Level 99

Use foobar2000. Get the USF plugin. Make sure you have the LAME mp3 encoder dll. Load up the songs you want to convert, right-click them, choose convert, specify your settings, and bam, mp3 from usf. There's a number of other plugins, like the GEP, which allows a metric fuckton of formats to be played and converted by foobar. Most are in the Components page.

I've been invited to appear on Radio Free Gamer Wednesday, June 22nd. It goes from 7-9 PM EST, and I'll be interviewed about the NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming album. There's definitely a surprise or two in store for people who get to tune in! Other than that, not much going on. Everything's going smoothly: website is underway, physicals should be here next week.

I meant to tell you: it sounded friggin' ACE, dude.

That's definitely implied where it indicates to have patience. It took me five years to get posted, and took some other people even longer. But once you get it, there's nothing more satisfying than knowing you broke out of the mold and really accomplished something. One of the most rewarding things is achieving and exceeding personal goals. FWOOOSH!

Shut up and get back to making music/no'ing mixes/directing projects/being awesome. Have a great day,sir.

Here is a Stevo-approved guided tour of what a general noob's first steps on the site of OCR should be. This is assuming the person in question is coming here either because they like video games, video game music, OC ReMixes, or want to share/make music themselves. These are the recommendations from someone who is seasoned in the goings-on of our fair community, so take it as you will. 1) Register for the forums (duh) 2) Go to the Newbie Introduction Thread and say hello. Read that thread a bit to see all of what people are coming here for, and make your intentions known. Don't worry, you won't get bitten for telling us about yourself. 3) Go to the OverClocked ReMix wiki pages and read up on site policies, including forum conduct, FAQs, Submission Standards, and many other very useful things. The best way to get off to a good start is to get an idea of what is expected of you in the area that you're wanting to participate and contribute. Official site policies are in place to do just that. 4) Familiarize yourself with the site and forum layout. Navigate a bit, see what the different areas are and get used to how to get around. Learning to use the search feature is highly recommended, because what you're looking for may likely already exist somewhere. Now comes the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE part of this guide! Magically, your computer screen turns dark and some DOS text types on the screen. You see five selections: * I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO REMIX LIKE YOU FOLKS AND GET POSTED! * I WANT TO SHARE MY MUSIC, REMIX OR ORIGINAL, AND IMPROVE MY MUSICAL SKILL! * I WANT TO TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAMES AND MUSIC AND OTHER STUFF! * I WANT TO GET A SONG REMIXED BUT DONT WANT TO DO IT MYSELF! * I'M NOT SURE WHAT I WANT TO DO. HALP! Type your answer NOW! ----------------------------- * I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO REMIX LIKE YOU FOLKS AND GET POSTED! Whoa there, fella. Slow down a sec, because chances are this is going to take a lot of time, effort, persistence, motivation, and above all else, patience. There are a few things that everyone needs to know before they endeavour to become an official posted OverClocked ReMixer: - A ReMix is not simply taking a source MIDI and adding drums to it while changing instruments and tempo. A ReMix is more akin to a song arrangement. To get all the details on what qualifies as a ReMix, read up on the Submissions Standards and Instructions. If you're still having trouble comprehending, many people have asked specific questions in the Judge's Q&A thread which can potentially help shed some more light on the matter. - All the site staff are here to help you, not put you down. If you get rejected or receive negative feedback in the workshop forums, don't cop an attitude. Be receptive to all criticism (though you may need to sift through some less-than-helpful material) and always strive to improve. Ask questions, expand your knowledge and skill, and in time you will reach the goal. Turning a review thread into a catfight or accosting the judges doesn't accomplish anything. With that out of the way, here comes the meat of the section: how to get a song posted. First, it depends on if you already have musical skill and experience or not. In either case, the Workshop area is the first place you want to go after reading all the official policies and whatnot. The majority of the musicians here use computer programs such as trackers, sequencers, and DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) to create music. This is in contrast to using a traditional studio, which very few hobbyist musicians have ready access to. So if you've never made music on a computer before, head to the Workshop. If you have made music before, awesome! The next step is to pick a song or songs you want to work on. One is recommended to start with, and it really doesn't matter what it is as long as it falls in our allowed source material guidelines. Just a quick list of what isn't considered allowable as a source tune for posted OC ReMixes: licensed music (example: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater music), folk or classical music not written for the game (the only exception is "Korobeiniki" from Tetris), and music from non-video-game materials (the Pokémon TV Show theme song isn't allowed; usable source has to be written specifically for that video game). There is more, but that is also addressed in the