Eino Keskitalo

Here's a Hip-Hop/Electro arrangement of mostly 'Wood' and a little bit of 'Ruby' (just the ending) from Blocks That Matter. Originally released on the official remix album 'Reworks That Matter' which was directed by the game's composer Morusque/Nurykabe. This version is an edit I did recently, slightly shorter than the original and focusing on the more rhythmical parts of the remix. The mixing has been redone and a few touch ups have been made. My inspiration for the first half was the soundtrack from the anime Full Metal Panic, and the second half was inspired by the soundtrack from ArtePiazza's Opoona. Hopefully it's enjoyable even if you're not familiar with this fun indie puzzler. ☺️
It's a really joyful and creative soundtrack. I'll link the sources below if you're interested. <3
 

I'm may not be overly familiar with the source, but it's awesome to hear mixes from you again Deej. Nice work with the orchestration in the first half mixed with the rhythms, and great work with that lead melody in the second half as well dude! 

I was going to give this an official name (something better than "Tools we use"), but I wanted to start a post that lists some VSTs (free and paid) that I know a good number of us use for mixing.  This is not intended to be a clone of a list of all possible VSTs, or like 2 people in our community use it so we put it here.  It's intended to be a place to find out what others use in our space that we find particularly useful.  Just replying with a simple name of a product isn't good enough for me to put it on the list (for the reason I stated above) - though you can always respond with plugins you personally found among the most useful (or just most used in each song).  I want to avoid this being a junk drawer that has no real value.  The value will come with a curated list of tools that we feel are worthy.  
 
For a list of DAWs we use and to find performers of specific instruments, please visit https://ocremix.org/workshop or ask in our discord.
 
 
? Sage Recommended
 
1. Instruments
1.1 Drums
Addictive Drums by xln audio ($159 || complete: $869) [drums]
ML Drums by ML Sound Lab (free) [drums]
Steven Slate Drums by steven slate drums (free || $119) [drums]
toontrack
EZDrummer ($179)  [drums] ? Superior Drummer ($399)  [drums] 1.2 Samplers
Native Instruments
? Kontakt (player: free || regular: $299) [sampler] [instrument building tool] Heritage Percussion by Impact Soundworks (free)  [sampler] [tribal percussion] ? Super Audio Cart by Impact Soundworks (gameboy: free || complete: $149)  [sampler] [chiptune] Shreddage 3 by Impact Soundworks [sampler] [guitar] Free -> Precision (free) [bass] & Stratus (free) [electric guitar] Hydra ($149) [electric guitar] - this one is my favorite of the Shreddage Line Impact Soundworks collection has a lot of instruments difficult to find, such as the Oud ($99) Spectrasonics:
Keyscape ($399) [sampler] [piano]  Trillian ($299) [sampler] [synth] [bass] Spitfire Audio
Spitfire Labs - free [sampler] [textures] [orchestral] [live instruments] 
Notable Lab Instruments: ? Arctic Swells, ? Astral Forms, ? Frozen Strings, Strings, Strings 2, Amplified Cello Quartet BBC Symphony Orchestra (free) [sampler] [orchestral] 1.3 Synths
Native Instruments
FM8 ($149) [fm synth] Massive X ($199) [wavetable synth] Reaktor ($199) [modular synth] Odin (free and open source) [semi-modular synth]
? Phase Plant by Kilohearts ($199) [semi-modular synth] 
Pigment by Arturia ($199) [wavetable synth]
? Serum by Xfer ($189) [wavetable synth]
Spectrasonics:
? Omnipshere ($499) [hybrid synth] [wavetable synth] Trillian ($299) [sampler] [synth] [bass] Spire by Reveal Sounds ($189) [synth]
Surge XT (free and open source) [hybrid synth]
VCV Rack (free || pro: $149) [modular synth]
? Vital (free || pro $80 || subscribe $5/month) [wavetable synth]
Zebralette (free) [spectral synth]
 
