | 6(sub) 4(won) | 6(sub) 2(won) | --------+-----------------+-------------------+ Total | 26 | 28 | 2 points were awarded for each submission, and additional 2 points were awarded for each match-up won. Congratulations to TEAM ETRIAN ODYSSEY for their win! Music Download the MP3 packs for all three rounds! Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 What are the games we're remixing? The time around we're celebrating the music of Yuzo Koshiro! This legendary composer has such a wide breadth of work, and for GSM3 we're going to mix the pulsing beat 'em up beats of Streets of Rage with the sweeping JRPG scores from Etrian Odyssey. Streets of Rage - Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, and Streets of Rage 3 Etrian Odyssey - Etrian Odyssey, Etrian Odyssey 2, Etrian Odyssey 3 Each franchise features more games than just the initial three, but for the purposes of this competition we're going to limit to those first games. What are the rules about teams? I want to make things easy and accessible for people to participate, so there's no maximum on team size, but I'll be asking people to do their best to even out the teams once we have all of our participants signed up. There are no rules about who has to be a primary arranger for a track from week to week. Teams will be free to organize and determine how each of the three remixes gets covered. Using your teammates for collaboration and feedback is highly encouraged. Game Set Mash!! is run primarily on OCR's Discord server, so you need to make sure you join up there. I'm new to GSM, how does the competition work? Participating remixers will form 2 teams of at least 3 members each. Each team will be assigned a set of 3 games. The competition lasts 6-7 weeks, with 10-day mixing rounds alternating with 4-day voting periods. At the start of the mixing round, each team will choose and reveal 1 source tune from each of their 3 games. Each source will be paired with another source from the opposing team, for a total of 3 pairs. Each team will be responsible for writing 3 remixes for the week that combine (or mash) both source tunes in each pair. At the end of the mixing round, we'll upload the remixes and have a community vote. Voters will vote on the 3 remixes that did the best job of mashing the two source tunes together. Teams will accumulate a score based on how many of the community votes they win. In the next mixing round, we'll rotate which games get paired up with opposing games.

Mr. Coop? HA HA! Fuck... now I feel old. You've got four days to finish it and send it if you want to get in on the action. The deadline's 11:59 PM EST on December 20, 2024. If you submit it, make sure to let me know what the remix title is. And don't worry, Mokram, Souperion will be there with us.

Back at it again, m'friends. Hope y'like.

I'm in!

Happy 30th birthday Earthworm Jim! I was invited to a groovy little celebration album called "Earworm Jam" to honor the occasion; here's my contribution (which I'll be submitting to OCR), and there's a link in the description to the full album if you want to check it out!

Hi Uffe! The track you linked doesn’t sound like it contains western harmony functional chords inside. I’m hearing trills between half-step notes and an occasional whole-step note to make the tension ramp. However, to answer your question, the method I use to determine chords when listening to arpeggios is to listen for the lowest note and then work out what the interval is between it and the closest note to it, then do the same for the next note. The relationship between the intervals will usually give you the biggest clue to the chord. Sometimes there can be multiple chords being outlined during a single arpeggiated melodic line. It’s not always easy to pick out when this is happening, though one trick for that is to listen to the harmony/support instruments and if the notes shift under a particular spot in the melody, it’s highly likely that the chord has changed

Up to you! If you feel like you can do more to work on them, by all means, either take the time to work on them more, or workshop them either here on the forums or via the OCR Discord server. :) Otherwise, if you feel they're ready to go, just send me: a WAV of your mix, in 44.1kHz, in Stereo, 16 or 24-bit, -6.0 dB, triangle dithered (if necessary). This is a pre-master, WITH NO HEAVY COMPRESSION OR A LIMITER ON THE MASTER BUS, except for any very soft compression and EQ, for warmth and tone and gluing the full track together. If that all sounds like gobbledygook, just sending me the thing at -6dB, unmastered, is cool. :D Can send it to me on here as an attachment or GDrive / Dropbox link through private messaging, or on Discord if you add me. There's some other submission criteria, but the TL;DR is -- as long as your mix doesn't have any weird glitches or artifacts that'll mess up mastering the track, and you give me the source name and game (or movie or whatever) you remixed it from, and give it a unique name (something that isn't the original name of the song), that's fine.

I'm in, leaning towards something original instead of a remix but maybe that will change after i go through my game music archives. Maybe something along the lines of my old BABY SHARK remix could work, because there's nothing more horrifying than baby shark...

This is an amazing idea! I've got an old MNP that I've been tinkering with for... the last decade? Crap. But it might fit this album, so consider me signed up!

Well, look at all the nice stuff Morgan said, it warms a middle-aged man’s heart! We’re glad to have you too. :-) This was definitely a trip on the USS Weirdshit, and I’m here for it. Boy, this gets pretty grimey, and props to Chimpa for her post-production efforts as well; just like the Mario 64 piece that she also mastered, everything sounds awesome on my car stereo, which can’t be taken for granted. (I’ve heard pro tracks that don’t come out sounding full and clean on car stereo, to be sure.) Just voted on mooooooooo.ooorgan’s Super Mario 64 piece before this, which I believe was the second or third track of his that I’ve judged. That said, the dude’s got me trained now: expect a journey and expect to be impressed. YES

Awesome, thank you for that. Those are so good. I also re-uploaded my favorite cover from him that didn't seem to be on youtube and/or anywhere else. But it's definitely a gem.

Hi, I've been listening since 2003-ish, lurking since 2006-ish, and am re-vitalized to start getting involved by my most recent Magfest trip. Hope to do some things, make some happies.