OCR wiki. So now you've picked a song, and it is time to get to work. What happens next will vary depending on the situation, but when you feel you've gotten a good body going and are ready for some feedback, make a thread in the ReMixes section of the Workshop area. Please read up on the Workshop area rules before posting: there are a few sticky threads that provide guidelines for how to post and what to expect. Go through the workshop process, from getting regular forum-goer feedback, improving your song and updating it for more feedback, wash rinse repeat until you're ready to call it finished. Once it is finished, you can mark it for Mod Review, which is where site-appointed staff will review your material before you sub it to the Judge's Panel. They are by no means real judges but are in the process of getting to that level, and have demonstrated the knowledge, skill, and verbal abilities to give critical feedback that is distinctive of OCR's quality bar. After that and any subsequent revisions, you'll be submitting the song to the panel. Make sure to include ALL material mentioned in the submission guidelines, and cross your fingers for good luck. Remember to be patient now because the process of receiving the song, giving it a preliminary evaluation (whether or not it is directly rejected, passed on to the Judge's Panel, or directly posted), Judge's evaluation, and eventual posting varies. The average time depends on how busy the staff are, but it is not uncommon for a song that goes through the motions to take anywhere from six months to over a year to get posted. The staff are always working hard to keep the line moving. If you get rejected, don't get mad. Just keep working at it and improving and one day you'll surely get there. ----------------------------------- * I WANT TO SHARE MY MUSIC, REMIX OR ORIGINAL, AND IMPROVE MY MUSICAL SKILL! Easy peasy, person! The Workshop area is where you want to be. Just browse around there and contribute to discussions. You are encouraged to post your own material as well as commenting on other people's, since listening to songs and figuring what works and what doesn't will expand your knowledge of how to construct a cohesive arrangement and quality production. Be respectful of everyone since we're all here to learn and grow. Also definitely check out some of the running compos (short for competitions) that are run by OCR community members. Compos are a great way to boost skill and work with others. They're friendly competitions, the most of which have no real "prize" other than the work you do. All of this is located on the Competitions area. Another thing you could do is to check out the Recruit and Collaborate area. Here is where people running projects, such as remix albums, post requests for people to hop on board. It is also where people who want to collaborate on songs go to look for people to work with. Additionally, you can seek out people who make music in a similar vein as you, and ask them to give your material a listen. Finding peers on the forums and on IRC will facilitate a feedback system that will help all people involved grow and learn. The best thing about this community is the people, as you're likely to make friends who end up being a critical part of your musical growth. ----------------------------------- * I WANT TO TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAMES AND MUSIC AND OTHER STUFF! Video Game, VGM-related, and Music talk mostly takes place in Community. Make sure you go over those forum guidelines before posting or making a new thread. For other things, there is Off-Topic. This includes the subsection about Politics, Philosophy, and Religion. You need a forum account to read these threads, and the conversation here is a bit more unrestrained. ------------------------------------ * I WANT TO GET A SONG REMIXED BUT DONT WANT TO DO IT MYSELF! There's a place for that: ReMix Requests. Flooding this area with song requests won't increase the likelihood of them getting fulfilled, as this section is just for people pitching songs that they would like to hear be ReMixed by the musicians on OCR. Some suggestions get done, and many more do not. If you want to hear a song ReMixed, the best thing to do is to do it yourself. But if you have no want to learn or to do that, posting here is the best chance you have. Plus you can find some really great obscure video game source tunes here which you wouldn't have ever heard of otherwise! ------------------------------------ * I'M NOT SURE WHAT I WANT TO DO. HALP! Shhhhh, I promise it will all be okay. Dry those tears and be not afraid. There's always a few things that we are welcoming more of: * Participants in the Workshop area, specifically giving feedback on ReMixes and Originals posted there. Always in need of more people to comment on the work other people have done so they can hone their skills and improve their stuff. * Writing reviews for OC ReMixes. If you liked a song, didn't like a song, or just wanted to tell the creator you are looking forward to more of their work, go over to the ReMix Comments/Reviews area and speak your mind. * Chat it up in our IRC room. You can connect using your favorite flavor of IRC client, or you can use the java IRC applet hosted on the site. Information on the room can be found in the Chat section. * Check out the non-music Competitions and consider contributing. There's numerous competitions that don't involve making music! There's video competitions, like the OCRMVC series. There's word competitions, like the Writing Competition thread. There's art competitions, such as the Fan Art Competition. Just browse around and strut whatever skills you have. ------------------------------------- This guide will be changed as is necessary.

