Pongball

Hi OCR. I am just dropping by here from Twitter (Mustin tweeted this thread) to suggest that from now on, the term "MIDI" could be used as a unit for measuring the overall sample and production quality of a track. If a standard MIDI file played directly through a low-quality General MIDI synth can be measured as 1 MIDI, then perhaps the average track accepted on this site might be measured at 25 MIDIs. To keep things simple, a live recording with perfect production quality could be measured at a nice round number, like 100 MIDIs. But perhaps in the future, technology will exist that allows us to surpass the 100 MIDI mark. Example of usage: "This track only sounds like 7 MIDIs. You need at least 13 more MIDIs before it's acceptable." or: "Pongball, your SNES music sounds like half a MIDI." Okay, back to being too shy to ever post here.

Hi, I don't post here much. I know some of you from elsewhere on the internet, but for those who don't know me, I suppose the things most relevant to this community are that I write video game style music, and I'm Hale-Bopp's wife. :> Anyway, the music I'm going to share is mostly for people who loved the Super Nintendo era and have lots of nostalgia for its lo-fi sound. I used instrument samples from various SNES games to create these RPG-style tunes. I'm hoping to make a full album of music in this style eventually. Mysterious_Forest.mp3 My_Town.mp3 Heroic.mp3 Their_Planet.mp3 Enjoy!

I heard Hale's final mix several times before he sent it off to Jose for mastering, and it was much fuller and brighter than it is now. According to Jose, this is what happened: It's a real shame, honestly. I thought it sounded much better before. To my ears, it's not only missing the high end, but also a lot of the low end, wideness, and overall volume depth. It sounds like I'm listening to it on an AM radio station.(I'm Hale's wife, btw.)

Wow, I wasn't expecting another birthday thread here this year. That was really nice of you though, thanks!

Awww, that picture turned out great. :> It was nice meeting you and the few other OCR people I met there, even if it was very brief.

Rockin' remix! Very well done, guys. I like that I instantly recognized where the song came from in the game and that the memories of playing this game immediately came flooding back. I can't wait to drive around to this and rock out even more. I also can't wait for Nuts & Bolts. This is getting me pumped up for the new game. EDIT: oops, this is Hale-Bopp

I'm pretty sure that's actually from the official Starfox OST. I'm not sure who arranged it, though.

Oh wow, I wasn't expecting to have a birthday thread here of all places. You guys are sweet, thank you! Also, that's pretty crazy that Dragon Avenger and I share the same birthday. What are the odds of that? Happy birthday, DA!

I don't remember that happening. I do remember meeting you, though. I told you that you have the same name as my guinea pig. :> Btw, it was nice to meet all you OCRemix people. It's a shame that I only got to meet most of you very briefly.

Are you sure you're not thinking of Donkey Kong Land 2? As far as I remember, DKL1 didn't have any level with thorns in it, or any way of flying around, for that matter. DKL2, on the other hand, was a remake of Donkey Kong Country 2 with different level designs. It definitely had some thorny levels, and the song used in those levels was actually a simplified arrangement of a song originally from Donkey Kong Country 2, which has been remixed quite a bit. Check out the "Stickerbrush Symphony" remixes here: http://www.ocremix.org/game/donkey-kong-country-2-diddys-kong-quest-snes/ If that's not the song you were thinking of, pretty much every song from DKL has already been sequenced in standard MIDI format. You can find them all here: http://vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/gameboy/index-af.html (Scroll down to Donkey Kong Land)

Awesome. Thank you.

Well, it's more that I think the remixers should have a bit more control over that situation should it come up. Many remixers would probably be fine with letting the company use their remix for no compensation. Others might find that unfair, and prefer to arrange a deal with the company themselves. I'm sure most would prefer to at least be contacted first. It's a pretty sticky situation no matter how you look at it, since the remixer is infringing their copyright to begin with, but I think many copyright holders (such as the example that Liontamer gave just now) would still be rather sympathetic. Anyway, like I said before, I can totally understand that djpretzel is just trying to protect the site by offering copyright holders a benefit too, but when you think about it, it's pretty doubtful that a company that has a problem with the site would suddenly be like "Oh wait, this changes everything!"

I honestly feel that it would be better to just leave that part of the policy out entirely. I can see where you're coming from in terms of trying to offer the copyright holders something in return for not sending out cease & desists, but at the same time, the remixers themselves are getting a pretty bad deal out of it. From what I understand about copyrights, there are three different types that apply to music: there's separate copyrights over melodies, the recording itself, and any lyrical content. In the case of most remixes, the remixer actually holds more copyrights over their remix than the copyright holder of the source music. In most cases, the remixer owns the copyright for the recording itself, and also for any original material within the remix. The only copyright they're infringing on, obviously, is the notes of the melody that were taken from the source music. In the case of a remix with original lyrics, the remixer actually holds three copyrights over their mix, while the copyright holder of the source music holds only one. I personally agree that the exposure of having their music played in a commercial work would be great for most remixers -- but it should still be up to them to negotiate how it's handled. Having the site give the copyright holders of the source music permission to use a remixer's recording, original melodies, and possible original lyrics however they please just seems really wrong to me. Assuming that this contract is retroactive, this seems really, really wrong to me. None of the remixers submitting music up until now have agreed to license their music for use in commercial material. This would basically be saying to anyone who opposes this part of the policy but has already submitted their music here, "Sorry, you're screwed, we changed the contract." I wish I had a better answer for how to please the source copyright owners, but I still feel that this is not the way to go about it.

Er, wasn't it supposed to be revealed who did what at the end of the contest? I know which one was Hale's, and it's pretty obvious which one was DragonAvenger's, being the only female vocalist, but I really haven't a clue which of the other two contestants did which entry. Also, in support of Hale's request to have the entries linked directly from the first post... I checked out the songs from the last round after it was over. I think there's probably quite a few new people who check out this board from time to time, and like to see/hear the entries from past competitions. It's kind of a teaser you can't. Anyway, I don't mean to criticize. It was a great contest, and I really enjoyed hearing the results.