Liontamer

All OCR album tracks are also on the OCR stream, not just the individually posted ReMixes. That's why "Skull-Head" is already in the rotation.

Liquid Neon has a couple older mixes from '01 and '02 that didn't age well but have beats that are somewhat similar to the style of Venetian Snares. http://ocremix.org/artist/4289/liquid-neon Having listened to some Venetian Snares, their style seemed perfectly fine for the site. Given what I heard from their Rossz Csillag Alatt Született album, it'd be more a question of using VGM melodies extensively while having a melodic theme click with the style of breakcore's beats. But I don't see it being "unlikely" as far as the feasibility of fitting the standards, just less likely given that we don't have any breakcore musicians around these parts for the time being.

Can't say I'm aware of any options besides re-downloading the files. Others know more, so I hope someone else chimes in, but I'm not aware of any programs that just store MP3 or FLAC metadata without a corresponding file.

OCR and Video Games Live have been tight for years, so we're SUPER hyped to announce that the upcoming VGL show at E3 will feature, for the first time EVER, an OC ReMix performed LIVE in a major concert series! zircon & Jillian Aversa will be performing "Till We Meet Again", their arrangement of Celes's theme from Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin, this WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11th. This is also the long-awaited premiere of ANY music from FF6 at VGL! • Jill & Tommy announce the news! http://youtu.be/SnHa5Yitor0 • FULL INFO! http://videogameslive.com/index.php?s=e32014 • TIX! http://axs.com/events/249875/video-games-live-tickets?skin=nokiatheatre • VIP TIX! http://wl.flavorus.com/event/VGL-VIP-Los-Angeles-CA/239845?afflky=videogameslive The concert will also feature brand-new segments from games like League of Legends, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft and the Banner Saga, plus artists and composers such as Christopher Tin, Austin Wintory, Malukah, Critical Hit, Jason Hayes, Inon Zur, and many more. Not to mention all the other awesome stuff that happens at VGL like contests and giveaways - we'll have LIMITED EDITION physical copies of Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin for some lucky audience members! If you're in the LA area or you're in town for E3, check it out! Wed, Jun 11, 2014 - 8:00PM Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE 777 Chick Hearn Court Los Angeles, CA 90015

We'd have to hear the piece(s) in context, but as long as it's not gratuitous usage, it's probably fine. Would you believe... for fun? http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-20/kiu-eggplant-wizard.html

I didn't hear the first version, but it's funny that hats and overcompression came up, because here I be with complaints about those 2 things. Yeebs, dat volume, why? Nitpick: the hats used from :08-:42 & 1:58-2:09 should be pulled back a bit more. Nitpick that turned into an issue over the long run: whatever that "thwippy" SFX-style stuff from 1:06-1:56 & 2:09-2:21 was was getting undermined due to the compression. It's a cool part to add texture, but especially from 2:09-3:05, that part was mixed in a way where it sounded like artifacting rather than a purposeful element; it's just could sound much better. Otherwise, it's a solid arrangement. SFxT plays a lot more of a supplementary, background role here, but augments Tenchu's "Rain" theme nicely. The lead synth for the melody was a bit tightly timed, and I thought the compression was more than necessary, but the overall package clicks together well enough. If there could be some further production tweaks before we posted this, that could fix a few minor things, but this is a solid piece! Good job, bros. YES

Kris had a pretty good breakdown. I was more conservative on the timestamping, but still wound up on the right side of 50%. :00-:13, :15-44.5, 1:15-1:31.5, 1:33.5-1:47, 1:49-1:50.5, 2:03-2:15.5, 2:19.25-2:32, 2:33.5-2:40.5, 2:47.75-2:53.75, 3:02-3:05.5, 3:10-3:18.75, 3:20-3:20.75, 3:24.5-3:25.75, 3:27-3:27.75 127.25 seconds of a 228-second track, or 55.8% overt source usage The track sounded needlessly lossy to me, like it was missing high-end clarity, but other than that, I really enjoyed Mattias's take on "Lindblum", as well as the cameo of "The Place I'll Return to Someday" at 3:02, which was a nice touch. I'd love to hear a remastered version before the album drops, but if not, it's still a strong arrangement. YES