2. Effects
Deelay by sixthsample (free)
? Guitar Rig by Native Instruments (player: free || pro: $199)
Helix Native by Line 6 ($399) [guitar amp]
illformed Effects:
dBlue Glitch (free but may require jbridge) [glitch] [stutter] Glitch 2 ($59.95) [glitch] [stutter] iZotope: 
Stutter Edit ($199) [glitch] [stutter] Vinyl (free) [vinyl record] ? Kilohearts Essentials by Kilohearts (free)
Slate Digital
Fresh Air (free) [vintage exciter circuits and advanced dynamics processing] TH-U by Overloud ($269)
Valhalla Effects:
? Super Massive (free) [reverb] Vintage ($50) [reverb] Delay ($50) [delay] Xfer:
? OTT (free)  
3. Utilities
FabFilter (Pro Q 3: $169)
iZotope Utilities:
? Ozone (elements: $49 || standard: $199 || advanced: $399) ? RX (elements: $49 || standard: $299 || advanced: $799) SPAN by Voxengo (free) [eq analysis]
TBProAudio
ISOL8 (free) [Mix monitoring tool] Tokyo Dawn
TDR NOVA (free || ge: €60) [equalizer] Kotelnikov (free || ge: €50) [wideband dynamics processor] 4. Non-DAW Tools
Brad the Mad's Tempo Calculator (free) [Chart, lists given bpm subdivisions as ms and Hz; chart goes from 60 bpm to 179 bpm] Tuneform's Tempo Calculator (free) [converts bpm to ms] MIDI CC List (free) [Chart, lists common CC uses] Virtual Instrument Delay Chart (free) [Google Sheet, lists delay offsets for most orchestral sample libraries] Tap Tempo (free) [Webapp, click or tap a key in time with a piece of music to get its tempo] Notes
? Native Instruments offers a starter pack with several of the recommended tools called Komplete Start (free)
Free(ish) DAWs (https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2015/11/11/free-daw-software/ - he updates this regularly):
Reaper Cakewalk Sibelius GarageBand Audacity (audio) Cheap Stuff / Sales
Black Friday / Day after Christmas / Spring / Summer usually have sales Humble Bundle often has VSTs, sfx, and samples. Heavyvocity has some good textural tools (instruments & effects)
 

Sample Packs:
99 Sounds’ (free) 99 Sounds’ two 99 Drum sample packs (free)  
To Add
To Review
SINE Player, Soundpaint, Musio
Orchestral Tools, 8Dio
NES VST
 
 

Well here are a few tips based on some grueling experiences I went through licensing my tracks, hope they help.
To start, I use https://soundrop.com/ as my distro service; it's not as fast or as friendly as it used to be unfortunately (live chat disappeared in favor of a slow ticketing service, for example), but I still get monthly play reports and it's great about regularly adding (and including your materials) on new platforms as they become available.
As to licensing the music, here's the kicker: they require proof of a U.S. release of the original track. That means before you even want to try licensing something, see if the source soundtrack album exists on Apple Music or Amazon (the two they put the most stock in). (That part also used to be easier, but the restrictions changed a few years ago.)
If you can hunt down an ISRC (album) or UPC code (track), even better! Musicbrainz.org is a great resource for that. For example: https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=Grim+Fandango&type=release&limit=25&method=indexed 
Each track you want to license gives you a spot to include a write-up, so come with everything - track title from the game, composer, soundtrack title, official album release links, codes... you'll be in good shape.
If the track you're licensing has multiple source tunes, be prepared to include both in the description.
Sadly there's a ton of material I couldn't license after maaaaany attempts, because even though I could prove US game release, note the production company and show the Wikipedia article, there was no official album. Doom 2, for example. I found some album records online but if you look closely they say "bootleg" as the "status" and that doesn't work well. Not official enough.
Anyways I hope that helps, take care!

DarkeSword just moved the post (Thank you!!)

We had some others show interest - I do have the Lunar Panic mix mostly done, I'll be doing some touch-ups, fixing the ending and submitting it.  I'll likely move a lot of the status updates to the projects/albums discord channel.

Tetris Attack Album

This was a great game I played with my wife when we first got married nearly 20 years ago.  The original album project was set up at that time and I had accepted 3 songs.  The original thread is still around and there was plenty of interest at that time.  The songs I worked on I did a lot of it when I was sent to Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina relief (I built/maintained the supporting software for various gov't agencies, like power, rebuilding roofs, etc).  It was here that I had a lot of time (no internet, very little power except through the RV as there were no hotels) and being alone at night I just wrote music (3 songs).  In any case, I loved these songs and I wanted to put them towards the album - it was abandoned so I decided to start a new one.  I'm looking for people interested and will ask to move this to the album thread if I get enough interest.
I'm also thinking of possibly doing more puzzle game albums depending on how this one turns out.
I plan on programming the website - though I may recruit some highschoolers/college students (friend's kids) looking for experience to add to their resume.
Positions Recruiting:
Remixers / Musicians Art Rules:
Each song has a core instrument/style of play to represent the character and its critical/panic.
It is encouraged to use this instrument in creative ways throughout the piece (or versions of it).  For example, a prepared piano or different types of pianos within the piece. The instrument needs to be a main part of the song in some way shape or form as it is to be highlighted.  If the song is "bass", just having a bass isn't enough - it needs to be celebrated. What is an example of critical/panic vs normal?
Raphael the Raven (Lunar) stage and the panic/critical stage would both be a violin.  The normal stage would be playful violin but the panic/critical would be a horror violin style.
The actual genre of music could be anything as long as the normal stage has a positive vibe and the panic stage has an aggressive/panicked vibe.
Panic can just be fast or a fast paced song/style/genre.  It doesn't mean over the top aggressive. How do I know what instrument is to be highlighted?
I'll clearly add a list of each instrument corresponding to each character/stage below - though this is currently in progress.
What if I want to highlight a different instrument?
If both Normal and Panic stages are not taken, you can request a certain instrument to be featured (if we think it's a good fit, we'll change it).
 
