Liontamer

Finally took some time out to answer it. Good luck getting responses!

I think Aubrey's been trying to fix it, as he was aware of whatever the problem was when it first happened last night, but no doubt about it, something got extremely funked up.

Well, honestly, I've been doing this for 4 years, others longer, and we tend to police ourselves. Vig took me to task on this mix of a racing game that escapes me right now, but man, I just blasted the shit out of it with harsh commentary. Once he said "WTF was that?", I tempered the comments, which originally looked like I was mad at the track or submitter, even though I wasn't. It definitely happens, but stuff that even potentially comes off as being overly harsh or hateful doesn't happen often. It's pretty isolated as it is. So it's not to be dismissive, but I just don't see it occurring on anything remotely resembling a regular basis, so I think we're OK. I know for a fact that BGC's swamped at work next week, but if you had posted this maybe an hour earlier, he would have seen it. But he'll probably reply.

Well, to be honest, I thought it was out of line too back when I read it, and not just because I went YES in this case. I just thought it came off as needlessly harsh. Note "came off as", not "was". Besides being too "serious business" about it, I didn't disagree with the post, but only because the comments weren't tactful, so they were easily construed as crapping all over the track. zircon did a good job explaining the context. But I've made that mistake too, so from my experience I wouldn't have said those quotes in the first place, because it comes off as shitting on the track too hard and gets misconstrued. Some of the comments the original poster made like BGC "looked like he had a vested interest in the mix not passing" or whatever it was, were just offbase. We don't play that game. But yeah, the 3 parts Jimmy wrote that were quoted, I thought were in bad taste and set himself up for a reaction like the original post. Again, to me it's not serious biz, or I would have taken it up with Jimmy had I felt more strongly, but I probably should have, anticipating a reaction like that. Otherwise, you get posts like this, where people THINK we're just hating on something beyond a level of reasonable criticism.

Amber from Nerve.com was feeling this one: http://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/61fps/archive/2008/11/26/what-s-in-my-mp3-player-shadow-s-theme.aspx

No one's on edge but the original poster, but there's a way of phrasing things. "What the hell is Star Control?" vs. "I've never heard of Star Control"

Could you guys not diss Star Control? You don't need to tear down what's being compared to just to defend our statement. That's just stupid. We have some awesome mixes of Star Control II from Mark Vera who worked on The Ur-Quan Masters: http://www.ocremix.org/game/star-control-ii-win/ Also someone mentioned Castle Crashers in the Digg comments, and again that's why we used "major". Castle Crashers is still awesome. It sold like hotcakes, got great reviews, and had a Newgrounds-based soundtrack (Tom Fulp developed the game). The only difference was that it was an independent game, not a major publisher's title. That doesn't take away from the strength of that game either. But when we said we made history, we didn't just pull it out of thin air. We made sure to be specific with the achievement here.

Yep. Helps to be a ReMixer or providing a lot of avatars. If you make a good avatar and you want it custom, it still has to be a 32x32 maximum GIF, you have to make it yourself, and I've gotta approve it.

Capcom & OverClocked ReMix Make Video Game Soundtrack History By: David W. Lloyd, press@ocremix.org November 27, 2008 Fairfax, VA -- OverClocked ReMix today released for free download its official soundtrack to Capcom's Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles. While video game companies have worked with fans in the past, HD Remix is the first major video game with a completely fan-made soundtrack. More than twenty gamers from around the world contributed remixes of the original Street Fighter games' music for inclusion in the updated game, in styles including jazz, hip-hop, reggaeton, spaghetti western, garage rock, big beat and electronica. The official soundtrack is available for download free of charge at http://www.ocremix.org/hdremix/. Over 2 million visitors a year download OverClocked ReMix's free, fan-made arrangements of music from both classic and modern video games, but HD Remix marks the community's first contribution to an official commercial title. Both the game and its soundtrack have received critical acclaim, with IGN's Ryan Clements describing the music as "a great tribute to the original soundtrack" and Tyler Nagata of GamesRadar writing that "Unlike so many remakes of classic fighters, Turbo HD has soul... You can hear it in the new remixed soundtrack, developed with the help of fans from OverClocked ReMix." OverClocked ReMix was approached by Capcom in June of 2007 to provide HD Remix's score after the company discovered the OC ReMix Street Fighter II remix album, Blood on the Asphalt. Rey Jimenez, Associate Producer for Capcom, worked directly with the fan community to communicate requirements and feedback."Working with the OC ReMix crew has been one of the most rewarding aspects of working on SF HD Remix, truly making the game a community effort. These guys are part of the meat and potatoes of what makes the Street Fighter fanbase such a lasting part of the gaming industry," said Jimenez. "They worked above and beyond our expectations and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to work together in the future." About OverClocked ReMix Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. Links OC ReMix: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Official Soundtrack - http://www.ocremix.org/hdremix/ Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Official Homepage - http://games.capcomdigital.com/streetfighteriihdr/ IGN Review - http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/932/932803p1.html GamesRadar Review - http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-hd-remix-xbox-live-arcade/review/super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-hd-remix-xbox-live-arcade/a-2008112512231658062/g-20071203135633623029 ###