Love this remix. It's been a staple on my Halloween playlist for years now.

Shit, I can double dip on threads then.

It's that time of year once again, where I bombard you with many, many rhymes. It's December 18, which means another "Twas" has arrived. So grab a drink, take a pee if you have to, and let's do this... Twas XXIII: Not So Good To The Last Drop by The Coop Twas the night before Christmas, and things were not well. The house was filled with Yukon Jack's familiar smell. Tara sat in her room without making a sound. She just sat on her bed and looked sadly around at the room she'd called home for the last eighteen years; her vision a bit blurred due to the building tears. A duffel bag filled with all the clothes she could put into it quickly, rested beside her right foot. As she sat quietly, she thought of how the day had started out just fine, yet ended up this way. She had gone to the mall with her old friend Sophie. They'd been walking about and acting so carefree after they'd had some lunch and went from store to store, looking at clothes, CDs, DVDs and much more. It was as they passed by where the mall's Santa was, that they saw how all the kids in line were abuzz with excitement as they waited for their turn to ask Santa for a present; maybe, even two. “Let's get in line,” Sophie said, a smile on her face. “Say what?” Tara chuckled. “We'd be so out of place “standing with those kids that are already in line.” “Oh come on,” Sophie laughed. “Let's go. It'll be fine.” With a sigh, Tara was soon being dragged along, as the mall echoed with that familiar old song of Rudolph the reindeer who had a bright red nose. “You hyped?” Sophie asked. Tara replied, “I suppose.” “That's the spirit,” Sophie grinned as she shook her head. The two of them then got into the line that lead to the wintry scene where Santa and an elf were. And the next half hour became something of a blur as the children's chattering continued non-stop and drowned out the noises from any nearby shop. Soon, Tara and Sophie were the next two in line. “Got your ideas?” Sophie asked. “Cuz I've got mine.” “You're way too into this,” Tara said with a smirk. Sophie stuck out her tongue with, “Don't wreck my fun, jerk.” They shared a laugh before Santa's elf came up to Sophie and asked flatly, “Seriously you two?” “Yep!” Sophie smiled. “I'm here to see Santa and see if he'll get your friends to make something nice for me.” The elf rolled his eyes with a muttered, “Fine. Let's go. Just please behave, huh? There are children here you know.” “I'm not that bad,” Sophie grinned. “Well, usually.” The elf let out a sigh with, “C'mon. Follow me.” Tara watched as Sophie went to Santa and sat across the man's lap and had a very short chat with him about how she'd been good most of the year and how all she wanted was to give him good cheer. She then kissed him on the cheek and smiled at the man, which made him smile warmly; as only a kiss can. She then got up and left and moved off to the side with a silly smile that she didn't try to hide. “Your turn,” the elf said as he neared where Tara stood. “I'll behave too,” she grinned. The elf replied, “That's good.” It wasn't long before she had reached Santa's chair, clearly feeling awkward as she was standing there. “Hello there young lady,” Santa smiled up at her. “Would I be out of line if I was to infer “that the woman I just spoke with came here with you? If I'm right, are you going to kiss my cheek too?” With a small chuckle and smile, “No,” Tara replied. With a smile of his own, “Then feel free to confide “in me what it is that you'd like to get this year.” When she gave no response, “Tell me, what's your name, dear?” “It's Tara,” she said as she continued to stand next to Santa's chair as he gently took her hand. “Well Tara,” he smiled, “what is it that you'd like to have created by my skilled and handy elf crew?” Tara said nothing at first, but her attention was quickly pulled away by the cries of someone. She looked around and saw a woman on one knee, next to a little girl who was looking sadly at the doll in her hands that was missing its head. It wasn't on the doll, but on the floor instead. The woman comforted the child as the girl cried, and held the young one until her tears did subside. The woman then picked up the doll's head before she held out a caring hand and got up from her knee. Holding the girl's hand, the two of them walked away, and Tara stood there without anything to say. Santa saw how Tara was lost in her own head. With some concern in his eyes, “Young lady?” he said. His voice pulled Tara back into reality. She looked at him and gave a quieted, “Sorry.” He could see in her eyes that her thoughts had gone to someplace unpleasant she didn't want to wade through. “You OK?” Santa asked. Tara nodded a bit and said, “Yeah, but I think it's best if I just split.” “Before you leave,” Santa said, “just tell me one thing. For Christmas, what is it that you'd like me to bring?” Tara stayed silent for a short time until she began to speak in a saddened voice quietly. “Bring me a new childhood where I'm not the one who has to play adult when I wasn't ready to. “Or maybe a redo for last year's Christmas day, when some people came to take my father away. “Or at least make it so I don't have to take care of someone who'd be found dead if I wasn't there.” Tara's face saddened as she closed her eyes and said, “But that won't happen, so that Christmas wish is dead.” With a disheartened frown, she took her hand away as her words left Santa unsure of what to say. Without another word, Tara rejoined her friend and their trip to the mall came to an abrupt end. Tara said bye to Sophie and then went back home. Once there, she found her mother had begun to roam around the house looking for some liquor to drink. And the sight of this made Tara's heart quickly sink. That was hours ago, and it made Tara decide that she had to get away and so chose to hide away in her room and pack up the things that she couldn't leave behind as she got ready to flee. And so now there she sat, waiting for when she could get away and leave it all behind her for good. Tara closed her eyes for a few moments until, the smell of that liquor hit and made her feel ill. She could hear her mother Pam, shut the bathroom door. The harsh sounds that came next, Tara tried to ignore. She heard her mother mumble incoherently, and then heard the woman vomit rather loudly. Tara grimaced at the sound; her eyes still closed tight. “C'mon Ray,” she uttered. “I wanna leave tonight.” As if she'd been heard, a pair of honks from outside brought relief to her face as “Oh, thank God,” she sighed. With a quieted quickness, she got to her feet and then snuck down the hall, trying to be discrete. She stepped from the house and gently shut the front door, while the first tears of the night looked ready to pour from her eyes as she made a beeline for the truck, whose passenger door was open so she could chuck her duffel bag in, which Tara did right away. And as she climbed in, she said, “Get me out of here, Ray.” “Sure,” the guy said as he put the truck into gear. “Let's go to my place and get the hell out of here.” The engine revved up and they drove into the night. It was then that Tara finally lost the fight with all the emotions that wanted out of her. Her tears at last fell and the world became a blur as she cried