Contacts:
Directors: Xaleph, Zack Parrish
 
Sources:
https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/tetris-attack
https://www.zophar.net/music/nintendo-snes-spc/tetris-attack
 
Track List:
Available (14)
Not Started (6)
In Progress (4)
In Progress > 80% final touches  (0)
Ready to Master (1) 
Total: 24
[instrument featured]
Demo / Lip’s Stage [Drum Kit]
- Normal Stage Mel Decision
- Critical Stage
Yoshi Stage
- Normal Stage
- Critical Stage
Breeze Stage 1 (Lakitu) (Windy) [Voice]
- Normal Stage Souperion
- Critical Stage Cyril
Glacial Stage 2 (Bumpty) (Sherbert) [Trumpet / other high brass]
- Normal Stage Wassup Thunder (80%)
- Critical Stage
Forest Stage 3 (Poochy) (Thiana) [Acoustic Guitar]
- Normal Stage The Vodoú Queen (Acoustic/Slap Bass)
- Normal StageThe Vodoú Queen & Xaleph (5%)
Flower Stage 4 (Flying Wiggler) (Ruby) [Flute]
- Normal Stage
- Critical Stage
Water Stage 5 (Froggy) (Elias) [Piano]
- Normal Stage Emunator (20%)
- Critical Stage Xaleph (75%)
Blaze Stage 6 (Gargantua Blargg) (Flare) [Bass]
- Normal Stage
- Critical Stage Moebius 
Sea Stage 7 (Lunge Fish) (Naris) [Mallet? Dulcimer? Clav? Rhodes? Pads? - unsure]
- Normal Stage Thirdkoopa
- Critical Stage Xaleph (75%)
Lunar Stage 8 (Raphael the Raven) (Seren/Selene) [Violin]
- Normal Stage
- Critical Stage Xaleph and pointblanket (done)
Boss Stage (Hookbill the Koopa, Naval Piranha & Kamek) [Cello]
- Normal Stage Zack Parrish
- Critical Stage
Bowser's Stage (Bowser) [Low Brass]
- Normal Stage
- Critical Stage
Other songs are optional though I recommend you check out Encounter with Bowser as it's pretty awesome.

It is chill and smooth.

A 8-bit arrangment of Freya's Them, originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu for Final Fantasy IX (2000). I made this back in 2022, when I was still developing my music style. I edited this on Audacity for the stereo effect you hear on this track, which's actually multiple renditions of the same track put as one on the left, on the right, in the middle, to create this sound dimension, almost a 3D effect, it's quite impressive.

Like many here, I owe so much to this compo. T'was a tremendous proving ground to help develop musicianship and meet amazing artists, but also a beacon of hope encouraging me to come back to music times and again in spite of hardships. ?
If you feel like keeping the flame alive once a year, that would be awesome and mighty kind of you. I'll most definitely partake. ✨

Very difficult question. I will not answer with Bundeslang.
So many different styles and genres. Favorite is also a very hard term, I fill this in as personal like the most (and genre helps with this). Still (to mention one name) I go for one of the names in the beginning of the contest: Sir Nuts.
Perhaps we can do a contest/round one day (maybe a yearly free round or something like that), who knows...

Awesome to see this Sage business! This is important stuff. Just yesterday I was talking about OC ReMix's rare feedback culture to a musician friend of mine. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Awesome to see this Sage business! This is important stuff. Just yesterday I was talking about OC ReMix's rare feedback culture to a musician friend of mine. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

I really enjoyed those opening drums.  In fact, I enjoyed the percussion overall in this remix quite a lot!  This remix packs of a lot of raw, ragged, chiptune power in it.  Excellent stuff!

The intro had my eyebrow raised right off the bat.  This remix was super wild.  I spent most of the runtime not quite sure how I felt about it.  It really is a unique beast of a remix.  I will give full props to the creativity and to the instrumentation choices.  Great job on this!

You should have called this "Sixty fourth techno"  Or... wait, is this title a pun already?  Yeah, I'm just dumb  Great track as always, btw! Love all the quirky chips here.

Nicely done!

Simply put: This is dope. I fully support remixes these old gems.   Also if you like, ever feel like remixing an old mickey mouse game again, World of Illusion for the genesis has a pretty dope soundtrack justsayin

I really enjoyed that saxophone, very cool.  I enjoyed this remix overall, it was very funky and drizzling with drip! ?