DarksydePhil yet again: "I like this song. ... I gonna pump up the volume on this music. Yeah!"

Champion player DarksydePhil: "This does sound like Vegas music. A lot of people were complaining when they found out this version of the song was gonna be used. But I gotta admit, it does sound like you're in Vegas, on the strip." Of course, because we kick ass. Fuck anyone who's complained.

What do you think? Post your comments/feedback on this site project here. http://bt.ocremix.org/files/OC_ReMix_-_Super_Street_Fighter_II_Turbo_HD_Remix_Official_Soundtrack.torrent

Dave wondered why I even made a poll, when it meant that audiophiles vs. audiophilistines would yack each others ears off on who's right. And I'll tell y'all the same thing I told him just now. I didn't care about the debate, I just cared about the poll. And thanks to the poll, we now have a new album release standard. HQ MP3s & FLACs. 21st century TECH, son. Learn to love it. [18:53] <@djpretzel> http://bt.ocremix.org/files/OC_ReMix_-_Super_Street_Fighter_II_Turbo_HD_Remix_Official_Soundtrack.torrent [18:53] <@djpretzel> please download and seed [18:53] <@djpretzel> for great justice

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkc - "Aquatic Ambiance" (dkc-08.spc) The warm synths had kind of a generic quality to them, but were aight. WHOA; not feeling the geetar at :50. It's just sitting out there in the foreground, alone, sounding thin and with a grating tone, AND sounding extremely mechanically sequenced. Aside from the annoying/shrill guitar synth, there were some cool ambient ideas going on starting at 1:36. HAHAHAHA, what's going on at 2:14? It was just a lonely guitar synth over some pretty basic (but good-sounding) drums. You really need to learn how to fill out the soundscape here, and either scrap that shitty guitar synth or learn how to beef it up and make the performance sound more human. The change of the lead synth at 4:16 to some generic saw was also a weak choice. Look into what you can do to produce more unique, polished sounds that work well with one another. The lead here was too loud and didn't gel with the other instruments. 5:07 changed up into some warbly stuff that was on the loud side, and written somewhat aimlessly, but at least were more interesting than the previous sections. Still, you gotta give that last section a little more direction for the finish. Arrangement-wise, you were definitely giving the theme a different feel, so that was going in the right direction. You need to focus on getting better performance out of your existing samples, and improving the sound quality by building fuller, more cohesive textures. You're a long ways off, but keep at it. NO

I gotta say, I also wasn't quite a believer before this was finalized, but it really works awesome in the actual game. BGC's take on the theme would have been awesome as well, but I'm feelin' the Red Cyclone!

Strong stuff; glad you worked on it some more. This is niiiiice. Congrats on 70 mixes as well!

I'm never gonna maintain judges charts again, but donations could be a good idea. Basically anything that doesn't require me to do more secretarial work could be cool.

Alright, so with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix coming out on the 25th & 26th, we're going to be putting out the soundtrack on OCR this week. djp's feeling just offering 192kbps MP3s. Not to break protocol, but it is our first professional soundtrack and I want to avoid any significant complaints that could arise if 192kbps MP3s is the only release format. We're likely not doing OGG/FLAC/AAC just because MP3 is still the most accessible standard. That said, what encoding quality do you want for the release of this soundtrack? Are 192kbps MP3s just fine? Do you need higher bitrate VBR MP3s? Do you REALLY need WAVs? OR Does it just not matter to you, as long as it's reasonable quality? Your input could help influence what we do for this one, so please let us know!