where she sat beside the person who she'd been dating for three years and who'd helped her through ev'rything she'd been forced to witness and endure. Through her tears, Tara said, “Thanks.” And Ray asked, “What for?” “For getting me out of that goddamned house,” she said. “For helping me not have to find my mother dead. “I know this was sudden, and I'm sorry for how you've been pulled into this.” Ray then said, “C'mon now. “You've gone through some shit, and now that shit's hit the fan. You're my girlfriend, and I'll help however I can.” She looked over at him; a sad smile on her face. “So just relax,” he said. “Soon, we'll be at my place.” Back in her mother's house that Tara had just left, the whole place seemed empty and was oddly bereft of any of the sounds that had been there before. It took a few minutes, but soon the bathroom door opened up slowly and out staggered Tara's mom; her hair all messed up, like it had endured a bomb. Pam looked rather drained as she stepped into the hall, her words slurred a little as “Tara?” she did call. When she got no answer, she went to Tara's door. “Tara?” she repeated, her word slurred a bit more. She pushed the door open with, “Tara, I need more Yukon 'cuz I'm out. Will you get some from the store?” It took a few seconds, but she soon noticed there was no sign of Tara in the room anywhere. “Tara?” she called again and when no reply came, “I really not in the mood for this stupid game.” But all that she heard was the silence of her home. It was shortly after that, she'd begun to roam as she tried to find where Tara was in the place. As she did this, anger quickly came to her face. “Goddamn it,” she slurred with a slight shake of her head. She returned to Tara's room and there on the bed sat a folded piece of paper she hadn't seen. Pam went up to the bed of her now missing teen. Pam picked up the paper and opened it to find it was a written note Tara had left behind. “Mom,” it began, “I've decided to move away. Way too much has happened and I just cannot stay “in the house with you anymore, so I've moved in with someone I can trust. Why? Where do I begin? “I was eight when I looked after both you and Dad for the first time after that ev'ning you both had. “My birthday party had just ended when you two chose to get completely trashed by burning right through “all the liquor you had in the house at that time. Someone puked on the floor, and left behind that slime. “I came out and saw it, while you both were in bed. Did I go back to sleep? No. What I did instead “was clean up that mess and keep watch over you two in case someone choked on any vomit that they'd spew. “The next day, you saw the stain and blamed me for what one of you had done during the night before. “From that moment on, you both made me feel like I had to keep watch on you both so you wouldn't die. “Year after year I tried to deal with all that crap, hoping that maybe reality would just slap “you both upside the head and show you that your kid wasn't your damn caretaker. But it never did. “I tried to talk to you both. Dear God, how I tried. But you'd both just dismiss it, and I always cried “when I went to bed those nights, feeling like your maid. For years I put up with the bullshit you displayed “for me that showed how all you both wanted to do was stay shit-faced all the time. That's what I went through “week in and week out until last Christmas Eve night. Dad passed out in his chair, and death snuffed out his light. “He'd been drinking Yukon Jack, and he drank too much. He poisoned himself with his fav'rite liquor crutch. “He died during that night and I spent Christmas day watching the coroner take my father away. “And now here we are, Mom, in the same fucking place. You're still shoving that Yukon Jack shit in your face. “I can't take anymore, so I'm leaving today. I've been put through too much and I refuse to stay. “If you want to keep drinking, then go right ahead. But someone else can be the one to find you dead “in that chair the same way that I found Dad last year. For my own sanity, I have to disappear. “So know that I'm safe, but I won't be coming back. I hope that one day, you'll leave behind Yukon Jack. “I pray someday you'll see what that shit's done to you, before it gets to the point where it takes you too.” Pam's expression went from confusion to sadness, despite just how hard she tried her best to repress the emotions within her that tried to break free. “This can't be right,” she slurred. “Did my daughter leave me?” But those feelings soon faded, and what took their place was anger as a sneer quickly came to her face. “You turn your back on me?” Pam muttered as she threw the letter onto the bed. “Well then, fuck you too.” She stormed down the hallway and stumbled just a bit as she went to her bedroom and dug through the shit that cluttered up her purse until she found her keys. Into the cold night she went, then fell to her knees as she felt her stomach churn right before she blew out her stomach's contents, along with some blood too. She puked a second time as the world seemed to spin. She swayed in place slightly as puke dripped from her chin. It took a solid minute for her to regain her equilibrium, which she tried to maintain as she looked at the mess that she'd made on the ground and how her blood was mixed in. After which, she frowned. “That's not good,” she muttered as she took in the sight. “Maybe a liquor run's not in the cards tonight.” She spat a couple times, then got back to her feet and went to her mailbox that stood along the street. Her mail was collected, and she went back inside; her ire still in place, which she didn't try to hide. She went back to her chair and sat down in a huff before she began to dig through all of the stuff that the mailman had brought her earlier that day. And she did this without a single thing to say. The mail was mostly fliers for sales here and there. Each one selling things, about which, she didn't care. Electronics and shoes, and some gunk for her skin. But as she went through them, things began to sink in. “Hurry!” said one flier. “It's your last chance to save!” Another stated, “Get back what you really crave!” She paused for a moment. Her brow furrowed a bit. She seemed distracted as she continued to sit with the mail on her hands 'till at last she put down what she was holding as she continued to frown. “There must be something on,” she mumbled to no one. She turned on the TV and soon she had begun to flip through the channels 'till she found something to distract her from her thoughts with a, “Guess this will do.” The screen was filled with a well known stop-motion tale; one she hoped would be able to fully derail her unpleasant thoughts that had given her some pause. And so she watched “The Year Without A Santa Claus.” It was on the scene where Mrs. Claus had a chat with Mother Nature and her odd bird's-nest hat. Heat Miser showed up, then Snow Miser did appear, and both got a stern lecture from their “Mother Dear.” As she watched the show, what she had drank took its toll. Her eyelids grew heavy and soon began to stroll downward until, at last, she had closed her eyes and left the waking world as she entered the dreamland. It wasn't long before she awoke and was met by a scene she'd seen on her television set. All around her, things didn't look right to her eyes. It was like they were toys, but