Well, the track's enjoyable, but this is a VERY liberal take that relies more on rhythmic similarities than actually following the source melody. It'd be perfect for something like Turtles in Time: ReShelled if the aim was to have a "soundalike" where permission wasn't given to use the original music. It's like hearing a commercial using a knockoff James Bond theme where the timing's the same but the notes are different to avoid legal problems. Example - "Agent 070" James Bond soundalike: http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/summary/play.cfm/crumb.1/crumc.0/sound_iid.659939 Flat out, THAT was the vibe I got hearing the "straightforward usage" of the Genesis source. For example, the main verses of both tracks, leaving out the first 5 notes of the source that were left out of the arrangement: Source: C#-B-A-Ab-A-B-E (:01-:03), C#-B-A-A-Ab-F#-Ab-Ab-E (:06-:09) Arrange: E-D-C#-A-B-C#-B (19-:22), E-D-C#-B-A-Ab-B (:24-:27) Hell, I dunno music theory, but I DO know when I don't hear a similar enough melodic treatment and the intervals aren't the same even when the timing is. It's like this the whole time, I'm getting a pure "soundalike" vibe, and I can barely give any credit to this track. About the only times I felt I could give the arrangement credit on were portions like :39-:48, 1:12-1:21, 2:49-2:58, where the bassline from the original is more explicity referenced as a background part. Even at 1:41 at the seeming shift to the "Warming Up" SNES theme, the way the notes are changed sounds like it has jack to do with the source material beyond a minor resmblance. 2:00-2:15 vaguely sounds like "Warming Up" and not in any overt sense. This vote so far is giving this track a HUGE benefit of the doubt over sounding well-executed rather than sounding like an identifiable arrangement of these two themes, and it's a drastic mistake. Vinnie, Kris, Justin: Someone here please demonstrate how the notes of the melody or any other part of the Genesis source OR the SNES source are being used with clear A-to-B connections. I need to be shown where the substance is first, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a very uphill battle to call this anything but a copyright-circumventing "soundalike." In the serious business world of judging, I'm fighting this all the way. This is an awesome piece of standalone music, that's essentially a wholly original track, and I think we've fallen VERY far off the mark on analyzing arrangement if this somehow passes. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but this kind of inadvertant, benefit-of-the-doubt, sounds-kind-of-like-it vote has definitely happened before and I've had to flip a table. And I'm definitely flipping a table right now. Absolutely not. NO

Mike's vocals were OK, but the way the word "studio" is sung seemed too low and didn't quite fit with the music in that spot. I get that the approach is kind of a robotic vibe, but it didn't click there for me in that one repeated spot. During the more crowded sections (e.g. :39-:52), there's a lot of indistinct sizzling noise in the percussion, and the guitar chords. Literally from :53-:56 as the guitar fades, I literally hear the soundscape go from too cramped to nice and spacious. And then at 1:06, the guitar returns and I'm getting the same issues, i.e. Mike's vocals fighting for space and the cymbals sounding too hot and slightly distorted (best example for cymbals: 1:53-2:05). 1:32-1:46 in particular needs room to breathe. What was the point of the call-response "throughout the day" at 1:09 and "and learning now" at 1:14? They're pretty buried in the track and on first blush sounded like garbled artifacts rather than an element adding texture. So anyway, the arrangement is a straightforward pass, so I'm sorry for glossing over that, but the mixing is too compressed for too much of the track. I'm surprised I'm saying this given the participants involved, but I definitely think this needs another pass on the mixing side before it's ready for primetime. Pull back the volume a bit, re-EQ some parts and give the fullest sections more space; right now, there's too much of this track that's pushing it re: volume and resulting in indistinct mixing. NO (resubmit) EDIT (6/23): What can I say? You need to treat my old-man ears with kindness and respect. Hey, if a non-musician like me can get a production call right every so often, I'm content. So this version's still a little cramped, in that the cymbals don't sound like cymbals and just sound like indistinct, lossy sizzle, IMO, and 2:36-2:52 for the close was getting crowded. HOWEVER, the rest of the mixing's way more on point, so I can look past those issues now that most of the other elements have room to breathe and the track sounds much more spacious and balanced. Even the way "studio" sounded in the spoken word-ish vocals was smooth when you can fully hear the vocals; same goes for the call-response vocals at 1:09 & 1:14. Really strong energy and performances. Glad to finally sign off on this one. YES