Well, there's a link that says "Music Source" right below the video, but I'll get in touch with them and see what we can do to handle the linking more formally. BTW, the ReMix used is McVaffe's "LatinSphere". EDIT: Ah, I see what you did there. Nice work.

Would you mind linking some examples? I'm interested at what's specifically being used.

Indeed, today sadly marks the 1st anniversary of the death of long-time OC ReMixer Reuben Kee. Reuben, along with four other Singaporean rowers, lost his life in an unlikely boating accident that made international news. For anyone who enjoyed Reuben's music, Reuben's family continues to honor his memory by hosting his music as well as his M.U.G.E.N. works at his website, http://www.reubenkee.com/. Reu was a skilled composer and arranger, and his body of musical work and the accomplishments achieved with them were a testament to a career that was cut down before he reached his prime. I know had Reuben remained living, he would have continued to create great things. As a music community, we can relate best to understanding whom we lost through his music. I encourage anyone and everyone who enjoyed Reu's work here to visit the Pathos of his website and download his body of musical work. Everyone saddened by Reuben's passing can continue to post thoughts on Reu and his work here. For anyone that wants to specifically and only direct thoughts and condolences to Reu's family, we ask that you please do so at this thread: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13320

Nutritious, poolgirl Justin Medford, Amanda Medford NutritiousMultimedia@gmail.com http://NutritiousMultimedia.googlepages.com 16520 Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatorsk Now Isn't The Time This mix is part of the Tales project. I've provided a general breakdown of the source usage below as it may be difficult to pick out. I'm not sure whether or not chord similarities also play into it, though. :15 - :47 Delayed piano playing riff from bells in original :47 - 1:14 High strings playing violin part from original 1:00 - 1:14 Delayed piano again on bells riff 1:14 - 1:42 Vocals derived from bells riff in original 1:41 - 1:55 High strings again on violin melody 1:55 - 2:20 Vocals from bells 2:22 - 2:51 Vocals (pretty loosely) & Glockenspiel playing variation of the bells from OST 3:23 - 3:38 High string stabs based on bells part in OST bridge at :37 3:38 - 3:53 High strings based on violin on OST bridge at :38 or so 4:04 - 4:31 Vocals = bells 4:31 - 5:00 Chorus same as above 5:08 - end Delayed piano again on bells Recently, Larry posted in the Tales project thread (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=437549&postcount=2007) with the idea that some mixers on the project tackle some of the music from the Knight of Ratatorsk soundtrack to coincide with the release of the new Tales game Dawn of the New World in the US. The project had already been "finished" at this point, but there was still plenty time before release to give it a go. Kyle sent me a few songs from the OST and I ended up choosing Now Isn't The Time. When I begain on the intro to this song, I was intending to take a sort of ambient orchestral approach similar to several of my other remixes. As I progressed a bit, though, I started to get bored with the concept. So I bumped up the tempo and layered in some beats and synths, going a bit for a Hybrid-esque feel. I was taking a break during one of my remix sessions when suddenly a melody and lyrics popped into my head for the song. I hurried back to my desk to sequence out the melody and write down the lyrics that came to me. From that point, this song was my main focus for the next several weeks - developing and recording the vocals and instrumentation, getting great feedback along the way. One person commented that having female vocals along with mine would really help the mix. So, I enlisted my wife for additional vocal work on all three verses as well as the choruses (yeah she's awesome). This has, by far, been the largest song project I've done up until this point (I have something like 40 versions of the song saved). It's been a big strech for me with this being the first song I've produced with vocals, but I've received some excellent feedback and help along the way. Namely, from OA, Audio Fidelity, Zircon, and remixers on the Tales project. I'd especially like to thank my wife for putting up with me during recording sessions and helping me with lyrics. Geez, sorry for the long sub letter, I usually try and keep the short and sweet. Oh well. -------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for providing the source! I still have no clue what you did with it. Sounds rather liberally used, but I'll come back to it. Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk Original Soundtrack - (114) "This isn't the time" Right off the bat, the parts need to sound cleaner and better separated. Once things picked up at :47, the soundscape sounded very cluttered. The cymbal shot at 1:01 was brief, but one example of something being too loud and drowning out the other sounds. The vocals at 1:15 sounded too dry. The tone of voice had kind of a Robbie Williams or Moby spoken word quality to them, so they're aight, but you need to mask the dryness. I liked the vocal interplay, but the vocals during the verses sound like a straight up dry mic recording with a tiny bit of treatment, and that's no good, IMO. They're generally too upfront and not couched in the soundscape at all, though stuff like the glitch effects where you pulled the vocals way back worked. Provided the arrangement checks out, rework the production to polish this up and this has a shot at passing. NO (refine/resubmit)