blown way up in size. Buildings with thatched roofs, mud walls with embedded stone, but they didn't look like anything she'd been shown at any point in her life, in books or nature. Even supposed wood didn't look right to her. What should have been straw, looked more like big grouped tubes now. The mud walls looked more like paper mache somehow. What were supposed to be stones, were flat bits of wood. Even the ground and trees didn't look as they should. Nearby stood a table with a chair that seemed odd. She went up and touched them, then uttered, “Oh my God!” as she felt how little the two things seemed to weigh. What looked like heavy, thick wood, seemed to betray reality as she asked, her voice holding fear, “Where in God's name am I? And what's going on here?” She looked around again with, “This is a dream, right?” “Not really,” came a man's voice. “It's no dream tonight.” Movement came from the strange cabin that Pam stood near. Its front door swung open and Santa did appear. The pants, coat and hat he wore were red with white trim. They looked like thick felt with how stiff they were on him. A black plastic-like belt went around his belly. His black boots were plastic too, from what she could see. His face was like polished wood which had a beard glued to it as his entire appearance did exude the idea he was someone's over-sized toy. And the sight of him nearing didn't bring her joy. The scene clearly freaked her out as he came outside; a fact that she didn't make an effort to hide. Santa drew closer with each jerky step he took; with movements that gave him a near stop-motion look. Pam watched him come toward her with a stare that was filled with confusion and fear, which continued to build. It took a few seconds, but when her brain kicked in, a memory came to her from when she had been in her chair as she watched a stop-motion kid's show. And this memory helped make her confusion grow. Her gaze fell as ev'rything poked hard at her mind and she uttered, “This is a nightmare of some kind.” “Yes and no,” Santa said. “You're not awake right now, but we're both very real.” Too which Pam asked, “But how?” She returned her gaze to the fat man who grew near. “What's going on Goddamn it, and why am I here? “Why does ev'rything look like that show on TV?” When Santa said nothing, “Goddammit, answer me!” Santa's stop-motion gate soon brought him up to her. He said, “Excuse me as I get changed, as it were.” With a snap of his fingers, ev'rything went dark. Then a second snap came and there was a bright spark that burst into being and which hung in the air as its body gently shimmered while Pam stood there with surprise on her face and some fear in her eyes. After a few moments, the orb began to rise and move slowly toward her 'till it was overhead. With alarm in her voice, “I don't like this,” she said. “You've got nothing to fear, Pam,” came Santa's voice from the darkness before her. “But I'd like you to come over to me so that we can have a short talk.” “About?” she asked nervously. He said, “Please, just walk toward the sound of my voice. I promise you'll be fine.” With little steps, Pam cautiously walked a straight line. As she moved forward, the orb of light did the same and lit a small patch of ground, which for Pam, became the only place she felt safe to put her feet on. For outside of that light, the world was simply gone. No color, no movement, just a void; dark and deep. But steadily forward, Pam continued to creep. Just up ahead of her, fading into the light, was someone who was a rather familiar sight. Santa had begun to come slowly into view. But the man no longer looked like what he used to. Gone was the man that looked like an over-sized doll. He now looked human; with a big belly and all the red, white and black attire that one would expect of the one called St. Nick. And this change did affect Pam as she backed off a couple of steps from him. “Oh God, now what?” she asked, her tone fearful and grim. “It's alright,” Santa said, holding out his right hand. “There's something important we should talk about and look at together for a few minutes my dear.” He brought his hand up more and asked, “Will you come here?” “I um...” Pam uttered as hers eye darted between Santa and the darkness where nothing could be seen. “You're safe with me, Pam,” he said in a calming voice. “I wish you'd walk with me, but you do have a choice. “If you'd like, I could send you back to your old chair so you can continue sleeping as you sit there. “Or, you can come with me so that you can see how someone you know is in a lot of pain right now.” With some hesitation, Pam went up to St. Nick. As she held out her hand, “This best not be a trick.” “It's not,” Santa said as he took her hand in his. “A chance to help someone, is what this moment is.” A single image faded in ahead of her; it was fuzzy and looked like a colorful blur. But as it came closer, the image began to get clearer and more defined the closer it drew. It soon came to a stop a dozen feet away. Pam looked at the image, unsure of what to say. The picture was of a girl who looked eight years old. She was on her knees and was clearly being told to clean up the dark blotch that a rug had on it. The girl looked upset, like she'd been crying a bit, and her eyes were fixed on the woman who stood there in a bathrobe and slippers with tangled up hair. The woman was holding a scrubbing brush out to the girl and pointing at the spot in question too. “I've seen this,” Pam uttered and continued to stare at the photo before her that hung in the air. “That's you and Tara,” Santa factually said. “Taken not long after you'd gotten out of bed “and found a stain that you quickly blamed Tara for. A mess that your husband had made the night before.” “Excuse me?” Pam blurted out. “That's complete bullshit. She had spilled something there and I made her clean it.” “Do you recall the night before?” Santa asked her. Sounding vexed, she replied, “No, I don't remember. “And why would that matter? I told you what she did.” Santa replied calmly, “Let's see what your mind hid “away in a corner over the last decade.” After a moment, the photo began to fade as it was replaced by a movie of some kind; one that stirred up something in the back of her mind. It was like ev'rything was seen through someone's eyes, and this left Pam confused as she struggled to size up what was happening in the scene that played out. But when she heard someone speak, it left little doubt regarding who was involved in what she did watch. She heard a man say, “Oh yeah, this shit is top notch.” “Dale?” Pam faintly said as she continued to stare at the video-like scene that hung in mid-air. Pam then heard her own voice say, “That is very true.” The view then swung over to reveal the man who had spoken, which made Pam's jaw go a little slack. “Dale,” she uttered before he said, “Give me that back.” In the scene, a hand came from below into view. It held out a bottle, and the man said, “Thank you.” Pam watched as he took a big swig of Yukon Jack. And after he had finished, he handed it back. “Thank you my good woman,” the man drunkenly smiled just before he leaned forward and grossly defiled the rug on the floor that was laid before his chair. Then came Pam's voice, “You're done, Dale. Just leave that mess there. “I'll clean that tomorrow, assuming it comes clean,” she said as the view stayed