HEY HEY! WE LIVE! http://youtu.be/Y8pW4foc79o

The snare sounded too plodding, not varied enough with the pattern or velocities, and too upfront here. Meanwhile, the bassline (arguably) felt too quiet during the densest parts. The arrangement was suuuuuuuuper cover-ish to start, without anything major in the way of creative interpretation from :26-1:41. The lead, backing chords, tone and tempo were near-identical with the original and I just wasn't feeling much of an interpretive approach in performing it; it just came off like a grade-up arrange with some improved instrumentation. 1:41-2:08 did have some more creative synth soloing. The lead writing was cool, but this was also an opportunity to vary up the backing pattern more as well; you did that more after 2:08, so keep moving in that direction. Good original guitar writing over the foundation of the source from 2:08-3:02. The brass samples used from 1:54-2:07 & 2:45-2:59 lacked credibility. This could benefit from a fuller, richer sound there. Same with the opening strings to a much lesser extent, though those sounded much more serviceable. The ending at 2:59 felt fairly abrupt; it WAS a resolution, but didn't feel very satisfactory, at least at first. It took some getting used to, but I'm cool with it. OK, so in short, this is cool and has potential, and the lead synth and guitar rock the heezy. That said, here's what you can do to enhance the execution of this: * Vary up the snare intensity and timing more and just get more creative with the percussion * Add more personalization and interpretation to your treatment of the source from :26-1:41 * Improve the realism of the brass and string parts Good start, Bruno, with some awesome performances. I hope you're willing to see how much further you can take this! NO (resubmit)

The opening breakbeat behind the groove felt generic, and the opening synth timing felt kind of robotic, but we'll see where this goes. Oof. Once that lead came in at 1:05, it was like trying fit a round peg into a square hole. The way the beats function here almost feels slapped on and doesn't compliment the melody at all. This lead sounds like it's moving too fast, like it's trying to catch up to the tempo of the beats. Plus, those two parts don't fit together let alone with the warbly part also handling the source tune. It's not dissonance that works in this case. The dropoff at 3:17 was much smoother without the beats, and I thought that section clicked the best, including when the drumkit reappeared from 3:39-4:01. When the full percussion returned at 4:01 along with the warbly synth, it's another instance where the synth being slightly behind the beat just sounds awkward. 4:45-6:12 was just a rinse and repeat of 1:05-2:32 with 0 variation. "Getting Old, Never Varying." You've definitely got to cut some fat out of this one. I'm also not as enthused as the others, unfortunately. The potential for a cool DnB take with this theme wasn't realized here. This has some raw, base potential, but it's too repetitive with too little development over the long-run, PLUS the dissonance, timing, textures, and beats ultimately don't work as is. Needs a lot of love and attention to get the execution where it needs to be, but it's not sophisticated right now. NO

Yeah, the ripped intro wasn't giving me much confidence, but it did change at :12 to actual arrangement. The soundfield was cramped and for all the volume, I thought the textures were somehow a bit empty. Something about the kicks didn't sound great; they could be pulled back some. In any case, any issues I had with the mixing weren't a huge enough deal to hold this piece back. Interesting soloing from 2:36-3:00; kind of a shrill sound, but it did stand out. SWEEEEET bass drop at 4:12 for the finish that should turn a few heads. Nitpicks aside, I loved the energy throughout here. Mat really gives a darker feel to the source tune while making good use of original writing additions with the rhythm guitars and drums. It's a very solid, creative rock adaptation that should earn him some new fans! Count me in. YES