Edit: I made a new thread with my newbie guide over here. Thanks, Rozo, for giving me the idea and inspiration to get all that typing done!

A Boy and His GF reading is now complete, along with a brand spankin' new song, made from the voice clips into an AWFUL FF8/FF9 REMIX. D: http://lemonsinseries.com/ocrab/?p=595

I disagree. If you're making a song that long, split it into two parts and submit them both with a higher encode if you want that. The line has to be drawn somewhere, and bandwidth is still a concern. That wouldn't work because that takes away the ability for OCR to have QC over that separate mirror. Some current mixes have higher-quality links in the comments section, which is just fine, but an official link elsewhere in the mix writeup? I doubt that would fly.

Just finished watching the gameplay demo. I came hard. Can not wait for the final game. Nice work on the music, too.

Why the hell would I go to this? Its full of nerds and chicks in skimpy outfits. In other words, I'm in.

Is this original or is this a game remix? if so, what game? link to source. breakdown prefered.

Listening on my running headphones cause I don't have access to my mixing setup right now, but yeah, this is definitely improved from your tweaks. Still a little iffy on the left panned lead from 1:08 to 1:28, really makes the stereo feel unbalanced while its there. Consider moving it centered or at least closer to center. You use POD? Which version? Wanna trade some tones? This sounds about ready to sub, though I do want to give it one more listen on my home system if you're willing to wait a bit for confirmation.

I understand that some projects never quite reach one's own personal level of quality of expectation, but if you're going through the whole process of changing things to mod review, I would advise you to try to see things through to completion. Mod reviews are designed to give people feedback that is close to judge's panel feedback before submitting, and while submitting after mod review is not a requirement, dropping tracks after mod and then starting new ones and switching them to mod again over and over does kind of squander the resources a little. You've got mad talent, and I've heard you get better and better with each WIP, so why not push yourself to the next level and see some of these ones that you might think are less "worth it" through to completion? it would definitely make me, as a workshop mod, feel much better about the feedback I give if its but towards improvement personally AND the song in question. Anyways, this mix is typical of what you've shown lately: great production ideals, somewhat sparse source inclusion, a few niggles on the technical details. I'll tell you what: I'll give this the full mod review treatment if you assure me you'll take the feedback and use it to improve the song before tossing it on the "not finishing" pile. Deal?

Just a request for next time: a source breakdown of where you used the originals in your song will greatly help mod review (and also make responding on mod parts usually faster!) Hmm, so you're using both Star Fox 64 and FFMQ, eh? I like the vibe you've got going on, but your drums are not giving the intensity that the rest of the instruments are conveying. Like, I want to hear really meaty kicks and a little more punch on the snare. Some more hi hat or cymbal work would also be nice. The light-and-tight drums are good for breakdown sections, but your leads are way overpowering them at the moment. If you're going to stick with those, lower the volume a bit and, again, beef up those drums. I'm not able to listen on my mixing system at the moment, but I think some more attention to production would help a bit. Tone dome some of the harsher frequencies on the highs on those buzz leads, overall mastering seems to suffer a bit from compression. Also the usage of the voice clips so often during the half of the song makes the second half feel unbalanced. Either spread out the clips a little more or use them less overall. I can hear starwolf in much of the song, but I would like that breakdown to confirm where it all is, plus your usage of FFMQ. This is close to being ready, just needs some spit and shine, I think.

Aight, here we go. Nice, crispy guitars. Performance is pretty tight throughout, the lead is a little bit heavy on the fuzzy, which is causing some muddyness. The master limiter is killing things on the second measure of each progression of the main riff. It sounds like the kick or the bass is causing the rest of the volume to push down during though parts (specific examples: :12, :15, :19, :22. Check and see what needs fixing because it is a bit disruptive to intensity. You've got a super-full sound during much of the mix, which could be addresses if you backed off some of the low-mids and mid-highs of the rhythm guitars. Be careful to make only subtle tweaks to specific frequency ranges that need breathing room, specifically the arps and synths you have throughout. The kick might also need some eq modeling to keep it down a bit. I have to admit, I love the intensity of this thing. I wish the guitar solo was a little bit tighter, personally, but as it is right now, I think it is still pretty good. The heavy reliance on those voice samples is a bit overused: they're primarily used in place of some potentially smoother transitions. I'd recommend cutting back on that voice stuff and improving the transitions a bit. Overall, I really dig the sound you've crafted. However, this does bring up an issue that rears its ugly head a bit: this sounds like much more of a cover and upgrade than it does sound like an interpretive arrangement. Your KoF 2002 youtube link doesn't work, but the KoF 99 one sounds very very close to the song you've done. I'd like for you to relink the KoF 2002 one but consider doing a tad more interpretation in the mix to make sure its not considered as just a sound upgrade. I look forward to hearing more, mak!

Its basically a test to see what is supported and how badly the server is going to bog down. Using the latest unsupported bukkit build from a few days ago, but right now essentials seems to be only partially working. Monster spawn choice works, but things like creeper-block-damage do not, so Creepers have been turned off. Ghasts have been enabled now that Nether is working. Nether has been built, not really explored by me. Once bukkit gets a stable version based on a Minecraft official stable version, I'll start updating the plugins. In the meantime, report errors and I'll let you know if they're fixable in this build.

Episode 60 – GRKHLONNGGGGHKGFLFGLGLUMMMPH Dan Christmas of Busted Pixel fame joins in a riveting discussion on multiple topics, including dinosaur sex pheromones.

Bukkit's dev team has made a post that they're likely going to wait a bit before updating due to numerous showstopping bugs in 1.6. Rest assured, as soon as bukkit is updated to match version parity with minecraft, OCAD will be upgraded.

OCAD server is now a totally new, isolated box. Tied directly into my router, 3.2 ghz p-dc wolfdale-based. There should be zero lag, and only downtime when the power goes out/internet goes out. You're welcome! Let me know if there are any connection issues.

Yeah, pretty much this. My logs during lunchtime showed people trying to get in with an updated version. Bukkit isn't updated yet, and until it is, people who update will have to downgrade to get back in.

Okay, regenning a new map tonight to suit popular demand then.