on the large pea soup green stain that he'd just made on the rug between his feet. Pam watched the scene fade as Dale got up from his seat. “The picture I showed you first,” Santa said softly, “was taken by Dale after you initially “had yelled at Tara for the mess she didn't make. She told you the truth, but you called her story fake. “Tara had come out after you two went to bed. Where you had left the mess, Tara chose to instead “try to clean it up before you and Dale awoke. The next morning, you both berated her and spoke “to her like she'd been the one to do something wrong. From there, your eight-year old daughter endured a long “and hard road where she tried to take care of you two so that she wouldn't get blamed for what you'd both do “when you got too drunk and left messes or passed out. And year after year, that's what her life was about.” As Pam stood there, more of such scenes began to fade in from the darkness around her until they'd made a patchwork dome of moments that played around her. As she took them all in, unease began to stir within her as she saw things she couldn't recall. But her voice and husband were present in them all. And then there were the ones where Tara was present. Where the girl got yelled at or wound up being sent to get this or that bottle as her parents drank. Pam's emotions began to churn and her heart sank at how Tara had gone from a happy young child, to a sad and despondent teen who never smiled in any of the scenes that showed her older face. Santa saw this clearly, but he remained in place as he watched Pam become overwhelmed by the sight of what Tara had endured for night after night and day after day for those ten very long years. When Santa at last spoke, Pam started shedding tears. “Tara cleaned up what both you and Dale left behind. The bottles, the vomit, anything she would find. “And on top of that, you know what else she would do? She would spend time each night checking up on you two “to make sure that you both would wake up the next day. That in your sleep, neither of you would pass away “because you choked on anything you'd bring up when you were asleep. She did this again and again “each year without fail. And all she got in return, was your letting the bridge between you and her burn. “And now Tara's left because you wouldn't see how your actions affected her... both back then, and now.” Pam averted her gaze as stood quietly. In time, she asked sadly, “She's gone because of me?” “She is,” Santa replied. “But Dale played a role too. And what happens next, is completely up to you. “You can keep going down the same road you've been on, or you can try to fix things before Tara's gone.” “She's already left,” Pam said in a quiet voice, to which Santa replied, “As I said, it's your choice. “She left you behind, yes, but she's not gone for good. I don't know where she is, but I think that you should.” “What?” Pam said with confusion as she looked at him. “How could I know?” she added, her tone rather grim. “Who would Tara trust?” he asked. “Who would she turn to? I don't have that answer, but I'm guessing you do.” Without another word, Santa brought up a hand. He snapped his fingers, and Pam left the crazy land of darkness and her past as she found her mind hurled back into her chair at home and the waking world. She opened her eyes as she sat up in her chair. And with a puzzled gaze, she quietly sat there for a few minutes before she got to her feet. In her bedroom, she got dressed and then took a seat on the edge of the bed as she put on her shoes. She then went through her home and picked up any booze she was able to find and dumped it in the sink. Once she was done, she said, “That's all of it, I think.” She then put on her coat and went out the front door, only to return and rush to her dresser drawer where she had always kept her purse and her car keys. She mumbled to herself, “Damn near left without these,” as she grabbed those things and went right back out again. She started up her car and shortly after then, she was out on the streets and stopped at ev'ryplace she could think of to check, with worry on her face. With her phone in hand, she went down her contact list of Tara's friends' numbers, making sure none were missed. Pam called a few from her car that she didn't know where they lived. The others? To their homes she did go. At each one, she talked to her daughter's friends as she did her best to locate where her daughter could be. Two had simply told her that Tara wasn't there, while three others gave suggestions regarding where Tara might have gone and to give those spots a try. But Tara wasn't at any place Pam stopped by. By the time Pam returned to her home, it was late, and she felt like she had some unbearable weight that pressed hard on her mind and heart as she sat down in her old chair with a deep and despondent frown. Tara's friends were a bust, and their suggestions too. With tears in her eyes, Pam said, “Tara, where are you?” She dug out her phone and scrolled through her contact list once more to see if there was someone that she'd missed. Numbers and names went by until she reached the last one that had no name with it. “Who's this one?” she asked. She tapped on the contact with a questioning stare. She brought the phone up to her ear, under her hair. The phone rang sev'ral times before someone answered. “Hello?” a man said, but the next thing that she heard was the voice of a woman in the background who asked “Who is it?” and he replied, “I've got no clue.” Pam's eyes grew wider when she heard the woman's voice. She then began to smile in a silent rejoice. “Who is this?” the man asked. Then in a more forceful voice, “You best answer me. I'm not up for some bull-” “You don't know me,” Pam cut in with a pleading tone, “but I'd like you to put my daughter on the phone.” With ire, the man asked, “Who gave my number to you?” “I don't know,” Pam replied. “I was just scrolling through “the contacts on my phone and it was the last one.” “I know who you are,” he spat. “This chat's fucking done.” “DAMN IT WAIT, PLEASE!” Pam yelled. “Please don't hang up the phone! Just let me talk to her, then I'll leave her alone “if that's what she wants. But I need to tell her things and hear what she says... even if what she says stings.” The phone line went quiet. Long enough to scare Pam, before she heard Tara say, “Well Mom, here I am.” “I'm so sorry,” Pam said as her voice cracked a bit. “I know I fucked up. I'm sorry for all of it.” “You're sorry?” Tara said in a near laugh. “Really? That's all you can say after all you did to me? “All the shit that I saw? All the shit I went through? Everything I endured because of Dad and you?! “All the sleep I lost and the times I cried in bed, afraid that I'd wake up and find both of you dead “because of that fucking shit the two of you drank! All I did to help! But all you both did was spank “me and yell at me for the messes you two made! I put up with that shit for a fucking decade!” Pam could hear the pain in Tara's voice before she said, “I know,” in a soft tone. “I know you hate me “and I don't blame you after all that you've been through. All you've seen and heard, and all the punishment too. “But I need you to come home so that we can talk.” “Like I'd ever do that,” Pam heard her daughter balk. “Tara, please,” Pam begged. “I'm asking you to give me a chance to make things