This was bouncy and a lot of fun.  Very fitting remix for a pinball game!  I enjoyed the frantic drums and the various effects/element used on them throughout!  Great remix! :)

I have similar feeling towards this post. I really looked up'd to SIr's tracks along with a lot posters, OneUp especially (whenever you guys posted, we had a real compo on our hands.) I was really encouraged by everyone's remix and especially their crisp production. Doing these competitions was never about winning The ultimate reward for entering the compo was just the feedback from everyone. You could be the last loser, and your feedback to me was just as important, that's how we grew. I miss that. 
I hold a little pride knowing that I was the only guitarist to hold his weight with some of the giants from the compo forum; back then recording guitars we're sooo difficult to. Production and creativity were so hand-in-hand.
I'm from America, but I actually moved to Beijing, China 10 years ago for work. I still live here. That's ultimately why I dropped off making music. The thought lingers heavily.
But due to this forum, someone from this forum bought some nice recording gear to help me make some music for a game--the game never succeeded (he is somewhere on the OCR--thank you). I would ultimately like to see a revival.
I'm somewhat active on Instagram under the same username.
 
Bundeslang:
Biggest thanks you. You helped everyone. You kept this thing going.
May I ask, 
Who was your favorite artist?? Spicy question
 

I only now realized I got another wooden spoon to my proud collection in the final round ?

Opening both the 2012 and 2024 versions side by side in an audio editor, you can tell from the waveform data alone how much extra effort had been poured into this remix for over a decade. Let's listen! ?
On the prod aspect of things, I ran analysis with a Blackman-Harris function, both 128 and 512bins on linear and logarithmic scale, to positive results. Spectrum analysis didn't make me fall off my camel either, you've got nice stereo separation and likewise no alarming RMS. However I counted more than a 150 clipped samples throughout, which might be related to that enthusiastic -12.23db LUFS integrated with a 6LU loudness range (accounting for DC offset as well). Either slightly limit your master bus output just to be safe, or keep rocking the '0db sample peak' lifestyle. Up to you. ?
Arrangement-wise, there's been massive improvements in texture, sound choices, dynamics and overall balance from your 2012 original, pioneering mashup. Melodies are less muted, the mix sounds clearer throughout and the soundscape is so much fuller now. Imho, your greatest success here is instilling new life and movement into the piece, making this revision much more engaging to listen to. 
Case in point the first section from 0:15 to 1:00, where the industrial percussions have increased in presence and intensity compared to the 2012 version. But conversely, the source's melody is also more prominent and distinct during that part, which creates an interesting contrast, rather than an irritating dichotomy. The second section from 1:15 has undergone a shocking transformation, where the melodic material used to timidly defer to the classic Roland drum kit, but is now emboldened and confidently riding shotgun with the rhythmic bed from 1:32 to 2:05, before the eerie, melancholic twist of the original remix metamorphoses into an array of decisive stabs complemented by surgical percussion hits, which now makes the 2:05-2:38 section hugely more climactic. As for the ending section from 2:40 onward, I applaud the pivotal choice to swap instruments for the lead which confers it an exotic yet contemporary quality, meshing beautifully with the thunderous drums in this dreamy yet tangible soundscape.?
There's a lot of subtlety and detail about this arrangement that people hopefully will notice and appreciate. Like in spite of the whole remix being centered around a repeating leitmotif and written with a singular sound palette, you can distinguish the theme associated with each source in relation to its time period and cultural inclination. Which to this day remains a testament to your ability as an arranger to assimilate material from different sources, then interpret them with both cohesiveness and distinction. I can still revell in the care that went into creating this ambient/industrial tribute with delightful Deus Ex influences, yet I also realize that such flavor might not suit everyone's tastes, and might be looked down upon in some leet circles...
In any case, it's wonderful to see you revisit and reinvigorate this old work in such an elegant fashion, so many years later. I can only commend your diligence and consistency in the pursuit of this ideal, in the spirit of Ryu Hayabusa. May this labour of love capture the judges' hearts and ears, just as it captured mine back on Game Duels. This truly made my day, thanks for sharing this Eino. ?✨

Hello! I have been an OCRemix listener since around 2000 and my favorite shirt I have is my OCRemix hooded sweatshirt I got like a decade ago.
I saw an ad for the OCRemix patreon when I was on the site tonight and went over to take a look. It looks like it hasn't been updated in five years when the Chronopolis album was about to come out. Are there any plans to revitalize it and start actively using it again? Personally, I'm more of a one time purchase kind of person, so if you do hooded sweatshirts or t-shirts again I'd be up for supporting that way.
Thanks!

I only now realized I got another wooden spoon to my proud collection in the final round ?

I do enjoy me some chippity boopity and this remix was chock full of it with style to spare!  Those crunch white noiseish snares were fun.  Great job on this remix! ?