Interesting lead change at :41 that works, not that I felt the guitar before was weak. Another good lead change at 1:08. The drums were pretty cool, but every hit sounded the same as far as the intensity; you've got to address this. The transition at 1:34 to "Metal Man" was worse than before, and was a step in the wrong direction; honestly, I'd just let the transitions between those themes breathe some more, and do something more logical and structured with more of a dropoff or a tempo change. It's just super-abrupt with no flow as it currently is. Not feeling the lead at 1:36 as much with Metal Man, but the pairing with the guitar worked better even if that synth wasn't my taste. No issues there. But yeah, the other judges have got you dead to rights on that repetitive snare. Same attack every time at such a high volume, it just sticks out like a sore thumb and it isn't how a real drummer would handle things. You need subtle variation of the intensity through the piece to seal the deal. Watch the cymbals too, they seemed to sizzle a bit, but maybe it's just me. This is definitely much closer to passing now, don't be discouraged, Anthony. You definitely cleaned up the soundscape a good deal. Now just refining the drum velocities and sprucing up that transition at 1:34 could push this over the cliff. The arrangement continues to sound strong, and you have the power to get this approved. NO (resubmit)

The intro sounded pretty solid. 1:01 quickly got too crunchy and the cymbals and exposed were still very weak and fake-sounding. I still felt the lead guitar and bell-like instrumentation didn't combine well at all the super-crunchy percussion. Really fake lead from 3:02-3:13 & 5:05-5:15 that just sounded shrill as well as mechanical. The piano at 4:09 wasn't the worst offender, but again the timing sounds fake and mechanical. The arrangement & writing were strong, but the instrumentation and textures are still killing this. The sounds continue not to combine effectively, and too many parts are sequenced too rigidly to pass for a somewhat natural-sounding performance. NO

Those are pretty large threads, but we'd need more information. What browser(s) is this occurring in and what OS are you using? Are you able to replicate this error every single time? Need some more intel!

That was a mistake from a looooong time ago when the community seeded the first list of source tunes for the mixes, so good catch! Should be fixed shortly.

I edited the thread title to be a bit clearer. I think MM's asking about which OCR album someone feels has the most dynamic range or dynamic contrast, by the way.

PM 'em my way, that's fine.

A remix typically samples, modifies or builds around the original audio. An arrangement (a.k.a. cover) is adapting a song to new instrumentation or performance (instead of using the original audio), which is what the OC ReMix community does with a focus on interpretation within the arrangement. 

NEW EPISODE! SIXTO SOUNDS!

For judges, we do state what we're looking for: http://ocremix.org/info/Judges_Panel#General_requirements_for_consideration Those are basically the same credentials we look for for Workshop moderators. We keep an eye out for people who may be able to help the site in those roles and occasionally test & interview people for those positions. But it's very much a "don't call us, we'll call you" deal. The mirrors and translation staff are all people who have volunteered to host mirrors for the music and translate for us, OCU's our house band, and Arrow officially joined the staff after volunteering to help up with merchandise for years. We don't need an official protocol for hiring other kinds of staff with resumes and cover letters, since we're a small, all-volunteer site. People tend to volunteer themselves for various tasks (moderating the forums & IRC, database help, etc.), after they join the site as a judge or Workshop mod or otherwise demonstrate they can handle the responsibility. For anything else, if anyone has ways to improve the site through specific projects or development, everyone should definitely put those ideas out there and act upon them. I started out as a fan myself and helped update generic ReMix titles and populate artist information for the site in 2002 and 2003 before I ever joined the staff as a judge. Enthusiasm and contributing work with your own initiative helps.

This belongs in this thread, especially because it's massively overlooked given the game. Enjoy. http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01392

Yeah, that generic lead synth sucks it. How dare you? You're gonna look back and think "Fuck, why did I do that?" Have a tomato. The rest be stronk. [sic] Let's go. YES

As far as the soundscape, I thought the parts could have used a bit more separation, but it wasn't a huge deal. For a 2-minute mix, there was a good amount of substance given the tempo, BUUUUUT the changes from verse to verse are too subtle, and I would have liked for this arrangement to have more instrumental variation, dynamic contrast, or other development. Basically, if it's only 2 mins, it needs to drive more places in the time allotted. It's cool, Andy, but it just sounds like it's building to a more energetic second half that never arrives. I'm not saying the energy has to drastically change at any point, but right now this arrangement's just hovering in place, i.e. the core writing repeats too much and the dynamic curve's too flat, and then... it's over. Hopefully you wouldn't mind seeing if there's any more gas in the tank on this one. /horrible play on words NO (resubmit)