right. I swear I will. You'll see. “All the booze in the house has been dumped in the sink, and I'll clean the place up so that it doesn't stink “like an old woman's farts or liquor anymore.” Pam teared up a bit and her throat tightened before she continued with, “Please, just give me a chance to do whatever I need to make it up to you.” For what felt like hours, silence had filled the line. Pam had grown worried when Tara gave a curt, “Fine. See you in the morning,” and hung up afterward. From there, half of the night for Pam became a blurred stretch of frantic actions as she cleaned up the place with a stern look of purpose etched onto her face. By the time four AM finally came to pass, Pam flopped onto her chair as she held a tall glass of water, which she then made quickly disappear. “I forgot how much shit Dale and I had in here,” she grumbled as she sat back while doing her best to catch her breath while she relaxed and tried to rest. She set the glass onto the small table between her chair and Dale's as she sighed, “Got this damn place clean.” She rested her head back and closed her eyes as well. And into an exhausted sleep she quickly fell. The next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes. Sunlight now filled the room, which caught her by surprise. With a groan, she sat up, with, “How long was I out?” She checked her phone's time and let out a panicked shout. “OH SHIT!” she blurted as she stood from her old chair. She ran to the bathroom to pee and brush her hair. Once she had finished, she went back to her seat where an envelope rested on the small table there. “What the...?” she mumbled as picked up what she'd found. The front said “For Pam,” and when she turned it around, the back had no writing and looked to be sealed shut. “Who's this from?” she asked no one as she sat her butt right back down on her chair and took the letter out to see who it was from and what it was about. “Pam,” the letter started. “I hope you're doing well. I have something to share. Something that I should tell “you before you begin to spend this Christmas day with the young, heartbroken woman who's on her way. “What you saw earlier was not quite all that you and your departed husband put your daughter through. “What she endured, left a lot of scars in her mind. So I'm hoping when she gets there, that you will find “the patience and time to let her speak about how much she suffered from when she was eight, until now. “Take this chance to build up what those years took away. Show your daughter how badly you want her to stay “in your life, and that you won't hurt her anymore. Take care of yourself, Pam. Now go answer the door.” A few solid knocks at the door brought Pam to turn her attention to it as a bit of concern built up in her gaze. She set the letter down and was hit with a bright flash just as it left her hand. She then shielded her eyes as the flash came and went. Afterward, she saw that the letter she'd been sent was nowhere to be found. It was just simply gone. She looked confused as she asked, “The hell's going on?” A second knock on the door pulled Pam from her chair. She then pulled open the door to see who was there. The first thing she felt was the cold breeze and chilled air. Then she saw who was giving her an icy stare. Pam stood in place, a bit stunned, despite that she'd known Tara said she'd come by when they'd talked on the phone. “You came,” Pam uttered as she looked at her daughter. But Pam's gaze soon shifted to someone behind her. With Tara was a man Pam had not seen before. Her eyes stayed on him for just a few moments more before Tara spoke up and got Pam's attention. “I'm here,” Tara said coldly. “Let's just get this done.” A sad gaze came to Pam's face as she saw the way Tara's harsh glare told how she didn't want to stay. Pam's sadness soon won out and she began to cry. “Do you hate me?” she wept. Tara gave no reply. “I'm so sorry,” Pam said as tears ran from her eyes. “For all that I did and said that made you despise “your father and I the way that you do right now. I want to fix this, but I... I'm not sure just how.” From there, Pam took Tara into her arms as she continued to cry almost uncontrollably. Tara said nothing as Ray watched with some concern. But in time, Tara held her mother in return. “We've got a lot to discuss,” Tara stated in a tone that wasn't quite as cold as it had been. It took a short time, but Pam soon let Tara go. “Who is he?” Pam asked. “Is he someone I should know?” “He's my boyfriend,” Tara said. “who you've never met.” Pam looked just about as surprised as she could get. “You've been dating?” Pam asked. “For a year,” Tara said. “Since a few weeks before I found my father dead.” Ray chimed in with, “And I know just what she's been through. I'm here so that she won't be left alone with you.” With some anger in her stare, Pam looked right at Ray. “You're calling me a threat to her? How dare you say-” “I'm not saying that,” Ray cut in with a firm tone. “She's been through hell, and didn't want to be alone “here with you while you both talked all of this over. So that's why I've come along, Pam. To support her.” “This is a family matter,” Pam said sternly. “It doesn't involve you, Ray. Just Tara and me.” Tara stated, “He stays and sits in with us, or, I walk away and don't speak to you anymore.” Pam looked annoyed, but sighed with a, “Just come in, please. It's chilly out here, especially with the breeze.” Tara and Ray came in and Pam shut the front door. From there, they all took a seat and began to pour over the last ten years and what Tara went through. The stress, the sadness and the intrusive thoughts too. Many things were shared as Pam and Tara conversed, while Ray simply listened to them talking at first. But in time, he too spoke up ev'ry now and then to say what he'd helped Tara get through each time when she'd go to him so that she could get away from her mom when she was drunk on cheap whiskey or rum. Pam also shared what she'd been through with Dale's demise. The loneliness, loss, and how she came to despise having Dale gone and how Tara avoided her. But now Pam knew how she'd pushed away her daughter. Why Tara had felt like she had to find a way out; to stay away from her mother, who'd curse and shout about things that she did and then blamed Tara for, until Tara just couldn't take it anymore. As they continued to talk time slowly went by. Much stood between them, but Pam and Tara did try to talk without shouting or slinging insults, but it wasn't always easy considering what had gone on for so long over the last ten years. This lead to flared tempers, short breaks and some shed tears. The road ahead seemed daunting for Tara and Pam. With so much to discuss, it was too much to cram into one morning's talk. In time, each knew that they needed some time to think, and so called it a day. What lay ahead for them as a mother and child? Could what pushed them apart ever be reconciled? Who could say for certain, but one thing was quite clear; despite all they'd spoken of they were nowhere near resolving their issues. But at least there was hope. Perhaps they could mend things as they learned how to cope with all the pain-filled times the two had talked about. A long road lay ahead. Of that, there was no doubt. And as their dark past now saw it's first bits of light, Merry Christmas to all. And to all, a good night.