Not much really. Kind of depends on a combination of momentum and completeness. (Around the World needs to get goin'!) But yeah, I'll move some over to Projects. In-progress albums more in their infancy belong in WIP.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=eq - "Atlena" (eq-06.spc) Having first heard this and also encouraged Kenneth's revisions, I initially felt this piece was passable despite its issues. I thought the arrangement was relatively conservative but personalized well with the new counterpoint writing and expansive instrumentation. But having read through the NO votes and keeping those crits in mind on a fresh listen, I'm afraid I also have to say it's not ready from primetime for pretty much the same reasons everyone else gave. But for anyone to say Finale isn't cutting it I think is a disservice to the strength of Ken's other passed mixes. I believe more mixes at the production level of "At the End of All Things" and "Epona's Pastorale" would likely pass, but didn't think this was at the same level of production quality. I thought the main difference with those compared to this one, Ken, was that you effectively used reverb/delay to give your sampled instruments more body and natural-sounding resonance, and this piece didn't have that. For example, the layering of the bowed strings throughout did create some density, but the strings were so dry that the textures still felt thin. The brass first used at :19 was a sore spot. I dunno if there were 0 effects on it, but it sounded thin and flat; it definitely had 0 meat behind it and was too exposed. In this piece, the samples were a lot drier, and the articulations were a lot more exposed and unrealistic sounding. So when DarkeSword mentioned that the feel of the soundscape didn't sound like a live performance, I agreed. That doesn't mean you need ultra high-end samples, just the the soundscape lacks that performance ambiance to make what you have sound more natural. Ultimately, I think that was the dealbreaker on the production side, not because Finale and GPO samples weren't cutting it. It sounds like it could be difficult to create an effective room ambiance with this piece given that the bowed strings seem to take up so much space, but you handled it well in "At the End of All Things", so I think it could be done here if you wanted to tweak it further. That said, I know you've been touching this up for a while, so there's no harm in calling it a done deal. Personally, I think it makes a solid addition to Dirge for the Follin, or I wouldn't have OK'ed it for the album. I completely understand Palpable's b-YES on this, because I've wavered on that line myself in judging it. However, I think the sum total of the issues with the dry sound and exposed, mechanical articulations holds it back enough to go NO. Either keep the textures dry but refine the articulations OR make the soundscape wetter using more delay/reverb on the parts to better mask the shortcomings of the articulations. Very sorry to drag this out, Kenneth, but understand we all want this to realize its potential and sound its best, as well as encourage your continued growth as an artist. NO (borderline/refine/resubmit)

Thanks for the source clips, especially since there's no formal soundtrack release I know of. The vox articulations could use some work to sound less robotic, but the overall mood was OK. The encoding had a few artifacts around the 1:00 mark. The brief use of the main theme at 1:32 was a good idea in principle to transition, but the section at 1:40 still felt disjointed from what came before, IMO. The addition of the beats at 2:15 felt sloppy and brought in way too late in the game. The volume on them was too loud. The transition to the Fairy theme at 2:48 also felt discordant, disjointed from the rest of the track and didn't flow well. The beats really didn't cohesively combine with the other instrumentation. By the time the percussion gets really crazy at 4:02, it was just distracting. I liked the melodic interpretation at 4:31 a lot, but the beats were overpowering the track. Not to sound dismissive, but AnSo and particularly Palpable gave solid advice on how to improve the piece, so see what you can do with this and keep at it, David. NO