Just a head's up, most of the community is on the Discord server these days, and on the off chance either of you aren't there, hop on over! There's a hangout for the anniversary starting around 8:00 PM. (I'll be on an hour later after I get children to bed, which is something I cannot imagine typing back in 2003-2004, haha. :p) https://discord.gg/ocremix?event=1316531137803194460

HA! Gario put that in our #judgechat and it requires being shared with the world. :-D "ChroNES Trigger" would have also been an acceptable title too. :-) Dropoff at 1:09 was "WTF", so nice way to catch me off guard, then shifting to Game Boy-style instrumentation at 1:18. I put a hex on you for 3:28-3:56's section, but the slow de-sync to re-sync was a fun idea. :-P Nice deconstruction at 4:07; not the mooooost engaging thing to listen to, though I'm trusting it to go somewhere, so I'll let it simmer. The track filled out the most at 5:00, and to me the way it essentially crescendoed here is disappointing. 5:35 though had a nice textural change to start winding down (not really, as it spun right back up). It'll sound like I'm saying I didn't enjoy it; to me, this is good, but the track plateaus in energy too early and then some sections feel like they go a while without saying anything new for too long. When the texture changed up at 6:27, I love it, but it also should have happened, say, at 5:00 instead and you wouldn't have lost anything, IMO. Though I wouldn't be shocked at a NO for basic production, the creativity is there for me. :-) YES

Hudak was the perfect choice for a leadout track, hell yes

OK, so I've been holding off on voting on GSM tracks because of my involvement in the competition, but since we're limited on judge bandwidth and this is still sitting here with one vote on it, I'll jump in and give my two cents. Yeah, this source is cursed for SURE. Fair enough though, we hit you with Environmental Mystery in Round 2 and that's just as unwieldy in a different way. The source usage checks out even if it's obviously not the catchiest material from the Castlevania side, and the triumphant Super Metroid melody makes for an insanely rewarding payoff. On the production side, this goes all-in, and you're quickly proving why you're one of the most promising up-and-coming electronic artists in the community. You really don't hold back on your processing, and it's abundantly clear that you put a lot of love into every little detail, fill, filter sweep, and transition so that you're never just coasting on autopilot. There's an inherent challenge to mixing a track like this, but when you're doing the DOOM thing, a little bit of crunch and mud in the mixing isn't always a bad thing. Let's ship this one off, this is clearly strong stuff by Treyt as the ringleader who also made really brilliant use of the contributions from the rest of the team, as well. Great work! YES

Another Silent Hill mix after few years.

Hello! The music is done, I had to go through a move in the meantime which stalled me for a bit. It's mostly an organizational effort on my part to give both the music and the track order to the staff for review, which once my computer equipment is set up shouldn't take too long. I'm shooting to get it out before the end of the month, since I will be presenting at a panel during MAGWest in September - would like to give good news at that point!

I gave the original a listen, and while it sounds amazing in its' own right, I kind of like this version better. The section from around 1:07 - 2:30 was great stuff. Those sparkling bell tones were on point, as well as the all the little percussion elements. The drop at 1:04 was quality.

Howdy, Master Mi! Besides calculating time-based effect durations, you can also use this calculation to place studio monitors in your space. First things first: the speed of sound through a given medium depends on the medium's density (and temperature). At room temperature (20C or 68F), the speed of sound through the air is 343 meters/second (about 1,125 feet/second), slower at lower temperatures and faster at higher temps. To calculate space in time-based effects like reverb and delay, that's 343 millimeters per millisecond (343 mm/ms) or about 1.125 feet per millisecond (1.12533 ft/ms). Next, sound waves radiate from the source -- almost perfectly spherical in lower frequencies and more directionally as the frequencies climb. A spherical room with a radius of about 11.25 feet will have early reflections (i.e. bounce off the walls) at 10ms. Of course, no room is spherical; most are rectangular prisms or combinations of 3D shapes, so you'd need to measure the distance from a given point in a room to all the faces (walls, floor, ceiling) to determine the travel time for the sound to reach that point from the wall and vice versa. Because higher-frequency sounds have smaller wavelengths, they lose energy faster than lower-frequency sounds. For especially large rooms like your cathedral example, it'll be necessary to roll the high frequencies off in your reverbs and/or delays for realism (and lower frequencies for mix balance). I like rolling off at 360Hz (high pass/low cut) and 3600Hz (low pass/high cut) as starting points but play around with these to suit your production. Regardless of the other dimensions, the average height for human males is about 1.77 meters (5.8 feet), while human females stand at about 1.63 meters (5.35 feet) so the time for a sound to travel from human-ish height to the floor is about 4.75-5.1 ms (1630 to 1770/343 or 5.35 to 5.8/1.125). But unless the sound source is facing the ground, most of this first reflection is likely not getting through your HPF. For the distances to other surfaces, convert the distance to either millimeters or feet and divide by either 343 (mm/ms) or 1.125 (ft/ms). It'll be up to you to decide how big you want this cathedral to be and calculate accordingly. You can also fudge those delay timings to simulate a colder or warmer room -- e.g. at 0C or 32F (freezing point of water), the speed of sound is about 331 m/s (1086 ft/s), or 331 mm/ms (1.086 ft/ms), so the time to the floor is about 4.9-5.3 ms. Not much slower for the first reflection, but the difference is more noticeable for further surfaces.

In the interest of healthy server space utilization, we'll be removing the audio files that get attached to submissions once the decision is complete. For accepted submissions, we'll remove the file after the remix has been posted to the site. For rejected and withdrawn submissions, we'll remove the file immediately after the decision is published. If you provide an external link to a file, we will not remove that link. Submission entries and all of the comments attached to them will remain intact, so you'll still have that history on your Submissions Tracking page. We'll also be going through the existing submissions to remove files. This process will start tonight (6/11) around 11PM ET. If you'd like to save a file before it gets removed, please do so. Thanks. -- DarkeSword

hey, that's a bunch of very sudden great feedback all at once! ha. this one is gonna be a lotta work for me to get it as good as can be. unless i get a stronger laptop over here, i'll have to finish it next winter because i started it on that pc in southern italy where i've been for jan-may. i have the project file here in case i wanna get another good studio pc. the ample sound guitars and waves keyboards and stuff are just crushing my crappy netbook. i *might* try a rework with 10-15 year old vsts. but probly just do new mixes with them in the meantimes. it's a great tune right dj mokram? i really think that for some reason it's not ez to arrange with modern instruments at all...like it was written to perfectly fit the PSG chip. i think Boss Battle is a far fourth or fifth looking at the whole soundtrack, BUT when Boss Battle first hits after underground, i agree that it's totally badass. the experience of first playing Sonic 2 on GG/MS as a young one is something to behold! that little nasty crab thing down the ravine on the right with bouncing cannon balls incoming from the left, and no rings in the stage for safety....fucking horror show for a kid!! maybe one could do a medley of the first 10 minutes of play of sonic 2 that culminates in the boss battle. incorporating the stage intro and stage won jingles. i think there's too few remixes that directly incorporate the real time experience of intense gameplay sequences! and sonic 2 was really intense. stage 2 is very unique as well...very chill vibes for sonic. the music as well as the hang glider prop. that damn hang glider took everyone a lotta tries i think. totally untypical for sonic as well, but it worked! and that's sonic 2 for GG/MS kinda...very untypical, sort of the most interesting sonic game. ymmv.